Latest / 3 and Out with John Middlekauff / Dexter Lawrence BLOCKBUSTER trade, Will Anderson MASSIVE extension, NFL Draft prospect Zachariah Branch arrested

Transcript

Dexter Lawrence BLOCKBUSTER trade, Will Anderson MASSIVE extension, NFL Draft prospect Zachariah Branch arrested · 3 and Out with John Middlekauff

0:01
Speaker 1: The volume. What is going on?
0:18
Speaker 2: My people? How are we doing?
0:19
Speaker 1: I'm John middle Cough, that'd be me. This is three
0:23
Speaker 1: Now podcasts.
0:23
Speaker 2: That'd be the show you're listening to.
0:25
Speaker 1: And we're getting ready for the draft because in a
0:27
Speaker 1: couple of days Thursday, we'll be here and we will
0:29
Speaker 1: actually have players on NFL teams. Then Friday will be
0:33
Speaker 1: here and we'll have more players on NFL teams. No
0:36
Speaker 1: more speculation, no more mock drafts. We will just have
0:40
Speaker 1: the actual draft. So that's exciting. And I was thinking
0:43
Speaker 1: probably on Friday, I knew I wanted to do a
0:45
Speaker 1: podcast on Sunday Football Podcast. It's like, what am I gonna,
0:49
Speaker 1: you know, maybe do some big picture stuff, talk about
0:52
Speaker 1: maybe some nerdy stuff in the draft process. It's like
0:56
Speaker 1: what I just was like, Man, Then we got the
0:59
Speaker 1: Will Anderson extension Friday, and then the bomb dropped on
1:03
Speaker 1: Saturday from the football gods. We got a trade we
1:06
Speaker 1: haven't seen the likes of in twenty years. Cincinnati Bengals
1:09
Speaker 1: traded pick ten for Dexter Lawrence. I'm gonna dive into
1:13
Speaker 1: every angle here, Cincinnati, Dexter Lawrence, the Giants. The risk involved,
1:18
Speaker 1: the pressure now on John Harbaugh. There's a lot there.
1:22
Speaker 1: And then Zacharia Branch, a guy that's probably gonna go
1:25
Speaker 1: on Friday of this upcoming draft, was just arrested. So
1:29
Speaker 1: we'll talk about that. I mean, not the craziest arrest report,
1:33
Speaker 1: but man, timing not ideal. Will Anderson got extended, the
1:38
Speaker 1: impact that has on CJ the quarterback who so far,
1:42
Speaker 1: last I checked, has not been extended. Probably won't be
1:46
Speaker 1: the Mike Vrabel situation. There was another article that came
1:48
Speaker 1: out of the story just will not die. And then
1:51
Speaker 1: I gotta get a little sappy on Lebron James.
1:53
Speaker 2: Pretty cool moment on Saturday.
1:55
Speaker 1: But that'll be the podcast today and we'll just rock
1:58
Speaker 1: all week with just Football Pop Podcast getting ready for
2:01
Speaker 1: this draft.
2:01
Speaker 2: Very very exciting.
2:03
Speaker 1: Because even in a quote unquote bad draft, it's still
2:06
Speaker 1: entertaining that there's nothing like Thursday night. And now we
2:09
Speaker 1: got some marquee teams with high picks. The Giants have
2:12
Speaker 1: two Giants had two picks in the top ten now
2:15
Speaker 1: two of the last I think four years. So Joe
2:17
Speaker 1: Shane living right, who knows, maybe this will be his
2:20
Speaker 1: last draft. But a lot of football talk coming up.
2:22
Speaker 1: You guys know, the drill. If you listen on Collins Feed,
2:24
Speaker 1: make sure you subscribe to Three and Out. If you
2:28
Speaker 1: want to watch us, we're on Netflix, so make sure
2:31
Speaker 1: you hit that alert button and you'll never miss an
2:34
Speaker 1: episode on the old Netflix app. So let's just let's
2:39
Speaker 1: dive into some football. Let me give you a little background.
2:45
Speaker 1: I knew Saturday I wasn't playing golf. I wasn't doing
2:48
Speaker 1: anything beside maybe going to the gym for an hour
2:51
Speaker 1: and hanging out with my family. I was gonna spend
2:53
Speaker 1: all day with my wife, my child, go on a walk,
2:57
Speaker 1: maybe go get lunch, maybe make enter for them, do whatever.
3:01
Speaker 1: Just be a very present husband and be a good guy.
3:05
Speaker 1: And I said, you know what, I'm not gonna spend
3:07
Speaker 1: time on my phone, which I'm not proud to say
3:10
Speaker 1: can be a challenge sometimes. And I was doing a
3:12
Speaker 1: really good job. I really was. And then I get
3:16
Speaker 1: a group text from the Three and Out group text
3:18
Speaker 1: and it is the Adam Schefter. It might have been
3:20
Speaker 1: a rap sheet who one of those two battling for scoops.
3:24
Speaker 2: We don't know how they got that scoop.
3:26
Speaker 1: And it was announcing that Dexter Lawrence had been traded
3:29
Speaker 1: for pick ten, And honestly, my first reaction was, well,
3:33
Speaker 1: I don't have Twitter on my phone, but I can
3:36
Speaker 1: sign in through the internet to check, so I'm like,
3:38
Speaker 1: I gotta sign in. There's got to be more to this.
3:41
Speaker 1: And it turns out it was just pick ten for
3:43
Speaker 1: Dexter Lawrence, as we all know now. So my reaction was,
3:46
Speaker 1: holy shit, that is insane, Like that was my initial reaction,
3:51
Speaker 1: not because it was a bad trade, not because.
3:52
Speaker 2: It was a good trade.
3:53
Speaker 1: That's just an insane pick or an insane transaction. And
3:57
Speaker 1: then as information keeps flowing, which you gotta spend some
4:00
Speaker 1: time on your phone to get it all, and you
4:02
Speaker 1: find out that it's the first time that a top
4:06
Speaker 1: ten pick has been traded for a veteran player. Because
4:08
Speaker 1: we see picks moved all the time before the draft
4:12
Speaker 1: in the off season, like when you trade for Micah Parsons, Well,
4:15
Speaker 1: we didn't know where those picks were going to be.
4:17
Speaker 1: You know, when players are traded in season for picks,
4:19
Speaker 1: you don't know where those picks are going to land,
4:21
Speaker 1: even if it's a first rounder right or future picks
4:23
Speaker 1: that they could change. All of a sudden, you think
4:25
Speaker 1: it's a good trade. A couple of years later, the
4:28
Speaker 1: Detroit Lions are getting the Rams top ten pick, or
4:31
Speaker 1: the Denver Broncos are getting or Seattle's getting the Denver
4:34
Speaker 1: Broncos top ten pick. Like things can change fast, but
4:37
Speaker 1: it's very rare a week before a player for a
4:41
Speaker 1: pick that is really, really high.
4:42
Speaker 2: So I'm sorry.
4:43
Speaker 1: My first reaction was I need to take a deep breath.
4:46
Speaker 1: This is insane. I need to text some of my
4:48
Speaker 1: buddies in the league. I need to think about this.
4:50
Speaker 1: I need to let this sit. And so let's just
4:53
Speaker 1: start with the Bengals, because this is something that their
4:57
Speaker 1: organization never does one I don't I think there is
5:00
Speaker 1: an organization in the NFL who is less likely to
5:03
Speaker 1: trade during the draft. That's move up a couple spots,
5:07
Speaker 1: move back a couple stop spots. This is an organization
5:10
Speaker 1: that is the most conservative when it comes to draft picks.
5:14
Speaker 1: They have had a first round pick in every single
5:17
Speaker 1: draft since.
5:18
Speaker 2: Nineteen eighty nine. Think about that.
