Tom Pelissero Talks Caleb & Darnold Return Timelines; How Kyler Impacts Vikes

Two weeks into the season, the NFL's quarterback board already looks like a hospital chart. Tom Pelissero came on The Rich Eisen Show to sort out who is hurt, who is coming back, who might get traded, and which team's fans should be most nervous.

He started with the one that hurt the most. Jaxson Dart is out for the year, and Pelissero explained why a knee injury that first looked manageable turned into season-ending surgery.

"The initial hope was that Jaxson Dart just had an MCL injury," he said. "Those a lot of times are non-surgical. You can be back anywhere from two to six weeks." Dart even wanted to return, and the Giants "had to take his uniform away from him at halftime."

The problem was the meniscus. Because it's attached to the MCL, damage to both shrinks the options. A young player might choose a full meniscus repair over a trim anyway, since the knee "can't regenerate the cartilage," but with the MCL involved, a trim "becomes a virtual impossibility." After several opinions, the extra meniscus damage decided it.

That leaves Jameis Winston, who just signed an extension to be the backup and then, in Pelissero's words, "looked like he forgot how to throw in that game." Usually a bad Winston game is "the entertaining bad Jameis Winston where it's three touchdowns and three interceptions." This wasn't that.

Still, Pelissero doesn't expect an immediate trade. The next stretch, with Tennessee, Washington and Arizona, looks "winnable." His read on Joe Schoen and John Harbaugh: see what the record looks like, and "if they're afloat and Jameis is the thing that's holding them back, maybe that's when you start to think a little bit bolder."

Rich pushed on whether any team would even sell its depth. Pelissero said there's always a price. "Unless you're Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, there's a number at which you can be traded." He named Mac Jones in San Francisco as the obvious candidate, since Brock Purdy "misses some time virtually every year, but Mac would like to be a starter again." He also mentioned J.J. McCarthy in Minnesota, Spencer Rattler in New Orleans and Anthony Richardson behind Daniel Jones in Indianapolis. None of them, he said, will go for "a conditional seventh round pick."

When Rich suggested the Giants shouldn't spend big draft capital since Dart's injury isn't career-ending, Pelissero's reply was the sharpest line of the day. "The injury is not career ending, but the timeline is career altering."

He cited a stat that Dart, Malik Nabers and Cam Skattebo have been on the field together for something like 4% of snaps. "That's supposed to be your young core." And he pointed to the precedents. The Colts had two injury-plagued years from Richardson and signed Jones. The Vikings had two with McCarthy and signed Kyler Murray. Dart is headed for year three, and at some point the Giants might say, "We love you. We believe in you. We got to draft another guy."

That thought led straight to the Chargers. Pelissero listed the usual suspects for a high quarterback pick next year, from Miami to the Jets and Cleveland, then noted that seasons have a way of surprising people, the way the Colts lost Peyton Manning for a year and ended up with Andrew Luck.

"Maybe it is the Chargers if this season continues to go that direction," he said. He was careful about it. "I'm not sitting here telling you they're going to trade Justin Herbert. We all know Jim Harbaugh has made abundantly clear how he feels about Justin Herbert." But the Chargers are 0-2 against two of the worst teams from a year ago, with "murderers row on the schedule over the next four to six weeks."

Earlier he had framed it plainly. If they're 1-5 or 0-6, "I don't think that they trade Justin Herbert, but you can bet they're going to get calls about Justin Herbert because why not?" Bad seasons invite people to "try to take advantage of you and go after your good players."

In Washington, Dan Quinn offered no timetable for Jayden Daniels, and Pelissero filled in the picture. "I would think that this is at least three to four weeks," he said, and Daniels doesn't seem interested in IR or surgery. A brace to protect the elbow is on the table.

What bothered Pelissero was how it happened. "That's not the type of play you expect somebody to dislocate their elbow, where literally he gets stepped on and just braced himself." It's the third injury to that elbow, which is why Daniels is gathering opinions and seeing another specialist, with a decision expected by Thursday or Friday.

Washington's problem is immediate: 0-2 with Seattle up next. "That looks like 0-and-3 unless Marcus Mariota plays at an exceptional level." Pelissero also raised a bigger question about the young quarterbacks who keep getting hurt. "Do we even pick up the fifth year option on the guy?" For Daniels, he thinks the answer is yes, "but at some point, you got to stay on the field and be available because when he's out there, Jayden Daniels is electric."

Rich noted the coming Mariota versus Winston matchup, "like it's 2015 all over again."

Chicago's situation came next, and Pelissero had good news. Tyson Bagent is in the concussion protocol, and Case Keenum could start on Monday night. But Caleb Williams avoided the worst. Watching Williams look over his shoulder while scrambling, Pelissero feared "a hamstring tendon avulsion" or a popped Achilles. Instead it's a hamstring injury, and although he's unlikely to play Monday, the Bears "haven't ruled him out" against the Eagles. "The fact that this is a week-to-week deal with Caleb Williams is a huge relief for Chicago."

He also noted Ben Johnson is "a big Tyson Bagent believer," which is why the Bears paid him like the Giants paid Winston. And on the Eagles, 2-0 again: "We just kind of have to get used to it," with Jalen Hurts "a big reason they're winning them."

On Seattle, Pelissero called Sam Darnold "50/50 right now" for this week after a hip injury near the glute, a tendon issue. "He's going to practice this week," and it's "a coin flip" whether he faces the Commanders.

In Minnesota, Kyler is back, and Pelissero said the Vikings were always going to return to him once he cleared concussion protocol, even if Carson Wentz had scored 30. "It's really hard to spy Kyler and double Justin Jefferson." Brian Flores' defense held a Bears team that scored 59 to six, with help from weather and a D'Andre Swift fumble, and Pelissero sees Minnesota as "a playoff contender, if not a Super Bowl contender."

Rich closed with his favorite question: which team has Pelissero's phone blowing up? "To a certain extent it's the Steelers."

Aaron Rodgers "just got shelled" last week. "If they can't protect a 42-year-old quarterback, it's going to be a long season on offense." DK hasn't played his best and Pittman has been hurt.

Then there's Joey Porter Jr. Going into Week 3, "we still have no idea when or if he's going to play for the Steelers again." Pelissero said Omar Khan's phone "has been ringing," and floated the Cowboys, whose owner was heard saying there's "nothing more dangerous than an old man with money," and the short-handed Lions. The Steelers don't negotiate past Week 1 as organizational policy, and Porter has a recurring back issue. Pelissero's bottom line: "There's an equal likelihood at this point of him being traded at some point as there is that he plays this thing out with the Steelers."