Speaker 1: You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox
Speaker 1: Sports Radio.
Speaker 2: One of the great irishmen of all time, Seth Greenberg,
Speaker 2: ESPN college basketball analyst, joining us on the program.
Speaker 3: Happy Saint Patrick's day, Seth.
Speaker 4: I'm not appropriately addressed. I apologize.
Speaker 3: It's okay. Oh pah, yeah, pah.
Speaker 2: All right, let's get the big controversy out of the way.
Speaker 2: North Carolina made it, West Virginia didn't, Indiana didn't. Ohio State, Bobezi,
Speaker 2: how big of a deal is this? In your opinion?
Speaker 4: I think it's a big deal. I mean, you know,
Speaker 4: you are your body of work. Your resume is your resume,
Speaker 4: and you know, North Carolina do you get credit for
Speaker 4: playing good teams? Do you get credit for beating good teams?
Speaker 4: They're one and twelve against pod one. That's a fact.
Speaker 4: They played a very difficult non conference schedule. That's a fact.
Speaker 4: They also lost to pitt and wait Forest and Clemson
Speaker 4: and Louisville. All right, those were opportunities. Not saying those
Speaker 4: teams aren't good, but those are opportunities that they didn't embrace.
Speaker 4: Played Michigan State in Hawaii. That was an opportunity before
Speaker 4: Michigan State became the Juggernaut that they were. Now look
Speaker 4: playing Auburn in Alabama and Florida, you know, those are
Speaker 4: the best of the best. But I do think that
Speaker 4: if you look at their resume, their body of work,
Speaker 4: their resume says they're not an NC tournament team. Having
Speaker 4: said that, now that they're in the tournament, they can
Speaker 4: beat San Diego State. Now that during the tournament they
Speaker 4: can give Ole Miss a game. But you know what,
Speaker 4: you don't get a free pest to get in the tournament.
Speaker 4: You earn your way into the tournament. And everyone should
Speaker 4: be evaluating across the same set of criteria. And that's
Speaker 4: probably the thing that kind of bothers me to an extent.
Speaker 3: How did it happen? Then?
Speaker 4: How did it happen? Look, Bubba Kunnyham is a good man.
Speaker 4: I have a lot of respect for him. He's the
Speaker 4: head of the committee. And they say, well, you know,
Speaker 4: he accuses himself from the room when they're talking about
Speaker 4: North Carolina. That's great breakfast, lunch and dinner conversations committee
Speaker 4: members that he's chairing who also know they're in that situation.
Speaker 4: I thought they put Zavier in as well, and I
Speaker 4: think they put Zader in and as kind of another
Speaker 4: one of those teams that didn't have a ton of
Speaker 4: quad one wins. But that was a good way to
Speaker 4: justify I put in North Carolina and because the resumes
Speaker 4: were similar. But look, I'm not pointing a finger at
Speaker 4: Bubba without a doubt, I'm not doing that. But the
Speaker 4: system is flawed in this way. Dan, We've got to
Speaker 4: have a better set criteria. So people everyone's got their
Speaker 4: own prison of what they're looking at, how they're looking
Speaker 4: at these resumes. Right, we've got to say this is
Speaker 4: the most important, this is the second most important, this
Speaker 4: is the third most important. Instead of having everyone say, well,
Speaker 4: you know the prism I looked at this through like
Speaker 4: the whole idea that they said, well, West Virginia, you know,
Speaker 4: de Breeze wasn't there at the end of the season.
Speaker 4: He wasn't there at the beginning of the season. They
Speaker 4: still won games. I mean he missed twenty four games
Speaker 4: or so, so you know, just the excuse after the
Speaker 4: bracket came out was a little bit weak. Oh, it
Speaker 4: is what it is. It's over with. Now we're gonna
Speaker 4: have a great incident blake tournament. But as a guy
Speaker 4: that sat on the outside looking in for forty eight
Speaker 4: straight months. Dan Uh, not that not that it still
Speaker 4: bothers me. All uh. You know, I feel for those
Speaker 4: guys because you know, the tournament is a reward for
Speaker 4: your season. I feel for the seniors on those teams.
Speaker 4: I feel for the coaches. The season starts, you know,
Speaker 4: in the summer, it goes. It's a long, grinded out season,
Speaker 4: and I thought some of those other teams deserved the opportunity.
Speaker 2: Head of North Carolina, what's the biggest storyline going into
Speaker 2: the tournament in your opinion?
Speaker 4: The dominance of Florida. I think Florida can have a
Speaker 4: U contact run through the NCBA tournament. I think they're
Speaker 4: that good. I think I called nos Ark. They got
Speaker 4: to everything, the pace of course, the freedom that they
Speaker 4: play with their bigs run the Florida are skilled. Walter Clayton,
Speaker 4: to me, is a lottery pick at the guard position.
Speaker 4: They go ten D. I think Florida's dominance in the
Speaker 4: SEC tournament how is one of the key storylines. And
Speaker 4: then Cooper Flagg. You know, I mean we got to
Speaker 4: talk about Cooper Flagg, right, you understand that, right?
Speaker 2: Yes, his availability though it seems like he's getting the
Speaker 2: green light to go.
Speaker 4: I think what they're gonna do is I think he's
Speaker 4: going to get the green light to go. I think,
Speaker 4: you know, in just listening to John, who's done just
Speaker 4: an incredible job. But listening to John, I think what
Speaker 4: they're going to try to do is he's going to
Speaker 4: do some individual workout stuff today, back in practice of
Speaker 4: skill work, probably no contact. Probably Tuesday or Wednesday, he'll
Speaker 4: do some live stuff and then there ye how it reacts.
