Learning from Andy Reid; where will Aaron Rodgers play in 2023? | Peter King Podcast | NFL on NBC

foreign welcome to the Peter King podcast so happy you could join me so happy you could join my friend miles Simmons of NBC Sports um for our weekly delving into the news of the NFL so obviously this is sort of the official start of the off season miles and I in the second half of the podcast are going to look into the big stories of the off-season the fate of Lamar Jackson the fate of Aaron Rodgers who's going to play quarterback for the Jets who's going to play quarterback for the Raiders uh a couple of interesting things about how those relate to eventually what the NFL does with the 2023 schedule who signs Derek Carr what is the fate of Daniel Jones and saquon Barkley um we'll talk a little bit about the draft although next week uh miles will be in Indianapolis as we record the podcast we're going to record the podcast with miles in Indianapolis and before I get to Indianapolis uh next week and then the week after that we'll have a full review of all things scouting combine so uh we'll talk a little bit about the draft this week and how it looks like Jalen Carter of Georgia appears to be the odds on favorite for the first pick unless the bears actually trade the pick and um and then we'll talk about the fate of Bryce young the quarterback of Alabama who appears appears to be in line to be the first quarterback picked in this draft so in the first part of our pod today our guest by the way is going to be TJ watt of the Pittsburgh Steelers I recorded this with him during Super Bowl week about some Timeless elements about uh TJ watt JJ Watt the watt family uh at all things Steelers which um I'm sure there will be a few of those in the audience who who want to hear that um miles and I are going to start off today by discussing uh the new round of minority hires or should we say mostly non-minority hires in coaching in the NFL we're going to discuss the lesson of Kansas City out coaching Philadelphia what it means for the other 31 teams in the league and how I believe it's going to lead to just more and more long hours for coaches and more and more R and D for these coaches in the NFL because they see what it did for Andy Reed in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl the state of what's happening in Washington uh miles and I will discuss and whether Daniel Snyder indeed is going to basically divest himself in the franchise so that's sort of where we are miles I guess I should start off um welcoming you to the podcast but also yeah I've been really curious we haven't discussed much about what the minority hiring record this year really means we we've we've referred to it a bit but I want to really delve into it a little bit this week I don't want to get your thoughts on the fact that you know right now there are uh four black coaches head coaches in the NFL uh two other minority coaches in the NFL out of 32 for all the time and energy the NFL has spent on this issue the results just aren't there how do you view it well you're right I mean it's just simply that that the results just aren't there and you know what I just continue to go back to in my mind is that the owners are going to do what they want to do irrespective of all the programs that are put in place or all of the discussion that comes about yeah thinking about last year when you had Byron Leftwich who was supposedly the top candidate for the Jacksonville Jaguars right they end up hiring Doug Peterson and obviously hiring Doug Peterson turned out to be a very good move for them but at that introductory press conference you had the Jaguars owner Shad Khan basically saying well yeah we really should do something about this with this whole minority hiring problem and it's like well dude you are the one who could help be the solution by hiring a minority coach and you didn't do it so even though things can work out in that way it's like well the owners want to try to pass the buck off to somebody else it's like you know I can hire who I want but you know you over there hey you're also in my division why don't you do something about this and it's just this weird sort of element of well we could do something but I don't really want to be the one to do it and you know you have the coaching or the accelerator program and I guess it's not just for coaches right because obviously it's for executives as well and the only hire that comes out of that is Rand carthon which is great it's better to have one than zero but at the same time when you then have all of the other positions that are open and that's the one result that you can point to it's like man is that really the intention of what the accelerator program was I don't know and then you look at what happens with the Arizona Cardinals right they hire a 40 year old white head coach they hire a 35 year old white offensive coordinator they hire a 29 year old white defensive coordinator and I'm not saying that any one of those people are unqualified for their job but at the same time when you look at that in the totality of what the National Football League is it's kind of hard not to raise an eyebrow at what those results are so I guess that's a little summation of where my mind is at least as we begin you know this part of the off season well you know what I thought of when I I spoke with Jonathan Gannon on Sunday and so Jonathan Gannon basically in his um you know in his hiring process okay you know there was a period in that hiring process when it appeared that in Arizona the final two were Mike Kafka uh the quarterback coach or them sorry the offensive coordinator of the New York Giants former quarterback coach under Andy Reid former NFL quarterback and uh louanna rumo the defensive coordinator of the Cincinnati Bengals who's uh defensive schemes had helped beat the Kansas City uh offense in three of their last four meetings but Gannon gets the job and miles when I heard uh Tom pellicero reported and we discussed it uh you know when I talked to Jonathan Gannon on Sunday one of the things that he did basically was go back to what he knew okay and by that I mean going back to the Minnesota Vikings coaching staff that Jonathan Gannon was a part of okay before he went to uh Indianapolis and then to Philadelphia on those coaching staffs when he was in Minnesota two of the guys on his staff uh were two of the guys they ended up hiring as their offensive and defensive coordinators the offensive coordinator obviously Drew petsing uh came from more immediately from Cleveland his quarterback coach but he was on the Minnesota Vikings coaching staff and he got friendly obviously with Gannon in Minnesota and also on that coaching staff in Minnesota nick rollis uh who uh Gannon hired as his defensive coordinator so this is one of the issues that the NFL has identified and discussed and talked about that you hire who you know and in this particular case Jonathan Gannon was on Mike Zimmer's coaching staff in Minnesota and he hired two guys who we worked with there every day and who he got to know and appreciate and respect so a few years later he says who am I going to hire as my coordinators it could well be quite honestly that at one point in the time that he was interviewing for jobs he told petsing and rollis basically that Hey listen if I get a job I want