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NFLPA Scrutiny Intensifies & Bears Extend Ryan Poles · The MMQB NFL Podcast

0:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Hello and welcome to the MMTB NFL podcast, Albert Brear is here and he is returned from Nantucket.
0:13
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm here.
0:14
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm still in vacation but the last time that I left Albert tried to replace me with Brady Quinn who was like the hottest, smartest dude on the planet and so you can't really take a full vacation when you know that that's on the table.
0:27
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like
0:29
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like I'll if you for life doesn't want to go to the wedding with you.
0:32
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, oh, don't worry.
0:33
[SPEAKER_00]: I've so fee of Vergara is a plus one.
0:35
[SPEAKER_00]: She'll just come, you know, so you're a big Brady fan too, right?
0:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah.
0:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
0:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
0:41
[SPEAKER_01]: That's your guy.
0:42
[SPEAKER_01]: That was like that.
0:43
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll house for you, too.
0:43
[SPEAKER_01]: Like he would've been like high school.
0:45
[SPEAKER_01]: I think when he was the quarterback there, right?
0:47
[SPEAKER_01]: Big time.
0:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so I mean, it would have been better sweet to obviously have him take my job at Sports Illustrated, but, you know, at the end of the day, you can't be too mad because the guy's a winner.
0:57
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's how it goes.
0:59
[SPEAKER_00]: But we, we figured we pop back in and do a little bit of a news check in as we're just inching towards training camp.
1:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Albert, I'm looking at the, I'm looking at the calendar and we got about, we got about seven days left before this thing really kicks into full gear.
1:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah.
1:17
[SPEAKER_01]: It's, um, I'm trying to figure out my travel, which is, I'm in zero right now.
1:21
[SPEAKER_01]: So I gotta go zero to sixty really fast.
1:24
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm, uh, I'm getting stuff booked out.
1:26
[SPEAKER_01]: And, uh, yeah, man, we're here.
1:29
[SPEAKER_01]: It's, it's interesting.
1:31
[SPEAKER_01]: I, I, I always laugh at the people who are like, the people in media who are, who put up like, fifty days, so it's easy.
1:37
[SPEAKER_01]: And a hundred days, so it's easy.
1:38
[SPEAKER_01]: And as if like, we don't all have that same, like,
1:42
[SPEAKER_01]: first day of school feeling, you know what I mean?
1:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Or when did I school before you went to like two a day, went into two a days?
1:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh yeah, that was the worst.
1:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Because once you're, it's like one of those things, like once you're in it, it's fine.
1:55
[SPEAKER_01]: You know what I mean?
1:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, but it's that idea that like summer is because summer essentially ends for us.
2:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, when training camp starts.
2:06
[SPEAKER_01]: So right, it's just that whole thing that sort of hovering over you that exists.
2:11
[SPEAKER_01]: And I love football season.
2:13
[SPEAKER_01]: I love me to love the NFL and I love my job and I appreciate my job, but yes, it's definitely like there's definitely that thing that's hovering over you that's like
2:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, my life's going to kind of change in a pretty significant way here in a week.
2:30
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm looking for, I love training camp.
2:32
[SPEAKER_00]: I love being a training camp.
2:33
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't wait to get to training camp.
2:35
[SPEAKER_00]: It's going to be very exciting here, especially in the New Jersey area because we're going to get Aaron Glenn and Justin Fields and getting it to see them a little bit going to get to see Jackson Dart over in East Rutherford.
2:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe some Russell Wilson.
2:50
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.
2:51
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, we'll see what happens there.
2:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Lots of moving parts, it'll be a season of, it'll be a season of change.
2:58
[SPEAKER_00]: But while we were gone, we wanted to check up on a few things that happened and way in and Albert, the first thing, obviously, you put this at the top of the show because we can't say anything without discussing the fact that endomic ensue announces retirement, which is like, you know, who the hell thought that guy was still playing football?
3:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's just start here.
3:23
[SPEAKER_01]: he he's such an interesting guy because like I remember watching him at Nebraska and I don't know how much you remember about like the very end of his career at Nebraska how dominant he was oh yeah but it was like the guy looked like the incredible Hulk playing college football and then
3:39
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I think over the course of his NFL career, we saw plenty of flashes of it.
3:44
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, a great, great player.
3:46
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, obviously there was a stuff with the fines and everything else.
3:50
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, you know, there's, I think a little bit of a complicated, like I see there, but a great player who I always had good dealings with whenever I dealt with a really smart guy.
4:02
[SPEAKER_01]: But I don't think that that's what you're looking to do with this one.
4:06
[SPEAKER_00]: No.
4:08
[SPEAKER_00]: No.
4:09
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, don't even cry.
4:10
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, if I didn't help instigate this.
4:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
4:13
[SPEAKER_00]: No.
4:13
[SPEAKER_00]: And that would get so great.
4:14
[SPEAKER_00]: But like, there's this trend of players announcing their retirement, like six years after their last snap is hysterical.
4:22
[SPEAKER_00]: And this, I didn't know, I got keyed into this.
4:27
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, I would say probably about eight or nine years ago.
4:29
[SPEAKER_00]: I used to have a job in NFL network that, and I like my job in NFL network.
4:34
[SPEAKER_00]: It was a lot of fun.
4:34
[SPEAKER_00]: And I got to work with the guys who are now on heat the call and around the NFL podcast, like, and made some of my best friends of my life there.
4:43
[SPEAKER_00]: However, there was one part of the job that I didn't like.
4:46
[SPEAKER_00]: And that was that I had to wake up at six, thirty in the morning.
