Latest / Best of the NFL Podcast Network / The Season with Peter Schrager: ESPN's Seth Wickersham

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The Season with Peter Schrager: ESPN's Seth Wickersham · Best of the NFL Podcast Network

0:07
Speaker 1: The Season with Peter Schrager is a production of the
0:09
Speaker 1: NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio. What's Up, Everybody, Welcome to
0:25
Speaker 1: another episode of the Season with Peter Schrager on Peter
0:27
Speaker 1: Schrager host Good Morning Football on NFL Network Monday to Friday,
0:32
Speaker 1: and you can see me on Sundays on Fox NFL Kickoff.
0:36
Speaker 1: And there's been a lot of talk about Patrick Mahomes
0:41
Speaker 1: over the last few days and his ankle and whether
0:43
Speaker 1: he's gonna go. And I just find it so fascinating
0:46
Speaker 1: because this year's NFL schedule plays out unlike any other
0:50
Speaker 1: year we've had in the past. The NFL really dropped
0:55
Speaker 1: a major, major fork in the road here with this
1:00
Speaker 1: Christmas Day slate on Wednesday, December twenty fifth. And I
1:05
Speaker 1: say that becase because it affected the weeks prior and
1:08
Speaker 1: after in the NFL schedule and playoff seedings. You see,
1:13
Speaker 1: by putting a game on a Wednesday for the first
1:15
Speaker 1: time ever in NFL history, you end up really running
1:19
Speaker 1: the risk of player safety and proper rest. And you
1:22
Speaker 1: had to pair teams together that we're gonna have the
1:26
Speaker 1: same amount of time off and the same amount of
1:28
Speaker 1: time in preparation and the same amount of days in advance,
1:30
Speaker 1: which means if you're gonna do two games, that's four teams.
1:34
Speaker 1: It just so happens. The NFL was gonna go big
1:36
Speaker 1: swinging here because Netflix is now the NFL partner, and
1:40
Speaker 1: you're not gonna throw Jaguars, Titans and Saints Panthers on
1:44
Speaker 1: Christmas Day. You're gonna go big ticket. So the NFL
1:47
Speaker 1: wanted to give us Lamar, they wanted to give us Mahomes,
1:51
Speaker 1: and they wanted to give us worthy opponents. Well, the Steelers,
1:54
Speaker 1: they were always relevant, that's one of them. The Texans
1:56
Speaker 1: have a cool story in CJ. Stroud and Miko Ryance.
1:59
Speaker 1: Let's throw them in there too. Just so happens. These
2:02
Speaker 1: are four of the best teams in the NFL, and
2:04
Speaker 1: they're four of the top teams in the AFC. And
2:07
Speaker 1: now they and they begin this little miniature tournament where
2:11
Speaker 1: the two matchups are spread across two weeks and they
2:15
Speaker 1: play each other before the actual AFC playoffs. Hear me out,
2:19
Speaker 1: Let me detail this all as I record this on
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Speaker 1: a Wednesday. All right, you have seven teams in the
2:26
Speaker 1: AFC playoff picture right now, and it's almost solidified with
2:29
Speaker 1: Denver's win over Indianapolis. Now, a few weeks back, the
2:33
Speaker 1: NFL went to flex programming with their Thursday night situation,
2:38
Speaker 1: and Sean Payton said, sure, we'll waive that we don't
2:41
Speaker 1: have to play two road Thursday night games. We'll play
2:43
Speaker 1: on a Thursday night. The NFL said, let's move Chargers
2:46
Speaker 1: Broncos to Thursday of week sixteen, and let's move Bengals
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Speaker 1: Browns back to the Sunday schedule. Fine, that's out. Now
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Speaker 1: you have six teams that are currently in the playoff
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Speaker 1: picture playing on Thursday and Saturday of this week in
3:04
Speaker 1: the AFC. You have a Thursday night Chargers versus Broncos
3:09
Speaker 1: game where both these teams are playing on five days
3:12
Speaker 1: rest and are coming in weary and coming in banged
3:14
Speaker 1: up playing against each other on Thursday night. Then you
3:18
Speaker 1: have a Saturday slate which is six days rest, that
3:22
Speaker 1: features Mahomes versus the Texans in in Arrowhead or I'm sorry, yes,
3:28
Speaker 1: in Arrowhead. And then you have Ravens versus Steelers at
3:31
Speaker 1: four point thirty with TJ. Watt all sorts of banged
3:34
Speaker 1: up going on a short rest playing against the hated Ravens,
3:37
Speaker 1: which could end up being the determinant for the AFC
3:40
Speaker 1: North title. When it's all set and done, then these
3:44
Speaker 1: guys have four days rest and those four teams play again.
3:48
Speaker 1: You have Mahomes playing against the Steelers in the early
3:52
Speaker 1: window on Christmas in Pittsburgh in the cold weather. So
3:56
Speaker 1: Mahomes and TJ. Watt both injured last week. How do
3:59
Speaker 1: they play over the next few weeks. We'll have to
4:00
Speaker 1: play that out. And then you have in the night
4:03
Speaker 1: cap in the afternoon on Christmas, you have Techans versus Ravens.
4:09
Speaker 1: All right, let's just let's just on its surface. Mahomes
4:15
Speaker 1: that ankle injury, but probably could play on Saturday. That's
4:19
Speaker 1: a short week. Do you play Mahomes on a short
4:22
Speaker 1: week up against Will Anderson, Daniil Hunter and the second
4:28
Speaker 1: most sacks in the league in the Houston Texans Front seven.
4:30
Speaker 1: Last decision you have to make. Do you save Mahomes
4:33
Speaker 1: knowing you've got four days rest and then you're gonna
4:36
Speaker 1: be playing Wednesday against Pittsburgh and you're gonna be doing
4:39
Speaker 1: it on the road in cold weather and you need
4:42
Speaker 1: these wins. These are decisions that are not standard because
4:45
Speaker 1: it's not the typical week sixteen, we play on a Sunday.
4:49
Speaker 1: Week seventeen, we play in a Sunday. Week eighteen, we
4:51
Speaker 1: play in a Sunday. What's fascinating is that six of
4:55
Speaker 1: the top seven teams in the AFC have these unorthodox
4:58
Speaker 1: schedules the next few days Thursday night game on short
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Speaker 1: rest for two of them, and then this bizarre new
5:05
Speaker 1: age doing what we can to service everybody Saturday Wednesday
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Speaker 1: situation for for the teams. I say all this to
5:15
Speaker 1: point to Buffalo. Who do the Bills have over the
5:18
Speaker 1: next few weeks. Well, the Bills, they had their gauntlet
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Speaker 1: National Television Sunday, lost to the Rams, National Television Sunday
5:28
Speaker 1: on the road, beat the Lions. Now the Bills. While
5:34
Speaker 1: those teams beat up on each other and have to
5:36
Speaker 1: pick each other off and look at the scoreboard and
5:39
Speaker 1: figure out or we played the Bills. It worked out perfectly.
5:43
Speaker 1: The Bills play the Patriots, the Jets, and the Patriots,
5:47
Speaker 1: barring a major spoiler or the Bills just completely overlooking
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Speaker 1: one of these games and resting on their laurels, the
5:55
Speaker 1: Bills should be able to take care of business and
5:57
Speaker 1: close out the AFC East and win three games on
6:00
Speaker 1: Sundays on full weeks and have the ability to watch
6:04
Speaker 1: these other teams pick each other off the Bills, And
6:07
Speaker 1: it's no blame to the NFL, it's no blame to Netflix,
6:10
Speaker 1: it's no blame to the schedule makers. You could have
6:12
Speaker 1: never predicted it working out this way. But with six
6:15
Speaker 1: of the seven top teams in the AFC all facing
6:17
Speaker 1: off in the next few days, and some of those
6:20
Speaker 1: teams doing twice against major fun, it's almost like this
6:23
Speaker 1: mini AFC tournament that just doesn't include Buffalo. I don't
6:28
Speaker 1: think the Patriots can beat the Bills. I don't think
6:31
Speaker 1: the Jets, even with Rogers looking resurgent, can beat the Bills.
