Latest / Banter with the Boys / Lamar & Rodgers - Episode 5

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Lamar & Rodgers - Episode 5 · Banter with the Boys

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You're listening to Bantor with the Boys, talking all things sports.
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From betting and brawls, Superball to Stanley Cup Finals.
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Get laced up.
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It's time for Bantor with the Boys.
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What's up everybody?
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Welcome back to Bantor with the Boys.
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Today we have a special episode as we have some quarterback drama going on in the NFL.
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But before we get to the meat and potatoes of the episode here, let's get everybody in.
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I'm joined by two fine gentlemen today.
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First in front of me I have Cole.
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How you doing?
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How you feeling?
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Good, good.
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I'm happy for another episode here.
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It's been great.
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It's my third episode now.
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So I'm excited.
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I want to keep this thing rolling.
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Happy to talk about the quarterbacks, but also if you aren't yet, please like, follow,
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subscribe, anything you can keep this thing going.
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We've got to keep the lights on over here.
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Back to you, Tyler.
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I cannot agree more, Cole.
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We need all the support we can get.
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We're trying to kick this thing off and get a good following.
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So we need you guys.
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We need you.
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Smelty, talking some quarterbacks today, boss.
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I'm sure you're happy to have this conversation as a Vikings fan, but how you doing, man?
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Oh, I'm doing great.
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I'm really excited to have this conversation.
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It's about time some things change in the NFC North.
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Whether or not my Vikings are the ones that are going to be leading the division at the
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end of the season, I guess we'll find out because I think it's going to be the Lions.
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But yeah, I'm really excited to talk about your buddy.
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Former buddy.
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Former buddy.
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Oh, so shh.
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No, I'm kidding.
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I'm kidding.
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But we'll get into that later.
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First, we're going to start off with a quarterback in the AFC East.
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We all know him, the unanimous MVP just a couple seasons ago, Lamar Jackson.
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What the hell is going on, boys?
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We have him signing, or not signing, but getting the exclusive right franchise tag.
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They can't seem to come up with an agreement in Baltimore.
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A lot of drama from this.
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We'll start with you, Cole.
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Yeah, I mean, with Lamar, it's interesting too, because I mean, as the Ravens, you want
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to lock him down.
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But also, looking around the NFL, there's not too many other teams that fit him, that
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could really take him on and excel with him at the helm.
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There's a lot, like maybe the Falcons, they might have the best fit for him.
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But other than that, there's not a whole lot of room for him to move around.
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I mean, he's kind of a Raven through and through here.
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They just got to, they got to get to something.
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Well, and the non-exclusive thing is pretty rare, I feel like.
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You don't see that very often.
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And I believe if he does get a deal, there's no way that the Ravens don't match it.
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So if I'm the Ravens, my thought is like, okay, this team made an offer.
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If they can make it happen, why can't we make it happen to keep our guy here?
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I do believe they really want him there.
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But when it came out, what, two months ago, that they were, what, over 100 million apart?
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That's not like, I mean, that's not like 20 bucks for me, right?
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Like, so I don't know.
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That's a lot of money.
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That's almost too far apart.
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I mean, it's kind of like the guys on that, on that pawn show.
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You know what I mean?
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Like they're just so far apart.
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Like, I don't think we can make a deal here, buddy.
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Yeah, I'm in agreement with you there.
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It's just wild to me that there hasn't been any traction on him getting any sort of looks
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or even a deal.
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I mean, immediately since when he, that he got tagged, it was like within two hours,
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there was like six or seven quarterback needy teams came out and said they're not interested.
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Like what am I missing here?
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It's Lamar Jackson, unanimous MVP a couple of seasons ago.
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He's still in the, I would say early stages of his prime.
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He's developed as a passer.
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We all know what he can do running the ball.
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But I mean, I would say any team that right now is in need of a quarterback, he would
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be a fit.
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I mean, the Falcons might make the most sense with the Artie Smith run happy kind of offense,
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but you're telling me that he wouldn't make the Raiders better than Jimmy Garoppolo?
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It's arguable though, right, because obviously we have maybe him not being the right fit
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there.
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But I think, I guess the counterargument to my own argument would be that teams could
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utilize that offense anywhere, right?
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Like the coaches are smart enough, offensive coordinators are smart enough.
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They can make this work.
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But then again, is he going around offering the same, asking the same from everybody else?
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That's big number.
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I mean, is it that much to pay for that quarterback?
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It might be too much for him.
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That's the thing though, it's like, I don't think those discussions are even taking place
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because all of these teams are saying that they're out of the running.
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They're not even going to have those discussions.
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So to my knowledge, outside of the Ravens, there has been zero discussions about him
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signing anywhere, which to me just is mind-boggling.
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I mean, this is unarguably, undoubtedly, in my opinion, a top seven quarterback in the
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NFL.
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I don't think a lot of people would disagree with that.
