The Ryen Russillo Show — LIVE FROM SAN FRAN! Todd McShay and Steve Young, Plus Cavs–Kings Trade & Giannis Latest

Date: February 3, 2026
Host: Ryen Russillo
Guests: Todd McShay, Steve Young, Life Advice w/ Kyle & Ceruti
Location: Super Bowl week, live from San Francisco

Episode Overview

Russillo embraces his show’s new Barstool home by broadcasting from San Francisco during Super Bowl week. The episode kicks off with NBA trade deadline chatter—specifically the Cavs-Kings trade and the Giannis Antetokounmpo rumors—before deep-diving into the NFL Draft, quarterback prospects, and team strategy with Todd McShay (fresh off the Senior Bowl). Hall of Famer Steve Young joins to reflect on his unusual career journey, the impact of coaching trees in modern football, and his picks for the Super Bowl. The show ends with the ever-popular Life Advice segment: stories, listener emails, and a little mayhem.

NBA Trade Deadline: Cavs–Kings Deal and Giannis Watch

[00:50–17:40]

Key Points:

• Russillo on the Cavs–Kings Three-Team Trade:

  • Cleveland acquires Keon Ellis—a defensive two-guard with shooting upside, a key addition for protecting Donovan Mitchell in key matchups.
  • Cleveland also takes on Dennis Schroder’s contract, while moving on from De’Andre Hunter (whose shooting/regression and "shy" play style was a letdown). Financially, the Cavs save ~$40M in future luxury tax and set themselves up for roster flexibility.
  • Sacramento takes on Hunter’s $25M contract. Russillo questions the Kings’ logic: “The Kings have done an awesome job of cornering the market on some players that feel a little pricey that other teams aren't super interested in.” [16:07]

• Financial Ramifications:

  • “Cleveland has the highest payroll in the league this year at like almost $230 million...after this deal, maybe in the $220s.” [14:44]

• NBA’s Giannis Antetokounmpo Speculation:

  • Russillo summarizes the landscape of reported Giannis trade packages, referencing Bobby Marks’ ESPN analysis. [16:20]
  • “It’s more about: Do we like the high-end version of what the Warriors’ picks are gonna be in four years? Or do we care more about getting our own picks back from Portland? Or do the Miami picks with a player like Khalil Ware make more sense?” [16:20–17:30]
  • Summarizes Miami’s “wait for draft night for another first” flexibility, the 5% Daryl Morey rule regarding contender gambles, and posits the Giannis story as “dead” for now, but “can’t wait to see what happens.”

NFL Draft Deep Dive with Todd McShay

[17:40–61:16]

Key Segments & Insights:

1. 2025 QB Class: Mendoza, Ty Simpson, and More

• Mendoza’s Prospect Tier:

  • McShay: “I’d have Mendoza 4...behind Caleb, Jaden, Drake. But you’d have him ahead of Penix, McCarthy, Bo Nix.” [18:03]
  • Praises Mendoza’s game maturity and resilience: “You saw in those big moments that kind of the confidence kept growing...He’s a nerd and I love that. Like Tom Brady’s a nerd, Peyton Manning’s a nerd.” [19:50]

• Cal to Indiana Growth:

  • Story of how Indiana coaches developed Mendoza: “He went from an exciting young puppy...to a trusted dog on the porch...you can go out and hunt with him.” [21:35]

• QB Drafting Strategy:

  • “If I’m a QB-needy team (Jets, Arizona, Cleveland, Miami), I’m trying to trade back. Get more draft capital in 2027—because that year could be one of the two or three best QB drafts of the era.” [25:44]
  • Blunt on Ty Simpson’s suitability: “If Ty Simpson goes to the Jets...Forget it. It’s not going to work. That owner, that organization—no chance.” [27:53]

2. Rams and Ty Simpson

• McShay connects dots on Rams possibly targeting Ty Simpson for Sean McVay: “Ty’s dad’s a head coach. Been in ball his whole life...as far as rookies go, Ty and Nussmeier are two guys that make a ton of sense because they're so far advanced mentally...” [29:07]
• Russillo responds: “There’s some throws in the Missouri game where I’m like, all right, this guy’s nasty and he’s tough as hell. After the Florida State ass-kicking...he was just coming out to fight every single time.” [31:57]

3. Nussmeier’s 2024–25 Arc

• Nussmeier weathered injuries and adversity: “He had to kind of, like, teach himself the wrong ways to throw the ball so it didn’t hurt...Been through a lot.” [33:44]
• McShay: “If you get him in the second or third round, and he’s not coming in to be the savior...if he were clean and had a really good statistical season, he’s going in the top 10 because of the physical part, the mental part.” [36:22]

