Power Ranking Which QBs Could Change Teams, Eagles Therapy and a Fantasy Recap With Chris Ryan, Plus Fantasy Court

Summary

The Ringer Fantasy Football Show — Dec. 10, 2025

Episode Overview

In this “Power Hour” episode, hosts Danny Heifetz, Danny Kelly, and Craig Horlbeck dive into the fluctuating landscape of NFL quarterbacks who may be available in the 2025 offseason. Special guest Chris Ryan joins for an “Eagles Wellness Check.” The crew explores which QBs might realistically change teams, how the Colts’ Philip Rivers signing triggered the discussion, and the current state of fantasy football during playoff crunch time. The episode concludes with the always-chaotic Fantasy Court and listener stories.

---

Key Segments & Insights

1. QB Carousel: Ranking Offseason Quarterbacks

[00:19–43:47]

• Kickoff: Phil Rivers & the Colts

  • The surprising Colts' move to sign 44-year-old Philip Rivers sparked a deeper dive into the 2025 QB market.
    • “We were frankly just so blown away that the Colts actually signed grandfather Philip Rivers that we are just going to look at the quarterback carousel.” — [00:24], Danny Heifetz
  • Rivers has been running the Colts' offense for his son’s high school team and is buddies with head coach Shane Steichen.
    • “Apparently, Rivers calls Steichen and talks to him about the offense and like how things are going, discussing plays and even film, according to J.J. Watt… This makes more sense why they called Philip Rivers.” — [03:22], Danny Kelly

• NFL Draft Outlook

  • This draft’s QB class is thin after top prospects like Fernando Mendoza, Dante Moore Jr., and Ty Simpson (“not much hope” for the Colts, who have no first-round pick).

• Who’s Actually Available?

  • Priority: QBs whose teams might answer trade calls, factoring in contracts, age, and schemes.
    • “We are considering every single element of what it would take to bring a quarterback in, including the best abilities, availability.” — [08:24], Danny Heifetz

2. Team-by-Team QB Deep Dive

[12:48–43:47]

Notable QB Situations

• Tua Tagovailoa (Dolphins)

  • Unlikely trade due to unmovable contract; team locked in for 2026, potential out by 2027.
    • “I think Tua is basically untradable and uncuttable in 2026… but if they can find a way to foist him upon someone, I think they would.” — [12:50], Heifetz

• Kyler Murray (Cardinals)

  • Most likely to move; benched, big contract, could go for a 3rd/4th rounder.
    • “Kyler is the most available of all these guys.” — [14:58], Heifetz
    • Discussion: Even at a lower cost, is he worth the contract/fit? Concerns about leadership and injury history.
    • “I don't think he's known particularly for his leadership skills… Injuries have been an issue. It’s been all downhill for Kyler since like a couple years ago.” — [15:30], Kelly

• Mac Jones (49ers)

  • Most desirable trade target: Cheap contract, fits many play-action-based schemes, would cost at least a 2nd-round pick in a competitive market.
    • “Mac Jones is number one on my list in terms of guys who are like—gettable.” — [28:11], Heifetz
    • “He reminds me of that Alex Smith type situation… he by far looked I think the best of any of these quarterbacks that we've talked about this year.” — [30:06], Kelly

• Geno Smith (Raiders)

  • Possible bridge option; could be an upgrade for teams with ready-made rosters but seen as a “good team, good QB” fit only.
    • “If Geno Smith went to the Vikings or the Colts… it would certainly be less improbable than what Daniel Jones just did or Darnold did the year before that.” — [34:01], Heifetz

• Other QBs:

  • Bryce Young (Panthers): Unlikely to move because he’s cheap, but mixed reviews.
  • Kirk Cousins (Falcons), Aaron Rodgers (Steelers): Likely to stay put.
  • Joe Flacco, Marcus Mariota, etc.: High-floor backup/bridge types.
  • Running theme: the rest of the market is “bleak,” so bidding wars for second-tier starters are likely.

Staff Commentary: Ranking Potential Moves

• Top Tier:
  1. Mac Jones (“clear number one” trade target for multiple teams)
  2. Kyler Murray (high risk, potential reward if you can eat the contract)
  3. Geno Smith (intriguing if all else fails)
• Next Tier: Marcus Mariota, Joe Flacco—low-cost bridge options.

Notable Quote:

• “What a sad and depressing offseason we have. It's the Mac Jones sweepstakes. Who's going to get Kyler, Murray, Mendoza, and Ty Simpson? What is this?” — [46:49], Korbeck

---

3. Eagles Therapy with Chris Ryan

[54:43–79:59]

• Chris Ryan joins for a Philly session:
  • The Eagles’ collapse, Jalen Hurts’ robotic emotions, playcalling issues, and Nick Sirianni’s job security are all up for debate.
  • “Thank God no one else in this division is capable of threatening our supremacy… The group chat civil war raging. The Hurts camp, the Nick camp, the nobody camp. Is it Tanner time?” — [55:32], Chris Ryan
  • Hurts as leader:
    • “When you're just like watching the broadcast and [Hurts] is staring into space, it's really tough, man.” — [59:23], Chris Ryan
  • “There's almost like, emotionally, the Eagles are built to dominate when they have the lead… but they're not built to deal with adversity.” — [60:00], Heifetz
  • AJ Brown’s effort called into question: great stats but questionable intensity, confessional postgame comments.
  • Future outlook:
    • A likely “soft reboot” this offseason; O-line retooling inevitable, AJ Brown’s future uncertain, but hope remains due to weak NFC competition.

---

4. Fantasy League Recap & Listener Stories

[66:43–90:50]

• Ringer Fantasy League playoff update: Chris Ryan clinches a playoff spot, faces office banter over who deserves to win.
  • “I like, like you said, I didn't get a chance to draft my team. So it's been a process of getting to know these guys, of getting close to Drake, of getting, you know, like believing in Jameer Gibbs where nobody else did.” — [69:16], Chris Ryan
• Toilet Bowl Bracket and League Rules:
  • Debates over the fairness of playoff tiebreakers and loser punishments (e.g., podcast headbands, coffee challenges).

5. Fantasy Court: The Jalen Hurts Benching Dilemma

[80:56–85:54]

• Listener “Tim from Ireland” wants to bench Jalen Hurts in order to knock out a rival from the playoffs — is that ethical?
  • Ruling: “You have to in good faith start, because that's just straight up… not collusion, but it's just… sabotage.” — [83:21], Korbeck
  • It didn’t matter in the end since Hurts scored only 0.4 points; segment used as a jump-off for cathartic anti-Hurts stories from the weekend.

6. Grab Bag: Chargers/Chiefs Hot Takes, MLB Tangents & Referee Anecdotes

[24:06–99:26]

• Wild playoff prediction: Chiefs not “dead yet”; Chargers regression looms.
• Listener stories about terrible youth sports referees.
• Lighthearted tangents: what fair-weather fandom says about sports, the joy of being a bandwagon Dodgers fan, and fantasies about epic NFL kicker walkout music.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the QB Market:

  • “If you have the option to get Mac Jones or Kyler Murray, I would take Mac Jones in a second.” — [15:23], Craig Korbeck

• On Kyler Murray:

  • “Kyler needs to go to a team without an identity. He needs to go to, like, the Raiders or something where he can just kind of… they start with Kyler and then build out from there.” — [20:09], Korbeck

• On the State of the Eagles:

  • “This makes it seem like there’s something wrong. This makes it seem like you guys don’t like each other or you’re not listening to Nick, or Jalen’s, like, bailing out of plays.” — [66:16], Chris Ryan

• Fantasy Court Wisdom:

  • “Can you deliberately sabotage your friends? That's exactly what I'm asking you.” — [83:44], Heifetz

---

Important Timestamps

• QB Carousel & Rivers Discussion — [00:19–08:24]
• Draft Class & Team Needs Breakdown — [08:24–11:48]
• Detailed QB Availability Rankings — [12:48–43:47]
• Eagles Therapy with Chris Ryan — [54:43–79:59]
• Fantasy League Recap & Listener Stories — [66:43–90:50]
• Fantasy Court: Jalen Hurts Benching Ethics — [80:56–85:54]

---

Tone & Language

• Conversational, irreverent, and occasionally self-deprecating.
• Dynamic back-and-forth between hosts, playful tangents, and a cathartic vent session with Chris Ryan.

---

TL;DR

• Colts’ wild Philip Rivers signing prompts a comprehensive look at the 2025 QB market.
• Mac Jones is the coveted trade target for “win-now” teams; Kyler Murray and Geno Smith next-best options, all others are backups or “bridge” solutions.
• The fantasy playoffs are here, and league shenanigans abound — with drama over last-place punishments and playoff tiebreakers.
• Chris Ryan delivers peak Philadelphia panic, but hopes for a gentle Eagles reboot next season.
• Listener questions ask: is it ever okay to bench a player just to sabotage someone else’s chances? (No, but it’s funny.)
• Tangents include MLB free agency, sports fandom philosophy, and the need for NFL kicker walkout music.

---

For Listeners Who Missed the Episode:

This show is perfect for you if you want to know exactly where your team stands in the never-ending NFL quarterback roulette, get the latest fantasy insight on playoff strategies, and enjoy a no-holds-barred Philly therapy session. If nothing else, you'll leave grateful your fantasy fate doesn’t depend on Jalen Hurts’ Monday night performance!

Transcript

[Dan Havitz]

Foreign.

Welcome to the Ringer Fantasy Football Show. My name is Dan Havitz and I'm joined by Danny Kayleen, Craig Korbeck and today it is Power Hour where we power rank power something every Wednesday. And today we are power ranking quarterbacks who will be available in the off season. Because we were frankly just so blown away that the Colts actually signed grandfather Philip Rivers that we are just going to look at the quarterback Carol Cell and see who's available. Who needs a quarterback, what quarterbacks are actually going to be out there because wow, I am not over dk. Someone your age is going to be in the NFL.

[Danny Kayleen]

Grand Pappy Rivers out there. It sounds like a whiskey brand or something.

[Dan Havitz]

Yeah.

[Danny Kayleen]

Sky to be awesome. I'm actually very excited to see this. I don't, I don't know if it's going to be a complete disaster probably, but I'll be watching.

[Craig Korbeck]

It's going to be fun until about, oh, I don't Three minutes into the game when you realize that the Colts can't move the ball and Philippe Rivers is 44. The first snap will be fun and then it'll probably be pretty boring.

[Danny Kayleen]

What if he just passes to Tyler Warren 17 times a game?

[Craig Korbeck]

Well, I, we can talk. We're going to talk about that on the preview show about like what you should do with Tyler Warren.

[Dan Havitz]

We're going to have to get into all that. We're also going to have Chris Ryan on the show today. We're going to just do an Eagles wellness check with Chris Ryan here at the Ringer. And you know what? I think we are going to start the Discord because a lot of people emailed us about the Discord so we could post that in the episode description or email us if you want the Discord. I think we're going to do that and we're going to get to all that fantasy court emails. But first we're going to take a quick break. This episode is presented by Chime Bank Smarter. This season, fantasy football is all about strategy. Well, here's a winning strategy for your money trade banking fees for fee free banking, 1.5% cash back getting paid when you say and a higher APY on your savings. That's a lineup that wins. Stop banking the old way. Bank Smarter through Chime Chime is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services in the secured chime Visa credit card provided by the Bancorp Bank NA or Stride Bank NA members FDIC optional services and products may have fees or charges. [e-mail] fees info website a qualifying direct deposit earn 1.5% cash back on eligible secured Chime Visa credit card purchases. APY means annual percentage yield. Learn [e-mail] okay, so we're going to go through quarterbacks for this off season in large part because the Colts just signed Philip Rivers to their practice squad, a semifinalist for the hall of Fame as of two weeks ago. And the details on the. Well, it depends. Details in that if he's activated to the Rock, if he's promoted to the active roster, Philip Rivers, his five year window for the hall of Fame resets, which he's not gonna make it. But if he stays on the practice squad, Rivers is still hall of Fame eligible. He's older than Phil Rivers is older than Shane Steichen, the head coach of the Colts. He's older than Jim Bob Cooter, the coordinator for the Colts. He's. Multiple players in the Colts roster were like a year old when Philip Rivers was drafted. DK Moments before we started recording here on Tuesday afternoon, you sent me a post by someone on Twitter that Rivers said he's been running. Who said? Oh, this is J.J. watt. Who said that?

[Danny Kayleen]

J.J. watt from. Apparently from the production meeting. Rivers has been running the same offense the Colts run for his son Gunner's team because he's a high school football coach right now. And apparently Rivers calls Steichen and talks to him about the offense and like how things are going, discussing plays and even film, according to J.J. watt. So, so this is, this makes more sense, I guess, why they called Philip Rivers over Craig yesterday you were like, why Philip Rivers, like, don't they have anyone else? It's because Shane Steichen and him are buddies and they still talk about the offense.

[Craig Korbeck]

It always comes down to who, you.

[Danny Kayleen]

Know, I mean, Philip Rivers put together a pretty good career, so I think it makes a little bit of sense. But it is. By the way, they didn't sign Philip Rivers to the practice squad to not elevate him to the roster. Unless he tears his hamstring in practice one, he's going to be their starter at some point.

[Dan Havitz]

The only thing I could think of that would even make sense if the goal is not for him to play is that they're so concerned about Brett Rippon and Riley Leonard heavy to play that they actually want Phil Rivers to sit there and help coach, basically. But no, I think Phil Rivers is coming back to play football.

[Danny Kayleen]

Yeah.

[Craig Korbeck]

And what's nice to know is that if you look at where Gunner went to high school, I believe it is I have it here. St. Michael Catholic. They were 13 and 1 this year. So they're doing something right.

[Danny Kayleen]

The offense is working.

[Dan Havitz]

They should have signed Philip Rivers son to play quarterback. He'd probably be better than Philip Rivers at this point. I the also at some point that's going to happen between nil and everything. At some point just sign a high schooler. It's fine. I DK there are a lot of things. We're not going to get rid of this at any point. I mean, this is just delicious. Do you think this is more or less weird, the Colts signing a quarterback to play because they talk to him on the phone a lot with the head coach. Is that better or worse than the time when the Colts hire Jeff Saturday to be their head coach? Because the old owner Jim or say we just call him sometimes.

[Danny Kayleen]

I think the Jeff Saturday thing was weirder because Philip Rivers, believe it or not, has played quarterback in the NFL before. So that makes it less weird to me.

[Dan Havitz]

Jeff Saturday being on First Take on ESPN one day and then being the coach of the Colts the next day.

[Danny Kayleen]

Did Jeff Saturday coach at any level whatsoever before coaching them?

[Dan Havitz]

I think high school. I mean he was a center for the Colts for a long time. He's just friends with Jim or say.

[Danny Kayleen]

So that was weirder. But the Colts just do weird things. This is thinking outside the box. I would say this. I I mean obviously Philip Rivers is older than Joe Flacco, but I pretty much thought Joe Flacco's career was dead and gone and he came back and he played pretty well for a little while.

[Craig Korbeck]

He's four years older than Joe Flacco.

