[FULL SHOW] How Do They Move Forward Now?

It's time to talk that talk, and we talk it like no one else. This is The Stinking Truth. Now, here's your host, Mark Schlerer. Hey, welcome to The Stinking Truth Podcast. Alongside Mike Evans, I am Mark Schlerer. Thank you so much for making us a part of your day. We totally appreciate it. Make sure you smash on that subscribe button, whether you listen to us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or you'll watch us on YouTube. Thank you for making us a part of your day. Mike, how are you, buddy? I'm doing great. Can I get one guess? I get one guess. One.

I think all I need is one as to where you were this weekend. You were in Pittsburgh. I was in Pittsburgh all weekend celebrating a wedding for a kid who I kind of consider a son, a surrogate son of mine, Elliot Coffey. And I played with his father, was a Washington Redskin, Ken Coffey. And so anyhow, Elliot is part of our family and he lived with us for a couple of years. So we were in Pittsburgh. I love Pittsburgh, by the way. Pittsburgh, I may move there. Pittsburgh may become my new favorite city.

It is. Pittsburgh is awesome. The people are awesome. The city is awesome. The bridges are awesome. The rivers are awesome. You've got that Allegheny and then you've got the Ohio and they're all they all come right in there, you know, and it's just a rush. And they've got great ethnic food. I ate at Pamela's a couple of times, had the corned beef, hash and eggs. Highly recommended. I just, yeah, Pittsburgh is great. I've said this many, many times. You were there in June, too. That helped. Yeah, but I've said this.

It doesn't matter to me. I'm good whether it's drizzly or whether it's sunny or all that stuff. But I've said this many times and I stand by it. My favorite place in all the NFL that I've ever been to to call a game. Pittsburgh.

The people are awesome. The city's awesome. We stayed at these historic, it was called the Mansions on Fifth. And it's these old historic homes that they've turned into hotels. Just this gigantic home from back in the Steelville days, right? Did you know that at one point that Pittsburgh was the wealthiest, one of the three or four wealthiest cities in the world?

during when they were doing all the steel and the smoke blotted out the sun like the good old days. And so, anyhow, I had a blast in Pittsburgh. Thank you so much for your hospitality, Pittsburgh. And I got this cool shirt, Steel City. I like it. That's a great shirt. I like it. I like it. I like it. I'm curious to get your thoughts on this guy because you've had kind of an up-and-down relationship with one Baker Mayfield who's getting ready to go into the last year of a three-year $100 million contract, $33 million per year. I mean, what a bargain that is for a starting quarterback, a winning starting quarterback these days.

What do you do now moving forward if you're the Tampa Bay Buccaneers regarding one Baker Mayfield? You're right. Baker Mayfield and I have had this kind of love-hate relationship. Back when he was in college, I was on Baker's list. Baker's got a list. He had a list. And I was on his list for a while. I am now, happy to report, no longer on the list. Oh, good. That's such a relief. Right. I mean, for everybody. That's a huge relief. Listen, Baker Mayfield, just chart this down. Baker Mayfield is all balls. As a matter of fact, I created my own analytic based off of Baker Mayfield.

So you know how analytics has taken over the world of sports, right? And there's only one analytic that I adhere to and that I live by. And that's the one I created. And it's called the Boo Rating. Balls over opponent. Baker Mayfield's got bigger balls than anybody else he plays against. And I am telling you right now, mark it down. Baker Mayfield will have a new long-term contract before the season starts.

