Mike Florio, Pro Football Talk

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That's BetterHELP.com slash positive. Mike, appreciate you coming on. How you been?

Zach, what's up? Good to be with you. I know we've tried to do this once or twice in the past and never quite worked out.

I'm glad we made it happen tonight. Well, great to get you on. So tell me about the new book first, Father of Mine.

Well, you know, this is something that helped fill the void during the pandemic. I told Dan Patrick earlier today it was the Bermuda Triangle of pandemic, alcohol and tobacco that got me to sit down and start writing. And my dad actually was a bookie connected to the mob in the town I grew up in. So I picked up second hand some of the stories over the years, although there was no Omerta violated in the writing of this book.

Hopefully I don't have to worry about getting whacked. But, you know, I had and it's just weird where your inspirations come from. I had a weird dream one night a couple of years ago during the pandemic, and I thought about it for a day and I sat down and I started writing. And I write so much at PFT and it's stuff that by the next day is worthless if it has any value the day it's written. And I wanted something that maybe lasted a little longer. And it was a way to delve into some things that I I remembered and things I had heard about and just try to create a story that I think and I hope people will enjoy. And it's price to sell at four ninety nine for the e-book.

Hopefully it's not indicative of the quality. I just want as many people as possible to enjoy it. Do we get the audio book version as well?

Because that's very popular these days. Well, you know, it's funny. I didn't do the audio of Playmakers, which was my nonfiction book that came out a year ago. I think I'm going to try this. I'm probably going to regret it because it's a long book. And it's a lot to have to like read and read accurately and get it right and have the sound in a specific range is a lot of technical crap you got to do. But I'm going to give it a try.

We'll see how it goes. So this is like a different venture, it feels like for you. It gives you a little bit more of the personal side of Mike Flory is what you're saying. Well, one thing that I learned again, this is all during the pandemic. I've always been interested in longer form writing and I screwed around with it years ago, but pandemic created opportunity to just sit around and do nothing.

And you filled the void somehow. And I, I realized that I have the capacity to create a lot of written content. I don't know if it's any good, but I can make a lot of it. So, you know, it's it's kind of like, you know, budget pizza, maybe, but whatever. I can make a lot of it. And, you know, I'm going to have one of these a year, at least for the next seven or eight years that we make available.

And we'll just see how it goes. What is the Mike Florio mob voice sound like? Gabba ghoul. Gabba ghoul. Yeah.

Some may say gabba ghoul if we're getting really specific. Mike Florio from Pro Football Talk here with us. So the big news of the day is Lamar Jackson gets the non-exclusive franchise tag slapped on him. And then all of a sudden, the Panthers, the Falcons, the commanders, the Raiders, the Dolphins don't have any interest. It seems like collusion to me because of the Watson deal with the Browns. Am I right on that?

Absolutely. The accusation has already been made of collusion as it relates to the Ravens refusal to give Lamar Jackson the same contract as Deshaun Watson, who got it last year despite having 20 plus civil lawsuits for sexual misconduct during massage therapy sessions hanging over him at the time. He's still got a five year fully guaranteed contract from the Browns. And now the minute that the Ravens apply the non-exclusive franchise tag, making it clear that by next week and nobody had to make a decision today.

Yeah. They can't start today. But all of a sudden it's Falcons leaked to ESPN, Panthers leaked to the athletic and then ultimately Dolphins leaked to ESPN. They're not looking for quarterbacks. Josina Anderson of CBS Sports just reported the other day the Dolphins are going to explore all options.

And my guess is they will. All options not named Lamar Jackson. So if you never start down the path of talking to him, you never hear him say, I want a fully guaranteed contract.

You never ignore that request. So I guess it's harder to prove collusion. I don't know. I think they're making it easier, Zach, to prove collusion, because why in the world would all these teams all of a sudden make it known in the hours after this happens that they're not interested in adding a quarterback. They're not interested in Lamar Jackson. It stinks. It really does. And it's another reason why it needs an agent, because this is where an agent would swoop in and start pestering those general managers repeatedly and making them interested in Lamar Jackson, finding a way to get something happening without an agent.

There's no way to change this status quo. What do you think ends up happening? Because we know that all it takes is one owner to break from the pack and operate what's in the best interest of their team. You got to think that will eventually come in that then puts the pressure on the Ravens to match the deal or not. Zach, I thought it was odd when Ron Rivera, the coach of the commanders, sat with us at the Super Bowl on PFT Live and he said they're not looking for a veteran starter.

