 We're back, well kind of. We're not in our studio in LA yet. We're at the home studio today, but that's because we've got big things happening. We're making everything better. We've got big announcements here on the show. Quite a hiatus for us, but we are coming back in style with the best in the biz. That's right, Chris Collinsworth is here on all things NFL. Well, he's not in my house, but he'll be joining us to talk a little NFL, little expectations, the storylines he's looking at, maybe some Barbie Oppenheimer. Who knows? Bangles, number one most loyal fan base. That's how that over the weekend will get his thoughts. I'd like yours at Up an Adam Show on Twitter. If Twitter exists still. I feel like I'm shadow banned. We'll get to that, I'm sure as well. And I get to meet, and that means that you get to meet defensive end John Franklin Myers, who even just yesterday had a whole lot to say about Aaron Donald and Aaron Rodgers will get to that. And maybe has something to say about Aaron Paul. Who knows? All the errands, happy to be back. But we have so much to talk about. We could talk about Netflix and the quarterback show and Kirk Cousins stealing this headlines in the spotlight. We've got mad in 99 ratings to discuss. We've got all sorts of things happening. I'm just happy to be back at work. Got my rest in, kept up with everything. It's a quarterback situation in the Bay Area. Matt Jimmy Garoppolo passes physical. We'll get to all of those things right now. And we've got the perfect guest to do it. Chris Collinsworth will be joining me here on the show. We've got big announcements on Up an Adams that we will be getting to as well. Are we going to a training camp or two? Maybe. Do you want us to visit yours? Let us know. OK, so let's get to some of the things that I want to start with. And it's, you know, I could have come on and just glazed over the running back thing. There's not that much to say about it as my wires are creaking out from all sorts of corners. But we should dig into a little bit of what's going on with the running back position right now. So Austin Eckler, one of our first guests ever on the show, he's a leader. He's very confident. He has a lot to say. He's a defender of all things. And he decided to put together a bit of a Zoom call over the weekend or before the weekend with some really big time, big name running backs to talk about the discrepancy and what's gone on and has developed between running backs and other positions in the National Football League as it were. So I think we can all agree that it is not the most fun to be a running back comparatively speaking to some other positions in the NFL. This has been going on for a long time. Their careers are shorter. They take by far the most wear and tear on the body. And now the compensation isn't there and matching either. Nick Chubb said over the weekend, quote, there's really nothing running backs can do right now. So the fact of the matter is that sort of sums it up. And say, Juan Barclays, it is what it is tweet that he sent last week. It's a bummer, but he's right. The market has spoken. And I'm always for the player. And I'm always for the players getting taken care of. And it sounds like this guy, Saquon Barkley and another guy who was on our show at the Super Bowl named Josh Jacobs who won some hardware for his incredible productivity on the field, they're flirting with the idea reportedly of holding out instead of playing on what would be a 10 mil ish franchise tag. But here's the thing. Nothing is going to change between now and next off season at the very least, regardless, right? The CBA is what it is. So I personally want them to play. I hope they play. I'm not telling them what to do, I'm not telling. And I'm saying that because we cannot solve this problem today. You know, if I'm talking to them, it's what's in your best interest? What's to gain by holding out? You'll lose money. Whose playbook are we following? Who has this worked out for? How does it go? I want the players to get taken care of. I always will. But this is where this stands sort of at this moment. And they can put themselves in the best position that's sort of all they can do, make the most that they can. And yes, hopefully eventually work to resolve this issue and make things better. Maybe not for this group of running backs, but certainly for future generations at the RB spot through the CBA, through getting sort of creative. Because where it is, these GMs guys and these evaluators, the case is easy to make for them. The Patriots, the Chiefs, the Eagles, the Niners, over and over again proving that the investment in the running back spot isn't exactly needed, according to them of course, in order to contend. The value you find in the position late in the draft, which is filled with the Isaiah Pachecos, who was a seventh round pick, even Austin Eckler himself, who was making himself sort of the union spokesman informally here. He's an undrafted guy. Him being an undrafted guy helps these GMs making this case. It hurts the case that these veteran running backs that want to get paid. So just seeing things like Derek Henry get these huge dollars, and then the Titans have to give up AJ Brown, and the Titans sort of flounder and fall off as a result. There's a lot to point to for these GMs. And the solution isn't coming now because it doesn't have to come now. So until then, all ideas are on the table. First thing I thought when I saw this go on, this isn't new by the way. This is because six players who were tagged, three of them were running backs, and those were the three that did not get long term deals done, the non-running back positions went and got things done with their respective teams. And I would say this, if these players do show up, if these Saquans and Josh Jacobs come in, it is impossible to feel completely