August 5, 2019 • 39 mins
Doug thinks Baker Mayfield's personality is the perfect fit for the city of Cleveland. He also tells you why Jerry Jones had a plan in place to pay Dak Prescott, Amari Cooper, and Ezekiel Elliott... until Elliott ruined the plan. Plus, he talks to 3x Super Bowl Champion Mark Schlereth about Tom Brady getting a contract extension and what separates him from everyone else.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of the Doug Gottlip
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(00:44):
and I hope you're doing better than the Boston Red
Sox are currently mired in a seven game losing streak.
Hope you're doing better than the calf of Andrew Luck
or the bottom of the feet of Antonio Brown. May
not want to work out in some Gucci of slippers.
In the meantime, we got a ton to get to
Mark Slayer, three time Super Bowl champion and all around
(01:05):
good guy NFL on Fox analyst will join us upcoming
in fifteen minutes, uh, and we'll get we'll get his
kind of lay of the land, if you will get
his thoughts on the challenges for Ryan Khalil, who last
week announced he's out of retirement. He's gonna be center
for the New York Jets and wait to hear the
reason that he's rejoining the league. Plus we'll take you
(01:25):
to New England. Ben Boland, senior NFL writer for the
Boston Globe, get his thoughts on Tom Brady's new contract
which he's reading. The details I'm gonna share with you
in a second. Vic Tap will join us, the Raiders
writer for the Athletic. We'll get his thoughts on Antonio Brown.
Also his thoughts on Derek Carr in his second camp
with Jon Gruden. Rick Bukerell join us as we continue
(01:48):
to kind of clean up the mess of David Griffin
in that SI article. So we have a lot, we
have a lot to get to today. Let me start
with both Baker Mayfield and Tom Brady. So the news
is Tom Brady signed a contract extension gonna pay him
twenty three million dollars per year. One of the provisions
in the contract that uh is a little bit backloaded,
(02:09):
there is some dead money for next year is if
the Patriots choose to avoid the last two years. UH,
they can avoid the last two years and he can
become a free agent. But they agreed not to franchise
or transitional tag him. We'll get to what that means
a little a little later on. But but the the
story is that Tom Brady comes from money, married into money,
(02:35):
and decided to take a little bit less money because
it makes business sense. His hair is perfect, his Teetha's
teeth are perfect, and he has kind of that perfect
New England style looking gate. Then there's Baker Mayfield walk
On from Texas when to Texas Tech to Oklahoma. You know,
the story becomes kind of an under under U lightly
(02:58):
regarded number one overall, pick right, I mean to go
from walk On a number one overall picking him trophy
winners amazing. Over the weekend, he bit into a beer
and pretended to chug the whole thing. Fired up the crowd.
At the Indians game, they put together a five run inning.
He gets credit forward. He had a Francisco lind Or
Jersey on lind Or hit a hit, a home run,
(03:20):
and the legend of Baker Mayfield grows. Look, I don't
think Baker Mayfield will ever be Tom Brady. I don't
think he necessarily wants to be Tom Brady. I don't
know how good at quarterback Baker Mayfield is. At the
end of the day. That's the truth, no idea, but
I will say this, Uh, Baker Mayfield is the perfect
(03:46):
fit for the Cleveland Browns. I they won one game
combined in two years. You know that no one kind
of believed in them. They've run through coaches, run through quarterbacks,
back even and Baker may Fields time. He's had two
different head coaches, he said, three different offensive coordinators already.
They're kind of land of midsfit toys. And yeah they
(04:07):
have Jarvis Landry. Yeah they have Odell Beckham Jr. And
kept their wide receivers coach to keep them happy. But
it's just kind of a weird, like why do they
have all these big names at big positions and yet
they're in Cleveland for a franchise that since it was reformed.
I think I made the playoffs one or two times.
(04:29):
It's crazy. But if you watched him over the Weekend, Like, look,
Baker's a little bit thicker. Then you would think, like,
he doesn't look like Cam Newton, who looks like the
picture of what an athlete is supposed to look like.
He's rocking the mustache right now, kind of comically so.
And while he probably didn't pound the entire beer, he
(04:49):
sold it almost like a W W E star And
it looked like, I don't know what Cleveland is supposed
to look like, but that felt like Cleveland. That felt
like Cleveland. Then you go to Tom Brady, who, look,
he's had the Tom Versus time. He's got a house
(05:09):
with a moat, He's got this beautiful family, a gorgeous wife,
perfect hair, drives luxury cars, wears ridiculous watches, his suits
fit in perfectly. He's kind of a dork singing karaoke.
Tom Brady feels like New England, feels like the Patriots.
You ever noticed that sometimes quarterbacks, the ones that really
(05:31):
worked out, end up feeling like the place they work for.
It just doesn't doesn't. That doesn't ever strike you as
kind of odd, like, yeah, that that makes even Cam Newton,
who's very southern, Uh, he can be eclectic in his
dress and the way he dresses, like, yeah, don't know
if you saw him over the weekend, but apparently he
(05:52):
was at Walmart with some overalls on nothing else and
then had like a scarf around him, but it almost
felt like a lady scar But you know, if you're
Cam Newton, you can kind of wear whatever. That might
work in New York and it probably works in Charlotte.
And that's about it. Like he is a Southern dude
(06:12):
and feels like a Southern dude. I mean, Peyton Manning
and Andrew luck felt like Indianapolis, all right, they just did.
Dan Marino felt like the Miami Dolphins. Joe Montana felt
like the San Francisco forty Niners. But I saw Baker
(06:33):
Mayfield over the weekend, and I thought it was cool.
I thought it was funny. I don't think he pounded
the entire beer right, because you can't do that with
your teeth. That just it doesn't come out fast enough.
Got to cut it open with your key. You bite
it and then you use like a key and you
cut it open and turn it sideways. You open it pounded,
(06:53):
And then we get to Tom Brady, which is look,
I understand that Dak Prescott doesn't have a wife worth
the hunt and fifty million. I understand that Dak Prescott
hasn't been doing this for twenty years. But if somebody
is successful and consistently successful, and you're trying and figure out, hey,
why are they so successful all the time, maybe at
(07:14):
least a portion of it is their best player, were
their most important player, Their most important leader takes a
little bit less than market value so that everybody else
can get get paid, and so they can put a
good enough team around him. And there is there is
no one man band in football. Football has fifty three
(07:36):
guys in the roster. And while Brady has been better
compensated that I think some give him credit. It's not
like he's playing at the play at the minimum. Even
though he's made a couple hundred million dollars during his
time playing in the Nation Football League. He is twenty
three million. It's composed to thirty million, which is going
right for the top quarterbacks. He's not close. And if you,
(07:58):
if you wanted to kind of agree with me, and
I said, well, Tom Brady right now maybe isn't the
top five actual quarterback because of his arm strength during
the year whenever still Tom Brady deserves based upon reputation, leadership,
ability to play in a big game, even when he
doesn't play well against Kansas City came through later after
what would have been the third touched, the third interception.
You're gonna pay Tom Brady thirty million dollars a year,
(08:22):
Not the Patriots. He feels like New England and he
acts like a New England Patriot. Then if you want
to know why teams like the Cowboys, maybe even the Seahawks.
We'll see what happens with the Packers with Aaron Rodgers,
who I do think is the best quarterback in the league.
You take up all the money, and something else is
(08:44):
going to go poorly, something else is going to be
at lower quality than you want. I mean, when you're
redoing a house, you know, do you spread the budget around?
How much you put in the kitchen, how much you
put in the bathrooms, how much do you put you know,
in the little little things. Do you need a pool outside?
(09:05):
If you go cheap on the windows, it will increase
your heating and cooling costs and it will decrease your
resale value. So I look at Baker and I asked
some questions about his ability to throw the ball over
the middle of the field, about their offensive line. What
I don't have questions about is how he seems to
(09:26):
fit them. They fans, they players, They organizationally, they coaching
staff are all in on Baker Mayfield. And I think
that the football is only part of it. I think
there's actually more to it and has to do with fit,
and I think Brady is the same way. Does it
help that he can take less money because his wife
(09:46):
is worth so much money? Yes? Does it help that
he's made so much money for so long, Sure, but
it's still impressive how he's been able to get them
to consecutive Super Bowls and how they're off this has
been able to evolve, and his lack of ego where
it doesn't. He doesn't have to be honored to be
the highest player. I'm the one with six rings. Be
sure to catch live editions of The Doug got Leap
(10:09):
Show weekdays at noon eastern three pm Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. Let's buckome
in Mark Slayrat. He's a three time Super Bowl champion.
