3 and Out - Brady/Dallas Fantasy Football; Philip Rivers Future; XFL Advantages; The (Salary Cap) Purge; Mailbag

In this episode, Middlekauff discusses if the Cowboys could realistically be in play for Tom Brady if he decides to leave New England, if Philip Rivers has a future as an NFL starter, why the XFL has a chance to succeed where other spring football leagues have failed, and how the the NFL's annual salary cap purge of known players continually makes it the most interesting pro sports league. He also answers listener questions in Middlekauff's Mailbag. Follow John on twitter @JohnMiddlekauff and go to theherdnow.com to find the latest content. Subscribe now!

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Episode Transcript

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What is going on? Everybody? Jon middlecop Free and Out

(00:45):
Podcast Back at it again Monday afternoon, Just hit record,
I got some takes, I got some thoughts, A lot
going on. Spent the weekend at Pebble Beach. Which it
hit me this weekend. You know it's it's I got.
I got after it on Saturday. You know it's once
you get in your mid thirties. Maybe we're all different,

(01:05):
but I feel like my metabolism, the ability for it
to break down alcohol. I mean, I can be hung
over for two days. But I highly recommend this. This
is obviously a football podcast. When we talked the majority NFL,
but we talk college. This Pebble Beach Pro Am tournament,
it's the second time I've been there. I highly recommend
going if you can. I mean, I'm standing right when
I walked into Pebble on Saturday, I just watched Matt

(01:26):
Ryan for a couple holes. I'm standing right next to them. Now.
I was with a girl in her family, so and
we hadn't really we'd only had like a drink on
the drive there. If I would have been maybe solo,
you know me, I'm not. I'm not afraid to talk.
I had some things I just wanted to run off
Matt Ryan. I'm standing right next to him. I felt
kind of bad. I don't want to bother them whatever,
But you can easily talk and if you like football.

(01:46):
I watched Rogers hit a shot five feet away. Peyton
Eli were there, Steve Young was right next to me,
walk by with Phil Phil Mickelson. It's it's a star
studded NFL crew, it really is. You get to watch
him hit shots, you get to walk right by them,
and you really can't talk to them, and they'll talk
back because they're not bad serious, they're not really playing
for anything. So if you ever get the opportunity, and
I know a lot of people listening. We live all

(02:07):
over the place, it's worth it. If you're out on
the West Coast. It's a really really cool event, very loose,
very fun bars everywhere right now. I mean, you're paying
sixteen dollars Gray Goose and Sodas or margaritas or whatever.
But you know, screw it. It's one day. You gotta
live a little. And yeah, I had a blast. Still,

(02:27):
I shook off the cobwebs about thirty six hours later,
but I'm ready to go right now and we'll dive
into Philip Rivers. That was kind of the big news
a Monday. I got some sound from rap sheet. I
want to play off the top, some Tom Brady Dack stuff. XFL.
A lot of people have been hitting me up, like
middle Cop, what are your thoughts in the XFL? What
are your thoughts in the XFL? I talked a lot
about it on the other podcast, but there are a

(02:48):
couple of things that jumped out to me that I've
been thinking just the last couple hours that I'll touch on.
And then the purge, the NFL Purge also known as
CAP cuts, and it's the biggest difference between football and
the health of the sport of the rosters on all
the sports in terms of the teams relative to Baseball.
In football that are stuck with guaranteed contracts, and for

(03:09):
as much as it sucks to get cut in the NFL,
so many guys bounce back you get other contracts. It's
the great turnover in football. Why the cap like whatever,
we only have ten million dollars available. That's usually bs
because you can create thirty million dollars with the blink
of an eye cut two players. It's a great part
about football. And then of course Middlecoff mailbag at John

(03:30):
Middlecoff is my Instagram of my Twitter account, but my
Twitter dms aren't open to the public. Instagram dms wide open.
This is where we interact. These are the equivalent of
podcast callers, and you just fire my dms and I
answer your questions here. I got a bunch today and
I'll answer at the end of the podcast. But let's
start with some sound really quick from rap Sheet. Well,
there is a pretty good reason that owner Robert Kraft

(03:53):
and Tom Brady you have worked closely on several deals
in the past there's a reason why the option was
to allow Brady that has test free agency, to not
get franchised and not get transitioned, just to have a
clear path toward free agency. And from what I understand
Craft's thinking on this was basically, if the sides came together,
if Brady decided that the Patriots were his best option

(04:15):
after testing free agency, and if Bill Belichick, who of
course is making the decisions for New England, if he
decides that Brady is his best option at this price,
then in the end, after all of this, after going
through everything, that it will mean that it's basically meant
to be and that it's the best thing for all sides.
They Craft wanted them to get apart, to see what's

(04:35):
out there and try to come together in the middle,
and the hope is if that works out for twenty twenty,
that everyone will be happy they went through the process.
That to me, that was Ian Rappaport, the NFL network's
number one reporter. That's one of the craziest bits of
sound I've heard. I had not when Tom Brady restructed

(04:57):
his contract, I think was at the beginning of last year,
and it was like he's going to be a free
agent win the season ends. You know, I think we
all thought it was kind of weird they couldn't franchise him,
But I didn't know that information that Robert Kraft led
that idea of Listen. Basically is this Tom Brady Bill
Belichick had been married for twenty years and their relationship

(05:17):
to last ten has gotten pretty crazy. Right. They've gone
through some stuff from Spygate to deflate Gate to just
angry gate where they just weren't quite on the same page.
And Robert Craft's going this, Tom, I love you, but
we're gonna give you the option to date around a
little bit. Well, I know this when you've been in

(05:39):
a twenty year relationship. Now, I've never been in a
twenty year relationship beside with my brother and my parents.
But I've known a lot of married people, and I
know people try to do the open relationships or people
try to do different stuff a lot of times when
you're thinking that there's no coming back. And I think
we'd all agree, and I've talked about before, is they

(06:01):
are best for each other. Tom's best chance to win
is with Bill. Bill's best chance to win, given his
options right now, is probably with Tom. I feel very,
very confident Tom's best chance to win with Bill Bill
see I think even given Bill that option, I would
not let Bill dad around because he's shown before that
he's unemotional about stuff. He will move to the next option,

(06:26):
but so fast you can blink, and Tom knows that right.
Tom seen Welker, Logan Mankins, Vince Wilford, Richard Seymour. You
can go through all the players, I mean some of
the best players besides obviously not Gronk, but even Gronk
he was gonna trade him, was it? Two years ago
to the Detroit Lions and Gronk said I'll retire. Then
he came back for the one extra year. I think

(06:47):
that's pretty nuts. That's a bit of information I did
not know. And this gets to a topic that I
kind of wanted to talk about with Dak Prescott, like
that there's enough smoke with Dak Prescott. It's starting to
get weird. This was the two year anniversary. I think
it was Sunday, or maybe it was maybe February eighth,
twenty eighteen, the forty nine ers signed Jimmy Garoppolo. If