4. Senior Bowl Risers and Prospect Notes

• Malachi Fields (WR, Notre Dame): “Malachi Fields does something different than all these other cats...best play of the week...could be the fifth or sixth receiver off the board.” [41:01]
• WR and Edge Class: “This year’s wide receiver class is loaded...The other position is edge. Zion Young (Missouri) and Derek Moore (Michigan) had similar weeks to Parker.” [44:07]
• David Bailey (Texas Tech) at Edge: “All you have to watch is the Oregon tape...gets ridiculous. He’s not going to be there at nine.” [47:47]

5. Chiefs at No. 9, and “Crossroads” Draft

• Jeremiah Love as an intriguing target: “There are some teams I’ve talked to—they have the highest grade in the class on him.” [46:41]
• Russillo and McShay both endorse the idea: “I can’t get off the Jeremiah Love thing...could be offensive rookie of the year in that offense.” [47:02, 53:22]
• Also discuss offensive line, other WR options (Makai Lemon, Jordan Tyson), and the calculus: “Wouldn’t it be nice—when’s the last time they got someone who’s reliable?” [48:45]

6. Caleb Downs: Safety Value Debate

• Russillo: “With all the tape, runs in the 4.3s, how does he actually go late? But so many teams still can’t get past the idea of, ‘I can’t take a safety that high.’” [49:40]
• McShay: “If it’s a defense like the Chiefs, with pressure up front, you can utilize him—he might be Defensive Rookie of the Year if he lands on that defense.” [53:17]

7. SEC Down Year in the Draft?

• Russillo notes: “This could be a really weird year for the SEC in the first round and top 10. There was a stretch...five, six SEC players in the first round—that’s it.” [54:35]
• McShay: “This could be the worst SEC year in like a decade, or maybe more...The Big Ten’s cut into it the last couple years, but it’s still been a significant difference.” [56:12–57:29]

Notable Quotes:

• McShay: “The intelligent evaluators are the ones that have context and keep perspective...You always have to figure out why.” [38:41]
• Russillo (on early draft QB gambles): “How many Mark Sanchezes and, and Sam Darnold experiments, and Zach Wilson and Geno Smith...it’s just not going to work.” [27:53]

Steve Young: Career Adversity & the NFL’s West Coast Evolution

[61:20–95:15]

Key Segments & Storylines:

1. Greenwich & USFL Days

• Anecdotes about Steve Young’s Greenwich roots and making it out of “mean streets of Greenwich.” [63:04]
• USFL memories: “USFL football, very good football. In fact, it was better football than when I went to the Buccaneers...the league was going to make it, and then we just screwed it up.” [64:10]
• Outlandish contract story: “He walks in and takes a roll of hundreds...throws it at me. That’s more money than I’d ever seen in my life.” [69:33]
• Legendary: “The chant in DC was, ‘$40 million down the drain.’ My mom turned and said: ‘It’s an annuity. He’s not worth $40 million!’” [71:13]

2. Tampa Adversity and San Francisco Break

• Tampa: “There wasn’t a culture of accountability. There was a culture of mitigation. Crap happens every week, and everyone had an excuse and nobody would own it.” [74:26]
• Getting to San Francisco: “I hate lefties. I hate scramblers. I hate people that run.” – Ray Perkins, Young’s Tampa coach [75:12]
• Bill Walsh call: “Next minute, I had Bill Walsh calling me, telling me, ‘I love lefties. I think my West Coast offense is built for people who can run.’” [76:34]

3. On Patience, Overthinking, and Joe Montana

• Young waited years as a backup: “The thoughts that went through...I’d have lots of conversations, like, ‘We gotta do something else.’...I gotta go fast because I’m starting late. I didn’t mean to start late, it’s just how it went.” [79:15]

4. NFL’s Coaching Tree & Today’s QB Renaissance

• How the Walsh/West Coast offense tree spawned today’s innovators: “Anyone who wants to be in the Super Bowl is hiring from that tree.” [82:30]
• “It’s Bill Walsh’s league. It is run by the Bill Walsh tree...You break yourself against the rocks of that tree if you try to fight it.” [86:33]
• Trevor Lawrence, Sam Darnold, Stafford: the “QB resurrection” stories linked to modern offensive minds.