valued by your team. Whether it's the coach, whether it's what, treat them really well. Treat them really respectfully. That's what I would ask on the other side, because at this point we just had to sort of get through this year. And then you look at other ideas, shorter contracts. It all comes down to this rookie deal. There needs to be this sort of tweak to the current contract system. And maybe it's incentive laden, maybe incentives that don't count against the cap or something because everything they do will hurt other players. Mike Florio wrote a brilliant piece with Pro Football Talk over the weekend about it, how helping the running backs or making things better takes away from other positions. How do you work that out? It's the market that is speaking. You could shorten contract lengths. I'm a big fan of that. Three years may be an option for a fourth. We'll see. But mostly something that will allow flexibility and negotiation so that running backs can make the most of their prime years. Which for the vast majority of them, which is sort of unique to the position, is their first three seasons. And this all started this mega drama. It wasn't this year, right? We've got big marquee players who haven't come to terms and that's why this is a hot topic. But you know, Sam Bradford, the darling, the last rookie who got that mega deal and then everything changed. This was 2011, right? Brookies before then could get paid whatever they wanted. And if you look at the last top 10 running back Hamilton, of course, found this from yesterday. The last top 10 running back drafted under the old Sam Bradford CBA, pre-SAM EB. It's CJ Spiller. And look at how his contract steps up against Bijan Robinson this year drafted. Okay, Spiller was taken ninth overall back in 2010. Bijan was eighth this year to the Falcons, my sleep routine for the season. They're essentially getting the same money per year. And Bijan's is fully guaranteed. But look at the last number. The salary cap guys has pretty much doubled. It's pretty much two X since 2010. So if we're speaking relatively, I get why they're so upset. We have to account for cap inflation here. Bijan is making about double, or Bijan is making half of what CJ Spiller was before being as high of a draft pick. So there has to be a way to get these stars a chance to earn more out the gates and not back load things, Allah, Alvin, Camara, love you, Mickey Loomis, but that's just what it is in this business. So I do hope they find a way to get them that money. I just hope they're treated well and respectfully by the teams and everyone sort of realizes it probably isn't anyone's fault and it's more the faults of an ever-evolving game that's changing where tight ends used to not get paid and now they are getting paid more and the game's evolving and the market is just reflective of that. And I hope that's okay to say. And I'd like your thoughts. And I of course want the running backs to all do their thing. Nine behinds today. I found out out for the year I'm walking onto my set at home here, awful. Other news to get to and CJ Gardner Johnson, I heard. Non-contact injury. If we know what's wrong with him or what happened, somebody let me know in my ear. One of our best moments on the show was with CJ Gardner Johnson this past year. We're of course wishing him tons of success up there in Detroit with all the hype. Detroit being like literally the Barbie movie of the NFL. All the marketing, they're gonna take over the NFC this year. Okay, let's get to the AFC and Chris Jones for a minute. So here's just some of the little headlines that are going on this morning. He is not at Chief's Camp. He has yet to report. He's trying to negotiate a new contract for himself to keep him in Kansas City. And Andy Reed addressed the situation yesterday after practice. And then as far as Chris goes, we'll just see how things go here down the road. There had been communication. We'll see where it goes from here. And we'll take it. If you're not here, we just keep moving. And that's how we roll. We don't worry a lot about that. We let it take care of itself and we've got great people working on that. So I'm not worried about that. You're not worried about that? Andy doesn't seem too concerned. And Jones is being fined 50K every day. He doesn't show up. So there is some incentive for him to work this thing out quickly, but there were reports the other day that decides weren't particularly close to a new deal. So these are the sort of tough situations you get put in when you have a successful team that's paying your quarterback deservedly. So some big money that sheeps have to find a way to get it done and get their Hall of Fame bound DT back in the fold. I mean, you'd have to think that freeing up money to extend Chris Jones was a pretty big motivating factor in saying bye to Tyreek Hill last year. And you know, and it's very true. I mean, Veech is an absolute God among GMs with the way he works things out. And Casey didn't seem to miss Tyreek Hill last year, even a bit. There are some concerns here. And well, I'm not going to even say that. I literally am taking that back because if there's one team in the NFL I'm not concerned with, the state of their offensive weapons, it's the Chiefs and Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes. But it's a very rare thing. We have to pay attention to this little bit that like, you know, they let Tyreek walk and they're fine. They distribute the ball to like absolute every weapon out there every game. But Cadarius Tony is what they're sort of banking on, right? He exits practice early. He's got a bit of a knee something. And Veech passes on Odell. Remember, they were not involved. They were not one of these names that were creeping up. There was no DeAndre Hopkins. Some of the media was trying to make that happen. They weren't