Making sense of the Jaguars-Browns trade + The Joe Flacco Rule 📏 | The Adam Schefter Podcast

Making sense of the Jaguars-Browns trade + The Joe Flacco Rule 📏 | The Adam Schefter Podcast

[Music] Welcome back to the Adam Shfter podcast as we get ready for week six in the NFL. And to help us get ready for week six, we are joined today by the co-host of the Pat McAfee Show, my friend, my colleague Ty Schmidt for this week’s Thursday Sixpack. Thank you very much, Chefy. Good to be with you as always. Last week we talked about it. We had kind of a substandard slate, if you will. games ended up being incredible. Absolutely incredible. This weekend we have some marquee matchups. Uh and one game that, you know, I think a lot of people thought was going to be a throwaway and now is is maybe at least from my point of view turning into a little bit of a marquee matchup. Let’s get right into topic number one. Boy, Packers fans, cover your ears. It’s Joe Flacco time again. He has been traded to the Cincinnati Bengals and Zack Taylor said, “Guess what? He’s starting on Sunday. Hey, what do you think of that whole situation, Chefty? Well, first of all, Joe Flacco is now trying to become the first quarterback since Jack Kemp in 1962 to beat the same team twice in a season playing for a different team. What happened back then was I think it was Buffalo cut Jack Kemp. I think the Rams claimed them in waiverss. He beat somebody that year in 1962 before going on to political greatness. And now Joe Flacco is trying to follow in the footsteps of Jack Kemp and beat the Green Bay Packers twice in four weeks. And that is, I believe, part of the reason that the Bengals head coach, Zack Taylor, wanted to trade for Joe Flacco and had no hesitation in starting him this week. Notice when Zack Taylor stood to the microphone for the first time after the trade on Wednesday, one of the very first sentences he said, “Oh, we’re going to start Joe this week.” Like no hesitation. He has prepared before for the Green Bay Packers. He knows what it’s like to play quarterback in this league. Yeah, we’re going to cram course here feeding him the offense. It’s going to be crash course. It’s not going to be easy, but Joe Flacco’s done this before. And now you get Joe Flacco against the Green Bay Packers again, which is hard to imagine. We’ll see if the Packers can do better against him this time. But the Bengals, look, the fact of the matter is the whole offense has struggled. Jake Browning didn’t play well. I think he threw eight interceptions in three games, but the offensive line didn’t block well. They weren’t establishing a running game. They couldn’t get anything going. They’re going to need to do better across the board, but obviously much of the focus will be on Joel Flacco playing quarterback against your Packers, Ty. Yeah, I don’t know if my heart can take another Joe Flacco loss in, you know, the span of a couple weeks. By the way, there should be a rule. There should be a rule that if you lose to Joe Flacco twice in four weeks, you should not be allowed to make the playoffs. You know what? I I I think I might be with you on that one. And I love Joe Flacco. I think, you know, he’s a great I mean, we’ll see. Obviously, I reacted to this on Pat show when we got the news in real time. And that was the first thing I thought like, oh great, you know, I was expecting them to win by three touchdowns against Jake Browning. Don’t really feel like that anymore, but we’ll see. Obviously, that Bengals offensive line is awful. They don’t really have much of a running game, but if there’s anything Joe Flacco can do, it’s throw the deep ball. So, getting guys like Jamar Chase and T. Higgins involved early. We’ll see. Um, it it should be very interesting to see how that plays out. And I tell you what, if Flaco wins, what another cap in his feather and his illustrious career. So, we’ll keep an eye on that one on Sunday. Let’s move on to topic number two. Sheffy, the Jags and the Browns with kind of a I don’t know, you tell me if it was a trade out of no nowhere yesterday after paying him in the offseason. The uh the Browns are sending or excuse me, the Jags are sending Tyson Campbell and a seventh round pick to the Jags for Greg Newsome the second in a sixth round selection. What more info do you have on this whole situation? Well, fascinating trade. Greg Newsome’s contract is up after this season and it certainly looked like Cleveland wasn’t going to pay him because Cleveland has been open to trading Greg Newsome now I think for a little while. And the Jaguars have a new general manager, new head coach. The previous regime signed Tyson Campbell to a contract extension last summer