you to come with me that's the way the world works and unfortunately that is what stands in the way of so much of the advancement of black and minority coaches in the NFL first of all there aren't that very many of them in Authority positions in the NFL so when guys go to hire who they want to hire many times because they're they they don't have you know a huge presence on a lot of these coaching staffs they're going to hire somebody who they knew uh somebody who they know and I think that becomes almost a self-defeating prophecy in trying to advance you know the role of minority coaches and and the other thing I would say miles is I think what also happens is in hiring who you know that's one of the reasons why owners have been encouraged to meet with minority candidates at League meetings at at you know at other events during the course of the year and I think it's really good of the league I think it's Progressive of the league I think it's going to take time for that to bear fruit but it sure seems like there's so much more of the same this off-season Jim Bob Cooter gets the offensive coordinator job in Indianapolis uh you know obviously you you hire someone either who you know or who has been out there on the vine who has done these jobs before who's a veteran of the coaching uh fraternity and so and that's why things just don't change yeah exactly I mean you look at the the coaches who ostensibly at least in my mind have proven themselves capable of doing what it is that they need to do to advance in the coaching profession Steve Wilkes right goes six and six as the Carolina Panthers interim head coach gets passed over for that job for Frank Reich fine but he's got to go now and be a defensive coordinator for San Francisco and I credit Kyle Shanahan for hiring him I mean obviously he is qualified to do that job right and they want to keep things um mostly the same when it comes to having a 4-3 base defense and all that and that's what Steve Wilkes runs and we all know that those things are great but why wasn't Steve Wilkes considered for any more jobs when he did the job that he did with Matt wool's team over the course of the 2022 season and look at the quarterbacks he had to coach with PJ Walker Baker Mayfield who was arguably the war starting quarterback in the NFL this year before he was released and then ended up with the Los Angeles Rams Sam darnold I mean these are not you know the battering ram which is a maybe a terrible choice of words there but those are not great quarterbacks we're talking about here you know Eric bienemy now has to go to Washington to be the offensive coordinator and quote run the show unquote uh what what are we doing here you know when Doug Peterson and Matt Nagy have had that same role and then Advanced the head coaching jobs so I I don't really know what to do about it Peter I I really don't I mean because like I said owners and other coaches are going to do what they want to do and they're going to go with who they're comfortable with and and until people I guess get comfortable with the fact that there are black coaches out there who can do these jobs and do them well then this is where we're going to continue to be look um you know we're going to move on after this because I don't know that there's anything that we can say or we can propose even though I proposed in my column that if I were Roger Goodell uh it's it's almost like you know this is not uh this is not necessarily a slap in the face to Troy Vincent um you know the NFL executive vice president who is sort of become the um you know the the the front person in the league uh for all efforts to improve this effort and they also have a big Dei presence now in the uh in the NFL office but I I think they ought to replace Troy Vincent I think they ought to get a new front person for this job I think they ought to scour industry uh come up with somebody who might have new ideas uh and I don't think that it's time to just say well you know uh it was a bad year this year but we think the programs in place we have right now are working I think there's one thing the NFL has done in recent years that could really help and that is mandating uh one minority coach on the offensive side of the ball be hired by every team in the league last year so it's not like this is not instant coffee where that's going to work overnight but I have to believe that some of these coaches are going to go into their teams they're through you know two three four five six seven coaches could emerge from this program of you know just getting their foot in the door and that is something that a lot of black coaches over the years have said we just simply don't have the opportunity okay so 32 minority coaches right now do have an opportunity now obviously in some cases it's probably going to be I don't want I mean it's too strong to say a sham job but they might not be taken as seriously as they are in other places so but I just think that needs a year or two or three to bear fruit to try to Bear some fruit in this but otherwise you know if I were Roger Goodell I would shake it up and I would just simply continue to tell the owners in this league and quite honestly the coaches in the league who hire continue to hire an overwhelming number of white minority coordinators that that that we simply have to be exposed to more people more coaches in this business so anyway let's just move on I had this yeah good let me add this one thing Peter or two things I guess I I will give Frank right credit he hired Thomas Brown Rising coach from the Los Angeles Rams who was the assistant head coach and Titans coach last year also worked with running backs there with the Rams so he's now the the Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator so you got to give him credit where it's due I suppose there and also the San Francisco 49ers have been developing minority candidates not just for coaching positions but also for GM positions and with this um Advent of also getting third round compensatory picks for these coaching positions and for these executive positions the 49ers have taken advantage of that more than any other team right because you see the minority coaches that continue to come through there you got Robert Sawa now Demico Ryan is another one you know Mayhew um the general manager of uh the Washington commanders he comes from there ran carthon comes from there and then he goes to the Titans so there are candidates that are ripe to be picked from these ranks right and if you have more of that 49ers model where you're really developing those men and we're in women then that is something that you can take advantage of and then have more draft picks so more teams should be like the 49ers I couldn't agree more because it worked for them uh as they developed a very good roster and it also worked for them when strong candidates left uh to take head coaching jobs and to become general managers so you're obviously it works and and you know it won't work if we're talking about you know a team that is you know 3 and 14 every year but it's going to work if you have faith in what you're doing and if you put good people in charge uh Kyle Shanahan has done that John Lynch has done it Jed York has done it and uh and so anyway I think that they should be held up as a beacon for other teams to follow I'll give you