interested in him. And so I don't know, our Chiefs fans worried a little bit right now. It's Cadarius Tony. It's Travis Kelsey. He is Travis Kelsey after the most exhausting off season maybe ever going to be the Travis Kelsey. I know he's the number one tight end off fantasy boards right now. He's going in the first round. Is he going to be that guy? Like, you're not going to catch me doubting the Chiefs. But I just thought that it was interesting. And hopefully they get it done with Chris Jones. They don't have the success they had over the past several years without him out there. But you are in this position where you cannot keep paying someone for what they're going to do or what they're not keeping somebody for what they did. And you got to get to what they're going to do. All right, we got Jimmy G also to get to. We'll get to that later in the show. I'm going to make the executive decision to take a break here because I hear we have Chris Collins worth. And nobody wants to hear me talk about Jimmy G and the Raiders and how they're being completely slept on over at Fandle. No, instead we will have the wonderful man who owns Denim from 1990, Chris Collins worth of PFF, joining us after this. All right, back on up. And Adam's first show back after a lengthy vacay. I think my next guest went to the same place I was probably was stayed in the nicer places. I'm joined by one of the brightest football minds. There is people. We are blessed. We are so lucky and so grateful to welcome a three-time Pro Bowl with the Bengals entering his 15th season as the color analyst for NBC Sunday Night Football. He also runs a show over at PFF Pro Football Focus. A man so loyal, he won't throw a pair of Levi's away from the 1990s. Mr. Chris Collins-Earth, how are you? You never know when you're going to be back in style. I'm just telling you, Barbie's coming back. I could be the new Ken doll. You never know what could happen here. Oh, that'd be quite a dream. That'd be quite a dream with Chris Collins-Earth and Margot Robbie. Why not? So team Barbie over team Oppenheimer? I haven't seen either one yet. I think I'm going to Oppenheimer first, though. Just to cleanse the ballad, and then I'll be ready for Barbie after that. You'll need about three hours plus about two and a half. It's quite a long double feature there. And I've got so much work that you're doing with PFF in Sunday Night Football. Chris, you were in Italy, though, no? Little wedding bells, was it fun? I love it there. Did you go? Is that where? Oh, wow. How'd you come up with all these? It was a blast. Yeah, yeah, it was a blast. That is, it was almost like there were more Americans there than Italians there, though. It was vacation central, I feel like, for people who were COVID locked in, getting me out of here, it's time to start traveling again. And that was sort of square one, I think, on the travel charts. I think everyone watched White Lotus, which was set in Sicily. And everyone, everyone's mom, everyone's roommate from college, every TikToker, 20 to 25 was out there doing their things. It was very crowded. I would have loved to walk into you when that PFF had the Ponte Vecchio or something. That would have been amazing. But maybe another time. And now we're back. And we're rested because we've got lots of stuff going on. And you know who's tired? These running backs, Chris. These contracts, they've been an issue. They're the hot button issue right now with these big names. Echler with the Zoom meeting. What do you make of this? They're trying to find a solution. What's the solution? I don't have a solution for them. It's been one of the hot button topics. And I think PFF honestly has to take a little bit of the blame for this. Some of the analytics that have come back really have pointed more towards the impact of the offensive line over the running back. And of course, they get beat up so much. By the time that you sign them to either a four or five year contract, depending on where they're drafted, and then you get the right to tag them for a couple of years after that, that's pretty much the expected life of a running back. And so there isn't that need. And there hasn't been the great success stories of running backs on those second or third contracts. So what a lot of teams are doing now, and I've got to say I understand it, is that they go, hey, we're going to get our six years out of the guys, maybe seven years. And we're just going to roll it right over again. And it's an issue. I think it's something that has to be addressed within the collective bargaining. I think it's something that should have been addressed in the last collective bargaining, because there are some of these guys that are really getting taken advantage of in many ways, because they're asked to do all that heavy lifting, take that heavy pounding. But the contracts aren't set up to favor them. I love that PFF is taking some blame for this hot button issue and this thing that's going on. But you see both sides, you understand both sides. At some point, there will be a resolution. But now is not the time. But you're hearing like Josh Jacobs and Saquon Barkley, they want to hold out. If you're talking to Saquon, what would you tell him to do? I probably would have told him to sign the contract a little bit earlier in the product. You can't blame the teams, right? The teams are taking advantage of what was collectively bargain. And those prices have just come down. Josh Jacobs, I really feel sorry for him. What a year he had led the league in rushing, was absolutely fantastic. Those two guys can't run any harder. They can't play any harder. They can't be any more popular within their own team. But everything is moving to the passing game. And that includes cornerbacks. That includes pass rushers. That includes left and right tackles, cornerbacks, wide