Welcome back to Gojo and Golic as we get set
to look ahead to a weekend in the NFL Pump
to get to talk to our next guest here.
One of my dad's former teammates, pro football Hall
of Famer, Warren Moon kind enough to join us
here now, Warren. Good morning. How are
you? I'm doing great guys. How are you
guys doing? How do you like working together?
Have you started uh fighting each other yet or is
that why you live on different coasts? I,
I listen, Warren, th this started my last
few years at ESPN. We did the morning show
together with Trey Wingo and you, you would think
you would think that your son and starting in the
business that you had been in for a couple of
decades would kind of be, you know, reverent
to you and such. He wasn't, he just
started arguing with me right away, started ripping me
right away. Calling me old man right away.
So, yeah, it's been, it's been rough
. Well, that's what made your show, that's
what I liked about it. You guys went after
each other and uh he didn't back down. He
, he stood up to his old man and uh
, here you guys are still together many years later
. So something's working. Yeah. It, it
cost him though. It, it, I,
I think the, the friction cost him his hair
. That's the only, the only problem. And
you know what, I'm in good company. I
think we have, I think we have the same
barber, you know, you know what we do
, we have a simple process for getting ready to
go out anytime we leave the house. So we
have simplified the equation and uh like you said,
it worked out and it got us all here now
. Uh Warren lots we want to talk to you
about. But I, I I'm curious for you
. We talked about it a little bit earlier in
the show, the documentary on Amazon, the evolution
of the black quarterback, something I know uh you
were named in and a part of and getting to
see what, what Michael Vick kind of took everyone
through in there. Uh What was that like for
you seeing that story told of a very proud brotherhood
that you're a part of. You know, it
, it was um it was eye opening. It
was kind of uh it was kind of psychologically helpful
, I guess because a lot of those things you
don't really, you don't really want to talk about
and you don't wanna remember uh that you had to
go through, but Michael did a great job of
bringing that out of all of us and, um
, all of us who went through some very tough
times, you know, trying to play this position
. So, uh, there was good things about
it and I, and I guess it turned out
ok, I haven't really watched the whole series yet
. I'm gonna sit down one day and just devote
myself a couple of hours to just watching it.
But, uh, yeah, II, I was
glad to be a part of it. Uh I'm
glad he got the participation he did from all the
other guys. He, he, he kind of
went from the beginning all the way up to the
present. So I think people get a good understanding
of what, uh, being an African American quarterback
was, was all about starting from the beginning and
, and where it's, uh, evolved to and
, and, uh, it's in a really good
place right now. I'd like to say there was
like 15, uh, I think African American quarterbacks
started on week one of the NFL season this year
. So that's something I feel a little bit of
pride about because I feel like I played a small
part in that. Well, you, you obviously
did after your, your time at Washington didn't know
about the shot you would get in the NFL.
So you actually went to the CFL won five Gray
Cups with the Edmonton Eskimos. So take us back
to that time of, of not wanting to go
to the NFL right out of Washington, going to
the CFL. Yeah, it was kind of a
bittersweet time, Mike because, uh, you know
, coming out of college, I felt like I
put myself in a position to at least get drafted
and, and, and maybe be considered a quarterback
in the NFL. That was kind of my goal
and, and my dream as a kid and,
you know, I was a PAC a player of
the year. Um I was Rose Bowl's most valuable
player and I thought I had a really good season
and thought I would get some more NFL interest,
but most teams were talking about moving my position and
, and moving me to defensive back or wide receiver
. And if I was gonna get drafted, maybe
it was gonna be at the end of the,
of the draft, there was 12 rounds during that
time. So I was, they were talking about
round 10 through 12 or something, maybe I might
get a chance to play quarterback. So all those
maybes and questions um really made me evaluate, you
know, what was my best opportunity in the Canadian
football league was treating me as if I was a
first or second round draft pick coming out of the
, the NFL draft. They gave me an opportunity
to come play the position. I wanted to play
a position that I really felt like I was good
enough to play and that's why I decided to go
there as opposed to uh taking a chance and going
through the NFL draft. So, uh I wouldn't
trade it for the world. Um because of the
experience that I had up there, but there's no
question, it was a bittersweet thing because I wanted
to be drafted like every other, you know,
guy that uh comes in the national football league and
, and, well, not every guy but some
guys sign as free agents, but at least they
get the chance to play where they wanna play.
