3 and Out - Kyler Murray WINS Vikings QB1 job over J.J. McCarthy + What’s Next for Tony Romo?

In this episode, John reacts to the news that Kyler Murray has been named the starting QB over J.J. McCarthy in Vikings training camp. Next, John talks about what's next for McCarthy, with potential trade destinations on the horizon. Later, John reacts to news and injury updates around the NFL. John wraps up with a Middlekauff Mailbag where he answers all of your questions. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume What is going on by people John Middlecoff
three OW podcast. Hopefully you are doing well wherever you
may be enjoying life. And obviously we had a big

(00:25):
story happened on Tuesday when it came to a quarterback
situation that we've been talking for a while about on
this show, which we will dive into. And it looks
like Tony Romo's job is in serious jeopardy. So we'll
fly around the league, we'll do some mailback questions and yeah,
we'll just we'll have a fun podcast talking quarterbacks on

(00:46):
and off the field. But you guys know the drill.
If you listen on Collins Feed, make sure you subscribe,
check it out on Netflix, hit the alert. You will
never miss a show. And let's not waste any time.
Let's just dive in and Kevin o'cott wall schefter put
it out in. Two minutes later, Kevin O'Connell told the
team that Kyler Murray. On August eleventh, preseason games have

(01:07):
not even began, they already named a starting quarterback. Kyler
Murray wins the job and listen, I'm not going to
sit up here and take a victory lap. I have
taken Minnesota Vikings have a big fan base. A lot
of you guys that are big JJ McCarthy fans or

(01:29):
were rooting for this to work out, have been vocal
right to me specifically. I mean, I've had some negative
dms about what a hater I am, and I've looked
at this simply from an unemotional view. We have precedents
set in recent years of very similar situations, veteran teams

(01:53):
with first round quarterbacks that going into year three, Trey
Lance was on the Dallas Cowboys, Anthony Richson was the backup,
and now JJ McCarthy is the backup. And I think
when you look at this situation one, for me, it
was an easy call the moment Kyler Murray showed up.
I never judged teams on words. I judged them by

(02:16):
their actions. Right coaches during OTAs during training camp, they
can say whatever they want. I judge them by what
they do on the field. I judged them last year.
It's like, do you think Kevin O'Connell likes JJ McCarthy, Well,
do you remember when they had Carson Wentz on the
field week after week when his arm was falling off

(02:38):
and they kept saying, you know, JJ McCarthy. He's got
an ankle hamsterring, you know, he's kind of and he's
there on the sideline and Carson Wentz is like, if
it was a video game, would have been I don't know,
well under fifty percent. And he's still out there and
it was basically up until he got broken in half.
They're like, we gotta put JJ McCarthy back in the game.

(03:01):
That told me everything I needed to know. And the
moment Kyler Murray showed up that they can say it
was an open competition. And I understand a lot of
people know these guys. I've never met Kevin O'Connell in
my life. As I said, within the last couple of weeks,
I got to put on a text thread with their
new GM never texted me back. Don't know the guy either.

(03:22):
I didn't have any inside information on this. I've just
been doing this for a while. I have a pretty
good idea of the way things are trending. And then
this notion one big thing that has changed, and Coward's
been on this for a while that like most quarterbacks
in this kind of modern day era of a quarterback
friendly league where you can't get hit, where the rules

(03:46):
are on your side well by Thanksgiving your second year.
If a team isn't feeling pretty confident in you, your
job is in major jeopardy. This is not Warren Buffett
and Charlie Munger. They're not looking for ten and twenty
year horizons. This is not you and I investing in
the SpaceX thinking about what is this stock gonna look

(04:07):
like in two thousand and thirty five. The Minnesota Vikings
are trying to win games. In September and October of
twenty twenty six, they are living in the present. And
when training camp starts and you're going into your third
year as a starting quarterback, your third year, I guess
it would only been a second year technically, because he
was injured his first year. Your third year in the system,

(04:30):
your understanding and knowledge of your head coach, who's also
your coordinator. You should know the way he thinks about
offense like the back of his hand. It should be
a major advantage for anyone they bring in to compete
against you. And let's face it, you should have established
yourself by that point in time where they don't need

(04:50):
to think about bringing other people to compete with you
for the gig. The moment they are doing that, you
could argue it's over before or it even starts. And
you know, when you look at this situation young quarterbacks,
let's use for Nando Mendoza. There's a chance if things

(05:11):
go well with the Raiders and they're competing to be
a five hundred club. The coach has already stated, in
a perfect world, a rookie quarterback doesn't have to play,
And in a perfect world, I think they would love
for Cousins to just be functional and Mendoza just sits
the entire year Patrick Mahome style, Well, then next year

(05:32):
they would make him the starter. And if next year
he looked completely overwhelmed, we would have a lot of
question marks going into year three and they would probably
bring in some competition and it would be up for debate.
But most of the good quarterbacks throughout the league, if
you just look at the last ten years, the crew

(05:52):
of guys, obviously the Mahomes, the Josh Allens, the Lamar Jackson's,
the Herbert's, the Burrows. By the end of year two
you're feeling really good. Some of those guys, you're going,
did we just hit the lottery? But even when you
look at the next here of guys, Rock Purdy, Jared Goff,
Dak Prescott. Right, you feel, Jalen hurts like you're pretty

(06:14):
confident moving forward that there aren't question marks going into
year three. The timeline way back in the day, twenty
thirty forty years ago, when the financial makeup of the
league was dramatically different. Social media and we just lived
in a slower society, urgency, the Internet didn't exist. It

(06:38):
was a completely different world. You know. I'm not trying
to be nostalgic about the nineties. Sometimes I miss it,
but it operated at a slower pace. It just simply
did all of society did. We were less impatient. I
don't care what you did. There are a lot of
different variables because of that, but I don't care what

(06:59):
you do. We live in a different world now we
live in, especially the NFL, in a timeline that has
been cut in half. And JJ McCarthy, who listen, I'm
not trying to pretend like I didn't think he'd be
a good player coming out of college. I thought, like,
why couldn't he just be just like Jimmy Garoppolo. Turns

(07:20):
out no, And I think you look back at the
situation when they drafted him out of Michigan is It
was almost two quarterback friendly. It was too easy. We
had more question marks looking back now than answers. Where
a lot of the other guys, like Caleb Williams. His
last year at USC, they were dogshit. They went seven
and five and if it wasn't for him, they might

(07:41):
have won two games. Patrick Mahomes played on a Texas
Tech team. I'd have to google it, but I'm not
sure anyone else is in the NFL. On those teams,
he had to do things to even make them competitive
on a weekly basis. Josh Allen played at Wyoming. Lamar
Jackson won the Heisman Trophy at La Louisville. These guys

(08:01):
weren't playing for Saban in Bama. These guys weren't playing
for these peak Ohio state teams, and I think that
translates into the NFL. And clearly JJ had to do
way less than all the other guys in his draft class.
Caleb Williams had to do a lot. Jaden Daniels he

(08:21):
played on a historically bad defense the year he won
the Heisman Trophy. If it wasn't for an unreal offense
led by him, Malik neighbors and Brian Thomas. I mean
that's he might have won six games. They went nine
to three with the best offense in the country. Bo
Nicks was laughed out of Aubury. It was a disaster.