that paid him an average of $14 million a year. And the truth of the matter is Tyson Campbell fits better in the type of defense that Cleveland plays and Greg Newsome fits better in the type of defense that the Jaguars play. And so the Cleveland Browns went ahead and made a deal which by the way is the third trade they’ve made in a week. Last week they traded for Cam Robinson, a left tackle from the Houston Texans. They traded Joe Flacco to the Cincinnati Bengals. And now they’ve swapped cornerbacks with the Jacksonville Jaguars. What’s fascinating to me also, and I’m going to bet that both these guys play this weekend, I’ll bet you that Greg Nuome is playing against the Seattle Seahawks, and I’ll bet you that Tyson Campbell’s playing against the Pittsburgh Steelers is the fact that these trades are made, these guys just step in, these teams are not afraid of making trades anymore, and the trades are flying fast and furious. The Jaguars will want to resign, I think, Greg Greg Newsome to a long-term contract. There’ll plenty of time to discuss that with him now that he’s going to be in Jacksonville. And Tyson Campbell, boy, he goes from where they were 4-1 to the Cleveland Browns. And Greg Newsome now is on a winning situation. Like Tyson Campbell, warm weather Jacksonville, no state taxes, winning record trade to Cleveland. No disrespect to Cleveland, but it’s going to be colder. His taxes are going to be higher. They’re not winning as much. Like that was a tough day for Tyson Campbell, but they really like the guy and they want him. So maybe he’s gonna be really happy there. Greg Newsome’s got to feel like he hit the lottery. No state tax. They’re 4 in one. It’s going to be warm. Like all these snowbirds up east who go down to Florida for the winter. Greg Newsome gets out of Cleveland just in time. Yeah, what a situation. And you know what? I I think if you’re a Jags fan, man, you really have to appreciate this. James Gladstone and, you know, Liam Cohen, the entire brass there. I I would guess they didn’t really know how things were going to go, but I don’t know if they thought that they would be four and one coming off a massive win over the Chiefs on Monday Night Football. And good for them saying, “Hey, we have a window right now. Let’s let’s let’s do what we have to do to kind of make our team better right now.” They found a situation they liked and and they’re going for it. I I really appreciate that. The other thing I love about this, James Gladstone, who became the youngest general manager in the National Football League, has shown he doesn’t care what anybody thinks. He’s going to keep wheeling and deal. He He’s made a ton of trades. And Andrew Barry, the Browns GM, makes a ton of trades. And these two GMs linked up for the biggest trade of the draft weekend when the Jaguars came up to the number two pick to go get Travis Hunter. So now they’ve done it again. We love this. This is great. It’s fun. It’s exciting. Trades keep football interesting. We got the trade deadline next month, Tuesday, November 4th, and there’s going to be a whole bunch of activity before then, Ty. Yeah, I love how this is kind of the the new age NFL. I mean, you would know better than most, Chefty, but I’m guessing for the what, the first half of your career, this type of stuff never really happened, you know? I mean, we get a trade here and there, but now it does feel like it’s kind of skewing more towards an NBA model where let’s do it. Let’s get guys out of here. Let’s get fresh blood in. It’s awesome. We’ve got other topics to get to today, but I’m going to give you some numbers on the podcast next week, Tuesday, that shows you the uptick in trade activity that are really mind-blowing. Love it. Okay, so we’ll uh we’ll be waiting for that one. Let’s move on to topic number three. Jeffy, we had him on Pat’s show yesterday and he was absolutely phenomenal. But for everyone else, can you can you contextualize how good AMCA Ibuka has been so far this year? Well, let’s give you some of the data and then we’ll get your sense of him. He leads all rookies with 25 catches. He has five touchdown catches this season. He’s recorded a touchdown reception in four of the five games, over a 100 receiving yards in each of the past two games. And with a 100 receiving yards Sunday against San Francisco, Ibuku would become the fifth rookie in the Super Bowl era to reach the mark in three consecutive games, joining Odell Beckham Jr., Maris Coloulston, Mike Evans, Randy Moss. The company that he’s keeping is unbelievable. And what’s amazing is that I remember talking to the Buccaneers over the summer and they were raving about this guy then being a differencemaker. Now, I