Jeremy Fowler: Players Got Overpaid In NFL Free Agency

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Not available in all states. And now it's Rich Eisen. That's right. Our number two of the Rich Eisen show is on the air. We've got ourselves some college basketball first round action in the men's tournament going down. We've got two different things to tell you about. There's a there's a low point for Louisville down 4427 to Creighton.

So right now, Creighton's at its high point. See where I'm going with this? Or you don't know where I'm going with this. I think you know where I'm going with this. Right now, Purdue is up by one on an actual school in the tournament called High Point. The caller makes a good point.

Thank you very much. The ghost of Larry King is chimed in on the Rich Eisen show. Who knew? So that's what we got going on right now in the first round. Montana and Wisconsin.

Yep. Next up are warming up a game that I'm very laser focused on because we'll see if Montana is a bit of a, if you will, with all due respect to big sky folks, pushover. Wisconsin would have this opportunity to take on Montana as the three seed, the runners up of the Big Ten tournament to Michigan, which beat Wisconsin and has a seemingly tougher opponent tonight in UC San Diego. That's my preview of that matchup that will be tipping off in the middle of our number two. You know what?

Leave that one to me and Chris, you can, you can break down Houston or preview Houston and SIU Edwardsville for later on and look that up because that's going to be, I need background information on them. On it. Okay. Joining us now from ESPN is none other than senior NFL reporter, Jeremy Fowler. Good to see you. How are you Jeremy? Hey Rich, thanks for having me, man.

Appreciate it. Are you, are you currently in the halls of Bristol right now? I'm in the halls by the little coffee bar here. As soon as you walk into a studio X. So I just got done with some sports center. Okay.

Making time for my good friends over here. What's the name of the studio? What are we calling it? Studio what? What is it?

I think it's studio X. I think it's the main sports in the studio now. I've been around. I've been around in 22 years. If I strolled in there, Jeremy, I'd probably need you to be my tour guide. Just take me around and just, it doesn't, I don't recognize what's behind you.

Let's start with that. This building is new, but the rest of it is pretty much the same. Is it really? Is it frozen in time? Like if I, if I left a sandwich there in 2002, it might still be sitting there. Is that what you're saying? For sure. The cafe has been upgraded, like the cafeteria common area is new.

Like building four, some of those buildings you probably remember are exactly the same. Okay. All right. Very good. What's going on with Aaron Rodgers as far as we could tell right now, Jeremy?

What's happening? So as far as we can tell right now, from what I understand, you know, the Vikings essentially shelved the matter. They thought about it extensively. That would have been a priority for him is my understanding just because of the team. You can win a super bowl there. Uh, so he was kind of waiting them out, had some talks with the Vikings. They discussed it, internally decided, let's go with McCarthy as the QB one for this spring. Make sure he's all good for the off season workouts. Maybe if Rogers is still available later in the spring or summer, we could revisit, but that seems unlikely at this point.

So we're crossing the Vikings off. He has standing offers from what I understand from both the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New York giants. So no firm determination on where he's going yet.

This is Rogers first foray into free agency and his 20 year career. So a lot of people really just don't know what to expect or what he's going to decide or what the timeline really is. I mean, he could drag this out and he could decide in two hours.

I can't pretend to know that answer right now. Uh, but most people around the league I talked to do believe that the Steelers would be the favorite, uh, because they're the better on field product as opposed to the giants. And it, my understanding is the Steelers are willing to wait here a little bit and wait out Rogers and see what he decides. Well, okay.

Uh, put a pin in that for a second. Did you say Rogers did have meetings with the Vikings? They did have conversations. They did talk best you can tell. Well, I don't think it like a formal meeting.

I think there was at least some, some dialogue there at some point. I don't know the nature, but I know, I do know the Vikings internally discussed the matter and went from there. And I, my sense is the Vikings knew that there was some potential interest from Rogers certainly and playing from Minnesota where it went beyond that or the, or the nature of the talks. I don't know.

Okay. So then what, based on your conversations or knowledge of, of, of the Vikings, uh, internals, um, what, what did they finally decide, uh, tip the scales in, in JJ McCarthy's favor here, Jeremy? Well, the line or the, the thinking I got, the messaging I got even dating back to last week was Rogers is possible, but unlikely. That was the feeling coming out of their free agent meetings last week. And ultimately that's what became true is, you know, the line I kept hearing was we're committed to JJ McCarthy's involvement. So because of that, they knew he's going to be the franchise quarterback.

It just really depended on whether that would be now or four months from now or 12 months from now was kind of the conversation. So they were kicking that around, you know, do we need to play JJ and make them the guy in year two? Do we absolutely need to do that? Or do we get somebody to step in here for a year? We have a readymade roster. We're trying to win a super bowl. We can do that. Do we plug into Rogers for a year and then go to McCarthy after that?

Like those were some of the conversations that were going on. They ultimately decided in part because of what McCarthy showed last off season, last training camp and some limited preseason action before he got hurt, they were really impressed. So they want to ride that out in the spring, see if he can build off that and they expect him to. Well, we always hear the phrase, it's a 1201 league, right, Jeremy?

