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Tom Brady's Sad Post-Playing Career & Mahomes' Health Questions · The MMQB NFL Podcast

0:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Hello!
0:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the M&KB NFL podcast on Conor, that's Albert Brear and at least one of us got punched by Tom Brady this weekend.
0:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Just kidding.
0:17
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you have a fanatic's past?
0:19
[UNKNOWN]: Hi!
0:20
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, but this one wasn't on camera.
0:23
[SPEAKER_00]: He just saw me and I had a punchable face and he threw a little headmaker at me.
0:28
[SPEAKER_01]: I feel like I said this.
0:31
[SPEAKER_01]: Some people listening might.
0:33
[SPEAKER_01]: because it was on one of my tax groups.
0:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Mike Call me on repeating myself here, but the NAD Express feels to me like the place that you either get paid for or pay to try to look cool.
0:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Does that make sense?
0:53
[SPEAKER_00]: I said it this way, no offense to anybody who's in this situation.
0:57
[SPEAKER_00]: The fanatics fest is ground zero for like divorce data.
1:01
[SPEAKER_00]: I got my kids for the weekend, and I really need to swing for the fences because I'm mad at my ex-wife, you know.
1:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I need the kid to come home and be like, wow, dead is actually not that bad.
1:16
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, like, I got Tom Brady's autograph.
1:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Wow.
1:19
[SPEAKER_00]: And Carl, in three towns of the same place, like, you know, I don't know.
1:23
[SPEAKER_01]: That's pretty good.
1:24
[SPEAKER_01]: That's pretty good.
1:27
[SPEAKER_01]: When you start with, like, any description that starts with ground zero, I'm in.
1:31
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm so, yeah.
1:35
[SPEAKER_01]: I also have accepted like patient zero, but like yeah, this is it's it's an interesting group of people that are for sure Like my kids would love it there.
1:43
[SPEAKER_01]: I know that because my kids do have like football cards and basketball cards and soccer cards and all of that But it's kind of like going to Disney land.
1:53
[SPEAKER_01]: You know what I mean?
1:54
[SPEAKER_01]: Like You have to like I think you have to have some questions about the people who are there without kids No, you know what the oh the best example monster jam
2:05
[SPEAKER_01]: My kids loved Monster Jam when they were younger.
2:07
[SPEAKER_01]: My boy's dead, right?
2:11
[SPEAKER_01]: By the time I was done going to Monster Jam, I part of the fun of going to Monster Jam was looking at the people who were there without kids.
2:18
[SPEAKER_00]: I took my kids to their first monster jam to play off to go, uh, because the Eagles had won, so they maintained home field advantage.
2:25
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't have to fly, so I got to take my kids on the Saturday before.
2:28
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it was, uh, maybe the divisional round of the NFC playoffs.
2:33
[SPEAKER_00]: And I remember distinctly they're being two adult males together in front of me at Monster Jam.
2:38
[SPEAKER_00]: And I remember one turning to the other and saying, El Toro Locos really on it today.
2:44
[SPEAKER_00]: And the other guy saying, absolutely, he's on fire.
2:47
[SPEAKER_00]: and me just thinking like how many times have you seen this to recognize that El Torolo goes on fire today.
2:55
[SPEAKER_00]: And like, what did you see like, and so yes, that does open a back door to a lot of questions.
3:01
[SPEAKER_01]: There's only one truck name.
3:03
[SPEAKER_01]: I can remember, can you carry guess which one it is?
3:06
[SPEAKER_01]: Gravedigger, right?
3:08
[SPEAKER_01]: There you go.
3:09
[SPEAKER_01]: As the only one I remember, but they had all of the trucks were actually pretty cool because they weren't like, they weren't like small, they were like, they had like, you know, like almost like shocks, you know what I mean?
3:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Like the little trucks that they get, I'm sure your kids got some, right?
3:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, I don't know what Emily did with all those, but we had quite a collection of five or six years ago.
3:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Monster Jam does rock.
3:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Phenetics Fest is, it's weird to us, right?
3:34
[SPEAKER_00]: It's, phenetics Fest is weird to us because we interface, and, and this is not like a humble brag, but it's like, we interface with moderate to highly famous people on our semi-regular basis, right?
3:46
[SPEAKER_00]: And so, the idea of paying thousands of dollars to do that in a setting where there's no way you're going to have any sort of,
3:57
[SPEAKER_00]: revelatory conversation or something interesting, seems below the bar of something that I would ever consider doing.
4:04
[SPEAKER_01]: However, I have come around to the fact that you would, like if you had an opportunity to give your kids one of those experiences you'd give it to your kids, but you just the idea of doing it by yourself is messed up.
4:18
[SPEAKER_00]: yeah like anything else right and and I feel bad for people who solo ride to like you know a Pokemon card trade show or something but yeah you go without your kids and you you blow a significant you blow a significant amount of cover um we're by the way uh let me just set the stage here we're going uh to numbers eight seven uh six and possibly five
4:42
[SPEAKER_00]: of our burning story lines.
4:44
[SPEAKER_01]: We're counting up then, not, or are we counting?
4:46
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, do you want to end it one, right?
4:49
[SPEAKER_01]: You want to, you want to, this is the thing.
4:50
[SPEAKER_01]: I know we're ranking them, but okay.
4:52
[SPEAKER_00]: This is a trick in the podcasting business.
4:54
[SPEAKER_00]: We want to build suspense and then gather the listener base and then more add dollars and then before you know it, Albert and I are driving Lamborghini's to work and not speaking to one another unless it's on this show, which is the goal for any podcast really.
5:09
[SPEAKER_01]: You can catch my solo podcast about 18 months after I ditch Conner.
5:14
[SPEAKER_00]: with Brady Quinn, you bastard, I knew you were going to leave me for him, but the reason that everybody's talking about fanatics fast, just to kind of tie a bow on this is that Tom Brady slapped Logan Paul and then the two of them were giving each other the middle finger at the World Cup.
5:30
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll just say this before we actually get into the heart of today's episode, incredibly sad for me.
5:35
[SPEAKER_00]: And the reason why is because I covered the Patriots' dynasty was the first major NFL story that I ever covered.
5:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Bella Check was the first legend that I ever interviewed.
5:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Tom Brady was, is the greatest player in the history of the NFL and to have been in situations where you could ask him questions or whatever.
5:53
[SPEAKER_00]: That's always something that's going to leave a mark on me.
5:59
[SPEAKER_00]: this group of people just did not have the Arnold Palmer retirement where like they just maintained an ambulance of class and you know that like this much the aura that aura the vibe bill bell check for different reasons is just kind of a sad figure a little
6:26
[SPEAKER_00]: That's a good line.
6:30
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to leave it at that.
6:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
6:32
[SPEAKER_00]: And Brady, it's just like, and maybe this was true of other great, like I was in a live when, or I was alive, but I wasn't like sentient when Joe Montana retired and then tried to do other things immediately was he was the one I was going to bring up.
6:51
[SPEAKER_01]: because that was he as I'm the president is Tom Brady Albert you being he wasn't but he wasn't but he got torn down in like a similar fashion you know what I mean like I just I think you know like when you're a kid you view these guys is a normal as a mortal you know and we don't because we like you said we interact with them um... but like watching
7:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Joe Montana just get roasted for not being a great broadcaster for me was kind of like the oh like no one's really immune to this you know and then you see Michael Jordan as a Washington wizard and it looks like kind of like
7:29
[SPEAKER_01]: is he just desperate to get back in like what's the reasoning behind this like why is he doing this, you know and the one I feel like my dad's generation always brought up to us was woolly maze is a met you know where it's just and you have that image like and I I I'll be honest I haven't seen one piece of video woolly maze is a met
7:51
[SPEAKER_01]: But I know he's like, one of the five, I'd say, or so best baseball players of all time.
7:57
[SPEAKER_01]: And the way that my dad's generation would describe Willie Mays when he was on the New York match was like, this is a guy who was just stumbling around in the outfield and like, looked like he was completely lost.
8:10
[SPEAKER_01]: And like that for them was jarring because it was like, how is this even possible?
8:15
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think like any time you see the truly transcendent athletes like knocked off that pedestal, it's like whoa, like I heard somebody compare Lawrence Taylor to this and I don't think it's any more close to the same because Lawrence Taylor, but when he went to Russell, Melatmania, like he He had already had so many issues and there was this screw loose vibe to him to begin with right away, I mean like where this is like an out-of-body thing for Tom Brady
8:45
[SPEAKER_00]: And I guess that's what, you know, I forget who the person was, so I apologize for the credit.
8:50
[SPEAKER_00]: But, uh, lacking of the credit.
8:52
[SPEAKER_00]: But it was a great tweet.
8:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, basically, you worked so hard to become Tom Brady, so you don't have to do things like this to make money.
9:01
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?
9:02
[SPEAKER_00]: And I get it.
9:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Like these pictures.
9:04
[SPEAKER_01]: I remember I got it in Rangle.
9:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Our buddy Miran Glass, because I think, but I'm not positive.
9:08
[SPEAKER_00]: shout out to Ryan, but it, I apologize if I got that wrong.
9:12
[SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, that's 100% it.
9:14
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like, you don't, you don't well or yourself to this.
9:17
[SPEAKER_01]: This is the way we would all look at, right?
9:19
[SPEAKER_00]: You are being, and granted again, but you're being forward a generational paychecks.
9:24
[SPEAKER_00]: So I understand how difficult this is for someone to turn down in any way, shape, or form.
9:31
[SPEAKER_00]: However, like the Saudi flag football league, the WrestleMania being slapped by a YouTuber on a, I guess he was doing the slapping.
9:43
[SPEAKER_00]: You're roast where everybody just made fun of your children in your divorce.
9:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, can I get you to explain to me why it's like another reason why it's jarring because I just think this part of it is like hasn't been talked about a lot, but when Brady was
10:01
[SPEAKER_01]: When my first year of covering Brady would have been 05, I was in the Patriot speed.
10:05
[SPEAKER_01]: He was 28.
10:07
[SPEAKER_01]: At that time, Peyton Manning got made fun of for doing every ad on this.
10:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
10:13
[SPEAKER_01]: Like no matter what it was, Peyton Manning would pitch it.
10:16
[SPEAKER_01]: And Brady was sort of branded as the opposite.
10:19
[SPEAKER_01]: He was the guy who he was only going to do like the Tiger Woods level ads, right?
10:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Like it was almost like any ad he did,
10:26
[SPEAKER_01]: it was for a fancy watch brand it was for a luxury car it was for like he would never lower himself like because he was trying to build this image of like the highest of high end athlete yeah and he spent so many years
10:45
[SPEAKER_01]: cultivating that.
10:47
[SPEAKER_01]: And now I see him on like a pizza hut ad after he took like I saw this too on Twitter.
10:51
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know who was somebody posted like a side by side of the headline Brady Colin Coke like Coca-Cola is poisoned for children right next to him in a pizza hut delivery man's
11:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and it's just like that's the other piece of it that's like jarring is like Like you spent two decades of like you turned down paychecks over and over and over again Yeah, anyone would have paid you to do pitch anything
11:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and you are so careful and so calculated and so methodical about like I take these sorts of endorsements and not these over here I feel this way philosophically about fitness and nutrition and I would never cross that line It's jarring when you like it's I mean, it's not even crossing the line.
11:40
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like your 30 feet in the other direction now.
11:43
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's the part to me that like it's just
11:47
[SPEAKER_01]: You can't, you can't like talk that way for 20 years and then just think that you're not gonna call on it when you completely contradict everything that you've built.
11:58
[SPEAKER_00]: The other part of it, too, Albert is that, and I swear we're gonna get to the second, but sometimes the stuff we do.
12:06
[SPEAKER_01]: But this is like a fascinating topic, you know?
12:09
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's fascinating to me because I thought we had gotten to a place.
12:14
[SPEAKER_00]: I had gotten to a place, you know, Tom turned out to be a phenomenal broadcast for this year.
12:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, as much as it pains me to admit it, in a second year, he got really, really, really good at it, okay.
12:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Now he's got to get really, really, really good at being a general manager.
12:30
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you talk to people there and I know that you and I both talk to many people, right?
12:35
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that there is sometimes the refrain that his presence and his nebulous power, his lack of presence is doing more harm than good.
12:44
[SPEAKER_00]: And so this offseason, when we saw him at Fernando, watching Fernando, Mendoza and person, doing all this stuff.
12:50
[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, okay, now he's getting the hang of the owner thing.
12:53
[SPEAKER_00]: It's hard for me to square and I know it's the offseason, but it's hard for me to square like him like kind of ingrained himself into the professional wrestling universe and like the whole pat macophie cosmos and Logan Paul and all this.
13:08
[SPEAKER_00]: And thinking like you could probably be in some way serving the Raiders during this time, you know, and like, and being like being there at the facility, asking questions, finding out what's going on, like why wasn't Jack Besh playing it all last year, like what's going on with Ashley Jenny like.
13:27
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, those are the things that you could be doing right now too.
13:29
[SPEAKER_01]: So when I kind of felt like, you know, I respect the way that he has approached us far.
13:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, I remember telling the story that he came in and watched almost into the cover of night, came in and watched like the 2025 like free agent and trade options at quarterback with the staff.
