3 & Out - Cowboys Draft Room REVEALED, Aaron Rodgers Wants a RAISE + Rookie Mini Camp Takeaways + NFL Offseason Mailbag

On this episode of 3 & Out, John Middlekauff takes you inside the Cowboys’ draft room following the “The Pick Is In” ESPN feature, breaking down the dynamic between Jerry and Stephen Jones and what it reveals about how Dallas makes decisions on draft night.

John also dives into the latest surrounding the Steelers’ Aaron Rodgers situation and a potential connection to the Arizona Cardinals, unpacking the rumors and what could realistically happen.

Plus, why Anthony Richardson appears to have little to no trade market right now, and what that says about how teams view his development. On the flip side, John discusses Fernando Mendoza and why playing exclusively under center might be the only thing holding him back from starting over Kirk Cousins.

Later, a look at Patrick Mahomes attacking his rehab and what it means for the Chiefs as they gear up for another run.

To wrap things up, John answers your questions in this episodes mailbag segment.

From behind-the-scenes draft insight to quarterback storylines across the league, it’s all covered on this episode of 3 & Out.

Follow John on Twitter, and Instagram for the latest. 

All lines provided by Hard Rock Bet

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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. What is going on my people? How are
we doing? John Middlecoff Three and Out podcast back again,
took the weekend with my family. It's being a good

(00:23):
Dad said, you know what, let's fire up the old
podcast and give some takes on football. And that's what
we will do today. So some thoughts these viral clips
with this doc on the Cowboys, Aaron Rodgers Mendoza taking
snaps under center, John Sterling, legendary Yankees broadcast broadcaster and

(00:44):
play by play voice, Dies Dad diaries, some mailbag questions
at John Middlecoff, We've got a lot going on today.
So you guys know the drill fire in uh fire
in those dms if you want to get on the
mail bag. If you listen on Collins Feed, make sure
you subscribe to three and Out. Never miss an episode
on video because you just go to Netflix, hit the
alert button and you'll see this beautiful face, smiling, slinging takes.

(01:09):
But I do want to start with the pick is in.
I don't know if I would imagine NFL Films was
involved in this. It's on. I watched on ESPN Plus
and they did like an hour long documentary on the
first round. I just kind of powered through the first
thirty minutes. And because I saw a lot of content
online of these inside the draft room of the Cowboys

(01:34):
talking to the Browns, talking to the Dolphins, talking to
Howie when they made their trade, you know, late in
the first round. I'm like, where is this coming from?
And then you need a little AI and you realize
there's this documentary out there. So I wanted to check
it out. And one thing really jumped out to me
in the clips and then watching it is, you know,

(01:55):
the funny part about the Cowboys. If I just said
a meta random fan of football and I said the
Dallas Cowboys, the first thing most people would say would
be Jerry Jones, Right, I mean, Jerry Jones isn't just
synonymous with Cowboys since they haven't won the last thirty years.
He's kind of the defining poster child of the franchise.

(02:16):
Like when you think about Dallas, Jerry Jones just comes
up in a lot. He's prominent in all these in
anything going on in football, Jerry Jones is out front
and center in a league where the owners never talk.
Most owners talk once at the owners meetings and maybe
if they fire a coach, and even then a lot
of times they just throw out their general manager to

(02:38):
speak for it. It takes something like the Roonies or
Steve Bushatti when John Harbaugh and Mike Tomlin had been
almost a combined forty years for those guys to lead
the press conferences. But a lot of times the GM
just goes out there and runs it. And I think
Jerry is just addicted to the spotlight. He's been like
that since he bought the team. It's why he and

(03:00):
Jimmy Johnson. But it heads which listen, you cut the checks,
you can do whatever you want. You would say the
best case for the health of an organization would be
an owner in the background paying a guy a ton
of money to run your franchise, coach your franchise. You
just cast them checks, enjoy it in the suite, and ideally,

(03:21):
you know, win some Super Bowls over the course of
your career. Jerry is not taking that tactic. But I think,
and I'm guilty of this, Jerry Jones the GM. Jerry
Jones is the GM. I say it all the time
because Jerry literally says it when they ask him, Jerry,
when will you ever relinquish being the GM? And he
always goes on these rants of like, well I'm signing

(03:42):
the check, there'd be a middleman and might as well
I just do it. So I'm watching this documentary and
I'm thinking Jerry is gonna be on the horn trying
to wheel a deal. It turns out the guy running
the entire draft room is Steven Jones. And listen, you
get old enough. I knew a lot of people growing
up whose families had small businesses, farmers, people in construction,

