QB Carousel: Shaun Morash, One Giant Step Podcast Host/DA Show Producer

Step right up here. Don't be shy. The Super Bowl is over, but the NFL quarterback carousel is just beginning. You could ask yourself a question.

Do I feel lucky? What does the future hold for all 32 NFL teams at the QB position? Now I'm going to give you an opportunity to spin this wheel right here. Let's spin the wheel and find out which teams we hit today.

The New York Giants. Alrighty, so Hickey was swinging and missing like he was Adam Dunn with the White Sox. So we had to settle here for Mraz after we missed on seven or eight Giants guests. So Sean Mraz joins us, does a great job with, what is that podcast called? The One Giant Turn?

What is that podcast called? It's One Giant Step, Zach, and I gotta be honest, there is no bigger slight to my ego than Ryan Hickey texting me this morning for other Giants people's contacts, them not getting back to him, and then him coming back to ask me to come on regardless. What an unbelievable whip job by him.

And I knew you would like the line too, because I think last year when we had you on for this segment after Hickey back-to-back swung and missed in consecutive years, you go, how many guys did you swing and miss to have us all? There's no doubt, Zach, but the idea that he actually texted me to get the other guys' contacts. Oh, did he? Yes, he did.

Yes, he did. Could you imagine texting me and going, hey, I know all these people are better than you, more connected than you, so can I have their contacts? And they say no, and then saying, by the way, thanks for their contacts or lack thereof. Now, can we just have you on? That's basically the stunt Hickey pulled. Well, if you had the under on how long you would take into this conversation to mention I went to Spain over the weekend, Hickey texted me this morning and was saying, who should we go with the Giants? And I was sleeping, recovering from being jet lagged and all that, so there was no chance I was responding to that.

Yeah, and by the way, I was shocked when Hickey actually asked me, I really thought it was for him. Who goes to Barcelona for three or four days? Can you get a week out of it, Zachy?

Come on. You know, maybe that's in the next contract negotiations. We get five more off days from our company.

That would be nice or something like that. We don't need to start there. I was at a bachelor party, though, which is perfect. We flew in Wednesday night and we came back on Sunday night. It was the perfect amount of time. I'm very envious. Enjoy bachelor parties in Barcelona, because eventually when you have kids, life changes quick, Zachy.

Life changes quick. Yeah, where were you? At the Great Wolf Lodge?

How? A little indoor water park. Where else would you rather be in early March? Did they sell beer at this place? Of course they did. There's bars and restaurants and in the water park, yeah, you could crush high noons, you can crush beers, yeah.

Believe me, adults need the alcohol to get through it. And as much as I love you, we'll get to Daniel Jones in just a second and actually talk some giants. When you do this kind of job, you try to get away from the job when you are away, but you popped right into my head when I'm walking around Barcelona and I see a meat cone that they serve. The meat cone is the greatest invention ever, because I always see in the summer, you posting the pictures of you devouring the Mr. Softy cone.

Of course. I think you could move to Barcelona and we could open up a meat cone stand. What are we, is it your choice of meats? What are we doing there? A little like, carnitas, pork, what are we doing? Like, whatever you want.

I would describe... In the same thing as an ice cream cone? Like that kind of cone? No, it's like a paper cone.

Like, you know, when you were a kid you would drink some water. Oh, so you're just walking around instead of eating a fork and knife, you're just gnawing at meat with your hand? Yes. Oh, that is tremendous.

Spain and Barcelona pretty much is a human charcuterie board for everyone. That's the way that I would describe it. And it was awesome. I was a fat kid in a candy store. I love it.

Believe me, I am extremely jealous. I got hit with one floating band-aid, you got to eat meat cones. So, completely different trips. Don't worry. I'll bring you something nice to Bob's Bar when I have to pay off my bet that I lost. Hey, college football Saturday, the initial, you know, we'll be back.

It's not that far off as you think it is. Well, how about first little Ranger playoff run? Oh, that's a good point. We're trying not to jinx ourselves.

I got to get you something. Oh, yeah. You're trying not to jinx... You already said the team's winning the Stanley Cup.

