Best Receiver, JaMarcus Russell regret: Josh McCown tells all about NFL
By Brian Costello on December 25, 2018
In 16 NFL seasons, Josh McCown
has played with hundreds of teammates and against hundreds of opposing players.
He gave Emmitt Smith his
last hand-off. He threw Larry Fitzgerald his first pass. He has been on the
field with and against Hall of Famers. McCown went from an unpolished rookie
out of Sam Houston State to the mentor for Sam Darnold.
“More than anything, it’s
humbling,” McCown said last week about all the players he has played with and
against. “Those guys I’m talking about, it’s cool talking about them as
players, but as people they are even better. To me, I value that so much. I’m
so thankful I got to be around those guys. It’s fun to watch guys play at the
highest level, but it’s awesome to watch humans operate at the highest level.”
McCown, 39, is unsure
whether he will play in 2019. He said he will sit down with his family after
the season and reach a decision. If he does call it a career, it has been some
ride. He has played on eight teams over 16 seasons.
McCown reflected on his
career with The Post and answered questions about who was the best at certain
categories. The only ground rule was no current teammates or coaches could be
named.
Best
hands: “Holy cow. I have played with a lot of great guys, but
three guys come to mind and I can’t choose between them — Larry Fitzgerald,
Steve Smith and Anquan Boldin.
“Larry’s ability to track the
ball was unbelievable and different than anything I’ve ever seen. The ability
to make catches in traffic with Anquan Boldin was crazy because he could have
guys hanging all over him and still make the catch. More than anything with
Steve, his confidence in his hands to catch the ball and make moves while he
was in the air. … I remember thinking he is more concerned with the move than
he is with the catch, and it shows you how confident he is in the catch.”
Fastest
receiver: “Travis Benjamin could roll when I was in Cleveland. He’s
a lot like Robby [Anderson]. Robby might be the fastest, but I would say
Travis. The other guy I think of when you say that because he is sneaky fast
for a big guy is Mike Evans. He had unbelievable hands, too. I’ve had the
privilege of playing with some good guys.”
Best
route runner: “Anquan Boldin for sure. He wasn’t the fastest guy, so he
had to be efficient with his feet. He was just a technician, just a great route
runner.”
Most
complete receiver: “Oh geez. I’ve played with some Hall of
Famers. Pick your poison or your passion. It’s whatever you’re looking for.
Golly, I hate to [choose] because every one of them brings something to the
table. If you’re looking for a technician, you’re getting Anquan. If you’re
looking for guys to extend fields and make plays on the long ball, you’re
talking Alshon [Jeffery], Mike Evans, Larry Fitzgerald. If you’re looking for a
playmaker when you put the ball in his hands, it’s Brandon Marshall or Steve
Smith. You just throw it out there to Smitty and let him do his thing. A lot of
times it’s like pulling teeth to get young receivers to block, but all these
guys who are great catchers are great blockers. All of them are complete
receivers. I’m close with all of them so picking one of them would not get me
more Christmas cards.”
Toughest
running back: “Jonathan Stewart was the toughest runner for sure. I’d
also say Matt Forte or I played with a guy in Oakland named Justin Fargas out
of USC. For that year he played with us, he was a banger. He ran really tough.”
Fastest back: “I
played with Damien Anderson my first few years in Arizona. He was out of
Northwestern and he could really run. He was fast. D.A. could run.”
Best
vision: “Emmitt Smith was unbelievable. Kind of like we talk about
with an old quarterback, he was able to function because he was so smart.”
Toughest
lineman: “Logan Mankins comes to mind. Gosh, there were so many
good ones. Joe Thomas because of his consistency. Shoot, Alex Mack, the same
thing. All three of those guys were freaking tough dudes.”
Best run
blocker: “Kyle Long. He’s a stud. That group we had in Chicago. Him
and Roberto Garza and Matt Slauson, holy buckets. Those three alone were
probably my favorite group I got to play with in terms of guard-center-guard.
Those guys were good. Kyle was unbelievable, just so gifted as a run blocker.”