He also makes his own chili. He posts videos from Alaska,
where he grew up he's he's kind of the the
American male role model. And uh, he joins us in
the Doug Gala. Are you in Alaska or where are
(10:29):
you right now? Yeah, I mean Girdwood. I'm Girtwood, Alaska
right now. It's absolutely gorgeous. They've had a heat wave
all summer long, and sunny and mid seventies to eighties
degrees has just been absolutely gorgeous. So what do you
do during the day? Uh, play cards, drink coffee, Um,
work around the house, help my dad out, you know whatever,
(10:51):
whatever I mean. We're gonna go do some fishing. So
the fish are runner right now. We're actually in the
kitchen of my mother in law's house, queen and fish.
My uncle Bob was cleaning fish right now. He's gonna
smoke some sam. It's gonna be awesome. Marc Laira joining
us live from Alaska. Um, how are your beer chugging skills? Oh?
(11:12):
I can. I mean I don't drink a lot, but
I can. I can chug a beer. But you know,
I don't know at what point that became a test
of manlihood. You know, I like to think of uh
raising your kids and and you know, being kind and
loving and gentle and peaceful and all those things. I'd
like to think of a better indicator of manlihood, not
(11:32):
necessarily beer chucking and bench pressing, but I can do
both of those two. Okay. So my thought on Baker though,
is like, look, I gets a little over the top,
and the guys gotta win some football games, um and
continue to improve because they weren't great against the best
teams last year. But if there's a city that's kind
of been, you know, crapped on by most NFL fans,
(11:55):
and and rightfully so, based upon the revolving door of
quarterbacks and of coaches, Like here's a guy who kind
of hard scrabble out of nowhere to Heisman Trophy to
number one overall pick and just kind of the way
he purports himself, almost like a cartoon character. I kind
of think it works for Cleveland. Do you agree or disagree? No?
(12:15):
I agree, And I think one of the interesting things
about the Cleveland Browns and Baker Mayfield is having called
one of their games last year and been at practice
on Friday and talked to their John Dorsey. John Dorsey
was like, let me just tell you something about this kid, man,
and and you know, forgive the French, but he said
he's all balls. This kid just doesn't back down from anybody.
(12:37):
He is. He's got this football acumen, this brilliant mind,
kind of almost um, you know, photographic in that he
can call a play. You can give him a play,
a new play with a ton of bourbage in the morning,
he can recall it in the afternoon when he's out
of practice. He can tag every route. I mean, he
just has a great football mind, and the guys respond
(12:59):
to his style leadership man. He is a gun slingner.
He'll just go out there and play. He'll talk smack
to the opponents. Um, and he'll I mean he'll air
dudes out. You can see him er dudes out in
practice and then come right up beside him later and
put his arm around him. And they just respond to him.
They believe in him. And I will tell you I
had a lot of you know, I had a lot
(13:20):
of question marks coming into last season of what kind
of pro he would be. And he has answered every
one of those questions marks to the point where I'll
just think I'll just become a fan. Okay. So um.
One of the interesting things is um over the weekend Um,
the Cleveland Brown's former assistant coach who was most known
(13:42):
for his prodigious gut right, Um, Joe Wiley. He came
out and he said, like, look, no disrespect, but I
think they hired the wrong guy. What do you think
of their decisions at coach and how it affect what
they do this season? Yeah? Well, I'm Freddy Kitchens fan,
you know. I mean I've been around him a little
(14:03):
bit and you know, and and he's a good football coach,
so obviously I'm a fan of his. Also, you know,
the defensive coordinator, Greg Williams, who was the intim head
coach I think is a hell of a football coach.
And he bounces around, you know, from place to place
and everywhere he goes. Their defense is exceptional. Um. You know,
(14:23):
the thing about him is he's got an acquired personality.
You know, he essentially invented football. Just ask him. He's
one of those guys, but the players love playing for him.
He can be you know, he can be vitriolic, and
he can be one of those guys that, uh, you know,
gets after people and if you can't handle that, then
you know, he can be a guy that you want
to move away. From But I will just tell you
(14:46):
that Greg Williams is a hell of a football coach,
and you know, he got caught up in the you know,
the whole bounty gate thing, which was you know, it
was an absolutely just a bunch of garbage. Because every
one of us has ever been involved in the game.
We're involved in bounties of some kind or another. And
it's not necessarily about and it never was about hurting people.
It's about you know, laying people out and being aggressive
(15:07):
and being physical and all those things. And you want
TVs and you know, cash prizes and all that kind
of stuff. Throughout my career, I was part of it.
You know. I think every guy, any guy that tells
you that played in my day and age, and even
you know, even until recently, if they tell you they
weren't a part of any of that, they're lying because
it was a big part of the game. So you know,
he's one of those guys that people have a tough time,
(15:29):
you know, representing the organization. But um, I think Freddy
Kitchens a health football coach. We'll just see. I mean,
we all know that when you become a head coach,
there's it's a whole different animal, and some guys respond
really well to it. Other guys have a have a
tough time being a head coach, especially for the first time. Yeah,
Bob Biley, the former assistant to uh who uh Apparently
(15:50):
Freddie Kitchens did respond to him earlier day. We'll play
that for people a little bit later on Doug Gallin Show,
Fox Sports Radio. Um Mark Lareth is our guest. He's
an NFL and Fox analyst. He's a three time Bowl champion.
Tom Brady takes a new contract. It's at twenty three
million this year. He could become a free agent at
the end of next year, or it spikes a little
bit into the mid thirties, but once again going below
(16:11):
market value. I get that he has Giselle, but other
guys would have the Eagle. I got six rings. I
should be the top paid guy. What's your reaction to
Tom Brady taking a little less. I just think that
that's where he is in his career. It's all about,
you know, for him winning championships. He doesn't have to
be the highest paid guy. UM, as long as they
(16:33):
use that money efficiently, and you know who can argue
with the way they have to spend it. I know,
they haven't necessarily, you know, they've gone away from guys
that that we're about ready to become highest paid type
of guys. But they have a formula, they have a
system of the guys gonna play pay. They're gonna pay,
you know, a top flight corner, that's what they're gonna do.
They're never gonna spend that money on a top flight
(16:54):
wide receiver. It's not what they do. They'll pay a
left tackle, you know. They they understand and how they
want to build their roster and Tom Brady has given
them the flexibility to do that. And I think it's
just one of the many things that fascinates me about
Tom Brady as an individual and as a person where
it's about winning and it's not about ego. They tell
(17:16):
a story about um growd Mayo who had a great
season for the New England Patriots and he doesn't get
elected to the Pro Bowl and he's pouting in his
locker and Tom Brady basically walks up to him and says,
you know, like, quit your crying, and why don't you
think I played this game to go to Pro Bowls.
We play here at Newngland, wins Super Bowls and that's
kind of the topical approach had. I mean, I'm always
(17:39):
fascinated at about a guy that doesn't let ego drive
him be the deciding factor. He doesn't need to be
the highest faid guy. And you know, he's got all
this championship caliber, you know, six championships, he's played nine
Super Bowls, and the guy, like, to me, he's not
stated by success. He just continues to be the hardest
(17:59):
work dude there is. I I just I find him fascinating.
It's just another part of kind of who he is
as a quarterback that uh, you know that I think
is amazing and one of the big reasons they continue
to go to championships every year. All right, Jerry Jones
came out and said, don't worry. Everything's getting everybody's gonna
get paid. Uh. It feels like there's an order there
(18:20):
like that, how they want to take care of guys.
But Dak probably wants a little bit more than they
have budgeted. And Zeke is probably out of turn, out
of order in terms of how he wants to get
paid now before everybody else has taken care of. What
are your thoughts on what's going on in Dallas? Well,
I think it's I think it's one. It's a tough situation.
I mean, the quarterback like Dallas would have served themselves well.