Speaker 4: But they need him to win the national championship. Ideally,
Speaker 4: they'd like to get him some minutes in the opening
Speaker 4: round game to get his feet weet, to experience what
Speaker 4: the tournament's about, because each game you win, there's a
Speaker 4: greater pressure. Really impressed with how Duke played in the
Speaker 4: a SEC tournament, a lot of guys stepped up. But
Speaker 4: I expect him to play. But there's a lot of people.
Speaker 4: This is the thing that people don't understand. It's obviously Cooper,
Speaker 4: the medical staff, John Shire, his parents, and you know,
Speaker 4: the last group that's going to be involved in this
Speaker 4: decision probably his agent. I mean, because that's the world
Speaker 4: we live in now, where all these players have agents,
Speaker 4: and you know, he's a valuable commodity. They just want
Speaker 4: to make sure that he's going to be healthy. It's
Speaker 4: just an ancle spring, but you don't want something to
Speaker 4: be something that's going to be a lingering ankle spape, right,
Speaker 4: and that could impact, you know, a big picture him
Speaker 4: working out for NBA teams and things of that nature.
Speaker 2: Seth Greenberg, ESPN College basketball analyst. The most vulnerable number
Speaker 2: one seed is.
Speaker 4: You know, that's an interest. I'm going to say the
Speaker 4: most vulnerable buy the bracket they're in, and I would
Speaker 4: say that's going to be Houston as hard as Uston plays,
Speaker 4: as well as they rebound the ball. But if you
Speaker 4: look at the bracket, first of all, Tennessee is kind
Speaker 4: of like Houston one point oh, I mean Tennessee. Rick
Speaker 4: Barness seems to play so hard physical. Mayshack and Zeekaisigler
Speaker 4: are elite, elite defenders. But the rest of that bracket,
Speaker 4: if you look at teams that can, you know, be
Speaker 4: a problem. Whether it's he gets healthy, Lamont Butler plays,
Speaker 4: it's three point shooting, which is you know, which is
Speaker 4: which is an issue? I mean, there's no doubt about it.
Speaker 4: Clemson an experienced backward Illinois finally healthy uh, and then Tennessee.
Speaker 4: So I would think Houston has the toughest rule. Some
Speaker 4: people say Auburn because of Michigan with those two seven
Speaker 4: footers in Michigan State on the bottom of the draw.
Speaker 4: But my gut feeling is I have this feeling about
Speaker 4: Tennessee and just their connectivity, their toughness and uh, their due,
Speaker 4: their due.
Speaker 2: Explain Rick Patino as a former coach and what he does,
Speaker 2: no matter where he goes, he wins. How does how
Speaker 2: does this happen?
Speaker 4: How does it happen? He's a savant. He takes his
Speaker 4: team and beats you, and he takes your team and
Speaker 4: beat you. I mean he's a savant. He is unrelenting
Speaker 4: in terms of the standard that he sets. He gets
Speaker 4: total buying from his guys. He gets winning play and
Speaker 4: tough guys. But in the end, the guy has a gift.
Speaker 4: Even despite the white suit, he has a gift. I
Speaker 4: mean what he does, whether it's at Boston University, at
Speaker 4: Providence with the Knicks, Lydd Louisville with Kentucky, now with
Speaker 4: Saint John's, he basically gets guys to play in a
Speaker 4: manner where they all buy into being winning players. They
Speaker 4: all buy into one thing, the good in the group.
Speaker 4: What he's done with Kadarie Richmond, getting him to play
Speaker 4: every play a sixty six point guard which makes them
Speaker 4: really hard to play against. Or r J. Lewis, who
Speaker 4: started at U Mass who's a shot maker and a scorer,
Speaker 4: and making him and getting him to buy in what
Speaker 4: it takes to be successful. Like he gets those guys
Speaker 4: to buy in to the greater good. He gets those
Speaker 4: guys to buy in to competing at a level they
Speaker 4: didn't think. Now this time he's doing it with big
Speaker 4: six to six guards. You know, he also did it
Speaker 4: with Russ Smith and Peyton Siva. He also did it
Speaker 4: with Billy Donovan. He also did it with Mashburns. So
Speaker 4: he's just got a gift and he's in the perfect
Speaker 4: place because New York guy in New York selling out
Speaker 4: Madison Square Garden happened. I already had the year that
Speaker 4: coach Carterseca passes, understanding the history and the tradition of
Speaker 4: Saint John's embracing all that. Uh, this was a long
Speaker 4: time coming because I personally, the last time the job
Speaker 4: opened up, I probably would have said, you know, he's
Speaker 4: had some issues. But Rick Patino is New York Basketball.
Speaker 3: What happened to Yukon this year?
Speaker 4: They're not as good. I mean, like the level was
Speaker 4: so high and the bar was so high. I mean,
Speaker 4: you know, you lose Klingon, you lose Snogo the year
Speaker 4: before you lose you know, you have two of everything
Speaker 4: in the post. You lose Stephencastle and elite defender. You know,
Speaker 4: before you lost Andre Jackson elite defender. They swung him
Speaker 4: as a little bit in the portal. I mean, that's
Speaker 4: just the fact their inability to defend the ball at
Speaker 4: the point of attack. Offensively, it's still beautiful watch the
Speaker 4: ball movement to peopil movement. They don't have a shot
Speaker 4: creator of leg which is a problem. They get everything
Speaker 4: out of their offense. Stephan Castle, who just get down
Speaker 4: the lane. You know, Jordan Hawkins could come off a screen,
Speaker 4: bang a jumper or shot fake and get in the lane.
Speaker 4: They don't have that. And then defensively they're just they
Speaker 4: don't have a lockdown defender. So like even in this
Speaker 4: first game, Jeremiah Fears, Jeremiah Fears has a little Kyrie
Speaker 4: Irving in his game, like defending him in the Three
Speaker 4: Guards of Oklahoma, that's going to be a little bit
Speaker 4: of an issue. And then offensively, you get to a
Speaker 4: short clock situation, and then you watch so much basketball
Speaker 4: and you're you know so much about it in our historian.
