This week on the podcast John discussed the big trade in the NFL that saw the Steelers trade George Pickens to the Cowboys, the Ravens decision to release Justin Tucker, and what the future looks like for Aaron Rodgers. All that and more!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. Okay, we had a good week, and as
we do over the weekend, we do a little best
of So let's take a look at some of the
(00:22):
things we talked about. What's the deal with Aaron Rodgers
in his future? Like, what's going on? Even the Steelers
owner is like, this is more complex than artificial intelligence.
That's kind of a weird thing to say, but clearly
he's not making that up. The Ravens cut Justin Tucker,
who had fallen off a cliff last year as a player,
all the allegations and everything with the massage therapists. Then
(00:45):
they drafted a kicker. A week later, they said bye
bye to their legendary special teamer and kind of I
don't want to say out of nowhere, but a little
out of nowhere. A week after the draft, or two
weeks after the draft, the Cowboys trade with the Steelers
for George Pickens. We dive into that. So you gotta
(01:06):
love football, and that's what we will be talking about today.
And before we dive in toos of football talk, you know,
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today last minute tickets low as prices guaranteed. The Dallas
(02:31):
Cowboys and Jerry Jones made a trade today for a
wide receiver, and my first reaction was, I don't like it.
I think it's kind of crazy. And I know they're
getting a lot of praise because the Cowboys in action
over the years. I mean last year Jerry made the
comment we're all in, and then they didn't really do
(02:53):
anything aggressively. Listen, let me say this about Jerry Jones,
because we talk about this a lot. Perception can become reality,
and sometimes the perception or the narrative about a human being,
about a player, about a team is true. Like the
Jets are chaotic, right, George Pickens is not easy to coach.
(03:15):
Mike Tomlin has expressed those concerns over the years. We're
not just guessing based on his body language on television.
Listen to a Mike Tomlin press conference about George Jerry Jones,
super rich guy, spends a lot of money. Let's pump
the brakes there, because there's a big difference in the
NFL of just every team's paying players. Every team in
(03:39):
the NFL has a high expense for their roster, right
and there's a minimum you have to spend. But there's
a big difference in just having your roster and paying
for players. Obviously, some guys make a lot of money,
some guys make the league minimum and spending actual cash.
For example, last year and over the last four years,
(04:02):
no team in the league has spent more actual cash
that's signing bonuses, that's money, not just base salary throughout
the season. Two players than Jimmy Haslm. I think I
saw in an article recently it was almost a billion
dollars last year. The Eagles in the forty nine ers
spent an astronomical amount of cash.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
I mean we're talking.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
The cash they spent was more than the actual salary cap.
That's how you can manipulate. It's what Howie and Jeffrey
have been doing. Same with the forty nine ers. You
give these guys big contracts and then you spread out
the signing bonus over the life of the contract. And
when you think Jerry Jones, you're like, guy, he's given
Dak Prescott all this money ceedee lamb, all this money
spending all this money, but relative cash to the rest
(04:47):
of the league. Jerry Jones didn't even crack the top
fifteen in the NFL. This was the thing with Robert
Kraft for a long period of time. Everyone shitting on
Belichick like that frugal a hole, he doesn't want to
pay any of his players. It's actually the owner guys
he loves empowering his coach that's able to get the
(05:08):
most out of guys for cheap. The Patriots for like
fifteen plus years had like the least amount of cash spending,
especially for all the good teams. Belichick took all the
crap on that it was actually the owners and I
think Jerry, who listen, the Cowboys are well run when
it comes to the draft. There is no disputing they
(05:29):
draft good players. They have built good teams in multiple iterations,
from the Jason Garrett crew to the Mike McCarthy crew
with homegrown guys. But I think recently we have two examples.
And listen, I've said this for a long time.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Being cheap is a disease.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
It's something you get when you're young and most people
never shake it. And whether you don't, whether you're at
forty years old, whether you are a multi millionaire or
someone making thirty brand a year that you don't shake that.
And when I see Jerry Jones when it comes to
some of these moves, I go, he's this like oilmn
(06:10):
hoping to strike gold for cheap. Look at the Trey
Lance contract or I mean transaction that the Cowboys did
a couple of years ago. It's like Jerry, he can't
win the backup job in San Francisco for Kyle Shanahan.
You think you're getting a deal with a fourth round pick,
what are you doing?
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Well, what happened over.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
The course of the next couple of years he couldn't win.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
The backup job in Dallas.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
What just happened today is the Jerry Jones traded a
third round pick for George Pickens. It's like one I
remember Billy Bean used to do this because his owner
was really cheap and in fairness to the owner, the
franchise didn't make any money.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
They had no revenue, so combination of it both.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
They would every couple of years, from basically two thousand
to like twenty eighteen, they would have to trade all
their sweet players and they would go to all the
usual suspects. The Cardinals, the Yankees, the Red Sox, the Dodgers,
the Giants would pillage their team and Billy Bean would
in return trade those guys for like three or four prospects,
(07:10):
and every single time he would hit on like fifty
percent of them. And when he was making these trades,
it wasn't always like I want your first, second, and
third best prospect in the minor leagues, he'd go, I
want the fourth guy, I want the ninth guy, and
I want the fifteenth guy. After a couple cycles of
him building playoff teams from scratch, if he called you
(07:32):
and said, hey, we will trade you this All Star,
but we want your third, eighth, and.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Seventeenth best prospect, maybe you should.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Go, I really want this All Star, but what do
you see in these guys that.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Maybe we don't.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
And if the Pittsburgh Steelers got on the phone and said, hey,
we got a wide receiver for you, do you know
what I'm saying? Click?
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Not interested?
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Obviously they got out of the Antonio Brown business. Somewhat
of an outlier situation. He was clearly not just the
best wide receiver one of the best players in the NFL.
Thing got weird, but his talent was immense bizarre situation.
The Raiders were really the only team interested, a little
desperate at the time, but that situation.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
He is way better.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Than these next two guys.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Honestly, his five year stretch is.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
One of the greatest stretches in the NFL history. So, yeah,
he kind of went cuckoo, but he was an elite player.
But these last couple guys, Chase Claypool and George Pickens,
lot of talent, a lot of physical attributes. But you
know what, both times had happened. Tomlin clearly went. And
Tomlin's a defensive guy, but he's the head coach team culture.
(08:42):
All that stuff is his baby. He goes, I'm out,
I'm not into this. This guy is not good enough.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
He got Ryan Poles to bite for a second rounder.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Now he gets Jerry Jones to bite for a third rounder.