13:49
[SPEAKER_01]: and was very careful methodical about how he did that because he knew the minute I walk into the building and there's and everybody's there I'm taking all the oxygen out of the room right so he's been very I think methodical I think he's he's got a good line of communication which on spy tech their general manager with their head coach clinkoobiac i think he can be a great resource in so many different ways you know it's figuring out the balance of having up trying to do that the right way and I do think he genuinely wants to be
14:18
[SPEAKER_01]: there's that and I just I don't know why it's not enough.
14:23
[SPEAKER_01]: You know what I mean?
14:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Like you are on the number one Fox broadcast team you've you've turned yourself into a pretty good broadcast or I think you've got a ton of potential to be a really good football executive, right?
14:33
[SPEAKER_01]: A really good owner and like that's funny and it's going to take up a lot of your time to be good at those two things and it's going to be take up it's a balancing act of juggle those two things.
14:46
[SPEAKER_01]: The only explanation I can come up with, Connor.
14:49
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, because I don't think like he, I don't think you made some bad investment that broke out.
14:55
[SPEAKER_01]: I can't imagine that's the case, because that's the other explanation that people have for a minute.
14:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, like, did, kind of, right?
15:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, but I mean, like, I don't think there's something.
15:05
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think there's something.
15:06
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think he's broke.
15:07
[SPEAKER_01]: It's okay.
15:09
[SPEAKER_01]: I would say this though.
15:12
[SPEAKER_01]: I remember having this conversation with a Patriot player, I really got a relationship with, and this was after he got done player playing.
15:17
[SPEAKER_01]: He was a really good player, not a great player, right?
15:21
[SPEAKER_01]: And he had made the decision a few times over to stay in New England and maybe take a little bit less than he would have been able to get elsewhere to chase championships.
15:32
[SPEAKER_01]: And
15:34
[SPEAKER_01]: this guy really regretted it.
15:36
[SPEAKER_01]: And it was interesting having this conversation with him because this player basically said to me, I feel like I was hoodwanked.
15:45
[SPEAKER_01]: And now his circumstances different, right?
15:48
[SPEAKER_01]: Like his circumstances, he made enough money to live a really good life for the time being, but it doesn't mean he never has to work another day in his life.
15:57
[SPEAKER_01]: You know what I mean?
15:57
[SPEAKER_01]: I guess he could,
15:59
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, it's not like there's never ever ever going to be another financial stress in his life and like he had mentioned to me like he's like, yeah, you know, after after I won one and me like I was having a great time and I loved it.
16:14
[SPEAKER_01]: I had an awesome experience.
16:15
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a lot to that.
16:17
[SPEAKER_01]: But I was sort of fooled into thinking that there was going to be all this money I was going to make post career off of winning those that didn't exist, you know, and so I do wonder with some of these guys, some of these guys that were in that program, is there some feeling of, now I got to get mine.
16:38
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, isn't thought.
16:39
[SPEAKER_01]: You know what I mean?
16:40
[SPEAKER_01]: But did Brady feel like over the years, like he left man, I left a lot of money on the table and even though I have enough money to set my family up for five or six generations, I still want to go and get some of what I gave up, you know?
16:59
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and I mean, we all think the most logical to explanation of me anyway.
17:03
[SPEAKER_00]: We all think differently, right?
17:07
[SPEAKER_00]: 750 million dollars or whatever Tom Brady is worth right now and you said go ahead and do whatever you want.
17:14
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd set up some sort of a family trust like by a big farm and a nice record collection and I'd go read all the books that I buy every day that I don't have time to read and uh, hang out with my kids.
17:25
[SPEAKER_01]: What's that?
17:25
[SPEAKER_01]: And do the pie?
17:26
[SPEAKER_00]: I have obviously do the pie.
17:29
[SPEAKER_00]: But but not everybody's like that.
17:31
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, maybe he just wants to do wrestle, you know, I don't know, man, go do your thing, go live your life and I also think maybe there's also the addiction to fame thing that like, but I mean, it's not like he's falling out of spotlight, you know, I don't know, let's jump into this the numbers set, so let's see 1098 this is seven.
17:52
[SPEAKER_00]: But it could be one the way that you think about it.
17:54
[SPEAKER_00]: It's important.
17:55
[SPEAKER_00]: It's burn it.
17:56
[SPEAKER_00]: It's in this list, which means you need to pay attention to it is Patrick Mahomes is health And you had some reporting on this Albert based on how he looked Going into heading into training camp next week.
18:08
[SPEAKER_00]: What can you tell us about Patrick Mahomes right now?
18:13
[SPEAKER_00]: His recovery from the ACL.
18:15
[SPEAKER_00]: This is the first big Patrick Mahomes injury and I think it's worth watching how he comes out of this
18:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, we mentioned Brady like there's a lot of analogies you can draw here right like they're about the same age when the injury happened and you know, I think some of the challenges are going to be similar.
18:32
[SPEAKER_01]: So what I can tell you is for the first time in a few years the chiefs have said that there are a camp up so the rookies and their quarterbacks are quarterly right like folks so.
18:42
[SPEAKER_01]: They go away the training camp, St. Joe, Missouri, it's about an hour north of Kansas City.
18:47
[SPEAKER_01]: The last few years they've had veterans report all together, they're having the quarterbacks coming early.
18:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, so my homes will be there on Friday.
18:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, and I would anticipate, I think the people that are anticipating that he's going to be clear, like fully cleared.
19:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, I don't know that for a fact, but that's just kind of the, the sense I get.
19:07
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, I don't think that that means it's just like, go, you know, like I think they understand because my home is just communicating to people in that building, like how much it killed them to not be able to do 11 on 11, limited is that was in phase three of the offseason program.
19:23
[SPEAKER_01]: they all have this feeling like, yeah, when we tell him to go, he is going to go.
19:30
[SPEAKER_01]: And so like I think there is going to be an element of protecting him for himself.
19:34
[SPEAKER_01]: It's also I think important to note that Andy Reed generally runs one of the tougher training camps, if not the toughest training camp in all football.
19:43
[SPEAKER_01]: and they generally play their players, their starters and the free season.
19:47
[SPEAKER_01]: So like I think there's going to be a little bit of a management of that, too.
19:51
[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, it's a long way of saying, I think they're going to be smart.
19:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, but he is ahead of schedule and just about every way, and like that does not mean he is instantly going to be the passion at my home.
20:10
[SPEAKER_01]: We've all gotten used to watching on September 14 against the Denver Broncos and Monday football.
20:16
[SPEAKER_01]: But I think we're at the point where it's fair to expect that he's going to be at least out there on the field and that he is going to get a lot of work in over the course this summer because I think he's ready for it.