Speaker 4: You get to the end of a shock clock. Who
Speaker 4: do you give the ball to? You give to Leave
Speaker 4: McNeely as a freshman who's like a six to six
Speaker 4: guy's developing into it. Give to hassandvi Ira because he
Speaker 4: really can't score it, but he can get maybe in
Speaker 4: the lane. You know, they had pros they were giving
Speaker 4: the ball to at the end of the shock clock.
Speaker 4: Having said that, the dude is a savant, the dude
Speaker 4: is amazing. You know, you can like him dislike him.
Speaker 4: He's great for college basketball. I go over there all
Speaker 4: the time to watch him practice. He's a mass their teacher,
Speaker 4: but it's model behavior. He acts and coaches no differently
Speaker 4: than his dad did when he was winning state championship
Speaker 4: after state championship and becoming a Hall of Fame coach.
Speaker 4: The guy is a tremendous coach, and his players love
Speaker 4: him as hard as he is on him, and he
Speaker 4: can be hard on him. His guys respond to him.
Speaker 4: He connects with him at a different level. Because he
Speaker 4: cares so much.
Speaker 2: The NBA has surrendered to the three. College basketball hasn't.
Speaker 2: But I don't know if I'll ask your opinion while
Speaker 2: I give mine, which isn't great interviewing, But it almost
Speaker 2: feels like the coaches are in a little more control
Speaker 2: in college basketball of the style that you can play,
Speaker 2: as opposed to the NBA where the stars are bigger
Speaker 2: than their coaches.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we've turned into a European game, the college game.
Speaker 4: A lot of coaches are running a lot of five
Speaker 4: out they're running not as much just pure ball screen.
Speaker 4: It's more balling people movement, you know, like everyone. My
Speaker 4: thing about the NBA is NBA players take bad shots
Speaker 4: and make them. College players take good shots of missing.
Speaker 4: So like the coach has to have more of a
Speaker 4: little bit more control. You know, who you get shot from,
Speaker 4: where you get shot from, when you get the shot from.
Speaker 4: That's why I like Auburn, even though they're struggling now.
Speaker 4: Bruce pel does a great job of getting his guys
Speaker 4: where they want their shots to get come from, which
Speaker 4: is important. So, yeah, a lot of people disagree with me.
Speaker 4: I don't think we should go to the twenty four
Speaker 4: second clock. I do think we can advance the multi
Speaker 4: end of games. I think that would be good because
Speaker 4: we'd have more exciting finishes. I think we should go
Speaker 4: to quarters, that's fine. I don't think we should move
Speaker 4: the three point lineback. Our game is different. Our game
Speaker 4: is different, you know what. And we try to be
Speaker 4: the NBA. We're not going to be the NBA. You know.
Speaker 4: The chance to get the upset in the NCAA tournament
Speaker 4: is because of our rules. We would have never when
Speaker 4: I was Virginia Tech Beaten Duke in North Carolina, when
Speaker 4: we beat Kansas when we're at Long Beach State, we
Speaker 4: would have never had those wins if there was a
Speaker 4: twenty four second clock, if the rule, if the rules
Speaker 4: the way it is now. The one thing I am
Speaker 4: worried about the NC tournament, especially for the SEC, is
Speaker 4: the SEC fourteen teams in the tournament. I think they
Speaker 4: can get three in the final four potentially, which is
Speaker 4: the first time since the Big East did it. But
Speaker 4: it's been such a physical league. I do worry the
Speaker 4: first two rounds when they call it a little tighter
Speaker 4: and this league is so physical and handsy, if that's
Speaker 4: going to impact outcomes of games because they're going to
Speaker 4: get a bunch of teams in foul trouble.
Speaker 2: Best college basketball team of your lifetime was who.
Speaker 4: For me at my lifetime, I played against them and
Speaker 4: the unility team of Jerry Darkadia. They came at you
Speaker 4: at warp speed. They were absolutely relentless. And I'm talking
Speaker 4: about teams I coached against. Yeah, they played at one, one, three,
Speaker 4: and me, but then they played man and man and
Speaker 4: they came at you in like at warp speed. Larry
Speaker 4: Johnson was running right to the front of the rim.
Speaker 4: Good luck, you're playing a side of me catchers that
Speaker 4: you play behind him backs you down, Anderson Hunt's knocking
Speaker 4: down three. He's how hard they played. See, that's the
Speaker 4: one thing about Jerry Tarcane. He was a great coach.
Speaker 4: He wasn't a good coach. He acquired talent. We know
Speaker 4: that he had great players, But how hard they played,
Speaker 4: how they defended, how simple they were offensively, but how
Speaker 4: well they executed. They were so hard to play against
Speaker 4: because of the force they played with, their selfishness they
Speaker 4: played with and they never took a playoff. I mean,
Speaker 4: they just came at yet, at yet, and at yet,
Speaker 4: and it was just it was a brutal forty.
Speaker 2: Minutes and Bob Lee and I when we did Sports Center,
Speaker 2: we argued about how great this team, one of the
Speaker 2: great teams of all time, and we kept coming back
Speaker 2: to their blowing people out. If they get into a
Speaker 2: tight game, I want to see how they do. They
Speaker 2: got into a tight game in that, you know, second
Speaker 2: year when they faced Duke and they had a hard
Speaker 2: time getting a shot off.
Speaker 3: Your pick for the tournament is Florida. Okay, great to Florida.
Speaker 3: We'll talk to you, talk to you during the tournament.
Speaker 3: Thank you again for.
Speaker 4: Thank you, thanks for having me bag much respect.
Speaker 3: One of the great irishmen of all times, Cheth Greenberg.
