PMT DB
PMT DB
Carson Palmer on Draft Night, NFL QB Prospects, and the Giannis Failure Debate
The NFL Draft has officially taken over our lives, and the first round delivered enough chaos to keep us fueled for months. Big Cat and PFT opened the show reminiscing about the old days when the draft was a Saturday marathon for freaks and weirdos, but the modern spectacle has its own charms. Between the Texans' massive power move and the pure awkwardness of the green room cameras, the energy was high, even if the vibes for some prospects were at an all-time low.
Draft Winners, Losers, and Spin Zones
The biggest story of the night wasn't who went first, but who didn't go at all. Will Levis—friend of the program and certified grit guy—was left hanging in the green room. While the internet was busy piling on, Big Cat was quick to find the silver lining for the former Kentucky signal-caller.
Big CatWill Levis cannot be considered a bust because he was not selected in the top 10 of the NFL Draft.
I actually think it's in a weird way, you can't be a bust if you go, if you don't go in the top 10. So now people won't judge [Will Levis] the same. Now he has time to flourish to be a multi-Super Bowl winner.
While Levis waited, the Houston Texans and Arizona Cardinals were busy playing 4D chess with the rest of the league. Houston’s aggressive jump to snag CJ Stroud and Will Anderson back-to-back was the highlight of the night, proving that even the Texans' front office can occasionally do something competent.
Big CatThe Arizona Cardinals and the Houston Texans won the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft.
The Cardinals and the Texans might have just won the first round draft. I'm gonna give the Texans an A plus because they picked second and third and they got good players.
The Colts also made waves by taking Anthony Richardson, a move that officially ends their carousel of veteran quarterbacks. PFT thinks the Colts just drafted the ultimate entertainment package, for better or worse.
PFT CommenterAnthony Richardson will be a content machine because every play he makes is either an incredible highlight or a disastrous lowlight.
Everything that [Richardson] does is gonna be a highlight or a low light. There's gonna be a clip of everything Anthony Richardson does. When he plays well, it's like, holy shit, he's the only person in the league that can do that. When he plays poorly, he looks like a drunk Jameis [Winston]. So he's gonna be just a content machine.
As a Bears fan, Big Cat was riding high after the trade with the Eagles, though he admits that Philadelphia might have just landed a superstar in Jalen Carter. The logic is simple: the Eagles have the infrastructure to handle a high-risk, high-reward prospect that the Bears simply don't have yet.
Big CatDrafting Jalen Carter was a genius move for the Eagles, but he would not have worked for the Bears because they lack veteran defensive leadership.
I actually think that it was genius for the Eagles to take [Jalen Carter]. And the Bears did not take him because everything we've heard about him, he needs veteran leadership around him. The Bears do not have that. The Eagles have the opposite. They have a lot of great defensive players, a lot of older Fletcher Cox, like a lot of guys that will help him.
The Giannis Philosophy of Failure
Shifting to the hardwood, the guys had to address the absolute meltdown in Milwaukee. The Bucks getting bounced in five games by the Heat is one of the biggest upsets in NBA history, leading to Giannis Antetokounmpo's viral post-game lecture on the definition of failure. Big Cat wasn't buying the "steps to success" speech for a one-seed that just got embarrassed.
Big CatThe Bucks' season was a categorical failure
It's okay to say the Bucks season was a failure. Giannis isn't a failure. None of the players are a failure. Their season was a failure. They were the one seed they had the most wins in the regular season. They were odds on favorites and they got bounced in five games. Right. That's a failure.
PFT pointed out that while Giannis is out here giving life lessons to middle schoolers, Jimmy Butler is busy ascending to a different plane of existence. The Heat culture debate has been settled, but it might not be about the organization anymore.
Big CatJimmy Butler culture has officially superseded Heat culture.
Maybe we were right because it's not Heat culture, it's Jimmy Butler culture. Jimmy Butler culture is now over Heat culture. Jimmy Butler did that.
Carson Palmer in Studio
Former number one overall pick Carson Palmer joined the show to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his draft night. He walked through the bizarre experience of having his contract signed before the draft even started, allowing him to treat New York like a victory lap while everyone else in the green room was sweating through their suits.
Looking at the current crop of QBs, Palmer offered some veteran perspective on Bryce Young. While Young is the most pro-ready, Palmer worries that the ceiling might be lower than people think compared to the raw athletes in the class.
Carson PalmerBryce Young has the lowest ceiling among the top 2023 QB prospects because he is a 'finished product' coming out of Alabama.
I think at the end of the day, if you're Carolina, you want a guy that's gonna play week one. And the guy that's most ready to play in week one is Bryce. But he is also got the lowest ceiling because he's been coached by the best of the best at Alabama... you're getting a finished product. He doesn't need to be coached a ton. He doesn't need to be taught a ton... there's not a ton of upside like there was with Josh Allen five years ago.
Palmer also touched on the physical toll of the game, specifically the recent trend of quarterbacks like Tua Tagovailoa trying to learn how to fall during the off-season. According to Carson, if you're learning that in the pros, you're already behind the eight ball.
Carson PalmerIf a quarterback has not learned how to fall correctly by the time they reach the NFL, they will continue to get injured.
If you're trying to figure out how to fall correctly at 24 in year three in the NFL, that's a problem. You learn how to absorb hits in junior high and high school. If you are trying to figure it out and trying to perfect that part of the game in year 2, 3, 4 in the NFL, you're probably gonna be getting hurt a lot.
He also shared some incredible stories about playing against AFC North legends, specifically the two men who haunted his dreams and his offensive line adjustments for over a decade.
Carson PalmerTroy Polamalu and Ed Reed are the two most fearsome defenders in NFL history.
It's not one guy. It's two guys. It's Troy [Polamalu] and Ed Reed. They both played the same position, but you had to prepare for them totally differently... I had weeks where we were playing the Steelers, if Troy was on the right and the play was called to the right, I had at the line of scrimmage to change it to the left.
Fyre Fest and the Fallout
To wrap things up, the guys hit Fyre Fest of the week. Hank's Apple Watch is apparently convinced he's burning 5,000 calories a day, which led to some very specific theories about his "active" right hand. Meanwhile, Jake Marsh admitted to a minor incident on the pickleball court where he may have over-hustled a woman in her forties.
Jake MarshAge and gender do not matter in pickleball
I'm telling you, if you play pickleball, you know that age, gender doesn't matter. Everyone plays together. Age is not a thing in pickleball. If you're good, you're good, you can hang.
Big Cat also detailed his "loser" moment of donating $12,000 to charity after losing a 10K bet to Mincy, proving that in the world of PMT, even doing the right thing can make you look like an idiot.
Draft night might be over, but the soul patch bets and the Sixers-Celtics civil war are just beginning.
