The Fumblerooski Podcast
Buying Happiness -Ep 271 The Fumblerooski Podcast
The Chiefs have two tough match-ups ahead of the 2024 season. Jared Goff signed to a historic extension with the Detroit Lions. I'm Adam Wright. This is the Fumbleruski podcast. It may not have always showed it in the stat sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns. Someone's got to get that six or seven spot. He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie. It's only a lose-lose scenario for both sides. Welcome to the Fumbleruski podcast by Power88 and Secret Weapon Consulting. I'm Adam Wright with CJ Madeeros. The schedule release is coming up this upcoming week, later on this week, but there's still a couple of match-ups that are getting leaked here and there. The Chiefs have already had two that have been shown. They're first two weeks we already know the match-ups for, and they're tough match-ups. Now don't get that part twisted, and Jared Goff has been signed to a massive extension. We'll get into that in a little bit, but we're going to lead off with the Kansas City Chiefs. Not only are they playing their first game where they host the Baltimore Ravens on opening night, September 5th, but also they're taking on in week two, the Cincinnati Bengals. In the last two seasons where they have made it to the AFC Championship, these are the two teams they played. These are AFC Championship rematches in back-to-back weeks. I don't think the schedule makers were, I don't think they did this on accident. This is on purpose, and I am very excited for these two match-ups. We're starting off this season with, we're hitting the ground running in 2024, especially for the Kansas City Chiefs. So the first one will be prime time, obviously, on Thursday night. The second week is 4-20, so that'll be on, I believe that's going to be on Fox, so I assume that's going to be the game of the week. I mean, it better be. I got to say, before I give my initial take, football is not the same with the Chiefs and Bengals not on top. Both of these teams need to be in their prime form. Joe Burrow versus Patrick Mahomes, the Bengals going off about their burrow head, the Chiefs shutting them up, oh my, it was so much fun when these two teams were, I was heartbroken to see that Joe Burrow heard his calf to start the 2023 season. It kind of ruined things for the Bengals, and they were out of playoff contention, and the Chiefs had a much easier road to get to the Super Bowl. I mean, it was kind of tough for them because the Chiefs weren't their usual selves, but they still got there. I think honestly, the only guy who was proven to have the ice water in his veins to beat the Chiefs, it's Joe Burrow. He looks healthy right now in training camp. We've seen some clips of him throwing. Hopefully he stays healthy. They've been working on that offensive line a little more. They invested their first round pick in it, but I think our biggest takeaway, we're talking about this a little bit off camera, CJ. I don't think this is indicative at all on how the Chiefs are going to be this year. Everyone is, I bet you're going to get a lot of people in the next few days saying, well, the Chiefs are going to have some real tests, they're going to have some real tough tests coming up. No, they're not. No, they're not. They lost a lot of games last year. They barely squeaked in as well, they were going to be division champions because their division was garbage, but let's not act like this team hasn't been battle tested already. This is a veteran Chiefs team that has won three Super Bowls. So that squad is still there from all three of them, by the way, at least they're stars. Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelsey were there for all three for all three victories. Andy Reed is still there. Chris Jones was there, I believe for all of them, like every single season Mahomes have been there and Trent McDuffey is in his second year. He's already won two Super Bowls. So why is this a test? If anything, if anything is going to be a test for anybody, it's the Ravens and Bengals. And even so, both of these teams have beaten Patrick Mahomes and company in the regular season in the past. In fact, the Bengals do it routinely when they have Joe Burrow. The Ravens have done it a couple of times as well. So why does this prove anything? This is just going to be a fun matchup. I don't think this is going to be indicative of the quality of play for either team. Even if the Chiefs lose both of these games, I don't think that this is going to show anything because we can never rule out the Chiefs. Honestly, even if they start 0 and 4, I think I'll still be looking at this team and saying, they're going to go to the playoffs and they're going to make a deep run because they always do. It's not even, it's not even whether or not they have good depth on their team. It's not even looking like if they, these teams have down years, right, Patrick Mahomes didn't have the best season. Travis Kelsey