5:21
Speaker 1: I mean, use that against the Rams, who have had
5:24
Speaker 1: like three first round ers since twenty fourteen. They are
5:27
Speaker 1: the complete opposite. They are they feel very antiquated at times,
5:33
Speaker 1: right and because they do not make maneuvers. They don't
5:36
Speaker 1: have much in common with the Howie Roseman's of the world,
5:39
Speaker 1: with the Sean Payton's and John Schneiders. They don't wheel
5:42
Speaker 1: and deal like that, and obviously historically they have been
5:46
Speaker 1: very or considered very, very cheap. Now I think they
5:48
Speaker 1: would make the argument over the last couple of years
5:50
Speaker 1: that has changed. You can nitpick him on Trey Hendrickson,
5:53
Speaker 1: but it's like, we're really gonna go all in on
5:55
Speaker 1: a guy well over thirty who we think has some flaws, which.
5:59
Speaker 2: I kind of understand.
6:00
Speaker 1: We could debate it, but I do understand it and
6:02
Speaker 1: I always appreciate and we'll dive into the specific dexter
6:06
Speaker 1: lawrence on their team. But when a team, when a business,
6:12
Speaker 1: when an individual can look in the mirror and go,
6:15
Speaker 1: we got to do something different. This is not working.
6:20
Speaker 1: I've done that countless times in my life, and I'm
6:22
Speaker 1: sure moving forward, I will do that countless more. I
6:26
Speaker 1: admire people who are willing to change and adapt, specifically
6:31
Speaker 1: when it comes to business. But as you know, you
6:33
Speaker 1: get married, you have children, you realize, like, I can't
6:36
Speaker 1: be stuck in my ways. That is not gonna work. Historically,
6:40
Speaker 1: I'll just use myself as an example. I am a
6:42
Speaker 1: creature of habit. That's why I was successful in the
6:46
Speaker 1: NFL because things were very regimented. I grew up in
6:50
Speaker 1: a house where my dad was you know, and his
6:54
Speaker 1: brother in Vietnam. His dad was in World War Two.
6:57
Speaker 1: There were some militaristic kind of I would say thought
7:01
Speaker 1: processes put behind his parenting. We were kind of on
7:05
Speaker 1: the Tom Kaflin mindset of being on time as late
7:09
Speaker 1: and you know, you're expected to be early. Still to
7:12
Speaker 1: this day, I get, you know, especially bigger meetings or stuff.
7:17
Speaker 1: I get kind of worked up before because I was like,
7:19
Speaker 1: I don't want to be late. I don't want to
7:21
Speaker 1: be late. Not always healthy. But my point is that
7:24
Speaker 1: a lot of you guys that in all sorts of
7:26
Speaker 1: industries have been like, we got to change, we got
7:29
Speaker 1: to adapt, and we've never had to adapt faster than
7:32
Speaker 1: in this world with technology. And the Bengals like their
7:36
Speaker 1: process and mindset is not something that is going to
7:39
Speaker 1: work in twenty twenty six. It just was historically right.
7:43
Speaker 1: And over the last couple of years they've invested in
7:44
Speaker 1: these wide receivers, they've listened to Joe Burrow, they've done
7:47
Speaker 1: stuff with their operationally right to I think they finally
7:52
Speaker 1: got it into a practice facility. In this offseason. They
7:54
Speaker 1: spent some money. They bought a couple of defensive linemen.
7:57
Speaker 1: They spent some money on Seattle pass rusher, on Jonathan Allen. Like,
8:02
Speaker 1: they've been much more aggressive than they ever were. When
8:05
Speaker 1: you listen to Carson Palmer talk that always said I'd
8:07
Speaker 1: get these promises and they never lived up to it. Well,
8:10
Speaker 1: it's much easier now that you have way more money
8:13
Speaker 1: from the media deal. So even if Mike Brown isn't
8:15
Speaker 1: Steve Balmer or Paul Allen, he has money just because
8:19
Speaker 1: of the checks the league is cutting him. And at
8:22
Speaker 1: the end of the day, and Howie Roseman has said
8:23
Speaker 1: this for years, all a draft pick is or salary
8:27
Speaker 1: cap spaces is capital, and you get to choose how
8:31
Speaker 1: you use that capital. Every single team in the league
8:36
Speaker 1: has the same amount of picks right one first through
8:40
Speaker 1: one seventh. Now, obviously that is not the case when
8:43
Speaker 1: the time the draft comes, because different teams have said,
8:45
Speaker 1: all trade two first round picks for Saucegarden, All trade
8:48
Speaker 1: the tenth overall pick for Dexter Lawrence, All trade two
8:52
Speaker 1: first round picks, you know, for Travis Hunter, Like people
8:56
Speaker 1: make decisions on how to allocate that capital. Now when
8:59
Speaker 1: it comes to the draft. The Cincinnati Bengals, they have
9:03
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow who's in the prime of his career. Obviously
9:05
Speaker 1: has to stay healthy. But I get asked all the time,
9:08
Speaker 1: like is he gonna be on the Bengals long term?
9:10
Speaker 1: When's he gonna demand a trade? That is something clearly
9:12
Speaker 1: they're thinking about, not that he's gonna demand a trade,
9:14
Speaker 1: but we have this window. We gotta take advantage of it.
9:17
Speaker 1: And what did we talk about last week? The Denver
9:19
Speaker 1: Broncos are a good example. They spend more money than
9:22
Speaker 1: every team in the league. I'm not talking salary cap space,
9:24
Speaker 1: I'm talking cash, and they don't they have a quarterback
9:27
Speaker 1: making two and a half million dollars, So only the
9:30
Speaker 1: forty nine are spend more money in cash this upcoming
9:33
Speaker 1: season than the Denver Broncos. And the difference between their
9:36
Speaker 1: quarterback payments is like almost forty five million dollars, So
9:41
Speaker 1: it shows you how aggressive they are. Other teams in
9:43
Speaker 1: that mix, the Buffalo Bills, the Baltimore Ravens, these are
9:47
Speaker 1: teams spending spending huge amounts of money to do everything
9:52
Speaker 1: possible to win, and they're in their conference and you
9:54
Speaker 1: have Joe Burrow, you have these two star wide receivers.
9:57
Speaker 1: You're gonna have a good offense, right. But the question is,
10:00
Speaker 1: and two years ago you were one of the hottest
10:01
Speaker 1: teams in the league, and the reason you missed the
10:03
Speaker 1: playoffs your defense was atrocious. And now you've added some players.
10:07
Speaker 1: You get Dexter Lawrence, who a couple of years ago
10:09
Speaker 1: was one of the best players in the league. Jason
10:11
Speaker 1: Kelce once I remember, I don't know if he said
10:14
Speaker 1: this in a podcast or on television, that the toughest
10:17
Speaker 1: player for him to block was Dexter Lawrence. Now you know,
10:23
Speaker 1: if I wanted to be like, well, there are other
10:25
Speaker 1: guys for other centers, Like Jason Kelsey's a smaller center, right,
10:29
Speaker 1: He's not three hundred, He's like three hundred pounds. He
10:32
Speaker 1: hangs his hat on quickness. He's not necessarily a power guy,
10:35
Speaker 1: so handling a guy that is massive and tough to move,
10:38
Speaker 1: like in theory, it would be easier for him to
10:42
Speaker 1: like his strengths against Aaron Donald's quickness because they're both quick. Right,
10:45
Speaker 1: when you get this big, powerful guy he can just
10:48
Speaker 1: pick him up and move them right now. But the
10:50
Speaker 1: regardless you put Dexter Lawrence over a center over the
10:53
Speaker 1: course of his career, Dexter Lawrence is winning. And most
10:57
Speaker 1: times a nose tackle or a guy shape over the course,
11:01
Speaker 1: you know, side of the center is not gonna be
11:03
Speaker 1: a great pass rusher. But that is something that Dexter
11:06
Speaker 1: Lawrence actually is pretty good at.
11:08
Speaker 2: Now.
11:08
Speaker 1: Last year was bad, so they're paying a premium the
11:12
Speaker 1: tenth overall pick for a guy coming off a down
11:15
Speaker 1: year who also battled some injuries. It's risky. They're a
11:20
Speaker 1: risk in everything you do. There would be risks if
11:23
Speaker 1: they stayed at ten and picked whoever is gonna be there.