(04:07):
and as either the grandparents or now you know where
I'm at in life, the parents get into their seventies, raighties,
it turns out so and so owns company X. But
it's a family business. The kid is doing it all.
And when we think about the cowboys, we go, oh,
Jerry's making this happen. Jerry's negotiating in buttonheads with David Mulgetta,

(04:31):
Jerry and some of the times clearly he is a
part of that. But it's pretty clear when you watch
these videos, and even if you haven't watched the documentary,
if you just watch the clips that have gone viral online,
Stephen Jones might as well be the GM. He's running
the trade chart, he's running the calls. And the other

(04:52):
thing is when you see on these videos him calling
the Cleveland Browns, Jimmy Haslam's not picking up the phone.
Andrew Berry when he calls the Miami Dolphins. I didn't
even see Stephen Ross in the room. I'm sure he's there,
but he's not on the video. He's talking to the
GM and the assistant GM when he called the Eagles,
be Stephen Jones. He's not talking to Jeffrey Larry. He's

(05:15):
talking to Alie Roseman, who also on that video. Got
down to brass tacks pretty quick and a deal was made.
Hey we want this, you want this? No, Yeah, deal's done.
Let's go two franchises. We're ready to pull the trigger
when a deal needs to get done. But I think
we do a poor job. And ultimately, like in the

(05:35):
people that I've known, if whoever the patriarch of the
operation wants something done, that thing will get done. But
I think sometimes they get discussed in the world like
they're more active than they typically are. And as they age,
most people become a little hands off, and the younger

(05:58):
person in their family who is running point on all
the deals is the guy actually doing everything. And you
watched Stephen Jones handle himself in that room look pretty normal.
Like I've said this forever, and Jerry has been a
very very important figure in the history of the league,
and obviously your Cowboy fan, you're pretty disappointed. You haven't

(06:20):
even been to a championship game in three decades, which
is kind of unheard of. I mean, the Jags were
in one not that long ago, right, The Cardinals have
been to a Super Bowl. I mean some of the
worst franchises in the NFL have had success, right. I
mean the Seattle Seahawks, who when I was a kid
were not good, have won multiple Super Bowls in the
last decade. Right, And I just think you look at

(06:43):
the Cowboys, you would say more should be desired. Totally
agree in their own division, Eli won a couple. Howie's
now won a couple, right, He's like, what is it
took Dan Snyder ruining that franchise to only make it
like you weren't the incompetent one. But you watch over
the course of this last I don't know, seven eight years.

(07:03):
I do think the Cowboys do a good job. They've
drafted well for a long time because they clearly empower
their scouting staff. But I think when you get in
your mid eighties, like Jerry looks old, Hell, Steven looks old.
It's not like Steven's thirty eight years old. I mean,
I think his kid was in high school like ten
years ago. I remember when they played that high school

(07:24):
championship game at AT and T and Steven's kid was
the starting quarterback. That that had to be a minimum
seven eight years ago. So I just think this version
the way we talk about the Cowboys isn't the version
that's actually happening because Jerry no longer is running point
in all this stuff. Like ultimately you have to okay it.

(07:44):
Maybe in the draft room if Steven wanted to draft
someone else, but like Steven's running the show. The other
thing that happened I think over the last four or
five days is the Steelers. You know, Aaron Rodgers is
an unrestricted free agent, but they placed some tender that
so they would get a comp pick. I'd never even

(08:05):
heard of it, and it's pretty clear this Aaron Rodgers situation.
One of their local beat rids was I think wrote
in his column over the last couple of days that
patients could be wearing thin inside the Steelers kind of
brass to this. Aaron Rodgers situation hasn't been figured out.

(08:26):
And one of my predictions was during the draft is
I thought we'd know. I guess Thursday, But if you
would have told me over the course of Thursday, Friday, Saturday,
and even Sunday, I would have been like, we have
a resolution with Aaron Rodgers and a contract has been determined.
But I also don't think this is that emotional, like
I'll defend Aaron Rodgers. Here Aaron Rodgers saw him Alik Willis,

(08:50):
who started a career four games, who's gonna get his
teeth kicked in down in Miami, who couldn't throw a
strike to save his life. I don't know if he
saw that clip. Just get twenty five million dollars year.
Aaron Rodgers cut them a major discount. I think he
had ten million dollars guaranteed, and when it was all
said and done, his contract was thirteen million dollars. If
I was Aaron Rodgers, I'd go, well, if I played

(09:12):
for twenty million dollars, that would essentially be giving you
guys a two year, fifteen and a half million dollars
a year. Look around the league, Who the fuck is
playing for that much money. Daniel Jones just got forty
million dollars a year, couldn't even make it to December
without tearing his achilles and breaking his leg. So you