(07:09):
you really like a guy, you signed them in January
or early February, like what's going on with Dak Prescott
and in defense of Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys.
I would not be comfortable giving Dak Prescott a lot
of money. And when I say a lot of money,
I could not even fathom giving him thirty five million dollars.
I would like to And I like Dak Prescott. I

(07:30):
think he's a playoff. He's a quarterback worthy of leading
a good team to the playoffs. I think his physical characteristics.
He's a big time athlete, which helps in twenty twenty
because you gotta be able to scramble. He's accurate. His
deep ball accuracy he could use some improvement, though with
Amari and Gallop it's improved. I think his arms Frank's
just okay, but he plays in the Dome so it
doesn't matter as much. And I think he typically plays

(07:52):
his best football in the second half. He can have
a crappy start and then flip a switch and be
really good. I'm a fan of Dak Prescott, but to me,
he's like a twenty five million dollar quarterback. Now I'm
not naive or dumb enough to know that's not the
way the world works, but I go this, Jerry Goes, Okay,
I'll let him hit free agency. Who's getting Who Am
I competing with Dak for this money? Am I just
giving him this money? Like when the Eagles and how

(08:14):
he extended Carson Wentz. They invested the franchising Carson Wentz
the moment they drafted him. They're in All their chips
were in the middle of the table with Carson Wentz.
Same with Jared Goff. Again, I didn't love definitely the
Jared Goff contract. I understand paying Carson Wentz that much
because at least you can stomach his elite talent. Dak
Prescott's closer to Jared Goff now he's a more mobile

(08:35):
Jared Goff type, which I like more in this modern
day football. But like, I'm not good with panned Jared
Goff one hundred and ten million dollars and if you're
Dak Prescott you're gonna want somewhere in that vicinity. I'm
not okay with it. So I let him hit free agency.
Who's offering him big money? The Raiders, the Chargers, the Bucks.
They're really gonna pay him that much money? I don't
see it. So if I'm Jerry Jones, I'm going, who

(08:55):
am I bidding against? But here's the other thing, And
there's enough smoke with this tom anything that you go.
Let's look at Jerry Jones, one of the most famous
American businessmen in the most famous American businessman in the
history of sport, and just the way the power of
the NFL and just Jerry's marketing ability. I mean, he's

(09:15):
a really, really famous American deal maker. He's a born
deal maker. Well, Jerry's getting up there in age, and
maybe Dak Prescott will be ready in two three years.
But what if they go and Mike McCarthy looks at him, go,
I don't think he's ready right now to win the
Super Bowl, though I don't know why he'd think that,
because I do think you'd go, if our team's better,
we coach him up better, we could win the Super Bowl.

(09:37):
But I remember Jane Slater, who's also on Colin Coward's
podcast Network Boys and Girls, that she had interviewed Mike
McCarthy a couple days after he was hired and asked
him if he had reached out to Dak Prescott, and
he said no. And I remember kind of going viral
on Twitter and thinking, you know, I'm not gonna make

(09:57):
too much of it. He was busy, but then he
started thinking like that, pretty weird. Your most important employee
if you're the coach, is your quarterback. Even probably like
before I'm gonna figure out who's gonna be my linebacker, coach,
I'm probably calling my quarterback. Now, let me play a
little conspiracy theory. What if he already knew? Like, what
if this deal's already done? Like Tom Brady is notorious

(10:18):
for just getting deals done when you don't know right,
That's how his contracts always worked. He's never had the
dog and pony show like a Matt Ryan or an
Aaron Rodgers or Russell Wilson. That's not how Brady's operated.
If anything, there had always been rumors there's some under
the table type deals. Well, who's an under the table
type deal maker? Jerry Jones? What if this deal when

(10:39):
Mike McCarthy was hired, it was kind of like a
package deal. Now, I don't know the connection between Brady
and McCarthy, but I'm just saying, like, what if Tom
told him I wanted to come there, and then you
start factoring it in. I think Tom Brady should say
in New England now, and as I talked about last week,
I think he should kind of And this is like
why everyone's talking about Tom Brady on my other podcast.

(11:00):
As I said this, I think Tom Brady and this
is the power. Now. I get he's older. I think
he's the most famous NFL athlete ever. Now, part of
it is just the times, the Internet, a lot of
different variables here, but I think it's safe to say
that the most famous NFL player ever. Now. Granted he
is forty three years old, or will be forty three
next season, he's forty two. Right now, He's gonna be

(11:21):
a free agent, a true free agent. I mean he
can go wherever he wants. He can go any team
he wants. He can go. Now, obviously the other team
has to one. I'm like, he can't go to Philly
or you know some of these teams that already have
young quarterbacks in a contract. But if he wants to
go to the Raiders, he's going to the Raiders. He
wants to go to the Chargers, He's going to the Chargers. Hell,
he Bruce Arians will get into Philip Rivers. Everyone acts

(11:43):
like he wants Philip Rivers. If Tom Brady calls Bruce
arians says I'm in, He's going to Tampa Bay. If
Tom Brady calls Matt Rule and says I'm in, Cam
Newton's getting cut and he's in, Like that's the power
of Tom Brady. Most famous player ever. Still pretty good,
though diminished a little bit. He can pick and choose
where he wants to go. That's the level of player
we're talking about. But he's also given his level of fame,

(12:04):
Like he's gonna go to the Raiders, a team that's
made the playoffs once in eighteen years. He's gonna go
the Chargers, a team that has zero buzz in a
Los Angeles. You go, No, that doesn't make any sense.
You go, why don't you stay in New England? And
that's where I keep coming back for. But I hadn't
really been factoring in what if Jerry Jones doesn't want
to sign Dak. What if he wants to keep him

(12:25):
but at a just a crazy low rate, Like he'd
be cool with keeping him for like four years eighty million,
And he goes, Dak, I'll give you four years eighty million.
We'll guarantee every penny, but we're not paying you one
hundred and twenty million dollars, and he goes, what if
I can get Tom Brady for two years, fifty million,
guarantee forty of it and draft a guy and build
around Tom Brady. If you're Tom Brady, think about this.

(12:47):
You go, like I said, Chargers, the brand's bad. The
Raiders aren't a good enough team. The Dallas Cowboys are
the most famous brand in America. They're bigger than the Yankees,
They're bigger than the Lakers. It's the one brand in
the sportif ball, beside the Patriots that can match Brady's bogus.
Imagine if he went to Dallas and just one What
if you want a Super Bowl for the Dallas Cowboys?

