Latest / 3 and Out with John Middlekauff / Ravens-Jaguars Thursday Night Football Preview, Brandon Aiyuk Potential Return, A.J. Brown's Future & NFL Mailbag

Transcript

Ravens-Jaguars Thursday Night Football Preview, Brandon Aiyuk Potential Return, A.J. Brown's Future & NFL Mailbag · 3 and Out with John Middlekauff

0:15
Speaker 1: What is going on, my friends, family, and podcast listeners?
0:21
Speaker 1: How are we doing? John Middlecoff, the Renown Podcast. Hopefully
0:23
Speaker 1: you are doing well out there, doing better than the Ravens,
0:26
Speaker 1: who obviously have a lot of quarterback issues, needs, and
0:30
Speaker 1: made a move today. Playing the Jags, who are a
0:32
Speaker 1: 10-plus point favorite. Who knows? By the time the game
0:35
Speaker 1: kicks off in Baltimore, on the road short week, wouldn't
0:39
Speaker 1: stun me if it's like 12, 13 points. But we'll
0:43
Speaker 1: dive into some thoughts there. Brandon Ayuk hires Drew Rosenhaus
0:46
Speaker 1: and is going to attempt to make a comeback. We
0:49
Speaker 1: have the college football committee. We got Phillip Rivers, who
0:52
Speaker 1: looks like he's going to be the next head coach
0:53
Speaker 1: at NC State. Micah Parsons, Could he play this week?
0:57
Speaker 1: He's returning to practice on a limited basis. We'll do
1:01
Speaker 1: some mailbag questions. At John Middlecoff is the Instagram. Fire
1:04
Speaker 1: into those DMs. Get your questions answered here on the show.
1:07
Speaker 1: Unlike last week where the trades were a-flying, I could
1:11
Speaker 1: use a big trade just out of left field. But,
1:14
Speaker 1: you know, beggars can't be choosers. We've still got several
1:16
Speaker 1: days until the deadline ends. And we'll do some mailbag questions,
1:20
Speaker 1: like I said, other than that. Yeah, so you guys
1:23
Speaker 1: know the drill. Three Now Podcast, if you listen on Collins,
1:26
Speaker 1: make sure you subscribe to my feed. Make sure you
1:30
Speaker 1: check us out on Netflix. Hit the alerts and you
1:32
Speaker 1: will never miss an episode. I also threw something up
1:35
Speaker 1: on YouTube today. The top five teams in the NFL
1:40
Speaker 1: heading into week nine. We're shuffling because we've got a
1:43
Speaker 1: lot of movement. We've got winners and losers every week.
1:45
Speaker 1: Things change. Poor quarterback play. Rough L's and big wins.
1:51
Speaker 1: It's a fluid process. But let's just dive into the
1:55
Speaker 1: game tonight. Ravens trade for Jacoby Brissett, who got benched
1:59
Speaker 1: last week and was going to be the third stringer.
2:01
Speaker 1: You have the Eagles benching Tanner McKee for Joe Milton,
2:06
Speaker 1: who's never really played in the NFL in regular season games.
2:10
Speaker 1: Sam Darnold is injured, and Drew Locke, who is also injured,
2:16
Speaker 1: Should be the starter this weekend against Arizona, but if
2:19
Speaker 1: he's not able to go because they have to see
2:22
Speaker 1: how he can throw throughout the week because he's dealing
2:23
Speaker 1: with an elbow injury, then probably Jalen Milrow would go.
2:27
Speaker 1: Deshaun Watson's in the concussion protocol, so Shador Sanders is
2:31
Speaker 1: looking like he's going to start for the Cleveland Browns.
2:33
Speaker 1: I mean, we're not even we just Halloween was like
2:37
Speaker 1: two days ago. And we're not even talking about the
2:40
Speaker 1: other quarterbacks who are missing in action because of injuries.
2:43
Speaker 1: I mean, the quarterback carnage going on right now in
2:47
Speaker 1: the NFL is pretty crazy. Right. You're talking Sam Darnold,
2:50
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hurts. Deshaun Watson, whatever. I think we'd
2:55
Speaker 1: all rather watch Shador Sanders. Deshaun Watson stinks. I mean,
2:59
Speaker 1: anyone acting like they were winning some games that he
3:02
Speaker 1: was playing a big role in that is laughable. I
3:06
Speaker 1: think if you're a Browns fan, it's like, hey, we're
3:09
Speaker 1: not going anywhere anyway. I mean, we're very competitive, but
3:12
Speaker 1: I'd rather just see what Shador has in the bag
3:14
Speaker 1: so we can focus on the, you know, if we
3:16
Speaker 1: win seven, eight games, that is a dramatic improvement. And
3:21
Speaker 1: no more Deshaun Watson. Let's just adios, buddy. But we
3:25
Speaker 1: had a Thursday night game, which I would say coming
3:29
Speaker 1: into the season would have been viewed as like, you know,
3:32
Speaker 1: an early November playoff game. Jack's going on the road
3:36
Speaker 1: against the Baltimore Ravens. Lamar Jackson and his new coaching
3:40
Speaker 1: staff against Trevor Lawrence and Liam Cohen, who won the
3:45
Speaker 1: division last year, who went toe-to-toe with the Buffalo Bills
3:48
Speaker 1: in the first round. Trevor Lawrence made some awful plays
3:51
Speaker 1: in that game. But overall, incredible season, and they have
3:54
Speaker 1: backed it right back up. They have the best point
3:56
Speaker 1: differential in the NFL. I saw a good stat today.
4:01
Speaker 1: A buddy sent me this. In their last 16 games
4:04
Speaker 1: as a favorite, they are 12-3-1. And they win by
4:08
Speaker 1: an average margin of victory of basically nine points. So
4:14
Speaker 1: whatever that line is, three, five, six, they win by
4:17
Speaker 1: nine points more than it. And they're averaging 14 plus
4:21
Speaker 1: blowouts in these games. And three of their five wins
4:24
Speaker 1: this year have been ass kickings. One thing the Jags
4:30
Speaker 1: are good at, when they get early momentum in a
4:32
Speaker 1: game and get a couple score lead, they just keep
4:35
Speaker 1: doubling down. They did it week one. They did it
4:37
Speaker 1: last week against the Colts. They are kings. And they
4:43
Speaker 1: were like this last year too. When they get momentum
4:46
Speaker 1: on their side, Watch out. I mean, last weekend, I
4:50
Speaker 1: get it. The Colts were in one, two, three quit mode.
4:53
Speaker 1: I don't even blame them. I mean, they're not good anyway,
4:56
Speaker 1: and they trade two of their best players, and it
4:59
Speaker 1: feels like everyone else in the roster is tradable. You know,
5:01
Speaker 1: Carly's taking notes there on the sideline. Shane doesn't have
5:04
Speaker 1: his GM anymore and kind of feels lost. Just a disaster.
5:08
Speaker 1: And the Jags treated him like a JV team. Now,
5:12
Speaker 1: that's not the Ravens, but... I do think, and you
5:16
Speaker 1: saw it against the Bills, it's really, really hard. We're
5:21
Speaker 1: dealing with human beings. I'll talk about the Lions game
5:25
Speaker 1: tomorrow as we kind of look ahead for the weekend's action.
5:29
Speaker 1: How do you come to grips with having the best
5:32
Speaker 1: week of practice when a guy who all these core
5:36
Speaker 1: guys on that franchise have been together the whole time,
5:39
Speaker 1: he's a team captain, is laying in a hospital bed?
5:43
Speaker 1: We're thrilled to find out that he has movement in
5:45
Speaker 1: his lower extremities, let alone trying to work back to
5:48
Speaker 1: get it above his waistline. Think about the scary situation
5:52
Speaker 1: for all his teammates. How are you focusing? You ever
5:56
Speaker 1: dealt with something pretty traumatic in your life and tried
5:59
Speaker 1: to focus at work, tried to focus at school? It's really,
6:03
Speaker 1: really hard. And obviously there's life and death and life
6:08
Speaker 1: and how you will continue on when talking about Jack Campbell.
6:13
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson, once his thumb heals, will still be Lamar Jackson.
6:19
Speaker 1: I think most of us sitting here, I don't even
6:22
Speaker 1: want to speculate, but talking about Jack Campbell ever playing
6:26
Speaker 1: in the NFL again feels like a pretty big stretch
6:29
Speaker 1: at this point in time. where Lamar Jackson's playing in
6:31
Speaker 1: the NFL again, and if he can stay healthy, he's
6:33
Speaker 1: a great player. But he's nowhere to be found the
6:36
Speaker 1: rest of the season. Their season is over. It's one
6:40
Speaker 1: of those things that, like, if you make a hyperbolic statement, like,
6:42
Speaker 1: I think Steph Curry is better than LeBron James. You're like,
6:45
Speaker 1: hot take, artist. I think Patrick Mahomes is the greatest
6:50
Speaker 1: quarterback of all time, even better than Tom Brady, despite
6:52
Speaker 1: not having as many wins. Like, you can make hot
6:54
Speaker 1: take statements that are like, okay, you're trying to get
6:57
Speaker 1: a little reaction. I think Nikola Jokic is actually better
7:02
Speaker 1: than LeBron James. It's actually really easy to do in basketball.
7:07
Speaker 1: In the NFL, you can just say things and everyone's like, yeah,
7:10
Speaker 1: their season's over. Unofficially, it ended last week when he
7:14
Speaker 1: left the field. And then once we got the news
7:17
Speaker 1: that both the quarterbacks are gone, it's like, see ya, adios.
7:21
Speaker 1: You can't function anymore. You can bring in Jacoby Brissett.
7:24
Speaker 1: He can't move. Jacoby Brissett is the opposite of those
7:28
Speaker 1: two quarterbacks. That's why Snoop Huntley makes so much sense
7:31
Speaker 1: as Lamar's backup. Because there's synergy between the two players.
7:36
Speaker 1: You can call, obviously Lamar is infinitely better, but you
7:40
Speaker 1: can call the same playbook. You can't do that with
7:43
Speaker 1: Jacoby Brissett. It's impossible. It's like, hey, John, I'm going
7:48
Speaker 1: to take away your microphone. Well, guess what? I can't
7:51
Speaker 1: podcast that. Like, it's not going to happen. I remove
7:55
Speaker 1: those guys and I add Jacoby Bursette. Like, I'm giving
7:58
Speaker 1: you a lot of L's. Now, you still have, you know, competitive–
8:03
Speaker 1: history as a franchise in terms of the wiring of
8:06
Speaker 1: the type guys you have in that building. You're not
8:10
Speaker 1: a losing operation. I mean, last year was stunning the
8:13
Speaker 1: way it ended. Shows you how high your floor has been. But, like,
8:18
Speaker 1: I'm sorry when you're resorting to an undrafted free agent
8:21
Speaker 1: from UConn who's also injured right now. It looks like
8:25
Speaker 1: he's going to play in this game. But you could
8:28
Speaker 1: argue the 10-point line for the Ravens doesn't feel high enough. Now,
8:32
Speaker 1: Thursday night games, it's weird. I mean, it would shock
8:36
Speaker 1: nobody if all of a sudden they're up 7-0. But
8:39
Speaker 1: it was kind of like that last week. And then
8:41
Speaker 1: it just, they're not, you know... We'll see. I mean,
8:44
Speaker 1: who knows? The Bills and the Jags might not be
8:46
Speaker 1: that big a difference. I just think this Ravens thing,
8:50
Speaker 1: as human beings inside that locker room, it might actually
8:54
Speaker 1: be easier to play a Thursday night game because you
8:56
Speaker 1: have less time to think about the disaster. You have
8:59
Speaker 1: less time to think about the situation going. I spent,
9:04
Speaker 1: from the moment our season ended, and maybe let's say
9:07
Speaker 1: took a week or two off, to then training, OTAs,
9:11
Speaker 1: my summer of eating healthy, getting up early, pushing myself,
9:17
Speaker 1: training camp, having the most focused, hardest working, you know,
9:22
Speaker 1: in terms of effort I could possibly give. And it
9:25
Speaker 1: all just ends like that on the snap of a finger.