At least when Ryan Poles made that deal, it blew
up in his face. Chase Claypool had a couple of
years left on his contract. Jerry Jones gets George Pickens
for one year left. It's like, listen, I see it
a lot with Maria because he's in real estate. Some
of these people get into these deals and like, we're
gonna low ball this guy for two hundred grand on
(09:13):
the house and what happens. Yeah, that's a no, no deal,
not gonna happen.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
It's like, yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Would love to do that too. You're not gonna get
a yes. On the other side, no one wanted this
guy except Jerry because it's like we're gonna get lightning
in a bottle here.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Probably not.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
And what we've witnessed last year with George Pickens, like
I wouldn't be in business with that player now. I'm
not acting like he is not really physically gifted in
a great fifty to fifty contested catch ball in theory,
but you put him in a situation with a first
year head coach, which I don't want to say he's
over his head. He hasn't coached the game. But a
guy that won was not getting a head coaching job
(09:52):
anywhere else. A ton of pressure because of the Dallas
Cowboys you have. It also puts a lot of pressure
in a quarterback who you know physically has some limitations
but really hangs his hat on leadership. It's like you
got to corral this guy. You also get this player
who has one year left till his payday. Who's gonna
be thinking a little Mimi II because that's what he
naturally does. Anyway, and the pressure goes on the coach
(10:16):
and Jerry's hoping we get this cheap player and he
can help us out.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
But here's the thing.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
It's like, well, middle God, you gave a third round pick.
I got no problem doing this, giving a third round
pick for a player I'm going to extend its cost
of doing business. I also have no problem giving a
third round pick for a player in the middle of
a season that I think can help me go on
a playoff run. We see it all the time, right
teams that are six and three or seven and two.
(10:42):
They're like, we were missing a wide receiver. It's a
little risky, but here's a third round pick for this player.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
It's a rental. Totally get it.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
But if you're the Cowboys, and I would say draft
capital is gonna be pretty important given that you have
high priced players, having good players in the third round
on your roster. I looked, I xed out of the deal,
but twenty twenty three third round picks because I just
(11:13):
wanted to go over some players that, like, you're not
guaranteed anything, and I'm not acting like giving up a
third round pick is the end of the world. But
the Rams drafted Byron Young from Tennessee with pick seventy seven.
The Green Bay Packers took Tucker Craft. The Denver Broncos
(11:33):
took Riley Moss the corner, The Miami Dolphins took Devin
ah Chang, the sweet running back. The forty nine Ers
drafted their starting safety, jy yr Brown. Kobe Turner, another
really good player for the Rams, drafted in the third round.
The Dallas Cowboys drafted Demarvion How do I I don't
(11:53):
even know. I've just called him overshown but now he
got injured last year, but overshown was pretty sweet. Like,
you get a lot of really talented players in the
third round who are on very cheap contracts, and to
trade that for a player who is a rental and
if this gets weird and you don't resign him, you go, well,
(12:16):
we get a comp pick. Well, depending how weird it gets,
that determines his value. So to me, this has it's
different because this guy's established. I'm a starting player in
the NFL, unlike Trey Lance. But to me, there are
too many similarities and parallels to that situation. It's like, Jerry,
you guys run a draft and I think, you know what,
these guys are just solid here.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
They just have a.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Pretty good plan and they execute it. This feels like
he's freelancing, wheeling and dealing hoping to get that million
dollar home.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
For four hundred grand.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
It's like, Jerry, that's not really how this works, especially
when you are acquiring this player from that team at
that position. I'd be out and I didn't do much
like canvassing of the different tape, but I would imagine
most people are like, God, they needed a wide receiver.
They get some talent, they don't.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Have to give away that much.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
I look at the opposite and I'm not some draft hoarder,
like sometimes you got to give up picks to get players.
I don't love what the Steelers did because I don't
even know who their quarterback is. They gave up a
second round pick for DK Metcalf, who I think through
three years had more touchdowns or as many touchdowns like
any player in NFL history. I know it slowed down
a little bit after that as the quarterback situation, but
(13:26):
it was clear like unique player I mean and can
take over and dominate. They gave him up a second
round pick and then they extended him, so it's like,
we just acquire this player and he's not going anywhere.
Now we can argue it's like, do you give that
much money to a player at a position when you
don't have a quarterback. That's fair, but at least the
(13:46):
logic if we are going to trade a second day
pick for a player, we're gonna make sure that guy's
on our team for a while. And Jerry kind of
does the opposite. We'll just play it out, We'll just
see what happens. Well, if I'm a betting man, I'll
tell you I would imagine the George pick is not
going to be on this team for that long. So
to trade a valuable pick where you have literally found
(14:08):
sweet players for cheap it is a head scratcher. And
I think this is more Jerry being Jerry and trying
to like win the deal and go, god, we got
to steal here. Like, no, they're not really steals when
making these trades. Anyone could have had this guy, and
clearly people are like, yeah, not that interested, And from
a Steelers standpoint, like they wanted out of this business.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
And I don't blame them like they have recent.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
History of going like this is not going to work,
this is not a formula.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Not fair to our other players.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
To have to deal with this, And it's like, yeah,
you definitely couldn't have George and DK, but at least
DK has proven that he can produce at a really
really high level. It can be I don't know, a
pro Bowl level guy. It isn't just all like George
Pickens feels to me much more like an NBA player,
a guy that everyone in the media constantly t and
(15:00):
then you look at a stats you're like, what, And
then you watch him in the biggest games, You're like,
am I missing something? Am I not watching the right
game here? What's going on? All I hear about is
this guy? And then you watch him play, You're like,
leaves a little something to be desired and listen. It's
not like DK is the perfect player, but I've seen
him in some big fucking games over the course of his.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Career and show up and make place.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
And it's like, so it's like, okay, if I'm gonna
have to deal with some similar stuff, He's been a
guy that that yellow flags come out.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
He can be a little emotional.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
At least I know I can get ten plus touchdowns
right last I checked, I think George Pickens's career high
is five. Yet when you hear people talk about him,
it's like four touchdowns, five touchdowns, three touchdowns. You think
the way he's discussed, specially now in Dallas, he's like,
you know, has thirty career touchdowns, it's twelve. I just
(15:50):
think sometimes the hype can outweigh the actual individual. So
totally understand if you're doing with the Steelers this guy
that you are not going to extend. They have turned
George Pickens and Chase Claypool into a second and third
round pick on top of getting to use them until
they realize we don't want to use them anymore. So
like that's really really good business. And the Cowboys are
(16:11):
on the opposite end of this. I mean, we crushed
Ryan Polls for that. I listen, I'm not acting like
George Pickens isn't a better player than Claypool, but I
think it's in that similar world. I just I don't
understand that move, Like is this something the best gms
in the.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
League would do?