(13:08):
Like I don't think again, I'm pretty confident Tom Brady's
the most famous NFL player ever. Imagine him going to
Dallas and winning. I also think back to Belichick. What
rap sheet said about you know the two of them,
You guys are both gonna get to kind of separate
make a decision. Well, I wouldn't trust Belichick. Belichick's like
that girl that you're like, you know, you know if

(13:29):
we've all dated. And it goes for guys too. When
you date someone and you don't really trust them, and
they tell you, you you know, they're doing some stuff. You're like,
is she really telling me the truth? I wouldn't. I
wouldn't trust Belichick as a single guy in this situation,
as a quarter quarterback list guy for two seconds, because one,
he's a born bargain shopper, so he's always looking for

(13:49):
bargains and he's always thinking outside the box, and if anything,
he's constantly sold on older players. I get what Robert
Craft's doing. I think his heart's in the right place
with him setting this up, But after hearing that audio,
I think they're kind of setting up to go there
separate ways, just because anytime that you get into we
start dating other people, you might not come back. All

(14:10):
it would take to get Jerry Jones to get Tom
Brady sitting down with them, assuming Jerry Jones doesn't want
Dak back, which again, every day that goes by, it's
starting to get a little weird, and definitely all it
takes for Belichick, maybe I could just sign this bridge
quarterback and draft this guy. Maybe I could trade for
this guy. We know Belichick things like that, and Tom
Brady knows he thinks like that that's why Tom Brady

(14:32):
started getting pissed at him treating him like crap. The
last couple of years. He's like, I've won six Super
Bowls with you, treat me like an equal. Belichick doesn't
treat guys like equals. You've read the Wickersham stories. He
doesn't even say hi to guys when he's walking down
the hallway. That's Bill Belichick. So I think Robert Kraft
tried to do the right thing. Ultimately did do the
right thing. But I'm starting to think with the Dak

(14:52):
Prescott situation, smoke fire. If you're Jerry Jones, your mortality,
I mean, you're not gonna live forever here. Can you
imagine in the history of the Dallas Cowboys signing Tom Brady,
is that the biggest move in the history of the
franchise beside like Super Bowl victories. I'm just saying player acquisition.
I mean, Dion Sanders, does Brady be bigger? Drafting Troy

(15:15):
Aikman was really big. There would be some of those
moves in like the late sixties early seventies that I
can't speak on too young, but in my lifetime, I
don't know if there'd be a bigger move. It would
be jaw dropping if he let Dak Prescott hit free
agency and signed Tom Brady. But I also think when
you just factor in the brand, it's not as outrageous

(15:35):
like I'm with most people. When Colin was talking about
I saw people tweeting about it. That's kind of crazy.
And then you start kind of putting the piece of
the puzzle. This stuff doesn't get thrown out randomly, And
I don't know. I think there's just there's some weird
stuff going on in this situation. And after hearing the
way Robert Craft set this up, I'm starting to believe

(15:56):
maybe there's a chance they go their several ways, get
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let's dive into philip Rivers. And it was announced Monday
morning that the Chargers and philip Rivers are mutually departing. Really,

(17:40):
that's a nice way of saying the Chargers didn't want
them back, right, that's a Chargers decision. They weren't gonna
franchise them. They're gonna move on. Now. I'm not saying
Philip Rivers wasn't ready to move on, but let's let's
call a spade a spade. The Chargers are over it,
and it's just when you respect a guy at Rivers' level,
you fake it right. I'll say this my own personal

(18:05):
view of Philip Rivers. I respect the hell out of
people that go to give everything they have to whatever
they do. I watched the documentary I think at the
end of last week on Taylor Swift. I've always you know,
I don't her music's whatever, but she clearly is pretty
crazy in terms of how hard she works, how much
he dedicates to her concerts. It's it's mind blowing how

(18:28):
big of a grinder she is. I mean, he's really
really impressive. And a ton of people, I mean just
there's countless there's hundreds of thousands of people that all
over America the world that dedicate themselves to their craft.
And the more talented you are at said Kraft, like,
if you're Taylor Swift, you know, you become really famous
and dominate whatever you're given. You know, professionists, when you're

(18:52):
a quarterback, there is just a level of talent that
you have to hold right just to make it to
the NFL. That that in itself, there only was sixty
four quarterbacks in the NFL. Maybe a little more when
he factor in. Some teams have third string guys, and
there's a couple, you know, practice squad guys. But for
the most part, there's you know, thirty two starting quarterbacks, right,

(19:16):
and how many of them are really good on a
given year, Probably no more than thirteen fourteen, Maybe some
years like fifteen, but let's even call it what it is.
Most given years like seven eight are really good and
on a different level. And for the majority of his career,
now he had a weird career because he'd have like
a three or four year stretch and then he'd takes

(19:38):
step backs and then he won the comeback Player of
the Year, and then his latter half of in his
mid to late thirties was really good. I think we
all respect his passion and he at first when he
was young, remember some of the stuff with Cutler, it
was weird. We didn't quite know him that well. And
as years went on and we got to know him.

(19:59):
Even if you're a Raider, Bronco or Chiefs fan, I
think you have to respect how much he gave a
shit and he really truly cared. And he physically is
not the most gifted guy. Right. He's big. I mean
I've walked by him. He's massive, he's six five, he's huge,
probably six five two forty. But he's slow, he can't
move at all, and his arm strength is probably slightly

(20:23):
below average. But when he was really on, he was
so accurate, he was so smart, truly a coach's son.
I mean in real life he was, and he just
loved football. And I think as time went on, the
nation kind of like, you know what, whatever you think
about him as a player or something. I think some
people and his fair thought he was a little overrated.
I thought he was probably properly rated when he was

(20:45):
viewed as like a top five or six player. He
has his position for a long period of time, you know,
Hall of Fame. We'll see how these last couple of
years play out. I think he's the haul of when
he was on. I go to war with that guy
any day of the week. I love watching and play,
and again I get back to I just loved how
much he cared. In a day and age when so

(21:07):
many pro athletes talk about their brand and a business,
all he talked about was just wanting to play. You know,
even at thirty eight years old this year, you see
a passion of a guy that looks like he's twelve thirteen,
who still truly enjoys playing the sport. And as money
has gotten so outrageous, I think we've lost that sometimes

(21:28):
in sports, and you know, especially in my seat, he
become so cynical, and I try not to. That's why
I still like why I enjoy Philip Rivers, because I
know he cares as much as I care. I've dedicated
my life talking about it. I hope the guys that
are playing it like, you know, playing it that much,
and they just don't now guys like Philip Rivers, Tom Brady,
there's a select few that do, and I and obviously

(21:50):
at other positions, but quarterbacks are the positions we talk
about the most, and I'm glad Philip Rivers were. Regardless
where this goes from here kind of came through our life.
You know. The NFL fell and pro sports in general
is a television show. That's what it is. And he
truly has been one of the special characters in that show.

