Cam Newton ISN’T SOLD on Mac Jones starting OVER Brock Purdy in San Francisco 👀 | First Take

Cam Newton ISN’T SOLD on Mac Jones starting OVER Brock Purdy in San Francisco 👀 | First Take

Go ahead, raise your hand if you love a fairy tale ending. Mine’s up nice and high here. Well, we were really close to the NFL version in San Francisco. Once upon a time, Mr. Relevant joined the 49ers. Brock Party then took over for the injured Jimmy Garopolo and leads his team to just one game shy of the Super Bowl. Party, though, continues to play at a high level, making pennies on the dollar in salary quarterback terms. He defies the odds, remains the starter, and then this past May gets rewarded with a five-year, $265 million contract. Great. But then enter the dragon or the witch, whatever you’re really into. This season comes around and Pertie has turf toe, right? An injury that’s been bothering him really since week one. Now he’s been sidelined since week five, which is when a guy named M. Jones steps in. And Mack has baldled, averaging nearly three points more per game than Perty and having the offense function at a higher clip if we’re being honest. This really throws a wrench right into that fairy tale ending for Brock Party. Just ask Cam who discussed it on his show. Fourth and one. I’mma tell you what John Lynch and old Kyle Shanahan don’t want. What demo? Quarterback controversy cuz Oh, Brock. Oh, Brock. Same way you got in, maybe the same way you go out. Yeah. You John Lynch, general manager of the 49ers. Mac and cheese go gets him another goodl looking win. Brock Pury now is off the injured list. Where you going, GM Peg? Man, I got to stick with the high hand, bro. What? Couldn’t believe it. So, it sounds like Cam Newton, you believe there is a quarterback controversy brewing in San Francisco, and you think regardless they should go back to Brock Perie. Am I right or wrong? Uh, I think that’s what the contract dictates them to do. Uh, when you’re looking at five years, $265 million, $265 million, my Stephen A voice, $181 million of those dollars guaranteed. And that contract is through two uh uh two that’s a lot of money. 20030 is what this contract is through. And I don’t want to and I don’t want to count pockets. But there’s one little stanza in that contract that has me scratching my head. It’s a no trade clause in there. Now understand this. I know mac and cheese, but I don’t know this mac and cheese. This mac and cheese has been playing at a high level that makes you start to think to yourself like, where is this guy been? And you capable of this type of play. It’s not even the type of play. He’s been efficient at times and has been making plays that I don’t know if somebody else could. But this is the thing though. I don’t want to make this more or less about the cont uh uh the the quarterback competition more so than talking about Kyle Shanahan’s brilliance as a coach. We’ve seen him get the best out of Jimmy G. We’ve seen him get the best out of Brock Pur and we’ve also seen him get the best out of Mac and Cheese. So, I don’t know if it’s a quarterback controversy more than saying, “Do you stick with a hot hand?” Because if you do come back and you don’t have that same type of efficiency, I don’t know. Well, Cam, you said it right the first time. The contract dictates a certain thing. But let’s think about fairy tales. Since Shay brought up Fairy Tales, do you guys remember which name was most closely linked to the San Francisco 49ers the year that Trey Lance was drafted? It was M. Jones. Then we all sat up here and we kept saying ain’t no way they going to draft M. Jones third overall. And then Kyle Shanahan said as they got close they overthought it and Trey Lance’s athleticism after what they saw Josh Allen made them draft him. Could you imagine if that was M. Jones? If M. Jones had always played in this system, if M. Jones had some of the pieces we’ve seen the Jimmy Garopos, some of the pieces we’ve seen the Brock parties have. Now, what you’re doing is you’re sitting back and you’re thinking to yourself, if you’re John Lynch and if you’re Kyle Shanahan, that maybe we are better off with M. Jones. So, what is the decision on Brock Pery’s injury? Is my question. Do we have to see him at 100? Do we tell him, hey, continue to take the rest of the season to rehab so you can be just perfect for the start of next season? Because in my opinion, this isn’t a decision that they’re going to want to have to make until the off season. Because we cannot forget Brock Pury brought this team to a Super Bowl. Brock Pury was a Pro Bowler for this team. Brock Pury became one of the best quarterbacks in the NFC for this team. And so, there’s a lot of recency bias going into M. Jones. And I get it. He’s playing well. But we can’t forget how Brock Pury went from Mr. irrelevant to especially in his bank account relevant as hell