Christian Gonzalez's Massive Deal, Patriots-Seahawks, 49ers-Rams and Annual QB Poll

Heather.

Welcome to the MMQB NFL podcast.

I'm Conroy.

Albert Breer is there.

We got Kent behind the glass today, and I'm flying major Notre Dame victory over the weekend.

I know that's not what you're here to talk about, but unlike, uh, I was gonna say like I saw a sweatshirt, and I don't know.

I don't know, like, based on the way things were going, were going in the first half, I'm not sure that we would have gotten that, uh, that hoodie on the show here.

Um, yeah, it was a good finish by them.

Nice drive to start the second half.

They get to pick 6.

Everything is fixed.

Unlike, I will say like that is somebody who is ready to fire Ohio State's offensive line coach, um, 5 minutes into the Buckeye season, so.

Who did you guys play again?

Like, uh, what was, what directional school did you guys play in the opener?

We played Ball State.

00, Ball State.

OK, yeah, yeah, yeah, but, but, but if you wanna talk about scheduling, I mean, Ball State is the, I, I think, I think we have, we have a, we have an opponent this week that is not a part of conference scheduling.

That I think is probably a more ambitious opponent than anybody on Notre Dame's schedule.

So, I mean, we open the season against Wisconsin at Lambeau Field.

What else do you want from us?

Uh, you know, we play.

We play in week 2 in Austin.

We can go in Austin, we can go to the Big 10 and play Rutgers every week in Austin, and then we're in Austin this week.

We're in Austin.

I will say this.

If, if Ohio State winds up back as, you know, a high seed in the playoffs, they'll have earned it this year.

I mean, their schedule this year.

Last year, a little light based on the rotation, the Big 10 rotation this year at Indiana, at Texas, um.

Oregon at home, at USC, Michigan at home, although that doesn't look like it's gonna be too difficult right now.

Um, yeah, so, and we can get into that too if you want to talk about the poor people, the poor people of Kalamazoo, and how, like, honestly, I had this discussion with a bunch of my friends over the weekend.

It, we, we all kind of wanted Western Michigan to win just for the, the, sure, you know, like the, the, the comedy of it, but it almost wound up being better going down the way it did because it brings up all the it it it it rehashes all the, all the, uh, the chicanery with the rules in the past and um.

You know, it also created a storm, uh, uh, uh, a field storming that was interesting, which I, there was no field storming at Ohio State when we beat our MAC opponent this week, just to be clear.

In fact, the stadium was empty in the 4th quarter.

You have, you can empty for other reasons because, because it was an 8 touchdown game at that point.

But, um, but yeah, that was, uh, I think the field storming is what happens when you have a lot of fans in that stadium.

Maybe that student section is full of people who might have been watching their first football game.

So I'll leave that for, I'll leave that with, uh, leave that for.

What it is.

I never got to, uh, and, and by the way, it's week one of the NFL season, and, uh, and we're rolling here.

Uh, we're gonna get to preview the, the 23 minutes in, we're almost at our allotted college football.

Uh, I know.

Uh, uh, so I, I remember at Syracuse, like I attended one game in the student, like the true student section, basketball student section.

And so you would have been like the Greg Robinson era?

No, Greg Robinson for football, but I'm talking about basketball.

Our football team was a non-factor every single year I was there.

But, um there was a court storming possibility, and I remember, like, the leader of, like, the, the fan CEO or whatever, the, the, the chief student section fan being like, guys, act like we've been here before, and I'm like, buddy, I, I got a belly full of Jager, and I'm running on that court, whether you like it or not, like, who's coming with me?

Like, you know, the idea that like, oh, act like you've been there before.

I haven't been there before, and there's a chance that I'm never gonna be there again.

And so, I'm storming 9 times out of 10, and I get it, like, if you're Ohio State, and you crush Ball State, you're not storming, but I think we need to normalize storming, because how many times do you get to go to a game?

Maybe once a year, if you're a fan, you take your kids or whatever, like, I wanna storm the court, I wanna run around on the field.

I wanna go up to somebody and slap them on the helmet and tell them, good job.

So, I don't know, that's my idea of it.

Enough college football.

Gosh darn it, this isn't the others receiving votes podcast.

But, but, you know what, 40 would love, you know, it, it, it would be like, um, it's so funny because, like , even though we're not, like, we're, we cover the NFL and we write about football for a living, but us talking to Pat 40 about college football would be like, someone asking me about the NFL, like the, just the, the, the.

discomfort on the side of poor Pat 40 would probably just be monumental.

But one day, we're going to synergize the shows.

We're gonna bring them together, I promise, uh, cause Pat 40 Brian Fisher, Sweeney, all those guys, uh, they're the best.

And, uh, so we're looking forward to hanging with them at some point during the year.

But Albert, let's get into it.

Um, I believe just before the show started.

You were getting some details on the Christian Gonzalez contract.

We're here to preview Patriots, Seahawks, we're here to preview Rams Forty-Niners, and then get into Albert's QB poll, which Really interesting.

If, and if you haven't read it, it's up at SI.

com right now.

Kind of a sea change in how we're looking at the NFL quarterback position.

So, I urge you all to go there and check it out.

But Christian Gonzalez gets the deal done.

Uh, we didn't know if Mike Vrabel would have to, have to get involved.

There was, I would say, Your, your typical amount of discomfort when it comes to these things.

Robert Kraft with the missteps saying, hey, we already offered him a great contract.

Christian Gonzalez saying, I don't have to play the first game this season, who cares?

I want my money.

And now the Patriots arrive where we all thought they would by handing over a boatload of money to their best defensive player.

Yeah, and, and this is like interesting, just I, I think in the detail, and I, I know most people are bored by this stuff, right?

But I think the one top line thing I, I take from this just when we're talking about the sport in general, and we get to the Patriots side of this in a second.

The corner market isn't moving very fast.

Um, and I, I sort of juxtapose it with what happened with the edge rushers, right?

So right around the same time, um, Miles Garrett reset the, the, the edge rusher market and, and you had, um, and you had Derrek Stingley reset the corner market.

And Stingley was going from what had been in the mid-20s to 30 in March of 2025.

And then Garrett took the edge rusher market from the mid-30s, where, you know, you had Crosby and Bosa, and he took it to 40, right?

So right around the same time, you had edge rushers at 40, you had , um, you had corners at 30.

And I want you to answer the question cause I, I, I, I struggle a little bit with it.

I think I, I, I think I have an idea, but I struggle a little bit with it.

So then, The edge rushers go from Garrett at 40, then you have Parsons at 46 at the end of the summer after he was traded, right?

Hutchinson comes in at 45 right around then, and then in March, it went to 50 with Will Anderson, right?