think the thing is is that you hear rookies shining in training camp and there’s always a lot of talk about how good a certain player looks and often times that doesn’t last. In the case of Acha Ibuka, it has lasted. He is the real deal. And on a team with Mike Evans and Chris Godwin and some other really, he’s looked like their biggest impact wide receiver so far. Yeah, without a doubt. Uh just talking with him yesterday, he is mature beyond his years. That is the first thing that is very apparent. Uh and everyone knows I mean he was at Ohio State and he was always the second guy you know they had all the Garrett Wilson and you know ju I mean we I could go through the entire list all these first round picks that he has played with and he was always the number two. Well he is you know he leaves Ohio State as their all-time leader in receptions and receiving yards I believe. And so he was perfect to go into this situation. You go with Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, he he’s been that guy his whole career. He’s not the number one option, but he always produces. And like you said, right now, it’d be hard to argue that he isn’t their best player on offense outside of Baker Mayfield. And we put up a box on Sunday NFL countdown a couple of weeks ago about the Ohio State receiving room about four or five years ago. I think it was Garrett Wilson, Amecha Ibuka, Jackson Smith and Jigba, Jameson Williams, like and there were more. I’m forgetting some guys. There’s that much talent there obviously, but but we always we think of LSU as the receiving capital of college football, but I got to tell you, Ohio State is right there with it and can give LSU a run for its money. Yeah. And you know, Ibuka, it’s one of those things where I think, you know, if you watch a lot of the NFL, there’s always kind of that rookie wall at some point because it is such a long se I mean, you know, a lot of these guys for the most part haven’t had any time off since they went through the draft process into their first season. He just he expands on what he did the week before every he’s done it every week so far. And not only is he, you know, moving the chains and m but spectacular catches, touchdowns when they need him in crunchtime moments. He has been he has been remarkable. And um I I cannot wait to see what he does the rest of the season. If Baker Mayfield wins MVP, he’s going to he’s going to have to, you know, get a Mecha Ibuka a Rolex or or something. Maybe buy him a car. Who knows? But uh that that tandem has been unbelievable to watch so far this year. All right, Chefy, let’s go on to topic number four of this Thursday’s six-pack. Let’s flip to the other side of the ball. Obviously, defensively, we’re always going to hear about the stalwarts, TJ Watt, Miles Garrett, Micah Parsons, Aiden Hutchinson. Those kind of guys are always going to kind of create headlines because they’re so good. But in your opinion, who is one defensive guy who’s playing lights out right now who needs a little more shine? the guy that leads the National Football League in sacks through five weeks of the season. And that’s the Broncos linebacker, Nick Bonito, who has right now seven sacks this season. Seven through five games. He’s had at least a sack and a half in each of the past three games. He gets the New York Jets in London on Sunday morning. And right before the season began, the Broncos signed Nick Bonito to a huge new contract extension. Ty, whenever you see this, whenever you see a player get the money in advance before they become a free agent, you have to know that the team has identified that guy as a world-class elite player and they want to get that guy locked up before he can become a free agent. Now, Nick Bonito has done this before and we’ve seen the type of superstar that he’s become, but he leads the NFL in sacks this year. He’ll have a chance to lead the league in sacks over the course of the entire season. and on a great Denver defense. He’s been the biggest difference maker so far with a chance to rack up more Sunday. And it always feels like when we watch these London games on Sunday, they always feel like defensive battles, right? Like with a big defensive play that wins the game. I’m not going to be surprised if all of a sudden Nick Bonito makes some play that helps turn that game on Sunday against a Jets team that still is winless against a Jets team that has set an NFL record for no turnovers. zero turnovers in five games. Now they get Nick Bonito and the Denver Broncos. Now the Broncos are coming off their signature win. The most important win in that franchise in the last 10 years. The last 10 years, okay, since they won the Super Bowl