54. Pick Six: Rodgers Final Season, Kristin Juszczyk's Moment & Big Money

0:00In case you forgot, game days are for the girls.

0:08Victoria:Hey girls, it's Victoria. Welcome back to another episode of Her Game Days and another installment of Pick 6, where I go over the best, most interesting, or most fun to talk about stories in the NFL every single Wednesday. day. I'm so excited. We have so many good stories, of course, especially as the season is ramping up. I'm going to do the top six stories, and then we'll also do a little bit of a speed round, just so that you know and are up to date on everything that you need to know for the week and this week in the season. To start off, I went to Rams training camp yesterday on Monday, and it was super cool.

0:50Victoria:I do have to say it was like equally overwhelming and underwhelming at the same time because usually when I'm in stadiums, it's so electric. And so then to be at camp and they're just on the field, they were at Loyola Marymount, so it wasn't a stadium. There's just like bleachers and there's like music playing. And it was just such a different experience, obviously, than what you get on game day because it's game day. But it was really cool to be closer to the players to be able to watch them run drills and things like that. I do feel like it did put into perspective, though, we take so many things so seriously.

1:27And then these players are getting hundreds of millions of dollars and they're just doing karaoke and skipping drills to warm up and like listening to music. And it was just like a nice little reminder, just like not take stuff so seriously. Oh, and there was one drill where receivers were catching

1:47Victoria:and then the coach was throwing an exercise ball at them, like as if it would be a mock player, right? But like throwing an exercise ball at them for them to like avoid and practice agility. And I just thought all three of those things are just so silly and like, yes, very effective. We take a lot of stuff seriously and these guys are out here obviously playing a very serious game, but the drills were funny. So super fun. If you've never been to training camp and you're nearby, it's free. So you can just go and watch the players and watch the practices. They had some activations at Rams. Nothing overwhelming.

2:21Victoria:A couple of player signings were there. There were some wives and girlfriends. Like Kelly Stafford was just outside. She was kind of incognito, like putting sunscreen on her kids. And the guy behind me in line actually recognized her. I didn't say anything. She was like with her kids. So obviously I'm just gonna like let her live her life. But it was cool that she was just there with the people outside before she went in and kind of went to like the players and media tent. So two more training camps. I'll let you know what I think of each one compared to the other. Moving on, before we get into our pick six, there is one thing that I wanted to talk about.

2:56Victoria:So NFL season and preseason, as well as training camp, also mark really the start of teaching season. And I'm in San Diego right now, and I got to go to Rams training camp because my sister moved to San Diego. And so I helped. We drove her car across the country to come to San Diego. and she has been a teacher for 10 years. She is moving into fifth grade and she has truly been the most massive supporter of her game days and everything that I have done just consistently like lifting me up, listening to me when I'm crying, listening to me when I'm doubting myself, like helping me thrive and just been the best supporter that I could ever ask for.

3:42Victoria:And so one way that I can support her is by sharing that she actually has an Amazon wishlist. And I would love to just have it fully cleared out for her. She's such an amazing teacher. She's such an amazing sister. Like she truly is one of the good ones in this world. And yeah, so if you feel so inclined, there is a link in the show notes. It's Brittany's Amazon wishlist for her fifth grade classroom. And I know she would really appreciate it. And obviously, I would really appreciate it because she supported me throughout this whole journey. And that's why we're here. And that's why you're listening to this show now.

4:18Victoria:So I love my sister, Brittany, if you're listening. I love you. And if you guys want to give back a little bit to teachers, she has her wish list. And just a reminder that a lot of your teacher friends have wish lists. And a lot of what they do in their classrooms is fully on them. Most schools aren't giving them any type of budget to decorate their classrooms and bring in all these fun things for the kids. They're kind of putting that on their own back. So the wish lists help a ton and make the classrooms so much better and more fun. So thank you for that. Okay, let's get in to this week's pick six.