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And for him to not have any potential suitors outside of the Ravens, like, I just, I don't
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know.
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It's crazy to me that we're still even having this discussion.
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Yeah, no, I don't understand what teams are scared of.
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Do they not have the money, which I think is probably a factor for a lot of teams.
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Are they scared of the longevity?
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Are they scared of signing him to a longer deal because he's getting outside the pocket
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and using his legs to make plays so much that is an injury inevitable?
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I mean, so looking at this one thing here that got right in front of me, this is from
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Hard Rock Sportsbook.
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They say a line here that says, Lamar isn't a running quarterback.
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He's a great quarterback who can run.
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A lot of us are like, ah, I don't know about that.
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But then they kind of follow it up saying, quarterbacks in NFL history with a 96 plus
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passer rating and 100 plus passing touchdowns in their first 61 starts.
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Those are Patrick Mahomes, Dan Marino, Aaron Rodgers, Deshaun Watson, Lamar Jackson.
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So it's interesting to me.
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If he's just a running quarterback, where's Michael Vick on that list?
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Yeah, and I mean, as far as Lamar Jackson, nothing gets me more excited than watching
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him in the game.
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I watched him play the Bills, must be four years ago now, juking out Matt Milano, making
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him look silly.
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He's ecstatic to watch.
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But also, he came into the draft, everybody's saying he's a running back.
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He's a running back.
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My favorite Lamar memory, that first game, throwing what was it, four touchdowns?
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And 400 yards.
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In the air, and then after the press conference, they go, you had a great game.
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He goes, I'm a running back.
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Lamar needs to be a starter somewhere and he deserves the spot.
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If the Ravens aren't going to step up, somebody needs to.
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That's the thing.
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To have that kind of stat line there, Smelty, and never have a solidified number one receiver.
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Sammy Watkins was probably the best receiver he's had from a single season perspective
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in his career.
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Now, he has Mark Andrews.
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I'm not including the tight end in that because Mark Andrews is, I don't know, I would say
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a top 10 receiving threat in the NFL.
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He's obviously a top 10 tight end, but receiving threat as a whole.
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So that obviously helps.
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But I don't know, even with his running prowess, the last couple of years, he's shown he's
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avoiding contact.
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He's never going to be one to lower his shoulder in India.
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He slides, he gets down in a way that he doesn't absorb a lot of contact for a running quarterback.
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Obviously he's going to absorb more than your Aaron Rodgers, your more prototypical pocket
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passer, but he's good at avoiding contact.
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The Ravens did great by picking up J.K.
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Dobbins.
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He's taken a lot of that hit.
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He's taken all that off of them.
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If you're the Ravens, you're thinking, we have somebody who can take all this collision.
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Lamar is going to be more open.
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He can run more out of bounds.
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He can slide more.
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He'll have more versatility out there.
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Give him a big target like you're saying and let the guy run away with it.
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The thing about J.K.
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Dobbins is, and that's funny because I was actually going to bring him up because he
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kind of fits the bill.
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J.K.
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Dobbins, receiver Rashad Bateman, and then Lamar last year, they got to stay healthy.
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He can't do it on his own, and the thing is, is he's kind of been starting to do it on
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his own.
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I mean, it's been since 2020 that he had over a thousand yards rushing.
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He still hit over 700 the last two seasons, which is obviously ridiculous for a quarterback,
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but I just feel like he's doing it all by himself right now because of other injuries
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to other players.
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We need J.K. to stay on the field.
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He played eight games last year.
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We need Rashad Bateman to stay on the field, who's allegedly his number one receiver and
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as a Gopher fan, I'd really like to agree that he's his number one receiver, but right
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now Rashad Bateman's probably more like a number two receiver.
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He's missing Hollywood.
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So I don't know what you got.
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I mean, even with Hollywood, Hollywood never excelled.
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And granted, the offense wasn't built for Hollywood to excel, right?
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He's not that type of receiver that's going to excel in that offense, but even the thing
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with J.K.
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Dobbins missing eight games last year, that's after missing his entire year, rookie year,
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with a torn ACL.
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So you're right.
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I mean, his talent that he does have around him, as little talent as he has, they have
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to stay healthy for him to have any sort of success because at the end of the day, I mean,
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you look at any great quarterback, even in the current landscape of the NFL, every single
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quarterback that's a top tier quarterback, maybe outside of Rogers this last year, has
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a solidified one, if not even two receiving throw on the outside.
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And especially with Hollywood.
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Hollywood was a big name coming out of the draft, coming out of college.
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He caught a couple of deep balls and that big name built.
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He's not a number one.
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He's a number two, a great slot receiver.
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And with J.K., that's true.
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He only played eight games this year.
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And on top of that, the majority of those games he played with Huntley.
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He wasn't playing with Lamar.
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Most of the games last year were with Huntley and Dobbins.
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And in Lamar's case, that offense was completely different with Huntley at the house.