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Speaker 2: Jeremy Fowler, the Mothership senior national NFL writer, joining us
Speaker 2: on the program. So let me start with the Bengals
Speaker 2: last night. Jeremy, your reaction to the Bengals signing those
Speaker 2: guys and what that means for the rest of this
Speaker 2: team on the other side of the ball.
Speaker 7: Yeah, Dan, So this had been trending this way because
Speaker 7: Friday Night there was some momentum that the Bengals were
Speaker 7: going to be able to reach a deal with both
Speaker 7: Jamar Chase and t Higgins, who have the same agent.
Speaker 7: So this became a bit of a package deal a
Speaker 7: couple months ago, and Higgins switched agencies, and so, yeah,
Speaker 7: it was interesting. The Bengals really a couple months ago
Speaker 7: were telling me that, hey, we're gonna try to sign
Speaker 7: all three of these guys, Chase, Higgins and Trey Hendrickson.
Speaker 7: So they've somehow pulled off two of the three, even
Speaker 7: though they cost themselves millions of dollars waiting on Jamar Chase,
Speaker 7: if they would assigned them maybe eight months ago or
Speaker 7: even six months ago, the price probably would have been
Speaker 7: twenty million dollars less, but he put together this triple
Speaker 7: crown season, so they've cost themselves a lot. Now they
Speaker 7: have burrow Chase Higgins on really well over one hundred
Speaker 7: million dollars per year and just cash they're going to
Speaker 7: have to pay these guys, which makes it infinitely harder
Speaker 7: to get Trey Hendrickson done. Even though they're not overly
Speaker 7: eager to trade him, they really haven't engaged a lot
Speaker 7: in teams that have interest, and so they're trying to
Speaker 7: get this done too. I don't know how they're going
Speaker 7: to pull it off, especially with a team that is
Speaker 7: not really known for this spending at this kind of clip,
Speaker 7: but they are determined to surround Joe Burrow what they can.
Speaker 7: And meanwhile, their defense has like minimal parts because they
Speaker 7: have to somehow draft and develop some guys on the cheap.
Speaker 2: Now, I'm just trying to understand these owners are smart
Speaker 2: enough to make a billion or two to be able
Speaker 2: to buy these teams. I just don't understand why you don't.
Speaker 2: If you know you're going to keep Jamar Chase, then
Speaker 2: sign sign him when you can. You know the Cowboys
Speaker 2: do this. There's certain teams that you just go, why
Speaker 2: are they waiting?
Speaker 3: Now?
Speaker 2: Maybe there's some math involved in this, and I'm not
Speaker 2: smart enough to understand it, But if you know you're
Speaker 2: keeping them, then what are you waiting for?
Speaker 7: Yeah, that's a valid argument. You're seeing it right now.
Speaker 7: I mean just an hour ago, Derek Stingley, junior top
Speaker 7: cornerback for the Texans, signs for three years and ninety
Speaker 7: million dollars, which is sticker shock for that position. But
Speaker 7: he's only three years into a first round pick deal,
Speaker 7: so they already had him for two years of contractual control.
Speaker 8: You do it.
Speaker 7: Now to be able to spread that money out over
Speaker 7: five years instead of like four, So that helps them
Speaker 7: to do it early. Buffalo is known for that, Like
Speaker 7: they've been really aggressive with all their veteran players this offseason.
Speaker 7: Just try to get it done. Whatever the price is now,
Speaker 7: it's only going to go up. So I think teams
Speaker 7: are more trying to inherit that logic. The Philadelphia Eagles
Speaker 7: have mastered that. They're really aggressive. But look, some teams
Speaker 7: they either don't want to pay it, or in some
Speaker 7: cases they feel like what the agent and the player
Speaker 7: are trying to get is sort of untenable or something
Speaker 7: they're not comfortable with.
Speaker 8: I think that happens a lot.
Speaker 7: And look Dallas, I don't know they'll ever say this,
Speaker 7: but the fact that they have waited on some of
Speaker 7: these it's good for entertainment. Keep them in the news.
Speaker 7: We talk about Dallas every day. Like Dak Prescott and
Speaker 7: Ceedee Lamb. There has to be a cost, well, there
Speaker 7: has to be a benefit for them associated with waiting
Speaker 7: six months till late August early September, even though I
Speaker 7: think it was two to tango type situation that wasn't
Speaker 7: all on the team in that case. But it's good
Speaker 7: for business and Dallas knows that.
Speaker 2: I remember when Danna Rolofsky was on the show and
Speaker 2: he said, you know, I don't think Jerry Jones really
Speaker 2: cares about winning as much as keeping his name his team.
Speaker 3: In the news.
Speaker 2: Like do you It's hard to fathom that for a
Speaker 2: guy who seems desperate to win one more Super Bowl,
Speaker 2: But do you think that's first and foremost? That's the
Speaker 2: game plan? Is we love when you talk about the
Speaker 2: Cowboys it's good for business.
Speaker 7: I think it's both. Both can be true. You can
Speaker 7: handle all that and still try to win. Like I
Speaker 7: was looking at my list because before free agency I
Speaker 7: did predict that Dallas would maybe be a little more
Speaker 7: aggressive than they.
Speaker 8: Were last year.
Speaker 7: That people thought, like there's assumption that they're really cheap
Speaker 7: and all this stuff, you know, But they signed like
Speaker 7: up to seven starters last week, not too huge money,
Speaker 7: more role players, but like they filled voids of what
Speaker 7: could be seven of their twenty two starters. Like that's
Speaker 7: pretty I wouldn't call it aggressive. But that's like, you know,
Speaker 7: AMDA shopping. So that's something. I mean, it's they're not
Speaker 7: just out here trying to put on a bad product.
