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All right, John Middlecoff is about

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All right, Here we go. John Middlecoff,

1:35

former NFL scout. Three and

1:37

Out is his podcast

1:39

every Sunday night. We chop it up probably

1:41

forty five of the fifty two weeks. Here we chop

1:43

it.

1:43

Up for an hour. You know, he deserves some time off

1:45

once in a while.

1:46

So the NFL Draft

1:49

over the course of the weekend. So my

1:52

one take about the draft,

1:54

well I got several, but my first one is Dallas

1:57

didn't draft a running back and didn't draft a

1:59

receiver until the round. So

2:01

you know, Jerry hasn't been to a Super Bowl in on

2:03

almost three decades. So what

2:07

Jerry doesn't want to do is get trapped with

2:09

Dak Prescott. And I thought it was

2:11

strategic. I thought that

2:13

was Jerry Jones saying, listen, we're

2:17

gonna rely on you Dak this year. We're

2:20

not giving you all this, AMMO. We're going to rebuild

2:22

the offensive line. You'll get protection, but

2:25

in a contract year, the last thing I'm

2:27

gonna do is load you up with weapons. Dak's

2:30

production's absolutely gonna come down.

2:32

I mean, they just don't have a running back

2:35

of note on the roster, and people

2:37

could say, well, you're tanking the year. They're not tanking

2:39

the year. They'll be a good football team.

2:42

But it felt strategic to me to

2:45

not address running back and really frankly

2:47

not address receiver until in the sixth

2:49

round. That didn't feel like just

2:52

a bad stroke of luck to me.

2:54

I'm torn because it's hard for me to be

2:57

critical when you ever you go offensive and defensive

2:59

line early in the which they have,

3:01

and they're a good drafting team, bad

3:03

running back draft. But let's face

3:05

it, Colin, until they give him a contract extension,

3:08

which they should not. To

3:10

me, this is him and McCarthy are playing for

3:12

their jobs. I mean, this guy, let's

3:14

face it. They paid him a lot of money a couple of

3:16

years ago off the broken

3:18

ankle, and he's been really good in the regular season.

3:21

In the playoffs, two out of three years he was atrocious

3:23

I mean, he was really bad three years ago against

3:25

the Niners in this year, in that

3:27

first half in the game was over. Wasn't all his fault,

3:30

but he did not play winning football. The

3:32

price has gone up dramatically since they gave him forty

3:34

million dollars a year just because the market right.

3:37

So can you give Dak Prescott fifty five million

3:39

dollars a year?

3:39

And you can't?

3:41

I underno, And he's

3:43

better than Tua. But I say the same thing about Tua.

3:45

If you're in that business long term, you're

3:47

signing up at best to be a one and done playoff

3:50

team. And the other thing is, let's face

3:52

it, the Eagles have a lot more talent

3:54

on their roster, dramatically, more

3:56

top to bottom. So you look

3:58

at a team.

4:00

I mean AJ Brown, DeVante Smith,

4:02

Saquon Barkley better at tight end

4:05

and an athlete in their prime at

4:07

quarterback. I mean I don't at Lane

4:09

Johnson at right tackle. I don't

4:11

think it's necessarily close. I mean, I think you're

4:13

being kind saying they have more talent. I think it's lobsided

4:16

in favor of Philly Well.

4:17

And if Michael Parson is the best defensive player of

4:19

the group. It's not like the Eagles haven't invested in that side

4:21

the last couple of years in the draft with Jalen Carter,

4:23

Jordan Davis. They just draft. They get the top

4:26

corner in this draft with Cooper

4:28

Degen as their second round pick, who a

4:30

lot of people had and Howie even said we had

4:32

a first round great on him as well. Darius

4:34

Slay is an older player, but he's still

4:36

a solid starter. They'll get rid of Brad Berry

4:39

the Eagles, and now you add Fangio and Kellen

4:42

Moore to the mix because last year their coaches

4:44

really let him down. Like to me, this

4:46

is anything less like one takeaway

4:48

after the draft for the NFC East, I don't

4:50

think the Giants are very good. Washington's in this rebuild

4:53

mode. The Eagles have no excuse not to win

4:55

this division. Fil I mean last year they imploded. Dallas

4:57

kind of lucked into it at the end, remember, but

5:00

they should not like that. There should be

5:02

a two or three game difference now. I think Dallas

5:04

is gonna be good. I'm talking, you know,

5:06

nine ten wins, but the Eagle there should

5:09

be a gap between the two teams.

5:11

I don't think there's any question and listen,

5:13

there's a line with Dak Prescott.

5:15

If he does not get one hundred yards run

5:18

support, dex wins about thirty

5:20

five percent of his games. So it

5:23

did feel like to me they got

5:25

the cap issues, so you had to address running

5:27

back in the draft. You're not gonna fine running

5:29

back, well.

5:30

They don't really exist. You just got to get lucky with an undrafted

5:32

free agent. Basically you're keeping your fingers crossed.

5:36

I will say this in terms of everybody always

5:38

wants to know who wins the draft. I've had

5:40

the same formula as

5:42

long as I can remember, and I usually do it on the Monday

5:44

after the draft. I'm not going to project

5:47

how great your fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh round

5:49

picks are, but I will judge

5:51

your off season based on your free agent signings

5:54

and your first two or three picks,

5:56

where I get more certainty. I

5:58

think the Chicago Bears are a completely different

6:00

football team with Keenan

6:03

Allen, DeAndre Swift, Gerald Everett,

6:06

Caleb Williams and Romadonze. That's

6:08

a completely different offense.

6:11

If you're asking me who won the offseason in

6:13

terms of personnel, might take

6:15

his Chicago won't even look the same. I thought Green

6:18

Bay got better, but I don't think Chicago

6:20

will even look the same.

6:21

What do you think?

6:22

Yeah, I mean, I listen, it's hard not to like

6:24

Chicago. I mean, what they've done in the last twelve

6:27

months. I think that trade that Ryan Poles

6:29

made it's got to go down as one of the great

6:31

trades of all time. I mean, it really does.

6:33

And it's one that Carolina would like, Yeah,

6:36

and to get rid of. Basically, they traded all

6:38

that for Bryce Young that if you could do

6:40

a redo, they would laugh in your face and Carolina

6:42

would would throw in picks to swap

6:44

it back. So yeah,

6:46

I think. I think the hype on Caleb,

6:49

which is the nature of this beast, the same thing happened

6:51

to Trevor Lawrence. He does not need to be immediately

6:53

a superstar. He just needs to be solid,

6:56

right, And they should be good because last year

6:58

they could have been a playoff team if their quarterback

7:00

could have just functioned from the pocket. Couldn't

7:03

function from the pocket. Now you add Keenan

7:05

Allen and Romaduon say, you know the best part

7:07

about romadonsay, he doesn't have to

7:09

do that much like he was

7:12

the lead dogg at Washington, which had about fifteen

7:14

guys draft that it felt like and he was a fantastic

7:16

player, but he gets to ease in a lot of

7:18

people like Marvin Harrison, we talked about

7:21

this last on Thursday, has no choice.

7:23

Anything less than eighty ninety catches. They're

7:26

not getting enough out of them given what in

7:28

his group. So Rome, if

7:30

he just has forty five to fifty catches, maybe

7:33

six touchdowns, you're awesome.

7:35

Even though it's the ninth pick. You'd like a little more. But

7:37

given this team this year, Keenan

7:40

probably be only there one year. So next year he takes

7:42

a bigger jump. But they're not as dependent

7:44

on their young wide receiver as a lot of

7:46

teams are when they draft a guy high.

7:48

They're also going to have a fourth place schedule,

7:51

so that helps.

7:52

Yeah, And divisions hard. The division's hard.

7:54

It might be the best division in football.

7:56

I think offensively. I've

7:59

said this. I think last time we were on you

8:01

could make a Pro Bowl offense out

8:03

of that division that he's compete with the NFL,

8:05

I mean, there's just stars everywhere.

8:09

And I also thought, I'll say this about the NFC

8:11

and North I thought Green Bay. If you count Josh

8:14

Jacobs Xavier McKinney in free

8:16

agency, upgrade it back really good safety

8:18

along with Morgan, Jordan

8:20

Morgan the tackle from Arizona, Edrian

8:23

Cooper the linebacker, and m who I heard the

8:25

Rams like Bullarded the

8:27

safety from Georgia.

8:30

Like that's five really good players. So

8:32

Green Bay. You

8:34

know, it's interesting. If you told

8:36

me two

8:39

teams that draft well in the last decade, I

8:41

would actually say Green Bay in Tampa.

8:44

But they're so divergent in terms of success

8:46

because one gets the quarterback right and one hasn't.

8:49

I always feel with Jason light if you go look

8:51

at Tampa's first four picks, I loved him. I think

8:53

he's one of the best drafters in the league. They can't get

8:55

quarterback right. The difference is and by

8:58

the way, classic Michael who

9:00

fell to the seventh, Green Bay gets him. He won't

9:02

see the field for.

9:03

Three years and you'll look up.

9:04

He's a big kid six three, two twenty, not

9:06

a huge jar, But you look up in three years and be like, what's

9:09

a functional starter in the NFL? But

9:11

that division, You

9:13

know, it's really interesting about Chicago, Green

9:16

Bay, Detroit, Minnesota,

9:19

Minnesota, maybe the

9:21

most talented potential fourth place team

9:24

that I can remember. I was doing this over the

9:26

course of the weekend. I was writing down everybody's

9:28

ten best players in that division. There

9:31

is not much that separates Detroit

9:33

Minnesota, like it's inches not. If

9:35

Darnald plays well, you could

9:37

see Minnesota to the last weekend

9:39

competing well.

9:40

Isn't it a good example? He used Jason light They

9:42

had no quarterback. They insert Brady

9:44

at forty two years old and just start dominating.

9:47

Right. So if they would have the same roster, you would have put

9:49

Aaron Rodgers, the same thing would have happened. Look

9:52

at last year, Baker had what seventy

9:54

five percent of the season, was pretty solid,

9:57

and they were a playoff team and they kicked the Eagles ass

9:59

and they were right. They're in the second playoff game with the

10:01

Lions. So the quarterback position, which I'm sure we'll

10:03

talk about, is so important.