(09:32):
have this guy who without me last year, there's no
way you make the playoffs. I think we can all
agree on that you need me. I've seen your quarterback
room texing people in the league, and I would agree.
The Drew Aller pick people think is insane. They're like,

(09:52):
he was not getting drafted probably like the fifth or
sixth round. This is I mean, you look at the
two guys the previous year, Kiley Leonard, Will Howard both
went in the sixth, seventh round. So Drew Aller, I get,
he's got some traits like car I understand Carson Beck
went on the second day as well. Carson Back actually
has proven to be a decent football player. Drew Aller
has not proven that by any means, and he's coming

(10:13):
off an injury. But that's neither here nor there. I
think Aaron Rodgers wants a big race because he goes
this is probably gonna be my last year. I'm not
playing again for fifteen million dollars now, you don't need
to pay me forty. But if we look at it
over a two year span, I would say that number
somewhere between twenty and twenty five million dollars. And that's

(10:33):
where I would guess the Steelers are balking at a
little bit of like we thought we could just keep
rolling you for ten fifteen million dollars a year, and
Aaron Rodgers goes not so fast. And that's where I
think this Arizona Cardinal. When I was at the Combine
the first night I got there, I was just having
dinner by myself at this at this like restaurant bar,
and it was like a steakhouse. I was like, you

(10:54):
know what, I kind of want a nice meal first
night away from the I think it was my first
night ever away from the baby. I was like, you
know what, I just I just want to get like
a nice steak. Got a couple of crab cakes in Indianapolis.
I don't know why I did that, though they were fantastic,
A couple of cocktails, and just there was a basketball
game on. I think it was like a duke North Carolina.
Just enjoying myself and I saw James Palmer, and you

(11:15):
know he's reporter covered the Broncos forever worked at NFL Network,
and I was like, you know what, I'm gonna go
say what's up to him? And Nate Hackett was with him,
so I introduced myself. Nate Hackett went to UC Davis,
where I'm born and raised, where my dad went to school,
and I spent eighteen years of my life. Nate Hackett's dad,
who coached at UC Davis, sold his house to one

(11:40):
of my best friends, Guy Haverman's parents, when they moved
to Davis. Guy Haverman lived in Nate Hackett's house as
a kid. Guy showed up to Davis I think in
like eighth or ninth grade, and so we start talking
about it and shooting the shit. They're drinking a bottle
of wine. I just walk over my cocktail kind of
barge in on their conversation. But we're just all shooting
the shit, and then I what are you doing now?

(12:00):
He's like, Oh, I'm working for the Cardinals. So I
was like, oh, I live in Scott Seale. We just
talked really quick and then I left and their night
went on. So when I saw this story about Aaron
Rodgers Cardinals gaining some buzz I went, was it Nate
Hackett one of his best friends. Mike Lafleur is Matt
Lafleur's brother, who obviously Aaron Rodgers holds in high regard.

(12:24):
And then I look today, they have forty million dollars
in cap space. Now, Jeremiah Love, I don't know exactly
what his contract will be, but you advertise that money whatever,
the signing bonus is thirty million dollars over the course
of the four year contract. You have a lot of
room where you could easily sign Aaron Rodgers. Hey, Aaron,
we'll give you one year twenty five million dollars. So

(12:46):
what if the Steelers have to bid for a service.
What else do the Cardinals have going on? Jacoby Brissett,
who's mad and wants the contract guaranteed, Gardner Minshew, who
hasn't been good in a long time, or Carson Beck
who to me, if Aaron, you know, obviously goes back
to the Steelers, I would think about when Carson's ready,
I'm giving him as many games as I can this year.

(13:08):
But I do think this thing is simply over money,
and I don't blame eron like I think it gets
blown out of proportion when players go you guys know,
it's a business, Like, yeah, guys, we understand it's a business.
Like everyone's getting paid here, but sometimes like you have
to act in your best interest and if this is

(13:29):
gonna be your last year, you're not just gonna take
a discount because like I get to wear the Steelers uniform.
It's just you're think you're getting me easy because Mike
McCarthy's back now, Like what you're just gonna roll out
will Howard mcarthy can tack him up all you want,
Like not typically how it works. You're just starting a
six round pick year two when he's never played in
the NFL. So I think the Steelers will eventually cave

(13:53):
and his number will be much higher than it was
last year. Some other stories around the National Football League
is you know anthy Richson over the course, I think
at the combine asked for a trade, which I'm sure
the Colts were gonna trade him no matter what. But
then once Ota started, it's like, bro, you haven't been traded.
The draft came and went. The Packers, who were interested