Speaker 7: Like they draft pretty well and they don't want to
Speaker 7: overpay for guys, you know. It's it's one of those
Speaker 7: things where they have pay their stars, like they paid
Speaker 7: Dak Prescott, they paid CD Lamb. They do have a
Speaker 7: penchant for doing that. They just do it uncomfortably and
Speaker 7: sort of wait. But you know, Micah pars will get paid,
Speaker 7: like unless something goes really haywire over the next four months,
Speaker 7: he will be paid to be a Dallas Cowboy and
Speaker 7: he'll be paid handsomely.
Speaker 2: Did the Seahawks have a good week, good couple of
Speaker 2: weeks here? I'm trying to gauge. Yeah, I mean, what
Speaker 2: do you think.
Speaker 7: If you feel like Sam Darnold is comparable or like
Speaker 7: maybe eighty percent of the player Gino Smith is, then yes,
Speaker 7: they had a really good week. DK Meckkev didn't want
Speaker 7: to be there. Gino Smith didn't want to be there
Speaker 7: based mostly on the contract. I mean, they were whispers
Speaker 7: last year of him being really frustrated that they wouldn't
Speaker 7: redo his deal, And I just think Seattle. They showed
Speaker 7: it with Russell Wilson too, like they just don't feel
Speaker 7: like paying quarterbacks these crazy numbers. Like they're taking a
Speaker 7: stand a little bit and saying like we're just not
Speaker 7: going to do that they were always hesitant to do.
Speaker 7: With Russell Wilson, it got ugly. It got ugly with
Speaker 7: Gino Smith, like they just they want to build the
Speaker 7: roster different ways. You know, you're going to see the
Speaker 7: forty nine ers. They've scaled back a bunch of salaries
Speaker 7: in part because they to pay Rock Purty a massive number.
Speaker 7: Seattle saying no, and I kind of respect that Minnesota
Speaker 7: is saying no. They said no to Kirk Cousins last year.
Speaker 7: So there are different ways to build a roster. I
Speaker 7: think because of that. Like really with Sam Donald, it's
Speaker 7: you're getting them for probably ten million dollars a year
Speaker 7: less than the Raiders are going to have to pay.
Speaker 7: You know Smith, and you got a third round pick
Speaker 7: for flipping him in a trade. If you like Sam
Speaker 7: Donald a lot, that's good value. Like they had a
Speaker 7: good week. You know Cooper Cup he's thirty one, some injuries,
Speaker 7: but like he can still play. You know, DK Metcalf,
Speaker 7: You never want to trade a guy that talent, but
Speaker 7: they get a second round pick for me. He didn't
Speaker 7: want to be there and they didn't want to pay him. Like,
Speaker 7: so if you're Seattle and you say, Okay, we don't
Speaker 7: want to allocate these massive resources to these players. They
Speaker 7: did about the best they could. But now they have
Speaker 7: question marks with a team that already had them.
Speaker 8: That's sort of the issue.
Speaker 3: Help me understand what the Vikings are doing.
Speaker 2: And I don't know if they need to say if
Speaker 2: they've gotten to that point we're not interested in Aaron Rodgers,
Speaker 2: Like they.
Speaker 3: Could do that and you know, put an end to this. Yeah,
Speaker 3: but they.
Speaker 8: Haven't out the fire.
Speaker 7: You're right, and it's curious and I'm trying to find
Speaker 7: out what that means. The people I've talked to with
Speaker 7: the organization have been pretty consistent with their message with me.
Speaker 7: It's that Aaron Rodgers is possible but unlikely. That's sort
Speaker 7: of the messaging that I've gotten. So that's what I'm taking.
Speaker 7: So I'm leaving room for a wild card. Something crazy
Speaker 7: to happen with Rogers. I don't expect it. I think
Speaker 7: they're ready to roll with JJ McCarthy. I think it's
Speaker 7: very possible. They're waiting on some of these dominoes to
Speaker 7: fall and figure out how much money they need to
Speaker 7: spend on a good backup so that it doesn't mess
Speaker 7: up their comp pick formula because they want future draft picks.
Speaker 7: You know, if you spend a certain amount of free
Speaker 7: agency without losing enough players and that balance is off, you.
Speaker 8: Don't get as many draft picks.
Speaker 7: So that's a consideration for them, so that they're trying
Speaker 7: to play the long game a little bit in the
Speaker 7: smart game and not overreact here because they spend a
Speaker 7: lot of money in other positions last week, but all
Speaker 7: their moves, especially with like two big offensive line signings,
Speaker 7: says we're all in on JJ McCarthy and his development,
Speaker 7: like for what they've told me, like he has already
Speaker 7: proven he is going to be their franchise guy. It
Speaker 7: just depends on whether it happens today, four months from today,
Speaker 7: twelve months from today. But they're convinced of that, and
Speaker 7: so they're just only willing to go so far. I'd
Speaker 7: be surprised if Rogers is there. I still think he'll be,
Speaker 7: you know, if I had to bet right now a
Speaker 7: Pittsburgh Steeler. Meanwhile, the Giants are just sort of like
Speaker 7: scouring the earth for quarterback help, Like they're still having
Speaker 7: Jamis Winston come in for a visit, Joe Flacco and
Speaker 7: Russell Wilson was there last week, Like they're keeping all
Speaker 7: their options open with the hopes that they can still
Speaker 7: get Rogers.
Speaker 3: Let's Pittsburgh's plan be.
Speaker 8: That's a great question.