against the Carolina Panthers. And Nick Bonito helped make that happen last week. Shawn Peyton signature win, signature win for the Denver Broncos. Now the Broncos are going to look to build upon it against the Jets. That’s a great point about the London game and uh you know now that you mentioned that especially with the I mean it seems like the Jets turn it over 15 times a game as well. I might bet Nick Bonito to you know anytime touchdown score. So yeah and you know it’s it’s interesting with Denver because they had so much heat leading up to the season. A lot of people picking them not only to win the division but potentially go to the Super Bowl and then for whatever reason it it kind of just stopped. I feel like nationally everyone knows how good their defense is, but when we’re coming in on Monday mornings for whatever reason, it just seems like we’re not really we’re not really talking about them that much. But they are their defense is remarkable. And you know, they had that little swoon early against the Colts where it’s like, okay, maybe, you know, maybe a little bit of the the rat poison got to their heads, if you will. They they look very good and make no mistake about it, they are going to be a player down the stretch of the season if they stay healthy. obviously barring injuries. All right, Chefty, let’s go to another marquee game on Sunday night with topic number five. We got the Lions at the Chiefs. Now, I don’t want to do this every single week, but you know, especially because they got a big win a couple weeks ago in the game against the Ravens where we kind of thought, hey, this is basic, is this the season on the line? Are we in the the territory where it’s kind of a a win or your season’s down the drain with the Chiefs or are we not quite there yet? No, I don’t think we’re there yet. But I will say this, what’s fascinating about this matchup on Sunday night is that we have a Lions team that I would say right now as playing as well as any team in football. If we looked at it and you were to say today in our power rankings, which by the way, another thing to look at to Tuesday, aside from the trade, our our our sixth item in the six-pack, I think is going to be a six-pack of six rankings from each of us, ranking the top six teams in the NFL. But anyway, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. I would say right now the Lions right now through five weeks are the best team in football. I’d agree. I would look at them even though Oh, there’s no more winless teams. So, yeah, I’m going to go with the Lions. And I would say the Chiefs, not that their season’s on the line, but the Chris Jones clip went viral after that play on Monday night. They’re coming home. They’re playing arguably the best team in football. Like I will be really surprised if the Chiefs don’t play a great game on Sunday night. I don’t know if they’re going to win the game on Sunday night, but they’re going to play a great game against a Detroit Lions team that’s already won in Kansas City the last time that they visited that’s playing as well as any team in football. Sign me up for that one. I’ll go back to my hotel Sunday night after watching all the games here at the Disney ESPN offices and I will be glued in for that one because it should be a really good one. Yeah, I agree. I mean, that’s one of the few times I think where, you know, the moniker waiting all day for Sunday night is absolutely deserved. And yeah, I think this is a I mean, it’s a character game for the Chiefs. It’s kind of a hey, everyone always talks about the Chiefs is still the Chiefs regardless of what they do. this this would be a great statement game because like you said, the Lions have kind of been going belt to ass on everybody since the Packers game and have just looked far superior to who they’ve been playing. And again, we you just mentioned it. It’s not, you know, dire straits for the Chiefs right now. But boy, this if they win this game on Sunday night, that could really be the catalyst to kind of push them on a nice little run here and kind of get the season back on the right track. By the way, and if you’re the Chiefs and you find a way to win, guess what happens next week? What’s that? Rashe Rice comes back. Boom. So, you get back Rice, you get the win, now you’re rolling. Yeah. You lose, it’s tough, right? For sure. For sure. And obviously with how good that division’s been this year, you know, you got a lot of those games left as well. So, yeah, definitely not a must-win for the Chiefs, but I think it’s a Yeah, like you said, I think it’s a must perform well, must play well. Uh, so we’ll see what happens on Sunday night. And then let’s move on to the