10:05

But I'm with you, like

10:08

I think Green Bay is going to

10:10

be very, very dependent on this. Jeff Haffley,

10:12

the guy that they hired from Boston College, who

10:14

was very well thought of. Kyle Shanahan really liked

10:17

them the Ohio State When Ryan Day first

10:19

got the job, made him a code defensive coordinator.

10:21

But he's got to be good because that's

10:23

really been the downfall of their operation right

10:26

just and really goes back to McCarthy

10:28

with some of their great teams with Aaron

10:30

Rodgers and listen,

10:33

Mickveigh, what do they do defense?

10:35

Right away? Kyle Shanahan, what's he always

10:37

doing defense? They're all the top

10:39

teams, even Dan Campbell their first two

10:41

picks corners, and they've invested

10:43

heavily in the defensive line. So you're

10:46

playing a lot of teams in your conference,

10:49

Howie Roseman over the last couple of years, Jalen Carter,

10:51

Jordan Davis Cooper, Dejen Mitchell,

10:53

the tale. It's just defense. They just invest in that side

10:55

of the ball. We know Green Bay and now LA

10:57

Floor is well established. They're going to score a lot of

11:00

points and they have explosive players.

11:02

Jacobs. I think Josh Jacobs better player.

11:04

Saquon Barkley. I mean that guy is when

11:06

he's healthy, he's a top two or three running

11:09

back in the NFL. But it's gonna

11:11

come down to defense, And like you said, in that division,

11:14

Listen, I don't know how good Sam Darnold's

11:16

going to be But if you catch them on the right day with those offensive

11:18

weapons, they could score thirty five points. So

11:21

it's just you better a lot of pressures

11:23

on that higher. You know, he got rid of Joe Berry,

11:25

who was his buddy. It wasn't going as

11:27

well. Not all his fault. Sometimes it's the players

11:30

too, but they've invested. They

11:32

have invested a lot of picks, right,

11:35

The Packers have on that side of the ball over the last

11:37

half decade, a ton of high round picks on

11:39

defense.

11:40

Yeah, And it's funny because the Bears

11:42

won seven games last year and they may

11:44

not win more than eight this year. That's why I

11:46

feel like, don't judge the Bears and Caleb

11:49

on wins. The division is

11:51

I think it is the best division in football. It's

11:53

certainly the best division

11:56

in terms of skill people. I mean

11:58

that the receiving talent and the tight end

12:00

talent and that division is insane. Yeah,

12:03

it's like seven really in the in the

12:05

division, there's seven good tight ends.

12:07

Gerald Effert's a good, solid being

12:09

tied end in the NFL.

12:11

I do want to I do want to get into the quarterback

12:13

thing because I was I've

12:16

said this for several years. I think the Writers have a good

12:18

roster, they just don't have the tight end.

12:19

Right.

12:20

They're a little bit like Tampa. So back

12:22

to back they go get Brock

12:24

Bauers, mayor the Notre Dame kid. Last

12:26

year they've.

12:28

Got they drafted

12:30

the center from Oregon, right.

12:32

Yep, yep.

12:33

So and I was texting

12:35

with Tom te LESCo. Without divulging too much,

12:38

I said, what you should be rooting for is

12:40

Bryce Young and Will Levis

12:43

to hit, I said, because then

12:45

next year the number of teams

12:47

that need a quarterback, Giants will probably

12:50

take a swing. Jets will,

12:52

but I'm not sure it's in the first round. You'll want

12:54

to get airon some help. But I

12:56

said, you know, if you look at last year's

12:58

quarterback class and this

13:00

year's quarterback class, and

13:03

there's not a lot of teams, Okay, Will

13:06

Levis my guess they'll move off him. Maybe

13:10

Bryce Young has to buy Thanksgiving and they got him

13:12

some more pieces, has to do something. I think

13:14

the Giants will eventually draft somebody.

13:17

But John I went through it this morning. Also

13:20

on the on the free agent market, you could have

13:22

Tua and Dak.

13:24

Yeah, there's no.

13:25

Question now I think I think Jerry

13:27

will re sign him. But it's interesting

13:29

with the Raiders, were you know, I was going

13:32

back and forth and I said, what you want to do if

13:34

you're the Raiders next year? If you're and

13:36

they'll probably finish fourth in division based

13:38

on quarterback and you know, a defensive coach

13:40

facing offensive coaches. I

13:43

was like, you could win seven games, finished

13:45

fourth, have an eight pick. Just

13:48

cross your fingers. There may not

13:50

be more than three teams in the league next

13:52

year along with the Raiders that need a quarterback.

13:55

I think it hit me on Friday because obviously

13:57

we were all and I heard your take on the

14:00

Cousin's Penick

14:02

situation with you know, kind of being an insurance

14:04

policy. I think if everyone got to redo

14:07

this offseason, because when March

14:09

fifteenth hits, you know, teams

14:11

like the Raiders and the Falcons, they didn't make the

14:13

playoffs, so they have had two and

14:15

a half months to kind of prepare it. Now. The

14:18

Raiders were hiring. Some people say with the Falcons

14:20

too, so there were some moving parts. It wasn't

14:22

like a seamless transition. I think if

14:24

you can get a redo, you would do something pretty simple.

14:27

Christian Wilkins the Atlanta Falcons. The

14:30

Raiders wouldn't sign him. They would have signed

14:32

Kirk Cousins to one hundred million dollar deal instead

14:34

of the defensive lineman. Because they have a team

14:36

full of high end guy they have no quarterback. And

14:39

the Falcons would have signed Gardner Minshew

14:42

or Sam Darnold for ten million dollars

14:44

and drafted the twenty four year old quarterback who's

14:46

going to be ready to go, and sign the defensive

14:49

lineman and listen, I

14:51

don't blame the Raiders. They kind of got stuck.

14:53

When you're drafting not in the top ten, you don't

14:55

control everything. Once Penix

14:58

goes, that's the guy I think that they like. Maybe

15:00

they got stuck, But when

15:03

you're in this no man position, what

15:05

do you do? You know, Gardner Minshew's

15:08

not fixing your problems. Gardner Minshew

15:10

and Sam Darnold fix your problems when

15:12

you can invest in a young quarterback and give

15:14

you a little breathing room. But to

15:16

me, the Raiders they drafted players that everyone

15:19

loved. I bet the entire league

15:21

you're not going to meet one coach or GM that

15:23

didn't like Brock Bowers as a high end player.

15:25

Right, But what does he do for you when your

15:27

two quarterbacks are Gardner Minshew and O'Connell

15:30

from Purdue and

15:32

it's no one's fault, Like this is kind of

15:34

who they had the cousins thinks maybe

15:36

he wouldn't have been that interested. Arthur Blank has

15:39

more cash, so the way he can structure a deal. But

15:42

going back to Atlanta, you

15:45

only get so many resources. I remember how

15:47

he said this in a couple of years ago in a press conference. Every

15:49

team in the league. What makes the NFL different than all these

15:51

other leagues. Everyone has the same resources.

15:53

We all have the same amount of money and the same around amount

15:56

of draft picks. You just choose how you

15:58

use them. Right. The reason the Browns

16:00

have no first round picks they traded for to Shawn

16:02

Watson and they allocate a lot of money to him.

16:05

Well, once you allocate all

16:07

this money to Cousins like the Atlanta Falcons

16:09

did, when you draft a quarterback high,

16:11

one of his great attributes is the contract, right,

16:15

So using that money to sign Christian

16:17

Wilkins, Well, the quarterback

16:19

position only one guy can be on the field. And

16:22

this guy is not McCarthy or a Drake

16:24

May who is a you know,

16:26

a project, the guy that you want to not force

16:28

on the field. He is. He was probably the

16:30

most beside Caleb, like you just want to see him play

16:33

right away, right, And I think this goes

16:35

back to they fell in love with him over

16:37

the last month. Well, what the hell were you doing six

16:39

months ago? What were you doing? You would have known

16:41

at the combine this is just bad.

16:43

Like part of the draft, the planning goes

16:45

if you find Howie Roseman or Veitch, they've

16:48

been planning the shit for six months, building

16:50

out strategies. It feels like these guys are flying by

16:52

the seat of their pants. No one would argue,

16:54

and I'm with you, you're better off having

16:57

more invested in the quarterback position doubling

16:59

down. But the resources here are a little

17:01

funky. And Chris Sim's had a good tweet. He's

17:03

like, well, Cousins, not gonna be ready at OTA's.

17:06

Who's gonna be out there slinging? It's all these young guys.

17:08

It's gonna be Pennix. So is there gonna

17:10

be a natural gravitation? You know,

17:12

there's an age gap all of a sudden, like why are we playing

17:15

this old guy? If this young guy it could get weird,

17:17

and it could get weird fast.

17:18

Yeah, listen, it's it's it was odd

17:20

and it's not what I would have done. But

17:23

my takeaway is Arthur

17:26

BLANKSKT is in the eighties.

17:27

He's getting old.

17:28

Yeah, And his takeaway is We've got some

17:30

really good young pieces and a great

17:32

old line. And my take

17:35

is you have to be careful

17:37

about having a strident opinion when

17:39

there are realistic scenarios that

17:42

could ensue. Cousins could

17:44

come back and he wasn't mobilele

17:46

for this, and you could have a guy that's

17:48

just a ham and egger.

17:50

Secondly sick, which is very

17:52

likely when you say it was fifty to fifty chance

17:54

probably.

17:55

I mean Aaron Rodgers stopped

17:57

moving about two years ago. What is he now?

18:00

He's gonna be a pocket quarterback. And the other

18:02

scenario is sixty

18:05

six quarterbacks played last year. Cousins

18:07

may get hurt. So I almost feel

18:09

like Ridder was so

18:12

bad, Desmond Ridder was so bad.

18:14

There's a sense in the building like, listen,

18:17

we're not paying any of these young guys yet.

18:19

We're really not.

18:20

We're not paying any of them. They're all just kids.

18:23

Let's just let's just go get Cousins

18:26

to ensure because I don't know if

18:28

they thought when they were doing when

18:30

they signed Cousins, Pennix

18:32

was It's funny.

18:33

Pennis had a rollercoaster.