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We know that Lamar is a focal point of this team.
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And I would have loved to see J.K. and Lamar on the field together just to truly see what
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they have.
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But this all kind of leads to my next point I want to bring up and get your guys' opinion
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on is do you think the Ravens are doing this so another team sets the price?
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So they don't have to have those negotiations because they're not going anywhere.
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So if a team like Atlanta does come in and say, hey, five years, 250 million, 175 guaranteed,
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I mean, that's in my opinion, I would say that's a fair deal for Lamar with his injury
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past this last year or two, not all fully guaranteed.
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But in my opinion, that's what I think the Ravens are doing.
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They're waiting for another team to set the price.
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And then if it's astronomical, they'll let them walk.
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If they match it, they match it.
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Yeah.
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And I'll touch on that in just one second.
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I also want to bring up the point real quick that Lamar, I mean, everybody in the NFL,
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the commentators, everybody was saying if Lamar comes back, gets ready for playoffs,
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that team has a chance to win the Super Bowl, right?
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This is a difference, difference maker on the field and everybody sees that.
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And on the point of that, I think that has to be logical, right?
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They want to pay less.
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I don't think at the end of the day, no matter what, even if other teams aren't throwing
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up numbers or are just throwing up crazy numbers, they want to retain Lamar.
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I think at the end of the day, he stays a Raven, but it's just for how much are they
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going to keep Lamar happy for the long term?
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What's the long term effect of this?
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Yeah, and I mean, like, so if I'm Lamar, I'm looking at the division a little bit.
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The Steelers are not that strong right now.
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They're, I'd say they're trending, trending up.
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Bengals are a solid team, but they're losing a lot of defensive pieces and the Browns are
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doing Brown stuff.
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So I don't think they're going to be a factor per se this season.
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So if I'm Lamar, I'm like, well, I'm okay taking that franchise tag because we'll see
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if we can run it again, see what happens.
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And then is he, is he an unrestricted free agent the next season?
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Yeah.
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So no, he's not.
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They could franchise him again, but that cap hit would be astronomical.
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How many times can you franchise a player two years in a row?
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Yeah.
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At all or just in a row?
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That I'm not a hundred percent sure of.
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I believe it's two years in a row.
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Okay.
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Well, we'll double check that.
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But I mean, technically I think you can franchise them a third year, but the cap hit is so
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astronomical that it's just not feasible.
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But I'm not a hundred percent certain on that, to be honest.
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And like the player has the option to not sign that franchise tag.
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So I think if they tried to franchise tag him a second time, I think maybe he just wouldn't
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sign it.
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But who's going to pick them up then?
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Because somebody's got to make a chance, make a run now.
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Cause I think you're hitting it.
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I mean, I don't think they want to really negotiate with them right now.
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I think they are waiting for somebody to set the price and like somebody like Atlanta could
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spend big, but for some reason they're just not.
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I don't think Lamar makes Atlanta a playoff team though.
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I think they still have more pieces and maybe that's why they know that.
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And maybe they're just not going for it right now.
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Yeah.
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I, I kind of disagree with you on if I think Lamar will actually sign the tag this year.
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Well, this year I think he does.
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That's what I don't necessarily agree with.
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Oh, you think maybe he doesn't sign it?
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I think so.
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This is a point I wanted to bring up after this, but I think with Lamar and his mom
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representing him and not having an agent is hurting him in this situation.
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He doesn't have somebody that's out there marketing him and they can't come to an agreement.
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And if you're over a hundred million dollars off, you got to make a change here at some
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point.
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So to the point of him, I don't know if he'd sign it.
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If he doesn't sign, he sits out a year.
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He can't play this year unless if he signs and comes back and plays for the Ravens, but
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then he's an unrestricted free agent last next year and he can go wherever he pleases.
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It's a huge bet on yourself, but he's still young and he could take that year off and
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I think still come back and have a solidified career.
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So he tweeted this out three days ago and like, whatever, it's Twitter, right?
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Like, I don't know, you know, we can take this with a grain of salt, but he said, 133,
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three years fully guaranteed, but I need an agent question mark.
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So like, did somebody actually try to make a deal?
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And now they're just like sketched with him not having an agent at this point?
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No.
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So where that all comes from is there was reports that was leaked that the Ravens offered
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him a 200 million dollar deal last year and there's a negotiating piece of that.
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So then Lamar responded with that, which is assumed to be that's what he wanted, which
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was the 133 million guaranteed over the three years or whatever it was.
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And that's him kind of advocating on himself like, hey, this is what I think I'm worth.
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This is what I'm requesting.
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This is me showing I don't need an agent to get this deal done.
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So I think that was him kind of just slapping everybody else in the face saying, believe
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what you want to believe that report that there was came out that of the deal, the 200
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million or whatever it was, that's released by one of two teams, Lamar's team or the Baltimore's
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team.
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Which play, which team does it make look worse?
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Lamar.