So now, or that was April, I think, but now in like 13 months' time, that's a 25% markup, right, which is reflective of the cap going up and everything else.

So you go from 40 to 50% that fast and really from the mid-thirties to To, to, to, to, to 50 that fast.

Meanwhile, at corner, Stingley at 30.

Sauce at 30.1. Then you have McDuffie, which like Parsons was after a trade , and McDuffie is at 31, so that's a little bit, again, a little bit of an uptick.

Denzel Ward at 31.1, and now you have Devin Witherspoon this summer at 33, and Gonzalez at 33.75. So, it's just interesting, you kind of see the way that the league values these positions now, in that.

Uh, it's almost like with the edge rushers, it's not like quarterbacks, but it's almost, it's like kind of like, all right, like whatever it costs to get one of these guys, you wanna have one of them, you know what I mean?

Whereas with corners, it seems a little bit more tepid, the, the, the, the, the rate of growth.

Um, I wanna talk about Christian Gonzalez, like, and actually what he means, uh , to the team.

What do you think about that though, really quick?

Uh, well, it's funny to me because what I was just gonna say, when you look at the cornerback market in particular, right?

You had a couple weird, just $100,000 bumps for guys to beat the other guy, and so, it, it's funny to me that, like, I mean, $100,000 to me is like in, in, in.

An abundant amount of money, but if you look at the cornerbacks, it's just like, yeah, make it an extra $100,000 than this guy.

And then if you're the guy that just got leapfrogged, aren't you calling your agent and being like, why didn't I just ask for an extra $100 like, you gotta build in the bump.

Like, if it's a $30 million contract.

It's like, no, ask for 30.1, because you know that the other guy's gonna ask for 30.1, make him get 30, 30.2. I don't know, be the rising tide that lifts all boats.

Ask for the sandwich and the soup to come along with it.

I don't know, right?

Yeah, yeah, I, I just think it's like, I, I don't know.

I, I mean, like, to me, it's just, it's really, these things keep evolving, you know, and Like, again, it's just like when you have Will Anderson, it's like, you know, please don't make it hurt too much, sir.

You know, you know what I mean, like, it's like, like not whatever you want, but like pretty close, you know what I mean?

Like, and it's just, it's just a different positions, you know.

Um, here's a wild stat.

When was the last time, Albert, that a Patriots first round pick.

Received a 2nd contract.

Was, um, Dante Hightower, Dante Hightower, and that was why, that was why the agent, that's why the agency which represents both Gonzalez and Witherspoon went to Seattle first, and the Patriots don't have any history of doing this, and this is where we can get in the Patriots part of this conversation.

I wonder if Mike Vrabel stepped in over the weekend.

I wonder if, you know.

Uh, look, like when he was in Tennessee, they had a history of paying guys at the top of the market.

They paid Jeffrey Simmons, they paid Derrick Henry, they paid, I, I mean, you know, like they paid Ryan Tannehill more than anybody thought Ryan Tannehill would get.

AJ Brown didn't get paid, but that was because of extenuating circumstances with the knee.

Um, they paid Taylor Lewan at left tackle, um, and I think that was a little before him when Taylor Lewan got his contract, but I mean, he was there and had a, a top-end left tackle contract on his books.

Um, and my understanding has always been that like Vrabel sort of stays out of these, right?

Like, and I think this is smart, but it's like sort of a separation of church and state thing for him, where it's, you know, so much of his program is built on relationship building.

And you know, having the right culture and like we're gonna take care of you and your family and all that different stuff.

Well, that's hard if you're the guy who is like trying to save the team 1 or 2 million on a signing bonus, you know what I mean?

Like, so he for the most part has stayed out of those.

He said something interesting over the weekend , and I don't know if it was provoked by me or not, but I said this on the radio on Friday morning, like, you know, like generally yourself a little crowd there.

I mean, I don't know, but I know, but I, I said it.

I said it.

I said generally like Brael sees out of these things, and then someone asked about that the next day at the press conference, and he said, yeah, I do.

He's like, but you know, sometimes I might have to step in.

And I, it just got my attention.

That wasn't it verbatim, but it was something like that, and it just sort of made me wonder, oh, is he gonna step in here?

Is he gonna say something here?

Is he gonna push the crafts to go a little further here?

And, you know, I, I like, so it just makes me wonder if , and, and again, like this is sort of like the precursor for what's gonna be a much bigger contract next year for them, presuming everything stays the way it is with the quarterback.

I wonder, because it was how the it wasn't just the, the reason that, um the reason that I feel like he might have gotten involved was because you heard the tenor of, you know, people who were inside the negotiations, connected to the negotiations 11 hours ago, you know, Adam Schefter, all the Patriots beat writers that I like and respect, who all Do a great job covering the team.

Everybody's saying this thing is not even close.

And I think this is where Hard Knocks is instructive.

You remember when Rex Ryan had the Darrelle Revis contract on the table and literally lost his mind when that, when the Jets couldn't get that thing over the hump in time, and I think they did get it over the hump, like right, right in time, right?

They flew down to Florida, whatever it was.

I mean, this is, you know, 16 years ago at this point, but a cornerback.

Who is so central to your scheme.

And you go back and you look at the cut-ups last year of Christian Gonzalez, his patience, his field awareness, his understanding of how to get a receiver to believe that he's gonna do something other than what he's actually gonna do.

There's some guys that are just born to play the position.

Christian.

Gonzalez is so good.

And he's one of those guys that you can leave on JSN.

I mean, you, you know what I mean?

And, and, and we saw that over, you know, a few times, uh, over the course of that Super Bowl, where they were totally comfortable.

And it's weird because he's just as good against JSN as he is someone like, you know, Zay Flowers, for example, right, like he can take that was, that was the thing to me is like the JSN one was like kind of what clinched it for me and because For a bigger corner, Jackson Smith and Jigba should be a god awful matchup.

I mean like, like a bigger corner, like JSN JSN generally, if you've got one of these bigger, longer corners that can't bend or revert or or redirect.

You know, the same way a smaller corner can.

Like JSN is the one who can like go to town on guys like that, right?

So the fact that you feel comfortable lining up a 6'3 corner against JSN says everything, doesn't it ?

Because like Christian Gonzalez is gonna be the guy you're gonna put on the big prototypical X, right, like the bigger receiver, like that's who the bigger, longer corners for like, like, like is, is built for, is built to cover is when you get these smaller jitterbug types types which is.

What JSN is, the craftier types where like the bigger, longer corners generally have more issues, and the fact that you could like stick Christian Gonzalez on him and have him follow him in the Super Bowl, I think says everything about Christian Gonzalez's value.