(22:10):
For the last decade. He's played a big role. Now,
there's been ups, there's been downs. We forget. Now here's
from a football standpoint, here's the major question. I've been
in these free agent meetings. I know, is he done?
Is he shot? Does he have anything left? Because I
think if you washed them this year, and I watched
way too much charge of football this year, it crossed

(22:32):
your mind he was shot. Now, if I wanted to
counter it, and I was pro Philip Rivers in our
free agent meeting, or if I was a coach and
I was arguing my GM, I'd go His offensive line
was atrocious this year. They lost guys. Their backups were horrendous.
He is not a good enough athlete to be able
to avoid the rush when they can't block. And when

(22:52):
he was protected he was still pretty good. Now he
had moments where even when he was protected, he turned
the ball over life through twenty picks. Not Jamis thirty,
but twenties a lot. Now, if I was on the
pro Philip riverside, I'd go, Hey, guys in twenty eighteen
to one season removed. They went twelve and four. He

(23:13):
threw thirty two touchdowns twelve picks, and he had a
playoff victory on the road against the Ravens. That was
the playoff victory happened in twenty nineteen, So basically thirteen
months ago Philip Rivers won a playoff game and let
a team remember that that late in the season. I
think on Thursday Night beat the Chiefs at Arrowhead through

(23:35):
that game winning I think two point conversion to Mike Williams. Yeah,
I think it was a two point conversion. They went
for two instead of the tie. Like that wasn't that
long ago. So I think he's gonna be pretty polarizing
in the sense of the way people like me and
you fans like we talk about him. But I think internally,
like the Colts, they're gonna come after him. Tampa Bay,
I'm sure they're gonna come after him. I would imagine

(23:55):
Caroline would probably be interested. They're gonna be teams interested
depending on what happens with Tom Brady. What if you
don't think Belichick like you ain't gonna Jared Stidham's not
better than Philip Rivers if you just needed a one
year bridge. So I think Philip Rivers gonna have options
the money, maybe a one year, twenty million dollar deal
plus some incentives. But again, he's not that far away

(24:17):
removed from having a really good season. Now. I think
we're a little skewed the way we talk about age
with quarterbacks because of what Brady's doing, and even Breeze.
Most guys are like Eli Manning. Once you get to
thirty seven, thirty eight, it's over. You're not good enough.
It's just it ends. That's what the majority like. When
I was born into being a sports fan, that was normal.

(24:39):
You get thirty five, thirty six, it just comes to
an end. You have a fourteen fifteen year career. Now,
the changing in technology, the changing and training, the changing
in your eating habits. He hasn't really been an injury
plague player right. One of his things he hangs has
hat on is how long he's been the starting quarterback
and how many straight starts he's made for the chart,

(25:00):
plus when you factor in the rules of not being
able to hit the quarterback, plus his size, he's just
physically he's just such a big dude that I think
you might get lightning in a bottle. And back to
what I opened this up. As they didn't mutually depart,
the Chargers moved on and Philip Rivers a prideful dude.
So if someone moves on from you. I've been fired

(25:22):
a couple of times, it wakes you up. Now I don't.
I'm not saying Philip Rivers didn't try as hard last year,
but we're all humans. Sometimes you just need a kick
in the ass to get refocused. This team stopped believing
in me, and I've been kind of their most famous
player since LT the last decade, helped them make the
playoffs countless times, win a bunch of games, be nationally relevant.

(25:47):
Probably him or Dan Foul's best quarterback in the history
of the franchise. I again, Dan Fouls a little before
my time. I'd have to do some number research, but
I would say that Philip Rivers. If I was a
betting man, I would lean he has one good season
left in him. You know, at thirty eight, thirty nine
years old. And whether it's the Colts, whether it's Tampa,

(26:08):
you know, a team like that, Definitely, the Colts makes sense,
right Frank coach him with the Chargers. They know each other.
As reading Albert Brewer, he says they have a good relationship.
They have a really good offensive line. They need to
add some playmakers for him, though they can add some playmakers.
He knows the scheme could be a really easy transition.
He's much better than Jacoby. It's worth the risk. Tampa.

(26:30):
I think it's a little tougher though obviously it seems
from reading all the reports Arians would rather have Rivers
than Jamis. You could make the argument if you could
just cut Jamis's picks in half, he is a more
explosive thrower of the football. Rivers at this point is
not an explosive thrower at the football, not that he
ever really was, but pushing the ball downfield. Arm strength

(26:52):
is not really his thing. The number one thing for
Rivers though, for me, got to play in the right climate,
not a cold weather quarterback, not with his arm strength.
That's why the Colts in a dome ton of sense,
Tampa in the heat ton of sense. Those are the
two teams to me that make the most sense and
at this and the sleeper would be Gruden because Gruden,

(27:12):
I've watched his press conferences. He's been with the Raiders.
He loves Philip Rivers. Think about Philip Rivers and John
Gruden kind of the same guy. I tweeted something out
on Monday. Get ready when Philip Rivers retires. Beside Troy
Aikman and Tony Romo, every analyst in the NFL will
be on notice because their networks will hire Philip Rivers

(27:34):
over every single one of those guys. He can replace
them all. Just go YouTube some of his press conferences.
He is a unique personality, you know who. He reminds
me of a little bit John Madden, the player version
of John Madden. He's like a louder version of Romo.
Romo's a little kind of happier goal Like this guy's happy,
but there's just some screams the Rivers that are just boom. Honestly,

(27:59):
he reminds me a lot of John Madden. I think
he's the player version of John Madden. I think he
will have networks lined up around the block to, you know,
make him one of their main guys on the NFL
coverage Monday Night Football, Sunday Night Football. I think he
could do it all if he so chooses to. Now
he's been adamant he's gonna coach high school football. Was

(28:20):
kid who's I think a fifth grader, but he still
has a couple of years to play. And if I
was a betting man, I'd say the Colts and Tampa
is also a unique situation. Their offensive lines a little
sketch yer, though it got better as the season went on.
And like I said, there is the risk that's just
like he's Eli Manning and it's over, and that would

(28:41):
be a big blow. If you're the Colts or you're
Tampa and you get him and it's over, that's very possible.
We're dealing with humans here. We're dealing with an older
player that has shown signs of decline, So there's risk there.
I think if I was in the situation of those teams,
I'd probably take the risk because the reward is high.
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(30:27):
Administration for Children and Families, and the Act Council. Okay,
let's dive into the XFL. Anytime you start anything with
legitimate financial backing, you have a huge leg up. Now
that doesn't mean whatever you're gonna do is going to
be successful, but it's a game changer. If I was

(30:49):
worth one hundred million dollars, I could run a media
company a lot differently than I do, being worth the
pennies that I'm worth right now out of my home office,
which has been very lucrative and it's been fun and
it's been growing every year, but it's not easy. I
don't have if someone bank roll on me. Just like