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So that's it's apply that from the Ravens releasing that saying, Hey, the offers on
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the table, this is a bunch of money.
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We're willing to give them this.
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And then it kind of backs Lamar into a corner of not having to defend himself.
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And you know what I mean?
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Getting that.
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So it's, it's a point that I wanted to bring up is, you know, is not having an agent hurting
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him.
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And so who is the starting quarterback for the Falcons right now?
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That would be Desmond Ritter.
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Yeah.
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And they just released Marcus Mariota.
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Correct.
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And he just signed somewhere.
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I can't remember where.
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And I mean, look at Marcus Mariota, maybe the close to the only person that might fit
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the Lamar build.
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I mean, if you're the Falcons, you got to be thinking, why not go Lamar?
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Why not bank on it?
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Why not spend some money?
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If you have to, you know, we talked about how the pay gap is kind of a joke anyway,
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might as well, you know, do it restructure, whatever you may take.
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Why not pay Lamar Jackson?
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Yeah, I agree.
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I think the Falcons is a great fit for him.
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You get him with Artie Smith, who was a run first head coach who can, I think would utilize
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his talents and his, his tools to the best of his capability.
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He has young weapons with Kyle Pitts and Drake London on the outside.
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They have a second year running back in Tyler Algier and Cordell Patterson.
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So I think Lamar to the Falcons would not put them into perennial playoff.
16:21
Well, I mean, with the NFC South as it is right now, you can make an argument that would
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put them as the best team in the South.
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I don't think it, it propels them to a Super Bowl contender yet, but I think in the next
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three to four years, I mean, even venture to say two to four years, you know, they're
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signing pieces, they signed Jesse Bates, biggest, arguably the biggest defensive name in the
16:40
free agency this year.
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So I think Lamar would be a perfect fit in Atlanta.
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The crazy thing is, I mean, we go back and forth, we're talking about is Lamar, you know,
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is it is like, are they under utilizing him or not even on utilizing, but are they under
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selling what he's actually worth?
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Right?
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Is he worth more?
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And if the Falcons, I mean, we just, you just joked about it, but the first year he goes
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to the Falcons, they're a playoff contender this year.
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Right?
17:05
So he's a guy who would go be a playoff contender at the Falcons.
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He would arguably win.
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He's in, you know, Super Bowl contention with the Ravens.
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So I mean, whoever takes him, why not pay this guy?
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Just get him paid, get him happy and get him out there on the field.
17:21
I mean, I have something ridiculous.
17:24
Do you think, I kind of think this is ridiculous as it's going through my mind.
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Do you think the Cowboys trade away Dak Prescott and try to go after Lamar?
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I mean, that's kind of like a, I don't know if it's a Jerry Jones thing to do, but man,
17:40
it would be an aggressive move.
17:42
No, I don't.
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I don't.
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The Cowboys have shown nothing but commitment to Dak the last couple of years stemming since
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that foot injury.
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They signed him to an extension.
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I don't think the Cowboys could find a good enough trade partner for Dak to get enough
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back to get rid of him and then sign Lamar.
18:01
Because you're signing Lamar at the same, if not more money than Dak.
18:05
And I guess it would just depend on what you could get back for him.
18:09
Fair enough.
18:10
I guess I'm also throw at you.
18:12
Why wouldn't, so the commanders, Raiders and Panthers are three teams that came out right
18:16
away.
18:17
They were like, no way, Jose.
18:18
Why the heck would the commanders or maybe even the Panthers, I mean Panthers, I can
18:22
kind of see it.
18:23
They're going through a rebuild in a way, but why the heck would the commanders not
18:28
do it?
18:29
I mean, their defense isn't that bad.
18:30
They have scary Terry and who's a running back?
18:33
Brian Robinson.
18:34
I mean, that dude's pretty solid.
18:35
I don't, I don't understand why the commanders don't take a shot in the dark at Lamar.
18:39
Yeah.
18:40
I mean, there's definitely teams.
18:41
I wonder how much they would be willing to spend on them.
18:44
Like you said earlier, you know, do these teams have enough money?
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Maybe not.
18:48
And to touch real quick on the Cowboys, I mean, you're throwing Lamar into an entirely
18:53
different system.
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There's somebody is going to go out every week and try to throw for four or 500 yards.
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You can't throw Lamar into that system or else you're changing the whole system.
19:01
And then what you're under utilizing players like CD lamb.
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Yeah.
19:06
The, uh, the thing with the commanders as well is if you were to sign Lamar, let's just
19:09
say a $250 million deal, 150 guaranteed.
19:13
The guarantee doesn't matter with what I'm going to say here for that to happen.
19:17
The owner of that team has to put $250 million of their personal money or the team money
19:22
in escrow.
19:24
That will not happen with the commanders right now with the whole Dan Snyder allegations
19:28
going on where he might not even be the owner coming in the next year.