another Beacon for other teams and this won't surprise anyone but the way Andy Reed coached in the Super Bowl I think in the way he develops uh how his Playbook works and the way he develops uh his game plan I think is well worth considering and this comes from my Monday column of this week and I think it is something that every team in the league should know and quite honestly the you know I'm not here blowing my horn about my column but what I am saying is that this is something that every team in the NFL should read and understand and I'm just going to read it to you right now miles um when I talked to Jonathan Gannon on Sunday he really fell on the sword for the two plays in the fourth quarter the reverse motion touchdown pass to Kadarius Tony and one series later three minutes later the reverse motion touchdown pass on the other side of the field to Sky Moore they were two of the 16 most wide open TouchDown throws of the 2022 football season and it's amazing when you think about it the last two touchdowns of this season were two of the most wide open plays diagram diagnosed or put into play excuse me by any team in the NFL this year and they did it against a team that it had a superb defense through the course of the year the Philadelphia Eagles and I want to just read one thing about uh the Kadarius Tony touchdown okay which uh you know as you know has been called corn dog by Andy Reed so I'm going to read this to you right now I can't fall the Eagles players and coaches for corn dog how could Philadelphia have seen this coming Kansas City had called it one time all season in the second quarter of the season opener in this same stadium against the Cardinals on the 23rd offensive snap of Kansas City season in the next 77 quarters exactly 1242 snaps over 19 games Andy Reed never called this jet motion reverse again until he called it twice in the span of four plays in the fourth quarter of the biggest game of the year and the reason I bring this up is that I think there's a tremendous lesson for every team in the league on this and that is one thing that Andy Reed has done as a play designer and a play caller is to be very inclusive and he's got a lot of coaches on his staff who've been there with him for years and essentially all except when Matt Nagy left for four years every one of them of of any import has been there during Patrick mahomes's full career in Kansas City they all know how the drill works I explained in my column this week that there is a huge whiteboard in the uh in the office suite of Andy Reed and I saw the white board three years ago in fact during the week before the Super Bowl three years ago and there was at least 30 plays might have been more written on there in all different handwriting in all different colors uh you know of uh you know marker on the Whiteboard and Andy Reed told me that day you know hey we're a democracy here you know everybody has a voice uh and when I talked to Matt Nagy about this last week he said he's exactly right we call it the Beautiful Mind board we can all go in and put plays in there and then we discuss them and whether they would actually work in this particular week's game plan the only reason I bring that up is that the combination of the number of plays that go on in Randy in Andy Reid's mind you know this sort of John Nash from a beautiful mind that movie of whatever six or eight years ago you know all this stuff is percolating in Andy Reed's head and I'm not saying he's the only one who's a play Meister I mean Sean McVay Shanahan and so many coaches in the league Mike Tomlin on defense I think you know has a lot of plays percolating in his brain at all times but the thing that I am saying is that Andy Reed has the faith in his players and his coaches to go 1242 plays without running this at all and then on a slippery field in the biggest play of the Year understanding that it would be fully understandable of Sky more Kadarius Tony slipped and fell while on this uh you know jet motion which is a Sprint then you stop in your tracks and Sprint back uh he's got the confidence to call that twice within five snaps both times it works for a touchdown my to me the lesson is Playbook cannot be too deep too dense it can have too many plays in it and you should always be willing to take a chance in the biggest times of the year with a play you have not run in 19 games because you think in this particular case against a man defense in the tight red zone is going to work he did it twice it worked twice it was a slam dunk twice the two things that you put in your column about those things that I love were a when Gannon said Jesus Christ when to stop that touchdown because just the defense that we were in I thought that that was great and also when Travis Kelsey noted to Kadarius Tony you got to be under control because of how that field was slipping just kind of tells you all the different elements that go into making the Kansas City Chiefs great you know we understand what Patrick Mahomes does what Andy Reed does but when you have somebody like Travis Kelsey who yeah is going to be out there screaming you got to fight for your right to party he also is one of the key leaders on that offense that makes sure everybody knows exactly what they have to do you know so I I loved everything about that I thought that was great I I just hope that people in the NFL and I know that it's a worker bee society and I get that but I think if you have a quarterback you trust if you have a coaching staff you trust and if you have a brain that you trust and your calling plays don't fear calling something you haven't called in five months you know if you think against this particular defense it's going to work hey try it do it and you know I I I don't necessarily want to get into this little asterisk on this but tell you everything you need to know about Patrick Mahomes on that Sky more touchdown pass okay there's two amazing things about it as the clock ran down five four three Andy Reed was trying to call time out but he didn't get it in in time because he noted that Travis Kelsey was lined up on the wrong side of the field he should have been lined up on the left side instead he was lined up snug right to the right tackle the reason that everybody wanted him on the left side was they wanted him to be sort of a screen a beard a rub for uh basically for Sky Moore if it was needed on that side and Mahomes said basically screw it I think I can beat this because I sense that I'm going to get zero blitzed they're not gonna have time to cover I definitely will have at least one guy open on this and as I wrote Imagine This Patrick Mahomes this was the I don't know 1100 I think 1142nd play that Jonathan Gannon had called on defense this year for Philadelphia out of all those plays this was only the eighth time that he ever zero blitzed eight times All Season he zero blitzed and on this one it caused the most one of the most open receptions of this year so look Andy Reid this just in he's pretty smart okay last thing before we get to TJ Watt I I sense more and more Nikki JaVale of the Washington Post is reported now to of the candidates to buy the Washington commanders have come into the building now and have been given the freedom to walk around the building in Ashburn Virginia uh look over the stadium in Landover Maryland and basically