4:57the top six most interesting, most fun to talk about, best, most dramatic stories in the NFL

5:07Victoria:this week. Because we are in preseason now, we will do a rapid fire of like news you need to know at the end. So we'll dive into the six stories and then I'll give you a little news you need to know this week. So then if you want to dive into any of those on your own, you obviously can. Also one more logistics thing. The Living in a Fantasy aka our all girls fantasy football pre-registration is open and the actual league will be opening in the next week or so. So make sure you're following us at Her Game Days on socials. All of the info will be there. And if you're already on the list, if you're subscribed to our sub stack where you played last year, then I already have your email and you will get the information.

5:47So no worries on that. All right. Story number one, Aaron Rodgers on the Pat McAfee show. I almost have. I almost have no words because what was happening? Like Aaron Rodgers has thrown all caution to the wind. And I don't even mean that ironically. Exactly. Like, without even getting into, like, just the subject matter, like, the whole thing was so chaotic.

6:18Victoria:So if you didn't watch it, Aaron Rodgers goes on the Pat McAfee show and ultimately starts talking about Fauci and how COVID is fake. And there's like six minutes of Aaron Rodgers basically saying that like COVID was fake. He hates Fauci. He hates that Fauci pleaded the fifth on so many talking points when he was like interviewed at the White House. And Aaron Rodgers is fired up about this. And Aaron Rodgers, what we learned on listening to the show was that he had like death threats and all of these things because he didn't want to get vaccinated. And so he took a lot of hate for that. And then apparently Pat McAfee also took some kind of strays because he had Aaron on the show.

7:08Victoria:And all of that info aside, Aaron just was completely unhinged. And so I watched it back a couple of times to be like, what? What happened that we went from like... And this was being recorded live at Steelers camp. Pat McAfee's there with this whole setup, his team, etc. And multiple other people on the stage. And Aaron Rodgers is there just on one, ripping one about Fauci. And how he doesn't care about anything anymore. And he used to not care, but now he really doesn't care about like... everything. And so it really went off because they asked him a question and he said, I want to plead the fifth.

7:50Victoria:And then he went into this whole thing about Fauci pleading the fifth. I don't know about Aaron Rodgers. Like, honestly, if I didn't do this show, I would have turned off the interview because it is just like his vibe is chaotic. I feel like usually people meet the love of their life. And a lot of times they kind of like settle simmer. And Aaron Rodgers is truly, the way he's speaking, and he's like, I told you guys I was going to bring it today and I brought it. And I was like, it feels like a midlife crisis. And he's saying he's better than ever, that everything's great, whatever. And I'm like, this is not the sign of somebody who's great.

8:32Truly. This is not the sign of somebody who is actually doing great. Because this level of chaos and like this level of being unhinged is almost always a sign that something's a little bit awry. So I do have to say, yeah, the first, the whole thing is like 28 minutes. Once we got past that, the dramatic, the drama of what Erin was saying, the rest of the interview was actually really

9:05Victoria:interesting. Aaron was talking about a trip that some people on the team went on together. I don't know if it was the whole team or just some guys. He was talking about how the team is playing really well. He's talking about just like the ups and downs of camp, but that he feels really good having Mike McCarthy as the head coach. They were also together, I believe, in 2006. And he was saying that he just feels really good about the way that the offense is and that he feels great about going in with the team that he has. He also had all of these amazing, amazing things to say about, I believe he was talking about DK Metcalf.

9:49Victoria:So as a reminder, if you're, I feel like nobody's unfamiliar with Aaron Rodgers, but you might be unfamiliar with like some of his stats. He is a Sagittarius born. It all makes sense. A Sagittarius born December 2nd, 1983. He's 42. He is on a one year 22.5 million dollar deal with 25, 22 million fully guaranteed up front in 2025. He only made 13.65 million. So that's a nice raise for him. He is getting incentives as well. $250K if he's on the roster August 7th,$250K in week one, and up to$2.5 million more tied with playoff success. He's 22nd among NFL quarterbacks by salary, so that's kind of funny.