19:31
So the commanders, you can take out of the equation for that simple fact, but the Panthers
19:35
is an interesting, right?
19:37
They have Dave Tepper, who's the richest owner in the NFL.
19:40
He has the money to do it, but I just don't think if you bring in Lamar to the Panthers,
19:48
you're not improving that team good enough to make a playoff run without having to build
19:52
around them.
19:53
And the thing is, is that whole, that all that came out before they traded for the number
19:57
one pick.
19:58
So they could have made a push for it before they decided they're going to get their quarterback
20:01
in the draft.
20:03
So it was feasible for that to happen.
20:05
I just don't think the Panthers are at a place right now where they could bring on that contract
20:09
and build the pieces around them.
20:11
Whereas if they draft a rookie quarterback, get them on a rookie deer, they can build
20:14
with that quarterback then.
20:16
They're not paying a top dollar quarterback for them.
20:18
So I think that definitely played a factor into it.
20:22
But saying that, you get Lamar, you're not trading away DJ Moore.
20:25
And also, I mean, if you're looking as far as like historical, what teams might be the
20:29
best fit, maybe not the same head coaches and all that.
20:31
But I mean, you look at the Falcons because obviously you look like Michael Vick or somebody
20:34
like that who fits that same scheme.
20:36
Cam Newton might be the second closest guy in the NFL to fit that scheme.
20:40
And you're looking at the Panthers like that.
20:43
Those are big hits.
20:45
The thing with that, though, is it was a different ownership when they had Cam Newton than the
20:50
current owner.
20:51
So it's I mean, that definitely can play a factor.
20:53
NFL teams don't get sold often.
20:55
I get exactly what you're saying and I agree with you.
20:57
Because Arthur Blank has owned the Falcons since the Vick era.
21:02
But teams don't get switched around enough for that mentality to kind of withhold where
21:06
like teams very rarely get sold.
21:08
So to keep that structure per se of how you want to shape your team can very easily switch
21:15
with a new owner coming in.
21:17
Yeah, I mean, like the Panthers probably more far fetched than the Falcons, but I mean,
21:22
still you're thinking, I mean, you said bring in a rookie, you know, draft somebody big,
21:26
build around him.
21:27
Wouldn't it be easier to just get somebody you already can trust and instill in and just
21:32
build around that guy?
21:33
Obviously, it's gonna be a bigger cat pit.
21:34
You won't be able to put as many pieces around him, but you don't need as many pieces.
21:38
And you know that with confidence, getting a guy that's already proven himself in the
21:42
NFL.
21:43
Yeah, I mean, that's a fact.
21:45
I just don't see the Panthers.
21:46
I mean, it makes sense that they're not doing it.
21:48
I mean, I think they're in full rebuild at this point, but it is what it is.
21:53
I did want to bring up, it's funny because, so I not to bring up Washington again, but
22:00
they have only six million cap space.
22:04
So they couldn't really make that play anyway.
22:07
Guess who's right above them?
22:09
The freaking Ravens.
22:11
So like, even if somebody does make a play, can they even match it?
22:15
Because they got Roquan, right?
22:16
So they had to pay that dude.
22:19
So can they even match a deal if one comes through?
22:22
I think kind of goes back to our previous discussion is does the cap really exist?
22:27
You can move money around.
22:28
So if you were to go into like your top veterans who are getting paid a lot and say, Hey, we're
22:33
going to need you to restructure this contract to keep Lamar Jackson.
22:38
Unless if that's somebody that's already won a Super Bowl or doesn't care about Super
22:42
Bowls, I think almost every person on that team would be willing to move some money around
22:45
to get Lamar on the team.
22:48
Entirely.
22:49
And I mean, look at Lamar.
22:50
I think all of us, the overwhelming majority thinks that he's going to be a Raven at the
22:54
end of the year.
22:55
At the very least, he's starting somewhere in the NFL.
22:57
So nobody has to get their hopes up.
22:59
Banking on that, I think even bigger, we need to start looking here next at the biggest
23:03
maybe mix up in the NFL here being Aaron Rodgers.
23:08
That is a good call, Cole.
23:10
The biggest off season news that we have had so far is something that is very close and
23:16
personal to me, but it is Mr. Rogers leaving Green Bay.
23:20
It's pretty well documented.
23:21
I am a pretty big cheesehead.
23:23
I bleed green and gold.
23:24
I've been a Packer fan my whole life.
23:26
I've been lucky enough to share the last 18 years of my fandom with Rogers being my quarterback,
23:32
15 of those years being starting.
23:35
It's definitely bittersweet.
23:36
I personally hold no malice towards him for making his decision.
23:39
I'm on the side of the Packers fans that think we did not do enough to put talent around
23:44
him, especially on the defensive side of the ball during his tenure with Green Bay.
23:49
For him to only have one Super Bowl appearance and indeed winning that Super Bowl, it sucks.
23:56
It hurts as a Packers fan to even say that.
