'I'm screaming it from the mountaintops:' Quarterbacking 501 with Shaun King

The former NFL QB has strong opinions on the Pittsburgh Steelers' next move, Geno/Darnold, Aaron Rodgers, Anthony Richardson, the franchise tag and more. Here are his words from the GL Pod.

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The Pittsburgh Steelers would love to sign a quarterback. The New York Giants, too.

Alas, Aaron Rodgers was last spotted walking on a beach with a blanket over his shoulders and wired iPods. As one does.

But, hey, is there another option for the Steelers? That’s an emphatic “YES” to one former quarterback with a direct line to head coach Mike Tomlin. Go Long chatted with ex-Buccaneer Shaun King on the podcast.

GL Pod: Shaun King's VERY loud message for Pittsburgh Steelers HC Mike Tomlin, Geno v. Darnold, Colts QB Mess, NFL Free Agency

And since I know many of you prefer to read, here’s the transcript below.

King led Tampa Bay to an NFC Championship Game as a rookie, won a Super Bowl as a backup and coached the position at South Florida. (Here’s our first Q&A a year ago for more background.) Tomlin was in Tampa Bay back then as a DBs coach and they’re also fraternity brothers.

This week, King tells Go Long exactly what he texted the head coach and explains in full why he believes Jameis Winston is the team’s missing piece.

That’s not all. We discuss all things Aaron Rodgers on/off the field, Geno Smith/Sam Darnold, Mike Tomlin’s very costly quarterback blind spot, what’s gone terribly wrong for Anthony Richardson, the Dallas Cowboys inaction, Tee Higgins/Franchise Tag and James Cook’s desire for dough. It was a lively discussion, start to finish.

These days, King lives in Las Vegas, so that’s where our chat begins.

What’s the stadium like out there?

King: Allegiant. Gorgeous. The backdrop is unbelievable. It’s right there. It’s got the entire Las Vegas strip as a backdrop. What more could you ask. Playing for the Raiders has got to be a destination spot for guys. Las Vegas is awesome.

Why don’t we start there then? I don’t really think about the Raiders a hell of a lot. I don’t know if many people do. They’ve toggled from city to city since inception. I like that they have a plan. They went after Geno Smith. They pay Maxx Crosby. They’re trying to win — which is always a good thing. I don’t like when these teams just punt on seasons and figure, “Ah, we’ll get to quarterback eventually.” Pete Carroll’s there and they’re trying to win, so why the hell not? What was your interpretation of the Raiders’ moves this past week?

King: Let me say this. Geno Smith is one of the top 10 ball-spinners on the planet, and here’s what I mean by that. If you show up at a park and every quarterback in the world is there, you’ll notice Geno Smith. He is an elite ball-spinner, and I think taking him out of the inclement weather in Seattle where it gets cold, it’s raining, it’s gloomy, and putting him into a controlled environment like Allegiant Stadium, which is a dome, upgrades him even more. This is a very smart move by the Raiders. I don’t love this incoming class of quarterbacks. So instead of reaching at six, you solidified the position. Even though Geno’s 35, he’s still a young player from a wear-and-tear standpoint because he backed up Russell Wilson for years. So Pete’s very familiar with him. He understands his talent and his leadership. I thought this was an excellent move for the Raiders.

I think Seattle’s delusional. On no planet, no continent anywhere, is Sam Darnold better than Geno Smith. I want to be clear when I say that. And taking Sam Darnold out of the controlled environment — away from Justin Jefferson, TJ Hockenson, Jordan Addison, and an elite playcaller in Kevin O’Connell and putting him outside in Seattle without DK Metcalf and Lockett and that offensive line is a recipe for… I’m not sure what Seattle was doing, but I thought it was a brilliant move by the Raiders.

I get the logic if you’re Seattle. In terms of, “OK, we can’t reach this deal with Geno Smith — we’re about $10 million apart.” So they’re thinking “We move him, we get something in return and we’re not going to pay DK Metcalf because we’ve got this young core of Charles Cross, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Kenneth Walker, Riq Woolen.” But it reminds me of the Titans back when they traded AJ Brown for a first round pick because in their mind they’re thinking, “If we pay AJ Brown, we’re quadrupling down on Ryan Tannehill, Derrick Henry, AJ Brown, Taylor Lewan, and this group of Titans that has come up short.” What happens? It blows up in their face. Treylon Burks can’t play, Brown wins a Super Bowl and everybody gets fired. Sometimes, it’s easy to overthink and try to piece together a perfect situation where Geno Smith can sling it. Why mess with the good thing? Time will tell. It’s not exactly apples to apples and I really like Sam Darnold — probably more than you — but that was a really perfect situation for Sam Darnold in Minnesota where I do think the Raiders are getting the better end of this.