9:28
Speaker 1: It just ends. It's over. And it feels for who,
9:32
Speaker 1: for what at this point in time. And you have a,
9:36
Speaker 1: young coach who's never been a head coach. You have
9:39
Speaker 1: an offensive coordinator who's never called plays and is in
9:42
Speaker 1: their early 30s. That's a hard situation for tenured guys,
9:46
Speaker 1: for the Andy Reeds, for the Sean Patons, for the
9:49
Speaker 1: Mike Vrabel type, like the older guys that have been
9:51
Speaker 1: around the league for 20-plus years leading crews as players
9:55
Speaker 1: and coaches. That's really, really hard for guys that have
9:59
Speaker 1: only been calling plays for a short period of time
10:02
Speaker 1: and in a situation where the standard is really, really high. Now,
10:05
Speaker 1: it's one of those, a lot like the Eagles, you
10:08
Speaker 1: get to the point where no one can even blame
10:10
Speaker 1: you for losing. So you could lose this game 30-10
10:13
Speaker 1: and everyone would be like, what are they supposed to do?
10:15
Speaker 1: And I would agree. But there's a franchise like, what
10:18
Speaker 1: do you do? And this is always the question mark
10:21
Speaker 1: of like, trade everybody. Well, that's not really the way
10:24
Speaker 1: the NFL works. I heard Pellisaro mention this on a podcast.
10:29
Speaker 1: And he's right. He's like, it's so easy to say that,
10:31
Speaker 1: but you still need guys to play for the next
10:34
Speaker 1: nine games. And if you start trading five or six
10:38
Speaker 1: players for just, usually you're not getting premium value for
10:43
Speaker 1: a lot of guys. that you start implementing or inserting
10:49
Speaker 1: practice squad guys, guys off the street who aren't nearly
10:53
Speaker 1: as good, might not know the playbook, might also get injured,
10:57
Speaker 1: and then there's just a snowball effect, and you start
10:58
Speaker 1: embarrassing yourself as a franchise. So I will defend the
11:03
Speaker 1: Colts if they don't trade Jonathan Taylor. Everyone's like, you've
11:07
Speaker 1: got to trade Jonathan Taylor. Do you? I'm not just
11:10
Speaker 1: giving him away. We do need players on our team.
11:13
Speaker 1: This is a league that just shows you over and
11:16
Speaker 1: over and over again that you can turn things around
11:19
Speaker 1: really closely. I don't think John Harbaugh was complaining that
11:23
Speaker 1: they just had some players and valuable talent on the
11:30
Speaker 1: roster when he inherited it. He didn't just have to
11:32
Speaker 1: draft and sign every single guy who can play on
11:35
Speaker 1: his team. in the last six months, he did inherit
11:39
Speaker 1: some guys that I think we all agree that can play.
11:42
Speaker 1: Some guys are better than others, but this isn't baseball.
11:47
Speaker 1: We're just like, blow the whole thing up and we'll
11:49
Speaker 1: just start it from scratch with our minor league system.
11:52
Speaker 1: That's not the way it works. So it's like, yeah,
11:56
Speaker 1: will we trade Jonathan Taylor? Of course we would. But
11:59
Speaker 1: it would probably take like a first and a third.
12:01
Speaker 1: And there are going to be a lot of teams like,
12:02
Speaker 1: we really like Jonathan Taylor, but are we really comfortable
12:04
Speaker 1: giving a first and a third for Jonathan Taylor? And
12:07
Speaker 1: you can make the argument yes, and you can make
12:08
Speaker 1: the argument no. And that's where you get these standoffs.
12:11
Speaker 1: Unless you're willing to kind of give guys away, right?
12:15
Speaker 1: It's pretty easy for the 49ers to make a trade
12:18
Speaker 1: for DeForest Buckner for a fourth-round pick. They're not making
12:20
Speaker 1: that trade for a second-round pick, right? Clearly, the Seattle
12:24
Speaker 1: Seahawks getting Quentin Nelson for a third, like there weren't
12:26
Speaker 1: a lot of teams lining up giving away seconds. So
12:29
Speaker 1: a lot of teams drive a hard bargain because they
12:31
Speaker 1: really value picks. and we could argue till we're blue
12:35
Speaker 1: in the face. Like, do sometimes teams need to be
12:38
Speaker 1: a little less tied to, to pick 87 guys, more
12:44
Speaker 1: than likely that's not going to be a Pro Bowler.
12:47
Speaker 1: So sometimes you've got to live in the moment, but
12:49
Speaker 1: that's also the push and pull between the front office
12:51
Speaker 1: and the coaching staff. They always live in the moment
12:54
Speaker 1: where the front office feels a little more big picture
12:57
Speaker 1: and kind of use the macro kind of view of
13:01
Speaker 1: the operation over the course of the next couple years.
13:05
Speaker 1: It's what makes all these very complicated. I mean, I
13:07
Speaker 1: get a ton of texts or DMs like, who should
13:10
Speaker 1: the Ravens trade? We were texting about it this morning
13:14
Speaker 1: on the three and out group chat of like, should
13:16
Speaker 1: they just blow it up? I guess, but like, who
13:19
Speaker 1: are they? Are they just going to give away Kyle Hamilton? Well,
13:23
Speaker 1: do you know who would want Kyle Hamilton? Jesse Minter
13:26
Speaker 1: the next couple of years when he's the head coach there. Wiggins,
13:30
Speaker 1: I guess Marlon Humphrey maybe. Okay, you could give away
13:34
Speaker 1: guys who are in contract years. Derrick Henry, if he's
13:37
Speaker 1: not going to be on the team. You're not just like, oh,
13:39
Speaker 1: let's trade Zay Flowers now. You're probably not going to
13:42
Speaker 1: do that. That's what makes these situations complicated. The Ravens
13:45
Speaker 1: are clearly teetering and I would expect some fight early.
13:51
Speaker 1: It's at home, but the crowd, the team, this is
13:56
Speaker 1: one of those that can unravel really, really quickly. I
14:07
Speaker 1: need to tell you about this new prediction market called Polymarket.
14:10
Speaker 1: It's the best way to trade in sports. In the past,
14:13
Speaker 1: if you wanted action on the game, you'd put some
14:15
Speaker 1: money in. And if your team was doing well and
14:17
Speaker 1: you wanted to cash out, they would lock the trade
14:21
Speaker 1: or take a big fee. But Polymarket is a prediction market.
14:26
Speaker 1: It's a stock exchange for sports. Buying in and selling
14:30
Speaker 1: out on your terms. I've tried them all. Trust me.
14:35
Speaker 1: And Polymarket is simply the best prediction market. Better than DraftKings, FanDuel, Kalshi,
14:42
Speaker 1: you name it. They're so confident you'll never go back
14:45
Speaker 1: to the other guys. They're giving you a free $ 25
14:48
Speaker 1: on your first trade when you deposit $ 10. And now
14:53
Speaker 1: they've launched a new feature, Squads, a group chat where
14:57
Speaker 1: you can see everyone and what they're trading on. Check
15:01
Speaker 1: the link in the description to join my squad today.
15:05
Speaker 1: and sweat every NFL Sunday with us in the Polymarket app.
15:10
Speaker 1: So download the Polymarket app today and use the code
15:14
Speaker 1: when you sign up. That's code 3OUT. Code 3-O-U-T.
15:17
Speaker 2: Code 3-O-U-T to get $ 25 free after you deposit just $ 10.
15:24
Speaker 2: 18 plus only restrictions and eligibility requirements apply.
15:31
Speaker 1: Not available in all jurisdictions. Trading is risky. 100% loss
15:36
Speaker 1: can occur. See polymarket.com slash TOS for more information. The
15:41
Speaker 1: Polymarket US app serves as an independent software provider and
15:46
Speaker 1: affiliate of Polymarket US and Polymarket Clearing. The CFTC regulated
15:52
Speaker 1: exchange and clearing organization. The other thing talking about unraveling
16:03
Speaker 1: really quickly is Brandon Ayuk. And when you look at
16:06
Speaker 1: the NFL, a lot of players get second chances for
16:10
Speaker 1: heinous things. Things that are honestly unrelatable for a lot
16:14
Speaker 1: of human beings. When some of these stories come out
16:17
Speaker 1: about NFL players, I think it's hard for the average
16:20
Speaker 1: fan who consumes football to go, what did he do?
16:25
Speaker 1: What the fuck just happened? And it's been happening my
16:28
Speaker 1: whole life. And when you're not any good, they just
16:31
Speaker 1: get rid of you and we don't hear about that
16:32
Speaker 1: player anymore. But it also happens historically to prominent names.
16:37
Speaker 1: And guess what happens to those guys? They get second chances.
16:41
Speaker 1: And I would say typically those guys, at least to
16:44
Speaker 1: the general manager, to the owner, to their head coach,
16:48
Speaker 1: try to take responsibility, take accountability, wear it, right? I mean,
16:54
Speaker 1: not lie because when they get caught in lies, that's
16:56
Speaker 1: usually when they get released or whatever. But they tend
17:00
Speaker 1: to have, I would say, at least behind closed doors,
17:06
Speaker 1: be vulnerable and honest about the mistakes they've made. And
17:11
Speaker 1: teams end up looking the other way because of the
17:14
Speaker 1: talent they possess. Well, I always thought Brandon Ayuk was
17:18
Speaker 1: a little overrated, given how much wide receivers we're going
17:22
Speaker 1: to make. And I said it going back a couple
17:24
Speaker 1: years ago, I'm not giving him $ 30 million a year. Like,
17:27
Speaker 1: trade the player, especially in this offense. Now, this was
17:30
Speaker 1: before the guy fell off the deep end and also
17:33
Speaker 1: got injured. But even in the peak of his powers, again, really,
17:37
Speaker 1: really good player. But Kyle's never going to have a
17:40
Speaker 1: wide receiver, unless it's like Mike Evans or Julio Jones,
17:43
Speaker 1: who he's going to want the guy to catch 95
17:45
Speaker 1: to 100 balls. And obviously, Mike's not going to do
17:47
Speaker 1: it this year because of the injuries. But what Brandon
17:51
Speaker 1: Ayuk did post the injury up until a month ago,
17:55
Speaker 1: of every single day on social media, constantly... degrading, talking
18:02
Speaker 1: shit about his organization, his head coach, his general manager,
18:07
Speaker 1: his teammates. I'd argue in a weird way, from a
18:11
Speaker 1: football perspective, from employing a red flag guy, that's about
18:16
Speaker 1: as bad as you can get. Because at least when
18:18
Speaker 1: I employ a guy who's had issues off the field
18:21
Speaker 1: that are heinous and where normal humans go to jail
18:24
Speaker 1: and somehow they avoid, guess what? The judicial system in America...
18:30
Speaker 1: Rewards cash, and a lot of these guys have it,
18:32
Speaker 1: and they're able to circumvent going to prison, where it
18:36
Speaker 1: feels like a lot of us in those scenarios would
18:39
Speaker 1: be in the clink. But that's the way the world works.
18:42
Speaker 1: Have some money, you got a chance to fight it.