didn't have a good year, but they just have that ability to turn it on when the postseason comes through and they beat teams that they have no business beating. So I don't, I just, I don't, I don't see this as any sort of indication on how good these teams are because I think regardless, we're going to see what we see is what we're going to get. But CJ, what are your thoughts? I just, let me just say when the NFL makes schedule and releases it, there's a big production out of it and, but why? This doesn't mean anything and I think that's what it is. I mean, you, you said it yourself, there's a very real chance. I mean, I wouldn't say it's like the greatest chance in the world. There's a likely chance that Kansas City opens up the year, oh, and two. I mean, they lost their, they lost their first game against the Lions last season and they still won the Super Bowl. And I just think we need to pump the brakes here because yes, I know there's all that trash talk between burrow and the Chiefs, you know, that's cool and all like, but yeah, yes. And I know the Chiefs were able to luck out and kind of duck the bangles last year because burrow got her. I mean, even though he was playing like early on, you could tell that was not the same, you know, with his calf injury. And the Ravens, so the Ravens are good and they've, they've beaten my homes before, but they just can't do it in the playoffs. It's kind of like the bills, right, I was like, Oh, Mahomes and Allen is the big rivalry. It's like, well, cool. Yeah. Okay. It's a rivalry between a hammer and a nail because Allen folds when the lights shine brightest. And it's, you know, and I mean, the only quarterback that I even mentioned with Mahomes, like he said, is burrow because burrow has actually beaten Mahomes in the playoffs when it matters. Yeah. Well, I just, like, like you, I just think we need to pump the brakes here. We do because it's just, I mean, we don't know what's going to happen with these teams because, you know, the Chiefs, look, they, they, I mean, I would say they had a good off season. In fact, you could argue that they got weaker. They don't have a luxurious need. They don't have a dive in Smith. They're off tackle. Rishi Rice might not even start week one because, you know, he likes racing a little too much. Yeah. So, so like I said, it's like, you know, they had a good bite taken out of them this off season. Awesome. Yeah. They're really gay too. I feel like they might have. Um, I don't think so now we can double check that, but the, but I think you bring up a good point about the team, about these quarterbacks, like, you know, we brought this point up right after the Super Bowl, Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, Justin Herbert, Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hertz. Yeah. That might be missing. Some gay, by the way, they, what is that? They did really gay. Went to the same. They lost. Okay. Those five quarterbacks, right? They combine for no rings. And you could make the argument, okay. Maybe Patrick Mahomes is just that much better than them. But talent wise, I don't think it's that far off. I think it is a lot more the fact that these quarterbacks just cannot put it together when they need to the most. Joe Burrow has come the closest and Jalen Hertz came fairly close as well of actually they, they came equally close. I'll give it to him. Jalen Hertz had a good year in 2022, but neither of them have done it yet. And I feel like things could change, but how is it that Mahomes has been, has been able to elevate himself, the only one who has been able to elevate himself to another to just shift it into another gear and the other guys can't, every single one of them, like yes, the league has some incredible talent, especially at the quarterback position nowadays. But it becomes uninteresting come post season time because we know they're all going to choke. So it becomes a little uninteresting at that point and I want, I want Josh Allen to get over the hump. I want Joe Burrow to make it and win a Super Bowl. I want Jalen Hertz to get there as well. I want Justin Herbert to break out of that slump, which is, I mean, the rest of the team needs to do that for the chargers, but I want them to come through. And I also respect what Patrick Mahomes has done. I just want to see it. I think it can get a little more interesting than it has been. Like I'm not saying that Mahomes isn't that much greater than everyone else. I think he is the best out of the bunch. I'm just saying the gap isn't that large that Mahomes comes out on top every single time. Patrick Tom Brady didn't come out every single time. There were some times that Peyton Manning got the best of him, right? I don't think Mrofflisberger ever did, but there were some years where Brady wasn't able to make it to the Super Bowl and Rofflisberger was able to. There were some years where Eli Manning had the best of Tom Brady. There were some years where Aaron Rodgers was able to win a