see what it is that they would be buying this as I was told by somebody in the league during Super Bowl week is not the sign of a guy who's selling a part of the team this is a sign of the guy who's going to be selling the team and miles it appears that the long National nightmare that National nightmare the quarter Century nightmare of Daniel Snyder's ownership in Washington could be very close to being on the way out and as somebody else from the league told me you think it's coincidental that it's taken now more than a year for Mary Jo White to do this investigation what if for instance Daniel Snyder has told Roger Goodell hey go easy on the uh on The Bloodhounds investigating everything I'm I'm selling this team you know you don't have to worry about me anymore so maybe in exchange for Snyder saying I'm selling the team maybe maybe I don't know this but it's logical they've put the investigation on sort of a slow play but anyway whatever however it happens you know the best news for any football fan uh in the nation's capital is that it appears appears that Daniel Snyder uh is going to be selling his team and not just a part of it yeah and thank goodness for that I mean he's a Scourge on the league you know and I think we all know that and you know all the allegations that have come out regardless of whether Mary Jo White's investigation you know is done going to be finished soon whatever it is you know I think that everybody believes that that the league would benefit if Daniel Snyder were no longer the owner of the Washington franchise so you know we'll we'll see what happens but you know if the sooner that sale could get completed the better miles let's transition to TJ watt this is a conversation I had with the uh 2021 NFL defensive player of the year uh during Super Bowl week um many of these interviews that you do during Super Bowl week are in exchange for the plug of a product uh which happens at the end of this what uh conversation so uh cope with that and listen to TJ watt the outstanding pass rusher of the Pittsburgh Steelers so we're back with TJ watt of the Pittsburgh Steelers and TJ probably the overriding thing toward the end of this season with the Pittsburgh Steelers that totally fascinated me Mike Tomlin bit my head off in training camp when I suggested that maybe possibly perhaps this could be the first year that his Pittsburgh Steelers did not have you know a non-losing season you know or I'm sorry had a losing season after all these years tell me why were you guys able through a bunch of hiccups during the season to finish the year so strong and to be even though at the end you're not playing for anything still playing like it's the seventh game of the World Series because he got guys to buy in and we all believed in each other and we knew that the product that we were putting out on the field wasn't a reflection of how hard we were working and uh it came in a lot of different ways a lot of different types of meetings different ways of motivating different guys and that's something that Coach T is so good at and it was with a lot of padded practices and just guys buying in more than anything and as the weeks got on as you started to win one game two games down the stretch you realize that we can hang with the best of them and we just started to get more and more confidence we just kind of ran out of time at the end um I wonder you you had two rookies the rookie quarterback and The Wookie rookie wide receiver and what I found so interesting about watching Kenny Pickett you know you always hear this about rookie quarterbacks that you know they really do get better as the year went along and by the end of the season I said I actually think this guy might be the answer you know he might be the quarterback here for a long time and obviously uh George Pickens was was really good from day one kind of probably allowed you to trade uh Chase Claypool tell me from the other side of the line what you saw in those two guys guys that came to work every day worked hard I think George George Pickett's one of those guys that's like I don't know if he really understands how good he is it's like holy cow some of the things that you see in practice um just but it's also on top of that it's the little things like finishing plays running he can run for days Kenny Pickett getting better each and every week commanding two minute drills back back in training camp you can just see the progression then you come to the Ravens game down the stretch where he was able to lead the team down the field and uh we just had feeling that hey we're going to score this we're going to get on defense and we're going to win this game so it's just little things like that that it's all about gaining respect through teammates through work and those guys came to work every day you bring up the Ravens and I've always gotten such a great kick out of going to Steelers Ravens games because they feel like the old days where players hated each other's guts and everything now is so friendly in so many ways with a lot of teams but I'm just curious why is that rivalry so sort of everlasting what is it about Steelers Ravens that makes it particularly intense I think it's with the history you go back in a lot of the we always talk about a lot of the rules or the lowering the helmet or hitting over the middle of the field a lot of those were instituted because of Steelers Ravens games and I think it's just kind of been passed on from uh Team to team over the years we have so many former players that always come around that's the great thing about being a Pittsburgh Steeler you have so many former greats that are willing to come back and give their time to the team and let you know like hey this isn't just a regular week this is Baltimore Ravens week so a lot of intensity always into those games um I wanted to ask you two things about this game in particular um I wonder just from the sense of being a football player when you watched Patrick Mahomes and I don't know how closely did you watch the AFC Championship Game a little bit yeah not not as attentively as if like my brother was playing yeah I had it on for sure but I find it you know the week before the game Tom Brady called Mahomes and he said to him you know when he knew he was playing with the high ankle sprain and you know kind of bitching out Andy Reed on the sidelines telling me you're not taking me out of this game and all that I find it that that's like what something like what Brady would do and Brady actually called Mahomes and said basically that's what I'm talking about that's what Champions do playing games like this when everybody's telling them go get x-rayed go do this just from a professional Pride point of view when you watch another player do that does it prompt a lot of respect from you or do you think that practically everybody does it and it's no big deal it's hard to say because everybody's different it's there's definitely respect aspect of it and it's also understanding that how short this window is to a play football but the B play contending football and to have an opportunity to be to go to the Super Bowl and to be playing in these big games so it's it is a respect thing and it's if you're in that situation you hope that you can gut it out as best as you possibly can but it's also the same thing where if a guy's not