Camp Buzz: Spicy Baker Mayfield, Patriots receiver logjam and Chip Watch!

0:00Jourdan Rodrigue:This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.

0:08Welcome to NFL Daily, where Chip Watch, it's on firmly. We're here in the Chris Wesseling Podcast studio. What a trio. Patrick Claybon to my right, Jordan Rodrigue to my left. This is our news only show. Catching everybody up on this Thursday, late July. Do we want to tag this with a name? What do you think about Camp Buzz? Camp Buzz is good. It's quick.

0:34Jourdan Rodrigue:Daily Buzz is a submission. Daily Buzz. You just said news only show, which made me think of NOS. No, that's not good. Because we just hit it. Because we're all about family. We are. Quarter mile at a time. We hit it. Phrasing. Let's talk about one of the men who might be under investigation for chip watch. It's Baker Mayfield. And yes, in these shows, we're going to get you caught up with everything going on in training camp. Teams across the league, for the most part, having their second full day of practice on Thursday. And obviously there's a lot of news out there, including the Baker Mayfield contract situation.

1:13We've got some great sound in general on this Thursday show. And I got to say, Baker in front of the podium was pretty captivating Thursday morning. Let's hear him talk about the contract situation in particular. Disappointing in that regard to not have, you know, to feel disrespect a little bit. And that's really the disappointing part to feel undervalued after, you know, thinking you've earned it. This is not a poor me thing. It's there's a lot of other people that have it way worse off. But I can sit here and look at other quarterbacks and peers and evaluate myself based on that and put myself in certain categories that I deserve to be compensated for that.

1:53And I think I'm a franchise quarterback. I've been told I'm a franchise quarterback. It's been said publicly from ownership down here. And so to not have a deal done is very disappointing. But I said the deadline was a deadline. And I addressed the team to let them know I meant that. First of all, addressing the team, like calling everybody together to let them know that you've been disrespected. He said he was disappointed twice, said he was undervalued.

2:17Jourdan Rodrigue:Not mad. Not mad. I cannot officially put him on chip watch because the player needs to specifically say that they have a chip on their shoulder because there's special value that's applied to that for some reason. But I appreciate the honesty. The one thing that I want, like, let's get really mad. Let's make it exceedingly messy. Give me the years. Give me the guarantees right there at the mic, Baker. Like, say, this is how much I was disrespected. This is who's making more than that. I'm better than that guy. That's where I want it. We got a little of that, actually. In a way, I've almost never seen Jeremy Fowler interviewed him for ESPN.

2:51Although Jeremy Fowler, you know, with the two companies coming together, was on Good Morning Football this morning. So you're just seeing all this pass over. It's a circle. Baker Mayfield made it clear to Jeremy Fowler he was looking for more than$50 million a year. So he put a number on it there and that the Bucs didn't get that close to that. And he also said that they only offered him a two-year contract. Now, he has one-year deal, one year left on his deal. So if that's a two-year extension, it's kind of a three. But he gave some specifics there and he's thrown it out there that, hey, look, you want to play the franchise tag game with me?

3:26Bet. Like, I'll be the next Kirk Cousins.

3:29Jourdan Rodrigue:The way he sat there and spoke with such clarity and then dropped in that I called the team together. He said, I'm in freaking charge, fellas. He said that right to the front office to the coaching staff, he goes, I am the captain now. It's true. And when he, when he says, you know, brought the team together, that's his teammates. And I think that's good leadership because ultimately it is something that they could be asked about that will be talked about. And it's the first couple of days of camp. And you just kind of want to nip that in the bud and tell everyone, Hey, this is where I'm at. So it's not going to be a thing for me, but like this, this is what happened.

4:06And, and that way they'll be able to answer it. And I appreciate it. I love this like Baker is this 3.0 I feel like right now uh era dad strength in Tampa Mayfield colon dad strength and I talked about a world where like he's already played his best football but if you're Baker Mayfield like you're not believing that and it's not like he's that old like Dak Prescott just turned 33 and I think of Dak Prescott like squarely in the middle of his prime still and Baker Mayfield you know based on everything should should feel that and uh just sets up a spicy situation.

4:37Jourdan Rodrigue:Yeah, listen, I'm not going to like try to psychoanalyze some of the motivations of being that clear at the podium the way that he was. You rarely hear a quarterback or any player come out and speak that, I guess, like effusively at a in a podium situation about the situation and then later follow up on it with a reporter. Vita Veya is also going through a contract dispute or a contract situation with the with the Buccaneers and is holding in. And I just want to say that when a player at any position also hears his quarterback willing to go out there and basically hold the organization's feet to the fire, it also empowers that player.