Super Bowl one year. Drew Brees won one. There were some quarterbacks who were able to eat during this exact same period that Tom Brady was dominating for 20 years. With Patrick Mahomes in these six years, we haven't seen much. It's been Tom Brady twice and then Matthew Stafford won one too. That's it. I'm sorry. I just I expect more from this group. I don't think that's I think that shows more respect than anything else. I'm not saying these quarterbacks suck. I'm not saying Patrick Mahomes shouldn't be as great as he is. I think he is. I think he's one of the greatest of all time. I'm just saying just show a little bit of fight. Give me something. Give me something. Have the bills come out once? The rest of the league has not posed much of a threat to the Chiefs. They haven't. Yeah, no. You're right. And this just goes to show why this whole schedule thing doesn't mean much because yeah. Yeah, you know, oh boy, we get our rematch week one and week two. We have a God willing, a healthy burrow and Mahomes going at it, but it's just like this is why it doesn't matter because when the chips are down, these teams meet in the playoffs, it's a very different animal and Mahomes has shown that he can carry a not great roster and an arguably overrated coach to a Super Bowl. He's shown that he can do it. He's carried that team. All right. Yeah. And I don't think and then just go show how special Mahomes is because I'm going to say something and it's going to might sound controversial, but I would argue it's actually not. If you look at the Kansas City Chiefs, right? Yeah. If Patrick Mahomes goes down, they're forced to start some backup, right? Just a mid-level backup that they bottom 10 team. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You can say the same thing about most teams. I mean, Joe Burrow went down, Jake Browning takes over, and then they weren't able to do much. I know they finished 9 and 8, technically. Yeah. No, no, but I'm saying they like a lot of most of that season was with Joe Burrow. And also, like if you take Josh Allen off his team and put in a mid-level backup, I think that's the same way. That's just the nature of the starter starting quarterback versus the versus the backup, right? Yeah. I don't think it's just not much worse than the starter. No, no. Yeah. No. Well, yeah. I mean, obviously, but my point is it's like the Bengals still at a winning record without Burrow. And I mean, the Bills, well, now they probably wouldn't because their roster's been eviscerated, which is interesting. You chose to talk about them now. The Chiefs is like, but yeah, I mean, they're not going to do anything without my homes. I don't think so. That's just because he carries. You know, I wouldn't. I mean, Josh Allen can make that same case, but Burrow, I don't know. Like I said, they saw a winning record without him, like, because that's still a very good roster. I mean, heck, we were full of the thing Jake Browning might actually take them to the playoffs. Yeah. But they had a pretty, they were pretty good before them. They had a, yes, they, I guess they had a winning record with Jake Browning, which is fought like, I'll give them credit for that. But they were, they were already kind of putting themselves, they were starting to get back into that contention, that conversation to be back in contention right before Joe Burrow got hurt. That was a big Ravens game between him, between Burrow and Lamar. If they won that game, they'd be right back in the mix. So let's, I mean, the Joe Burrow, when Joe Burrow left, he left a better, a good record and he didn't leave some, leave some weapons for Jake Browning to at least keep the team afloat. So yeah, I guess maybe you're half right. I think you're half right about them having some weapons and a decent offensive line, a good coaching scheme for Joe, for Jake Browning to inherit, but he didn't do anything spectacular. I thought he was just kind of kept the ship afloat, kept them in the conversation for the, for the playoffs, but they weren't a team that we saw really making the playoffs. Yeah, but, but I mean, I know, I know, I know what I never said they were going to. What I was saying is just that you gave them a chance. The drop off from Super Bowl contender, because look, Buffalo's not a Super Bowl contender. They're not. And I don't think they have a chance. They're not. That's like that team without my home is bottom 10, arguably bottom five, because I was like, Oh, but tells you'll just lean on him. Well, Kelsey's a tight end, but Chris Jones is good. Okay. He's a defensive tackle. Right. If you don't have the quarterback, that's just kind of, that just goes down to the nature of the sport. If you have the great, if you have one of the best quarterbacks in the game, you have a better chance of winning a Super Bowl than if you had the best in the game at any other position. Right. You have a Superstar left tackle, but everything else is average. Okay. Fine. You're going to be an