(31:11):
look at Barstool. When Barstool, I honestly didn't know much
about them. I had friends that consume their stuff. When
I found out about them is when the Sharon Group
you know, bought gave him fifty million dollars or whatever,
bought half of it. Kind of put them on the
map nationally to people that didn't follow them, and they
never look back since they just got bought again by

(31:33):
pen who I actually bought a bunch of stock in
just because I think it's gonna work. I mean, I
don't see how it doesn't with the way gambling's changed,
but it's a game changer when you have financial backing. Now,
if Barstool didn't have a solid foundation and a brand,
I could invest a lot of startups get VC money
all the time and fail. So you do have to

(31:55):
know what you're doing when you get funded, either from
the jump or after you've run a company. Right. Well,
the XFL has tried this before, basically what twenty years ago,
and failed. Vince probably didn't really know what he was
doing then. Well, twenty years later, he's had a lot
of time to think about it, he's made a boatload

(32:15):
of more cash, and now he's in a position where
I'm a big believer and I talk about all the time,
you're better from your past experiences because you know you
learn more from failure than you do from success. And
you've just seen some other leagues, the UFL, the AF
come and go. Since you've had your chance, well this
time around. To me, his number one attribute beside the cash,

(32:39):
why the XFL has a legitimate chance is because of
the distribution channels. The reason three and Out has his
chance to succeed and has succeeded from the jump was
because of a guy named Colin Coward. He has this
thing called a distribution channel and a lot of you
guys listening to me through his podcast feed. That is

(33:03):
a very very powerful distribution channel. If I just started
this from scratch, maybe I could have figured it out,
and I probably would have figured out, but there would
be nowhere near as many people listening. Maybe one day
I could have got there, it would have taken me
a long time, or unless someone came along and funded me.
Well they got They're on ABC and Fox in ESPN,

(33:27):
like three point three million people watched them, and I'll
be honest, I thought the football was kind of boring.
I need some stars. I'm kind of like the casual
fan when it comes to stuff like this. You need
to kind of get me going. I'm not coming to
the XFL to watch you run power. You know, I've

(33:47):
seen all these guys play. That's why I like college football.
Like this doesn't sniff college football now, just given the
time a year, there's nothing else to watch. But I'm
not like when I went to Pebble Beach on Saturday.
I didn't care about watching the x and the only
reason I watched the XFL a little bit on Sunday
one because a lot of people were tweeting at me
and I talked about football for a living. But two,
I could have easily talked about it without watching it,

(34:09):
But mainly because the golf the Pebble Beach Tournament when
I got home wasn't blowout, so I flipped it on
and there was literally nothing else on. But I do
know this because I follow ratings and I talk about
the stuff for a living. The NBA does not get
three point three million people to watch any of their
games during the regular season. The only game they got
close was a Christmas Day game. That's the equivalent to

(34:30):
like the NFL's Thanksgiving Day game, and that's not good.
So the XFL got a lot of people to watch
it worked. My issue more is like the best player.
My takeaway after just looking at the rosters watching a
bunch of highlights I watched a decent amount on Sundays
had the game in the background. Marquette King, the punter,

(34:51):
former Raider and Bronco punter, is the best player in
the league now he's a legitimate NFL player. The reason
he wasn't in the NFL is because he became kind
of a headache. And you can't be a headache if
you're a kicker or punter. But he is. I don't
even know if there's a close second in the league
that's on his level. Like the other guy that I
saw that was like, WHOA, this guy's pretty good relative
of the rest of the company, Cardale Jones, shotgun who

(35:13):
could barely hang on to an NFL career. So the
talent in the league is a lot of fringe guys.
Now those guys are gonna get opportunities to be on
practice squads maybe when guys get hurt throughout the year,
So it's gonna be a good experience for them. But
to consistently hold on the people's viewership, I'm gonna need
some stardom because we like football. But a part of
the reason we like football one on Saturdays, because the

(35:35):
SEC and the Big Ten and the Big twelve are
enormous brands. It's easy to watch Oklahoma or LSU or
Georgia or Ohiouse Date or Michigan or I was gonna
say USC football. That's not true, but you know what
I'm saying, Like these guys become stars in our life.
Like we've been watching Trevor Lawrence going in next year
for two years, Justin Fields, We've been hearing about him
for a while, Justin Herbert, a lot of hype. Tah,

(35:55):
we know about these guys. The XFL is not going
to have that. And then the NFL's two things. Obviously,
gambling has become a huge tssue When I see the
lines on these games, and I love to gamble, how
would I know who to gamble on? How would I
have any clue? Like the Vipers playing the the whatever,
I don't know, So that that's going to be a challenge.

(36:15):
I'm not trying to diminish because it's very impressive where
they started. I'm driving home on Sunday listening to one
of the games they're simulcasting on Fox Sports Radio. It's
Kevin Burkhard. So from Kevin Burkhard to Steve Levy to
McElroy to Pat McAfee, like they got stars calling the games,
and I just don't know. Like Pep Hamilton, he's just
kind of a He's a man coach. He couldn't be

(36:36):
any more boring. I want more, how mummies throw the ball,
spread it out, you need to throw. I'm not coming
to your league to run it or to watch you
run it. To run power and sweeps, throw bombs, spread
it out and throw the football. And when your best
players upon her and they're I'm not blaming them for that,
like they're they're paying fifty grand a player they get,

(36:57):
I think Landry Jones, who again is not a very
good player. They gave two hundred thousand dollar signing bonus too,
So that's just it's gonna be a challenge. Like their
next step is gonna be you get Antonio Brown or
Dez Bryan in the league. John middlecoff ain't missing a
snap of that game. Yeah, I just went third person,
but I was trying to be funny. You get Antonio Brown,
and I honestly, if I'm Antonio Brown, I think about

(37:19):
playing in this league at least for a couple of games,
because right now you're out of sight, out of mind
for all the coaches and the owners, and they just
think you're a full on slap. The quickest way for
you to get forgotten about being a slap, even though
if you haven't changed being a slap go viral, make
some place score three touchdowns in the game. And because
at the end of the day, we know teams don't
morally care about anything that's the media, the fans don't either,

(37:41):
because if you win, people show up. If Antonio Brown
played in one of these games and back to back
weeks had like four combined touchdowns and had a play
where he made all ten guys miss, you get some eyeballs,
consistent eyeballs people. I'd build my day around watching Antonio Brown,
but I'm not building my day around Marquette King. I
talk about football for a living because you'd rather listen

(38:03):
to me talk about Tom brady'r Philip Rivers. Where they're
gonna go, like the XFL is cool week one, and
I think they're gonna be in good spots, and just
in terms of they're gonna be on the major channels,
so their numbers gonna be high. The NBA's in the tank,
in the absolute tank, so they might be doing bigger
numbers in the NBA. That's not saying much right now.
I just they're gonna have to take some strides. Maybe
they get some crossover with the league, like for example,