(08:44):
Went to Oregon, started putting up like historic numbers. Michael Pennix,
one of the big knocks. I was watching this thing
on Kurt Signetti did he did this sit down. Jackson
put it in our group chat. And you know, I
don't have much of a life here in the hotel
in Beverly Hills. I basically just come here, record the podcast,
work out, get dinner, getting bed at about seven o'clock,

(09:06):
and try to be asleep by nine. And I watched
this thirty minute special on Signetti and they went through
a bunch of plays on all the guys on his
team that just got drafted, different offensive scenarios. It was
it was just football porn. And one thing Signetti talked
about there was a situation in the Alabama game on
a short yardage play. It was like fourth and one

(09:27):
or fourth and two, when the game was like three
to nothing early in the second quarter, and he says,
you know, Kaylen Dubor not big on running the ball,
and when they do, they kind of outthink the room
because Kaylen de Boor's offense going back to Washington when
they made the National Championship was fucking pass snap that
thing to Pennix and sling that pill around to Rome
and Doonzay McMillan and paulk who actually just retired, right

(09:51):
Michael Pennix had to thrive for them to win. This
was It's why once they got to the National Championship
they got curb stomped and and I just think you
look at this situation, is you saw a guy they're
hoping for the best. That this is football. The assets
are human beings. These are not widgets. You're not buying buildings.

(10:13):
You're not buying companies, which are essentially a spreadsheet. You're dying.
You're drafting humans with real emotions, with real flaws, with
real question marks. Sometimes those question marks get answered immediately,
sometimes they don't. Dak Prescott had Mississippi State in the
top five in the country pretty sure at one time

(10:34):
for one week at least they were either maybe one,
they were definitely second in the country. Brock Purty created
with Matt Campbell Iowa State. I mean, Jared Goff played
on dog shit cal teams through it. Every play had
to for them his senior or I guess his true

(10:54):
junior year to make a Bowl game. So I think
you look at JJ mcarthy got to a situation where
the expectations were extremely high. Bunch of veteran players, a
big time head coach, an elite defensive coordinator, a well
run organization, and specifically a quarterback friendly operation. This is

(11:17):
not the Jets where quarterbacks go to die, and whether
we're at the bar, whether we're hanging out with our friends,
whether you're a podcaster, where we just universally make fun
of them. This is a place where quarterbacks Kirk Cousins
came there thrived. Sam Darnold's like, this guy's gonna be
your starting quarterback season later thirty five touchdowns. A year

(11:37):
after that, he wins a Super Bowl. You know it's why,
big picture, when I look at Kyler Murray, what an
incredible opportunity. I've had lifelines thrown to me. I currently
have been in one for close to a decade, and
his name is Colin changed the course of my life.

(11:59):
There's not a day go by day that goes by
that I take that for granted because I realize what
an incredible opportunity I've been granted. I'm with the guy
in the peak of his profession and what I do
for a living, and sometimes when you're throwing a lifeline
by someone, you go, I can't believe this is happening.

(12:20):
You got to take full advantage of that opportunity. Do
everything humanly possible in your power what you could control
to take advantage kyler essen flaws right. Most importantly a size,
He's never just gonna be able to sit in the
pocket like Brady your manning and see over his offensive linemen.
It's a mass problem. As I've told Colin that today,

(12:43):
it's like you're five nine the guy in front of
a six five. Like there's a reason if a point
guard's covering shack he calls for the ball. What do
they say in basketball? Mouse in the house. Even small ball,
it's like, okay, your small ball center sixty six, Well,
my guy's seven to one, godspeed, because you can't. So
he's gonna have to scramble get outside the pocket just

(13:04):
to have some throwing lanes that he can see with
his eyes. But no one would argue that like the
physical talents and what has been asked of this guy's
career is just on a different level than JJ McCarthy's
now is it perfect? And there are some other big
picture question marks with injuries. He's a smaller player. Is

(13:25):
he quite I mean at one point in time he
was like, I don't know one of the great athletes
on this planet, right, I don't know if he's quite
there anymore. He's had a knee injury. If he's quite
as fast still relative to his position, you would consider
Kyler Murray very athletic. And one thing he's always had
is a powerful arm. He's got a quick flip of

(13:48):
the risk and that thing can scoot coming out of
his hand. And this is a coach who's got some
you know, stuff in common with with Andy Reid, with
Sean mcv like, when all else fails, he wants to
call a pass. Your philosophical belief as a coach doesn't

(14:09):
really change. You can adapt schemes, you can change formations,
you can utilize different personnel, But certain coaches Ben Johnson,
Kyle Shanahan, like really deep down, they want to run
for two hundred yards a game. They want to dominate
on the ground and take the manhood of the other team,

(14:30):
because that just rips the soul away from their opponent.
They get off doing that. They're really wired like offensive coaches.
They got some defensive kind of mindset upstairs right where
you look around some of these. I would say Lafleur too,
Matt Lafleur, Like I think in a perfect world, he
wants to rush for one hundred, Like what a beautiful

(14:53):
win looks like to him, rushing for like one hundred
and eighty yards, dominating the time of possession, just running
it down your throat. That that Eagles game for a
couple of years ago, or I guess it was last
year on Black Friday for Ben Johnson, probably his like
favorite win of the year, you know, just the way
they ran it down Fangio's throat. We're like in a

(15:16):
perfect game for Andy Reid, Mahomes run for four yards,
you know, same thing with the Bay Like he likes
looking up at that statue and see him like three
to eighty for Stafford. So every coach is a little
different in what in the way in which they want
to win. Signetti kind of a run first coach, you know,
I mean, that's kind of what he is. Lincoln Riley
like spreading that thing out and flipping it around. So

(15:38):
every coach, even as a play caller, is a little
bit different. Kevin O'Connell wants to call passes, wants to
call bombs, especially with the Personnellity has and Kyler Murray.
One thing he can do is push the ball down
the field. Now can he do it accurately? Can he
stay healthy? I mean these question marks that part of
the reason he was available and you could sign him

(15:59):
for a million dollars right, I mean because even with
Arizona paying a large percentage of the contract, like he
was just a free agent, other people could have been
competitive for his services and they just weren't. So I'm
not a believer that this is really gonna work. Relative

(16:19):
to a couple of years ago with Darnold right, fourteen wins,
thirty five touchdowns, sixty minutes away from being the number
one seed. Now, a lot of people push back Middlecoff.
You don't know how bad our quarterback situation was last
year when we won nine games. I go, that's fair,
But at one point in time you were four and
eight and then went on a stretch playing a bunch
of shitty teams and had a little bit inflated of

(16:43):
a record. But where I will not push back is
your offensive defensive coordinator Combo is pretty elite, and you
do have a lot of really good veteran, high character,
high level guys on your team. So if Kyler just
plays solid, be a very very competitive team, the biggest
thing you have going for you, Just like you just

(17:04):
got six games. Assuming the Packers are solid, which they
are most years. I think we all agree the Bears
and the Lions, with a bunch of young guys kind
of in their prime of their career, are just gonna
be pretty solid. So to win and be competitive in
the division, it's really hard. I mean there it's what
was last year was last place in the division. I
guess Bears wanted. Packers made the playoffs. Two other teams