Notable Quotes:

• On Bill Walsh’s legacy: “He told me: Give it all away, and then sharpen your saw back...because you got to innovate, rediscover yourself every couple years.” [87:33]
• On today’s pass game: “Our passing game is our running game. That was the philosophical change that is still in the game today that people don’t completely understand 30, 40 years later.” [87:33]
• On Sam Darnold: “Now Sam wins 14 games, now he’s gonna win the Super Bowl, I think...If Sam doesn’t turn it over, I don’t know how you beat them...The NFL is Bill Walsh’s league.” [85:30]

5. Fandom, May’s Efficiency, and 2026 NFL Trends

• Young on Drake May: “Good QBs get the game in a way...Ball’s coming out, put it in people’s hands who are more talented. If it’s not there, go get it with your legs.” [89:52]

6. Closing: Flag Football & Sutter Health

• Young’s flag football advocacy: “Girls have been held from the game for 100 years. But the game at its core is made for them… the detail, tactics, the light went on and they just took to the game.” [93:32]
• Partnership with Sutter Health: moving from “break-fix” to prevention for kids; growing girls’ flag and sports opportunities. [94:58]

Life Advice: Dinner Recap, Listener Emails, and Social Notes

[95:35–End]

Staff Dinner & Friendship

• Russillo, Kyle, and Ceruti recount Mastro’s steakhouse and “friendship too strong” to focus on OKC-Denver NBA action:
  • “I didn't expect that. Took the boys to Mastro’s. Wanda [was] watching the end of OKC-Denver, but the friendship was too strong to be charting any plays that night.” [96:14]
• Running joke about “one Coors Light” and Mission adventures in SF.

Listener Life Advice:

• Beer Spilled on Kid at Spurs Game:
  • Listener spills beer on a 10-year-old girl, chooses to play dumb, asks if he did the polite thing. Group consensus: not heroic, but probably kept the peace.
    • Russillo: “I don’t have any problem with this.”
    • Ceruti: “I would have played dumb too...Just avoid the situation.” [104:48]
• Ski-Lift Flirtation Gone Sour:
  • Listener had a perfect meet-cute and exchanged numbers but got hit with "not a good texter." Group verdict: Sorry, she’s not into you; maybe one last message, but don’t push.
    • “If she wanted to, she would.” [110:42]
    • “It just sucks, those early minutes, first few days...so delicate, and you can f—k it up when you didn’t even f—k it up.” [116:43]

Bonus Banter:

• Venmo shoutouts & stories; podcast personalities comparing radio/TV voices.
• Kyle’s silence on Venmo thank-yous: “I just don’t know if it’s a venue for conversation.”

Memorable Closing:

• “Thanks to Barstool, Raising Cane’s, DraftKings... Show field trip to the Warriors game Tuesday night coming!” [129:06]

Episode Takeaways

• Sports Business & Team-Building: Russillo and McShay deliver elite insight on how teams think about trades, cap management, and draft strategy—with specific attention to organizational self-awareness and the need for patience as a franchise builder.
• Football Philosophy: Steve Young’s segment is a master class in quarterback development, the significance of coaching trees, and how high-level thinking in NFL organizations still traces back to Bill Walsh.
• Truth in Life & Love: Life Advice reinforces the show’s unique blend—deep sports nerdery with off-the-wall, relatable real-life takes.

Notable Quotes by Timestamps

• On Cavs–Kings Trade:
  “The Kings have done an awesome job of cornering the market on some players that feel a little pricey...” — Russillo [16:07]

• On QB Evaluation:
  “Mendoza went from an exciting young puppy... to a trusted dog on the porch.” — Todd McShay [21:35]

• On the NFL's Coaching Tree:
  “It’s Bill Walsh’s league. It is run by the Bill Walsh tree... You break yourself against the rocks of that tree if you try to fight it.” — Steve Young [86:33]

• On Super Bowl Pick:
  “Now Sam [Darnold] wins 14 games, now he’s gonna win the Super Bowl, I think... If Sam doesn’t turn it over, I don’t know how you beat them.” — Steve Young [85:30]

• On Girl’s Flag Football:
  “Girls have been held from the game for 100 years... The detail, tactics... The light went on and they just took to the game.” — Steve Young [93:32]

Segment Timestamps

• [00:50] Opening — NBA trade deadline, Cavs–Kings trade
• [12:25] Kings’ side of the trade and Giannis speculation
• [17:40] Todd McShay joins — Quarterback prospect breakdown
• [29:07] Ty Simpson/Rams, first-round QB strategy
• [33:14] Nussmeier, adversity for QB prospects
• [41:01] Senior Bowl risers: WR and edge class
• [46:16] Chiefs’ draft crossroads
• [54:35] SEC’s weak draft year?
• [61:20] Steve Young interview
• [79:15] Overthinking, late-career breakouts
• [82:30] NFL coaching trees, new era of offensive football
• [94:58] Girls’ flag football & Sutter Health
• [95:35] Life Advice: Dinner stories, spilled beer, dating woes
• [122:04] Podcast voice debate & closing banter

For any sports nerd, football historian, or life advice junkie, this episode is peak Russillo: deeply informed, no-nonsense, smart as hell, and always with a touch of “if you know, you know.”