11:26
Speaker 1: It's like, why didn't they just stick at ten and
11:28
Speaker 1: pick a player. Well, they don't determine who's gonna be there,
11:33
Speaker 1: right What if they view this draft. Obviously the quarterback
11:37
Speaker 1: goes one, but there are four or five guys they'd
11:39
Speaker 1: feel comfortable drafting on defense, and they have a pretty
11:42
Speaker 1: good idea the two pass rushers Baye Sonny Styles and
11:46
Speaker 1: Caleb Downs might not be on the board. I keep
11:49
Speaker 1: hearing about Jordan Tyson going number five. I mean maybe,
11:53
Speaker 1: but I remember a month ago that Jordan Tyson was like, ah,
11:55
Speaker 1: into the first round pick. You know, So I struggle
11:58
Speaker 1: to believe everything that's coming out right now, but I
12:02
Speaker 1: think the Bengals went our time is now, and when
12:05
Speaker 1: we look at other successful organizations throughout the league, they
12:09
Speaker 1: are doing things that we are not doing. So if
12:12
Speaker 1: we want to be like them, we have to be
12:15
Speaker 1: willing to do things they do, and we never are.
12:18
Speaker 1: We simply never are. Like I said, when you've had
12:21
Speaker 1: a first round pick that many years in a row,
12:24
Speaker 1: it shows.
12:24
Speaker 2: You're pretty conservative.
12:26
Speaker 1: That's insane, like you've never made a trade. And it's
12:29
Speaker 1: not like they've been shitty that whole time. They had
12:31
Speaker 1: a lot of good teams with Marvin Lewis, they had
12:35
Speaker 1: multiple really good years with with Joe Burrow. They could
12:39
Speaker 1: have used that capital to get aggressive, but they've always refused,
12:44
Speaker 1: and this was the first time I think internally they went,
12:46
Speaker 1: what's the point of spending all this money. It's like,
12:51
Speaker 1: you know, spending a bunch of money all you have
12:54
Speaker 1: on a house and be like, yeah, I'm just we're
12:57
Speaker 1: not gonna We're gonna redo it all, but we're not
12:59
Speaker 1: gonna install install the toilets. It's always like they would
13:02
Speaker 1: kind of do it. They've been taking little steps, but
13:04
Speaker 1: they've never been willing to go all the way. They
13:06
Speaker 1: always have felt like uugh, And they still kind of do.
13:09
Speaker 1: They have a coach who doesn't make that much relative
13:11
Speaker 1: to the league, and we'll see if Zach Taylor is
13:13
Speaker 1: good enough. But I do command the mindset I've said forever.
13:17
Speaker 1: I admire people in society, in business, in sports, in
13:22
Speaker 1: any walk of life that are unafraid, that are willing
13:26
Speaker 1: to put their nuts on the table, whether you're at
13:29
Speaker 1: a casino, whether you're at a negotiating table, whether you're
13:33
Speaker 1: talking to someone about making a trade. In the NFL,
13:36
Speaker 1: sometimes you have to do things that are uncomfortable, and
13:39
Speaker 1: I can imagine this was an uncomfortable moment for the
13:43
Speaker 1: Cincinnati Bengals, given they never do this. And let's face it,
13:47
Speaker 1: when it's picked ten overall, that is a lot, right.
13:52
Speaker 1: Think about this, There are players who are traded for
13:55
Speaker 1: multiple ones. If that team is good and both the
13:58
Speaker 1: picks are picked twenty five, you wouldn't trade pick ten
14:02
Speaker 1: for two twenty fives. Like the value is extremely high, right,
14:07
Speaker 1: and I'm talking twenty five one year and twenty five
14:09
Speaker 1: the next. You wouldn't do that because more than likely,
14:12
Speaker 1: especially most of these drafts, they're viewed as like ten
14:15
Speaker 1: to fifteen high end players and then the rest is
14:18
Speaker 1: a complete crapshoot. And even we know between those ten
14:21
Speaker 1: to fifteen highly graded guys, that's a crapshoot too, because
14:25
Speaker 1: it's the NFL Draft and it's not a you know,
14:28
Speaker 1: it's an inexact science. You're dealing with human beings. So
14:31
Speaker 1: I totally understand where the Beangals are coming from. They
14:34
Speaker 1: are living in the moment. Their goal is in these
14:36
Speaker 1: next couple of years to win twenty two to twenty
14:39
Speaker 1: five games and be able to make noise in January
14:43
Speaker 1: because you go, well, what about the value of his contract?
14:47
Speaker 1: What if you get an impact player? What if you don't?
14:50
Speaker 1: And depending on how this draft shakes out for them
14:52
Speaker 1: specifically who I'm probably gonna pick them to win the division?
14:56
Speaker 1: Actually I think I am. I'll say it right now,
14:58
Speaker 1: I'm picking the Cincinnati Bengals unless someth'm crazy happens. Obviously,
15:03
Speaker 1: part of this would be based on Joe Burrow. If
15:07
Speaker 1: you tell me he plays fifteen plus games, like I'm
15:10
Speaker 1: one hundred percent picking him. If you tell me Dexter
15:12
Speaker 1: Lawrence who I saw today? Who?
15:15
Speaker 2: Which? Which?
15:15
Speaker 1: I appreciate him saying, like, I understand they gave up
15:18
Speaker 1: a lot to get me. Like, so there's self awareness there.
15:21
Speaker 1: They give him a contract extension. He's under contract for
15:24
Speaker 1: the next three years. You get a motivated guy. And
15:27
Speaker 1: let's face it, when you think, close your eyes and
15:29
Speaker 1: you look at Dexter Lawrence. He fits in this division,
15:32
Speaker 1: in these freezing cold games in November and December, and
15:35
Speaker 1: he's the type guy that can help you win if
15:38
Speaker 1: he's right. Because if he's right, he's a dominant, dominant player.
15:42
Speaker 1: He's as a buddy of mine scout in the league
15:45
Speaker 1: texting me because I asked him what he thought. It's like, listen,
15:47
Speaker 1: if he's right, he's a blue chipper and you're not
15:49
Speaker 1: getting you know, you're you're not getting a better player
15:51
Speaker 1: at ten. If he's right over the next couple of years,
15:53
Speaker 1: it's like, well, what if he's not well? Part of life,
15:56
Speaker 1: you know, that's part of making the risk. There's huge
15:59
Speaker 1: the great a Packers traded two first round picks, which
16:02
Speaker 1: honestly feels like not that much for Michael Parsons and
16:05
Speaker 1: it was working. He was kicking asked into he looked fantastic,
16:09
Speaker 1: and then he tours acl like this is football. They
16:12
Speaker 1: are enormous risks and variables that are outside of your
16:16
Speaker 1: control as an organization. But I commend the Cincinnati Bengals
16:20
Speaker 1: for finally doing something outside of their comfort zone, outside
16:24
Speaker 1: of their history, and doing something that you would envision
16:27
Speaker 1: Sean Payton doing. You would envision Sean mcvayh doing that.
16:32
Speaker 1: This is not something you could see Mike Brown doing
16:35
Speaker 1: until now. And I'm excited to see if this works.
16:40
Speaker 1: That They've added a lot to their defensive line. They
16:42
Speaker 1: still have a high pick in the second round. Their
16:45
Speaker 1: offense is loaded. The division is more than in question.
16:48
Speaker 1: I saw Warren Sharp tweeting about one thing Dexter Lawrence
16:52
Speaker 1: dealt with in the division in which he played in
16:55
Speaker 1: for a couple of years is for a long time,
16:57
Speaker 1: the interior offensive lines for the Cowboys and the Eagles
17:00
Speaker 1: were really good. That might not be the case in
17:04
Speaker 1: his division coming up.
17:05
Speaker 2: I mean, we'll definitely see what the Browns.
17:08
Speaker 1: The Ravens just lost their all pro center and we
17:12
Speaker 1: don't even know who the quarterback is for the Pittsburgh Steelers,
17:15
Speaker 1: so I like this move for the Bengals. We talk
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18:24
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Speaker 1: gambling in Florida, call one eight three three play wise
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Speaker 1: in Indiana. If you are someone you know has a
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Speaker 1: gambling problem and wants help, call one eight hundred and
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Speaker 1: nine with it. Gambling problem, call one hundred Gambler Arizona, Colorado, Illinois,
19:01
Speaker 1: New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia. This is one of the
19:10
Speaker 1: rare moves where I can honestly say, like, not only
19:13
Speaker 1: do I see both sides, like I like both sides,
19:15
Speaker 1: I think if you're I think this one's pretty simple
19:17
Speaker 1: for the New York Giants. I use this analogy all
19:20
Speaker 1: the time because it's the most relatable.
19:23
Speaker 2: But you could use this.
19:24
Speaker 1: For your car, your house if you're a business owner.
19:27
Speaker 1: Most of us, if we have something that we like,
19:30
Speaker 1: are not entertaining selling it.
19:32
Speaker 2: Right.
19:32
Speaker 1: If you live in a house, you like the house,
19:34
Speaker 1: you got a good mortgage rate, you wouldn't entertain selling
19:36
Speaker 1: it if you have a profitable business, let's say a
19:39
Speaker 1: seven figure business. Let's say you run a business and
19:41
Speaker 1: you're making five to ten million dollars in revenue a
19:44
Speaker 1: year and you live through it. You're living great. Life's good.
19:49
Speaker 1: I don't want to sell this business. I think it's
19:51
Speaker 1: going to grow. But if someone knocked on your door
19:54
Speaker 1: and offered you four or five x what you would
19:58
Speaker 1: even you know, you know a number that is so
20:02
Speaker 1: big that it's they said in The Godfather, I'm gonna
20:05
Speaker 1: make him an offer you can't he can't refuse. It's
20:08
Speaker 1: hard to say no, right, I like my house. If
20:12
Speaker 1: someone knocked on the door and offered me three x
20:14
Speaker 1: what I think it's worth, I'd fucking give him all
20:16
Speaker 1: the papers he needed. He'd have it by the end
20:18
Speaker 1: of the week. It wouldn't be a complicated transaction. I'm
20:21
Speaker 1: also not that emotional when it comes to assets. The
20:23
Speaker 1: older I get, I realize I'm really only emotionally attached
20:26
Speaker 1: to like my immediate family and my friends. There aren't
20:30
Speaker 1: many material possessions in my life that like emotionally I
20:33
Speaker 1: care that much about.
20:34
Speaker 2: Right.
20:35
Speaker 1: Besides, I guess if you consider my podcast, but even
20:39
Speaker 1: my podcast right. I think it's pretty valuable. I mean,
20:42
Speaker 1: I see the numbers, and I think the growth potential
20:44
Speaker 1: is really high. But I got a number. If you
20:46
Speaker 1: wanted the rights to have the feed and have me
20:49
Speaker 1: do a podcast for you, and then you could say, hey,
20:52
Speaker 1: you could do whatever you wanted with it after the
20:54
Speaker 1: contract ended, if there'd be a number, it'd be pretty high.
20:57
Speaker 1: But I got a fucking number, and I think the
20:59
Speaker 1: Giants would When you think about Dexter Lawrence, do you
21:01
Speaker 1: think the Baltimore Ravens he's that type player? He would
21:04
Speaker 1: be the type guy that John Harball would like. And
21:07
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago, when they were negotiating, John
21:09
Speaker 1: Harbor even said it like this, this is part of
21:11
Speaker 1: professional football. Every team deals with contracts every single offseason.
21:15
Speaker 2: It's part of the gig.
21:16
Speaker 1: And they were clearly had a little bit of an impass.
21:19
Speaker 1: But do I think that they were just planning on
21:20
Speaker 1: trading him for pick thirty one or you know, a
21:24
Speaker 1: second and a couple thirds? Like I don't, Maybe I'm wrong,
21:28
Speaker 1: call me naive. I don't know their interpersonal you know,
21:32
Speaker 1: dynamics between the player and the coach, But I would
21:35
Speaker 1: imagine that John Harball when he took the job, was like,
21:37
Speaker 1: I'm fired up to work with this guy, Dexter Lawrence
21:40
Speaker 1: and my pass rushers. We're gonna have a sweet defensive line.
21:43
Speaker 1: Something historically, like when you think about the Baltimore Ravens,
21:46
Speaker 1: not the last year, but over the course of his tenure,
21:49
Speaker 1: like they were a dominant, physical football team at the
21:52
Speaker 1: front on defense like that that's part of the Harbass thing.
21:56
Speaker 1: And I think they got a call with a pick
21:59
Speaker 1: that they couldn't have envisioned when they first probably had
22:02
Speaker 1: a meeting that, hey, Lawrence wants a trade, Like what
22:04
Speaker 1: would be willing to trade for him? Like is it
22:06
Speaker 1: even worth getting rid of them for picking the late
22:08
Speaker 1: twenties pick ten? Like I can imagine it's like, hey, Mike,
22:12
Speaker 1: are you pick ten? They got a number so high
22:16
Speaker 1: they couldn't refuse it, and whether they planned on just
22:19
Speaker 1: playing it out, whether like we'll get.
22:21
Speaker 2: A contract done.
22:22
Speaker 1: This is the type offer you get because the majority
22:25
Speaker 1: of players, not the quarterbacks, are tradable. I would say
22:30
Speaker 1: they all are in the NFL beside a handful of quarterbacks.
22:35
Speaker 1: Every trade, every player is tradable, and Dexter Lawrence surely
22:39
Speaker 1: is especially when you go, hey, pick ten, brand new coach,
22:43
Speaker 1: still a lot of holes on defense. See you, buddy, audios.
22:47
Speaker 1: We appreciate your efforts, wish you the best of luck.
22:50
Speaker 1: We also get to get pick ten and trade you
22:52
Speaker 1: outside the conference.
22:54
Speaker 2: It'd be one thing.
22:54
Speaker 1: It's like, hey, the Dallas Cowboys. Let's just hypothetically say twelve. Right,
23:01
Speaker 1: Let's say pick ten wasn't on the table and the
23:03
Speaker 1: Cowboys had called and said, we will give you pick
23:05
Speaker 1: twelve for Dexter Lawrence. That's probably an offer that's too
23:09
Speaker 1: good to be true too, But do you feel comfortable trading.
23:11
Speaker 2: Him within your division?
23:12
Speaker 1: If be one of those like I don't know, this
23:14
Speaker 1: one is like the Cincinnati Bengals. It's it's I would imagine,
23:19
Speaker 1: one of the easier trades in the history of the
23:22
Speaker 1: New York Giants. And I think it gets back to
23:24
Speaker 1: in business, when you have assets, and that's what the
23:26
Speaker 1: players are, you've gotta be able to remove the emotion.
23:30
Speaker 1: Because if Dexter Lawrence is right and everyone's picking the Giants,
23:33
Speaker 1: he one hundred percent would be a big key if
23:35
Speaker 1: the Giants were gonna turn it around in twenty and
23:38
Speaker 1: twenty six and be a team that most people are
23:40
Speaker 1: gonna be pick as a wild card.
23:41
Speaker 2: He would be pretty important because.
23:43
Speaker 1: You remove him and you look at their defensive tackle room,
23:45
Speaker 1: it's not great. And who knows is Kavon, you know,
23:49
Speaker 1: is he gonna be there long term? I love Abdul Carter.
23:51
Speaker 1: Last year was a disaster, you know, on and off
23:54
Speaker 1: the field. It wasn't terrible on the field, but off
23:57
Speaker 1: the field, a lot of weird stuff going on. Brian
23:59
Speaker 1: Burns is really good, but you know the rest of
24:02
Speaker 1: their defense google their DWO D. This ain't exactly twenty
24:06
Speaker 1: eleven or two thousand and seven. You know this, this
24:08
Speaker 1: unit isn't exactly stacked. So I think this is one
24:12
Speaker 1: of those decisions of like this is too good to
24:14
Speaker 1: you know, to pass up, and we just move on.
24:17
Speaker 1: And now we got two picks in the first round
24:19
Speaker 1: or the top ten. And I think I saw someone
24:22
Speaker 1: on the Everything app say, Joe Shane's got to be
24:24
Speaker 1: the only general manager in NFL history to have multiple
24:28
Speaker 1: times with multiple picks inside the top ten. And it's
24:31
Speaker 1: really over what a four year span, and the last
24:34
Speaker 1: time it did not go that well. They took Kavon
24:37
Speaker 1: and they took Evan Deal now Kavon's still on the team,
24:40
Speaker 1: and obviously Evan Neil was re signed. But the expectation
24:45
Speaker 1: now is gonna be to me, between five ten and
24:50
Speaker 1: pick thirty seven, you got to get three guys over
24:53
Speaker 1: the next couple of years who are gonna be starters, obviously,
24:57
Speaker 1: and two of those guys, like if if pick ten
25:00
Speaker 1: doesn't quite live up to the hype, but with pick
25:02
Speaker 1: thirty seven you get an impact guy, you're gonna need
25:04
Speaker 1: two impact players. And this is the draft kind of numbers.
25:10
Speaker 2: Game that you play.
25:11
Speaker 1: The more abs you get, meaning at bats, the more swings,
25:16
Speaker 1: the more chances you have for hits. Because if I
25:19
Speaker 1: gave you seven picks in the first round, if I
25:22
Speaker 1: just had a team right now, it's seven picks in
25:24
Speaker 1: the first round, well, probably three of those guys wouldn't
25:28
Speaker 1: live up to the hype at all, and maybe only
25:30
Speaker 1: two of those guys become impact guys. The other two
25:32
Speaker 1: guys are just good starters. That's the way football works,
25:35
Speaker 1: that's the way this draft process works. And now they
25:38
Speaker 1: give themselves two more swings at it. They also, I
25:41
Speaker 1: think when you really take a step back, they're not
25:45
Speaker 1: quite as close as people made them out to be
25:48
Speaker 1: when you look at their roster. But if they have
25:51
Speaker 1: an unreal draft and you know, let's say they take
25:54
Speaker 1: Sunny Styles at five and at ten, take Caleb Downs
25:58
Speaker 1: or an offensive lineman, and then take a defensive tackle
26:01
Speaker 1: or a wide receiver with you know, their high pick
26:04
Speaker 1: in the second round, and in a couple of years,
26:06
Speaker 1: that could be the core with Malik Neighbors, with Jackson Dart,
26:10
Speaker 1: with Abdul Carter, with some other guys, maybe some later
26:13
Speaker 1: round guys that you hit on they play in the
26:16
Speaker 1: in the back seven on defense. Then you have a
26:19
Speaker 1: team that can sustain winning for a long time. But
26:22
Speaker 1: this was not a team to me that was gonna be.
26:25
Speaker 1: Just like the more I looked at their roster, still
26:28
Speaker 1: a lot more questions than answers. Now, if they have
26:30
Speaker 1: a good draft, they could turn this thing around quick, right,
26:33
Speaker 1: and when I say quick, like by twenty twenty seven,
26:36
Speaker 1: which if you're a Giants fan, we just see to
26:38
Speaker 1: get the train back on the tracks, impact players, really
26:40
Speaker 1: good coach.
26:41
Speaker 2: And get this thing rolling.
26:42
Speaker 1: And this gives you opportunity because the key with the
26:45
Speaker 1: Giants now they have options and that's you know, a
26:48
Speaker 1: pick five, you know they're probably gonna stick and pick there.
26:52
Speaker 1: But you know, I think they could really really remake
26:54
Speaker 1: the defense which was awful because offensively, let's face it,
26:59
Speaker 1: they got it good running back room. They Malik Neighbors
27:03
Speaker 1: when he's on the field, should be a top six
27:06
Speaker 1: or seven wide receiver in the league. They bring over
27:08
Speaker 1: Isaiah likely from the Ravens, who is a playmaker. They
27:13
Speaker 1: have multiple other wide receivers who are more than serviceable.
27:16
Speaker 1: You can draft a wide receiver in this drafty sometime
27:19
Speaker 1: on the second day if you don't take with one
27:21
Speaker 1: of your first round picks. To me, I would not
27:23
Speaker 1: take a wide receiver with five or ten, I would
27:25
Speaker 1: not I would take defensive players. Now, in a perfect world,
27:30
Speaker 1: you would replace Dexter Lawrence with one of these two picks.
27:33
Speaker 1: The problem is there's not a defensive tackle that's viewed
27:37
Speaker 1: as a top twenty guy. So the value in these
27:40
Speaker 1: picks are probably sunny styles, Caleb Downs and cornerbacks. And
27:45
Speaker 1: you never know, maybe one of the higher end, maybe
27:48
Speaker 1: Reuben Bain is there. Maybe there's a guy that you
27:50
Speaker 1: feel comfortable, but it's like you already got, you know,
27:53
Speaker 1: edge rushers, so there's not an interior defensive lineman that
27:57
Speaker 1: you would feel comfortable doing a tent. You could always
27:59
Speaker 1: go off a line one of the right tackles who
28:02
Speaker 1: can if you think they can play guard as well.
28:05
Speaker 1: But to me, I would lean heavy defense defense with
28:08
Speaker 1: both these picks. And this is one of those trades
28:11
Speaker 1: that like, this is awesome.
28:13
Speaker 2: This is awesome.
28:14
Speaker 1: Now, when the Minnesota Vikings traded Randy Moss for pick seven.
28:18
Speaker 2: They didn't exactly nail that one.
28:22
Speaker 1: So and then a couple of years later, Randy Moss
28:25
Speaker 1: went to the Patriots, I think.
28:26
Speaker 2: For a fourth rounder.
28:28
Speaker 1: So part of this for the Giants, it's all going
28:31
Speaker 1: to be determined on how they use this tenth pick.
28:34
Speaker 1: And obviously for the Bengals, it's like he's got to
28:36
Speaker 1: be healthy and he's got to be playing at a
28:39
Speaker 1: high level. But he's proven that because a couple of
28:41
Speaker 1: years ago, I think it would have taken multiple first
28:44
Speaker 1: round picks to acquire Dexter Lawrence. And that's my argument,
28:48
Speaker 1: like the tenth pick is the equivalent to multiple first
28:52
Speaker 1: round picks at the end of the round. This is
28:54
Speaker 1: just a fantastic trade. It's a fascinating trade, it's an
28:58
Speaker 1: intriguing trade, and you know the Bengals, I'm telling you,
29:03
Speaker 1: if their defense is solid and their defensive line. Here's
29:05
Speaker 1: the other thing with Dexter Lawrence. Last year they took
29:07
Speaker 1: Shamar Stewart, who was a pretty polarizing, controversial pick. Right,
29:11
Speaker 1: It's like, is he that good? He's obviously a physical freak,
29:14
Speaker 1: big time workout guy, but production in college just wasn't there.
29:18
Speaker 1: I think he had what career under five sacks. What's
29:21
Speaker 1: the easiest way to free him up right at other
29:24
Speaker 1: edge rushers around him and add an interior guy that
29:28
Speaker 1: they have to focus multiple offensive linemen are so you
29:32
Speaker 1: just go, Chamart, just fucking bull rush, play fast, and
29:36
Speaker 1: just go run after the quarterback. We don't need your
29:39
Speaker 1: thinking here, buddy. Just when the ball snapped, go Dexter
29:43
Speaker 1: Lawrence will eat people alive. And that's where I would
29:49
Speaker 1: imagine their mindset was with this, with this trade. So
29:52
Speaker 1: props to the Bengals for doing something interesting on a
29:56
Speaker 1: slow weekend, and congrats to the Giants fans because now
30:00
Speaker 1: you know they're the Browns, the Jets, some of these
30:03
Speaker 1: teams with two first rounders, even the Chiefs, like they
30:06
Speaker 1: got two first rounders, but one's until the end of
30:07
Speaker 1: the first round, two bigs in the top ten. That's
30:10
Speaker 1: that doesn't happen very often, right as Joe Shana does.
30:13
Speaker 1: But massive, massive draft for the uh the future of
30:18
Speaker 1: the Giants. Okay, Zachariah Branch wide receiver, Pretty sure he
30:23
Speaker 1: transferred from USC as brothers on the team at Georgia.
30:26
Speaker 1: Very talented wide receiver for Georgia, just kind of playmaker.
30:31
Speaker 1: Was arrested at like one in the morning on Saturday
30:36
Speaker 1: night techiclee Sunday morning, and clearly not a good thing.
30:42
Speaker 1: Right to get arrested right before the draft. Now the
30:44
Speaker 1: police report comes out seems pretty stupid. You know, I
30:48
Speaker 1: would imagine intoxicated in a crosswalk, pissing off a cop
30:53
Speaker 1: seems honestly of anything to get arrested for pretty freaking harmless.
30:58
Speaker 1: But that's not really the point here. When you are
31:01
Speaker 1: in a position to get drafted in less than a week,
31:05
Speaker 1: your decision making is really important because the moment you
31:10
Speaker 1: show all these general managers and teams, I have to
31:13
Speaker 1: question your decision making, even if it is as trivial
31:18
Speaker 1: as like messing with a cop in a crosswalk, right,
31:23
Speaker 1: I have to question can I.
31:24
Speaker 2: Trust you on my team?
31:26
Speaker 1: Because if I'm the Dallas Cowboys, if I'm the Minnesota Vikings,
31:29
Speaker 1: if I'm the San Franco forty nine ers, if I'm whoever.
31:32
Speaker 1: And you get arrested, even if within a week the
31:35
Speaker 1: charges are dropped and it was stupid, you still get
31:38
Speaker 1: a headline So and so was arrested Cowboys player, New
31:43
Speaker 1: York Giants player Philadelphia Eagle.
31:45
Speaker 2: We don't want that.
31:47
Speaker 1: I think one of the biggest things when it comes
31:49
Speaker 1: to picking players, especially guys who aren't gonna go really,
31:54
Speaker 1: really high, where it's like I'll just deal with the problems.
31:56
Speaker 1: I don't want to draft guys in the second and
31:58
Speaker 1: third round who are gonna be an issue. I want
32:00
Speaker 1: to draft guys in the second and third round who
32:03
Speaker 1: I can trust. Who are guys that I can lean on,
32:07
Speaker 1: right because clearly you going there means.
32:10
Speaker 2: You are not a perfect player.
32:12
Speaker 1: You clearly have some strengths to go in the top
32:14
Speaker 1: seventy five picks, but you also got some weaknesses. And
32:19
Speaker 1: I just think this is the type situation that you
32:22
Speaker 1: have to avoid. There are no excuses, like you just
32:26
Speaker 1: can't make this mistake. And Herm Edwards once said this,
32:31
Speaker 1: un listen, I'm not trying to be a hypocrite when
32:33
Speaker 1: I was young, Like most people out late at night,
32:36
Speaker 1: but not much good happened late at night.
32:38
Speaker 2: That's when dumb decision happens.
32:39
Speaker 1: Why she's probably been drinking, You've probably been smoking the
32:43
Speaker 1: little weed. You probably not in the greatest frame of mind.
32:47
Speaker 1: And yesterday was Georgia's spring game. I'm sure he was
32:50
Speaker 1: having a lot of fun with his college teammates, and
32:53
Speaker 1: there's nothing wrong with that, but you cannot get in trouble.
32:56
Speaker 1: And when you get in trouble, even for something as
32:59
Speaker 1: stupid as this, yes, it just sends off alarm bells.
33:03
Speaker 1: It just makes people that were probably pounding the table
33:06
Speaker 1: for you, people that wanted to draft you, scouts and
33:10
Speaker 1: scouting coordinators and hell, maybe even general managers. Convincing a
33:14
Speaker 1: coach or assistant coach, a wide receiver coach, or a
33:16
Speaker 1: coordinator trying to convince their head coach or their general
33:19
Speaker 1: manager not have as much juice behind their argument. And
33:24
Speaker 1: I think this is a good life lesson for any
33:26
Speaker 1: young person like you. Making good decisions, especially obviously in
33:30
Speaker 1: a public job, can have big ramifications and can cost
33:34
Speaker 1: you some money. So, like I said, we've all done
33:39
Speaker 1: stupid shit. But when you have a draft a week away,
33:43
Speaker 1: a little bit of an indictment into your decision making.
33:48
Speaker 1: Will Anderson, he just got a massive extension from the
33:52
Speaker 1: Houston Texans. Now, some of the guaranteed money, I'm sure
33:56
Speaker 1: I haven't seen all the details from the contract is
33:58
Speaker 1: also mixed into his fifth year option.
34:00
Speaker 2: So it's like one.
34:00
Speaker 1: Hundred and thirty million dollars guaranteed. But his fifth year
34:02
Speaker 1: option was like twenty five, so it's probably like one
34:05
Speaker 1: hundred and ten in.
34:05
Speaker 2: New guaranteed money.
34:07
Speaker 1: Bottom line is he's making a ton of money, and
34:10
Speaker 1: he's worth every penny. And when you make a big move,
34:13
Speaker 1: and this is back to the Dexter Lawrence New York
34:16
Speaker 1: Giants trade, if you are going to have the stones
34:23
Speaker 1: to go from pick twelve to pick three, and here's
34:25
Speaker 1: what they included in the trade when Nick Casserio made it,
34:28
Speaker 1: and it's gonna go down as one of the best
34:30
Speaker 1: trades he'll ever make, probably the best trade he'll ever make.
34:33
Speaker 1: He gave up pick twelve, pick thirty three, the following year,
34:37
Speaker 1: pick twenty seven, and pick ninety. That's a lot. Here's
34:41
Speaker 1: what I know Nick Cassio would not do today, he
34:45
Speaker 1: would not trade Will Anderson straight up for pick twelve,
34:48
Speaker 1: pick thirty three, the following year's pick twenty seven, and
34:50
Speaker 1: pick ninety Why because Will Anderson's more valuable than that.
34:54
Speaker 1: Obviously in the NFL in twenty twenty six non quarterback
34:59
Speaker 1: guys under twenty five, He's probably a top two or
35:01
Speaker 1: three player. He is a complete ass kicker on and
35:05
Speaker 1: off the field. He's everything you would want. So when
35:07
Speaker 1: you look at the Jets and you look at the Cardinals,
35:09
Speaker 1: and you look all these teams looking at Ruben Bain
35:12
Speaker 1: and Avril Reese and Bailey, they want to get a
35:20
Speaker 1: player of that ilk right, maybe not even as good,
35:23
Speaker 1: but like type guy that you're gonna give a second
35:25
Speaker 1: contract to can be a Pro Bowl guy.
35:28
Speaker 2: That is the point.
35:29
Speaker 1: But at least when you're just sitting there, hey, we
35:32
Speaker 1: took who we thought. We thought Reese was better than Bailey,
35:35
Speaker 1: and we felt good about it. But when you trade
35:38
Speaker 1: back up and you do that, you better be right.
35:41
Speaker 1: And here's the reality. When you look at the players
35:43
Speaker 1: the Cardinals picked, the Texans not only won that trade,
35:47
Speaker 1: it truly is one of the better Draft day trades
35:49
Speaker 1: you'll ever see. Now here's the other kind of elephant
35:54
Speaker 1: in the room with this bad boy. Would the Houston
35:57
Speaker 1: Texans right now copy and paste the contract they he
36:00
Speaker 1: just gave Will Anderson to c J. Stroud? And I
36:04
Speaker 1: think that answer is no. Now, that's not necessarily an
36:07
Speaker 1: indictment on like they still got time he's going into
36:11
Speaker 1: his fourth year. But I do think this shows that,
36:16
Speaker 1: like they got the Will Anderson thing right, they don't
36:19
Speaker 1: know about c J.
36:20
Speaker 2: Stroud.
36:21
Speaker 1: Now, if they had taken Will Anderson at two and
36:24
Speaker 1: traded up for c J.
36:25
Speaker 2: Stroud, it would be more controversial to me.
36:30
Speaker 1: Like they just stood there at two, they took the quarterback,
36:32
Speaker 1: and then they traded up for the guy that I
36:34
Speaker 1: would imagine was the number one.
36:35
Speaker 2: Guy in their draft board.
36:36
Speaker 1: I actually feel pretty good. Know some people they liked
36:42
Speaker 1: Will Anderson more than c J. Stroud, but they had
36:44
Speaker 1: been in quarterback purgatory. They had just been a disaster,
36:47
Speaker 1: they'd been an embarrassment. I totally understand why they did,
36:50
Speaker 1: but this does show and they've hit on a lot
36:53
Speaker 1: of players Stingley, Nico Collins, Will Anderson. I mean the
36:59
Speaker 1: daneil Hunter free agency several years ago, and they just
37:03
Speaker 1: resigned him again to some crazy all guaranteed deal has
37:06
Speaker 1: been incredible, right, and they just need CJ. Stroud to
37:09
Speaker 1: step up.
37:10
Speaker 2: They just needed to be more consistent. I mean, that's
37:13
Speaker 2: really it.
37:14
Speaker 1: And I think one thing CJ. Stroud needs to embrace.
37:16
Speaker 1: It's like you're a quarterback, even if you don't turn
37:19
Speaker 1: into Josh Allen, Patrick, mahomes Lamar Jackson, one of those
37:22
Speaker 1: type guys. Alex Smith that version makes a shitload of money.
37:27
Speaker 1: Asked Jared Goff what his direct deposits look like. Being
37:30
Speaker 1: a quote unquote game manager with some flare pays a
37:35
Speaker 1: lot of money. And over the course of those last
37:37
Speaker 1: couple of games, I did feel like CJ tried to
37:42
Speaker 1: do too much. You see this in basketball a lot, right,
37:45
Speaker 1: It's like, Bro, you're not Lebron.
37:46
Speaker 2: Or Luca passed the fucking rock.
37:49
Speaker 1: Sometimes sometimes just check the ball down, just play under control.
37:53
Speaker 1: We don't need to play hero ball here. And I
37:56
Speaker 1: would imagine, like I've said this about Caleb, I would
37:59
Speaker 1: guess Caleb's entire offseason is just fundamentals. We're can matching
38:04
Speaker 1: up my feet with my timing being a little more
38:06
Speaker 1: accurate on the underneath, It's pretty basic stuff. I'd say
38:08
Speaker 1: the same thing about CJ. Like, what we're asking you
38:11
Speaker 1: to do is not to be a hero down in,
38:13
Speaker 1: down out, Like we're okay, four yard game, We're cool
38:16
Speaker 1: with it. We can't have these crazy interceptions. We can't
38:19
Speaker 1: have you scrambling around like twenty fourteen Russell Wilson thinking
38:22
Speaker 1: you're gonna make some play out of your you know what,
38:25
Speaker 1: be a game manager. We have a team. Kyle Shanahans
38:28
Speaker 1: said this during the Super Bowl or maybe the week before.
38:32
Speaker 1: He thought there were two teams that, if their quarterback
38:36
Speaker 1: just did not screw it up.
38:38
Speaker 2: Could win the Super Bowl.
38:39
Speaker 1: There were only two of them because their special teams
38:42
Speaker 1: and their defense were so good. And that was the
38:44
Speaker 1: Texas in Seattle. And Sam had moments where he rose
38:47
Speaker 1: above and he had moments where he just played under control.
38:50
Speaker 1: And sometimes playing under control and not turning the ball
38:53
Speaker 1: over is playing good football, is playing smart football.
38:57
Speaker 2: Not everyone is.
38:58
Speaker 1: Brett Farver, Aaron Rodgers, right, Alex Smith and Jared Goff
39:03
Speaker 1: and Dak Prescott like, those guys make a lot of
39:06
Speaker 1: money too, So I think the pressure now with this
39:09
Speaker 1: contract Will Anderson's an easy deal for them to make
39:12
Speaker 1: puts a ton on CJ. Stroud because I think this
39:15
Speaker 1: team is ready made to kick ass and take names.
39:18
Speaker 1: And last year in the playoffs, even the game they
39:20
Speaker 1: won against the Steelers, I mean the turnovers. If they
39:23
Speaker 1: were playing a better.
39:24
Speaker 2: Team, they would have lost. And clearly the New England
39:26
Speaker 2: game speaks for itself.
39:28
Speaker 1: But props Caserio, you know took a huge swing, traded
39:34
Speaker 1: up and nailed it right. Well, what do we say
39:37
Speaker 1: about the Bengals situation? Inherent risk anytime you acquire a player,
39:42
Speaker 1: anytime you draft a player, you don't know.
39:45
Speaker 2: I've been to.
39:47
Speaker 1: Hundreds of NFL OTA's training camp practices. You see guys
39:53
Speaker 1: laying there on the ground all the time, just towards Aco.
39:55
Speaker 2: He just did he's tears, Aco, What just happened to him?
39:58
Speaker 1: Just?
39:59
Speaker 2: Why is he lying? Why is he screaming?
40:00
Speaker 1: Then the cart comes and then this season's over. You
40:03
Speaker 1: never know say this in training camp, and it's just
40:07
Speaker 1: a sad reality is when you see a guy laying
40:10
Speaker 1: on the ground when you're at an NFL camp, the
40:14
Speaker 1: first thing you think of, like, I hope it's not
40:16
Speaker 1: one of their impact starters. I hope it's just some
40:19
Speaker 1: random second year camp body. And then you realize, Oh,
40:23
Speaker 1: it's not it's just.
40:24
Speaker 2: Some random guy. You kind of breathe a high of relief.
40:28
Speaker 1: But when word starts to travels like oh, that's their
40:30
Speaker 1: that's their star wide receiver, that's their star defensive lineman,
40:33
Speaker 1: the whole place goes silent and yeah, crazy league. Another
40:53
Speaker 1: thing I couple more things before we get out of
40:55
Speaker 1: a little shorter Sunday show is I read this ESPN
41:02
Speaker 1: article about Vrabel and Russini. It's like, guys, I said
41:06
Speaker 1: this from the jump. You don't need to be a
41:09
Speaker 1: magnum p I to look at those pictures and know
41:11
Speaker 1: what's going on. But that the NFL had to tell
41:14
Speaker 1: like ESPN dot com or some of the journalists, we
41:17
Speaker 1: are not.
41:17
Speaker 2: Going to do a review.
41:19
Speaker 1: Of course, you think the NFL does reviews on coaches
41:24
Speaker 1: or players infidelity, Like that's a Vrabel and his wife problem,
41:30
Speaker 1: Like would do a review on what what positions they
41:33
Speaker 1: were doing?
41:34
Speaker 2: What are we talking about?
41:36
Speaker 1: Diana got fired because the New York Times and the
41:41
Speaker 1: Athletic have like ethical integrity rules and operations in which
41:48
Speaker 1: they bide by because that's the world they're in. They're
41:51
Speaker 1: all big jays. Mike Rabel's business is to have a
41:55
Speaker 1: football team ready to play on Sundays. Someone asked me,
42:00
Speaker 1: maybe it was a DM. Maybe I answered this last week.
42:02
Speaker 1: But I've seen this a couple of places. I saw
42:05
Speaker 1: someone on the internet be like, he's got to answer
42:07
Speaker 1: to his team. He's got to answer to his team.
42:10
Speaker 1: You think his team gives a flying you know what
42:13
Speaker 1: what Mike Rabel does with a woman. I could not
42:18
Speaker 1: disagree more. Now, I don't know if whenever, I don't
42:22
Speaker 1: know if they report, I would imagine if they haven't
42:25
Speaker 1: already they report tomorrow or Tuesday, that Mike Rabel's gonna
42:28
Speaker 1: address his team about what went on. He might, but
42:33
Speaker 1: I don't think he needs to, because if every player
42:36
Speaker 1: had to address their team about what was going on
42:39
Speaker 1: in their marriage. This pro sports say it all the time.
42:43
Speaker 1: You me, most of us. We are in uh. Our
42:47
Speaker 1: marriage is a lot like baseball, a ton of unwritten rules, right,
42:51
Speaker 1: These guys ain't many rules. Infidelity goes pretty strong in
42:56
Speaker 1: pro sports. And that's not just the players, that's the coaches,
42:59
Speaker 1: that's the GMS, the owners like there's no rule book
43:04
Speaker 1: for them. A lot of them. I'm not saying everybody,
43:06
Speaker 1: but a large percentage of them kind of do whatever
43:09
Speaker 1: they want whenever they want. Because they walk in the room,
43:12
Speaker 1: they're the most famous guy, They're usually the rich guy.
43:14
Speaker 1: They're usually a good looking guy, and definitely a big guy,
43:17
Speaker 1: so they stand out. So I just think this notion
43:20
Speaker 1: of like, what's gonna happen to Mike Vrabel? He's a
43:23
Speaker 1: football coach, right, what the fuck you think's gonna happen
43:27
Speaker 1: to him?
43:27
Speaker 2: Nothing?
43:28
Speaker 1: And whether that's fair or not, their jobs are completely different.
43:32
Speaker 1: If Mike Rabel, if the roles had been reversed, Like, yeah,
43:36
Speaker 1: it would be an issue for him and not for her.
43:39
Speaker 1: And like what's gonna happen between them? Like this is
43:42
Speaker 1: kind of between them.
43:42
Speaker 2: And their marriages now.
43:44
Speaker 1: And I at this point in time, I cannot give
43:46
Speaker 1: a shit any less. I'm just ready to move on
43:49
Speaker 1: from this story. But I would imagine something will come out.
43:52
Speaker 1: He either addressed it or he didn't, and that will
43:54
Speaker 1: cause a story next week we'll wind on this. When
43:57
Speaker 1: Bronny got drafted by the Lakers, a lot of people
44:01
Speaker 1: freaked out, and my stance was pretty simple. When you
44:05
Speaker 1: lose a father, I remember Scott Van Pelt said this
44:08
Speaker 1: like on his radio show or a podcast long time ago,
44:11
Speaker 1: and I'll never forgot it. Like you officially become a
44:13
Speaker 1: man when your dad dies, I don't necessarily depending on
44:17
Speaker 1: what you're doing in life. And there is some truth
44:20
Speaker 1: to just speaking your mom. It's a little different when
44:23
Speaker 1: it's like especially you come home. It's just it's a
44:25
Speaker 1: different dynamic in your life when your father is no
44:27
Speaker 1: longer around. So when I see situations of fathers and sons,
44:33
Speaker 1: I do get a little sappy, Like I get a
44:35
Speaker 1: little emotional. And I'm also pro people in life, when
44:41
Speaker 1: you dominate whatever you do, you're gonna have more juice,
44:45
Speaker 1: You're gonna have more power. It's like, why did the
44:48
Speaker 1: CEO hire his kid, cause he's the fucking CEO. If
44:52
Speaker 1: he was the random sales guide, maybe he wouldn't have
44:54
Speaker 1: the juice. He wouldn't be able to Why did Lebron
44:56
Speaker 1: force the Lakers to draft his son? Cause Lebron fucking James.
45:01
Speaker 1: You know, if he was Rui Hachima, They're probably not
45:05
Speaker 1: picking up that call. Giannis anton Koumpo's seven brothers and
45:09
Speaker 1: three cousins aren't on the fifteen man roster, and then
45:12
Speaker 1: the G League team if he's the eighth man it's
45:15
Speaker 1: kind of how the world works. The more talented you are,
45:19
Speaker 1: the more juice you have whatever field you're working in.
45:23
Speaker 1: Welcome to life. So it didn't. It's like, what's the
45:27
Speaker 1: point of being this great if you don't yield your power? Now,
45:29
Speaker 1: if we want to have a bigger picture conversation about
45:32
Speaker 1: over the course of his career, him taking advantage of
45:35
Speaker 1: some of the power and some of his decisions. Okay, right,
45:38
Speaker 1: but in this specific one, it's like late second round pick.
45:42
Speaker 1: Most of these guys in this round will never be
45:44
Speaker 1: heard of ever again.
45:45
Speaker 2: Who really cares now?
45:46
Speaker 1: Once he forced them to guarantee the four years, Like
45:49
Speaker 1: I understood that the nepotism, Like, clearly it was true
45:52
Speaker 1: what was happening. But last night I'm watching this playoff.
45:56
Speaker 2: Game, which was a tough watcher.
45:58
Speaker 1: Right, Durant got hurt in practice. I guess Luca's hamstring
46:01
Speaker 1: got injured a couple of weeks ago. Austin Reeves has
46:04
Speaker 1: an injury. So it's just a lot of star players
46:06
Speaker 1: not playing. It's like Lebron against a bunch of dudes
46:09
Speaker 1: You're supposed to be really good on the Houston that
46:11
Speaker 1: don't look that good, and all of a sudden, I
46:14
Speaker 1: have this TV on mute. I look up and Bronni's
46:16
Speaker 1: checking in, And I don't care where you stand if
46:19
Speaker 1: you think Lebron's a douche, if you think this whole
46:22
Speaker 1: situation is an embarrassment, I do get it, like I do.
46:26
Speaker 1: But if you can't watch that in a playoff game,
46:28
Speaker 1: like you think jj Reddix is throwing him out there
46:31
Speaker 1: to make Lebron happy, probably not kind of needs him.
46:34
Speaker 1: And he played four minutes and I just thought, like,
46:37
Speaker 1: that's pretty freaking cool. And then I saw Lebron say
46:40
Speaker 1: after the game, like highlight of my career. I played
46:44
Speaker 1: with my son during a playoff game. Like I I
46:48
Speaker 1: thought that was pretty cool. And if you don't, maybe
46:52
Speaker 1: you're just not as sappy as me. I mean, I'm
46:54
Speaker 1: a diehard Michael Jordan fan. Then this kid, like a
46:57
Speaker 1: year ago get caught with a bunch of blow in
46:59
Speaker 1: a Ferrari over like a railroad track, Like I mean,
47:03
Speaker 1: I'm a big Michael guy. I'm not sure he's the
47:05
Speaker 1: most buttoned up individual when it comes to the family life.
47:08
Speaker 1: Uh so that's maybe Lebron's got him there. But I
47:12
Speaker 1: just thought that was for a moment that is a
47:15
Speaker 1: little contrived and obviously a little forced. Like I think
47:18
Speaker 1: if Bronnie James was named Bronni Middlecoff, He's probably not
47:22
Speaker 1: on the Lakers. I'm not denying that, but he is
47:27
Speaker 1: because he's Bronnie James.
47:28
Speaker 2: He's lebron skin.
47:29
Speaker 1: And I can't even imagine being forty one years old
47:34
Speaker 1: playing in a playoff game where you're winning and your
47:37
Speaker 1: star teammates are both in street clothes on the bench
47:41
Speaker 1: next to JJ Reddick and your son gets to come
47:44
Speaker 1: in in a win, because I would get it too, like, hey,
47:47
Speaker 1: coming in, you're getting blown out by forty. Your team's
47:50
Speaker 1: going nowhere, Like honestly, they probably win the series of
47:53
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant's injured. So I thought it was really cool.
47:58
Speaker 2: I don't really have a take Beside, I thought it
47:59
Speaker 2: was really cool.
48:04
Speaker 1: The volume m