King: And Sam Darnold needs protection. He really struggles when it’s chaotic. And I don’t know how much Seahawks football people watch, but Geno Smith’s ability to stay calm when it was chaotic was elite. He throws under duress and falling back in the pocket. That’s not Darnold’s strength. If you look at the two games he struggled — the last game of the regular season vs. Detroit and the playoff game vs. the Rams — it was because he was under pressure. Unless Seattle’s got some offensive lineman that I haven’t seen that they’re hiding in the facility or they’re hiding across the border in Canada, it’s be a long year for Sam Darnold next year.

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And I really do like Darnold! We talked about him on this show all season long with Bob McGinn. He’s blowing our minds every week. He’s making big-time throws. They’re winning. He had the rough stretch there against Jacksonville and it looks like, “Oh, is he going to turn into a pumpkin?” And he bounced back. But I think you do have to weigh those final two games more heavily. Everything’s on the line: a No. 1 seed against Detroit and he looks like a different quarterback. You’re in the wild card game and he looks like a different quarterback. The line had its injuries, had its issues. There’s a reason the Vikings paid up for a guard in free agency themselves. But that’s kind of the point, right? It’s not always going to be perfect for a quarterback. You need to be able to rise above it. Geno Smith with Seattle has been — for the most part — rising above it. It hasn’t been perfect around Geno his whole career, back to IK Enemkpali slugging him in the jaw. The question is though — and you kind of touched on it earlier — how much really good football does Geno Smith have in him? What’s the next level for Geno Smith?

King: Well, when it comes to these kinds of situations, I just look at the film and he doesn’t look old when you look at the 2024 film. He looks like a guy that’s in his prime that can still make all the throws, athletic enough to move the chains, can process the game at a high level. So I think they’re getting a really, really good quarterback — the best quarterback the Raiders have had in years because I think Geno's better than Derek Carr. And of course, he’s better than all the other guys the Raiders have had through the revolving door. So I’ll say this, the last thing about Darnold. Kevin O’Connell’s a pretty smart guy, right? If Darnold was the real deal, Darnold would still be a Viking. Because Minnesota’s got everything else in place. So he’s putting all his eggs now in J.J. McCarthy’s basket. O’Connell thinks that their ceiling is higher with a second-year quarterback coming off of a season-ending injury in the preseason as a rookie, than it would have been giving Sam Darnold a two- or three-year deal.

I think that’s true, even aside from the financial benefits of being able to go get a Jonathan Allen and fortify the interior offense and defense. But even if it wasn’t a money thing, you’re right because you can’t rationalize good in the absence of great. Sam Darnold isn’t that much different from Kirk Cousins, and you moved on from Kirk Cousins to draft J.J. McCarthy because you want to demand more out of your team, more out of your offense, more out of the most important position in sports. Geno Smith turns 35 in October, which might scare you. And then you look at his career. He’s only played a full season twice with the Jets, three times with Seattle. That’s it.

King: And my thing is, I look at the film and the film tells me Kirk Cousins is old. He’s immobile now. He can’t move at all. You can see his reactions slowing down. The film tells me that Aaron Rodgers is ornery and old. He can’t make the off-platform throws with as much regularity as he used to. You can see the frustration in his mannerisms. The film tells me that Russell Wilson’s on the backside of his career, He’s impervious to running now. He goes out of his way not to leave the pocket yet he’s not a pocket-precision passer. So I just go by the film. When you look at Geno’s film, Geno’s in his prime, he’s still delivering the ball to all three levels. Sideline to sideline. The Raiders got a steal.

The only more qualified quarterback I thought that was in this group that’s still available. That’s Jameis Winston. I’m talking to Mike Tomlin. Jameis Winston, I think, is 31 and he’s in his prime. Pittsburgh needs a Jameis Winston-type that quarterback. They’ve tried to win with these game managers. The division is too tough. The conference is too heavy at the top at quarterback. Mike T, you need a guy that is willing to take chances, a guy that wants to be great, a guy that wants to be the reason that y’all win — not the reason not that y’all lost. Which is how Russell plays the game now. You’ve got two big giraffes at receiver now in Pickens and Metcalf. Jameis Winston to Pittsburgh is a perfect fit.

Now that’s a take. Philosophically, I totally agree. I was just talking to a Packers player about Jordan Love a couple of weeks ago and how they played it safe. They handed the ball off to Josh Jacobs a lot this past season and this your quarterback making 55 mill year. His point was, “Don’t be afraid. Don’t be scared of interceptions. Gun the ball downfield. Call those plays. That’s why you’re paying him.” If he throws a couple picks, he’s going to be making a hell of a lot more plays if he’s thinking that way, if he’s unafraid, if he’s fearless. Everybody loves to have a good chuckle at Jameis Winston: 30 touchdowns, 30 interceptions. Obviously you don’t want a quarterback throwing 30 picks, but I want a quarterback who is going to gun it downfield. Don’t give me the guy who’s terrified of his own shadow. So as people listen to this, who knows where the state of affairs is with Pittsburgh and the Giants and Aaron Rodgers. We’re recording Wednesday afternoon, but for all we know, Aaron is in a cave and doing cold plunges and taking a month to decide. He’s not on anybody else’s time. He’s on Aaron Rodgers’ time.

