Jalen Hurts enters a critical year

0:00Welcome everyone to Fanta in 60, a brand new show with me, John Fanta and my co-host Jay Croucher. Join us as we bring the fan first energy to NBC Sports now. My new show is the place for understanding the week in sports. We'll talk big storylines by real moments and most importantly, we'll hear directly from you. The fans, it's going to be a great hand. I can't wait for you all to see it. Fanta in 60 airs Mondays at 6 p.m. Easter on NBC Sports now and NBC Sports Radio. See you there. PFT Live September 3rd, six days away from the start of the 2026 regular season, Seahawks, hosting the Patriots, hanging the band or the next night, the 49ers and the Rams in Australia. And then a great slate of week one games. Morning, ma'am. The days. Incredible. It's going to be a great start to the season. 49ers on their way to Australia. Now. Ready. Yeah. And the Rams really are going to do the Wednesday, Friday. It sounds like it. Like they did in London.

1:01And look, it's not like they just kind of threw a dart. Everybody's got a plan and they have a reason for it. It's just as diametrically opposed as it can possibly be. One concluded we're basically going to move there and the others like we're just going to bar and storm in and out and that's it. And I think we can just the game. It's the next game. That's what it's all about. That's definitely the Rams play. The Rams are going, we're not going to be like hung over from time travel all the next week leading into week two and not have a good week of practice and it throw us off kilter. The 49ers are just going, no, we're going to win week one. And then we'll worry about the rest of the stuff after that. You know, I saw something like the 49ers are, you know, but it's crazy. The 49ers are taking off on Wednesday night in California and they're arriving in Australia Friday morning. Is that crazy? I mean, that really is freaking crazy when you sit and think about it. Yeah, they're going to get acclimated. I had this conversation a little with more in SAP yesterday. He thought the Rams approach was crazy.

2:03He thought it was crazy to do that. And he doubted whether they would be physically ready to go after that quick of a turnaround. And he thought also in one of his thoughts was just that, you know, players want to, if you're going to go to a place like this, they'd like to just have a little life and like go around and go, Hey, we're on this continent here. Australia. Here's, oh, whoa. So, this is cool. So it's, it's funny to hear the psychology of all football people right now talking about this subject. Well, yeah, I mean, you're in your 20s, some in their 30s. You're dragging me all this way to Australia and I don't get to go see a koala bear. Right. Right. Yeah. I mean, it's weird. It's business trip. Long ass flight. We land. We go to the hotel. We go play the game. We go pack our stuff and we fly home. Yeah. It's going to be a challenging start for both teams, both in week one and beyond. It won't be a challenge. Start to the season for the Philadelphia Eagles because they open with the Washington Command.

3:04Oh, wow. You just get chalkin' it up to the, you got a W against the W's, huh? They've already got the W on the helmet that the Eagles are going to take away from Gary knows. But El on that helmet. But El hasn't said a word. Gary knows they're going to change that W to an L. Oh, no, he's, now he said something. You know, I have a rule. If you say it in my ear, I say it in the microphones. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, well, the band is going to win. So he's, that's what he said next. So Jalen Hertz hovers over the Philadelphia Eagles and he's kind of in that two where, especially because you've been very candid with your criticism of Jalen Hertz and you have the Eagles fans that don't want to hear it. You've got the combination of the fans that absolutely positively disagree with you, vehemently and think you're crazy. Yes. Then there's the fans and these are the fans that are the craftiest. They don't want to hear it. They know it and they don't want to hear it. And then some of those start to come around eventually.

4:04I have that all over my social media. And those are the ones and I say this all the time. Fans get mad when we say out loud the things they're worried about. They don't want to hear it. They want us to talk about all the things they feel good about. So that'll overpower the things they worry about at night. You we talk about the things that fans should be worried about at night and you've been talking about the deficiencies, the flaws, things that came to light last year. Kevin Patello took the fall for it, but it's not him. The offense wasn't being operated the way it needed to be operated because Jalen Hertz knew he had them by the co-hunus thanks to a contract that made it impossible for them to do anything with him. He had all the power that power now is dissipating and it seems as if he's gotten the message we'll see when it's time to go out and play. No, that I think that's the big thing. It is a big year. I mean Jalen Hertz, there's so much I respect. I know it is about business here. We're talking about what we see on the football field. And yeah, I've seen deficiencies.

5:05We know that. And I think again, the Eagles have been trying to tell everybody that all off season. Yeah, there's deficiencies. The biggest tell tell sign is just let's go to the basic litmus test and the fact of weight, they have basically an all star offense and no offense, a coordinator wanted the job. Sean Manion was what? In the fifth pick, fourth pick, something like that. So again, they've won football games. Yes, but there's a lot of quarterbacks we could have put in Philadelphia and they would have won football games. This team is its flawless. We've been talking about it. The reason we're having this conversation right now is because what something we talk about all the time, good quarterbacks take advantage of all that's there to be had and then some and that's not happening with Jalen Hertz. And then of course it's making, they're going, wait, there was a completion for 20 yards and we didn't get it. And yeah, he ran for three yards or he threw it away or but gosh, this game would have been different if it was these four or five plays here.