24:01
I don't blame him for wanting to take the move, especially with how the Packers have
24:05
shown to more or less give up on him this offseason.
24:10
It really does hurt.
24:11
I wish nothing but the best for him.
24:13
I think he really makes the Jets a playoff contender, Super Bowl contender.
24:18
You could argue they're still a little bit young for that, but it definitely puts them
24:22
in a really good spot in the AFC.
24:25
I could go on and on about Rogers thanking him and whatnot here, but for the sake of
24:30
an actual discussion, what are your thoughts on it, Cole?
24:34
Yeah, just to touch one more on your points.
24:37
We spoke Monday and I saw some tweets from some Jets players.
24:41
I was bringing it up to you.
24:43
You couldn't even believe it.
24:44
You said, let's wait and see still.
24:47
Obviously being a diehard Packers fan for so long, nobody wants to see Rogers go.
24:52
Obviously you showed that.
24:54
It's a big hit for Packers fans, I think, just having that legend step away.
24:59
But at the same time for the Jets, maybe the biggest pickup of the entire free agency slash
25:07
trade whole section here.
25:09
So I mean, being a Jets fan, you got to be ecstatic going forward here.
25:14
This is a team now that turns around.
25:16
AFC East, arguably one of the best divisions in NFL now with this trade.
25:21
He gets Alan Lazard to join him.
25:24
Obviously there's rumors that he wants some more, but he came out and kind of said, I
25:28
didn't really give a wish list, but who knows?
25:30
I mean, he's getting what he wants so far.
25:32
Alan Lazard is a huge hit, not only for the Packers, but I mean, to go to the Jets and
25:37
have Aaron Rogers with him again, he could be a very big point in yards touchdowns this
25:43
season being with the Jets.
25:45
So you say he's getting what he wants so far.
25:50
Has he even been traded yet?
25:51
Is this final?
25:52
Do we know details yet?
25:54
I don't think that as far as like a day ago, they're still quote unquote far apart from
26:01
a deal.
26:02
I think obviously a deal is imminent because he made it known on the Pat McAfee show that
26:09
he wants to be a Jet or that he will be going to the Jets.
26:13
Now it's just a matter of the teams figuring it out, but we still don't have a deal, but
26:18
you have the Jets signing somebody off that quote unquote magic free agent list that may
26:23
or may not be real.
26:25
Yeah, that's huge.
26:27
So as we speak here today, it is St. Patrick's Day.
26:30
No deal has been done.
26:33
Just a couple of days ago, Rogers did go on the Pat McAfee show and spoke about how he
26:39
told the Packers in the direction the previous Friday that he did intend on wanting to play
26:44
for the Jets.
26:46
And like you said, they seem to be far apart as a Packers fan that kind of makes it sting
26:50
a little bit more.
26:51
Like out of everything this guy's done for you the last 15, 18 years, whatever you want
26:56
to term it, just let him leave.
27:00
I don't know what they're commanding that hasn't been released, but in my opinion, a
27:05
fair trade is a first and a fourth rounder, a second and a third rounder.
27:11
That second could potentially move up to a first depending on the play.
27:15
If we're asking for this astronomical point, the Jets have all the leverage right now.
27:20
He's made it clear he wants to go to the Jets and as it stands right now, it seems like
27:25
the Packers are the ones holding that up.
27:27
And that's why he went on McAfee was to clear the rumors of, oh, Rogers is holding the Packers
27:32
and the Jets up from spending all this money in free agency.
27:35
That was the big reason he went on McAfee was to get his name out of the negative spotlight
27:39
and show that, hey, it's not me.
27:41
I made my intentions clear five days ago, two days before, three days before the tampering
27:46
season even began, and you guys are sitting on your thumbs here.
27:51
So that just stings a little bit more as a Packers fan that we're being hurt in free
27:55
agency and not being able to go out and sign anybody because at the end of the day, he
27:58
still owed $59 million from the Packers when in reality, that's not going to be the case
28:03
and we're just shooting ourselves in the foot at this point.
28:05
Well, and that's just it.
28:08
In order to make this deal go through, the Packers absolutely are going to have to eat
28:11
some of that insane contract.
28:14
And when he signed it, from the outside looking in, I mean, obviously I'm a Vikings fan, but
28:21
when he signed it, I was like, that's a weird deal.
28:23
It's a lot of money, but it's a weird deal for Rogers if he wants to win championships
28:27
because you already know they're not putting a team around you and probably still won't.
28:32
And it's a weird deal for the Packers to tie up that much freaking money in a quarterback
28:36
that you already know you're not putting a team around.
28:39
So why, I don't know.
28:41
It just seems ridiculous to me that they're taking this long as well.
28:44
I don't know.
28:46
And the crazy thing about that cap hit is Rogers has already come out and said that's
28:51
not a feasible amount for him to play on and he's going to restructure that deal.
28:55
So what is the freaking holdup?