A minute after midnight is when deals get done and we have to figure out when the midnight is and then wait the extra minute. When is 1201 for the Steelers on the Rogers matter? Best you can tell. That's a good question. I think, I mean, look, probably the draft. Maybe they're even willing to wait up until the draft. I think regardless, the Steelers are going to look into their draft options and take a hard evaluation of the quarterbacks, if not this year, then next year. You know, they don't have a second round pick now because of the DK Metcalf deal. So if they don't get Rogers or they just get impatient, you know, did they take one in the first or third rounds would probably be the conversation.

You know, they were in Alabama with Jayla Milro, had dinner with them. I wouldn't understate that because Pittsburgh actually has a penchant for looking into and drafting guys they have dinner with like it's sort of a tell for them sometimes. So if you're willing to draft a guy like Miller who needs development and needs to be behind the scenes, but if you can build an offense around him after he waits for two years, you could really have something if he develops as a passer, which is a big question now league-wide whether he can do that, but the upside is really intriguing.

So you know, they're going to look at those options hard. I expect in one of the next two years they go aggressively in the draft for a passer like they acknowledge they have to do that. But in the meantime, they are in a position to wait on Rogers for at least a little while because you know, they didn't work out with Justin Fields. They gave him a competitive offer from what I understand.

It didn't work out. He went to the Jets. So right now Russell Wilson would probably be their backup option, but I just don't sense a lot of momentum right there between Wilson and the Steelers reuniting. They have Mason Rudolph on the roster. I'm told they do at least in a pinch feel comfortable with him starting games.

So they have somebody they're familiar with who's been in the building that they've scouted for years. Like if he had to play some games in 2025, they feel like that wouldn't be the worst thing. So because of that they are set up to wait, but I can't imagine they're willing to wait, you know, three or four months.

So I think they're hoping like everybody else that there's a resolution at some point in the next days and weeks. All right. So in the meantime, grind tape on the rest of the quarterback class, not named Ward or Chidor. If Chidor is there 21st overall at some point, we'll get to that in a second as a possibility. Maybe you hit that or dart or shuck if you like him a lot, you know, where you draft him in the first round knowing you don't have a two and he might not be there at three unless Jalen Milro is a guy that they've identified, which leads me to the follow up here. Who in the history of the Steelers' dinner list did they draft? You got a list of me for that in your mental Rolodex here, Jeremy?

I'm trying to think. Like TJ Watt, Artie Burns, a cornerback who's still in the league but didn't quite pan out as a first round pick. But a lot of the first round picks they did have dinner with. If I recall, I used to cover the team as a beat guy like 2016 to 19 and every year they had dinner with the guy. So they do have a history of that for sure. So you're calling restaurants and towns and college towns asking, you know, is there a table for Rooney and Tomlin tonight?

And like, oh, you know, you can draw some lines. I love that. Jeremy Fowler here on the Rich Eisen Show. Let's talk about the top of the draft and the Titans decision. What do you think is going on right now in Nashville, Jeremy? Well, the sentiment league wide seems to be that Cam Ward would be the guy. Now, I'm told the Titans have not made a firm determination yet.

They really want to go through this thorough process, meet with everybody, get on the road. They'll probably do some private workouts with both Cam Ward and Chador Sanders and probably Abdul Carter and Travis Hunter and some of those top players. But I do know that Cam Ward's interviews with the Titans went well, that people there felt like he explained his mistakes really well. He came across as coachable.

Like when he answered about why he made a play that didn't work out or interception or fumble like he had really clean, good explanations about it that you can coach around. So they feel like not only does he have a lot of athletic ability and upside and the ability to make all the throws, but, you know, he's got a competitive spirit and he wants to get better and wants to learn from mistakes and be really clean, proficient player, efficient player at the quarterback position in the NFL. So they feel pretty good about that. Now, does that lean them to make that pick? And have they locked into that?

No, I don't think so. But most teams I talk to are loosely preparing for the Titans to go that route. Now, I do think at a point in time in the process, they were intrigued by trading back. So they feel like they can trade back and still get a quarterback they want.

That's an option they would look into. But right now, it does seem the momentum is trending toward Ward. OK. And what are you hearing on Sanders? You know, as high as two and as low as a second round pick. I mean, are you hearing that, Jeremy? What are you hearing about?

It's fascinating to try to dissect that. And I've really been in like the free agency Hayes the last two weeks are now digging back into the draft a little bit. But I would say. With Chador, there are. Yeah, it's a little all over the map with how teams feel about them. I do know the Browns. There's some love for Chador in the Browns building.

How much love? I don't know. But there's like they see him as a positive as opposed to like somebody they want to knock in the process. You know, like they like it sort of computer mind processing ability. They feel like there's some good upside there and what he can do and operate in Kevin Stefanski's offense, which, by the way, Chador will be a good fit for Brian Callahan's offense to. So schematically, he makes some sense for some teams. It's just a matter of where they grade him. Do they feel like it's too rich for a quarterback that maybe in last year's draft would be, say, the fifth or sixth option? You know, is it too rich to take him top five?

But these guys get pushed up. All three teams in the top three desperately need a quarterback and do not have a solution right now. I do expect the Giants to sign somebody if they get impatient. It's probably Russell Wilson, who I'm told looks at the Giants as a viable option and has for a while.