playing for the San Francisco 49ers. Brother made $50 million $53 million. You understand? So I ain’t I hear you loud and clear on the dollars. Okay. I mean the dollars are the dollars. M Jones, you got to give credit where credit is d was moving and the way he was talking what the hell you had in that mug. The way you was talking about Mac Jones right there, Cam. I’m wondering about you. I’m wondering about you there right there with the podcast and all of that. But let me say this to you. Mack Jones is two sides and I mean when you look at the way he performed against the Rams he threw for over 200 yards had a couple of TDs with a banged up knee and missing KD missing PCEL missing Jennings and he still went out there and performed and performed lights out. So you got to give credit where credit is due. But let’s understand something. There’s a reason to believe in Brock Pury. He did take him to a Super Bowl. He did save that franchise because when you look at what they were getting from the quarterback position prior to Brock Pury elevating himself, I mean you just can’t say enough about the dude. Now Shanahan is saying turf toes don’t go away usually in the same season. So certainly you’ll keep an eye on it and if it if it it it compromises his ability to perform in any way then you could always go back to M. Jones but it’s not like you can look at a Brock party and say okay M Jones is flowing right now we going to keep you on the bench. You can’t do that to Brock Py because you know you don’t see things that M. Jones is doing that Brock Party cannot do. That’s not He’s not showing you that. That’s not that. It never happens like that though. And you notice RC, nobody’s going to say, “Hey, we’re going to do it this way. There’s going to be innuendos and there’s going to be kind of like, hold on, are you 100%. We don’t need you not to be 100% Brock Parody.” Like M. Jones is playing good football. winnable football for us, so why rush back? That type of tone is really them speaking in code. Now, you take another team and you start to say, is Lamar Jackson really 100%. is if, and I’m knocking on with saying it, if you have a Patrick Mahomes or you have a Josh Allen gets hurt or gets injured in a way, you’re going to need them back at 75% because their 75% is better than somebody else’s 100%. What I’m saying is Brock Parody is is is being treated delicately in a sis to say if you’re not 100%, you good. And while you’re being good, that may be a red flag right there to just say, “Hold on, hold on, hold on. What’s really going on here?” Well, let me say this to you right now. Even with M. Jones playing the way that he’s playing or he ranks 15th in the NFL and QBR, not only has Brock Pury spent time as number one, in his career, he’s never ranked lower than seventh. So, what I’m saying to you is that whatever we’re seeing from M. Jones. There’s no reason for Kyle Shanahan or anybody else to believe that you can’t get that from Brock Party. And if you can, if you believe you can get the same, if not better, from Brock Party, and that’s the dude you paying $53 million to $53 million. 53 million. Okay. Then you know what? We going to see him. That’s all I’m saying. 50 million. The thing for M. Jones is this though. How much money he can make himself while being in San Francisco. I believe that he has another year on this contract. If I’m his agent, I’m trying to see where I could be traded to to maximize what I was able to do this year because Brock Perie is going to be the starting quarterback when he’s healthy enough to be that. But M. Jones has shown the entire league that he could play high level ball in this league. Quickly because I have to bump a one-word answer. If though M. Jones goes out and convincingly beats the Rams this weekend, does your opinion change? convincingly beats the Rams, who a lot of you think can win and go to the Super Bowl. No. Does your opinion change? No. When you say con 53 man, so no, damn. Yes or no? Aaron Rogers and the Steelers are going to head to Los Angeles to face the Chargers Sunday night. Rogers has the Steelers on top of the AFC North, throwing for 212 yards a game, 17 touchdowns so far this season. On the other side of the field, Chargers have won three of their last four games. Herbert throwing for 266 yards a game, has 18 touchdowns so far this season. But if we’re keeping it 100% real, we have not seen Justin Herbert prove to be that that top top tier quarterback yet. And so who do you trust more in this game, Justin Herbert or Aaron Rogers? RC, I trust Aaron Rogers. And that’s just keeping it a buck. If you look at Aaron Rogers and the Pittsburgh Steelers this year, there isn’t a game you point to and you go, “Ah, yeah, that’s on Aaron Rogers.” Aaron Rogers has shown up in ways for the Pittsburgh Steelers this year that were unexpected. Being able to create in the pocket