Speaker 7: So like, look that last week or a week and
Speaker 7: a half ago, they put together an offer for Justin
Speaker 7: Fields that I was told was very competitive with what
Speaker 7: the Jets offered him, which was two years, forty million
Speaker 7: with thirty million guaranteed. Something went off where he chose
Speaker 7: the Jets, and he must have felt the love more
Speaker 7: from the Jets than he did the Steelers, who essentially
Speaker 7: benched him last year for Russell Wilson. So he gets
Speaker 7: a fresh start. I do believe they were all in
Speaker 7: on Fields. I don't know if they had Fields ahead
Speaker 7: of Rogers, but they were willing to do fields, like
Speaker 7: both sides at one point were open to it. It
Speaker 7: didn't work, and so now you know, I just checked
Speaker 7: with the Steelers. They don't have any updates. They're waiting
Speaker 7: on the situation. They're not bringing any other quarterbacks in
Speaker 7: for visits that I'm aware of, So they're not playing
Speaker 7: the Giants game. They're waiting on Rogers. They have Mason
Speaker 7: Rudolph as a backup. Well, they signed him just sort
Speaker 7: of his insurance last year two years, eight million dollars
Speaker 7: because he started games there before, Like they at least
Speaker 7: know if the bottom falls out, they have him and
Speaker 7: can draft somebody. I think that would probably be the
Speaker 7: play at this point. They know Russell Wilson. Well, I
Speaker 7: don't sense a lot of momentum with Pittsburgh and Russell
Speaker 7: Wilson at this point. And plus you're going back to
Speaker 7: what your third option. Now, Hey you started games us
Speaker 7: last year, but now you're at number three, let's make
Speaker 7: this work. It just doesn't seem like a even marriage.
Speaker 3: Damn. And then the Giants have to wait for everybody, right.
Speaker 8: Yeah, yeah, the Giants.
Speaker 7: You know, I do know that Russell Wilson has looked
Speaker 7: at the Giants as a viable option for a while now,
Speaker 7: even dating back to the Super Bowl around the end
Speaker 7: of the season, so he must have seen some of
Speaker 7: those dominoes coming. So I do think that will eventually
Speaker 7: be the play if the money's right, you know, I
Speaker 7: think he still accept himself as a valuable starter, and
Speaker 7: that costs money. I'm curious how far teams are willing
Speaker 7: to go just because of the musical chairs. He's played
Speaker 7: the last three years with different organizations and quarterback, so
Speaker 7: you know, he's got a cap where you have to
Speaker 7: work it out financially, and these teams will probably probably
Speaker 7: be looking more for like a lower end bridge deal,
Speaker 7: and I don't know if he's willing to accept that
Speaker 7: at this stage, given all that he's done and all
Speaker 7: the Pro Bowls that he's made and the Super Bowl pedigree,
Speaker 7: so that complicates things a little bit. But my sense is,
Speaker 7: you know, if, certainly, if Rogers goes to Pittsburgh, Russell
Speaker 7: Wilson slides right into that giant spot unless things get crazy.
Speaker 2: But can you see the Giants taking Shador Sanders? Could
Speaker 2: you see the Giants actually trying I don't know if
Speaker 2: Tennessee's going to actually take cam Ward. They sound like
Speaker 2: they are, but I don't believe anything until it happens.
Speaker 2: But can you see the Giants being aggressive with either
Speaker 2: one of these quarterbacks?
Speaker 7: Yes, and even coming even before the Aaron Rodgers talk,
Speaker 7: when they were going for Matthew Stafford. Like they spent
Speaker 7: a month on trying to get Matthew Stafford and put
Speaker 7: together big financial packages and they were sort of left
Speaker 7: at the altar. But the sense coming out of the
Speaker 7: combine was if they strike out on Stafford, they're going
Speaker 7: to go draft. They're going to go heavy there with
Speaker 7: that third pick, maybe try to trade up. I still
Speaker 7: think that's a possibility if you get Rogers or even
Speaker 7: Wilson to a lesser extent like that at least frees
Speaker 7: you up to not have to do that if you
Speaker 7: don't want to give up too much. But some of
Speaker 7: that was predicated on Tennessee wanting to move back. It
Speaker 7: does seem like now again, a lot can happen with
Speaker 7: the draft. I won't make sweeping determinations, but from what
Speaker 7: I've gathered, they seem pretty comfortable with cam Ward. Like
Speaker 7: there's momentum there with other teams I talk to league
Speaker 7: wide that they feel like they're just gonna sit there
Speaker 7: and take Ward. I know the interviews with the Ward
Speaker 7: have gone well. They feel comfortable with like the mistakes
Speaker 7: he has made on the field, they feel like he's
Speaker 7: done a good job of explaining those and can be
Speaker 7: coached and correct them, and he's got the obvious upside
Speaker 7: on top of that. So if you equal all that out,
Speaker 7: you know you sense a little momentum for the Titans
Speaker 7: to sit put that could complicate things for the Giants
Speaker 7: that they're comfortable with Chador at three or even moving
Speaker 7: up to two. Is that too rich for them? I
Speaker 7: think they're weighing all those things. But in the short
Speaker 7: term they've got to figure this out and at least
Speaker 7: get a solution bird in hand with a veteran free agent.
Speaker 3: But can you see the Browns taking Shador Sanders?
Speaker 7: So the Browns have been probably the most unpredictable in
Speaker 7: all this, like they don't have a lot of money
Speaker 7: to spend. I do think Cousins Kirk Cousins could be
Speaker 7: in play for them because of the familiarity with Kevin Stefanski,
Speaker 7: but there's not. Atlanta really is just they don't want
Speaker 7: to move them, and then if they do move them,
Speaker 7: they're gonna want somebody to pay a good amount of
Speaker 7: that offset money.
Speaker 8: With the thirty seven million dollars they owe them.
Speaker 7: So that complicates things for the Browns because the pandas
Speaker 7: Shaun Watson, they're looking at guys like Carson Wentz too
Speaker 7: as sort of contingency plans.
Speaker 8: So they've been all over the map really.