Joe Flacco, Jamis Winston. But they're going to get somebody if it's not Rogers. But is that enough? I mean, they still need to sell some hope there.

And Chador makes some sense for them at three. So is it too rich? Maybe. But I just I expect somebody to jump on him. I don't know that I anticipate a huge freefall. If he gets past the quarterback needy teams high, then maybe we see some of that like we did with Rogers once upon a time 20 years ago. But I'd be surprised based on the current quarterback climate.

Well, how much does Kirk Cousins lurk, Jeremy? I mean, the Falcons went ahead and said, throw the 10 million in 2026, log on the fire or whatever. We'll deal with that down the road.

And while Rogers makes his decision, somebody might call up Terry Fontenot and offer a draft choice depending on and the draft choice where it is depends on how much money Atlanta is willing to eat or or something. Right. Like that is possible, isn't it? Yes. It's possible, but it's stagnant right now because no team is just going to tell Atlanta, hey, we'll cover 20 million dollars in that contract.

Sure. And we'll throw in a fifth round pick like nobody's going to make that leap. And so if they're not making that leap, Atlanta is not motivated like that team source there told me, like we paid him. These are guaranteed monies.

So we don't need to do anything right now. Maybe closer to the draft is heats up, but they really are prepared to hold on to them until something crystallizes where they feel like they can get good value. Teams I talk to believe this is an ownership decision in Atlanta that Arthur Blank just paid this guy. Now it's going to be one hundred million dollars in guaranteed money for essentially one year of production and a benching.

Now, I do. Cleveland to me is still looms large here because I do believe based on what I've gathered that when he got benched, that Cousins was firmly on their radar. They were going to look at all the quarterbacks with starting potential, but that Cousins makes sense for Kevin Stefanski. Like they looked at that as a realistic option for them, potentially. But right now, he's just simply not available until Atlanta changes their mind or becomes a little more flexible or aggressive here.

But they haven't yet. So until then, Cousins is sort of locked into Georgia and is looking for a new home and can't find one. OK, so then you said you've been in the free agent haze over the last two weeks. What what's what's your take coming out of it, Jeremy? Just knowing all the moves that were made. Yeah.

And that's the general headline coming out of it would be would be what in your estimation? I mean, the money was crazy. Guys got overpaid. I mean, we see that every year.

Right. You say B players get a money and free agency. But there were I mean, no offense to some of the guys that are out there. But you had like sort of middle of the road offensive tackles getting 20 plus million dollars a year. That's just the way it was.

And the money came early. So like by Tuesday or Wednesday, free agency was kind of dead. I mean, a lot of the players had signed and some of the money had dried up. Usually it's like a two week run of some money being spent.

Right now, it just hasn't been. So there are a lot of resigns, you know, like Kansas City was interesting to me because they kept Nick Bolton, kept Trey Smith on the franchise tag like they were pretty aggressive in what they did. Sign Jalen Moore, who's like only started a few games at left tackle versus San Francisco is high upside, but a little inconsistent. Like Kansas City to me is saying, OK, we're not just going to run it back.

We're going to sort of retool, find some new pieces. They get cornerback Christian fold and give him real money like they're trying some new things. They trade Joe Tooney like them. To me, the Chiefs were the most interesting and the Colts. I mean, Chris Ballard, every year we see him take accountability for his team, like, hey, we didn't get it done.

But then they're not overly aggressive every year. This year, they went and got two really good defensive backs to various word combine them and they make the Daniel Jones signing happen. And I sense some relief there among some people in Indianapolis that they have more of a backdrop at quarterback. If Anthony Richardson doesn't work out like they feel like they can make it work with Jones and he very well might earn that job. That's what brother I was hearing that at the combine that they liked Jones as the guy to offer competition. And I'm just wondering if the words offer competition is a fig leaf, Jeremy, you know, like that, that that if or or a roadmap, let's say that. And that the roadmap is if they truly are going to put these guys out on a field in OTAs training camp and say, may the best quarterback win that Daniel Jones is the week one starter in Indianapolis. Jeremy, unless some sort of Anthony Richardson fire has been lit, I don't I don't know. Right.

And I am leaving room for that fire being lit. I talked to somebody in Richardson's camp at the combine about this whole dynamic and I brought up Daniel Jones and some of the things I was hearing and said, Anthony doesn't care if they bring in Joe Montana, like he's going to go win that job. And I did. Maybe that's just talk, but I did find it interesting.

Like I think he talking to some people there in India, they did feel like he was trending slightly up by the end of the year. He had regrouped a little bit, was playing a little better. But it's it's the inconsistent play with the durability where they're like, we have to get somebody. We have to spend a little bit of money. But they spent what, 14 million dollars with some upside like that tells you that the chances of him starting are not small on a smaller scale. We saw it with the Raiders last year and they gave Gardner Minshew like 12 million dollars. And he was competing with Aiden O'Connell. Some people in the building liked O'Connell better, but Minshew had been a financial commitment to them. So they went with him. So sometimes you see that happening. The money usually talks, and in this case it talks a little bit. Did you follow up by asking, is this 1985 Joe Montana or 2025 Joe Montana?