6:34
Speaker 1: I think the Buffalo Bills, whether they have the one
6:37
Speaker 1: seed because the Chiefs lost two times and gave up
6:40
Speaker 1: that one seed that they had, or as the two seed,
6:44
Speaker 1: will come in rested, will come in ready to go,
6:48
Speaker 1: and we'll come in with a clear advantage over these
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Speaker 1: other teams, six of them that had to beat up
6:53
Speaker 1: on each other for the Week sixteen and potentially Week
6:57
Speaker 1: seventeen slates. Maybe I'm being overly dramatic about it, and
7:01
Speaker 1: I'm just trying to look too far into it, but
7:03
Speaker 1: I think that's the analysis you're looking for. Six of
7:06
Speaker 1: the time, seven teams all will play each other on
7:09
Speaker 1: short weeks in the next two weeks, two of them
7:11
Speaker 1: doing so two weeks in a row. Meanwhile, Buffalo plays
7:16
Speaker 1: two of the worst teams in the NFL on a
7:19
Speaker 1: regular schedule Sunday Sunday Sunday. I don't know if the
7:23
Speaker 1: betting markets have been adjusted based on any of this.
7:25
Speaker 1: I think Kansas City has a gauntlet coming up playing
7:28
Speaker 1: with an injured Mahomes against Houston or Carson Wentz against Houston,
7:33
Speaker 1: then traveling to Pittsburgh on a short week, and then
7:35
Speaker 1: finishing up with Denver. I think that's a lot more
7:37
Speaker 1: difficult than what Buffalo has with Patriots, Jets, Patriots. Something
7:42
Speaker 1: to consider as I'm someone who picked Kansas City to
7:46
Speaker 1: go to the Super Bowl and win it all again.
7:48
Speaker 1: I don't know if I'm getting a little nervous considering
7:50
Speaker 1: what they have at the end of the schedule based
7:51
Speaker 1: on their opponents the Buffalo Bills, who I assume they
7:55
Speaker 1: will face when it matters most in the AFC playoffs.
7:59
Speaker 1: Real quick, I watched the first episode of the Rogers
8:03
Speaker 1: documentary Enigma. I really liked it. I thought it was
8:07
Speaker 1: really good. If I can give an endorsement, I would
8:10
Speaker 1: say watch it. I went in one of those saying
8:13
Speaker 1: it's not a must watch, but I will give it
8:14
Speaker 1: a watch because it's on Netflix and it's football, and
8:17
Speaker 1: it's sitting there and I'll click play. And I thought
8:20
Speaker 1: the first episode was awesome. So I know it's a
8:23
Speaker 1: hot button topic. Rogers always is. I would say I
8:27
Speaker 1: get my seal of approval on this. There's a lot
8:28
Speaker 1: of documentaries I don't mention on here that I don't
8:30
Speaker 1: think are worth watching. This one is. It did a
8:33
Speaker 1: nice job, and I think you see a different side
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Speaker 1: of Rogers. I would also note the Jets, the Bears,
8:39
Speaker 1: the Saints, they're all going to be in the head
8:41
Speaker 1: coaching market, but the Jets are the only one who
8:44
Speaker 1: is doing a full search for general manager as we speak.
8:49
Speaker 1: You saw the names they've interviewed already. I believe John
8:53
Speaker 1: Robinson was interviewed, Thomas Demetrov. I don't know if Lewis
8:56
Speaker 1: Ridicck has had his interview. There's another name that's been
8:58
Speaker 1: that I've gotten that I don't want to announce that
9:01
Speaker 1: we'll be interviewing in the next twenty four hours and
9:03
Speaker 1: you'll see that come out. I'm gonna let the Jets announce.
9:06
Speaker 1: That's my place to do it. The Jets are interviewing
9:09
Speaker 1: all the guys now that aren't currently with NFL teams.
9:13
Speaker 1: Get those done, put the work in, start seeing those,
9:16
Speaker 1: and then once the NFL regular season is over, I
9:18
Speaker 1: think the Jets are going to do a really expansive job,
9:21
Speaker 1: and they're going to be interviewing head coaches and gms
9:23
Speaker 1: almost simultaneously, which is an interesting way to go about this.
9:27
Speaker 1: But they want to make sure they uncover every rock
9:29
Speaker 1: and uncover every stone, and make sure that they speak
9:32
Speaker 1: to every possible person who can build that team back.
9:37
Speaker 1: The interesting side of it is the Rogers aspect of it.
9:40
Speaker 1: And I'm telling you, this guy's playing good football now.
9:44
Speaker 1: The last two weeks he's looked really good, and Devonte
9:46
Speaker 1: Adams looks really good, and they're both under contract for
9:48
Speaker 1: next year. And I don't know what the alternative is.
9:52
Speaker 1: If you're the New York Jets, are you definitely cutting
9:55
Speaker 1: Rogers and cutting Devonte Adams and eating these giant cap
9:58
Speaker 1: pits for what reason? Both those guys are playing well.
10:02
Speaker 1: They have three weeks left, don't be surprised if Rogers
10:06
Speaker 1: plays himself back onto this roster. And I would think
10:09
Speaker 1: that a general manager and a coach would have a
10:13
Speaker 1: significant say whether Rogers is back or not. But they
10:18
Speaker 1: have three weeks, Rogers and Adams to show and give
10:22
Speaker 1: the Jets fan base and the owners just enough taste
10:25
Speaker 1: that they might want to bring it back one more time,
10:27
Speaker 1: whether Jets fans want to hear that or not. Speaking
10:30
Speaker 1: of the Jets, wasn't it interesting that Diana Russini came
10:34
Speaker 1: out on Saturday with that article and that little nugget
10:37
Speaker 1: that Belichick reached out to New York I found it fascinating.
10:40
Speaker 1: I did a little bit of research on it, and
10:43
Speaker 1: I've learned that it wasn't Woody Johnson, who I don't
10:45
Speaker 1: think Belichick ever wants to speak with for whatever reason,
10:47
Speaker 1: I don't know the binoxus of that, but does not
10:49
Speaker 1: rot like or appreciate Woody Johnson. But he went to
10:52
Speaker 1: Mike Tannebaum and he inquired whether the Jets would want
10:55
Speaker 1: to interview him, and they went back and forth. I
10:56
Speaker 1: think they had multiple conversations, and it just didn't seem
10:58
Speaker 1: the timing was right because the Jets. They want to
11:00
Speaker 1: do a full search and meet with everybody, and they
11:02
Speaker 1: really can't do that until after the season. But I
11:05
Speaker 1: thought that was a nice little extra wrinkled with this
11:07
Speaker 1: Belichick thing, and I thought there was plenty more on
11:10
Speaker 1: the play wear meat on the bone to Belichick. So
11:12
Speaker 1: I wanted to call up Seth Wickersham, who had the
11:16
Speaker 1: best article on the entire Belichick to UNC thing immediately
11:20
Speaker 1: after the decision was made, and I thought he was
11:22
Speaker 1: pretty good on Bill Simmons last week. Figured let's bring
11:24
Speaker 1: Seth back on and let's really dig in to what
11:27
Speaker 1: went down with Belichick, and then at the end of it,
11:29
Speaker 1: let's talk Rabel a little bit. So with no further ado,
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Speaker 1: our guest this week is ESPN Seth Wickersham, one of
11:35
Speaker 1: the better NFL reporters at the gain. Our guest is
11:47
Speaker 1: one of my favorite people in this little NFL sports
11:50
Speaker 1: media world. Always so so well researched, so well sourced,
11:56
Speaker 1: and when he drops an article, it is one of
11:58
Speaker 1: those where you rush to your phone, you rush to
12:00
Speaker 1: your computer, and you just absolutely devour it because he's
12:04
Speaker 1: got stuff that nobody else does. Longtime friend of mine,
12:07
Speaker 1: mister Seth Wickersham, How are you, sir?