(18:43):
If you target a guy that you know is going
to be your guy, especially a guy like Dak who
didn't happen with your option the fourth Brown draft choice.
You knew he was gone. You knew it a year
You offered him big money a year ago when he
still had two years left on his deal at you know,
a fourth round draft pick, which you're not making the
(19:03):
kind of money those shrounders are making. You know, the
odds are is his agent would have said, hey, this
is life changing money, this is generational money. Ticket Now,
well said you're into that last year. You can smell
free agency around the corner. You know what the going
rate is. You can kirk Cousins that if you need to,
like now, why would you settle for less if this
(19:24):
is the first time that you have a chance to
make that generational type money? So you know that's that
to me is one of those if you've targeted the guy,
it's always better to come to him early then wait
for him to become a potential free agent when you
can see it right around the corner. So that's that's
their mistake. That's Jerry Jones's mistake for not getting it
done early. As far as Zeke Elly is be concerned,
(19:47):
I understand where the running back position is in this league,
and you know, I don't know that you would ever
pay a running back that it would make sense. Um,
he's coming out after you know, three years of playing,
two years where he led the league and run saying
I want to get mine because I may never get
to that second contract. So I mean it's it's somewhat
of a mess. And and for him to get signed,
(20:07):
I mean, I think he's going to have to with
two years less. He's gonna have to take less than
he obviously won't. But um, you know, I look at
that's kind of the way that things have got to
go on in Dallas for them do for them to
really get all three of those guys we didn't even
talk about Cooper, but to get all three of those
guys paid. Mark Slayer is our guest in the Doug
(20:27):
Gotlip Show on Fox Sport. Tradeo Ryan Khalil chose to
come out of retirement and he said he did so
because you want to play with Sam Donald he respected
Sam John. I'm sure five and change. How hard is
that to shut it down for the offseason thinking you're
gonna retire and then crank get back up. Well, I
you know, I think it would be exceptionally difficult. But um,
(20:49):
you know, I mean, you're getting paid to do it,
You've done it for a while. I'm sure that he
was still in, you know, in lifting type of shape.
It's the football shape nowadays, with the off season everything else.
The way it works, you're you're never really in football
shape until you you know, slip your pads on the
start hitting guys again. So, um, I think that's that
(21:10):
is a difficult situation. But I think the other thing
about these players today is, you know, with the limited
contact and the limited and the rules and stuff, that
you feel as though you can probably you know, you
can probably just kind of get through it and you're
not gonna beat your body up as much as you
did back in the day. So and he's been around
(21:30):
for a while, so he knows the difference. So I'm
sure he's got a pretty good feel on how he
can manage his body. All right, listen, well you manage
yourself well up in Alaska, have fun smoking that fish
and catching more fish and reconnecting with your own childhood
and with your in laws. We appreciate you join us.
I appreciate it. You take everybody, be sure to catch
(21:51):
live editions. So the Doug Dot Leap Show week days
in neon eastern three pm Pacific. Jerry Jones is talking
because well one of his stars is still wasn't there.
Jerry has a plan every was it from hunt for
in October, Avid Rooski didn't take dump without a plan. Son.
Here's Jerry Jones on his plan. You just uh just
(22:14):
know that, like so many things, it will happen. It'll happen. Uh.
There literally is no uh concern on my part at
all about any time frame. Uh that'll happen. Uh. The
results are too good for them and too good for
the cowboys. Think about it a minute. The results are
(22:36):
too good for them and too good for the cowboy.
That always happens when it's good. That's good for both
of them. Um Man. This is really really fascinating interesting
stuff of what happens with the Dallas Cowboys. Because it
feels like Jerry's like, look, I always get these things done,
(22:58):
always get these things done. And um, and then he's like, basically, hey,
there is no timeline. It feels like the cowboys aren't
sweating because they have a plan. The problem with the
plan being screwed up is Dak Prescott is an inn
on the plan and doesn't or doesn't like the plan
(23:18):
and what his plan is like, Hey, no, no, no, no,
I want top dollar. This is essentially why communism doesn't work.
I remember studying communism in high school a little bit
in college and thinking to myself, like, you know, in
(23:41):
in theory, communism is kind of an interesting idea ideology.
Everybody goes to work, kind of do what you wanna do.
You work as hard as you can and it then
you end up getting your health care, insurance, your education,
everything paid for and you know your salary is minimal,
(24:03):
and you get a place to live. Ac in Russia
you would get a daca, which is like a little
cabin out in the countryside where you could you know,
a little space where you grow some potatoes and grows
some stuff you could you could pickle for the winner.
This is all this is what communist Russia. The idea was, Hey,
(24:23):
everybody gets the same and everybody gets the same stuff
and we'll all be the better because of it. That
sounds great. The problem is human nature, right, human nature
is well, then there's the people that are in charge
of everybody, because somebody has to be in charge. You
can't expect everybody just do stuff on their own. And
somebody go like, hey, you have to do stuff, or
are we sending to jail? And those people were in
(24:44):
charge get a little bit of a power trip, so
they want a little bit more stuff. And then there's
people that each of their jobs. You know, there's some
good doctors or some bad doctors, and good lawyers and
bad lawyers and the good ones like, why am I
making the same amount of zim I put in twice
the effort. Now of a sudden, human nature takes over.
That's the Dallas Cowboys. They weren't gonna make the same amount,
(25:05):
but they're all gonna like, I'm sure on a board
it look really good. You're like, wow, okay, well we'll
put Amori I like fifteen, We'll put doc at like
twenty five. We'll put because there's just one pie of money.
Then we got Byron Jones, we got Jalen Smith and
be like, uh, what about what about Zeke we don't
have to pay to Zeken til next year. Next year,
(25:25):
we'll slot him in at like fourteen, which would be
the highest paid now, but there may be somebody else
that escalates and we'll worry about that then. Because if
you pay him fourteen this year, he's only set to
make you know, like five five million this year, Whereas
if you wait to our actually two years, you wait
till the franchise tag year, you're actually not giving him
(25:48):
much more money. You're just give them that next year,
You're you're give him guarantee. But this is what the
reason it won't work is the human nature of of
of Zeke Elliott. He looks around the NFL and says, hey,
running back salaries the best allies that's not growing at
at that higher rate. And it's not like the stock market.
(26:10):
We can go like, all right, let's get out of
this sector, let's get out of the energy section, let's
get into the tech sector. But that's what the NFL
is doing. They're spending more money on the tech sector
new age stuff than bricks and mortar, you know, They're
they're spending on all the different digital outlets as well.
And think about Michael Thomas signs for twenty million dollars
(26:31):
a year last last week, Todd Gurleys fourteen million, David
Johnson and who else is there? Uh Levy on Bell
they're like a thirteen million. Like those numbers are not growing,
they're shrinking. Matter of fact, there's some thought out there
that if um whoever waits to be the franchise tag
(26:55):
e next year, and if they take the franchise tag,
they may actually make less than the franchise tag this
year because the average salary of the top five backs
won't be as hot, it won't be as high. And that,
I think is what Zeke is fighting for. It's not
for other running backs, it's not for anybody else other
than Zeke Elliott. And by his estimation, now is the
(27:17):
time to strike while the iron is hot, because if
you wait, there's a chance that that running back market
diminishes greatly or at least partially. So there's a certain
genius in Zeke going after it. But it also fits
to the idea that the Dallas Cowboys, they had a plan,
(27:38):
they had a Fox Sports Radio has the best sports
talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows
at Fox sports radio dot com and within the I
Heart radio app search f s R to listen live.
Want to welcome in Rick Buker. You see him on
Fox Sports one all the time, you read his work
in Bleacher Report. He joins us in the Doug Gallops
(27:58):
Show on Fox Sports Radio. What was your not not?
What was your reaction from I know the Lebron folks
reached out to you. What was your reaction when you read,
uh what David Griffin had to say the first time? Yeah, yeah,
that uh, that the fear and reverence for Lebron James
(28:20):
had dissipated, that people were no longer afraid that they
might upset the King and that there would be a
price to pay if if they did that. Where he
is in his career and his abilities and his focus,
it's now, you know what we're okay with kind of
(28:43):
telling the truth in terms of what it's been like
to work with the King. And I think as long
as working with the King or having the opportunities to
win championships, it's and Lebron James is not alone in this.
