Pete Prisco

Of course. It's always about the mom. I mean, think about this for a second. He does that. And then you have DK Metcalf who says, I want to go to a warm weather. And what did he do? He ends up in Pittsburgh.

I mean, so, yeah, absolutely. It's always about the money. Like I said, I go around and ask players, rank them. I think they all rank first.

What do you think they ranked second? Hall of Fame. Of course. And then the ring is third. And you know why? Look around. Guys sell rings all the time on eBay. You can go find Super Bowl rings on eBay. They don't sell their money on eBay.

That might be illegal.

I'm looking for you, too.

Yeah, and again, it's your own personal choice. What's the difference? Some people say, well, what's the difference between having an extra $15 million and not and being comfortable in Tampa? And I think in that scenario, he did like Baker. He likes the offense. He likes where he is. And I'm sure the family wanted to stay there.

So sometimes you got to, you know, be happy for the family and they'd make a choice rather than you make the choice. But again... $15 million is a lot of money to leave on the table when you're talking about generational wealth and you're passing it on down to your families. And that's why these guys always say, well, it's not about the money.

Maybe not right now for you, that $15 million isn't big, but as it hands down from generation to generation, it becomes big. Yeah. It's always about the money.

Well, he's older. We forget that Gino – I mean, you look at Sam Darnold, he's only 27 years old. I mean, you think of him as an old guy, but he's not. So I think they've decided to go in a younger direction because the money was getting a little out of control from what you hear what Gino was looking for, and he's going to get that contract from the Raiders.

Again, I go back to what I said before pre-agency. two years ago if you would have said sam darnold 35 million gino smith 40 million daniel jones you know is a guy that can come in and compete for a starting job justin field's getting two years and you know 20 million whatever you would have said what are you talking about

But that's how starved and, you know, these teams need quarterbacks so badly that they're going to push up these guys and they get desperate. And that's what this is. This is all desperation. You know how many times Geno Smith has thrown 21 or more, over 21 touchdown passes in his career? Once. One time. And then you go, you talk about Sam Darnold.

Yeah, he had a good season, but what about the rest of his career? And what about when the games mattered down the stretch, the last two games, he didn't do much there. So I think desperation really impacts what these teams do with the quarterback position.

I agree with you. It's not a great situation. And here's the other thing. How many, both you guys, I know you said it at the end of the year, everybody did. Oh, Sam Darnold became Sam Darnold again. Oh my gosh. Right. You said it. You said it. Right. And so that's the biggest concern for me is, was what he did over the course of the regular season and aberration and he get back to the norm.

And now you're going to get back to being Sam Darnold again. That's the concern I have with Sam Darnold.

Correct. And you're overpaying for players. You're playing great money for good players. And so you're getting the cap problems down the road. I get it. I get it. But some teams have to make those moves. Your team is one of them. Had to make moves. The Bears had to make moves on the offensive line. They had to fix the middle of that offensive line. And they did. At least they feel they did.

Now, there are some concerns with those guys. I'm always playing the flip side of it. Dolman is a wide zone scheme center. And in that offense, how does he fit? Because that's not what they do. You know, Jonah Jackson was essentially benched last year. Didn't play very well. They know him. And then you got Joe Tooney. He's a great player, but he's 32 years old.

Now you're going to have to pay him after one year. So they do come with these asterisks next to them. But on the surface, I think they're great moves. And I love the Grady Jarrett addition. That guy, look, 10 years into the league, he can still get up the field. He's still going to be able to push the pocket. And I think that helps them from that standpoint.

So I think the Bears actually did a nice job. But in two years, we might be looking back on and saying those are more stopgap because they had to do it than having guys for the long term.

You know what teams don't do a good enough job of doing is draft an offensive lineman in like the fourth or fifth round who might not start right away, but you're developing them for a year or two down the road when they do step in and start. And that's why offensive line play is so bad in the NFL. The development is awful. Here's the other part of it.

If you look at free agency, you know what everybody did? They looked at the Eagles and they said, look how big and physical they are. Look what they do. And all the teams tried to mimic that. You know, look at both of your teams. You look at going to get Tunsell at left tackle. They want to get bigger. They want to get stronger.