4:49
[SPEAKER_00]: and I had to watch good morning football.
4:52
[SPEAKER_00]: And I had to write about anything that was interesting that was said on good morning football in order to promote good morning football.
4:59
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I remember being on there, just being up and not really being all that happy about it.
5:05
[SPEAKER_00]: And it was like, again, it was like, two thousand, seventeen.
5:10
[SPEAKER_00]: And they're like, I'll big news today on GMFB, Victor Cruz announces his retirement.
5:14
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, Victor Cruz hasn't played
5:17
[SPEAKER_00]: since like, twenty-fifteen.
5:19
[SPEAKER_00]: And I covered Victor Cruz.
5:21
[SPEAKER_00]: I know Victor, I knew Victor Cruz and I was just like, what do we do in here?
5:25
[SPEAKER_00]: And then now you just start seeing this slow creep of it where God, some of them were so funny.
5:30
[SPEAKER_00]: It was like, twenty-twenty-two Antonio Cromarty announced this as retirement.
5:35
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, I know that guy.
5:36
[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, who do you, four years old?
5:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I think one day they're just kind of bored and it's just like, ah, you know what, let's make this a fool.
5:43
[SPEAKER_01]: Or, you know, sometimes it's strategically to announce something else.
5:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
5:48
[SPEAKER_01]: So sometimes I think it's like, you know, they're launching a foundation or they're taking a job somewhere or whatever it is because I'm sure this is probably partly some public sister PR person or whatever saying like, well, we want to announce this how do we create some juice?
6:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, you never now announced your retirement like this is the perfect chance to do it.
6:13
[SPEAKER_01]: I believe Sue last played in twenty two, right?
6:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Was that the Eagles?
6:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
6:19
[SPEAKER_00]: He was in the Eagles.
6:20
[SPEAKER_01]: He was in the Eagles team, right?
6:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
6:23
[SPEAKER_00]: And Dominic and Sue, yeah, last played when he was thirty-five.
6:27
[SPEAKER_00]: His last pro ball was twenty-sixteen.
6:30
[SPEAKER_00]: He is currently thirty-eight.
6:34
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, happy, what is he going to retire as a lion?
6:37
[SPEAKER_00]: As a dolphin, as an eagle?
6:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Got to be on the line, right?
6:43
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I guess he'd assume that he's going to, I said, as a guy, forgot he spent three years in Tampa Bay.
6:50
[SPEAKER_00]: He's throwing grams during that Super Bowl year.
6:53
[SPEAKER_00]: That would be funny if he just threw the Rams like a ramp.
6:55
[SPEAKER_01]: I thought he was actually like he was pretty good on the Rams, wasn't he?
6:58
[SPEAKER_00]: He was an important part of that Rams Super Bowl team.
7:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
7:02
[SPEAKER_01]: For hours like really probably the last time he was, uh,
7:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Because I don't know how much he did.
7:07
[SPEAKER_01]: I think his impact on the Eagles is relatively limited that year in twenty two.
7:11
[SPEAKER_01]: So.
7:12
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
7:12
[SPEAKER_00]: He played eight games.
7:13
[SPEAKER_00]: He got a sack.
7:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Ten tackles.
7:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it was.
7:15
[SPEAKER_01]: But he's a, he's a perfect example of like the kid.
7:19
[SPEAKER_01]: He's a perfect example of like the guy who, there are only so many people who are built like him who can move like him at his size.
7:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Where, like it's like clowning was kind of clowning is kind of this way too, right?
7:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Like where?
7:32
[SPEAKER_01]: They keep, they can be productive deep into their thirties, just based on like their physical ability and a margin for air, they have physically because of how gifted they are, you know?
7:43
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
7:44
[SPEAKER_01]: So even if they lose a little, they're still pretty good.
7:49
[SPEAKER_00]: I check in the Victor Cruz when a couple of funny things here.
7:52
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you Google, at least on my computer, Victor Cruz announces retirement, you get a photo of Carson Wentz, which I think is really funny, not quite Victor Cruz.
8:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Victor Cruz announces retirement in twenty eighteen.
8:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Last played, so he finished his Giants career really in two thousand fourteen, and then he had the torn Patel attendant, missed all of twenty fifteen, he played fifteen games in twenty sixteen, and then again two-year gap of nothing.
8:22
[SPEAKER_00]: And then on this platform called uninterrupted, he just decides to announce his retirement.
8:28
[SPEAKER_00]: So maybe I'll do that once sports illustrate cans my ass like I'll just come back and be like, you know what guys.
8:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I struck a couple of years and then re-emerge.
8:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Dispear for two years working marketing and then just be like, hey guys, I just wanted to announce my retirement from sports writing.
8:45
[SPEAKER_00]: no career highlights to mention.
8:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, listen, you know, I think it's two sides of the coin and I will put like a serious like not serious button on this, but like it is hard.
8:57
[SPEAKER_00]: I would imagine it is hard for them to it's hard to stop the NFL, right?
9:02
[SPEAKER_00]: It's hard to leave.
9:04
[SPEAKER_00]: It's probably like the greatest drug ever invented for a player, right?
9:08
[SPEAKER_00]: You walk into that facility and everybody's catering to your every need and there's seventy thousand fans screaming at you every Sunday and when it's good, it's probably never as good as anything's ever going to be.
9:18
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I do imagine that there's part of that desire to want to just hold on to something like that.
9:24
[SPEAKER_00]: you know, just want to keep a little taste of it or something and hope that when you go in for the retirement ceremony, the team offers you the greatest job in sports, which is like that one former player that just gets to come back and walk around all the time.