Sam Howell is QB one. He has since amended that to say he's not necessarily the starter, but he's QB one for the offseason program. And I got to thinking after they hired the enemy, wouldn't it be something if they were just laying in the weeds and they were waiting to change that statement dramatically? Because at the time it was made, surely the Ravens would never let Lamar Jackson have an opportunity to hit the market as a franchise tag player, even if two first round picks are required to get him. And wouldn't it be something if Daniel Snyder on his way out the door with a five year fully guaranteed contract is going to tie the hands of Jess Bezos or someone along those lines and also gives a middle finger to the NFL at a time when the NFL doesn't want fully guaranteed contract. There's just something about that that is intriguing to me because it's a check that Daniel Snyder will write, but never have to cash in. Yeah, the money will kind of come out of the sale of the team, but when you're talking about $7 billion, I mean, it's couch cushion money to have Lamar Jackson signed for the next five years in a salary capped environment. So I'm watching the commanders and curiously, there's yet to been any report that the commanders are out on Lamar Jackson.

So I think they're one to really keep an eye on. Well, here's the thing that I'll say to that is that Dan Snyder is like last ditch effort to maybe I know, right? No one likes Dan Snyder. But if they then start winning games, fan base goes, OK, I'm fine with that.

There's not that much pressure from the fans to get Dan Snyder out. Well, or or if you are selling, you leave as a hero, you've delivered Lamar Jackson, you've taken him from the other team in your area while he's still in his prime and you bring him to your team and all of a sudden your team is relevant. Your team is a contender. Your team can be good after you're gone. And, you know, if the team does get better after Dan Snyder is gone because it can't get much worse after he's gone, at least he can say it's not because of all the other changes that were made. It was because of me getting Lamar Jackson on my way out the door.

So there's something about that one that is very appealing to me. And until we hear that the commanders are the latest team not interested in Lamar Jackson, I am going to keep an eye on them just because it would make too much sense if it happened. Mike Florio here with us. Do you think any other teams are going to get involved in the Rogers sweepstakes?

This is going to be by the end of the weekend. He'll be a member of the Jets. Well, look, Zach, anytime that there's a team that's the betting favorite as far as the sports books are concerned, I assume they know more than the rest of us.

It's kind of their reason for existing to know more than the rest of us. And the last time I checked Aaron Rodgers was the favorite to go to the Raiders. I don't see it. I don't buy it. I don't think Josh McDaniels and Aaron Rodgers will get along.

I would love it for our purposes. I'd love the Jets a little bit more because I just think that's a disaster waiting to happen, frankly, by the time it's all said and done. But the Raiders are the only other team I think that are out there. And if there's a team that he wants to go to in the NFC and the Packers are taking the same position they did with Brett Favre 15 years ago, we're not going to trade you to an NFC team.

We want to steer you out of the conference. I'd tell Aaron Rodgers just retire now and retire later, like Farb and put them in a spot where they they have no choice but to send you where you want to go. I don't know that the Jets would be his first choice. I don't know what would be a good first choice for him right now, because I don't know what his real objective is at this point. And I don't know how thrilled he is about going somewhere else and having to learn new offense, new coaching staff, new players, new everything. And there'll be unprecedented pressure on him to be all in for the offseason program, something he's shown in recent years. He's not interested in doing. Does it help the Hackett's there with the Jets now?

I think it definitely helps. And I think that Hackett was hired by the Broncos last year because the Broncos thought they were getting Aaron Rodgers. And it was 52 weeks ago today that we had the bang bang. Rodgers is staying in Green Bay Broncos pivot to Russell Wilson afternoon. And I wrote earlier in the day, Zach, that, you know, Aaron Rodgers says he's not holding the Packers hostage. After today, he's teetering toward holding the Packers hostage territory. And I think that implied within the news that he's meeting with the Jets very well may be the reality that he's not coming back to the Packers unless he he wanted to to do a little due diligence on other options before he decides whether to play for the Packers. But I think the sense out there is real that the Packers are ready to move on.

I just think they're concerned if they if they push too hard. Rodgers may go the other way on them. Mike Florio here with us from Pro Football Talk has a new book out coming out soon.

Father of mine. When it comes to Jordan Love, I know Brian Gudekun thinks he's ready. He's made that clear. What do you think the expectations would be for the Packers next year? If, in fact, you do have Jordan Love under center, which that seems the way that we're trending towards. Well, what are the expectations that they have? Aaron Rodgers, are they a team that we would view as a potential division winner in the NFC North, a potential number one seed like they were in 2021 and 2020?

I don't know. I don't know where they are right now. They got some work to do to get under the salary cap. They got some good young players who are ascending at the receiver position. The defense is kind of a mess right now. Was it nearly as good last year as it was supposed to be? So I think the real question is, what's the difference between the expectation of the expectations with Rodgers and with Love?