Anytime you have the opportunity to win championships, you'll put
up with a lot. But the second that the championships
(29:05):
are no longer a guarantee or that guy keeping you
from winning is no longer concerned. Now you're less likely
to hold your tongue or hold back. I also I
also feel as if David for a second that he
no longer was just a UM and an analyst or
a commentator on he and was now in the in
(29:30):
the role of of being a GM and maybe you
can't speak as freely when you're actually working in the league. Yeah,
it was interesting though, like he didn't he never shared
that much when he was an analyst. Now he's back
in the league. Well, my thing was like, I was
just like, what is the win in that for you?
(29:51):
And you already have the job, And maybe if he
was out of a job he was paid with paint
the picture of a I just want to get back
in the league. I was so miserable. But that's not
what he said. So here's my theory on that. Number One,
I believe that part of the story that wasn't told,
and the reason that it looked like it was all
in Lebron James and playing with Lebron James or working
with Lebron James, it really was being in the vice
(30:14):
script of working for two masters Lebron, James and Dan Gilbert,
and because Dan Gilbert is ill of health, bringing him
into the equation, I think just it looks like four forms.
So it's not going to be mentioned, but that that's
what really made that situation untenable, is not simply Lebron,
(30:34):
but it was. It's it's those two guys. And then
the second part is, look, we know how the Benson
family feels about Rich Paul and Clutch Agency because of
what happened with Anthony Davis. I guarantee you that uh
taking a shot at Rich Paul and Lebron and and
(30:55):
that whole crew, Griff was not worried that his owner
would be offended by that. In fact, she probably enjoyed
it on some level. There's no love Loss or Lebron
or or Rich when it comes to the Pelican. So
I would imagine that Girth probably felt like he was
(31:17):
on safe ground and maybe even doing his his owner's
bidding by speaking out on what that was like. Um okay,
So then David Griffin kind of back back pedaled. Where
where where the pressure come from? That he had to
kind of backtrack some that, Oh, I would I think
(31:38):
in essence it simply, Look, I still have to operate
in this league and Rich Paul uh does have a
a large clientele, and I'm not sure how this is
going to play with other players for me taking shots
at Lebron. So let me try to tamp this down
(32:00):
a little bit. And you know, the easiest, easiest way
to go is let me let me throw the writer
under the bus and say he took it out of
context or whatever it is. Well, Griff has to know better. Yes,
this might have been about the Pelicans, and that might
have been your intention, but as soon as you start
start talking about what your relationship was with Lebron and
(32:22):
that it was miserable, Uh, you got to know that
it doesn't matter where what the intention was that. And
I thought that the story on the you know, the
width and breadth of it was about what they were
trying to build with the Pelicans. But you have to
know that the Lebron aspect of it is going to
go front and center, and that's not on the writer. Yeah,
(32:44):
no question had to be. It's not like this is
his first job, first time in the league, and it's
not the first time dealing with with Lebron James obviously,
Um Okay, so is is does this and look, this
kind of is confirmation to some of the things Lebron said,
some of the things we've heard about him. I mean, look,
I know that Magic was talking about something else, but heck,
(33:06):
when Magic quit, the first thing he said was I
want to get back to having fun, right, Like is
it feels like everything we've always been told about Lebron
James is in fact true. Yeah. Look, I don't know
if magic struggle with the job had as much to
do with Lebron as Griffs did. I believe that, you know,
(33:29):
just in terms of the the way that Magic has
been able to live that the job of being a
GM or building rebuilding a team wouldn't. I mean, that's
there's that's a grind, there's some work to be done.
So I think that that part was probably what didn't
make it a whole lot of fun. But look, it's
(33:52):
this is it's just the reality of the weight of
one a star as big as Lebron, And I think
that the most difficult thing is which is different from
Kobe or from Michael, from other stars and even maybe
Magic Johnson is they do we lose Buke? It feels
(34:17):
like we lost him. We'll try and get him back
in a second. Doug got live show here on Fox
Sports Radio trying to search for Rick Buker as uh.
He was comparing, comparing and contrasting Lebron James to Magic
and Michael and was making a really good point at
the very moment time. And then maybe Lebron because we
had we been too negative and all of a sudden,
Lebron struck down his cell phone. That's interesting. We'll get
(34:44):
Rick Buker back in a second. Yeah. I mean like, look,
when when Kyrie Irving left, it was because he wasn't
he wasn't having fun. And I don't anyway, Buke, you
were comparing Magic and Michael to Lebron. Go ahead, well,
and and those guys definitively as look players, superstar players,
(35:05):
they're gonna have their druthers and they're gonna tell you
what it is that they want, and they want things
a certain way. It comes with the territory. It's the privilege,
especially in the NBA. The the challenge in from what
I understand and working with Lebron, is that he doesn't
tell you exactly what he wants, but you know that
you have to keep him happy, and so you're constantly
(35:29):
guessing at am I his guy? Am I in on
the right page? Am I in the camp? Is? You
know when when he has the plausible deniability I didn't
tell you know, I didn't tell Griff to go get
this guy. You're right, you didn't tell him to go
get this particular guy. But if you don't get the
guy that you want me to get, then there's going
(35:52):
to be a price to be paid. And that's what
makes it so burdensome is that he doesn't tell you directly.
And and the advantage for Lebron is that he can
never be held accountable for Yeah, you went and got
the guy that I wanted and it didn't work out,
or I didn't play well with him. So it's never
on him. It's always on the person who's making the decisions.
(36:15):
But that is a difficult place to be with a
superstar player who basically holds the keys to the franchise
and your job in his hands. Yeah, yeah, and it's
gonna and and it's probably one of the reasons that way,
It's what Kevin Durant was talking about. It's probably one
of the reasons that other you know, the Paul George
the world avoid the Lakers. It's probably one of the
(36:35):
reasons they struggled to find a head coach. It's one
of the interesting things to look for with this year's team.
How do you think this year's Lakers come together when
you look at the roster now we've caught our breath,
what do you think I looked. The roster is much
improved from last year. It's a much it's a It's
a roster that's much better suited to Lebron. The number
(36:56):
one question is going to be who was going to
orchestrate all of this? And I like Frank Vogel. I
think he's a terrific guy. I don't have anything in
his resume that tells me he's going to be the
guy it's going to have the hard conversations with Lebron
or anybody else that he is willing to have the
(37:19):
confrontations that are part and parcel with bringing this together,
particularly under the timeline this, and and and the expectations.
You know, look, Lebron's only got a certain amount of
time left and they've got veteran players that they signed. Uh,
they need to make this happen right now. Can you
bring this together on the timeline that is necessary. That is,
(37:44):
that is just the added pressure that even when Lebron
went back to Cleveland, it wasn't there. There wasn't the
expectation from the very beginning when he got back, it
was he's going to try to win a championship for Cleveland.
It was that he's going to try to win a
champion hip this year or next year. Right now. It's shoot,
(38:05):
they were supposed to be competing for a championship last year,
even though that roster wasn't really made for it. Uh,
that timeline is still very much there. It's they're supposed
to be contending it for a title this year, and
that's going to put an immense amount of pressure on everybody,
including that coaching staff. Draymond Green signs a four year
Extension's got a trade kicker, got an outclause player option year.
(38:26):
At the end of it, um, it does feel like
this is you know, look, I didn't think he's a
super Max guy, but he could have made a lot
more money if he if he waited one more year.
What do you think of the deal? It's a good
number for what he means for that franchise. You can't
put a price on the chemistry and how the and
(38:46):
the fit and the collective experience that Draymond, Steph and
Clay have. I mean, it's a you couldn't have designed it,
but it ends up the personalities and the and the
skill sets are perfectly matched. The only concern that I
have is you've basically you've financially locked yourself into three
(39:07):
guys that you've been writing as the main core guys
for the last four or five years. You know how
much is left in the tank? Can you add another
superstar piece? Well, financially you've really put yourself up against it.
But this is as much about They're going into a
brand new building in San Francisco and they couldn't afford
(39:29):
They've already had enough negative things happened since last year.