Did you follow with which four? I didn't clarify. But yeah, Richardson would probably have a hard time being a Joe Montana right now. But what's funny is he's more talented and he's one of the most talented guys in the league. I mean, he's he's got incredible ability.

So they're not discounting that in India either. But there's a reason why Daniel Jones is brought there. I mean, that's a period. End of story. And just, man, that's why we love this league, Jeremy. Say hi to everybody in the hallways there. I will, Rich. Appreciate you.

Always. Thanks for saying hello. That's Jeremy Fowler at J Fowler ESPN right here on The Rich Eisen Show. So here's what I'm going to glean from all this. Jeremy is now the latest individual that I've, I've, you know, sussed about Rogers and, you know, and we ask about that Schefter tweet, that post that came out of him pointing out that this is, there's been no first round picks traded in this draft. And the last time we were this close to a draft, and we're 34 days away, that we've, we haven't seen a first round selection traded, was when the Chiefs gave up a first rounder for Joe Montana five days before that draft that they acquired.

Joe Montana was at 93 or something like that. I think I've finally put my finger on it here. So the Titans are grinding their tape on Cam Ward and Chador and Abdul Carter and Travis Hunter.

And probably their own guy will love us. Correct. They're going through this process. The Browns are sitting there too. They're doing the same thing.

Having averted total and complete disaster with Myles Garrett hold out hell. Okay. They avert that.

Okay. They avert that. They bring in Kenny Pickett via trade. So they've got one in the building. They bring in Russ. They're deciding who else are they going to bring in while grinding tape on the quarterbacks to also figure out, do they trade up to go to one to end the story and get their guy and not have to depend on Tennessee's choices. And also monitoring what might be going on with Kirk Cousins. And Atlanta is chilling like the proverbial villain. Okay.

They are chilling. The deadline that some people thought might spur action last Saturday, if he's on the roster, $10 million in 2026 I'm guaranteed the Falcons are like, whatever we've already spent a hundred million dollars on this guy. He didn't even give us a full season.

He was benched. And we've got a kid that we're going to start with an injury history and who better to have sitting around to teach the kid and also maybe fill in for the kid. Then Kirk Cousins, he may not like it, but too bad unless somebody gets desperate and the people who could potentially get desperate are sitting there in New Jersey in the Giants offices because the Jets aren't desperate. They went ahead and they got their kid, Justin Fields, and they'll figure out what the draft is there. They're not trading up for a quarterback. The Raiders get Geno Smith. They're not desperate like last year, right? They're out of that business. They're not trading up for a quarterback.

The saints are sitting there at nine. I mean, they're not going to trade up for a quarterback. Everyone wouldn't think, but they could, but there's no desperate reason to do so because they've handled their car business, right? So they're not desperate. Who could be desperate?

The Giants. Now that's a desperate team potentially. And the Steelers, if they feel desperate, now they could sit here and say, Mason Rudolph, we're fine going with that, but we've seen that movie before and they might get Russ or might not get Russ, but Russ isn't being snapped up by anybody right now because they're waiting on Rogers sitting here in California staring at sunrises. And until he makes a decision, nobody's going to get desperate enough to call the Titans and say, what's up, right? And if he just chooses the Steelers, the giants get desperate. Does that make Cleveland more desperate? Oh, they might be burning the phones up to Tennessee. We got to get on that, right? So we're waiting on Rogers.

And I think that's the log jam at this. Nobody's trading a first round selection. Plus I guess people are still grinding tape on the quarterbacks. Nobody is all in on Cam Ward like he's Caleb or, you know, Trevor Lawrence back in the day, no one's in on him to say like, oh, or golf or Wentz where, you know, the Eagles had a hopscotch up two spots all the way from the middle of the draft. Nobody's starting to move around to position themselves right before the draft to move up again. I think I've gotten this right until Rogers decides what's up. No one's going to like, he's kind of frozen everything in time right now.

I think I've, I'm not missing any pieces here. Like that's what's going on until he decides and makes a decision and turns a team, or if he retires potentially two teams into someone more desperate. Now the Steelers might be like, we can just stick and pick our quarterback if we love Dart or Shuck because they, they should be around 21. And if they're not on draft night, they could move up on draft night.

If they're like, okay, they're close. He's close enough. We'd love him enough. Let's go up four or five spots and go get him. The giants have the luxury of potentially sticking and picking possibly because if the, the Browns want Ward, but not enough to go get him and Ward's gone and they're sitting there at two and the choice is Abdul Carter, Travis Hunter, Shadore Sanders, do they maybe go Travis Hunter and say, right, let's go. We've got a unicorn year to go with a lot of other talented players.

Sure. We don't have the quarterback thing figured out, but we do have the 33rd overall pick. Second night, first pickup. Do we trade back in at the end of the first round to get the guy that we want? Do we not, the giants could stick and pick or do they get desperate if Rogers says no to them and they don't go and get Kirk Cousins from Atlanta because it would be cheaper to get Kirk Cousins from Atlanta monetarily and draft capital than it would be to trade up to go get Shadore or Cam.