18:35

Everybody was red hot on him, then everybody

18:37

bailed on him. And then we find out after the

18:39

draft that four teams,

18:42

including Atlanta, were interested in

18:44

the first round. So he went from hot

18:46

to second round prospect to apparently

18:49

red hot during the draft. So my

18:52

take is, you know, I could see

18:54

Atlanta being like, Okay, let's

18:56

let's let's just sign him. We could

18:58

get him later and all of a sudden, because

19:00

I do know the Seahawks, the Raiders

19:03

like teams were interested in them, Like.

19:04

For sure, I got no

19:06

issue taking them eight, zero

19:08

issue taking aim Et. I just think when

19:11

you plan an organization, that's the GM's

19:13

job is to think big picture. And I

19:15

understand at the time signing Minshew

19:18

or signing Darnold, people would have been like, what the

19:20

hell are you doing? But you should

19:22

have had a pretty good idea because you've been picking eight

19:24

for four months now, Like this,

19:26

the spot didn't change. You were gonna

19:28

get that guy. You have the juice

19:30

to get that guy at eight and I just think

19:34

using that amount of money, because when

19:36

you give that amount of guaranteed, and we saw it with

19:38

Russell who was bigger, it does stick on your cap

19:40

for several years, and that's a position

19:43

where you can't use them both. Like sometimes if you

19:45

miss on O lineman or a D lineman, you can

19:47

rotate guys or wide receivers. I

19:49

just think you're so dependent and Cousins,

19:51

what happens immediately his agents and

19:54

I like Mike McCartney, but he immediately comes

19:56

out like we're blown away. I saw Colt McCoy

19:58

say, you know Cousins in pretty sense. So

20:00

you get in the when you get in the sensitive business.

20:02

And it's not like he doesn't have the

20:05

equity of the in the league, like a Brady

20:07

or a Rogers, where it's like whatever, we're getting this all

20:09

time great player. There are a lot of people are like, hey, he's good,

20:11

but how good? I just think

20:13

the locker room dynamics and Belichick was

20:15

always great at this. It's already weird. It's

20:17

already going to be weird, especially when you factor

20:19

in OTA's are going to start in the next month and

20:22

Pennix is going to be out there because the other guys

20:25

in the training room getting getting ready hopefully

20:27

for training camp. So I mean fundamentally,

20:30

I get like investing in the quarterback position

20:32

goes back to Bill Walsh and Ron

20:35

Wolf totally. But when you factor in

20:37

the amount of money, it does just limit your

20:39

ability. And this is not the other thing with Pennix

20:41

is even maybe more than Caleb,

20:43

Like he's just a plug and plagu he's twenty five, You're twenty

20:45

four to twenty five years old, Like what the hell?

20:48

Like this is not a Jordan Love situation.

20:50

And I think that's where a lot of people the media

20:53

can say whatever, but like the league's pushing back

20:55

because it's just like a it's a

20:57

very bizarre situation. I think it does reflect

20:59

the organization who's like, oh, yeah, Belichick,

21:01

we're too good for Belichick. It's Frank, who the

21:03

fuck are you guys?

21:07

Now, I listen.

21:08

I mean at times I

21:10

called it illogical and on

21:12

its surface, you know, my take was Friday

21:15

is listen is.

21:16

I think it's financially illogical more than

21:18

football illogical, right.

21:21

Like I'm just this is the worst division

21:23

in football. I think they have the best quarterback and

21:25

maybe the best backup in the league. I'm like, it make

21:27

mistakes at that position, just go for it. I'm

21:29

okay with it, but it but it And it Also

21:32

what's interesting, I would have much more of a problem

21:35

because I think they paid what did they paid Cousins

21:38

one for Was it like one hundred and forty?

21:40

Yeah? I think I think the fake number was

21:42

closer to one to eighty. But they gave him one hundred

21:44

true guaranteed money and like basically seventy

21:47

million dollars over the next eighteen

21:49

months, right, Yeah.

21:50

So it's very front loaded. What worries

21:52

me is that Dak and Tua, with

21:55

their current teams, will want double

21:57

that. So I always feel like with Cousins

21:59

might take it's all front loaded. If

22:02

Thanksgiving of the second year you're done with him,

22:04

you're fine. Dak

22:06

wants a five year deal, and it's like pan

22:09

three point fifty for Dak is.

22:11

Literally a I'm with you there. I'd

22:14

rather give Cousins one hundred than Dak to fifty.

22:17

Yeah.

22:17

Yeah, So if all the bad things you can

22:19

do, I can live with a year and

22:21

a half of Cousins on the field competing.

22:24

I can live with them.

22:28

Thank you to our friends at Panini

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the top cards and more. You

23:36

know, I thought Harball was going to have U

23:38

there were going to be more fireworks with the chargers.

23:41

I did think they got a couple of really interesting pieces,

23:43

a couple of small school guys. But I

23:45

think by and large, the Joe allpick

23:47

was interesting because they

23:50

have a left tackle. Though Slater had an

23:52

injury and all, it's

23:54

kind of an He's an athlete, he was a high school basketball

23:56

player. He's he's moved around,

23:58

he's been a he's a very good apple.

24:00

You see the pictures after we got off of him sitting

24:02

with his family. How massive that human being is.

24:05

So it's one of those things

24:07

where I never bought

24:10

into them taking a wide receiver.

24:12

I just didn't buy And everybody's

24:14

mock draft have them at receiver, and I'm thinking.

24:17

That's just not what They're not going to get. Some skinny

24:20

kid from LSU who's so I mean

24:22

to me, the pick made sense. But

24:24

I didn't think the Chargers had that many

24:26

fireworks. I thought they did this basic stuff,

24:29

played in the gym. You know, I

24:31

think they got a linebacker, if I recall from the

24:34

Michigan Yeah, but I didn't.

24:36

I didn't think there was a ton of fireworks with the Chargers.

24:39

You know what's funny is most

24:42

people, up until the last couple of weeks when I think

24:44

a lot of people around the NFL like Gym's not taking

24:46

a wide receiver, guys, So we can stop talking

24:48

about that. But even the second pick

24:50

in Lad McConkie, you know a lot of people

24:52

have been like, go get Herbert, go trade up and

24:55

get a Savior worthy or you

24:57

know, get Keon Coleman, the guy that Bills

24:59

took, and he took Lad McConkey. You know

25:01

who's gonna end up to me being more Edelman

25:04

Wes Welker can play right in the slot

25:06

receiver. Jim's not into this sexy

25:08

football. He's not trying

25:10

to be you know, Lane

25:13

Kiffin or Lincoln Riley. That's not the way

25:15

he coaches. He coaches like he's

25:17

prepared to pay play Mike Ditka and

25:20

Joe Gibbs back in nineteen eighty eight. And

25:22

that's the way that's been successful up into him

25:25

three months ago when he won the national championship. Fundamentally,

25:28

that's and I think when he said we view

25:31

offensive lineman as weapons,

25:33

he's not making a joke. He's being serious as a hard

25:35

attack because he truly believes that. So justin

25:38

Herbert, like they are, I'm actually a little

25:40

shocked that they didn't get Blake Korum. I'm pissed the

25:42

Rams and I love that pick, but that it's

25:45

just he's going to the

25:48

football is going to look no different than if

25:50

you pull up Stanford year one in eight.

25:52

It's going to look the exact same. And it looked

25:54

the same into the forty nine ers. Early on in Michigan

25:57

he changed for a minute. Remember when he hired Gaddis,

26:00

spread guy from alb and he hated it and

26:02

he hated it. And then who became his right

26:04

hand man, Sharon Moore? What's the an

26:06

O line coach? And that guy became

26:08

the head. Those are the people he likes. You

26:10

see these videos coming out of him at the

26:13

at the trailer park. It was not the trailer park,

26:15

but you know where he lived right

26:17

with Greg Roman. What do they talk about

26:19

running game? Offensive linemen, they're

26:22

all that hybrid of the ravens

26:24

of him. They're all interconnected. And

26:27

I'm just honestly, if you would have told

26:29

me he would have drafted all offensive and defensive

26:31

linemen, those were the only picks, no wide receivers

26:34

two weeks ago, I would have believed you. I mean, that's not

26:36

how it played out. But he thinks

26:39

he can win. If he's winning at that group, he can

26:41

figure the rest out through

26:43

I would say psychological and physical

26:45

warfare because he wants to shove you around.

26:47

And let's face it, most teams in

26:50

the NFL, you know, when

26:52

you look at like once we get to the final four of the final

26:54

eight, it's a lot of physical teams and

26:56

the soft team. Some teams that can score, they got no shot.

26:59

They got no shot. And you look at the final

27:02

four, who wasn't It was the Niners, it was

27:04

the Ravens, it was the Chiefs. What have the

27:06

lions become under Dan Campbell? Dan

27:08

Campbell's got a little Jim Harbaugh in him. Yeah

27:10

right, And I would say they throw it a little more

27:13

than Jim. But that's part of It's their weapons. Saint

27:15

Brown's a fantastic player, but it starts

27:17

with the offensive and defensive lines with them, and that's

27:19

where they've invested the last couple years. Even Saint

27:21

Brown, Jim would love Saint Brown.

27:23

So with Kyle Shanahan, he's their type, breaks tackles,

27:26

He's not some sexy outside wide receiver

27:29

despite his stats.

27:30

Well, this is what the Rams have done the last

27:32

two years o line. They paid

27:34

two guards. I mean the Rams

27:37

said, we're gonna pay guards and

27:39

their receivers. Pooka breaks tackles,

27:41

Cooper Cup breaks tackles.

27:44

Yeah, I think you know it's funny. People

27:46

tend to.

27:46

Think offensive coaches are clever

27:49

and they want finesse. But McVeigh changed

27:51

his offense to more power running. That's why

27:53

Korum was so valuable. They needed Kyra

27:55

and Williams, they needed a backup. They

27:57

invested an interior line. Shanahan

28:00

likes physical football. Harball likes physical

28:02

football. Andy Reid is a

28:04

little.

28:06

He's he's unique around.

28:08

He's a little bit. I almost put him in just a different

28:10

class. It's like there are certain people

28:12

in every sport that just don't.

28:14

Like But think about when that when they picked,

28:16

when they pivot, when they pivoted off Tyreek Hill,

28:19

what did they do. They've drafted uh

28:21

McDuffie and Karlovskis with their two

28:23

picks right away. So he's invested heavily

28:25

on that side of the ball this year. Xavier

28:28

Worthy, he was too hard for them to pass up with the

28:30

speed. But I'm with you.