average team because the left tackle, yes, it's super important, but not nearly as important as that quarterback. It's that position. And that's the reason why these quarterbacks are getting signed to these massive deals, which I think we can is a great way to transition into our next segment, which is that Jared Gough got the bag and I'm both happy for him. And also looking at the lions like, ooh, yikes. This could get ugly really fast. I'm very happy for, for Jared Gough, though, what he has gone through and we'll get to all the ins and outs of this lion's team going forward is it's going to be interesting. This is the fun. Ruski podcast. It may not have always showed it in the stat sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws back to back games where he has three touchdowns. No one's got to get that six or seven spot. He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie, truly a loose, loose scenario for both sides. Welcome back to the fumble Ruski podcast by power 88 and Succo weapon consulting. I'm Adam Wright with CJ Madeeros. So Jared Gough yesterday has been signed to a massive contract extension. He becomes the highest paid player in lions franchise history, second highest paid quarterback in the game right now, only behind Joe Burrell. So Jared Gough signed the exact numbers are 40 years, $212 million and 170 million of it is guaranteed. He has slated to make $53 million a year on average. And so obviously this signing is huge, but a big part to look at is not just this re-signing, but past re-signings earlier on this off season for the lions. So they also re-signed their wide receiver one to a four year, $120 million deal. And they also signed Penny Sewell to four years, $112 million. So we hinted at this before we segued into our next segment. But what we are seeing, a lot of people are going to try and say that it is a good thing that you nail down your best players for the long term. I'll tell you why that it's not all good, in fact, in some ways it's a bad thing. Yeah, I have a dog. Anyone who says that it's a great thing to sign your quarterback to a massive extension that makes you the highest paid player in your franchise history, the Chargers, the Chiefs, the Bengals, and the Bills would all disagree with you. They have all signed, so I'll give it to the Chiefs. The Chiefs survived it because they literally have one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. Rather, the Bills with Josh Allen have not. They've lost a lot of players, particularly on the defensive side of the ball, and they just shipped out their best offensive weapon and Stefan Diggs. The Chargers just lost both of their best, they just lost both of their best wide receivers. They lost a bunch of their defensive talent as well. The Bengals, they are in some deep trouble. Not only have they not signed their best wide receiver in Jamar Chase, but they had to let T Higgins go, or they had to let Tyler Boyd go. T Higgins has one foot out the door. They just lost Jonah Williams. He walked. They lost DJ Reader. He walked. Chidobu Awuzi is now gone. That team is desperately trying to stay in contention because they signed Joe Burrow to be the highest paid quarterback in the game right now. Even higher than Patrick Mahomes who has three Super Bowl victories. I love me from Joe Burrow, but is he better than Patrick Mahomes? Absolutely not. Now at the same time, you can't just look at your quarterback, have a conversation then and say, "This guy's better than you." You have to believe that you have to have faith in your guy and say that he's better, but that's not the conversation that you have. You have to say, "Listen, we believe you are the best quarterback in the game." But we also want to be able to surround you with the talent necessary in order to win a Super Bowl. And if we overpay you, if we pay you what Patrick Mahomes, what Josh Allen, what Justin Herbert are getting, we won't be able to surround you with the tools necessary to win a Super Bowl. This is the problem with the Detroit Lions right now. They signed all of their star players to massive deals to the point where their entire financial situation is very top heavy. So in a couple of years, they're going to end up in some cap trouble. And if you don't believe me, look at all of the other teams who are trying to sign all of their players to keep the star talent they have and add to it as well. Because most of them have had to subtract since adding this massive contract extension. So Jared Goff, now the second highest paid quarterback, first of all, CJ, you brought up this point, is he the second best quarterback in the game? Because he's the second highest paid. Yeah. And let me tell you something, look, we're some of these guys, you know, I have the God given talent like Mahomes, you can get away with it, right? But the thing is, a lot of this is just incumbent on the quarterbacks to say, not even questioning their self-worth, but like, what matters more to me? Do I want