And honestly, like I think there's one other corner that's like that in the league, and I think we both know he plays in Denver, you know, like and I think he's sort of, he's sort of on his own as the best corner.

Um, Stanley, I think is right in that, I mean, I, I'd say Stingley is probably #2, but Gonzalez is in the top 5.

I mean, Christian Gonzalez literally saved 2 touchdowns in the first half of the Super Bowl, and if you look at the first half matchups between him and, and the, the Offensive Player of the Year, 10 matchups, head to head, uh, 2 targets, 0 receptions, I think by the end of the first half, Smith and Jigba had had more targets than total receiving yards.

I think it was like 4 receiving yards at the half, and the Patriots scheme at that point was like, we need to do something to create a turnover because we know we're outmatched, and they almost got it.

Like , I think, like, that game turned out to be a blowout.

But I think that there were 2 or 3 times where, like, a defensive player was that close to getting the ball out of Sam Darnold's hands and just muddying that whole thing up, and Christian Gonzalez was such a huge part of that.

Um, so he changes, like it's.

I, I think this is the best, the best comp, I mean, and you know, because you were around Rex Ryan, right?

Like, and, and I.

I still think like Darrelle Revis.

When he was at his best, might be the, I, I like, and I say this having grown up watching Deion Sanders play, when Darrelle Revis was at his best, I don't think there's anybody like him, you know, and I would say, I would say Dion, Dion was, but Dion was a little different, you know what I mean?

Revis was more rugged, so they were like different types of players, not saying one's best, but I think Revis was on the Dion level, you know, when he was at his very best.

And the best compliment I think you can give a corner is what Rex Ryan used to say about, about, about Revis.

He changes the math.

Like he changes the math on how you deal with an offense, and he turns what is an 11 on 10 game because you get the quarterback out of it.

You can now make it a 10 on 9 game, you know, and you can take, make it a 10 on 9 game by taking.

Maybe the best weapon and if you, if you can do that, if you can just make it a 10 on 9 game, that's huge, right?

If you can do that by taking the best player out of the equation, oh my God, is that massive, and that's what the Patriots were doing in the Super Bowl, you know.

So, um, you know, to me, like, and, and Rex used to be great at explaining this, but you say like generally a really good number 1 corner, you put him on the number 2, then you double the number 1.

But if you can take that guy and put him on the number 1.

Now it's, it's something different altogether.

And so I don't , I, I think that this is money well spent.

This is not, this should not have come to what it came to.

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Let's talk about what's different between these teams since the last time they played, and a lot's changed, uh, and we'll get to the AJ Brown of it all, but New England has, uh, you know, certainly AJ Brown, but Romeo Dobbs came in this offseason, Elijah Vera Tucker, um, they, I think, are more focused on upgrading that fullback position, which I think gives you a little bit of a hint of where they see some things going there.

Um, but you could argue that as good as they got offensively, maybe defensively, a little bit of a step back for New England, like, you, you're, you're, you're hedging a lot on Kevin Byard to be your free safety.

Um, I don't really know what we can reasonably expect out of the pass rush.

In terms of where it is now and where it was last year, cause down the stretch, that defensive line just transformed and became really its own thing, you know, I mean, teams really struggled to defend, uh, they were creating turnovers in heaps, they were surviving in bad weather games, they're thriving in bad weather games because of that.

Um, I don't see that as, as replicable, and so I'm really interested to see where that matchup goes.

And on the flip side of it, No Nicky Minmuri for the Seahawks, and he's so big in terms of that big nickel and how they like to sit in that front, and then it sets up all the other things that they do defensively.

Uh, no, Kenneth Walker, so you're relying on a rookie in Ja'Dian Price, and you've seen that.

Really work out at the running back position, and we've seen it where sometimes these guys don't know where the holes are for a couple of weeks.

And so, I, I think that this is kind of a fresh game.

I think that there's room for AJ Brown to dominate, and we can get into the AJ Brown of it all, but I'm not sitting here as confident in the Seahawks as I was in the Super Bowl.

Might even venture to say that what, it's a 3.5 point spread, that I actually think it's gonna be closer than that.

I think this is gonna be maybe a a a game that finishes at 1 to 2 points.

I think it's gonna be a close game.

I, I would say with Seattle, like, just to kind of give people an idea how important Neiman Rory was, and it's not that he, he's an all-pro yet, but he was so central to what they did.

I can still remember having this conversation with someone before the Super Bowl and um somebody said to me who knew both teams really well, tell me how many snaps they have 3 safeties on the field, and I will tell you.

How the Seahawks Patriots game went, and the Seahawks had had Nicky Minwari, Kobe Bryant.

And Julian Love on the field together for 70 of 71 snaps, and the point that this person was making was either the Patriots are able to run them out of that look or they are cooked, you know what I mean, because if you can't run them out of that look, now they've got another, another coverage player on the field and they're able to stay in too high coverage the whole game.

So now you don't have the stuff downfield that you would have otherwise.

So like Tyrese Knight's an interesting piece like with the Eamon War thing, assuming Eamon Warri can't play because I don't think he's been fully ruled out yet, is that right?

Like I don't think he's been fully ruled out as I think it's just, it's not looking good, you know, it's not looking good, right?

They also have another guy who was gonna replace Kobe Bryant, Ty Okata doesn't look like he's gonna play.

Um, so, and, and, and then, you know, you're at that point with, you know, at the other corner spot where when they signed, um, when they signed Terry and Arnold, I think that tells you where they are, you know, they, they , they gave, gave it a run with, with, uh, with, with Diggs, that obviously didn't work out, you know, so, you know, there, there's some moving parts in the secondary there that the Patriots maybe should be able to take advantage of that they weren't able to take advantage of before.

I think on the flip side, How are the Patriots gonna be able to pressure Sam Darnold ?

Cause Sam Darnold, by his own admission, I'm writing a story on it now, um, did not feel like he played his best in the Super Bowl, and that game could have been.

Even more of a blowout if Sam Darnold is on his game, right?

So how are they gonna be able to put pressure on Sam Darnold in this game with no Harold Landry, with no Kalo Kalevon Chase on, right?

So they don't have the, the edge players they had in the Super Bowl last year, and how much do they have to be creative and use different pressures and borrow from the back end to help the front end.

And the like that's all, those are all questions too.

So the teams both I think, I I think they're gonna look a little bit different on defense than they looked in the Super Bowl, which I think gives this gives both offenses a better chance to play well.

I wondered too, uh, cause we're both standing next to each other in that locker room after the Seahawks, uh, beat the Patriots.

And one of the things that Seattle's coaches and some of their players had told me is that they knew, because it's a long season, and because of the attrition rates on the offensive line.