And you can win games now and maybe get your guy later on in the draft too. This is why I think everything's frozen in time. We'll take a break right here on the Rich Eisen show.

844-204-rich is the number to dial Seth Rollins on this program in our number three, I've got a top five list of the winners of the off season so far. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. You chose to hit play on this podcast today.

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Prices vary based on how you buy. Hey, Rich Eisen here. I hear from a lot of business owners like you about the work it takes to pursue your passions. So I know how important it is to have the tools that can help keep you moving forward. And with access to world-class business and travel benefits, the American Express Business Platinum Card helps you take your business to the next level. It offers a flexible spending limit that adapts with your business.

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Allstate Fire and Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois. We have a game that we play here called Start Bench Cut. Okay. Sort of like the, you know what, marry kill game. Okay.

Where you keep it clean. We try. Yeah. Well, start bench. Well, we make the good of that.

You know, the marry part is the bench park. Okay. Okay. So we give you three. Here we go. Start.

Sit down and be quiet or cut. All right. Start Bench Cut here with Kevin Hart. Here are your three choices to play basketball.

It happens but it's a teammate. Okay. The Rock, Cube or Will Ferrell. You have to start one of them. All right. Well, I'm going to start one or if you've been in movies with all of these guys.

Yeah, I have. I'm going to start Will Ferrell. You start Will Ferrell. Jackie Moon gets to start. Jackie Moon gets to start just because I know that he's got the passion behind the game.

His spirit is always high. I'm going to cut The Rock. I'm going to cut him. He's out. Wow.

He's out. Why? His attitude.

His attitude. I don't like his attitude. And you're going to bench Cube. You're going to bring Cube off the bench? I'm going to bring Cube off the bench. I'm bringing Cube off the bench because Cube is too cool to play the whole game. So there's going to be moments when Cube look at his sneaks and be like, I just realized I'm messing these up.

I'm like, you right Cube. You sit down for a second and get your new pair of sneaks. You got to keep him calm.

You know, you don't want him giving you yeah, yeah, you're like just getting upset. I got to make sure that tomorrow's going to be a good day. He'll have sunglasses on.

It's too dark. Yeah, it's going to be real cool. Plus, it's a smart move here with Will's the tallest of them all. Mike's inside out game with you. Yeah, me and Will are going to dominate.

I got to start Will. But The Rock's out of here. He's cut. Bye.

YouTube channel Jeopardy. Check it out everybody. Purdue closed the half strong. They're up 10 on high point, which is a high point for them in the game. I'm going to keep saying that. Creighton is up on top of Louisville.

I think I saw during the commercial break here, CBS popped up a stat that teams that lead in the first half by 15 or more points in the first round since 1990 or like 140 and 0. Back on the Rich Eisen Show radio network. I'm sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you.

Call clickrainger.com or just stop by. Terzo and I will all rise. Our friend is back on the program right in the middle, a centerpiece of today's Thursday program. What's going on, Terzo? I appreciate it, Rich. What's up, Rich? What's up, Brock? Hey, that guy that used to do sound that Del Tufo guy.

I thought he'd be a really cool guy that I could go have some adult beverages with, but now that he's jumped ship to the Dodgers, I just don't know. I just don't know if that would ever happen. I pick winner. Sorry, Terzo. You jumped on a ship, buddy. Come on now.

Terzo, I forget. Are you are you Cubs? No, I'm a huge Giants. Giants. Forty-niners fan. Oh, so. Oh, so Giants.

Oh, yes. A Giants fan must not like Mike. He's wearing a Dodger hat today, Terzo. Yeah, I know.

I see it on the I see it on the road. You know, I want to give him a hard time about it. So it's it's what did Matt Kemp give it to you when you were in front?

He's like that. How far probably 10, 15 years ago. I don't wear I'm wearing a mask. Who gave it to you? No one's ever seen. I bought a more time.

Even fewer. Give it to you. Pedro Guerrero give you that hat. You bought it. I purchased it. Terza, you're breaking news.

He bought something that he's wearing. Yeah, I find. Yeah, that's that. I'm kind of shocked by that. I don't believe that in any slightest.

As long as I've been listening to the show, that doesn't that doesn't track what's on your mind. Well, Rich, and if I want to say to all the Steelers fans out there that don't want Rogers, stop thinking that he's the bad guy in the locker room. I think you've reported on this like the Jets. The Jets players were like, hey, we're upset that he's gone. So I was just I just tell all the Steelers fans, just relax. Just let this play out. I believe he'd be a good fit for you all. And I think he'd work well. He just needs to make sure that all the chakras align.

So he makes the decision. I honestly think the chakras that you might be referring to or were the Vikings. You know what I mean? Yeah. You know, that's what I think, Terzo. You know, and thanks for the call, brother. You'd be well.

That's Terzo and I all right. Listen, I I don't blame Rogers for kicking the tires and the Vikings until they tell him, yeah, let's move on. We're not interested now. If you're available in the spring, in the summer, after we get a look-see at J.J. McCarthy and we're beginning to see the the knee injury has defrayed him from our evaluation that we had of him initially.

Or or he's just not ready yet physically. He's still the same guy. He could use one more year. Then we'll be interested. And if you're around, you know, but just you have to understand, we drafted him. We like him. We we have been seasoning him.