9:38
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what you call it, like director of player development or whatever, but it's like every team has that one former player and he just gets to walk around and just, you know, be that guy, you know, that's the job.
9:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's, it's hard because I, like I, I would say, I would say what you're getting at is actually very real to where I mean, I always say this, like I, I think like the psychology for the a lot of these guys is, it's really difficult, but psychology for a lot of these guys is like imagine you're so gifted when that when you were eight years old, nine years old, ten years old, so gifted to anything.
10:21
[SPEAKER_01]: that like when you were that age, people defined you as this thing, right?
10:26
[SPEAKER_01]: And then you became so good at high school that somebody was willing to let you go to college for free for it.
10:33
[SPEAKER_01]: And then you got we were so good in college at that somebody was willing to pay you millions of dollars to continue playing it.
10:41
[SPEAKER_01]: and it's become so much a part of who you are and how people identify you that's like it's sort of becomes like your whole like like how how how how how everyone looks at you the president through which everyone sees you and then when you're thirty one thirty two
11:03
[SPEAKER_01]: thirty-three years old if you're really good at it someone taps you on your shoulder because you have to be really good at it to make it till you're that age someone taps you on your shoulder and say you can never do this again yeah
11:17
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, psychologically, that's a really tough thing.
11:19
[SPEAKER_01]: It is.
11:20
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
11:21
[SPEAKER_00]: So maybe I'm coming around on the idea of just like, you know, they can come back whenever they want and just announce the retirement.
11:27
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, Albert, we're not here to actually talk about retirement.
11:29
[SPEAKER_00]: That was just fun.
11:31
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that we should get into the meat of the show here.
11:34
[SPEAKER_00]: And one of the things that we discussed before we left was, and if you missed the end of our
11:42
[SPEAKER_00]: optimistic realistic series.
11:43
[SPEAKER_00]: We also tacked on to that last episode, some thoughts on what was going on with the NFL P.A.
11:49
[SPEAKER_00]: and the NFL in this collusion case against fully guaranteed contracts.
11:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, as is expected, the NFL P.A.
11:59
[SPEAKER_00]: rallied hard around Lloyd Hall and released a statement, basically backing him going all in on the new director of the NFL P.A.
12:10
[SPEAKER_00]: What are your thoughts on this?
12:11
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I guess the move is typically nowadays.
12:15
[SPEAKER_00]: You don't see, you don't see an organization immediately react to a piece of journalism and then go, oh no, oh no, and you're right, and he's fired.
12:24
[SPEAKER_00]: It's always immediately defend say that you're going to do some kind of due diligence.
12:30
[SPEAKER_00]: And then if you need to make changes, make changes, but the NFL PA, they said they categorically reject false reports, insinuating doubts within this committee or suggestions that we have asked our executive director to step down.
12:44
[SPEAKER_00]: They're saying,
12:45
[SPEAKER_00]: He's here.
12:46
[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't know.
12:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Take it from here.
12:49
[SPEAKER_00]: What do you think?
12:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, but then they talked about the gathering of the facts and being delivered about it.
12:53
[SPEAKER_01]: So like you were sort of, I mean, they left it open and I and I do think at least from what I've heard, you know, like there's been
13:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Some things happening that would suggest that they're at least preparing for the possibility that something could happen.
13:11
[SPEAKER_01]: And I mean, look, I think one of the most important things with any of these big unions is knowing that the union is fighting for you.
13:20
[SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, I think, I would say like the first of all, the job of the Pablo Torre, and my Florio, and Don Manada, and our friend, Caleb, and Caleb, or have done on this.
13:32
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, Deserves mentioned here, and bringing a lot of stuff out of the white.
13:37
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think, you know, like, there was, I just feel like this has been like a trickle trickle trickle and then splash, right?
13:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, which is like,
13:47
[SPEAKER_01]: The first piece of it was the collusion and the surfacing of the decision by the arbitrator on collusion which didn't convict the NFL but
14:05
[SPEAKER_01]: definitely gave us enough to chew on there and stuff that I think in the past, the union, while D Smith was in charge, they would have viewed what was in that decision as goal, right?
14:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Real evidence that NFL owners are working together to suppress guaranteed contracts.
14:22
[SPEAKER_01]: And the people who missed it and the aftermath of the Sean Watson contract that was known as meeting there were slides presented by the management council.
14:31
[SPEAKER_01]: Why teams couldn't go forward with with with guaranteed contracts the way the Browns did with the Sean Watson.
14:37
[SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, then after that, it was in there that the Broncos had sort of done a U-turn under their new ownership on whether or not they were going to give Russell Wilson a fully guaranteed deal.
14:50
[SPEAKER_01]: And then there was the tax conversation between
14:53
[SPEAKER_01]: The Cardinals owner, Michael Bidwell, the Chargers owner, Dean Spannos, where Spannos said the Bidwell, hey, you know, more or less, hey, thanks for forgetting that deal done the way you got down with Kyle and Murray because it's going to help us with Justin Herbert as far as keeping guaranteed money out of a deal.
15:09
[SPEAKER_01]: So all of that stuff was was really, really damning.
15:12
[SPEAKER_01]: And so
15:13
[SPEAKER_01]: When that story, when the story came out, and it was reported that it was against the wishes of the NFL and the NFLPA, that should have raised a red flag for everybody.
15:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Because the NFL obviously would want that remaining confidential.
15:31
[SPEAKER_01]: But the NFLPA, you would think we'd want to make that as public as humanly possible.
15:36
[SPEAKER_01]: So that, and to me, the next question was, well, why?
15:39
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
15:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
15:41
[SPEAKER_01]: And there are a lot of reasons why.