(38:26):
Nick Mullins the backup for the forty nine ers. They
give him to one of the teams. Uh sud Fell
the backup for the Eagles. They're just the first couple
of backups. Brett Hunley, you know, just random backup, young
backups that are Josh Rosen, you get some of those
guys in the league. Now we're talking, and again I
understand you can't you can't run before you walk, so

(38:47):
it's gonna take some time. They got off to a
great start. But to just make this thing interesting. Your
best player in the league can't be the punter. But
Vis McMahon's a great American businessman. He's a billionaire, so
money won't be the issue. Like the af their distribution
channels are Top nine. They don't they can't get any better.
You're on ABC and Fox. It's as good as it gets.
So they get They got the hard parts out of

(39:09):
the way. Now you could argue the hardest part is
just get the store players. It's that's gonna be difficult.
But I will say it was a solid start and
a lot of people tweeting, tweeting about the league, but
tweeting me about it, So I think they have a
lot of room for growth and in a pretty good place,
unlike you know the last several leagues that flamed out

(39:30):
very very quickly. Okay, let's dive into the Purge. And
that's just my name for it, because every once in a
a while, if I'm flipping channels and I see on
HBO or Showtime or one of those channels, and it's
the Purge, and the Purge that movie is like, you know,
the one night a year when you're just allowed to
kill everyone. It's it's a little different, but you see

(39:51):
it a lot. In baseball, the reason the Red Sox
got rid of Mookie Beths was one they didn't think
they could resign him after this season. In two finance,
they don't have any flexibility. They're stuck on all these
terrible contracts. One of the reasons the Dodgers didn't have
to give up that much for Mookie Betts was because
they took basically a fifty million dollar tacks. David Price

(40:12):
isn't good anymore and he's owed like ninety five million
dollars and Dodgers like, yeah, we'll pay half of it,
so we only have to give you one sweet player.
It's like whatever, We'll pay that basically the equivalent of
attacks to get this player. The Giants, who are going
to be the Sandrasco Giants, maybe one of the worst
teams in baseball, have no flexibility because their entire starting
lineup is overpaid. They're terrible, but they're all making a

(40:34):
ton of money. And unlike football, the Sandrasco Giants, if
they want to cut Brandon Crawford or Brandon Belt or
Buster Posey, I mean, all these guys just kind of
over the hill, they can't. They'd have to buy them
out and literally pay every penny for them to go away.
And the NBA's definitely the same thing, but it's a
smaller amount of players that make a lot of money
and you're just stuck to their contracts. You can buy

(40:56):
them out, but there is no incentive for the player
or the agent to ever really take lass, especially if
there's multiple years on the deal. If you owe me
twenty five million dollars over two years, it doesn't behoove
me to take like I'll give you. You just pay
me twelve and let me go be a free agent.
Now I'm getting every penny because eventually, if you're gonna
buy me out, you will buy me out and I'm
gonna get about ninety nine percent of that money. Or

(41:18):
in football, on a given year, on a fifty three
man roster, there are probably truly five or six players
who are safe, obviously the big money quarterbacks. Then you're
three or four core players. Everyone else could be cut
at a moment's notice. So when you look around, like
it's what makes football free agency every year so cool?

(41:40):
Like you hear this year in the NBA, this is
an awful NBA free agency crop. Next year is the
big year. Guys like Janis Antetokoupo will hit free agency.
In the NFL, every year new guys hit free agency.
Why because we have this thing called cap casualties. Well,
if your team doesn't have any cap room, you could

(42:03):
make thirty million dollars by cutting three players in the
blink of an eye. And Albert Breerd is MMQB today
road about it. The amount of name from Xavier Rhodes
to Jimmy Graham, to Cameron brad to just guys all
over Sammy Watkins that if you want, if the Chiefs
want to gain fifteen million dollars in cap space, all

(42:23):
they gotta do is say, Sammy, see you we don't
really any more money. If the Minnesota Vikings won a game,
but almost thirteen million dollars in cap space, all they
say is Xavier Rhodes, who wasn't good next year or
last year, you probably will be cut audios. That's the
way it works, and honestly, it's a big reason all
those guys are gonna get jobs. Like Xavier Rhodes won't

(42:46):
make thirteen million dollars next year, but he'll get a
chance to resurrect his career. Cameron brad who is a
good player. You just can't pay everybody you already. That's
why you drafted Oj Howards, why you got Mike Evans,
why you got Chris Godwhen you get might have to
either pay Jamis or bringing Philip Rivers like you cut guys,
and that constantly creates space. I think that's a big
reason for the health of the NFL. One it siphons

(43:09):
a lot of players, like, for example, Sammy Watkins. If
the Chiefs aren't able to figure something out where I
would imagine they want to get his number closer to
like five or six million. But if you're Sammy Watkins,
my advice and listen, I'm pro Chiefs. I want Andy
and Veach to keep them. I like watching him with them.
But the right business move would be for Sammy either

(43:29):
pay me all my money or cutting me, because if
I get cut, there are a ton of teams, the Eagles,
the Colts, the Raiders that need wide receiver help. And
like Sammy, who got overpaid the first time with Kansas City,
he would get overpaid again. So it's it behooves a
lot of like Xavier Rhodes, like, yeah, he's had a
bad year. I think there would be teams. A lot
of teams run that Seattle style defense. Maybe they'd take

(43:52):
like an incentive lace deal on a guy like that.
He could have a bounce back season. Jimmy Grahant's probably
to Olivier Vernon, like he's gonna get cut and he's
gonna get an opportunity a lot of different places. Now
he won't make what he's been making, but he's gonna
get a job immediately. So you get all this turnover
with players on top of the Bradies and the Rivers
and the guys that actually hit free agency. We'll see
if Amari does and the purge the cap cuts make

(44:16):
the league like this extra little group of players that
in basketball and baseball, you're either a free agent or
you not. In baseball, when they dfa a guy, the
majority of the time, unless you're a complete baseball nerd,
you don't know who the guys are because they're usually
random players. Elite players rarely get d fade and it's
usually at the end of their contract. Football, it happens

(44:38):
all the time, like when you sign a five or
six year deal when you finally hit free agency, so
you're drafting the second round, you play three really good years,
your team extends you so that fourth year, your fifth year,
buy your six or seventh year. Usually that guaranteed's money
is gone. And if you're playing bad, or I gotta
pay other players, or just my situation changes, I can

(44:58):
just relieve you of your duties, cut you and open
up a lot of cap space. And it's just for
That's why the free agency lists we always look at
him getting into this year, you know, obviously Brady Amari,
Jenevion Clowney, Eric Armstead. As we know every year, like
a couple of those guys will be franchised, a couple
of them will resign. Usually the top free agents don't

(45:21):
out Now this year kind of feels a little different,
like maybe Eric Arms said they let him hit free agency.
Maybe Jadeveon Clowney Walks. I don't know. Maybe Tom Brady
doesn't leave, goes to the Cowboys or the Cowboys. But
usually some of the best free agents are guys in
like their late twenties that are cut. How did the
Niners get Richard Sherman. He was hurt, he got cut.
Think about that, like, that's how they acquired him, right,

(45:44):
That's that's how the guy hit free agency. He was cut.
So you get a lot of guys Xavier Rose a
couple years ago, it was like an all pro level player.
Sammy Watkins is unique because he's the guy that keeps
hitting free agency. He's not like a star player. He's
never gonna be your number one wide receiver, but on
a really good team, he could be your fringe number two.