impro improvisation and pushing the football down the field and finding ways to keep this team in games like the Cincinnati Bengals with big throws to Pat Frier move that the defense finds a way to go out and lose. And when you look at a guy like Justin Herbert, he still hasn’t made every play that you need to make for us to have some sort of confidence in you for us to have that trust in you. When we talked about early on in the year through three games, I thought that Justin Herbert could be the MVP. I thought that Justin Herbert was walking on water, could be on top of the world. I said, “Okay, has he finally taken that step?” and out. Obviously, without Joe Alt and with Rashawn Slater being out for the period of time that he is, he’s fallen back to the pack. So, when I look at the quarterback that I can trust, that I believe in in the most important moments of these games, it’s going to be Aaron Rodgers, even with the lack of skill outside of DK Metaf. It’s a tough one because um I don’t blame you for saying Aaron Rogers. Um, I just think that Justin Herbert, obviously younger, stronger at this stage in his career, um, is is is better. U, but in the same breath, again, the lack of protection is going to compromise him. I expect that to continue. TJ White, Alex Highmith combined for three sacks and two fumbles, two force fumbles last week. They showed up. I’m hoping something like that continues against the depleted offensive line in Los Angeles. It should continue. Uh, but when I look about Aaron Rogers, I’m going to go with Aaron Rogers as the answer to this question. Uh, but but not with not with any fur, not with any, you know, strong degree of confidence because he’s averaging like 2.7 airs per attempt. Crying out loud. Which is the third. I’m just saying he is. He is. I mean, he’s just dipping and dunking and all of that stuff most of the time. RC, go ahead. What am I doing? What am I doing now? I have a question. I have a question. As the patriarch Yes. of First Take as the executive producer of First Take. Is that a thing we get to do when we come on this show? We get to make decisions or choices without fervor. Like we get to say without any excitement, without any convincing feelings that I make or I or this is my take on the morning call when they ask you the question and you give us one word answers and then you rush us to move on. Did you say this then or no? Because I got a problem with you giving a take with some luster attitude. Well, let me say this. Number one, you know, I don’t believe in doing the show at 7:30 in the morning. You know, damn right. I’m trying to get people off the phone. Damn right. You understand what I’m saying? I want to do it at 10 o’clock. I ain’t trying to have a debate show at 7:30 in the morning. That’s number one. Number two, to answer the question directly is first take. Of course I do, baby. It’s I’m Stephen A. Yeah, I get to do that. I get to sit up there. I don’t have to I don’t have to do it at the same momentum with the same energy all the time. Every I happen to have my my my reservations about the Steelers, period. But I am going to go with Aaron Rogers with this particular question because he’s he’s minimized the mistakes. He’s not making a bunch of them and and I think that he’s got better protection. I would have loved to have seen him get another pass catcher to pair with DK Metaf. I’ve said that. But they’ve spread the ball around. You got like 10 or 11 different dudes that has caught touchdown passes for them this year. Okay. So, I’m happy about that. I will go with Amar Rogers for this question, but I I I still find myself looking at them from a lot of times offensively, RC wishing they were more than what they are. Okay. So, then let’s take it one step further. We all think Aaron Rodgers uh we trust more on Sunday night against the Chargers, but then who wins this game? Is it the Steelers or the Chargers? Different question. Cam, you want to go Cam? Cam, go ahead. You gonna ask me that one. I was I’m gonna go with uh the charges on this one. But I I’mma say I’m going say the reason why it’s becoming abundantly clear that the anchor on the Pittsburgh Steelers is not the defense. It’s not the quarterback. I’ve said it since week one. It’s the amenities that Aaron Rogers, Mr. Once, we called him, discount double check. He has shown that his play is still at a high level. And if it wasn’t for the Velcroisk route running from the receivers limiting separation, we may be mentioning him for the MVP. Hey, even at this age, Stephen A, you said younger, stronger, better for Justin Herbit. No, you don’t agree with that because one of the things that you know and I know to RC’s point, we’ve never, not one time this year have pointed to Aaron Rogers and said, “Bro, you lost this game because of you.” If anything, that’s true. We can say that’s true. We’ve won games