It would be organizational malfeasance not to sign Baker to a long-term deal, not to rip up that contract after two years. If you make him play on a $33 million contract on a one-year deal, shame on you. And I don't believe Jason Light, their GM, will do that. I believe that he will have a new deal before the season starts because if you don't, what message does it send to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers? What message does it send to the fan base? What message does it send, more importantly, to the guys within that locker room? You get a dude that goes out there and competes.

keeps his ass off, that plays his ass off, that has had different offensive coordinators, they've gotten head coaching jobs because they have worked. Dave Canales, one year as the OC in Tampa Bay, boom, head coach of the Carolina Panthers. Okay, let's move in Liam Cohen. One year as the OC with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, boom, you go directly to head coach. Part and parcel, that has to do with Baker Mayfield. So you would be, to me, within that locker room, by not getting this deal done,

would set a bad precedent for every other guy in that locker room. If you're not going to take care of that dude that plays the way that dude plays, that competes his ass off, that runs over people, that gives us the energy on a week-to-week basis that plays hurt, then who are you going to take care of? You're talking about putting him at the big boy table, like in that 50, 55, 60 million type per year. 100%. No question about it. I would put him in there right now without question. You sign him to a five-year deal. At the end of three years, you're going to renegotiate that damn thing anyway. This is how contracts in the NFL work. And this is imperative.

For the Tampa Bay Buccaneers organization, when you sign a three-year deal and a dude outperforms his contract, it is within his right, and he will be supported in that locker room if he decided, hey, man, I ain't showing up until I get a new deal. Every guy in that locker room would go, good for you, Baker, because that's the way it should be. You cannot, as an organization, if you're the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, you cannot allow that to happen. That's why I'm telling you, I will be shocked. I will be shocked if he doesn't have a new deal before training camp starts. You know what, Stink? If we were having this conversation a year ago, I would have said,

I wouldn't do that because you look at Baker Mayfield, is he just one of those guys that's good enough to get you beat? Meaning, he's a starting quarterback, you can win with him, but is there a ceiling to a Baker Mayfield that he just doesn't pass the confetti test, right? You don't see him as being a Super Bowl winning quarterback. But maybe it's better to hold on to him and pay him because it's better than the alternative of having to go out and find another quarterback. I would have said that a year ago, but you know who he needs to thank? Sam Darnold. Because Sam Darnold has shown that quarterbacks like that that maybe were viewed that way before, you can win it all.

If you can win it all with Sam Darnold, you can win it all with Baker Mayfield. Yeah, there's no question. Both these guys and, you know, their trajectory as top round draft picks, right? Baker was number one overall. I think Darnold was number three overall. They both played. They both got bounced by their teams. Cleveland for Baker. It was the Jets with Sam Darnold. They both ended up in Carolina. I mean, it was a mess. And nobody thought either of these guys were going to be any good. They were busts. And then all of a sudden they get some quarterback rehab, get in the right spot. And, you know, and Baker goes to Los Angeles for a very short time and kind of resurrects his career. Then goes to Tampa and it just takes off for him. Darnold goes to San Francisco for a year, backs up.

Purdy. And then the next thing you know, he goes to Minnesota and it takes off for him. And then he's in Seattle. A hundred percent, man. You wouldn't like, you look at that trajectory and the way these guys have gone on these similar tracks and you see what Sam Darnold. And I will say this, like you look in Seattle and for whatever you like, whatever little, little idiosyncrasies that don't match up, Mike, he's like, Hey man, whether it's, you know, arm talent or whether it's, you know, whatever it is, whatever you want to nitpick at Darnold for one thing Darnold has in spades. And so does Baker Mayfield. Their teammates love them.

They rally around them. They are. And I had this conversation with Mike McDonald, head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, when I was calling a game for them last year. He's a dude, man. He's just a dude. Had it with John Schneider, the GM. The guy's a dude, man. The guys love, love, love playing with Sam Doran. Not pretentious. They love rallying around him. And that's how they feel about Baker Mayfield in Tampa Bay. I'm telling you, can you win a championship? Will these guys hoist a team on their backs and carry them to the promised land? Probably not.

but they've got something about them that guys rally around. And then if you put, if you do your job and put a great team or you put, you know, really good pieces around them, there's no question that championships can be won. Speaking of Seattle, you know, it's funny, we just got done saying all these nice things about Sam Darnold and they're deserved. But have you gotten the same feeling I have that Seattle is maybe one of the more... overlooked, underappreciated, maybe flat-out disrespected Super Bowl champ we've had in a long time? Yeah. Yeah, it does feel that way, right? It does feel like people haven't bought in to the Sam Darnold narrative. Like, oh, that was flash in the pan. All I can tell you is...