5:14Jourdan Rodrigue:And I would not be surprised at all if these two have spoken about it. If these two have discussed, we, you know, standing firm and staying together on certain things, it's not like the contracts are necessarily going to look the same or whatever, but in terms of, Hey, people should get paid here. historically they pay their players. Just let Mike Evans go. This is not going to happen to us. Stand firm and be on one accord. Him saying, I called everyone together. It made it, there's a divide immediately. Us and them. That's immediately what that sounded like to me. Which is crazy because, you know, the Bucs feel like they've been one of the better run organizations in a while.

5:50But hey, maybe it'll be like a major league situation. You know, prove them all wrong. Fowler, who I previously mentioned, a lot of Fowler pop here, was on Good Morning Football talking about that Vita Vea situation. saying that they have received several calls from other teams, a lot of interest, but the Buccaneers have no interest in trading Vita Vea. They are not believed to be too close on contract terms, but at least the public stance and through reporters that the Bucs are taking right now is that there's no interest in it. I wonder if the Chargers were one of the teams. I feel like there's any number of teams that could benefit from having a Vita Vea, and that's the discussion we've had on the Insiders this week.

6:27Shout out to the TV show. that there were calls during the Vita Vail holdout through minicamp. This has been a constant conversation, and it feels as though the Buccaneers are willing to enjoy the rights of the player at this particular moment, but in both of these situations aren't necessarily ready to make a long-term commitment. And this is after the departure of Mr. Buccaneer, Mike Evans, in the offseason, where I feel like some people in Tampa Bay might start looking at the franchise a little bit differently that we do through this lens of, oh, well, they've managed all these relationships greatly and navigated these contract circumstances.

7:03It appears that a corner might have been turned. Not a popular ownership group back in the day and certainly not with their football teams back in the day. 49ers, maybe one of those teams calling about Vitavia, are, quote, concerned with Ricky Pearsall's latest injury that I mentioned on Wednesday's show, but I did just want to follow up quickly because it sounds like surgery is an option. I saw one reporter throw out there that it could potentially be a season-ending surgery, which is absolutely brutal. They've had a bad couple days of camp in terms of injuries. Malik Mustafa, their safety, who's battling for a starting job, also has a hamstring injury, which sounds like it's going to take him some time.

7:45And they're suddenly pretty thin at receiver. If Christian Kirk is out already, Pearsall's out already, and that could be more long-term. and maybe it's Debo Samuel time.

7:56Jourdan Rodrigue:You know, during our NFC West preview, Greg, my most important non-quarterback was the 49ers medical staff. And I have to say, I am already feeling very let down by this election. Well, you know, it's not their fault. Hopefully they can handle it well. And unfortunately, them doing a good job might be having Ricky Pearsall have this surgery, which by the way, he avoided having all off season and people kind of noted he's been wearing that compression sleeve and there was conversation that this LCL thing was like bothering him, but he didn't want to go under the knife because it would be a long recovery and maybe he could have gotten better advice back then to take care of it.

8:36Jourdan Rodrigue:Well, where is he getting the advice from? There you go. It's that timeline, the surgery timeline that seems to frequently come up with certain franchises where a lot of times they would prefer you to have that surgery during your offseason as opposed to during the season where especially in a season where you're pushing to come back from the actual injury that's going to be the lingering issue. You know, there's branches of connections to these injuries as one will lead to another and beget another, especially as you're playing a violent sport that we do. Or maybe the real issue is coming back in the actual season where it happened.

9:13And unfortunately with Pearsall, it's been one thing after another. It's often been the knee, but even going back to college, as you say, football, what do you say? It's like a... It's not good for you. It's not good for you. And it's especially not good for Ricky Pearsall. And unfortunately, it just may be part of his experience and going to cost him a lot of money. One thing I didn't know on Wednesday's show, because the Broncos hadn't practiced yet, Bo Nix is just out there. He's out there in team drills. He's doing everything. I sort of wondered if that would be the case. We had these back-to-back surgeries.

9:43You had the follow-up. there's no limitations it's not like a lot of the players that are coming back from injury he's he's just throwing dimes in the end zone so i just you know i wanted some positive injury take that greg yeah bo nicks he's back uh tucker craft of the packers says he will be practicing sooner than later i thought it was notable jordan that both he and the front office publicly put a timeline on A, him coming back to the field, which is great. He's coming back from the torn ACL, but also that they kind of expect and really hope for an extension before the season, which you would imagine would pay him as either the top tight end in the league or very close to it.

10:27So they must be close on that if they're talking publicly that way.