20:26
[SPEAKER_00]: The big question to me still remains, and the part that makes this burning is Patrick Mohomes took so many hits over the first couple weeks of the season last year, and while it's not a direct corollary to the torn ACL, it's I think it's like indicative of what we felt of him throughout the year, which is that he was had to do way too much.
20:48
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
20:48
[SPEAKER_00]: So what you do is you bring back Eric B.
20:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Enemy and Kenneth Walker and you sign Kenneth Walker.
20:53
[SPEAKER_00]: That's your big offseason upgrade.
20:55
[SPEAKER_00]: There hasn't really been any meaningful chain.
20:57
[SPEAKER_00]: You use your your top five pick or what was mincer delaying was what six five six.
21:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
21:03
[SPEAKER_01]: So you they trade up from nine to six.
21:05
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it was right.
21:05
[SPEAKER_00]: You use your top six pick.
21:08
[SPEAKER_00]: on a corner back to replace two of the other ones that you let go in free agency.
21:11
[SPEAKER_00]: The way that I understood the anti-read wasn't totally in love with what was going on with the offensive line leading up to this year.
21:15
[SPEAKER_00]: And so to me and then your tight end is going to be 37, right?
21:17
[SPEAKER_00]: So to me it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like,
21:27
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't care if he's healthier or not, if we've done anything to mitigate part of what made him unhealthy.
21:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, the first place.
21:33
[SPEAKER_01]: So much of it's so much of it's the variables, too.
21:35
[SPEAKER_01]: I know there'd already be some concern about, you know, like lower leg injuries that he'd suffered over the course of his career already.
21:43
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
21:44
[SPEAKER_01]: And a lot of that is, you know, just so we're clear, I think a lot of that is like the scramble plays, you know, and like, and I think
21:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Patrick from having talked to him, he's very cognizant of it, you know, like he, there's a reason he runs more in the playoffs, you know, like he's very judicious about the way he uses his ability to scramble the way he uses his ability to run, but if you play that way at all, there's going to be a certain amount of damage you take on and he has taken on some of that damage.
22:09
[SPEAKER_01]: That's part of it.
22:11
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, just turn 30.
22:12
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think like that's that was going to be a part of the equation regardless, you know, in fact I know that from talking to him.
22:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Here's the other piece that I think is like to me is really interesting.
22:26
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just there's a lot of variables, you know, and a lot of it is.
22:30
[SPEAKER_01]: internally, how much are you going to improve?
22:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Like you mentioned all those things, I still think the tackle situation might be the most important, you know, and what happens with Josh Simmons, and can he get his head screwed on straight and play a full 17 game season, because I think he showed signs of being a proble level to left tackle.
22:49
[SPEAKER_01]: But, you know, of course, there was all of the different things that happened off the field with him last year, which is part of the reason why he was available at the very bottom of the first round, right?
23:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, he was there because, like, there were people that didn't think of trust the off-field stuff.
23:06
[SPEAKER_01]: Then there's jail and more.
23:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Now he's the full time, you know, the full time right tackle.
23:11
[SPEAKER_01]: What does that look like?
23:12
[SPEAKER_01]: So those two positions are really important.
23:15
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, and then, like, I think just as important as Travis Calcy did, and even like, not maybe not quite as important as Kenneth Walker but right there is like what you get out of Rashi Rice because they've been waiting for so long for him to turn into the number one receiver because they really believe he's got the ability
23:35
[SPEAKER_01]: you know, a top tenon receiver.
23:38
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think we've all seen those flashes.
23:40
[SPEAKER_01]: It's understandable why they feel that way.
23:43
[SPEAKER_01]: But at some point, he's got to be reliable enough for that to actually happen.
23:47
[SPEAKER_01]: And if that happens, then you don't need to ask as much a Kelsey, you know?
23:51
[SPEAKER_01]: And then, you know, now Xavier were the take one thought, and they become more suitable complementary pieces.
23:58
[SPEAKER_01]: And Kenneth Walker becomes more dangerous.
24:05
[SPEAKER_01]: There's just a lot of variables around him.
24:08
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think you got to trust that Andy Reed and Eric B. and I mean the offensive coach is going to figure that out.
24:15
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that defense will be fine.
24:18
[SPEAKER_00]: I have no doubt that the defense will be fine.
24:21
[SPEAKER_00]: And I have my 12 teams who could win the Super Bowl article coming out.
24:27
[SPEAKER_00]: I think by the time you guys listen to this, it should be on s.com.
24:30
[SPEAKER_00]: So I could talk about this today.
24:33
[SPEAKER_00]: I did 14 teams this year, and I had a really hard time reasoning with myself as to how the chiefs can get on it.
24:42
[SPEAKER_00]: And the reason why is, you know, like you said, the defense is going to be fine, but defense is now, at least in this little version of the NFL that we're in right now, this little era, they need to be more than fine, they need to be hunters, they need to be weaponized, they need to be table-tools, um,
25:02
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think they're quite there.
25:03
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that would be a tough argument for cheese fans even to make.
25:07
[SPEAKER_00]: And again, I mean, kind of like we said at the top, like, I don't really care how healthy mohomes is if nothing around him has dramatically changed.
25:15
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, we have no reason to believe like, Kelsey's going to turn back the call, you know, there's just nothing.
25:21
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, and maybe it's just a lack of, maybe I've over
25:27
[SPEAKER_00]: overestimated their struggles from a year ago and that's my own fault.
25:31
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.
25:32
[SPEAKER_00]: You tell me.
25:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, like I just think it's like a lot of it is based in the variables.
25:38
[SPEAKER_01]: I think if you look at it though to me at least, like the variables are
25:46
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, again, barring an injury calamity, which we can say it about every team, like barring, like this, like weird string of injuries or whatever, I think the range is like 10 to 14, right?
25:57
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, I think it's,
26:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Like with the homes, you think this is a passive, like, possible for me.
26:04
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not going to be surprised.
26:06
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm just not going to be surprised.
26:07
[SPEAKER_01]: They've drafted really well-connery.
26:09
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, like, I, like, how do we know, for example, like, you know,
26:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Ashton Jolot, somebody who's had a really strong spray.
26:18
[SPEAKER_01]: How do we know he's not going to break out and have eight sacks?
26:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, no, William, somebody really like a corner.
26:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Or like, it's just they've done a really good job.
26:27
[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't think they've got nearly enough credit for this.
26:29
[SPEAKER_01]: But like, they went through that period.
26:31
[SPEAKER_01]: They traded Tyre Kail, right?
26:33
[SPEAKER_01]: And part-trained Tyre Kail was, we know we're going to have to get cheaper around my homes, right?