You, you can't really change a lot of your own tendencies, right?

You can't change, you know, a cap means this, right?

Or something else means that.

Like you have to stick with what you've been doing because otherwise, it's costly, right?

It's a, it's a false start.

It's, it's a missed block.

It's, you know, your quarterback gets his clock clean.

Now, you have an entire offseason, an entire training camp, where some of the beauty of what Seattle was able to create is that Like the Legion of Boom Secondary, when they had Peyton Manning's signals totally deciphered and downloaded in that game, where they just beat the crap out of the Broncos, they knew everything, every, what every hand gesture meant, you know, they knew it all, right?

They're ready for it.

What happens when Seattle's defensive line that had that same advantage against the Patriots in that Super Bowl, doesn't have it now?

And New England's gonna block it different because you have someone like Vera Tucker whose strengths are a little bit different, and you're less worried about that than he was in the Super Bowl.

Will Campbell is healthier than he was in the Super Bowl, you know.

That that guy's got a fire under his took us to try to uh make up for what happened there.

I mean, that was a devastating loss for Will, and I think, unfairly an indictment on the short arms, you know, blah, blah, blah, you know, I, I, I, again, I think that he took way too much of that loss on him.

When those two teams weren't comparable from a talent perspective.

But I think Josh McDaniels has got more cards in the deck than he did during the Super Bowl, right?

Like, and, and, and this isn't without even getting into the AJ Brown of it all, you know.

Right, I mean, it's the, the skill groups definitely upgraded.

And I mean, I, I think in a pretty significant way.

I mean, like, with the AJ Brown stuff, you forget that Romeo Dobbs was added to that offense.

And, you know, there's a little bit of a fascinating thing with that, that group of Packers receivers where you have Romeo Dobbs going to New England, you have Jontavian Wicks going to Philly, and you have now Watson and Reed on new deals in Green Bay.

So the Packers kind of made their choice, you know, with those 4, and picking 2 of them and letting the other two go.

So, like now where does Dobbs look like he's not in a rotation as much, he's gonna be able to play a more full-time role, and he's gonna have AJ Brown to take the pressure off of them.

That could be interesting.

Um, you know, I, I think, you know, the injury situation for the Patriots, obviously, Trayvon Henderson made the trip, we'll see if he plays, but his status is , is, is, is one to watch there.

I think in general though.

Um, the group around Drake Mays, is, is better than it was.

And that's where I think it's gonna be so interesting to see how Mike McDonald approaches this, cause I, I, I still think like I think Mike is, I mean, up there, do you think he's the best defensive coach in football right now?

Um, yes.

Yeah, right, I mean, but I mean, would you call, would you, would you, would you pick him in a single game?

Would you pick him to design a defense over anyone else?

Right now?

Probably, right?

Probably.

I mean, Vic's always out there in Philly and it's hard to go against Vic, you know, but that's true because Vic has seen , I mean, yeah, Vic has seen more football than Mike's been alive, right?

So, and that's not being, like, that's not being.

I mean, Vic was coaching when, when Mike was born, so Vic, Vic was, and I did this story two years ago at the Super Bowl.

Vic was breaking down the Delaware wing T, uh, as a defensive coordinator at Dunmore High School at 21, you know, don't knock the Delaware wing T, that's my high school offense, and I, I mean, you know, this guy, he's just, he's just, he just has a more He, he, he just has a wider breadth of, it's, it's like saying, I don't know, man, like I think Bob Dylan could put on a slightly better concert than it, it wasn't even exaggeration.

I was thinking maybe like Vic was starting out when McDonald was born, right?

And he did spend some time at Dunmore High School.

And and Milford Academy, um, in Connecticut, um, but by the time Mike McDonald was born, he was actually the linebackers coach of the New Orleans Saints.

So Mike McDonald was born, he was coaching like Ricky Jackson and Sam Mills.

So that is not an exaggeration, but, but, but, but the point is like I think Mike's gonna be able to come up with some good answers.

It's just, will it be enough like the Mike McDaniel Mike McDonald, Josh McDaniels chess match here will be really interesting cause it's a different one than what we saw in the Super Bowl.

Do you double, I mean, you, you, you're gonna have to double AJ Brown, um, but the thing about AJ Brown is like, we just, you know, and it was cool to see the Patriots beat writers kind of live tweeting some of the, um, uh, live tweeting some of the, uh, the contested catch stuff, the red zone stuff, because Brown is so good.

Um, and I think that You could argue that maybe the ball placement's gonna be a little bit better.

Maybe the play calling is gonna be a little less predictable than it was in Philadelphia last season, and I , I just think that they're going to be able to, you know, I, I think AJ Brown's slot percentage is gonna go up.

I think he's gonna be not hard for, they're gonna move him around more, they're gonna move him around more, and it's harder for Mark McDonald to get beat on it, not to say that it's impossible offense.

That's why young receivers struggle to play in that, play in his offense, because he does not.

Like, cause here's the thing, like for them it's always been, well, if we keep one receiver static, then it becomes really hard to move the other receivers around, so we don't want that, you know what I mean?

Like we, we need you to be able to play multiple spots.

And now AJ Brown coming in is like a, what is he, 8th year vet now, um, coming in with all of that background and having played in different offenses and everything else, they're definitely gonna move him around to try to get matchups for him.

Um, and it kind of like, I mean, for, for Josh, it's interesting cause in New England he's always had these slot guys, um, and he really hasn't had like the dominant ex.

Like I don't think you classified Moss as quite that.

Moss was like Moss played Z and they moved Moss around a lot, um.

This is a little bit more like what he had in Devonte Adams, I would say, when he was in Vegas, when he was in Vegas.

Devante Adams had like 150 targets the full season that those two were together.

So I think the Devante Adams, by looking at how Josh uses Devonte Devante Adams in Vegas would probably be the closest thing you're gonna get to how um he might use AJ um with the Patriots.

Prediction.

Yeah, I think the Seahawks are gonna win.

Um, I think the Seahawks are gonna win.

I think, I think the Seahawks are just better, deeper, more balanced across the board.

Um, I would say something like 26-20.

Um, I think the one thing that we haven't, we have, we, we aren't diving into.

Is there a chance Sam Darnold's better this year, a lot better this year than he was last year?

Yeah, Everything that's around him, you know, now you've got the offensive line established.

You have Grace Abel coming back for his second year.

You have a full season of Rasheed Shaheed.

Um, losing Kenneth Walker is a blow, but I think Jada and Price, like, if you listen to the people in Seattle, they think he's gonna be a star, you know, and then they get Zach Charbonnet back on the fly whenever that happens.