12:10
Speaker 2: I'm great. You know, I appreciate that intro. But I
12:13
Speaker 2: don't know if you know, people rush to read my
12:15
Speaker 2: stories quite as much as when like Bruce Feldman drops
12:19
Speaker 2: a story about you, you know that he's been following
12:22
Speaker 2: you around the Combine for three days. You know, I've
12:25
Speaker 2: definitely spent three days with Bruce Feldman, but I've never
12:28
Speaker 2: spent him with him following me around.
12:30
Speaker 1: So yeah, Seth, you don't hire a publicity firm who
12:33
Speaker 1: pitches these articles like I did. Know that was not
12:36
Speaker 1: pitched Seth pitched me that or Bruce pitched me that.
12:38
Speaker 1: And I was very flattered to do something for the
12:41
Speaker 1: athletic around the Combine, which you know is still one
12:46
Speaker 1: of the unminded, amazing places that somehow in a twenty
12:51
Speaker 1: four to seven HBO Netflix documentary world, How has there
12:55
Speaker 1: not been an all access Combine show yet? Done? I
12:58
Speaker 1: have no idea.
13:00
Speaker 2: Well, like if they ever did, like the stampede of
13:05
Speaker 2: people rushing out of Prime into whatever bar no cameras
13:10
Speaker 2: were at, would be you know, that would be the show.
13:13
Speaker 2: But man, I mean it is interesting right because the Combine.
13:15
Speaker 2: Of course, when I started going ESPN sent me maybe
13:20
Speaker 2: my second or third year that I was hired, and
13:23
Speaker 2: you know, there was like twenty people there, and it
13:26
Speaker 2: was at the old Convention Center, and it was always
13:28
Speaker 2: this really bizarre scene where there was always this like
13:32
Speaker 2: cheerleading competition and so there was like all these cheerleading
13:37
Speaker 2: teams around, these autograph hounds and scouts and reporters and gms.
13:42
Speaker 2: It was just a very odd scene. Now it's a
13:44
Speaker 2: little bit more formal, thank goodness, but you know it is.
13:49
Speaker 2: It is interesting just how it's like changed over the years,
13:51
Speaker 2: and as its popularity has grown, you almost find like
13:55
Speaker 2: there's a there's an opposite reaction in terms of how
13:59
Speaker 2: much teams get out of it.
14:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, and so many of the coaches that we deal
14:03
Speaker 1: with have just decided we're not going to go Like
14:05
Speaker 1: I don't think McVeigh gone the last five years, Kyle
14:09
Speaker 1: Shanahan doesn't go slid ever went as a Jets coach.
14:12
Speaker 1: Matt Lafleur doesn't go like a lot of these guys
14:14
Speaker 1: like I don't need to be at a bar until
14:17
Speaker 1: two in the morning and see my quarterbacks coach talking
14:20
Speaker 1: to a reporter like that's not something I'm looking for,
14:22
Speaker 1: And yet you know we're mutual I guess not friends,
14:26
Speaker 1: but like we both did with Sean Payton, Jean Payton
14:28
Speaker 1: loves it. It is like the whole team's going and
14:31
Speaker 1: we're gonna get in the mix, and this is where
14:33
Speaker 1: you're gonna make connections and the combine is incredible. I
14:36
Speaker 1: want to have you on because you were so good
14:38
Speaker 1: with an article this week right after Belichick announced the
14:41
Speaker 1: UNC move, and then you went on Bill Simmons last Friday,
14:44
Speaker 1: and I thought we were just scratching the surface, and
14:46
Speaker 1: you and I now that it's a weaker move, we
14:47
Speaker 1: can really dig in. My take all along was Belichick
14:53
Speaker 1: loves to coach, wants to coach, and there was no
14:56
Speaker 1: sure thing waiting for him in the NFL. And when
14:59
Speaker 1: Mike Lombardi, who's the general manager of the UNC program,
15:03
Speaker 1: really behind the scenes, was working the lines on Bill's behalf,
15:06
Speaker 1: presented this one as a possibility. It happened pretty fast,
15:09
Speaker 1: and Diana Russini had the art had the report on
15:12
Speaker 1: Saturday that shook everyone that Bill talked to the Jets.
15:15
Speaker 1: I came out Sunday and said, well, Bill reached out
15:18
Speaker 1: to Mike Tannabaum. He didn't call Woody Johnson so that
15:20
Speaker 1: there's no love loss there and reached out to Tannebaum
15:24
Speaker 1: and said, before I take this job with UNC, like
15:27
Speaker 1: do we want to even go down this road? And
15:29
Speaker 1: Tanna Ban's like, well, we're going to do a full
15:30
Speaker 1: search and we can't even do that until January, and
15:32
Speaker 1: Bill took the offer in hand. So the narrative out
15:36
Speaker 1: of the Belichick camp has been and you wrote about
15:40
Speaker 1: it so eloquently. It's his few to the league like
15:43
Speaker 1: I'm moving on, I'm doing it my way and I
15:45
Speaker 1: don't need the NFL. But so that could be too. Yeah,
15:48
Speaker 1: there could be two truths, right, Like, I don't think
15:50
Speaker 1: the NFL was banging out his door either. Yeah.
15:54
Speaker 2: It was really a fascinating turn. And I think that
15:58
Speaker 2: you know, you said he wanted to coach. He was
16:00
Speaker 2: going to coach in twenty twenty five. I mean that
16:04
Speaker 2: was his message all along. He was going to coach,
16:07
Speaker 2: and so whether that was at Wesleyan or for the
16:10
Speaker 2: Jacksonville Jaguars, he was going to coach in twenty twenty five.
16:14
Speaker 2: And I think that the way that the college game
16:17
Speaker 2: kind of crept up on him, I think was a
16:20
Speaker 2: surprise to everybody. But in some ways it makes sense.
16:25
Speaker 2: I think that, Like I'm not convinced by the way
16:27
Speaker 2: that he wouldn't have gott an offer from the Jacksonville Jaguars,
16:30
Speaker 2: but I think that.
16:32
Speaker 1: But he would have had to have waited for it,
16:34
Speaker 1: and that might not been in the dealing with a
16:36
Speaker 1: father so ownership group. Again, it might not have been
16:38
Speaker 1: what he was looking for well.
16:40
Speaker 2: And he's always had a good relationship with Tony Cohn,
16:42
Speaker 2: I think. But I think that like when you when
16:44
Speaker 2: you look at things a year ago and Vanatta and
16:47
Speaker 2: Jeremy Fower and I reported on it in April, you know,
16:50
Speaker 2: he was going to fit himself to fit, to adapt
16:54
Speaker 2: to whatever situation he could get right. He wasn't asking
16:57
Speaker 2: for total control. He was open to working with exixty infrastructure.