[Danny Kayleen]

That's not nothing.

[Craig Korbeck]

Think about that.

[Danny Kayleen]

Yeah, but think about how many. Think about how good his body's feeling after not getting beat up for the last, you know, four or five years.

[Dan Havitz]

There's been so much made about the Colts new owner Jim Ursi's daughter Curly Ursay Gordon being on the headset this year and being on the sideline and I'm curious, yeah, curious what this pitch was to Carlier, say Gordon of like I got an idea at quarterback. Just. We'll see. So with that said, this episode is brought to you by United Airlines. Flying just got easier with the United Airlines app. Get real time flight updates like a live countdown clock to boarding even if your screen's locked as well as play by play directions through the airport with a personalized map. And if you want to make a game time decision and go home early or stay longer, there are no fees to change Your flight get the United app [e-mail] app no fees to change your flight. Excludes basic economy. Applies to flights originating in the US Fare difference may apply.

I think they're kind of inspired here. We're going to pretend for a moment that the Colts. Breaking news. They've hired us to fix their quarterback situation. We're starting a consulting firm.

[Craig Korbeck]

Yeah.

[Dan Havitz]

Which I don't know what we should call it. Do we have a better name? Craig.

[Craig Korbeck]

I mean I kind of like when firms have like multiple of the same name in it. Like it's a generational company like Danny. Danny and Craig. We could just do that. That's very simple.

[Dan Havitz]

Danny and Sons. Rivers and Sons.

[Craig Korbeck]

Rivers and Sons. We just call ourselves McKinsey. Is anyone taking that?

[Dan Havitz]

Yeah, that's good. We should just name.

[Craig Korbeck]

I kind of like that.

[Dan Havitz]

McKinsey Consulting Group. We're going to go through, we're just going to look at the quarterbacks that are available this off season because this, I just think this was a wake up call for all these teams. But, but because also the Daniel Jones injury again, the cold season might be lost. I mean, you know, we'll get into their competitiveness for the rest of the season. But Daniel Jones, I mean, tearing his Achilles. We don't know if Daniel Jones is going to be ready for the beginning of next season. We don't know if Daniel Jones will be ready. I mean he could have a setback and not be ready at any point in the middle of next season. So we, we, I mean if you kind of pull the thread out, we want to just look at the overall quarterback market. So we're going to, you know, we'll get a presentation here for the Colts and we'll build them for McKinsey to make a PowerPoint.

[Craig Korbeck]

And we're factoring in like contract if you have to trade for this guy. If they're going to be a free agent, how old they are. Like this isn't just like a in a vacuum situation. We are, we are considering every single element of what it would take to.

[Dan Havitz]

Bring a quarterback in, including the best abilities, availability. And we're going to start with how available all these guys. So we're just going to go through and just look at who are the quarterbacks that are available next year. We're not going to do the clock. Sorry to Tom. Tom. But. But I think some of these guys don't necessarily need two minutes. So we're going to go through more guys than usual. I want to start with the NFL draft and the Quarterbacks here. And I just want to, just to remind everyone, we do the draft show over the off season. Like we cover the whole off season. So if you're here for fantasy, we do the whole, we do the whole playoffs, we go through the super bowl, we go to the combine in Indianapolis to do the draft, we do free agency, we do all this stuff. So stick with us. Once the regular season ends the playoffs, we're here like year round as a show but for the draft. This isn't a very deep class at quarterback for the draft. And if you're the Colts, there's not much hope. I feel like it's relatively simple. It's like there's Fernando Mendoza, the quarterback in Indiana. He's probably the number one pick this year or wherever he goes. It's like the teams that need a franchise pick, the Browns have multiple first rounders, the jets have multiple first rounders, the Raiders like Fernando. One of those teams is going to take Fernando Mendoza and then If Dante Moore Jr. Comes out at Oregon, he would also go Browns, Jets, Raiders. And then that's kind of it. There's Ty Simpson from Alabama and. But like he also might go Browns, Jets, Raiders, maybe the Steelers, a team. But I feel like all these other quarterbacks are going back to school this year. Like, I don't think there's a ton of quarterbacks in this year's draft.

[Danny Kayleen]

That's how it feels right now, especially with Mendoza, has like a lot of momentum based on that postgame interview that we saw from a couple of days ago.

[Dan Havitz]

People flipping champs.

[Danny Kayleen]

So yeah, I would say with Dante Moore and Ty Simpson, strong chance one or two, one or both of those guys goes back. So I don't think it's supposed to be a very deep year for the quarterback spot. So. And by the way, if we're doing the consulting thing for the Colts, the Colts don't have two. They don't have first rounder for two more years.

[Dan Havitz]

Correct, Exactly.

[Danny Kayleen]

That is kind of just. We're while acknowledging teams can go to the draft for these quarterbacks, we're kind of taking the draft out of the picture.

[Craig Korbeck]

But are we also going to remove the fact that if the Colts wanted to trade for, let's say Trevor Lawrence, they probably couldn't do that because they don't have first round picks?

[Dan Havitz]

Yeah, definitely. I think that's a huge problem for them. And I mean, Lawrence is a good example of this exercise where I think even ironically, even around the trade deadline, it was probably, you know, Lawrence was probably available. I don't think Lawrence would ever get traded to the Colts because they're in the same division. But Lawrence is a good example. I don't think he's available anymore. Like he's playing too well. The Jacks are too. They're going to make the playoffs probably. So he's probably the worst quarterback that were the best quarterback that was available at any point. But even he's out. But yeah, in terms of the draft, I mean I think Arch Manning is going back to college. Lenore Sellers for South Carolina is going back. John Matiere at Oklahoma maybe Garrett Nussmeier is probably gonna be out in the draft, but Garrett Nussmeier got benched for LSU at one point this season briefly. Carson Beck. I don't know if his teammates love him and frankly I feel like the thing I associate with Carson Beck the most is just all the dick pics that just keep coming about. So I don't know. I'm not. I think the second round quarterbacks the Colts could get by definition are not gonna like be wid now players if they're falling to the second.

[Danny Kayleen]

There will be some Tyler Shuck version of Tyler Shuck in this draft probably There always is always um, who guy who. And you know what, Jackson Dart maybe like a guy that I think earlier on in the process wasn't considered a high end prospect and then kind of turned into one through the process and he's looked pretty good. But the.

[Dan Havitz]

Yeah and so the reality is the draft is the last piece of this and the Colts are. Because they don't first rounder are not in position to like wait for the draft. So we have to look. So I want to start with just quarterbacks that are playing right now like trade candidates at quarterback. And we're just going to go through.

[Craig Korbeck]

Here and this is in order of guys that like let's say like you're the Colts next year. You have a competitive roster and you need a quarterback to kind of try to take take you to the next level. Who could you reasonably bring in that would give you the best shot next year and beyond is kind of what we're thinking where if you have a guy like Daniel Jones who's probably not going to play next year with his Achilles thing, like what do you do? And so we're going to start with the guy we'd probably try to get the most and then down.

[Dan Havitz]

That's not how I ordered it. I wanted to order it as I. I'm ordering it as I think these are every team that would answer the phone about their quarterback. And then I want to talk through with you guys about whether we should recommend the Colts call this team. So, for example, it's kind of the same thing.

[Craig Korbeck]

Yeah. Okay.

[Dan Havitz]

Well, I think I'm saying I'm not.

[Craig Korbeck]

We're starting with good quarterbacks, working our way down.

[Dan Havitz]

Well, it's the first guy on the list. I had us to us. So I didn't want to be like.

[Danny Kayleen]

Whoa, whistling at how you say this, because two is number one.

[Dan Havitz]

Two is the first guy I had on this list. So I didn't want to be like, oh, my number one suggestion. Yeah. I think these are teams that'll pick up the phone and then I want to talk to you guys about whether we should actually call them.

[Craig Korbeck]

I think I'm too extremely low on my list.

[Dan Havitz]

Okay, well, I wanted to go through. So Tua, here's the deal. I think the Dolphins will replace Tua, but after looking into his contract, I think Tua is basically untradable and uncuttable in 2026 and kind of a locked. I think he's gonna get cut in 2027 because the dolphins would save a lot of money in cutting him in 2027, but I don't think too. It actually can be moved. So I do think Tua will be the quarterback for the Dolphins next year, but if they can find a way to foist him upon someone, I think they would.

[Craig Korbeck]

55 million in 2026 for Tua. He's. He is the lowest quarterback on my list of available guys. He's dead last. I. I'm. If I were the Colts, I would want him the least for how much he costs.

[Danny Kayleen]

Yeah. So he's undersized, Extremely scheme specific, extremely high injury risk. Says weird stuff in the media.

[Craig Korbeck]

What would you say you do here? He's.

[Danny Kayleen]

He's the most scheme specific guy I think I can think of in terms of just like, I don't know what he would look like in any other offense. They've completely geared everything around him, and even that is not very good. So. Yeah.

[Dan Havitz]

Well, speaking of which, the next team here that I think would pick up the phone. Two is not available. I think this guy's super available. Kyler Murray, quarterback for the Cardinals for now.

[Craig Korbeck]

Yeah.

[Dan Havitz]

Basically got benched for Jacoby Brissette and they put him on injured reserve so everyone could save some face here. The Cardinals need to make a decision on kyler Murray by March 15, and option one is keep Kyler Murray as your backup quarterback behind Jacoby Brissette for Let me check here. $40 million a year. $40 million a year backup. Option two is cut Kyler Murray, or option three is trade Kyler Murray and try to get a pick back. I think you could actually get Kyler for a third or fourth rounder. It's kind of funny how fast life comes at you.

[Danny Kayleen]

Yeah, it's like one of those things where they'll ask for a second or a first and then they'll get. They'll get a late second or maybe like a future second or I think.

[Dan Havitz]

A third or fourth. The Cardinals have to. I don't think money to take.

[Danny Kayleen]

I feel like a fourth is too embarrassing.

[Dan Havitz]

It's true. They probably three pick they again.

40 mil. If you're not gonna play them, it's 40 million a year for backup. So they need to release the money. But you're right.

[Danny Kayleen]

Like, how much is Cousins making this year?

[Dan Havitz]

30, 35? Yeah, around that. So it's embarrassing. So with that said, Kyler is available. Kyler is the most available of all these guys. Dk.

If you're the Colts, would you. Or any team that needs a quarterback right now, would you want Kyler Murray?

[Danny Kayleen]

That's a really hard question.

[Craig Korbeck]

Define want. I mean, it depends on what you're going up against. Like, if I have the option to get Mac Jones or Kyler Murray, I would take Mac Jones in a second.

[Danny Kayleen]

Yeah, I think that's fair and it's hilarious because of how much Kyler makes. The things that Kyler has going for him obviously is. He's still relatively young. He's mobile, athletic. You know, he moves around. He can. He can do this stuff outside of the pocket. And then basically everything else is. Is a big question mark or a negative. You know, I don't think he's known particularly for his leadership skills. Like, every year he's faded towards the end of the season. Injuries have been an issue. Being on the same page with his receivers has been an issue. It's basically just been all downhill for Kyler since like a couple years ago.

[Craig Korbeck]

He'll be 29 years old at the beginning of next season. He's played one full season since 2020. He's 10 games below.500 career. He has one winning season as a starting quarterback, and a guy like him who is the most undersized quarterback in the leagues and be 29, he gets hurt all the time. His mobility is like the one thing that separates him. I mean.

I would not be taking on any kind of money even if. I mean, even if I'm only Having to send a third round pick. I just don't think, I mean, I don't know. I guess if you think about it, if you're the Colts, if Kyler Murray's just on the Colts right now, healthy, are they a playoff team? Maybe. But yeah, I think the price tag of it is the issue where I would not pay that. I would not pay $43 million in 2026 to, to be the Colts led by Kyler Murray next year.

[Danny Kayleen]

Wouldn't part of the trade be the, the team the Cardinals would have to eat part of his contract?

[Craig Korbeck]

I mean, yeah, that would be.

[Dan Havitz]

They would have to. I think they would have to. Yeah. I think there's probably 17 million dollar bonus. I don't think anyone cares about the accounting right now, but. Yeah, but, but you'd still be paying Kyler at a minimum of 25, 30 million dollars. 25, like for sure. Let me ask you this because you're also changing everything about your offense for him. Like the Cardinals, Trey McBride has as many touchdowns in the last six weeks with Jacoby Brissette as Trey McBride did in the rest of his career combined. Like, I don't know if Kyler's even giving you a good showcase of your own players.

[Danny Kayleen]

I think, I think the Kyler scenario is going to be similar to, you know, like the Justin Fields contract a little bit. Obviously it's, it's different situation because you have to make a trade, but it's like basically we don't have Justin Fields contract. Yes. Like we don't have high hopes he's not going to be. We don't think he's gonna be a high level starter, but he's better than what we have right now. He's better. And there's a world in which we can design, design an offense around this guy. Obviously it did not work out with Justin Fields. I think Kyler is very clearly a better quarterback than Justin Fields, but I think just stylistically it's a bridge quarterback. You don't think you're not trading for him to be your new future franchise pillar. It's like it's better than what we could get in the draft or what we have in free agency, that kind of deal.

[Craig Korbeck]

I think unless this, unless it's an abject disaster, people are always going to take a second chance on the first overall pick. And Kyler has not been an abject disaster. It's been a big disappointment. But him joining a second team and getting another shot I think is going to happen. I don't know if I believe in it, but I a team is going to take a shot at him.

[Dan Havitz]

So on that note, before we move off Kyler, what team do you think Kyler would have the most success on? DK or I guess you'd be the least surprised if Kyler was successful on there's teams like, I mean, Jets, Raiders, Browns. I think those are the funniest teams. If Kyler went to the Browns, jets, but teams that could use a bridge. The Colts, the Vikings, Falcons, maybe the Steelers. Like, which of those teams do you think I Would you be least surprised if Kyler was playing had like a really good season next year, went to the playoffs?

[Danny Kayleen]

Yeah, that's tough. I guess. I lean Steelers. I don't know. Craig, would you be so say Rogers retires. We'll talk about Rogers in a minute. But like, say Rogers retires. Would you rather have like a bridge year with like a Mason Rudolph type of journeyman or trade a third for Kyler Murray and see how it goes this year?

[Craig Korbeck]

I don't want to trade a third for Kyler Murray and give him a third million dollars. I just. I wouldn't want it. I mean, the stylistic whiplash on. On the Pittsburgh offense going from Aaron Rodgers to Kyler Murray, it's like neither of which I think are good for DK Metcalf or these giant tight ends. Like, it just to me, none of it really makes sense. So I don't think it's a good fit in the cold weather and not in a dome. Like, I just think it's a horrible fit across the board.

[Dan Havitz]

Stylistic whiplash is a great way to put the Rogers to Kyler thing because Rogers is kind of like a person that everything needs to be exactly where they are. Like, you know those. Do you have any friends who won't even like, let you load the dishwasher A different way than they do it. Like, everything has to be the way he does it. Kyler, someone whose room is like, whose apartment's so messy that they can find stuff, but only they know where anything is. And it's like Kyle, only Kyler is the one who's going to be able to do stuff, but he couldn't do anything in anyone else's place.