receivers, tight ends. And that's where the money is flowing right now. And unfortunately, for these running backs, in Austin Eckler, I almost think he should try to declare himself a wide receiver at this point because he does so much coming out of the backfield. And yet we've seen tight ends try to do that in the past, where they've tried to declare themselves, hey, I'm really a wide receiver so they could get into that bigger wide receiver pool. But that was shot down. So I don't know what they can do. I think it's within the system now that's been collectively bargained. And we won't see another one of those for 10 years. Yeah, I just hope he shows up. At this point, it's maximize the money you make. Put yourself in the best position to earn more. And you do that by not holding out and losing money every day. You do that by hopefully showing up and helping your team and your body because we know what happens with holdouts and injuries. There's not really a playbook that has worked out well for one of these players making that decision. Things look like, I mean, I don't even know why we're playing the year, Chris. The jester just went in the damn Super Bowl. That's what it looks like up there. Last time I talked to you was before Italy, before all of this. And you were saying, Aaron Rodgers, don't be an idiot. Go to the NFC South for the easy Brady pass to the Super Bowl. Well, he did not listen. He has a much harder path. The expectations sky high. Health aside, if Aaron Rodgers meets the hype, if you reach a success, it will be because of what or who? It'll be because the two tackles for the Jets figured out a way to stay healthy and pass protect. And we'll see. They could really use Mackay Bechton to get back. Wayne Brown, whether or not he can get the job done or not. I think they're pretty solid inside with what they've got on the offensive line. But, hey, I mean, I'll put it to you this way. If Patrick Mahomes or Joe Burrow had gone to the Jets, what would our expectation of the Jets have been? I mean, astronomical, they really would have been. And now Aaron Rodgers, I went back and watched Zach Wilson this past year and really just from beginning then, I just said, what happened, right? What happened to Zach Wilson? Because we saw him come out of college and we were all pumped up. And we thought he was going to be a great player. And then he just wasn't. But he went through a lot of the path. There were flashes. There certainly were flashes there. But there were so many times that he tried to hold the ball and do that rookie scramble out and flip out and then throw the ball up and try to make a play and be in a spread formation and not get the ball out in two seconds. And he was just as Terry Bradshaw used to tell me, don't criticize him. He's just a young and leave the boy alone. Well, you just leave him alone. And I think that's a little bit of what happened here that he needs time. He needs to learn. And now he's going to sit behind Aaron Rodgers and watch the master play because they have weapons right now. They really do. This Garrett Wilson can really play. McColl-Hartman gives them the speed element down the field. Allen Lassard and Randall Cobb, you know, they just know what each other are thinking out there as well. Corey Davis had some big plays for the Jets early in their season a year ago. So my expectations are through the roof because as I was watching the Zach Wilson tape, they won a lot of games early in the year. I mean, they look like they were going to be a playoff team. And yet typically when I watched just the quarterback tape, you go, OK, hey, the quarterback made a play here. The quarterback made a play there. But it wasn't that. It was the scoreboard kept going up and the defense was shutting people out. And I was like, how are they scoring touchdowns? I mean, if I'm just watching the quarterback, I'm like, how are they doing this? They're winning all these games and they're scoring touchdowns. And I don't know how they're scoring them because it's not coming from Zach Wilson. And so it's an I can't wait to see what happens, right? I mean, this is the ultimate test. We know it's a quarterback league. If you just put the rosters out there, and I did this with Philadelphia last year, too. And I said, I don't know what's going to happen in that division because Dallas was the favorite and people loved, you know, whatever. But you just said, all right, just look at the roster and you would like the Philadelphia Eagles. And the Philadelphia Eagles came really close to winning the championship. You just look at this roster. And if they get any kind of play out of those two tackles on the outside and Aaron Rodgers stays healthy, right? Would you rather have Aaron Rodgers or Josh Allen? Okay, it's a coin flip. But or Tua or Mack, right? In that division. And now you've got to go down to Joe Burrow or Aaron Rodgers. Okay, toss up kind of thing, right? So I don't know of any reason why the Jets can't win it. I really don't, because I think their defense is going to be better than what they were a season ago. I just think we all have to take our mind out of the fact that they didn't have a quarterback that was playing at that level. Now they've got one of those top four or five guys and the rest of this team that has all these young studs and sauce gardener and CJ Mosley. This is a good, good football team that deserves the hype. They deserve the hype. They got Quinn and William signed. They deserve the hype. Well coached, of course. I think Nathaniel Hackett's going to play huge here. The only thing I could really throw out there is the chemistry. You saw Brady go, that was a great team. That team had lots of weapons. He won a Super Bowl, but they floundered the first half of the season. The margin of error is not that in the AFC East or in the AFC as a