And they have questions on that offensive line with Cosme being injured. What do they do? Do you move Coleman, the right guard? Do you move guys around? Where's Wiley go? And so now everybody's trying to copy exactly what the Eagles did by getting bigger and stronger physical up front.

Oh, I'm with you, but you know how many teams have shunned that idea over the years by drafting skilled players and this guy and that guy? There's only so many. I say it all the time. There's only so many big people on the planet who can play the game of football, and you have to find those guys. If you don't, you have major problems.

You know, it's funny. We think back to last year before the season, everybody said, oh, it's the greatest situation ever for a rookie quarterback. And it really wasn't. It wasn't because of the offensive line.

Now, a lot of that, he holds the ball and he's got to quit, you know, thinking he's at USC where he can turn a play that's supposed to go one, two, three, four into a big play by getting out of there after the first read and making play. And sometimes he did. And sometimes he made unbelievable plays. But a lot of times he took those sacks 15 yards behind the line of scrimmage

and it moves him back. So he's got to be better. Now that they're better in the middle, he should be better.

The guards, the guard market. I mean, my God, look at the money being spent on those guys. You know, and again, it goes back to the Eagles theory on, you know, building on the offensive line. I mean, you've got guys coming off major – you know, Will Freeze is coming off – Fries is coming off a major injury, and he just got a major contract from the Vikings. Yeah.

You know, Ryan Kelly got hurt last year for the Colts, got a decent contract from the Vikings because they want to get bigger. James Daniels coming off an injury. They want to get a guard Miami. He got paid. So the guards across the board got a lot of money. And again, it goes back to following what the Eagles did.

You know, we were on the air, and so somebody on our air actually had their Twitter was working. Mine wasn't. And so we were kind of going through that. And, you know, Jonathan Jones was on with us, and so he was getting some live updates. But, yeah, what the hell happened? I got up in the morning. I'm like, the worst possible day for that to happen. I know.

I thought New England, even though they had to overspend for a lot of guys, they had to fill spots, and they did a nice job. I mean, when you go get Milton Williams, to me, that's big for them because he's a game disruptor. You put him in there. Then you add Spillane, and people say they overpaid for Spillane, but he's a good football player. Landry, they know, is a pass rusher.

You get Carlton Davis. The team with Christian Gonzalez gives them a nice one-two combination. So I think the Patriots actually did a nice job. Having said that, they still need a left tackle. They still need a big play wide receiver, but they have an early pick in the draft that they can address that way.

Well, I think he played okay when he went in. He did a nice job last year when he went in and played for Trev Williams. And I think that's one of those things where you're paying for what's going up rather than what he is. So they're speculating a little bit on it. They're going to move Sumatia inside to left guard, and now you're bigger and stronger on that offensive line. So it makes sense.

They were going to go get in a Ronnie Stanley thing until he resigned in Baltimore. So did you want to go spend a bunch of money on some of those other left tackles? Look what Tennessee did. I know. They paid Dan Moore a ton of money, and everybody in Pittsburgh wanted that guy benched over the years.

Now, he was better last year, and he is only 26, and it allows them to move Latham to right tackle, which is where he should play. But that's a lot of money for Dan Moore.

their plan would be to look at next year's draft when there's actually a lot of really good quarterbacks in the draft. And that's a problem. And look, I've talked to a lot of guys in the league the last couple weeks. They're not all convinced that Cam Ward's the end-all, be-all either. I mean, somebody told me, look, he's got to throw emotion from the side.

We're going to draft him number one overall. And there's a lot to like about Cam Ward. There's also a lot to not like. They turn, you know, big plays when he should stay in the pocket into bad plays. A lot of those guys do. Shador Sanders does as well. So... Will the Titans take 1-1 overall? I'm not sure they will, to be honest with you. Okay.

You know, Abdel Carter is a heck of a pass rusher, and those guys are hard to find as well. And I think you might be in that situation where you say, you know what, we'll bring a veteran in, Levis. You know, guys, I take enough grief from saying it on your show about Levis that it didn't quite work out for him, but he's still there. So I'm not sure they're going to take a quarterback at 1.