28:32

So I went and it was interesting. I went and

28:34

I went and looked at all my divisions. So

28:36

we're basically through it now. We have new coaches,

28:40

we have free agency staffs

28:42

are all for that.

28:43

We have the draft, and.

28:47

I'll just do the first and last place teams

28:50

and stop me, this

28:53

is.

28:53

What this is what you think coming up or this was based

28:56

on last year?

28:56

This this season? I have Buffalo

28:59

first, New England last, Yes, Baltimore

29:01

first, Cleveland last. Cleveland had a weird.

29:04

Draft since he since he could be a wild

29:06

card there, Burrows healthy.

29:08

Yeah, I put them second, Kansas City first,

29:11

Raiders last, tough division,

29:14

Houston first, Tennessee's an easy last,

29:19

Philly first, I have Giants last.

29:21

I'm with it, Detroit

29:24

first, Minnesota last, though

29:26

it's close, Atlanta first, New

29:28

Orleans last, or Carolina kind

29:30

of question mark. I have the Rams

29:32

first, and I

29:34

have Seattle last. I think the Rams

29:37

are I thought they really nailed their

29:39

first four picks. I thought they really Yeah,

29:42

is anything so we can argue about the second

29:44

and third teams, but any of those first and last

29:47

you would push back on.

29:48

Yeah, let's talk about McVeigh because I thought he's

29:50

a good example what Kyle and Andy

29:52

and these offensive coaches have invested

29:55

in physical players because they know

29:57

that they can scheme guys open. And

30:00

he invests his first pick in Verse, who's

30:02

been a few as a first rounder this whole year.

30:04

They heard him, they loved

30:06

him, this second round pick. One

30:08

of the guy. When I started at Fresno State, we

30:11

had a student assistant who has worked

30:13

his way up and he's been with Oregon State. He's

30:15

been the GM for Florida State for like the last three

30:17

years. And he's Derek Ray.

30:19

He's you know, if we talked about college

30:21

gms like we do NFL GMC, I mean, look at his

30:24

draft. I mean how many guys at Florida State were has

30:26

picked. He's done a great job working hand

30:28

in hand with Norvel. I said, what this Brandon Fisk

30:30

guy, Brandon Fisk tell me about him? He said,

30:32

think Max Crosby. But inside,

30:35

so their first two picks, you know, we

30:37

know that's how Verse kind of plays power, That's

30:40

what this guy plays. So you're

30:42

never going to replace Aaron Donald. But they go back

30:44

to back picks basically in what fifteen

30:47

to twenty pick, because they traded up, they got

30:49

they got Fisk in the top forty, so

30:51

they invest immediately and they get Blake korm

30:53

who if he's healthy. We've seen how

30:55

this guy was a heartbeat of one of the better college football

30:58

programs we've seen over the last twenty years. I

31:00

mean, it's like Jim Harbaugh's favorite player since

31:02

Frank Gore. So I

31:04

think the gap shrunk a little bit. And

31:06

I think Kyle Shanahan showed you something drafting that

31:09

wide receiver in the first round. Deebo Samuel

31:11

could not get open to Super Bowl. He can't run

31:13

routes. And I'm not trying to talk about dede Ball.

31:15

I love him. He's a lot of stuff he

31:17

does in football. I admire a lot the

31:19

physicality, the ability to make plays, but

31:22

he is limited as a wide receiver. He

31:24

can't get open, and I think Kyle was tired

31:26

of him, and it's not at this point in time, it's

31:29

not going to change. He kind of is what it is. So maybe Deebo,

31:31

moving forward, you're gonna be on this new kickoff

31:33

return guy and you'll kind of come in with

31:35

McCaffrey in the backfield. But we need to run.

31:38

We need to have wide receivers like a yuk

31:40

who can run routes and

31:42

because like look at the Rams.

31:44

They got a bunch of guys that can run routes.

31:46

I can't scheme up every single

31:49

play. We got guys on defense,

31:51

we got guys on offense. But that they drafted

31:53

Piersoll like that clearly

31:56

was something that rattle Shanahan, just like McVeigh,

31:58

like, we need to be even more physic if we're going

32:00

to get over that hump against all these great offenses.

32:03

And they double down. So I think I think

32:05

those two teams right there with the Lions, right there

32:07

with the Packers, right there with the Eagles. I gu it's pretty clear with

32:09

the NFC who's who the cream of the crop is,

32:11

right.

32:11

Yeah, And I think I also think you have

32:13

to take this into consideration. Is Debo

32:17

McCaffrey's had injuries in his career, Trent

32:20

Kittle, you can't have your four top

32:22

guys all feel like they're

32:24

older than their age. Like if you have

32:26

Ayyuk is a kid, right, he's.

32:28

Just moving into his prime.

32:30

Doesn't get hurt off if you're going to move off

32:32

and next year they have to address left

32:34

tackle because Trent is a

32:36

wall.

32:37

But I'm with you.

32:39

I look at the NFC and I think it's

32:42

I mean, the Rams were so much better than everybody thought.

32:44

I knew going into the weekend. They felt Brock

32:47

Bauers could start for him. Two

32:49

of the defensive ends they thought were really good, the Ucla

32:51

kid and Jared Verse.

32:52

They love those two.

32:53

And then I knew they loved a

32:56

couple different defensive linemen

32:58

and the Florida State guy Fisk is one of them.

33:00

And then I felt Blake Cole.

33:01

I mean, I.

33:02

Knew they loved Korum, but I mean they

33:04

when people got on them for giving up a second

33:06

round pick and a fifth to move up, they really felt

33:09

like they needed two starters in the defensive

33:11

line, a great backup running

33:14

back for Kien Williams, and a playmaking

33:16

guy in the back the Miami kid. Like they

33:18

didn't have a lot of needs, a lot of their stuff

33:20

after those picks. Interior lineman

33:23

Kicker, the Texas receivers

33:25

were the a special teams guy, otherwise they would have taken

33:28

Taj Washington from USC. They who they

33:30

liked a lot, but they needed a special teams guy. So

33:32

I mean, I think a lot of these teams come into the

33:34

weekend, the NFC teams, and

33:36

the Rams are one of them. I think people

33:39

forget this for the elite teams,

33:41

and I consider the Rams in a group of about seven or

33:43

eight, they come in kind

33:45

of thinking we need two starters

33:48

and like two really crucial productive

33:50

backups.

33:51

But I've never had a.

33:52

Problem John with giving

33:54

away picks to go get up

33:56

and get a guy. Now, when you were with the Eagles,

33:59

what was the theory on that, because I think all

34:01

the all the draft picks. Here's

34:03

my point, Rams had eleven picks. There's not

34:06

eleven guys that can make the team

34:08

in this draft.

34:10

Well, how he's going to be there forever? So he balanced

34:12

his short and long term better than anybody.

34:14

It's why they're always going up to get guys and

34:16

then may they made. They led the league in trades this

34:19

year, and they acquired a third, a fourth, and a fifth.

34:21

Sean McVay almost went to Amazon a year ago.

34:24

You're living in the present with this guy. You

34:26

are doing everything possible in twenty four to

34:29

twenty five, hopefully twenty six. Is Sean

34:31

McVeigh gonna be there in five years. I'm with

34:33

you. A lot of teams give away a second round

34:35

pick, little this is this is about the

34:37

present to me. They clearly the

34:39

Niners the last couple of years have been twelve thirteen,

34:41

and there was a gap, you know, even

34:44

between them last year. To me that

34:46

they're both eleven twelve win teams in

34:48

the NFC, I have no problem with trading up.

34:50

One thing how he did is acquiring the third,

34:52

fourth, and fifth. He thought because of

34:54

this weird kind of couple of years, Fan we've been

34:56

on. With these extra years, a lot of these

34:58

guys, did you know to some of these guys getting

35:01

drafted started playing in twenty eighteen. I

35:03

mean there were guys. There was a Jayden

35:05

Daniels video that went viral of him throwing

35:08

the ball to Brandon Ayuk against Justin

35:10

Herbert. You know, with

35:13

Leonor playing corner for Oregon.

35:15

He's been on the Niners for like four years. So it's

35:17

all out of whack. Well, a lot of the underclassmen

35:20

this year who teams thought were gonna be from

35:22

anywhere from forty to like one hundred

35:24

guys that would have been drafted on the second day went

35:27

back to school for an nil. So the drafts

35:29

viewed as a little deeper next year, and I think

35:31

some teams kind of factored that in Sean

35:34

McVay doesn't give a crap about anything,

35:36

a lot like Sean Payton. It's very

35:39

much these next couple of years and then

35:41

we'll figure it out that the aftermath. The one thing

35:43

with the Rams have going for him, and you hit on

35:45

their team's pretty young now, right, A lot

35:48

like the Packers. I don't view it now. They're quarterbacks

35:50

aging, which is a unique situation

35:53

for them, and he's there's a lot

35:55

of wear and tear on those tires. But as we saw, when

35:57

Matt Stafford is upright and healthy, easy

36:00

a top five quarterback in the NFL.

36:02

Yeah, the you

36:04

know, it was funny. I felt.

36:06

I felt the Bears and the

36:08

Packers came out of off season

36:11

real winners.

36:15

I thought the Rams came

36:17

out of this draft as real winners.

36:20

Atlanta's his quirky and time will tell

36:23

I actually the pick I hated. I thought

36:25

they reached by almost a round on the

36:27

defensive lineman, which was a weird

36:30

pick for them. That was the one I'm

36:32

like, oh yeah, I went to all I went to all

36:34

the draft profiles, I went to all the

36:36

mock drafts like that.

36:38

Well, the Illinois defensive tackle goes

36:40

a couple of picks later, he was widely viewed as a top

36:42

thirty player that the Washington got.