(17:25):
nine and eight. So you're not gonna have a Cardinals, Jets,
Miami Dolphins. You know, situation like that the Browns, a
team winning three or four games in this division like
a disaster for one of these teams would be seven
and ten. I mean it would be like what the
bleep just happened? So I'm betting against this thing working

(17:50):
again not bottoming out. I just I think what we
saw a couple of years ago, I do not expect
that to happen. I think the other thing here is
JJ McCarthy what happens now, because I think we have
the two examples that I constantly use because I think
they parallel this situation. The forty nine ers, the Colts,

(18:10):
and now the Vikings had young quarterbacks come into positions
where the expectations were extremely high. Right the forty nine
Ers the expectation was, like, compete for the Super Bowl.
The Colts expectation wasn't quite that high, but like we
should be a playoff team with how good we are.
And JJ literally replaced Sam Darnold who just took them
to fourteen wins. So those are really hard positions to

(18:34):
take over as a young quarterback. And the forty nine
ers got lucky that Jerry Jones is just kind of
likes wheeling and dealing, and I don't blame him. Like
I'm a gambling man, like I like taking some flyers.
I don't play the lottery, but I do essentially sometimes
in the stock market, be like it's a little bit

(18:54):
of risk, but I like risk. I enjoy it. Like
I don't get my highs from like jump out of
planes or bungee jumping. I don't snow ski anymore. Like
I kind of get a high watching the stock go
up and down gambling on football, Like I kind of
like that. That's what That's what gets my adrenaline going
in the real world. And Jerry clearly likes doing deals.

(19:15):
He gets his gets his juices flowing. And he took
a big flyer on Trey Lance and it didn't really
work right. He gave up a fourth round pick, and
the Niners were able to offload his contract and get
some value back where clearly no one else in the
league we're offering anywhere close to that. Were the Colts
last year once they went with Daniel Jones, And if

(19:37):
I remember correctly, maybe Riley Leonard was hurt at the
time in training camp. Might be having my timeline off
a little bit, But I think if they could do
it again, they would have traded him in training camp. Now,
like Trey Lance, his value would not have been great,
somewhere between like a fourth and a sixth round pick,
but they could have offloaded him because you would have
had two years to work with his project. Quarterback, then

(19:59):
he shatters his eye throughout the season and the freak deal.
Now there are question marks about him even being the
backup quarterback and trending like he's not. I don't think
they could trade him now if they wanted to. So
if you're JJ McCarthy and as I record this on Tuesday,
or I mean, if you're Kevin O'Connell in the front office,
if you play him in these preseason games, it could

(20:19):
go well, like he could just look solid kind of
rehab his value, or two things could happen. One it
could just not go great, right and just it could
hurt his value where no one would be willing to
trade for him. Or two he could get injured. And
the thing is, it's not like he makes six round money.
You know, he's owed two point seven and three point

(20:41):
seven guaranteed the next two years, so six point four
million dollars over two years, which isn't a ton in
twenty twenty six twenty twenty seven NFL financial kind of terms.
But it's not nothing, right. I mean, some teams you're
able to get a backup. I think the Vikings I
would expect Carson Wentz to be the backup I think

(21:02):
he makes two two and a half million dollars, so
J J. McCarthy makes more than that, and next year
he definitely makes more in that. So if you don't
feel this guy could be your backup, and even if
you trade nothing for him, he's kind of making backup
money now. Because he was a high pick, there are
gonna be teams throughout the league that liked him coming out. Right,

(21:22):
there are definitely gonna be some teams that weren't that
big of a fan, and there are gonna be several
general managers, several head coaches, and several offensive coordinators that
were fans of JJ coming out of college. And a
lot of teams do this. They hold on to their
draft grade for a long period of time. Right, for
most of us, as things change in whatever we do,

(21:47):
like our opinion changes. Like fifteen years ago, I thought
being or ten years ago, getting hired in radio was
the biggest thing humanly possible. Now I look like where
I currently stand. I laughed at restural radio. I'm like,
thank god, I'm not in that business. I mean, geez, right,
but information changed the world changed. It's no different with players, right,

(22:09):
Just because I have a second round grade on you.
Then if over the course of three years, you can't
ever dress on game day for Andy Reid or Sean
Payton or Sean McVeigh, and like, yeah, he's not can't
really learn the playbook, not that tough, Like yeah, not
that interested anymore? Right, Or it could be the opposite effect.
It's like I had a six round grade on the guy,

(22:30):
all of a sudden, three years later he made a
Pro Bowl that he's like an impact player, Like I
was wrong. I'm now interested in this guy. If he
ever becomes available, we should be all over. And that's
where I think the JJ McCarthy thing gets kind of complicated,
because you go, yeah, we like the guy coming out.
But Kevin O'Connell, who was very invested in the guy, right,

(22:54):
no one will truly know but him and Quessey. You
know what the free draft meetings were like, their individual
draft grades on the player, their personal conversations between each
other on how they value JJ, what their long term
outlook on the player was, what they thought his ceiling was.

(23:15):
We maybe one day we'll get some sort of article
of a tell all, you know, one of those classic
like now they tell us. I think Bill Simmons calls it.
But as of right now, it's like it's a lot
of conjecture, a lot of guessing. You know, feels like
Questi's got some of the blame placed on him, but
I have a hard time thinking that, Like the GM's
just getting full control over the quarterback when the head

(23:38):
coach is a former quarterback and calls the plays, Like,
I'm kind of calling bullshit on that. But regardless, I
don't even think Kevin O'Connell and I even watched some
of this press conference today, like he tried to still
be supportive and say he's still a young player. We're
working with him. But so if I'm a GM or
another coach, it's like something must be missing there. And
even if we don't have concrete information of like what

(24:00):
he really lacks, he's just not good enough. Is Is
it something to do with his processing understanding the offense?
Is it a lot of different variables? Does the pressure
get to him? I just see you not being able
to work with that, Like I'm not as interested. Like
looking back on Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold, it's like, yeah,
they didn't really work in Cleveland or the Jets, and
then they got to Matt Rule in the Carolina Panthers shocker,

(24:23):
then one guy with Jason Lytt and Liam Cohen, the
other guy with Kyle Shanahan and Kevin O'Connell and Kubiak
and thrived. You know, it's like, Okay, could see that
very understandable scenario. This feels like the opposite. It's like,
what's going on there? You know. It's like if if
you tell me Elon or Steve Jobs or Bezos acquires

(24:48):
a company and then three years later they want to
offload it, It's like, yeah, it's probably the company, not them.
You know, their track record kind of speaks for himself.
And that's what it feels like with JJ right now,
a little bit dead weight. It's crazy to say. You're like, well,
he's so young. He is young, but he got a
pretty unreal opportunity going into year three in the National

(25:10):
Football League and got lapped by a five to nine
guy making a million dollars who's been injured a lot
and got bench last year by for Jacoby Brissett. That's
the other thing. I got bench last year for Jacoby Brissett.
The Cardinals can call it whatever they wanted to call it.
Last year that's what happened. And the other thing is like,