sixth and final topic of this Thursday’s six-pack shifty. We have another Monday Night Football double header this week. Bills at Falcons and Bears at Commanders in the uh the Hail Mary rematch. What stands out to those two games to you? Few things. First of all, Buffalo Atlanta. Buffalo’s coming off the loss. And just like I expect the Chiefs to respond, I’d be surprised if Buffalo didn’t play a great game against an Atlanta team coming off the buy. Like when’s the last time Atlanta hosted a Monday night game? So you know that the MercedesBenz Dome is going to be rocking for a Falcons team coming off the buy playing a Bills team that’s coming off a loss. So that should be a great atmosphere on Monday night. But the second game really interests me. Washington Chicago. Think back to last year. Chicago goes into Washington and Chicago at that point in time was vying for a playoff spot. I don’t know what the Bears record was, but I do know this. I do know there was a Hail Mary that was completed on the final play of the game. I do know it was the probably the single most memorable play in the regular season last year. And I do know that after that play, the Chicago Bears never recovered. They lost 10 straight games. They went from playoff contender to losing 10 straight to firing their head coach to changing their organization. The visit to Washington and the game against the Commanders last year was the start of why the Bears are the way they are this year with Ben Johnson as the head coach. You could wonder if that game doesn’t happen last year, if Ben Johnson winds up coaching there this year. But that game led to the downfall of that franchise last season. And just like the loss for the Chiefs from Monday night will be on their mind Sunday night, I’ll bet you that all the Bears players from last year remember that loss going into Washington on Monday night, making that matchup even more compelling to me. Yeah, I think I mean the the Bills Falcons, I think you hit the nail on the head with all that stuff. That should be a great game. But I I think you’re right. Bears at Commanders, that’s the real intriguing one. It’s a great opportunity for both teams because I think the Commanders are kind of trying to get to the point where it’s like, hey, last year was was real. You know, we are one of the best teams in the NFC. We have a healthy Jaden or healthyish Jaden Daniels now, and now is our time to really kind of go. And then the Bears, if they win this game, I think it goes from, hey, you’ve beaten a couple teams who no one’s really that impressed with to, okay, what Ben Johnson is selling is is working. You know, these guys believe in the vision. They believe in what’s going on. And that could be the kind of win that catapults you into, you know, they were 4-2 going into the Commanders game last year. If they win a game like this on Monday night with the world watching or all of America watching, does that springboard a fivegame win streak where now you got the playoffs in your sights again? Two great games for Monday Night Football. So, some things I just want to point out, some takeaways from today, Ty. I will have the trade data ready for you on Tuesday. You need to get your weekly six-pack, your weekly ranking of the six best teams in football and brace yourself for Old Man Flacko coming into Lambeau Field on Sunday. Well said. I I’m I I’m terrified already. So, I’m I’m just going to be sitting in it for the next, you know, 72 hours or so. But, uh should be an incredible weekend, Shifty. We got a lot of good games and uh I mean the NFL is the best. Let’s have another great weekend. I tell great job today. Great job by our producer Dan Stanzic, Rob Lorenzo. To all the listeners who are out there tuning in today, please remember to rate, review, and subscribe to the Adam Shfter podcast. We’ll be back in the spot Tuesday for more trade talk, more discussion about the Packers, more of everything, more insights and information. Until then, enjoy week six, everybody. [Music]

Adam Schefter and Ty Schmit of The Pat McAfee discuss the Joe Flacco trade to Cincinnati, the Jaguars-Browns deal, Emeka Egbuka’s ascendance, a defensive player of the year candidate to watch, the Lions-Chiefs game, and look ahead to the Monday Night Football double header.

0:00 Welcome
0:46 Joe Flacco with a chance to make history against the Packers
3:38 Making sense of the Browns-Jaguars trade
7:52 Emeka Egbuka has burst onto the scene
11:21 A defensive player of the year candidate to watch
14:32 Lions-Chiefs highlights the Week 6 slate
17:34 Monday Night Football double header: Bills-Falcons & Bears-Commanders

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