36:44

Yeah, I thought that was just a miss. I mean, if

36:46

if Pennix ends up being great, we're gonna forget

36:48

about the Kirk Cousins deal very quickly. We're just

36:50

not even gonna We're not even gonna care about it. That

36:53

was just a bad pick. I thought Atlanta had a weird

36:56

last week. I

36:58

I and I know people to talk a lot about

37:00

the Dallas Cowboys to the point of

37:02

exhaustion. I

37:08

I thought Dallas had a weird draft, and

37:10

I thought Tennessee taking

37:12

alignment. The Titans are a mystery

37:15

to me. So they take this Devonte sweat

37:17

guy from Texas. So when

37:19

I went to the Chargers war room years

37:21

ago, they had a list of like eight guys

37:23

that were off the board. There was a drug

37:25

issue. There were no gohoses, Like,

37:28

I don't know what the hell Tennessee is doing like

37:31

that. I mean to me, that

37:33

team needs players that will produce

37:36

with no questions. That may have been the weirdest

37:38

pick of the weekend.

37:40

Well, to me, you have when

37:43

you get a new young head coach, you're

37:46

in a position where you want to be very a smooth

37:48

transition. Look at Washington, a lot of high

37:50

character team captains, not screwing around.

37:53

You can eventually, I'm sure we'll get into Ballard.

37:56

Take a guy I think that had some question marks in the

37:58

second round when your team is full of team captain,

38:00

high character guys. The Titans a couple of years

38:02

ago drafted a Georgia offensive

38:04

lineman who is one of the biggest

38:07

busts in recent memory. I think he's out of the league, Wilson.

38:10

And then to get a guy and listen, I'm not

38:12

some moral high horse. That's not my

38:14

style. Drinking whatever.

38:17

We've all made mistakes when we were young. But

38:19

there were a lot of question marks with this guy's

38:22

drinking, and he admitted to it with teams, and

38:24

then three weeks before the draft, he gets a DUI

38:26

on Sunday afternoon. Sunday

38:29

afternoon, he weighs three hundred

38:31

and seventy pounds, So to get

38:33

a dui over point one, the amount

38:35

of alcohol he has to take is a lot different than

38:37

me or you under two hundred pounds, so you just

38:39

start factoring that in. He was off

38:42

draft boards, not even a question

38:44

off several draft boards, just because like not

38:46

even worth it. I've been to Nashville

38:48

twice, probably been a total of twelve or thirteen

38:51

days. I drank every single day I was there. It

38:53

is a party town. No, there

38:55

is a lot going on. It is much closer

38:57

for people that haven't been there to New Orleans

39:00

or Vegas. Then most people realize

39:02

there was at and they play in their

39:04

stadium is right in the mix. So

39:06

to have a guy it's one thing if you're like,

39:08

well, he fell to the fifth round.

39:11

This guy was a second round talent. Okay, they

39:13

drafted him right where his value. Who's going

39:15

to go early second round? Best case if

39:18

everything off the field was clear, because

39:20

he's a run stop, you know, stopping defensive

39:22

tackle, not a pass rusher. I

39:24

don't get it. When you just had a character issue a

39:26

couple of years ago and this guy literally got

39:29

a duy a month ago and you already knew those

39:31

were question marks, and you have a brand

39:33

new head coach.

39:34

Why would you screw with this?

39:35

Why would you mess with it? I don't

39:37

get it.

39:38

Yeah, no, I thought that was the worst pick of the weekend.

39:40

And I also think you're

39:43

right. Nash Vegas is what they call it. And

39:46

I also think that I

39:49

was told years ago. It may have been my Mike Lombardi

39:53

when he was at FS one. Briefly he said,

39:55

listen, if you're in a port city, New

39:57

York, you know, Los Angeles,

40:00

Miami, it's Miami. Like those are

40:02

livelier city. There's more restaurants, there's

40:04

more alcohol. Those are those are port city is

40:06

a fun Yeah, And he's like, you

40:09

know, Green Bay is different. If Sweat goes

40:11

fourth round to the Packers

40:14

and you're like, well, he could be at the Marriott Bar.

40:16

That's about it.

40:17

It does feel different than going second round

40:20

of the Titans. All stuff is circumstantial

40:22

in this league, and so to me, I

40:24

think I've just gotten to the point with Tennessee.

40:27

I always thought they were well run.

40:30

I think they're a bit of a bit of an S show.

40:32

I really do. The last couple of years letting go of

40:34

Rabel and I know Mike. I've

40:37

talked to Mike on the phone, I've texted him.

40:40

I don't think they know what they're doing. I just do

40:42

not think they know what they're doing.

40:43

I like the new coach he brings his dad.

40:46

I mean, I was pretty bullish on what they're gonna do.

40:48

But this general manager, Ran Karthin. You

40:50

know, he came out and said a couple of weeks ago in his press

40:52

conference, this is my first draft, taking a shot

40:55

at Mike, like, no one let me do anything before.

40:57

Like good luck, buddy. I mean, this is not He

40:59

comes the forty nine ers where they were not

41:01

messing with this type stuff. So to do

41:03

it if it is your first quote unquote

41:06

draft, I just I can't

41:08

get over It's one thing like

41:10

Dak Remember he got a Dewey

41:12

or whatever got in trouble, but everyone knew the

41:14

character was not a question. It's like, listen, he made a bad

41:16

mistake, stupid whatever, a guy with consistent

41:19

character marks. When you get in trouble for the draft,

41:21

it's like absolutely no chance I can trust

41:24

you. Zero with a high pick because I'm

41:26

investing taking a guy in the top forty. That's

41:28

a valuable, valuable pick. I mean,

41:31

some of those guys in the from thirty

41:33

two to thirty eight are going to turn out

41:35

to be some of the best players in the draft. That happens every single

41:37

year. So to invest in that player after

41:39

you got in trouble in your city is like It's like

41:41

the opposite of what the Rams are doing, getting

41:44

super right character. You know, got

41:46

guys that everyone swears my Like, what are

41:48

we talking about?

41:49

Then?

41:49

This is why I saw it at the combine.

41:51

It's so enlightening. You walk by and you just see like, yeah,

41:54

this team's got no shot. This team's got no shot.

41:56

This team from the circles around you, it's

41:58

it's not a fair fight.

42:00

Yeah I was. I spent the weekend.

42:02

I spent Saturday eight hours eating smoking

42:05

cigars and cocktails with Steve Kime. We had

42:07

like one of the great days of our lives. We found a cigar

42:10

bar and we just talked NFL, watched

42:12

the draft and talk stories and

42:14

some of the stuff Steve Khime had to deal

42:16

with in Arizona. He was with him like twenty four years.

42:19

I mean, he got like the first scouting

42:21

job up. I don't think fans.

42:25

I don't think fans realized two things.

42:27

One half of these

42:29

owners are impossible

42:31

to work with. Just I mean, listen, Ballard

42:34

is dealing with the most impulsive guy in the league,

42:37

bid Well, Woody Johnson.

42:39

Woody Johnson like beyond it

42:42

would be like having the worst boss of your life.

42:45

Not really beholden to any corporate struck.

42:47

Who owns the company, has the unlimited money,

42:49

and who's nuts.

42:52

Kime had to deal with stuff here on

42:54

game day and after games, parking

42:57

space issues, when you got a right tackle

42:59

that his season ended. It's insane.

43:03

And the other thing is fans

43:05

tend to think everybody's equally competent,

43:07

and it's like, I

43:09

mean, there

43:12

are people in every industry, including the NFL,

43:14

that just they just.

43:15

Don't know what they're doing. And I

43:17

think, I mean.

43:19

I

43:21

there are power struggles going on with coaches.

43:24

I mean Bill Belichick his

43:27

last five years when he controlled the draft.

43:29

I mean I talked to a GM

43:32

over the weekend who said, you

43:34

wanted to do business with them? Like Bill didn't

43:37

really quite know what he was doing in the personnel. He didn't

43:40

really know exactly what he was doing. He was a

43:42

great coach, but you could work him

43:44

a little bit in personnel. So I think

43:46

you look at Tennessee right now and it just doesn't look

43:49

organized, you know, And I think this is I

43:51

think it's a I think it's a

43:53

problem throughout the league. I think I think some I mean,

43:55

let's be honest, the Raiders don't feel as buttoned

43:57

up as Kansas City. I think everybody can see it.

44:00

Yeah, and the Chargers immediately get two guys

44:02

one from Baltimore and Jim Harbaugh and feel like they

44:04

know what they're doing right now. I

44:06

always thought Tom's a good GM, but the

44:08

Brandon's Day element, it's hard because you

44:10

have to You can't just draft players

44:12

you like that your coaching staff doesn't like. So there's always

44:15

a give and take. But when you have I watched

44:17

a lot of press conferences after the draft

44:20

on all the days, and McVeigh had a really

44:22

good take where he's like the

44:24

symmetry seven eight years into

44:26

this make's doing business a lot easier

44:28

with the two of us and our scouts and our

44:30

coaches, like, we kind of know what we're

44:33

doing now, right. John Lynch and Kyle

44:35

shanahan have been in a draft room and Sean mcvahan,

44:37

let's need for eight years together. That's

44:40

longer than Howie and Sirianni and a lot of Brett

44:42

Veach and Andy Reid have been together.

44:44

Now.

44:44

Javitch hasn't always been his GM for twenty

44:47

plus years. Right when

44:49

the Ravens come on, you know, Ozzie knwsom restired

44:52

like five years ago. He still sits at the head of the

44:54

table. He sits at the head of the table like

44:57

where your dad or grandfather would sit. Eric

44:59

the Costa sits next to him. So it shows their

45:01

power dynamic. John Harbaugh has been the coach there

45:03

since what six o seven, Like

45:06

they're just on the same page.

45:07

I asked Steve Geim, I said, who's the best run franchise

45:10

in the league. He said Baltimore. He said

45:12

Baltimore. He said the owner is down in Florida,

45:15

never medals and powers his employees.

45:18

He said Baltimore is.

45:19

They're well funded, so they have unlimited money.

45:22

Yeap.

45:23

Totally supportive of Harbaugh, he

45:25

said, you know, and Steve, you're not going to

45:27

throw people under the bus. But he said, colin

45:29

this a half of the gms in the league

45:32

are pulling their hair out six times

45:34

a year. You're just dealing with nonsense. And

45:37

he said Baltimore. He listed five or six.

45:39

But he said Baltimore is as well

45:41

run as any organization. It starts with

45:43

a very competent owner, whose hands

45:46

off, who spends the money. And

45:49

you know, because if you already think about it, John the

45:55

best business in America. I'll make an argument

45:57

is owning an NFL team.