26:38
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, we know we're going to have because
26:40
[SPEAKER_01]: we got big contracts coming and like so we need to we need to kind of build our team with guys on the rookie deals and so what do they turn that capital into?
26:52
[SPEAKER_01]: Well it turned into Creed Humphrey and Trace Myth and Nick Bolton and some of them were from before them but follow me here George Carloftis
27:02
[SPEAKER_01]: And eventually they have to sign some of those guys and then they have to let us make Duffy go and now they're back there again.
27:08
[SPEAKER_01]: So now they've paid Bolton, they've paid Humphrey, they've paid Smith, they've paid Carl Oftis, they wind up trading McDuffy, they let Brian Cook go.
27:18
[SPEAKER_01]: And now they've got to do it again.
27:20
[SPEAKER_01]: And I just trust that they're going to be able to do it again because they have done it before.
27:23
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I just think having the ultimate Trump card in the quarterback they have,
27:30
[SPEAKER_01]: having the infrastructure, like with Andy Reed is the head coach and Brett features the GM, like I'm with you, like I don't think they're necessarily right back in the Super Bowl mix, and I think those variables will decide whether they are or they aren't, right?
27:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Like the tackle, the two tackles, what happens with two tackles spots,
27:49
[SPEAKER_01]: What does Kelsey have left?
27:50
[SPEAKER_01]: What does Rice give you?
27:51
[SPEAKER_01]: What does Walker bring to the table?
27:53
[SPEAKER_01]: What's still in is a rookie.
27:54
[SPEAKER_01]: Like those are all really important swing factors.
27:57
[SPEAKER_01]: I think like the argument you and I are having is, I think you will cat it is, okay.
28:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Like those swing factors could dictate between eight and 12 or maybe I'm saying they could dictate between 10 and 14 ones.
28:09
[SPEAKER_01]: You know?
28:11
[SPEAKER_00]: another thought that just last thought on this and then we'll move to the next one.
28:15
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you look at the chiefs, they were five and four before the bottom fell out before the by week.
28:24
[SPEAKER_00]: And you can look at this and you can very quickly say, wow, well, you know, they played a 14 win Jaguar team really close, they beat the Ravens, they beat the lions,
28:39
[SPEAKER_00]: In reality, right, you lose to the Chargers in Brazil, you lose to the Eagles in week two.
28:45
[SPEAKER_00]: You'll be the New York Giants.
28:48
[SPEAKER_00]: with Russell Wilson, that was an awful game in every way.
28:52
[SPEAKER_00]: She performed just like to be a human watching football.
28:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
28:56
[SPEAKER_00]: You beat the Ravens, but half of that game was Cooper Rush.
29:01
[SPEAKER_00]: The Lions had all sorts of problems last year, and so you can debate whether or not that was a total quality win.
29:08
[SPEAKER_00]: And then you beat the commanders with
29:11
[SPEAKER_00]: with Marcus Mariota.
29:12
[SPEAKER_00]: So even last year, if we're looking at this and saying, well, that was still a team with a winning record before, you know, everything kind of started rolling down there.
29:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe maybe the floor is lower than we think it is.
29:28
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
29:29
[SPEAKER_01]: I argue like a lot of the thin variables last year went the wrong way though and it wasn't just my home is getting hurt at the end Which I mean look at we can all admit like the die was cast by the time my home's got hurt My home's injury didn't have anything to do with them not making the playoffs They weren't making the playoffs anyway right, but Rossie Rice got hurt.
29:47
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean Josh Simmons went a wall about a month into the season and that was a problem
29:52
[SPEAKER_01]: The running back situation was a complete mess, right?
29:56
[SPEAKER_01]: And mostly because the guy that they'd really relied on and Isaiah Pacheco couldn't stay healthy.
30:02
[SPEAKER_01]: So like I think you look at like a lot of things there.
30:05
[SPEAKER_01]: A lot of like the variables last year.
30:08
[SPEAKER_01]: what the wrong way.
30:09
[SPEAKER_01]: And then the quarterback I heard at the end.
30:11
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, so, like I just again, like it's, can you count on a little better injury lock?
30:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Can you count on some of the variables going in the right way?
30:20
[SPEAKER_01]: I just think based on what they've built there over the course of the last, and this goes beyond my home, but basically what they've built there
30:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Over the course the last 14 years since Andy we got there in the first place, I think it's fair to trust that a lot of those variables that went the wrong way.
30:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Unfortunately for them all the same time aren't going to swing in the wrong direction again.
30:41
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, let's move on.
30:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's move on to the next one.
30:46
[SPEAKER_00]: I think, so this is a team that is on my list of teams that can win the Super Bowl, and you know, I look at it, and this isn't the exercise we're doing, but it's like you want to minimize the ifs, like if this is healthy, if this works out, if this goes well, but Jordan love taking the next step, plus Mike Parsons, and what he can give the packers whenever he comes back.
31:13
[SPEAKER_00]: The first thing that I'll say about
31:16
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is a credit to a fan base that I really give credit to.
31:19
[SPEAKER_00]: But Package fans had been complaining about, I think, the lack of proper credit for Jordan love for years, right?
31:27
[SPEAKER_00]: And the sort of inference that he's just a radical and that he throws the, you know, throws the ball and dangerous situations, Jordan love is a statistical darling last year.
31:37
[SPEAKER_00]: This bad throw percentage was at an all-time low, I think is EPA and completion percentage over expectation was only below Drake May and Brock Perti who's just like a god when it comes to advanced statistics.
31:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, I thought he had really, really, really, brilliant stretches of football.
31:56
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that happens to quarterbacks who they have the good season before they enter that phase of their career where they're just universally recognized as great all the time.
32:07
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that's what's happening to Jordan love now.
32:09
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I'm saying?
32:11
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that Jordan love is is in that era.
32:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I think we're entering the, well, it's, I guess it's the summer of love.
32:17
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's going to be the fall of love.
32:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, and if you can get anything, because I don't think there's a huge drop-off between Jeff halfway and then going to Jonathan Ganon at the defensive coordinators, but I saw like the fault, the, the floor is going to fall out and you're going to land in the cellar, right?
32:35
[SPEAKER_00]: I, I think Ganon's a good defensive coordinator and has proven as such over the course of this career.
32:40
[SPEAKER_00]: I think this packer scene could be really good.
32:42
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think that they're going to win the NFC North, but I think that they could be very dangerous.
32:47
[SPEAKER_00]: And the ifs are more palatable to me like, if like a Parsons can be good coming off an ACL and if Jordan love can go to universally recognizable top five, you know, un, un, un, unarguable star, which I think he is.
33:06
[SPEAKER_01]: So I would say like I looked at the Packers in the C-Hoxes similar going into last year and I probably said this right here on the podcast if not I wrote it and I still feel this way about them.
