Hour 2: Chris Simms

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This is The Michael Kay Show Podcast.

Michael Kay (0:34)

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Michael Kay (0:41)

Welcome back to the show, 202 on a Thursday. Right about this time every single Thursday, we get the privilege of talking to NBC's Chris Simms, does such a great job in pro and college football, and he joins us now. Christopher, how are you doing?

Chris Simms (0:57)

I'm doing great, Michael. How are you doing, man?

Michael Kay (0:59)

Look at you.

Chris Simms (1:00)

You're calling me Christopher. See, you adapted. Look at you. You're comfortable.

Michael Kay (1:04)

I'm very comfortable. I feel like I'm part of the family. So are you too busy to enjoy your Yankees? Or I mean, can you squeeze in watching a Yankee game?

Chris Simms (1:13)

No, no, I squeeze it in, certainly. It's been on my TV both nights for sure. Tuesday and Wednesday nights, I do try to go to bed a little earlier because I'm up late Sunday night, up late Monday night, and of course, I wake up real early in the morning. But definitely tuned in, love to see it. Got the bats hot right now, rice is hot. I mean, yeah, it was cool to see us dominate the Red Sox that way.

Michael Kay (1:36)

All right, we are talking with Chris Simms, brought to you by Super Bowl 61 So let's start off with the Giants. They did make a trade for JJ. McCarthy. Your thoughts on bringing in McCarthy, and do you think that in due time, he's going to be the starter for the Giants this year?

Chris Simms (1:51)

Well, I think it'll depend on James Winston. I think the biggest thing here is just that they're bringing him in, for me, for one reason. They're not going to let this season fall apart if James Winston, one, doesn't play well, but two, if he does get hurt, to where we go, oh, he's hurt, well, there we go. We're just, we're going to be three and 14, or four and 13 It's all over John Harbaugh's first year. He's going to have that stigma. He doesn't want that. He wants to have a little insurance policy, like we talk about with any team having a good backup here. And of course, he's got some inside knowledge on JJ. McCarthy from his brother and his days there at Michigan with Jim being there. So I'm sure he feels comfortable about that. JJ does have starting quarterback arm talent and stuff. Now he needs to become, like I've told you before, more variety and throws. But I think with the way we saw them playing with Jaxson Dart earlier in the year, some of the, you know, the run game, the bootlegs off it, moving the quarterback that way, JJ. McCarthy fits what it seemed like they wanted to do on the offensive side of the ball more than Jameis Winston. But I think it's an insurance policy. And then we see where it goes to where, who knows, you know, maybe next year, the year after that, he's the backup. Maybe he becomes more than that. You know, as far as we've seen with a lot of these teams, you get a good backup and maybe he becomes a trade asset because some other team wants him as a bridge quarterback or a starter. So I think it was a probably a very good investment for the Giants to make that move.

Michael Kay (3:21)

I always find it interesting when people say, well, John called Jim and Jim knows JJ because of the time in Michigan when they won a national championship.

But the Vikings also know JJ and he was a 10th pick in the first round and they traded him for a fifth round pick. What went wrong in Minnesota that there was such a drop off in value?

Chris Simms (3:43)

Yeah, well, you know, and one, coaches, you know enough. It doesn't matter if it's baseball, football, whatever. They want people that they can trust and they're familiar with, right? So he had, I know John had been up to Michigan and he'd been around JJ before. So I'm sure he felt like he knew him to a degree. But what happened with Minnesota is it's a lot of things, actually. And you know, really, he got unlucky in a lot of ways. You know, your rookie year there, you are going to be the, you're going to be the starter. Probably week one, the first preseason game you get in. You look good. You go, wow, boom. He gets hurt. He loses all of year one.