They need they needed wins badly, and so they paid
for one. Rick Buker check them out on Bleacher in
Bleacher Report, Palm on Twitter, or you'll see him on
Fox Sports one. Buke thanks so much. You gotta do
Thanks for listening to the best of the Doug Gottlip
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
from three to six pm Eastern Time, that's twelve to
three Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station
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(00:21):
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(00:44):
and I hope you're doing better than the Boston Red
Sox are currently mired in a seven game losing streak.
Hope you're doing better than the calf of Andrew Luck
or the bottom of the feet of Antonio Brown. May
not want to work out in some Gucci of slippers.
In the meantime, we got a ton to get to
Mark Slayer, three time Super Bowl champion and all around
(01:05):
good guy NFL on Fox analyst will join us upcoming
in fifteen minutes, uh, and we'll get we'll get his
kind of lay of the land, if you will get
his thoughts on the challenges for Ryan Khalil, who last
week announced he's out of retirement. He's gonna be center
for the New York Jets and wait to hear the
reason that he's rejoining the league. Plus we'll take you
(01:25):
to New England. Ben Boland, senior NFL writer for the
Boston Globe, get his thoughts on Tom Brady's new contract
which he's reading. The details I'm gonna share with you
in a second. Vic Tap will join us, the Raiders
writer for the Athletic. We'll get his thoughts on Antonio Brown.
Also his thoughts on Derek Carr in his second camp
with Jon Gruden. Rick Bukerell join us as we continue
(01:48):
to kind of clean up the mess of David Griffin
in that SI article. So we have a lot, we
have a lot to get to today. Let me start
with both Baker Mayfield and Tom Brady. So the news
is Tom Brady signed a contract extension gonna pay him
twenty three million dollars per year. One of the provisions
in the contract that uh is a little bit backloaded,
(02:09):
there is some dead money for next year is if
the Patriots choose to avoid the last two years. UH,
they can avoid the last two years and he can
become a free agent. But they agreed not to franchise
or transitional tag him. We'll get to what that means
a little a little later on. But but the the
story is that Tom Brady comes from money, married into money,
(02:35):
and decided to take a little bit less money because
it makes business sense. His hair is perfect, his Teetha's
teeth are perfect, and he has kind of that perfect
New England style looking gate. Then there's Baker Mayfield walk
On from Texas when to Texas Tech to Oklahoma. You know,
the story becomes kind of an under under U lightly
(02:58):
regarded number one overall, pick right, I mean to go
from walk On a number one overall picking him trophy
winners amazing. Over the weekend, he bit into a beer
and pretended to chug the whole thing. Fired up the crowd.
At the Indians game, they put together a five run inning.
He gets credit forward. He had a Francisco lind Or
Jersey on lind Or hit a hit, a home run,
(03:20):
and the legend of Baker Mayfield grows. Look, I don't
think Baker Mayfield will ever be Tom Brady. I don't
think he necessarily wants to be Tom Brady. I don't
know how good at quarterback Baker Mayfield is. At the
end of the day. That's the truth, no idea, but
I will say this, Uh, Baker Mayfield is the perfect
(03:46):
fit for the Cleveland Browns. I they won one game
combined in two years. You know that no one kind
of believed in them. They've run through coaches, run through quarterbacks,
back even and Baker may Fields time. He's had two
different head coaches, he said, three different offensive coordinators already.
They're kind of land of midsfit toys. And yeah they
(04:07):
have Jarvis Landry. Yeah they have Odell Beckham Jr. And
kept their wide receivers coach to keep them happy. But
it's just kind of a weird, like why do they
have all these big names at big positions and yet
they're in Cleveland for a franchise that since it was reformed.
I think I made the playoffs one or two times.
(04:29):
It's crazy. But if you watched him over the Weekend, Like, look,
Baker's a little bit thicker. Then you would think, like,
he doesn't look like Cam Newton, who looks like the
picture of what an athlete is supposed to look like.
He's rocking the mustache right now, kind of comically so.
And while he probably didn't pound the entire beer, he
(04:49):
sold it almost like a W W E star And
it looked like, I don't know what Cleveland is supposed
to look like, but that felt like Cleveland. That felt
like Cleveland. Then you go to Tom Brady, who, look,
he's had the Tom Versus time. He's got a house
(05:09):
with a moat, He's got this beautiful family, a gorgeous wife,
perfect hair, drives luxury cars, wears ridiculous watches, his suits
fit in perfectly. He's kind of a dork singing karaoke.
Tom Brady feels like New England, feels like the Patriots.
You ever noticed that sometimes quarterbacks, the ones that really
(05:31):
worked out, end up feeling like the place they work for.
It just doesn't doesn't. That doesn't ever strike you as
kind of odd, like, yeah, that that makes even Cam Newton,
who's very southern, Uh, he can be eclectic in his
dress and the way he dresses, like, yeah, don't know
if you saw him over the weekend, but apparently he
(05:52):
was at Walmart with some overalls on nothing else and
then had like a scarf around him, but it almost
felt like a lady scar But you know, if you're
Cam Newton, you can kind of wear whatever. That might
work in New York and it probably works in Charlotte.
And that's about it. Like he is a Southern dude
(06:12):
and feels like a Southern dude. I mean, Peyton Manning
and Andrew luck felt like Indianapolis, all right, they just did.
Dan Marino felt like the Miami Dolphins. Joe Montana felt
like the San Francisco forty Niners. But I saw Baker
(06:33):
Mayfield over the weekend, and I thought it was cool.
I thought it was funny. I don't think he pounded
the entire beer right, because you can't do that with
your teeth. That just it doesn't come out fast enough.
Got to cut it open with your key. You bite
it and then you use like a key and you
cut it open and turn it sideways. You open it pounded,
(06:53):
And then we get to Tom Brady, which is look,
I understand that Dak Prescott doesn't have a wife worth
the hunt and fifty million. I understand that Dak Prescott
hasn't been doing this for twenty years. But if somebody
is successful and consistently successful, and you're trying and figure out, hey,
why are they so successful all the time, maybe at
(07:14):
least a portion of it is their best player, were
their most important player, Their most important leader takes a
little bit less than market value so that everybody else
can get get paid, and so they can put a
good enough team around him. And there is there is
no one man band in football. Football has fifty three
(07:36):
guys in the roster. And while Brady has been better
compensated that I think some give him credit. It's not
like he's playing at the play at the minimum. Even
though he's made a couple hundred million dollars during his
time playing in the Nation Football League. He is twenty
three million. It's composed to thirty million, which is going
right for the top quarterbacks. He's not close. And if you,
(07:58):
if you wanted to kind of agree with me, and
I said, well, Tom Brady right now maybe isn't the
top five actual quarterback because of his arm strength during
the year whenever still Tom Brady deserves based upon reputation, leadership,
ability to play in a big game, even when he
doesn't play well against Kansas City came through later after
what would have been the third touched, the third interception.
You're gonna pay Tom Brady thirty million dollars a year,
(08:22):
Not the Patriots. He feels like New England and he
acts like a New England Patriot. Then if you want
to know why teams like the Cowboys, maybe even the Seahawks.
We'll see what happens with the Packers with Aaron Rodgers,
who I do think is the best quarterback in the league.
You take up all the money, and something else is
(08:44):
going to go poorly, something else is going to be
at lower quality than you want. I mean, when you're
redoing a house, you know, do you spread the budget around?
How much you put in the kitchen, how much you
put in the bathrooms, how much do you put you know,
in the little little things. Do you need a pool outside?
(09:05):
If you go cheap on the windows, it will increase
your heating and cooling costs and it will decrease your
resale value. So I look at Baker and I asked
some questions about his ability to throw the ball over
the middle of the field, about their offensive line. What
I don't have questions about is how he seems to
(09:26):
fit them. They fans, they players, They organizationally, they coaching
staff are all in on Baker Mayfield. And I think
that the football is only part of it. I think
there's actually more to it and has to do with fit,
and I think Brady is the same way. Does it
help that he can take less money because his wife
(09:46):
is worth so much money? Yes? Does it help that
he's made so much money for so long, Sure, but
it's still impressive how he's been able to get them
to consecutive Super Bowls and how they're off this has
been able to evolve, and his lack of ego where
it doesn't. He doesn't have to be honored to be
the highest player. I'm the one with six rings. Be
sure to catch live editions of The Doug got Leap
(10:09):
Show weekdays at noon eastern three pm Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. Let's buckome
in Mark Slayrat. He's a three time Super Bowl champion.