28:58
Is it taking a chunk of that money as the Packers?
29:00
Okay, so take a chunk of the money, get the draft capital you want or don't take the money,
29:06
lose a little bit of draft capital.
29:08
At the end of the day, the guy's not playing for us.
29:11
Let him go, go on with your off season and actually sign some additions that can help
29:16
Jordan Love.
29:18
And also, I mean, like you just mentioned Jordan Love, I mean, we have to kind of focus
29:22
on him because if you're a Packers fan or even, you know, the coach or anything like
29:27
GM, you need to stop letting this just keep going out because now it's almost like you're
29:33
losing confidence in Jordan Love.
29:35
You have to instill that confidence.
29:36
Let's get this cleared out.
29:38
Let's get this figured out so we can start building and trusting in Jordan Love.
29:42
Well, and didn't Jordan Love say that if Rodgers was here next year, he would request a trade
29:46
or is that a bunch of crap?
29:47
That was all media speculation.
29:49
It was never confirmed nor denied per se.
29:52
But it's he made it in quotations clear that he didn't want to play on the fifth year option
29:58
of his rookie deal if Rodgers was still there.
30:01
I think that definitely played a part in the Packers essentially just saying, hey, Rodgers,
30:05
like time to go buddy.
30:07
Like Mark Murphy is is an absolute fucking clown.
30:11
Pardon my French with how he handles the media.
30:15
Go back to the Brett Favre situation.
30:17
Now it's just repeating itself with Rodgers.
30:20
And as love, I mean, I think that's totally fair.
30:23
Why would you want to play on your fifth year option backing up arguably one of the best
30:26
quarterbacks ever play the game as much as I need to go wash my mouth out after saying
30:31
that?
30:32
But I mean, why would you want to do that?
30:34
You want to prove what you have.
30:37
And now that the Packers are actually at this point thinking about trading Rodgers and it's
30:42
probably imminent.
30:43
But as love, you just want this done as well.
30:46
Like come on, let me let me be QB one and get this offseason started right.
30:51
Because right now he's probably still like, oh, I don't know, man.
30:54
And to take a twist here a little bit, there's two big things.
30:58
We look at sauce Gardner.
31:00
This may affect him as a corner in a good way.
31:03
You have one of the best quarterbacks throwing the ball on you.
31:05
You're just going to get better.
31:07
Right.
31:08
The second one to look at is Brett Favre did the same move.
31:11
Do we see Rodgers maybe going to the Vikings next?
31:15
I don't see it.
31:16
But I mean, heck, if you're following one of the greats footsteps like he did, this
31:20
could be an interesting play.
31:22
Yeah, I definitely don't see that as an option.
31:26
Just because Rodgers during his whole career, his like his favorite drink is purple crush
31:31
for literally talking about beating the Vikings.
31:35
And it's just the the far of leaving the Packers and Rodgers leaving the Packers, it's two
31:39
completely different types of of of of of leaving them.
31:43
You know, at the end of the day, Rodgers and the Packers at this point are essentially agreeing
31:47
to leave on mutual terms.
31:49
The whole Brett Favre turmoil of him retiring, unretiring, retiring, unretiring, retiring,
31:54
unretiring, it was three years in a row where he legitimately retired and then unretired.
31:59
At that point, it was it was time to move on.
32:02
And with this one with Rodgers, they're just not that turmoil behind it per se.
32:06
You know, you even look at what he was saying on McAfee and he was only thankful for Green
32:11
Bay.
32:12
He was thankful for the fans, thankful for the opportunity.
32:14
He loves people in Green Bay still.
32:17
Brett Favre never made comments like that when he left.
32:19
He was ready to go and he was ready to start sending dick pics.
32:22
So here I am, a Vikings fan again, RIP me.
32:25
I got my own problems to deal with with no Super Bowls.
32:29
That's a whole nother conversation.
32:30
But with Aaron Rodgers leaving the NFC North, I just want to throw a couple stats at you
32:35
here.
32:36
He's 59-24-1 in the NFC North.
32:41
That makes it a 708 win percentage.
32:44
He's thrown for over 20,000 yards against the NFC North teams, 175 touchdowns and only
32:50
30 picks.
32:51
I mean, I'm pumped to have him leave the NFC North for sure.
32:56
I do have to say the whole Purple Cross drink thing.
33:01
He's 17-11-1 against the Vikings, which is still a winning record, but that's the worst
33:06
against any NFC team.
33:08
He does indeed own the Bears.
33:10
He's 24-5 against the Bears, which is absolutely ridiculous.
33:14
That's an 828 win percentage.
33:16
I mean, sorry Bears fans, that's just a fact.
33:20
With 64 TDs and 10 interceptions against the Bears alone, I mean, that's ridiculous.
33:24
But what do you got over there, Cole?
33:26
I see what you're doing.
33:27
Yeah, I mean, the only thing I want to touch one more time on here is the whole sauce gardener
33:33
thing, right?