out there it lets you know what the guy is in really bad shape so I think it's a little bit of both we were talking before we started about Juju Smith Schuster and I said wow I don't know how they're going to put Humpty Dumpty back together again I saw him walk off the field and walk is a relative term he was being helped off the field and I said man how's he going to be ready to play in two weeks but you saw a lot of that in Pittsburgh out of JuJu yeah I have all the respect in the world for Juju especially as a football player and as a teammate I know a lot of people always see the viral videos and the tick tocks and but the guy loves football he loves his teammates he works hard and uh guys are always putting their bodies on the line and I feel like sometimes people don't realize how hard a full NFL season is on your body and like like you were saying about Juju putting them back together quote unquote he's going to do whatever it possibly takes to be as healthy as possible not just for himself but for his team to put them in the best position to win the game I thought it was so cool this year I saw him in training camp and he was just like totally effervescent you know he I mean he loved playing with Ben obviously but he loved being with Mahomes in part because he was learning every spot on the line he was playing wide he's even you know playing obviously in the slot but he strikes me as the type of guy you want guys like that on your team because he just enjoys life and enjoys football yeah I mean like I said you only have so much time to play this game and some sometimes you have to remind yourself that hey I am living the dream I am getting paid handsomely to play a game that if I was a child I would be the happiest in the world that I am doing what I'm doing and so many people would give their left arm to be playing in the National Football League to be playing these Big Time games and be doing what you love for living and that's why it's it's so fun to see guys that understand that and appreciate that and love to practice love the grind and uh it's stuff like that is contagious in a building and I think that's what you see with Juju knowing your brother the way you do um and knowing that obviously he had the same affection for football that you have right now obviously and your brother JJ Watt retired at the end of this season what do you think he's gonna miss the most about playing football I mean you obviously know that I mean the locker room the guys the the relationships the camaraderie of being a part of something bigger than yourself but it's also the continuous Chase for something that's you talk about when guys get out of the NFL it's like you have to find something to chase to motivate you because you're no longer going to having a workout where you're pushing through and it's that's what I ask her now I'm like what are you doing an extra rep for like what's the reasoning now you can skip reps now you can you don't have to worry about it so that's that's the question is he still working out like a banshee of course he's working on like a banshee I'm like his his brother-in-law's Brian Cushing and they were working out together in Houston the other day and I was like that's not good you guys are just going to push yourself until someone gets hurt or something bad happens and there's gonna be no explanation for it as to why you pushed yourself so hard because you don't have a game coming up so I it's funny you'd have to ask him that question do you think he's going to be tempted if somebody would ring his phone in late August will he be tempted to come back I don't know I I really don't think so but that's a question for him I don't know the the honest answer to that yeah one more football thing and then we'll get to an Invisalign because obviously everyone is watching this to make sure they learn about TJ Watt and Invisalign but I'm I'm really kind of fascinated by the Kelsey brothers and we have talked in the past about how important it was to have both Derek and JJ in your life because they were people who you saw who were doing what you wanted to do and if they can do it why can't I do it I eat the same cereal as they do and all that stuff and the Kelsey's are so interesting because there's obviously a little bit of an age Gap but I wonder what is it about do you think about brothers and particularly in football where you see your brother do it and you push yourself and you know that you can do it yeah it's it's through all the competition through growing up um we our house is the competitive house so I and I was the youngest so JJ is five and a half four to me Derek's two years older than me so it was constantly being around competition and always being knocked on my butt and having to get up and dust myself off and try to compete again and as you get older you realize that that's the kind of stuff that shaped you and you realize that yes your brothers were giving you a hard time all throughout life but at the end of the day as you get older they're willing to Mentor you and let you in on all the secrets and things that are going to make you better and I give Jayden Derek a lot of credit they could have kept all their knowledge themselves and said figure it out yourself but they opened the door to me and they showed me the blueprint to how to be a successful athlete how to be a successful person handling the media in the community to be able to give back and not many people get that opportunity to a get to witness it but B get to be able to try to live it as well following in their footsteps and just forever grateful for my brothers and our relationship so a lot of times we see athletes who come to the Super Bowl and they are representing company X Y or Z and but they're representing the company but they're not necessarily using the product you actually you're here for Invisalign yes and and and you actually use the product explain to me for people who've heard of Invisalign don't know what it is explain to me how you got involved and why you're using it yeah so I'm actually wearing my uh Invisalign aligners right now it's hard to tell that you're wearing them you can't even see it that's one of the nice things about it is uh a lot of guys in the locker room have um teeth treatment whether it's braces or whether it's Invisalign aligners and I knew I wanted to fix my uh tea set when I came and spoke to you I wasn't all self-conscious and able to speak but it was just with braces you had those emergency appointments that you have to deal with and as a football player I don't have time to be able to do those emergency appointments especially if I have a practice the next day or a game so I went with the Invisalign aligners I can pop them out have a snack toss them back in all of my teammates have them as well so I'm able to follow along on their Journey as long as mine how long do you have to wear it um just a couple months honestly uh I'm almost done with mine so my teeth were definitely I wasn't smiling as much as I am now um it's helped me a lot with being comfortable with my smile and being super happy and it's been fun treatment so do you basically you start to use it and there is an end date in in Mind Correct yeah when you start it yeah they give they give you however depending on how um how your teeth are and what you're trying to