17:01
Speaker 2: I think that as he spent a year out of coaching,
17:03
Speaker 2: he became a little bit more heart in in the
17:05
Speaker 2: fact that like, if I'm to do this, I really
17:07
Speaker 2: want to do it my way and spend my last
17:10
Speaker 2: you know years coaching surrounded by people that I'm philosophically
17:14
Speaker 2: aligned with, and you know, was what what jobs out
17:18
Speaker 2: there were the right fit? You know, I don't think
17:21
Speaker 2: the Giants were a right fit. I think that he
17:22
Speaker 2: thinks that Brian Daball should continue in that job. As
17:25
Speaker 2: a matter of fact, the Bears are probably the best paid,
17:28
Speaker 2: you know, the best fit on paper. But like he
17:32
Speaker 2: he wasn't going to get that job Jacksonville. Even if
17:36
Speaker 2: you know, he gets along with Tony Kahan, even if
17:39
Speaker 2: what Blake Embardi said on his podcast has some validity
17:42
Speaker 2: and gets along with shod Cohn, you know, you don't
17:46
Speaker 2: have to be a very astute member or listener to
17:49
Speaker 2: his podcast to realize that he is far from sold
17:52
Speaker 2: on Trevor Lawren. And what do you how do you
17:54
Speaker 2: run a program like Belichick runs it if you've got
17:56
Speaker 2: a quarterback who he's thinks the jury's out on in
17:59
Speaker 2: terms of being a franchise quarterback, you know, with that
18:02
Speaker 2: type of contract. And so when North Carolina came up,
18:07
Speaker 2: I think it afforded him the space to do things
18:11
Speaker 2: his way. But you know, that deal came, you know,
18:15
Speaker 2: it took a week to get it done, and I
18:17
Speaker 2: think that he was willing to walk away, and I
18:20
Speaker 2: think that they were willing to walk away also, And
18:22
Speaker 2: it was tenuous at times, and still it is kind
18:26
Speaker 2: of it is going to be weird seeing him in
18:29
Speaker 2: college because he just he spent his entire professional life
18:33
Speaker 2: since he graduated from Wesleyan in the NFL.
18:36
Speaker 1: I think a lot of us are doing flips and
18:38
Speaker 1: trying to now look at it in hindsight, like it
18:40
Speaker 1: actually makes a ton of sense. And Edelman's on My
18:42
Speaker 1: Show with Me on Sundays and he went on. Aaron
18:44
Speaker 1: Lombardi actually tweeted out Edelman's video today, which makes me
18:47
Speaker 1: think it was looked as like a ringing endorsement. But
18:50
Speaker 1: Julian said, this is the most surprising thing in the world.
18:53
Speaker 1: But now that I think about it, he loves coaching
18:56
Speaker 1: football North Carolina. There's a connection to his father, He's
18:59
Speaker 1: connected to history, and like this is another thing he
19:02
Speaker 1: could say, like I built up UNC football and look
19:05
Speaker 1: what I did. I did this. It's an actual accomplishment.
19:08
Speaker 1: I still the day to day to me of dealing
19:13
Speaker 1: with these kids. There's a great disconnect there because football
19:17
Speaker 1: IQ wise, to me, Belichick's got I still don't know
19:20
Speaker 1: if he's got the patients and the desire to deal
19:23
Speaker 1: with eighteen year old kids. Nil and that whole world.
19:25
Speaker 1: Now everyone tells me I'm wrong and he's gonna build
19:28
Speaker 1: this thing. But like Seth, we've covered him for years,
19:31
Speaker 1: like he's got no patience for both, and there's all
19:33
Speaker 1: both all over college football.
19:35
Speaker 2: There's a lot. And I also think that, like you know,
19:38
Speaker 2: he wasn't leaving the same NFL that he's worked in
19:42
Speaker 2: all these years and decades in his opinion, I think,
19:45
Speaker 2: you know, people every week, he and his former Patriots assistants,
19:49
Speaker 2: all of whom are are currently unemployed, would get on
19:54
Speaker 2: zooms and they would focus on teams, games, schematics, any trend,
19:59
Speaker 2: any detail they could think of. And it's really kind
20:02
Speaker 2: of an interesting insular group of men who changed football
20:06
Speaker 2: and we're all out of it. And there is no
20:08
Speaker 2: question that all year long it was geared towards the NFL.
20:13
Speaker 2: What jobs might be open, what jobs might be interested
20:16
Speaker 2: in Bill, and what jobs might he be interested in?
20:19
Speaker 2: And you know, I reported in my story that he's
20:21
Speaker 2: disgusted with a lot of the politics in the way
20:24
Speaker 2: that he sees the NFL having. Right now, I think that, like, ultimately,
20:32
Speaker 2: you know, he is someone who is there's an accountability
20:36
Speaker 2: that's that's I think fundamental to his being and coaching
20:40
Speaker 2: that he sees lacking from a lot of you know,
20:43
Speaker 2: bad personnel decisions, bad draft decisions, coaching, whatever it might
20:46
Speaker 2: be that's in the NFL. And it felt weird. Honestly,
20:51
Speaker 2: I don't know how you felt, but it felt odd
20:52
Speaker 2: to me to watch him explaining these game management situations
20:56
Speaker 2: that coaches this year have screwed up, and he seems
21:00
Speaker 2: so frustrated whenever he does it. And it's also like
21:03
Speaker 2: he's had this stuff down cold for twenty years. He's
21:06
Speaker 2: explaining these elemental mistakes that coaches are making as he's
21:10
Speaker 2: out of the game. But yeah, now he's going to
21:13
Speaker 2: be in college. I went back and I watched the
21:14
Speaker 2: documentary that was on HBO that was he did with
21:18
Speaker 2: Nick Saban, Yeah, and I think it was called The
21:21
Speaker 2: Art of Coaching, and at one point they talk about
21:24
Speaker 2: the things that are unique to college, and of course
21:27
Speaker 2: that's pre nil and pre portal, but you know, there's
21:32
Speaker 2: a little bit of a glimpse there and like the
21:33
Speaker 2: challenge that he might like, and that every year in
21:35
Speaker 2: college you are completely reinventing your new team and you're
21:39
Speaker 2: playing against teams that have reinvented themselves too. So that's
21:42
Speaker 2: a huge discrepancy from the NFL, and it wouldn't surprise
21:46
Speaker 2: me if that's something that he you know, finds very invigoring,
21:51
Speaker 2: invigorating and takes almost as like a personal challenge this year.
21:56
Speaker 1: And there's this other piece that like, yes, he'll coach
21:59
Speaker 1: circles around some of these other young ACC coaches. There's
22:03
Speaker 1: this other piece to me that just thinks he just
22:04
Speaker 1: might want to just be Like it sounds like he
22:06
Speaker 1: might just want to be happy, and like this is
22:08
Speaker 1: a it's a low pressure situation. He's going to the
22:12
Speaker 1: fourth best ACC team, He'll be on primetime television a
22:16
Speaker 1: couple of times, they'll go they'll either have a great
22:19
Speaker 1: year or they won't. And it's not like anyone says, say, oh,
22:22
Speaker 1: Bellichick's you know target like he now it sounds I
22:25
Speaker 1: mean he's got a let's just say, like he's got
22:27
Speaker 1: a girlfriend who's twenty four years old who's attached the
22:29
Speaker 1: hip with him, and like this is a fun new
22:30
Speaker 1: adventure and a fun new chapter for them. And it's
22:32
Speaker 1: not the sit in a room in a lab for
22:35
Speaker 1: twelve hours game planning for you know, Taysom Hill and
22:39
Speaker 1: how the Saints use him this week. Like I think
22:42
Speaker 1: this might actually be a happier place for him than
22:44
Speaker 1: the NFL.