And, um, that's, that's all I really
asked for was the opportunity to play quarterback. If
I wasn't good enough, you know, cut me
if I wasn't good enough, I'd go back to
school and, and, uh, I was gonna
be, uh, uh, I was gonna go
to law school if I didn't make it in football
, but, uh, I, I continued my
dream of, of going to Canada and trying to
be the best player that I could be. And
I, I worked myself into a position where,
um, things worked out pretty good for me.
Yeah, I think you would have done pretty well
in law school, but I think all of us
are glad that you kept pursuing the dream in football
because it worked out well for you and a lot
of people that got to play with and around you
there. So, uh, uh, an incredible
journey that led you to that moment and like,
you said, laid the foundation for so many others
to come since I want to talk about some of
the new guys in the league right now. Jayden
Daniels has sort of taken the league by storm through
the early portion of this NFL season. What have
you liked or what have you seen out of that
rookie that's allowed him to be so successful so soon
. Yeah, you know, I met Jaden when
he was a sophomore at Arizona State. We were
involved in a AAA panel discussion, believe it or
not on African American quarterbacks. And, uh I
got a chance to know him a little bit,
really was impressed with his poise and his maturity at
, at like 1920 years old. And so it's
not surprising me what he's able to do. Um
, right now with the Washington Commanders because he played
a lot of college football. I think he had
over 50 starts. Uh, he played in the
toughest, uh, division in, in college football
in the SEC and ended up winning a Heisman trophy
. So he's a very talented guy. Like I
said, he's very poised and very mature and,
uh, doing a great job with that offense.
I think he's passing at almost a 78% completion percentage
, which is crazy for a young rookie who hasn't
been around these receivers very long. Uh, but
he also does a great job with his legs and
he, and he, and he uses great judgment
when he takes off the run, he's gonna look
in that pocket to and throw it down the field
. But then when everything else breaks down, he
uses his legs. So, uh he's off to
a great start. He's really changed the whole environment
and culture there in, uh in Washington. And
uh that's something you want a young quarterback to do
when you draft him that high in the draft to
come in and change the way things are done.
And I think between him and Dan Quinn, the
, uh, head coach, they've done a great
job so far, they're off to a great start
. Warren only about a minute left. How about
overall the evolution of the quarterback position of where it
is today from where it was? Well, you
know, you, you're starting to see now more
of a dual threat type of quarterback and it doesn't
matter if you're African American or, or what color
you are or you look at Josh Allen, you
, you look at all these guys, Trevor Lawrence
, they're all able to move because these defensive players
now have become so fast, you know, you
got defensive ends coming off the edge at, you
know, four, threes and four, fours.
And as a quarterback, you gotta have some athleticism
to you to, to avoid some of those plays
because they're not gonna get blocked all the time.
So I think, uh, having that dual threat
ability is gonna make you more valuable in today's football
. And I think that's where you see, not
only African American quarterbacks, but all quarterbacks, the
more, um, athleticism they have these days,
the better I think they're gonna be and the more
successful they're gonna be. I, I think you're
so right, the approach of defense has made it
almost a place where you need that player with a
physical ability to almost be a human checkdown in order
to have a chance against some of these guys that
they've got turned loose on the other side. So
, uh it's been incredible to watch that development here
and we're only just getting started with this weekend.
Some of the great play from guys like Jaden Daniels
that you mentioned, Warren. We appreciate all the
time and the insight this morning. Thanks so much
for getting up early with us. We really appreciate
it. Yeah, thanks for having me on guys
and, uh, you're doing a great job with
your show. Keep it going and tell, tell
Bobby. I said hello? Oh, I will
, I will take care, Warren. Thanks,
man. All right. I, I mean,
a guy who's thrown Mike, he's thrown for over
70,000 yards between, between CFL and NFL. I
mean, it's just, it's amazing and why he
had to go to the CFL and boy, it
sure worked out there with five great card and it's
, it's just a reminder, uh, to this
point, you know, everyone wants to get drafted
, everyone wants to be Jaden Daniels and get taken
second overall, but there are so many different paths
throughout pro football. And I remember that was the
, the eye-opening thing is the pride that guys,
you know, when I came in and got a
shot at NFL training camp, seeing a guy like
Ryan Clark who was a leader on that Pittsburgh Steelers
team who had been an undrafted free agent, Ramon
Foster on that offensive line, who I got to
play around for a while. Those guys and the
pride they took in overcoming where they started to get
to that point is immense. Well, I mean
, even Warren going back to the early eighties and
talking about his situation, I mean, think of
Lamar Jackson when he came into the league, there
were some G MS that think he thought he should
have moved to running back and how wrong they were
about that. Yeah. Old takes exposed. Had
a field day with that one grief.