6:05We would have dominated this team and blown them out and now we're in a 17, 14 dogfight. And that's what it comes down to with your quality quarterbacks in the NFL. It's about maximization. Are they taking advantage of all that we have as a talent as our scheme and then when things aren't there from the scheme or the talent, you know, the great ones as we talk about all the time, Lamar, Mahomes, Josh Allen, Burrow, they make it happen anyways. And so that is where it's too far or too few and far between as far as running the offense, taking advantage of all theirs to be had and of course it's led to inconsistencies on that side of the ball and underwhelming offense for a team that has the best all-in-a-football, had the best duo receivers or one of them in football, an awesome running back, a damn good tight end. And we still look at their offense and go, well, they're in the 20s every year and Philadelphia is looking at that going, how could we be in the 20s with this team on total offense? And that's where we're at with Jalen Hertz and that's why it's a big year for them. And to the point that Eagles fans are starting to come around, the will of the team is often

7:09expressed by the things said and the questions asked by the people who cover the team. And on the surface, the idea that a year removed from winning the Super Bowl, the question would even come up as to whether or not this is a critical year for Jalen Hertz is revealing. And it shows that there is a ground swell. Totally. And there is a question out there about the future of Jalen Hertz is the quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles. GM, how he rose, man, the guy who puts the roster together and has done a great job of that over the years was on WIP radio in Philadelphia on Wednesday. Here's the question and here is the answer that was provided by how he. Do you agree that this is a critical year for Jalen Hertz maker break to remain the team's quarterback? No, I don't agree with that. I think that the bottom line for us and the positions that we're in and really for all our fan base is winning football games. And all the guy does is win football games.

8:12And that includes our head coach as well, you know, and I think that for me, the barometer is winning football games. In terms of what Jalen does, he's another guy with a tremendous track record. All he does is go out and play good football. Really excited to have him as our quarterback, excited about the season and what we have going forward. And I know there are a lot of fan bases out there that would love the results that we've had with him as our starting quarterback. How are we wearing the Super Bowl ring, is he's he's fond of that thing? Up. You know, what else is he going to say? That's that's that's he's got nothing else he can say. Not right now. It's too late to turn back. Yeah, this is the guy. This is the guy they've paid. And my first thought as I was hearing it was AJ Brown at his locker last year. Yeah. When all the stuff came up after the Twitch stream, if I'm on your fantasy team, get rid of me. And the point he was making is

9:18winning isn't the only aspect here. We have to be growing. We have to be evolving. We have to be improving as an offense or it's going to bite us in the buttocks in the post season. And what happened? Home game 49ers driving for the win. And it bit them in the buttocks. Exactly. So you can't just hide behind. We're winning. We're winning. Winning isn't always enough because you should be winning by more. Right. We should be showing more when you're winning. Exactly. We saw the chief go to the Super Bowl against the Eagles that few years ago. They were 14 and two and they were mad about how they were winning. Right. I mean, we saw it on the Netflix series or whatever it was that year. I can't remember hard knocks, whatever. But I mean, Andy Reed, they're about to be 15 and two in the regular season. And they're in the locker room dejected about they barely beat the Panthers. And there was a few other teams because they knew like, this isn't going to get us to the Super Bowl for playing this. Yeah. We won. Whoop do you do? But with AJ Brown and others and they're going, this is not sustainable. It was

10:22sustainable one year. As you've heard me say, they won the Super Bowl. They were the 29th rank passing offense in football. It's as I've said before, it's the lowest ranked passing offense ever in the history of the NFL. The win a Super Bowl. Now they were fortunate that they were so great at running the ball that they could overcome it then. But like you said, it's the roosters came home to roost. And now we don't dominate in the run game. And now, hey, our highest paid guy, hey, we need you to help us out here and play high level football. Wait, you're not doing it. And if anything, you're not listening to the coaches. We can't add more to the offense. And then you're not doing what the coaches and what you said you were going to do when the game starts. And that is a problem. And yeah. So then it goes back to like what we talked about. Maximization AJ Brown knew and saw it was going, hey, we're winning. Like you're saying. But that we're not going to beat the Seahawks or the 49ers of the Rams. If we play this style of football, it's not going to happen. And that's where they're at as a team here. Yes, they've won

11:23one Super Bowl. But I think their organization looks at it and goes, we should have more than one the way we've set up. We've been the most talented team in the sport for a five year run now. And we have one Super Bowl. And then we blew another one and got a little unlucky with the grass field and all of that. Like we've talked about. But I think that's probably where they are here. And that's where it's a big year. But how he's not going to say that going into week one right now. He's been a pro bowler three out of four years. The one year he didn't make the pro bowl was the year they won the Super Bowl. That's that's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. 82 starts 57 and 25 is his record as a starter. So he's winning over two out of three game. Yeah. And it's easy to get lulled into complacency when you're doing that. Why would we change? We're winning. Well, you should be winning more. You should be dominating. You should be going to the Super Bowl every year or in the NFC championship game every year. You're at home against the 49ers and lost with a