He also makes his own chili. He posts videos from Alaska,
where he grew up he's he's kind of the the
American male role model. And uh, he joins us in
the Doug Gala. Are you in Alaska or where are
(10:29):
you right now? Yeah, I mean Girdwood. I'm Girtwood, Alaska
right now. It's absolutely gorgeous. They've had a heat wave
all summer long, and sunny and mid seventies to eighties
degrees has just been absolutely gorgeous. So what do you
do during the day? Uh, play cards, drink coffee, Um,
work around the house, help my dad out, you know whatever,
(10:51):
whatever I mean. We're gonna go do some fishing. So
the fish are runner right now. We're actually in the
kitchen of my mother in law's house, queen and fish.
My uncle Bob was cleaning fish right now. He's gonna
smoke some sam. It's gonna be awesome. Marc Laira joining
us live from Alaska. Um, how are your beer chugging skills? Oh?
(11:12):
I can. I mean I don't drink a lot, but
I can. I can chug a beer. But you know,
I don't know at what point that became a test
of manlihood. You know, I like to think of uh
raising your kids and and you know, being kind and
loving and gentle and peaceful and all those things. I'd
like to think of a better indicator of manlihood, not
(11:32):
necessarily beer chucking and bench pressing, but I can do
both of those two. Okay. So my thought on Baker though,
is like, look, I gets a little over the top,
and the guys gotta win some football games, um and
continue to improve because they weren't great against the best
teams last year. But if there's a city that's kind
of been, you know, crapped on by most NFL fans,
(11:55):
and and rightfully so, based upon the revolving door of
quarterbacks and of coaches, Like here's a guy who kind
of hard scrabble out of nowhere to Heisman Trophy to
number one overall pick and just kind of the way
he purports himself, almost like a cartoon character. I kind
of think it works for Cleveland. Do you agree or disagree? No?
(12:15):
I agree, And I think one of the interesting things
about the Cleveland Browns and Baker Mayfield is having called
one of their games last year and been at practice
on Friday and talked to their John Dorsey. John Dorsey
was like, let me just tell you something about this kid, man,
and and you know, forgive the French, but he said
he's all balls. This kid just doesn't back down from anybody.
(12:37):
He is. He's got this football acumen, this brilliant mind,
kind of almost um, you know, photographic in that he
can call a play. You can give him a play,
a new play with a ton of bourbage in the morning,
he can recall it in the afternoon when he's out
of practice. He can tag every route. I mean, he
just has a great football mind, and the guys respond
(12:59):
to his style leadership man. He is a gun slingner.
He'll just go out there and play. He'll talk smack
to the opponents. Um, and he'll I mean he'll air
dudes out. You can see him er dudes out in
practice and then come right up beside him later and
put his arm around him. And they just respond to him.
They believe in him. And I will tell you I
had a lot of you know, I had a lot
(13:20):
of question marks coming into last season of what kind
of pro he would be. And he has answered every
one of those questions marks to the point where I'll
just think I'll just become a fan. Okay. So um.
One of the interesting things is um over the weekend Um,
the Cleveland Brown's former assistant coach who was most known
(13:42):
for his prodigious gut right, Um, Joe Wiley. He came
out and he said, like, look, no disrespect, but I
think they hired the wrong guy. What do you think
of their decisions at coach and how it affect what
they do this season? Yeah? Well, I'm Freddy Kitchens fan,
you know. I mean I've been around him a little
(14:03):
bit and you know, and and he's a good football coach,
so obviously I'm a fan of his. Also, you know,
the defensive coordinator, Greg Williams, who was the intim head
coach I think is a hell of a football coach.
And he bounces around, you know, from place to place
and everywhere he goes. Their defense is exceptional. Um. You know,
(14:23):
the thing about him is he's got an acquired personality.
You know, he essentially invented football. Just ask him. He's
one of those guys, but the players love playing for him.
He can be you know, he can be vitriolic, and
he can be one of those guys that, uh, you know,
gets after people and if you can't handle that, then
you know, he can be a guy that you want
to move away. From But I will just tell you
(14:46):
that Greg Williams is a hell of a football coach,
and you know, he got caught up in the you know,
the whole bounty gate thing, which was you know, it
was an absolutely just a bunch of garbage. Because every
one of us has ever been involved in the game.
We're involved in bounties of some kind or another. And
it's not necessarily about and it never was about hurting people.
It's about you know, laying people out and being aggressive
(15:07):
and being physical and all those things. And you want
TVs and you know, cash prizes and all that kind
of stuff. Throughout my career, I was part of it.
You know. I think every guy, any guy that tells
you that played in my day and age, and even
you know, even until recently, if they tell you they
weren't a part of any of that, they're lying because
it was a big part of the game. So you know,
he's one of those guys that people have a tough time,
(15:29):
you know, representing the organization. But um, I think Freddy
Kitchens a health football coach. We'll just see. I mean,
we all know that when you become a head coach,
there's it's a whole different animal, and some guys respond
really well to it. Other guys have a have a
tough time being a head coach, especially for the first time. Yeah,
Bob Biley, the former assistant to uh who uh Apparently
(15:50):
Freddie Kitchens did respond to him earlier day. We'll play
that for people a little bit later on Doug Gallin Show,
Fox Sports Radio. Um Mark Lareth is our guest. He's
an NFL and Fox analyst. He's a three time Bowl champion.
Tom Brady takes a new contract. It's at twenty three
million this year. He could become a free agent at
the end of next year, or it spikes a little
bit into the mid thirties, but once again going below
(16:11):
market value. I get that he has Giselle, but other
guys would have the Eagle. I got six rings. I
should be the top paid guy. What's your reaction to
Tom Brady taking a little less. I just think that
that's where he is in his career. It's all about,
you know, for him winning championships. He doesn't have to
be the highest paid guy. UM, as long as they
(16:33):
use that money efficiently, and you know who can argue
with the way they have to spend it. I know,
they haven't necessarily, you know, they've gone away from guys
that that we're about ready to become highest paid type
of guys. But they have a formula, they have a
system of the guys gonna play pay. They're gonna pay,
you know, a top flight corner, that's what they're gonna do.
They're never gonna spend that money on a top flight
(16:54):
wide receiver. It's not what they do. They'll pay a
left tackle, you know. They they understand and how they
want to build their roster and Tom Brady has given
them the flexibility to do that. And I think it's
just one of the many things that fascinates me about
Tom Brady as an individual and as a person where
it's about winning and it's not about ego. They tell
(17:16):
a story about um growd Mayo who had a great
season for the New England Patriots and he doesn't get
elected to the Pro Bowl and he's pouting in his
locker and Tom Brady basically walks up to him and says,
you know, like, quit your crying, and why don't you
think I played this game to go to Pro Bowls.
We play here at Newngland, wins Super Bowls and that's
kind of the topical approach had. I mean, I'm always
(17:39):
fascinated at about a guy that doesn't let ego drive
him be the deciding factor. He doesn't need to be
the highest faid guy. And you know, he's got all
this championship caliber, you know, six championships, he's played nine
Super Bowls, and the guy, like, to me, he's not
stated by success. He just continues to be the hardest
(17:59):
work dude there is. I I just I find him fascinating.
It's just another part of kind of who he is
as a quarterback that uh, you know that I think
is amazing and one of the big reasons they continue
to go to championships every year. All right, Jerry Jones
came out and said, don't worry. Everything's getting everybody's gonna
get paid. Uh. It feels like there's an order there
(18:20):
like that, how they want to take care of guys.
But Dak probably wants a little bit more than they
have budgeted. And Zeke is probably out of turn, out
of order in terms of how he wants to get
paid now before everybody else has taken care of. What
are your thoughts on what's going on in Dallas? Well,
I think it's I think it's one. It's a tough situation.
I mean, the quarterback like Dallas would have served themselves well.
(18:43):
If you target a guy that you know is going
to be your guy, especially a guy like Dak who
didn't happen with your option the fourth Brown draft choice.