15:43
[SPEAKER_01]: And part of it relates is I've heard it to this twelve million dollars in legal fees that the NFL feels like they could go after having won the collusion case and did the NFL use that as leverage to get confidentiality on the document and prevent the union from appealing on the decision because the NFLPA is in flush with cash right now.
16:04
[SPEAKER_01]: All that's possible.
16:07
[SPEAKER_01]: But then, and this is where Vinata and Kaelen came into play, there was the detail that, what how is a paid consultant for a private equity firm that is one of the private equity firms has been approved to buy in to NFL ownership.
16:23
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, if you made the effort to get approval to buy in NFL ownership, you obviously intend to buy into an NFL team,
16:31
[SPEAKER_01]: And if Lloyd Hall was working for that firm, then that's a problem.
16:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Because now he is part of a group that's looking to be approved to go into NFL ownership, while also being on the opposite side of the table of owners on behalf of the players.
16:51
[SPEAKER_01]: So the whole thing is really, really murky.
16:53
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think, to me, like,
16:57
[SPEAKER_01]: I know there might be some people out there who's eyes are glazing over hearing all of this, but I just, I think it's really hard if you're a player right now to trust what's happening.
17:08
[SPEAKER_01]: And so how does the NFL PA get the toothpaste back in the tube and get the truck of the player back?
17:15
[SPEAKER_00]: That is, that's the windfall, like that.
17:18
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you're a fan and you're like, why should I care about this?
17:22
[SPEAKER_00]: the entire structure with which players achieve some sort of trust and security in knowing that someone's fighting for them.
17:31
[SPEAKER_00]: And again, I think this is one important note here is to stop and say fans say these guys make millions dollars who cares.
17:39
[SPEAKER_00]: The NFLPA are pushing for at least supposed to be pushing for
17:45
[SPEAKER_00]: objectives that keep them on the field hopefully longer that take care of them when they're done playing and a lot of stuff that's really important to these guys and so when the trust is eroded is quickly as it was
18:02
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what's important.
18:03
[SPEAKER_00]: And you have these rookies going into their first season and they're like, what the hell is going on?
18:08
[SPEAKER_00]: You have these, that's trying to get second contracts that are wondering what on earth is happening here.
18:13
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that that's important because you don't play your best under mass uncertainty.
18:19
[SPEAKER_00]: You just don't.
18:20
[SPEAKER_00]: And the NFLPA was supposed to be a rock for these guys and is struggling to maintain that facade right now.
18:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and I don't know.
18:28
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, again, like I
18:30
[SPEAKER_01]: I've at least heard that there are things happening behind the scenes that are that I mean would would indicate that the NF said that the people who have been involved with the NFLPA are preparing for all outcomes.
18:47
[SPEAKER_01]: I just I don't know, man, like I just it's hard not to for me not to connect this.
18:52
[SPEAKER_01]: back to, you know, where we've been over the last fifteen to twenty years.
18:58
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, D Smith was incredibly combative.
19:01
[SPEAKER_01]: And that was sort of his charge, right?
19:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Like because when he came in, it was with the idea that they had to do things a little bit differently.
19:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Because Gene Upsha, for all all all all the all the great things he he accomplished.
19:18
[SPEAKER_01]: was seen by some as being too cozy with Paul Tagley, but would vice versa.
19:22
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, the owner, not Tagley, but was too cozy with upshot.
19:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
19:26
[SPEAKER_01]: And so like the idea was they were going to have somebody who's going to be a little bit more combative and who was going to go after the league and they got that decent.
19:35
[SPEAKER_01]: The tone of source swung back, you know, with Lloyd Howell, who's taking more of a businessmen's approach to all of this.
19:41
[SPEAKER_01]: And because he's been less combative because he's been less, I would say.
19:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Milton about issues like eighteen games and all that.
19:53
[SPEAKER_01]: It's very easy for anybody now to tie that approach with everything that we found out over the last couple of weeks.
20:02
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, so like if I'm a player right now, I would be I would look at it like
20:10
[SPEAKER_01]: am I positive that the that I've got a guy carrying the flag for me who is vigorously and you know and intentionally and like solely going to be pursuing what's best for me.
20:29
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know how you can be sure of that right now if you're a player.
20:33
[SPEAKER_00]: So here's my long and short of it, right?
20:36
[SPEAKER_00]: He needs to go.
20:38
[SPEAKER_00]: And it just needs to be wrong.
20:41
[SPEAKER_00]: And there are things that just need to be wrong.
20:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Is this a bad take?
20:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, for example, Tom Brady should not be a minority owner of the Raiders.
20:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, and I'm sick of all these little things where we just take the rules and then we just stretch them and then we pull them out and we hold them up in a way that's like, okay, well, if you look at it really this way, then this person can do that or that person can do this, even though it very clearly says in any sort of document that we make up about the rules of this organization that it shouldn't happen.
21:12
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, I think everybody is innocent until proven guilty,
21:17
[SPEAKER_00]: There is a point here where some people in power just get to milk the teeth for so long and it's just like dude.
21:24
[SPEAKER_00]: You got caught.
21:25
[SPEAKER_00]: The guy that you installed as the executive director is trash talking the players on text messages that we're seeing like all this needs to be cleared out.
21:34
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't care what good you did.
21:35
[SPEAKER_00]: You all have to go and you have to be replaced.
21:38
[SPEAKER_00]: and you have to be replaced with people that have a responsibility for these players and are going to give the middle finger to the NFL and are going to get these guys what they want.
21:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, you know, so for me, I think it's just we can sit here all day and intellectualize and intellectualize, but all we're doing is giving this guy a massive excuse on a silver platter.
22:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Just get him out.
22:01
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like, and I don't know that people really understand the uphill battle, that the NFL PA is fighting.
22:08
[SPEAKER_01]: It's incredibly different.
22:10
[SPEAKER_01]: It is, you know, and it's, yeah.
22:12
[SPEAKER_01]: And I, like, I always said this about these myths, like, I think it was, you know, like, for what he was given, I think he did a pretty decent job.
22:22
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's because ultimately like in sports unions that the ultimate trump card is the workstop.
22:30
[SPEAKER_01]: It is how do you make the owners feel pain?
22:33
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, you make the owners feel pain by taking money out of their pocket and the way you do that is by stopping working.
22:40
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's a really difficult thing to do if you're rank and file player.
22:45
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is where the NFL is different than the other sports is maybe going to make it two or three years.
22:51
[SPEAKER_01]: And the league is maybe going to make it to a million dollars in career earnings is
22:58
[SPEAKER_01]: on a non-garity contract.
23:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Like to me, that's, I mean, all of it, right?
23:04
[SPEAKER_01]: Like you add the whole thing up, and it's really, really, really difficult to win anything because those players aren't walking away from paychecks to make a point.
23:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Those players aren't walking away from paychecks and rightfully so to benefit somebody ten or twenty years from now.
23:22
[SPEAKER_01]: And it was proven in two thousand eleven.
23:25
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, like when
23:27
[SPEAKER_01]: When the NFLPA took the owners to the map and fought and fought and then right before training camp wound up striking a deal it's because they knew
23:39
[SPEAKER_01]: the union, the people in charge of the union, they knew where their limits were.
23:44
[SPEAKER_01]: And so it's a tough job.
23:47
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, like the ranking file, bad pass of all player makes you four or five million dollars a year and last a decade and only.
23:52
[SPEAKER_01]: Like it's just, that guy can, that guy can sacrifice a couple pay paychecks to make a point.
23:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Like a football player can't, you know, the rank and file football players can.
24:02
[SPEAKER_01]: It's an incredibly difficult job and it takes somebody who I really feel this way.
24:10
[SPEAKER_01]: It takes somebody who is all in and that's why I think you're looking at it now and like even like the appearance of him being well maybe he's ten percent over there on the other side, fifteen percent over there on the other side like that's unacceptable like that's not good enough and if it's proven to be
24:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, the case, then I'm with you.
24:34
[SPEAKER_01]: He has to be out.
24:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Until that happens.
24:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, where do you go as a player?
24:42
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just like, you know, it really is, it really is silly.
24:49
[SPEAKER_00]: And this guy was double dipping.
24:52
[SPEAKER_00]: And I read the statements.
24:54
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, Oh, well, he had nothing to do with this.
24:56
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm sorry, pal.
24:59
[SPEAKER_00]: You can't do it, right?
25:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
25:01
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.
25:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Just can't do it.
25:02
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a pretty smart guy.
25:03
[SPEAKER_00]: You, you should know better.
25:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, open and shut.
25:08
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what I wish, you know, again, I don't want this immediate like end of Batman Dark Knight Rises speed trials where you just get thrown into a river if you do something bad.
25:18
[SPEAKER_00]: But like, you know, we can, I think the NFLPA can, can restart here.
25:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Couple more just quick ones before we go.
25:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Ryan Poles got an extension.
25:28
[SPEAKER_00]: The GM of the Bears to match that of match the terms of that of Ben Johnson.
25:33
[SPEAKER_00]: I think this is a good move.
25:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Ryan Poles is really impressed me.
25:37
[SPEAKER_00]: I think I was a little bit initially dismissive when he got the job.
25:41
[SPEAKER_00]: That said, the dream team that he's built with Ian cutting him who's probably going to be a GM this coming off season and they might lose him certainly, but that team that he's built
25:53
[SPEAKER_00]: the, at least the capability of players that they found in the mid to late rounds to expedite this rebuild.
26:02
[SPEAKER_00]: And some of the moves that they made, I just think were really smart.
26:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Like the Montes Sweat deal before the edge pressure market exploded.
26:08
[SPEAKER_00]: The DJ more thing on his contract at the time, which was such an anomaly for receivers.
26:12
[SPEAKER_00]: It was such a, it was on the lower end.
26:14
[SPEAKER_00]: and to put yourself in the position to push off the drafting of a QB one more year until you lock in either Caleb Williams or Jaden Daniels, and we can argue whether they made the right or wrong decision there.
26:27
[SPEAKER_00]: But what we do know is that he also won what I would assume or what I would call the executive Super Bowl in landing Ben Johnson.
26:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Now Ben can be good or bad, but you had to be good to get him there.
26:40
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that that's worth mentioning and that's worth noting.
26:44
[SPEAKER_00]: And so, yes, have the wins come for Ryan Polls yet?
26:48
[SPEAKER_00]: No.
26:49
[SPEAKER_00]: But I think that as a GM sometimes, you can't be judge on wins and losses.
26:55
[SPEAKER_00]: And I know that's crazy.
26:57
[SPEAKER_00]: But let's see what he does now that he has Ben Johnson in the fold.
27:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean, I think like the Bryce Young trade, obviously, I think that stands as something that like, like if Caleb Williams pans out, it winds up being the thing that's hit the bears up for a decade, fifteen years of success, you know?
27:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
27:19
[SPEAKER_01]: So like that's obviously a win for him and being able to read that correctly.
27:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Even if you don't wind up, even if you don't wind up getting the number one overall picked the next year,
27:30
[SPEAKER_01]: You probably would have gotten a quarterback.