(14:15):
in him, just signed Tyrod Taylor. So it's like the Chiefs,
who I would have been. I could see Andy Reid
having some interest signed justin fields. It's like, bro, you
don't have a market right now. You can ask for
a trade, but it takes two to tango. It's like
in the draft, like, hey, I'd love to trade back.
You start picking up the phone. No one wants to
trade up. You just have to stick and pick. So

(14:36):
Anthy Richison eventually had to look in the mirror and
go I got to rehab my brand because obviously on
the field is not good. But off the field, I
don't think people are doing cartwheels like, let's get Anthony
Richardson in our building. So to me, I guess i'd
give him credit. But to me, you didn't have a choice,
Like you just gotta show a kind of a team player.
No one is trading for you. They would give you

(14:59):
away if the would, if someone would take the contract.
So Anthony Richardson showed up was basically a formality because
nobody right now wants them. These rookie mini camps. I
saw Fernando the Raiders just had their rookie mini camp
and he gets under center for the first time. I
remember talking to a friend, I think it was Khalil

(15:21):
Max first year and he was like bro rookie Mini
Camp and he worked for the Raiders for a while
and he used to always tell me they are the
biggest shit shows because you have all these rookies, especially
if you have a high pick like Fernando Mendoza. He's
a bad example because he hasn't been making visits. But
you know, if you get if you're the Chiefs and
you bring in Delane and Peter Woods and r Mason Thomas,

(15:46):
and you bring these guys have been making visits. They
haven't been working out. I saw Brian Schottenheimer. I think
they just had their rookie. Minnie Camp said no one
was in shape, because no one's in shape right. All
the draft picks are doing private workouts, traveling to different teams,
or doing zoop interviews. Football players are creatures of habit,
Like I know, I am. I'm sure a lot of

(16:07):
people listening are creatures of habit. This is where the
kid has really thrown me off. When my routine gets
thrown off, I mentally I kind of break. So I've
had to learn to kind of be adaptable. And I
think players are no different. Typically, their life January through
December is pretty structure, how they work out, when they train,

(16:28):
when they practice, and during that draft period, it's all
thrown out the window. So you go to rookie minning camp.
Most of the guys you drafted are not gonna be
in shape, so you got to be very careful, careful
about pushing it too hard because they get injured. You
have all these Johnny tryhards and listen, sounds like I'm
making fun of them. Clearly, if you played a high
level college football and are getting invited to a NFL

(16:49):
mini camp, like, that's an impressive accomplishment in itself. If
you know a dude that's forty and went, hey, I
played it. I played you know, football at Boise State,
and I got invited to the Kancy Chiefs mini camp
fifteen years ago. I didn't make it, but that's that's
my claim to fame. Like God, a pretty decent player, right,

(17:11):
So all these guys getting invited have done something in college,
right and showed enough to at least get a phone call.
But no one knows the place. Half the people are
in shape, no one knows what they're doing. You only
get a couple days. It's just kind of a zoo.
So I saw the headline that Fernando Mendoz is taking
the first snaps under center really of his career. I

(17:35):
would say the only thing holding him back from being
the starter week one over Cousins is how quickly he
can get comfortable under center and then the dropbacks from
there and in that offense play action, the boots, the waggles,
all his stuff was in shotgun. So even if I'm
on the move, balls snapped to me, I'm going right

(17:57):
or left. A huge part of the Kobak Shanahan, Mike,
going back to Mike and going back to Bill Walsh
under center movement, the steps turning your back to the defense.
It is just something that you can't really prepare for
being in shotgun in your whole career. Now, how quick
you get accustomed to that. That's how quick he'll get
on the field. But there's no guarantee. So when people

(18:18):
go you think Fernando Mendoza will start Week one, all
have an opinion in like middle of August, is he
comfortable doing that? Because if he is, then he's going
to be better than Kirk Cousins. If he's not. Remember
Jared Goff, who played for Sunny Dyke's at Cal who's
now at TCU. Entire offense, spread offense in the shotgun right,

(18:40):
So Jared Goff's rookie year now it was Jeff Fisher.
It was a nightmare. But I bet even if Jared
Goff was sitting here right now, even if he had
Sean McVeigh, he would have been a little uncomfortable. I mean,
Matt Ryan and Aaron Rodgers said the first year they
were around the floor in Shanahan and Atlanta and in
Green Bay, like playing under center and turning their back

(19:00):
to the defense is just an uncomfortable feeling that they
weren't at ease with. And then once they got over it,
it opens up the offense and make things a lot easier.
So that's definitely something to keep an eye on with
Fernando Mendoza. I think Veitch said last week to McAfee
that Mahomes' rehab is and I remember talking to a