because of you. And it’s not because of your arm. It has been because of your decision making and not putting the onus on the defense or the stress on the defense. And he knows that at his age. So when you’re start to to really unpack really what’s going on in in in Pittsburgh, the insufficiencies has been at the playmaking positions of the Steelers. Nothing else. And that’s where that’s why I would say the Los Angeles Chargers will win this game this year. Cam, pull out your notebook. Pull out your notebook because right now Stephen A is disqued and apathetic. And so I don’t want him to answer this question because when it comes to the Pittsburgh Steelers, we already know he’s going to be lukewarm, right? We already know he’s going to be a little apprehensive. So, let me give you the answer. The winner of this game is the Pittsburgh Steelers because they have to be because Mike Tomlin is telling them during the week, what we saw before the Indianapolis Colts is unacceptable. The way that this defense walked out on the field and walked off of the field against the Cincinnati Bengals cannot happen again. 20 straight completions for Jordan Love can’t be a standard that we set. That is not the standard of the steel curtain. That is not the standard of the early 2000 Pittsburgh Steelers defense. And in talking to Jaylen Ramsay, in talking to Cam Haywood, that’s exactly how they feel. They understand they had to step up. And we watched it last week. And I believe that this week is going to be a continuation of that. And I reiterate all the points that Cam Newton made. Aaron Rodgers is playing winning football right now and the rest of that locker room has to raise their play. We saw him do it last week and I think this week is going to be consistent show of that two weeks in a row. Who wins, Stephen? So, well, I’m gonna go with the Steelers win this game. I’m gonna go to Steelers win this game. I think that that the charges have shown enough vulnerabilities for the Steelers to exploit. I think they will do it and they will find a way to win this game. And I believe in Aaron Rogers. I certainly didn’t mean to imply that I don’t. But when I look at Justin Herbert, I do consider Justin Herbert a stud. I do think that he’s been compromised to some degree um in terms of the lack of protection and what he’s had to deal with. And I do think that on on too many occasions, he’s found himself trying to play hero ball because he’s trying to find a way to get something done. That’s how he’s been. We get that Aaron Rogers is making far better decisions, but he’s always made great decisions as it pertains to him being at the quarterback position and minimizing the turnovers and what have you. Aaron Rogers has always been that. We we’ve talked about it for years where he throw a football away rather than throwing interceptions. We were shocked when he was in the Jets uniform and he found he found himself throwing interceptions that he normally would never throw. So, we get that part. We understand who Aaron Rogers is, but I do think that Justin Herbert is a stud. He just doesn’t have the personnel necessary in order to produce to the way to the degree that he’s capable of. Jay, I have a question for you. In that new contract you got, what does it say on the line when Stephen A. Smith is indistinct? Uh, it doesn’t have any any uh stars or asterisks there. I think I think I’m allowed to call him out on it though. He said the he said the Steelers are going to win. I’ll give it to him. And I agree with you guys. I think Cam Cam’s drinking the Los Angeles Kool-Aid over there. I don’t know. you. He’s He’s like, I like I like Aaron Rogers, but I think the Steelers I think the Chargers are going to win. Um, okay. You know, on PTI, they do like errors or omissions at the end. I think we have an error here on first take cuz I guess we went back and checked the numbers. Unfortunately, the Steelers defense from 2006 to 2013 only had one game with six or more turnovers. But we didn’t need to change that. I I I like why we needed to fix it though. I didn’t think we needed to bring it up either, but I think we always wanted to be right. We needed accuracy. We need I need to be right. It only happened once. I need to be right. It only happened once. So, well, uh, yeah, but you’re not. He didn’t want the double damn thing. I know.

Stephen A. Smith, Ryan Clark and Cam Newton join Shae Cornette on First Take to discuss some of the biggest quarterback storylines around the NFL ahead of Week 10.

0:00 How Mac Jones vs. Brock Purdy came to be
1:47 Stay with Mac or go back to Brock?
6:40 Breaking down the numbers
9:26 Aaron Rodgers’ matchup vs. Justin Herbert
11:50 Stephen A.’s lackluster take
14:25 Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Los Angeles Chargers
17:23 Steelers vs. Chargers picks

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