It'll probably be in October at some point, I think, um.

I, I think there's a chance Sam Darnold's better this year, and I, I really I, I don't know what it's gonna take for people to give him his credit.

Um, he's played really well the last two years, and I think Sam Darnold's gonna be a factor, a major factor in the Patriots, um, in the, in the Seahawks beating the Patriots on, on Wednesday night.

You know what I think people are gonna give Sam Darnold his credit?

When when Seattle makes him one of the highest paid quarterbacks in the NFL, yeah, right, or people are gonna say it's a huge mistake that that that's possible too, right?

I mean, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm following John tells me about it though, is people just make their minds up, and you're making your mind up on a guy based on what, what he looks like playing for the Jets, you know what I mean?

Like, is that why you, is that why you refuse to buy in ?

Because he failed with the Jets.

Is that how many, you know, how many people, yes, I mean, I mean, and it was the Jets when it was like Adam Gate and arranged marriage with Joe Douglas and the roster was being rebuilt, and I, I like that roster was a mess when he was there.

Can you remember anybody he was throwing to?

Garrett Wilson wasn't there yet.

Who was his number one wide receiver, but there was Braxton, Braxton Berrios, um, I, I mean, like, so his last year, right?

Oh, what was his name?

Um, now it's just gonna, I mean, not a good start, right?

Uh, really bad start for us.

He was like a, um, he was like a, a, he was like a late round.

I'm cheating now.

I'm pulling it up.

It's like a late round pick out of Nebraska, wasn't it?

Um, his number one receiver his last year in New York was Jamison Crowder.

Demaius Thomas?

Jason Crowder, did Jason Crowder is that like the, that wasn't the Eric Decker years, right?

Breshad Perryman, no.

Oh.

Braxton Berrios, Denzel Mimms with 23 catches, 357 yards.

His leading tight end, his leading tight end was Chris Herndon.

All right, I'll be chosen.

You know the leading rusher on that team was?

Uh.

Isaiah Kroll.

The crow show Oh my God, Frank Gore in year 17.

Like that's what we're holding against him .

I'm just saying that we're holding.

I'm saying this, OK?

That's what we're holding against him when John Schneider pays him.

Cause right now Donald's like, what, what, what is he right now?

uh he played really well.

Well, look, look, look, he made it's just like an all-time great quarterback.

Let me just, let me just, let me just, let me just go through the facts here, OK, before you do that.

I'm gonna start listing all the quarterbacks who have a better APY average per year salary than Sam Darnold.

Sam Darnold, Patrick Mahomes, Dak Prescott, Matthew Stafford, Jordan Love, Joe Burrow, Trevor Lawrence, Josh Allen, Jared Goff, Brock Purdy, Justin Herbert, Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hurts.

These are just Sean, what's that?

These are just facts, yeah, I'm gonna give you just facts after Deshaun Watson.

Yeah.

Daniel Jones and then you have Sam Darnold at 33.5, which is about 250k above Baker Mayfield.

Here, here's, here are the other facts, OK.

Pay him.

The other love him.

Pay him.

OK.

The other facts, he plays for Ben McAdoo, plays well at the end of the year in 2022, and that was in a really tough situation, right.

His first year in Carolina, that's coming off that 2020 Jets experience.

He's with Joe Brady in Carolina.

Joe Brady gets fired in mid-season.

They go to Sean Ryan as their coordinator.

OK.

But he did enough still to have Kyle Shanahan say like, yeah, let's bring him in.

Kyle Shanahan brings him in, he beats out Trey Lance to beat Brock Purdy's backup in 23, OK.

So he winds up being the backup there, and Then he does enough there to get the attention of Clint Kubiak, right?

OK, so you have Clint Kubiak there.

He then goes to Minnesota, where Kevin O'Connell thinks he's seen enough based on limited action that this guy can be my starting quarterback.

Has a great year in Minnesota, then in 25.

Here's Clint Kubiak in Seattle.

We're moving on from Geno Smith.

We're bringing in Sam Darnold.

We believe that Sam Darnold can be the, the, the, the quarterback that we build around here.

So these are all smart people with experience that like are making these decisions.

And basically saying like I'm better off with Sam Darnold than the other alternatives.

That does not mean he's a top five quarterback.

Don't, I'm like, don't misconstrue this.

I know, but I mean, like these things too often become all or nothing, like you're either all in on a guy or you're out on him, right?

And I, I think we can just at this point say Sam Darnold's a very good quarterback, who is one of the best players on the field in the NFC title game, right?

Who was able to compartmentalize some mistakes in the Super Bowl and make the throws they needed him to make down the stretch, the AJ Barner touchdown to put the Patriots away.

Um, he's a very good quarterback.

Is he a great quarterback?

Maybe not, but like, I think that there's, we look at it and like it's like he finally now is in a situation where he's gonna get a chance to build year over year, and more ownership of the offense and build a rapport with the receivers, and I think like it's at least like, like, let's see what this looks like.

He's still only 29 years old, which is crazy because he is going into his 9th year now, but this is a guy who I mean, he was a high school linebacker 5 years before he came into the NFL.

OK, so there was definitely some development that needed to happen.

When he came into the NFL, I think he was still sort of a big athlete playing the position.

And All we've seen him do is like, he's progressively gotten better over the years and has it been a little slow at times, sure, but I don't know.

I mean, I I don't know if there are 10 quarterbacks in the NFL I would take over him to win a game right now.

You don't know if there's 10 quarterbacks that you would take over Darnold and go win a game right now.

I'm not taking 5, but I don't know if there's 10 I would take over him in a big game situation.

Look at how he played against the Rams in the NFC title game.

I mean, that was Like and and and look, Stafford in that game, I would argue like that was one of the best quarterback games I've ever seen, as far as like Matthew Stafford goes, like Matthew Stafford was at such a high level against a defense that was operating at an incredibly elite pace.

Um, and Darner was able to do enough to pull out the win.

Doesn't mean he was better than Stafford that night, but he did enough to pull out the win.

I think it was like 360 something yards and 3 touchdowns.

Arnold was 10 in your quarterback bowl, which we're gonna get to in a second.

So maybe, maybe you can take exactly 9 quarterbacks ahead of Arnold, um, just really quickly because we gotta move, but, uh, you wouldn't take, would you take Pat, uh, Arnold over Pat Mahomes in a tight spot?

Dak Prescott .

It's close.

Hm, Matt Stafford.

Jordan Love.

That one's close to, really close.

Joe Burrow.

No, Trevor Lawrence.

Yes, You would take Arnold over Trevor Lawrence, Josh Allen, or one game right now, yes, no, not Allen.

Josh Allen, Jared Goff.