Another.

[Craig Korbeck]

So Kyler needs to go to a team with like, out an identity. Like, he needs to go to like, the Raiders or something where he can just kind of they start with Kyler and then build out from there rather than try to shove Kyler into something like the Steelers.

[Danny Kayleen]

I also kind of feel like the.

[Dan Havitz]

Most likely if they keep Pete Carroll. I think Kyler and Russell Wilson have a lot in common, both stylistically and in a funny way, issues with their leadership because no one respects Russ, even though he really wants to be a leader. And Kyler doesn't seem interested. I don't know what the deal is with Kyler, but he's the only active quarterback whose teammates have criticized him on the record for leadership, which is just never done. And so the Pete Carroll has a lot of experience with Russell. Like, like this. The same archetype. It's crazy athletic, undersized quarterbacks that if Russell Wilson or Kyler was 6 4, they'd be unbelievable players. But they. They can't see over the offensive line and as the athleticism wanes, then suddenly all the crazy off structure stuff is the offense. This is the why the Cardinals chose percent over Kyler Murray. And it's one I think they. They really respect that Jacoby Brissette is prepping. That's, to me, the indictment of Kyler's offseat. It's always obviously hard when we're not around Kyler or whatever every day. But all the Cardinals are like, Jacoby Brissette, he's so prepared. He sends me. Michael Wilson was talking about, right? Yeah. It's like they're like. He sends me clips of how he wants me to run routes. I can't believe how much time he's spending studying film. And we're like, that's. That's not good. That's what they're talking about. So I think Pete Carroll and the Raiders, if they kept Pete Carroll, like that would make sense for Kyler.

[Danny Kayleen]

Lover, he loves.

[Craig Korbeck]

I also, like, I don't. I don't know. To me it makes a lot more sense for Kyler to play in a dome and play in a West coast division. Like, I just don't like him being on the Raiders and playing the Chargers and Denver and he's playing indoors a lot rather than like you throw him in the AFC North. I just think that's a disaster.

[Dan Havitz]

That is true. That is true. And also, yeah, like the Steelers, I mean, we just. Rogers now I think the Steelers. Aaron Rodgers is a free agent, but I think the Steelers are going to keep him. Right. I don't think Rogers would leave them. I don't think the Steelers would leave Rogers. Right.

[Craig Korbeck]

No. I mean, unless Tomlin's gone, Matt, that could change things because I know Rogers really likes Tomlin, but I think if Rogers were to come back next year, I think it would only be with Pittsburgh. I don't think he wants to do a third team in three years.

[Dan Havitz]

You think let's. But that's, that is the scenario like if the Steelers fire Tomlin, which I don't think will happen.

[Craig Korbeck]

No, I don't either.

[Dan Havitz]

But if they did you think Rogers would, would just retire? Because I think he's played pretty well this year.

[Craig Korbeck]

Yeah, I honestly probably depends on what happens. I think there's still like the remainder of the season is probably still will affect what Rodgers does. Like if they win a playoff game, he's coming back. I think if they don't make the playoffs, I could see him retiring. And if he doesn't feel good about where this, if Tomlin gets fired or if the Steelers, you know, bottom out and lose their last three games and don't make the playoffs, I think all of that stuff still will factor in.

[Dan Havitz]

Well the most, the most Rogers himself believer in the universe and all these things. His whole career has just been a copy of Brett Favre. Fifteen years with the packers traded to the jets, he would have his little sojourn to the Steelers. But like if he then went to the Vikings and then it was like rogers and then McCarthy just kind of, you know, sit behind him for a year that would, did Farce go to.

[Craig Korbeck]

An NFC championship game with Minnesota or was it.

[Dan Havitz]

Yes and they, they should have beaten the Saints in the 09 championship game and then far threw a backbreaking pick at the end of the game and Far blew it for them.

[Craig Korbeck]

Well right now, super bowl right now the AFC playoff setup has the Steelers playing the Chargers in round one. That's a great game for the Steelers.

[Dan Havitz]

Oh, I have, I have a take purge at some point I have to, I don't know if now's the time. I'm gonna get off your preview about the Chargers.

[Craig Korbeck]

Just do it. I want it now.

[Dan Havitz]

I think the Chiefs are gonna make the playoffs.

[Craig Korbeck]

You think the Chargers are gonna bottom.

[Dan Havitz]

Out and I think the Chargers are gonna blow it. I, I, this is a completely sidetracked.

[Danny Kayleen]

If it's just going back to the Eagles. Chief super bowl take the Chiefs play.

[Dan Havitz]

The Chargers next week. Yeah, let's just say the Chiefs win that game. Do you realize what the Chiefs have to win out after that? Do you realize two of the three games are the Raiders and the Titans? Those are the worst teams in the league.

[Craig Korbeck]

What's the other one?

[Dan Havitz]

The Broncos. So that's harder. But if the Chiefs win that game, that would be, that would be four. No. So the Chiefs have to go four no, but it's Chargers, Broncos that are harder. Raiders, Titans are like two. And oh, all that has to happen in addition to that is the Chargers, who after the next week would play the Cowboys, Texans and Broncos. The Chargers would just have to go one and two versus Broncos, Houston and Cowboys. They could win, lose two games versus the those games and then the Chiefs would. Would make the playoffs and the Chargers would not. And we just all wrote off the Chiefs. But I kind of looking at this, I'm like, if the Chiefs win this week, they're going to make the fucking playoffs.

[Craig Korbeck]

Well, because you have to factor in that there's going to be a wild card. Houston or Jacksonville is going to get the wild card in the AFC South. The other wild card is already going to be an AFC north team, I guess. Yeah.

[Dan Havitz]

Division.

[Craig Korbeck]

Sorry. Yeah. Because the Chargers could still be the other wild card. Like all three could make it, theoretically.

[Dan Havitz]

But the Chiefs could get. Because they. But the Chiefs could. I think the Chiefs, I think could leapfrog the Chargers because they look so bad right now and the tackles and everything. I think the Chargers do not look great. And I think it could be just.

[Danny Kayleen]

Beat the Eagles, I don't know.

[Craig Korbeck]

Because look, you already have. The Bills are going to be a wild card and the Texans are going to be a wild card. So there's probably. There's only one spot left for the Chiefs, I think.

[Dan Havitz]

Yeah. And the Chiefs play the Chargers this week. And I'm saying I think that the Chiefs could finish four and oh, and I think the Chargers could finish like one in three.

[Danny Kayleen]

I'm going to bet on the Chargers this weekend.

[Craig Korbeck]

I would put the Chiefs, what, 10 and 7.

[Danny Kayleen]

Yeah.

[Dan Havitz]

I'm just saying. Just throwing it out there with that said.

Actually, no. I don't know what we're talking about.

[Craig Korbeck]

Let's go to the next team that.

[Dan Havitz]

Would take a team here. I was just looking at basically just going by teams that would pick up the phone. The Panthers with Bryce Young. I think ultimately, I'm curious what you guys think. I think the answer is no. The Panthers wouldn't trade Bryce because he's so cheap that I don't think anyone would give up what it costs to get Bryce Young, because Bryce Young is more valuable to the Panthers than anyone where it's. I mean, he's making $12 million next year, which for a quarterback, I mean, Justin Field's got double that on free agency and it was cheap. I. I don't know. I mean, either of you actually think Bryce Young is actually a trade target?

[Danny Kayleen]

Yeah, I think that's kind of the problem is here. Who's going to trade for him?

Because he's not. He's all over the place. He's had a couple of really nice games, but for the most part his numbers are pretty bad this season. His numbers were really bad his rookie season. He had a eight game. He basically had an eight game stretch where he was really good and then throw in at like a 480 yard game or whatever it was that he had this year. And otherwise he's been pretty much bad.

[Dan Havitz]

He's like if Kyler wasn't that athletic.

[Danny Kayleen]

Yeah. If Kyler had no athletic tools or physical tools.

[Craig Korbeck]

Yeah, he's definitely more valuable on the Panthers. And you'd have to overspend to take him out of Carolina. Which at that point do you really want to overspend for Bryce Young? But I, I do have him high on the list of like guys that I would be interested in taking a shot on because of their price and how important they are to the team they're on. Which like ultimately in the grand scheme of things I don't think is that important. Like for the right price. I think the Panthers would probably get rid of Brazil, but I could be wrong.

[Danny Kayleen]

Right? Yeah. They're one of the teams on here that I think would listen to offers because I think they're probably at this point realizing the clock is ticking on whether we're going to pick up his option, whether we're going to assign him to a longer term contract. Maybe we'll try and avoid that whole scenario. We know he's not the long term answer.

[Craig Korbeck]

Right. They have one more year before they have to like they get. Or before they can pick up his fifth year option. I mean they could win the NFC south this year and if they win the end, I know he's not going to go anywhere.

[Dan Havitz]

Well, that's the thing though. It's easy to say a pick, but the reality is, I mean, would the Panthers take a second round pick for Bryce Young? No way.

[Craig Korbeck]

No, of course not.

[Dan Havitz]

Now would you give up the. A top 10 pick in the draft for Bryce Young? Probably not. Would you give up the 25th pick in the draft for Bryce Young?

[Craig Korbeck]

Maybe. Yeah.

[Dan Havitz]

But the Panthers wouldn't and I think.

[Chris Ryan]

Right.

[Craig Korbeck]

Like, like could the Steelers offer.

[Danny Kayleen]

The Panthers would take the 25th pick for Bryce Young. Yeah.

[Dan Havitz]

No, because then who's their quarterback?

[Craig Korbeck]

Andy Dalton, I think Mac Jones.

[Dan Havitz]

Well, I like we can talk about Mac Jones too. I think Mac Jones is number one on my list in Terms of guys.

[Craig Korbeck]

Who are like get his number one on my list. Oh, let's go through it right now. Would you rather have Mac Jones? Because Mac Jones would need to be traded.

[Dan Havitz]

Right.

[Craig Korbeck]

Like he's under contract.

[Dan Havitz]

Mac Jones, the contracts. So he's one. One more year for the 49ers for a four million dollar cap hit.

[Craig Korbeck]

Right, Right.

[Dan Havitz]

Which is such a good deal that you're gonna have to pay for it. And that's. I actually think. Well, what were you gonna say? I mean again, he went 5 and 3 this year filling in for Brock Purdy.

[Craig Korbeck]

I mean if you're Carolina, would you rather have, I don't know, the 25th pick from some team and then you can trade for Mac Jones. You would have Mac Jones and the 25th pick or Bryce Young?

[Dan Havitz]

I think the answer was you'd cut out the middleman. I'd rather have Mac Jones. I don't need Bryce Young. I think that you cut the Panthers out of the deal. What team would trade for Bryce Young that wouldn't do. Mac Jones because I. The list of t. I think Max Jones has the biggest list of teams that could make sense from dk. The list of teams I wrote all the play action based teams that do a Shanahan or McVeigh stuff. I think could use Mac Jones because he's part. I mean Shanahan wanted him originally in the 2020 draft or 2021 draft when they ended up taking Trey Lance. But I think Mac Jones would work for the Colts and you could. Daniel Jones rehabs. Richardson's like the developmental backup and Mac Jones plays. I think Mac Jones works for the vikings and Kevin O' Connell and he's the next Donald and McCarthy kind of seems like Jones.

[Danny Kayleen]

Yeah.

[Dan Havitz]

I think the Falcons, if the Falcons wanted to move on from Kirk Cousins because Michael Penix Jr. Is also getting like an ACL reconstruction. So he's not going to be ready either. They're kind of in the same boat as the Colts.

[Craig Korbeck]

Right.

[Dan Havitz]

Where it's like Daniel Jones, Achilles, Michael Penix, acl. Like kind of the same boat. And I think even Mac Jones to the Steelers could make sense even if the Browns didn't get a quarterback. I think the Browns with Kevin Stefanski, Mac Jones makes a ton of sense. I think the jets where it's like the jets if they want to run anything resembling the Lions. I think Max, I think there's a lot of teams that would want Mac Jones enough that I actually I. The. I do think he'll absolutely cost a second round pick. Though, if not more because I think a lot of teams are going to be interested.

[Danny Kayleen]

It reminds me of didn't Alex Smith get traded for a second back in the day when they had that sounds right. Waiting in the wings or whatever. It reminds me of that type of situation where Mac Jones is not as old or proven, I guess, but he by far looked, I think the best of any of these quarterbacks that we've talked about this year in terms of just his ability to run the offense. He's a former first round pick. You know, he was a really good or at least relatively good starter his first year before things kind of fell apart in New England.

So there's a lot of things working there. I don't know what his personality is gauged in terms of around the league, like his leadership and stuff like that, because he was kind of, I mean I, I didn't get good vibes from him as a leader early on.

[Dan Havitz]

The Niners have been very impressed with him and the. They've talked, I mean up winning helps. We went five and three, but he beat, I mean went one on one versus the Rams. I mean, you know, one of the games he lost was against the Texans and that defense was. No shame in that. I think to your point, I've heard very mixed things about Mac Jones and the Patriots tenure and a lot about that time of basically.

Some lack of professionalism on the coaching staff side. And basically the Mac Jones kind of got screwed by that, by the Patriots organization. The end of the Belichick era. Patricia like a lot of crazy stuff going. Remember he had to deal with Patricia being the offensive coordinator for a season and then they threw Mac Jones because he called Bama for help and he's like, they don't know what they're doing. I, I think Mac Jones is clearly the pride, like if you need help. I think if you're the Niners though, and someone else just you a fourth round pick, you're like, absolutely not. No, I'm not giving it Mac Jones.

[Craig Korbeck]

For, for 4 million to keep him as your backup next year. No way.

[Dan Havitz]

Well, that's the thing. Even if you offer them a high third round pick, you're the Niners. Like Brock Purdy's played one full season in four years, he's making 4 million literally. The Niners already missed a Super bowl appearance because Brock Purdy got hurt in a championship game. Yeah, he got hurt. I mean he has the turf toe right now. I think even a high third round pick, the Niners can't convince their fan Base that that's worth it. I think you need to give the Niners a second round pick for. For Mac Jones to be considered and then you'd have to give Mac Jones like 25, 30 million a year.

[Danny Kayleen]

Yeah, I agree.

[Craig Korbeck]

I completely agree.

[Danny Kayleen]

There's a big commitment there, but the.

[Craig Korbeck]

Niners have all the leverage. But I, I think that Mack is Max one of those guys where it feels like he's better on a good team. Which sounds stupid, but it's like if Mack is surrounded by the right pieces, he can be even better and he's like a force multiplier. But when he's on a shitty team.

[Danny Kayleen]

He'S not an elevator.

[Craig Korbeck]

Yes. That can't block for him it's even worse.