33:18
[SPEAKER_01]: I thought both the Packers in C-Hox last year had really good young bases of town where if certain guys could elevate, go from good to great, then the sky was the limit.
33:28
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think with Seattle that happens, right?
33:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, so Seattle, JSN, good to great.
33:33
[SPEAKER_01]: You could argue Charles Cross was already great, but there's a great, young, left tackle.
33:37
[SPEAKER_01]: Devin weather spoon I think went from really good to great and so you had all these players Byron Murphy, I think would be another one, right?
33:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Kenneth Walker, I think you'd argue I'm from good to great when it mattered most and so like you had this good balance group of young players and All they needed was a couple of guys or a bunch of guys to take a step and those guys all collectively took that step We know the results of it now
34:01
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to give you, like, I'm going to just start reading off names for you.
34:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
34:06
[SPEAKER_01]: But this is the way I look at it with this group, right?
34:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Christian Watts and Matthew Golden, Jaden Reed, Jordan Morgan moving over to left tackle.
34:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Tucker Kraft, if he comes back on the defensive side of the ball, Devontay Wyatt, Lucas Van Ness, Adrian Cooper, I think is a very big one for the, for the, for the pack, as I know they think the world of him.
34:29
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, you know, Kishan Nixon can be a little bit more than he's been a corner, you know, so you start to look at like the names, um, Javan Bullard, like there are all of these guys that I think are already good players, where if a few of them can elevate from being really good players to becoming great players,
34:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Now all of a sudden, I think you've got a real suitable contender and love would probably be in that category too, right?
34:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Like Kenny Elevate from being a really good quarterback to becoming a great quarterback.
35:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, you know, so I think I think that the packers have done a really nice job of building a roster.
35:08
[SPEAKER_01]: It's got a lot of balance that doesn't have a lot of holes.
35:12
[SPEAKER_01]: And now, like, let's see how the difference makers are.
35:14
[SPEAKER_01]: And like you said, I think the the rub here, I mentioned one of these guys just now you mentioned the other.
35:20
[SPEAKER_01]: is what do Tucker craft and Mike Parsons look like coming off of injury because one of those guys, Parsons is already a first team all pro type of player and I think the other guy Tucker Crouch has the ability to be.
35:32
[SPEAKER_00]: By the way, Packers team defense workouts in Mike Parsons is backyard this summer, something to love, right?
35:40
[SPEAKER_00]: He's got a full
35:43
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he's got like a gigantic turf field back there.
35:46
[SPEAKER_00]: So, I don't know.
35:48
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, maybe the vibe's here.
35:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Is this in Dallas or is this?
35:51
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll send it to you.
35:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
35:54
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll take a look at it.
35:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, that's the other part of it, right?
35:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Is in, they fell apart defensively without him last year.
36:08
[SPEAKER_00]: and it makes sense because I think that they portal a lot of resources obviously in a bringing them in.
36:12
[SPEAKER_00]: They spent.
36:14
[SPEAKER_00]: a decent amount of their picks on the defensive side of the ball.
36:17
[SPEAKER_00]: I think what their second round pick, their third round pick, their fourth round pick, were all defensive players, even though Burton had offensive linemen in the fifth round.
36:27
[SPEAKER_00]: I actually like him a lot.
36:28
[SPEAKER_00]: I have in my Hunter Bowl predictions that I think he's going to be the highest-graded PFF rookie offensive linemen in the year.
36:33
[SPEAKER_00]: So look out for that.
36:36
[SPEAKER_00]: But, you know, I think that they have great offensive linemen name too.
36:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, forget about it.
36:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
36:43
[SPEAKER_00]: I just think they have the potential to be that kind of dynamic and explosive that team that Seattle was like I think all the pieces are there for Green Bay and the quarterback play Obviously as a way higher higher ceiling and it's not like every team has to be built like yeah That's not what I'm saying.
37:01
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm saying that there needs to be these different ingredients But I don't know Mike a person is the other part of this.
37:06
[SPEAKER_00]: What have you heard about his health and how does How he's looking at this point during his stage?
37:11
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I am looking at Mike and Parsons back yard, by the way, and this looks really, really nice.
37:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
37:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Is that his personal logo?
37:19
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm assuming, right?
37:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Like in the chart.
37:20
[SPEAKER_00]: You got it.
37:21
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're going to do your own turf field, you got to have a personal logo at that point.
37:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
37:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
37:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
37:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
37:27
[SPEAKER_01]: So I remember when we all made fun of our G3 for the launch of his personal logo.
37:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Now they all have one.
37:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think like I think right now it's it's a little bit of a fee and it sounds to me like they're going to be really careful with them and the goal is to be getting to get them back to full speed at some point this year and like everything's going to be pointed towards that so when it was was injury in December is that right I think right
37:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, early December, maybe.
38:00
[SPEAKER_01]: So like I think we're looking at, you know, if we see him in camp, it'll be paced.
38:07
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know that's all that likely.
38:10
[SPEAKER_01]: I think he probably stars camp on the pop.
38:13
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think they kind of play it for me or put play it by ear from there.
38:16
[SPEAKER_01]: But I don't think that this is something where the packers are going to be pushing him.
38:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I think they want him to take
38:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, let's see if we can get like a 100% like a Parsons back at some point this year and take the steps that we think are necessary to get there.
38:37
[SPEAKER_00]: I just think if he can be.
38:41
[SPEAKER_00]: 90% of Mike a Parsons by the start of November.
38:45
[SPEAKER_00]: This team is on a collision course with like a potential conference championship.
38:50
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, that's just me.
38:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's go to the last one here.
38:53
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that we're going to start like, we sure we're going to get to, yeah, I know.
38:57
[SPEAKER_00]: So let's bundle this with the Minnesota Vikings.
39:00
[SPEAKER_00]: And I know our editor, John Plume's probably got his ears up now.
39:03
[SPEAKER_00]: We're finally talking about the purple and the gold John's very excited about it.
39:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Carson went in JJ McCarthy or all kind of lumped into this soup in my hundred ball predictions calm.
39:17
[SPEAKER_00]: I had I had it finishing like this in order of starts.
39:20
[SPEAKER_00]: Kylo Murray won Carson went to JJ McCarthy three.
39:24
[SPEAKER_00]: What is your read on the quarterback situation as we approach the big I'm like it like dude We're here.
39:31
[SPEAKER_00]: It's training camp like I can already feel the sunburn and I can standing out at a field with
39:43
[SPEAKER_01]: So, I would say, look, everybody else, I would consider, I would definitely consider Kyler, the leader in the clubhouse to one of the job, he asked me right now, he's going to be the quarterback week one, think it's Kyler.