whole. He has to come out hot and play these games. And if you look at it, by the time we get to Sunday night football in week four and you get your first look at Rodgers in a Jets uniform, Chris. And by the way, that's the first ever match between Rodgers and Mahomes, incredible. They will have played a gauntlet, Bills, Cowboys, Patriots at home, then that Chiefs game. You like that, you think they'll be 4-0 going into that game? How do you think they'll look? No, I think that's the great disadvantage that they'll have is that this is going to be a new offense for all of them. Well, not all of them. You'll have Lissard will know it and Randall Cobb will know it. And Rodgers will know it. So maybe he leans on them a little bit early on. But I do think that as you look at this team, the veterans hopefully will get them over the hump in those early games. And they're not going to win them all. I mean, I don't care who you are, if they're Kansas City Chiefs, you're probably not going undefeated against that schedule early on. So there's going to be challenges. If you're going to get the Jets, you better get them early because as they learn this offense, and this isn't Nathaniel Hackett's offense, right? I mean, we understand this is now Aaron Rodgers' offense. He's going to be calling those plays at the line of scrimmage. It's going to be interesting to see how many adjustments that they make because when he went to Green Bay and Matt came in, LaFleur came in, and they went to more motions. They went to more play action stuff. They went to more things that wasn't a part of what Aaron did early on in his career, but they helped him, you know? They went back-to-back, won MVP's, and they clearly helped him. So now that Aaron is back in control and running the show and running the offense, are we going to get Aaron Rodgers from the years before the two MVP's with Matt, or are we going to get Aaron Rodgers with what he did this past couple of years? So I'm really curious. We're doing the Hall of Fame game. I've got that one right off the bat, and it's always the hardest game that I do every year. It's like, hey, it's going to be awesome. We've got Aaron Rodgers. We've got Garrett Wilson. We've got, you know, Deshaun Watson. We've got, no, we don't have any of them. We've got a bunch of guys I've never heard of playing in the game, but I'll be fired up. We'll have fun. We'll have a great time. We'll introduce everybody to the whole league, and it's going to be fun. I mean, I'm started. The season has started. I'm doing the film work today on the desk. Clearly you're watching Zach Wilson film for no reason. It's so incredible. You're amazing. And I will say a big... Wilson's going to play the whole game, probably, so I'm trying to get ready. Probably! That's so true. Well, listen, I don't have to help you. Look at the top of your hat. That's where you go. We're talking about Aaron Rodgers. PFF is the best resource. I use it all the time. It's an incredible tool to just, you can go into very surface level metrics to make a case, or you can really dig into it deep. Rodgers, not painted in the best light, by the way, because the PFF annual quarterback guide, it's newly released. Please go to PFF and check it out. It's honestly the most comprehensive breakdown that exists out there imaginable. And Aaron's the 12th rated quarterback in their 36th percentile and passing with a clean pocket. So we'll see if the narrative, the tools, all of that play out, but everybody go to PFF and check that out. We're going to leave you with this, Chris. A little quick fill in the blank before we send you on your way to watch Morzak Wilson and, you know, John Franklin Myers tape here on Monday. First, the team most likely to be a pleasant surprise in 2023 is who? Wow, a pleasant surprise. Falcons. I think that Cleveland Browns have a lot of reasons to win football games this year. I mean, Deshaun Watson came in, he played six games. I mean, you go back to, he was off for 700 days, 700 days. You know, and he came back and he got in the crappy weather in Cleveland at the end of the year and he went three and three and his numbers were fairly mediocre. But you go back to what he was and before the suspension, before all that started happening to him. And I mean, okay, let's face it, they built a game around quarterbacks now. You can hold with offensive linemen. You can, you know, the receivers have gloves and they can't be hit off the minus for anything. You know, they can mess with the football now and shine them up and get them. So it's all about who has the quarterback. And we talked about Rogers, but Deshaun Watson and I know we've got all the other stuff and I don't mean to insult anybody even bringing up his name, but if he's anywhere close to the quarterback he was a couple of years ago, then look at that team around him and what they have to do. It's a great answer, you know? And I don't think anybody is talking about them. And nobody's talking about them. Bangles fans are mad at you for saying it. Nobody is talking about them and all your bangles fans just turned off their television sets. Oh, I know, they all think I hate the bangles. They love you, they hate me, that's the way it goes. You're the queen of Cincinnati, we all know that. You gotta play your cards right, buddy. Blank will be the breakout star of 2023. Blank will be the breakout star of 2023. Oh, I love it when you do this to me, I really do. You're so mad, just give me somebody you like. I mean, it's not a breakout star, but now you're gonna think I'm sucking back up to my guys, but Joe Burrow has a chance to do it all this year. And let me just tell you why. The last two years he's been phenomenal, okay? He's been phenomenal. And each year, two years ago, he was coming off a really bad knee entry and nobody knew if he was even gonna be able