(46:04):
If you've got a really good tight end, your third option,
you're in pretty good shape. Well, there's so much free
agency money, there aren't that many players to sign, especially
because all the top free agents go back. Guys like
Sammy Watkins and Cameron Bright. They get overpaid, and maybe
you could take a one year flyer on Olivier Vernon.
That's how those guys kind of get acquired. So the
cap casualties, we really start feeling it around February or

(46:28):
excuse me, around the combine, which in the end of February,
because teams they go to these players agents and they say, listen,
your cap hit right now is fifteen million. I'm just
gonna use it, even you know it's not it's an
odd number, but just a flat number. Fifteen million. We
think you're worth. Six will incentivize it. So if you

(46:50):
play at the level that we thought you were a
couple of years ago, you can get to eleven, but
we want the cap number to be six instead of fifteen. Now,
if the guy really likes it and he's comfortable and
he feels good, all stay. But a lot of guys
they say no because they know if they hit free agency,
even if they are six or seven million dollar player
at that point. The great part about free agencies, there
are gonna be multiple teams coming after you because every year,

(47:11):
especially these last three or four years, with the cap
getting so high, so many teams have a lot of cash,
and all it takes is two teams to be bidden
for your services. Think about Jeriic McKinnon a couple of
years ago. The Niners are gonna cut him, and they're
still gonna owe him some dead cap money, like he's
not going to be a zero on their cap, even
though he's never played a snap for him simply because
at the time when they signed him, the Jets in

(47:32):
Tampa Bay really wanted him then and Kyle was like mandatory,
they had to have him, and then he got unlucky
towards ACL and he's never played a snap. So you
want to hit. If I'm any of these guys, they
ask you to take pay cuts and you have a
decent film out there, say no, Surrey, let me hit
free agency. Get that get get that market and the

(47:53):
supply and demand, and let the demand rise because teams
are gonna come after you. And we're live here outside
the Perez family home, just waiting for the and there
they go, almost on time. This morning. Mom is coming
out the front door strong with a double armed kid
carry looks like dad has the bags. Daughter is bringing
up the rear. Oh but the diaper bag wasn't closed.

(48:15):
Diapers and toys are everywhere. Ooh, but mom has just
nailed the perfect car seat buckle for the toddler, and
now the eldest daughter, who looks to be about nine
or ten, has secured herself in the booster seat. Dad
zips the bag clothes and they're off. Ah, but looks
like Mom doesn't realize her coffee cup is still on
the roof of the car, and there it goes. Oh,

(48:39):
that's a shame. That mug was a fan favorite. Don't
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AD Council. What grows in the forest trees? Sure no.

(49:01):
What else grows in the forest, Our imagination, our sense
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Find a forest near you and start exploring. I Discover

(49:22):
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Brought to you by the ad Council. Welcome Mile in
the shoes. Okay, let's banging out a middlecoff mailbag questions
and get you on your guys. Marry Way, love your show,

(50:05):
my man, appreciate it. What is going to happen with
Jamis Winston and what do you personally think of his future?
That's a hell of a question, it really is. It
honestly might be the toughest question, Like to me, Philip Rivers,
It's not that tough a question. It's worth the risk.
Jamis is just a great unknown. Thirty interceptions, I think,

(50:26):
seven pick sixes. I get he's explosive and hit some
games where he threw four and five touchdowns, but that
is insanity like that. We're not talking either about a
rookie or second year player. That was his fifth year
in the NFL, and think of who he was playing with,
an elite offensive coach and elite playmakers outside. I mean,

(50:47):
if Chris Godwin is your number two wide receiver, I
didn't know that much about him coming into the season,
but just being a daily fantasy guy, you know fast
quick you're like, jeez, you go wow, these two guys,
the size and the speed that they have to go
along with their tight ends and just arians the mind.

(51:09):
I would lean to say James has kind of shown
you who he is. A terrible decision maker off the field,
I said over and over. Now I enjoyed watching him
just because it was such a roller coaster ride. But
to me, the moment the Uber incident happens, I can't
take you. Seriously, you get into an incident with an

(51:30):
uber driver when you're a famous guy. How's that? How
does that happen? And then your decision making on the
field is just horrendous. Thirty picks, thirty interceptions, the amount
of pick sixes that he threw wasn't was just I mean,
it's unprecedented. So I would lean he's just kind of
is what he is. He's like a poor man's version

(51:51):
of Cutler. Now, if I'd doing a pie chart, I
would go seventy percent. He's just gonna be a roller
coaster ride to what he is. Maybe there's a twenty
percent chance he gets he gets a lot better, like
he cuts the turnovers out. Maybe something clicks, but what
clicked this year? I mean he was horrendous turning the

(52:11):
ball over, and then a ten percent chance he just
keeps getting worse, like he's just an all time interception thrower,
which honestly, if you if that was your stance, I
wouldn't argue against you. So I lean he just he
is what he is. This is maybe not thirty picks again,
but he's a huge turnover machine. He has been his
whole life. Remember he was like that in at Florida

(52:35):
State and we tried to make and I made excuses
for him. I liked him coming out. I still think
he's a really talented player. If he was doing what
he was doing with half the interceptions, I'd like him.
But you throw that many picks, I can't trust you.
And in the margins in the NFL, the difference between
a seven win team and an eleven win team or
like ten plays, and if five of those plays or interceptions.

(52:59):
The number one thing that Scroogey in the NFL's turnovers
and the turnover margin. Well, how can you compete when
your quarterbacks thrown that many picks? Yo? Yo, Yo, Denver
fan here, I'm not bummed out about the firing of Scandelllo.
I don't know how to say that guy's name. It's
a hard name to say, scan Jarrello. It's an Italian name.