It's close.

I would take golf probably.

I'm a big golf guy though.

Brock Purdy.

I would take him over Purdy, I think that's, that's it, that's fascinating, isn't it?

That's a fascinating one, but I'm, I'm saying he's in that mix, you know, that's all I'm trying to say is he's in that mix.

Who, who, how about this one, Jalen Hurts.

I would take him over Jalen Hurts.

You would take Sam Darnold over Jalen Hurts, and if all things are equal, if all things are equal, yes, like I, I just, and they're both really good.

Like I, I think they're both good in big spots, like they generally have been, you know, like if you look at like just the facts, like it's like.

I even look at like and and like part of it is part of part of, part of it for me is judging quarterbacks based on what happens when things aren't right, you know, and I still like to look back at the first Rams game last year, he threw 4 picks in that game and almost led them back at the end to win.

There are a lot of other quarterbacks in the NFL that would come like if they had had that sort of afternoon like it'd be.

Pack it in time.

We don't have a chance.

It's over.

And he led them on two drives, one that was like over 80 yards for a touchdown.

The other one that was from his own one-yard line, right?

Like in position to get the kicker in position to win it, to kick a field like where, and that's a long field goal .

Jason Myers had to kick 61 yard field goal, not on him, but if he hits that, then the Seahawks are 3-0 against the Rams last year, yeah.

Um, 2 more just because Caleb Williams.

One game right now, yes, for long term, no.

One game right now, Donald over Caleb Williams, OK, and then fully healthy Baker.

Oh, see, that's the one that, that's the one right there, right?

Like that's the one I've been in a big game situation.

I, I think you might, right.

I don't know.

I think you might.

I don't know.

I like, I like making you uncomfortable in these situations.

Um, all right, let's move to, uh, cause we got a Forty-Niners, uh, Rams, uh, by the time I wanna first start this with Kyle Shanahan's time zone issues, which I like, I, what time is it in, in, in Melbourne right now?

It would be, so it is.

I think you look it up.

I'm gonna see if I can get we're taping this at 11:24 a.m. It is 1:24 a.m. Melbourne time right now.

Oh, you ruined it.

I was gonna try to do it.

No, it's not.

00, you're, are you guessing?

No, I have it up.

It's 1:24.

I would have thought it would have been like 6:24 a.m. There, Melbourne, like I, I would have thought it would have been like 6:24.

No.

Is it, is it 14 hours then that will be 14 hours, right?

from the east, from the east coast, 14, yeah, so it's 7 that may actually that makes sense because that'd be 17 from the west coast, right?

Right.

So, OK, so it's 4, so it's 1 a.m. on Wednesday in Melbourne right now.

Here's what I don't think enough people are talking about, and I maybe this is big potatoes, maybe it's small potatoes, um, but The part of the reason why the NFL does this is that it's a huge barnstorming trip for them, right?

And if you've ever covered an England game, which I have, it's about the week, right?

It's about having Roger Rogerson from the Times of London interviewing, uh, uh, you know, an NFL quarterback, right?

And it's about having them being on the BBC and all that stuff, right?

The Rams.

If they literally show up for the game, and then turn around and they're like, all right, peace, bitch, and then they just fly back to LA.

I'm just telling you this, if the Rams come out and beat the Forty-Niners' asses.

So it's gonna be really the league office could get real nervous.

There might be mandates to go in now.

You are never going to go out early again.

Unless the league mandates itself, right, that's, that's why I'm saying like they're gonna be like guardrails then, right?

And if the 49ers come out and beat the Rams' asses because the Rams show up jet lagged and it's a, it's a 12-hour difference.

Um, there's that.

So do you want me to explain the, the, the different theories here why this is so disparate?

Like I can give you like what the two teams were thinking, right?

OK, so the Niners are very focused on week one.

And the Niners basically are doing the conventional thing, which is, this is a huge time difference.

We want our guys acclimated to their surroundings.

We want them ready to go and like, Look, you know, we, we, we'll, we'll deal with what happens after, after we got a full weekend for them to reacclimate to being in California.

The Rams are basically looking at this from a week two perspective, which is if we can sneak in there and play well and come back and not reset our clocks, we won't have to deal with a re-acclimation on the other side of it.

Essentially what they're saying is if we can just fight through this then we'll be OK and I, I don't know, I mean, I like I think it's just gonna be interesting, you know, it's just gonna be interesting because this is totally unprecedented.

Like this is not like going to London or Madrid or even Germany, which is Germany's 6 time zones, right?

Madrid's 6 time zones, London's 6 time zones.

This is like that amount of time in a plane and that sort of jet lag difference in time and all of that and I mean for me honestly like I, I've done this once in my life.

We flew, me and Emily on our honeymoon, we flew from New York to Hong Kong and then went to Bali from there and a little bit of a flex, I gotta tell you, yeah.

Well, what actually what it was, was when we were, we wanted to go to Bali for our honeymoon, which was great.

I would recommend anybody going there.

We want to go far away.

It was like, what are we, where, where can we go that we will probably never have the chance to go to again.

So it wound up being Bali.

And when we were booking the flight, we were flying through Hong Kong.

And I was like, well, this is fucking stupid.

Like, we're gonna just fly through the Hong Kong airport.

Like, no, I want to stop and like check out Hong Kong.

So we made our, our, our layover essentially like a 3-day layover, you know, which I thought was like, cause you wouldn't want to be like in Hong Kong and then be like, oh yeah, I was in Long Hong Kong, but it was just like, I was going from Terminal A to Terminal C or whatever they would call it over there.

And that was it.

So, bottom line, like, it was so freaking disorienting, like landing in Hong Kong, and we left on Sunday night at like midnight, and you fly over the North Pole to get there from New York, and you land in Hong Kong, and now it's like Tuesday morning.

It was so disorienting, Connor.

So, I'm really interested to see, and look, like we didn't have to lay flat beds and all that different stuff that all these players are gonna have, so it's gonna be a different experience for them obviously flying.

I'm really interested to see how they, how they look on Thursday, cause again, it's, it's just, it's unprecedented having that, that level of travel um tacked onto a season opener.

What do you think about the game here?

And, and I think what I am truly interested in.

I it'll evolve over the course of the season.

But how and why and when.

The Rams kind of hockey style shift lines upfront and how often that they do it.

Do they want something that's static, um, and obviously you don't create that kind of depth if you don't plan on using it.

And I'm not just talking about Aaron Donald.

I mean, their defensive tackle 6 is better than a lot of teams' defensive tackle 1 at this point, um.

But I'm very curious to see if Kyle Shanahan does anything to prevent that from happening, or if there's certain matchups that he wants to freeze on the field, and, and , and if, and if the rest of the NFL is looking at the Miles Garrett thing less as a big deal than we are, right?