Speaker 1 (16:29):
And I think the answer is unequivocally one thousand percent.
Hell no so. And I've been a supporter of the Cowboys.
Hell I picked them last year to make the playoffs.
Don't think I'm gonna do it this year. But I'm
not acting like they're, you know, some terrible team. I
just think the risk here doesn't meet the reward. And
like I said with that Billy Bean example, the Steelers
(16:50):
are the team when it comes to wide receivers. I'm
just not doing a deal with you. I don't want
to be in that business.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
I'm out right.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
They got rid of what's his name last year, Deontay Johnson,
and it just got weird, and it got weird fast
with everybody else. It's like he's on four different teams,
getting cut wave traded like this is a bizarre situation.
When Mike Tomlin tells you I'm not interested anymore at
that spot, I think you should listen to him. So
I don't know, man, I just think I think the
(17:20):
Cowboys have really really benefited. Washington was pretty bad for
twenty years, and specifically those couple of years before you know,
Josh Harris bought the team and Adam and Dan Quinn
showed up with Ron Rivera who felt like he, you know.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Was kind of going through the motions. And they're gonna
be good. Now.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Obviously the Eagles are really really good. Even the Giants
like have some talent, and I don't know how good
they're gonna be, but listen, they're just not some joke team.
Well they can be, but it's it's gonna be difficult
to win three games in your division. So oh, I
think that they have really I wouldn't say've been on
(18:03):
cruise control, but given over the last decade, the Giants
have been bad and Washington's been bad.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
And they won a lot of those games, and that.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Could be different now, Like you could go one to
three in those four games, and I'm assuming next year
you're probably gonna lose both to the Eagles, because even
when you were good, it was really hard for you
to beat the Eagle. The NBA eighty two game grind
is done, and now the real fun begins. The NBA
(18:32):
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clutch moments, and jaw dropping plays.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Can't wait.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
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Speaker 2 (19:39):
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Speaker 2 (20:17):
I read this quote.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
The other day about Jimmy Johnson when he was the
coach of the Cowboys, and he gave an example where
he caught I think, like a practice squad guy sleeping
in a meeting, and he cut the guy the next day.
And I don't know if this was like a story
he told after the fact, or maybe he gave this
(20:39):
quote in a press conference over the course of the
week after he cut the practice squad player, and they
asked him what would he have done if Troy Aikman
had been sleeping in the meeting, and he said, well,
I would have woke him up and said, Troy, we're meeting.
And I think that speaks, you know, in football is
(20:59):
not that much different than life. Certain people, especially in
certain industries and certain businesses, are just going to be
treated differently. And I think when you look at football specifically,
there are a couple positions where the margin for error
for you either being a distraction, a problem, or simply
(21:21):
not good enough, the leash on your career or your
status with that team is basically nil. Zero does not exist.
There is no leash. You get a much longer leash
when you are a great wide receiver, a great offensive tackle,
a great pass rusher, obviously a great quarterback. Look at
(21:41):
Deshaun Watson, all the shit that was going on around
him when he was demanding a trade, and the teams
that were interested. He convinced one owner, Now you could
argue the craziest owner in the sport, but to give
him two hundred thirty million dollars simply because everyone at
the time thought he was a high end Pro Bowl quarterback.
Clearly was not the case. But even Russell Wilson, who
(22:03):
had never been in trouble like Deshaun Watson, was like
kind of weird, you know, team not really into him.
Pete Carroll, these guys are kind of over him. And
the Denver Broncos, Like, what do you want multiple ones,
a brand new contract. Russell, You're our guy because he's important,
and he's much more important than most guys on the team.
I would say the least important guys on a team
(22:23):
in terms of the hierarchy from a coaching staff and
definitely in front.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Office are the specialists.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
Not that you don't need them to win. Having a
good kicker and having a good punter is important. But
justin Tucker just learned.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
A valuable lesson.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
He is gonna go down, at least in my life
as probably the best kicker of the Internet era. I
use that a lot because that's kind of my high
school to current right basically two thousand till present. And
I would say if you needed a kicker in his
prime on your team, you would choose him. He was
a weapon. I mean game winning kicks like sixty five
(23:00):
plus yards. Obviously, he was so accurate, he was incredible.
And then over the course of the last twelve months,
obviously most recently you will think of his Deshaun Watson situation.
But the reason he was cut today isn't just that simple.
It's because this year he had the worst year of
his career, lowest percentage of makes of his career.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
And it felt like.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Even before I went to his just wiki page to
see the percent when you were sitting there on the
couch on Sunday having the four box up on YouTube
and the Ravens, he was missing a lot of big kicks. Honestly,
it felt like he missed a lot more than the
stats he said. So when I saw the headline today
that the Ravens had cut Justin Tucker, it wasn't because
(23:43):
they have any idea whether this is true or not,
and honestly, maybe they do at this point. It's because
he's simply not good enough to worry about his problems.
Whether he's in the wrong or whether he's in the right.
We don't have time to figure that out and yours.
They just draft a kicker in the sixth round. They
got no fucking kid. If this kid from Arizona that
(24:04):
they just drafted is gonna be any good, we see constantly, guys,
the forty nine ers drafted guy in the third round.
He could not be trusted.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
He might be a.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Bust, and Jim Harbaugh once considered him at the University
of Michigan. I think it was like death taxes and Moody.
He was that automatic. The forty nine ers get him.
Can't make a kick to save his life, so no
one has any clue. Justin Tucker famously pretty sure undrafted
free agent and used often as an example of why listen,
(24:35):
kicking's pretty random. This is not like quarterbacks or pass rushers.
You can find these guys on the street after the draft.
But today was about like, it's just too loud, and
whether you're a kicker, whether you're a punter, whether you're
a long snapper. And I would also put the backup
quarterback in this situation. Your leash does not exist. The
conversation around you is zero the moment it gets loud, noisy.
(25:00):
See you, we got enough other issues and enough other problems,
and winning in this league is hard enough. If we're
the Ravens, we got one goal and that's to win
the AFC. Why can't we beat the Chiefs and beat
the Bills? Like that's all worried about. We don't have
time to figure out you're off the field issues as
a thirty five year old kicker. And that's why they
(25:21):
cut them today, not because I mean indirectly because of
this situation that he's dealing with from like a decade ago,
but it's like, we don't got time to deal with
that bullshit. Welcome to life.
Speaker 4 (25:41):
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Speaker 1 (26:24):
Well, I saw that the minority owner for the Steelers
said that the Aaron Rodgers trade situation is more complex
than artificial intelligence. I've also always defended Aaron Rodgers because
I thought, for fifteen plus years, even when people thought
(26:45):
he was doing weird shit, he was an elite player
in some of his weird stuff, wouldn't even consider weird.