The way they operate. One, McDonald calling the defense and putting that defense together and his ability. I think he's got this great knack and great ability for attacking protections, knowing what you're doing on the offensive side of the ball, attacking protections. And then they've got, Mike, they've just got great players. They've got great players across the board. And they have done a phenomenal job of putting those guys in positions to make plays. And I think, what's the kid's name? Emanuary. And then also Witherspoon. Those two guys are just difference makers that are both like great.

Like you look at Witherspoon, man, that guy is... An unbelievable inside, outside nickel corner, run support, tougher nails. And same with the Emanuary guy. It's just all over the place if I'm saying his name right. He's one of those dudes that I think a lot of teams now are looking at going, that's the prototypical guy that you need to be that dude. He's kind of almost like Derwin James. He can play multiple spots. He can play deep in the middle of the football field. He can play in a too high safety look. He can be down on the nickel. They move him all around. He's a blitzer. He can play linebacker and dime. He's all over the place. And so you've got to always look for those guys and say, how are we going to deal and contend with that guy? And the versatility he gives you as a defensive play caller.

And then ultimately, you look at the way they dominate line of scrimmage, how they've invested in both D-line and offensive line. And then they've created, they've done a great job of just finding the right players and then the right scheme. You know, one of the big things that Mike McDonald told me was after the first year where the offense didn't really click. They signed this collegiate coach out of Washington. They dumped him. They went back over and got the West Coast kind of, you know, the Clint Kubiak West Coast offense. He goes, that is for me, all my years of coordinating in Baltimore and everywhere, like that was the toughest defense for me to coordinate against. And that's why I wanted that wide zone mixed with the play action, the bootkeep game, the play pass game. That's what I wanted. And that's why I decided to go in that direction. And it paid dividends. Every move they made paid dividends last year. Yeah. And if you're a Seahawks fan, I think you got to feel really good about.

This Seattle team probably will be immune from maybe what some other defending champs have to face, and that is that sense of contentment, of feeling like you're not as hungry. Because this is a team that should have a chip on their shoulder based on what we were just talking about. I can't help but think, not only leading up to that Super Bowl, but even after it, that Seattle, and by extension the Super Bowl in general, was kind of an inconvenient... truth for a lot of football fans to deal with. I think everybody was looking forward to the Rams or the Chiefs or Buffalo, you know, that kind of thing. And then the way it plays out, it's Seattle and Seattle, New England. It was kind of like, I think a lot of football fans were expecting more. And as a result, and that's unfair to Seattle because they're worthy as champions, but I think they are in the enviable position of being a Super Bowl champion that should still have a bit of a chip on their shoulder. Right. I mean, I don't know that there's been a more disrespected Super Bowl champion that I can think of in recent years than the Seattle Seahawks.

Because if you look at it right now, I don't know what Vegas says, but if you look at it right now, I'll tell you what I say. Oh, the best team in football right now is the Rams, right? And then people will sit there and say, you know, I mean, we're... At what point do you get to the Seattle Seahawks? If you're a general fan, if you're a general NFL fan, you know, the teams I hear is, oh, the Rams for sure, right? Oh, the Buffalo Bills with Josh Allen, no question. Oh, they should have a bounce back in Baltimore right now. No question about that, right? The Baltimore Ravens are going to be really good this year. Kansas City Chiefs, Mahomes off the injury, they're going to be back this year, right? I mean, you probably go through five or six teams before somebody says, oh, Seahawks, yeah, that's right, they won it. Yeah, put the Seahawks in there. They're almost an afterthought when you talk about teams that are going to have the best chance to win a championship. Well, I'm looking at one site right now. The Rams are a pretty heavy favorite.