I mean, Because from the media side of it, it's holy God, NFL sack leader goes to a team that's already the top 5 defense, whatever it was, um, if you're a coach from a coach's standpoint, it's like, OK, like what do we have to account for Jared verse versus Miles Garrett, right?

Yeah.

Like that's the margin you're talking about, which is like it's a margin for sure.

Like Garrett's better, but versus a damn good player too, then that's what you are already dealing with.

And so to me it's, it, it's, it's different than like I'd actually, I, I would argue not to jump in here, Connor, but like I would argue the margin at corner is bigger for them than the margin margin on at defensive end, right.

That's fair.

Like, like the upgrades that they made it were more significant than the upgrades that they made.

Yes, I agree with that.

Yeah.

And so it's, you know, and this may be like kind of like a galaxy brain seeming conversation where we're clearly overthinking it, but outside of 3rd down, obvious pass rushing situations, which the Rams were already excellent at, right?

How much changes if you're an offensive coordinator going into this game.

And the Forty-Niners are interesting to me because, I mean, you don't have George Kittle in this one, but What you do have, I think, is still a very unique set of personnel equipped to be able to block someone like Miles Garrett out of the backfield.

I mean, you have a true fullback, a true H-back fullback.

Um, you have guys who can help, um, and some of those guys are at least healthy enough, uh, to make it.

Your depth at the tight end position is pretty good, you know, can they make it so that Miles Garrett is at least not a tornado.

In this one, I don't know.

I mean, I think it's gonna be an interesting question, right?

Yeah, and I, you know, there's always that week one thing too where what you see isn't always real , you know, and there's that element of mystery that they have here and how they're gonna use him.

That's, uh, you know, I think with Chris Shula, with all the stuff we've seen him do over the years and how he evolved, what Raheem Morris was doing, um, could they get creative and trying to generate matchups and put pressure on.

Um, put pressure on the, on the, on the Niners that way, you know, I, I, and I think like that's sort of been, I mean, that's McVeigh's coaching staff, right?

Like it's like that's what they're always challenged to do is to keep evolving things and so does, how does Garrett evolve, help them evolve.

Like, for example, we just talked about like that big, the Seahawks' big nickel, right , with the three safeties.

The 13 personnel thing was a response to that, you know what I mean?

Like the 13 personnel thing is a response to teams playing them that way, you know, and so it's like, OK, like you wanna put 3 safeties on the field, well, we'll put 3 tight ends on the field, you know, and like, good luck stopping the run against that.

So like I think they've always been creative and aggressive and pushing things forward, and I guarantee you, like one of the first conversations McVeigh and Shula and all those guys had when they got Miles Garrett was like, OK.

Like, how do we, what can we unlock here?

And what can we do that's a little bit different?

And lo and behold, here are the Niners in week one, and this is gonna be an important division game for them.

And so, you know, what can they, what can they do to make sure that, that, that Miles Garrett is seeing matchups that'll put him in position to make plays and, and, and, and also You know, on the flip side of that, what can Kyle Shanahan and his staff do?

You mentioned Uszek and some of the other elements that they have to deal with it.

Um, what can they do to ensure that Miles Garrett doesn't just completely wreck the game?

21 thing that I thought was interesting, um.

Raheem Morris is still a big cover 3 guy and always has been.

Matt Stafford was one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL against cover 3 last year.

How does he change his stripes?

And Raheem has called that Rams defense before, right now, and he's in San Francisco.

And the other thing that I just think is underrated, that we still don't talk enough about, I mean, if they decide to trot out 13 personnel, I don't know if the Forty-Niners secondary is even big enough to, to stop it, right?

I mean, the Forty-Niners, the Rams have a bunch of big guys at skill positions, big, tough, like Pukaiu is tough, that, you know, Devonte Adams is big, he's physical, he knows how to use his weight, throws weight around.

The tight ends are big and tough, you know.

So, I don't know, I just think this is a bad matchup, especially, uh, as unhealthy.

I mean, and the way they poured into it too, um.

You know, I'll tell you this, like, no one cares about my fantasy team, but you might be interested in the fact that I drafted Terrence Ferguson, who I, I think has got a chance to be.

A really, really, really high end tight end.

And when they drafted him in the 2nd round last year, like they saw a guy who was athletically, um, very much like a, a very unique type of weapon, you know, Colby Parkinson, um, you know, you look at like what they've got, they draft Max Clair in the 2nd round, it's, uh, you know, you have Tyler Higbie back for another run.

Um, it's There's just like such an interesting chess match between these two teams.

They know each other so well.

And like you're right, like there's, you know, like, is this a way to take advantage of, of the size of the, of the 49ers secondary and how aggressive the 49ers are.

It's like, OK, like you want to be aggressive with some of this stuff, well, we're gonna come right at you.

And um could that create a problem if that sort of approach is what it is .

Like, does that like create a little bit of an issue for the Niners upfront to where, you know, I think they're, they've got like a lot of moving pieces, I'll put it that way, relying on some young guys and then having some of, you know, the older guys coming in like an Osa Diggyzua.

Prediction Yeah, I think the Rams are gonna win.

Um, I would say.

Mhm.

You know me put a score in it, um.

Something like 27-17, I think Stafford is gonna play really well.

Yeah, I think so too.

I'm like a 30, 21 guy.

Um, you know, I, I, I think that, I think this is, I, I'm a little worried about the Niners.

Um, I just Uh, like, I mean, we could tell the substation jokes we want.

Um, the reality is older teams get beat up, older teams get hurt, older teams get worn down.

And I just, you know, I mean, I think like this is kind of the unspoken price of the Trey Lance trade is that they were, you know, without first-round picks for 3 straight years, um, which I think forced them to take not only, not only do they not have that capital, but maybe forced them to take some chances that they struck out on in the draft.

And you know, it, it really kind of handicapped their ability to bring up a, a young group of players beyond um what they already have.

And now, you know, you look at it and it's Christian McCaffrey at age 30, it's Kittle well into his 30s, uh, it's Trent Williams in his 17th year, I think that's right, right, 17 years for Trent Williams, unbelievable, but You know, he's still an older guy, Nick Bosa in year 8, Fred Warner in year 9.

I mean I, I just ticked off what it's like that that that might be the 6th best players in the team, you know, and I, I just I wonder what that's gonna look like when we get to week 8, you know, and maybe, maybe it looks good in week 1, you know, that, that's the one caveat I have here.

And that's an incredibly capable coaching staff.

Raheem Morris was a grand slam hire for Kyle Shanahan.