[Dan Havitz]

That's. That is the second class. That's the second tier quarterbacks. That's everyone. Right. There's the guys that we think can. Josh Allen's the perfect example of. They'll actually divest from all the receiving talent around him and get rid of his Stefan Diggs because I think Josh is so good. Mahomes where they divest, they get rid of Tyree Kill and invest on defense. That's the top tier guys who can do anyone. But all these reclamation quarterbacks, that's everyone. Jared Goff with the Lions, Sam Darnold, Daniel Jones, Baker. Like when they were on the Panthers or the Browns. Like those guys sucked when they weren't good supporting cast. I do think Mac Jones makes sense as the next guy. Like that other. The other, other starters here that I think are worth talking about. J.J. mcCarthy and the Vikings. I think this one's simple. If Kevin o', Connell, the Vikings coach is on the phone and they're trying to convince you to take McCarthy then you should. If Vikings are selling, you shouldn't be buying, right?

[Craig Korbeck]

If he's so good.

[Dan Havitz]

Yeah, exactly. That's like a fantasy train. Exactly.

[Craig Korbeck]

Yeah.

[Dan Havitz]

So I think there's no market for McCarthy. They have to hold. So the only other start I want to ask you about, I want to ask you about DK is Geno Smith for the Raiders.

[Danny Kayleen]

Yeah.

[Dan Havitz]

So complicated.

[Danny Kayleen]

This is a complicated one.

[Dan Havitz]

One year left, no money guaranteed. It makes sense.

[Craig Korbeck]

I don't think it's that complicated.

[Dan Havitz]

Well, the argument against Gino's really easy. He's 35 years old. He's being his third team in three years, two and 11 on the worst team in the NFL maybe. And Gino is making a bad situation worse because he leads the NFL interceptions. So that's like.

[Danny Kayleen]

Doesn't Genos fit into that scenario, too, though, what you just said about Mac Jones, where he could make a good team better, but not elevate a horrific team.

[Dan Havitz]

Well, this is what I want to ask you guys about, because I know it's not. People listening might think I'm insane where it's like, what do you mean? Geno Smith? But here's the thing.

[Danny Kayleen]

We've just erased the last two. The previous two years of what Geno Smith did.

[Dan Havitz]

I think one year ago, Geno Smith, they. The Seahawks didn't make the playoffs, but they won 10 games. Last year, Geno Smith won 10 games of starter. He threw for 4,300 yards. And I don't know, it's. If Geno Smith went to the Vikings or the Colts and then just. I mean, it's. It would certainly be less improbable than what Daniel Jones just did or Donald did the year before that. Because I feel like a year from now we'd be sitting here and saying, oh, yeah, right. Gino went to the Raiders for Pete Carroll, who's the oldest coach in NFL history, and then Pete Carroll's son was the quarterback's coach, and Pete Carroll's other son was the offensive line coach, and the offensive coordinator was Chip Kelly, who hadn't coached in the NFL for 10 years. And then that didn't work.

[Danny Kayleen]

And then there was all these reports that basically Pete Carroll was the one that was like making Chip Kelly do all this different stuff. Yeah, it was a total mess.

[Dan Havitz]

So part of me does wonder if you're the Colts maybe and you get in a bidding war. Because I feel like the Colts and Vikings are in very similar spots here where a lot of people are going to want Mac Jones. And I guess the question is someone's like, hey, maybe the Browns are like, you know, we. We're going to. We're not going to be able to get Fernando Mendoza. Dante Moore goes back to school. So, like, the jets get fucking Fernando Mendoza. And the Browns are like, oh, man, we don't want to reach for Ty Simpson or something. You know what? We have two first, screw it, we'll give you like a high second rounder for Mac Jones. And then the Colts are like, well, we don't have a better first rounder. The Vikings are like, we don't want to do that. And so Mac Jones is off the table. Part of me thinks that Geno Smith would make a lot of sense on the Colts or the Vikings.

[Craig Korbeck]

Okay, you know what? You might be right.

[Dan Havitz]

I think Jones is first.

[Danny Kayleen]

Who said my take My take on Geno is he's better than what he's looked like this year, but he's obviously not like a top tier starter. Yeah, I do think he'll get another chance. The only thing that's kind of holding me back on Gino is like his sort of hyphens. You talk about this all the time. His on field Persona is really horrific. Like, he's just constantly slamming his helmet. He's like, you know, just complaining all the time. Like. Like his leadership, his body language is not good. He's worries me a little bit. Yeah, he's very competitive and that's like, that's generally been a plus most of the other seasons, but this year it's like he feels like he's gone off the rails.

[Craig Korbeck]

Well, what are they, 2 and 10? This goes to what you were saying. Like, if he's on a competent team, that will change his. His brain chemistry in a way that, you know, like you said, it's better on a good team. Even worse. That much worse on a bad team.

[Danny Kayleen]

No, but, yeah. My only point is I don't know how much teams will want him this offseason.

[Dan Havitz]

Can I also push back on that for one moment, though? Because last night you were very upset that Jalen Hurts was literally emotionless. I know, like, he had no emotions whatsoever. You want. Would you rather have Peter Smith, who is angry that the Raiders suck, or do you want him to show no emotions whatsoever?

[Danny Kayleen]

Yeah, I want him to show emotion, actually. So that's. That's a good point. I think.

[Dan Havitz]

It's just.

[Danny Kayleen]

There's obviously a gray area I like.

[Craig Korbeck]

So I like, every time there's an incomplete pass, it cuts to Aaron Rodgers just cussing out himself for a wide receiver. I enjoy that. I look forward to it.

[Danny Kayleen]

I was like. I was less saying it makes me upset and more just like. I don't know how much teams are going to want to bring that in. But I think you're right, though. He is very, very competitive and that's better than the alternative.

[Dan Havitz]

So I want to go through a couple more guys and then I want to stop down and I actually want to sit here and try to rank these options that we would present here to the teams. Kirk Cousins, who is still playing for quarterback for the Falcons. This is a guy that I.

[Danny Kayleen]

Here's a guy, Here's a guy, Here's a guy.

[Dan Havitz]

I. I think Kirk Cousins will be the Week 1 starter for the Atlanta Falcons next year. Because as I got dug into it, I'm like, you know, what? There's a year left, 45 million, basically for Kirk. They can. They can get that number down by doing accounting math. But I think the Falcons are in the same position as the Colts, kind of where Michael Penix, with the ACL reconstruction, they don't think Michael Penix will be ready for week one. Part of me is like, they have Kirk Cousins on the roster.

[Craig Korbeck]

No first round pick.

[Dan Havitz]

They have. No. Yes. The Falcons also gave up the first round pick. And I'm like, I know, Isn't that funny? Every time you remember that, you're like, oh, my God, the Falcons life. They could have just had a top 10 pick in this draft and maybe gotten a quarterback. And instead I kind of think the Falcons, what are they gonna do, cut Kirk Cousins enough to acquire another quarterback? Are they going to trade Kirk and then trade for another quarterback and like, just trade lot? I think Kirk stays on Atlanta.

[Danny Kayleen]

Yeah.

[Dan Havitz]

And then just plays for them next year.

[Danny Kayleen]

37 years old, he'll turn 38 going into next year.

[Craig Korbeck]

Yeah, he turns 38 in August.

[Dan Havitz]

I mean, he's looked better this year. I think the Seahawks is a burn the tape. I don't think you can judge anyone versus Seattle.

[Danny Kayleen]

I know. Yeah.

[Dan Havitz]

But he looks, to be honest with.

[Danny Kayleen]

You, I agree with you. Like, even though he did, his numbers were horrific against the Seahawks. I'm like, he looked more like capable than. Than I was expecting. And. And I think he'll. He probably has some left in the tank for next.

[Craig Korbeck]

So does that mean you think I have to throw out the Brosmer tape against Seattle?

[Dan Havitz]

Well, no, that one, we. It belongs in a museum.

[Craig Korbeck]

Okay.

[Danny Kayleen]

That.

[Dan Havitz]

Yeah. And send it to the hall.

[Danny Kayleen]

Like next to. Next to Nathan Peterman.

[Craig Korbeck]

He had negative 1.5 fantasy points again against Seattle. Max, bro.

[Danny Kayleen]

That's almost.

[Craig Korbeck]

That's.

[Chris Ryan]

Jalen hurts.

[Craig Korbeck]

Jalen hurts.

[Danny Kayleen]

Yeah.

[Dan Havitz]

So I think we're all on the same page here. We're basically saying Rogers back to the Steelers, probably. Kirk Cousins goes back to the Falcons. Two were back to Miami. Bryce Young goes back to Carolina. And so what we're looking at is basically we're looking at. You can trade probably a second round pick in a competitive market for Mac Jones.

[Danny Kayleen]

Yep.

[Dan Havitz]

From the Niners, which also takes out certain teams. And then you can try to trade up like a fourth rounder or a third rounder, probably a fourth or a third for Kyler Murray to pay him. Like, you'll have to pay him like 25 or 30 million. You could try to pay 25 million for one year to Geno Smith. So you can do Mac Jones, Kyler Murray, Geno Smith, or you could just sign Joe Flacco, right?

[Danny Kayleen]

Yeah.

[Craig Korbeck]

I mean Marcus Mariota is a free agent.

[Dan Havitz]

Mario. Yeah, no, I mean Mariota.

[Craig Korbeck]

Right, sorry.

[Danny Kayleen]

He's looked actually pretty decent. Maybe the, maybe the elbow injury or what was it was. I was a nerve issue in his elbow.

[Dan Havitz]

Nerve issue in his, in his throwing arm. He's had a bunch of stuff, but then that's the one that he just was a better throwing. A nerve issue in his throwing arm. He also just has always been a little bit of a Trevor Lawrence blockhead. I think Mario has always. Mariota has always had brain farts. But I mean, there's other players here. But I'm curious, you guys. I mean there's Russell Wilson, there's Jimmy Garoppolo as a free agent. Mitchell Trubisky, Carson Wentzoff, shoulder surgery, Derek Carr of shoulder surgery. But it gets bad fast is the point.

[Danny Kayleen]

Somebody's got to bring Derek Carr back. I feel like, I feel like he's not done.

[Dan Havitz]

I think Rivers can come back. Yeah, anyone could come back.

[Craig Korbeck]

I think Mac Jones is the clear number one. I think number two is Geno Smith versus Kyler Murray.

[Danny Kayleen]

That's where I am too, Craig.

[Craig Korbeck]

And maybe number three is Marcus Mariota. Dk, would you rather have for the same price Geno Smith for one year or Kyler Murray for one year on a good team? On the Colts?

[Danny Kayleen]

Oh.

I think Gino.

Somehow is more accomplished.

[Dan Havitz]

You're saying Gino Smith or Kyler Murray?

[Craig Korbeck]

Yeah. You have to give up whatever. A late round pick, same price, $25 million a year.

[Danny Kayleen]

Wait, do you have to. You have to trade for Gino because He's on a two year deal.

[Craig Korbeck]

Yeah. Gino's owed 26 million next year.

[Dan Havitz]

Let's just for argument's sake say it's the same thing. You have a fourth rounder and you have to pay $26 million.

[Craig Korbeck]

Yeah.

[Dan Havitz]

For Kyler or Gino? Yeah.

[Danny Kayleen]

He's gonna run a real offense with Gino.

[Craig Korbeck]

I would.

[Dan Havitz]

Well, Kyler Murray was just bench for Jacoby Brissette. And I think if we did this exact exercise last year, we wouldn't have even mentioned Jacoby Brissette because he was so bad in New England. Like Jacoby Brissette was unplayable. And the fact that the Cardinals have. They didn't just bench him, they banished Kyler Murray. They're keeping him an injured reserve rather than he's not even active. I think speaks volumes. I also think the fact that his teammates are okay with it is really the problem. Like if the truth is if Kyler Murray was beloved, they couldn't do what they're doing. They're benching him. Like the teammates feel they have a better chance to win the Jacoby Brissette and also everything else would suggest you go with Kyler Murray because he's not that old. Even if he's the kind of skill set that ages really poorly. Kyler is at one point was so talented, you bet on talent, you bet on number one picks. All these picks around the league are flourishing in second situations. But I think the fact that we have to even ask about his care like the leadership ability and whether teammates trust Kyler Murray is a deal breaker. And I'd rather actually roll the dice on 35, 36 year old Geno Smith then I just, I don't know. Maybe winning fixes all and if Kyler Murray came in, but the fact that he cannot play for the Arizona Cardinals is a huge red flag to me.

[Craig Korbeck]

I think, I think I'd go with Kyler over Gino Kyler.

[Dan Havitz]

I guess if it's close.

[Danny Kayleen]

It's close for me. It's close for me.

[Craig Korbeck]

I, as much as I don't like him or think he's a Super bowl capable quarterback, I think I don't know if he's on a good team with Steichen. I would probably bet on Steichen to figure that out and build something for him that works. And if the roster is good and they can put together a couple wins, I don't know the raw talent of Kyler using his legs. I think, I think I would go with that then 36 year old Gino.

[Dan Havitz]

That probably, that probably is the right move.

[Danny Kayleen]

It's probably what I would do if I really had to make the choice. But I feel like it's a siren song.

[Dan Havitz]

Yeah, you will win the. If you get Kyler to Minnesota, you'll win the off season and. But again, I know this sounds hypothetical. I do think the Cardinals will get rid of Kyler. Like they can't pay him $40 million to be the backup if they won't even have him be the backup on their active rosters right now.

[Craig Korbeck]

Well, the question is, is how much of his money are they going to have to eat and how low of a. Of a price tag are they going to offer to get rid of them?

[Dan Havitz]

There's a 17 million dollar bonus. I think Arizona eats just. You're right. So they get a day to pick or they probably a third Rounder or maybe it's a fourth with a swap to make it. You know, maybe they take a third and they swap site later to make it look like they got a better deal than they got. But yeah, I mean, because if you go through here, I think. Let's just say the jets are. Let's say the jets are Browns. One of them gets Mendoza. Let's say one of them trades for Mac Jones and let's say the Raiders get like.

Ty Simpson or something. Two. Two of those three teams draft someone. One trades for Mac.

[Craig Korbeck]

Yeah.

[Dan Havitz]

And then the Colts end up with Anthony Richardson's developmental guy, Jones. They resigned to $10 million or something. He rehabs and then. Yeah, maybe they get Kyler Murray and then the Gina. I think Joe Flacco makes sense. I think with a team that will draft a quarterback, like if you get Fernando Mendoza, you don't want to play a rookie quarterback immediately. I think Joe Flacco makes sense. Ironically to the jets or Browns, one of the teams that's playing, he's played for already. Like getting Flacco back to the jets in front of a rookie and they just sit here and watch Joe Flacco be a pro. That makes sense, right? Instead of having to play for the Colts or Vikings.

[Craig Korbeck]

Yeah. How many times. How many times has a guy been on. Been signed by a team? Well, is it possible that Flacco is on the same team three different times in his career? He's been on. He's been on Cleveland twice.

[Danny Kayleen]

Go look at Josh Johnson's career.

[Dan Havitz]

I was gonna say if you meant resigning with the same team. I was going to tell you about Philip Rivers, the crazy thing that just happened.

[Craig Korbeck]

Has Josh Johnson been on the same team three different times?

[Dan Havitz]

3 times is a lot.

[Danny Kayleen]

That's a good question, dude. Flacco was on the jets for three years from 2020 to 2022.