(25:31):
well it's the Cardinals. Well, everyone's really high in the
Lions this year because they hired Drew Petsing from the Cardinals,
who when Jacoby got inserted through like twenty three touchdowns
and their offense actually looked pretty good because their defense
was fucking atrocious. So this is a scenario. We now
have several examples of this. When you're drafted high, if
your team does not just absolutely blow the expectation within

(25:57):
no later than training camp year three, if you're not
just establishing yourself as the no doubt about it starter,
your position's not only in jeopardy, your job on the team,
your your roster spots in jeopardy. And this has to
do with the explosion of the cap. Teams aren't as
worried about eating money, about you know, waving the white

(26:20):
flag on a draft pick. You know, thirty forty years ago,
when you invested a couple million dollars into a player,
you were all in for the length of the contract.
It's like, why do we see so many coaches get
fired now all the time because paying someone ten twenty
thirty forty million dollars to go away for most of
these owners is a line item. It's like I was

(26:42):
just I've been ordering Uber Eats. I've been trying to
do a better job in twenty twenty six doing my expenses.
So at the end of the year, when I'm doing
my taxes with my tax guy, I'm not like going
back going through all the credit card bills. You know,
I got just not as organized. It's it's a downfall
mind this week I'm doing that. It's like, you know,

(27:04):
order order a couple burgers from shake Shack, order whatever,
keep a track of it, you know, like most of
you do when you're out on the road. Expense report.
It's so much easier to do it immediately than try
to go back a month or two later and figure
that out. Well, It's like at the end of the
day expensing meals for most companies, they don't even it

(27:24):
doesn't even cross their mind. It's no different most of
these expenses. Now with these quarterbacks, with these players, I mean,
think how many quarterbacks we've seen this offseason. What are
they paying to it a go away? What fifty five
million dollars they just paid them to go to Gleat.
They paid Kyler in Arizona, probably the poorest ownership in

(27:44):
the NFL. They're paying them thirty six million dollars on
their books and they fire their coach. So I just
the money that's flown into this bad boy is pretty nuts.
I mean, you just saw the Hall of Fame game,
which was pretty entertaining in the first half, had like
seven million people watching. I mean the Pacers Thunder series

(28:05):
up until Game seven a couple of years ago. What
a love that number like that. This league is booming,
Revenue is flowing, which means more pressure on trying to win,
because the more you win, the way more revenue you
can make. I saw today people are like, look at
Rabel was asked about what he learned this offseason in
the uh going to counseling. It's like he didn't really

(28:27):
say anything. It's like, you think this guy's gonna break
down his therapy sessions with you guys. But the reason that, like,
and we'll get into Tony Romo here in a second,
that Rabel's job was more than secure no matter what
had come out from all these tabloids, was because last
year he took him to the fucking Super Bowl. The Patriots.

(28:48):
For several years last couple of years of Belichick, the
one year dried mail, were an embarrassment. And the more
you're an embarrassment, the less money you're gonna make. So
once you start going to the super Bowl, the more
you can charge for tickets, the more you're making in
every different avenue of the business, the more money that's
going in the ownership's pockets. Now, obviously Craft really likes
Mike for Abel, but even if he was lukewarm on

(29:11):
the guy, if you're gonna produce, you're gonna get kept.
And that will lead us right into Tony Romo. I
can't speak for every corporation and the rules that go
along with those corporations, but I do believe whether it's
a football team, and we see this a lot right
in pro sports, when a guy gets a DUI, and
if you're a good players, so yeah, we'll just let

(29:33):
the process play out. It's like, yeah, that's on the
legal system, and then roge to make a decision. But
until the end, he's at practice and we've played on
playing him in the games. Right, But if it's a
fringe guy, if it's a bad player, what happens. Guy
gets fired, guy gets cut. We saw a coach tight
end coach I think for the Commanders got a Dewey
fired before the season even started. Same same thing happened

(29:57):
at the University Oregon. Did some either have as the
nonumber one overall team or number two overall team coming
into this college football season. One of the assistants got
a dui on that staff. I don't know the guy personally,
but clearly Dan Lanning likes him because you know what
he said, Yeah, we handle that internally. He's good. If
you got a dui at your job and you are

(30:18):
a really high producer and you crush it for your company,
I don't think you get fired now because of what
Most people that they're what you know, are not public figures.
Maybe no one would even know, but and clearly your
bodycam footage wouldn't come out like Tony Romo. My theory

(30:39):
was when the bodycam footage came out, did people at
CBS UH pull some strings and get that thing leaked
so it made it easier for them to say, yeah,
he suspended in definitely, because that's what the news came
out today on Tuesday, is that there is no change
in Tony Romo and all signs point to JJ Watt
filling in for him not only week one, but for

(31:02):
the indefinite future. And I think this shows you that
CBS if they had liked Tony Romo, if this was
three years ago, I'll promise you this Tony Romo would
not have been suspended. Tony Romo would not have been
told like put out limbo of just yeah, we don't
know when he's gonna come back. And I'm sure they're

(31:23):
working with their lawyers trying to get out of this
seventy or eighty million dollars in which they own. And
I can't speak. I don't know Tony personally. He's always
seemed like an enjoyable guy. I understand people think that
he can be a little cheesy on TV, a little goofy.
Not necessarily my style, but by by no means my hater.
Sometimes it can be a little annoying, but I would

(31:46):
say I fan would be strong. But I definitely am
not a hater of Tony Romo. But there have been reports,
I mean a couple of years ago, the boss at
CBS had to go to Tony's house. And this is
more than just people on the internet complaining. Clearly, people
at CBS thought he was getting lazy and not working

(32:06):
his art. It's like didn't take his craft seriously. And
it's easy to take your craft seriously and grind your
ass off when you're trying to prove yourself, whether you're
some intern at some random you know, production company or
insurance company or you name it, or you're the practice

(32:27):
squad guy on the LA Rams, you're just trying to
earn your spot. It's another thing once you get broken
off and the money you know you don't have to
worry about it's guaranteed to come in. Will you keep
working as hard? I've said this forever. The thing like
the guys, the athletes I admire. I used to hate

(32:48):
Kobe Bryant as a kid because I was a big
Sacramento Kings fan. He was on the Lakers and the
hip Phil and Kobe and Shack. Not Kobe as much,
but definitely Shack and Phil used to make fun of
like Sacramento and I used to him. And then as
I got older, and then obviously once he passed and
we got to kind of his just personality and retirement,
he kind of felt like you got to know him.