10:30Jourdan Rodrigue:I mean, super selfishly, I hope it happens over the next, you know, weekend and days. I'm going to be there. So I would really, really hope that this happens while I am there. Tucker Craft would love to speak to you about this. NFL Daily Insider, Jordan Roderick, showing up for work. So good news there for the Packers. Mike Vrabel was asked about the wide receiver situation in New England. And because we like to overreact to the first week of training camp and the Patriots started first, it has been like a drumbeat in New England that day after day, Kayshawn Booty has been the best receiver in camp, that the most effective throw in camp has definitely not been to A.J.

11:09Brown, where Drake May just can't get the connection going. And apparently that got better on Thursday a little bit, but they've been struggling to see him open. Romeo Dobbs has been like totally silent, maybe struggling to pick up the offense. It's early. This is what you would expect. Josh McDaniels. It's all, it's all new. Meanwhile, Kayshawn Booty's out there proving people wrong day after day. And I wouldn't have made that part of the news.

11:27Jourdan Rodrigue:Booty is rocking. Year after year, Booty is always rocking. I wouldn't have made that part of the news, but Mike Rabel was asked about the wide receiver depth. And I thought had a telling answer. I may love having depth, But I would say that, you know, we're always going to try to look to, you know, improve, whether that's by adding, you know, draft capital, obtaining a player or, you know, keeping the guys we have. So you're asked about how much great depth you suddenly have in a position. The first thing you talk about is we'd like to add some draft capital. I mean, that was like a big, big for sale.

12:06Booty is massive. There it is. and you know, Eric DaCosta, anybody that may be interested in the services of Kayshawn, but the price is going up. And I would say the new England Patriots aren't above raising the price by being like, Hey, Drake, why don't we, why don't we miss AJ a little bit? Throw one of those good ones to Kayshawn. He's just thrown to the open man. And Kayshawn doesn't even need to be open.

12:34Jourdan Rodrigue:Drake may is like, why is our practice script suddenly scripted like this? It's booty all the way down. It's like a weird guy's Instagram page. It's all booty all the time. It's time for the off-season ride-along presented by Toyota. Let's go to Tua Tungabailoa. Started the training camp on the sideline. Already back at practice a little bit. Individual drills. Not doing teamwork. And so I believe it's our man. Shoot. One day later, and I'm already forgetting his name. Cooper Rush? Where are we? No, not on the Falcons. Jake Strand. Jack Strand. Jack Strand. That one. So I think it's still him and maybe Cooper Rush in team drills.

13:15Jourdan Rodrigue:Matt Ryan's throwing passes out there. Wait, is that a real thing? That is a real thing. You sure that's not? That is a real thing. An individual, like just, you know, kind of casually. This is Will McFadden posted this on social media earlier and said, Matt, I'm paraphrasing Will, I'm sorry, said, man, it doesn't get old watching Matt Ryan throw the football. Matt Ryan was out there like physically on the field throwing the ball to receivers, not in team drills, but he's out there throwing the ball. Well, they got enough for the individuals because Michael Penix threw like a 50 yard bomb that I saw that there was a video of.

13:47I think it was to Zaccheaus. No, it's the Dotson. So his arm's fine and he's getting back to it. But now, yeah, they have all these guys that can partially practice. But at least it gives me some confidence, maybe the Tua injury not long. And I appreciate the honesty from Michael Penix Jr. Speaking to the elephant in the room, like, guys, this is not my first. This is not my second ACL recovery. We are going to not take this slowly, but be cautious and not try to rush anything back. But the to a back thing, people get dinged up at camp a little bit. Glad to see he's already back. I mean, at some point, you're going to have to take contact.

14:24In fact, I would guess he is the week one starter for Atlanta if he can stay healthy based on Michael Penix's timeline for returning to team drills. But camp is long. Like Hall of Fame game is next week. That's part of a four-week preseason if you include the Hall of Fame game. And then there's like another week of transactions after that. We still got a while until week one. So plenty of time for these guys to get ready. That was the off-season ride-along presented by Toyota. Because when people are the destination, your ride is important. Learn more at Toyota.com and find the vehicle that fits your people.

14:59Roma Dunze is another guy who was hurt for much of the offseason that I was concerned about because it was this recurring foot injury. He reportedly looked great practicing fully at Bears practice. So that's great to see. And there was some video of him really cutting hard. And I like to see that. Pukunakua is a guy that people wondered, could he possibly like sit out of camp because of, you know, Well, he's one of the most underpaid players in NFL history. If looked at through a certain lens, no, he's been out there. And you got to think the offseason that he had and what happened late last season off the field is impacting that stance.

15:36Let's listen to Pukunaku meeting with the media. There have been things that obviously have happened this offseason that haven't been the truest reflection of the person I feel like I am and how my mother raised me. And there's definitely been conversations with her to apologize, but also for her to say that she supports me. And also my brothers are, I think, my biggest critics as well. So I'm like there were some intense conversations, but loving conversations in order to see improvement. Let's address the thing. I don't think you need to single out family members, especially your mother. When you're trying to talk about behavior that you would like to change and you are committed to changing, then we could highlight the things that led to those particular things.