12:25team that was beat up and lost George Kittle and all that. And then the next week you saw a team of Seattle below the 49ers off the field. So that just tells you right there. Go wait. Now the Eagles talent is not that much less than the Seattle Seahawks. But when you have handcuffs on your offense and there's issues there and the quarterback's not functioning, that's why we get into all these stories we've heard all offseason right now. They're going to say the right things. We're hopeful to see what Sean Manion does with the offense. Hopefully hurts buys in and turns the corner and allowing them to do everything. But the biggest problem so far is that you can see every time there's a new offensive coordinator, they kind of have to run the same plays. They have to run the same plays that they've Eagles have run. There's no like, Oh, this is an individual new thing. This offense, a coordinator brought because Jalen Hertz has been like, no, no, I don't want to do that. I want to do this. This is what we've doing. We've won games this way and all of that. But again, they're trying to say to him now that that's not sustainable that way. And we got to

13:28change it up a little bit. And hopefully that happens for his sake in their city. So he's in a maker break season for her. I think it is. I do. I think if they if they are like, again, in the 20s in the passing offense and underwhelming that way. And even if they just get into the playoffs, I think there's going to be serious talks about should he be the guy going forward here? I do. I think we're at that because again, they know what you've heard me been saying. This is a damn all-star team. It's an all-star team. And they know that there's more elite meat left on the bone here than they would like. He's got 22 million guaranteed already for 2027. But that's not a number that is going to tie their hands. There's a 50.155 million dollar option bonus. That's how they layer these cap charges. And that's one of the reasons why he's had so much power. Because you put yourself in a position where you're straightjacketed, you are stuck with the guy, you better

14:29be comfortable because you're giving him all the power. You can't do anything about it because if you get rid of him, it's that DeShawn Watson effect. You can't do anything. They're getting close to the point where they can maneuver. It will not be cheap, but it's only going to get worse if they keep dumping these big. That's the thing. You reach a pivot point where the harm in continuing this by exercising the next option bonus is going to outweigh the harm in just saying we're done. We're out. We're going to trade in. We're going to cut in whatever it's going to be. We got to move on. We got to do this. So yeah, they're getting toward the end of that contract. And they're really at the point where it's one of the other, extend them or move on. I think it's going to be quickly unsustainable to continue in the final years of this contract. You're going to need to get some capital leave through a restructuring and an extension, not just a simple. We're going to exercise our right. Yeah. Just we're going to sign you to a long term deal. And I think it's going to be one of the other after this season. So look, we've talked about this before. The very well

15:33timed report from ESPN calculated, I believe, to hit as the planes were leaving Arizona after the league meeting. So it's not out there when there could be a swarm of questions for Roseman and Nick Cerejani and Jeffrey Luria's there in Arizona for the league meetings. They're sending the message to Jalen Hertz. And that's how they send messages. And that's how he receives messages. He's on notice that this year, you've got to do what we expect you to do. Yeah. You don't we're going to explore our options. We got to stop the old. Oh, he's winning. He's winning. Again, okay, great. That doesn't mean that doesn't always mean something. Like, let's go to the 49ers of the 80s that we talk about sometimes. Joe Montana won the Super Bowl in 84. You know, they were they won in 85. They lost in the wildcard game for the New York Giants. 86. They won. But then they lost to the Giants in the divisional pile of game in 86. 87. They were one of the best teams in

16:34football, but later in the divisional round against the Minnesota Vikings. Vikings go on the NSE Championship game. You know what happened the next year? They've been winning. They've been winning. They won two Super Balls with them. They've been winning. They went, you know, you're not maximizing the offense in our team. We're going to start Steve Young. You're going to you're going to go to the bench to the start of the 1988 year. Joe Montana. So the whole winning thing like get out of here with that crap at times. Come on. We can get a bunch of quarterbacks. We could take any of the top 10 quarterbacks in the NFL and put them on the Eagles and they're going to win. Like, come on. That's not even a thing. We can go to the top 15. They're going to win. So stop with that. That's not a necessarily a quarterback stat. We can go through that all the time. My dad went through it with Jeff Hosteller. They were winning, but Bill Parcells was going, Phil's not taking advantage in doing all the things he's supposed to. So we're going to we're going to toy with Jeff Hosteller a little bit. It's not always just about winning. It's about maximizing your team and taking advantage of all that's there to be had. And again, that's where it's been a little lackluster. Last note on this subject comes from a lifelong Eagles fan who has

17:39emailed the chime in. It feels like how he is content with the total versus the sum of the parts. Anybody who really watches the Eagles knows that this quarterback is interchangeable and we should absolutely have at least one more ring under our bell. There we go. Bellated birthday. Jack Bighead. But so that's that is my love and hate of my love and hate and love affair with the Eagles fans because you kind of explained it to start the segment. I have some that they just don't want to hear at your idiot. You never want to super ball. You don't know what you're talking about. You know, I even get your racist or I want to be like, what shut up? Like that's such a low blow bullshit comment. But then I have the other ones that kind of know I'm right, but you're right. Like don't want to totally hear it. And then I have so many Eagle fans that come up to me and I see them even in my mentions and social media, but even in real life that come up and go, Hey, you know, I see we see what you're saying about Jalen hurts. You know, we there's a lot of us that believe it, right? And we know you're right. And they see the writing on the wall just like that right there.