accomplish they give you a start date and then an end date of of what you can do yeah uh TJ listen I really appreciate you taking the time thanks and um I wish you a much longer and uh and successful career and I really hope that you when you get out of the game you were able to leave a trail the way your brother did thank you very much that's the goal for sure my thanks to TJ watt looking forward to seeing him I have another banner year uh and for Mike Tomlin to again uh confound people like me who thought that this might be actually the first time that Mike Tomlin ever has a non-winning record uh or I'm sorry ever has a losing record and uh boy he sure uh confounded me this year um so let's get to some of the league issues as we semi-preview the off season here and let's start with the fate of Lamar Jackson we are two weeks away from the time that uh NFL teams have to decide whether they are going to put a franchise tag on a player and I have said all along that my gut feeling is that Baltimore is likely to franchise Lamar Jackson and if so it will be done to see how much interest there is out there in Lamar Jackson and if somebody would be willing to make them a mega trade for Lamar Jackson we'll see but I don't see them getting a new deal done in the next two weeks miles yeah and frankly if you're Lamar Jackson why wouldn't you want to go out there and test the market if you can with that non-exclusive franchise tag which I think you know we're all kind of assuming that's what Baltimore would use for Lamar Jackson and you know that way everybody kind of gets an understanding of what that market is for him you know or he can go and negotiate with other teams and if they happen to reach an offer sheath then Baltimore can either match it or they don't so I think that it probably at this point behooves all parties for that to be the case now we'll see what that means for Jackson on a sort of open market because it's not quite the open market because Baltimore can match it but when you're not just hearing from Eric DeCosta and the Baltimore Executives on what it is that your value is and then you know you go and hear from somebody else maybe that shifts somebody else's perspective it could shift Jacksonville perspective it could shift to Casa's perspective for the Baltimore Ravens so this is a really interesting period now that we're going to go through with somebody who is one of the League's best young quarterbacks yeah I think I think what is interesting about this is you know I've heard an awful lot of people who are in the sports media business you know urging team X Y or Z to jump out and go get Lamar Jackson which I think it would be tempting too he's still very young he has not had the best receiving Corps he's had an excellent tight end and a good offensive line um but I do think when I look at uh the landscape the one thing I never hear people talk about is the fact that over the last two years Lamar Jackson has missed 34 of the snaps due to injury he makes his living in part with his legs he exposes himself to a lot of punishment so I don't know how that can't be in consideration and for those you know urging um uh well for those urging their team or the team that they love to go either you know sign Lamar Jackson to an offer sheet with a huge amount of guaranteed money which someone may do um to do that in the vacuum without understanding that in the two most recent Seasons he's missed a third of playing time due to injury uh and again it could be that he will be pristinely healthy over the next few years but usually when you start getting hurt as a quarterback you continue getting hurt as a quarterback we'll see if that if that takes place but I just say proceed with caution uh Aaron Rodgers right now is uh I would assume at some point this week he is likely to announce whether he intends to play football this year and if so uh as Bob mcginn uh of uh Tyler Dunn's go long sub stack uh said the other day that the Packers he believes this is Bob mcginn are done with Aaron Rodgers and look they might be and they might be sick of Aaron Rodgers and they might want him to devote more time in the off season to him uh to the off-season program and to developing a rapport in chemistry with a new set of receivers I could see that but I also can see the fact that it's going to be difficult to trade Aaron Rodgers who obviously has owed 59.4 million dollars this year uh and I doubt especially if the new team the team that trades for Aaron Rodgers is expected to pay most or all of the bill for this year how much really would they be willing to to give in compensation for him you have any gut feeling now which way the Aaron Rodgers Derby goes miles well I mean especially when you hear somebody like Bob again say what he said you know and somebody who has been around as long as he has and covered things as long as he has you you kind of feel like whoa okay that's that that that'll make you stand up a little bit straighter in your chair you know when you hear something like that so I I feel like either Aaron Rodgers is not going to play or he's not going to be playing for the Packers now where he then goes that's a great open question I mean certainly the Raiders you would think would be interested the Jets would probably be interested and there are probably a handful of other teams you know because there is just so much quarterback turnover that we're probably going to get in this off season that would also um be interested in Aaron Rodgers so you know we'll see what he says and you know Aaron Rodgers is the kind of person where when he starts talking there are going to be headlines out of it because that's just the kind of newsmaker that he is um given his stature as a quarterback in the NFL so I think it will be interesting to see what kind of divorce this ends up being because it can be amicable if Aaron Rodgers says I'm going to retire and then he ends up staying retired right unlike Tom Brady last year or Brett Favre of years and years and years ago or you know we see that he says all right I want to keep playing and I want to play here anymore and then you know we start getting a frenzy quarterback Derby which also would be interesting and probably good for those of us in our business Peter so it's certainly going to be worth watching whatever it is that Aaron Rodgers says he wants and then whatever ends up happening from the Packers standpoint you know miles um in 2006 Drew Brees signed a six-year 60 million dollar contract as a free agent to play for the New Orleans Saints LED them to a Super Bowl win obviously and to a lot of great days uh over his career in New Orleans so that's six years 60 million Aaron Rodgers in essence is going to make if he plays 60 million over six months and if if nothing tells you about how the economics in the NFL have changed that's over one generation it's over one generation that's over 17 years that's it and as I think about that the more I think about it and look I don't have any idea what Aaron Rodgers is going to do but I know that most people regardless of the amount of wealth they have unless we're talking Warren Buffett Elon Musk um you know Bill Gates I think if you could earn 60 million dollars for six months of work I would think that that's something that you would be very you'd be hard-pressed to walk away from and sign