the bag or do I want the rings? Because if you want the bag, AKA the money, then Godspeed, then whatever. But I mean, when you're a franchise, you get desperate, right? Where you have a good quarterback who's top 10. If you pay a non-top three quarterback, top three money, you have quite literally dug your own grave. Because look, we love Jared Goff, he's had great career resurgence and maybe just because the name Jared Goff, when he still spooks some people, a lot of people aren't sold on him. And when I look at it, and just because Jared got top five, you could argue it. I mean, but right off the top of my head, I would definitely say that Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson are all immediately better. And so that means best case scenario, absolute best case scenario, he is number five. Because I mean, I'm not putting them over like any of those guys that I've just mentioned. And even still, Justin Herbert, you can make a very strong argument for Justin Herbert. And I mean, there are other guys too, like, I mean, that I would say are on or around the same level talent-wise as Kirk Cousins and some of these guys might be considered memes. But come on now, guys like Jalen Hurts and Dak Prescott are also like perhaps in that same ballpark. So my point is it's not like you have your number five. I know Adam's about to disagree. Adam, I know this is a football show, but I am not in the mood to debate this with you. Do not try it. Okay. But my point is, it's like he's not top five. I'm sorry. I can name five, four bags better than him. I just did. Once again, Mahomes, Allen Jackson and Herbert, this is a no particular worker. Yeah. I think the issue with Kirk Cousins and Dak Prescott, for me, is that they haven't gone anywhere near where Jared Goff has been. He's been to a conference championship and he's been to a Super Bowl. Those are two very that's a very important thing because not many quarterbacks can do what Jared Goff has done. And he's been able to do it for two different teams. He was, he was along the ride for a, for a Lions rebuild that seemed hopeless for a long time. And he was there for, he looked like he was going to be just a bridge quarterback. It looked, it really did look like he was a throw in in that Matthew Stafford deal. And he over performed and he proved to the Lions that he was their franchise guy and he wanted to be the guy to be that Super Bowl winning quarterback when the time comes, when the rebuild is complete. The Lions agree and they signed him to that deal. Now, at the same time, I don't think he, he deserves $212 million. I just don't. So they're going to have some, some trouble coming up. I think it's not that Jared Goff elevates this team, right? Patrick Mahomes elevates the rest of his roster. So it at least kind of makes sense that you overpaid Patrick Mahomes because he's a once in a lifetime type of player, but Jared Goff doesn't elevate his team like that. He can't, I, I, we have yet to see, to see him overcome deficiencies on a team. This is a team that was, it was a collective effort that they were able to make it to the conference championship and came this close to making a Super Bowl. Do we look at it this, like, do we look at it the same way as Patrick Mahomes? Not even close. We don't even look at it the same way as anywhere close to Joe burrow. So it just doesn't, it doesn't make sense to me that they overpaid him. I'm happy for him because he overcame a lot of, a lot of tough things to, to make, to, to get back to where he was, right? He was basically left for dead by the, by the Rams thrown onto a rebuilding Lions team as a throw in into the deal and they still, when they still went back to the conference championship and made it further than the Rams did with, who have Matthew Stafford, the guy who they traded a million picks and traded their former franchise guy, foreign share at golf, um, either way, he's not good enough to be paid this much and this might come back and bite them, especially given the other deals they just gave to Penny Sewell and Amunaras Saint Brown. Those guys, I'm happy for them too because they are very good players, but it all adds up and you're going to be in cap hell in a couple of years and you may or may not have just shortened your Super Bowl window even if it was there. Yeah, you're right. You're right. And, uh, as far as that goes, can we just get a quick word in on the salary cap because in the comments of Instagram, right, I see like all these Lions fans, right, and just on social media, like everywhere, it's very powerful to see what the people think. All these Lions fans are defending it, like, uh, well, you know, what's the argument? Oh, well, um, the salary cap isn't real. Uh, look at the Saints, they're always able to maneuver their way around. I mean, first of all, if he was in the show, you already know how to feel about the Saints. Every year, the whole gets a little deeper and even still, I mean, you've heard what I've