Speaker 7: You know, they acquired Kenny Pickett last week, so they've
Speaker 7: been tough to figure out a little bit. I do
Speaker 7: know that they like Shador to what extent if they're
Speaker 7: willing to pick them two overall, I cannot say. I
Speaker 7: do know there's some love there for Shador Sanders and
Speaker 7: sort of his computer brain to be able to, you know,
Speaker 7: feel out the game mentally, like they have some respect
Speaker 7: for what should.
Speaker 8: Or can do in that area, maybe more than some teams.
Speaker 3: Great stuff. Jeremy, thanks for joining us.
Speaker 8: Yeah, thanks again, Dan, appreciate it, man.
Speaker 3: Jeremy Fallon.
Speaker 1: Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan
Speaker 1: Patrick Show week days at nine am Eastern six am
Speaker 1: Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2: Jerry Dulac has been covering the Steelers for a long time.
Speaker 2: By the way, Bill Cower will join us on the
Speaker 2: program tomorrow. Jerry Dulac covers the Steelers for the Pittsburgh
Speaker 2: Post Gazette and these Steelers Radio Network. If I asked
Speaker 2: you a month ago, what are the Steelers doing at quarterback?
Speaker 3: You would have said what.
Speaker 9: I would have said, Not Aaron Rodgers, for sure, Dan,
Speaker 9: It was the last thing I thought they would do.
Speaker 9: I thought it would be between excuse me, Russell Wilson
Speaker 9: and Justin Fields, with a split internally in the organization
Speaker 9: as to who wants as to which person wants which quarterback,
Speaker 9: and so knowing that the offensive coordinator did not get
Speaker 9: along with Russell Wilson at the end they butted heads
Speaker 9: over how the game, how the offense should be run,
Speaker 9: and knowing that he was a big fan of Justin Fields,
Speaker 9: I thought they would lean toward that. But then the
Speaker 9: offensive coordinator doesn't trump the head coach at the GM
Speaker 9: and the owner. But there was a split there. So
Speaker 9: that's what the way I thought it would unfold. And
Speaker 9: given the age difference and the potential with what they
Speaker 9: saw from Justin Fields, I would have guessed Justin Fields.
Speaker 9: I would not have guessed waiting for Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 2: The Steelers don't feel Steeler like right now that you
Speaker 2: bring in DK Metcalf.
Speaker 3: You don't have a quarterback.
Speaker 2: You're waiting for a quarterback that might not show up,
Speaker 2: and if he shows up, who knows what you're getting.
Speaker 2: But is there a change of philosophy, Like, it's not
Speaker 2: just hey, we went nine to eight and we had
Speaker 2: a winning season and we lose in the first round.
Speaker 2: Eventually you got to aspire to a little more than that.
Speaker 3: I would think.
Speaker 9: Yeah, you know, Dan, they've made a playoffs four the
Speaker 9: last five years, so it's not like the sky is
Speaker 9: falling and there are more bun franchised but ten and
Speaker 9: seven each of the last two years, but more significantly
Speaker 9: first round playoff exits. You know, that's eight years now
Speaker 9: without a playoff win. Mike Tomlin has now had eight
Speaker 9: one and Don Marty Schottenheimer is the only guy with
Speaker 9: more with nine. So yeah, they aspired to more. The
Speaker 9: move for Aaron Rodgers with that question, Dan is very
Speaker 9: on Steeler, Like, that's why I said just a bit
Speaker 9: earlier that that was the last thing I thought they
Speaker 9: would do, would be getting involved with that guy with
Speaker 9: a lot of the you know, let's face it, strange
Speaker 9: behavior that he exhibits, but that's where they are and
Speaker 9: where you know, what they are interested in right now
Speaker 9: is the same thing they were interested in last year.
Speaker 9: That is the immediacy of trying to win a playoff
Speaker 9: game and getting back on track. It's almost one step
Speaker 9: at a time. That's the next objective. But they haven't
Speaker 9: even reached that. I will tell you this, whether Aaron
Speaker 9: Rodgers or if they feel compelled that they need to
Speaker 9: bring in a veteran through a trade, nobody's getting more
Speaker 9: than a one year deal. They are fully aware that
Speaker 9: it's time to move on and try to find try
Speaker 9: to find that franchise quarterback.
Speaker 2: Can you see them doing anything in the draft quarterback wise.
Speaker 9: Well, you know, Dan, they gave up that number two
Speaker 9: pick in the DK Metcalf trade, so it's either you know,
Speaker 9: it's either number one and I don't see him going
Speaker 9: into the first round this year, But certainly they know
Speaker 9: they have to do it by next year, maybe the
Speaker 9: third round. Take a chance on a guy, if there's
Speaker 9: someone they like. I'm not going to sit here and
Speaker 9: tell you it's Jackson Dart or Will Howard, but I
Speaker 9: do know they have interest in those guys and don't
Speaker 9: know if they'll be there in the third round. Maybe
Speaker 9: they have to move into the second round to do so.
Speaker 9: But I know that is certainly if it's not an
Speaker 9: urgency this year, it certainly is by next year.
Speaker 2: Would the Steeler fan base embrace Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 9: The feedback slash blow back that I've received Dan during
Speaker 9: this whole period is I don't think anybody is thrilled
Speaker 9: to see Oh some people are, but the majority are
Speaker 9: not in favor of the move somewhat for what you
Speaker 9: referenced earlier about it not seeming like the Steeler way.
Speaker 9: The guy's forty two years old. He won five games
Speaker 9: last year with the Jets and hit the h You know,
Speaker 9: he had Garrett Wilson, DeVante Adams, Alan Lazard. He had
Speaker 9: much better receivers than the Steelers had. And that's what
Speaker 9: you're looking at here. So it's not like it offers
Speaker 9: a lot of promise, you know, Dan, I'll say this,
Speaker 9: Aaron Rodgers is the greatest thrower of the football that
Speaker 9: I have ever seen. But he's forty two and you know,
Speaker 9: let's face it, I think he's putting out on the
Speaker 9: eighteenth green if he isn't already finished with his round.