22:46
Speaker 2: We'll see, I you know, I think we'll see how
22:48
Speaker 2: that goes. But I do I do think that of
22:52
Speaker 2: all the ways that he's going to, you know, all
22:54
Speaker 2: the ways that he's going to be a presence in
22:56
Speaker 2: college football, I'm really interested in his schematic presence. You know,
23:03
Speaker 2: we've seen so many offensive players, especially quarterbacks, come out
23:08
Speaker 2: of college with just insane statistics. And we know all
23:11
Speaker 2: the reasons why the hash marks, the space, the air raid,
23:14
Speaker 2: you know, all the ways that they figured out to
23:17
Speaker 2: turn you know, quarterbacks who even weren't repiably recruited out
23:22
Speaker 2: of high school turn into college stars and then kind
23:25
Speaker 2: of turn into you know, players who can't stay along,
23:28
Speaker 2: stay can't stay long, very very long, if at all.
23:30
Speaker 2: In the NFL. I'm really interesting to see how he's
23:33
Speaker 2: going to shut those offenses down from a defensive perspective,
23:38
Speaker 2: and and you know, will North Carolina get you know,
23:41
Speaker 2: the top talent. I mean, that's one of the things
23:43
Speaker 2: that we always talk about. One of the big differences
23:45
Speaker 2: between college and pro football is that like a lot
23:47
Speaker 2: of college players play against, you know, teams that don't
23:51
Speaker 2: have the top talent whereas in the NFL it's quite
23:53
Speaker 2: a bit different. You know, how much will he be
23:57
Speaker 2: able to scheme, what will be the players that he
24:00
Speaker 2: needs that he doesn't quite have yet. All that stuff
24:03
Speaker 2: will be fascinating.
24:04
Speaker 1: I'm not going to the name of the individual, but
24:07
Speaker 1: I have a friend who's a former NFL player who's
24:09
Speaker 1: got a really talented high school athlete football player, And
24:14
Speaker 1: I asked him, I said, knowing what Belichick is as
24:17
Speaker 1: a coach, like that, is that an advantage would you
24:20
Speaker 1: send your kid? He said, well, how much is the
24:21
Speaker 1: nil money? With a laugh? Like I think this feeling
24:24
Speaker 1: that that Belichick's gonna sit down and that these players
24:28
Speaker 1: of a different generation and these parents of a different generation,
24:30
Speaker 1: parents are in their forties, of these college kids, like,
24:33
Speaker 1: are they going to necessarily say, well that, okay, my
24:36
Speaker 1: son just got to the highest level in high school.
24:38
Speaker 1: They're throwing around millions of dollars to go to Ohio
24:40
Speaker 1: State and go to Florida and these great SEC programs, Like,
24:44
Speaker 1: but I want him to be more disciplined and learn
24:46
Speaker 1: about time management and become the best technically sound football player.
24:49
Speaker 1: Is that an appealing pitch? I I don't remember. I'm
24:52
Speaker 1: too young to remember Bill Walsh's return to Stanford, but
24:55
Speaker 1: I did a lot of work looking at that he
24:57
Speaker 1: did three years after the Niners when he came out
24:59
Speaker 1: of retirement, and the first year went really well and
25:01
Speaker 1: then the last two years did not. They're like, I don't
25:04
Speaker 1: I don't know, Like, do you think the young high
25:07
Speaker 1: school athlete who's a star in Florida and Texas wants
25:10
Speaker 1: to go be coached really hard by Bill Belichick? I
25:13
Speaker 1: don't know if that's true.
25:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, not all of them. But I do think he
25:16
Speaker 2: is a bigger pool and you know, his his name
25:19
Speaker 2: recognition I do think will matter. I think that, like
25:24
Speaker 2: you know, there's gonna be certain schools that will just
25:26
Speaker 2: bid for players and he'll never really those guys will
25:30
Speaker 2: never consider North Carolina. So, given what's left, can he
25:35
Speaker 2: put together a winning team? That's gonna be one of
25:37
Speaker 2: his big and most fascinating challenges. I thought it was interesting,
25:41
Speaker 2: you know, he talked about the pipeline into the NFL
25:45
Speaker 2: and feeling assured that he has you know, NFL contacts,
25:49
Speaker 2: you know that he can vouch for his players, for
25:51
Speaker 2: those who indeed have an NFL future. That will be
25:57
Speaker 2: fascinating to watch too, because you know, the teams that
26:00
Speaker 2: pick them the Belichick type player. You know, remember he
26:06
Speaker 2: had a couple of thin drafts there, of course in
26:09
Speaker 2: the middle of his time in New England, and a
26:10
Speaker 2: lot of it was because so many people who are
26:13
Speaker 2: running teams in the NFL had come out of that
26:15
Speaker 2: building and there was a premium on that player, whereas
26:17
Speaker 2: for years it was really just the Patriots looking for
26:20
Speaker 2: that type of guy. So it'll be interesting to see
26:23
Speaker 2: what teams draft out of North Carolina. Is it, you know,
26:26
Speaker 2: the Harbas, you know, people that he has good relationships with,
26:30
Speaker 2: you know, day Ball. If he ends up staying with
26:32
Speaker 2: the Giants, obviously McVeigh came out and said that, you know,
26:37
Speaker 2: he would definitely be looking at North Carolina players more doubt.
26:41
Speaker 2: The NFL has shifted, I mean, you know, it happens
26:45
Speaker 2: all the time, but it's transitioned to a new group
26:48
Speaker 2: of coaches and those guys have studied Belichick and are
26:53
Speaker 2: trying to take some of his lessons and lessons that
26:55
Speaker 2: they've learned throughout the year from other places and evolved
26:58
Speaker 2: it in their own way. So it'll be interesting to see,
27:01
Speaker 2: like how that all fits in and does.
27:03
Speaker 1: He utilize that alumni base of players. Now, look, Brady
27:07
Speaker 1: and him will play together for twenty years. When he
27:08
Speaker 1: was prompted with a story about Belichick, it wasn't exactly
27:11
Speaker 1: a glowing one on Sunday on the broadcast. I know
27:15
Speaker 1: Belichick will get Brady's vote of a proove, Like what
27:18
Speaker 1: do he have? I mean, Belichick is so much pride.
27:20
Speaker 1: Is he gonna call Gronk and Belichick and ask them
27:22
Speaker 1: to like talk to players like Jed Fish used to
27:26
Speaker 1: fly in Teddy Bruski and Rob Gronkowski and have them
27:29
Speaker 1: speak to the play I can't imagine without those guys
27:33
Speaker 1: just openly volunteering, Belichick begging for favors from these players.
27:36
Speaker 1: It's just not in his nature.
27:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean I think that like a lot
27:41
Speaker 2: of powerful people will come through North Carolina just based
27:44
Speaker 2: on its athletic history and just the power of the university,
27:47
Speaker 2: and he'll bring it. He'll usher in those people also.
27:50
Speaker 2: But again it goes back to like the type of player.
27:53
Speaker 2: You know, a lot of these guys weren't born when
27:56
Speaker 2: he was beginning to revolutionize Pro football and winning Super
28:00
Speaker 2: bowls with the Patriots. And again, this will be one
28:06
Speaker 2: of the most fascinating challenges. I mean, we haven't seen
28:08
Speaker 2: this even when Bill Walsh came back, you know, he
28:11
Speaker 2: had been out of the game for a little bit.
28:12
Speaker 2: I think that like he wasn't coming back to necessarily
28:16
Speaker 2: win championships. And you know, Belichick has has one gear,
28:20
Speaker 2: and that's he expects to win every single game. And
28:24
Speaker 2: you know he coaches and prepares and studies like his self.
