concerned with Russell Wilson's
future, and I was wondering, you know, is that the top of
your to-do list, getting a long-term contract done with
him and what would that commence? Well, first of all,
we couldn't have been more excited as
we were going through the process to see that
the organization had made the trade for Russell. You know, it's
critical to have a great quarterback in this league. And
so to come in with Russell Wilson and place is
a tremendous benefit for us on our first.
Trip in May here. One of the first people we ran into in
the hallway when Rob and Carrie and I were here was Russell
and right away. You got a sense for how positive he is as
a leader. He's just such a dynamic individual. And
so we're I can't wait to see him on the field, you know.
I don't know how much we'll see of him on the field on
Saturday, but
but we're looking forward to it.
And at this point nothing to say about his contract.
There you go. Nothing to say about the contract. Very good
already. Greg, Penner at answering questions, without,
really, answering questions. He was asked yesterday about
whether or not Peyton Manning or John Elway will be added to
the
ownership group and you did a very good job of stickhandling
his way through that. So one of the skills, if you're going to
be available to the media on a regular basis, you got to know
how
to set the agenda in response to the questions you're asked,
but here's the bottom line. Here's some free advice, if Rob
Watson or Rob Walton or Greg pain, or anyone else in
the ownership group is
Watching it today and if you are, thank you very much.
Welcome to the NFL,
the longer. You wait, the more expensive. It's going to get
you want to get Russell Wilson at a more favorable price. Do
it. Now, the only
increase, the only thing that would affect that would be
a frustum Wilson was just horrible this year. But even
then is that going to affect his value? They've already
given up significant assets to get in. They've already gone
all-in with
him, he's got one year left on his contract after 2022,
they're going to pay him market value. The only question is, Is
whether they pay him according to what the market is now or
what the market will be in the offseason. Yeah, you're right.
I to me, it's one of those. That's just it's inevitable.
It's
going to happen.
You know, Gregg Benner and mr. Walton there they're just, you
know, the ink just dried on them on them, buying
the football team. So I'm sure they're kind of,
you know, in the early stages, of learning
the team, and some of the things that go on with
the salary cap and all of that. But as he just explained right
there, Gregg Benner, it just sits. This is Got
you know, they got their shiny object, they got their guy,
there's not that many of them in the NFL and they do, you
know, add significant value.
These franchise quarterback sees star quarterbacks to the team
and of course just you know, everything that goes around it,
the Fanfare, everybody wants to root for you a little bit more.
When you have one of those quarterbacks that's top five
top eight and football,
you always feel like you got a chance
and then Russell Wilson
like we just talked about with Tom Brady.
D. He's all in. He's everything you want for a quarterback. So
I think it's just one of those that yes, it's just a matter of
time
and with their money and whatever else I feel like this
could be something that just comes out of the dark, Midway
through the season.
I wouldn't be shocked if that and if it's not that they'll
get it done early and the next offseason period. One more
point though and this is something to keep in mind as
the Walton Penner ownership group moves forward. And this
was a
point that I remember making
In the offseason
as a relates to just the idea. And I think it was
maybe after the Stephen Ross stuff happened, the allegations
made by Brian Flores. The reality is to become an owner
of an NFL team. You don't have to pass a test on the NFL. You
don't have to know anything at all about running. An NFL team,
you just need to have the money
to pay for it just like you go buy a Ferrari. No requirement
that, you know, how to drive the damn thing. No, requirement
even have a driver's license. All that's needed is the money
to buy it and that's where fans just kind of have to sit back.
You know, these folks seem very Earnest
in their approach to this.
They've been very successful
in maintaining the Empire
that Sam Walton built. They didn't build it but they didn't
run it aground into the Rocks either. So there's something to
be said for Walmart, growing and thriving under first,
the stewardship of Rob Walton and more recently Greg Penner.
But this is a different
Ball game. And how many times have we seen a person who has
had unlimited success
in one specific area of business?
Try to translate that to football
and realize very quickly
doesn't translate
because everybody else
everybody else was successful too.
And this is a zero-sum game for every team that wins is a team
that loses and and so there's no guarantee that this is going
to work and you got people who are coming into this sport not
knowing much about it.
That's what's fascinating to me?
Yeah. And let's see what they find out. Let's see how quickly
they learn. Let's see, what kind of decisions they make.
Let's see what they do. With Russell Wilson, to take a hard
line. Mean this is
Be the this is going to be an example of what kind of
ownership they're going to be just because they're really
rich doesn't mean they're going to be throwing money at people.
So the point is this, you get through the door
because you have a shitload of money
after that.
We find out. Yeah. What. You know about football? Yeah. But
we know the advantages. You have. When you got cash on
hand, like we discussed yesterday of the ability to,
you know, guaranteed contract signing bonus that it certainly
helps. And
with a guys like this
more times than not, there they are pretty smart. Smart, they
understand how to balance checkbooks and things like
that. And you know, they I know they've bounced them in their
favor for a long time.