King: Let me speak on this because you said 30 and 30. What nobody talks about with Jameis is that the kid has thrown for 24,000 yards and 154 touchdowns in his career. This is a guy that has been uber-productive in this league. He was on a pace that year he started in New Orleans to be great and he tore his ACL. Then he came back the next year and had the back injury. He’s elite. And here’s the problem with Aaron Rodgers. Football’s a team sport. Rodgers is one of the elderly people at your local nursing home. He don’t have a filter. He’s going to do what the hell he wants to do, whatever that is, and he’s on his own schedule. You know how you got that one dude at the nursing home? Everybody else is out there sitting in the common room and he’s in his room doing his puzzle. That’s Aaron Rodgers. He’s probably not going to be at OTAs. He’s going to want to do Pat McAfee’s show weekly during the year. So it’s not just the fact that I think his skills have diminished, which that’s not a knock. He’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer. As we get older, our skills diminished. But I don’t think Aaron’s a team player in 2025. He wants to play for a team, but he wants to do what the hell Aaron wants to do.

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We just saw it with the New York Jets. You had Woody Johnson, Joe Douglas, Robert Saleh talking themselves into giving him everything. Everybody should have seen it with their own eyes. … It just reeks of desperation for the Giants and the Steelers to be on his clock, his timeline, begging and praying and hoping that he’ll be their quarterback when you do have other options. Yeah, Jameis has his knocks, but I would take a Jameis Winston over Aaron Rodgers. I’d take Jake Browning. I’d trade for the Bengals backup quarterback. Teams have got to think creatively. I don’t know why everybody’s kind of pigeonholing themselves to Russ Wilson, Aaron Rodgers.

King: I want to put some context on what I said about Rodgers not participating, too, because sometimes people get in the comments and I don’t think they fully understand. As we sit here, today is March 12. The offseason schedule for all 32 teams has already been given to all of their players. So the players know when OTAs are. They know when minicamp is. They know when training camp starts. So if you are going to go on vacation, then schedule it around those dates. This is a message to Lamar Jackson, too. I didn’t like last year that he didn’t show up to one of the OTAs. Listen, you need to be there. You’re the starting quarterback. You’re the gas that makes the engine go. There’s nothing more important in your offseason than being there with your teammates getting better. You don’t got to live in the city. You can go have your own guy from a strength and conditioning standpoint. But the team activities: OTAs, minicamps, training camp, the starting quarterback needs to be there.

Look at Patrick Mahomes. What did he do when the Chiefs turned the page on Tyreek Hill and they’re bringing in all these new receivers? He’s getting together with them down in Tyler, Texas. He takes it a step beyond OTAs. Aaron Rodgers says all of the right things. He did in Green Bay. He did in New York. He will in Pittsburgh, New York with the Giants, wherever he goes. But you’ve got to back it up with action. Maybe he’s telling these teams he wants to do what he wants to do.

King: He’s going to get everybody fired wherever he goes, outside of Pittsburgh because they don’t fire the coach.

So let’s bring it to Pittsburgh. You reached out to Mike Tomlin personally.

King: Absolutely. I just texted him my opinions on Jameis. I hope he doesn’t have me on block because he didn’t respond. But I did send a text. I didn’t get a response. Shout out to my frat brother, Mike Tomlin. Hey, hit me back, man. Let me know you got the text. I think as great of a coach as Mike Tomlin is, his one legitimate flaw is — and it’s not his fault because he’s a defensive guy — he has failed and the organization has failed at properly evaluating the quarterback position: Ben Roethlisberger being way over the hill his last two years to the Mason Rudolph experiment, to the Mitch Trubisky experiment, to Kenny Pickett. We can go on and on and on. Even now, you’ve got such a low ceiling with Russ in the AFC. Russ just does not have the ability to go toe-to-toe with Burrow, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, all the teams that you’re going to have to beat to get to a Super Bowl. So you’ve got to, in my opinion, upgrade that position from a talent standpoint. If you go into the season with Russ, you’re just going be what you've been, which is a really, really rock solid organization that has no chance at winning the championship as it’s currently constructed.