27:32
[SPEAKER_01]: You know what I mean?
27:33
[SPEAKER_01]: Because the twenty four class people were looking at it back then and saw Drake May.
27:38
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if Jayden was seeing quite in that light yet, but there was definitely a feeling that this was going to be a really good quarterback group.
27:46
[SPEAKER_01]: So trading out of twenty three into twenty four.
27:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, you know, like you can talk about CJ Stroud is part of that equation too, but overall to get all that capital and wind up with a quarterback of the future.
28:00
[SPEAKER_01]: And still have the space to be aggressive this off season and go and get your tuning in Jonah Jackson and Drew Dalman on the veteran market.
28:09
[SPEAKER_01]: There are a lot of things just as far as how he's managed his assets that I think are pretty impressive to me like what this really came down to was.
28:20
[SPEAKER_01]: How do Ben Johnson and Ryan Poles get along?
28:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Like how does that work?
28:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Because I think these these arranged marriages can be right with with problems.
28:32
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think it was even smarter the bears to give that thing some runway and and and and let everybody see how it looked, you know, and so I think even that piece of it's important and now, you know, both those guys are locked in through through twenty twenty nine and you have
28:49
[SPEAKER_01]: You have the guys kind of with their futures linked together.
28:52
[SPEAKER_01]: And again, that's sort of dummy to me at least has a really important thing.
28:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Because if that relationship isn't where it needs to be, it can really blow a lot of things up.
29:05
[SPEAKER_01]: And so like having, having polls and Johnson working together for five months then doing the deal, I think was smart too.
29:13
[SPEAKER_00]: You have to, and remember, I mean, you wrote this, I wrote this at the time.
29:17
[SPEAKER_00]: Organizational stability was the cornerstone of the Ben Johnson sweepstakes.
29:22
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what you wanted.
29:23
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, that was, that was the qualification to get him there.
29:26
[SPEAKER_00]: That's why Jacksonville never got off the starting block at a time when that's what we're ready to make.
29:31
[SPEAKER_01]: Fifteen phone calls are going to be even interview, you know.
29:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
29:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
29:35
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that whether or not it works.
29:39
[SPEAKER_00]: You're setting, you're at least setting the table for something that makes sense.
29:44
[SPEAKER_00]: These guys get along if they have demonstrated ability to work together.
29:48
[SPEAKER_00]: If Ben can go up to Ryan Paul's office and say, here are like the five or six guys that I need or here's the kind of guy that I need and Ryan Paul can come back with a list and say, Pup, pup, pup, pup, pup, great.
30:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Then that's it.
30:01
[SPEAKER_00]: That's all you're doing.
30:04
[SPEAKER_00]: We make this out to be a mystifying process.
30:08
[SPEAKER_00]: What it always ends up being is the teams that work really well together and the personnel departments that understand what the coaching staff needs and the coaching staff that understands the limits on the personnel department, they end up doing pretty good.
30:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and I know so I think that was a good job.
30:25
[SPEAKER_00]: It was a nice move just to get polls under contract and to kind of fortify that because the last thing you want is then to now that you got Ben in the fold, you don't want to set yourself up now for an unseeding of the GM and then you're just starting this whole cycle over again.
30:41
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think anybody wants that.
30:44
[SPEAKER_00]: couple more here.
30:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Quitchon Jenkins arrested for a misdemeanor domestic battery.
30:51
[SPEAKER_00]: So we're we're taping this on Saturday or we're taping this on Monday the the fourteenth.
30:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Juddkins spent Saturday night in jail was released on twenty five hundred dollars bond.
31:04
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a misdemeanor charge.
31:06
[SPEAKER_00]: of domestic battery.
31:07
[SPEAKER_00]: He has a no contact order with the victim and is prohibited from having access to firearms.
31:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Judgins is, again, if you're Cleveland, you need a, you need such a reboot from the Watson era.
31:28
[SPEAKER_00]: And I just feel like this team is now
31:32
[SPEAKER_00]: clouded with almost as many distractions in a non-positive sense as they were when they had Watson and without the benefit of the doubt organizationally that they know how to handle this and and again you don't want to put anything in the same bucket so I'm just saying distraction as a big umbrella domestic battery and speeding
31:55
[SPEAKER_00]: are not the same thing, but you have the highest profile player in the draft who you took in the fifth round for some reason, even though you had other quarterbacks, who's been arrested multiple times for basically race speeding in Ohio, and then you have your second round pick, and this is happening, and Watson is still kind of nebulously in the fold somehow, and I just don't, you know,
32:19
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't see the urgency here to really sweep out the sweep out the house here and get a clean start for them, you know?
32:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean, it's just like a lot of stuff.
32:29
[SPEAKER_01]: And again, like I use the word distraction.
32:33
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to use the word noise and like that.
32:36
[SPEAKER_01]: I think we both know how serious these charges are.
32:40
[SPEAKER_01]: There are some things about them that that I think, you know, making scratch your head a little bit and and wonder like,
32:49
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, like, do we need to give this a little bit more time?
32:52
[SPEAKER_01]: Which I think we do, you know what I mean?
32:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I think we have to see how all of this plays out.
32:58
[SPEAKER_01]: But, you know, because there was the period, I guess, where she was with him for five days after, and then filed, filed with charges, it's definitely, it's definitely one, I think we just want to like, you know, be careful about taking our time with, but, look, like this stuff keeps happening, you know, and it's something that the team will have to deal with, and that's,
33:20
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the tough spot to be in for Kevin's defense key.