And then there's kind of a mixture between Seattle, Buffalo, and Baltimore. So the Seahawks are still up there. But I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about general fan base out there. I don't think a lot of the general fans feel that strongly about Seattle. I would agree. And they should because, listen, and I know the focus always goes on, like I always say this about football in general or just sports in general, the easiest thing in the world to see is athleticism. You can see when a guy's a great athlete. I mean, the guy jumps off the screen. But that doesn't necessarily make you a great football player.

And I think when it comes to the quarterback position, it's easy to look at the attributes of Lamar Jackson. It's easy to look at Josh Allen. It's easy to look at some of these guys, Patrick Mahomes, you know, and said the magician he can be. How about, I mean, you look at Matthew Stafford and his ability to be looking over here and go, you know, and throw an absolute dime piece. So that's the easy stuff to see. It's the intangible stuff that oftentimes we don't see. And I think that's where Sam Darnold is winning in this scenario.

I want to shift, big shift here, OK, and talk about what's going on here in Denver, something that plenty of you in other NFL cities have had to deal with. And maybe it's a cautionary tale for those of you who haven't had to deal with it for a while. And that is when your players get into trouble and how to react. How do you want your franchise reaction? I think Cooper, the linebacker for the Broncos, was arrested on a domestic violence allegation for him and his girlfriend that involved charges, accusations of strangulation. So there was the first arrest. OK. And at that point, most people were like, hey.

You know, let's sit back. This isn't the first time we've had he said, she said type accusations that end up going away. OK, not much comes out of it. So let's see how it plays out. Well, then a second set of arrests came down and charges came down against Jonathan Cooper after he started reaching out to the ex-girlfriend and then went and saw her. He ended up being arrested again with new charges added on. Right.

How much does that change for you, how you felt about this, how you felt the Broncos should react, how you felt the league might react? How much does that change now in the wake of this latest arrest? So first off, the secondary charges that were filed, the felony charge that was filed, stem from the first altercation. So the first altercation, there was allegations of strangulation and this, that, and the other. And then a nurse that looked at her post, basically.

said, yes, there are signs of that. And then as I'm reading it again, I don't have all the facts, but as I'm reading it, then secondary charges came on the case. The felony charge came on the case. But, you know, let's go back to Jonathan Cooper being arrested. two Thursdays ago, and his girlfriend was also arrested on domestic violence, okay? Then you get essentially a restraining order to say, hey, man, you can't go around your girlfriend. And then you text her 20-some-odd times the following Thursday after you had a sit-down, kind of come-to-Jesus meeting with your head coach, who I'm sure said, hey, man, you got to keep your nose clean, got to keep da-da-da-da-da. And so then, the following Thursday, he texts her 20-some-odd times, calls her twice, she doesn't answer anything. Then he goes over and knocks on the door and has a...

conversation with her and then he leaves and she calls the police and now he's arrested because he violated the quote-unquote restraining order Now, that's failing an intelligence test. You had your you had your conversation with your head coach, you know, your quote unquote parent that said, don't be an idiot. You know, let's make sure that we let the legal process take its course. Let's make sure that we keep our nose clean. Let's make sure that we do everything right to the book, exactly what they told you to do. And hours later, you're over at her door knocking on the door. That's like when an NFL player fails a drug test. You know, when you go to camp, they tell you, hey, listen, when the fireworks go off July, quit smoking weed.

So we sit there and have meetings. Quit smoking weed because our drug test, it's not random. Our drug test for street drugs happens July 26th in the morning. It's not random. If you fail that drug test, you're a freaking idiot. You're a moron. And you failed the intelligence test by going back over there. What could you possibly be thinking when you've been told not to contact her? Obviously, you're not thinking. And so now you're going to let the course of legal action play out. And if you're the Broncos, I think you have to say to Jonathan Cooper, hey, man.

Don't show up. Make sure you get your affairs in order. And, you know, you're going to let the legal process take its course. And then the league is going to come down. After the legal process takes its course, the league is going to come down. You're going to get suspended. And I'd be surprised if it's anything less than six games, you're going to get suspended. And then the Broncos are going to have to make a decision after that. Is this guy welcome back on the team or do we move on from this guy? And, of course, that's going to be based on everything that we find out throughout these legal proceedings. Is this where the role of Roger Goodell really shines through and why he's paid?