(19:20):
buddy on the staff at the combine. They're like, this
guy's attacking it like it's fucking climbing Mount Everest. You know.
The headline is he's gonna be ready to participate in
No ta's I would imagine they will ease him into
the offseason. I think the goal would be by the
time the Pats come on in training camp, is Patrick

(19:41):
Mahomes a full go because I think you got to
be very careful acl achilles. I mean, look at Jason Tatum,
right Jason Tatum said after they lost, He's like, yeah,
my right leg was only eighty five percent of the
same strength as the other leg. And once you get
off kilter with the leg, it's like how Klay Thompson

(20:01):
torn achilles. Next year he tears his h or acl
that he tears achilles. Because until your both legs are
at full strength, like most healthy humans are when you're
rehabbing back, Daniel Jones is gonna be into the same
category different injury. But you want to be very very
careful with the opposite leg that you're not putting too

(20:23):
much pressure on it because then you're likely to tear
something in the other leg and then you're just back
at square one. The whole rehab process was pointless. So
my guess is with Patrick Mahomes, they take this May
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(22:42):
comes to a quarterback is Brendan Soorsby, who officially, over
the last couple of days acquired legal counsel. And I
think they're trying to find out immediately whether he's gonna
be suspended and if so, how long. And I've kind
of come around. I mean, I don't think he's in
trouble for gambling on Cincinnati Reds games. He's clearly in

(23:05):
trouble for betting on his own team. He was also
a true freshman, like boys are dumb, but I also
understand if you're gonna be in bed with gambling. You
cannot have players betting on games that, even if they're
red shirting, they're a part of. That is a very
very slippery slope. I don't think and definitely the NFL

(23:27):
doesn't care about this. Like you're allowed to gamble on
the NBA, You're allowed to gamble on the PGA Tour.
You're just technically not supposed to do it in the building,
but you can gamble on other sports. You just can't
gamble of Like, Hey, I'm on the practice squad. I
know Lamar Jackson's injured. I'm gonna bet on our team
to lose or win or win, right because maybe I
got a buddy on another team who, hey, three of

(23:50):
their five offensive linemen are out this week. Can't have that.
There has to be some integrity. And I also though,
would have to see, like if you bet one hundred
dollars for his own team to win, I don't really
give a shit. I don't think most people care, though
I understand that I could see them taking this extremely

(24:10):
seriously and suspending him for the season. Now. One thing
that is very clear about the NCUBLEA is they don't
like getting sued. I mean, they have lost lawsuit after
lawsuit after lawsuit. I mean, you could argue that their
kind of operation and their organization is holding on by
a very very thin string. If these football programs ever

(24:32):
wanted to go into business with each other and ditch them,
what would they do if they ever separate from the
academic side of their universities and just become the Alabama
football program where you don't have to go to school.
I don't know why you would need the NCUBLEA, but
my guess will be he's gonna get a harsh suspension.
They will try to sue or get an arbitrator involved.

(24:56):
You know, the supplemental draft. The way that works is
historically it's like a guy right now realizes he's going
to be academically ineligible for the fall, and he's a
good player. Well, do you know who doesn't care about
your academic eligibility? The NFL. They don't give a shit
what your GPA is if you're a good player, right, So, guys,

(25:20):
historically a lot of it has been that, and back
in the day, the transfer situation was much more difficult.
So once the supplemental and there hasn't been one I
think since twenty nineteen is the first round starts, and
if you want to pick Brennan Soorsby, you just say, hey,
we'll pick Brennan Soresby. But if I'm the Arizona Cardinals,

(25:41):
I have the third pick, and that it's the same
draft order that just happened. And if I'm the you know,
I'm just picking teams New England Patriots. I don't pick
till the end of the round, so as the rounds go.
Obviously no one would take this guy in the first round,
and I haven't watched that much of him. If he
came to supplemental draft, I'll peak at him. But like
I guess is these teams like this is one of

(26:03):
those situations that are how comfortable are you going to
be when you have similar situations. We've had guys get
suspended for this, and you don't have that much time
one to vet the person because he's not coming out
like a normal prospect where you have all off season
and a huge part of his story was what was
he gonna look like transferring to Texas Tech. All eyes

(26:23):
were gonna be on him. So I know a lot
of people think he'll go to the supplemental draft. I
think it's a pretty big red flag because there's so
much unknown about what's going on. He's checked himself into rehab.
As he's still there, he's getting this lawyer like. It's
kind of a messy situation for a league that is
also very sensitive with the gambling of their own players,