33:34
Obviously we know it's going to make him a better coroner.
33:37
Just going against Rodgers every day, that's going to just develop you insane.
33:40
He's going into his second year.
33:42
He won Rookie of the Year, arguably top 10 last year as far as coroners go, maybe even
33:49
top five.
33:50
So I mean, going forward, how do we look at this and does he become the number one coroner
33:56
in the NFL next year?
33:58
The other thing to note on that too, Cole, is not only did they have sauce gardener as
34:01
the defensive player of the year, defensive rookie of the year, they had Garrett Wilson
34:05
as the offensive rookie of the year to go against sauce.
34:07
So not only is Rodgers going to make sauce better, but he's also going to make Wilson's
34:11
better.
34:12
Wilson and sauce are going to make each other better.
34:14
And then if Breece Hall wouldn't have got hurt, he might have won offensive rookie of
34:17
the year.
34:18
So you could make an argument that they had the three best rookies on their team last
34:23
year.
34:24
And now you add, I'm going to say, you said arguably one of the greatest quarterbacks
34:29
of all time.
34:30
He's in arguably one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time.
34:32
He's not the GOAT, I'm not going to say that, but it's going to be fun to watch that Jets
34:36
team this year.
34:37
Yeah, for sure.
34:38
And definitely arguably one of the best.
34:40
I think he should have won more Super Bowls in a packer uniform.
34:44
They just didn't do enough for him there.
34:48
I don't know.
34:49
We'll see what I mean.
34:50
We still got to see the deal go through.
34:52
So that's where I'm at as a Vikings fan.
34:53
I mean, this shit's not over until he's out of the green uniform.
34:57
And now that I say that he would be going to a green uniform.
35:00
So as long as he's out of green Bay, I just don't, I'll believe it when I see it at this
35:06
point.
35:07
The only thing I've bad being a Bill's fan, obviously dolphins come out of nowhere kind
35:11
of last year and just blow it up to see the Jets and have two big competitors.
35:16
That's not what we want to see.
35:17
You're happy.
35:18
The Vikings are happy if this everything goes through.
35:21
But as a Bill's fan, not a guy I love to play twice a year.
35:25
Yeah.
35:26
Good luck, bro.
35:27
Well, boys, I'm going to wrap this one up here with just a little pain homage to Mr.
35:31
Aaron Rodgers.
35:32
Like I had previously mentioned, I've had a great 15 years watching this man be the
35:36
quarterback of my team.
35:39
It's going to suck seeing him in another green uniform.
35:42
I have absolutely no hard feelings, no malice towards Aaron Rodgers for his decision whatsoever.
35:48
Like I'd stated, I'm a strong believer and we didn't do enough around him for him to
35:52
win those Super Bowls.
35:54
If you look at the defensive rankings, he had two times in his whole career as a starter
35:58
that the defense finished top 10 in the league and overall defensive stats.
36:02
And we won the Super Bowl one of those two years.
36:05
The other season we lost one regular season game and we lost to the Cardinals in that
36:10
absolute playoff thriller against Kurt Warner.
36:12
So Rodgers just, he wasn't the issue in terms of winning the Super Bowls in my opinion.
36:19
He played at an MVP level three out of the last four years.
36:23
Last year was a down year, yes, but he's forever going to be the greatest quarterback in Packers
36:29
history, in my opinion.
36:31
He will in the meantime be the greatest quarterback that I've got to personally watch.
36:37
Obviously Tom Brady was in that era, but I didn't see every Pat's game or Buck's game.
36:43
So I just want to say a huge thank you to Mr. Rodgers.
36:46
I know you'll be listening to this podcast.
36:48
You're a huge listener in the media.
36:49
I get it.
36:51
But I just really truly do want to say thank you, Aaron Rodgers, as the quarterback and
36:55
the success you've brought me.
36:57
I still remember the day you won the Packers, the Super Bowl in 2011.
37:02
One of the fondest memories I'll forever have and you leading the Packers back against the
37:05
Bears coming out of the halftime, the eruption at Lambeau when you walked out of that halftime
37:10
tunnel.
37:11
Now, granted, you didn't know where you were.
37:12
Those Percocets were hidden, but that will forever be one of the... It'll be hard to
37:17
top that moment in a live sporting event for me and I just truly do thank you for that.
37:22
That was a pleasure, boys.
37:24
It's bittersweet.
37:25
It almost brings a tear to my eye here, but that was a fun podcast.
37:28
We talked about Lamar.
37:29
We talked about Rodgers.
37:31
That's all to be said.
37:32
It's going to be a rough year as a Packers fan.
37:35
Maybe not.
37:36
Maybe Jordan loves the future here, but it's been an absolute pleasure, boys.
37:40
We'll see you next time.
37:42
Don't forget to follow, like and subscribe.
37:45
Tune in next time for more Benter with the Boys.