[Dan Havitz]

Yeah.

[Danny Kayleen]

I have no memory of that.

[Craig Korbeck]

I barely remember him on the Broncos. That doesn't really read to me.

[Danny Kayleen]

He was on the Broncos. Get that.

[Dan Havitz]

Oh, that was. Well, that was when he was the worst of his career was he couldn't beat out the Broncos. Look at the quarterback room. He couldn't. He lost. Who was the sixth round pick The Broncos ended up playing for like a year. A couple years. Oh, God.

[Craig Korbeck]

And they tried Paxton Lynch.

[Dan Havitz]

No, the guy who beat out Trevor Simeon beat out Paxton lynch and Joe Flacco. Joe Flacco had a beard. He looked really angry all the time.

[Craig Korbeck]

What's funny about that is Drew Locke.

[Danny Kayleen]

Had five starts in that season Dude.

[Craig Korbeck]

Joe Flacco was only 34 that Denver.

[Dan Havitz]

Year, and he was old and we thought he was done, which tells you something about football.

[Danny Kayleen]

He went 2 and 6, Drew Locke went 41 and Brandon Allen went 1 and 2 as a starter that year. I don't remember any of that.

[Craig Korbeck]

He was. Flacco was only 10 years younger than Philip Rivers right now when he was washed. When he was declared washed.

[Danny Kayleen]

That's what I'm saying.

44 is the new 34. Craig.

Do you feel that way, say 39?

[Craig Korbeck]

Do you. You just said you identified with Roger's quote, that sometimes you just wake up feeling good or bad when you're in your 40s.

[Danny Kayleen]

You don't know, man. Some days there's. Some days you don't feel sore. Some days you do.

[Craig Korbeck]

Yeah. And he plays football for a living. What do you do?

[Danny Kayleen]

I type a lot. You know, I talk. It's pretty much the same thing.

[Craig Korbeck]

Yeah.

[Dan Havitz]

You ever got paper cut on your index finger?

[Craig Korbeck]

Yeah.

[Dan Havitz]

Use your computer. Oh, my God.

[Danny Kayleen]

That's why. That's why I've got, you know, the insurance. If you get injured on the job, you know, if you break your finger, you can't type.

[Craig Korbeck]

What a. What a sad and depressing off season we have. It's the Mac Jones sweepstakes. Who's going to get Kyler, Murray Mendoza and Ty Sims? Like, what is this? This is.

[Dan Havitz]

It is 2027 draft. Is cucking the 2026 draft?

[Danny Kayleen]

Yeah, it's all anyone's going to always the next draft.

[Dan Havitz]

Like, no, but this one is so.

[Danny Kayleen]

Much better every year.

[Craig Korbeck]

DK is actually right, though. That's always the narrative. Well, the year after supposed to be insane because I believe they. Everyone said the 26 draft was going to be awesome because it was like Arch Manning and all these guys and now it's like actually none of them all. They're all gonna go back. Is Arch even good? Once you actually see these guys play things, opinions change.

[Dan Havitz]

Yeah. But sometimes they're right, though. Like sometimes.

[Danny Kayleen]

Like sometimes. And then sometimes they're wrong.

[Craig Korbeck]

That's true. That's the tricky part.

[Danny Kayleen]

This is like such a. This is so anecdotal. But I just always remember this like there was a moment in time. I very vividly remember people talking about Matt Barkley like he was going to be the number one pick in the.

[Dan Havitz]

The draft.

[Danny Kayleen]

And then. Can you tell me where Matt Barkley went in the draft? It was like sixth round or something.

[Dan Havitz]

That. Yeah, he had a tough run out. I will say though, I think you're right. That everybody at some point when they start getting into like the, they hit the cliff of a given position, they're like, oh, next year.

[Craig Korbeck]

It's an easy way to keep your job by being like, well, we just need to wait one more year because.

[Dan Havitz]

However class is better, however, dk well, the given hit rate of any individual player, even quote unquote unanimous players or generational players, the hit rate is like 2/3 instead of 50, 50. However, I do think when people going into a draft say that this position class is good, that's what usually correct. Like way more often than you think. When people are saying that the strength of this given class, the grouping, like when we say the quarterback class in 2024 is strong or the receiver or the, the receiver class of 2024 is.

[Craig Korbeck]

Strong, it's usually the depth that they're talking about.

[Dan Havitz]

Yeah, but that's usually right now it's hard to figure out which guys will be good. But generally speaking, I do actually think that we, that people do actually gauge correctly the depth of giving classes sometimes.

[Craig Korbeck]

No, I agree with that.

[Danny Kayleen]

I think you're right.

[Craig Korbeck]

Identifying like how many quote unquote, like S tier position group players there are at each draft, if it's deep, they're usually right about that. That being said, identifying this quarterback versus that quarterback, I feel like it's a true coin flip. I don't even think it's 2/3 hit rate for generational players. I feel like it's 1/3.

[Danny Kayleen]

50, 50.

[Dan Havitz]

It's, it's, it's, it's not high. I mean, and that even if you, do you want to even go into like outcome of just whether the player is good or do you want to go into like outcomes of careers? Because you could look at like 2012 with Andrew Luck and Griffin and it's like do you count RG3? Do you count Andrew Lucky played five seasons.

[Craig Korbeck]

I know. Yeah. I mean you kind of have to.

[Danny Kayleen]

Well, the other thing I was, what I was talking. What I was thinking about when you were saying usually they're right. When it's a really deep class or a great class. Like last year, last draft, 2025 draft was considered, I think by a lot of people the best running back class in a generation or in 20 years or something like that. Like, do you think that's real? Do you think that's the truth?

[Dan Havitz]

I think you do need a couple years to grade the grade A draft. I think it's harder for rookie running backs to get on, but like you're you're right. Like, it's been underwhelmed.

[Danny Kayleen]

Like, I've been very underwhelmed.

[Craig Korbeck]

The last look at the last 10 number one overall picks. Jadevion Clowney. Disappointment. Jameis Winston. Disappointment. Jared Goff. Good. Miles Garrett. Fantastic. Best case. Right. Baker Mayfield didn't work by the team that drafted him. Kyler Murray. Didn't work. Joe Burrow. Great. Trevor Lawrence, meet. Not, I would say, underwhelming. Trayvon Walker. Fine. He's come along late. Bryce Young. Underwhelming. Caleb Williams, tbd. Cam Ward, tbd. But, like, what are we, like, two guys? And we were like, absolutely. That was the right pick.

[Danny Kayleen]

It's wild.

[Craig Korbeck]

Miles Garrett and Joe Burrow.

[Dan Havitz]

And is the lit. I think the list is still. Is it still true? I think the only number one. Do you guys know the only number one pick in the 21st century that's won a Super Bowl?

[Craig Korbeck]

Eli?

[Dan Havitz]

Yes. Oh, you guys. Now Stafford has. But even that is. Is kind of the exception. Proves the rule.

[Danny Kayleen]

Stafford drafted him, though.

[Dan Havitz]

Yeah. He got traded for the team that he asked for a trade because they were so bad on the Lions that.

[Craig Korbeck]

Yeah.

[Dan Havitz]

Can I leave?

[Craig Korbeck]

A lot of guys have. Burrow's been. Goff has been. But.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Dan Havitz]

Yeah.

[Danny Kayleen]

So the draft is hard, guys.

[Dan Havitz]

Well, it's also the nature of the first pick is can you turn around the worst team in the NFL four years, which is almost always fucking. No. So, anyway, so all that is to say we have. We're going to go through the whole off season. DK is our draft expert here at the ringer, and we're going to go through free agency, offseason combine, draft and all that stuff. And so we're going deeper into that and all the players.

[Craig Korbeck]

DK loves the draft, man, this guy can't get enough of it.

[Danny Kayleen]

The.

[Dan Havitz]

Any other quarterbacks you guys want to talk about before we move on here?

[Danny Kayleen]

How did we forget about Davis Mills? He's starting somewhere. Yeah, the neck.

[Dan Havitz]

Big Neck.

[Danny Kayleen]

The Texans probably won't trade him because they kind of need him.

[Craig Korbeck]

Will Howard.

[Dan Havitz]

Yeah. Mills is under contract. That's why I left him off. It's like one of them, like D', Amico, Rollins, he went 3.

[Danny Kayleen]

0. Yeah. People like to talk about Tanner McKee because he's, like, just been nails in the preseason.

[Dan Havitz]

Can the Eagles trade Tanner since, you know. I don't know. I mean, he might need a. Jalen hurts. Jalen hurts.

[Craig Korbeck]

I think we've hit all the names we needed to hit.

[Danny Kayleen]

Okay.

[Dan Havitz]

Okay.

[Danny Kayleen]

All right, let's get Chris Ryan in here.

[Dan Havitz]

Let's get to Chris Ryan. I'm gonna ask Chris Ryan if he would trade Tanner McKee for Anthony Richardson's trade up. Who says no?

The Ringer Fantasy Football show is brought to you by FanDuel. Thursday Night Football continues to deliver and FanDuel's keeping the energy up with their $2 million Thursday football jackpot. Place in Anytime touchdown score bet using your profit boost and if your player scores the first or last touchdown of the game, you'll earn a share of $2 million in bonus bets. So head to FanDuel.com Ringer Fantasy to download the app and get started. FanDuel, an official sportsbook partner of the NFL, must be 21 plus and present in select states or 18 plus and present in D.C. kentucky or Wyoming. Opt in must apply Profit Boost token on select market prize pool to be split equally among all eligible participants who made the correct first or last TD pick Bonus issued as non withdrawable bonus bets which expire 21 days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See [e-mail] Gambling problem. Call 1-800- gambler or visit rg-help.com Call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org ChatInConnecticut this episode is brought to you by Ford Blue Cruise it's not just where you're going, it's how you get there. And Ford Blue Cruise Hands Free Highway Driving Technology helps make the journey more enjoyable. We took it for a test drive so we could experience the convenience for ourselves. So I tested the Ford Blue Cruise Hands Free Highway Driving Technology last month and it was amazing. I was blown away. Like we're just on the highway and you can just hit a blinker and it just changes lanes and you can set how many car lengths ahead you want the truck to be in front of or behind the car. Like how far you want it from the nearest car. It was amazing. I didn't realize we were there. I felt like I was living the future, so it was absolutely mind blowing. With Ford Blue Cruise you arrive at your destination ready to take on whatever comes your way. But don't just take our word for it. Experience the convenience from for yourself for BlueCruise Hands Free Highway Driving for Hands on Life available feature on BlueCruise equipped vehicles. BlueCruise requires a connected services plan and modem activation. Blue Cruise driver assist features can be activated in Hands Free Blue zones and do not replace safe driving and drivers need to control the vehicle. See Ford.com BlueCruise for more details on available plans and hands free models. All right. We are now joined by Chris Ryan here at the ringer and Chris Eagles fan, when did you realize Jalen hurts sucks?

[Chris Ryan]

Danny. Come on, dude.

[Dan Havitz]

Sorry, sorry. I misspoke. When did you realize Nick Sirianni was the most overrated coach in NFL history?

[Chris Ryan]

Good to see you.

[Craig Korbeck]

I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving.

[Chris Ryan]

You're going to have nice holidays. Don't ever talk to me again. No, but like, we're in a little bit of a dip, you know, and thank God no one else in this division is capable of threatening our supremacy over it. So otherwise, like, I would probably be a lot more worried about the postseason. I'm excited for the postseason because I think it will be the great purifying rain that needs to come down on this franchise and we'll figure out who's who and what's what after. After, like we get through the playoffs. I am at my wits end hyphas for. For real. The group chat. Civil war.

Raging. The Hertz camp, the Nick camp, the nobody camp. Is it Tanner time? It's just really. It's so weird to have this happen not only after a Super bowl, but to be right back where we were the previous year, where this, this kind of like it's just boom or bust and it's just this collapse or absolute glory and I don't really know how to. How to handle it. The last night was terrible. Last night sucked.

[Danny Kayleen]

Is.

[Craig Korbeck]

Is there a pro Jalen hurts contingency still? And if so, what is their case?

[Chris Ryan]

Andy really likes him as a person. That's the contingency contingent.

[Craig Korbeck]

Is.

[Chris Ryan]

Is I. I know people who think this guy in the biggest games plays his best football. He was better than Patrick Mahomes twice and that like you cannot go away from somebody. You wait your whole whole life to find a quarterback who takes you to two Super Bowls in three years and wins one of them. And so that's. You just got to stick by your dude and that maybe there's just a problem with Petullo, the offensive coordinator. Maybe it's Nick's system. Maybe there's stuff going on behind the scenes. Maybe AJ's a headache, but I don't know. I mean, I watched. I watched the game last night. Let me just take you through my weekend. We had Jim, I'm a Liverpool fan. They are absolutely detonating. The best player in the last, most recent era of Liverpool was just like, I'm done with this club. Did that publicly. Liverpool, I Think are like winless in five or six games. That was cool. Sunday night Sixers at home against the Lakers, lose to a LeBron HGH game. And then last night, three and a half hours of Eagles Chargers watching Justin Herbert continuously fall on his surgically repaired left hand and look more spry and mobile and obviously like a better passer than Jim Jalen hurts so tough couple of days.

[Danny Kayleen]

Can I, can I ask a question about Jalen Hurts and the people that are both pro or con for Jalen Hurts? What do you in particular think of the fact that he legitimately never shows any emotion? My buddy sent me a video yesterday. So there was the Monsters Inc. Version of the broadcast last night. That was how it sounds like they converted the game into a Monsters Inc. World. And there was all these like interstitials that the league put out. It was all geared towards children, young, impressionable, just want to live their lives and have fun children. And one of the questions was, did you believe in monsters when you were a kid? And like all these other players were like, yeah, I was like afraid of the dark, I was afraid of shadows, blah blah, blah, blah blah, like telling all these funny stories. And Jalen Hurts goes, no, I wasn't afraid of monsters.

[Chris Ryan]

I unsubscribe from Jalen's news.

This was like, when he's winning, what do they. What's the line in Bull Durham where he is like, when you get to the majors, you can let fungus grow on your shower shoes and people will think you're idiosyncratic or something like that, but until then, you're a slob. It's like when Jalen's kill kicking ass and winning. His Yoda thing is like really funny and cool. And when we're losing, it's maddening.

[Danny Kayleen]

That's where I was last year.

[Chris Ryan]

That was a under kind of report reported. Part of the lead up to the Chargers game was some Saquon stuff about like how bad the vibes are on the sideline and how he's like in the meetings and in the practice, we're like really supportive and really animated and we suck on the sidelines. Like we. Yeah, and I just think that's a top down thing. Like I don't like the fact that he is never walking around firing people up. Now if you watch the mic'd up, you see there are more moments that they don't show on the broadcast. He's in, he's taking responsibility, he's firing people up. He's saying like, hey, we got to do this we gotta do that. But when you're just like watching the broadcast and he is staring into space, it's really tough, man.

[Danny Kayleen]

I'm like, after his fourth pick to end the game, it zoomed in on his face.

[Chris Ryan]

He's just like, just look at your tablet. Like, pretend like you're studying something. Pretend like you're like, oh, I met. I missed that.