I did that earlier in the year. Now we pull back and we try to forget what I said earlier and we don't jinx them. That's all. That's a lie. I saw you here in the newsroom before I went to Barcelona the day they got Patrick Kane. That's in the newsroom.

That's not publicly a big-headed buffoon. You were on the air saying they're the Stanley Cup. You were observing your spot at the Canyon of Heroes already. Did I say that on air? I can't even keep track of what I say anymore. Maybe it's a bad spot. It's most of the things.

And then when Mraz buries himself in a deep hole, I just poops his pants and then deviate all the attention away. I honestly don't remember saying that, but okay. Alrighty. So, Geno Smith, three years, $105 million. Carr, I know it goes out to 37 and a half.

I was reading a Florida article. It's basically three years for $100 million. Joe Shane has to be happy right now when he negotiates with Daniel Jones.

Well, yes and no, Zach. I mean, you're talking about an average of 37 and a half for Derek Carr. By the way, I probably like Carr more than most, so this is a slight on Carr.

But you've got to remember what's going to end up being the big factor here is Daniel Jones being seven years younger than at least both of those guys. So, if those guys at 32, when you probably know basically what they are as quarterbacks, and there's still that glimmer of hope that Daniel Jones, we still haven't even seen the best of him yet, you've got to think he's going to get north of that, so that could play into the Jones side of things where they start with a high asking price, 47, 48, we've seen some of these numbers, but in reality, they know the idea is to bring the median to right around 40 mil on an average per year. So, if we get a deal done by tomorrow, which I don't think will happen, you think that's going to be what, like a four or five-year deal at 40 per? Yeah, my guess is, and again, we say 40 per. That doesn't mean a cap hit of 40 per.

There's ways to move around the money. But probably on an average around that, I think you're talking about 195, dare I say 200 mil, obviously you add that up, then what is the guaranteed money, of course? Could this be 140 in guarantees? I think my guess would be the Giants are going to look for a way where there will be some dead cap, but obviously maybe an out after year two or three if it doesn't pan out, because remember, a lot of people forget Daniel Jones was banged up the two years prior, and you still have to see him stay healthy for back-to-back years. But yeah, ultimately, he's going to get a five-year deal on paper, and he is going to get close to 200 mil and start breaking it up.

That's around 40 a year on an average. So, I think he's going to be there, Zach, and I also think the reason Jones' camp is playing part in this, and you don't hear a lot of this right now, that Amazon money, the new TV money, whether it's next offseason or the offseason after, the salary cap is going to boom again. I mean, it went up, what, 10, 15 mil this year. There's talk of it going up another 30 or 40 mil within the next two years, and if it does that, well, Jones' camp has to be sitting there going, well, this is why we want more money now, because honestly, for mediocre quarterbacks, 40 mil is going to be the norm in two years. Does Jones have any leverage here?

He does, and he doesn't. It seems like the Giants have more leverage. The Giants definitely have more leverage because of the franchise tag, and the non-exclusive franchise tag, where it will cost them for a one-year deal, a $32 million cap bit, which seems like a lot of money, but if you actually look at the Giants' cap, which they still haven't restructured, a couple deals are going to restructure, they will still have money to do a couple other things, including get a wide receiver should they want one. They actually will not be totally strapped on cap beyond that, and ultimately go play on a prove-it year.

Nobody's going to give up two first-round picks for them in the non-exclusive deal. Where the Giants lost some leverage is Joe Shane and the immediacy of the end of the season, I think made a rookie GM mistake, or now a second-year GM mistake, in basically openly declaring, yeah, we're going to talk to Daniel's camp, Daniel's going to be a Giant, Daniel's going to be the quarterback, where he was less strong on that with Saquon, and I think if he was just speaking about everybody was a free agent saying, you know, we want them back, we want them back, that's something, but he went out of his way to make sure to declare that Daniel Jones is going to be the quarterback. If you declare that and sell it to the fan base, well, Daniel Jones' camp's got to be rubbing their hands together going, you just said we're going to be back, so now pay us. And that was the big shift that we heard from Shane, because I had him on, I think it was after the London trip, I think that did go into a bye week as well, and for a quarterback that's playing really well in Daniel Jones, they said how much they liked him, but they wouldn't guarantee anything for next year, so that was a big difference. But here's the part where I think Jones could have some leverage, is if they use the franchise tag on Daniel Jones, if Saquon gets the open market, I actually think he's going to be gone.