And maybe they're not all that different. And maybe there's a sense of Arrow is pointing up instead of flat or down with Rodgers toward the flat or down part of his career. And I thought it was important last week when Brian Gudekunst was asked about quarterback situation, he didn't say we want Aaron Rodgers. We'll do everything we can to keep Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers, Rodgers, Rodgers.

He said Jordan Love's absolutely ready to be the starter. I think that kind of tells us everything we need to know from Green Bay's perspective. Should the Vikings or Lions, should they go out there and pursue the services of Lamar Jackson, in your opinion? Well, see, the problem is for both teams, the quarterbacks they have are just good enough.

And the question is whether just good enough is good enough for the two organizations. For the Vikings, just good enough has been good enough, in my opinion, for a very long time. Let's be in the conversation for playoff berths. Let's get to the postseason once every two, once every three years. Let's be relevant at Christmas time when the little boys and girls of Minnesota are making out their lists and they want Vikings jerseys, not Timberwolves jerseys or Twins jerseys.

I mean, there's relevance and value to that. I don't think the Vikings could pull it off. Frankly, you're talking about, number one, unloading a fully guaranteed Kirk Cousins contract somehow, bringing on Lamar Jackson on his terms.

And then, number one, making Justin Jefferson happy contractually and also coming up with a way for the offense to work where Justin Jefferson's money is justified by his production. So I'm fascinated by both possibilities, but I think Jared Goff's done enough to stick around with the Lions. And I think Kirk Cousins has done enough for the Vikings to keep waiting for an opportunity not to go. Because I think Lamar Jackson's just on the other side of the best quarterbacks in the NFL right now. I think the Vikings, if they were going to make a move, it would have to be into upper echelon, clear cut franchise quarterback. It seems like if those teams were going to add a quarterback, the Lions or the Vikings, it would be so in the draft for a developmental kind of project like Anthony Richardson, where the upside's there, but probably won't see the field for another year or two.

It could be like 2017 where there wasn't really a clear sense of who the top guy was. And it was Andy Reid and Sean Payton who really loved Patrick Mahomes and kept their mouths shut. And Reid made his move at a time when he had a quarterback who was just good enough to get him to the playoffs, but not good enough, frankly, in all due respect, to get him to a Super Bowl. That's when he made his move and it worked out with Patrick Mahomes.

So you could be onto something there. And again, if they're doing it right, they're not telling anybody about it, because if they tell enough people about it, then all the people in the media who follow the draft start putting that guy in as one of the top guys. I think the teams that fall in love with specific players like it murky. How are we talking about, Mike Florio, Daniel Jones, a few years from now after he signed this four-year, $160 million contract, and you get all the clauses that you get into the contract, like you pointed out with Carr last year. Who knows what it actually is with this contract, but how do you think we're talking about him a few years from now, Jones? And I'm glad you pointed that out, because the initial headlines are always different from the reality of the deal, and agents do that because they use the initial headline to recruit new clients they forget about, and they don't care about the headline that tells the real facts of the contract. But this gives Daniel Jones an opportunity to continue to develop under Brian Dabel.

That's the key. There's no guarantee Daniel Jones would have been as good or better with someone else next year if he'd left. There's no guarantee that he would have been as good without Saquon Barkley. I think it was important for him to get the deal done so they could apply the franchise tag to Saquon and keep him around. And now the goal will be, at least should be, upgrade the receiver position to give Daniel Jones some targets. You know, we had this question on PFT Live yesterday morning, would you rather have Daniel Jones or Kirk Cousins?

I'm surprised Cousins won in a mini landslide. I think part of the reason is people were down on Jones because he wanted $45 million or more per year, whatever the number was. But, you know, Daniel Jones fits better with what the best quarterbacks in the NFL currently do, and that is you have the ability to run the play that's called.

You have the ability to make chicken salad when the play that's called goes to hell because you've got the mobility to improvise. And he did well without great receivers. You give him a great receiver or two and all of a sudden maybe he's a much better quarterback.

Where's DeAndre Hopkins, in your opinion, playing football next year? What are a few destinations that you're hearing, Mike Florio? Well, you know, there's a lot of steam about the Cowboys and they've been talking about going out and making a splash. Part of that is just Jerry Jones, the carnival barker who likes to create as much excitement as he can for his team.

Not that he has to try very hard to do it. There's been trauma. Dallas Cowboys. That's what they are. That's right. That's right.

And again, you don't have to try very hard. I mean, look how long it's been since they've been to an M.C. championship. And there's still the biggest draw in the NFL by far.