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If that’s his one flaw, it’s a massive flaw. It is different in Pittsburgh when you walk into that locker room and you speak to players on both sides of the ball. Back to 2016 is when I started making my way down there when I was at Bleacher Report. They had some gnarly F’ing dudes that wanted to smack you. James Harrison’s walking around and it looks like he just might cold-cock if you look at him wrong. I mean, it’s all a product of the environment. It’s what football should be in every sense of the word. That’s such a tough needle to thread — to hold guys accountable, yet also be a player’s coach. What every coach tries to be is Mike Tomlin personified. Guys know they can go in his room any time, but they don’t want to piss him off. It’s real. But what a blind spot. So you’re stuck. You’re stuck. If not Rodgers, if not Russ what do you do if you’re Pittsburgh?

King: I’m going Jameis and, listen, Mike Tomlin is one of the top four head coaches in the world. The problem is, unlike Andy Reid, unlike Sean McVay, unlike Harbaugh, he hasn’t gotten the quarterback right. That’s the only difference between Mike T and Pittsburgh having probably two, three more championships. They don’t evaluate that position efficiently because what’s the guy from Oklahoma that they initially thought was going to replace Roethlisberger? It was him, Roethlisberger and Bruce Gradkowski on the team. I’m drawing a blank on his name.

Landry Jones.

King: Landry Jones. Initially it was Landry Jones and it was Mason Rudolph, then it was Mitch Trubisky, then Kenny Pickett. It’s been bad eval after bad eval.

How is that even possible? If you’re as good of a football coach as Mike Tomlin, his specialty is stopping this position, stopping this player. Schematically, figuring out a way to get inside of your head and turn you into a worse quarterback. Why does a coach like that who may be in the Hall of Fame, whiff so badly at quarterback himself with his own team?

King: I mean, we’re seeing it. Listen, Jameis Winson would be the most talented quarterback Pittsburgh’s had since Ben Roethlisberger. 100 percent.

Have you seen anything like this though with Tomlin? Have you seen a coach through your time in the league and studying the league who was such a good coach, yet so bad when it came to evaluating quarterbacks?

King: I don't think Mike T is necessarily bad at it as much as he defers and the people he’s deferred to at that position haven’t been good at evaluating quarterback.

So Jameis. You’re all in.

King: All in. Perfect fit. He’s familiar with the division after being in Cleveland. Listen, I’d rather say whoa than sic ‘em, Tyler. Right now, with Russell, you’ve got to say sic ‘em. Like, Russ, please consistently take some chances! Take some shots, Russ! How many times do you watch the Steelers and Russ is back there, “eh, eh, eh,” pump-faking and then he takes a sack or he throws the ball away. Mike T, listen to me, get that gunslinger that won a national title in college that’s thrown for 24,000 yards and 154 touchdowns and give your guys a chance to compete against the elites in the AFC.

Even with that 30-interception season, he’s thrown 154 touchdowns to 111 picks.

King: People act like that’s just that one year. Jameis has been super productive when given a chance. He’s an elite ball-spinner. He’s a big pocket guy that has functional mobility. All his teammates love him. Can he tone back some of the antics in my opinion? Yes. But again, I’d rather say woah to Jameis than have to convince Russ to smile.

Authentic versus… is fake maybe a little strong when it comes to Russell Wilson? But maybe not far off?

King: I just think Russ lives in a bubble.

Yeah, fake isn’t the word because that’s who he is, right? He’s not selling something. Unrelatable maybe to teammates in that locker room where Jameis is one of the guys.

King: I think he’s tone deaf. He lives in his bubble. He’s comfortable. He’s got a beautiful wife, beautiful kids. If football was taken away from Russ, nothing in their life would change and he lives in that bubble. I would take the iPad away from Russ. I can’t stand when he has three bad series in a row and the first thing he does is go put his face in that iPad. That’s the biggest crutch quarterback’s got now. No, Russ, get on this phone and let me give you these four-letter adjectives I got for you.

So Mike Tomlin is my fraternity brother, shout out to all the Newts out there. And Omar Khan, the GM, actually went to Tulane with us. So hopefully one of them listens: “Go pick up Jameis Winston. Steelers, please! Thank me later.”

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He did throw for 5,000 yards that season and he did — in 2021 with the Saints, two years later — go 5-2 with 14 touchdowns, three picks. And I know he went 2-5 with the Browns. What do you make of last season with Cleveland? It was a mess.

King: He gave hope! He gave hope to a team that had given up on the season. People forget Jameis took over after they traded Amari Cooper, after people knew that Nick Chubb wasn’t Nick Chubb. The defense. He invigorated hope in a team that had none. He made the Browns worth watching. And I’m not going to blame him for his late-game interceptions when he’s out there still competing. It’s crazy because some players get these narratives and people just go with them. And if they don’t get a chance to outperform and outplay ‘em then the narratives never change. Think about Steph Curry after Year 2. Steph was somebody people thought could never stay healthy. Ankle injuries always kept him out. That was the narrative on his career and — all of a sudden — the ankles are good. Now, if he wins this year, he’s on the Mt. Rushmore, in my opinion. They have five titles, one more than LeBron. He’ll have did it all at Golden State.