10:38Last year, at 41 years old, also with the Steelers, 94.8 passer rating with 3 ,322 yards, 24 touchdowns, and seven interceptions over 16 games. So, you know, decent, but not going to blow your socks off, which I think we all saw last year as he played. He's in his 22nd NFL training camp, and he was asked if there was wiggle room with 2026 being really it, and he says zero debate, zero. So he talked to his wife. Apparently she said, what you can do one more year.

11:17Victoria:and his wife, Brittany, all we know is it's Brittany with an I on the end. They have kept a very, very private relationship. And Aaron was alluding in the interview, one thing that I don't think a lot of the male podcasts are going to talk about is he was alluding a lot to like having to post. So what it seems like to me is that he was in some type of sponsorship deal. I mean, he's obviously had a lot of sponsors over the years, but where he felt pressure to post on social media. And now he's like, I don't care. I'm not posting. I'm not posting saying happy birthday. I'm so glad I don't have to do that anymore, which just makes me wonder what contract was it where he was feeling so pressured to post on social media?

12:01Victoria:Which contract was it? What required him to post and what made him feel like so crazy about it? Because anytime you kind of ask somebody to do something they don't want to do for years and years and years, obviously they will resent it. And that's kind of what it seems like from Aaron. It kind of gave me the same vibe as like Catholic kid goes to college. And then there's like kind of this like let loose unhinged period. And maybe that's just him releasing the pressure on himself to be in the public eye and just saying like, this is my last season. I'm going to enjoy it. I'm going to have a great time.

12:36Victoria:And then kind of everything else is going a little crazy. so I'm very interested to see how he does Aaron Rodgers is not my number one watch but I did this like the interview was chaotic it was entertaining and the real the best part of the interview was after he stopped like kind of running his mouth because like nobody needs to watch someone run their mouth like that for seven minutes at a time I mean I guess people do and honestly I wouldn't be surprised if that's one of Pat McAfee's best best like clips because I saw multiple girls posting about it. Okay, so Aaron Rodgers confirms his retirement.

13:13Story number two, Patriots owner, as if the Patriots needed more drama, Robert Kraft, blabbed to the press saying that New England has offered Gonzalez a deal that would make him the highest paid cornerback in NFL history before any deal was signed. So Christian Gonzalez is a quarterback for the Patriots. He's a cancer, and he's technically still on a four-year$15.1 million rookie deal from 2023 and has about two years left on it, including a fully guaranteed$18.1 million fifth-year option kicking in in 2027. Last year, he had a career-high 69 tackles, 10 passes defense in regular season, and then in the playoffs, he crushed it.

14:01One interception, one sack and seven more defense passes, helping send the Patriots to the Super Bowl. So Christian is an incredible cornerback. He did a great job in the playoffs. Robert Kraft goes to the press and says, we've offered Gonzalez a deal that would make him the highest paid cornerback in NFL history. That number is interesting. So in that landscape, Denzel Ward tops the cornerback market at$31.1 million a year, and Trent McDuffie holds the biggest deal total with$124 million contract. So the highest paid ever is like numbers to watch. Since Robert Kraft went and said that, Gonzalez basically had to say, please stop.

14:47He told reporters that he quote, that he had quote, ton of respect for Mr. Kraft, and essentially alluded to the fact that he wanted to keep the negotiation with the team and my team and essentially not in the headlines. Like what is in the water in 2026 with like blabby older white men? Blabby wealthy older white men is like an issue in this country. Like what is going on? So anyway, I've heard great things about Robert Kraft.

15:26Victoria:Obviously, this is not his most like shining story. And I think he was just trying to like brag and be excited. And I think like with the Mike Brable stuff as well, the Patriots are already kind of in this weird, like great season, goes to the Super Bowl, but doesn't win the Super Bowl and then coaching drama. And I feel like the whole league. I feel like if they were in a dynasty team, people would have some serious side eyes for the Patriots right now. And I feel like because they're a dynasty team, because they went to the Super Bowl last year, they're kind of like getting off a little bit unscathed.