Honestly, maybe this is an unpopular opinion from Giant fan world, Zach, but that might be the saving grace of this whole thing if you're the Giants. Getting Daniel Jones on the franchise tag and not being able to use it on Saquon Barkley might prevent the Giants from a colossal mistake of tagging Saquon and then feeling a little public pressure to negotiate a longer-term deal. I mean, you're hearing today, right, the Titans are shopping Derrick Henry. We see the Tony Pollard tag going on in Dallas in their disaster of a contract that is Zeke. The Saints are over the cap of the signing Derrick Carr.

Does that mean Kamara is going to stick around? The 49ers only were able to afford Christian McCaffrey's contract because they have two quarterbacks on rookie deals. Time in and time out, it's proven, even the best of running backs in the NFL, they're not winning Super Bowls with these teams when you pay them big money. It's not the right way to allocate resources, and honestly, the Giants might feel pressure.

He sells a lot of jerseys. He was such a big part of the offense, but they would be better off with a running back by committee and using 10 million plus on a big-time wide receiver, a la DeAndre Hopkins, Chris Godwin, Mike Evans, insert whatever trade partner here. In a weird way, the Daniel Jones franchise tag could save the Giants from themselves when it comes to Saquon Barkley. That's why I wonder, because I do think there would be a lucrative market for Saquon if he could just stay healthy. I think people see the upside.

Yeah, for sure. I don't know how much Daniel Jones would get on the open market and how many teams would be interested. That's why I don't think they would franchise tag Saquon and then let Jones hit the open market, but I wonder if maybe that's the way that they should go. Yeah, see that's the only problem with that, Zach, is this is such a league where the desperation for quarterbacks are there and spin the freaking carousel.

I mean, you're hearing what the Eisen report today with could Brady come out and play for Miami. Phillip Rivers. Right, Phillip Rivers.

It's been the league for two years. And now, whatever you take your biases on, if you don't like Daniel Jones, you like Daniel Jones out of the equation. The guy just was good enough to win a playoff game in this conference 25 years old, 25 years old. I mean, we saw Kirk Cousins, you know, I know he throws for a lot of yards, get all that guaranteed money. There will be a suitor if it doesn't come to having to give up draft picks for Daniel Jones. That will pay him, in my opinion, $40 million, maybe even if it's on a three-year deal, if it's something like $120 million and they go something crazy guaranteed. Jones will have suitors.

I don't think the Giants can flirt with that. And if you do let Jones walk, because this is the tricky part with Jones, he showed last year he could be a good quarterback. I still don't know what the ceiling is, but I am intrigued to see him again because he was thrown into a bunch of no-names last year. If you let him go walk to a place and he goes in an advantageous situation, sure, day ball was really important, but he could, though, thrive somewhere else and he'll have better weapons somewhere else.

A place you used to love, Zach. Daniel Jones, a Carolina boy, grew up a Panther fan. Frank Reich hired there, who, you know, he would love to cut the line and not have to deal with developing a quarterback. That's a team to keep your eye on. If you don't tag Jones and you let him hit the open market, he might even feel more disrespected.

Why wouldn't he go back home and go play for a team he'd think he could immediately win a division for? You know, a smooth job out of you. I'll give you credit. You said the football team's name that I can't pronounce great two questions ago or two responses ago.

Now you're throwing a little Matt Rule Carolina Panthers jab there. A lot of Easter eggs, Zach. A lot of Easter eggs tonight.

Yeah, it just shows you, by the way, how creative Miraz was able to be on his vacation that he was at. Probably a lot of downtime. You're in the pool just wondering what your material's going to be for the next two months.