to make it, right? So they start off a little slow, whatever. Last year he comes off the appendectomy and nobody thinks anything of it. And here they come at the end of the season and they're in the Super Bowl one year and they're within a whisper, a couple of plays away from beating Kansas City and going back to the Super Bowl. So honestly, my pick to win the Super Bowl, even though it's stupid to say it, is the Bengals, what I should pick is Philadelphia. What I should pick is Philadelphia because they've got the easier path, right? Philadelphia, Dallas, San Francisco, take your pick. That's, you know, I can't name another one honestly that I think whereas in the AFC, you gotta slug your way just to get out of the AFC North is gonna be hard for Cincinnati. I mean, that's legit up and down for the Jets. It's legit up and down in the East for Kansas City. Big challenges out there. I mean, this is a really tough conference, but Joe Burrell walks into this season helping. Full practice, full ability to get this thing going right off the bat. If you've got to pick out one, if you've got to pick out one, the Kansas City lost, you know, they're both tackles and they're gonna be great and it's gonna come down to those guys again. But it could easily be the Cleveland Browns knocking out Cincinnati Bengals and you never get out of their division. Okay, okay, cut. But based on that. You were doing so well. You were doing so well. Let's just stick, sure that Eagles, I like that you didn't mention the Niners. I'd like to hear that take on another day. I know you have to go, but the Bengals, just don't even bring up the Browns. This is beautiful. You're doing your thing. You're getting ready for this Hall of Fame game. I'm not gonna take any more of your time. I will tell everybody to spend all of their time on PFF. So you're literally the smartest person in the room. You're at work, you're going to the water cooler and you say, hey, Gloria, you wanna talk about Mackay Beckton? Let's talk about it. And you can just kill them with all of this knowledge that PFF gives you. We use it on our show to prepare our show every single day. So we thank you for all your work there and for joining us on the show, Chris. You are the absolute best, thanks. You're the best. And we have, by the way, John Franklin Myers on the show. So we're gonna talk a little about Aaron Donald, a little bit about Quinn and Williams, former teammate, current teammate. I think he said Quinn is gonna surpass Aaron Donald. I'm gonna need to hear that argument. Chris Collinsworth is the best. Everyone wants to be a quarterback. This guy is the reason I would never wanna be a quarterback in the NFL. What can I say about our next guest? I've never met him in person. I've watched his clips, watched his tape for years and years. I think he's in his third year with the Jets. Oh my goodness, with the Rams before that. A true force on one of the best defenses in the NFL. Chris Collinsworth, the head honcho, the big dog, just said this team might go to the Super Bowl and that their defense is going to be much improved. And this guy has 17 sacks, at least 21 quarterback pressures, each of his last three years, since becoming a member of Gain Green. Newark Jets defensive lineman, J-F-M. John Franklin Myers, how are you? Doing good, doing good. And John, just day off today before we get to the pack, is started. What do you do, what do you do on your day off? My day off, I try to get a massage, getting a hot tub, cold tub and do a little bit of recovery before hanging out with the family. Just enjoying the one day, I actually get more than 30 minutes with them. So just enjoying the little. I'm happy you get that, but it sounds like you guys are having, I don't really feel bad for you because your camp is the most fun camp. You've got hard knocks, you've got Aaron Rodgers, all this hoopla. But before we get into any of this Jets talk, you just did something that doesn't always go well for people. I did it at Wrigley Field and you did it with the New York Mets at the game last week. Look at that smile. Talk me through this. How do you think you did? I think, I think I had a great first pitch. Shoot, I mean, honestly, all the fans when I got back over by the fans, they were like, oh, this is the best first pitch I've ever seen. So the fans definitely are ready for me to sign a contract. Wow, I got to tell Stala that that's going on. But in front of the mound, bro, come on. You could, you're, come on. You couldn't stand on the mound? No, I see that. I just did what they told me to do. They said they wanted to keep it clean. So I would have threw it from the mound if I could. Okay. Well, they got to keep you in football because this team, this team needs you with all of the things that you're doing. Training camp is underway. You have a day off, but it's your three for you. The vibes are high. Describe the energy of this team right now. Oh, I mean, I mean, super confident. Having Aaron Rodgers again, definitely boost the morale of the team. You got guys who, you know, young guys who are still learning and Aaron Rodgers in the locker room, you know, teaching them each and every day. He's in the locker room, making jokes with them and kind of boosting their spirits and coaching them outside on the field. He's keeping practice fun. Defense, we're having fun. We're going on year three in this scheme. So definitely flying around and doing what we're supposed to do. And we expect to dominate practice, but also when the games come, we expect to dominate that. So Aaron Rodgers is a huge challenge for us. He makes us better day in and day out also. Have you felt the pressure yet? And how much pressure are you guys feeling? I haven't heard that word used at all. Yeah, because I mean, I kind of say this all the time, but no matter what season it is, you