I was in totally agreement with, But I get like
some people thought he was selfish, not always normal. The
Gudikins thing I definitely didn't agree with. It's like, you're
in a pretty good but at this point in time,
it is starting to get a little bizarre. And if
this is a situation that is not figured out over
(27:07):
the next five or six days, I would say the
Steelers should walk away. But they can't because they don't have.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Any other options.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
And I think anyone in any line of work in
the private sector will learn you never want to do
a deal out of desperation, whether that deal is for
a dollar or whether that deal is for one hundred
million dollars. When you are desperate, that's where you get
put in compromise situations and you do things that you regret.
And I listen, the Steelers are desperate, because no well
(27:37):
run organization would want to be just waiting for the
phone call. And at first I just thought, listen, he's
dealing with some stuff. Totally listen, he's a older player.
But when a minority owner is going to go on
CNBC and say a comment like that, I mean, there
are a lot of different variables here. And I think
(27:58):
whenever he signs, because I do think it's inevitable, I
wouldn't bet my life savings on it. I just think
that they are headed in a similar direction as they've
been the last couple of years. I wouldn't pick them
to even win a playoff game, and you're depending on
a forty one year old guy who you know. I
always say this about like when you're drafted by a
(28:20):
by a team, like ultimately, the Steelers had the most
to lose with George Pickens, right they I'm pretty sure
second round pick?
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Double check that.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
So they drafted him, Yeah, fifty second overall pick. So
when I invest a second round pick, I'm invested in you.
I want to see this work, and then you show
signs like I'm going to go the extra mile. The
equivalent for George Pickens is like a fifth to six
seventh round pick.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
He might have been.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
Traded last year's it's not worth the headache. I don't
have the time, but I've invested a lot of you know,
draft resources in you. I'm in Now he's on the Cowboys.
His equity with a team and a coaching staff is
diminished greatly immediately, is probably cut in half. Like they
look at you much more now. Not that every team
(29:06):
doesn't look at their players like this. In some Vein.
But when I draft you, it's more than just you're
my asset. You're a guy that can just score some touchdowns.
Like I get to know you, you become a part
of my organization. We know each other's families.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
It is different. I mean that, there's no disputing that.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
And now he's in this cycle of just who knows.
And we've seen it constantly with a lot of guys
that become kind of issues and they become that quickly.
I said this about Aaron Rodgers, like now that he's
in this weird spot where he's like I'm to go
to the Steelers, like yeah, that's cool, but like if
it doesn't go well, they won't give a shit about you.
We saw once Robert Sahla and Joe Douglas were gone,
(29:46):
Like Aaron, Glenn didn't care about you. He didn't have
any draft capital or your equity based on I owe
you because I told Woody Johnson that we should trade
a first and a second round pick to acquire you.
Not my problem. I didn't want I can say I
didn't even want you. I thought he was slipping the
last year when we played him in Green Bay.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
So I think these guys got to.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
Be very, very careful, and it's kind of it's kind
of sad where the Steelers are good move today. I
give them credit, but just in terms of their organization
waiting at the just whenever Aaron Rodgers feels like giving
Tomlin a call saying I'm in, which could happen, I
guess at any moment, but it feels like it. We're
no closer today than we were yesterday. The Los Angeles
(30:31):
Rams kind of genius because I think a huge part
of OTA's now it's less about for new coaches. For sure,
it's really important. We'll get into that in a minute,
but for a team like the Rams, for Andy Reid,
for the Harball, jefferitly, John Harbaugh for Kyle Shanahan did
have had like a corps of guys for a long
(30:51):
time like OTA's, you're not teaching everyone from scratch everything.
It's about a bonding experience. These Ota are kind of
a joke. I mean, I've been going the last four
or five years and they are much less intense than
they were ten fifteen years ago. And I'm not saying
that as like a shot, like you could argue they've
always been a little overrated but it's much more about
(31:13):
spending time together, depending on where you live, maybe going
to a hockey game or an NBA game as a group,
going to big dinners, just getting to know each other. Now,
part of the trip to Maui that the Rams are
gonna make, I'm sure has to deal with a sale
between the organization getting money from Hawaii, but I also
think this is a built in way to just bond.
(31:36):
I know Coach Reid, and I know the Steelers, and
I know Sean Payton was like this for a long
time in New Orleans. Really believed in getting away for
training camp because it just kind of isolated the group.
And I remember when I was with the Eagles. They
no longer do this.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
We used to go to Lehigh and you would just go.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
I forget exactly how far away was away from the facility.
It's probably our hour fifteen to twenty minutes and you're
just up in this area. Wasn't much to do, just
kind of as the group, the players, the coaches, the trainers,
the equipment staff, the scouts, and it was just like
that's kind of it when the fans come from practice
and they leave and you're just kind of stuck there
for several weeks, and I do think there is a
(32:17):
bonding element that is really really positive, especially in a
day and age when let's face it, and I'm guilty
of this too, we're spending a lot of time on
our phones. We're always on our computers, We're always just
we can isolate pretty easily.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
And uh, you get to go to Hawaii for a
couple of days.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
Pretty cool if I was a RAMS player, I'm sure
they're taking charter in the plane over there, approaching like
a road trip. You stay for three or four days
on the water, do some walkthroughs, catch some balls, get
a little sweat on, and have some cocktails by the pool.
So it sounds like a good time. The other the
other news was we were supposed to have a bunch
(32:53):
of trades during the draft ended up not happening. It
sure looked like Dallas Goddard was gonna get traded. Now
looking back, maybe it was the Eagles hoping for him
to take a pay cut. And you know, just believe
in like, listen, you don't have that many options in
the teams that would be interested. It might suck like
you might not be Your team might not be any good.
(33:16):
So you can take a little haircut here and you
can continue to be trying to be defending champ. Who
knows we're going to be favored to win it again,
like we're going to be really good. And I do
wonder if Howie and the organization, by just saying like yeah,
he's on the team as of now, like they would
make comments like that, was trying to pressure, like listen,
and I'm sure behind the scenes are telling him we
(33:37):
want you to stay, but we need you to play
at this number, and it's worked recently if you build
the right culture and you are winning team. The Rams
just said it was Stafford who clearly took a I
think the report was twenty plus million dollars. He took
less to stay in with the Rams. The forty nine
ers have done it multiple times. With Kyle Uschek, It's
(33:58):
like we want you here, but you've got to take
a cut, and you're like look around.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
He's like, I'm just gonna stay. I like playing here,
And to me, that speaks to like.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
Now, some of these guys I never blamed, like Milton
Williams for getting twenty six million dollars a year but
taking a little haircut to stay at a place where
you know you could win, where you know they like you.