28:30
Speaker 2: Worth is at risk with what happens on Sundays, and
28:34
Speaker 2: it has led to some of the most brilliant football
28:39
Speaker 2: decisions and best games in NFL history. It at times
28:42
Speaker 2: has been spectacularly unhealthy. But that's how he's wired. And
28:48
Speaker 2: I don't I think that like being out of the
28:50
Speaker 2: game for a year has indulled those instincts in him.
28:53
Speaker 2: If anything, it's sharpened him.
29:05
Speaker 1: I can't. I Before we move on from Belichick, the
29:07
Speaker 1: Jets story did make a lot of waves here in
29:09
Speaker 1: New York just because of how much he hates the Jets.
29:12
Speaker 1: And that's assumed and that's not like that was not
29:15
Speaker 1: leaked by them. They did not share that. Like that
29:18
Speaker 1: story gets out. I'm trying to think of the mastermind
29:21
Speaker 1: of Belichick and Lombardi and like how that story even
29:24
Speaker 1: gets put out there, that there was a phone call
29:27
Speaker 1: made and was the intention to embarrass the Jets that
29:29
Speaker 1: they weren't even willing to interview him? Like, what what
29:32
Speaker 1: do you make of Bill Belichick, who openly hates the
29:36
Speaker 1: New York Jets ownership and openly hates that New York Jets'
29:39
Speaker 1: logo would proactively call on his own behalf to inquire
29:43
Speaker 1: about a coaching position.
29:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I have a lot of respect for Diana,
29:47
Speaker 2: so she can speak to you know, how she reported
29:49
Speaker 2: the site.
29:50
Speaker 1: I wasn't even asking who gave it to her. The
29:52
Speaker 1: fact that it even happens to me is amazing. And
29:55
Speaker 1: then yeah, like where does that and the fact that
29:57
Speaker 1: the story is seated out there? What was the intention?
30:00
Speaker 1: And I don't know, I'm fascinated by the mental gymnastics
30:03
Speaker 1: of it all.
30:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, And it's interesting because this year we got a
30:08
Speaker 2: little bit of a glimpse of spicy Belichick. Right, he
30:11
Speaker 2: was never going to go you know, full staff meeting
30:13
Speaker 2: where he could just be ruthless and criticism of opposing
30:16
Speaker 2: coaches players, whoever it might be his critiques. But you know,
30:20
Speaker 2: this year we got a little glimpse of it when
30:22
Speaker 2: he did the Maning cast Atlanta Falcons game. You know,
30:26
Speaker 2: he was very critical of their defense. You know, that
30:28
Speaker 2: was obviously the team that didn't hire him and didn't
30:32
Speaker 2: place him in their top three candidates, according to our
30:36
Speaker 2: story in April. And then you know, when Sala was fired,
30:40
Speaker 2: and I think that everybody around the league, no matter
30:43
Speaker 2: what you think about Sala as a head coach, saw
30:47
Speaker 2: the timing and the rationale for that is just beyond inexplicable.
30:51
Speaker 2: I mean, I get that they needed a sparkle, man,
30:57
Speaker 2: my god, you know, but clearly he took issue with that,
31:01
Speaker 2: and I thought that was really interesting, not only because
31:04
Speaker 2: he had his ready fire aim line, you know, ready
31:07
Speaker 2: to go, which he deployed it on a couple different
31:09
Speaker 2: of his many media platforms, you know, but he had
31:12
Speaker 2: the coaches back, and you know, Sola's Jets have played
31:16
Speaker 2: the Patriots really hard and at times, you know, you
31:18
Speaker 2: saw the difference in those games as being the Jets
31:21
Speaker 2: horrific offensive production. And so that he would have a
31:26
Speaker 2: conversation through Tannenbaum about the Jets. I mean, there's so
31:30
Speaker 2: many interesting factors there, especially because tannonbamb was the main
31:33
Speaker 2: person who blew the whistle on spygate, Mangini for the Jets,
31:38
Speaker 2: and of course the Jets hired Tanne bomb back after
31:40
Speaker 2: they fire him to conduct the search. But I think
31:44
Speaker 2: he just needed to make sure that he has a
31:47
Speaker 2: lot of respect for Aaron Rodgers. Obviously he you know,
31:50
Speaker 2: he's been complimentary of some of the players on that team.
31:52
Speaker 2: I think he just needed to make sure that there
31:54
Speaker 2: wasn't one of those Mike Shanahan situations where we're going
31:57
Speaker 2: to hire you, but we can't say it now.
31:59
Speaker 1: Yeah.
31:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I do think that, like I do think
32:01
Speaker 2: that Brian Flores lawsuit has played a factor in this.
32:04
Speaker 1: I don't know what's the connection there.
32:07
Speaker 2: Well, because owners do not want to communicate be well,
32:12
Speaker 2: they don't want to be subpoena again. They don't want
32:13
Speaker 2: to be part of this. This is a go down
32:15
Speaker 2: league in three teams. They don't want to make it
32:16
Speaker 2: four or five, six, seven teams, especially about a coach
32:19
Speaker 2: that they're not completely convinced of. I think for a
32:23
Speaker 2: while I was thinking that maybe this year would be
32:27
Speaker 2: where teams were firing coaches early to get first first
32:31
Speaker 2: crack at Belichick the way they did for Mike Shanahan
32:34
Speaker 2: when he went to Washington. But the landscape has changed
32:37
Speaker 2: and owners just cannot be on record in any way,
32:40
Speaker 2: shape or form saying, you know, we're going to hire Bill,
32:43
Speaker 2: but first we have to go through this thrill. They
32:45
Speaker 2: just cannot do it.
32:46
Speaker 1: It's fascinating, you know, and it's It's also what put
32:49
Speaker 1: the Jets in a bind. Even if they wanted to
32:51
Speaker 1: meet with Belichick, they were seidfast that they cannot do
32:54
Speaker 1: anything until the end of the season. He had the
32:56
Speaker 1: North Carolina thing in his back pocket. Now, what's interesting.
32:59
Speaker 1: Lombardi is obviously a big part of this, and if
33:02
Speaker 1: you know Micha Lombardi from his many media things, he's
33:04
Speaker 1: also former NFLGM. He's on staff. Freddi Kinchins is on
33:08
Speaker 1: staff in rapport referenced Scott Turner, Norf's kid who's currently
33:12
Speaker 1: oca the Raiders. He might be in there, but like
33:15
Speaker 1: I assume the next day, Steven Belichick, Matt Patricia, Mick Lombardi,
33:22
Speaker 1: Josh McDaniels been like, it hasn't happened so fast. So
33:25
Speaker 1: I'm also interesting to see what staff he brings along
33:27
Speaker 1: and where that is all at, because I assumed he
33:30
Speaker 1: was bringing the whole, the whole dream team with him,
33:32
Speaker 1: but the guys who are on the zoom calls, but
33:34
Speaker 1: they haven't yet.
33:36
Speaker 2: He hasn't yet, And I think that some of that
33:38
Speaker 2: will probably shake out in the next week. I think
33:40
Speaker 2: that for the first week they were recruiting, you know,
33:44
Speaker 2: I think they were like using this way for what
33:46
Speaker 2: it could And I think that like in the next
33:47
Speaker 2: couple of weeks, he'll fill out that staff. And I'm
33:51
Speaker 2: fascinated to see like what he wants to do. I mean,
33:53
Speaker 2: there are things schematically you can do in college that
33:56
Speaker 2: are just harder to do in the NFL. And he
33:58
Speaker 2: is going to keep the Dabo Sweeneys of the world
34:01
Speaker 2: on their toes. I mean, remember when I think it
34:04
Speaker 2: was a Monday night game that they play the Bills
34:07
Speaker 2: in Buffalo. It might have been like a really bad
34:09
Speaker 2: weather game, didn't.