Well, the Giants probably are in a little different situation because they're both going to get fired if they don't win. In Tennessee, the new GM isn't getting fired after one year if they don't win. So it's not necessarily Callahan's decision to make whether they bring one in.

So if you're the GM of the Tennessee Titans and you look at next year's class and you say, you know what, if we're not that good this year,

back in and get the real guy we want next year then why would you force it but the Giants you're probably making a good point because they're both getting fired if they don't win so they're probably in a much different situation than what they are in Tennessee what about the Pittsburgh Steelers are we under the assumption that Aaron Rodgers is going to be the quarterback in Pittsburgh next year

Well, I think it almost has to be. If it's not Pittsburgh, where is it? The Giants? I mean, and it doesn't sound like he wants to do that, so it has to be Pittsburgh. And here's the thing about Aaron Rodgers at the end of last year. Aaron Rodgers finished with 28 touchdown passes last year. That's more than Mahomes. It's more than Herbert. It's more than a bunch of guys.

And he actually played well in the last five or six games of the season when he looked healthy. He talked the year before about, I'm coming back at the end of the year. He didn't look healthy at all last year for the first seven, eight games. He wasn't the same guy. He wasn't moving around. His motion wasn't the same, and that's a big part of who he is.

But at the end of the year, he started looking like Aaron Rodgers. So I think if Pittsburgh were smart, they'd find a way to make that work.

And maybe Metcalf with him, too. Both those guys are going to be, you know, give me the ball, give me the ball, I need the ball, I need the ball. For all the talk about Mike Tomlin, Mike Tomlin's a great coach, but why can't he get that guy in line? I don't understand that. He kind of likes it.

You might be right. But these coaches, they all talk about, well, what's wrong? Mike McDaniel at the end of the year came to the podium and said, I keep finding them and finding them, and they're still late. That's on you.

That's on the coach.

I mean, these guys got to – you can't allow that to happen. I wouldn't allow it to happen if I were him.

Well, the Aaron Banks signing in Green Bay is a little head-scratcher to me because of the way they structured the contract. But more than that, he wasn't very good last year. You know, you talked about Moore. Moore was better than Banks last year, and some people think Banks was the worst offensive lineman on the line.

And here he is getting a nice contract because they're going to move Elton Jenkins to center. And I don't know if that's a good move by the Packers. I think it makes them bigger. Again, we go back to that whole theory about getting bigger and stronger, but does it make you better? That one kind of was a little bit of a head-scratcher for me.

Well, I thought Atlanta might look into the pass rusher market a little more, and they didn't. That one surprised me a little bit because I like the makeup of the offense.

I think Pennix is going to be really good, but defensively they need to get a pass rusher, and I think that surprised me a little bit because there were some guys on the market that they could indeed go get, and now they don't even have Grady Jarrett to push the pocket on the inside. So I think pass rush could ultimately be their biggest problem next year.

There's some bitterness there now. I mean, you look at what happened with him at the end of the season when he kind of threw him under the bus by saying he was injured and he played injured and he wasn't on the report. From what I hear, they weren't real thrilled with that. And now they can keep him for $10 million and keep him as a backup and make him unhappy.

And so, yeah, I do think he's still on their roster. I wouldn't do it. If I if Michael Penix is my quarterback, I don't want Kirk Cousins behind him at all. I don't think that's a good situation. Unhappy Kirk Cousins wants to play. I don't think he's going to be great about it. And people say, oh, he'll be wonderful. No, you're not. You want to play.

You're not going to be the same guy you were when you were playing. So I think they need to let him go.

But really, when you look at it, Debo Samuel wasn't close to being what he was. I mean, he was 20 pounds heavier last year. He looked like it. He was slow. What is he? Is he a receiver? If he gets in shape, it's a different story. But he wasn't the same guy last year. And you look at some of the other guys they lost. You know, losing Ward is big. I think that's important to them, the corner Ward.