45:59

I mean, think about that.

46:00

Name another business that gets

46:03

billions of dollars of free advertising

46:06

a year. Essentially, you're

46:08

a TV show. Oracle's not a

46:10

TV show. Apple's not a.

46:12

TV Amazon's not. Well, Amazon kind of got

46:14

into that business.

46:15

Yeah, but it's like it's guarantee.

46:17

Also, you don't know if there's

46:19

disruptions in tech and that Apple

46:21

is late on AI and Tim

46:24

Cook gets fired, they plummet their stock.

46:26

You know, Dallas is going to be in Dallas. The Cowboys

46:28

are going to be in Dallas, and the Rams are going

46:30

to be in Los Angeles, and the Packers are going to be in

46:32

Green Bay. These are owning

46:35

an NFL team. It's the best business.

46:38

There's thirty two in America. Some are the

46:40

Jags, some are the Steelers. But

46:44

and these owners know it. I mean, they know

46:46

it it is I mean, and they're old

46:49

school guys. And

46:51

I just pitched the show the other day to AMC,

46:54

A football show with a protagonist being the

46:56

general manager. And it's without going

46:58

into too much detail,

47:01

basically it's juggling. It's a it's a GM

47:03

juggling a meddaling owner, a

47:06

high profile coach whose wife's a therapist.

47:08

The quarterback sort of Aaron Rodgers, prickly

47:10

who's hitting on the coach his wife's daughter, you

47:14

know. And it's as

47:16

I'm doing it.

47:17

And this thing has Netflix written all over it.

47:19

Well, as I'm doing it and writing these stories,

47:21

and I gave it to a couple of gms, They're

47:24

like, oh, you can take bigger swings.

47:25

It's crazier than this.

47:27

You're not being crazy enough.

47:29

No, they were like, well that's a six. Let

47:31

me tell you a story that's way worse than this. So

47:34

when you watch the draft and you watch what people

47:36

do, this is like any other industry.

47:39

There's really a lot of.

47:42

Chaos and nonsense and incompetence.

47:45

So, well, look at Ballard, who I think is

47:47

one of the better gms. Is Ballard, Yeah,

47:49

because we talked about his draft, but his owner

47:51

right now is having saying things

47:53

that I was not under the influence. I

47:56

did not have an overdose. That's what he's dealing with.

47:58

Skuy owns the team. We

48:00

talked about his first round pick a lot too. His second round

48:02

pick. He went on that rant about the character stuff

48:04

I think it was after he drafted

48:06

Mitchell, the wide receiver from Texas rap Sheet

48:09

came on NFL Network and basically said his

48:11

interviews had been terrible. He sounded

48:13

disinterested and I don't think he's just making

48:15

that up, and then Ballard got kind of pushed back against

48:18

it. I do think this. I would

48:20

say Chris's team, he

48:23

probably of all the good gms in the league,

48:25

does not mess with character at all for the most part.

48:28

Like that's not really his mo of guys

48:30

that he's going to invest high end right, most

48:32

of his top highly paid players,

48:34

guys he's traded for guys he signed

48:37

are just I would call like pristine character

48:39

to Forest Buckner, Quinnin Nelson, Michael Pittman.

48:41

I mean, these are Kenny Moore, super

48:44

high character guys. I'm not saying Mitchell's

48:46

not, but he did have some question marks. Guys

48:48

with his talent typically aren't there at forty five.

48:51

Now. He was with the Chiefs when they took Marcus

48:53

Peters, like he's been around some of this. That worked

48:55

out. I think for the first time he realized,

48:57

like, if we're really going to compete, because look at Cassarri.

49:00

I would say he's kind of similar. Doesn't really meant well

49:02

this offseason what he did, he went and got digs too.

49:04

We don't even need to debate, like there's some issues

49:06

there. So I think Balar realized, like listen,

49:09

there was a small gap this year. We didn't have our starting quarterback.

49:12

We got to be very careful about getting an influx

49:14

of talent, and they took a guy who

49:17

you know is very, very talented. I mean I would

49:19

say it's immediately.

49:20

Just I liked him more than Worthy.

49:22

I Xavier Worthy hurt

49:25

a lot at Texas, a lot

49:27

of drops. Now it'll probably work

49:29

with Mahomes. But I said this two weeks

49:31

ago. He was my bust.

49:34

He was the guy that I worry about because

49:36

I watched him at Texas. I like Mitchell Moore. I

49:38

thought he was more consistently available. He

49:40

was a better route runner.

49:41

He's bigger, I mean just not

49:43

that's much slower. I mean he's still really fast.

49:46

Yeah, here's the thing about

49:49

taking swings on guy with character issues.

49:52

So you know mcveigh's got a ring, you

49:54

can be a little more precious on that stuff.

49:56

But in Belichick had several rings. I

49:59

thought the undoing Bill Belichick was

50:01

on. He told urban Meyer, and urban Meyer told the

50:03

audience.

50:03

Right.

50:03

He went on TV and said, Bill said, I just don't

50:06

want to I'm going to coach the guys. I like New

50:08

England got really untalented

50:10

over about a five year period. Bill

50:13

wanted to coach guys. He you

50:15

got to have some badass guys and they're not always

50:17

choir boys, like get over it. Like now, I

50:20

always think if you have strong leadership.

50:22

Now when Brady leaves, it may be different, like you lose

50:24

that, you'll lose that power leadership.

50:28

But if you have good leadership, which the

50:30

Patriots during Brady always had a gronk

50:32

a Brady an element of defensive guy,

50:35

you gotta swing. I mean you got to take some.

50:38

So to me, if you like your

50:40

coach and you

50:42

think Toforest Bruckner, if you got a handful Michael

50:45

Pittman, if your top five or six, Quentin

50:47

Nelson, if if you got six dudes in the room,

50:49

I have no problem taking a swing on guys.

50:52

And for the record, John, there's a term diva receiver,

50:54

Like it's not diva safeany like it's

50:57

a personality position.

50:58

I'm okay with it.

51:00

You know, Moose Johnson. I butchered this quote the other

51:02

day when I was recording the podcast after

51:04

Day two. I was talking to him on a radio

51:06

show years ago, and he said, all the

51:08

best teams I was on and played against

51:10

in the nineties were full of players

51:12

of character, a lot of and a couple

51:15

characters that could play. There

51:17

is no team full of choir boys.

51:19

You got no shot. Now. You can't have too many

51:21

crazy character guys. But sometimes

51:24

those are your most talented You've said this for

51:26

in any industry has them, actors,

51:28

music, you name it, salesman, I don't

51:30

care where you go. Sometimes the

51:32

most talented guy in the room is a little fucking nuts.

51:35

And if you can corral that and get

51:37

the most out of them. And Belichick did this

51:39

for a long time. Peyton Manning was able to work

51:41

with it over the years, you got a shot.

51:43

But I yeah, I mean, I think I

51:46

know Ballard really really values that stuff.

51:48

So clearly they did a lot of work. And you know this

51:50

thing about the draft, you kind of got to be prepared for

51:52

anything. If I would have asked them at the beginning of the draft

51:55

on Thursday night, and you think that guy's going to be there for you in

51:57

the second round. He would have laughed, he's had no chance.

51:59

But this is why when everyone's like, what positions did

52:01

you scout? I'm like, well you do everyone like

52:04

you just because you have a quarterback, you still

52:06

you just never know. Things get weird. And

52:09

yeah, I think I think the Colts.

52:11

I actually think the Colts, if that quarterback is

52:13

decent, are going to be right there with the Texans. I think

52:15

they got a chance to be pretty good because because the

52:18

coach.

52:19

Yeah, and I think that division is

52:21

now like pretty heady. I

52:24

got Trevor Lawrence. They now with Gabe Davis

52:26

and getting Brian Thomas from LSU.

52:29

You're like Evan Ingram, it's

52:31

like Christian.

52:32

Kirk etn Yeah,

52:34

it's like, oh that's that's that's like

52:36

the Bears. That's like real players. And

52:38

I think Shane Steichen's going to elevate everybody.

52:41

You know, Gardner Minsch is going to go to the Raiders and his numbers

52:43

are going to come down significantly. Yeah,

52:45

you didn't have Shane Steiken.

52:47

And then all of a.

52:48

Sudden, Houston. I think Houston has just done so many

52:50

smart things. That division now is a real division.

52:52

And I think I have the Colts finishing third

52:55

in that division, and I like them, like

52:57

I like Minnesota, they could

52:59

finish fourth, like I don't like the New York

53:01

Giants. They'll finish fourth. There's a big gap, there's

53:04

some you know what, we are getting to a point and

53:06

I don't ever remember this. There's

53:08

so much talent in football right now and so many good

53:11

coaches. John They're

53:13

going to be third and fourth place teams.

53:15

I like.

53:17

I could see the Jets finishing

53:19

if Aaron plays seventeen games, I could see them finishing

53:21

third and winning nine games. And I could see

53:24

Minnesota finishing fourth and winning eight,

53:26

and I like them. It used to be the

53:28

bottom of the league. It was just crappy. It

53:31

wasn't the NBA bad, but it was just bad. It was five

53:33

with teams outside

53:35

of Carolina and the Giants. I'm

53:37

not sure there's a day Tennessee. It

53:39

depends on if Will Levis can play. But I

53:41

mean Carolina Giants look hopeless.

53:44

Tennessee kind of. That's about it for me.

53:46

That's why I would say this. I mean the Steelers,

53:49

Brown's probably gonna finish in fourth, and both those

53:51

two teams made the playoffs. Steelers just had

53:53

a good draft, drafted multiple offensive

53:55

lineman high we know they're you know,

53:57

the Browns I think are going to be worse than they were last

54:00

year with Deshaun Watson. But I'm with you. The

54:03

middle of the league is and this is why it's

54:05

going to be. It's hard to win thirteen fourteen games

54:08

because you're only getting so this is not college football

54:11

where you get you know, Rutgers, and then you

54:13

get you know, some Arizona

54:16

State, like they do not really exist, and if

54:18

you do, sleep walk on the New York

54:20

Giants and Daniel Jones has the best game of the season,

54:22

all of a sudden, you're down going into the fourth quarter.