16:01Victoria:But let me know what you think. Do you think the Patriots are getting off unscathed or do you think that like their reputation is suffering? And I think that at a different year, this wouldn't really have mattered, but I think Gonzalez just coming out. He's probably just like a sweet guy. He's like, you know, let's like keep this within the agents because we also don't know, like, Like, is his agent potentially negotiating with another team for a different deal after this rookie deal is completed? Like, we don't know. So I don't know. I'm really curious to know, did that put Gonzalez on Robert Kraft's bad side?

16:33Victoria:Did he handle it well enough that it was just like, he's just like, I don't think he probably doesn't want to say yes or no until the pages are signed, which all makes sense. And then Robert Kraft can be a little bit looser because he is the owner of the team and a billionaire. Also, if you didn't know about Robert Kraft, he has a$13.8 billion net worth. He built his fortune in the paper and packaging business through Randy Whitney and International Forest Products before he folded it all into the Kraft Group in 1998. he paid for the Patriots 172 million in 1994 and has owned it ever since so through the entire like a lot of the you know Patriots dynasty etc this is also not the same craft as Kraft mac and cheese so you can go on though and look up the craft group and they have a whole website it like has the Patriots stadium on it and then some of their other businesses as well so I think that's pretty cool.

17:33Victoria:But yeah, personally, I've heard really good things about Robert Kraft from people who have worked in the Patriots organization, which I love. And I just think this is like a silly little story, essentially, of him getting excited about having a big deal and then the player being like, but we didn't sign yet. Now I'm getting asked and I don't know what to say, which is kind of funny. All right, moving on. Story number three. Debo Samuels is back at the 49ers. I did not see this one coming. It's a giving. We broke up, but I still have your phone number. So Ricky Pearsall has to have PCL surgery, which was a lingering injury from 2025.

18:13But it's not a super shock. It's just the timing is like absolutely brutal. First padded week of camp, which we've actually seen a lot of like first padded week and injury after injury after injury is kind of coming through. Mike Evans, also now on the 49ers, was sidelined as well. Christian Kirk and Dijon Stribling were already kind of banged up. So the 49ers really needed someone like Debo Samuel. And he has a one-year deal worth up to$7 million. I was so excited when Debo went to the Commanders. I felt like the 49ers underutilized him. And then I think that I was kind of eating my words when he didn't perform at the commanders.

18:53But he is back. And is this like, what does this mean for the 49ers? I'm not sure. Will he be utilized in his full capacity? We will see. And what does his full capacity look like? Because Debo Samuel is not the youngest player we have ever seen. Okay, so Debo is 30 years old. He went to the University of South Carolina and is an Aquarius born on January 15th. His deal is a$3.27 million guaranteed base salary and a signing bonus of$490 ,000 and the total contract can top out at $7 million for the season. They mentioned you're going to see him in the return game at receiver and at running back.

19:44General Manager John Lynch told reporters on Saturday prior to Samuel practicing with the team. He also said, we're going to use him all over the field, and we're really excited to have Debo back. We have a lot of history with him. We know the type of player he is, and he looks to be in really good shape. So Debo says that his reunion was just a matter of time. He's on the 49ers. Let's see what they do with them. The 49ers were pretty banged up last season, but I've said time and time again, I think the 49ers have one of the best systems in the NFL at this point. They are one of the only teams who can truly plug and play with people on their team, and that's how they built up so much success, even with a lot of injuries.