I still have a ton of faith in that program and the people there to get it done.

I just, I just wonder if we get to November and does it look like the Niners hung on to this group a little too long.

I want to move quickly, uh, to your quarterback poll, which again, check it out on SI.

com.

Over 100 votes from league types, executives weighing in on who the best quarterback in the NFL is.

I want to just run through the top 10 really quick and then what I want to do is, is just sort of talk about the implications of that, uh, before we get out of here.

Um, so Josh Allen, number 1, we have, Josh Allen, #1, Matthew Stafford at #2, which is really, really interesting.

33 first-place votes.

Patrick Mahomes, number 3, Joe Burrow, number 4, Lamar Jackson, number 5, Justin Herbert, number 6, Dak Prescott, 7, Drake, May 8, Caleb Williams, 9.

Sam Darnold, 10 ahead of Jared Goff and Jordan Love, who are tied at 11th, and then Jaden Daniels 13, Bo Nix, 14.

Yeah.

Very interesting to me.

So, you know, I'll just go through the methodology really quick.

I'm not asking who the best quarterbacks are now.

I'm asking them who they think the best quarterbacks are gonna be at the end of the year.

The first year I did this was in 2015, and it produced the desired result.

Andrew Luck, what came in second in the poll that year behind Aaron Rodgers, he outranked Tom Brady, um, which, you know, at the time, I was like, Luck had been three straight years in the playoffs, rookie year, wild card round.

2nd year divisional round, 3rd year AFC championship, and without a great team around him, you know, so there was this thought like luck's about to take off, we know the rest, injuries started to hit, that was that.

But, you know, that's always been sort of the idea is I want you to project these guys.

So, The voting group is people who either coach the quarterback or evaluate the quarterback.

So it's head coaches, offensive coordinators, passing game coordinators, quarterbacks, coaches, and then the evaluators, general managers, VPs slash directors of player personnel, senior personnel execs, those guys, um, and then pro scouting directors.

So you either coach the quarterback or you evaluate the quarterback.

Um, I think the number I had was 20 head coaches, 21 general managers voting.

All 32 teams represented, 30 of the 32 teams had multiple voters, so I try to make this as much of a cross section as I possibly can, um, and I think the most interesting, so I, when I first started doing it, I was like I wanna keep this to the elite.

Like I want them to vote on who they think is the best and not have it like weighed down by who they think is 7th or 8th, so.

Over the last 2 years, a group of 4 really emerged as like the top group, and that was Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson.

This year, Stafford cracks that group.

So now you have 5.

So what's most interesting about this year's exercise to me is You have to, to, to put someone in that group, in the top on your ballot.

You have to take one of those guys out, you know, and so which quarterback do you think is capable, most capable of breaking into that group this year?

And so to me it's almost more interesting what's happening, you know, 6 on down than it is in the top 5.

Yeah, what are your impressions looking at it?

So I, I mean, you have, I mean, the Jalen Hurts of it all is just so fascinating, right?

I mean, you have a guy who's been to a Super Bowl and won a Super Bowl and QB wins, but like what you.

Yeah, I mean, you know, people are just so out on him.

Uh, Bo Nix, only 60 1st place votes appeared on 3 ballots and dropped 3 spots, uh, from last year.

Jordan Love, to me, is the one where, like, Last year, obviously he wasn't on your QB poll, um, only appeared on 5 ballots, but like, love to me and like, if you look at love and what he's capable of doing versus, like, if you were to ask John Schneider, like, who do you want between those two guys, I mean, Love's younger , uh, I think he's more athletic.

I mean, you know, I, I, I'd, I'd love to just be in the, on the floor for that conversation, you know, versus.

Love versus Donald, right?

And, you know, obviously Darn, right.

Oh yeah, that's true, um, yeah, because he had to wait so long, um, but love to me is, I think he's so underrated.

I think Brock Purdy is so underrated, uh.

This pole.

shows how difficult it is to distill the league into, you know, 14 or 15 quarterbacks.

I mean, it shows me really that we have the opposite of a quarterbacking problem in the NFL.

I tell you that.

Yeah, I mean, I, I always say that to people.

I'm like, like, there's a lot of people that think like, oh, the quarterbacks now suck.

It's not like, and I grew up in the era of, you know, when I first started watching football, it's John Elway, it's Dan Marino, it's Joe Montana, it's Jim Kelly, it was Steve Young.

Um, a little bit later on, like, and like, I think we have a way of Like over glorifying that a little bit, cause it was great at the top.

But who was the 15th best quarterback then?

You know, who was the 20th best quarterback then?

Like you get into the 90s, even the 2000s, like, like the depth that we have now is pretty solid, you know, um, and I think people forget that, like that, that's just the number of capable quarterbacks there are in football is really, really high, which I think is great, you know what I mean?

Like that's awesome and it's good for the sport, it's good for the league and all that different stuff.

Justin Herbert always gets my attention.

Because I think Justin Herbert, I've come around on this, I think Justin Herbert is kind of viewed like Matthew Stafford in Detroit where people on the outside tear him apart and , and rip him to shreds, and then the people who really know way more football than all of us that are inside these buildings keep telling us he is freaking awesome, you know what I mean?

Like, and I like it, it feels to me so much like Matthew Stafford in Detroit where like when you talk to people about Stafford while he was a lion.

This is what you would get from people inside the league.

You don't understand, you have no idea what he's capable of, what like the, the, the, the sort of burden that he's carrying there, and what happens.

Like, now, you have Stafford is 2nd on the list.

So, That's what's interesting with Herbert to me is now, does he have enough right around him with Mike McDaniel as the play caller with the two tackles healthy, with the young receivers who I think have a chance to take a step with Omar and Hampton as maybe, you know, Jim Harbaugh's new Frank Gore in the backfield, 2nd Frank Gore mentioned on this podcast.

Um, You know, it's like now is he in position without changing teams to take the sort of leap that Matthew Stafford did when he became a Ram .

I think that's an interesting storyline for the 2026 season.

That's why it wouldn't totally stun me if Herbert was a very real like MVP candidate when we get to the end of the year.

Well, I urge everybody to check it out.

It's great.

It's a great piece of journalism.

It represents, uh, the best of what we do here at SI.

com and the MMQB.

Lots of good stuff on the website this week.

Um, guys, we're here, uh, and you can catch Albert and I all over the place.

We got.

Watch parties, live streams, breakdowns, and we'll be back on Thursday to preview the coming week of football.

But we talked about, obviously, the Rams game, uh, now, uh, just to kind of give you guys a little bit of runtime, uh, because we'll be focused on the Sunday games and we record later in the week.

So, stay tuned.

Hang with us.

Football's back, baby.