54:24

Because college football to me, I

54:27

did a little math between Michigan,

54:29

Washington, Bama, and Texas the final four. Then

54:31

if you add the other top teams Florida State, Georgia,

54:34

LSU, Oregon, Ohio State, almost

54:36

fifty I think officially forty six

54:39

of the top one hundred draft picks game from those schools.

54:43

I mean you could argue as

54:45

time goes on that number could even creep

54:47

higher. I guess Nick Saban said

54:49

on Thursday

54:52

night when he was on TV that the

54:54

Toledo corner that the Eagles

54:56

drafted. He's like, yeah, he

54:58

realized he kind of caught himself. Tried to get him

55:00

to go into the portal so then we could

55:03

sign him, but he wouldn't even go into the

55:05

portal, like they just wanted him to go in the

55:07

portal then they could make an offer and get them. But

55:09

like more and more like that guy at Toledo

55:11

that we might not see that for a while. It's gonna

55:13

be all these top programs, mainly

55:15

in the Big Ten in the SEC, and then

55:18

Florida State and Clemson and Notre Dame,

55:20

who's kind of an acc team and might

55:22

inevitably be one, have

55:24

all the talent in the draft. I mean that's where

55:27

all that's where all the high end guys are

55:29

coming from those conferences. Yeah.

55:31

No, I it's really funny because I

55:34

Eric Shanks is you know, he runs

55:36

FS one, and I went to lunch

55:38

with him and I said, Eric, the

55:41

Big Ten's gonna start squashing people. I'm

55:44

like, you know, Lincoln Riley's gonna get it going.

55:46

Oregon just is a machine.

55:47

Nil. They're up there with like Georgia, Ohio

55:50

State. Nil money.

55:51

Yeah, Ucla is

55:53

kind of mailing in their football program. I think they're

55:55

going to go back to heavy basketball.

55:56

That's my guess.

55:57

Where we only need about four million a year in IL

55:59

to really be an elite bat cheaper, you

56:01

need about twelve in football, and UCLA just

56:03

just just can't generate that on an annual basis,

56:06

or or their donors have it but don't want to give it

56:08

up. But I look at college

56:10

football right now, and this is you know, John, We've

56:12

talked about this big eat, small scale,

56:15

beats boutique in every business. College

56:18

football has always been a bit lobsided. I

56:20

think we're going into a eight

56:24

programs will basically

56:26

eat the sport, and I'm okay with it because

56:29

my take is I'm not staying home to watch

56:31

the Holiday Bowl, and I love college football. You

56:33

start looking at the Big ten in the SEC

56:36

games from this point forward,

56:38

now that you've out of Texas Oklahoma, there's

56:40

no reason really to watch any other

56:42

conference. I'll watch Notre Dame, I

56:45

won't. I mean, now the Pac twelve's gone,

56:48

there's just no reason to watch the Big twelve

56:50

or the ACC outside of a Clemson.

56:53

I mean, yeah, like Florida State's going to be Boston

56:55

College by thirty points. It's not even a game.

56:58

So it's like I'm i I'm always

57:00

looking for ways not

57:02

that make my job easier, but make my job

57:04

more efficient because I have I'm watching

57:07

I work seventies a week during the football season, which

57:09

is fine. I get paid well. But it's like, I'm

57:11

just going to be watching Big ten SEC football. That's

57:13

all I'm wanna watch. Thank thank

57:16

god the PAC twelve disbanded. Like I'm not Big

57:18

twelve acc or off the TV.

57:19

I'm not gonna watch it.

57:22

I'm in agreement because it's you know, people

57:24

have always pushed back. These conferences are overrated,

57:27

these conferences. No, that's where all the talent

57:29

is. That's where all the NFL people spend

57:31

their time, and they do it for a reason.

57:41

All right, before we go one,

57:45

I'm gonna ask you. I'm gonna give you mine and

57:48

then think of yours. Why I'm saying it. So

57:50

sometimes you

57:53

know, I'm in the take business. Podcast

57:57

business is a little less like that because we

57:59

have conversations that last an hour. But

58:02

I was thinking about it this weekend. I thought

58:04

that James Harden to the Clippers was a disaster,

58:08

and I'm watching that game today and I'm

58:10

like, shit, that

58:13

thing is working. I

58:15

don't remember the last time I had an NBA take

58:17

that was so bad. I thought

58:20

Westbrook Kawhi's

58:22

weird, Paul George's excellent,

58:24

Tylu can deal with dysfunction. But I'm

58:26

like, this is like an old rock band where

58:29

they all had issues and you're trying to work

58:31

them to get along with each other.

58:32

Again.

58:33

I'm like, this isn't good. It's gonna be terrible.

58:35

And I watched them today and I'm like, they

58:37

get a good shot every time down the floor?

58:39

What in the world.

58:40

And Lawrence Frank was at a club I

58:43

go to occasionally, a private club in LA and he was

58:45

sitting having dinner one night and I sat up next to him, like

58:47

Lawrence Frank. We talked for an hour about it, and I said,

58:49

God, I thought it was gonna be a mess. And

58:51

he said, you know, Harden bought into it. Harden just said,

58:53

I'm wanna win. I got three hundred million

58:55

dollars in the bank. I want to win some games. And

58:57

so I'm watching today and I'm like, God, was

59:00

I wrong on that thing? Give me

59:02

your sports take when you look back

59:04

and think and mine may be Kirk Cousins,

59:07

but with James Harden

59:10

in the last year or two, if you had a huge

59:12

whiff.

59:14

I thought that the Russell Wilson trade from

59:16

Seattle would go down as the worst trade in like

59:18

one of the history of the leagues for the Seattle Seahawks,

59:21

because there's no way you could trade a player

59:24

of that caliber what he meant for your franchise

59:27

and how good he would be for them. And

59:30

it actually went the polar opposite way.

59:32

Like Deshaun Watson. It was clear, like I don't know if I

59:34

would be doing this. It was that was weird.

59:37

Aaron Rodgers was old and it had gotten weird. But

59:39

the Russell thing, right, he's thirty two to thirty three years

59:41

old, Like I get it was weird, but

59:44

he's going to go to Denver and this was before Sean

59:46

Payton and he

59:49

didn't even last two years. I mean he was benched before

59:52

the second year ended. And it is easily

59:54

on Denver side. I mean, I thought, in

59:57

a weird way it kind of ended Pete the

1:00:00

It wasn't because of the trade. It was just they kind

1:00:02

of petered out and you saw But it

1:00:05

is you could argue from now,

1:00:08

I would say the Browns are in the mix, but

1:00:11

it's got to be in my lifetime when

1:00:13

you factor in the dead money, all the picks you gave

1:00:15

up, the situation it created for Sean

1:00:17

Payton, I mean, one of the worst trades

1:00:19

any sport ever ever. And

1:00:22

it's you know, the Aeron thing when he got

1:00:25

old. So all these you Deshaun Watson

1:00:27

a bunch of weird shit off the Russell thing, and you've

1:00:29

talked never seen because even James

1:00:31

Harden I went to a Warrior game in

1:00:33

his heyday with the Rockets. I remember

1:00:35

in like game one, he scored thirty five. Like

1:00:37

he's he can have these moments. He's

1:00:39

had a lot of bad moments, but no one's ever disputed

1:00:42

like his talent and his ability. He just doesn't give a shit

1:00:44

on defense, and he kind of loafed sometimes

1:00:46

when he's not feeling it, but when he tries, like he

1:00:48

has a high end player. Russell

1:00:51

just went from like James Harden, high end player

1:00:53

to just average to not

1:00:56

any good. It's crazy

1:00:58

with no injury, With no injury I've

1:01:00

ever seen in athletics. I mean, it doesn't

1:01:03

happen in sports.

1:01:04

No, I was the same way.

1:01:05

I'm like, Pete, you've been fired

1:01:08

two times before this in the NFL.

1:01:10

You were seven and nine, seven and nine before

1:01:12

Russ.

1:01:13

What are you doing?

1:01:14

And Pete was having some issues behind the scenes

1:01:16

that I've had validated.

1:01:19

He and John Snyder were really at

1:01:21

the end where people don't know. You know, John

1:01:23

Snyder had Pete's son on the scouting staff

1:01:25

and you know, went to Pete and said, we're we're

1:01:27

gonna move off him. You know.

1:01:28

The next day, Pete puts him on his coaching staff.

1:01:30

So yeah, that was kind of a facial But

1:01:32

like Steve, like, I'm sure Steve told you yesterday, that's

1:01:34

happening all over the league, the head coach and the

1:01:37

GM's buttonheads about stupid shit,

1:01:39

you know, not even big picture stuff.

1:01:41

Yeah, so Seattle had some of that stuff going on behind

1:01:43

the scenes. But yeah, in my lifetime,

1:01:46

I thought, I don't I've

1:01:48

never seen a player in their early thirties who

1:01:50

I thought was elite. I mean, Jesus Russell's passer ratings

1:01:52

were over one hundred four years in a row. Now you can say,

1:01:55

well, the passer rating is a little overvalued, but

1:01:57

overall, if he just watched him.

1:01:58

He was good, yeah, and then

1:02:00

he was terrible awful.

1:02:03

Yeah, it's but it's

1:02:06

one of the things.

1:02:07

This weekend, to me is

1:02:09

the best weekend of the year, not counting

1:02:12

the NFL season. Now, you you may throw in

1:02:14

the Masters because you love golf more than I do.

1:02:16

I like it, But I this weekend,

1:02:18

I watched I watched Draft the whole

1:02:20

damn weekend. I watched you know, I watched the Nick Sixers.

1:02:23

Uh, you know, I watched the Lakers now gets a little

1:02:25

bit the second half, but I had I

1:02:28

had a ball.

1:02:29

Are the Sixers one of the greatest failed experiments

1:02:31

in the history of sports? I mean they tank

1:02:33

forever and they get and now they're I mean

1:02:36

they're gonna lose this series. He's not coming back.

1:02:39

Somebody said this on the internet, and I thought it was really

1:02:41

accurate. Embiid maybe seven to

1:02:43

two. He plays six ' four

1:02:45

a lot threes, NonStop, nonsinse,

1:02:48

He's screwing around at the top with a

1:02:50

ball. He gets beat

1:02:53

rebounding regularly late

1:02:56

in games.

1:02:57

Is that, Embiid?