(26:45):
because we can't get to a spot where it's just
like no integrity of the game and it's like everything
is everything fake because some people believe that, and there
are times when you're watching, especially if you're gambling on it,
you're like, I think this thing's rigged. In these leagues
I've see college, they're very sensitive to that. And I
my guess is, you know, would Sores be be cool

(27:07):
if he only gets a three game suspension and playing
out the rest of the year. Cause to me, if
it gets like over half the season, I would guess
he just goes in the supplemental draft. Uh. The other
story from this week or it happened a day. Actually,
I'm not a Yankee fan, but I've always appreciated the

(27:27):
brand and the power of their fan base. I remember
going to Europe when I was in college and seeing
the Yankee hats everywhere. They're a worldwide brand and John
Sterling was the voice of the Yankees. Didn't miss a
game for thirty years. And when I was a kid,
it felt like they won a World Series every single year.
It's like, did they win ten World Series? Turns out
they wanted ninety six, They won a ninety eight, ninety

(27:49):
nine two thousand and then Luis Gonzales actually not far
away from where I'm sitting, hits the crazy Bloop single
with Kurt Shieling and Randy Johnson. The Diamondbacks. They could
have won four straight and then they lost again to
the Marlins. They didn't win again until the late two thousands.
But you know, baseball, I grew up loving radio, and
once you start working in sports radio and you see

(28:12):
how the sausage is made Historically, you know, radio's never
meant less terrestrial radio than it does today. But in
certain markets it's still pretty big. Like the Celtics losing
you know who. That was great for Mike Vrabel because
ninety eight to five, which you could argue is as
big and in terms of their market, might be the

(28:32):
biggest radio station currently in America because in Boston and
New York and Philadelphia and Chicago, some of these markets
still crush when it comes to radio, they get massive ratings.
Where I live in Arizona, local radio is deader than
door nail when it comes to sports talk and your

(28:53):
voice of a baseball team, especially when it's as prominent
of a baseball team as the Yankees become a huge
part of people's and when the Yankees really took off
from the nineties, the Internet didn't exist. Most people did
not have one hundred cable TV channels. You didn't have
that many options for things to do. So if you

(29:13):
like sports and you like the Yankees, you hurt that
guy a lot. And because of the sport, not every
game's on it at seven o'clock at night. You play
a lot of day games. You play on the weekends.
So if you're in your car, you were just hearing
this human being and growing up a big Giants fan.
Mike Kruco and Dwayne Kuiper, it's a little different sterling

(29:33):
because they were TV guys, but they also did radio
and the way the Giants worked. They got John Miller,
they got Dave Fleming. All their guys kind of do
it all now. Kuiper and Mike Kruco, the majority of
their work is on television, but like they can be
heard on radio constantly and they become a huge part

(29:54):
of your life and you feel like you know these guys.
And obviously baseball isn't quite the same of what it
used to be the national pastime, but this guy. When
the Yankees really took off, baseball was enormous. And the
Yankees in the late nineties, I remember watching those World
Series on television. I remember when Bruce Bochie and Tony

(30:16):
Gwynn took them on in that World Series after they
beat the Braves and the Yankees did they sweep them
or maybe those gentlemen sweep It was like, this team
is fucking incredible and unlike you know the Dodgers, who
you know they trade for Mookie Bets, they buy Otani
and Yamamoto. You know, Derrek Tito was a homegrown guy.

(30:36):
I'm pretty sure Hori Pisada, Andy Pettitt, like there was
an organic nature to those teams. And I can't imagine
a lot of Yankee fans and New York is our
biggest media market. Now, he's eighty seven years old, he's
been sick, he's hasn't been doing it for a while,
but the guy went thirty years, thirty years and didn't
miss a baseball game. I feel very fortunate that when

(31:00):
I the way my life has played out working in sports,
it turned out to be football. Like there was a
point in time if a professional baseball team would have
hired me out of college. Who knows, not that I'm
that big of a baseball guy, but I probably would
have tried it and done it. I worked for this tiny, tiny,
little summer league team when I was at cal Pauly.
It's kind of fun, but it was like you played

(31:22):
thirty straight You played thirty games and thirty five days.
It was like, god damn every single day. Football you
played once a week, you know. So these if you're
Mitch Holtis or Greg Popo or San Dusky who retired,
not that Sandusky, but the guy that called the Ravens games,
you just get the prep ball week, get excited to
get to watch all the other games and call your game.