I think Jameis — I’m not saying he’s Steph Curry — but put him in a situation like Pittsburgh, make him the Day 1 starter or let him compete with Russ. I’m fully confident he’ll beat Russ out. But on a team like Pittsburgh that has got everything but explosive quarterback play? When’s he been in that situation? God could have come down from heaven and the Browns were not going to win games last year. They just weren’t a good team offensively. They had Jerry Jeudy and nothing. And I know Njoku plays for them and Njoku might be the worst route-running tight end of anybody in the league. Now he’s big and he can make contested catches, but his routes were terrible. Then nobody even knew Jerry Jeudy was that good until who got the quarterback? Jameis! They were calling Jerry Jeudy a bust in Denver. They were calling Jerry Jeudy a bust in Cleveland until who became the starter? Jameis Winston. Now all of a sudden, Jerry Jeudy is a legit No. 1.

I’m telling you, Tomlin: Bring in Jameis. You’ll see a side of George Pickens you never saw. DK will be reinvigorated. It makes too much sense not to happen.

Guys like him. Guys want to play for him. That stuff matters in pro football, especially at the quarterback position. You’ve got to find a way to get guys to rally around you and he’s got that it to him. If you’re Mike Tomlin, I guess you just have to somehow get yourself to a different place. Because that’s his thing. He wants to muck games up, he wants to win with a blocked punt, a TJ Watt tipped interception to somebody. They win games in these funky, disgusting ways. And when you’re winning games that way, you just want a quarterback who’s not going to F up, who’s going to take care of the ball. So it’s got to be really hard for Mike Tomlin to get to that place of “OK! All in on Jameis!” But if you haven’t won a playoff game since 2016, why not take that chance?

King: Yes. And you have to know your environment. The quarterback played in your division and in that conference is elite. Mahomes and Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow, you’re not going to be able to hold those guys to under 20 points. You’re going to have to be explosive yourself. You’re going to have to create explosive plays. You’re not going to be able to put 10-play drives together in the playoffs consistently. You’re just not. It’s just not going to happen. So hopefully they’ll change. I’m screaming it from the mountaintops. Maybe they’ll listen, maybe they won’t. We’ll see.

Alright, let’s get to some other quarterbacks. Daniel Jones was just with one of the best quarterback teachers, coaches in Brian Daboll. And Malik Nabers. We all saw his ceiling. It was very low. How is he getting this opportunity? I get the supply and demand, but I am shocked that everybody assumes, “Oh yeah, Daniel Jones, fresh team, fresh environment, maybe the lights turn on.” It’s not Sam Darnold. Sam Darnold milled around as a backup and then got with Kyle Shanahan for a year — very different situations. I want your take on all things Daniel Jones.

King: I’m not a huge Daniel Jones fan, but when it comes to compensation, the market is the market. So I never really get into is a player worth this or that? Because if somebody's willing to pay it, then you’re worth it. And I look at it like if the owners can afford to pay all these guys all this money, how much money are they making?

My point is they’re paying them to compete for the job and I’d be surprised if he doesn’t win it.

King: Even though I’m not a huge fan of Daniel Jones, this is a perfect fit because Shane Steichen wants to run an offense similar to what Sirianni is running in Philly. That’s where Steichen was at. He was the OC of the Super Bowl team that lost to the Chiefs a couple years ago. So Daniel Jones’ skillset is very similar to Anthony Richardson’s skillset. Unlike when Joe Flacco was the backup, he doesn’t have to change the offense when Flacco comes into the game. He wants to run zone read. He wants to be a Tush Push guy. He wants to run the quarterback. Daniel Jones is a really, really good athlete for the quarterback position. So the skillset makes sense because now he only has to run one system because both quarterbacks have the skills to run the system. Can they become consistent ball spinners? That’s kind of been both of their problems — slow decision making, inaccurate throws, untimely turnovers. So we’ll see. I think they got a clone. I think Anthony Richardson and Daniel Jones are very similar as to how I evaluate both of them. Really, really good athletes that struggle to consistently make the right decision and locate the football when it comes to the passing game.

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So everybody buy your Indianapolis Colts season tickets now. If that doesn’t get you excited, I don’t know what will. This isn’t the way Chris Ballard drew it up a decade in as GM.