You knew he was gone. You knew it a year
You offered him big money a year ago when he
still had two years left on his deal at you know,
a fourth round draft pick, which you're not making the
(19:03):
kind of money those shrounders are making. You know, the
odds are is his agent would have said, hey, this
is life changing money, this is generational money. Ticket Now,
well said you're into that last year. You can smell
free agency around the corner. You know what the going
rate is. You can kirk Cousins that if you need to,
like now, why would you settle for less if this
(19:24):
is the first time that you have a chance to
make that generational type money? So you know that's that
to me is one of those if you've targeted the guy,
it's always better to come to him early then wait
for him to become a potential free agent when you
can see it right around the corner. So that's that's
their mistake. That's Jerry Jones's mistake for not getting it
done early. As far as Zeke Elly is be concerned,
(19:47):
I understand where the running back position is in this league,
and you know, I don't know that you would ever
pay a running back that it would make sense. Um,
he's coming out after you know, three years of playing,
two years where he led the league and run saying
I want to get mine because I may never get
to that second contract. So I mean it's it's somewhat
of a mess. And and for him to get signed,
(20:07):
I mean, I think he's going to have to with
two years less. He's gonna have to take less than
he obviously won't. But um, you know, I look at
that's kind of the way that things have got to
go on in Dallas for them do for them to
really get all three of those guys we didn't even
talk about Cooper, but to get all three of those
guys paid. Mark Slayer is our guest in the Doug
(20:27):
Gotlip Show on Fox Sport. Tradeo Ryan Khalil chose to
come out of retirement and he said he did so
because you want to play with Sam Donald he respected
Sam John. I'm sure five and change. How hard is
that to shut it down for the offseason thinking you're
gonna retire and then crank get back up. Well, I
you know, I think it would be exceptionally difficult. But um,
(20:49):
you know, I mean, you're getting paid to do it,
You've done it for a while. I'm sure that he
was still in, you know, in lifting type of shape.
It's the football shape nowadays, with the off season everything else.
The way it works, you're you're never really in football
shape until you you know, slip your pads on the
start hitting guys again. So, um, I think that's that
(21:10):
is a difficult situation. But I think the other thing
about these players today is, you know, with the limited
contact and the limited and the rules and stuff, that
you feel as though you can probably you know, you
can probably just kind of get through it and you're
not gonna beat your body up as much as you
did back in the day. So and he's been around
(21:30):
for a while, so he knows the difference. So I'm
sure he's got a pretty good feel on how he
can manage his body. All right, listen, well you manage
yourself well up in Alaska, have fun smoking that fish
and catching more fish and reconnecting with your own childhood
and with your in laws. We appreciate you join us.
I appreciate it. You take everybody, be sure to catch
(21:51):
live editions. So the Doug Dot Leap Show week days
in neon eastern three pm Pacific. Jerry Jones is talking
because well one of his stars is still wasn't there.
Jerry has a plan every was it from hunt for
in October, Avid Rooski didn't take dump without a plan. Son.
Here's Jerry Jones on his plan. You just uh just
(22:14):
know that, like so many things, it will happen. It'll happen. Uh.
There literally is no uh concern on my part at
all about any time frame. Uh that'll happen. Uh. The
results are too good for them and too good for
the cowboys. Think about it a minute. The results are
(22:36):
too good for them and too good for the cowboy.
That always happens when it's good. That's good for both
of them. Um Man. This is really really fascinating interesting
stuff of what happens with the Dallas Cowboys. Because it
feels like Jerry's like, look, I always get these things done,
(22:58):
always get these things done. And um, and then he's like, basically, hey,
there is no timeline. It feels like the cowboys aren't
sweating because they have a plan. The problem with the
plan being screwed up is Dak Prescott is an inn
on the plan and doesn't or doesn't like the plan
(23:18):
and what his plan is like, Hey, no, no, no, no,
I want top dollar. This is essentially why communism doesn't work.
I remember studying communism in high school a little bit
in college and thinking to myself, like, you know, in
(23:41):
in theory, communism is kind of an interesting idea ideology.
Everybody goes to work, kind of do what you wanna do.
You work as hard as you can and it then
you end up getting your health care, insurance, your education,
everything paid for and you know your salary is minimal,
(24:03):
and you get a place to live. Ac in Russia
you would get a daca, which is like a little
cabin out in the countryside where you could you know,
a little space where you grow some potatoes and grows
some stuff you could you could pickle for the winner.
This is all this is what communist Russia. The idea was, Hey,
(24:23):
everybody gets the same and everybody gets the same stuff
and we'll all be the better because of it. That
sounds great. The problem is human nature, right, human nature
is well, then there's the people that are in charge
of everybody, because somebody has to be in charge. You
can't expect everybody just do stuff on their own. And
somebody go like, hey, you have to do stuff, or
are we sending to jail? And those people were in
(24:44):
charge get a little bit of a power trip, so
they want a little bit more stuff. And then there's
people that each of their jobs. You know, there's some
good doctors or some bad doctors, and good lawyers and
bad lawyers and the good ones like, why am I
making the same amount of zim I put in twice
the effort. Now of a sudden, human nature takes over.
That's the Dallas Cowboys. They weren't gonna make the same amount,
(25:05):
but they're all gonna like, I'm sure on a board
it look really good. You're like, wow, okay, well we'll
put Amori I like fifteen, We'll put doc at like
twenty five. We'll put because there's just one pie of money.
Then we got Byron Jones, we got Jalen Smith and
be like, uh, what about what about Zeke we don't
have to pay to Zeken til next year. Next year,
(25:25):
we'll slot him in at like fourteen, which would be
the highest paid now, but there may be somebody else
that escalates and we'll worry about that then. Because if
you pay him fourteen this year, he's only set to
make you know, like five five million this year, Whereas
if you wait to our actually two years, you wait
till the franchise tag year, you're actually not giving him
(25:48):
much more money. You're just give them that next year,
You're you're give him guarantee. But this is what the
reason it won't work is the human nature of of
of Zeke Elliott. He looks around the NFL and says, hey,
running back salaries the best allies that's not growing at
at that higher rate. And it's not like the stock market.
(26:10):
We can go like, all right, let's get out of
this sector, let's get out of the energy section, let's
get into the tech sector. But that's what the NFL
is doing. They're spending more money on the tech sector
new age stuff than bricks and mortar, you know, They're
they're spending on all the different digital outlets as well.
And think about Michael Thomas signs for twenty million dollars
(26:31):
a year last last week, Todd Gurleys fourteen million, David
Johnson and who else is there? Uh Levy on Bell
they're like a thirteen million. Like those numbers are not growing,
they're shrinking. Matter of fact, there's some thought out there
that if um whoever waits to be the franchise tag
(26:55):
e next year, and if they take the franchise tag,
they may actually make less than the franchise tag this
year because the average salary of the top five backs
won't be as hot, it won't be as high. And that,
I think is what Zeke is fighting for. It's not
for other running backs, it's not for anybody else other
than Zeke Elliott. And by his estimation, now is the
(27:17):
time to strike while the iron is hot, because if
you wait, there's a chance that that running back market
diminishes greatly or at least partially. So there's a certain
genius in Zeke going after it. But it also fits
to the idea that the Dallas Cowboys, they had a plan,
(27:38):
they had a Fox Sports Radio has the best sports
talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows
at Fox sports radio dot com and within the I
Heart radio app search f s R to listen live.
Want to welcome in Rick Buker. You see him on
Fox Sports one all the time, you read his work
in Bleacher Report. He joins us in the Doug Gallops
(27:58):
Show on Fox Sports Radio. What was your not not?
What was your reaction from I know the Lebron folks
reached out to you. What was your reaction when you read,
uh what David Griffin had to say the first time? Yeah, yeah,
that uh, that the fear and reverence for Lebron James
(28:20):
had dissipated, that people were no longer afraid that they
might upset the King and that there would be a
price to pay if if they did that. Where he
is in his career and his abilities and his focus,
it's now, you know what we're okay with kind of
(28:43):
telling the truth in terms of what it's been like
to work with the King. And I think as long
as working with the King or having the opportunities to
win championships, it's and Lebron James is not alone in this.