[Danny Kayleen]

Yeah, just performative.

[Craig Korbeck]

I don't care.

[Danny Kayleen]

Do something performative. Yeah.

[Dan Havitz]

The Eagles are so strange because on one hand you're built to play with the lead, like as a team, obviously the offensive line when it's at full strength, obviously Lane Johnson being outs hurt. But like when you're full offensive line, the Saquon, the running game, the tush pusher built to play with the lead. But there's also a strange element of the Eagles where there's almost like, emotionally the Eagles are built to dominate when they have the lead and winning, but they're not built to deal with adversity. Like, Nick Sirianni is an amazing head coach and they all love this guy when they're winning, but seems unable to galvanize or fix when things are not going well. Jalen hurts is not. Like, there's a strange element here of they pull together faster when they're losing than other teams and they stick together stronger than other teams when they're winning.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, I'm. I think that, that there's like, the nature of these. These seasons has not been beneficial to like, my mental health or like, being able to fairly evaluate the team because the last two, the. The two kind of. Let's call what's happening now like more or less a collapse. And the previous one, two years ago, both came after a relatively successful beginning of the season. And so while if you're watching the games, I don't think anybody was like, that Eagles team is the super bowl favorite. And I'd pick them over any team anywhere they still had the wins. Like, they still had the record to support it. And then this. So to watch them kind of like careen off the road like this, it's a different kind of like, it's. You're asking something different from Sirianni that I think you do from like Ben Johnson who's like, I'm piecing together like they're learning my system. We're, you know, we're 500. We win some, we lose some, and then all of a sudden we go on a run, you know, and we look like we can play anybody. That's like a much more manageable and understandable, like, arc of a season. This makes it seem like there is something wrong. This makes it seem like you guys don't like each other or you're not listening to Nick, or Jalen's like, bailing out of plays, or he's not calling like, half the playbook, or Sirianni just thinks if we don't lose the turnover battle, we'll win the game. And that's all I care about. And, you know, you just see things and you just get to the limits of what reporting can tell you. So, like, one of the things that's been driving Eagles fans. Sorry for just ranting, but one of the things that's been driving Eagles fans really crazy this year is we routinely just snap the ball with 1 second left on the play clock. It just seems to take forever to get the play in, get the play called, get Jalen's protection set up. We're always snapping on one second. There is no momentum to this offense whatsoever. There is no rhythm. But when you think about the up and coming dominant versions of these, of these Hertz Eagles teams, it's all rhythm. It's all buzzsaw, run, buzzsaw, run, big play. Because everybody's keying on the run. And we just have none of that this season. And it's. It's just really hard to watch. The thing that's saving it for me is the defense.

[Craig Korbeck]

Can we talk about AJ Brown for a second? I think he's the most discussed player of the ringer fantasy football show this year. He's. He's been in and out of the burn book every other week. Do you, like, where are you at with him from an effort standpoint? Because he's had three straight 100 yard games. They've lost every one of those. Yeah. And yet there are moments where he still looks like the most dominant receiver in the league. There was a couple of plays last night. He caught like two balls in a row. He was like banging his chest. You're like, this guy can still dominate any cornerback. And then like half a quarter later, he's like bailing on. On deep shots that looks like he could have caught.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah. And he also. There was a. Over the. A play over the middle that like, was in his hands.

[Craig Korbeck]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

And that you can see in the replay. He's like, clearly seeing a safety coming at him for sure. And kind of like just. And that happens. It's a real bummer that his comments after the game last night, we're like, that's not all on Jalen. We gotta help him out. Like, that's a ball I can catch. Blah, blah, blah. It's like, yeah, because they were spamming you, dude. Like this, this really is as simple as, like if you get targeted a bunch and you get your catches and you get your numbers, you kind of like, it didn't matter that we lost in an absolutely ridiculous fashion to the Chargers in a game that we definitely should have won against a one handed quarterback. And when we've won and he had three targets, it was all, all he talk about was like, oh, they, you know, like, here's my Instagram post about, like when you don't look at the fish that swims by you, he swims into the ocean and it's like, come on, man. Like, this is pretty obviously what's, it's pretty obvious what's going on here.

[Dan Havitz]

I, it's funny because I feel like I do get this team in a way because I remind, in some way they remind me of when the Giants won the Super Bowl. No one wanted to admit Eli Manning was good.

[Danny Kayleen]

Good.

[Dan Havitz]

So I understand as Eagles fans who are really mad that Jalen Hurts. People don't admit that he's good or whatever. They're like, what do you mean? He won the mvp. Like super mvp.

[Craig Korbeck]

But no, it's different though. Everything Eli did in those two super bowl runs was like pure, raw Eli. It was like Eli was like the guy slipping out of sacks and making these incredible throws that were on the money. The man in camp, like, that was all Eli, raw talent. I feel like Jalen Hurts is the opposite where he looks very good and, and all that stuff. But a lot of the, the bad plays are like directly on Jalen Hurts. Like he cannot throw out of the pocket. He can't throw on the move. His athleticism seems to have gone away. His arm doesn't work. Like to me, Eli was always like when Eli was going nuts and on these crazy runs and people tried to argue Eli's not actually good. When you watch those runs, Eli looks good. I don't think Jalen Hurts has looked good.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, he's gone basically like he, I mean, something has happened since the second Giants game, you know, like there it's, it's basically been a solid month of.

[Dan Havitz]

Him looking quite poor, which they, they lost the second, the first Giants game they lost because he threw a pick and then they came back in the second game. I will say, I will say this to be devil's advocate in the true sense of the term, because I'm on record as I think Phil is Philadelphia's just Sodom and Gomorrah. But to be devil's advocate when the Eagles offensive line is healthier next year and Lane Johnson's back, to be honest, I just think the issue is Nick Sirianni is a baseball manager, he's not a football coach.

[Craig Korbeck]

Well, when they get their new coordinator next year that Sirianni doesn't hire, that Roseman hires.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, I mean, when I was, I was having this conversation today where I was just like, if they collapse again, if they fully, like they, they win like one more game this regular season or something like that, I. I just basically think it's like super bowl or out for Nick because I just don't know how many times you can go back and forth. Look, they're a really good team. They've been historically a really good team over the last couple years. So your coordinators are going to get rated. If they have a good coordinator, he'll become a head coach. If they have bad coordinator, they'll fire him. Every time we do that, it's another time. Jalen Hurts has to start over with another oc. This is the plague of not having the place play caller as your head coach who's just like, it's. And, and the worst part about it is that Sirianni isn't like Harbaugh. So he's not like, I'm open philosophically to whoever like bring in, you know, Greg Roman or Todd Monkin or this person or, you know, adjusting to how like the personality. He's like, no, I have an offensive system that is proven to work if it's run correctly. It just needs to be run with an all time generational offensive line that we had, you know, and that we don't have right now.

Bring Becton back, brother.

[Dan Havitz]

Come on.

Yeah, you just have like first round tackles as your right guard and like suddenly it's super easy.

[Craig Korbeck]

I feel like speaking of making playoffs, we should pivot here to fantasy Ringer Fantasy league.

[Chris Ryan]

And I'm glad, you know, there's a good segue here because a lot of Philadelphia fans didn't have AJ Brown's back.

[Craig Korbeck]

This year, unlike you who had him started him every week in the ringer Fantasy league. And look, he honestly brought you to the playoffs.

[Chris Ryan]

I actually did bench him. You know, I did bench him for a couple weeks. Like I was a. I think there was a buy somewhere. And then I also was like, let me give him a week to think about it and week to think about the culture that we've built here at Brick House Tate. And think about the principles that I instill. I've been watching a lot of opening press conferences from the college football hires. I'm thinking about putting together like a kind of acronym for what we believe in over Brickhouse Tate, like CRP or something like that.

[Craig Korbeck]

I mean, you're really the Sirianni of this team because you didn't, you didn't bring in the coordinators. That was all Tate. Tate did all that for you.

[Dan Havitz]

Yeah.

[Craig Korbeck]

And then next year when you have to draft your own team, that's really when we're going to see what you're made of.

[Dan Havitz]

We'll see.

[Craig Korbeck]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

I mean, I think I've learned some lessons since here, but I've, I've had time to develop my own schemes and so maybe there will be some personality changes this year. One thing I'll say is just I never spent any waiver money and I never made any trades. I believed in my guys.

[Craig Korbeck]

You didn't spend any drafting development.

[Chris Ryan]

So let's, let's talk about the reason why I'm on this podcast which is one of the great pickups of the fantasy season. Was Drake made by last week. I'm playing Bill and I decide to go and pick up Shadur before this Titans game.

[Danny Kayleen]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

And start him along with Goff. And, and I always knew, I always believed it was just a matter of Stefanski believing. And it paid off in huge dividends. 350 yards. I smoked Bill.

And look, it's just, it's just about your fuel for a guy like, you don't have to look at the numbers, you don't have to look at the tape.

[Danny Kayleen]

Right.

[Chris Ryan]

It's just like I think this guy is ready to perform for me. And he did.

[Danny Kayleen]

He shoots from the hip.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Danny Kayleen]

Right there.

[Craig Korbeck]

Do you have a general review of the fantasy? When's the last time you played fantasy football?

[Chris Ryan]

Several years ago, I think.

[Craig Korbeck]

Yeah. How, how's this the year back been? How's the ringer? What was your experience like this year?

[Chris Ryan]

I think it was like a long running television show that I would check in intermittently. It's like Abbott Elementary. I would come in for a couple weeks, maybe I'd be like, oh, I missed a couple weeks.

[Danny Kayleen]

Have a few laughs.

[Craig Korbeck]

That show, one Emmy, so I'll take that. Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

And you know, I just think I, I like, like you said, I didn't get a chance to draft my team. So it's been a process of getting to know these guys, of getting close to Drake, of getting you Know like. Like believing in Jameer Gibbs where nobody else did.

[Dan Havitz]

Right.

[Craig Korbeck]

I gotta say, shout out to T.

[Dan Havitz]

He did a great job.

[Danny Kayleen]

The most. The most made fun of pick was the Drake May pick. And he's been really good.

[Dan Havitz]

And he kept Tate did the Lord's work because he also kept Drake May from going to Bill. And so not. So Tate kind of started that and then you. Not you finished it by knocking Bill out of the playoffs at the last.

[Chris Ryan]

And I refused. You guys really wired away after the third week.

[Craig Korbeck]

Oh, did he try to trade for him?

[Dan Havitz]

Yeah, that was the hell it was.

[Chris Ryan]

But it was not. It was the. Not only through the Yahoo platform trade offer but then frankly inappropriate cold heart cast personal text message from Bill being like, can we do something here?

[Craig Korbeck]

He's like, hey, we'll do Sicario next week.

[Chris Ryan]

And I think I actually said like let me think about it. And he was like, what's there to think about? And I was like, this conversation's over.

And he's been like pretty nice to me. But not as nice as he's capable.

[Craig Korbeck]

I know. I mean he's out. I mean you just bounced him from the playoffs.

[Dan Havitz]

He bounced him for the playoffs. So that we have to talk about that. So Chris, you made the playoffs. So DK and I have the first run by. You're going to be playing Sal. Yeah, you're playing Sal in the playoffs. And then House is going to be playing Mal. Though more importantly though, the losers bracket is going to be. The people didn't make it. Craig, Bill, Van and Sean. And so one Bill tried to weasel out a last place bracket this morning by saying that I thought it was the regular season standings when it's. You haven't played in years. Obviously the toilet bowl bracket is the last place.

[Craig Korbeck]

What I learned I was. I was talking with Sean and Chris the other day and what I learned high Fitz is that that you're right and the receipts are there from August talking about what the rules are for the league. It turns out nobody read those text messages.

[Chris Ryan]

It was news to me when Craig was like, you're making the playoffs.

[Dan Havitz]

That's one of them. Like, oh, happy for you. Or I'm sorry, I ain't reading.

[Chris Ryan]

Bill should pull a Notre Dame though. He should be like, I'm not subjecting my guys to an extra week of football when there's nothing in it for us.

[Danny Kayleen]

You know, that's actually good ratings.

[Craig Korbeck]

You guys. Sean or Chris, you and Sean complained to me about these playoffs rules which are a little bit odd on the Surface. But when you explain them, I believe they make sense. Where we have the top four seeds make the playoffs and then the two wild cards essentially are of the remaining six teams that aren't among the top four seeds. The best two, the highest. The two highest scoring teams of the remaining six get to make the playoffs, which to me and to all of us, ensures that the best six teams actually make it. And I have to imagine now that you've slipped in, you've kind of changed your tune. Because I would be in the playoffs.

[Dan Havitz]

If not for that reason. That's not true. It didn't matter at all. It was. Everyone has the same record. It's literally 5, 6, 7, 8, all finished 6 and 8. So Chris got in a tiebreaker. It actually completely was the same no matter what standing.

[Craig Korbeck]

Oh, that's right. If Vlad McConkey had scored five points last night, that would have changed.

[Chris Ryan]

But yeah, because I had Dicker and the Chargers defense last night, which complicated my viewing slightly.

I was just like, just a bit.

[Danny Kayleen]

I was like, like.

[Chris Ryan]

I was like, just.

[Craig Korbeck]

You're like, how long's this kick? 55. That's five points.

[Dan Havitz]

I do think that is the weirdest part of fantasy is I always felt like my real life team superseded fantasy and I haven't known how to unstick it with like, the Giants are so bad that I'd rather my fantasy team win, but I do. Even when teams are competitive, I actually kind of sometimes want my players going against the Giants to do well. Like, it actually complicates my real life. Rooting more than I ever would have thought.

[Danny Kayleen]

Just want a high scoring game.

[Dan Havitz]

Chris, here's the real. Here's the real important question we have for you, though. Losers bracket. So if Craig comes at last, he has to. You're going to do. I don't know if we're going to do no caffeine or matcha for Craig for a week or he has to drink straight coffee because he hates coffee. We'll figure that out. The real question is if Sean Fantasy comes in last place, we have to have him wear a headband on a pod and he cannot address it. And I want to know if you have any thoughts of what kind of headband Sean should wear on a podcast.

[Craig Korbeck]

And is it reasonable to demand that he wears the headband in a director interview show?

[Dan Havitz]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

Oh, yeah. So like he has to wear like a headband that says Paramount while he interviews, like, Chloe Zhao.

[Craig Korbeck]

Yeah.

No David Ellison branded headband David Ellison.

[Chris Ryan]

Or like the traditional red, like handkerchief bandana Thing across his leg. I wore that in one of our old ringer videos, and it just. You can't help but feel like Dennis Opera when you. You're doing it. I think it would change his podcasting style.

[Dan Havitz]

Like Prison Mike in the office.

[Danny Kayleen]

He would have, like, a new personality.

[Craig Korbeck]

Yeah. Would you rather see that or Bill have to wear a jersey of the winner's choosing on a pod?

[Danny Kayleen]

What jersey?

[Dan Havitz]

Sal keeps threatening a Pat McAfee jersey.

[Craig Korbeck]

I've heard even worse, which I won't reveal, but I've heard something that's worse than that.