18:44
Speaker 1: Glove doesn't quit, you got to quit. Just watch the
18:47
Speaker 1: Norm MacDonald documentary. God, that guy just was relentless on OJ.
18:52
Speaker 1: But Ayuk, his stretch for it felt like a year
18:56
Speaker 1: plus that was... You'd watch and you'd go, this guy
19:00
Speaker 1: needs help. Does this guy have CTE from a knee injury?
19:04
Speaker 1: Why does this guy keep talking about the GM and
19:07
Speaker 1: the head coach and his former teammates? Does this guy
19:10
Speaker 1: ever want to play football again? Those are things that
19:14
Speaker 1: terrify teams. And he's not good enough, given that he
19:17
Speaker 1: hasn't played in years, given that he's coming off a
19:19
Speaker 1: major injury, that you overlook that. Any team, and again,
19:24
Speaker 1: we'll see if this comes to fruition. He actually shows up.
19:27
Speaker 1: He gets his release. Who knows? Kyle Shanahan was asked
19:30
Speaker 1: about it today. Was as dismissive as you can get.
19:35
Speaker 1: I mean, you talk about a guy, you know, he
19:38
Speaker 1: can professionally handle it with the camera on, but that
19:40
Speaker 1: despises that guy and clearly regrets his decision to not
19:46
Speaker 1: allow them to trade him and pay him because Kyle
19:48
Speaker 1: deserves blame there. they were about to trade him and
19:51
Speaker 1: Kyle made sure that that trade did not happen and
19:54
Speaker 1: then he got this massive contract then literally just quit
19:56
Speaker 1: on the team which the 49ers are littered with guys
20:01
Speaker 1: who care a lot NIU clearly does not And when
20:06
Speaker 1: you get guys that don't care about football, when you
20:08
Speaker 1: get guys that are wild cards to publicly dis on
20:13
Speaker 1: coaching staffs, general managers, teammates, I can't see how any
20:19
Speaker 1: general manager worth their salt would take the risk of
20:23
Speaker 1: bringing this guy into their locker room and poisoning it.
20:27
Speaker 1: Because that's what, to me, this guy has proven to be.
20:31
Speaker 1: The risk of bringing this toxicity into your locker room...
20:36
Speaker 1: You can't be shocked when you're dating a stripper and
20:39
Speaker 1: she starts sleeping with someone else. Like if your relationship
20:43
Speaker 1: started with you and your significant other cheating on your
20:46
Speaker 1: significant others at the time, you cannot be stunned later
20:49
Speaker 1: on if that happens to you by her because that's
20:52
Speaker 1: how you met her. Like eventually there are clues of
20:56
Speaker 1: who a person is. And this guy showed us for
20:58
Speaker 1: a long period of time. On top of, I saw
21:00
Speaker 1: David Lombardi tweet out who covers the 49ers. He still
21:03
Speaker 1: has outstanding warrants in the Bay Area for driving around
21:06
Speaker 1: at 90 miles an hour or 25 mile an hour zones.
21:09
Speaker 1: This guy's a clown. This guy, we've got this balance
21:13
Speaker 1: of where you want to feel empathy for someone. He's
21:16
Speaker 1: going through some stuff mentally, and there gets to a
21:19
Speaker 1: point of like, bro, put down the phone. You do
21:22
Speaker 1: not need to be doing this. And it was just relentless.
21:25
Speaker 1: So I would say that any general manager... that is
21:29
Speaker 1: in need of a wide receiver, and clearly there are many.
21:32
Speaker 1: Anyone that brings this guy, and listen, it's the teams
21:35
Speaker 1: because it's Rosenhaus. It's an I scratch your back, you
21:37
Speaker 1: scratch my back. That's kind of how deals are done.
21:40
Speaker 1: I'm not going to be shocked at all if he
21:42
Speaker 1: comes in, if he's released for visits or whatever. But
21:45
Speaker 1: I don't think there would be anything this guy could
21:47
Speaker 1: tell me where I would feel confident and comfortable that
21:51
Speaker 1: he wouldn't do something stupid. And then they might say, well,
21:53
Speaker 1: it's a low risk. If something happens, we will just
21:55
Speaker 1: cut him. It's like, why would you even want that PR?
21:59
Speaker 1: Why would you even want to do that? What has
22:01
Speaker 1: this guy proven? Like, I do understand with all the
22:05
Speaker 1: smoke around Tyreek Hill, now his knee might never work again,
22:08
Speaker 1: that if he was completely healthy, even if the Dolphins
22:12
Speaker 1: had just moved on, why everyone in the league would
22:14
Speaker 1: be interested. Like, all-time great talent. And a proven guy
22:18
Speaker 1: that you could go to war with in big games.
22:21
Speaker 1: This guy, like, to get... The 49ers just had a guy,
22:24
Speaker 1: Terrence Achilles, in a playoff game. Week one came and
22:27
Speaker 1: he was ready to roll. Brandon Ayuk literally just stopped
22:30
Speaker 1: showing up to rehab appointments and cost himself $ 25 plus
22:34
Speaker 1: million in guaranteed money. You know how stupid you have
22:37
Speaker 1: to be to cost yourself that much money when all
22:39
Speaker 1: you have to do is just show up and do
22:41
Speaker 1: some movements with your ankle? Now we're talking about returning?
22:45
Speaker 1: What are we doing? Some other stories. A.J. Brown. I mean,
22:50
Speaker 1: this trade. I'm a huge, I would say, proponent. of
22:58
Speaker 1: any team that wants to get aggressive and make moves
23:01
Speaker 1: that make the casual fan uncomfortable. You traded how much
23:05
Speaker 1: for who? That's usually where you get the biggest returns. Listen,
23:10
Speaker 1: I was dead wrong. When the 49ers traded for McCaffrey,
23:13
Speaker 1: I thought it was insane. I was proven wrong immediately.
23:16
Speaker 1: I think most people around football, I talked to a
23:20
Speaker 1: bunch of Bears fans a week ago. That was a
23:22
Speaker 1: lot to give up for this guy. And I think
23:24
Speaker 1: it's easy for a lot of people to say because
23:25
Speaker 1: we're not watching Titans games. hell Titans fans aren't watching
23:29
Speaker 1: Titans games and then a half in you're like ah
23:32
Speaker 1: should have given up more right but part of getting
23:37
Speaker 1: a high end player sometimes or even a high end
23:40
Speaker 1: player with some question marks maybe they've been banged up
23:43
Speaker 1: maybe they're having a run in with the coaching staff
23:46
Speaker 1: you know might cost you a little bit more than
23:47
Speaker 1: you're comfortable giving but for the Patriots to trade for
23:51
Speaker 1: a guy that had a generative degenerative knee issue and
23:56
Speaker 1: had just been through a lot with the Eagles, like,
24:00
Speaker 1: it's already blown up in their face. Even if I
24:04
Speaker 1: want to give them a pass on the week one injury, which,
24:08
Speaker 1: freak deal. Anyone can get their ankle rolled up and
24:11
Speaker 1: on in playing in the NFL. It's a natural occurrence.
24:15
Speaker 1: Happens all the time, right? Bodies are flying, ankles roll
24:18
Speaker 1: every single game, countless times. Sometimes no big deal, sometimes
24:21
Speaker 1: you're out for a month or whatever. But now that
24:24
Speaker 1: this knee thing's flaring up, That's pretty scary. And you
24:29
Speaker 1: gave him a first round pick in two years. I just,
24:33
Speaker 1: who are you bidding against? Especially when it came out. Yeah,
24:36
Speaker 1: the Rams were really interested in doing it. And then
24:38
Speaker 1: they got a physical and they were like, we're out.
24:40
Speaker 1: So you just see this and you go, we're good.
24:42
Speaker 1: Because why? Mike Frabel coached them five years ago. That's
24:46
Speaker 1: why you got to be very careful about letting coaches
24:48
Speaker 1: get involved in personnel. They're very emotional about this stuff.
24:53
Speaker 1: Because they're just, they're living in the moment. And Elliot Wolfe,
24:59
Speaker 1: I saw the headline on Twitter, was like, he admitted
25:02
Speaker 1: to it over the summer. Well, yeah, no chance he
25:05
Speaker 1: was pulling the trigger on that one. Looks like Micah
25:10
Speaker 1: Parsons is back. The Packers are a pretty big wild
25:12
Speaker 1: card right now. I mean, they.
25:17
Speaker 1: This is a big week for them in New England.
25:20
Speaker 1: Return of Brady. It'll be interesting because, you know, Brady,
25:24
Speaker 1: I heard this about Manning forever. Rodgers probably bears a
25:28
Speaker 1: little of this, though his is directed at the GM.
25:35
Speaker 1: I think he's cool with the organization if Gutekind has
25:37
Speaker 1: ever gone. There is a bitterness when you're an absolute
25:42
Speaker 1: superstar and you're viewed as the poster child for the
25:46
Speaker 1: franchise when they eventually cut you, trade you, or let
25:49
Speaker 1: you walk in free agency. So I think people go
25:52
Speaker 1: back and forth in the New England area. Why isn't Brady...
25:56
Speaker 1: Even during the Super Bowl, he wouldn't pick a side.
25:58
Speaker 1: It's like, Tom. Because there's a part of him, deep inside,
26:06
Speaker 1: there's a resentment toward that brand because they let him go.
26:10
Speaker 1: Even if he loves Robert Kraft, even if Rabel's his boy,
26:15
Speaker 1: that part of him is what helped make him a
26:17
Speaker 1: great player. That drive, that edge, that kind of anger
26:20
Speaker 1: toward other people. You don't maintain a high level of
26:24
Speaker 1: play for multiple decades without having a huge edge to
26:28
Speaker 1: you and to be able to kind of create some
26:33
Speaker 1: motivation that doesn't exist. And I think sometimes it's hard
26:37
Speaker 1: to just take that part out of you as you
26:40
Speaker 1: transition from like sports to real life and just throw
26:43
Speaker 1: it in the trash. I think that becomes part of
26:46
Speaker 1: who you are. Listen, I think a lot of people
26:48
Speaker 1: that never played professional sports have a huge element of
26:52
Speaker 1: that to them. And it drives them on a daily basis.
26:56
Speaker 1: So I think Micah, again, we don't know if he's
26:59
Speaker 1: playing this week, but they traded two first-round picks and
27:03
Speaker 1: they gave him basically $ 150 million guaranteed. So he could
27:09
Speaker 1: really help take them to a new level. And especially,
27:11
Speaker 1: he's going to get a lot of credit if he
27:12
Speaker 1: comes back, he looks fully healthy, and he's able to
27:16
Speaker 1: just stay durable. It's like, this is why I held
27:18
Speaker 1: out a couple weeks longer, maybe a month longer than
27:21
Speaker 1: a lot of you thought I should have. because we
27:24
Speaker 1: were just making sure everything was 100%. Was it going
27:28
Speaker 1: to come back early, pull a calf in the other leg, overcompensate?
27:32
Speaker 1: And he's been vocal about that, which I understand, because
27:35
Speaker 1: it happens all the time, where you injure something else
27:38
Speaker 1: because whatever your major injury was, it just wasn't 100%.
27:44
Speaker 1: And then your body, the setup or structure of the
27:50
Speaker 1: way bodies are, You're not putting the same amount of
27:54
Speaker 1: pressure as you normally would on that joint, on that ligament,
27:59
Speaker 1: and then the extra pressure goes to another part, and
28:03
Speaker 1: that's usually how you get injured. We see it constantly
28:06
Speaker 1: in sports. Phillip Rivers, well, after I recorded yesterday the
28:11
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson story, I think it'd be sick if Russell
28:15
Speaker 1: Wilson was the head coach, Richard Sherman was the defensive coordinator,
28:17
Speaker 1: Marshawn was the offensive coordinator. Maybe get Doug Baldwin in
28:21
Speaker 1: there screaming at people. But there was a report today
28:26
Speaker 1: from Pete Nacos that Rivers is, which is clear, he's
28:30
Speaker 1: their guy. I don't know if you want to just
28:32
Speaker 1: Google Phillip Rivers' son Gunner. Gunner looks like Lattimore from
28:38
Speaker 1: the program. He is, I don't ever remember when I
28:43
Speaker 1: was in high school or when I was involved in
28:45
Speaker 1: high school recruiting. ever seen a human being that looked
28:49
Speaker 1: this swole. He is, which is a little scary because
28:52
Speaker 1: you don't want quarterbacks like the John Mateer type things.
28:55
Speaker 1: Like I don't need you to Jack, but he's kind
28:58
Speaker 1: of got the Phillip Rivers game and he's just, he's a,
29:02
Speaker 1: he's awesome. I mean, this guy is, this guy is massive.
29:06
Speaker 1: And I think sometimes like, I just read a really
29:10
Speaker 1: good article about Clint Kubiak, Clay Kubiak and Klein Kubiak,
29:14
Speaker 1: who are the Kubiak brothers. And they've all at one
29:17
Speaker 1: point in time worked or been around their dad in
29:19
Speaker 1: a professional setting. And they all said like, you know,
29:23
Speaker 1: they were hesitant to do it. And once they did
29:25
Speaker 1: it and as they got older and they, you know,
29:27
Speaker 1: kind of forged their own path, they would look back
29:30
Speaker 1: and you took a lot of pride and took a
29:32
Speaker 1: lot of how special that year or two was being around,
29:37
Speaker 1: your father. That's the reason you're doing this for a profession.
29:39
Speaker 1: That's why, listen, Bronny James might not be able to
29:42
Speaker 1: play dead in a Western when it comes to NBA games.
29:45
Speaker 1: I completely supported LeBron for Forcing the Lakers hand. What's
29:48
Speaker 1: the point of having the power? What's the point of
29:50
Speaker 1: working so hard your entire life? I completely understand why
29:55
Speaker 1: nepotism happens always. What's the point of having the juice
29:59
Speaker 1: as a dad and then not using the hammer to
30:02
Speaker 1: help your son out? Why did I work this hard
30:05
Speaker 1: my entire life to do anything if I can't help
30:07
Speaker 1: my own family out? That's the whole point. As someone
30:12
Speaker 1: that had to go a different path because I didn't
30:14
Speaker 1: know a soul in football. besides my cousin who was
30:17
Speaker 1: a long snapper at Fresno State. But I don't think
30:22
Speaker 1: I'd ever met a human being who had ever been
30:24
Speaker 1: associated with the NFL up until I became a GA
30:27
Speaker 1: at Fresno State. I'm not against a guy forging his
30:31
Speaker 1: own path and figuring out and getting there without any help. Listen,
30:34
Speaker 1: I would much rather have a little help. It makes
30:36
Speaker 1: life a lot easier, have a lot more stress, stressless nights. But, like,
30:42
Speaker 1: I also understand, I always thought it was really cool,
30:45
Speaker 1: and I remember the last year in Colorado, like, that's
30:48
Speaker 1: something Deion Shador and even Shiloh, who's, you know, a
30:52
Speaker 1: little bit of a wild card off the field, will
30:55
Speaker 1: share until their dying days. You know, as someone, like,
30:58
Speaker 1: my dad never coached me. My dad has never got
31:01
Speaker 1: to see my career take off. You know, it's like
31:04
Speaker 1: those moments are pretty special. I think about it all
31:07
Speaker 1: the time with his son. Like, if I ever get
31:08
Speaker 1: to the point where I got a lot of juice
31:11
Speaker 1: and he aspires to do something that I can help
31:13
Speaker 1: him out doing, you bet your ass I'm going to.
31:16
Speaker 1: What was the point of all these fucking late nights?
31:18
Speaker 1: What was the point in grinding throughout my 20s and
31:20
Speaker 1: having no life? Like, LeBron, every single morning when half
31:24
Speaker 1: the league's hung over with their hooker or stripper next
31:27
Speaker 1: to him, he's doing the VersaClimber. So, yeah. I mean,
31:30
Speaker 1: it's like, might be a little bit of a pain
31:32
Speaker 1: in the ass to be in business with him. But, like,
31:35
Speaker 1: what's the point of it all? And I think if
31:38
Speaker 1: you're Phillip Rivers, there probably is a little like, hey,
31:41
Speaker 1: it's one thing coaching your son in high school. There's
31:43
Speaker 1: another thing like coaching him in college, a little bit bigger,
31:46
Speaker 1: I mean, way bigger magnifying glass. You're playing teams like
31:48
Speaker 1: Florida State and Belichick and Miami, just more people paying attention.
31:53
Speaker 1: But it's a pretty special opportunity. And a lot like Prime,
32:00
Speaker 1: because I see a lot of people going, well, he's
32:02
Speaker 1: never coached in college. I mean, Prime coached at Jackson State.
32:06
Speaker 1: I mean, it's about who you're bringing to the table.
32:09
Speaker 1: He's bringing his son. He'll get some recruits, figure it out.
32:13
Speaker 1: If he hires the right staff, he'll be okay. You
32:17
Speaker 1: could argue the downfall of Deion Sanders in Colorado the
32:19
Speaker 1: last couple years, once Shador and Travis Hunter left. Who
32:23
Speaker 1: the hell is he hiring? You know, it's like hire
32:26
Speaker 1: the Sac State guy who's arrogant like he's Nick Saban.
32:29
Speaker 1: He's like, he's like, Google me. I run the ball
32:32
Speaker 1: wherever I've been. It's like, bro, no one cares about
32:34
Speaker 1: Sac State football. I mean, not a fucking soul in America,
32:38
Speaker 1: even the ones that live in Sacramento. I promise you.
32:41
Speaker 1: I was watching TV last week. Kent State went to
32:44
Speaker 1: Sac State last Friday night. It was on at 730
32:47
Speaker 1: Pacific Standard Time. It crossed my mind that's the worst
32:52
Speaker 1: college football game past early September that has ever made
32:56
Speaker 1: it on ESPN. That is the worst product that has
33:00
Speaker 1: ever made it to television. I truly believe that on
33:04
Speaker 1: a Friday or Saturday night. But I think it's what
33:09
Speaker 1: a cool opportunity. And I think if you're NC State,
33:12
Speaker 1: it's like, why don't we just hire Indiana's coordinator or
33:17
Speaker 1: you pick. No, I'd rather just hire Phillip Rivers. If
33:21
Speaker 1: it blows up, so be it. Where the hell are
33:24
Speaker 1: we going now? Let's take a swing for the fences.
33:26
Speaker 1: Colorado did it. And by year two, they had a
33:29
Speaker 1: Heisman Trophy winner and a nine plus win season. So
33:34
Speaker 1: the difference is, is they only got you to work.
33:36
Speaker 1: for a couple years because he had already been playing
33:38
Speaker 1: at Jackson State. Well, if you get Gunnar Rivers for
33:41
Speaker 1: several years, it's a major win. If you get the
33:44
Speaker 1: kid for four years, you can pay him millions of dollars,
33:46
Speaker 1: and Phillips hires a staff full of NFL guys, I
33:49
Speaker 1: think everyone would sign up for that. I just never
33:52
Speaker 1: understand all these people. I mean, I do get it.
33:55
Speaker 1: I guess I don't live in bitterness. I'm never envious
33:58
Speaker 1: of other people to get opportunities because their father is successful. Like,
34:04
Speaker 1: I mean, you just should hope you're in that position
34:07
Speaker 1: one day to do that for your own children. Like,
34:11
Speaker 1: what's the whole point of having kids, right? Ideally, they
34:14
Speaker 1: just can do everything on their own and dominate life.
34:16
Speaker 1: It's usually not the way it works, you know? People
34:21
Speaker 1: need help along the way. And powerful people that have
34:25
Speaker 1: grinded and put themselves in position, i.e. LeBron, you know, i.e. Deion, like,
34:31
Speaker 1: what the fuck was the point of all their talent
34:33
Speaker 1: and all their work Just, yeah, I'm just not going
34:35
Speaker 1: to help my kid. I'm just going to let him. Now,
34:37
Speaker 1: you could argue if like, hey, Bronny probably would have
34:39
Speaker 1: been better off just playing in college forever, making a
34:41
Speaker 1: ton of money, but it's not what the patriarch wanted,
34:47
Speaker 1: which he's the boss. And when you create it, you
34:49
Speaker 1: can kind of do what you want. Really quick, before
34:54
Speaker 1: we dive into a couple mailbag questions, everyone gets so
34:58
Speaker 1: up in arms about the committee, about the the ranking system,
35:03
Speaker 1: which all these teams are kind of playing each other
35:05
Speaker 1: over the next couple of weeks. So it will play
35:07
Speaker 1: itself out. I don't care as much about like one,
35:12
Speaker 1: not getting rewarded for playing good teams is a joke.
35:16
Speaker 1: You know, Ohio state. Now, if you want to judge
35:18
Speaker 1: them because their starting quarterback is out, I totally understand.
35:22
Speaker 1: But Cignetti is, literally bragged about playing nobody because they
35:27
Speaker 1: needed a preseason. That's embarrassing. The whole point of this
35:32
Speaker 1: is we should all be working together to play each other.
35:35
Speaker 1: Can you imagine if there was a committee to determine
35:38
Speaker 1: the NFL playoffs? Can you imagine the hysteria? But there isn't.
35:45
Speaker 1: You know why? Because they're all in business together. And
35:48
Speaker 1: there are set rules for what it takes to get
35:50
Speaker 1: a playoff bid. And there are set rules if there
35:53
Speaker 1: are ties, what the tiebreakers are. Even if on a
35:57
Speaker 1: yearly basis, not everything is equal. Last year, the Patriots,
36:01
Speaker 1: their schedule was much easier than a lot of teams
36:03
Speaker 1: in the playoffs. This year, it's much more difficult. But
36:06
Speaker 1: no one really big picture over the course of several
36:09
Speaker 1: seasons complains about that. Why? Because it rotates. Yet in
36:13
Speaker 1: college football, Indiana can maintain this forever. Like they're a
36:17
Speaker 1: real program now. With real NFL players and a real coach.
36:22
Speaker 1: Yet for the foreseeable future, they're going to fucking play nobody.
36:27
Speaker 1: And then you see where people line up after playing
36:30
Speaker 1: somebody and taking L's and you ask yourself, why would
36:34
Speaker 1: I play anybody? Which to me pains me because college football,
36:39
Speaker 1: what they should be doing is the four major conferences
36:42
Speaker 1: should work under one umbrella, create a scheduling alliance, and
36:47
Speaker 1: everyone just play each other on a rotating basis. So
36:50
Speaker 1: some years you're going to draw harder schedules than other years,
36:54
Speaker 1: a lot like in the Big Ten and the SEC.
36:56
Speaker 1: Ohio State's schedule this year is harder than, say, Michigan's
37:02
Speaker 1: or whatever. Wisconsin's this year is harder or easier than
37:06
Speaker 1: it was last year. Things change. And we all come
37:09
Speaker 1: to grips with it as part of the process. Even
37:12
Speaker 1: if we disagree, like LSU-Alabama aren't playing the next three years.
37:16
Speaker 1: which sucks, but everyone understands we're adding the nine games,
37:19
Speaker 1: we're doing the rotation. It doesn't mean LSU is going
37:21
Speaker 1: to have an easy schedule some of those years. It
37:23
Speaker 1: is going to be difficult. And there are going to
37:25
Speaker 1: be years where it's kind of easier. But to have
37:29
Speaker 1: these guys go into a room and just give their
37:34
Speaker 1: opinions on what's going on, what they're watching, they're basically
37:37
Speaker 1: just doing a podcast. Except when they do their final rankings,
37:42
Speaker 1: it actually matters. If that happened in the NFL, people
37:46
Speaker 1: do top, I do top five every week. Throw it
37:48
Speaker 1: up on YouTube. People do top fives and top tens.
37:52
Speaker 1: The history of the NFL since media's been around. But
37:55
Speaker 1: it doesn't actually mean anything. Why? Because you've got to
37:58
Speaker 1: play the games. Where in college football, you actually don't
38:00
Speaker 1: need to play the games. If you draw an easy
38:03
Speaker 1: schedule when you play nobody in the offseason, you get
38:06
Speaker 1: to 10, 11 wins, you're in. And then it's like
38:09
Speaker 1: about the brands, right? UCLA's undefeated. But they're like barely
38:15
Speaker 1: in the top 10. But if you took out UCLA
38:20
Speaker 1: and you had the same schedule they just played and
38:22
Speaker 1: put Oregon, Michigan, or USC, they'd be like two. And
38:27
Speaker 1: that's where in the NFL, like the brands mean nothing.
38:32
Speaker 1: The Jags make infinitely more money on a home game
38:36
Speaker 1: when they go to London than they do in Jacksonville.
38:39
Speaker 1: Someone forwarded me a story that the two home games
38:42
Speaker 1: in London are basically worth four to five combined in Jacksonville.
38:50
Speaker 1: Because of how much more money they make when they
38:53
Speaker 1: go across the pond. And while every other team in
38:55
Speaker 1: the NFL has this revenue split through the league and
38:58
Speaker 1: they split it up, the Jags get to keep it
39:00
Speaker 1: like it's their own home game. But that brand, and
39:06
Speaker 1: I give Liam a lot of credit, It just doesn't
39:09
Speaker 1: feel the same as the Steelers, the Ravens, the Chiefs,
39:14
Speaker 1: the Broncos. It just doesn't. And I'm not trying to
39:17
Speaker 1: throw shade. I respect the shit out of their football
39:19
Speaker 1: team right now. But in college, the brands matter. Because
39:24
Speaker 1: you're like, UCLA, Big Ten's down, they're not playing anybody. Well,
39:27
Speaker 1: if the SEC was quote-unquote down, and Bama, Georgia, or
39:31
Speaker 1: whoever had played an easy schedule, and they were undefeated,
39:34
Speaker 1: they'd be, they might not be one, but they'd be
39:36
Speaker 1: two or three. And I heard someone arguing this. I
39:41
Speaker 1: watched a bunch of different content on the committee, and
39:44
Speaker 1: one guy was arguing they were right. It might have
39:46
Speaker 1: been Josh Pate. That is Indiana just there at number four?
39:51
Speaker 1: Love everything Indiana stands for. Love it. But anyone that's
39:56
Speaker 1: watched them play this year, and this goes back before
40:00
Speaker 1: they started playing the good teams, you're like, is something off?
40:03
Speaker 1: Something doesn't look right. Like, what is going on with
40:06
Speaker 1: their offense? And then they had that Northwestern game. I
40:09
Speaker 1: think it was on a Friday night. It's like, this
40:10
Speaker 1: looks weird. This looks very weird. And then they lose
40:14
Speaker 1: the Ohio State game where Hoover's all over the map.
40:17
Speaker 1: Then they pull a game out of their you-know-what last
40:21
Speaker 1: week against Minnesota. One of the crazier games you'll ever see.
40:25
Speaker 1: Two 60-yard field goals in the last 25 seconds. But
40:29
Speaker 1: did someone in that committee go, well, they're defending champs.
40:33
Speaker 1: This isn't, these aren't the Dodgers. I mean, this is
40:37
Speaker 1: college football, the transfer portal. But this is what you
40:39
Speaker 1: get when you put a bunch of people in a
40:42
Speaker 1: room and you're like, you decide. At least in college basketball. Well,
40:47
Speaker 1: college basketball has the quads, right? You get a quad
40:51
Speaker 1: one win. Obviously, if you're playing the top teams, a
40:53
Speaker 1: quad two win. It's kind of set. And also, if
40:56
Speaker 1: you're one of the top 25, 30 teams, you're a
41:00
Speaker 1: lock to make the tournament. There's never been a team
41:03
Speaker 1: who's like 18th in the country that misses the NCAA tournament.
41:08
Speaker 1: It doesn't happen. But in football, obviously it's going to
41:12
Speaker 1: change more than likely next year to 24 teams. But
41:15
Speaker 1: it just shows you, Tom Fernelli, I was watching the
41:20
Speaker 1: Cover 3 podcast. He's like, these guys just suck. And
41:23
Speaker 1: to me, it's not even about, I can't, I don't,
41:28
Speaker 1: you know, the actual conversations in there. But you're just
41:32
Speaker 1: dealing with humans with, we all have agendas and biases.
41:35
Speaker 1: And a lot of these guys have SEC ties. And
41:37
Speaker 1: I don't blame them. The SEC is clearly better than
41:39
Speaker 1: the Big Ten. Clearly. But also, I just don't even
41:46
Speaker 1: know what you do with these teams that are playing nobodies.
41:50
Speaker 1: Why does that win even matter? If you beat some
41:52
Speaker 1: shitty team that's not in your conference, who you scheduled
41:56
Speaker 1: for a patsy win, 50 to nothing. To me, that
41:59
Speaker 1: means nothing. It means literally nothing. It should not even
42:05
Speaker 1: count in the evaluation. That's why you'd be better off
42:08
Speaker 1: just to have like, Claude or Chad GPT, create some formula,
42:13
Speaker 1: throw it in there and just have them give it
42:15
Speaker 1: to you. Because whatever they're doing right now, there's just
42:19
Speaker 1: too many different opinions and thoughts and nostalgic ties to
42:23
Speaker 1: the past of brands. It's like, what are we talking about?
42:28
Speaker 1: It feels like the SEC invitation, which again, I'm not
42:32
Speaker 1: even disputing. If you watch football this year, the SEC
42:35
Speaker 1: is dramatically better. And some of their teams are going
42:36
Speaker 1: to have more losses because they're all playing each other.
42:39
Speaker 1: This is what you get when you get a committee.
42:41
Speaker 1: And the other thing is, I've been watching football for
42:43
Speaker 1: a living for a while now. The NFL is a challenge,
42:47
Speaker 1: but there's really one challenging window, and it's the morning.
42:51
Speaker 1: On certain weeks, there could be eight games going at once.
42:55
Speaker 1: And then the afternoon, with the buys, there's usually... You
42:59
Speaker 1: have some weeks where there's like two or three games,
43:00
Speaker 1: which is much easier to watch. It's not possible to
43:04
Speaker 1: watch all eight games in the morning. You basically just
43:06
Speaker 1: have to focus on some of the top games. my
43:09
Speaker 1: main four box, and then keep tabs on some of
43:12
Speaker 1: the other games. There is no way in college football
43:17
Speaker 1: you could just constantly watch the top 25, 30 teams
43:21
Speaker 1: every single week. Just, and really, no. To make a
43:25
Speaker 1: definitive statement. And I know none of these guys are
43:28
Speaker 1: going back like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, like break it
43:31
Speaker 1: down the tape. Give me a break. Okay, let's do
43:48
Speaker 1: some mailbag questions. At John Middlecoff, at John Middlecoff is
43:51
Speaker 1: the Instagram fire in those DMs. Long time listener. Appreciate
43:56
Speaker 1: you making my work shifts fly by. No problem, Seth. Look,
44:01
Speaker 1: I truly believe this Broncos team is legit. That part
44:05
Speaker 1: isn't even a debate. The big issue right now, as
44:08
Speaker 1: you know, is the quarterback. I feel like we have...
44:12
Speaker 1: If we had even average to slightly above average quarterback
44:16
Speaker 1: play in the first half, this roster would instantly be
44:20
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl favorite. But if Knicks keeps playing like this,
44:24
Speaker 1: and those comeback wins turned into losses, do you actually
44:27
Speaker 1: see us extending it? And if you don't, where do
44:31
Speaker 1: you think Denver turns to take advantage of this championship window?
44:38
Speaker 1: I think there's a big difference of talking extensions here.
44:41
Speaker 1: Like Drake May, Caleb Williams. I would say if those
44:45
Speaker 1: guys maintain health and finish this outseason, as they look,
44:50
Speaker 1: they are going to get huge contract extensions. But those
44:53
Speaker 1: guys are in their own bucket. And then Jaden Daniels
44:56
Speaker 1: in his own bucket, like you can't give a contract
44:58
Speaker 1: extension to a guy who's just banged up all the time.
45:01
Speaker 1: He'd have to prove some durability. He's going to need
45:04
Speaker 1: another year. And then there's Bo Nix, who is exactly
45:08
Speaker 1: the reason why you have the fifth year option. Not
45:11
Speaker 1: only are we not doing a contract this offseason, we
45:14
Speaker 1: don't plan on doing a contract for several years. We
45:16
Speaker 1: just plan on playing out this rookie contract. Third year,
45:20
Speaker 1: fourth year, we have you under the fifth year option, which, again,
45:24
Speaker 1: could be, by then, that number, you have to make
45:28
Speaker 1: that decision this offseason, could be a number that you're
45:31
Speaker 1: uncomfortable even paying them at the time. If Bo Nix
45:36
Speaker 1: was a free agent, let's just say Bo Nix was
45:38
Speaker 1: going into free agency this year, And the Broncos could
45:41
Speaker 1: not tag him. What contract would a team give him?
45:48
Speaker 1: Would someone give him, I mean, $ 30 million a year?
45:57
Speaker 1: I'm not pocket watching. I don't care. Someone want to
45:59
Speaker 1: pay him $ 100 million a year. Awesome for you. Way
46:02
Speaker 1: to get your money. I'm just saying, what's his value? Like, well,
46:05
Speaker 1: stats and his winning and losing. He's doing that with
46:08
Speaker 1: Sean Payton. If you just put Bo Nix on the
46:11
Speaker 1: Jets with Glenn and Frank Reich, what would that look like?
46:16
Speaker 1: You and Colin never seem to criticize Kevin O'Connell. You're
46:19
Speaker 1: always saying Vikings have one of the best coaching staffs.
46:23
Speaker 1: Seems to me that he gets away with a lot
46:25
Speaker 1: of crappy coaching without being criticized by the national media.
46:31
Speaker 1: He called a terrible game Sunday and made a couple
46:33
Speaker 1: head-scratching moves that possibly cost them the game. He continues
46:36
Speaker 1: to call plays that Kyler just can't execute. Although he
46:40
Speaker 1: is 6-1, I think he has had a terrible year.
46:45
Speaker 1: I was an early adopter several years ago to being
46:49
Speaker 1: critical of Kevin O'Connell. Because he was being discussed when
46:53
Speaker 1: Jay Glazer came out with the story about the trade
46:55
Speaker 1: for Kevin O'Connell that he was talked about like he
46:58
Speaker 1: was McVay or Shanahan. And he had yet to win
47:00
Speaker 1: a playoff game. And then I saw it shift where
47:04
Speaker 1: people like you act like he's not any good, and
47:06
Speaker 1: I go, well, listen, by no means is he a scrub.
47:10
Speaker 1: He gets credit for bringing in Flores. He gets credit
47:13
Speaker 1: for being the head coach of a team that is 6-1.
47:18
Speaker 1: And a lot of coaches are not good personnel people.
47:22
Speaker 1: They're just not. So watch Kevin when he stands next
47:26
Speaker 1: to Kyler. What's Kevin O'Connell, 6'5? What does he have
47:29
Speaker 1: him by, 7? Is there a chance the moment he
47:33
Speaker 1: signed Kyler Murray and originally met him, he went, this
47:35
Speaker 1: was a mistake, even if I got him for a
47:38
Speaker 1: million dollars? I don't want my coach to make personnel decisions. Now,
47:42
Speaker 1: I want them to impact the quarterback, but after the J.J.
47:45
Speaker 1: McCarthy situation, which I'm sorry, Kevin O'Connell had a big
47:48
Speaker 1: hand in. Also, if J.J. McCarthy goes on to play well,
47:52
Speaker 1: that is a fair criticism of Kevin O'Connell. How come
47:56
Speaker 1: Matt Nagy and Greg Rome and John Harbaugh can figure
48:00
Speaker 1: out J.J. McCarthy's but you can't. That would be completely fair.
48:05
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, it is hard
48:08
Speaker 1: to win with Kyler Murray. And that decision to play
48:11
Speaker 1: Kyler Murray and sign Kyler Murray, he deserves a lot
48:13
Speaker 1: of blame for. But if they go 10-7, 11-6 with
48:18
Speaker 1: Kyler Murray as their quarterback, that's an incredible accomplishment. And
48:21
Speaker 1: when you say he called a bad game, it's borderline
48:24
Speaker 1: impossible to call plays with Kyler Murray. He's not a
48:27
Speaker 1: dynamic runner anymore. You can't really function with him in
48:30
Speaker 1: the pocket, and he's not an accurate thrower getting him
48:32
Speaker 1: on the move. It's not like he's comfortable playmaking anymore.
48:35
Speaker 1: So I just, I have a hard time being critical
48:39
Speaker 1: of the play calling with Kyler Murray because I don't
48:41
Speaker 1: think there are many plays you could call that look
48:43
Speaker 1: like a genius. So I guess I'm defending him and
48:47
Speaker 1: criticizing him at the same time. He deserves a lot
48:51
Speaker 1: of criticism for this quarterback conundrum. He does. totally understand
48:58
Speaker 1: cousins torn achilles letting him go i i totally get
49:01
Speaker 1: that and the amount of money the falcons gave him
49:05
Speaker 1: you weren't going to give him 90 million dollars over
49:07
Speaker 1: a couple years so totally get it to me if
49:09
Speaker 1: cousins had stayed healthy the move would have been to
49:12
Speaker 1: keep right but once he tore his achilles i support
49:18
Speaker 1: we can't play monday morning quarterback he had to move
49:20
Speaker 1: on the Darnold thing like you probably should have wrote
49:24
Speaker 1: out Darnold for a couple years I think you would
49:28
Speaker 1: have been a lot more competitive I mean shit you
49:30
Speaker 1: would have been the Vikings or you would have been
49:32
Speaker 1: Seattle the way your defense is playing And better because
49:37
Speaker 1: unlike they just have JSN, you have multiple wide receivers.
49:43
Speaker 1: But I by no means act like Kevin. I don't
49:44
Speaker 1: put Kevin O'Connell on a pedestal here. I ain't putting
49:48
Speaker 1: him with the big boys on offense. He's good, though.
49:52
Speaker 1: He is good. And if he was available, a lot
49:55
Speaker 1: of teams would like him. Like how he would trade
49:58
Speaker 1: for him yesterday. How is it possible for someone who
50:03
Speaker 1: just got traded to know the playbook that same week?
50:06
Speaker 1: I thought about this while looking at Quentin Nelson knowing
50:08
Speaker 1: where to run or do cover on Monday's game. Well,
50:13
Speaker 1: you're going to have to work long days. I think
50:15
Speaker 1: I saw Jeffrey Simmons say that when he got there,
50:17
Speaker 1: he was there from 10 a.m. Was that on Wednesday
50:20
Speaker 1: or Thursday? Till 10 p.m. So you kind of cram.
50:24
Speaker 1: There are certain positions, quarterback, it'd be impossible. But if
50:29
Speaker 1: you're playing D-tackle or guard, The guy next to you
50:32
Speaker 1: can go, hey, block. Like, they have similar terminology, similar,
50:37
Speaker 1: like everyone has a certain amount of blocks that everyone
50:40
Speaker 1: runs that as a guard, the center can tell you
50:44
Speaker 1: in the huddle. You know, hey, I don't know what
50:47
Speaker 1: to do here. Well, hey, you know, outside in to
50:50
Speaker 1: the tackle to the nose tackle, you know, whatever. Or
50:53
Speaker 1: double team with me or slide to this side. You
50:56
Speaker 1: can communicate with them whatever they don't know. But it's
51:01
Speaker 1: a challenge. I think if you wanted to defend Seattle's
51:06
Speaker 1: offensive line against Jeffrey Simmons, pretty tough transition. Insert a
51:11
Speaker 1: brand new player who's good and then move your starting
51:15
Speaker 1: left guard to right guard where pretty sure he'd never
51:17
Speaker 1: played against clearly a Hall of Fame player. I'm not
51:23
Speaker 1: saying he's going to the Hall of Fame. Still got
51:24
Speaker 1: to build that resume. But Jeffrey Simmons is a Hall
51:27
Speaker 1: of Fame talent. You just got to cram him. You know,
51:31
Speaker 1: they're saying a nine to five gig. And it is
51:34
Speaker 1: probably if you're a guard, you know, on a Thursday
51:38
Speaker 1: when he's playing for the Colts because he knows the offense, prepares, practice,
51:42
Speaker 1: watches tape, eats. You know, you're not you're not there.
51:44
Speaker 1: You're not working 10 to 10. Same with Jeffrey Simmons.
51:47
Speaker 1: But in these situations, it's like sometimes you get presented
51:51
Speaker 1: with an opportunity. You got to work a little bit harder.
51:54
Speaker 1: So it's it's probably a lot more time consuming. I
51:57
Speaker 1: would say even now, like still trying to learn it.
52:00
Speaker 1: trying to perfect the footwork at practice, trying to perfect
52:03
Speaker 1: the cohesion with your line mates, with your quarterback, what
52:07
Speaker 1: he likes, what he doesn't. Now Sam Darnold's hurt. There's
52:10
Speaker 1: a lot going on. But I think it's not humanly
52:20
Speaker 1: possible to learn it in a week, a playbook. You're
52:24
Speaker 1: also not running the entire playbook anymore. So there would
52:28
Speaker 1: be times, depending on the game, where you could run
52:30
Speaker 1: the same play a lot of times, especially a run play.
52:36
Speaker 1: There are only so many runs, especially like for the Seattle.
52:41
Speaker 1: They got this Shanahan guy. They run an inside zone,
52:43
Speaker 1: outside zone. Some zone runs that go through a pitch, right,
52:49
Speaker 1: where the quarterback pitches to the running back, which I
52:52
Speaker 1: don't love that play. Love listening to the pod, to
53:01
Speaker 1: work every morning, was listening to you and Colin on
53:03
Speaker 1: Sunday night. My comment is about the Cowboys. I'm unfortunately
53:07
Speaker 1: a fan. Everyone wants to blame Christian Parker, and rightfully so.
53:11
Speaker 1: He's been a major disappointment, to say the least. But
53:14
Speaker 1: I think the real issue is Brian Schottenheimer. Or should
53:19
Speaker 1: I say, Schittenheimer. Dude is a certified bum. All caps. B-U-M.
53:26
Speaker 1: Every game this season, the Cowboys offense... has to try
53:30
Speaker 1: and win in despite of him. On Sunday's game, late
53:34
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter, there's 2-0-2 left in the game.
53:37
Speaker 1: This is the most obvious passing situation in the history
53:42
Speaker 1: of late game play calling. The clock will stop. No
53:45
Speaker 1: matter what play you call. So throw the bleeping ball
53:49
Speaker 1: to one of your top 10 wide receivers. But what
53:51
Speaker 1: does he do? He sends out 13 personnel and runs
53:55
Speaker 1: a play action with the slowest developing play known to
53:58
Speaker 1: man and Dak gets sacked. I can't stand this guy.
54:02
Speaker 1: Fire him. Should have never been a head coach to
54:05
Speaker 1: begin with. Yeah, man. I think I was pretty bullish
54:11
Speaker 1: on this team. just thinking their defense could be serviceable,
54:15
Speaker 1: but I believe the offense would be really dynamic. And
54:18
Speaker 1: when I believe that, I clearly put a lot of
54:20
Speaker 1: faith in the coordinator. And he's had his moments, but
54:25
Speaker 1: he's also been pretty atrocious. And Jerry's having to defend this.
54:32
Speaker 1: It's not going well. And Jerry's essentially defending it by
54:35
Speaker 1: being like, yeah, we didn't pay a guy a lot
54:37
Speaker 1: of money, but just because we do that doesn't mean
54:39
Speaker 1: we can't win. If you pay a coach a lot
54:41
Speaker 1: of money, it doesn't guarantee you're going to win. Jerry's
54:43
Speaker 1: basically admitting he has a low-paid coach. Which again, if
54:48
Speaker 1: you're going to be a low-paid anyone in any industry,
54:51
Speaker 1: pretty good to be a head coach. I bet Schottenheimer's
54:54
Speaker 1: making like $ 6 million. And there's a chance he's the
54:56
Speaker 1: lowest paid head coach in the league. But you get
55:00
Speaker 1: what you pay for. And Jerry's been preaching that statement
55:03
Speaker 1: like his whole career. I've never paid a premium and
55:06
Speaker 1: not received a premium. Well, you just hired a guy
55:08
Speaker 1: that wouldn't have been an offensive coordinator. And now he's
55:11
Speaker 1: had multiple situations, game management-wise, play-calling-wise, where it's just completely
55:17
Speaker 1: over his head. And this goes back to Mike McCarthy, who,
55:20
Speaker 1: remember that weird ending? Like McCarthy played out his last
55:23
Speaker 1: year of his contract, and then it was like McCarthy
55:26
Speaker 1: was going to stay, they were going to work on
55:28
Speaker 1: a contract, and then clearly Jerry got cold feet because
55:30
Speaker 1: he'd just been making $ 7, $ 8 million a year. He's
55:32
Speaker 1: probably going to have to pay him like $ 13, $ 14.
55:35
Speaker 1: Jerry didn't want to pull the trigger. It's like, Jerry,
55:37
Speaker 1: you're pinching pennies. on numbers relative to your business that
55:42
Speaker 1: are irrelevant. I say this all the time about the
55:46
Speaker 1: turf and the grass. If you told me that regular
55:52
Speaker 1: grass compared to artificial turf was the difference in hundreds
55:56
Speaker 1: of millions of dollars, I would go, yeah, I understand
56:00
Speaker 1: why the owners fight it. I get why the owners
56:03
Speaker 1: fight lifetime healthcare. It's really expensive. Now, we could debate, like,
56:08
Speaker 1: that's kind of fucked up. You know, these guys are
56:11
Speaker 1: making you a lot of money. But maybe they'd argue
56:13
Speaker 1: if we had to give every single player that ever
56:15
Speaker 1: played in the league lifetime health care, we wouldn't make
56:16
Speaker 1: a lot of money. Which, again, is cutthroat aspect of business.
56:21
Speaker 1: But I'll never understand the grass versus turf thing when
56:25
Speaker 1: we're talking such nominal amounts relative to the revenue for
56:29
Speaker 1: the league. and I will never understand bitching. I got
56:32
Speaker 1: no problem if Jerry goes, do we need 40 guys
56:35
Speaker 1: in the coaching staff? I think that's a fair argument.
56:38
Speaker 1: Do we need an assistant position coach for every position?
56:43
Speaker 1: Do we need 17 quality control guys breaking down film?
56:48
Speaker 1: Can't we create an AI agent that can do half
56:51
Speaker 1: of it? That picture of Dan Lanning's staff meeting is
56:57
Speaker 1: an all-timer. And no shade to Dan Lanning, every program
57:00
Speaker 1: is like that and every NFL team is like that.
57:03
Speaker 1: The Eagles have a position coach for a position coach
57:06
Speaker 1: for that position's position coach. It's like, gee, this is unnecessary. But, like,
57:14
Speaker 1: letting the head coach be someone that matters and is
57:18
Speaker 1: worth paying a premium for is 100% clearly the right
57:24
Speaker 1: thing to do. And Jerry doesn't even entertain that. So, like,
57:31
Speaker 1: the arrogance of, yeah, McCarthy's not worth it, and then
57:33
Speaker 1: hiring Brian Schottenheimer. Like, if you told me McCarthy wasn't
57:37
Speaker 1: worth it, and then let's say they had been like,
57:40
Speaker 1: we're going to go get this hot shot Ben Johnson,
57:42
Speaker 1: or we're going to go get Mike Vrabel. And I
57:44
Speaker 1: think the timeline was a little off because they had
57:46
Speaker 1: pushed the McCarthy thing for a couple weeks, and those
57:48
Speaker 1: guys might have already been wheels in the motion with
57:51
Speaker 1: their hirings. But if Jerry had done that, be like, hey,
57:55
Speaker 1: and it still failed, be like, I respect it. Like,
57:58
Speaker 1: I never... When they ran Josh McDaniels out of town,
58:02
Speaker 1: the Raiders, I never criticized them. Obviously, clearly, they knew internally, like,
58:08
Speaker 1: we got to get this guy out of there. But
58:09
Speaker 1: I totally understood why they hired him. I would have
58:11
Speaker 1: hired him, too. I was fooled by it. I read
58:14
Speaker 1: the Dan Pompei article. I've been journaling. I've been self-scouting
58:19
Speaker 1: myself for years. I know my faults. And I bought it.
58:25
Speaker 1: Just like the 49ers tried to hire him. He turned
58:28
Speaker 1: them down. They got Kyle Shanahan. The Colts tried to
58:30
Speaker 1: hire him. I understand why all of them did that.
58:33
Speaker 1: Because I think a lot of us in that scenario,
58:36
Speaker 1: given the success he was having with Brady and the
58:40
Speaker 1: messaging that was coming out about how he was a
58:42
Speaker 1: changed guy, totally understandably. This was some young hotshot. He's aged.
58:45
Speaker 1: He's got a family now. He's mature. Turns out he didn't.
58:49
Speaker 1: And you wouldn't let him coach your peewee team, let
58:51
Speaker 1: alone your NFL team, as a head coach. Good offensive coordinator.
58:55
Speaker 1: But I just think Jerry goes after... Clearly, he likes
59:03
Speaker 1: saving money, which to me is crazy. It's not going
59:07
Speaker 1: to limit the size of your yacht. It's not going
59:09
Speaker 1: to limit your ability to... to buy an extra PJ
59:12
Speaker 1: or buy an extra beach house or mountain house. We're
59:17
Speaker 1: talking such a small amount of money in the big picture.
59:21
Speaker 1: But I've always had this theory, and I truly believe it.
59:24
Speaker 1: I do think it's very difficult. for the ownership groups
59:28
Speaker 1: that were part of the NFL in a different financial
59:31
Speaker 1: landscape to change their mentality to the current landscape. With contracts,
59:37
Speaker 1: with coaching contracts, I think they make it very, very difficult.
59:41
Speaker 1: Because in his mind, he got in the league when
59:44
Speaker 1: there were some position coaches on his first couple staffs
59:47
Speaker 1: making like 60, 75K. Those guys have 10X since then.
59:52
Speaker 1: And they'd be like, well, Jerry, your franchise is 50X
59:54
Speaker 1: since you bought it. So yeah, my salary's 10x too.
59:57
Speaker 1: So is the offensive line coach, so is the wide receiver,
1:00:01
Speaker 1: so is the quarterback, so is the quarterback coach. It's
1:00:04
Speaker 1: part of business. We're all growing together. And I think
1:00:08
Speaker 1: Jerry really, really fights that. And it's going to be fascinating.
1:00:12
Speaker 1: I would bet Steve doesn't as much. You know why?
1:00:16
Speaker 1: Because one benefit to being born into the wealth, you
1:00:21
Speaker 1: can be a little numb to it. You don't I'm
1:00:25
Speaker 1: not saying Jerry's intimidated by money, but he's clearly consumed.
1:00:28
Speaker 1: I saw it with my parents growing up. When you
1:00:31
Speaker 1: grow up in a certain financial environment where money truly
1:00:36
Speaker 1: doesn't grow on trees and you really have to think
1:00:39
Speaker 1: about certain purchases at certain times, those are things as
1:00:43
Speaker 1: kids you never forget. And it can warp your mindset
1:00:48
Speaker 1: either negatively or it can be positively where you just don't.
1:00:53
Speaker 1: You're not intimidated by it. And Jerry, that's what's weird
1:00:56
Speaker 1: about some of these rich guys. It's like they didn't
1:00:59
Speaker 1: grow up. Jerry didn't grow up with much. And he
1:01:02
Speaker 1: made it all on his own. And then when he
1:01:04
Speaker 1: takes the big swing and creates all this value and
1:01:07
Speaker 1: then creates this franchise worth billions upon billions upon billions
1:01:10
Speaker 1: of dollars. I think it's very difficult when he negotiates
1:01:14
Speaker 1: with these players and these coaches because there's like a
1:01:17
Speaker 1: resentment there. Of the money now. That is provided. From
1:01:22
Speaker 1: this business. Because he thinks about. What it was like
1:01:26
Speaker 1: in 1991. And I think a lot of these. Older
1:01:30
Speaker 1: school owners. Battle that sometimes. And sometimes. They're just able
1:01:35
Speaker 1: to get over it. Like we got to change. Sometimes
1:01:37
Speaker 1: the kid. Pushing him. Like hey. Someone with the Bears
1:01:40
Speaker 1: is like. We want Ben Johnson. We got to give him.
1:01:43
Speaker 1: Five year contract worth. 70 million dollars. 13, 14 million
1:01:45
Speaker 1: dollars a year. That's the cost of doing business. If
1:01:50
Speaker 1: we want to hire another Iver Fluss, we can give
1:01:52
Speaker 1: a $ 20 million contract out and then lose and then
1:01:54
Speaker 1: complain about it. So is it worth, over the course
1:01:57
Speaker 1: of five years, an extra $ 40, $ 50 million to try
1:02:01
Speaker 1: to hire the right coach who is going to make
1:02:05
Speaker 1: us so much money past the difference of those two
1:02:09
Speaker 1: contracts that not only will we look back and go,
1:02:15
Speaker 1: we were idiots for even considering not doing that. But
1:02:18
Speaker 1: I'd argue you're idiots for not even considering just the
1:02:22
Speaker 1: opportunity cost of getting it wrong. Because Jerry is now
1:02:27
Speaker 1: an embarrassment. And this is getting worse. It's like, okay,
1:02:31
Speaker 1: so he's saving five, six million dollars a year on
1:02:33
Speaker 1: his head coach. Cool. He doesn't notice that. It's why
1:02:38
Speaker 1: I always defend. Defense probably the wrong way to describe it, but.
1:02:45
Speaker 1: I try to, my messaging when people are like, sell
1:02:48
Speaker 1: the team. It's like, guys, none of these guys want
1:02:52
Speaker 1: to sell the team because their lifestyle changes zero. If
1:02:57
Speaker 1: you own an NFL team, even if you don't have
1:02:59
Speaker 1: liquid cash, like you don't have billions in the bank,
1:03:03
Speaker 1: or you sell the team and you get billions in
1:03:04
Speaker 1: the bank, you literally live the exact same way. Your
1:03:10
Speaker 1: house doesn't get any bigger. Your private jets don't get
1:03:12
Speaker 1: any faster. Your access to capital to buy another beach
1:03:16
Speaker 1: house changes zero. Like, these guys are all living like
1:03:19
Speaker 1: that just with the asset. But while they get to
1:03:23
Speaker 1: get the, you know, even if it's public criticism, they
1:03:25
Speaker 1: get to be a public figure. You sell, no one
1:03:28
Speaker 1: gives a shit about anything you do. You're just another
1:03:30
Speaker 1: rich guy at some country clubs and at the private,
1:03:34
Speaker 1: you know, jet hangar and eating at the nice steakhouses. Yeah.
1:03:39
Speaker 1: Welcome to the club of a bunch of guys that
1:03:41
Speaker 1: no one knows who they are. Instead, when you walk
1:03:43
Speaker 1: in that room now, everyone knows who you are. And
1:03:46
Speaker 1: you still have all those things. So, I just think
1:03:50
Speaker 1: it's crazy times for Jerry, that's for sure. Not a
1:03:54
Speaker 1: Ravens fan, but I'm wondering if it seems that DaCosta
1:03:57
Speaker 1: is getting a pass for the past couple years. I
1:04:00
Speaker 1: get Lamar's been hurt, but keeping... Mark Andrews instead of likely.
1:04:05
Speaker 1: Letting Linderbaum walk and having to give up a two
1:04:08
Speaker 1: for Cam Juergens. It just seems like the roster as
1:04:11
Speaker 1: a whole is still overrated in the media. Humphrey has
1:04:14
Speaker 1: been on the decline. Same with Roquan. Wondering your thoughts.
1:04:20
Speaker 1: It's not going well. And it feels it's about to unravel.
1:04:25
Speaker 1: And this is where winning the Super Bowl, like Howie,
1:04:28
Speaker 1: is about to unravel. They sneaky unraveled last year. I mean,
1:04:33
Speaker 1: They were terrible the last five, six, seven games of
1:04:36
Speaker 1: the year. But the previous year, they were Super Bowl champs.
1:04:39
Speaker 1: So you just walk around like, remember when we won
1:04:41
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl a couple years ago? I think of DaCosta,
1:04:44
Speaker 1: the year, and I don't put this year on him.
1:04:47
Speaker 1: This year was on the coaching staff. When they had
1:04:49
Speaker 1: the number one seed and they blew it to the Chiefs,
1:04:52
Speaker 1: they were going to win the Super Bowl that year.
1:04:55
Speaker 1: They had just played the 49ers on Christmas or Christmas Eve.
1:04:59
Speaker 1: I forget the exact date. Maybe the day after Christmas.
1:05:02
Speaker 1: in San Francisco, and beat the living piss out of them.
1:05:06
Speaker 1: I mean, that was, that's as bad of a beatdown
1:05:10
Speaker 1: as the Niners have had, I can never remember, on
1:05:13
Speaker 1: one of their good teams under Kyle. And that's who
1:05:16
Speaker 1: they would have played. Instead, they blew it to the,
1:05:19
Speaker 1: and if DaCosta had won that Super Bowl, now who knows,
1:05:23
Speaker 1: maybe John's still there, but, and maybe not, maybe we'll
1:05:26
Speaker 1: just spend time. I just think that would have bought
1:05:30
Speaker 1: him just, he would have almost been a made man,
1:05:33
Speaker 1: an untouchable executive. You just never say never. I mean,
1:05:38
Speaker 1: the owner last year, some of his comments with John,
1:05:41
Speaker 1: seems like he likes DaCosta, but man, does feel like
1:05:45
Speaker 1: this thing's going to get ugly and ugly quick. I've
1:05:48
Speaker 1: noticed that you constantly mention Tomlin's name for jobs that
1:05:51
Speaker 1: will come open in the offseason. But as a Steeler
1:05:53
Speaker 1: fan in my late 20s who has experienced almost nothing
1:05:56
Speaker 1: besides Tomlin, I am less convinced that he is going
1:06:00
Speaker 1: to return to coaching. The same was said about Cowher
1:06:03
Speaker 1: for years and he quickly realized how cushy TV life is.