34:09
Speaker 1: Pun and it didn't pass. They only they attempts, you know,
34:13
Speaker 1: exactly three attempts.
34:15
Speaker 2: Yes, I mean I could see that that card, you know,
34:18
Speaker 2: that that club in the bag being taken out at
34:20
Speaker 2: various points where he basically just runs the entire game
34:23
Speaker 2: and puts no passes on film. Whatever it might be, Like,
34:26
Speaker 2: I said, I think that from a schematic standpoint, we
34:30
Speaker 2: might be underappreciating just how fun this season might be
34:33
Speaker 2: really quick.
34:34
Speaker 1: Do you have any insight on Vrabel and what he's
34:36
Speaker 1: up to and what the words are there?
34:39
Speaker 2: Well, I think that I can tell you that, like
34:45
Speaker 2: when Rabel didn't get a job last year either, in
34:47
Speaker 2: some ways it was more surprising than Belichick because of
34:50
Speaker 2: how successful he's been, and obviously he had run out
34:55
Speaker 2: of champions in Tennessee. And they bring in, you know,
34:58
Speaker 2: the kind of different regime, one that we're kind of
35:01
Speaker 2: used to seeing where you kind of switch directions from
35:05
Speaker 2: more of a hard asked to someone who you know
35:08
Speaker 2: is more in the.
35:09
Speaker 1: Quarterback Friday collaboratory, and like, you know.
35:13
Speaker 2: They've lost something. I mean, that team isn't as tough
35:15
Speaker 2: as they used to be, as they were a year ago.
35:19
Speaker 2: You know, Will Levis Rabel knew how to protect quarterbacks,
35:22
Speaker 2: he knew how to win in the playoffs, not relying
35:25
Speaker 2: on the quarterback. And I think that that Will was
35:29
Speaker 2: in a better situation a year ago than he has
35:31
Speaker 2: been this year. Even though Brian Callahan, you know, might
35:34
Speaker 2: end up being a really good coach. So I think
35:38
Speaker 2: that he will definitely be. I interviewed a lot. Now
35:43
Speaker 2: where does he land? Does the NFL want someone like him? Again?
35:47
Speaker 2: It's like it kind of goes back to that thing
35:48
Speaker 2: that Belichick was talking about and some of the things
35:50
Speaker 2: I reported in my article where it's like, you know,
35:52
Speaker 2: what does the NFL become? And you know, I don't
35:56
Speaker 2: know where it lands for him. I mean, I think
35:58
Speaker 2: he's an excellent coach. I think he's He's one of
36:00
Speaker 2: the few total head coaches in the NFL.
36:02
Speaker 1: He's not out, can walk into any room and talk
36:04
Speaker 1: to any position group.
36:06
Speaker 2: He's not a glorified coordinator. And like, I just go
36:09
Speaker 2: back to that game where his Titans beat Brady and
36:11
Speaker 2: Belichick's Patriots, and what turned out to be their last
36:14
Speaker 2: game together, where the fourth quarters coming up, the Titans
36:18
Speaker 2: have to punt at midfield and you're thinking, here we
36:20
Speaker 2: go again, Brady's getting get the ball, four passes to
36:22
Speaker 2: Edelman and the game's over, And instead he deployed that
36:27
Speaker 2: rule loophole that belichickainst the Jets earlier this year, where
36:32
Speaker 2: earlier that year where he just melted the clock and
36:35
Speaker 2: Bill went nuts on the other sideline. You watched him
36:38
Speaker 2: do it he was so angry, and that to me
36:41
Speaker 2: showed someone who really studies coaching well and hard and
36:46
Speaker 2: was sophisticated and confident enough to pull that out at
36:49
Speaker 2: the exact moment where it would work. You just don't
36:53
Speaker 2: see that from a lot of coaches. And like, in
36:55
Speaker 2: my opinion, he should be in the league.
36:57
Speaker 1: And I would go to a Sunday night in Kansas
36:59
Speaker 1: City two years ago when he had Maline Willis and
37:02
Speaker 1: they took him to overtime, and I think Willis through
37:04
Speaker 1: for eighty yards and he went to to Toway. Rabel
37:07
Speaker 1: is a great coach, but it's not ex's and o's,
37:11
Speaker 1: it's necessarily personalities. And whereas Rahie Morris and Brian Callahan
37:16
Speaker 1: are maybe a little more digestible for the building than
37:18
Speaker 1: Mike Rabel, who could be a threat because he comes
37:20
Speaker 1: in with, hey, I know how to do this, let
37:23
Speaker 1: me kind of run point. Not everyone wants to see
37:25
Speaker 1: the power anymore.
37:27
Speaker 2: No, there's no doubt. And I think that, like you know,
37:31
Speaker 2: work isn't always fun, you know when you're working for
37:36
Speaker 2: Bill Belichick or you're working for Brabel, but they always
37:38
Speaker 2: come back and you know, talk about the fun is
37:42
Speaker 2: in the winning and that's where you get the joy
37:44
Speaker 2: you see Brady. Remember when Brady left, I mean he
37:46
Speaker 2: wanted something new. I mean he was fed up with
37:48
Speaker 2: that system. And of course he goes from like you know,
37:52
Speaker 2: Harvard to Florida State Internation of Culture. Right, and then
37:56
Speaker 2: you saw what happened earlier this year when when Baker Mayfield,
37:59
Speaker 2: you know, talked about how when he came to Tampa,
38:02
Speaker 2: he kind of provided that levity and levity and like
38:06
Speaker 2: kind of helped put people at ease and made it
38:07
Speaker 2: a little bit more jovial and Belichick Brady responded like
38:11
Speaker 2: would Yeah, he said, I find joy and winning. You know,
38:14
Speaker 2: that's exactly something that Belichick would have said.
38:17
Speaker 1: Yeah. All right, So September is a faraways away and
38:20
Speaker 1: we're literally nine months in advance. But I know you've
38:24
Speaker 1: been sitting down with all these quarterback legends, and I
38:27
Speaker 1: have read all your books and all your articles, and
38:28
Speaker 1: I know you're in the midst of putting to bed
38:31
Speaker 1: a book that you've been putting a lot of time into.
38:33
Speaker 1: Can you tell us about the project that you've been
38:35
Speaker 1: working on and how he can order it ahead of
38:38
Speaker 1: time so I could read it when the season starts.
38:40
Speaker 1: In September.
38:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks man. So I've been working on my second book.
38:43
Speaker 2: It's called American Kings. It's a biography of the quarterback.
38:47
Speaker 2: And I really spend a lot of time getting into
38:51
Speaker 2: this unique, you know, American job with very unique responsibilities
38:55
Speaker 2: and roles. I get into it with legends like Elway
38:58
Speaker 2: and Moon, and you know, guys who want to be
39:01
Speaker 2: legends like Arch Manning and the entire Manning family and
39:05
Speaker 2: Caleb Williams, and even guys who are no longer alive
39:08
Speaker 2: and their families like the United family, the Waterfield family.
39:14
Speaker 2: What I'm trying to do here is get at every
39:18
Speaker 2: facet of what this job builds in these guys, what
39:21
Speaker 2: it strips away, what it's like to do, the parts
39:23
Speaker 2: of it that they love, what they hate, and how
39:28
Speaker 2: it came to be. You know, how how did this
39:30
Speaker 2: weird job of throwing this football come to be celebrated
39:34
Speaker 2: on a level where you know, Peyton Manning is on
39:36
Speaker 2: stage with Larry David and their their cultural peers and
39:40
Speaker 2: the answer goes back to eighteen eighty five, interestingly enough.