He didn't play as well last year. He missed time, but he had a lot of stuff going on off the field. I think that hurts them. But 49ers still have stars. Let's not forget. You know, when Trent Williams comes back, star left tackle. You have Kittle. That's a star. You go to the defensive side of the ball. You got Bosa. You got Fred Warner. There's still stars on that team, and stars usually show up.

They just got to stay healthy.

Let's donate it down. Give to the fullback. You hate fullbacks. Come on. What the hell is that?

hate i don't i think my hate it's not hate it's a reality i was right about him all along and nobody ever what nobody ever believed me he look the moon if it's take away the moon ball on the sideline what does he do he never throws to the middle of the field he might be the guy by the way when all the chairs are taken he doesn't have one and and so i don't know if he's going to be a starting quarterback anymore oh wow wow what about the giants

What about the Giants going to get Cam Ward, though?

Yes. And by the way, in listening and watching some interviews and talking to people about Cam Ward, he's got a little bit of the Jaden Daniels cockiness from a year ago that I love. I think there's something about that. And so you kind of listen to these quarterbacks. You kind of get a read on them. which is kind of why I'm worried a little bit about J.J. McCarthy.

You know, there's a lot of – I don't know if he's ready to take over as a starting quarterback necessarily. It'll be interesting to see if the Vikings can make that work.

You know what? Didn't Nick Sirianni call you out? Yeah. And you know what? Nick Sirianni called you out and rightfully so because you probably wanted him fired just like every other Eagles fan. But more than that, every other Eagles fan probably bitched and moaned about Jalen Hurts over the course of the entire season.

And then he wins the Super Bowl and all of a sudden he's become the greatest quarterback in the history of the National Football League. He's a good quarterback. Would I take Baker Mayfield over him for the next five years? Yeah. And by the way, you say, what did Baker Mayfield do? When Baker Mayfield was in Cleveland, he was really good. Then he got hurt.

Max prepared. Max, by the way, I had the same argument with an Eagles fan in my building. And you know what I went to? Because you guys always go, he won a Super Bowl. He outplayed Patrick Mahomes. He won a Super Bowl. He outplayed Max. So winning a Super Bowl, yes, it's a team thing. It's not a quarterback thing. We know that, right? We know that, right?

And he didn't win the one.

Now, you know what I went to? I went to the heart of the Philly fan. He was trying to say that he's better because he wins his games. So, Allen Iverson, did he ever win anything?

Did he ever win anything, Max? Did he ever win anything? One more than Dak Prescott and Baker Mayfield. The point being he's one of the great players of all time, but he didn't win anything. So you can't take winning something and just say, you know, Jalen Hurts is a great quarterback because he won. The offense is perfect. If you rank the position group on offense, go through the Eagles.

Rank them one through four. Offensive line, pass catchers, running back, and quarterback. Where does he rank?

He's fourth. Somebody has to be fourth. He's fourth. You would agree with that?

Yeah, he's got you. I don't know that I would.

I didn't pick them to lose. I didn't pick them to lose every game.

Yes, I was wrong about that. I was incorrect. And I will sit there and I will say I was incorrect at how good they were. And they're really good.

He led the NFL in touchdown passes.

Dak Prescott's not the fourth if you went position group one by four on his team. He would be fourth.

roster last year we were talking about how their offensive line was the best offensive line of all time and you know what they did he went down 27 nothing to the Packers giving up a pick six going in I'm not going to call him a weak link of the offense but if you had the number four is the weak link then he's the weak link of the offense but Pete you didn't answer his question when when did we as sports come to the point where winning doesn't matter

not what I'm saying. Winning, of course, winning is the only, well, besides money, but winning is the second most important thing. And so, yeah, it matters. And look, Jalen Hurts played great in the big moments. Nobody's taken that away from him. No, I'm not. I never did. And by the way, quarterbacks, there's five elite quarterbacks, including Jaden Daniels, by the way. There's five right now.

Then the rest of them are kind of from six to 13 or 14. They're all kind of in together. That's what the league is right now. And Jalen Hurts is in 6-15. It's just your preference.