There is value to that, and clearly Dallas Goddard saw
that in Staying with the Eagles. The volume
The volume. Okay, we had a good week, and as
we do over the weekend, we do a little best
of So let's take a look at some of the
(00:22):
things we talked about. What's the deal with Aaron Rodgers
in his future? Like, what's going on? Even the Steelers
owner is like, this is more complex than artificial intelligence.
That's kind of a weird thing to say, but clearly
he's not making that up. The Ravens cut Justin Tucker,
who had fallen off a cliff last year as a player,
all the allegations and everything with the massage therapists. Then
(00:45):
they drafted a kicker. A week later, they said bye
bye to their legendary special teamer and kind of I
don't want to say out of nowhere, but a little
out of nowhere. A week after the draft, or two
weeks after the draft, the Cowboys trade with the Steelers
for George Pickens. We dive into that. So you gotta
(01:06):
love football, and that's what we will be talking about today.
And before we dive in toos of football talk, you know,
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today last minute tickets low as prices guaranteed. The Dallas
(02:31):
Cowboys and Jerry Jones made a trade today for a
wide receiver, and my first reaction was, I don't like it.
I think it's kind of crazy. And I know they're
getting a lot of praise because the Cowboys in action
over the years. I mean last year Jerry made the
comment we're all in, and then they didn't really do
(02:53):
anything aggressively. Listen, let me say this about Jerry Jones,
because we talk about this a lot. Perception can become reality,
and sometimes the perception or the narrative about a human being,
about a player, about a team is true. Like the
Jets are chaotic, right, George Pickens is not easy to coach.
(03:15):
Mike Tomlin has expressed those concerns over the years. We're
not just guessing based on his body language on television.
Listen to a Mike Tomlin press conference about George Jerry Jones,
super rich guy, spends a lot of money. Let's pump
the brakes there, because there's a big difference in the
NFL of just every team's paying players. Every team in
(03:39):
the NFL has a high expense for their roster, right
and there's a minimum you have to spend. But there's
a big difference in just having your roster and paying
for players. Obviously, some guys make a lot of money,
some guys make the league minimum and spending actual cash.
For example, last year and over the last four years,
(04:02):
no team in the league has spent more actual cash
that's signing bonuses, that's money, not just base salary throughout
the season. Two players than Jimmy Haslm. I think I
saw in an article recently it was almost a billion
dollars last year. The Eagles in the forty nine ers
spent an astronomical amount of cash.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
I mean we're talking.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
The cash they spent was more than the actual salary cap.
That's how you can manipulate. It's what Howie and Jeffrey
have been doing. Same with the forty nine ers. You
give these guys big contracts and then you spread out
the signing bonus over the life of the contract. And
when you think Jerry Jones, you're like, guy, he's given
Dak Prescott all this money ceedee lamb, all this money
spending all this money, but relative cash to the rest
(04:47):
of the league. Jerry Jones didn't even crack the top
fifteen in the NFL. This was the thing with Robert
Kraft for a long period of time. Everyone shitting on
Belichick like that frugal a hole, he doesn't want to
pay any of his players. It's actually the owner guys
he loves empowering his coach that's able to get the
(05:08):
most out of guys for cheap. The Patriots for like
fifteen plus years had like the least amount of cash spending,
especially for all the good teams. Belichick took all the
crap on that it was actually the owners and I
think Jerry, who listen, the Cowboys are well run when
it comes to the draft. There is no disputing they
(05:29):
draft good players. They have built good teams in multiple iterations,
from the Jason Garrett crew to the Mike McCarthy crew
with homegrown guys. But I think recently we have two examples.
And listen, I've said this for a long time.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Being cheap is a disease.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
It's something you get when you're young and most people
never shake it. And whether you don't, whether you're at
forty years old, whether you are a multi millionaire or
someone making thirty brand a year that you don't shake that.
And when I see Jerry Jones when it comes to
some of these moves, I go, he's this like oilmn
(06:10):
hoping to strike gold for cheap. Look at the Trey
Lance contract or I mean transaction that the Cowboys did
a couple of years ago. It's like Jerry, he can't
win the backup job in San Francisco for Kyle Shanahan.
You think you're getting a deal with a fourth round pick,
what are you doing?
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Well, what happened over.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
The course of the next couple of years he couldn't win.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
The backup job in Dallas.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
What just happened today is the Jerry Jones traded a
third round pick for George Pickens. It's like one I
remember Billy Bean used to do this because his owner
was really cheap and in fairness to the owner, the
franchise didn't make any money.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
They had no revenue, so combination of it both.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
They would every couple of years, from basically two thousand
to like twenty eighteen, they would have to trade all
their sweet players and they would go to all the
usual suspects. The Cardinals, the Yankees, the Red Sox, the Dodgers,
the Giants would pillage their team and Billy Bean would
in return trade those guys for like three or four prospects,
(07:10):
and every single time he would hit on like fifty
percent of them. And when he was making these trades,
it wasn't always like I want your first, second, and
third best prospect in the minor leagues, he'd go, I
want the fourth guy, I want the ninth guy, and
I want the fifteenth guy. After a couple cycles of
him building playoff teams from scratch, if he called you
(07:32):
and said, hey, we will trade you this All Star,
but we want your third, eighth, and.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Seventeenth best prospect, maybe you should.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Go, I really want this All Star, but what do
you see in these guys that.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Maybe we don't.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
And if the Pittsburgh Steelers got on the phone and said, hey,
we got a wide receiver for you, do you know
what I'm saying? Click?
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Not interested?
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Obviously they got out of the Antonio Brown business. Somewhat
of an outlier situation. He was clearly not just the
best wide receiver one of the best players in the NFL.
Thing got weird, but his talent was immense bizarre situation.
The Raiders were really the only team interested, a little
desperate at the time, but that situation.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
He is way better.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Than these next two guys.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Honestly, his five year stretch is.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
One of the greatest stretches in the NFL history. So, yeah,
he kind of went cuckoo, but he was an elite player.
But these last couple guys, Chase Claypool and George Pickens,
lot of talent, a lot of physical attributes. But you
know what, both times had happened. Tomlin clearly went. And
Tomlin's a defensive guy, but he's the head coach team culture.
(08:42):
All that stuff is his baby. He goes, I'm out,
I'm not into this. This guy is not good enough.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
He got Ryan Poles to bite for a second rounder.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Now he gets Jerry Jones to bite for a third rounder.