39:43
Speaker 2: But and then, you know, I spend a lot of
39:46
Speaker 2: time in the book talking about what it's like to
39:47
Speaker 2: have done this job at a high level and be
39:50
Speaker 2: a Hall of Famer and live with that the rest
39:52
Speaker 2: of your life and the ways that it gives you
39:55
Speaker 2: blessings and the ways that it's incompatible with regular life.
39:58
Speaker 2: So I'm really trying to tell a story about this
40:01
Speaker 2: job that people care about. That's the hardest job to
40:03
Speaker 2: do in sports in a new way, and I hopefully
40:06
Speaker 2: did that. But yeah, you can pre order it anywhere
40:08
Speaker 2: you get books. It'll be out in September. I will
40:10
Speaker 2: be bugging you to be on your podcast again at
40:12
Speaker 2: that point, but I really appreciate the books.
40:15
Speaker 1: On a napkin. If you have to write how many
40:16
Speaker 1: quarterbacks you spoke to, what would be the number?
40:20
Speaker 2: Oh man, I have a map on my wall of
40:22
Speaker 2: the country and I have like little note with each
40:25
Speaker 2: one of them. I mean it was at least thirty.
40:28
Speaker 2: There's a lot of guys who you know, I spent
40:30
Speaker 2: a lot of time with. You get their moment on stage,
40:33
Speaker 2: but they're not on stage the way that like in
40:36
Speaker 2: l Way or a moon or those.
40:37
Speaker 1: Types of Give me an example, like are we talking
40:39
Speaker 1: like a Josh McCown, like a case Keno. I mean.
40:43
Speaker 2: I mean everywhere from like you know Kirk Cousins, you know,
40:47
Speaker 2: he won the Athletes and Action Award two years ago
40:51
Speaker 2: at the Super Bowl for his faith, and I kind
40:54
Speaker 2: of wanted to know exactly ways that faith helps you
40:57
Speaker 2: with this job, not in the trite kind of like,
41:00
Speaker 2: you know, thank you God for this touchdown passway, but
41:04
Speaker 2: in a real way, like.
41:05
Speaker 1: How it helps you devoting yourself and how that really
41:08
Speaker 1: plays a role. Yeah.
41:09
Speaker 2: Absolutely, because all these guys, you know, they're all trying
41:10
Speaker 2: to control a job that they can't control, and they
41:14
Speaker 2: all need some sort of outlet, whether it's you know,
41:17
Speaker 2: beer or social media or Tom Brady avocado ice cream, yeah,
41:22
Speaker 2: whatever it might be. And for Kirk Cousins, it's religion.
41:24
Speaker 2: So I really wanted to understand that on the deepest
41:28
Speaker 2: level that I possibly could.
41:30
Speaker 1: I can't. It's such a mountain of a project. I
41:34
Speaker 1: would think you can do a full book on any
41:35
Speaker 1: of those top quarterbacks if you tell me you're doing
41:37
Speaker 1: a Warren Moon book and Seth Chrisham's writing it like
41:40
Speaker 1: I'm reading it three undred pages, so to see how
41:42
Speaker 1: you weave all their stories into one, I can't wait.
41:44
Speaker 1: And I know you've been working on it, dude. Thank
41:46
Speaker 1: you for joining me. This is so good, and we'll
41:49
Speaker 1: both be at a UNC football game next year.
41:51
Speaker 2: I'm certain, definitely i'll see you, man. Thank you.
42:03
Speaker 1: Good stuff from Seth. I will be getting that book
42:05
Speaker 1: and we will have them on again. And I started
42:07
Speaker 1: thinking about all the different quarterbacks I speak to, and
42:09
Speaker 1: they're so different. To write a book on the quarterback position,
42:13
Speaker 1: I feel like you could do a six hundred chapter
42:15
Speaker 1: book and be like, here's the Jim Everett chapter, here's
42:18
Speaker 1: the Bobby Abar chapter, Here's the Michael Vick chapter. Oh,
42:22
Speaker 1: and we also spoke to Chris Chandler and here's Greg McElroy. Like,
42:25
Speaker 1: I don't know how you make a book out of
42:27
Speaker 1: the quarterback position, but if anyone could do it, it's Seth.
42:29
Speaker 1: And I can't wait to see what he gets. And
42:31
Speaker 1: Elway doesn't do a lot of media, so I'm fascinating
42:34
Speaker 1: to hear what he got from Elway. The season with
42:36
Speaker 1: Peter Schrager Delivering Results is presented by Uber Eats, and
42:40
Speaker 1: it's time for delivering results presented by Uber Eats, and
42:44
Speaker 1: I would like to give the award for the best
42:46
Speaker 1: performance to a Tampa Bay buccaneer named Mike Evans. Evans
42:49
Speaker 1: had nine catches for one hundred and fifty nine yards
42:52
Speaker 1: and two touchdowns, and did it against the number one
42:55
Speaker 1: rated defense in the league, the LA Chargers, and a
42:58
Speaker 1: must win for the Buccaneers last week. Evan's fantastic. He
43:03
Speaker 1: goes from you know, not making it even a realist,
43:06
Speaker 1: sick possibility for him to get a thousand yards this
43:08
Speaker 1: season in the last two weeks, has these two huge
43:10
Speaker 1: games that now all he's got to do is average
43:12
Speaker 1: eighty five yards over the next three seasons and he'll
43:15
Speaker 1: get his eleventh straight one thousand yard season, the best
43:17
Speaker 1: start to any NFL career. I have long said that
43:21
Speaker 1: Mike Evans is a Pro Football Hall of Famer. He's
43:23
Speaker 1: just never discussed in his conversations as the best wide
43:26
Speaker 1: receiver in the sport. Just every year puts up the numbers.
43:30
Speaker 1: Mike Evans did it when they matters most, and he'll
43:32
Speaker 1: do it again this weekend. It's just what he does
43:34
Speaker 1: that was delivering results. He done about Uber Eats, where
43:37
Speaker 1: you can get the best deals on game day food
43:39
Speaker 1: all season long. It's the official on demand delivery partner
43:41
Speaker 1: of the NFL. Order Now good week ahead again, weird
43:47
Speaker 1: Thursday night decision from Sean pay and he's like, I
43:50
Speaker 1: want to play on Thursday night. I want my guys
43:53
Speaker 1: to be in primetime, despite the fact he could have
43:55
Speaker 1: waived that and stayed on Sunday due to the NFL bylaws,
43:58
Speaker 1: but he said, give me a second road Thursday night
44:01
Speaker 1: game and then let's take a nice long break after that.
44:04
Speaker 1: That's your Thursday night game, and then two big ones
44:07
Speaker 1: on Saturday, Chiefs versus Texans and Ravens versus Steelers, and
44:12
Speaker 1: then those two teams will mix it up. Those four
44:14
Speaker 1: teams will mix it up, and they all play again
44:16
Speaker 1: on Christmas. I believe we'll be doing a pod next week.
44:19
Speaker 1: Try to find the right time to do it. But
44:21
Speaker 1: in the meantime, go enjoy your holiday shopping and get
44:26
Speaker 1: ready for the airport and the train station and the
44:28
Speaker 1: bus terminal. It'll be chaos. Enjoy the football, everybody. The
44:38
Speaker 1: Season with Peter Schrager is a production of the NFL
44:41
Speaker 1: and partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit
44:45
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts.