Latest / 3 and Out with John Middlekauff / CFB BANNING former NFL Players, 5 MAJOR Wild Card NFL Teams, NFL Training Camp Mailbag

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CFB BANNING former NFL Players, 5 MAJOR Wild Card NFL Teams, NFL Training Camp Mailbag · 3 and Out with John Middlekauff

0:01
Speaker 1: The Volume. What is going on, my people? How are
0:17
Speaker 1: we doing? I'm John. This is the 3NOW Podcast. We
0:20
Speaker 1: have some clarity when it comes to these conferences saying
0:24
Speaker 1: you cannot come back from training camp. So we'll dive
0:26
Speaker 1: into that. They're finally showing a little unity here. in
0:29
Speaker 1: college football, which is rare. You know, unlike the NFL,
0:33
Speaker 1: the college is kind of independent operators, especially as conferences,
0:37
Speaker 1: but definitely as schools. I wanted to pick five teams
0:41
Speaker 1: that didn't make the playoffs last year who I think
0:42
Speaker 1: are the biggest wild cards headed into this season to
0:45
Speaker 1: be really good and be those teams. I mean, every
0:48
Speaker 1: year we get a lot of turnover of teams missing
0:50
Speaker 1: the playoffs and then obviously new teams making the playoffs.
0:54
Speaker 1: Dolly Parton died, RIP. some quick thoughts there as well
0:57
Speaker 1: as the mailbag at John Middlecoff at John Middlecoff is
0:59
Speaker 1: the Instagram fire in those DMS and get your questions
1:02
Speaker 1: answered here on the show. And we'll just keep cranking along.
1:06
Speaker 1: You guys know the drill. If you listen on college feed,
1:08
Speaker 1: make sure you subscribe to three and out. We got a, uh,
1:11
Speaker 1: we're up on Netflix every single day, hit the alert button,
1:13
Speaker 1: never miss a show. I threw a JJ McCarthy now
1:16
Speaker 1: splitting reps. I saw after I recorded most of the podcast, uh,
1:21
Speaker 1: with Carson Wentz, I threw that up. I did a
1:23
Speaker 1: take and put that up on the YouTube channel. So
1:25
Speaker 1: you can go check that out as well. We got
1:27
Speaker 1: a YouTube channel, have a bunch of content as well.
1:30
Speaker 1: So yeah, let's just, let's talk some late Kiffin. Early
1:35
Speaker 1: this morning, the Big Ten said, you will not be
1:38
Speaker 1: allowed to bring anyone in from training camp. If you
1:41
Speaker 1: signed an NFL contract and have spent time with the
1:44
Speaker 1: training camp, you are not eligible to play in the conference,
1:48
Speaker 1: regardless of what the courts say. And then the SEC,
1:51
Speaker 1: right before I hit record, following meetings with the presidents, chancellors,
1:56
Speaker 1: ADs of the SEC will enforce the following process. If
2:00
Speaker 1: you previously declared for the NFL, NBA, WNBA, and did
2:05
Speaker 1: not appropriately withdraw, signed a contract with an NFL or
2:10
Speaker 1: other professional league, NBA, G League, etc., been listed on
2:14
Speaker 1: or other professional football league, NBA, G League, or WNBA,
2:18
Speaker 1: or affiliate roster, can't play in the league. And Lane Kiffin,
2:22
Speaker 1: polarizing figure. A lot of it self-inflicted. When there's a
2:26
Speaker 1: headline and it involves college football, you could probably flip
2:30
Speaker 1: a quarter and half the time Lane's going to be involved.
2:34
Speaker 1: And he was not only fully prepared to sign the
2:37
Speaker 1: tight end from Cleveland, who in fairness played for him
2:40
Speaker 1: at Ole Miss. This isn't just some totally random guy.
2:43
Speaker 1: I think he was prepared to sign a bunch of guys.
2:46
Speaker 1: I think he was going to be very aggressive in
2:49
Speaker 1: this cycle with not even just the 16 guys that
2:51
Speaker 1: were in the Louisiana lawsuit, but it was going to
2:55
Speaker 1: come and it was going to come fast with a
2:57
Speaker 1: lot of guys from the 22 high school class who
3:01
Speaker 1: get cut here at the end of the week. I
3:03
Speaker 1: think Lane Kiffin was going to be very, very active.
3:06
Speaker 1: And Kirby Smart went on a rant today that kind
3:10
Speaker 1: of signaled to me of like, oh, I can see
3:12
Speaker 1: this because he's the lead dog in the conference. Lane's
3:16
Speaker 1: the most polarizing, but that's this version of Saban. I mean,
3:20
Speaker 1: he's got a long way to go to catch him,
3:22
Speaker 1: but he's won multiple national championships. He's in the SEC
3:24
Speaker 1: championship every year. They're the premium program in the conference.
3:28
Speaker 1: And he said, we're not doing it. And then he
3:31
Speaker 1: kind of went on I would say an admirable rant
3:34
Speaker 1: about like, I value what everyone has done for me
3:37
Speaker 1: the last, you know, starting when we first start working
3:40
Speaker 1: out early in February as a team, just working out
3:45
Speaker 1: and running gassers up until where we're at now. Now,
3:48
Speaker 1: in fairness, Kirby has built this program for a decade plus, right?
3:54
Speaker 1: Lane just showed up. He brought in like 41 new guys.
3:57
Speaker 1: He doesn't give a shit. DGAF is Lane Kiffin. And
4:02
Speaker 1: I've said forever, you need rules and regulations. Think about society.
4:07
Speaker 1: You can't just cut me off and then I shoot
4:09
Speaker 1: you and I just drive home. We have rules in
4:12
Speaker 1: everything we do. Whether it's extreme like that or just
4:16
Speaker 1: you go in the grocery store, you get seven items
4:19
Speaker 1: and it costs $ 80. You got to give them $ 80.
4:21
Speaker 1: You can't just walk out of the store. Well, at
4:23
Speaker 1: least where I live. And I just think rules and
4:26
Speaker 1: regulations are very, very important for a civilized society. Rules
4:32
Speaker 1: and regulations are very, very important for professional sports. This
4:37
Speaker 1: is why the Kawhi Leonard thing became such an explosive topic.
4:41
Speaker 1: Because even though it's like, well, is everyone kind of
4:43
Speaker 1: doing it? Was he just blatantly running a giant fugazi
4:47
Speaker 1: to just pump Kawhi money? And I think the reason
4:51
Speaker 1: that people, it's not like they had won three of
4:53
Speaker 1: the last four championships, but it was like, what is
4:56
Speaker 1: going on? And I think in Ballmer's mind, in the
4:59
Speaker 1: business world, if he wanted an employee, there was never
5:03
Speaker 1: a salary cap on an employee. So it's probably been
5:05
Speaker 1: a tough transition for him of like, you can only
5:07
Speaker 1: pay this guy this much money. Even though him and
5:10
Speaker 1: his uncle are asking for more. And college football has
5:13
Speaker 1: always been like that, right? Can't pay the players. Well,
5:16
Speaker 1: all the top programs are paying them under the table.
5:19
Speaker 1: And everyone knew it. Jay Billis has been ranting for
5:21
Speaker 1: this for years, how shitty the NCAA is. And listen,
5:25
Speaker 1: I'm not going to argue with him on that fact.
5:28
Speaker 1: But these players are getting screwed. It's like, everyone knows
5:31
Speaker 1: Coach K started paying players in the early 2000s. Remember,
5:33
Speaker 1: it's like, Coach K won't do the one and dones.
5:35
Speaker 1: And then he started. And then what happened? They started
5:38
Speaker 1: getting all the best players and winning big. Now, do
5:41
Speaker 1: the guys, does Cooper Flagg make more than some of
5:43
Speaker 1: the guys 20 years ago? Of course. Were those guys
5:46
Speaker 1: underpaid even though they were paid under the table? What
5:49
Speaker 1: their market value would be? 100%. But you have to
5:54
Speaker 1: have rules and regulations to run a viable organization when
5:58
Speaker 1: you have a bunch of other partners who are in
6:01
Speaker 1: business together, but they're all competing against each other. That's
6:04
Speaker 1: what makes this unique. Google, Facebook, and Apple aren't under
6:08
Speaker 1: the same umbrella. They're just competing against each other. They're
6:12
Speaker 1: not also in business with each other under a conference
6:17
Speaker 1: or under some umbrella of a co-op, right? They're individual entities.
6:22
Speaker 1: Like at the end of the day, Alabama and LSU
6:25
Speaker 1: and Georgia and Florida and Texas, they're all in business together.
6:30
Speaker 1: It's the crazy thing about like getting in the Tesla.
6:32
Speaker 1: You look up, it's pretty clear to see who Elon
6:34
Speaker 1: is in business with. Spotify, Apple, right? It's all up
6:39
Speaker 1: on my screen. And certain apps, I can't get on
6:42
Speaker 1: my screen. So it's like, oh, they're in business with Tesla.
6:44
Speaker 1: They're not. So when I'm in business with you, we
6:49
Speaker 1: are motivated to do things a certain way if we
6:54
Speaker 1: want to remain, I would just say, as civilized. Because
7:00
Speaker 1: part of this is, football is just barbaric by nature.
7:04
Speaker 1: The violence of the sport. But coaches, like, this goes
7:09
Speaker 1: back to the sign stealing, whether it's Jim Harbaugh or
7:12
Speaker 1: Bill Belichick. The nature of the sport is to do
7:16
Speaker 1: everything humanly possible to gain an advantage. So people are always,
7:20
Speaker 1: their jaw hits the floor when someone does just that.
7:24
Speaker 1: I've never been shocked. Now granted, I've been around it
7:27
Speaker 1: closer than most at the highest level, so I've seen it.
7:29
Speaker 1: It's like, yeah, everyone's doing it. Now, is there a line? Well,
7:34
Speaker 1: is it all illegal or is like that more illegal
7:37
Speaker 1: than something else? And listen, we get into that in
7:40
Speaker 1: the business world all the time. It's like, well, technically
7:42
Speaker 1: that's not illegal. But if you do that, you're going
7:44
Speaker 1: to jail for fraud. I was like, whoa, probably shouldn't
7:47
Speaker 1: do that then. It's like, you know, you tell my,
7:49
Speaker 1: you know, you're talking to your accountant. He's like, yeah,
7:51
Speaker 1: you can probably do that. And like, well, can you
7:53
Speaker 1: do this? He's like, I don't think you can't do that.
7:56
Speaker 1: If you get it audited, we got problems, but you
7:58
Speaker 1: can definitely do this. Okay, do that. And that's kind
8:01
Speaker 1: of what football is. There's a lot of gray area,
8:04
Speaker 1: just like in the NFL. You remember like free agency
8:07
Speaker 1: starts on the 15th, yet the moment the tampering period opens,
8:10
Speaker 1: all the deals are announced. It's like, I thought they
8:12
Speaker 1: could just negotiate now. No, they started negotiating two weeks ago.
8:16
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, everyone's abiding by
8:18
Speaker 1: those rules. Everyone understands and everyone rose in the same direction.
8:22
Speaker 1: So Howie Roseman is not surprised when Les Snead or
8:25
Speaker 1: John Schneider or Jason Light or Jerry Jones, you know,
8:28
Speaker 1: they're talking to agents at the combine about potential deals.
8:31
Speaker 1: That is the business. You either play in those waters
8:35
Speaker 1: or you sit on the sideline and get lapped. And
8:38
Speaker 1: I said all along, like, you can't expect these coaches
8:42
Speaker 1: to not play in this gray area. Some of them
8:45
Speaker 1: will have some morals. It's easy for Dan Lanning and
8:47
Speaker 1: Kirby Smart to have those morals. Lane, one, doesn't have them.
8:51
Speaker 1: And two, he's in a new spot where there is
8:53
Speaker 1: a ton of pressure. The crazy part about this job
8:56
Speaker 1: for Lane, like, I don't think, you can't just go
8:59
Speaker 1: like eight and four year one and everything's cool. Now,
9:02
Speaker 1: I don't think he needs to go 12-0, but it
9:06
Speaker 1: would behoove him to go 10-2 this year and just
9:08
Speaker 1: be like the 10th seed in the playoffs, even if
9:11
Speaker 1: he's one and done, to get some momentum going. Because
9:14
Speaker 1: there is a ton of pressure on this program to
9:16
Speaker 1: begin with. They're spending a bunch of money. And the
9:19
Speaker 1: way that he's just going to operate when it comes
9:21
Speaker 1: to the transfer portal, which he was known as the
9:23
Speaker 1: transfer portal king. So typically, early adopters, I would say,
9:28
Speaker 1: are guys that are willing to push the envelope. which
9:30
Speaker 1: are the type people that I like, which are the
9:32
Speaker 1: type people that I admire. But sometimes those people, when
9:35
Speaker 1: they're operating in the gray, put themselves in weird situations.
9:38
Speaker 1: And in fairness to Lane, like these were the rules.
9:41
Speaker 1: These guys could come back. That's why the commissioners, the
9:45
Speaker 1: NCAA was never going to do it. And the courts
9:47
Speaker 1: were never going to rule on your side. The commissioners
9:49
Speaker 1: were going to have to drop the hammer and say,
9:51
Speaker 1: and I'll work together. And I get they're always, you know,
9:55
Speaker 1: at each other's throats, which is crazy because in the NFL,
9:58
Speaker 1: like everyone's working together. why because they're all getting filthy
10:01
Speaker 1: rich Whether you win three games or whether you win
10:04
Speaker 1: 17 games, they all want the league to thrive. They
10:07
Speaker 1: all are vested. No different than players. You see players,
10:11
Speaker 1: when a player gets paid, a lot of guys take
10:13
Speaker 1: a lot of pride throughout the league. They get excited.
10:17
Speaker 1: Most people don't resent the other guy's success in the NFL.
10:21
Speaker 1: They root for it because that means good things for them.
10:23
Speaker 1: A rising tide lifts all boats. And everyone's rowing in
10:27
Speaker 1: the right direction. We're in college football. You got this
10:29
Speaker 1: guy going left. You got this guy going right. You
10:31
Speaker 1: got this guy over here. And they're all doing weird shit.
10:34
Speaker 1: So I just... Cooler heads prevail. Now, at the end
10:37
Speaker 1: of the day, the dude from the Browns that was
10:40
Speaker 1: coming back, like, he's not an NFL player. He's got
10:43
Speaker 1: an opportunity to play in camp. Like, he probably wasn't
10:45
Speaker 1: even going to make a practice squad. That one doesn't
10:47
Speaker 1: bother me. But there probably was going to be a
10:49
Speaker 1: guy that, like, turned down a practice squad spot... which
10:53
Speaker 1: he's a broken ankle or a torn shoulder away from
10:58
Speaker 1: playing in NFL games. He's literally on the roster, which
11:01
Speaker 1: start getting in some murky water. It's like one day
11:04
Speaker 1: you're just at practice repping against Miles Garrett and getting
11:07
Speaker 1: coached by Sean McVay, and the next day you're playing
11:09
Speaker 1: for Lincoln Riley. That gets a little weird. I understand
11:12
Speaker 1: why these coaches are a little uncomfortable with it. and
11:16
Speaker 1: the commissioners are just not going to allow it. The
11:19
Speaker 1: SEC is involved. Notre Dame joined these two conferences. They're involved.
11:24
Speaker 1: Dan Lanning was adamant, and we ain't doing it. We'll
11:28
Speaker 1: see the Big 12. I can see Texas Tech dabbling.
11:30
Speaker 1: I know a Big 10 program who's a top 25
11:34
Speaker 1: program who had planned on bringing multiple guys back. Clearly,
11:38
Speaker 1: this is out of their control now, and who knows?
11:40
Speaker 1: I don't know if these players are now going to
11:41
Speaker 1: sue the conferences, how this goes, but There has to be,
11:46
Speaker 1: leadership's extremely important, right? Like one day when Jack's 10
11:51
Speaker 1: and 12 and 14, it is incumbent on me to
11:55
Speaker 1: teach him right from wrong, to teach him the basic
11:58
Speaker 1: life skills of working hard. If you're going to start something,
12:02
Speaker 1: finish it. if you're playing in a sport, like if
12:04
Speaker 1: you're going to start it, you don't just get to
12:06
Speaker 1: half-ass it or we ain't fucking showing up. Just some basic,
12:09
Speaker 1: like that's on me, not on him. Now, once he's
12:13
Speaker 1: 20 or 25, like that's on him. But early on,
12:17
Speaker 1: like I am the guy that has to show him
12:20
Speaker 1: the fucking way. That's incumbent upon me. Just like it's
12:24
Speaker 1: like the Jed York thing. Like it's on Roger Goodell
12:28
Speaker 1: to handle that situation. That's his job. And in all
12:32
Speaker 1: of our situations, in all of our roles, in all
12:35
Speaker 1: of our professions, there has to be some hierarchy of
12:39
Speaker 1: leadership that makes some tough decisions or make decisions that
12:43
Speaker 1: feel pretty black and white but are just in a
12:46
Speaker 1: gray area. And someone goes, no more. We're not doing
12:49
Speaker 1: this anymore. And this, to me, was an easy one
12:53
Speaker 1: from the commissioners. It really is. And I think moving forward...
12:58
Speaker 1: All these guys now have five years to play five seasons.
13:03
Speaker 1: Because before you had five years to play four. Now
13:06
Speaker 1: you got five years to play five, cash in as
13:09
Speaker 1: much as you can, and then get yourself ready for
13:11
Speaker 1: the NFL. And a small percentage of these guys in
13:16
Speaker 1: college will go on to play in the NFL. And
13:18
Speaker 1: even the small percentage of those guys that get opportunities
13:21
Speaker 1: in the NFL won't make it long. So it's a
13:24
Speaker 1: very cutthroat sport. It's a very cutthroat business. take advantage
13:28
Speaker 1: of your situations. But I just don't blame Lane. I
13:32
Speaker 1: really don't. Because it's not like he just created this
13:34
Speaker 1: out of thin air. This happened. He pivoted to it.
13:37
Speaker 1: Other coaches, it's easy for them to claim. I'm above it.
13:41
Speaker 1: Not my thing. Well, it's like, yeah, you don't necessarily
13:43
Speaker 1: need to do that. Lane's probably looking at half his
13:45
Speaker 1: team like, I don't even know these guys. They're not
13:47
Speaker 1: good enough. We got to get better. Which is honestly
13:50
Speaker 1: a reflection of Brian Kelly, who all-time ski mass team
13:52
Speaker 1: right now. I mean, you talk about a guy robbing Louisiana.
13:56
Speaker 1: Holy shit. So now we're not going to see any
13:59
Speaker 1: of these guys coming from training camp to any of
14:03
Speaker 1: these colleges. Unless there's some other injunction. I'm no legal
14:07
Speaker 1: analyst here, but it feels like these things always just
14:10
Speaker 1: keep growing in the court system, which I think people
14:14
Speaker 1: are exhausted with. You know, it's just there gets to
14:17
Speaker 1: a point where people just want some clarity. Like this
14:22
Speaker 1: is what you can do. This is what you can't do.
14:24
Speaker 1: Like it's very clear. Like I signed a three-year contract
14:26
Speaker 1: with Tampa Bay. I have two of those three years guaranteed.
14:30
Speaker 1: I'm on the team the first two years. But as
14:33
Speaker 1: a player, I've got to prove that I'm worthy to
14:35
Speaker 1: stay on the third year. And if I'm good enough,
14:36
Speaker 1: maybe they'll extend me after two years to keep that
14:39
Speaker 1: contract rolling. But it's pretty clear, even with the contracts
14:43
Speaker 1: being somewhat open-ended because of the guaranteed money is not
14:48
Speaker 1: what these other sports are, everyone kind of knows where
14:51
Speaker 1: they stand. And in college football, it feels like no
14:53
Speaker 1: one ever knows where they stand. Like, is this guy
14:55
Speaker 1: going to be on my team? Is this guy going
14:56
Speaker 1: to go somewhere else? Is this guy going to go
14:58
Speaker 1: pro and then come back? Too much of that. And
15:00
Speaker 1: it's got to the point where my issue with college football,
15:03
Speaker 1: as someone that loves the sport, is the conversation around it. Like,
15:09
Speaker 1: the NFL has the perfect balance. Ultimately, all this stuff
15:12
Speaker 1: is entertainment. Is there's enough Jed York and a trailer
15:16
Speaker 1: park hooker? There's enough Russini and Vrabel to go along with, like,
15:21
Speaker 1: is J.J. McCarthy not going to make the Vikings? Yes.
15:24
Speaker 1: Is Cam Ward any good? Is Joe Burrow and the
15:29
Speaker 1: Bengals finally gonna figure it out? What's up with Daniel Jones? Like,
15:33
Speaker 1: can Jalen Hurts play in this offense? And I think
15:36
Speaker 1: so much of college football is not about the sport.
15:40
Speaker 1: Like Alabama just named this awesome five-star guy, and it's like, well,
15:44
Speaker 1: are they gonna sign another three guys from training camps?
15:47
Speaker 1: Is DeBoer's GM evaluating the NFC South's practice squad? It's like,
15:53
Speaker 1: what are we fucking talking about? But that's a huge,
15:56
Speaker 1: we're gonna go to 24 teams, we're gonna go to
15:58
Speaker 1: 48 teams, is the NCAA tournament gonna turn into 700 teams?
16:02
Speaker 1: It's just always this stuff where it's just, it gets
16:05
Speaker 1: to the point where some of it's cool, And then
16:08
Speaker 1: you pass a threshold where it feels exhausting. And when
16:12
Speaker 1: you get a guy like me who does this for
16:14
Speaker 1: a living, who loves this, would be doing it whether
16:17
Speaker 1: I did it for a living or not, be watching
16:18
Speaker 1: all this stuff, when I feel like, can you guys
16:21
Speaker 1: just figure it out? Can you guys just get some
16:23
Speaker 1: semblance of an organized idea and just move forward where
16:28
Speaker 1: everyone's kind of rowing in the same direction? And these
16:32
Speaker 1: feel very, very rare. We're just like, everyone's on the
16:35
Speaker 1: same page. And it's, I guess, in a weird way,
16:38
Speaker 1: a little refreshing to see. I wrote down five teams
16:54
Speaker 1: last year that missed the playoffs who are just gigantic
16:58
Speaker 1: wildcards this year. Because we know every year, you know,
17:02
Speaker 1: it used to be with the old playoff format, it
17:03
Speaker 1: was three. I think now it's like four, three and
17:06
Speaker 1: a half, because the playoffs expanded with the two extra
17:10
Speaker 1: wild cards, one in each conference. You know there's turnover.
17:14
Speaker 1: I mean, think about last year. The Chiefs and the
17:17
Speaker 1: Ravens missed the playoffs. What'd you say? The Chiefs and
17:21
Speaker 1: the Ravens missed the playoffs. The Lions, who had been
17:24
Speaker 1: the one seed the previous year, missed the playoffs. The Vikings,
17:28
Speaker 1: who were 60 minutes away from being the ones who
17:31
Speaker 1: missed the playoffs. That's the best part about the NFL,
17:33
Speaker 1: is there are some shitty teams, right? But I would
17:39
Speaker 1: say the top, definitely the top 15, but depending on
17:43
Speaker 1: the year, depending on health, you could have 20 teams
17:46
Speaker 1: legitimately in the mix. And if you make a playoff game,
17:49
Speaker 1: this ain't a seven-game series. One game, 60 minutes, your
17:53
Speaker 1: quarterback plays bad, someone gets injured, weird things happen. And
17:57
Speaker 1: I wrote down these five teams that I just think
18:01
Speaker 1: could be major players this year. Obviously, number one to
18:06
Speaker 1: me is an easy one. A little scared today. I
18:08
Speaker 1: was like, do I got to get off these guys?
18:11
Speaker 1: For a split second, it looked like Jamar Chase blew
18:13
Speaker 1: out his knee. His entire leg just was fucked. Okay.
18:20
Speaker 1: You know the best part about being a genetic freak
18:23
Speaker 1: is I remember... I was probably like 25. I came
18:28
Speaker 1: from the Bay area, went to my parents' house and my,
18:32
Speaker 1: they had a lab Callie who's died. And my brother, uh, who, uh,
18:37
Speaker 1: you know, works in the area often used to drop
18:40
Speaker 1: his dog off now lives in the area. So dog's
18:42
Speaker 1: always over there too. And they, you know, anyone that
18:45
Speaker 1: has a lab that they could chase the ball all
18:47
Speaker 1: day long. And I remember throwing the ball and trying
18:51
Speaker 1: to beat, I forget if it was Callie or Bailey,
18:53
Speaker 1: trying to beat her to the ball. My mom had
18:57
Speaker 1: like a brick bench that's probably three feet high. So
19:03
Speaker 1: I'm in a full sprint, I had to jump it. Well,
19:05
Speaker 1: when I jump it, I land on my feet, but
19:09
Speaker 1: in kind of a pothole, and I roll my ankle.
19:12
Speaker 1: I swear to God, I couldn't walk normal for like
19:14
Speaker 1: two months. I mean, some guys, and you see these
19:17
Speaker 1: freak athletes, they get injured, And it's like you freak
19:23
Speaker 1: out at first because I don't care what it is.
19:24
Speaker 1: It's a jolting feeling. And then they like shake it
19:27
Speaker 1: off and they're good. I mean, Adrian Peterson once tore
19:29
Speaker 1: his ACL and was back like three months later. I
19:31
Speaker 1: think won the MVP the next year. It's like, what?
19:33
Speaker 1: It's like, yeah. And this was before the peptides existed.
19:37
Speaker 1: I mean, this was just like, I'm a freak. He's
19:40
Speaker 1: probably eating McDonald's. It didn't even matter. I just think
19:43
Speaker 1: the Bengals, their upside for this team is so high.
19:46
Speaker 1: The dominant, dominant dynamic wide receiver group. I mean, you
19:50
Speaker 1: could make the argument that Jamar's the best wide receiver
19:52
Speaker 1: in the league. Tee Higgins, I guess what's his pickings
19:56
Speaker 1: in Dallas, but Higgins has to be definitely a top
20:00
Speaker 1: three number two. I mean, Burrow, when he's on, now
20:03
Speaker 1: the key is he's got to stay on the field.
20:05
Speaker 1: Their offensive line is not as bad as people think.
20:08
Speaker 1: And the number one thing is like their defense two
20:10
Speaker 1: years ago when they were the hottest team in the
20:11
Speaker 1: league and they went nine and eight, but they started
20:13
Speaker 1: so shitty and they missed the playoffs. Like that is
20:16
Speaker 1: the version of the offense mixed with the defense that
20:18
Speaker 1: just should be better. There was a clip I saw
20:20
Speaker 1: went viral yesterday of Dexter Lawrence. I don't know if
20:25
Speaker 1: he didn't see him till late or he actually shoved him,
20:28
Speaker 1: but he ran into Samaji Pirine, who feels like he's
20:31
Speaker 1: been in the NFL forever, former Oklahoma running back, who's
20:34
Speaker 1: not small. And this dude, you thought all the life
20:38
Speaker 1: came out of his body. Like, I think Dexter Lawrence
20:41
Speaker 1: is going to be a monster this season. I think
20:44
Speaker 1: the Bengals are going to be really good. The other
20:46
Speaker 1: team that, like, every single year, once Lamar got there,
20:49
Speaker 1: it's like, Ravens are a playoff team. Ravens are a
20:51
Speaker 1: playoff team. I mean, a couple years ago, they were
20:52
Speaker 1: the best team in the league, up until they weren't
20:54
Speaker 1: in the AFC Championship game. But you fire a coach
20:59
Speaker 1: after 18 years, and every quote I see coming out
21:04
Speaker 1: of Baltimore is like, Lamar is invigorated. This offense is awesome.
21:08
Speaker 1: The cohesion of the coaches. And I've been hearing about
21:10
Speaker 1: Jesse Minter forever. One thing is with the Baltimore Harbaugh brother,
21:15
Speaker 1: like those defensive coordinators, their names games themed like Mike McDonald,
21:19
Speaker 1: Jesse Minter. The one thing is Mike's first year in Seattle,
21:24
Speaker 1: you know, everyone forgets because they're Super Bowl champ. They're
21:26
Speaker 1: on hard knock. Like they did miss the playoffs. Now, granted,
21:29
Speaker 1: his quarterback was Geno Smith, but it took him a year. Now,
21:34
Speaker 1: got a new offensive coordinator, had to change some things.
21:39
Speaker 1: And a lot like Baltimore, like very heavy-handed. I would
21:43
Speaker 1: say their personalities are way different, Schneider and DaCosta. But,
21:47
Speaker 1: I mean, two of the highest regarded personnel guys in
21:50
Speaker 1: the league. Two of... I would say on a short
21:55
Speaker 1: list of GMs with as much juice as any GM
21:58
Speaker 1: in the league. So this is not a job where
22:00
Speaker 1: he's coming in, like you watch John Harbaugh press conferences,
22:03
Speaker 1: you're like, that guy's in charge of fucking everything. When
22:07
Speaker 1: John says jump, everyone looking at him, executive assistants, GM, players, trainer,
22:14
Speaker 1: they all say how high. That's not the case with
22:17
Speaker 1: Jesse Minter. So there is some growing pains with some
22:20
Speaker 1: of these younger coaches. I just don't know. Like, I probably,
22:24
Speaker 1: I still haven't quite decided, probably going to pick them
22:26
Speaker 1: to miss. If you told me the Ravens win 12 games,
22:29
Speaker 1: believe you. If you told me they win 8-9 again,
22:31
Speaker 1: I believe you. They, to me, are... Like, to me,
22:34
Speaker 1: Cincinnati's not a wild card. If Joe Burrow's playing, they're
22:37
Speaker 1: in the playoffs. To me, the Ravens are just a
22:41
Speaker 1: pretty big swing team. Partly because an offensive coordinator, never
22:45
Speaker 1: called plays. First guy... technically from the Ben Johnson tree,
22:50
Speaker 1: which is cool. I'm fascinated to watch Ben Johnson's like
22:55
Speaker 1: kind of tree grow. But sometimes like not every Shanahan
22:58
Speaker 1: McVay guy did well. Bobby Sloan got fired. Mike LaFleur,
23:02
Speaker 1: who's now in Arizona, got fired from solo. Now, granted,
23:05
Speaker 1: they didn't have Lamar Jackson, but like you just never know.
23:09
Speaker 1: Things can get weird. Things get weird fast. I don't
23:12
Speaker 1: even I just think Baltimore's one of the biggest wild
23:15
Speaker 1: cards in the league. Another team that is less of
23:18
Speaker 1: a wild card because over the aggregate, they have been
23:23
Speaker 1: underwhelming every single time when it mattered the most. But
23:26
Speaker 1: last year, Indianapolis was legitimately 8-2. And they had, up
23:31
Speaker 1: to that point, I think statistically, again, numbers are inflated now.
23:37
Speaker 1: I think they're the greatest offense of all time. But
23:39
Speaker 1: in fairness to them, you watched them when Daniel Jones
23:41
Speaker 1: was healthy, it passed the eye test. Now we got
23:44
Speaker 1: some questions, right? Alex Pierce, this ankle off-season surgery thing.
23:48
Speaker 1: They signed Keenan Allen. Let's just assume Pierce is back
23:52
Speaker 1: full go, which is hard to do when a guy
23:54
Speaker 1: misses that much training camp time. I think Warren, I
23:58
Speaker 1: don't know if he's back at practice. I know he
23:59
Speaker 1: had to leave practice, but I think by all accounts,
24:02
Speaker 1: he's going to be okay. You get Alex Pierce healthy.
24:04
Speaker 1: You get Keenan Allen that could catch you 60 to
24:06
Speaker 1: 70 balls, no problem. Tyler Warren is just, I mean,
24:11
Speaker 1: you and I could throw him footballs. Jonathan Taylor, one
24:13
Speaker 1: of the best running backs in the league. Their offensive
24:15
Speaker 1: line is good. We've seen Shane Steichen when his quarterback
24:17
Speaker 1: plays well. Defensively, some question marks, but I'm kind of
24:23
Speaker 1: leaning and picking the Colts to make the playoffs. I
24:26
Speaker 1: really am. Now, I'm betting on Daniel Jones coming back
24:29
Speaker 1: from the Achilles. It's kind of crazy when you kind
24:31
Speaker 1: of start talking it out. Because the other team I
24:34
Speaker 1: was going to list here, but they made the playoffs
24:35
Speaker 1: last year, would be the Texans. But their wild card
24:38
Speaker 1: really is more like, if CJ just plays well, they
24:41
Speaker 1: might be in the Super Bowl, right? I mean, Indy
24:44
Speaker 1: just never makes the playoffs. And Chris Ballard's on the
24:47
Speaker 1: last year of his contract. You know, if they miss
24:49
Speaker 1: the playoffs, is everyone getting fired there? And then you're
24:52
Speaker 1: just stuck with this Daniel Jones contract. It's just... A
24:57
Speaker 1: lot going on there, which it's either going to go well.
24:59
Speaker 1: Like if the Ravens miss the playoffs, Jesse Minter is
25:04
Speaker 1: not getting fired unless they won like two games, right?
25:07
Speaker 1: But Indy, that is a– like Cincy. It's like playoffs
25:12
Speaker 1: or bust, fellas. Fair or not? Fair or not? Number four,
25:15
Speaker 1: the Lions. There's definitely not a team in the league
25:19
Speaker 1: with a better core of young star players. And they're
25:22
Speaker 1: all the most important positions. Left tackle, wide receiver, pass rusher,
25:27
Speaker 1: running back, tight end, linebacker. If safety is healthy, safety.
25:32
Speaker 1: Now a corner is a premium position they don't have.
25:35
Speaker 1: A lot of question marks at corner. So which if
25:38
Speaker 1: you can't cover anybody, it's hard to be a good defense.
25:41
Speaker 1: And I don't think the Lions are going to be
25:42
Speaker 1: a good defense. But if they can be middle of
25:44
Speaker 1: the pack, anyone and part of it is I got
25:48
Speaker 1: multiple TVs. I have to watch all the games. Cardinal
25:52
Speaker 1: games the last couple weeks. I mean, I don't think
25:54
Speaker 1: they won a game like the last two months of
25:56
Speaker 1: the season. But I swear to God, in a lot
25:58
Speaker 1: of those games, Jacoby was slinging that pill around. And
26:01
Speaker 1: the offense looked pretty explosive. Jacoby actually is like a
26:04
Speaker 1: shittier version of Goff. Can't really move. No mobility. True
26:09
Speaker 1: pocket quarterback. If he can make Jacoby through 23 touchdowns
26:12
Speaker 1: on a team that was atrocious, could Goff be a
26:16
Speaker 1: sleeper MVP? I got to look at the odds, but like,
26:20
Speaker 1: Could Goff have a 44-touchdown season and they win 12,
26:23
Speaker 1: 13 games? Dan Campbell's one of those guys over the
26:28
Speaker 1: years who's really grown on me. Every time I see
26:29
Speaker 1: an interview with him, I like him more. I think
26:33
Speaker 1: the Lions are a team. They had those two years.
26:36
Speaker 1: I mean, really, he's got to lose a little sleep
26:40
Speaker 1: over the NFC Championship game against the 49ers when he
26:43
Speaker 1: just wouldn't kick the field goals, and he kept going
26:45
Speaker 1: for it. He had a chance to go up, I think,
26:47
Speaker 1: was it 27-7? You're going up three scores in the
26:51
Speaker 1: NFC Championship game. This isn't week seven. There's a finite
26:55
Speaker 1: amount of time in the season. You've got 30 minutes left.
26:59
Speaker 1: Just do the math. If you just get a couple
27:01
Speaker 1: first downs and don't turn the ball over, you'll get
27:04
Speaker 1: to a point where it's statistically impossible for them to
27:06
Speaker 1: come back. But he didn't, and it kind of bit
27:09
Speaker 1: him in the ass. Now, his style is why they've
27:13
Speaker 1: been consistently good. I mean, the Detroit Lions had a
27:15
Speaker 1: god-awful season, and they went 9-8. The Detroit Lions, most
27:19
Speaker 1: of my life, if they had a god-awful season, they
27:21
Speaker 1: would have been drafting third overall. So he has raised
27:24
Speaker 1: the bar. I think the Lions are going to be really,
27:26
Speaker 1: really good. And last but not least, maybe this is
27:29
Speaker 1: a little like because I'm high on this team, but
27:32
Speaker 1: I think the Dallas Cowboys. Their offense, the way they talk–
27:37
Speaker 1: This is the thing with the NFL. Sometimes you can
27:40
Speaker 1: get like a perception about you as a player because
27:43
Speaker 1: the league is so small. Everyone knows each other. It's
27:47
Speaker 1: so public. All the information gets out. And we just
27:50
Speaker 1: think like loser wouldn't touch that guy. And that's what
27:52
Speaker 1: I thought about George Pickens. I'm like, I wouldn't mess
27:54
Speaker 1: with him. Now, is he Larry Fitzgerald or Jerry Rice? No.
28:00
Speaker 1: I mean, you got to deal with some stuff. Even
28:02
Speaker 1: last year, there were a couple games like, is he
28:04
Speaker 1: even trying? But if you read the quotes coming out
28:07
Speaker 1: of practice, and even C.D. Lamb's like, yeah, he has
28:09
Speaker 1: the talent to be the best wide receiver in the league.
28:11
Speaker 1: He's their number two. Their offense is going to be awesome.
28:15
Speaker 1: It's just about the defense. And you hire Christian Parker,
28:18
Speaker 1: who's kind of had a front row seat with Vic Fangio.
28:24
Speaker 1: They gave him a bunch of young pieces, but even
28:27
Speaker 1: they were able to add some veterans with the Quinn
28:29
Speaker 1: and Williams move. Obviously, you get Caleb Downs, who honestly
28:32
Speaker 1: feels more like a vet than a rookie. I think
28:34
Speaker 1: he's going to be exceptional. See how the corners hold up.
28:37
Speaker 1: I mean, past defense last year was an embarrassment. But
28:40
Speaker 1: half the battle was they couldn't even, when they fired
28:42
Speaker 1: Eberflus and hired Christian Parker, one thing Jerry was like, yeah,
28:46
Speaker 1: we just couldn't even get lined up. People didn't even
28:48
Speaker 1: know what they were doing. I mean, you talk about
28:50
Speaker 1: another all-ski-mass team, Eberflus. I mean, what the fuck is
28:55
Speaker 1: that guy doing? But I think the Cowboys, a lot
28:58
Speaker 1: like Indy, if you told me the Cowboys went 7-10,
29:03
Speaker 1: wouldn't be shocked. If you told me they went 12-5,
29:06
Speaker 1: wouldn't be shocked. Their variance is extremely high. Like, there
29:10
Speaker 1: are some teams their variance isn't that high. Like the Browns,
29:13
Speaker 1: the Dolphins, their variance isn't that high. 3-6, right? The Broncos,
29:18
Speaker 1: their variance isn't that high. 11-13, you know, in terms
29:22
Speaker 1: of wins. Teams like the Cowboys, the Colts, if things
29:27
Speaker 1: got bad, could it just unravel? Probably more likely with
29:31
Speaker 1: Indy than Dallas because of Dak. Uh, but so to me,
29:37
Speaker 1: teams have missed the playoffs last year who just massive
29:41
Speaker 1: wild cards could just be like some, I mean, some
29:44
Speaker 1: of these teams can be like Superbowl contenders since he,
29:47
Speaker 1: the lions, if all went right in Baltimore, obviously they
29:50
Speaker 1: could be really good, but they, to me, I like
29:53
Speaker 1: Baltimore the least out of those three teams and then
29:56
Speaker 1: Indian Dallas. Um, Before we do a mailbag question, Dolly
30:01
Speaker 1: Parton died today at 80 years old. I remember just
30:04
Speaker 1: a couple years ago. Was it last year or two
30:06
Speaker 1: years ago? She was at the halftime show of the
30:10
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboy game and looked fantastic for like 78. You're like,
30:15
Speaker 1: she's still pretty hot. I've just, having lived in two
30:20
Speaker 1: different eras in my life, I always appreciate... And I'm
30:25
Speaker 1: going to sound like old band, get off my lawn.
30:28
Speaker 1: But there is, if you were going to be in
30:29
Speaker 1: the music business in the 70s, the 80s, the 90s,
30:34
Speaker 1: like you had to have talent. You had to be
30:38
Speaker 1: able to sing. And like Pat McAfee just put out
30:41
Speaker 1: an album. It's all auto-tune. And listen, I grew up
30:47
Speaker 1: in a day and age where if you fucking could rap,
30:49
Speaker 1: you heard exactly what they sounded like. The mumble rap thing,
30:53
Speaker 1: it's like, is this even the person? Like, what is
30:55
Speaker 1: going on here? I love country music. A lot of newfound,
31:00
Speaker 1: more famous country musicians over the last five, ten years
31:05
Speaker 1: can't sing. But they look the part. You can create
31:09
Speaker 1: their voice in the studio and produce it the right
31:13
Speaker 1: way so they sound better. But then you watch them
31:16
Speaker 1: in a live performance on YouTube. You're like, this guy
31:18
Speaker 1: sounds like shit. You couldn't fake it in the 90s.
31:21
Speaker 1: You couldn't fake it in the 80s. You could either
31:22
Speaker 1: sing or you couldn't. And also, whether you were an actor,
31:25
Speaker 1: whether you were a singer, whether you were whoever, fame
31:30
Speaker 1: pre-internet was kind of earned. And nowadays, fame is so
31:35
Speaker 1: fragmented that people could feel really, really famous in my
31:41
Speaker 1: world and you could meet someone else and they would
31:43
Speaker 1: never have heard of them. You wouldn't be able to
31:46
Speaker 1: talk to someone in the mid-90s and say the word
31:49
Speaker 1: Dolly Parton And everyone would have known exactly who you
31:52
Speaker 1: were talking about. And that power pre-internet meant like you
31:57
Speaker 1: were a really big deal. And her story is pretty
32:00
Speaker 1: well documented. I mean, she grew up in a family,
32:02
Speaker 1: I think of like 11 kids in a place, I
32:08
Speaker 1: think in Tennessee. They didn't have water. They didn't have electricity.
32:12
Speaker 1: And at one point in time, I remember seeing she
32:15
Speaker 1: was worth like over $ 500 million. So, I mean, she
32:18
Speaker 1: was an incredible businesswoman. And I think the number one thing,
32:23
Speaker 1: you see some of these clips of she used to
32:25
Speaker 1: do these duets with Kenny Rogers, who she's certain people
32:30
Speaker 1: as I would say stars are just the total package.
32:35
Speaker 1: I remember Bill Simmons wrote something when Whitney Houston died.
32:39
Speaker 1: And Whitney Houston is a great example. Like it's sad
32:43
Speaker 1: what the drugs derailed her life. But like when you
32:46
Speaker 1: think of a singer, a female singer, she checked every box, gorgeous,
32:54
Speaker 1: incredible voice, just gregarious personality, smile that you couldn't meet
33:01
Speaker 1: a human on this planet that wouldn't find her attractive.
33:04
Speaker 1: She could act, you know, there was nothing she couldn't do.
33:08
Speaker 1: When she walked into a room, everyone looked and like, listen,
33:11
Speaker 1: Taylor Swift is the biggest, I would say, act person.
33:17
Speaker 1: female wise on the planet I wouldn't say she's like
33:21
Speaker 1: a 10 you know you see some of these clips
33:24
Speaker 1: Dolly when she was in her 30s and 40s you're
33:26
Speaker 1: like holy shit I know as she got older all
33:29
Speaker 1: the plastic surgery and stuff trying to maintain it but
33:32
Speaker 1: just just watch some of her stuff in like the
33:35
Speaker 1: 70s and 80s her voice will blow you away and
33:37
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to talk shit about Taylor Swift like
33:39
Speaker 1: Taylor Swift It's not bad looking, but like some of
33:43
Speaker 1: these singing icons of my life were like drop dead
33:47
Speaker 1: gorgeous that could sing. And I mean, Taylor could sing
33:51
Speaker 1: and she's a very talented musician, but I would just
33:54
Speaker 1: say Dolly Parton was just kind of a one-on-one. And
33:58
Speaker 1: you just see some of these people that die that
34:01
Speaker 1: were just uber famous in the pre-internet era. It just,
34:05
Speaker 1: it feels like a piece of that. We're just slowly
34:08
Speaker 1: and slowly losing it. Like Jack, once he comes to,
34:11
Speaker 1: we'll never even, that era will feel like to me,
34:16
Speaker 1: the 30s and the 40s. It's just, it's kind of crazy,
34:19
Speaker 1: but it just kind of is what it is. So
34:21
Speaker 1: RIP to Dolly Parton, who just was a star, man. Fuck,
34:28
Speaker 1: she could play up until she was in her late
34:29
Speaker 1: 70s in NFL games. Let's do some mailback questions. At
34:35
Speaker 1: John Middlecoff, at John Middlecoff is the Instagram fire, and
34:37
Speaker 1: those DMs get your questions answered here on the show.
34:40
Speaker 1: We'll start with Drew. How do you think AI is
34:43
Speaker 1: currently used inside the NFL? How much of an advantage
34:46
Speaker 1: do you think it creates for an OC or DC
34:49
Speaker 1: that knows how to use it versus one that doesn't?
34:52
Speaker 1: That's a good question. I would imagine a lot of
34:57
Speaker 1: these teams, the technology in general, of being able to
35:02
Speaker 1: press a button like you're playing a team week four.
35:06
Speaker 1: They just signed a guy, and he's played 17 games
35:12
Speaker 1: over the course of the last couple years and bounced around.
35:15
Speaker 1: You could just press two buttons and bring up every
35:17
Speaker 1: one of his targets to just scout him, right? Stuff
35:20
Speaker 1: like that in college too. So that technology has already
35:24
Speaker 1: been there. I don't know if that would encompass A.I.,
35:27
Speaker 1: I think it's probably more prevalent. The technology they've been
35:31
Speaker 1: using in the NFL for game planning has been pretty
35:34
Speaker 1: high level for a while. I would imagine it helps
35:37
Speaker 1: scouts more. I would just use it on any guy
35:41
Speaker 1: at question marks. Bring up every article that's been written
35:44
Speaker 1: on so-and-so. You could just prompt Chad GPT or whatever
35:51
Speaker 1: one you use on individual players to just mine information.
35:56
Speaker 1: especially when you have question marks on guys and you
35:58
Speaker 1: don't want to miss something. So I actually think it
36:01
Speaker 1: probably happens more in the scouting world than it does,
36:05
Speaker 1: and I could be wrong, maybe I'm out of touch,
36:07
Speaker 1: but on like a weekly game plan standpoint. But I
36:11
Speaker 1: don't pretend to, you know, I use it more for
36:14
Speaker 1: question queries, right? I would say the highest level thing
36:18
Speaker 1: I've ever used, I used it essentially as my lawyer.
36:21
Speaker 1: You know, when I'm working on contracts, I'll use my
36:24
Speaker 1: chat assistant. and I'll just prompt them with a bunch
36:27
Speaker 1: of questions and have a breakdown and kind of lead
36:29
Speaker 1: me and go through that. But a lot of it's
36:32
Speaker 1: just like, name me the last seven years, the amount
36:36
Speaker 1: of practice squad guys that started on a team week one,
36:38
Speaker 1: how many of those guys played in a regular season
36:41
Speaker 1: game as a rookie? And then it'll bring you up 37%.
36:46
Speaker 1: That's what I use it for, so I'm probably not
36:49
Speaker 1: the best– person to ask because a lot of you
36:53
Speaker 1: maybe for your jobs you use it much much more
36:56
Speaker 1: I mean my wife before Jack was born was using
36:59
Speaker 1: it heavily you know and in just write-ups on MLS
37:03
Speaker 1: write-ups on Instagram posts it's it's a powerful tool there's
37:07
Speaker 1: no doubt and it feels like it's only getting better
37:10
Speaker 1: my question is when you were a scout what were
37:13
Speaker 1: some specific traits that you saw when watching tape on
37:17
Speaker 1: late round players that that convinced guys that a low-ranked
37:21
Speaker 1: prospect would succeed in the pros. Also, how are disagreements
37:26
Speaker 1: between a GM and coaching staff, scouts, handled on draft
37:30
Speaker 1: night when it comes to drafting a player? I would
37:35
Speaker 1: say it depends on the position. Some wide receivers that
37:43
Speaker 1: don't have much production... run great routes, but their quarterback
37:49
Speaker 1: sucks and they never get thrown the ball. Or you
37:51
Speaker 1: just watch a guy and he can fly, but he's
37:54
Speaker 1: not that strong and he's tackled easy, but he's a
37:56
Speaker 1: 4-2 guy. I'm just using that example. Some guys, an
38:03
Speaker 1: offensive lineman may not meet the measurables, maybe a little shorter,
38:07
Speaker 1: shorter arms, not work out as well, but he's tough
38:11
Speaker 1: as shit, plays his ass off, actually is much stronger
38:15
Speaker 1: functionally then you would think based on his body, some
38:19
Speaker 1: pass rushers, like a D-end, who's a little undersized, who
38:24
Speaker 1: can't play the run, but is an elite speed rush guy.
38:26
Speaker 1: You're like, hey, we can take this guy in the
38:27
Speaker 1: sixth round. He can play special teams and put him
38:30
Speaker 1: in some third downs. So I think there are specific
38:35
Speaker 1: attributes that a guy has with a ton of weaknesses.
38:40
Speaker 1: And you just ask yourself like, you fall farther and
38:44
Speaker 1: farther the more weaknesses you have or more question marks
38:47
Speaker 1: you have. Like a guy goes top 10, there aren't
38:50
Speaker 1: going to be as many question marks as the guy
38:52
Speaker 1: that goes in the fifth round. But that guy in
38:53
Speaker 1: the fifth round, maybe let's use an example like he's
38:58
Speaker 1: a linebacker who led the team in tackles and led
39:02
Speaker 1: his conference in tackles. But he's kind of short. He
39:05
Speaker 1: didn't run that fast. He only was a starter for
39:10
Speaker 1: one year. and what else? Maybe he started at a bad,
39:19
Speaker 1: you know, like a small, small program. So he wasn't
39:21
Speaker 1: a blue chip guy, small recruit, one year production, does
39:25
Speaker 1: not meet any of the measurables, his workouts not great
39:28
Speaker 1: but you throw on the tape and he can just
39:30
Speaker 1: play so you're like some teams don't mess with guys
39:34
Speaker 1: like that like historically the Ravens the Giants like they're
39:38
Speaker 1: big on measurables and some teams like Andy Reid like
39:42
Speaker 1: can you play or can't you play some teams are
39:44
Speaker 1: more liberal when it comes to that right so it
39:47
Speaker 1: depends on the franchise Like, look at the defensive lineman
39:50
Speaker 1: that John Schneider likes. Not a lot of tiny guys.
39:55
Speaker 1: Murphy's shorter, but he's only blue chip player. You know,
40:00
Speaker 1: it's like some Pete Carroll. Like, you could be the
40:04
Speaker 1: best corner in the history of football. If you were 5'9,
40:08
Speaker 1: he wasn't going to mess with you. So some teams
40:11
Speaker 1: have specific requirements. You also got to factor that in.
40:14
Speaker 1: So if you have coaching staffs and schemes... that needs
40:18
Speaker 1: specific traits, like sometimes you won't even, I mean, you'll
40:23
Speaker 1: end up writing the guy up, but you won't pursue
40:26
Speaker 1: the player because it wouldn't fit with what your coaches want.
40:30
Speaker 1: And ideally, in that scenario, it's like you have coaches
40:33
Speaker 1: that know what they're doing because it's like, well, I
40:35
Speaker 1: think our coaching staff sucks. Why don't we like this guy?
40:38
Speaker 1: Do you think coaches and GMs will factor into the
40:40
Speaker 1: legal decision allowing players to go back to college into
40:43
Speaker 1: keeping some of the fringe players on their roster instead
40:46
Speaker 1: of putting them on practice squad? Well, before the rule
40:50
Speaker 1: came out, I would imagine it was considered a little bit.
40:55
Speaker 1: I think it's more being very upfront with the agent.
40:59
Speaker 1: And if you are a credible GM or a head coach,
41:03
Speaker 1: and you've worked with Drew Rosenhaus or Mulgetta or whoever
41:06
Speaker 1: these guys, the top agents, and you go, listen, we've
41:09
Speaker 1: done business together for 15 years. I'm telling you, we
41:12
Speaker 1: got to cut them, and we're going to put them
41:15
Speaker 1: on the practice squad, but we love this guy. We
41:18
Speaker 1: just drafted him in the seventh round. I believe in
41:21
Speaker 1: this guy. I want this guy to be part of
41:23
Speaker 1: our operation moving forward. And I think that would be
41:26
Speaker 1: considered for sure. It's like anything. You know, communication, whether
41:31
Speaker 1: you got your wife, whether you're a business partner in
41:34
Speaker 1: a situation like this with an agent and a player.
41:36
Speaker 1: If you are completely honest and upfront and you have
41:40
Speaker 1: a history of of what you say is what you do.
41:44
Speaker 1: I think there would definitely be guys... Before this all
41:48
Speaker 1: went down, I kept thinking that there were going to
41:51
Speaker 1: be players that were going to choose the practice squad
41:54
Speaker 1: over returning to Clemson or Florida State or Alabama. Listen,
41:59
Speaker 1: I've done that for a couple years. I'm here. These
42:02
Speaker 1: coaches like me. I'm one snap away from getting elevated.
42:06
Speaker 1: I don't think it would have been a lock 100%
42:08
Speaker 1: guys bounce. Especially if... You can cook the books with
42:12
Speaker 1: practice squad guys too. You can pay them more. So
42:15
Speaker 1: if I really liked you, you could show it through
42:19
Speaker 1: your actions. So if you really like me, give me
42:20
Speaker 1: a little bit more. I think a lot of guys
42:23
Speaker 1: and agents would have used it as a negotiating tactic.
42:26
Speaker 1: Like my guy wants to stay, he just needs a
42:28
Speaker 1: little more cash. And that's business. Trust me, I've been
42:33
Speaker 1: in spots where I had no leverage. And it was like, hey,
42:36
Speaker 1: we're going to pay you. Howie's like, we're going to
42:37
Speaker 1: give you 40 grand. I'm like, deal. You know? Radio station,
42:41
Speaker 1: we're going to give you a 65 grand deal. You
42:44
Speaker 1: don't even, there's no negotiation. You just accept what they
42:47
Speaker 1: give you. It's funny, you look back at your life
42:52
Speaker 1: sometimes and you laugh. But sometimes you got to be
42:54
Speaker 1: in those positions. And I was as hungry as I've
42:57
Speaker 1: ever been in those scenarios. It wasn't even about the money.
43:00
Speaker 1: The money was irrelevant. Money was just used to pay
43:03
Speaker 1: my rent. Give me a couple beers. Help me survive.
43:09
Speaker 1: While I'm here for the Jed jokes, does his $ 160
43:11
Speaker 1: faux pas reveal how cheap he actually is and show
43:16
Speaker 1: us that the Niners will never move their practice facility
43:20
Speaker 1: or the substation as long as he is the owner?
43:27
Speaker 1: It's a good question. I don't even know. I don't
43:34
Speaker 1: think it reflects his cheapness. I'm going to assume this.
43:40
Speaker 1: I'm going to assume he's never been to a trailer
43:43
Speaker 1: park before for sex. He's getting a divorce, which he filed.
43:48
Speaker 1: Which he filed. So could you, of his wife of
43:52
Speaker 1: 15 years, they got two kids. Could you imagine that
43:55
Speaker 1: something nefarious went on that forced him to file it?
43:59
Speaker 1: If you follow that road, you go, he then could
44:02
Speaker 1: be in a really bad spot. So then you're not
44:04
Speaker 1: in a great spot mentally. Now, I think when you
44:08
Speaker 1: run in the circles he runs... Like Ethan Strauss wrote
44:11
Speaker 1: a really good sub stack today. Jenny York's not getting
44:15
Speaker 1: crushed by 99% of us because we give a shit
44:18
Speaker 1: about hookers. I don't know anyone that cares. Obviously our
44:23
Speaker 1: wives and stuff. I don't mean like married men getting hookers.
44:26
Speaker 1: I just mean like if a single guy, a divorcee
44:29
Speaker 1: guy wants to get a hooker, I don't care. As
44:32
Speaker 1: long as the person's above age and she's a consensual adult.
44:35
Speaker 1: I'm pro hookers. You know, Amsterdam's been doing it forever. Vegas,
44:39
Speaker 1: I don't think it's technically legal, but clearly no one
44:41
Speaker 1: gives a shit there. And all these owners, players, coaches,
44:46
Speaker 1: like he ain't alone in the world of the NFL
44:49
Speaker 1: dabbling with paying for sex. And what did Charlie Sheen say?
44:54
Speaker 1: I don't pay for the sex, I pay her to leave.
44:57
Speaker 1: Is clearly Jed's kind of lonely. Now, I have a
45:02
Speaker 1: hard time wrapping my brain around being, you know, Jed's
45:06
Speaker 1: not 90. Like, sometimes my mom doesn't realize it's a
45:10
Speaker 1: group text or just we're texting her. Like, she's confused
45:14
Speaker 1: about some stuff. She's pretty close to 80. Like, very understandable.
45:19
Speaker 1: I had someone tweet at me today, like, Middlecoff, love you,
45:22
Speaker 1: but you saying that Jed was not as serious as
45:27
Speaker 1: Robert Kraft, man, I can't take you seriously. It's like, okay,
45:31
Speaker 1: an 80-year-old man in Palm Beach... I'm pretty sure which
45:36
Speaker 1: is one of the richest, if not the richest, like
45:39
Speaker 1: 30-mile radiuses in America with a bunch of old guys.
45:44
Speaker 1: If you don't think, he ain't alone in that area
45:47
Speaker 1: going to the massage parlor to get a rub and tug.
45:50
Speaker 1: If you're that naive, an 80-year-old man whose wife is
45:54
Speaker 1: dead going to massage parlor, most people in my life,
45:58
Speaker 1: I laugh at that. It's kind of funny, honestly. A
46:04
Speaker 1: 45-year-old going to a trailer park for $ 140? Let's just
46:10
Speaker 1: call it what it is if the person, I mean,
46:13
Speaker 1: the prostitute didn't exist. It was the cop on the
46:16
Speaker 1: other end. But if someone did exist in the trailer
46:21
Speaker 1: park mobile home place for $ 140 in the middle of Ohio,
46:25
Speaker 1: like that's kind of a gutter rat hooker. So you're
46:28
Speaker 1: going to a place that you know nothing about to
46:31
Speaker 1: get a gutter rat hooker for $ 140? I'm sorry, that
46:35
Speaker 1: is dramatically worse in my mind. One's kind of funny,
46:38
Speaker 1: the other one's sad. I mean, it's just sad. And
46:44
Speaker 1: the other thing is, Dad went to jail. I was
46:48
Speaker 1: mentioning this because we had a meeting today for Three
46:50
Speaker 1: and Out. It didn't quite, I think, sink in until
46:55
Speaker 1: later in the day. Like Tony Romo, right? Gets arrested.
46:58
Speaker 1: It's just a mugshot. You know, Tiger's always getting arrested.
47:00
Speaker 1: It's just a mugshot. Jed was in a jumpsuit. Like
47:05
Speaker 1: he was fucking in Leavenworth or Alcatraz or Lompoc. It's
47:09
Speaker 1: like he was in an orange jumpsuit. Because that's what
47:13
Speaker 1: happens when you solicit a prostitute. In Ohio, I guess
47:16
Speaker 1: the guy that nailed him is like... He's like the
47:19
Speaker 1: Tom Brady of nailing dudes going after prostitutes. Because obviously...
47:23
Speaker 1: You know, in those situations, it's human trafficking, young chicks. Like,
47:27
Speaker 1: it can get really nefarious fast. Kraft's situation was with
47:33
Speaker 1: the owner of the business. She was, I think, like
47:36
Speaker 1: 45 years old. But yeah, I mean, it's... I think it's...
47:40
Speaker 1: I mean... A little reflection if you're cheap. Because the
47:45
Speaker 1: other thing is, like, just get a high-end girlfriend. Like, escort. Like,
47:49
Speaker 1: you run in those circles. You place one call. Here's
47:51
Speaker 1: the other thing. I think with Jed's divorce, he left
47:54
Speaker 1: the Bay Area. He's been living, I think, at his parents' house,
47:58
Speaker 1: if I read it correctly. It's weird. You think 45-year-old,
48:02
Speaker 1: technically the owner of the team. If I was going
48:05
Speaker 1: through a bad divorce, again, I'm a little bit more independent.
48:09
Speaker 1: Maybe he's not as independent. I'd like my space. I
48:12
Speaker 1: would get my own place. I wouldn't move in with
48:14
Speaker 1: friends or family. But to each his own. I just
48:18
Speaker 1: think it's more like just sad. That, to me, is
48:24
Speaker 1: my reaction. It's just sad. It's just sad. And obviously,
48:27
Speaker 1: he has massive ramifications. He's going to get in big
48:29
Speaker 1: trouble with the league. I mean, if you told me
48:32
Speaker 1: they suspend him for the year, I could believe it.
48:35
Speaker 1: He definitely gets suspended. I feel like it's going to
48:39
Speaker 1: be closer from 10 games to the year than it
48:43
Speaker 1: is like four. The substation thing, the only area I
48:48
Speaker 1: will defend him on that is they've been practicing there
48:51
Speaker 1: since Bill Walsh. Now granted, that thing has grown. And
48:55
Speaker 1: you hear some of these, like Delaney Walker's like, sometimes
48:56
Speaker 1: we look over there and trees are dead. The grass
48:58
Speaker 1: is kind of dead over there. Real estate's expensive. That's
49:01
Speaker 1: the other problem. It's like, you know, it's Silicon Valley.
49:03
Speaker 1: You can't just get like two football fields for a
49:06
Speaker 1: million dollars. You gotta pay premiums. I grew up in
49:10
Speaker 1: the Bay Area and Texas was always and Texas and
49:15
Speaker 1: was a big NFL 49er guy. I never really watched
49:18
Speaker 1: much college ball because I never had a strong connection
49:20
Speaker 1: to a team but after I joined the Air Force
49:23
Speaker 1: appreciate your service and had a strong connection to the
49:27
Speaker 1: team uh but after I joined the Air Force and
49:30
Speaker 1: stationed in Vegas I started to go to UNLV games
49:33
Speaker 1: because they were cheap and they were fun They recently
49:35
Speaker 1: have become a fringe top 25 team. It's been fun
49:38
Speaker 1: to watch. My question is this. Can they ever hope
49:41
Speaker 1: to become anything more than a, quote, stepping stone for
49:44
Speaker 1: coaches and players to get bigger programs? The Mountain West
49:47
Speaker 1: isn't a great draw compared to the other big conferences,
49:50
Speaker 1: but I imagine Vegas is appealing. So they are in
49:53
Speaker 1: this weird middle ground where they are competitive, but not
49:56
Speaker 1: competitive enough to make a playoff run, even if they
49:59
Speaker 1: sneak into the playoffs. Are they destined to be a good,
50:01
Speaker 1: but never good enough to keep a big time coach
50:04
Speaker 1: or player when a big program comes knocking? I think
50:08
Speaker 1: it's as simple as this. Even if you remove UNLV, which,
50:12
Speaker 1: you know, they got Dan Mullen, who at one point
50:14
Speaker 1: in time had Mississippi State as a top five program,
50:19
Speaker 1: recruited star players, Obviously, you know, Dak Prescott, but Fletcher
50:25
Speaker 1: Cox and Jeffrey Simmons and a ton of high-level guys.
50:30
Speaker 1: And coached at Florida. Like, his resume was legit. And
50:33
Speaker 1: even at Florida, like, people are– I heard someone say
50:38
Speaker 1: the other day, if John Summerall just matches Dan Mullen's
50:43
Speaker 1: record the first three years, he'll be in pretty good shape. Like,
50:45
Speaker 1: Dan Mullen's a real coach. Dan Mullen's a power four coach.
50:49
Speaker 1: He got destroyed at Florida– Because people thought he hated recruiting. Which,
50:55
Speaker 1: in the SEC, when they start thinking you hate recruiting,
50:59
Speaker 1: it's like the equivalent in the NFL when people think
51:01
Speaker 1: you can't scheme. It's the equivalent. When we think you
51:06
Speaker 1: can't scheme in the NFL, people just call you an idiot.
51:10
Speaker 1: This guy's a terrible coach. In college, when word gets out,
51:14
Speaker 1: it happened to Hugh Freeze, like, on the golf course again,
51:17
Speaker 1: you gotta be a recruiting junkie or you will get
51:20
Speaker 1: shit on. Because college football is less about, you know,
51:25
Speaker 1: once you get good, even in UNLV's level, like how
51:27
Speaker 1: many teams are going to be as talented as them
51:29
Speaker 1: they play a season? Two or three? Right? Especially in
51:32
Speaker 1: the Mountain West. But if Dan Mullen makes the playoffs,
51:37
Speaker 1: who's to say that an SEC school won't rehire him?
51:39
Speaker 1: Or an ACC school? Or Florida State? You know, it's
51:43
Speaker 1: hard to keep, guys. I don't know the booster setup
51:46
Speaker 1: at UNLV. Obviously, they play at the Raiders Stadium, their
51:49
Speaker 1: college games. But listen, I got my start at Fresno State.
51:54
Speaker 1: The Fresno States, the Boise States, the UNLVs, App State
51:59
Speaker 1: was like this for a long time. Are they now?
52:01
Speaker 1: Is App State in the Big 12? Any program not
52:04
Speaker 1: in a Power 4, you got no shot to not
52:08
Speaker 1: be 100% a stepping stone job. And then even you
52:11
Speaker 1: get to the Power 4, the lower half of the
52:13
Speaker 1: Power 4, those are stepping stone jobs. Like if P.J.
52:17
Speaker 1: Fleck went 12-0 this year and won a couple playoff games,
52:23
Speaker 1: the top two or three schools that had openings would
52:25
Speaker 1: immediately interview him. So yeah, sad to say. I remember
52:30
Speaker 1: going there. Their old stadium was pretty shitty. You probably saw,
52:35
Speaker 1: I mean, UNLV's been bad a lot. You probably saw
52:37
Speaker 1: some bad football. Big fan, listening the other day about
52:41
Speaker 1: you talk about the difference between international soccer television deals
52:45
Speaker 1: and the NFL. So I popped it into Gemini and
52:48
Speaker 1: here's what I found. Global versus domestic footprint. The Premier
52:52
Speaker 1: League is a worldwide phenomenon and sells its broadcast rights
52:55
Speaker 1: to nearly 200 countries. However, even its combined global plus
53:01
Speaker 1: domestic total equals less than half of what the NFL
53:05
Speaker 1: pulls in strictly through its U.S. television partners. Would love
53:10
Speaker 1: a mailbag fact drop. Shout out to my group chat
53:13
Speaker 1: and the European mind not being able to comprehend how
53:16
Speaker 1: much better football is than soccer. Let me know how
53:18
Speaker 1: many games... The Giants will win this year to make
53:21
Speaker 1: it traditional mailbag. I'll go Giants go... 7-10? 7-10, but
53:30
Speaker 1: a lot better. Maybe 8-9. I do not view them
53:33
Speaker 1: as a playoff team. Have you seen any of Garrett
53:39
Speaker 1: Nussmeier's highlights? I can't believe he fell to the 7th round.
53:42
Speaker 1: Do you think he could develop into a starter on
53:44
Speaker 1: another team by learning under Reed and Mahomes for a
53:46
Speaker 1: couple years? I did not see their second game, but
53:50
Speaker 1: I watched clips from the... Listen, Garrett Nussmeyer's a good player.
53:53
Speaker 1: He had some fucking crazy injury last year, like in
53:56
Speaker 1: his ab, hip, or whatever, growing, that derailed his entire season.
54:01
Speaker 1: He couldn't lift. So they couldn't run the ball. He
54:05
Speaker 1: couldn't lift. He's injured. If you watch him two years ago,
54:08
Speaker 1: he was really good. Now, is he a first-rounder? No.
54:13
Speaker 1: Could Garrett Nussmeyer be like... I almost said Gardner Minshew,
54:17
Speaker 1: but he can be a better player than that. I
54:19
Speaker 1: don't know if he'll be as good as Alex Smith,
54:21
Speaker 1: but he, like, here's what I would say. I actually
54:26
Speaker 1: texted someone in Kansas City the other day. They like
54:29
Speaker 1: him a lot. And I actually texted before the games
54:32
Speaker 1: even started. And they're like, bro, he's been awesome at practice.
54:37
Speaker 1: They're huge fans, which shouldn't shock you. Dad's an offensive
54:41
Speaker 1: coordinator in the NFL. He's a football junkie. He's tough
54:45
Speaker 1: as shit. I think Garrett Nussmeyer... I was going to
54:49
Speaker 1: say Matt Flynn, which ironically also went to LSU. Matt Schaub.
54:55
Speaker 1: I think one day he could turn himself into an
54:58
Speaker 1: NFL starter. But he's played in the NFL for a
55:02
Speaker 1: long time as a backup. I mean, look at some
55:04
Speaker 1: of these guys like Davis Mills, Tanner McKee. He's 100%
55:10
Speaker 1: in the league for a while. Is he ever going
55:12
Speaker 1: to be a consistent starter in the NFL? No. I
55:16
Speaker 1: don't know. It's a great question. Regarding the York situation,
55:22
Speaker 1: what are the chances two of the NFL's most prominent
55:25
Speaker 1: owners got busted on solicitation? There's not a lot of
55:28
Speaker 1: these guys, quote, owners, and these aren't incredibly common operations either.
55:34
Speaker 1: So the fact that two got busted within less than
55:36
Speaker 1: a decade means it's more likely than not that these
55:40
Speaker 1: two were probably doing this pretty frequently, just playing the numbers. Well...
55:46
Speaker 1: Robert Kraft didn't get, like, never got arrested or anything.
55:49
Speaker 1: They just busted the place. And if I remember correctly,
55:53
Speaker 1: they just knew that he was there. They didn't bust
55:56
Speaker 1: it when he was in there. Because he went there
55:58
Speaker 1: the day of the AFC Championship game. And it just
56:01
Speaker 1: turned out, like, he still was in the AFC. Unless
56:05
Speaker 1: I'm misremembering that situation, Jed went to jail. Also, Robert
56:10
Speaker 1: didn't call a prostitute. He went into a massage parlor
56:14
Speaker 1: and got a massage that had a happy ending. which,
56:18
Speaker 1: I mean, listen, a lot of these massage parlors are
56:22
Speaker 1: like that, you know? I'm not a huge massage guy.
56:26
Speaker 1: Hot take. I hate massages. Woman, guy stretching me out. Like,
56:32
Speaker 1: I'm just not really, like, touching my wife, but, like,
56:35
Speaker 1: I don't like getting touched by other people that way. Honestly,
56:38
Speaker 1: I just, I'm not that into it. I've never really
56:41
Speaker 1: understood it, but I don't know what to tell you.
56:46
Speaker 1: Do I think a lot of the owners... I think
56:49
Speaker 1: part of the Jed thing that is so jarring... A
56:53
Speaker 1: lot of these rich guys... I'm sure have side girlfriends...
56:56
Speaker 1: Or if they're remarried or not married... Have prostitute type
57:00
Speaker 1: women in their life. So yes, I think it's pretty frequent.
57:04
Speaker 1: Do I think most of them would get an internet ad...
57:07
Speaker 1: And go to a trailer park? The jolting part about Jed...
57:12
Speaker 1: Is if you said, hey Jed York... If you just
57:14
Speaker 1: gave me a scenario... Jed York got a divorce... And
57:16
Speaker 1: he's like, dating some call girl. I'm like, yeah, believe it.
57:20
Speaker 1: Mark Davis did call girls forever. Who cares? No one.
57:24
Speaker 1: I mean, I would say Jeffrey Lurie's not exactly a
57:29
Speaker 1: one-woman man. No one's judging on people's choice of women.
57:36
Speaker 1: Players do. I mean, players are bringing side pieces, hookers, strippers.
57:42
Speaker 1: No one cares. But to go to a trailer park
57:45
Speaker 1: for $ 140... Like that was the jarring part. It's like,
57:52
Speaker 1: and clearly just texting the whole time with a cop,
57:54
Speaker 1: not having like, this feels a little weird. So is
57:58
Speaker 1: it the first time he's ever done it? If it was,
58:02
Speaker 1: seems pretty crazy. If not, was his like go-to out
58:06
Speaker 1: of town? I don't know. I just think that you'd
58:09
Speaker 1: be very naive, like paying for women directly or indirectly
58:14
Speaker 1: is is a bedrock of professional sports. So when you
58:19
Speaker 1: watch professional sports, it encompasses all of them. I can't
58:24
Speaker 1: speak for hockey, but basketball, baseball, and football. Again, directly
58:28
Speaker 1: or indirectly, it is happening. And nobody cares. No one.
58:34
Speaker 1: Do I think... I don't think anyone's doing that. In 2026.
58:39
Speaker 1: What's his name, uh... For the Falcons, they got caught
58:45
Speaker 1: with a hooker the night before the Super Bowl. Married
58:48
Speaker 1: man of the year. I almost said Ray Farmer, but
58:50
Speaker 1: that was the former Browns GM. Not Ray Anderson. That
58:54
Speaker 1: was the kicker. Someone will DM me the name of
58:58
Speaker 1: the guy. To me, the story is more jarring than
59:05
Speaker 1: the act, I would say.