(53:19):
But feel like the production of Pat Shermer as an
OC is kind of hard to gauge. It seems like
the only time he's ever called plays was with Minnesota
for one year. Thoughts, Yeah, if we're basing it on
is one year in Minnesota. It was unreal like the
year that they made at the NFC Championship game, and
he made case Keenum look like Montana Light. So if
you get that Pat Shermer, you're in good shape. The

(53:41):
Pat Shermer I saw the last couple of years was
a laughing stock, was a joke. Was a guy completely
over his head. Now, some guys are meant to be
OC's Now. I don't think you're getting like Kyle Shanahan
or you know, I'm trying to think of some other
dynamic offensive coordinator. That's not a head coach. I mean,
Kyle is a head coach. But before that, like how

(54:01):
was a really good offensive coordinator. You know, Greg Roman
is pretty dynamic. Right, Arians and Left which know what
they're doing. I know Arian's head coach. I just broke
my own rule. But I just I don't know. I'm
not a Pat Schermer guy. I've met him a couple
of times. He's a nice guy. People that I know
that know him, I know he's a coach read guy.
They really like him. I just don't know if he's

(54:23):
quite dynamic enough for me now. Vic Fangio, I was
reading the reason he fired that guy was Fangio went
through him throughout the season and kept telling him to
take deep shots. Most offensive coordinators, I know, if the
head coach is telling them take deep shots, why wouldn't
you just take deep shots? And then what I was
reading is he didn't want to get Drew Lock killed.

(54:44):
I didn't Drew Lock only started like the last five games.
I don't quite understand it. So maybe it it can't be.
It can't be a downgrade. There's gonna be some pressure though,
because the hype right on Drew lock coming out of
those last month of the season are pretty high. I'm
high on the guy. He looked good. Now it's gonna

(55:04):
be the defense should get better under Fangio. That their standing.
They haven't made the playoffs now in three straight years.
We're not talking about the Jacksonville Jaguars here, We're talking
about the Denver Broncos. They're used to going to the
playoffs a lot, so it's gonna be. It's gonna have
a playoff or bus type feel. Clearly Fangio and Elway
like it. And Drew Locke, if you can keep getting proving,
maybe it isn't upgrade three and now talk XFL outlook sustainability, growth,

(55:29):
expansion compared to the NFL as an entertainment product. Personal
initial thoughts, solid crowds, inclusion of Vegas game lines and totals.
See my knock on that is what does that even mean?
Like I don't know who I'm watching, so you can
give me the lines Like in theory, that's cool. Like
when I say, hey, Michigan's playing Alabama, it's a ten
point line, Like we can gauge that. Hey, the Jaguars

(55:52):
are playing the Colts, it's a four point line. We
understand that the Vipers are playing the Bruskies. What does
that mean? Talent man? I agree, I'm a talent whore.
So that's that's what kind of bothered me. It's just
not enough talent. Like I like watching Mookie Bets, I
like watching Tiger Woods, I like watching Lebron James. I

(56:12):
like watching pro sports, and I like watching college too.
But I'm watching Duke, I'm watching I'm watching Zion, I'm
watching Trevor Lawrence, Joe Burrow. I'm not watching, you know,
Boise State. If they don't have some star NFL player,
I'm just not And I know I see the ratings.
Neither of you now this rated because we do love football,

(56:34):
and there's there's nothing else for us to watch right now.
You know, we don't want we don't consume basketball. There's
no baseball yet, there's just nothing to watch. The listen
live Booth reviews. Audio discussion between the booth and the
referee in the field was cool. I would agree, the
Xbox controller was sweet. I agree with most of what
you said. I hit on it earlier that the talent

(56:55):
man is gonna be I think you need to get
a couple like renegade players. You know, you need to
find a way to get Dez or Antonio or just
something like that. Alden Smith, you say Alden Smith starting
for I think Saint Louis should have named their team
the Bruskies. I don't even know what their team is
because it Listen. I'm not crushing any of the team names.

(57:16):
It's very, very difficult to find a team name, right.
It's hard to find a sweet branding name. There's a
huge amount of luck into it. But the Saint Louis
Bruskies would have been a sweet name. So yeah, those
are my kind of initial thoughts there. You can't dispute
the amount of the funding and the broadcast partners, like

(57:37):
I said, or high level enjoy Listen. Do you think
Patrick Willis will make the NFL Hall of Fame? Yeah,
I mean once Bill Cowers are getting in and some
of the guys they're litting in. I think Patrick Willis
was a Hall of Fame caliber player. I think he's
a five time All Pro and a seven time Pro Bowler.
Maybe it's five and six, but you're five time first

(57:57):
team All Pro. You're the best linebacker in the league.
Basically from the moment he stepped on the football field
in two thousand and seven, when I think it was
an All pros a rookie. For the next five or
six years, he was the best middle linebacker in the league.
Ray Lewis was older. Rlocker was right there, but I
mean I would take Peak Willis over Peak Irlocker and
Irlockers in the NFL Hall of Fame. Now Urlocker played

(58:18):
longer at a higher level. Willis's career just ended fast.
Now he didn't just randomly quit like his foot was
messed up. He couldn't really walk and people forget I
watched it. His last year for San Francisco wasn't great.
He couldn't move very well. And that's the one thing
that Patrick Willis just to hang his hat on. He
could move, He could really play in space. He was
like a modern day linebacker. But he was two fifty

(58:39):
and he was tall. I mean, he was a freak.
I'm telling you as just a as a sucker for
sweet players going out to Harbaugh's practice, Like the year
I got fired and went into the media. Harbaugh had
like an NFC championship team, and I remember going from
the Eagles to walking out to the Niners practice and
their defense obviously either front with Willis or excuse me,

(59:02):
Justin Smith, Alden Ray McDonald, bad guy, sweet player, uh
and and Ahmad Brooks. But then when you watched fifty
two and what numbers Bowman fifty three, those two, those
two guys walked out, they looked like, I don't know,
seal Team six of the NFL. Those two guys were killers.

(59:25):
They were my favorite NFL linebacking tandem of all time.
Bowman's career peak was a lot shorter. Both those two
guys in their peak are as good of middle linebackers
that have ever played. He just in there, even though
the peak was short. At their peak, they were elite,
and Willis was probably a little more than elite than Bowman,
though Bowman's like twenty twelve and twenty and thirteen dominant

(59:49):
dominant player. So yeah, I hope he makes it. Love
those two guys. Appreciate everyone listening. I feel like my
voice is kind of going here at the end of
I've given you all, I got left it all. I'm
like Rivers, I left it all in the micou into
the program, so you guys can press play. Thanks for listening,
Enjoy the week, and uh, you know this is the
February is a cool time for football, just because we're

(01:00:11):
getting a lot of guys cut. We're gonna have a
lot of free agent buzz, a lot of a lot
of rumors. I love a good rumor, so get ready
and I'll keep talking to do a mic with my opinions.
So tell your friends to listen to this podcast. See
you get right to the romance and find the way

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