[Danny Kayleen]

Really? Better. Craig? Better, I guess better.

[Craig Korbeck]

I actually. Sal has an idea that I actually don't think Bill would do. Bill would opt out.

[Danny Kayleen]

That's where he would pull the notary.

[Craig Korbeck]

All of us to be like, I'm not doing that. Yeah.

I think I.

[Chris Ryan]

What I want is for. To humiliate Bill. So that.

[Danny Kayleen]

That is.

[Chris Ryan]

That's Sean wearing a bandana.

[Craig Korbeck]

It's kind of like I would just.

[Chris Ryan]

Feel bad and, like, especially if he was interviewing somebody really, really, like, serious. The Bill thing is. Is endlessly hilarious.

[Dan Havitz]

Craig, you're gonna have to do the Lord's work. You're playing Bill this week in the. In the toilet in the. In the first week.

[Craig Korbeck]

I know that's right. Maybe we need to collude. Trade me some of your good bench players so I can beat Bill this week.

[Chris Ryan]

Do you guys know. Did I ever tell you guys the story about the time on the watch that I. I forgot to put on my nicotine patch in the morning?

So I've been using nicotine since I was, like, 20, so for like, the better part of 30 years. And I've gone from gum to. For a while, I was. I mean, after cigarettes, but I went from gum, and I was wearing the patch for a while. So you just have to remember to slap it on when you wake up, and then you just don't think about it for the rest of the day. But for some reason, one time I forgot, and it was probably the longest I had gone without nicotine for most of my adult life. And like, Midway through a 2pm watch recording, I was kind of like, to Andy, I was like, do you ever stop talking?

[Craig Korbeck]

Almost started crying.

[Chris Ryan]

So I just really like the idea of Craig on matcha three times in a week where it's already contentious enough.

[Craig Korbeck]

I was gonna say we already have, like, that moment once a week, sobbing.

[Dan Havitz]

And being like, I don't want to do this.

[Danny Kayleen]

That's really funny.

[Dan Havitz]

Craig's gonna be doing the rewatchables Bill's gonna be like, what'd you think of this movie? And Craig's gonna be like, I don't know. It's 20 years before I was born.

[Craig Korbeck]

I don't have a flex category on the Legend of Billie Jean. I don't even have to be.

[Dan Havitz]

Oh, my God, man, that is amazing.

[Chris Ryan]

You guys happy with. Oh, okay. So let me just. To just get the expert opinion, and with the exception of hype, it's relatively unbiased. Do you think this is flatline for Eagles or is there a. Is there a bounce back somewhere in here this season?

[Danny Kayleen]

Yeah.

[Craig Korbeck]

No, I don't think. I think, like, if you consider a bounce back one playoff win, then maybe, but I think that's as far as this team goes. I think the offensive line and the inability to run the ball, I mean, even last night, you look at Saquon stat line and it looks good, but it was because of the fake. Push, push, 60 yard touchdown. Outside of that, they still couldn't run the ball. And I still just think the line issues and the inability to run is the whole reason why the wheels have fallen off. So I kind of don't think it's as possible.

[Danny Kayleen]

Yeah, I mean, I would agree. I think it just depends on what you say a bounce back was. They're playing the Raiders this week, so Jalen Hurst is probably gonna look better and that will be a bounce back and the vibes will improve. But I don't. I don't see this team as like a Super bowl team again.

[Craig Korbeck]

What do you think? How many passes is Jalen Hurts gonna throw against the Raiders? Like, over. Under, like 17 and a half?

[Dan Havitz]

14.

[Chris Ryan]

I. I mean, you see. I mean, I. You guys wouldn't have seen it, but the Philadelphia Inquirer ran a column to today being like, is it Tanner time?

[Danny Kayleen]

Yes.

[Dan Havitz]

I mean, that's. That's incredible. I think. Has Tanner ever missed question this season? I think you're cooked. I think the Eagles are fine next year. I do think the front office hires you better offensive coordinator and Sirianni cannot run the offense. And Sirianni frankly, shouldn't be involved a ton in running the actual offense. But every year that Howie Roseman has hired the offensive coordinator, you guys have been unbelievable. So I think next year you'll be fine. I think the Eagles of the Legion of Boom reincarnated, right down to how Jalen Hurts plays and how all the rest of the team feels about Jalen Hurts, I think that you guys are the Legion of Boom minus the super bowl losing thing that implodes the team. And I. I think that, yeah, as long as Nick Sirion is not running the offense, he'll be fine.

[Craig Korbeck]

And I think A.J. brown's on the team next year.

[Chris Ryan]

I doubt it. I doubt it because I think that would also be like, you know, this is. Maybe he is entering his Stefan Diggs era, where it's just, like, I can be somewhere for a couple of years, but, like, ultimately, I burn out people around me, and I do wonder whether or not.

Like, you just have to make a decision that you're just gonna kind of, like, soft reboot this team. Like, I think Roseman needs to draft some offensive linemen. I think. I think it's just like, you know, you're. You're probably, like, looking at, like, the back end of Saquon's prime right now, so I think there needs to be some retooling. The only thing that gives me hope for this year is I'm just, like, not blown away way by any football team.

[Danny Kayleen]

Right?

[Chris Ryan]

Like, no football team in either conference is really, like, running away with it and is like, oh, there's no way we're gonna beat the Lions or the Pack. I'm like, we can beat anybody, any of these teams. So it could be like one of those weird, like, Ravens years where we're like, yeah, you didn't think we even made the playoffs and look at where we are now, you know?

[Danny Kayleen]

Right.

[Chris Ryan]

But that's, like, that's. That's hanging on to some. Some real. Some real copium right there.

[Dan Havitz]

It used to happen more. The both Giants years, it was weird. The Ravens year, it was weird. And the Saints year, it was weird. You know, it doesn't happen a lot. And then it's like, happens four times in seven years. So it does happen. But, yeah. Okay. Chris, thank you for coming on.

[Chris Ryan]

Thanks for having me on. Thanks for. And thanks for supporting my fantasy football management style. You know, I. I know that some more hostile leagues might be like, chris, wake up. It's time to make your. Make your picks here.

[Dan Havitz]

But we. We trust the process here at the Ringer Fantasy football show.

[Craig Korbeck]

Yeah.

[Danny Kayleen]

All right. Good luck.

[Craig Korbeck]

Good luck. These playoffs. I don't know who I want to win. I don't want High, Fitz or DK to win. So I guess I am rooting for Chris.

[Dan Havitz]

Why don't you want us to win?

[Danny Kayleen]

Wouldn't it look good for your podcast?

[Craig Korbeck]

No, I don't. Fuck that.

[Dan Havitz]

You're already off the macho. Like, one day he's like, already wants us to lose.

[Craig Korbeck]

Geez, I want High Fitz's team to crash and burn. I don't know if I can deal with him gloating the entire offseason. Can't do that.

[Dan Havitz]

Thank you, Chris.

[Chris Ryan]

Thanks for having me, guys.

[Dan Havitz]

This episode is brought to you by McAfee. Game days can be hectic, which is why having McAfee watching your back just makes sense. From checking stadium bag policies to scouting player stats, to safe browsing alerts you to risky or unsafe sites faster than a ref throws a flag. Visit mcafee.com online protection today to get award winning online protection for just 39, 99 your first year. Cancel anytime terms apply. The world of Avatar will Change Forever on December 19th. Discover why Avatar, Fire and Ash is being hailed as bigger but better and more emotional than ever. And the best one yet. Avatar, Fire and ash in theaters, IMAX and 3D screens everywhere. December 19th. Get tickets now. All right, Fantasy Court. Time for Fantasy Court, baby. Quarters in session.

[Danny Kayleen]

Definitely. Don't tell anyone about this thing that you're doing.

[Dan Havitz]

I don't really want to be handcuffed.

[Craig Korbeck]

The definition of an object is a material thing that can be seen and touched.

[Danny Kayleen]

Craig, when you're reading that, when you watch the video, you're like, hm, I don't know what that means.

[Craig Korbeck]

I kind of like twist my head at the end, like, consider that.

[Dan Havitz]

So this court, this court case is from Tim from Ireland.

[Danny Kayleen]

Oh, T Bone.

[Dan Havitz]

T Bone. I don't know if we had jurisdiction, but Tim writes, so his breakfast is mixed berry and yogurt smoothie with an English muffin and butter.

[Danny Kayleen]

Well, we're like the Hague.

[Chris Ryan]

We can.

[Danny Kayleen]

We can do all kinds of international stuff, right?

[Dan Havitz]

And our. Our power is mostly symbolic as well.

Also, Irish butter is incredible. Anyway, so this is a perfect fantasy court. I put this in. I. I read this before the Monday Night Football and it's aged hilariously. Tim's case, which I will truncate. Tim basically writes, I cannot qualify for the playoffs anymore. However, I can bench Jalen Hurts before Monday Night Football, which would throw at my match, and essentially keep this guy I hate out of the playoffs. And he beat me. He eliminated. It's like this guy joined their league four years ago. This guy won the league three of the last four years, and it's eliminated this guy. Tim every season has been eliminated by this guy. And he's like, if I bench Jalen Hurts, I can keep this guy out of the playoffs. And I keep this fantasy court because I think, one, is that allowed? And two, how funny is it that Jalen hurts, basically didn't matter if he played or not in this guy's lineup. I think that's really funny.

[Danny Kayleen]

0.4.

[Dan Havitz]

Yeah. Jalen hurts in his 1 point, which obviously didn't make a difference. However, I wanted to ask you guys about generally.

Yeah. Just. Is it. Is it in the. Is it. I mean, it's not collusion or anything, but basically, if it's like, it's your last shot, you're like, I have no agency left. Can I bench a guy going to Monday Night Football? And it keeps up. Can you decide a playoff spot and just be like, it?

[Craig Korbeck]

No.

[Dan Havitz]

It's pretty funny, though.

[Danny Kayleen]

It is funny.

[Dan Havitz]

Pretty funny because.

[Craig Korbeck]

Because this guy. Because this guy had no shot of making the playoffs anyway.

[Dan Havitz]

He was eliminated. He had been a whole convoluted, but he was eliminated earlier in the day on Sunday. So he was like, the only thing he has left is, do I play Hertz?

[Craig Korbeck]

Here's what I'll say. Can you bench him and start no one in his place? No. However, if you had a different quarterback on your roster, could you have played that guy over Hertz?

[Dan Havitz]

It's that freelance. And cut hurts. Like, come on.

[Danny Kayleen]

No, not training. No.

[Craig Korbeck]

You have to play somebody who's starting.

[Danny Kayleen]

Right.

[Dan Havitz]

Okay. But it's Monday football, so that wasn't an option for him.

[Craig Korbeck]

Well, if you prepared an adv. Yeah.

[Danny Kayleen]

What if he had another quarterback on his roster?

[Dan Havitz]

I'm telling you, he did not. Because.

[Danny Kayleen]

Okay.

[Craig Korbeck]

And you have to in good faith start, because that's just straight up. Like, it's not collusion, but it's just.

[Dan Havitz]

You know, it's funny, though, Deliberately.

[Danny Kayleen]

Yeah.

[Craig Korbeck]

Sabotage.

[Dan Havitz]

Yeah. Can you deliberately sabotage your friends? That's exactly what I'm asking you. No, it's the real cool DK's. Like, some things should be cool. Like, so it counts. It's like, some things are funny enough that it's.

[Craig Korbeck]

I don't think you can do that. I don't think so.

[Danny Kayleen]

All right.

[Craig Korbeck]

Funny, but you can't do it.

[Danny Kayleen]

Okay, but the question is, did. Did he start him number one? And did scoring point, four points knock his buddy?

[Dan Havitz]

He said, I'm benching him, but we'll go with your decision. And what's funny is it doesn't matter.

[Craig Korbeck]

Right.

[Dan Havitz]

There's no way.

[Craig Korbeck]

He still didn't make the playoffs.

[Danny Kayleen]

So he knocked the guy out.

[Craig Korbeck]

That's great, because he was probably, like, down 8 or something and he's like, oh, Jalen Hurst is probably going to score more than eight.

[Dan Havitz]

Yeah. We got so Many emails about shout out to. I mean, Josiah and Becca and Matthew and actually another Rebecca, which is weird. There were two different Rebecca's who just had. Everyone has their story of the so weird. My favorite of which is someone had Hertz and Jake Elliott just needing to outscore Cameron Dicker and actually very briefly did. And then Jalen Hurts threw a pick and then came and then undid it. But there's just so many stories of Jalen Hurts, his last pick at the end costing people, which I find hilarious.

[Danny Kayleen]

Brutal. So just a brutal night of fantasy.

[Dan Havitz]

Incredible. Okay.

[Danny Kayleen]

Or great if you were on the winning end of it.

[Dan Havitz]

That's all we. Yeah. Oh, a lot of people happy too.

[Danny Kayleen]

All right.

[Dan Havitz]

That's all we got for fantasy Court because I. There was actually more stories like that someone had lad McConkey. They're like, do I bench lad McConkey? And you know, and yeah, you know what, DK?

[Craig Korbeck]

We didn't actually hit on that yesterday. I've kind of been pissed at lad McConkey all season and you've been a defender of him. He ruined my life last night.

[Dan Havitz]

Was it him or was it, was it just like, you know, the, the Chargers losing another tackle.

[Danny Kayleen]

He had like a 75 pressure rate.

[Craig Korbeck]

I mean, McConkey was targeted a lot and never had a shot to catch the ball. Not because the throw was bad, but he was just like never in position and blanketed cooperation was all over his ass.

[Dan Havitz]

Will Compton has made all those jokes about, you know, if we had to field like a white football team, who would the players be? And I got to tell you, Cooper De Jean and lad McConkey. That was quite the showing for the white team. You know what I mean?

[Craig Korbeck]

I don't know if I'm picking lad McConkey.

[Dan Havitz]

Stop. Dude, Cooper de Jean's just awesome.

[Craig Korbeck]

Okay, well, lad couldn't do a damn thing.

[Dan Havitz]

Okay, you want to do a couple emails and get out of here?

[Danny Kayleen]

I'm sorry for defending Lad this year.

[Dan Havitz]

Oh, Craig, take it back. You actually mean this, don't you? You love Lad. Who are you?

[Craig Korbeck]

I, I, I thought I liked Lad and now I'm like, maybe he is just a mediocre slot receiver.

[Danny Kayleen]

I don't know.

[Dan Havitz]

Chris nailed this. He's going to be a nightmare without the matcha. He's gonna be a nightmare without the matcha. I'm telling it right now. He's turning on lad McConkey. He'll turn on me in two seconds.

[Craig Korbeck]

I don't know now if Keenan Allen's gone next year. I'M sure ladder is going to be a great buy low and it'll all work out and I have to get over it. It's bit little a little bit like Jaylen Waddle where we need to do.

[Dan Havitz]

A tattoo of don't overreact when when Joe Al and Slater are back it's you're going to be selling oh yeah.

[Craig Korbeck]

I'm already writing down that I think Herbert is going to be like the single best quarterback you could draft in 2020.