18:44But again, it's an Eagles fan base that we know is very passionate and sometimes they don't want to hear it from a guy like me. The Eagles will have to deal with the cowboys twice this year. How are they planning for the possibility of having to pay George Pickens while also paying CD lamb? That's next on this Thursday edition of PFT Live. Welcome everyone to Fanta in 60, a brand new show with me, John Fanta and my co-host Jay Croucher. Join us as we bring the fan first energy to NBC Sports now. My new show is the place for understanding the week in sports. We'll talk big storylines by real moments and most importantly, we'll hear directly from you. The fans, it's going to be a great hand. I can't wait for you all to see it. Fanta in 60 airs Mondays at 6 p.m. Easter on NBC Sports now and NBC Sports Radio. See you there.

19:47Hey, just look at it back at the ball. Oh, Jesus. Look at the header. For those of you listening on Series XM85, a group of cowboys, players hitting golf balls, George Pickens with a swing and a miss. Hey, I don't want my high level athletes to be good golfers. It takes work to be a good golfer. I'd rather you work on your main sport. It didn't give me a flashback. Let me tell you story time here with Uncle Mike in the town where I grew up. It'll be Park. Great park. Thousands of acres, multiple golf courses. There is a ski slope in the winter time. And when it's not winter time, it's a driving range. And it's the best kind of driving range because it's right down the hill. So even if you barely hit it, it's got the ability to just

20:48hit it. I think that's pretty good. And we used to go there all the time and one friend of mine who was George Pickens and one of the other friends said, you would just have more fun throwing the balls on the wall. Well, I love and high level athletes like that play golf for the first time because I think you know, so many especially NFL, they look at it. They see it on TV and they're like, I mean, what's a big deal about this? I can do this. And then they get out there and they start to go, whoa, hitting this damn little small white ball and putting it in the direction I want to put it in. It's not as easy as I thought. And it gives them a whole different respect for it all together. So that was a cool video to see and a good first shot there by George Pickens. As Gary observes, God did not put George Pickens on earth to hit a golf ball. No, no, no, no, but to your point, it's one of those you got to practice. And yeah, I'm with you in that I wouldn't want my best players to have the golf bug. Hey, hey, there have been a few periods in my life. And I hope it never returns again, where I have been smitten by that. Yeah. And you spend way too much time.

21:50You go to the driving range. You're gone for six hours on a Saturday. You come home. You got a hundred less bucks in your pocket. Then you had to start with your pissed off. And there's all this stuff that you could have been doing other than pissing yourself off. Yeah. And that's the problem. I know my own experience. I start to get to a level of confidence that I expect both to improve and remain at. And then when it starts to dip, it drives you crazy. Yeah. So 1994 was one year. It was another time where I got smitten. No more, no way. I can live without it. Find by me golf golf has existed for centuries without me playing. It will continue to exist without me playing. All right. The Cowboys have existed for years without having two high-end receivers, but they have them now in CDLAM in George Pickens. And look, CDLAM is moving deeper into what was a market value contract. It's now lagging a little bit. George Pickens hasn't gotten his yet. They've used the franchise tag instead and saved a lot of money. At some point, there's going

22:52to be a reckoning. At some point, CD's going to want a new contract. Pickens is going to want the new contract is yet to get. Here's Stephen Jones on whether the Cowboys will be able to pay both CDLAM and George Pickens. I don't know of any teams that really can pay two top receivers top of the market. So that's going to be a real difficult situation as we move forward. We've managed to figure out how we can do it for this year. Certainly, if everything works out the way we think it is, which CD and George both have huge years again, then it'll be a bigger challenge next year. George is really wanting to put back the back years on top of one another. So it'll help his market. And certainly, I know at some point, as does every player in this league will want to be rewarded with a long-term contract. So that certainly puts pressure on us to have a unique situation there at wide receiver. Our friend Clarence Hill on the left, he caught the...

23:57It's going to be harder next year. Yes. And look, I fully expect the Cowboys to tag George Pickens again next year, because it's only a 20% raise over 27.298 million. At the time when the market is 42 million in rising, the CBA, the formula for the franchise tag, it has created these strange outcomes in certain positions where it is firmly and fully within the team's interest to squat on the player at the amount of the franchise tag. And for the Cowboys and George Pickens, it makes sense. And I think they'll try to do it again next year. And then year three, that's when the reckoning arrives and they have to decide what they're going to do. But that's where we are. And yeah, Pickens deserves to be north of 40. And CD Land maybe thinking, I deserve to be north of 40. The question becomes how long can you continue to pay those guys at that level and have a team around them? Yeah, that's the big thing. I mean, George Pickens has a type of talent where we have the conversation all the time to go, well, he could be next. He should be next.

25:00If he plays like he did last year, he probably will be the highest paid receiver in football. You can pay two guys at the receiver position and still be a damn good football team. There's enough money to go around in the salary cap. Now, it's just can you pay two guys in the top three or four? I mean, we just showed the graphic there. These are both phenomenal football players. George Pickens is more physically gifted than CD Lambs. CD Lambs, a phenomenal football player himself. But George Pickens is the kind of guy that can do anything on the football field. He can be a true, like you've said, from the start, Randy Moss is type of superstar. I mean, we saw the Jones family wax poetically about him last year after whatever game that was where they were just like, I never, that's the greatest receiving a game. Right. Poetry. Exactly. Never seen anything like. Right. CD Lambs. Then you never said that about me. Right. When we saw AJ Brown and Devonte Smith on the Eagles. And again, I know the numbers aren't the same. But for like a few years ago, yeah, they were what? Two of the top five or six guys on their on the NFL as far as receivers. And this course, they still had success together that way. And we saw Jalen Waddle in Miami with Tyree