(33:08):
It's like I respected the shit out of this guy
more just to That's why I've always loved Tiger Woods,
why I've always loved Tom Brady. It's like, even when
they hit the pinnacle, they were filthy rich. It felt
like they worked harder. And I always admired that because
I kind of looked at like if I was in
their situation financially, would I on a daily basis, we
get the most out of me? And I guess you

(33:29):
never truly know until you're putting that position. But I
just admired these guys that work like they have nothing
when they have everything. And you know, I think Tony Romo,
like it's pretty clear he got everything and kind of
put it on cruise control. And the people at CBS
that went to bat for him, that gave him this
incredible job coming out of you know, retirement, when his

(33:51):
career ended, weren't thrilled. And now because of that, like
you need people in your corner, you need people to
go you know what, I got a fucking war for
this guy, because if they thought that Tony Romo would
not be suspended, his job would not be in Jeopardy
Week one, whichever game Nancy and him would be calling,
like he would be in the booth if I'm a

(34:11):
betting man on August eleventh, I don't think we ever
see Tony Romo's CBS again. I thought this a couple
of days in once they kind of released the statement
that he's suspended indefinitely, that they will fire him, and
then the next move was he'll sue for his money
and they'll fight back, and then there'll be some undisclosed settlement.
It is my probably big picture guess on the way

(34:36):
this plays out. And J. J. Watt will just take
a spot. And I saw today Ross Tucker, who I
met this year in person, I think for the first
time at the Super Bowl party. I followed his work
for a long time one on his podcast sometime this offseason.
I liked the guy a lot. Got elevated to the
number two spot, and I think we've seen the last

(34:57):
Tony Romo for a while. And it also shows like
and I get. I was thinking about this today eating lunch.
If I was someone like him who had made I
don't know what he made playing football, but he definitely
made a lot of money, right over one hundred million dollars,
and then you signed a contract for almost two hundred
million dollars I would have someone on my payroll that

(35:21):
when I was doing things around town that involved potentially
drinking or any work related thing where I could be
productive in the back of the car or any road trips,
that guy would be a full time staff member and
he would travel everywhere I went. It's like, even if
I'm paying him fucking five hundred thousand dollars to be
my right hand man, go everywhere with me, I'm making

(35:44):
twenty million dollars a year, I'm already worth one hundred
and fifty million dollars before he even signed the contract.
Who knows how much Tony Romo made off the field
as the Dallas Cowboy quarterback when he was making player
money for ten plus years. Like, I think that's a
mist that I saw this clip, and I think I've
mentioned this on Instagram. Fifty Cent was doing an interview

(36:06):
and someone's asking him, like, when's the last time you
filled up your gas tank. He's like, I don't fill it.
My guest dank. He's like, I haven't driven in twenty years,
Well why would I drive? And you know it's safe
to say fifty Cents probably got more money than Tony Romo.
But this is the Tiger Woods. Thing like Tiger Woods
should have had a guy on staff that everywhere he
goes he gets driven. Now, if you want to drive

(36:29):
to the store, drive to go get tackle bell or
pickup dinner. Okay, but I'm talking about a situation like
Tony Romo was in if he would have had that
staff member, like a lot of prominent people have. Like
whenever I see Tom Brady and you know, I think
last year or two years ago, when he first started Fox,
he used to post on his YouTube channel when he'd
be traveling to different games, he'd always be in the backseat.

(36:53):
This is when when the bird landed wherever. If he
was calling Philly Cowboys, he's calling Ram Seattle, and the
guy would be filming in the back seat, you know,
because he'd have a driver or a full time you know,
car service wherever he went. You don't drive, Why the
fuck would you dry, especially if you're gonna be boozing
when you have that much to lose, right, So, I

(37:17):
think this bears all the responsibility you blame Tony twofold. One,
it's like, bro, have someone on your fucking staff when
you're making that much coin. And two, if you had
worked harder and the people that you know, part of
having a job like that is also managing up those
guys were stowing your corner, you wouldn't be in this situation.

(37:54):
Pookah displ threw some NFL stuff. Pooka left practice today
with a ton of guys all over the league. You
know this is right about that time in camp people
start getting tight calves tight. Hammy's like, I don't make
that much of that. The news though on Puka that
I saw go on my Twitter timeline is on Schefter's podcast.

(38:16):
He says one thing looming over some big name guys
throughout the NFL. He said, James Pierce, the dude in Atlanta,
that guy's getting suspended on the question is just how
many games? But two other guys who are in the
discussions to get suspended are Puka Nakua and Josh Jacobs.
And obviously Pukah's one of, if not the best wide

(38:39):
receivers in the league, and Josh Jacobs is a key figure,
you know, for the Green Bay Packers offense. And you know,
it's just it's something to keep an eye on. I honestly,
I hadn't really crossed my mind. I just assume like
everything that happened with Puka, the biting incident, some of
the other incidents. I mean, those are things that you know,
if Roger wants to give him a one game mentioned,

(39:00):
I know who'd be rooting for that. That'd be Kyle
Shanahan and Raheem Morris with the forty Diners. Same thing.
Who's playing I don't think it's is it Vikings Packers
week one? I think the Packers Bears. I don't think
they played the Bears week one? Maybe the Lions maybe
that was last year. Uh, but that'd be a big blow,

(39:23):
especially if it was multiple games. Uh. One thing that's
kind of cropping up on some of these guys, like
Nick Bosa towards a cl came out today tendonitis soreness.
Kyle claimed that it happens to a lot of ACL
guys the year. In return, he's more weak to weak

(39:45):
than day to day, Like, I'm sorry, that's a pretty
big concern. Same same thing with Rashaun Slater, who I
was actually a little surprised he was just full go
going into training camp given how bad his knee injury
was last year. He he's having some issues not able
to practice these last couple of days. Again, they all
say it's not that big a deal. And if you

(40:07):
just told me that, like you're fully healthy and you
just have a little soreness in a knee or little
hamstring tightness or a little little calf tightness or whatever,
I'm like, Okay, it's training camp, no big deal. But
if you tell me you're a player coming back off
a severe injury and then you start practicing and then

(40:28):
things start swelling up, like, it's just not nothing to me,
Like it's not almost a monitor this, it's just something
to keep an eye on, because I know this, no
matter how hard you're practicing, you play harder in the games,
and there is more torque, there is more soreness, there
is more intensity that goes with once Week one starts

(40:48):
and moving forward. So I obviously you know, rooting for
Nick Boston, Rashaun Slater to be fully healthy. But sometimes
these you know, these knees, you have some of these
bad injuries. It never really recovers. And I think we're
so accustomed to, you know, Mahomes and Daniel Jones something

(41:09):
like are those guys just gonna make it less? Explosion
and power that is asked of you when you play
quarterback than an offensive tackle setting and stopping bull rushes
or Nick Bosa bending the edge and shoving up against
guys like the torque. Playing on the line of scrimmage
is just you're asking a lot, you know, of these
guys that also weigh, you know, how much to shun

(41:30):
slater Away three hundred twenty pounds, what's Bosaway two hundred
and sixty five pounds. So it's just they have a
lot more weight they're carrying around than some of these quarterbacks.
It looked like the Bear signed Kobe Bryant from Seattle
this offseason and they were gonna have to be a
defensive back first. Defense. I mean, their defense wasn't gonna
be great because I don't think their pass rush is
that great. But they had a chance to. Jalen Johnson

(41:53):
came back full healthy, you know, after last year kind
of being up and down battling some injuries. You draft
the Oregon safety, big time athlete in the first round.
You signed Kobe Bryant. All of a sudden, you know,
you got some of these other dbs rotating at the
other spot. It's like, okay, your defensive backfield could be
pretty solid. Right, your past rush isn't exactly gonna be
the eighty five Bears, but your defensive backfield is gonna