me up man the last thing yeah the last thing I'll say about this is that you know I wrote about the looming NFL schedule over the weekend which obviously wisely um is not going to be announced for three more months but one of the things I learned over the weekend is that I think it is highly well I'd I'd say it's likely say it's likely if Aaron Rodgers somehow gets traded to the Las Vegas Raiders that I think if I were in Vegas and I could put a bet down on the opening game I doubt they do this even these weirdo Sports books these days uh what are the odds on the first game of the season in my feeling I would bet a good amount of money on Las Vegas at Kansas City to be that game to be played on let me just look September 7th which is the opening Thursday night of the season but we shall see miles let's go to a team that hasn't been in much of the news in the last few weeks and that's the New York Giants over the weekend I live in New York and it was reported that Daniel Jones has changed agents and the theory being that um you know he may be now looking for since the Giants would like to sign him for more than a year that if they do want to sign up for more than a year he wants to make Market money for the really good quarterbacks in the league you know in the 40 to 45 million range and I don't know if that's true or not that is the speculation we shall see but I think what I would say if I were the Giants is that I'd clearly rather franchise Daniel Jones risk him being ticked off and then have him play Under the franchise tag this year and say Hey listen if you have a great year then we know we're going to have to pay you near the top of the market but we are not ready to pay you at at the top of the market after having a very good season in uh 2022 but after having before that some very up and down seasons in essence if I'm Joe Shane if I'm Brian dabel my attitude would be hey we like you we're not sure we want to marry you for the next five years so let's be reasonable or we're just going to franchise you and the way Daniel Jones is he may be feeling something else deep down inside but they know he's going to work his rear end off to be a good player and will not be an attitude case even if he does you know Wildcat strike part of the off-season program because of this what's interesting to me Peter is at some point we're going to get a quarterback that takes a mid-market contract right whether it's Daniel Jones whether it's a Derek Carr but there's got to be some Middle Ground here between you know Always setting the top of the market like the elite quarterbacks are gonna do and then you know being a one-year guy that makes whatever 20 million to 17 20 million whatever it is right I mean there's gonna be some middle tier where the quarterback is going to average 30 to 35 million dollars a year so is Daniel Jones that guy I guess we'll see but I mean if you're him and you know right now you are set to become a free agent why wouldn't you say if not if for nowhere the reason than a negotiating tactic I want top of the market money of course you would why wouldn't you so the Giants have a decision to make right whether they're going to franchise him and you know you you got to prioritize the quarterback so I don't see why they wouldn't um but you know at a certain point you've got to start thinking man who's gonna be that guy that takes the middle tier quarterback contract because we've seen in the past where you know whether it's Carson Wentz whether it's Jared Goff you know the guy takes the top of the market deal and then a year later or so the team comes to regret that decision and then it's like man what are we going to do and then you have to get rid of that contract and get rid of that player and you know it doesn't mean that the player is a bad player look at what Jared Goff is doing now in Detroit right it means that that player might not be that fit for the organization anymore and I think if you are the Giants you want to proceed with that kind of caution because of the history that you have of seeing Daniel Jones play you know he played well in 2022 there's no disputing that but you don't know exactly if that's going to be consistent or not so I agree with you where you're saying you know we like you but we don't know if we want to marry you quite yet we need to keep going on a few more dates you know make sure that everything is right here and I don't see any problem with the Giants taking that approach if you were Derek Carr where would you sign and would you try to sign before you know what Aaron Rodgers is going to do in other words would you try to force the Jet's hand and say Hey listen like if I were Derek Carr of all the teams out there I think I'd like to sign with the Jets because they've got the they've got a very good defense and they've got a head coach who is going to make absolutely sure that long term he's going to have the weapons and he's got a general manager too that he's going to have the weapons to be able to do that plus you don't have to trade anything for Derek Carr I think if I were the Jets I'd probably be more inclined to go for Carr but who would who would you want if you were Carr probably the Jets just because we know that that team looks a quarterback away from really being a solid Contender I mean they had a defense that was very very good last year you know and they've got weapons on offense you're talking about Garrett Wilson Corey Davis's good um you know you got the good running back tandem back there as soon as Brees Hall gets healthy again so I mean it's not like there aren't tools and weapons there for Derek Carr to be successful now you know when it comes to kind of being in front of the Aaron Rodgers train we'll see what happens this week when it comes to Aaron Rodgers and talking or not talking and decision making and all of that so he who knows but I mean I don't think Derek Carr is a bad quarterback I think in the right situation Derek Carr can be a very very good quarterback I think we saw in 2021 how his leadership really helped keep the Raiders together and propelled them to a play payoff appearance and they gave the Bengals all that they could handle in that game in the Wild Card round so you know it didn't work out with Josh McDaniels this year in the Las Vegas Raiders I I think that there's still something there with Derek Carr and the other element of it is that he's a lot younger than Aaron Rodgers and so in theory you're at least getting a guy who's stolen his Prime and still has some really good years ahead of him that just may not be one year perhaps two years whatever it is you know so I mean I think that you know the reports were out there that the the rate the Jets had a really good visit with Carr great if that's the case then that's a situation where you just go go down the aisle you know we're going to continue the New York football teams dating analogies like just just go and do it because there might not ever be a better opportunity for either one of you I'll tell you if that happens if he signs with the Jets I think the overwhelming favorite to trade for Rogers would be Vegas how interesting would that be to have two Aaron Rodgers Patrick Mahomes games a year I mean or maybe two maybe a couple of years that would really be fun it would be great um let's what was your reaction to Jonathan