26:06Kill again, success on the offensive side of the ball. But yeah, it's going to be tricky here because CD Lam right now is what? Like the fifth highest paid receiver in football is that where we are sixth. He's dropping. He's dropping. No. But so yeah, he's like six that 34 million. But yes, this is lining up to go. George Pickens. He's going to pass up JSN and could be the highest paid guy. And can you pay one guy 44 million and the other guy 34 million and still have a great team throughout? Yeah, that's definitely going to be one of their problems here. If they do the franchise tag thing like you said, next year, it's not going to go smoothly as it is this year. That he has another year going, wait, I was a good teammate. I was phenomenal in the football field. You're franchising me. He is going to make an issue for them. And we will be talking about the cowboy circus once again. If he has a phenomenal year this year. Yeah. And if he clearly emerges as the best receiver on that team and he's put two great years, what you said might happen. Do you think that someone else would try to sound and do an offer sheet and give up two first

27:11from pick? Oh, probably not, probably not. But you know, he's the type of talent that might make some people think about it. I thought you were going to go into something you said from the very beginning of going, if he has this great year and does all this, will they try to maybe trade CD lamb and move on for him? Like you like you always like you always like to do. You've always made that point. I think it's a very good point. I could see them doing that and then going, hey, we'll find another receiver a little cheaper on the other side of George Pickens here. I would not be shocked to see that happen. There is a trivia question. And I think we've already identified one of the two players, CD lamb and George Pickens. The first cowboy's teammates with a thousand yards receiving since 2019. One of them was Marie Cooper. The question is who was the other? Oh, it's one of those where I should know this. And so this is a cowboy's thing. This is a cowboy's okay. Okay. And it was the guy who was gosh, damn, and I can't help me. I can't remember

28:12his name, but he ended up going somewhere else and not playing as well when he left the cowboys. He was kind of flashing the pan in Dallas and we're not going to get it. So go ahead, and I'm going to kill me. This is going to kill Michael Gallop. Oh my gosh. Yeah, I wouldn't have come up with that though. You're right. You're right. That would have taken me. Man, I'd Michael Gallop had a thousand yards that year. I did not. He ended up going elsewhere and it just didn't end up out. Yeah, it does. Well, that's interesting. Good trivia question there by our dumb commanders producer Gary. Way to go, Gary. Speaking of things that haven't worked out, what is JJ McCarthy's future in Minnesota? New GM? No, not easily addressed it yesterday. You're like a JJ McCarthy, huh? PFC live Thursday September 3rd. The Vikings have decided to make Calamari the starting quarterback, Nolan Teasley, who was hired to be the GM and who has no fingerprints whatsoever on really either

29:13of the two quarterbacks he arrived after the draft. They hired him. They started the search after the draft. They went into the draft and free agency without a GM Teasley addressed the media yesterday and he addressed among other things. I was trying to think of another word other than a dress. Oh, I thought you were burping yourself. No, I was addressed. He addressed. He addressed JJ McCarthy's status on the team. Here he is. JJ McCarthy's role is to continue to develop, to improve and to support his teammates. And he's done an excellent job of that from the moment that I've been here and from my understanding since he walked through the door. Do you expect him to be on the roster for week one? Is he the back of the quarterback? I wouldn't really necessarily comment on depth immediately, but yeah, I'm just I'm pleased that he's he's part of our present version of the Minnesota Vikings and excited about his future. Yeah, if you don't comment on JJ McCarthy being the backup for the

30:13fight. He's not. It's Carson Wentz. Yeah, that's where I want to just go. Why do we even play with that at times? Obviously, we're going to read into that and go, well, he's not the backup then. Because if he was, he would have gone, hey, he's the backup. Yeah. Why are you asking the question? Just say, go, hey, you know what? Right now Carson Wentz is number two. That's it. I don't know what they think is going to hurt it, right? It's almost like sometimes they're afraid to say, oh, Carson Wentz is number two. And they feel like teams are going to be like, oh, we can't trade for JJ McCarthy now. If he's number three, cross it off. Forget it. It's all over. I mean, we're all presuming that Carson Wentz is the backup right now. Right? I mean, I look at our lads. Our lads has them. That's backup. We always check that out. Other websites all have Carson Wentz is the backup. In an effort to conjure leverage for a trade, sometimes you end up hurting yourself. You're trying too hard. Yeah. Just acknowledge it for what it is. The best possible deal and move on. You're not going to get a better draft pick for JJ McCarthy by creating the vague amorphous notion that maybe he's number two. Yeah. Yeah. He's not. He doesn't fit there. They'd like to move on.