We got to see it. Makes sense. Rogers telling the Giants and the Steelers, I'm going through a process.

Makes sense. But if the Vikings have now told him, you may move on. And if he looks at the Steelers and the Giants and goes, you know what?

I'll just wait for the Vikings evaluation. Then the Steelers and the Giants have got to go, OK. Then we're moving on and they make other plans. And then if Rogers turns around in the summer and goes, oh, no, I really want to play football.

Well, then that's on him. But I don't blame him for wanting the Vikings because I was thinking about this, gents. Certainly because, you know, I'm rooting for J.J. McCarthy. And when you are a kid coming into the NFL.

Man, oh, man, I understand. We have this conversation every year right around this time, certainly on draft night, certainly in the few weeks after the draft and then watching a rookie go through his first season in the NFL. Nature versus nurture. How much does somebody's success in the NFL come from his God-given ability and where he's drafted? Because how many guys in this league go down the tubes or have to start from scratch at age twenty seven, twenty eight, twenty nine, thirty, because they were drafted in the wrong spot, a spot where the owner sucks and a spot where there's always churning on the coaching staff. Too much turnover. Right. A spot where, oh, you're drafted high.

The team isn't ready for you. And suddenly you, like David Carr, are staring up at the blue sky. Getting your brains beaten in there. Right.

OK. That will stunt your growth. How many times? So that's the conversation. And last year we were like Caleb Williams, man, being drafted.

What a spot. He's got the weapons and he's got the defense. But what he didn't have was an offensive line. And what he also didn't have was a solid coaching situation. By any stretch.

J.J. McCarthy has another J.J. that he's throwing to. Right. Yeah.

Like Jettis. Come on. Heard of him. Jordan Addison. They just signed Rondell Moore yesterday. They got Aaron Jones back in the fold. They put Jordan Mason on their roster to back him up. I was calling a Vikings-Jets game last year in London. Aaron Jones went out in the middle of it and their running back situation wasn't the same the rest of the game. That would change now. You see how Jordan Mason backed up Christian McCaffrey last year.

Right. He was the waiver wire darling of the universe. Because the Vikings have a terrific offense and in terms of your coach, he's the coach of the year who just signed a new contract. He's going nowhere. And his pedigree is to connect to somebody like J.J. McCarthy and nurture. He's in an amazing spot.

And Vikings fans have got to understand in Kevin O'Connell, Kwasi and the ownership you trust. Kid's a winner. He's lost one game since high school.

One. And I saw what he can do. And Jim didn't turn him loose for various reasons. You got Blake Coram scoring 90 touchdowns. Didn't have to. Right. Didn't have to.

Your offensive defensive line that year was... Stellar. Dominant. Take a look at who's in the pros now. Exactly. From the last two, three years. Yep. Look who's coming this year. He didn't have to turn them loose.

And, and I always shoot you straight. Michigan didn't have anybody like Justin Jefferson. Okay.

I think you, we would have heard them. You know what I mean? There ain't a whole lot of JJs. You know, and we'll see what Roman Wilson can do with the Steelers, but nobody like Jordan Addison either, man. Burners who are matchup problems for every week. I didn't even mention TJ Hawkinson coming back for full year now. Yep. Get that offensive line handled. They made some nice moves in free agency.

My top five will be talking about this a bit more. But McCarthy's in a great spot. And he knows it too.

He knows it. So I don't think they're going to be knocking on Rogers' door in spring and summer. If that is what is part of Rogers' mindset, who the hell knows, right? Right now, what, what his mindset could be as to why he's not jumping on with this.

Like, all right, the Vikings have closed the door. Is he waiting for another one to open or is he really considering it or he doesn't need to tell them right now? Or I don't know.

There's no deadline. He likes staring at the sun, sunrise and sunset. I don't know. But at some point he's going to have to come off the beach and tell somebody something. And I don't blame him for, maybe this is him staring at the ocean and going, are the Vikings calling today? I don't know.

It made sense to delay it, but JJ's in a great spot and I don't think he's going to fumble it. 844-204 Rich, number to dial here on the program. As we mentioned, Seth Rollins on the program in hour three, I got a top five list.

And Women's Sports Now is out there on the Roku platform. We'll be discussing that as well. At the Hyundai Getaway Sales Event, get deals so right, it almost feels wrong. Now's the best time to get that Hyundai car or SUV you've always wanted. Plus, every new Hyundai comes with America's best warranty and three years or 36,000 miles of limited complimentary maintenance. Don't think you can get away with all that? Think again.

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Save up to 40% your first year at lifelock.com slash podcast. Terms apply. Yeah. Case in point of me not paying attention, filling out the brackets. I chose Louisville instead of Creighton. So I was saying like, you know, you look at Creighton and Drake and you, you, you, you have to choose them every time. Did I take Drake? I did.

I did take Drake. So I was, you know, I'll screw that one up too. You know, and how the other day I was talking about how Michigan got screwed on the seedings, which, which, which it did. And it's the truth.