1:06:08
Speaker 1: I think the list of franchises Tomlin would actually work
1:06:11
Speaker 1: for is very short. There is a ton of value
1:06:15
Speaker 1: in being one of the TV faces of the league
1:06:18
Speaker 1: for the next 10 to 15 years rather than getting
1:06:21
Speaker 1: back into the grind. I would tend to agree with you.
1:06:26
Speaker 1: You know, if He mentioned that the other day. I'm
1:06:29
Speaker 1: getting full-time pay for part-time work. He's making millions of
1:06:33
Speaker 1: dollars to do some TV hits at halftime and pregame.
1:06:38
Speaker 1: It's not like he's even calling the game. He just
1:06:41
Speaker 1: throws on a suit, gives some takes pregame, gives some
1:06:44
Speaker 1: takes halftime. See you later. He's got a great gig.
1:06:49
Speaker 1: I do think after a year, though, is he calling
1:06:53
Speaker 1: a game? Does Amazon go all in to have him
1:06:56
Speaker 1: be the voice or the face of Thursday Night Football.
1:07:02
Speaker 1: And they give him, you know, $ 15, $ 20 million a year. Which,
1:07:07
Speaker 1: after today's stock, it went up like 8%. They could
1:07:11
Speaker 1: afford it. And listen, they've tried before. Then yeah, I
1:07:14
Speaker 1: definitely think it's on the table. But there is something
1:07:18
Speaker 1: like his skill set, and this is why Gruden got
1:07:20
Speaker 1: back into it, They were just kind of born to
1:07:27
Speaker 1: be in front of a team. And it does feel...
1:07:32
Speaker 1: I'm with you on they're only a handful of franchises.
1:07:35
Speaker 1: He's not going to coach the Arizona Cardinals. He's not
1:07:38
Speaker 1: going to coach... You wouldn't think the New York Jets.
1:07:45
Speaker 1: Would he be interested in the Cowboys? Would he kind
1:07:48
Speaker 1: of take the McCarthy path? Look at Mike McCarthy. He's
1:07:51
Speaker 1: coached the Packers, the Cowboys, and the Steelers. It doesn't
1:07:55
Speaker 1: get any bigger than that. Like, if you're Tomlin and
1:07:58
Speaker 1: if you're Jerry, would Jerry ever, could Steven have some
1:08:02
Speaker 1: juice with the old man and be like, Dad, let's just,
1:08:05
Speaker 1: especially if John Harbaugh, and they go 10 wins, and
1:08:08
Speaker 1: like John Harbaugh resurrects the Giants, like, Dad, we need
1:08:11
Speaker 1: to do something. Commanders. You know, could they throw a
1:08:17
Speaker 1: lot of money at him? They would be much more
1:08:19
Speaker 1: likely with their owner to throw money at him. That's
1:08:22
Speaker 1: a pretty historic franchise that's building a new arena. I
1:08:26
Speaker 1: could see him liking the limelight of that franchise. And
1:08:29
Speaker 1: to me, it's a division. He was in a division. One,
1:08:32
Speaker 1: he's just... The Steelers are one of the biggest brands
1:08:35
Speaker 1: in all of American sports. And then his division just
1:08:38
Speaker 1: really mattered. He was arguably in the best rivalry for
1:08:40
Speaker 1: a long period of time over that time. Yeah, I
1:08:46
Speaker 1: just think that... I'm with you. He's not coaching anybody.
1:08:50
Speaker 1: He wouldn't be the head coach of... You just pick
1:08:53
Speaker 1: some random teams. I'm not trying to talk any shit
1:08:55
Speaker 1: about any teams. People get up in their feelings. But...
1:09:03
Speaker 1: I think we'll know quickly. If you tell me that
1:09:06
Speaker 1: he gets offered jobs this offseason and turns them down,
1:09:12
Speaker 1: then I'm like, yeah, we could be looking at a
1:09:15
Speaker 1: Gruden situation where he's just gone for a long period
1:09:17
Speaker 1: of time. I'd be stunned if he's not interviewing this offseason.
1:09:21
Speaker 1: I mean, if you're a Cowboy fan, you should be
1:09:26
Speaker 1: like Jerry. Again, is Mike Tomlin taking the Super Bowl
1:09:29
Speaker 1: year one? No. But does Mike Tomlin immediately bring back
1:09:33
Speaker 1: credibility and make you should be a playoff team? Yeah,
1:09:36
Speaker 1: because he did that every year in Pittsburgh without a quarterback.
1:09:40
Speaker 1: Now you give him Dak? I think Cowboys should be
1:09:42
Speaker 1: all over him. We'll see. The Commanders have actually looked
1:09:45
Speaker 1: a little bit better. I guess we'll end on this
1:09:48
Speaker 1: because we hit on this a little bit earlier. I'm
1:09:51
Speaker 1: a big fan of the show. Hopefully you see this
1:09:53
Speaker 1: during Jack's 5.30 a.m. meltdown window. That is what he's
1:09:59
Speaker 1: been doing. We've had some mid-fives meltdowns over the last
1:10:03
Speaker 1: couple days. He's kind of been a little edgy lately.
1:10:06
Speaker 1: I'm a big fan of the show and also a
1:10:08
Speaker 1: Bills fan living in Manhattan Beach. Not a bad place.
1:10:13
Speaker 1: Most of the Super Bowl contenders made major moves except
1:10:15
Speaker 1: the Bills despite huge holes on defense. What position player
1:10:20
Speaker 1: would you go after if you were in Brandon Bean's shoes?
1:10:24
Speaker 1: Do you think the Ravens would considering moving Kyle Hamilton?
1:10:29
Speaker 1: Would a first and a third be fair? I think
1:10:32
Speaker 1: under no circumstance would they trade. Even if they were
1:10:34
Speaker 1: to trade him, they definitely wouldn't trade him to you.
1:10:37
Speaker 1: To me, Kyle Hamilton, no one's untouchable. Obviously, if you
1:10:40
Speaker 1: offered them several first-round picks, they would do it. But
1:10:44
Speaker 1: for what teams would be willing to trade, they're not
1:10:46
Speaker 1: trading him. I'd fall out of my chair stunned to
1:10:51
Speaker 1: see the Ravens trade him. He clearly is their most
1:10:53
Speaker 1: valuable player, not named Lamar, the rest of the year.
1:10:57
Speaker 1: Derek Henry, they'd trade him. Zay Flowers, they just paid him.
1:11:01
Speaker 1: To me, Zay Flowers, Kyle Hamilton, those guys are not
1:11:06
Speaker 1: getting traded. Wiggins, they're going to want a core group
1:11:10
Speaker 1: of guys. They will plan on winning. The thing with football, basketball,
1:11:14
Speaker 1: the Utah Jazz tanked forever. And I haven't checked lately,
1:11:18
Speaker 1: but they started really slow. Shocking. A team that sucked forever,
1:11:21
Speaker 1: has a losing culture. Now you're like, we're going to win.
1:11:24
Speaker 1: Are you? Football teams do not think like that. I
1:11:28
Speaker 1: even saw Jeff Halfley today say how proud he is.
1:11:31
Speaker 1: He's like, listen, we're not trying to be one and six.
1:11:35
Speaker 1: But I do take a lot of pride in coaches
1:11:37
Speaker 1: around the league, coaches we play, coaches after the game saying, like,
1:11:40
Speaker 1: you're doing shit the right way. You're trying to win. Hell,
1:11:45
Speaker 1: the Jets. The Jets are desperately trying to win. I
1:11:49
Speaker 1: think that's the power of football. It's why people freak out. Like,
1:11:53
Speaker 1: I don't understand. Like, everyone's like, the Jets. I follow
1:11:55
Speaker 1: so many Jets fans on social media. They all freak
1:11:57
Speaker 1: out after every loss. Part of it is because it'd
1:12:00
Speaker 1: be one thing if you're losing every week by 40.
1:12:01
Speaker 1: That's why some of these teams in the last couple
1:12:04
Speaker 1: years in the NBA that we're tanking, no one's paying attention.
1:12:08
Speaker 1: How can I emotionally get invested when you literally don't care?
1:12:11
Speaker 1: The powerful thing about the NFL, even when you suck,
1:12:15
Speaker 1: you try. The Dolphins, who I'm going to bet on
1:12:19
Speaker 1: again this week, try every single week. I guess I
1:12:23
Speaker 1: didn't bet on last week, and they screwed me because
1:12:26
Speaker 1: they scored late because they don't weigh the white flag.
1:12:30
Speaker 1: I've taken them a couple times and last week I'm like,
1:12:31
Speaker 1: I don't love you this week. And then boom. Touchdown
1:12:35
Speaker 1: under like three or four minutes to go in the game.
1:12:39
Speaker 1: When I was hoping they'd just run out the clock.
1:12:40
Speaker 1: But no. The Jets. These teams. The Jets against the
1:12:45
Speaker 1: Chiefs this week. The Jets will give all their effort.
1:12:51
Speaker 1: Everything they have to win that game. Would anyone be
1:12:56
Speaker 1: surprised if it's like 2017 Chiefs going into the fourth quarter?
1:12:59
Speaker 1: 14 to 10 Chiefs go in the fourth quarter. At
1:13:03
Speaker 1: one point in time in the second quarter, the Jets
1:13:05
Speaker 1: have the lead. It's the power of football. And that's
1:13:09
Speaker 1: also the power of when you see some of these
1:13:10
Speaker 1: teams like, why wouldn't you trade Garrett Wilson? I saw
1:13:12
Speaker 1: he's in the concussion protocol today. Why wouldn't you just,
1:13:16
Speaker 1: what are you doing not trading Jonathan Taylor? Like, hey,
1:13:18
Speaker 1: your season, you're about to win like zero games the
1:13:20
Speaker 1: rest of the year. Why not trade Kyle Hamilton? Because
1:13:24
Speaker 1: we want Kyle Hamilton on our team. Even if we're
1:13:27
Speaker 1: not going to have a great season, every single week
1:13:29
Speaker 1: we're going to try to win. And our best chance
1:13:31
Speaker 1: to win is with that guy who we drafted, who
1:13:33
Speaker 1: we paid, staying here. I also think it's really, really
1:13:38
Speaker 1: hard for teams to ever... They're not in the same division.
1:13:42
Speaker 1: It's not like the Ravens trading to the Steelers. But,
1:13:44
Speaker 1: I mean, the Bills... I would say the Bills-Ravens has
1:13:47
Speaker 1: developed a little rivalry. As long as Josh Allen's there,
1:13:50
Speaker 1: they're not trading them, Kyle Hamilton. But that would be
1:13:52
Speaker 1: the type of... Because their defensive line's pretty good. Is
1:13:56
Speaker 1: there a linebacker we're trading for? Kyle Hamilton on the Bills.
1:14:03
Speaker 1: It'd be something we'd do if we were playing Madden.
1:14:06
Speaker 1: I think we'll end on that one. Because that was
1:14:08
Speaker 1: the last message I received. So adios. Take it easy.