(42:15):
be pretty good. Well, Kobe Bryant looked like he was
gonna miss a month, maybe, like, you know, eight to
twelve weeks. It came out today's getting surgery, and he's
gone four to six months. So I think it's safe
to say probably a season's over last, but not least.
This is a cool story. I guess players have been
begging Jackson Dark to slide, like it's been a police

(42:39):
slide Jackson, you know, and some of you guys are
so young you don't remember this. But when Michael Vick
was on the Atlanta Falcons, they got Bobby Cox to
work with him, the old rip recently passed, try to help.
He was the Braves manager, try to teach him how
to slide. I personally believe like there are certain attributes

(43:01):
you have as an athlete that you kind of get
from like junior high. You know, they're just you have
that ability and that's in your thought process, and other
guys just don't really play like that. And Michael Vick
was never a slider. It didn't come natural to him.
But if you watch Russell Wilson play, maybe it's his
baseball background his slide. Rogers are pretty good slide. Their

(43:23):
slides were just smooth, you know. I don't know if
Jackson Dart is a natural slider. If it's something you
try to force in, that could be a pretty tough transition.
But if you're the Giants, you want that guy out
of the blue tent. You do not want him going
head first into places. So either run out of bounds
or fucking hit the ground feet first, because if you

(43:45):
go feet first, they can't leap at you. If you
go head first in the air like that, that's where
you get some problems. And even if they get penalized,
like you're putting your head first, bad things can happen there.
So it's funny some of these stories come out of
Giants training camp. It's hard to tell, like is this
going well? It's not going well, but that's part of
this time of years. Answer a couple of mailback questions

(44:25):
and we'll get out of here. As a Falcons fan,
I get the hate the franchise is pretty pathetic. How
do you write them off of competing for the division
so easily? Though, on paper, they really haven't gotten worse.
They tied the Panthers in the Bucks and beat the
Saints twice. I don't really see how the other teams

(44:45):
have gotten significantly better either division feels like a crapshoot. Well,
I do feel the Panthers kind of came on at
the end of the year. They've added Jalen, They've added
Devin Lloyd. Now they've had a bunch of injuries. Still
some question marks. Fair I'm betting on the come with

(45:08):
these Saints. I think they're gonna be pretty good, but
that's fair to say you beat him twice, there are
still some question marks. I'm not the biggest Tefanski guy,
you know. I know everyone loves him, but he ran
a historically poor offense last year. The previous year they
were terrible on offense as well, kind of carried by
Jim Schwartz. Their quarterback situation. Michael Penis can't practice, he

(45:29):
can't go in life drills right now, so there's no
guarantee that he's gonna be ready for the first couple
of weeks of the season. And Tua, who is always hurt,
literally got hurt early in camp. But even let's say
he's ready to go. Do I feel great about you
going into games with Tua Tongua by low? I don't you.
James Spearce gotta get suspended. Jalen Walker tours ACL. Now,

(45:54):
if you were I played quarterback, you could just hand
it to Beijon NonStop and just throw Lali bops to
the big wide receiver and tight end because they're fucking good.
I mean, Kyle Pitts is a huge target, and so
it was Drake London. But like, I'm sorry, I got
question marks with your pass rush because you drew the
two guys you drafted in the first round last year,

(46:15):
and in fairness, they looked Jas Pearce might be a
major character concern, but holy shit, that guy can play.
And Jalen Walker is just I don't know if he's
ever gonna be a fifteen sack guy, but he was
gonna be a really good player in the NFL for
a long time and he's just gone. So I just
not a huge believer in the coach. Don't love the

(46:35):
quarterback situation. You've already had two major injuries on your
front on defense. That fair to say, Like I do
I think you're gonna be dog shit. No do I
think you guys are gonna be You really weren't in
the mix last year. You rattle off some games late
and made the record look a little bit better. But
I hear what you're saying. Your running back's fantastic, love

(47:02):
the engagement. Just heard you read something on Hurtz. The
discussion on Hurts was in the show I've Died on
the Hill saying that fifteen quarterbacks in the league could
have won the Eagles Super Bowl. You're telling me if
Baker Mayfield was the Eagles quarterback with that roster and
Barkley running for two K, he wouldn't win. See. I

(47:22):
think it's a couple of things can be true. Jalen
was a really good player the two years they made
Super Bowls. He was a vistatile player, used to run
a lot, played really well in some big games. Obviously
played well in the Super Bowl. But I'm with you,
Fangios an elite defensive coordinator. They had the best run

(47:43):
game in the league. Their offensive line was dominant that year.
AJ was still humming got her. I almost said, got
her up. That's a golfer. Got urt Is the is
the tight end. Yeah, I mean I there roster a
couple of years ago is really good now Fangio today,

(48:03):
all right, maybe it might have been yesterday. And the
thing with Vic is like no filter, I mean Nune.
He will just be like, yeah, the guy's out. I
don't think how he loves it, but yeah, Jonathan Gernard
probably out in the rest of trading camp, right, Yeah,
not a big fauci guy, loser. He'll just he just
like Jesus Fanjo. He does not care late sixties. Will

(48:26):
just talk shit, which I appreciate. No filter on the man,
and he doesn't give compliments easily. And he said today
that like Jalen or whenever he talked last the Jalens
looked really good. So he slimmed down. One thing that
jumped out to me, And this is what I've been saying.
He looks like he's faster when Jalen is running, he is.

(48:47):
He's a top ten quarterback when he has because he's
a great deep ball thrower. He's a good scrambler to throw,
and he's an excellent running threat. So his dual threat
capabilities make him when he's playing like that when he
just last year is like I'm gonna be like Russell
Wilson twenty twenty Pocket Quarterback. Only it's like, that's not
gonna work. But in this offense, there'll be a lot

(49:11):
of like getting him on the move because they'll be
under center the play action, get him rolling out. It
actually could suit him really well if he's willing then
to take off. Only time will tell with that one.
I think my pen is leaking because I got pen
all over my hand. Couple more. I'm a dentist in

(49:43):
Nashville and often listen to pod. Well, I'm writing patient notes,
I need to go to the dentist. I was kind
of looking around my teeth. I'm like, I don't think
I've gone two years. Whenever I go though, and I
haven't gone for a while, I'm always expecting, oh my god,
and then are always oh god, here he looked pretty good.
They don't feel good in the bag. I feel like

(50:04):
I got some cavities. I've never got my molars taken out.
That's a conversation for a different day. Try to brush
a couple times a day. Water Pick Big water picks
a game changer. Love that water Pick. Was listening to
your episode of Years the other day and had a
random thought are there any tax advantages for these players

(50:25):
in the NFL while they're holding out? I know they
are likely W two employees, but would any of them
be able to write off any lost income for holding
out on their tax revenues. If so, I would have
to imagine it's even a bigger incentive other than potentially
massive payday. Yeah, they're all W two employees, so there
aren't write offs. And you know these guys, I forget

(50:49):
the exact rule of when you start getting fined, like
fifty thousand dollars a day, but the young guys do
not get fined, so technically they don't lose any money
because their salaries start week one, so they're paid during
training camp a stipend like every player beside their off
season roster bonus or whatever. But if you make ten

(51:12):
million dollars or twenty million dollars as a player, you're
not receiving any of that during training camp. It kicks
in week one, so you're not necessarily losing any of
that income by holding out in August. Maybe the rules
were different in previous cbas, but currently, like any guy