know, everybody starts zero on zero. And, you know, Superbowl is expectation each and every year, no matter, you know, who the quarterback is or defensive end or whatnot. But you talk about this and you talk about a real life opportunity to go to the Superbowl. And, you know, that's just not presented all the time. So we understand the magnitude and the sense of urgency that we need to have going in the training camp. But, you know, we've got to take this one day at a time. And if we get 1% better each and every day, like this guy's lemon for us. Well, there'll be a moment because you know what it's like to go to a Superbowl. A lot of those guys on that team didn't. You were a rookie and you got there. You guys didn't pull it off, but you're trying to get there and win it again. Was there, will there be a moment this year where you sort of recognize, oh, this is a Superbowl team? Like, did you have that moment with the Rams? Are you recognizing it on this squad even this early? Yeah, I mean, at the Rams, you seemed just a roster and you were like, oh my gosh, like if you don't make the Superbowl, you know, it's kind of a team post or a bus, that type of thing. And you get here and you kind of see the pieces being put together. You kind of see the same type of vibes and, you know, people on that team. And you're like, man, we do have a real opportunity to go to the Superbowl. And we speak about it all the time. You know, the playoffs isn't good enough for us. And we have high expectations. And, you know, it is what it is. You know, we say we want to go to the Superbowl. We say we're going to go to the Superbowl. And that's how we really feel. And some people don't like to put it out there and stand on what they say, but with us, you know, that's what it is. You know, we want to go to the Superbowl and each and every day we're going to work and understand that that's our goal at the end of the day. So you're confident. You guys have the roster. The defense should be incredible. You have a big part of anchoring that. I heard you say yesterday, you were talking to the media that Aaron Rodgers is really smart and that gives you guys confidence. That it's hard to plan for him. You know, you're going up against one of the best in the league every day. But have you talked to him about this because you got him. I want to know, has this come up with Aaron Rodgers last season in Green Bay? You know what I'm talking about. And bye! Ah, I love it. No, no, some things are better left than said. What do you think of me now? This is an amazing sack. Yeah, well, listen, now you're practicing up against him. You sack Brady in that Superbowl with those Rams as well. So you're taking down these big quarterbacks. Rodgers got, got sacked four times in that game and you're going to have to deal with these pesky quarterbacks with this pretty brutal schedule that you guys have medelt there in the AFC East. The schedule isn't cute. I would like to know what you were working on specifically this training camp. So like in February, you're in front of a mirror and you say, Matt, JFM, you really improved in blank this year. What is that? Yeah, I think, you know, when you talk about my consistency and kind of playing the run in the past, in the past season was definitely something and that over my career that I strive to improve and looked at it and I was like, man, look, I've done, you know, a great job of playing the run in the past and playing that at a high level personally and something that, you know, my teammates hold me accountable on it and I am the tone setter and I am the guy who shows the physicality and that's what it has to be. I hold myself to that standard to be the most physical person on the field each and every time I'm out there and down in and down out, you know, I do try to do that and I do, that's what I do and they understand that and the people go against me, understand that and playing with guys like Quentin and Sutter Rankers last year, Carl, those guys helped me be the player who I was and we have a great group of guys this year and the sky's the limit for our defensive line and you know, the sack record is something that we talk about, something that we strive for and something that's, you know, for us because, you know, we want to be the best and you know, you can't just talk and you got to live it. I love that and I heard you say yesterday that this was the deepest, like you're gonna get breaks if you get tired, somebody's gonna come in and relieve you which we love, deepest D-line and the most unique D-line and at first I was like, excuse me, didn't you play with like Sue and Brockers and Donalds back with that Ram Super Bowl squad but then I kept listening to what you were saying as I was getting ready to talk to you today and I heard what you said about Quentin and how you speak about Quentin who obviously got the bag and you must be so happy for him but you know, what he did last year was up there in my opinion, with some of the best that Aaron Donald did, right? And yesterday you said that Quentin's the new regime and that he will surpass Aaron Donald. What can Quentin do that Aaron Donald doesn't do? Oh, I mean, I spoke about it a little bit yesterday but to reiterate it is just kind of like you see how he attacks each and every play and you know, a credit to our coach here, coach Aaron Whitecotton because he doesn't treat Quentin anybody, he doesn't treat him like a $25 million player. He's like, what are you doing right here? Or, you know, Q, I see you're right here. Why don't you overlap at the end and go run and make that tackle? So you see what Quentin does and the run in the past each and every play, you know, Quentin will overlap me, run to the opposite sideline and go make a tackle and to me, you know, a guy that makes that much money, a guy of his caliber, you