(31:44):
Travel with it. It's it's the easiest sport by four
to be associated with it on the outside, obviously as
a player and a coach's intention, but in baseball, like
these guys are there every single day and they become
a huge, huge part of people's lives, and you know,

(32:05):
rip because to have that career to be a part
of one of the biggest dynasties of my lifetime, definitely
in baseball, the biggest dynasty. We'll see if the Dodgers
can match them, but that team to win that many
World Series and that short period of time was really
cool to watch. Before we do a mailbag, I do

(32:27):
want to do a quick Dad diaries and this is
actually about my nephews. Maria is in a wedding. So
last week she went home on like Friday, She went
to the wedding shower on Saturday, and then just stayed
with her mom throughout the week. And I was like,
when they left on Friday morning, I drove them to
the airport, helped him load all the stuff, and then

(32:48):
she just took Jack through check in and they were gone.
It's like, you know what, She's like, come help me,
come back. So I went out on Friday and we
went to her brother's has a daughter who just turned one, Lucy.
She had a birthday party. Her birthday party was nicer
than any birthday party I ever had in forty years
of life, not even close. I mean it was. It

(33:09):
was incredible. There were like eighty people there, kids everywhere.
I kept telling mad Or brother, I'm like, none of
your friends have fertility issues. I'll tell you that their
babies everywhere you turn. And uh, my brother. We stayed
with my mom who lives in the general Sacramento area,
and my brother, she lives in the cul de Sac,
lives in the Cold de Sac too, and which is great.

(33:30):
You know, my dad's dead. The kids or he has
a six year old and a three year old. Of
the three year old Maddie, she takes to school and
picks up and I guess every single day Maddie's no dummy.
He's like, I want to go to McDonald's. So she
takes them, but get chicken nuggets and he asks for
a milkshake all the time. My mom' struggles say no,
gets some a lot of milkshakes. He's living large. They
hang out. I came out one morning at like seven
thirty in the morning on Saturday morning and Maddie was

(33:53):
just sitting there with my mom watching cartoons. So it's
it's very cool for her. But one thing these kids
no is that she doesn't say no. And I was
thinking this weekend, Like I remember begging for stupid shit
at like Long's Drugs, which is like CVS mixed with

(34:14):
a target. I don't think they exist anymore. Always wanting toys,
her saying no, always wanting to go to McDonald's or
burger King on the way home, her saying no. Or
one time I don't exactly remember what happened, but like
most probably the first twelve thirteen years of my life,
we said this two bedroom house. Since they've remodeled it
in the house, that's a lot different. But then it

(34:35):
was just two bedrooms, probably like I don't know, two
thousand square feet, two bedrooms, a kitchen. Honestly, it might
have been less than that. It was a small house.
Houses in the eighties, you know, in the seventies. I
think the house was built in the sixties. They were
just smaller. So me and my brother shared a room
and I just remember pissing her off so bad and
she came at me with a spoon. I definitely deserved it,

(34:58):
and she was just she It was great. I mean,
when I would get in trouble, she'd always threatened to
call my dad. She wasn't the disciplinarian, but this time
I remember I made it really really mad. That's probably
like I don't know, nine ten. But on Sunday morning,
we're flying out at like noon. I can hear it's
probably seven fifteen in the morning. We're in the back

(35:20):
bedroom and they're out like toward the kitchen, but there's
like a hallway, but you can the sound travels in
the house. So sometimes like if she's watching TV in
the living room, even though it's in the opposite end
of the house, she has tiles and the sound just travels,
so you can hear a lot of what's going on
out there. And I just hear my brother really and
his two kids, Maddie and David, like ah, and there's

(35:42):
a commotion going on out there. It turns out Maddie
and David, who you know, young kids walk over to
my mom's house like seven, seven thirty in the morning
and look at my mom Joan and say can we
get some ice cream? And she can't say no, and
she gives them a bowl of ice cream. And then

(36:06):
my brother, who is just looking for his children who
are nowhere to be found, walk in and there is
David eating ice cream at seven forty five in the morning.
So It's just it's funny how life works, you know,
and you see these memes and these videos on online,
Like your parents treat you way different than they treat

(36:27):
their grandchildren. Right, So, yeah, my nephew's at ice cream
for breakfast. Okay, let's bang out a couple of mailback

(36:49):
questions at John Middlecoff. At John Middlecoff is the Instagram
fire in those dms, get your questions answered here on
the show. Just curious. What are a couple of your
favorite first round picks. Well, if rvel rees, let's say
goes back to school, I think there's a chance non quarterback,
he's the best player in the country. One more year

(37:11):
Ohio State, one more year of Patricia puts up dominant,
is unblockable, and we go this is one of the
better players in recent memory coming out of the draft.
But he was twenty years old, didn't have that much experience.
People didn't know what position he was really gonna play.
It's like he could be Micah Parsons. But those are
the type guys I am taking all day long, and

(37:32):
I think in a couple of years, if they are
able to figure this out, they could have one of
the best pass rushing duos in the NFL because that
duel Carter is he has no excuse not to be
a Pro Bowl player, and rvel Reese's ceiling is every
bit is high, if not higher. So I think them
getting I think the Titans could regret that. I really do.