Zach, no question. I sit in the shower and come up with material. I'm already working on hockey nicknames for Canadian Bacon here.

Yeah, that's a bad sight. Nothing will top your Igor Shasturkin song that you did last night. Yeah, Igor Shasturkin, let me work it. Last thing I'll ask you, how does this play out? Jones on the tag, do they get a long-term deal done?

How does this shake on out? They will get a long-term deal done, but after the tag has already been issued. He will start opening day next year under a long-term deal. In the meantime, they will have wasted the tag, and I believe that Saquon Barkley is likely the opening day running back for the Buffalo Bills come September.

Oh, okay. I thought Henry could wind up in Buffalo. He could. Maybe Philadelphia, too.

That's the other thing. I know we didn't touch on this too much with Barkley. I still figure that Barkley ends up in Buffalo.

They could flirt with it, yada, yada, yada, but there is going to be a flooded market. Everybody's already talked about how deep this draft is with running backs, and you talk about now Henry and Barkley could both be available. Who knows if Zeke gets cut in Dallas? That's the one thing working against Saquon here, but I have a funny feeling we end up saying goodbye to Saquon as a result of all this madness.

And I'll give you a take maybe for tomorrow. How about a dark horse to land Derrick Henry, Cowboys, Pollard on the tag, then they cut Zeke and they go get Derrick Henry? I mean, this is what we're doing with their resources here?

This is what we're doing? If there's the big star available, you know Jerry Jones would be willing to do it. They don't care about winning in Dallas.

They just care about storylines. Go get a wide receiver. My goodness. You know what? I rub my hands together today, and as a fan of a team in the Cowboys division, if they want to go allocate resources to Derrick Henry. Is Odell on the Giants? No. No, not coming back. No, not coming back.

I think Marrow was probably turned off by the video of the airplane. I think we haven't talked about that. And by the way, even though your lasagna tweet to me was really offensive, I do have to ask you one food thing. To be fair, can I be honest? I also said that when I thought I was coming on with Hickey. So you were planning on ruining my vacation with some crappy tweets by you? I absolutely was.

It was a hit and run. I didn't think you were here. Okay, last thing I'll ask you though. I saw you like my Girl Scout cookie order. Did I do a, you know, what are your three favorite Girl Scout cookies?

Well, my three favorite, I love the newer one that came out last year, that caramel in the middle of the chocolate. I don't know if I saw those there. Is that with the brownie?

Yes. That's what I got. I got one of those, I think.

I didn't love your, I'm not a big lemon guy in general. You had that yellow pack. I forget what the heck they call them. Yeah, lemon ups.

Neither am I, but I had to order a certain amount for the shipping to go and I just took one of those. And what was, what's the, there's another caramel one that's very popular, but it wasn't available. The Samoa with the, yes.

That's what it was. Samoa's people love. To me, the top three, I think that new one with the caramel brownie, the Tagalong AKA peanut butter patty is just unbelievable. You put that in the fridge, a little snap. It's so, so freaking good.

And I'm going to say, honestly, it's still kind of a new player as well. The s'mores of a couple of years ago, I think is a phenomenal cookie. And honestly, I really, really, really view the Thin Mint a lot like Tom Brady.

Look, you won a lot of championships at some point hanging up. We're done with the Thin Mints. Oh, I was going to say the Thin Mints, I'm trying to think of like an overrated quarterback, but that to me is, I'm not a big fan of Thin Mints. You know what? The Thin Mints are probably a lot like Hickey, a very overrated producer, as the very reach for guests here late on a Monday. I mean, you had all week, Hickey, come up with something here. Wow. How about that? Shots being fired by Sean Mraz. You can, of course, hear him on the DA show.

It fills in on the fan. And what are you doing, like 9,000 shows now in Becky? Yeah, yeah, I'll be doing You Better, You Bet on Wednesday afternoon. One giant step, download it everywhere, the Odyssey app. Basically, I'm a utility guy for Odyssey. Find me everywhere. I'm Ben Zobrist. Good job, Joe McEwing. Thanks so much. See you later, guys.