33:23
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, where they are and I think, you know, with some of their players, the core of their team getting older, you know, where are they at going into camp and you look at the front end of their schedule.
33:35
[SPEAKER_01]: It's interesting, Connor, because I wrote this as part of my, you know, my, my column looking forward to training camp.
33:40
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like,
33:43
[SPEAKER_01]: If you look at the start of their schedule, it's not like they're going to be easing into things.
33:48
[SPEAKER_01]: They're first six games, it's the Bengals, and then five playoff teams in a row.
33:58
[SPEAKER_01]: There's no soft landing for them.
34:01
[SPEAKER_01]: The idea that they can work their quarterback situation out over the first few weeks, the season really isn't there for them.
34:10
[SPEAKER_01]: So I don't know where this, I'm not sure exactly where this goes next, but it's definitely not a good development based on where things are at and the off season that they've had and we'll see where things go from here.
34:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you looking at right now?
34:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Just because I feel like when this guy has gotten the runway to just do his job, he's been fantastic.
34:38
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, you lift a team with Joe Flacco into the playoffs.
34:42
[SPEAKER_00]: You coach a team with Baker Mayfield into the playoffs.
34:44
[SPEAKER_00]: And even though he was home with COVID at the time, a first round playoff went over the Steelers, which is probably the most important victory of the rebirth Browns franchise, which I would know something about.
34:56
[SPEAKER_00]: And so
34:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, at what point does he kind of run upstairs and say, can I just, can I have five minutes to just put this team together and to do what I am capable of doing?
35:10
[SPEAKER_00]: It really does have to be frustrating.
35:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean, and I think I do wonder, like, how much of some of this stuff does wear on him where he knows he can coach.
35:22
[SPEAKER_01]: He's proven he can be a very competent head coach in the NFL.
35:29
[SPEAKER_01]: Where his fingerprints are relative to everybody else.
35:31
[SPEAKER_01]: I hate to say this, but
35:34
[SPEAKER_01]: I do think it exists with some of the teams that are more analytically driven.
35:39
[SPEAKER_01]: I think we've seen the character, maybe hasn't come in as much, you know what I mean?
35:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Like where they've been more willing to take character risks.
35:48
[SPEAKER_01]: And the Browns are certainly a team that's in that category where, you know, I don't know that they take the person that they're drafting into account quite as much as some other team.
36:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, yeah.
36:05
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I, I think that that's the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the,
36:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Why not call the Steelers on my Tom, and why not call the Rams on Shomik Bay?
36:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Why not call the Niners on Kyle Shanahan?
36:33
[SPEAKER_01]: All they can say is no.
36:35
[SPEAKER_01]: You know what I mean?
36:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
36:37
[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, I mean, I, this is a very difficult task that's in front of Kevin's defense.
36:44
[SPEAKER_01]: He's right now based on the quarter-exituation based on some of these other things that are going on based on the front end of the schedule.
36:52
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe they come out of this and holy crap.
36:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Have they built some momentum for twenty twenty six with how they play in twenty twenty five.
37:00
[SPEAKER_01]: But this works like a really, really difficult task that everybody has in front of them.
37:04
[SPEAKER_01]: And like you said, I'm sure to some degree is going to wear on the head coach.
37:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Gotta go get the quarterback too.
37:10
[SPEAKER_00]: But I was saying that all off season.
37:11
[SPEAKER_00]: I do.
37:12
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm fixed next year.
37:13
[SPEAKER_01]: So having Jacksonville's pickle held.
37:16
[SPEAKER_00]: that's true and you know who knows if they're going to take off last but not least Albert like none of the second round picks have still signed their contracts I find this to be funny can you walk the listeners through why this is happening
37:32
[SPEAKER_01]: So, all right, so I'm gonna pull up the name so I have them, but the first guy, the most relevant name here is a guy named Jaden Higgins from Iowa State.
37:44
[SPEAKER_01]: He was the, I believe the second pick of the second round, so the third fourth overall pick.
37:51
[SPEAKER_01]: And the note, no player had gotten a fully guaranteed contract in the second round until now.
38:01
[SPEAKER_01]: the Texans have been kind of more forward thinking with this stuff and they don't necessarily go in everybody else's precedent.
38:08
[SPEAKER_01]: And so they wanted to get them done early.
38:11
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I think in exchange for Jayden Higgins side doing the deal by the Texan structure, Jayden Higgins was able to get a fully guaranteed contract.
38:22
[SPEAKER_01]: What does that mean?
38:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Well now, because Jayden Higgins got a fully guaranteed contract
38:28
[SPEAKER_01]: Carson Swashinger, who was the first pick of the second round, was going to ask for a second, and the first was going to ask for full guaranteed contract, and the next day he got it.
38:36
[SPEAKER_01]: So that was, I believe, May eighth, that Hagan signed, and then May ninth, that Swashinger signed.
38:42
[SPEAKER_01]: So since then, nobody else has signed in the second round out of fear, out of the agent's fear, that the guys in front of you are going to get fully unit T contracts or worse, a guy behind you is going to get a fully unit T contract.
38:58
[SPEAKER_01]: So really right now there are a couple.
39:01
[SPEAKER_01]: I'd say a couple of guys who are who are Lynch pins the whole thing.
39:04
[SPEAKER_01]: Nick even worry was the thirty fifth pick.
39:07
[SPEAKER_01]: Obviously he would be the next one to go.
39:09
[SPEAKER_01]: And a lot of folks thought like he had a shot to go in the first round.
39:15
[SPEAKER_01]: I think if Grey's able hadn't been there at AT might have been a consideration for the geox in the first round.