said about the Saints, we've gotten a little bit of a new year. Yeah, exactly. And for all that maneuvering, what does it get them? Where do they go? At best, they're fighting to remain average, you know, abuse them as a contender. And if you don't think that the salary cap is real, look at Buffalo. As soon as they gave Alan that deal, it was downhill. He's also gone. And who else is gone? Oh, I don't know. Most of your defensive stars like Tremaine Edmonds, Jordan Boyer, Micah Hyde, Trey White. Like they're all gone. Like a lot of these best players on your roster, not named Josh Allen are gone. Yeah. And you can say, Oh, well, we have a shot, no, no, no, no, no, they don't, I'm sorry. They're window until they get more talent on Alan because Alan has shown that he cannot get the job done with the talent. So you can't seriously expect me to believe that he can get it done without it. So for the Lions, take a good long look at Buffalo. If you don't play your cards right, that could very well be your future. And golf is just not as talented as Alan does not have the mobility does not have the arm just doesn't have that. But it's not just the bills that you look at it's every single team that every single team that gives their quarterback the bag ends up struggling financially right after. And the only team that's what I'm saying, yeah, Williams and Alvin are now gone. But it's not. Yes, it's all of these different teams and look at the, look at the chiefs. Yes, the chiefs have survived it. We get it. Yes. Well, they won the Super Bowl. They won back to back again. No shit. We know that all we are saying is that it doesn't mean that they didn't have their obstacles to overcome. Don't act like they didn't miss a beat because this is not the same chiefs team from when before they overpaid Patrick Mahomes, they had some major offensive struggles this year. Yes, they won the Super Bowl and they have the greatest, one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. But that doesn't mean that they didn't have to just get rid of luxurious need. That doesn't mean they didn't just ship out their best wide receiver, arguably in franchise history, not arguably. He is their best quarter, best wide receiver in franchise history, right? They barely were able to keep Chris Jones. And look at, like we just said, about the Bengals, right? All of these teams that throw their bag at the quarterback, yeah, it's great. And they deserve, they deserve to be paid a lot of money, but you have to watch how much it doesn't need to be a race for who, whose quarterback is the highest paid in NFL history. It doesn't need to be that way. In fact, it shouldn't because once you overpay those quarterbacks, then you don't have much money to sign anybody else. And all of these teams are having trouble with it. And yes, the chiefs are having trouble with it. Yes, they won Super Bowls. They have pulled it off. Doesn't mean they didn't have trouble with it. So don't get that twisted. Oh, you guys are stupid. The chiefs won two Super Bowls. Yes, we know, we know that doesn't mean they didn't have their their obstacles to overcome. They had to win with Juju Smith-Schuster as their top wide receiver. Do you know how hard that is? They did it because they have one of the greatest of all time, but that doesn't mean that they didn't have their troubles to overcome, which is great. They did it. That's awesome. They're one of the best dynasties in the history of the game, but don't get it twisted. They've had their troubles since overpaying their quarterback. That doesn't mean it's a smart thing to overpay your quarterback. Look at the chiefs. It's a good thing. No, no, they got lucky. They got lucky that the quarterback they did overpay was one of the greatest of all time. So there's my rant for the day. That's all the scheduled content we have for today, but you have anything else? No, no, that's pretty much it. I've said my piece. Yeah. Well, this was a little bit of this summit for a random day in May. This was a good amount of news, some interesting stuff happening. The chiefs, they have their work cut out form, yet another year. But if they're going to go for that three-peat, then you know, they were easy. Anyone can do it. And if they're going to be the first team to ever three-peat in NFL history, well, you're going to have to do some things that no other quarterback has done. Tom Brady included the real goat. All right. Well, that'll do it for us tonight. Thank you for listening to us. We have new episodes out on Tuesdays at 7.30 PM Eastern Standard Time and Fridays at 5 PM Eastern Time. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. We have all our episodes available on Spotify, Spreaker, Apple Podcast, iHeartRadio, Google Podcasts, and so much more. Also be sure to follow our Instagram @FumbleRuskey_podcast and our TikTok @FumbleRuskeyPod to keep up with our podcasts and the latest coverage on the NFL. Otherwise, we'll see you next week over and out. [ Silence ]