It's the absolute truth. They got screwed on the cheat on the seating. And I was saying, you know, Hey, Cooper and I were watching the big 10 championship game and everyone throwing up bricks. And he's like, this is tough to watch. And I'm like, this is Wisconsin basketball. And boy, I get a lot of pushback from Wisconsin. We didn't watch Wisconsin this year because they're, you know, they scored a lot more. They, they, they did put up points. Meanwhile, they only have 11 against Montana and we're nearing the, the second TV timeout. So, but it's 11-7.

It's a game produced up by 10 and it's kind of a wrap between Creighton and Louisville. Did you pick Montana? No, I chose Wisconsin.

Oh, okay. No, I chose Wisconsin. I, I picked, I picked Montana. You did? Yeah.

How much Montana action did you, did you catch this year? Excuse me? Okay. I didn't watch this thing on. I know that you don't like Wisconsin. So I picked against them.

Oh, come on, man. But not enough for me to sit here and no, I am pissed about the seating, but I'm not going to take it out on my brackets. But I'm saying a 14 is going to win. So it's just take your pick.

No. UNC Wilmington against Texas Tech. I didn't choose that. I chose Kentucky over Troy.

Yeah. I didn't choose a single 14 seed. I did choose Yale to beat Texas A&M because I think Michigan's going to take on Yale. It's the, the, the bracket gods winking at them saying, all right, you took our best player, Danny Wolf.

And here's what we're going to do. We're going to beat you without Danny Wolf, which I did not pick by the way. I picked UNC Wilmington to beat Texas Tech 14 over three. That's fun. I did take North Carolina to the sweet 16 though. Yeah, me too.

To take on Michigan State. Yeah. I got, that's what I got. Yeah.

Cause you know that. I mean, if people are flipping out in anything, by the way, remember that, remember that trade I came on and I talked about it in my, my poker fantasy lane. People freaking out, traded I'm on Ross St. Brown for Trey McBride.

How did that work? Did either of those guys win the title? Um, no.

Okay. But um, remember he, he, he flipped, uh, I'm on Ross St. Brown for Trey McBride. And somebody else, it was somebody else. And by the way, but, but Trey McBride was the catch machine. Yeah. He was getting 10.

And the other guy who he got away and Lad McConkie. Oh yeah. I mean, right. And everyone's just like, I'm a commissioner. I should void the trade.

I should stand in the way. It's the worst trade ever. The DD McConkie. Right. In the same way that that trade worked out in the opposite way of the hue and cry, North Carolina is going to ruin West Virginia's discovery process. And the lawsuit with each round that they advance, it kind of undercuts the lawsuit. Don't you think it kind of does that, which is why we probably haven't heard anything about it.

I'm sorry. You know what? You know what undercuts the lawsuit? Just the idea of the lawsuit.

The fact that it was filed in the first place. But I need the National Corrupt Athletic Association signed. Please. If there's anybody who knows anybody in the government. I don't want one made.

I want that one. Just call Florio. It's probably a short drive from his house. Florio must know somebody.

He knows somebody. Felly, if you're watching, get one made. Florio, I need that.

I need that one. It's got to be somewhere, right? It's got to be somewhere off and put it somewhere in the governor's office.

It's sitting somewhere. And somebody knows somebody in the governor's office, unless there were the governor's office has the Roku channel. Hey, somebody in the governor's office. I want that. We want that. Some have it here. We need that. I need it is delivering game day deals all tournament long because you can't watch eight hours of basketball a day on an empty stomach.

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Now, remember get game day deals on all your favorites only on Uber Eats order. Now, man, Dion's got ideas, man. I'll tell you what, man. Dion's got ideas. Um, which sound bite do we have here? Hoskins?

Which one do we have here about from Dion? Oh yeah. I mean, everybody's canceling their spring games because they're afraid of, you know, giving everybody a look at who the transfer portal victims could be on the team because we see that kids playing second string snaps. Somebody call him up.

Cause he could be our first string or somebody got on the horn, you know, are people really doing that? How come you say something like that? When the number of times I say something like that, you look at me like, how can you be so naive? Am I wrong? You were not wrong.

I feel like that's like that movie. 18 again, we just had a role reversal. We just strange bodies. Now we got to change back again. We got an injury here on Lou.

Tears, not a gooey ass, but you know what I mean? Like, yeah, it happens. But you know who doesn't care about that? Dion. And you know, who's thinking about a way to make this stuff relevant. Dion, you know how in the, uh, in the NFL now spring games are kind of like preseason games, right? Where I guess teams are looking at the preseason games, who are going to be the cuts.

We can go get that guy. Um, and also what do you get out of it? You know, and so Dion is had an idea of what the NFL has done, which is two teams that play each other in a preseason game, scrimmage against each other all week. Now they do, you know, hit each other like fists a lot fights, right?

Yeah. Cause it's like a hundred degrees out and it's tough, but you're tired. You speak to coaches. They love these scrimmages.

They love it because it's live competition, but it's a scrimmage and they're getting a lot out of it. Dion wants to bring that to college ball before the spring game hit it. Spring game will be televised, uh, ESPN two with broadcast spring game on the 19th. We got to, uh, sell this thing out and pack this thing because the way the trend is going, you never know if this is going to be the last spring game. I don't believe in that.