20:22However, if they don't fix their injury problem, a good system only works if you have players on your roster, and it's looking a little rough for them at the moment. Story number four, B. John Robinson just became the highest paid running back ever. So B. John Robinson and Jameer Gibbs, two of the best running backs in the league. Also two people that you want on your fantasy team. We're both waiting on contracts. Jameer Gibbs, I know, is sitting out. B. John Robinson plays running back for the Atlanta Falcons. He's an Aquarius, and he just agreed on a three-year extension worth up to$75 million,$66.75 million base value, making him the highest paid running back in NFL history at$22.5 million a year.

21:07Topping Saquon Barkley's, who is running back on the Eagles and one of the most iconic players of all time, his previous record of$20.6 million with 51 million guaranteed and 37 locked at signing. So in 2025, Bijan led the entire NFL with 2 ,298 scrimmage yards and 11 total touchdowns on 366 touches, rushing for 1 ,478 yards and seven scores, also catching 79 passes for 828 yards and four more touchdowns out of the backfield. So he earned first-team All-Pro honors. Obviously, one of the best running backs who can also receive. And we're seeing so much of that. Running backs are also receiving.

21:57Two other players that you can see doing that. Jameer Gibbs does a really good job. Christian McCaffrey. But Bijan's numbers, actually, if you combine the receiving and rushing yards, are actually higher than our guy Christian McCaffrey's stats combined. So super interesting there. but Bichon is definitely not somebody that you want to be playing against. That's for sure. Absolute animal on the field. He also has a mustard company, Bichon Mustardson, which is so funny to me. So it's called Dijon by Bichon. You can go look it up, which is really, really cute. Now the Lions have to pay Jameer Gibbs, who has become one of the most iconic players on the Detroit Lions and probably one of the most well-known names.

22:43He also was known last year for being Sonic and Knuckles with David Montgomery, who was traded to the Houston Texans. They have like tattoos on their back of Sonic and Knuckles, just a running back duo. So now it's going to be, are the Lions going to top this contract and pay Jameer Gibbs? And I think one of the interesting things here is I think both teams might have been holding out for the other person based on quality of play and kind of importance to the team. And maybe the Falcons were like, we want to get this done quicker. Personally, I don't like a holdout or a hold in. Both these players were holding in.

23:19So coming to the building, et cetera, but not always participating in camp. I don't like it. I don't like that for the team. I don't think that money should be the reason why you're not playing with your team, even though I understand why people do that.

23:30Victoria:And agent Nicole Lynn, who also represents Bijan, and she represents Jalen Hurts. I believe that woman knows what she's doing. She is the best agent in the NFL. She gets record deal after record deal after record deal, including this deal. And if she wants them to hold in, who am I to say? Personally, I don't like to love seeing the hold-ins because it just makes me feel kind of sad. I'm just like, work it out. But I guess from the agent side, you gotta do what you gotta do. And if you wanna get your bag, you gotta get your bag however you need it. So we'll see what the Lions do. I think that it won't go another seven days without Jameer Gibbs signing a contract at this point.

24:08Victoria:All right, story number five, and I know the ESPYs were a little bit ago, but I missed putting this in the Pick 6 episode, and it needs to be in it. Kristen Juszczak, her plus one is Kyle Juszczak, a fullback on the 49ers, hosted the ESPYs. And if you don't know Kristen Juszczak from her clothing, She had reworked apparel that Taylor Swift wore, and now she owns the brand Offseason, which started just in the NFL, but now has expanded to the MLB as well. And I believe a couple of other sports as well as their own line. Yes, I know F1 and their own kind of in-house Offseason brand line, creating an absolute empire.

24:52And if you listen to her speak on podcasts and everything, she'll say like, Taylor wore my jacket and everything exploded. But she has taken that company and scaled it and grown it. And it's become an entire thing. And she's really having a moment now, especially hosting the ESPYs is a huge honor in the sports world. So Kristen is an Aquarius born in 1994. She is a self-taught fashion designer. She also has Wiped Up, Mic'd Up with her and Claire Kittle, their two best friends. and they kind of do YouTube videos on their lives, game day stuff, etc. Kyle is on a two-year$7.5 million deal signed in March of 2025.