1:02:58

You can't convince me you're

1:03:00

a great player if in the weak

1:03:02

Eastern Conference you can't win the second playoff

1:03:04

series if you watch the Nick Sixers, there's no question

1:03:07

Brunson's the better

1:03:09

star.

1:03:10

That's not even dispute.

1:03:11

Now, he takes a lot of shots, but there's no question

1:03:14

nobody on that team presents him like everybody's

1:03:17

in on Brunson. You kind of feel

1:03:19

with a sixer sometimes that if

1:03:21

you could privately talk to the players,

1:03:24

Maxi and Harris, some of these

1:03:26

guys, they'd roll their eyes at him. He plays

1:03:28

for his size small, Brunson

1:03:31

for his size, plays big. And I just come

1:03:33

out of this and I'm like, embiid, I know you

1:03:35

hated Jokic and you gave him the MVP, and

1:03:38

that's always been a story award more

1:03:40

than the truth. Westbrook won an MVP, But

1:03:43

we have to file what embiid under. He's

1:03:47

been a media darling more than he's been great.

1:03:49

And in another life, Tom Phibodeau is

1:03:51

not coaching basketball. He's an NFL coach.

1:03:54

Probably started as no line guys.

1:03:56

That's the vibe I get from Tom Thibodeaux because the Knicks

1:03:59

when I was a kid, they played just like this, ugly.

1:04:02

They just it felt like at any moment

1:04:05

a brawl could break out. It's enjoyable

1:04:07

and clearly their fans like it. I

1:04:09

saw Embiid was said after the game,

1:04:11

like it was half Knicks fans in there.

1:04:14

Well they're only ninety minutes apart.

1:04:15

Yeah, it's far, it's easy, dry, and

1:04:17

the Knicks fans have been starved. I've said this before

1:04:20

when I lived on the East Coast, and I really did. I

1:04:22

really love the people in the East Coast. Now the winners

1:04:24

aren't great, but you know, as you get older, I'm

1:04:27

I can wear a coat like I can get older.

1:04:29

Yeah, I

1:04:31

love the people. I always said this. People

1:04:33

always said.

1:04:34

New York was a baseball town, and I'm like Yankee

1:04:36

Stadium was empty in the eighties. The

1:04:39

Knicks have been a mess

1:04:41

for most of the last twenty years. You can't get a

1:04:43

tickets to a Knicks game. There's two baseball

1:04:45

teams, right, There's two NFL team, there's one

1:04:47

NBA team. And when I was there,

1:04:50

everybody I knew love the Knicks. Half

1:04:52

the town didn't like the Giants with their Super Bowls.

1:04:54

Half the town was a Mets fan. So

1:04:57

it's New York is. It's

1:05:00

one of those things where you just forget

1:05:03

people did this with the Warriors. You forget what

1:05:05

a great basketball city.

1:05:07

It is like when I grow up.

1:05:08

In the seventies, Golden State won a.

1:05:09

Title with Rick Berry, Al Addams,

1:05:11

Clifford, Ray Mullins, Jeff

1:05:14

Mullins, I think Jamal Wilkes, and they were

1:05:16

really good for a stretch. The seventies was weird. Everybody

1:05:18

won like one title, the Bullets with Elvin

1:05:21

Hayes, the Sonics with DJ Gus, William Jackson,

1:05:23

everybody won one.

1:05:24

The Sixers with doctor Jakin, Washington wins

1:05:26

title.

1:05:27

Yeah, Kevin Grevy, Elvin Hayes, West Unseld,

1:05:30

Bobby Danders. I think Bobby Danders was on that team.

1:05:32

That was. That was my indoctrination to sports.

1:05:35

I was a huge NBA guy. I collecked at NBA cards

1:05:37

in the seventies and

1:05:40

the Knicks, by the way, won and I think seventy one or

1:05:42

seventy two, Lakers May one in seventy two, Nicks

1:05:44

one in seventy one, could be wrong. I'm in the ballpark,

1:05:47

Fraser Monroe, Willis Reid, that stuff. But

1:05:50

one of the things that you forget,

1:05:52

and you forgot it about the Warriors. It was always

1:05:55

a great NBA city, always

1:05:57

a great NBA city, just had either bad ownership

1:05:59

or bad team for thirty years.

1:06:02

New York.

1:06:03

I think it's a basketball city. I think it's

1:06:06

just I think there are no

1:06:08

shows all over that town. When

1:06:10

teams go sideways. The Knicks have been

1:06:13

embarrassing, feudal. Some would argue,

1:06:15

you know, Dolan now feels like he got

1:06:17

he has Leon Wood, He's kind of got, He's stepped

1:06:20

back, he trusts, he trusts his ownership.

1:06:22

So James Dolan now is like he's like a normal

1:06:24

owner. But when I watch

1:06:26

those Nick games, the

1:06:29

league has all these small teams, all these

1:06:31

okcs and Indianas that are fascinating

1:06:33

right now. They need the Knicks,

1:06:36

like the NBA needs the Knicks.

1:06:37

Can I give you a guy that I don't think they need? And

1:06:40

I had the game on the other day. I looked up and it was

1:06:42

sad. Is the Kevin Durant

1:06:44

experience is just an all time these

1:06:47

last four or five, I mean, the gutlass performance.

1:06:50

They got destroyed and it

1:06:52

feels he's kind of gone full

1:06:54

mercenary and just kind of goes from

1:06:56

team to team and you're just there's

1:06:58

no emotion, like Ron's clearly

1:07:00

not the same, but you see him trying Korean.

1:07:03

Those guys go out swinging. You just

1:07:05

watch Kevin Durant, You're like, what is this? It's

1:07:09

pretty sad for a guy at one point in time

1:07:11

looked like I remember going to games thinking it's

1:07:13

like one of the best players I've ever seen. And

1:07:16

it's not like he's forty two years old. I

1:07:18

know he's a little older now, but it's it's

1:07:21

a tough watch. I mean, I thought

1:07:23

it was pretty embarrassing, no

1:07:25

question.

1:07:26

I was

1:07:28

talking to somebody in my field

1:07:30

recently and they were talking about somebody

1:07:33

who it's a media person that is struggling,

1:07:36

and I said, weird doesn't

1:07:39

work. Eventually, Weird

1:07:41

doesn't work. People don't like to be around them. They're

1:07:44

unpredictable. You know, Aaron Rodgers

1:07:46

has gotten a little weird. Kevin

1:07:48

Durant's gotten a little weird. Kawhi

1:07:51

Leonard a little odd now.

1:07:53

You know when I say weird, I say this for Rogers.

1:07:55

He was winning MVPs a couple of years ago. At least he produced

1:07:58

later in his career.

1:07:59

Yeah, but Aaron's gotten old,

1:08:02

single, rich, no kids, no pets.

1:08:04

Yeah no, mate, It's.

1:08:06

Like seven houses all over the place flying

1:08:08

around. Yeah, podcasters.

1:08:10

It just doesn't you

1:08:12

know, Kevin and Aaron Rodgers have always been sort

1:08:15

of again rich, no

1:08:17

wife, no kids, no pets, spend

1:08:21

too much time rabbit ears

1:08:23

on the internet, and they're both

1:08:25

gifted. But those

1:08:27

people are hard to build around because you don't

1:08:30

like mystery is great for books

1:08:32

and movies, it's not great for sports teams.

1:08:35

Like Brady, you knew exactly what you got

1:08:37

Kobe, actually, you know Kobe

1:08:40

from people that knew him, like he was just a

1:08:43

creature of having he ate the same thing

1:08:45

every night of the season, fresh salmon,

1:08:48

like every night of the season, small

1:08:50

glass. I was like, it was just bizarre. He was

1:08:52

like this, and it's like, but you know what

1:08:54

you get with Kobe. You get some ego, you get some

1:08:56

shots. I think

1:08:58

Kevin is kind of just I think mercenary

1:09:01

is the right language, the right word.

1:09:04

He's just he just wants to shoot, score and do

1:09:06

other things.

1:09:06

And it's like it's hard to build around that.

1:09:10

Yeah, to me, he kind of represents, you

1:09:12

know, with Lebron, I bet the Laker's

1:09:14

probably losing five. Obviously, Curry's gone. He

1:09:17

just feels like those guys, if you just ask someone

1:09:20

casually about Lebron or Curry. You can have a long

1:09:22

conversation. I feel like Kevin duranfu like, yeah, they

1:09:24

don't even care. He just kind of lost everybody.

1:09:26

It's like, yeah, whatever.

1:09:28

Yeah, he's become, frankly,

1:09:31

kind of an irrelevant NBA.

1:09:33

He really has, he really has.

1:09:35

He had the best owner arguably in the

1:09:37

league, the best coach, and the best teammate

1:09:41

lakeb Kerr and Curry,

1:09:43

and he left for Kyrie Irving. And

1:09:46

I said, the NBA media

1:09:49

supports more than reports. If

1:09:51

Mahomes left for the Jets, he

1:09:53

said, well, I have a slot receiver. I love him,

1:09:55

I'm going to the Jets. He'd be like, the fuck

1:09:58

are you doing? He would get crushed doing

1:10:00

in the NBA. Kevin leaves the

1:10:03

penthouse and goes to a fixer upper

1:10:05

and everybody is like, well, he's a unique

1:10:07

spirit.

1:10:08

That's a bad business decision.

1:10:10

Yeah, it's and it hasn't worked out, not

1:10:12

even close.

1:10:13

Yeah.

1:10:13

If I left Fox and went to Vice or something

1:10:15

like that, that's a bad business. Don't

1:10:17

do that.

1:10:18

So I think I think Kevin got a little bit of a pass

1:10:20

because you know, the NBA is, you know, creative,

1:10:23

and these are you know, like international soccer guys,

1:10:25

there's egos that are highly compensated there

1:10:27

artists.

1:10:28

It is a terrible decision. That's get over it.

1:10:30

Deal with Draymond, get therapy, get over

1:10:32

it. I'm with you all

1:10:35

right, John as oas great

1:10:37

chatting and we'll talk soon.

1:10:39

Well, have a good week. See it the

1:10:42

volume.

1:10:43

Thanks so much for listening. If you've enjoyed

1:10:45

the podcast, take a moment rate and

1:10:47

review