31:16I think if they would get a trade offer, they would like they would take it. And they just haven't gotten one because teams are thinking that they're eventually just going to move on from him. And it may be that they just keep them around because the other reality is they could need him. There's no guarantee that Kyle Murray or Carson Wentz are both going to stay healthy. Totally. I agree with that. I mean, yes, Kyle Murray, we know he has had a little bit of the injury bug. He's a smaller guy. He runs around and does that. Carson Wentz always put himself in danger because of the way he plays hanging in the pocket and holding the ball to the last second. So you're exactly right. Stay the course, JJ. As we kind of talked about with like Anthony Richardson and the Colts a few weeks ago, you're at the best spot right now. You were drafted in the top 12 by this football team. They still have some, you know, vested interest in wanting to make it work for you for all the reasons you said and for themselves. So if you get in there, just make sure you're ready to go because you will have a support system around you. If they all stay healthy and

32:20what we think they can be on the offensive side of the ball, well, you could have another chance here to show everybody and say shove it up where the sundown shine. So just continue to say the course is the message to JJ McCarthy. You said top 12, which makes me think you think he was the 12th pair. No, it was 11. It was 10. They were 11 and they bumped. Okay, I always get that mix over there. They were going to get jumped by the Broncos and Sean Payton. Of course, Payton believes he put the Jedi mind trick on the bike totally did making them think he wanted McCarthy when he actually wanted bonette gosh, I just I can't believe they fell for that. We knew you heard me at the combine that you're going Peyton Sean Payton and the Broncos are going to take Bownex, right? Remember I said that to you. I just said I just watched the film the night before I got he's going to love Bownex. It's it's like a drew breeze. I think with most of the football thought he loved it. So I'm surprised that Minnesota got you know fooled on the old oaky doke there. Here's Tee's Leon McCarthy's future with the Minnesota Vikings. He's really talented. I think I said that from from the jump right. He was he was picked in in the first round for a reason.

33:22A really good arm strength. Unaurated athlete and looking forward to how he continues to to develop in the system. I think that the thing you need to keep in mind with JJ is that he plays he has the hardest job in sport. Okay. He's only started 10 games and his story is not written. Hey, that's all true and that's all accurate and it's unfortunate because this is the way that it works. You're a highly drafted player at the most important and most scrutinized position in all the football if not all the sports and you either sink or swim and if you start sinking the rock gets heavier. That's the problem. That is. And it just it just kind of spirals out of control and before you know what it's done. You're right. It's it's unfortunate. It's about as a bad as a scenario as you could hope for for being a top 10 pick. You've talked in pass about tray lands in the situation he got put in and that was so tough. This is not too far from that. You get hurt. You're rookie preseason. You can't play and a guy like and it was already

34:26controversial to hey, we're getting rid of Kirk cousins who played really good football here and really was a pretty good you know consistent staple of our offense and we're just going to get rid of them and then okay, we get rid of him from Jay Jay McCarty and people questioned, you know, how much he was ready to carry the burden because of the way they played at Michigan and running the ball so much like we've talked about run the ball the whole second half of a game against Penn State and everything there. And then you get hurt. You're rookie preseason and then the backup comes in and takes over and they go 14 and three. That that couldn't be any worse. And then of course we know now you don't get the reps there and then it goes into the second year where yeah, you were getting healthy. There was some other things maybe off the field and you're trying to get your you know, bearing straight as being a starting quarterback in the NFL and then get hurt again. And of course, in in that process, it was kind of bumpy road and then you get back in there and do some good things. But again, it was bumpy and inconsistent. It's just it's been a tough situation where he's got no little unlucky and then when he has been out there, he has not

35:27showed the growth that you would like. That's the biggest thing. Well, he started last year too with that thrilling come from behind win at soldier field against the Bears. He grew up a Bears fan and it looked like it was all moving in the right direction. But by week two, primetime game, Falcons Vikings, that's where he got injured and then after that and he did come on. He did win games late in the year. But the bottom line is this the durability is the biggest problem. Are there accuracy issues? Yes. Are there issues with having only one pitch in the two bag? Yes. But the durability is the key. You can't work on those things if you're not out there doing it, right? Like to your point, you have to do durability is the thing. And then there's just like this weird like he's going to practice this week. And shefty was just on McAfee the other day saying it's a multi week injury. And there's this push and pull of the team and the player are on the same page about his health. The whole thing is just weird. I think it's gone low key toxic. Everybody still says all the right things, but I think it's probably time to move on if they can. I like how they

36:30put that helmet up there for you. Yeah, I don't like that helmet. I don't like that. I want to go back to the days of the glossy like I was saying the other day. Yes. Yeah. The glossy shiny purple with the old horn. And it's funny. And I may partially be responsible for this because I remember interviewing Matt Burke before they changed the uniforms in 2006. And I said, why don't they make the horn three-dimensional so people know what it is? And they did. I like it better the old way when people were like, what is that thing on the side of the helmet? Because that was a lot of like what the hell is that thing? I wondered when I was young. I remember going, what the hell is I had no idea. I've also suggested let's go full 3D and let's just put horns sticking out of the helmet. That would be good. That would make it for the safety rules. Well, again, you know, you know, you last week you wanted week 14 naked. You're like, hey, you might as well go naked. I mean, that'll catch fire. I said the rivalry uniforms are a naked money grab and the players would look better naked. And you went with the whole week 14. They're all going to be they want to go