At least when Ryan Poles made that deal, it blew
up in his face. Chase Claypool had a couple of
years left on his contract. Jerry Jones gets George Pickens
for one year left. It's like, listen, I see it
a lot with Maria because he's in real estate. Some
of these people get into these deals and like, we're
gonna low ball this guy for two hundred grand on
(09:13):
the house and what happens. Yeah, that's a no, no deal,
not gonna happen.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
It's like, yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Would love to do that too. You're not gonna get
a yes. On the other side, no one wanted this
guy except Jerry because it's like we're gonna get lightning
in a bottle here.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Probably not.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
And what we've witnessed last year with George Pickens, like
I wouldn't be in business with that player now. I'm
not acting like he is not really physically gifted in
a great fifty to fifty contested catch ball in theory,
but you put him in a situation with a first
year head coach, which I don't want to say he's
over his head. He hasn't coached the game. But a
guy that won was not getting a head coaching job
(09:52):
anywhere else. A ton of pressure because of the Dallas
Cowboys you have. It also puts a lot of pressure
in a quarterback who you know physically has some limitations
but really hangs his hat on leadership. It's like you
got to corral this guy. You also get this player
who has one year left till his payday. Who's gonna
be thinking a little Mimi II because that's what he
naturally does. Anyway, and the pressure goes on the coach
(10:16):
and Jerry's hoping we get this cheap player and he
can help us out.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
But here's the thing.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
It's like, well, middle God, you gave a third round pick.
I got no problem doing this, giving a third round
pick for a player I'm going to extend its cost
of doing business. I also have no problem giving a
third round pick for a player in the middle of
a season that I think can help me go on
a playoff run. We see it all the time, right
teams that are six and three or seven and two.
(10:42):
They're like, we were missing a wide receiver. It's a
little risky, but here's a third round pick for this player.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
It's a rental. Totally get it.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
But if you're the Cowboys, and I would say draft
capital is gonna be pretty important given that you have
high priced players, having good players in the third round
on your roster. I looked, I xed out of the deal,
but twenty twenty three third round picks because I just
(11:13):
wanted to go over some players that, like, you're not
guaranteed anything, and I'm not acting like giving up a
third round pick is the end of the world. But
the Rams drafted Byron Young from Tennessee with pick seventy seven.
The Green Bay Packers took Tucker Craft. The Denver Broncos
(11:33):
took Riley Moss the corner, The Miami Dolphins took Devin
ah Chang, the sweet running back. The forty nine Ers
drafted their starting safety, jy yr Brown. Kobe Turner, another
really good player for the Rams, drafted in the third round.
The Dallas Cowboys drafted Demarvion How do I I don't
(11:53):
even know. I've just called him overshown but now he
got injured last year, but overshown was pretty sweet. Like,
you get a lot of really talented players in the
third round who are on very cheap contracts, and to
trade that for a player who is a rental and
if this gets weird and you don't resign him, you go, well,
(12:16):
we get a comp pick. Well, depending how weird it gets,
that determines his value. So to me, this has it's
different because this guy's established. I'm a starting player in
the NFL, unlike Trey Lance. But to me, there are
too many similarities and parallels to that situation. It's like, Jerry,
you guys run a draft and I think, you know what,
these guys are just solid here.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
They just have a.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Pretty good plan and they execute it. This feels like
he's freelancing, wheeling and dealing hoping to get that million
dollar home.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
For four hundred grand.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
It's like, Jerry, that's not really how this works, especially
when you are acquiring this player from that team at
that position. I'd be out and I didn't do much
like canvassing of the different tape, but I would imagine
most people are like, God, they needed a wide receiver.
They get some talent, they don't.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Have to give away that much.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
I look at the opposite and I'm not some draft hoarder,
like sometimes you got to give up picks to get players.
I don't love what the Steelers did because I don't
even know who their quarterback is. They gave up a
second round pick for DK Metcalf, who I think through
three years had more touchdowns or as many touchdowns like
any player in NFL history. I know it slowed down
a little bit after that as the quarterback situation, but
(13:26):
it was clear like unique player I mean and can
take over and dominate. They gave him up a second
round pick and then they extended him, so it's like,
we just acquire this player and he's not going anywhere.
Now we can argue it's like, do you give that
much money to a player at a position when you
don't have a quarterback. That's fair, but at least the
(13:46):
logic if we are going to trade a second day
pick for a player, we're gonna make sure that guy's
on our team for a while. And Jerry kind of
does the opposite. We'll just play it out, We'll just
see what happens. Well, if I'm a betting man, I'll
tell you I would imagine the George pick is not
going to be on this team for that long. So
to trade a valuable pick where you have literally found
(14:08):
sweet players for cheap it is a head scratcher. And
I think this is more Jerry being Jerry and trying
to like win the deal and go, god, we got
to steal here. Like, no, they're not really steals when
making these trades. Anyone could have had this guy, and
clearly people are like, yeah, not that interested, And from
a Steelers standpoint, like they wanted out of this business.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
And I don't blame them like they have recent.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
History of going like this is not going to work,
this is not a formula.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Not fair to our other players.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
To have to deal with this, And it's like, yeah,
you definitely couldn't have George and DK, but at least
DK has proven that he can produce at a really
really high level. It can be I don't know, a
pro Bowl level guy. It isn't just all like George
Pickens feels to me much more like an NBA player,
a guy that everyone in the media constantly t and
(15:00):
then you look at a stats you're like, what, And
then you watch him in the biggest games, You're like,
am I missing something? Am I not watching the right
game here? What's going on? All I hear about is
this guy? And then you watch him play, You're like,
leaves a little something to be desired and listen. It's
not like DK is the perfect player, but I've seen
him in some big fucking games over the course of his.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Career and show up and make place.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
And it's like, so it's like, okay, if I'm gonna
have to deal with some similar stuff, He's been a
guy that that yellow flags come out.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
He can be a little emotional.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
At least I know I can get ten plus touchdowns
right last I checked, I think George Pickens's career high
is five. Yet when you hear people talk about him,
it's like four touchdowns, five touchdowns, three touchdowns. You think
the way he's discussed, specially now in Dallas, he's like,
you know, has thirty career touchdowns, it's twelve. I just
(15:50):
think sometimes the hype can outweigh the actual individual. So
totally understand if you're doing with the Steelers this guy
that you are not going to extend. They have turned
George Pickens and Chase Claypool into a second and third
round pick on top of getting to use them until
they realize we don't want to use them anymore. So
like that's really really good business. And the Cowboys are
(16:11):
on the opposite end of this. I mean, we crushed
Ryan Polls for that. I listen, I'm not acting like
George Pickens isn't a better player than Claypool, but I
think it's in that similar world. I just I don't
understand that move, Like is this something the best gms
in the.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
League would do?
Speaker 1 (16:29):
And I think the answer is unequivocally one thousand percent.