$60 million a year by NFL owners. It's to take, be the face of any complaints you have about the league, protect the shield, rather than the owners having to be held accountable. Hey, Roger, this is what we pay you for. You take care of it. Does it extend to this? Meaning, like you have people who will say, hey, the Broncos need to take a stand. The Broncos need to stand up and show to everybody that there are certain things they will not stand for. But in this case, are the Broncos sort of...

They have that responsibility taken out of their hands because, A, they can let the courts and the judicial process go first and then have Roger Goodell play judge, jury, and executioner. And then as a team, you're just like, hey, we're just following the lead of the courts and the commissioner rather than being held responsible to do it on their own. Right. The other thing is that the Broncos, and there's a lot of Bronco fans that said, that's it, you've got to cut bait, get rid of the guy. Well, you do that, and there's a whole other legal proceeding that's going to transpire saying, hey, man.

What happens if they go to court and they find that there's no real evidence or they find that it would be the first time? Right. And so then all of a sudden you fired a guy with kind of without cause, if you will. So I think it one, it takes that pressure off the team where the team can just say, hey, man, we're going to let the legal the legal process run its course. And and so, you know, these are all things that these are all things that have been set up. And then, like you said, then Roger Dell comes down and then he puts the foot down, you know, because Commissioner Bigfoot said, damn, we're going to this suspension. And the teams at that point go, hey, man, the legal proceedings went on.

Right. The commissioner made his judgment. And if the player wants to appeal, he appeals to the league, not to the Broncos. And the Broncos just adhere to whatever came down through the pike. And they kind of just wash their hands and let the whole thing play out. So as an NFL team, you never have to be the heavy. Right. It's been kind of taken off of your plate, which is great, which is probably the way most of them want it. Yes, exactly. So I think we're in agreement that, hey, look, we're not looking to bury Jonathan Cooper, let him have his day in court. Yeah. But by passing the intelligence test.

Yeah. As you say, failing, failing, failing, failing the intelligence test. He now has kind of gone. Whereas the burden of proof may have been on proving that he did it. Now it's maybe more on him proving he didn't. Yeah. It's a lot like I used to tell my kids, like there is this, hey, you're innocent in this country until proven guilty. Right. So when my kids were growing up, I just said that doesn't apply to you guys. Right. You guys, because I was a kid too once. I was like, you guys are guilty. You prove yourself innocent. Correct. And so that's, that's how we, that's how we operate. So like I gave every kid, I gave every teacher, my kid, my cell phone number personally. And I said, if you have any problem with my kid, you call me for.

and understand that my kids are guilty until they prove themselves innocent to me. So I'm going to take your side 100% of the time. That's how I parented. And I let them all know. This is not a laughing matter. But that's how I operate. So Jonathan Cooper, after the first arrest, he was innocent until proven guilty to me. When you went back and failed the intelligence test now, I'm like, dude, you're guilty until you prove yourself innocent to me. And I think that's the way it's going to go down. But at least, at least, Mike, at least he didn't commit the cardinal sin. Which...

throwing his support behind Trump. If he would have done that, if he would have done that, then we would have had to hear from Abdul Carter, and then he'd have to apologize to everybody, but this is... I kid because I care. Yes. You're kidding. He's kidding, folks. I'm joking. He's joking.

Kind of. Joking. He's joking. Kind of. He's joking. Jeez Louise. All right, before I get myself into trouble. Yeah, why don't you just wrap it up? Just wrap it up. Try to escape gracefully, okay? Hey, thank you, Pittsburgh. You guys were awesome. The people of Pittsburgh were awesome to me this weekend. Love the Steel City. For everybody involved in the Stinky Truth Podcast, thank you so much for making us a part of your day. Make sure you hit that subscribe button. We appreciate you guys. We'll be back with you later on in the week.