39:21
[SPEAKER_01]: He goes thirty fifth overall instead.
39:23
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's relevant because of the guy sees himself as a first round pick.
39:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe he wants a first round pick contract.
39:30
[SPEAKER_01]: And he sees the two guys in front of him.
39:31
[SPEAKER_01]: We've got the fully guaranteed deals.
39:33
[SPEAKER_01]: Then the pick after him is Judkins, which before all of this, and I don't know how all of this is no effect things.
39:39
[SPEAKER_01]: But if you're Judkins, you're looking at it.
39:42
[SPEAKER_01]: You're saying, well, you gave the guy pick three picks ahead of me.
39:46
[SPEAKER_01]: Carson, Swashager, who also was picked by the Browns, a fully guaranteed contract.
39:50
[SPEAKER_01]: So you got to give me one, two.
39:51
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a three-pick difference there.
39:53
[SPEAKER_01]: I should get this deal.
39:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Then further down and then further down and forward, you've got Tyler's shock.
39:59
[SPEAKER_01]: who the quarterback generally get a premium in how they're rookie contracts are structured.
40:05
[SPEAKER_01]: So he's seen as an important one, too.
40:08
[SPEAKER_01]: And so not only are guys like Luther Bird and Traveon Henderson who are there at thirty nine thirty eight not only are they looking at the guys in front of them, they're also concerned with the guy behind them because if the guy behind them gets a fully guaranteed contract and they don't do that's a problem.
40:26
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's just, I think, turned into this big, staring contest with all of these different dynamics at work.
40:32
[SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, we're getting closer to turning camp now.
40:35
[SPEAKER_01]: And, um, are these deals going to be fully guaranteed if they aren't what percentage is?
40:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, you know, you want to get obviously close to a hundred percent if you're sitting there in the thirties and then
40:46
[SPEAKER_01]: If those percentages or if they're fully guaranteed, if those deals get done, then that obviously could affect the guys in the forties, then the guys in the forties could affect the guys in the fifties and so everybody's just sort of sitting there and waiting, which is
41:03
[SPEAKER_01]: really weird because it's the whole round.
41:06
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, so really this started with Jaden Higgins, who has Patrick Mahomes agent, interestingly enough, getting the fully guaranteed deal.
41:16
[SPEAKER_01]: And that was more than two months ago now that he signed that deal.
41:19
[SPEAKER_01]: So obviously, he's had a pretty big effect on everybody else.
41:23
[SPEAKER_00]: This is one of these like fun offseason storylines and fun in air quotes just because like I'm a parent you're a parent and you know that there's these things that your kids do that just push you over the edge and you know you're you're already writing this razor's edge of sanity and then all of a sudden you're getting ready to come back from your ten day vacation which is the only ten days you basically get to spend with your family all year
41:48
[SPEAKER_00]: And then you come back and you walk into the building and then just like, oh yeah, those three second round picks that you had none of them are here.
41:53
[SPEAKER_00]: And they're probably not going to be here for a while.
41:55
[SPEAKER_00]: You just slam the desk.
41:58
[SPEAKER_00]: But I enjoy this kind of stuff.
42:02
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that contractual minutia can be really funny.
42:06
[SPEAKER_00]: And I would urge anybody if you can ever get your hands on an NFL contract.
42:10
[SPEAKER_00]: There are a lot of fun to read.
42:12
[SPEAKER_00]: There's some ridiculous shit in there.
42:15
[SPEAKER_00]: for this to be like the second round pick revolution.
42:19
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm all for it.
42:20
[SPEAKER_00]: I want these guys to get some, right?
42:22
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.
42:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Everybody cave.
42:24
[SPEAKER_00]: And then the third round picks won't want it next year.
42:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Then the fourth round picks won't sign it next year.
42:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
42:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, well, you need that.
42:31
[SPEAKER_00]: You need to replace Lloyd Hal with the, you know, I don't know.
42:33
[SPEAKER_00]: I saw the new Superman movie over the weekend.
42:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you're.
42:35
[SPEAKER_00]: How was it that?
42:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, so good.
42:38
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm excited to see.
42:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I'm like, are you going?
42:42
[SPEAKER_01]: I've got my kids excited.
42:43
[SPEAKER_01]: I think we're going to find a day this week to go.
42:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah, so we need Superman and charge to the NFL PA.
42:49
[SPEAKER_00]: He'll get it done.
42:49
[SPEAKER_00]: He'll figure it out.
42:51
[SPEAKER_00]: All right.
42:52
[SPEAKER_00]: So we are back.
42:53
[SPEAKER_00]: We are back and start sort of.
42:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Next week will be fully back.
42:59
[SPEAKER_00]: So this was like a, hey.
43:02
[SPEAKER_00]: I just wanted to check in and see how everyone was doing episode.
43:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Next week we'll be back with two.
43:06
[SPEAKER_00]: The week after that, if I'm not mistaken, and if I am, I will clear it up.
43:11
[SPEAKER_00]: But once training camp starts Albert, we're rolling three times a week, baby.
43:17
[SPEAKER_00]: The people want more, and so I will be locked in on the home studio.
43:21
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll be getting beaming Albert in from all other places, parts unknown, all over the country, and it's here.
43:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Like we set the date for my
43:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Big fantasy drafts like it's happening, you know?
43:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
43:35
[SPEAKER_00]: This is happening.
43:36
[SPEAKER_00]: So do everything that you need to do now before you ignore your family and kids for the next six months, you know.
43:44
[SPEAKER_00]: That's right.
43:45
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm on.
43:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's see you guys next week.
44:01
[UNKNOWN]: you