I think the Browns, a reunion with Deshaun Watson is intriguing. The thing to watch it with DeAndre Hopkins, he had that six game suspension last year for PEDs. And he's facing a longer suspension if he does whatever it was he did that got him in trouble the last time.

He's getting a little bit older. You've got to wonder when the wheels are going to come off or if he's going to try to do something. And again, I know he said that he didn't do anything on purpose, but the bottom line is it's strict liability. It was in his system. If he wants to use some pharmaceutical enhancement to extend his prime, he's got to be concerned about getting caught again.

So those are just factors to keep an eye on. Big name was one of the best receivers in the NFL at one point. But, you know, for all these guys, father, except for Tom Brady, Father Time is undefeated. When it comes to Derrick Henry, final year on his contract, Jacobs on a tag now, Saquon on a tag now. I know everyone's going to throw up Buffalo and the Eagles. Could you see the Cowboys actually getting involved with Henry? I know Pollard's on the tag, but maybe they get rid of Zeke and bring in Derrick Henry.

Well, that would be fascinating if it happened. But look, anybody that's going to trade for Derrick Henry has got to be ready to pay him. I really think even though it hasn't come out this way, when you look at the facts, Derrick Henry last year, his contract, ten and a half million. My guess is he wants a raise or long term security and the Titans aren't comfortable giving it to him because for running back, you never know when they're going to hit the wall.

You never know when the wheels are going to come off. And it's not an indictment of the player. It's a reality of the position. So if he wants more than they're comfortable giving him and you look at Rand Cartham, the new GM, he comes from San Francisco where they do revolving door, not one workhorse running back. I think that that there will be an opportunity. I don't know about the Cowboys.

I'm fascinated by the bills of the Eagles. I'm intrigued by the Bengals if they would move on from Joe Mixon. But again, they're trying to go cheaper at the position because they have other needs. But there'll be somebody out there that wants Derrick Henry and wants to give him a shot. When when he is in a position to get that that first couple of steps, get that head of steam.

That guy's Jim Brown. And I've seen no signs to believe that he's at the end of the career. I think he may have a couple of good years left in him.

Two more for Mike Flora before we let you run. You mentioned the forty niners. Can they get involved here with Lamar Jackson? They don't have a first round pick this year, but they do get their first round pick back starting in next year's draft. And then the year after that, could we see maybe the forty niners go get that missing piece and bring in Lamar? The thing to remember about any of these teams that do not have their original first round pick for the 2023 draft. Technically, they can't talk to Lamar Jackson until after this draft comes and goes. And then they have two consecutive first round picks.

You have to have your original first round picks in the next two drafts to talk to him or sign into an office sheet. Now, they could try to work out a trade with the Ravens. They could do that. I just I don't think that that they'd be ready to make that kind of a move again two years after what they did to get Trey Lance. This is Trey Lance or Brock Purdy with an emergency option that they could maybe try to activate by way of a veteran mid-level guy. I still think that Tom Brady would be a possibility because he's wanted to go there the past couple of years, although his family situation complicates having him in San Francisco when his kids are on the East Coast. But he wanted to go there in 2022. I think something went on last year and they said no thanks again. But with Purdy and Lance, they better have a plan.

I just think it's too hard to justify making another big move with draft capital when you've just done it with Trey Lance two years ago. And then one last thing for you, Mike Florio, from Pro Football Talk. I want you to answer our poll question today. If the Jets land Aaron Rodgers, what are your expectations for them right now?

Here are the four choices. Be in the Super Bowl. Win the AFC East. Be a wildcard team or miss the playoffs.

Wildcard team, I would say. I think they'd make it in the AFC. But remember, with Favre, they were the number one seed at one point.

And then he had that partially-toined biceps 10 and the wheels came off. And that year what happened was the guy they threw overboard for Favre, Chad Pennington, went to Miami. They won the division. That was the Tom Brady ACO year. And Chad Pennington was the comeback player of the year. So whoever gets thrown overboard by the Jets, watch out.

Maybe that's the team that wins the AFC East or ends up in the playoffs. Alright, one more time before we let you run. Tell people how they can get on in on your new book, Father of Mine. Pre-order anywhere you get e-books. $4.99, the low, low price. There'll be a paperback, likely be an audio version. But you can lock in right now at the low, low cost of $4.99.

You will get your money's worth when you consider right now you can't buy anything for $4.99. Pro Football Talk, best website there is out there covering the NFL. He is Mike Florio, the man behind all the magic at PFT. We appreciate the time as always, Mike. Thanks, Zach. See you, pal. Stream on Hulu.