(51:33):
that's holding out is impacting their salary zero of what
it will be this upcoming season in terms of what
it's currently on the books for. But yeah, I mean
they can't. No write offs. It's why. Where I think
they can do that is some of their off the
field stuff, you know, create an LLC and kind of

(51:53):
work it through that. But in terms of football stuff,
like the way they're paid. Your tax advantage really, you know,
is based on you get tax where you played. So
obviously the California guys have different experiences than the Texas
or Florida guys or the Titans players. You know, certain
divisions are pretty good for that, right. I would say

(52:14):
the AFC South, if you play it in Nashville or Jacksonville,
you get eight or nine home games a year, you
get to or Houston and then you get to play
the Titans and the Jags. I'm not exactly sure how
the international game works, Like if I played in Australia,
I just be like, I'm just not playing Taxas, Like

(52:36):
I mean, I've never coming back here. But I think
that's automatically. It's like anyone using Gusto or whatever the
just automatically does it. Question for the back dots on
cam Ward after watching The Quarterback Show reminds me a
little Brett Farv gunslinger mentality that is fun to root
for and intangible. Seems to be very serious about his craft.

(52:59):
I knew coach there over the last couple of years,
and he said he really liked him. See he's a
little immature, you know, not in a bad way, but
just the expectations coming to the NFL, but just in
terms of like almost didn't even know what he didn't
even know. But the number one thing he said from
the jump was like his heart was in the right place.

(53:21):
He tried to do everything humanly possible the right way.
Was a big fan of the kid, and physically he
can move big arm. I saw a bunch of clips
coming out about Carnel Tait that you know, again, Bar's
low there but looks pretty sweet. So your boy questioned
that draft pick. Just some Twitter highlights, but he's making

(53:42):
some sweet catches in the corner of the end zone.
I think anytime you're kind of that gunslinger type, you know,
it's like, are you gonna play like that against the
Jags or the Texans that have sweet defenses. He kind
of got to be a consistent quarterback from the pocket.
So but there's it's a hybrid, like you don't want
to take away from their skills and day Ball worked

(54:04):
with Jackson Dart last year. I think there's some parallels
with those two quarterbacks kind of their style of play.
I get this question a lot how scouts are judged
in the front office, Like do you review your mispicks,
your bad picks? How well a game plan can be

(54:25):
made if they're advanced opponents? Scouts, likability inside the building?
How do they advance? I think a lot of advancement
in the league. Are you know, clearly you get a
reputation for being good at your job, being detail oriented,
being on the right guys. Word kind of spreads, but

(54:45):
you know, you make human interactions if you're a road
scout with other scouts and some of those guys turned
into gms or vps and they hire you, and you know,
I think it's similar to any industry. It's a relationship
business people you meet people you gravitate toward as you
guys you know rise in the ranks. You you know,

(55:09):
like people that you feel comfortable with and that you
know and you've had long term relationships with, right, I mean,
I think that happens a lot in the NFL. Right, Like,
how do most of these jobs and guys create like
how do you hire an assistant GM when you get
a GM job, or how do you hire you know,
your head of college scouting. It's no different than some

(55:29):
guys like, well, how did uh look at John Harbaugh?
His his offensive staff room is Matt Naggie, who comes
from Andy Reid, who John Harbaugh's NFL career was basically
created by and Greg Roman, who has been his offensive
coordinator in Baltimore and his brother's offensive coordinator. So you

(55:51):
typically hire people like now, every once in a while,
you're Jim Harbaugh, you don't know Mike McDaniel. You hire them, right,
the Eagles, they Sean Mann, they know them. But a
lot of times that's not the way it works, Right,
Kyle Shanahan needs a DC, he gets Robert Sahl to
come back, Robert Sahl leaves, he needs a new DC.
He gets Rahie Morris, who's worked with countless places. So

(56:11):
there's a lot of that, and sometimes you know, it's
like that as a scout, you're not judged as often
as you think of like misses and hits. I think
because it's not concrete, because you're be like well, a
the coaching staff screwed him. Well he got injured year two.
You know, it's pretty easy to make excuses. I think

(56:32):
with the advanced scouting, every team's a little bit different.
You know, certain defensive coordinator offensive coordinator wants specific things.
Some are more detailed, some or not. But no matter
what you give them, an offensive or defensive coordinator is
still going to put together their own game plan, right,

(56:52):
and they have notes of running opponents, especially divisional opponents
or teams they consistently play in the conference. So it's
like you're not gonna tell them ten things, and they're
gonna do all those ten things. Now, maybe you give
them a couple ideas you hammer home on a specific player,
especially when there's turnover in the roster and new guys
are getting reps. You could help them up to speed

(57:13):
on that. But I think with the advanced reports like
Vic Fangio or Brian Flores or you know, Sean McVeigh,
they're gonna build their game plan the way they want
to build their game plan. That was my experience in
talking to somebodies, and still kind of do that now.
The closer your relationship gets over the years with said

(57:37):
coordinator in your building. The more and more they listen
to you. It's like anything, the more they trust you,
the more they rely on you, maybe they ask you
to do more. That's a tough job, traveling taking red
eyes building game plans right in advance reports. I did
that one year just for a couple. It was that

(57:58):
I was like, I'm not gonna last this thing. I
can't do this. This is I feel more like a coach.
I was much better off on the road meeting different people,
scouting colleges using my personality. I was not just I
was not an advanced guy. That that was not my strength.
That was a major weakness for me. I'm like, I

(58:19):
have no future in the business doing this any more.
Questions I got a fucking ink all over my hand
mail bag. Question. I recently watched all the Rocky movies
for the first time. Do you remember these movies when
you were a kid and the cultural impact it had? It?

(58:40):
Never I've never been more inspired after watching a film
in my life. Well, I think, did Rocky one come
out like seventy six, seventy seven. I googled this question
because like the Rocky that always stood out to me
was Rocky four when he fought Drago and the famous
montage of him running through the snow and training in

(59:02):
that little kind of wood cabin. Think that movie came
out in nineteen eighty five, so I don't even think
I would have been one then. But I think the
Rocky movie, you know, is a little like Rudy, just
the what those movies stood for, you know. I saw something.

(59:26):
Is there a biography coming out on Sylvester Sloan about
I think it's like, you know, like the Johnny cash
Or almost said, ray Lewis, what the fuck's the guy's name?
I'm telling you, get up at four o'clock in the morning,
your your brain just not firing at all on all pistons,

(59:48):
like they're just not It's just I just got you know, Yeah,
I couldn't fall asleep last night, probably got like four
hours of sleep. It's not Ray Lewis, blind guy. I'm
sound like suching you. But you know, movies like I
watched the Eldest Movie, I don't know within the last year.
I haven't watched the Michael Jackson movie. I think a
similar kind of movies coming out on Sylvester Saloone. I

(01:00:11):
think the thing he gets most credit for is like
he wrote that script and it was kind of about
his underdog mentality. I think the one thing that Philly
has is they kind of have that personality of their
chip on their shoulder, the underdog mentality. And I think
it gets back to like, yeah, we're not in New
York City, which is right up the road, you know,

(01:00:31):
We're not Washington, c Is where like the president and
the people that run the country live, you know. So
there's just this element that Rocky represented a certain type individual.
Now I don't know why Rocky never put his gloves
in front of his face. He just took so many shots,
but beating Drago. The final scene when he gives the

(01:00:53):
speech to everyone in Russia, the chick Drago was banging
who I think slided up in real life. The blondie
who also Flavor Flav was Ray Charles was sleeping with
when she got a little bit older. I love Rocky four.

