The Most Fun NFL Show Comes From … NBA Star Draymond Green?

“We just chopped it up and it became apparent to me very quickly that not only was Draymond a big football fan, but he was very educated in football,” Schultz says. “He played it down like, ‘I know hoops. It’s very easy for me to talk basketball. Football is going to be more of a challenge.’ But to me, it doesn’t feel like a challenge for him, because he knows his shit.” Now, each week before Thursday Night Football, Green and Schultz welcome a guest—usually an NFL player—to a kind of gussied up Zoom call to talk about life in the league, contract negotiations, rivalries, and more.

On a Thursday in December, the two chatted with Cleveland Browns wide receiver Elijah Moore as Instagrammers sent emojis and comments. Moore walked Green and Schultz through the difference between NFL and NBA playbooks, explained his meme-worthy quarterback Jameis Winston, and gave a window into the competitive, sometimes icy, relationship between DK Metcalf and A.J. Brown when both were stars with Moore at Ole Miss.

Right after they wrapped, I hopped on a call with Green and Schultz to learn more about why, exactly, future NBA Hall of Famer Draymond Green is talking about football.

Green: I’d like to think that I could have but the reality is, I was just a good football player. I was a good defensive end. Nothing was getting around the outside of me. I was a good tight end; I had good hands. I clearly don’t mind contact, so I would also block. But I wasn’t special by any stretch of imagination.

But if you had been special, would you have gone that path?

Green: No, I always loved playing basketball more. LaMarr Woodley, Charles Rogers, Jerome Jackson—we were putting guys in the Big 1src left and right from a little school in Saginaw. But the it people were basketball players, so I wanted to play basketball.

Schultz: That’s your key insight on Draymond. He doesn’t give a shit about the game. It’s a popularity contest!

Which NBA player would make the best quarterback and best wide receiver?

Schultz: Receiver? [Le]Bron [James].

Green: His ball-tracking skills? Unbelievable. Speed. Strength. Size. Bron, for sure.

Schultz: Quarterback? I don’t know. He’s too tall, but K[evin Durant] can throw it, right?

Green: KD?

Schultz: Yeah.

Green: He don’t have a brain though…

Schultz: And there’s no 7-footers at quarterback.

Green: By the way, I love him to death. But K don’t give a—

It’s weird because he’s very detail oriented. He’s into the details of every move. But when it all boils down to it, “Miss me with the bullshit. Can you score or not?” is K’s mindset. He’s a seven-foot shooting guard. He shoots over everybody. He’s not going through all those progressions. So I can’t say K.

At quarterback, I’m going to go with yours truly.

Schultz: Oh, stop it.

Green: See the defense. Know where everybody should be. Put it on a dime. That’s what I do. That’s what I do!

Schultz: You throw cover two at this dude, he’s throwing four pick sixes in a freaking half!

Green: Zero percent chance! Go check my high school tapes, my college tapes. I annihilated zone. I’ll pick that thing apart.

Green: I became a Steelers fan because I liked The Bus [Jerome Bettis]. He’s from the state of Michigan. The Bus won the Super Bowl, and then he retired, but right then, my OG that raised me—LaMarr Woodley from Saginaw, Michigan—went to the Steelers. I was 16 or 17 and was like, “I’m riding with the Steelers.”

Schultz: And let’s be honest: the Lions players were mean to him.

Green: [Laughs] The Lions used to have training camp at Saginaw Valley State University. Some of the players were nice, but the majority of them were complete assholes. I just used to be, like, “Ah, that’s why y’all suck.”

Green: A lot of people in that state would be happy as hell, man. It’ll do so much for the community and the economy. So I would love to see a Steelers-Lions Super Bowl, and hopefully the Lions can get the same economic growth from losing in the Super Bowl as they can from winning it. [laughs]

But seriously, you got people like my grandfather who was a huge Lions fan. He passed away when I was a freshman in college. He never seen the Lions win in his life. You want that for people like him. Michigan produces great people. I would love to see them have that type of success.

Schultz: No city, no region, no state is more deserving of a Super Bowl than the Lions and Detroit and Michigan as a whole. It’s an incredible fan base and they’ve been completely reenergized by a head coach who embodies everything they’re all about.

Green: The Cowboys. I love seeing the Cowboys lose.

Schultz: Draymond takes it to another level. He’s spiteful. He wants to see Jerry Jones in his suite squirming because they just got blown out.

Green: Show him!

Schultz: He wants to see Jerry Jones in a bad mood, in a bad mental state.

Green: I do because, like: Jerry, you were great at the thing that got you the Dallas Cowboys; let somebody else be great at running it and putting the team together. I just don’t like that.

Green: NBA players are more chill. NFL players are more lively and in your face. They give a crazy energy off. NBA players almost duck, if that makes sense.

Schultz: That’s just a basketball vibe, though. Like basketball players walk slow. Basketball players don’t dance. Kobe always said, “I don’t dance. I just post up in the club.” That’s a hoop vibe.

Schultz: So, okay, it has to be a Hall of Fame player, boisterous, controversial, not afraid to—let’s put it delicately—get caught up in a little scuffle or two. And at times be petulant. At times be childish. But generational. So I got all of that. Who’s the guy?

Green: Terrell Suggs.

Schultz: Sizzle! That’s a damn good one. I was thinking Micah Parsons.

Parsons’ might have a podcast like Draymond, but his game has a lot of speed and finesse as an edge rusher. Draymond, I wouldn’t say “speed” and “finesse” are the first two adjectives I think of when describing you.

Green: [Laughs] No sir…

Schultz: Draymond has never been mistaken for speed or finesse. When I first met the guy, I thought to myself, “Man, he looks like he could be playing at the Y.” Like he could go get you 1src and 8 at the Y.

Green: In the first game!

Schultz: Oh, I think I might have it: It’s got to be your Bay Area brother George Kittle.

Green: I rock with George. Moves to the beat of his own drum.

Schultz: Great player. Definitely controversial. Very boisterous.

Green: I like that.

Schultz: Okay, wait, I got one more for you: Marshawn Lynch. That might be the winner.

Schultz: I’ve gotten to know Marshawn over the years and there are a lot of similarities between Beast Mode and Draymond.

Green: That’s my dog, too. That’s the one.