I don't really want to condone that. I would like to play the spring. Um, actually I like to play against another team in the spring. That's what I'm trying to do right now to have a competitive plan against your own guys, kind of get monotonous and you really can't tell the level of your guys because you know, it's the same old, same old, everybody kind of know each other towards the end. I would like to, uh, style it like the pros.

I would like to practice against someone for a few days. Then, then you have the spring game and I think, uh, the public will be satisfied with that tremendously. I think it's a tremendous idea yet. I've told those personnel who should understand that it's a tremendous idea.

Tremendous idea. Yes. And spoken like a true Syracuse man, because did you see who responded to that on the spot?

I loved it. Your coach, my guy, Fran Brown, he's in said, I'll go there for three days. Now does Dion mean that then Syracuse would play Colorado in the spring game or each other? Yeah. Is that what he meant? That kind of, that's what I thought.

I was wondering, but I don't think that could, that would fly. No, I think what would end up happening is you scrimmage against Colorado to get Colorado ready for its spring game or Syracuse would play Colorado. Now we're talking. No, now we're talking.

You want to sell something out. You want to put that on TV, put that on the deuce or something now we're now we're talking because why would Syracuse go there for three days just to get Colorado ready for its spring game? Unless maybe Syracuse is getting ready for its spring game for their own.

And they go back to central New York and play their game. Why not? Why not? Right. Makes sense. And plus, plus it's Fran Brown is just like smart to say, we'll surf off of Dion's buzz. Oh yeah. That's a good buzz. If Dion's willing to parcel out some of his buzz, wouldn't you take it?

If you're Syracuse football? I would love that buzz. Right?

Love that buzz. Makes sense. Makes sense. I'll dig it. Seems like just the evolution of college football too.

And then the way professionalizing everything. Yeah. I love it. I think it's great.

It is great. Hopefully they can work something out. I don't know what the, I guess who cares what the NCAA rules are really, but do you need to see the sign from the governor's office? Just do it. If you want to do it, just do it. You want to reach out to that athletic association, Chris and say, is it okay? Will you just do it? Yeah. Just do it.

And if they come after you, just have your governor threaten us all. Are we sure that's a real sign? Because it just looks like it's been focused. It's posted border. No, that's a poster board guys. Look inside.

No, it's not. How dare you? It's janky.

How dare you? Good. You see the word janky. They went down to CVS. They got a nice thick board. The governor and the, and the attorney general went Thai shopping together.

Well, it's West Virginia yellow. I understand. You got a free bowl of soup. No, no, no. You got a free bowl of soup at the coffee shop.

Looks good on you though. Dude. I love the idea of Colorado and Dion just thinking outside the box. And in addition, he just hired Byron left, which to join the staff to do it. I thought Dan only hired hall of famers.

Guess what? Isn't Byron could be a college football hall. He might be out of Marshall. Remember the, the, uh, the famous moment where he was carried down the field.

He was awesome in college and also had some years moments in the pros too. And it's a great coach. You know that.

And it's just well done. Just keep adding to the staff and coming up with ideas. We're talking about them, which is part of the process too. I love it. Seth Rollins, our three. Yeah. Colorado also brought in a member, a Demata Peko from the Bengals. Yeah. He's now part of the D line coaching staff. Now I saw, um, Warren held a press conference. Did you see that?

Was it to announce his new title? I looked at the post off of Colorado's site. Okay.

Okay. Cause he was talking about Marshall, which, which, you know, Susie sent it to me like, Warren's talking about Marshall. Cause you know, we're talking about Marshall as much as we can and Warren about as much as we can. Um, I looked at the, the, uh, post from Colorado to see if they called him the past rush coordinator.

They did not. They just said, Warren, SAB coach said he was down with it. I'm trying to look up the coaching staff pass rush coordinator, the PRC of CU. We got to get it done for SAB.

Now the website still has him as senior quality control. He doesn't want that. I know he doesn't. I'm just telling you what it says. What's written on his forehead. You can't repeat that.

I'll just tell the story. Cause you know, Warren, Warren is kind of like, and he'll appreciate this. He's kind of like the Larry David of football. He just like attracts people who are just for some reason are angry and, and you know, he, he gives it out.

I understand. I know Warren understands he might invite occasionally an approach that he doesn't appreciate, but he, once upon a time told me a couple of things that happened to him in an airport and he's like, can you believe they came up to me and said that? And I'm like, no, I do not actually. And he said, sometimes I wonder, you know, it's written on my forehead. And I said, what? And he says, F with me. And he didn't use the letter F on my forehead. That's what he will say all the time. So first of all, you got to be really dumb to F with he does attract it. I've seen it.

I have seen it firsthand where I'm just like, Oh, don't, please don't. Don't know what are you doing? I've got the on 99 operator manual. Please borrow it. There is no, by the way, there's no such manual.

You just know at any rate that this might be just the latest example of somebody to effing with them. Dion does not. Dion understands.

Dion has the operation manage manual pass rush coordinator prime. Put that in your hopper too. ESPN too, when they televise the scrimmages, that would be great too. I'd be up for that. Seth Rollins in hour number three, right here on this March madness Thursday.