Best
overall lineman: “Roberto Garza. He was just unbelievably smart, tough. He
was a leader. It doesn’t get a lot better than Garz as far as overall linemen.”
QB you
learned the most from: “I learned a little bit from everybody.
It was really helpful when I connected with Kurt [Warner] in Arizona and Jon
Kitna in Detroit. Jon was immensely helpful for me. Every one of them I took
kind of a different part of their game. It was fun to watch them do what they
were good at. Kurt’s ability to process the whole field was awesome. Kit just
from a leadership and locker-room standpoint and the ability to lead a locker
room and rally guys was just outstanding. Jake Delhomme was kind of the same
way. Jake was the master of the two-minute drill. I was always really impressed
with him and learned a ton from him.”
Best QB
at reading a defense: “Kurt. Just his ability to see the feel
and process was so impressive. He was sharp.”
Strongest
arm: “Jay Cutler. He could hammer it, man. Both he and JaMarcus
Russell. But Jay could really, really throw it.”
Most
accurate: “It’s a close one between Kitna and Kurt Warner.”
Young QB you wished you could
have helped more: “I was only in Oakland for a year, but
JaMarcus [Russell]. He could really throw the ball and the path his career
took. You wish you could have connected with him more just to help him out. I
look back at that and wish I had more time with him.”
Funniest
teammate: “I’m going to go with the tandem of Ryan Kalil and Jordan
Gross from Carolina. The two of them together, their sense of humor, they were
definitely funniest guys.”
Best
overall athlete: “It’s easy to say a skilled guy. Anquan Boldin was an
unbelievable athlete, but one of the most impressive to me was [defensive
tackle] Shaun Rogers. Big Baby, as we called him. We were playing hoops one
time and we steal the ball and flip it up to him and he takes two dribbles and
then goes 360 [degrees] and dunked it. I was like, ‘Holy cow. This guy is 330
pounds.’ ”
Best cornerback faced: “Obviously,
I think for the longest time people respected and feared [Darrelle] Revis. He
was so good. The other one is Champ Bailey. Both of those guys were difference
makers for sure, and special players. I think those were the two guys and I’ve
always had a ton of respect for Aqib Talib.”
Best
rusher faced: “Early in my career it was Jevon Kearse. He was
unbelievable. Julius Peppers, I’ve been on both sides of it — with him and
against him. You always had to know where he was because he could disrupt a
game. DeMarcus Ware, too.”
Best
middle linebacker faced: “Brian Urlacher, he was the
best. Like in practice, to watch him work was unbelievable and to see him call
out plays and process dissect an offense.”
Best
safety faced: “Ed Reed. Guys ask me, ‘What was it like to play against
Ed?’ I say, ‘You don’t want to know. Let’s not even talk about that.’ Ed was so
special. He’s the best safety because of his ball skills and he could read what
you were doing. With Ed, you’d read what they were in and he could pick that
ball off over there because he’d go on a hunch.”
Toughest defensive coordinator to face: “The guy that comes to mind that
always had his guys playing hard and I always respected is Dean Pees, who was
in Baltimore all those years. It is always a dogfight when you play him. I think
Mike Zimmer as a defensive coordinator and now as a head coach has long been
excellent at game planning and attacking what you do.”
Best
game-planner you played for: “I really flourished and
appreciated Marc Trestman’s approach and Aaron Kromer when I was with those
guys in Chicago. I went into a game as prepared as ever with those guys.”
Best play
caller: “I got the chance to work with Mike Martz in Detroit. I
didn’t play but watching him kind of make his magic was impressive. Mike had an
unbelievable sense and fearlessness to him.”
Best
motivator: “My first few years Dave McGinnis was just outstanding at
just talking to the team and getting guys going every day. Coach Mac was really
special.”
Best
overall head coach: “Shoot, man, it’s a close one. I have
so much respect for Lovie Smith. I enjoyed playing for him. Both he and Marc
Trestman in Chicago and John Fox in Carolina as well. John was awesome.”