But the rest of them, look, I would take Herbert over them for the next five years. I would take, who else? Trevor Lawrence? Trevor Lawrence? I would take Trevor Lawrence. That's crazy. Trevor Lawrence has had four seasons, one with Urban Meyer. You have to wipe it away. Then Doug Peterson's offense was terrible, by the way.

The bottom line is, with that offensive line, it makes it so much easier. What did Saquon Barkley average? 4.2 before he was touched last year?

Trevor Lawrence has never had a good offensive line.

It's Carolina. Didn't Baker beat the Eagles?

I mean, look, Baker Mayfield, it's close. Like I said, they're in the same grouping, but I would take Baker.

Look, in a lot of those games, Jalen Hurts threw for under 200 yards, didn't he?

Right, because he's the fourth option on the offense. Because they were winning the game.

Does he still want Nick Sirianni fired? That's what I want to know.

Yes, you did, because you're an Eagles fan. And by the way, I lived outside of Philly when I was a kid. I know how my first football game was at Franklin Field. I saw the old Eagles play way back in the day. So I know how passionate Eagle fans are. I love them. They're great. They're nasty. They're vile. They're disgusting. They're everything you want about an NFL fan.

You know, it was Joe Green's rookie year, by the way, when he was with the Steelers, and he actually got into it and threw a helmet across the field that day. I was a little kid, but I remember it.

Don't apologize for being Italian. I'm Italian. Look, I mean, I got it. I can give it, too. I told Sirianni when I saw him at the combine, I said, for that little period at the end of the year, I was one of the most hated people in Philadelphia. People were coming at me nasty. And he said, now you know how I feel.

No, I like it. You have to do something. You have to do something. I mean, otherwise you're the Giants right now trying to panic. You had to do something. I think Justin Fields has talent. I think if they can build that offense around him, get him creative, I think you can make that work for a couple years.

I think the bills did a nice job by adding Palmer to the offense. They need to get somebody who could go down the field. And I think Michael Hoyt's a good football player from the Rams. I think the bills quietly had two good signings and they kept their own and they made the quarterback happy. They've had a good off season.

Everybody likes the story of the comeback quarterback, right? Everybody points to Baker. Baker did it. Well, Baker was good early in his career. Zach Wilson's never been good. I don't see that one. All right. It's a bold take. It's a bold take. It is a bold take. I'm just saying.

I will say this. He'd be better off than what they did last year trying to replace Tua. They were not prepared for that at all. Again, it goes back to the fault of the coach. Why weren't you better prepared for that to have somebody in there ready to go? So, yeah, I'll give you that. It's a better preparation this time around.

No. No. Come on. It's just a no? What's he only like 31?

I mean, if you're playing Marcus Mariotti, you might as well just get your resume ready because you're gone. Come on. Give me a break. That isn't working.

Good player up the field attacks. I think that is actually a really good signing for them. The Rams know what they're doing. I will say this. The Rams need to get faster. You know, everybody raved about the Devontae Adams signing. He's going to be 33 in December. And you look at their offense. They have no speed on that offense. There's none. Nobody scares you.

They brought Tutu Atwell back because he's the only speed they have. But everybody plays him in a phone booth. The running back's not fast. The wide receivers aren't fast. They're good players. They're not fast. They got to get fast.

The Rams are going to be good on defense because their front seven is going to be good. And Puna Ford.

Yeah. Well, if Aaron Rodgers signed with the Giants, wouldn't that be the same thing?

I don't really love the quarterback class, but a guy I would take in the third or fourth round would be McCord from Syracuse. Oh. Yeah. I think he's got – he stands in the pocket. He takes shots. He's tough physically. Not a great athlete. Makes all the throws. I think – and he played really well at Syracuse last year.

I think McCord has a chance to be – if you draft him in the third or fourth round, he can end up being a starter down the road.

You know what I got to do before I get out of here? Yeah. The fourth option on that Eagles offense is who? Offensive line, running back, wide receivers, and then the quarterback.

Yes, the Eagles are good. Yeah, he got you.

Really good. And I was an idiot who picked against them all year.