37:32I want to grow this thing in the world. That'll grow that thing in a big time. I mean, naked with the horns sticking out. That would be incredible. Olympics. The original Greek Olympics. Look at that. We're naked. They were. They were. Wow. No sponsor. So there was no penalties for a legal man-junk dangling or anything like that. That was just perfect. Of course. All right. Well Ravens reach to do with Lamar Jackson on a contract extension before next March when his cap number explodes. That's next on PFT Live. Welcome everyone to Fanta in 60. A brand new show with me, John Fanta and my co-host Jay Croucher. Join us as we bring the fan first energy to NBC Sports now. My new show is the place for understanding the week in sports. We'll talk big storylines by real moments and most importantly, we'll hear directly from you. The fans is going to be a great hand. I can't wait for you all to see it. Fanta in 60 airs Mondays at 6 p.m. Easter on NBC Sports now and NBC Sports Radio. See you

38:35there. PFT Live Thursday edition. The Ravens. The Ravens. And you know, we were talking about this the other day. Yeah. Lamar Jackson represents himself. Mm-hmm. Once the season starts, I'd like to think even right now there's nothing that he's going to do as it relates to negotiating a contract. But Eric to cost to the GM of the team is optimistic. They will reach an extension by March. I don't know what kind of conversations happen between now and March. Yeah. Unless they have a deal in place and for whatever reason they're waiting. I don't know why that would be the case, but there's no reason to wait. Let's get the deal done. They need the cap relief. It doesn't matter for this year, but it matters for next year. And what happened this past year, they wanted to do the deal. They couldn't so they'd exercise the right to restructure the deal and all that does is put more cap pressure on future. They reduced the sky high cap number for this year, but they've made it worse next year.

39:37And the only way out of that mess, especially now that they're getting toward the end of his most recent deal next year is the final year of the five year, $52.5 million contract he signed in 2013. He's got a $84 million cap hit for 2027. There you go. Yes. And there's going to be money left over after 2027. Yes. Because they do the voidable years. You've got the $84 million cap charge next year. And I my math very quickly looks like another 75 million beyond that. So the only way to deal with that is do another contract where you layer and you defer and you play games, but this is the reality. When you have a highly compensated quarterback and teams are inclined to not take the cap charges as they go, you eventually have a massive reckoning when they leave. It happened with Tom Brady and Tampa Bay. It happened with debris in New Orleans. Yep. It happens anytime you've had a guy year in and year out, you shrink the cap number and you push money into future years. And at some point when there is no future year for the player, there is a

40:42massive cap debt that still needs to be paid. And it doesn't matter to the team because they've already paid the dollar. Yeah. It's just a matter of work in the cap. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's a it's actually a curious situation. Let's go rewind. I've never heard an owner at the end of the season basically go. Yeah. We want to extend them. We'll make the numbers bigger. We'd like to get it done and go. I mean, obviously the Ravens wanted to sign them up this past year and do this and get this going the process you've been talking about. Now I don't know what happened. As we know, it seems like negotiating with Lamar no matter what it is, it's a hard thing to do because he represents himself. So microphone breaks on the phone sometimes. So so here we are where a team was literally willing to just go, Hey, same contract, more money, 62, 63 million a year, boom, boom, here you go, bomb. Let's get it done so we can start worrying about our team. And now we're into, well, we hope next March, you know, we can get it done by then. Do I really think it's going to happen during the season? No. And do I still think that Lamar Jackson might

41:42try to be pulling the oaky doke whether it is maybe a Miami or Atlanta who we've talked about as well. I don't put that out of my or put that off my radar. So I am going to be very interested to see how this plays out. I can't remember how much we've discussed this or whether we've said it this way. But you and I have. Yeah. I think the last time I was here, weren't we? We did talk about it. It was like maybe about a month ago. Maybe doing some advanced scouting. Information gathering as it relates to a possible trade for Lamar Jackson next year. I personally think he's going to eventually sign. Yeah. I personally think I know it's a better story if he gets traded or if he puts in two more years and then says see you later. I'm going to Miami. I think he's going to sign. It's just a matter of time. Yeah. That's what I believe. All right. Thank you, Nick Bosa for clarifying what the word tightness means. That's been the injury caused by the electrical substation. When I was players this year, Bosa explains what his

42:43tightness was and when he'll be back. That's next on PFT Live. PFT Live Thursday edition, Nick Bosa, back to practice headed to Australia along with George Kiddell. He had been out for a while. Remember, he had the torn ACL last year. He was practicing. Then he wasn't extended absence. Here is Bosa on his recovery from the most recent ACL tear. It was a long road. There's some stuff I dealt with with that patelli tendon. Then it ramped it a little too fast with the football stuff a couple of months ago or whatever it was. Yeah. It kind of told me it back off. I've just been trying to get it as strong and as confident in myself as confident as I can

43:44to where I could rip the bandaid off and go to team stuff today. Once you get into team, there's no reservations. There's no compensation here. There's no governor. Yeah. So it sounds like some tendonitis in the patelli is what the issue was. And like you get in there, you start digging around. You go through the rehab. You're going to put stress on certain things. The knee is a very complicated joint. The knee to me is of all the things you could point to. And I guess setting aside the ability that we can reproduce. The intricacy of the knee joint is a constant reminder to me that we were not randomly created, that someone designed the human body, someone somewhere designed this thing with all these different pieces of cartilage and tendon that work together that allow us to run, that allow us to walk. And it's fragile