39:57
[SPEAKER_01]: But I do think Kevin O'Connell and his staff are committed to, like, who is the best option for our team over the course of the year.
40:06
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, if somebody else
40:08
[SPEAKER_01]: proves to be that we don't think that are afraid to go into another direction either.
40:13
[SPEAKER_01]: And the reason why I think Kevin owes it to his team to do that, to do that.
40:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Like last year, so last year, the intention was to put competition in the room with JJ.
40:26
[SPEAKER_01]: It didn't work out that way, because both Sam Darrell and Daniel Jones found better opportunities to become a long-term starting quarterback for our team elsewhere.
40:34
[SPEAKER_01]: So they pivoted and decided we're putting all of our eggs in the JJ McCarthy basket.
40:38
[SPEAKER_01]: We know how that worked.
40:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, he is effectively off-scalorship.
40:46
[SPEAKER_01]: There will be no, like, tie goes to the former first round pick anymore.
40:51
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, like I think what they're hoping is that JJ McCarthy can somehow regain his confidence through competition.
40:58
[SPEAKER_01]: And we'll see what happens.
40:59
[SPEAKER_01]: But
41:00
[SPEAKER_01]: like I think that that's the biggest piece is like can you go out there can you play fast can you play confident because they really felt like he lost his confidence last year and that can be a tough thing for a quarterback to get back.
41:11
[SPEAKER_01]: So if that's the case, I mean this is academic you know and we're probably talking two months, two weeks in the camp about you know about Kyle and Murray going forward is the biking and starting quarterback officially.
41:26
[SPEAKER_01]: If I, if JJ McCarthy can regain some confidence, then we'll see, because I, I think Tyler's a good quarterback.
41:35
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know that Tyler is like this infallible answer at the position.
41:39
[SPEAKER_01]: No, like I think that there's definitely opportunity there, and they're excited to see what JJ does with it, you know, because obviously you can go one in two ways with it.
41:50
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm curious how Kevin O'Connell approaches this as a quarterback who, and I guess you could say that O'Connell, no offense to him has never been in a very serious quarterback competition at the NFL level.
42:02
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he was always kind of the the third stringer during his time, at least when I covered Kevin O'Connell and he was with the jets behind Mark Brunnell.
42:10
[SPEAKER_00]: God love him.
42:11
[SPEAKER_00]: The 40, 40, 140 to your old Mark Brunnell behind Mark Sanchez, but
42:16
[SPEAKER_00]: There is a, there is an emotional component to this.
42:19
[SPEAKER_00]: We talked about it a little bit with James Palmer and O'Connell being open and honest about how he, you know, how he's going to inform people that these quarterbacks are doing.
42:30
[SPEAKER_00]: I still have the cynics point of view that there's no shot that Carson Wednesdays doesn't get at least five starts this year.
42:36
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's so crazy to me because the two best
42:41
[SPEAKER_00]: free season day abuse for rookie quarterbacks that I can remember that made me think holy crap they got something here where JJ McCarthy and Tray Lists it's what you know obviously what do we know in the preseason's garbage but I I just do you remember like the Niners color guy or it was the playboy play guy calling it the tray area
43:09
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I remember that just when they were sitting on the day he threw that long touchdown pass.
43:12
[SPEAKER_01]: It was one of his first throws to wasn't it was that booth like it was on through laughter.
43:17
[SPEAKER_01]: It was a throwback.
43:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, yeah, and so and yeah, but it was something like welcome to the tray area and You know, he was sitting on that one all summer too.
43:30
[SPEAKER_00]: He's like god almighty.
43:32
[SPEAKER_01]: He was crazy to me though.
43:34
[SPEAKER_01]: That makes me feel.
43:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you know old Carson once actually is
43:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Hmm.
43:40
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm interested to this surprise to see the surprise of you.
43:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so Carson wins was a first round pick in 2016.
43:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
43:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so we might be.
44:05
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you look at him, and I think the history of him.
44:08
[SPEAKER_01]: I just don't know why they're attached to me.
44:10
[SPEAKER_00]: He feels much older than Jared Goff, just because of what he's gone through.
44:14
[SPEAKER_01]: Right, but they went back to that.
44:16
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, they're the same class.
44:17
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
44:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Goff came now.
44:18
[SPEAKER_01]: I think Goff is only 31 because Goff came out after three years in college.
44:22
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think that Firemember Wright, once was in college for five.
44:28
[SPEAKER_00]: it's one of those situations right where you're like oh golf could play for another five years and then you're like oh god Carson went shouldn't play for another five years even though they're like basically the same age I mean Carson's definitely been through the ringer but I just think the way that O'Connell calls that offense I mean you know he needs a quarterback like JJ McCarthy was so good on scripted downs last year and then the game just kind of fell away from
44:54
[SPEAKER_00]: And Carson Wentz would at least take that away.
44:57
[SPEAKER_00]: Kyla Murray's the big question mark.
44:59
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like every single person in that room except for Wentz has to reinvent themselves to some degree before like the third preseason game.
45:09
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what I think is going to be fun about it.
45:11
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're a conno, though, do you want this thing called early?
45:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Or do you want to draw out the idea of a quarterback competition throughout the entirety of all the track?
45:22
[SPEAKER_01]: I, again, so here's the thing that's interesting to me about the Vikings, right, is the one of the reasons they bring in, they bring in no entesely from Seattle to be their new general manager, they're bringing in a guy who comes from a place historically drafted really, really well, right, and.
45:41
[SPEAKER_01]: that's sort of what the Vikings need is that they need a layer of young talent.
45:47
[SPEAKER_01]: The thing is they hired him in May, so there's nothing you can do about that now, right?
45:52
[SPEAKER_01]: So for right now, for the here and the now, we're talking about having a
45:59
[SPEAKER_01]: layer of veteran players and guys who are like in the heart of the prime of their careers.
46:04
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's Justin Jefferson's Jordan Addison.
46:07
[SPEAKER_01]: It's Chris and Derisaw, a tackle, Ben Ginkl is older than that.
46:13
[SPEAKER_01]: He's sort of in the back end of his prime.
46:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Same goes for Aaron Jones, Byron Murphy, you're down the list.
46:20
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's all of these guys, TJ Hawkinson, where, like,
46:25
[SPEAKER_01]: They're not there for the three-year plan.
46:28
[SPEAKER_01]: They're there to win right now, and so like it sounds like we're to say but like I think the most important thing is you don't rig the competition as you let it play out and you know you sort of
46:43
[SPEAKER_01]: you because the players are going to know right and the players are going to know when it's time to name a starter right like if it's a week and a half in and Kyler looks like that much better that lock room is going to know especially after what they've been through over the last year and a half they're going to know okay you know it's time for Kyler Murray or JJ McCarthy to be named the starter
47:07
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I think, just because of the makeup of the team, you have to kind of let that let nature take its course there.