Gannon telling me that he wants to put Kyler Murray under Center um who knows how many more plays but obviously Kyler Murray was the quarterback in the NFL last year who had the highest percentage of his snaps you know like 96 was in shotgun um obviously that's the preferred method of delivery from Cliff Kingsbury what do you think of Jonathan Gannon saying we want Kyler Murray to be to be able to do both I I hope he can see is my first reaction and I don't mean that really in a pejorative way I mean it's it's an issue with his height that he has to be able to see and read the defense and when you are a couple yards behind the center it makes that process that much easier right so I think that there certainly is a a benefit to being under Center more and making defenses think about things a little bit more especially when it comes to the play action game I like quarterbacks being under Center for that reason you know but I think that what's what's great for kylo Murray and you know what what he's comfortable with we'll we'll see if that really fits because it's not really something that he's done all that much of um but you know it's one of those things that can add an element to the offense and if I'm Jonathan Gannon yeah I understand why that's something that he wants to do you got to give defenses more to think about with a quarterback as he termed it that can be a real real problem I think what I find interesting about it is I'm I think that Jonathan Gannon in publicly discussing this is telling the teams of the NFC West you got to prepare for a different Kyler Murray this year and no matter what he what they actually call during the game they're creating a little bit more work for their their opponents and who knows maybe against the 49ers this year he goes under Center 40 times with Kyler Murray I mean I doubt it but I mean who knows but the fact is right now that Steve Wilkes and that defense uh and and Kyle Shanahan in an umbrella kind of way are gonna have to at least prepare for that so I think that's part of why they're doing it but I also think it makes sense just from the standpoint of why would you limit yourself to one almost exclusively one formation so I think it's okay I I think I I really do think it's okay let me ask you two quick things before we go about the draft almost all of these mock drafts now without trades are basically making one and two uh Georgia defensive lineman Jalen Carter to the Bears at number one and uh Bryce young the quarterback from Alabama number two to the Houston Texans now none of us really know this both of us will be at the scouting combine we'll start sniffing around about this gut feeling right now do uh does Chicago and Houston end up in late April picking one and two or do one or both of them trade that pick before the draft I think that there's going to be a trade because I think in such a quarterback driven League where you've got these young guys who you know in Patrick homes he's already won two Super Bowls Joe burrow looks like he's on Pace to win a Super Bowl sooner than later now Jalen hurts had a tremendous performance in the Super Bowl aside from the one fumble that turned into a touchdown now Josh Allen still exists right there are so many good young QBs and it's such a QB driven League that I I find it hard to believe that QB's won't but multiple QBs won't go in the top five with one of them starting at number one overall so I think that the Bears are gonna end up trading that pick even though you know Jalen Carter looks like he could be an all-world defensive tackle and who knows maybe they still end up with him with a lower pick because everybody else is thinking man I gotta get my QB and the Bears don't think they need to do that because they already have Justin fields but my gut feel right now is that it will not be the Bears selecting at number one overall if I were the Bears I wouldn't be selecting number one overall unless I fell massively head over heels in love with Jalen Carter and again look I don't watch much college football so I can't tell you if Jalen Carter is Warren Sap plus 10 of greatness I don't know but I will only say that you know the road is littered with an awful lot of guys who everybody said we're going to be Transcendent talents um there's just no guarantee for any of these I mean look at Jordan Davis with the Eagles he started off strong got hurt and really kind of disappeared by the end of the year who knows what his future is it might be great but I am always in the Jimmy Johnson philosophy I would always rather have more picks even if that translates to less of at least one very high pick because I just believe that you have a better chance uh when you increase your odds by having more picks it's what I think I I I will I'll make this prediction right now I think the Rams are going to end up with four more picks I don't even know what number they have right now they got a few but they're going to end up with four more picks because I believe they will end up trading their early second round pick which is their first pick in this draft uh there's been some noise now Jalen Ramsey even talked about it that he might be traded I will not be surprised if they use a very big piece like Jalen Ramsey to get let's say what if what if right now the Rams got offered a two and a three and I don't mean a bottom of the round two and a three for Jalen Ramsey what if for instance uh the Kansas City Chiefs offered them maybe even better than a two and a three and I don't know what that is but offered them you know something significant for Jalen Ramsey if I were the Rams I would very very seriously consider it yeah I would too I mean yeah 131 and then I don't know 331 or 332 I guess it would be at that point because the Miami Dolphins pick still back in it maybe yeah I mean the other part of that 131 is I mean you get the fifth year option on the on the contract which is something that the Rams you know haven't really done in a very very very very long time since 2016 was their last first round pick with Jared Goff so yeah it's something that they definitely have to consider miles uh next week when we speak you will be in Indianapolis at the scouting combine I'll be joining you a couple of days after that um and we're going to get into the scouting combine Our Guest next week on the show will be Daniel Jeremiah of NFL Network I always go to Daniel Jeremiah at this time of the year just like before that I used to go to Mike Mayock and I used to throw myself on the mercy of the court and say I know nothing and I used to say please take the next 30 minutes and absolutely totally educate me about where we are who's going to get picked what's the strengths what the weakness is so listen if you're like me and you have very marginal knowledge of who's gonna get picked first the last week of April join the Peter King podcast next week experience the Peter King podcast next week and you will learn everything you need to know going into the scouting combine from the guru himself Daniel Jeremiah so that's it for this week's Peter King podcast appreciate everybody joining me thank you miles we'll be right back here again next week with another Edition of the Peter King podcast hi I'm Mike Tarico and thanks for watching make sure to hit subscribe for the latest news and highlights from NBC Sports