Anytime you have the opportunity to win championships, you'll put
up with a lot. But the second that the championships
(29:05):
are no longer a guarantee or that guy keeping you
from winning is no longer concerned. Now you're less likely
to hold your tongue or hold back. I also I
also feel as if David for a second that he
no longer was just a UM and an analyst or
a commentator on he and was now in the in
(29:30):
the role of of being a GM and maybe you
can't speak as freely when you're actually working in the league. Yeah,
it was interesting though, like he didn't he never shared
that much when he was an analyst. Now he's back
in the league. Well, my thing was like, I was
just like, what is the win in that for you?
(29:51):
And you already have the job, And maybe if he
was out of a job he was paid with paint
the picture of a I just want to get back
in the league. I was so miserable. But that's not
what he said. So here's my theory on that. Number One,
I believe that part of the story that wasn't told,
and the reason that it looked like it was all
in Lebron James and playing with Lebron James or working
with Lebron James, it really was being in the vice
(30:14):
script of working for two masters Lebron, James and Dan Gilbert,
and because Dan Gilbert is ill of health, bringing him
into the equation, I think just it looks like four forms.
So it's not going to be mentioned, but that that's
what really made that situation untenable, is not simply Lebron,
(30:34):
but it was. It's it's those two guys. And then
the second part is, look, we know how the Benson
family feels about Rich Paul and Clutch Agency because of
what happened with Anthony Davis. I guarantee you that uh
taking a shot at Rich Paul and Lebron and and
(30:55):
that whole crew, Griff was not worried that his owner
would be offended by that. In fact, she probably enjoyed
it on some level. There's no love Loss or Lebron
or or Rich when it comes to the Pelican. So
I would imagine that Girth probably felt like he was
(31:17):
on safe ground and maybe even doing his his owner's
bidding by speaking out on what that was like. Um okay,
So then David Griffin kind of back back pedaled. Where
where where the pressure come from? That he had to
kind of backtrack some that, Oh, I would I think
(31:38):
in essence it simply, Look, I still have to operate
in this league and Rich Paul uh does have a
a large clientele, and I'm not sure how this is
going to play with other players for me taking shots
at Lebron. So let me try to tamp this down
(32:00):
a little bit. And you know, the easiest, easiest way
to go is let me let me throw the writer
under the bus and say he took it out of
context or whatever it is. Well, Griff has to know better. Yes,
this might have been about the Pelicans, and that might
have been your intention, but as soon as you start
start talking about what your relationship was with Lebron and
(32:22):
that it was miserable, Uh, you got to know that
it doesn't matter where what the intention was that. And
I thought that the story on the you know, the
width and breadth of it was about what they were
trying to build with the Pelicans. But you have to
know that the Lebron aspect of it is going to
go front and center, and that's not on the writer. Yeah,
(32:44):
no question had to be. It's not like this is
his first job, first time in the league, and it's
not the first time dealing with with Lebron James obviously,
Um Okay, so is is does this and look, this
kind of is confirmation to some of the things Lebron said,
some of the things we've heard about him. I mean, look,
I know that Magic was talking about something else, but heck,
(33:06):
when Magic quit, the first thing he said was I
want to get back to having fun, right, Like is
it feels like everything we've always been told about Lebron
James is in fact true. Yeah. Look, I don't know
if magic struggle with the job had as much to
do with Lebron as Griffs did. I believe that, you know,
(33:29):
just in terms of the the way that Magic has
been able to live that the job of being a
GM or building rebuilding a team wouldn't. I mean, that's
there's that's a grind, there's some work to be done.
So I think that that part was probably what didn't
make it a whole lot of fun. But look, it's
(33:52):
this is it's just the reality of the weight of
one a star as big as Lebron, And I think
that the most difficult thing is which is different from
Kobe or from Michael, from other stars and even maybe
Magic Johnson is they do we lose Buke? It feels
(34:17):
like we lost him. We'll try and get him back
in a second. Doug got live show here on Fox
Sports Radio trying to search for Rick Buker as uh.
He was comparing, comparing and contrasting Lebron James to Magic
and Michael and was making a really good point at
the very moment time. And then maybe Lebron because we
had we been too negative and all of a sudden,
Lebron struck down his cell phone. That's interesting. We'll get
(34:44):
Rick Buker back in a second. Yeah. I mean like, look,
when when Kyrie Irving left, it was because he wasn't
he wasn't having fun. And I don't anyway, Buke, you
were comparing Magic and Michael to Lebron. Go ahead, well,
and and those guys definitively as look players, superstar players,
(35:05):
they're gonna have their druthers and they're gonna tell you
what it is that they want, and they want things
a certain way. It comes with the territory. It's the privilege,
especially in the NBA. The the challenge in from what
I understand and working with Lebron, is that he doesn't
tell you exactly what he wants, but you know that
you have to keep him happy, and so you're constantly
(35:29):
guessing at am I his guy? Am I in on
the right page? Am I in the camp? Is? You
know when when he has the plausible deniability I didn't
tell you know, I didn't tell Griff to go get
this guy. You're right, you didn't tell him to go
get this particular guy. But if you don't get the
guy that you want me to get, then there's going
(35:52):
to be a price to be paid. And that's what
makes it so burdensome is that he doesn't tell you directly.
And and the advantage for Lebron is that he can
never be held accountable for Yeah, you went and got
the guy that I wanted and it didn't work out,
or I didn't play well with him. So it's never
on him. It's always on the person who's making the decisions.
(36:15):
But that is a difficult place to be with a
superstar player who basically holds the keys to the franchise
and your job in his hands. Yeah, yeah, and it's
gonna and and it's probably one of the reasons that way,
It's what Kevin Durant was talking about. It's probably one
of the reasons that other you know, the Paul George
the world avoid the Lakers. It's probably one of the
(36:35):
reasons they struggled to find a head coach. It's one
of the interesting things to look for with this year's team.
How do you think this year's Lakers come together when
you look at the roster now we've caught our breath,
what do you think I looked. The roster is much
improved from last year. It's a much it's a It's
a roster that's much better suited to Lebron. The number
(36:56):
one question is going to be who was going to
orchestrate all of this? And I like Frank Vogel. I
think he's a terrific guy. I don't have anything in
his resume that tells me he's going to be the
guy it's going to have the hard conversations with Lebron
or anybody else that he is willing to have the
(37:19):
confrontations that are part and parcel with bringing this together,
particularly under the timeline this, and and and the expectations.
You know, look, Lebron's only got a certain amount of
time left and they've got veteran players that they signed. Uh,
they need to make this happen right now. Can you
bring this together on the timeline that is necessary. That is,
(37:44):
that is just the added pressure that even when Lebron
went back to Cleveland, it wasn't there. There wasn't the
expectation from the very beginning when he got back, it
was he's going to try to win a championship for Cleveland.
It was that he's going to try to win a
champion hip this year or next year. Right now. It's shoot,
(38:05):
they were supposed to be competing for a championship last year,
even though that roster wasn't really made for it. Uh,
that timeline is still very much there. It's they're supposed
to be contending it for a title this year, and
that's going to put an immense amount of pressure on everybody,
including that coaching staff. Draymond Green signs a four year
Extension's got a trade kicker, got an outclause player option year.
(38:26):
At the end of it, um, it does feel like
this is you know, look, I didn't think he's a
super Max guy, but he could have made a lot
more money if he if he waited one more year.
What do you think of the deal? It's a good
number for what he means for that franchise. You can't
put a price on the chemistry and how the and
(38:46):
the fit and the collective experience that Draymond, Steph and
Clay have. I mean, it's a you couldn't have designed it,
but it ends up the personalities and the and the
skill sets are perfectly matched. The only concern that I
have is you've basically you've financially locked yourself into three
(39:07):
guys that you've been writing as the main core guys
for the last four or five years. You know how
much is left in the tank? Can you add another
superstar piece? Well, financially you've really put yourself up against it.
But this is as much about They're going into a
brand new building in San Francisco and they couldn't afford
(39:29):
They've already had enough negative things happened since last year.
They need they needed wins badly, and so they paid
for one. Rick Buker check them out on Bleacher in
Bleacher Report, Palm on Twitter, or you'll see him on
Fox Sports one. Buke thanks so much. You gotta do