King: Let me say this. Anthony Richardson should’ve went back to Florida. And remember I said a lot of teams struggled to evaluate the quarterback position. I was at VSiN with Tim Murray. I said, “Listen” — this was right when he declared and we were talking about the Combine, this was before the Combine. I said, “Listen, Anthony Richardson is going to go to the Combine. He’s going to measure 6-4 or taller. He’s going to run sub-4.4. He’s going to throw the ball 80 yards and he’s going to go do a backflip at 6-4, 240 pounds and somebody’s going to fall in love with him.” And I’ll be damned. Go back and watch the Combine highlights. That exact thing happened and the coach forgot about what they saw on film because there’s nothing he did in Florida consistently that said he should have been a Top 10 pick. But when you take him that high, the expectations come along with that. The fan base does not have patience. They’re expecting an immediate fix. They’re thinking this is CJ Stroud. This is Jayden Daniels. These rookies are drafted high to come in and just be great right off the bat. He’s been injured throughout Indianapolis. Go back and look at his Florida career — injured half the time he was in Florida. All of these things were predictable because that’s what the film showed. So he was overdrafted and because of that, he’s reaping because consequences now. It seemed good on draft day, but now he’s seeing the other side of being drafted that high.

Back to Mike Mamula, right? We’ve always gotten excited about somebody in shorts. But now more than ever — with social media, with the wall-to-wall coverage, with everybody armchair GM’ing — it’s easy. I’ve fallen victim to it. We all have. To just sit there, pull up a highlight clip, hell, pull up a full game of Anthony Richardson and get jacked up: “Oh my God, take this athlete for that coach in this offense. Shane Steichen, you just mentioned it with Jalen Hurts. It made so much sense. But I guess that’s why you’ve really got to investigate and scout and grill these guys and be critical because if he doesn’t win the job? If Anthony Richardson doesn’t beat out Daniel Jones in training camp, how do Chris Ballard, Shane Steichen, how does anybody in that building justify their jobs beyond this year?

King: Anthony hasn’t helped himself. Remember last year, he pulled himself out the game because he was “tired.” When you’re drafted that high, entitlement comes with that draft selection. If you look at the Florida film, Anthony Richardson is the exact quarterback he showed on film. And here’s where evaluators get in trouble when it comes to this position. They look at the great things a guy does or they look at the worst thing a guy does. I look at what a guy does most of the time. I don’t fall in love with the ceiling. I don’t fall out of love with the floor. Most of the time when he’s playing quarterback, what is he? And Anthony Richardson, most of the time he played quarterback — when he was available — was a great athlete that is very inaccurate throwing the football. That’s what he was in Florida. Jalen Hurts is a little different because of the amount of football Jalen played in college. Anthony didn’t play a lot of football. Jalen kind of got to work through his problems in a high-pressure cooker situation in Alabama and then in a high-pressure cooker situation in Oklahoma. So you’ve seen him in high-pressure situations figure it out. And I still think Jalen Hurts is a work in progress.

In terms of college experience and work ethic — everything you hear about Jalen Hurts — I can’t envision him tapping out of a game. When you played Shaun, did anybody do that at the quarterback position?

King: (Shakes head no) But when nobody around you teaches you or holds you accountable — and this is what I mean — if nobody around you has been through it and can teach you, lead you: “OK, this is what you’re about to walk into.” If I knew Anthony Richardson, I would’ve said, “Hey man, look, let’s get on our knees and pray because you shouldn’t have been drafted that high. And when you get to the city and you walk in a room because of your physical stature, people are going to anoint you. But we’ve got a lot of work to do big dog. We’ve got to create some muscle memory that will allow us to sustain effective quarterback play in chaotic situations.” And he doesn’t have that. He’s never been trained to be fundamentally sound. He’s never been held accountable with making quick decisions and throwing the ball accurately.

He’s one of those guys that will make a 40-yard run that probably only a couple guys on the planet can make, but then throw the ball into the dirt to a wide open running back in the flat. Nobody’s ever held him accountable for that. He’s a guy, the dig route is open and if he throws it accurately on time, it’s a touchdown. But the guy has to jump up and catch a ball that’s behind him. And nobody’s held them accountable. And so now you get to an NFL team and they’ve got expectations and you’re not ready for the accountability that comes with that spotlight. Now what happens? Now, people are saying “You suck!” The same people that said, “You’re going to be the next great one. OK, we got our next Peyton Manning, our next Andrew Luck.” When in reality, his eval is not even close to those two guys.

Where does Anthony Richardson’s career go? How does this end?

King: It’s up to him. He’s got the ability. He’s got to put the work in. I would love to spend time with him and explain why and then explain how, and then go out and put the work in. He’s got to go back to Ground One. He’s got to go back to creating a fundamentally sound base when he throws the ball. He’s got this weirdo throwing motion that some quarterback coaches taught him where he kind of has this no torque sidearm three quarter release. And you can’t consistently locate the football when you throw it like that. You can’t.

I wonder if it’s too late. Can you become a hard worker who’s committed to fixing these problems?