44:49because it's so complicated and shit happens. And when you get it fixed surgically, you potentially have other issues in it. Yeah. It's tough. And I think it's this is one of the toughest positions for the ACL injury. We've talked before in a quarterbacks. Yeah. You can get away with it. Offense alignment. You can get away with it. Now receivers, even to a degree, you can get away with it because you know where you're going. These guys, Nick Bosa, my, my, my, comparisons that that again, like we've talked about their body and their game is all about being in a position where I'm bent with a 330 pound guy pushing on me as I'm doing that. And the body bending and contorting in ways and putting pressure on those legs, especially that outside one as you're bending puts tremendous pressure on that. And that's where I think this is one of the toughest positions in all of football to overcome the ACL injury and totally get back because of that you know, physical stress we're talking about. We're talking about guys one that are able to put

45:53enough force into the ground that's not of a normal human being. And then you got the forces of another not normal normal human being pushing on them as well. And that's where it's going to take some time to feel like you're you're totally Nick Bosa again. And again, there's a contractual issue that is potentially looming as the high watermark is now 50 million per year. He's at 34 and he has to be thinking all I'm anymore chances to get paid because he's getting closer to the end in the beginning of his career, especially with all the injuries he's had. Let's take a break. When we return Jackson started to play much this preseason, will that be an issue when they host the Cowboys? One week from Sunday, that's next on PFT Live. PFT Live Thursday edition, the giants are hosting the Cowboys to start the regular season in a week and a half. Jackson Dart had 14 snaps against the Vikings on August 15th. And that was it for his preseason. Yeah, it's along the way. He made a trip to the blue tennis.

46:55A few snaps. It took a clean hit. Send you to the blue tennis. Yeah, I know. I know. So here he is, Jackson Dart, on not getting many live game reps this preseason. I mean, every single day, I mean, every day I'm going against the Nards defense. The great players that we have, the scheme that's in place and you know, those are some of the best reps that I'm going to get, you know, going into week one. So I've been, you know, very grateful for those because I would say early on in camp. There's a lot of things that maybe caught me by surprise and, you know, against the defense that I haven't really had a ton of experience playing against, but I think that it's just made myself and in this team a lot better. And, you know, I don't take those reps for granted. So I feel like those are the best reps I could possibly get each and every day. Look, you got to make the glass look half full, right? Is it good to play in the preseason when

47:56you're a young quarterback? Yes, yes. Yeah, especially with a new offense, with a new coaching staff. Is it critical? No, but it may add to the adjustment time when it's time to go out and play in the games account. That's right. It is, you know, there's always that worry. But the fact that he did get out there, it is a new offense. So yeah, there's some new stuff that he's trying to learn. And like you said, he's playing a defense and denarnable and what he's brought to the table here for the giants. It does a lot of stuff on that side of the ball. So I'm sure it's been a great experience for him. But I think with the playing in week one and then, hey, they've already got a few, they got camp scottaboo coming back from injury. Malik neighbors coming back from injury. He takes that hit and goes to the blue tent where we can argue about whether he should have gone there or not. I think that was enough to go. Hey, we're good. We got him. He's looking good. He has shown us. He's kind of a natural anyways that going out there and playing. So we hope for the best there. The giants certainly, I think, have a chance to be a pain in the butt as we've talked about. Like he said, that defense has got some talent. They're excited about it. But it's a big, big test to a

48:59week one with Dallas coming to town. Isaiah, likely who spent his whole career in Baltimore with John Harbaugh had an interesting comment yesterday. He's used to the way Harbaugh runs practice. And he said, hearing how giants camp was in the past, was kind of mind boggled. That's well, you've heard me echo these sentiments to you a few times, right? Whether I've seen some giant players from what things my dad has told me with the players are going, I mean, I mean, he's he's he's working us. Like, you know, they're telling me like, I've never been a part of a training camp like this. Like they were saying that in OTAs, they continue to say that during training camp. It is a different era in New York, giant football. And I think that's what everybody's excited about. I know that's what's got my dad excited about it. And even other people in that organization because they just feel like this is giants. This is the way we're supposed to be. This is how it was with Tom Kaufflin. This is how it was with Bill Parcells. And I think we know the results that that led to. And I think that's why they're excellent. So, mess with Harbaugh. There was that clip from the final preseason game where Cam's cataboo was saying something to him and Harbaugh gave it back to him.

50:02And Dart is there. And Dart goes from smiling and laughing. Yeah, to real serious. After Harbaugh says what he says, he was like, just looks at up my feet around the ground. I'm looking forward. It wouldn't be coach. That's when you know you got a real general lead to show there. That's what they need. That is what they haven't had it since Tom Kaufflin. Yeah. And it shows. Yeah. That's it for today's show. Thank you. As always, for some of your time. Christopher, happy birthday again. Thanks, buddy. Glad you're not in jail. Yeah. At least for now. Welcome everyone to Fanta in 60, a brand new show with me, John Fanta, and my co-host, Jay Croucher. Join us as we bring the fan first energy to NBC Sports now. My new show is the place for understanding the week in sports. We'll talk big storylines by real moments. And most importantly, we'll hear directly from you. The fans. It's going to be a great hand. I can't wait for you all to see it. Fanta in 60 airs Mondays at 6 p.m. Easter on NBC Sports now on NBC Sports Radio. See you there.