16:18Like if somebody has been kicked off of Twitch twice for anti-Semitism and then you go on their stream, I don't even know what you call those things, I'm old and out of touch. The stream, Twitch stream. And they ask you to do something jokingly, partly insulting everybody else's intelligence but also yours. At a certain point you have to grow up and you have to acknowledge the thing and not talk about how you're the type of person because we know what you're the type of person. or you're a person who's done these things. So say specifically what you are not going to do and why you're not going to do it.

16:49I think that will go a long way for me. I'm not sure how the Rams would prefer he approach this. Maybe they would like to not talk about the thing. I don't know. But if it were me, let's talk about the thing and why you're not going to do it anymore.

17:00Jourdan Rodrigue:Yeah, I would say that my understanding is internally they are talking about the thing and the many things, I would say. Yeah, he's facing a civil suit from a lady. Who accused him of bite marks and assault. All that is happening as well. Yeah. So I'm going to do the annoying reporter thing where I cite my own work. Sorry. But at the out of league meetings, I did a lot of digging on this situation and what the potential fallout was going to be. And the real, very real concern from the team at the time about these issues, wanting to be encouraging for him to get help. And then also maybe the outside looks like the duck on the top of the surface of the water, but on the inside, very real steps being taken to address these sorts of, of, um, off the field issues that he's had, that he's gotten himself into, frankly.

17:54Jourdan Rodrigue:And so for me, there's all this stuff coming out like, Oh, he reported to camp. There was a reporter, um, there this week at Rams who was asking Sean McVay, you know, does it say he's a good teammate that he's at camp right now? And that's my, my whole stance on the entire thing is he knows it's the expectation that he's there. And he, he, he also has internal and like values that is the expectation that he is there. This contract situation, it's coming up in the news again, but again, out of league meetings, I have a story in the athletic where among the things that are discussed in it is how the Rams really need to see off the field improvement from him and genuine development as a person, like as an adult and, and, and, and, and, as a father of a kid, um, at before, you know, before they start discussing these things, something that he's very aware of and, and also bought into, which is why he's there.

18:48Jourdan Rodrigue:And so that's the thing that's not being talked about here as much that I think should is, is that there's a mutual understanding here. And then this is a situation where the Rams, you know, they never franchise tag players, for example. Well, when, if they're not convinced, or if they're not sure that this is a situation where he's taking true positive steps forward, that they are looking at internally, that's something that probably will be in discussion. You know, this is a team that never does in early extensions anyway until as late as possible in training camp. So to me, the timeline really starts at the end of this training camp and goes all the way into next year and into next training camp.

19:27Jourdan Rodrigue:That is my opinion of what the timeline is. I hope everybody is safe. I hope everybody treats each other correctly and with respect and that this situation is something that, you know, he looks back on and is like, really glad I learned from all of that. Right. And it's ultimately leverage, which is it's hard to think about it in contractual terms, but they're using it as leverage. And like, look, teams will always look past. There's a sliding scale of NFL justice. That's how I see it. Look, Alec Jackson is on this team. He's facing allegations as well. And so there's some sliding scale of Puka just keeping his nose clean in their mind and showing maturity and how he plays.

20:13And then he'll be a Ram for a long time. And if not, he won't be. The Alvin Kamara situation has been odd this offseason because it felt like at times the media, specifically Jeff Duncan of the New Orleans Times-Picayune, was trying to push him off the team. He had a very direct column saying, like, it's time for Alvin Kamara to go. You don't have to put too many dots together and connect them to see. Like, there were some things in there that felt like it was coming from the front office. Maybe Mickey Loomis, who had been there for a long time, like Jeff Duncan. Who knows? And this is why it's a little inside baseball.

20:53But I found this exchange between Duncan and Alvin Kamara on his first day back at training camp. Just delicious. Ron said you were motivated and pissed off. But the narrative, was that accurate? Or was he just...

21:15Not for you. Come on, let's get it. Teron said you were motivated and pissed off. I mean, is that, yeah, man, me and Teron and Mark have probably conversations. Um, I'm motivated every year. I mean, he also had some public conversations on Teron Armstead's podcast, which I think they were referring to. So in fairness, that was out there. Uh, I wish, you know, if everyone can see that, that already saints fans are using the look on Alvin Camara's dismissive face, uh, as a meme. And, uh, and I loved it. Uh, this, this guy knew, that Duncan was trying to get him fired. I think ultimately, if I had to guess, someone might have stepped in there and stopped it because he took a big pay cut to stay, but he's still making good money, and it's a better world when Alvin Kamara's on the Saints still.