Hell no so. And I've been a supporter of the Cowboys.
Hell I picked them last year to make the playoffs.
Don't think I'm gonna do it this year. But I'm
not acting like they're, you know, some terrible team. I
just think the risk here doesn't meet the reward. And
like I said with that Billy Bean example, the Steelers
(16:50):
are the team when it comes to wide receivers. I'm
just not doing a deal with you. I don't want
to be in that business.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
I'm out right.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
They got rid of what's his name last year, Deontay Johnson,
and it just got weird, and it got weird fast
with everybody else. It's like he's on four different teams,
getting cut wave traded like this is a bizarre situation.
When Mike Tomlin tells you I'm not interested anymore at
that spot, I think you should listen to him. So
I don't know, man, I just think I think the
(17:20):
Cowboys have really really benefited. Washington was pretty bad for
twenty years, and specifically those couple of years before you know,
Josh Harris bought the team and Adam and Dan Quinn
showed up with Ron Rivera who felt like he, you know.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Was kind of going through the motions. And they're gonna
be good. Now.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Obviously the Eagles are really really good. Even the Giants
like have some talent, and I don't know how good
they're gonna be, but listen, they're just not some joke team.
Well they can be, but it's it's gonna be difficult
to win three games in your division. So oh, I
think that they have really I wouldn't say've been on
(18:03):
cruise control, but given over the last decade, the Giants
have been bad and Washington's been bad.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
And they won a lot of those games, and that.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Could be different now, Like you could go one to
three in those four games, and I'm assuming next year
you're probably gonna lose both to the Eagles, because even
when you were good, it was really hard for you
to beat the Eagle. The NBA eighty two game grind
is done, and now the real fun begins. The NBA
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Speaker 2 (20:17):
I read this quote.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
The other day about Jimmy Johnson when he was the
coach of the Cowboys, and he gave an example where
he caught I think, like a practice squad guy sleeping
in a meeting, and he cut the guy the next day.
And I don't know if this was like a story
he told after the fact, or maybe he gave this
(20:39):
quote in a press conference over the course of the
week after he cut the practice squad player, and they
asked him what would he have done if Troy Aikman
had been sleeping in the meeting, and he said, well,
I would have woke him up and said, Troy, we're meeting.
And I think that speaks, you know, in football is
(20:59):
not that much different than life. Certain people, especially in
certain industries and certain businesses, are just going to be
treated differently. And I think when you look at football specifically,
there are a couple positions where the margin for error
for you either being a distraction, a problem, or simply
(21:21):
not good enough, the leash on your career or your
status with that team is basically nil. Zero does not exist.
There is no leash. You get a much longer leash
when you are a great wide receiver, a great offensive tackle,
a great pass rusher, obviously a great quarterback. Look at
(21:41):
Deshaun Watson, all the shit that was going on around
him when he was demanding a trade, and the teams
that were interested. He convinced one owner, Now you could
argue the craziest owner in the sport, but to give
him two hundred thirty million dollars simply because everyone at
the time thought he was a high end Pro Bowl quarterback.
Clearly was not the case. But even Russell Wilson, who
(22:03):
had never been in trouble like Deshaun Watson, was like
kind of weird, you know, team not really into him.
Pete Carroll, these guys are kind of over him. And
the Denver Broncos, Like, what do you want multiple ones,
a brand new contract. Russell, You're our guy because he's important,
and he's much more important than most guys on the team.
I would say the least important guys on a team
(22:23):
in terms of the hierarchy from a coaching staff and
definitely in front.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Office are the specialists.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
Not that you don't need them to win. Having a
good kicker and having a good punter is important. But
justin Tucker just learned.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
A valuable lesson.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
He is gonna go down, at least in my life
as probably the best kicker of the Internet era. I
use that a lot because that's kind of my high
school to current right basically two thousand till present. And
I would say if you needed a kicker in his
prime on your team, you would choose him. He was
a weapon. I mean game winning kicks like sixty five
(23:00):
plus yards. Obviously, he was so accurate, he was incredible.
And then over the course of the last twelve months,
obviously most recently you will think of his Deshaun Watson situation.
But the reason he was cut today isn't just that simple.
It's because this year he had the worst year of
his career, lowest percentage of makes of his career.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
And it felt like.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Even before I went to his just wiki page to
see the percent when you were sitting there on the
couch on Sunday having the four box up on YouTube
and the Ravens, he was missing a lot of big kicks. Honestly,
it felt like he missed a lot more than the
stats he said. So when I saw the headline today
that the Ravens had cut Justin Tucker, it wasn't because
(23:43):
they have any idea whether this is true or not,
and honestly, maybe they do at this point. It's because
he's simply not good enough to worry about his problems.
Whether he's in the wrong or whether he's in the right.
We don't have time to figure that out and yours.
They just draft a kicker in the sixth round. They
got no fucking kid. If this kid from Arizona that
(24:04):
they just drafted is gonna be any good, we see constantly, guys,
the forty nine ers drafted guy in the third round.
He could not be trusted.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
He might be a.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Bust, and Jim Harbaugh once considered him at the University
of Michigan. I think it was like death taxes and Moody.
He was that automatic. The forty nine ers get him.
Can't make a kick to save his life, so no
one has any clue. Justin Tucker famously pretty sure undrafted
free agent and used often as an example of why listen,
(24:35):
kicking's pretty random. This is not like quarterbacks or pass rushers.
You can find these guys on the street after the draft.
But today was about like, it's just too loud, and
whether you're a kicker, whether you're a punter, whether you're
a long snapper. And I would also put the backup
quarterback in this situation. Your leash does not exist. The
conversation around you is zero the moment it gets loud, noisy.
(25:00):
See you, we got enough other issues and enough other problems,
and winning in this league is hard enough. If we're
the Ravens, we got one goal and that's to win
the AFC. Why can't we beat the Chiefs and beat
the Bills? Like that's all worried about. We don't have
time to figure out you're off the field issues as
a thirty five year old kicker. And that's why they
(25:21):
cut them today, not because I mean indirectly because of
this situation that he's dealing with from like a decade ago,
but it's like, we don't got time to deal with
that bullshit. Welcome to life.
Speaker 4 (25:41):
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Speaker 1 (26:24):
Well, I saw that the minority owner for the Steelers
said that the Aaron Rodgers trade situation is more complex
than artificial intelligence. I've also always defended Aaron Rodgers because
I thought, for fifteen plus years, even when people thought
(26:45):
he was doing weird shit, he was an elite player
in some of his weird stuff, wouldn't even consider weird.