(01:01:13):
I love Rocky four, but I think Rocky and Rudy
like that. Even though the Rudy story, I think Joe
Montana's gone on record like he hated that movie because
he thought, like, that's not exactly how it was. But
the montage when Rocky's getting his ass kicked, or when
Rudy's at practice running the scout team and just getting throttled.

(01:01:37):
I just don't know if they make movies like that anymore,
those stretches. I'm just a sucker for a good montage
in any movie. And the Rudy montage of practice and
the Rocky workout montages or the Rocky fighting montages are
as good as they got. So I'd say culturally, I mean,

(01:01:58):
the Rocky montage or the Rocky series kind of created
one of I mean, these both these guys are old now,
but when I was a kid, there weren't. There was
no one in Hollywood bigger than Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone,
and then Bruce Willis kind of, I would say, pulled
up right next to him, and then they created this

(01:02:19):
thing called planet Hollywood. They were all partners, even though
they were rivals. But I mean, you talk about action
movie stars, you think Sylvester salone, you think Arnolds Horsmaker.
Can you help me understand when on this why a
key messador is so underrated as a first round pick.
He's twenty five. Sure, most edge rushers don't hit their

(01:02:41):
peak until they're twenty five, So the Chargers essentially can
get an edge rusher hitting his peak now on a
cost control contract for the next five years. How is
that not peak value? Coaches in front offices aren't as
concerned and what's gonna happen five years from now? They
care about winning in the next few years. I feel
the same as a fan. Why don't Why do so

(01:03:03):
many people hate on this pan? I don't know. You
must not have watched Miami because obviously ruben Bain got
the headlines. Would ruben Bain go fifteen to sixteen in
the draft? Messidor just won a couple picks later? I
would guess Messador of the next three years is like
twenty seven to thirty sacks. I think he is going

(01:03:25):
to be a highly productive pass rusher for the Chargers.
I think he's going to be a really good player.
And I'm kind of in agreement if I tell you,
over the next three years, Messador gets them twenty eight
and a half sacks. Do you think they give a
shit that at the end of those three years he's
twenty eight years old? No? I mean, who care? This

(01:03:47):
gets back to the JJ McCarthy thing that this is not.
I'm not investing in uh, you know, Carvana hoping you
know that it changes the world over the next twenty
years in car purchases and dealer ships don't even exist, right,
That's I'm not looking at this like two thousand and forty.
I'm looking at this right now. I need messador rushing

(01:04:08):
the pastor week two, week six in twenty twenty six.
You know, I'm not I'm not worried about twenty twenty eight.
No one's guaranteed to have a job in the NFL
in twenty twenty eight. You just never know. Things can
change like that on the field off the field, guys.

(01:04:32):
I mean Sean McVay a couple of years ago almost
just quit, almost just quit. Kyle Shanahan had just go
to surgery for ten hours in an accident that he
was going twenty miles an hour. What if you just
would have died? You fucking there's nothing in Kyle Shannon
once said, Tomorrow's not guaranteed. That's life. I think football

(01:04:56):
is a lot like that. We think and listen, I'm
talking both sides out of my or out of both
sides of my mouth, because I'm a huge like, go
for the seiling, go for everything. Pick twenty two. I
don't think you could do much better than Messador. I
was a huge fan, watched a lot of Miami last year.
Those two pass rushers were men playing with boys. Most
of the year they were ass kickers. So I'm with you,

(01:05:18):
I'm not as bothered by the age. Now would I
take him over? You know, if I was picking pick
four and it was like between him and rvel Res, like, okay,
I'll take a swing for rvel Rees, but there is
no guarantee over the next five years. Even if I
took rvel Rees over Messidor, like history would say, Messidor

(01:05:39):
we look back in three years could be the better player.
I mean, hell, we know that forty eight forty nine
percent of these players in the first round get second
contracts with their the team that drafts them. So as
much as we love all these first rounders, some of
them are not going to work out because they get injured,
because they're just not good enough. And some of them

(01:05:59):
that you just think, like eh, are gonna be core
pieces for the team moving forward. So I'm a huge fan.
I think it's just you could argue that's a little
bit lazy, Like, what if I just get two contracts
out of the guy. I get the guy for eight years,
So I get him from twenty five to thirty two,

(01:06:19):
thirty three years old, and he gets he's extremely productive player,
mix a couple of Pro Bowls. The overwhelming majority of
players that aren't quarterbacks do not get a third contract,
even the good ones. So yeah, if I can give
the guy two contracts, that's a fucking win. If I

(01:06:41):
can just after a couple of years think like I'm
gonna want this guy on my team after his rookie contract,
that's a win. So I I think that's a little
bit lazy to like, oh, he's just twenty five, it's
not thirty eight. You know, Khalil Max thirty five and thriving.

(01:07:03):
So if you're a focused guy, hard worker, keep carr
of your body. I think we got to change ages
a little bit, right. Thirty used to be really old.
You ever look at a picture sometimes with like guys
from the sixties and seventies, like famous people, and you're like,
oh my god. You know when that pops up on

(01:07:24):
like Instagram, it'll be some show you watched as a kid,
and it'll be like the dad and the dad will
be your age, be like the dad's thirty thirty seven
years old in this photo, you're like, or they do
it with the sopranos sometime, like Tony was forty two
in this pic, like Tony looks sixty. And I don't
know if it's just dudes drank more nightly, they smoked cigarettes,

(01:07:47):
they just warn't as healthy. Probably a lot of different
variables there, but I think that's parallel sports as well.
Now I'm not asking everyone to be like Lebron James
or Tom Brady, but I do think you know, historically,
a lot of guys in the Hall of Fame had
like nine year careers. So if you came in the
league at twenty two, you were done by like thirty
thirty one years old. That's kind of done now. I mean,

(01:08:09):
look how many guys throughout the league at different positions
are still playing at a really high level in their
mid thirties, especially defensive line. I can think of like
three off time, cam Heyward, how olds he kalais Campbell,
how old's he? I mean, some of these guys used
the litztart looking around. Brandon Graham was he was retiring
on his own. It wasn't because the Eagles wanted to

(01:08:30):
get rid of him and help they If Brandon Graham
they wanted to back last year, he came back. If
he wanted to play this year, they would have gladly
had him. Is he on the team? I have to
google that one. Maybe he is a camp I don't know.
But a lot of these guys voluntarily step away, not
because the team, their teams don't want him, so vidaveas
thirty one to thirty two Thriving just I think they're

(01:08:51):
just hesitant to give a guy an extending contract. But
someone team will. I If the Bucks won't, someone else will.
I'm with you. Good, take Audie else and uh enjoy
Rocky if you haven't seen it. Number four is my
personal favorite the volume. Mm hmm