QB Guru Jordan Palmer Talks Burrow, Jayden/LSU, Darnold, Mendoza, More w/Rich

Jordan Palmer has a warning about preseason week one, starting with the guy everyone is watching hardest.

Fernando Mendoza looked terrific for the Raiders. Palmer's response is that he was supposed to.

"If you just played in the Big Ten and won the national championship, the defense you're playing against is way easier than the college football playoff," Palmer told Rich. "These lights are not very bright at all."

That is not a shot. Palmer said Mendoza "just looked the part" and threw with confidence and conviction, which is what a first overall pick coming off a Heisman Trophy and a title should do against a defense stocked with players who will get cut.

On when Las Vegas turns the thing over, Palmer would not guess at Klint Kubiak's process and made the call on principle. "If it's close, then play him. If they're ready, then play them. And if they're not, then you've got a great person to start the season off in Kirk Cousins, who's done it and looks pretty good from everything that I've heard."

What he will not accept is a hedge. "I don't think that you can play to try and protect your guy," Palmer said. If a rookie is not ready, sit him. Do not name him the starter and then shrink the offense.

The situation Palmer is watching most closely is Atlanta, where Kevin Stefanski chooses between a quarterback coming off injury and a rookie, with Tua on paper as the guy who has done it at the NFL level. The complication is not the fan base. It is the huddle. Drake London and Bijan Robinson have been through a quarterback drought, and "the lease is pretty short." Expectations there are going to be high.

Sam Darnold got the most optimistic forecast of the hour. Palmer frames his superpower as an ability to keep everything simple. The bigger deal is calendar math.

"I ask quarterbacks, how many teams has Sam Darnold been on? Everybody guesses three or four," Palmer said. "This is his fifth team." Last March in Seattle he was learning verbiage and introducing himself to teammates. Now he knows the language and the people.

Palmer's forecast: "I would expect the floor to be how well he played at the end of last year." Seattle lost its coordinator, its running back, pieces, which is what happens when you win a Super Bowl. He still expects "another fantastic season."

As for Joe Burrow and the "I work here" hat, Palmer laughed off the idea of reading doom into a fashion choice. He just got back from Spain, where he swapped notes with someone who works with the best soccer players in the world, and came away saying Burrow's approach to development belongs in that company.

Burrow's answer to a shaky offensive line has been to control what he can control. "What Joe's done to help O-line play is become a more efficient mover, play with leverage, and it's turned him into one of the most difficult guys to tackle behind the line of scrimmage," Palmer said. He once quizzed an All-Pro defensive player on a flight and got Burrow's name in almost every category.

The LSU jersey saga around Jayden Daniels, whom Palmer has known since high school and coached on his Elite 11 team, got a lighter touch. His only frame of reference is a text from Lincoln Riley years ago, asking to reach his brother about Jordan Addison wearing a retired number three at SC. Addison wore it.

"I don't know all the dynamics there," Palmer said. "It's been fascinating to watch."

Rich saved the question he cared most about for last, because Bryce Underwood is now in Palmer's care whenever he is not with Kyle Whittingham and the Michigan staff.

Palmer was upfront that he came to this cold. He works with a lot of college clients, breaks down their tape every week, and between that and four small children he does not have time to sit down and watch somebody who is not on his list. He did not see much Michigan live last season.

So he did the work backward. When Underwood became a client this offseason, Palmer went through every single snap before forming an opinion, then spent real time with him.

What he found changed his read on the freshman season.

"The more I learned about what was going on around him, the more I was impressed with how well he played as a true freshman," Palmer said. He is deliberately not arguing from the box score. "I'm not saying that he threw 39 touchdowns. There's the stat line, but I don't look at stat lines. I'm looking at a 17-year-old, because that's how he started the season, with those pressures and expectations."

The verdict was warmer than the season's reputation. "I was actually pretty impressed. He held it together, made some good throws, made some plays." He also thinks there are a lot of steps forward available.

The part he is most bullish on is not the quarterback at all. Palmer has worked with Whittingham before, at Utah with Cam Rising, and came away a fan of a program he was only ever visiting.

"There was a lot of times when I was kind of saying to myself, if I'm the top kid in the country, I actually might go to Utah," Palmer said. Not for Salt Lake City. For the strength staff, the training staff, and the way practices were run. He points out he never even worked with Whittingham directly, since Whittingham is a defensive coach and Palmer was there for the offense.

"This is an exciting time to be a Michigan fan, and I think it's an upgrade over maybe the regime before," he said, before catching himself. "I'm not trying to add to the hype here."