[Danny Kayleen]

It's going to be something it's always something with the Chargers at least something else next year.

[Dan Havitz]

That's the wiser answer. That's that's that's a man who's lived the life that's.

One email I wanted to read here I thought was so funny was this is from Matthew M. Bone Matt Matt says so I I told a story about when I was playing high school football and the referee didn't our running back ran into the end zone score touchdown. The ref ruled that it wasn't a touchdown because the guy the ball didn't cross the pylon correctly. So Matthew wrote high Fitz, your high school football referee story resonated with me so much it actually dredged up a memory I had forgotten for decades. And Matthew writes in middle school flag football 20 years ago I was playing linebacker and the quarter ends and the referee knowing the teams switch sides between each quarter but not knowing the full rule just switched our teams. He just flipped the sides of the ball like he just flipped what side of the ball we're on. So the opposing team who had not been able to get any yards went from their own 15 yard line to now at our 15 yard line because the ref didn't know to walk the ball down to the other end of the field. So he just had them switch sides and he put them at the 15 yard line and I'm 13 and I'm screaming at the ref but this ref was 17 insists that he was correct and then the team scored.

[Craig Korbeck]

He's like it's too much work. Why don't I just we'll just be.

[Dan Havitz]

Walking on over there go all the way down. I thought that was amazing.

[Craig Korbeck]

I've never heard of it before.

[Danny Kayleen]

Kind of brilliant. I love that.

[Dan Havitz]

I want more stories like that email stories of referees just doing their best but also kind of terrible because I think the worst level of like the parents at little league who are chirping referees for their 8 year old kids because the refs are like 14 and I'm like can you calm down screaming, it's a 14 year old ump. However, sometimes those 14 year old lumps pretty, pretty bad strikes are not very good.

[Craig Korbeck]

Could you see yourself kind of heckling 14 year old ump in a little league game in a couple years? No, no, you say that now. You say that now. When Calvin goes down swinging. Come on, Blue.

[Dan Havitz]

That is Jackie's favorite thing. When we're at, we're at a game, she's like, who's paying you, ref?

[Craig Korbeck]

Calvin goes down looking in the ninth, you're going to freak out.

[Dan Havitz]

That's bullshit. Blue, pull your head out of your ass. So good.

[Danny Kayleen]

16 year old kid.

[Craig Korbeck]

Yeah. Just he didn't pay like $25 to do this.

[Dan Havitz]

Speaking of baseball and paying people, before we went on, we, the Dodgers just signed Edwin Diaz, the closer to $69 million and Craig, who decided in the middle of the playoffs this year to be a Dodgers fan. I think the funniest thing ever is Craig being like digesting MLB news as a, as a new Dodgers fan. Yeah, he's like, oh, this is the best.

[Craig Korbeck]

I'm like, oh, this is great. Wait, I think he's like the best altar in the league. Right? That's cool. Sweet.

[Danny Kayleen]

Why didn't your team do that?

[Craig Korbeck]

Is 69 million a lot? Whatever.

[Danny Kayleen]

Baseball, whatever. It's chump change.

[Craig Korbeck]

Does your guys pitcher also hit 50 home runs or is that just us? This is really fun.

[Danny Kayleen]

This is way better than pitcher also hit. How many bases did he still. Did he steal a lot of bases too? How come your guys didn't do that?

[Craig Korbeck]

This is way more fun than my team playing in AAA stadium. I'm having fun. This is cool.

[Danny Kayleen]

Craig, it's not your team anymore.

[Craig Korbeck]

Anyway. Yeah, Edwin Diaz. Let's do it. Why not?

[Danny Kayleen]

Sure.

[Craig Korbeck]

Keep adding more people, baby. Dodgers, a salary cap.

[Danny Kayleen]

I think Edwin Diaz, wasn't he a Mariner at one point?

[Dan Havitz]

Yeah. You traded Jared Kalanick or you got the Mariners got Jared killing for Edwin Diaz.

[Danny Kayleen]

How did that work out?

[Dan Havitz]

Diaz was better, but then he broke his leg celebrating the World Baseball Classic. Like literally just one of them jumping up and down. Broke his, broke his leg right before the season began.

[Danny Kayleen]

So Edwin Diaz is the guy that has the cool walkout music, right?

[Dan Havitz]

Got market correct by Duran.

[Danny Kayleen]

Get ready.

[Dan Havitz]

But yeah, the Diaz, the Diaz intro.

[Danny Kayleen]

Can we go to a Dodgers game this year? Craig, when we're in la, we should.

[Dan Havitz]

We should do a power hour of, of.

Thing like rule changes for football that we need. One of them is we got to find a way for like like, closer intros are just unbelievable. And we need to figure out a way to get, like, intros for football better.

[Craig Korbeck]

What if we had, like, kicker walkout music for, like, game tying or game winning kicks at the end of game.

[Dan Havitz]

Exactly. How? How? Imagine Brandon Auburn.

[Craig Korbeck]

Pyrotechnic lights go down. He's got to come out of the tunnel.

[Dan Havitz]

Yeah.

[Danny Kayleen]

Yes.

[Dan Havitz]

The kickers have to be in the tunnel.

[Craig Korbeck]

Yes.

[Dan Havitz]

Like, the relievers.

[Danny Kayleen]

And they jog like a WWE entrance.

[Craig Korbeck]

Yeah. He has a robe on like Rocky.

[Danny Kayleen]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

It's got, like, a flag draped.

[Craig Korbeck]

Yeah. Thicker kicker on the back of his robe. It's got, like, a big pig on it or something. And he's running out.

[Dan Havitz]

It's like. That's what the Savannah Bananas would do if it was football. Email us ideas like that. I want ringer fantasy football, Gmail.

[Danny Kayleen]

You gotta kick it from. They gotta wear stilts.

[Dan Havitz]

Yeah. Email us things the Savannah Bananas should do for football. We're gonna fix football. We're gonna fix the NFL.

[Danny Kayleen]

We're gonna fix the most popular and fastest growing sport on earth.

[Dan Havitz]

Yes.

[Danny Kayleen]

Sorry. In the mayor. In America. Yeah.

[Craig Korbeck]

Yeah. And then for baseball, I'm gonna actually be like, the most, like, uninvested and yet pleasantly surprised Dodger fan, where I'm just gonna be like, oh, this Diaz guy, I hear he's good. Cool.

[Danny Kayleen]

Everyone else is like, you're ruining baseball, man.

[Dan Havitz]

It's ruining baseball. He's ruining golf. Kick him off the tour. I literally did a. Wait.

[Craig Korbeck]

What am I just stuffing my face with All Stars, not even caring?

[Dan Havitz]

I. I did it.

[Craig Korbeck]

Oh, another one.

[Danny Kayleen]

Your team. Your team doesn't have a bunch of MVPs.

[Dan Havitz]

Dodger's gonna trade for Hunter Green. You're like, is he good? I'm like, yeah, he's 26, throws 104. Like, oh, cool.

[Danny Kayleen]

Cool.

[Dan Havitz]

That's sick.

[Craig Korbeck]

We'll see if we can mix him in. We'll see if we can mix him in. In the eight.

[Danny Kayleen]

He's not guaranteed playing time. He's gonna earn it just like everyone else. Just like all the. All our other MVPs.

[Craig Korbeck]

Yeah. You know, I never realized that. You know, it's really easy to change teams. Just do it.

[Dan Havitz]

This is.

[Danny Kayleen]

I gotta tell you, it feels phenomenal.

[Craig Korbeck]

You know what? I. I like the A's now. I like the Dodgers. That's easy. That was so easy.

[Dan Havitz]

So, wait, we've never talked about this, but I. I have decided. I.

[Craig Korbeck]

There's no application. I just say it and it's real.

[Dan Havitz]

But that's the thing. I think that this is how sports fandom. I buy a hat. I think being a fair weather fan is probably the smartest way to be a sport. Sports fan.

[Craig Korbeck]

Yeah.

[Dan Havitz]

Just being connected to these, like, legacy horrible teams like the jets or the Browns. Because you're like. Like, you know me. Jets fans are just like, well, my dad was a Jets fan. And like, you know why he became a Jets fan? Because Joe Namath was cool and won a Super bowl and supermodels and, like, was drinking all the time and he was sick. And then, like, they rooted for him because he was good. Like, you should do what you just did, where you rooted for the A's and you're like, this team. You know who's cool? The Dodgers are cool.

[Craig Korbeck]

Yeah.

[Dan Havitz]

Just be a fair weather fan. It's fine.

[Craig Korbeck]

What's the big deal?

[Dan Havitz]

Dk, you're nodding, but this is what you just did. I'm not saying you could root for whoever, but you live in LA, Craig. Like, DK, like the Mariners sucked for 15 years. You took a little time off. Cal Raleigh has a big ass and it's 65 home runs. You're like, I'm in. That's how it should be. We should.

[Danny Kayleen]

Fairweather fan is a little different than what Craig did, but true.

[Dan Havitz]

Well, yeah. Craig did decide. It wasn't even the middle of the Dodgers season, in the middle of the Dodgers playoffs. He was like, you know what he's.

[Danny Kayleen]

Like, I mean, they're really good. They could win the World series.

[Craig Korbeck]

Yeah.

[Dan Havitz]

Ohtani, like 50 Ohtani. The best game any baseball players ever had in the nlds. And Craig's like, I think I know what side I'm on.

[Craig Korbeck]

I like this guy.

[Danny Kayleen]

I was mad about that stupid.

[Dan Havitz]

Oh. Because he's still Cal Raleigh's thunder. I love that's. That's the funniest thing that's developed the whole year is you being the best. Takes the most unhinged people said all year. Second is DK saying.

I'm so annoyed at Ohtani. And then the other one was Carlos being like, I hate the moments of yet of Zen on YouTube TV. I'd rather see commercials. That's a good take than moments of Zen.

[Craig Korbeck]

I can't wait to get in some impassioned argument defending the Dodgers to somebody in like two weeks at a holiday party after having been a fake fan for three weeks.

[Dan Havitz]

She's like, yeah, why do they even need a salary cap?

[Craig Korbeck]

You have no idea what the fuck you're talking about about TE Oscar Hernandez. All right? You have no idea. Do you know how important he was to us in August.

[Danny Kayleen]

You don't know another former Mariner.

[Dan Havitz]

All right, thank you, dk. Thank you, Craig. Thank you, everyone. Thank you, Ryan. Thank you, Carlos. Thank you, Kai. Thank you, Ronick. Thank you, Austin. Thank you ever. Thank you, Chris, Ryan, for coming on the show. Thank you to everyone in the ring of fantasy football league. May God have mercy in your souls. Yeah, and we'll add the discord in the episode description here and email us if you wanted to. But yeah, we. People were into that, so we're gonna. We'll do that. So, yeah, we'll put that in the episode description and yeah. Thank you, Lord, Lord.

[Danny Kayleen]

Thank you, Juicy J.

[Craig Korbeck]

Nice.

[Dan Havitz]

Okay, we're back. I. I think I was oh for my last Juicy J. Oh, I know Juicy J.

[Danny Kayleen]

You celebrate the man's entire catalog.

[Dan Havitz]

Yeah, I mean, better than what was the. Yeah, I. I do know Juicy J.

[Danny Kayleen]

My target audience is not necessarily you, heif. It's.

[Dan Havitz]

I. I know. I'm not complaining. I'm just saying for myself, I'm happy.

[Craig Korbeck]

White millennials who like rap.

[Dan Havitz]

And ed. I had Olivia, Rodrigo and Flume in my. In my top five.

[Danny Kayleen]

The. Is that the.

[Dan Havitz]

Oh, I should do two bands.

[Danny Kayleen]

Spotify's payroll app. What is that?

[Dan Havitz]

Headlining festival DJ or app that we use at Spotify. Oh, that's. I mean, JAMF DJ or JAMF DJ.

[Craig Korbeck]

Sound more like workplace platforms than any other.

[Dan Havitz]

That's actually so true. I kind of want to look up, like, Flume opening act and just look at what these fucking DJ are called.

[Danny Kayleen]

Yeah, dude, Juicy J's been on a lot of stuff, guys.

[Dan Havitz]

I mean, bands that make her dance is is iconic.

[Craig Korbeck]

And isn't it. It's not bands to make her dance.

[Dan Havitz]

Bands a make her dance.

[Craig Korbeck]

Bands a make her dance. Yeah, but there's no. I'm looking it up now. There's no dashes. I feel like it'd make more sense if it was like, bands dash a dash make, but it's not. It's bands a make her dance.

[Dan Havitz]

Have you guys ever actually been around that much like cash? Like, have you actually have seen, like, what's the most cash you've ever seen?

[Danny Kayleen]

Oh, wow.

[Craig Korbeck]

Not much.

[Danny Kayleen]

Like, how much did we win when we were in New Orleans?

[Dan Havitz]

That was a lot. We won, like, 50. Well, actually, we shouldn't say.

[Craig Korbeck]

I think I've. I think I've only seen, like, a couple grand in an envelope or something.

[Dan Havitz]

Did I tell you I know cash these. Well, I had a crazy experience in the airport, so I took the trip. I went to France and Europe over the summer and we had a layover. I'm not forgetting what year this was. Maybe it was a year ago. And we had a layover in Cairo and just getting back to America. And in the Cairo airport, in the duty free section, I was trying to buy like Cuban cigars or something. And the guy ahead of me in line, I had to wait 40 minutes to do this because the guy ahead of me in line, you know you can only bring $10,000 through an airport, right. This guy had $9,900 in cash mint bills and was buying cigarettes because the taxes. And so they're clearly just selling on tag. And so I didn't know this, but they had. They have level like. Like the random store. So they. There were four levels of management in the store, just guys in suits. And I have to sit there and watch them count manually in front of three different people. Count in like 20s, $9,900.

[Danny Kayleen]

Wow.

[Dan Havitz]

And they had to do it twice.

[Craig Korbeck]

That could actually, like, fill a suitcase probably and look like a movie suitcase full of money.

[Dan Havitz]

Yes, it did. It was really weird. Also, Obviously, who buys $10,000 of cigarettes? Obviously it was weird. It was funny. It was a lot of money.

[Craig Korbeck]

Why did he choose cigarettes? Because.

[Dan Havitz]

Because tax. Cigarettes are taxed. So I think they're buying the untaxed ones at duty free and then they're going to sell the cigarettes.

[Craig Korbeck]

Right.

[Danny Kayleen]

For a tidy profit.

[Dan Havitz]

For a profit, yes.

Anyway.

[Craig Korbeck]

Okay, that's funny. Yeah. I mean, anything in 20s. Singles, dude. 10 grand in singles. You look like a millionaire, dude.

[Dan Havitz]

That's the best joke. The best joke in dodgeball. He's like, well, I'll give you $10,000. And they open the briefcase. It's like one band. He's like, it doesn't look very impressive in person.

All right, goodbye, everyone.

Must be 21 + in present in select states for Kansas, an affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 + in present in D.C. kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem. Call 1-800-G GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com, call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org chat in Connecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gamblinghelplinema.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24. 7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8-Hopeny or text HOPE.