47:13
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, and you know, I would even like be open if I was Kevin McConnell to like, hearing players out on it.
47:21
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, and I'm not saying that they help decide, but like asking them, what do you see out there?
47:27
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, and what do you see out there in the spring?
47:29
[SPEAKER_01]: And what do you see here after three days of camp?
47:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, you know, because I think like the thing you want is you want to give the guys who are there now.
47:39
[SPEAKER_01]: the best chance of competing at the highest level, because those guys won 14 games two years ago.
47:44
[SPEAKER_01]: And those guys had a crash landing in the playoffs, and we all remember what happened there.
47:49
[SPEAKER_01]: They played the Lions on that Sunday night.
47:53
[SPEAKER_01]: They wind up losing that game, that game would have given them the number one seed.
47:57
[SPEAKER_01]: Then they play a Ramstein that arrested everybody, and they wind up the Ramstein of Punching them in the face, and that's it.
48:05
[SPEAKER_01]: And I still think like we forget how good that team was.
48:08
[SPEAKER_01]: And a lot of those guys are still there.
48:10
[SPEAKER_01]: And they still have an excellent defensive coordinator in Brian Flores, for instance, buttons.
48:16
[SPEAKER_01]: And you know an offensive system that's proven that Kevin O'Connell and West Philips and Josh McCown have built.
48:24
[SPEAKER_01]: It just feels like to me like my priority would be like making sure that lock or him knows like we are pulling every string we possibly can to give you the best possible answer a quarter back.
48:37
[SPEAKER_00]: If you had to estimate like let's say the, let's do it two ways, what's the
48:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Murray McCarthy once.
48:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
48:56
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going.
48:56
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going Murray once McCarthy.
49:00
[SPEAKER_01]: See, at that point, is the question, do you like, oh, McCarthy, or do you trade them?
49:07
[SPEAKER_00]: It's an interesting question.
49:10
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, but here's the second one.
49:12
[SPEAKER_00]: And then maybe you can change, we can change
49:18
[SPEAKER_00]: by the end of the season, what out of 17 games, what's your start breakdown?
49:27
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is a lot, this is injuries, this is like, there's a lot to be factored in here because I think what I want is to, I'll tell you why I ask you that in a second, give me your answer.
49:38
[SPEAKER_01]: I think Kyle is going to start every game second time I think it's going to sound weird that I said this right because I said a minute ago I said you a minute ago that like Kyler is good but not in fail at foul one can be beat out I believe that yeah I also believe that
50:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Kevin O'Connell and his staff, they're so good at building an offensive scheme that works for the quarterback, that I think they're gonna be able to play well enough for Kyle to hold on to the job.
50:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
50:12
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, if you follow my logic there, again, he's he's not infalible.
50:16
[SPEAKER_01]: He could get beat out.
50:17
[SPEAKER_01]: But like I, I just think like I saw how Kirk Cousins finished in Minnesota under O'Connell.
50:28
[SPEAKER_01]: I saw how Sam Darnall looked in Minnesota under O'Connell.
50:32
[SPEAKER_01]: I think you get argue.
50:33
[SPEAKER_01]: O'Connell got more out of Darnall than the sea hox did last year and see us when the Super Bowl.
50:38
[SPEAKER_01]: So, like I still, despite the dumpster fire that last year was, and by the way, they were still 9 and 8.
50:47
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I know I'm just going to say that through.
50:48
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, they had a winning record at the time.
50:50
[SPEAKER_00]: They were holding on your last five games.
50:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
50:54
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I asked you that to say this, as we close it out, I think that we're going to move away from this season.
51:04
[SPEAKER_00]: thinking that it didn't matter, right?
51:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Because I think the Kevin O'Connell can kind of win with any quarterback.
51:10
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think like one quarterbacks going to have nine starts.
51:13
[SPEAKER_00]: One's going to have five.
51:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Let me in them.
51:15
[SPEAKER_00]: One's going to have three.
51:16
[SPEAKER_01]: And we're saying the same thing, Ben, right?
51:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, you're saying like I'm saying I'm I'm I'm saying O'Connell.
51:22
[SPEAKER_01]: So you're saying O'Connell is going to make it not matter.
51:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
51:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Who the quarterback is not making it not matter because I think we saw a lot of that that's that's too much like a matter less and I'm saying that O'Connell is going to have Kyler playing well enough to keep the job.
51:38
[SPEAKER_01]: We're basically saying the same thing.
51:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
51:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
51:41
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I think yeah, I just think we're not going to go from past of getting to that.
51:45
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, we're going to go into next season.
51:49
[SPEAKER_00]: saying the Vikings need a quarterback still.
51:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you think that's right?
51:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I mean, the Vikings are still going to need to figure this out.
51:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I don't think, yeah, I mean, I'm halfway through season.
52:01
[SPEAKER_01]: We're extending.
52:03
[SPEAKER_01]: I would say I would say like, we're talking in December and January.
52:08
[SPEAKER_01]: And if there is like a quarterback upset with his current situation somewhere,
52:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Minnesota will be one of the teams that will look at it's like, Oh, yeah, they should go get them.
52:16
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, so I got that that's that's the category.
52:19
[SPEAKER_01]: I put them in.
52:20
[SPEAKER_01]: I wouldn't say like you're necessarily going to be blowing up your quarterback room again at this point next year or in seven months, eight months, whatever it is.
52:30
[SPEAKER_01]: But.
52:31
[SPEAKER_01]: I would say that, like, I would say that, you know, I think there'll still be, like, in January and February with the rain or hot for a quarterbacks from the draft and what veteran quarterbacks might be available, absolutely.
52:46
[SPEAKER_00]: It's all coming down to the dramatic conclusion of our final four burning storylines.
52:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Highly organized series.
52:53
[SPEAKER_01]: We've put together, or they're ranked, but are they really?
52:56
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not sure.
52:56
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, that's up to you to decide.
52:58
[SPEAKER_01]: We can answer that at the end of the last episode.
53:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Hopefully by next one, I know.
53:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, no way to help Tom Brady is slapping Jake Paul like what the payoff is here because we still get a long way to go before WrestleMania So there's got to be something else going on.
53:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, don't think it's a way from fanatics for us
53:20
[SPEAKER_00]: I just don't like my, I still like my fanatics fest comp, but let us know what you think as always.
53:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Find us on YouTube, leave some comments, ratings, and reviews on Apple Podcasts.
53:31
[SPEAKER_00]: It really does help people find the show in the grow, the MMQB audience, find us wherever you get your podcast in on social media, and Albert and I will see you later this week.
53:51
[UNKNOWN]: You