know, you just don't see that. You don't see that from, you know, some of the quote unquote best defensive tackles in the world and not to throw shade on anybody because, you know, you can turn on their tapes and they're doing, you know, some of the best stuff that you'll ever see a defensive tackle doing, Aaron Donald and Jeff Lee Simmons and Chris Jones. But Quentin runs to the ball, you know, and you don't see most guys do that. He dominates every single run down. You're not going to just run a wide zone to him and just give him a regular reach block because you're going to shut the play down and that's his expectations of itself. But we expect that of him also and to see how he handles business. And he's like, you know, I'm going through my negotiations and they're always saying, oh, you're the third or fourth best deep tackle. And he's like, well, nah, like, you know, in my head, I'm doing everything I can to be the first best deep tackle. And it starts mentally with him and with everybody else. But then you sit in and say, all right, how can I be the first best deep tackle? And, you know, he asks our coach, he asks us to hold him to that standard. And that's our job to do. It's so well said. You speak so lowingly of him. I love that. And I'm sure it impacts your game too when you stand on your own. Is he on the Aaron Donald level already? I think overall, you know, we'll never take anything away from Aaron Donald. And he is the best defense tackle in football. But if you ask me, do I think Clinton can surpass him? Yes, he can. And, you know, do I think he will? I think he will, you know? And that's an honest answer. You know, and I play with both of those guys. And Aaron Donald is a great friend of mine and somebody who I've always looked up to, a guy who, you know, I want to model my game after me and Clinton aren't the same players. But seeing how Clinton comes to work each and every day and handles his business and the money or anything else, you know, while, you know, while the stuff is going on and he's calling me three, four times a week, like, bro, I just want to be in the building. I just miss you guys. And I just listen to him like, he was like, you're like, stop calling me. I don't want to talk to you that much. But I mean, to me, that's just, that's spoke to his character as a person. Like, man, despite what's going on off the field, like I miss you guys so much that like it's killing me not to be there with you. And I mean, I just, I mean, I can't say enough good about him because of the way that he handles his business and to me being a professional and showing that, you know, money is one thing, but you understand that you respect people's livelihoods and how they go about their business. I mean, I mean, Quinn is a gold standard. I remember when he was at, this might have been before he was drafted or right after he was drafted. And I was just like, you lay out quarterbacks for a living because he's so sweet and so like smiley and embraces. And it was, and I could not believe that this man just destroyed people for a living. So he's got this really charming, magnetic personality. Will he be the star of hard knocks? What are we going to see as these HBO cameras or Max, whatever you want to call it? Now they've infiltrated your camp. Is it sauce? Is it Quinn in? Is it you? I think you'll definitely see, you'll definitely see a big dose of the defense in general because again, as we said, we plan on dominating the offense and you know, every offense we go against and again, that's our standard. So, you know, as we do, we do understand that the fans are here for the offense and we love to see touchdowns and you know, shoot as a defensive player and you know, understanding that this is our team and that offense is a part of our team. We love to see them score, just not against us, you know? And that's the doubt. Oh yeah. We definitely expect to be the focal point of the show, but definitely obviously Saucin, Quinn and Elmar are going to get a lot of their showtime and Michael Clement walking up with a baseball bat with Barbarar on it should definitely get some air time. Yeah, and you have that, you know, there's that guy, Aaron Rodgers who kind of likes the cameras too. So I'm sure we'll see that. Listen, I'm going to be a camp with you guys next Monday, I don't want to ask, I don't want to beg, but is there any chance you can hook me up with some 91.0 J.F.M. QB hits apparel? No, see, that's something that my agent definitely, you know, that's his baby right there. He definitely brought that up to my attention and we'll definitely get you something for sure. Okay, I'm going to need something. It could be a phone case, I could do whatever. We'll see each other. You have an incredible smile. I can't believe that you just sack Brady and Rodgers and all these poor Josh Allen, poor Tua, poor everybody that has to go through you guys this year. I can't wait to see you on hard knocks and I'll see you in person, John. Good luck this year. Thank you so much. Thank you for the opportunity. Yeah, thank you for the insights. Of course, we'll be back right here on Up and Atom. All right, Tom Pelleucera, our buddy, Oprah Madderfield, media singers Optimus and the Lions, DB C.J. Gardner-Johnson's knee injury, not serious. Think it was non-contact, more tests to come after he went down in practice today's one source. Put it, he's fine. Nine behinds, guys, out for the entire season. The whole running back thing is going on. And we will talk about it further. We have Chris Collinsworth, incredible, big thanks to him and John Franklin Meyers, the smiley DN for the Jets, the other defensive player who's got a big smile next to Quinn. And now tomorrow, sticking to that running back situation, how about TJ War? He's got his own agency. He just started. We also have Malik Jackson on the show.