King: I think he works hard, but I don’t think he works smartly. And I’m not saying it’s his fault. I’m saying I know he’s never been held accountable to the intricate details of playing the quarterback position because he’s always been so talented. There’s only 32 of these companies in the world. The NFL has no competition. CFL’s not competition, XFL. There’s no other country that plays the game of American football on a level. Less than half of those 32 companies have anybody in the building that’s ever developed a quarterback. The majority of these quarterback coaches in 2025 are friends of the OC. So the OC, the main thing that he’s worried about is what’s being said in the quarterback room. Is the system being taught in the same way I would teach it to the quarterbacks? At no point is it, “I better get somebody in there who can actually develop the room.” I’m telling you, go look at the list of guys that hold a quarterback position. Less than half of them have ever developed a quarterback. And I mean, gotten a kid that’s a raw talent and turned him into an effective player at the position.

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What’s the biggest key to developing a quarterback?

King: Knowing. Knowledge. Understanding what creates consistency at the position. And that has nothing to do with X’s and O’s. That’s fundamentals. That’s muscle memory. That’s attention to detail. Those are the things that go unnoticed. It’s not going on YouTube: “Oh, that drill looks cool. Let me do it.” It’s “Why am I doing that drill?” Can you correlate it to something that the quarterback is asked to do? I had a rule. I wouldn’t let my quarterback throw any off-platform throws until they could throw through routes on air and throw the ball effectively and not have an incompletion and do it fundamentally correct. You can look at Anthony Richardson. You can look at some of these young guys when they’re warming up because they let the media in before practice, right? Watch them. They are throwing the ball sidearm. They’re throwing the ball falling backwards. And these are guys who can't hit the broad side of a barn when the fullback’s wide open in the flat.

Josh Allen had those same type of incompletions in practice as a rookie with the Bills and they’re shared on Twitter and everybody laughs and everybody says he’s trash and now he’s the richest player in NFL history in terms of guaranteed money. So you can get to that place. And I laugh because it reminds me of seventh grade basketball when you’re shooting around before a game and you start jacking up half-court shots because it’s fun. Your coach says, “What are you doing that for? Let’s work on our layup line here.”

King: You’re shooting 62 percent from the free-throw line and you’re working on Logo Threes. 100 percent correct. And I’m telling you, young quarterbacks, here’s where it pops up. I’m a big Lamar Jackson fan. I hate Lamar’s fundamentals. Lamar unnecessarily throws off-platform way too much. And you know where it hurt him? Playoff game at Buffalo. Mark Andrews (on the 2-point play). That ball’s supposed to be in the facemask of Mark Andrews. He throws it sidearm for no reason. That ball is losing velocity. It’s behind Andrews. Should Andrews catch it? Probably yes. Did Lamar make it a very difficult catch? Absolutely. Because his fundamentals were not sound. To you young quarterbacks, it’s going to bite you in the butt. It bit Patrick Mahomes in that butt for the first time this year.

Mark Andrews was crucified for that drop. But I had the same kind of reaction. I felt like Lamar Jackson didn’t get enough heat. He’s got to get that out quicker. Something as nuanced as that, as detailed as that, being a little off rhythm will cost you in a playoff moment even when you’re an MVP candidate like Lamar Jackson.

King: And if you go back to the greats, the recent greats — Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning — all elite fundamentally. Go watch them. Elite fundamentally. And watch how many off-platform throws they make. It’s less than 5 percent of their throws, but people have figured out that you can monetize youth athletics. And so now these bootleg quarterback coaches everywhere are teaching these kids sidearm throws and throwing the ball behind their back and they can’t throw routes on air accurately. It’s really, really doing a detriment to the position. And that’s why when you watch games on Sunday, so many of these guys are still unfinished products. … Listen, quarterbacks, if you can’t throw routes on air and throw every ball accurately on time, in-rhythm, you’ve got no business throwing the ball off-platform. Period. But these RPO, screen game systems that’ve gone from college to the pros, “Oh, I gotta flick the ball out there sidearm!” Ugh, it frustrates me.

What is something that you loved the first 72 hours of free agency and something you hated? A lot of money getting thrown around.

King: The Patriots spent, didn’t they? They had the most to spend. I think they spent all of it.

A lot of Vrabel pickups there.

King: I love that because the Patriots are known to be super conservative, build through the draft. They’ve never been huge free agent participators. So just to see them throwing caution to the wind? Good God almighty. The thing I hated? Man, what is going on in Dallas? Here’s what’s so crazy. Jerry Jones has to be one of the 10 most brilliant businessmen in the world from when he purchased the Cowboys. It was 140 or 150 million. Now, they’re worth 10 billion. To going out to Frisco when nobody was in Frisco and creating that whole city basically of which he owns a large part. To saving the Allegiant Stadium deal when Adelson pulled out. He’s a brilliant businessman, but his gift is his curse. He just can’t put together a Super Bowl-caliber team in football.