Speaker 9: Professionally speaking, he's Jerry Dulac.
Speaker 2: He covers the Steelers for the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Steelers
Speaker 2: Radio network handicapped the rest of the division here. Let
Speaker 2: me start with the Bengals with what they did last
Speaker 2: night by tying up I was to receivers and maybe
Speaker 2: they have enough money to sign Trey Hendrickson.
Speaker 9: Yeah, that's going to be a big key because now
Speaker 9: you're going to you know, let's face, you sign those two,
Speaker 9: you're going to weaken the rest of of your team.
Speaker 9: I don't blame them for what they did, but that
Speaker 9: is a lot of money tied up in a quarterback
Speaker 9: and two wide receivers at the sake of the rest
Speaker 9: of your team. You know, Trey Hendrickson was the one
Speaker 9: guy on that defense that you know, gave them a
Speaker 9: bit of a spark. But if you can't sign him,
Speaker 9: and if they do, now you're really hamstrung with how
Speaker 9: much money you have left. So really, are those four
Speaker 9: guys enough to challenge the Ravens. Well, I'm a big
Speaker 9: Joe Burrow fan, and there's two wide receivers. The one
Speaker 9: in particular is elite, So you know I would, because
Speaker 9: of the issues right now, I'd put him ahead of
Speaker 9: the Steelers. I never would rank the Browns ahead of
Speaker 9: the Steelers because along with the Jets, to me, they're
Speaker 9: the two most dysfunctional franchises in the NFL, and you know,
Speaker 9: the Ravens are still the Ravens. So you know, if
Speaker 9: you want me to handicap it, I'd say Baltimore won
Speaker 9: Cincinnati two Steelers, three Browns.
Speaker 2: For it's always nice to have the Browns still in
Speaker 2: the division there, Jerry.
Speaker 3: Yes, it is.
Speaker 9: It means you don't have to finish in the basement.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I wonder what they're going to do. Can
Speaker 2: they get squirrely and take a quarterback you know at two, Well.
Speaker 9: They would have to trade into the round to get it, Dan,
Speaker 9: because that second round pick is gone. You know, I
Speaker 9: will tell you this, I have not gotten any sense
Speaker 9: of panic in the organization. They feel if need be,
Speaker 9: based on what they saw in the last three games
Speaker 9: of the twenty twenty three season from Mason Rudolph, that
Speaker 9: if he has to be your starter, then they will
Speaker 9: go along with that. All that being said, Dan, this
Speaker 9: is a team that always, always, always has two quarterbacks
Speaker 9: that they're ready, two veterans, and so even if they
Speaker 9: don't sign Aaron Rodgers, they have to bring in some
Speaker 9: type of quarterback with starting experienced veterans, starting experience. Skyler
Speaker 9: Thompson isn't that guy, and so either way, even if
Speaker 9: it is going to be Mason Rudolph, and even if
Speaker 9: they draft a quarterback, they still want to have a
Speaker 9: veteran either as the second quarterback or the third quarterback.
Speaker 3: Do you think Russell Wilson is still a star in
Speaker 3: this league?
Speaker 9: I will let me say this. He is still an
Speaker 9: option for the Steelers, but not a solid one, Dan,
Speaker 9: because you know he's he's down the total pole, because
Speaker 9: if he was any type of option that they seriously considered,
Speaker 9: I think they would have made that move by now.
Speaker 9: You know, I think Russell Wilson gets a bad rep.
Speaker 9: I look at what he did for those first seven
Speaker 9: games that he started, this offense average nearly twenty nine
Speaker 9: points a game, and it finally finally looked like a
Speaker 9: unit that was capable of bailing out the defense, which
Speaker 9: is exactly what he did in that game in Cincinnati
Speaker 9: when he put up forty four points, the Bengals scored
Speaker 9: thirty eight, and he threw for four to fourteen and
Speaker 9: actually outdueled Joe Burrow. It was from that point on,
Speaker 9: strangely enough, where I think the headbutting began with the coordinator,
Speaker 9: and we know what happened. I'm not saying that's the reason.
Speaker 9: But they lost their last five games. So I think
Speaker 9: Russell Wilson can be an effective starter. But he's certainly
Speaker 9: not a guy who I think, But I don't think
Speaker 9: you're going to bring him in and think he's going
Speaker 9: to be your quarterback for the next two or three years.
Speaker 2: Can Mike Tomlin survive another ten and seven first round exit?
Speaker 2: Or you know, sometimes both say both sides say maybe
Speaker 2: you know, we've gone as far as we could go,
Speaker 2: So I don't know. The Steelers don't fire coaches. But
Speaker 2: can he survive that scenario?
Speaker 9: I think he could survive another ten and seven. I
Speaker 9: think he can survive nine and eight. They gave him
Speaker 9: a three year extension. He's good through twenty twenty seven.
Speaker 9: And I've always gotten a sense Dan that you know,
Speaker 9: it's up to Mike Tomlin if and when he feels
Speaker 9: maybe I've had enough. You know, all this none of
Speaker 9: this debate is about whether Mike Tomlin is a good coach.
Speaker 3: We know that.
Speaker 9: It's about how much longer are you going to continue
Speaker 9: to watch the same thing before you think, hey, you
Speaker 9: know what, maybe we just need a change. And it's
Speaker 9: no reflection on whether Mike Tomlin is a good coach
Speaker 9: or not.
Speaker 3: Great to talk to you as always.
Speaker 9: Thank you, Jerry, Yeah, Dan, you got a good being
Speaker 9: with you man.
Speaker 3: That's Jerry doolect