I was in totally agreement with, But I get like
some people thought he was selfish, not always normal. The
Gudikins thing I definitely didn't agree with. It's like, you're
in a pretty good but at this point in time,
it is starting to get a little bizarre. And if
this is a situation that is not figured out over
(27:07):
the next five or six days, I would say the
Steelers should walk away. But they can't because they don't have.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Any other options.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
And I think anyone in any line of work in
the private sector will learn you never want to do
a deal out of desperation, whether that deal is for
a dollar or whether that deal is for one hundred
million dollars. When you are desperate, that's where you get
put in compromise situations and you do things that you regret.
And I listen, the Steelers are desperate, because no well
(27:37):
run organization would want to be just waiting for the
phone call. And at first I just thought, listen, he's
dealing with some stuff. Totally listen, he's a older player.
But when a minority owner is going to go on
CNBC and say a comment like that, I mean, there
are a lot of different variables here. And I think
(27:58):
whenever he signs, because I do think it's inevitable, I
wouldn't bet my life savings on it. I just think
that they are headed in a similar direction as they've
been the last couple of years. I wouldn't pick them
to even win a playoff game, and you're depending on
a forty one year old guy who you know. I
always say this about like when you're drafted by a
(28:20):
by a team, like ultimately, the Steelers had the most
to lose with George Pickens, right they I'm pretty sure
second round pick?
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Double check that.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
So they drafted him, Yeah, fifty second overall pick. So
when I invest a second round pick, I'm invested in you.
I want to see this work, and then you show
signs like I'm going to go the extra mile. The
equivalent for George Pickens is like a fifth to six
seventh round pick.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
He might have been.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
Traded last year's it's not worth the headache. I don't
have the time, but I've invested a lot of you know,
draft resources in you. I'm in Now he's on the Cowboys.
His equity with a team and a coaching staff is
diminished greatly immediately, is probably cut in half. Like they
look at you much more now. Not that every team
(29:06):
doesn't look at their players like this. In some Vein.
But when I draft you, it's more than just you're
my asset. You're a guy that can just score some touchdowns.
Like I get to know you, you become a part
of my organization. We know each other's families.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
It is different. I mean that, there's no disputing that.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
And now he's in this cycle of just who knows.
And we've seen it constantly with a lot of guys
that become kind of issues and they become that quickly.
I said this about Aaron Rodgers, like now that he's
in this weird spot where he's like I'm to go
to the Steelers, like yeah, that's cool, but like if
it doesn't go well, they won't give a shit about you.
We saw once Robert Sahla and Joe Douglas were gone,
(29:46):
Like Aaron, Glenn didn't care about you. He didn't have
any draft capital or your equity based on I owe
you because I told Woody Johnson that we should trade
a first and a second round pick to acquire you.
Not my problem. I didn't want I can say I
didn't even want you. I thought he was slipping the
last year when we played him in Green Bay.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
So I think these guys got to.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
Be very, very careful, and it's kind of it's kind
of sad where the Steelers are good move today. I
give them credit, but just in terms of their organization
waiting at the just whenever Aaron Rodgers feels like giving
Tomlin a call saying I'm in, which could happen, I
guess at any moment, but it feels like it. We're
no closer today than we were yesterday. The Los Angeles
(30:31):
Rams kind of genius because I think a huge part
of OTA's now it's less about for new coaches. For sure,
it's really important. We'll get into that in a minute,
but for a team like the Rams, for Andy Reid,
for the Harball, jefferitly, John Harbaugh for Kyle Shanahan did
have had like a corps of guys for a long
(30:51):
time like OTA's, you're not teaching everyone from scratch everything.
It's about a bonding experience. These Ota are kind of
a joke. I mean, I've been going the last four
or five years and they are much less intense than
they were ten fifteen years ago. And I'm not saying
that as like a shot, like you could argue they've
always been a little overrated but it's much more about
(31:13):
spending time together, depending on where you live, maybe going
to a hockey game or an NBA game as a group,
going to big dinners, just getting to know each other. Now,
part of the trip to Maui that the Rams are
gonna make, I'm sure has to deal with a sale
between the organization getting money from Hawaii, but I also
think this is a built in way to just bond.
(31:36):
I know Coach Reid, and I know the Steelers, and
I know Sean Payton was like this for a long
time in New Orleans. Really believed in getting away for
training camp because it just kind of isolated the group.
And I remember when I was with the Eagles. They
no longer do this.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
We used to go to Lehigh and you would just go.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
I forget exactly how far away was away from the facility.
It's probably our hour fifteen to twenty minutes and you're
just up in this area. Wasn't much to do, just
kind of as the group, the players, the coaches, the trainers,
the equipment staff, the scouts, and it was just like
that's kind of it when the fans come from practice
and they leave and you're just kind of stuck there
for several weeks, and I do think there is a
(32:17):
bonding element that is really really positive, especially in a
day and age when let's face it, and I'm guilty
of this too, we're spending a lot of time on
our phones. We're always on our computers, We're always just
we can isolate pretty easily.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
And uh, you get to go to Hawaii for a
couple of days.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
Pretty cool if I was a RAMS player, I'm sure
they're taking charter in the plane over there, approaching like
a road trip. You stay for three or four days
on the water, do some walkthroughs, catch some balls, get
a little sweat on, and have some cocktails by the pool.
So it sounds like a good time. The other the
other news was we were supposed to have a bunch
(32:53):
of trades during the draft ended up not happening. It
sure looked like Dallas Goddard was gonna get traded. Now
looking back, maybe it was the Eagles hoping for him
to take a pay cut. And you know, just believe
in like, listen, you don't have that many options in
the teams that would be interested. It might suck like
you might not be Your team might not be any good.
(33:16):
So you can take a little haircut here and you
can continue to be trying to be defending champ. Who
knows we're going to be favored to win it again,
like we're going to be really good. And I do
wonder if Howie and the organization, by just saying like yeah,
he's on the team as of now, like they would
make comments like that, was trying to pressure, like listen,
and I'm sure behind the scenes are telling him we
(33:37):
want you to stay, but we need you to play
at this number, and it's worked recently if you build
the right culture and you are winning team. The Rams
just said it was Stafford who clearly took a I
think the report was twenty plus million dollars. He took
less to stay in with the Rams. The forty nine
ers have done it multiple times. With Kyle Uschek, It's
(33:58):
like we want you here, but you've got to take
a cut, and you're like look around.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
He's like, I'm just gonna stay. I like playing here,
And to me, that speaks to like.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
Now, some of these guys I never blamed, like Milton
Williams for getting twenty six million dollars a year but
taking a little haircut to stay at a place where
you know you could win, where you know they like you.
There is value to that, and clearly Dallas Goddard saw
that in Staying with the Eagles. The volume
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