They’re the richest sports franchise in the world, yet this goes back X number of years. The edict has always been to be a bottom-feeder in free agency. I think it’s more Stephen than Jerry. Stephen has a lot of power there now and he doesn’t want to get caught up in dead money. He doesn’t want to pay people not to work and they think they’re going to be the best negotiators, too. When it came to Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb, if you believe in ‘em at all, pay ‘em because that price is only going to go up. And then once you pay ‘em, that means you’re “all in.” Using their words, not mine. And if you’re all-in, actually get players that can maximize the Super Bowl window. They won 12 games in a season three years in a row, but they didn’t have the depth. A couple injuries and you don’t have those players that can fill in because you’re unwilling to spend. Dallas and Cincinnati are in the same position, yet their ownership could not be any more different.

King: And I also want to say this. This is to the players union. They’ve got to amend the CBA. It is unlawful in my opinion that a player can be denied free agency two years in a row with these franchise tags. What the Bengals are doing to Tee Higgins is criminal. And I get it. They’re utilizing the system. So I’m not saying they don’t have the right, but I’m saying the players union, the CBA needs to be amended. A player should not be able to be franchise tagged more than once. When you’re a kid, your No. 1 dream is to make the NFL if you’re in football. Once you make the NFL, your No. 1 dream is to be a wanted asset in free agency. You work your whole life to get to the league. And then when you get to the league, you just want to be a valued asset in free agency and let the market determine what you’re worth. And they’ve denied Tee Higgins this two years in a row. That’s criminal.

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The franchise tag has been a farce since its inception, right? It’s such an oxymoron. Nobody likes it. Everybody hates it. But I’ve talked to players about it, agents about it, everybody hates it. So when you’re at that bargaining table, do something about it. Don’t just bitch about it — change it.

King: And more players need to speak up publicly. I mean, it’s criminal. And for those of you that are going to say, “Well, he gets the top five average,” listen, it’s the guaranteed money. It’s the long-term security. Somebody would’ve paid Tee Higgins, I guarantee Tee Higgins would’ve been, I’m going to say a 30 million per year guy if he was actually in free agency right now. I truly believe that.

That’s what DK Metcalf got.

King: Tee is even a little younger than Metcalf. What did he get? Ninety guaranteed? So, Tee’s getting that. That’s his floor to me. So now the 23 that he’s getting enfranchised or whatever, that doesn’t look so good. When you put it in that context. Because he can very easily, God forbid, go out there and have some debilitating injury. And now he hits free agency and he’s not the valuable asset he was.

The only leverage a lot of these players have when they think they deserve more money is to unfollow the team on Instagram and be cryptic.

King: Listen, stuff changes, man. Cooper Kupp’s a perfect example. Two years ago, Kupp was Super Bowl MVP. Now, Kupp couldn’t even fetch a draft pick in a trade. When you’re hot, you gotta get it because you just don’t know. Two years from now, you might not be hot. The Rams wanted to trade Cooper Kupp and could get no takers. So now they’re going to have to cut him. This a Super Bowl MVP two years ago. But he’s battled injuries, people are not sure he can stay healthy. So now his value is diminished. Tee Higgins could very easily end up being in the same situation. Hopefully not, because I want him to get paid.

James Cook, same thing here in Buffalo. That’s why he’s very public wanting 15 mill a year. Yeah, he’s only played for a few years, but now you’re talking about an even more disposable position.

King: Again, the market’s the market. So my evaluation doesn’t mean anything when it comes to free agency. I don’t have a team, so I can’t write you a check. But I think what hurt Cook this past year was the fact that they subbed him out on third downs. I thought they did a huge disservice to him because it makes it look like, one, he’s not good in pass protection and, two, he is not effective catching the ball out of the backfield because it was very surprising to me that they would sub him out on third downs a lot.

We can sit around and make love to analytics or we can use our eyes and watch the games and see that the Bills with Devin Singletary, Zack Moss, Frank Gore were one offense with those kind of running backs and they transformed into this offense that had 30-plus passing touchdowns, 30-plus rushing touchdowns. The first in NFL history. An offensive line that’s actually kicking some ass. And guess what? You don’t really have a premier wide receiver. James Cook is your star around Josh Allen on the ground, through the air. They’re dynamic with him.

King: Here’s what stinks for Cook. It’s a really deep running back draft. Really talented, really deep. So as an organization you’re like, “We don’t got to pay him. We definitely don’t think he’s worth what he’s asking for. And by the way, have you seen this incoming class of running backs?” That’s what’s said in the meetings if we’re being candid and honest. That’s why free agency is about timing. Saquon and Derrick Henry and Josh Jacobs hit free agency at a time when guys weren’t paying running backs. Luckily for Saquon, he had such a big year. Philly was like, “Oh man, let’s do right by him.” But just think about it. Think about it if Derrick Henry and Josh Jacobs were in this free agent cycle as opposed to the previous one.

We better post this podcast, so Mike Tomlin has time to really digest it.

King: Get on it so we can get Jameis to Pittsburgh.

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