(37:55):
I think they could have got a wide receiver later.
I understand liking Carnell Tape, but I would have had
a really, really hard time passing on Rfl Reeves. And
then the other is I would imagine on every draft
board Caleb Downs was a top three or four player
in the draft. People just thought he was one of
the best football players in this draft. The Dallas Cowboys defense.

(38:21):
Obviously he trade Michaeh Parsis right before the beginning of
the season, but no one knew where to go. You
would watch them play. It was like watching Texas Tech
for Mike Leach. I was like, are these even Division
one players? Are these even NFL players? Does anyone know
what's going on? Could have been Ibra Flus, who I think.

(38:41):
I don't know what cons he's been on, but he's
he's pulled a pretty good con job. Bill Pollian got
him hired, and then you know with the Bears and
then the Cowboy I mean, Matt Everflus is just position
coach at best, but no one knew where they were going.
So now you get Caleb Downs, who's one of the
best players in the draft, who is also like a

(39:02):
genius and just can point everyone where to go and
what to do, and you're clearly gonna have a defense
with a lot more younger players on it. You know,
they draft Lawrence later in the first round. They have
a bunch of veteran defensive linemen. Now, I just think
if you would have told Jerry Jones, Brian Schottenneimer, Stephen
Jones that Caleb Downs would be on your team and

(39:24):
you would only have to trade up one spot, I
don't think they would have believed you. I don't think
most people in the league would have believed you. So
you could argue that's my favorite pick just because the
plug and play nature of it. It's just perfect when
it comes to playmakers that dcs specifically scheme for JJ, Chase, CMC, etc.

(39:46):
Once they start regressing, how long does it take for
the coordinators to catch up where they realize they no
longer need to scheme for them. Example, I keep hearing
AJ is regressing, but defense is still treat him as
a prime threat even if he isn't. At what point
do the dcs realize this. I think it's got it. It

(40:10):
takes a little time because you can't go into a game.
Let's say AJ Brown is never the same, and then
you play him and you're like, you know what, We're
not gonna shade the coverage over there. We're just gonna
treat him like a run of the mill wide receiver
because we think, I know, he's making twenty eight million dollars.
We view him as just a guy we see every week,

(40:30):
no big deal. And then he goes for ten one
hundred and thirty yards and two touchdowns on you. You're
gonna get crucified. It's like, oh, McCaffrey's not the same.
And then he rushes for one hundred and forty yards
and scores three touchdowns against you. You are getting eviscerated.
So I think a lot of the coordinators get very nervous,

(40:51):
like you gotta be really shitty for them not to
pay attention to you, because like that's the whole point
of the game plan. The other thing is if the
player's regressing, but is the offense still revolve around him,
Because if the offense still revolves around him, if you
take out their number one option, it makes it more
difficult unless you believe like their number two option is

(41:11):
like sneaky underrated. So I think it takes a little while,
and I think a lot of it is because self preservation.
You don't want to get crushed. Big Steeler fan out
of Salt Lake City. Beautiful place, salt Lake. I can't
speak to Pittsburgh, never been there. What are your initial
thoughts on Will Howard seems like a big kid with

(41:32):
a strong arm and won the Natty with Ohio Staten's
that behind Rogers for a year. Everyone wants to know
about this guy. I just I've said over and over,
I think it is very, very difficult for a franchise
to start a six rounder who's never played before Week one,
even if it turns out like he's the next Kurt
Warner or he's the next Rock Party. Kurt Warner got

(41:54):
to start because Trent Green towards Acl Brock. Perty got
to start because Trey Lance broke his ankle and Jimmy
Garoppolo broke his foot. You just don't throw you can't
be taken seriously inside your building. If you just hand
the starting job to that guy. Now people on the
team can go, this guy's good, this guy's good, this

(42:16):
guy's good. But typically it takes an injury for that
to guy to get on the field. Now, if it's
Will Howard Verse, you know, if Rogers never shows up,
it's Will Howard, Drew Aller and Mason Rudolph. You can
start him. But if it goes wrong, you're gonna get crushed.
Like it's a slippery slope. Part of when Kurt Warner

(42:39):
or Purdy gets in, there's no expectation. Right when Kurt
Warner started Week two, no one, no one even thought
or was it week one? The trunk had hurt in
the preseason perty got thrown in in like December or
late November. Your expectation on the player is nothing. Enjoy
when you talk about what it was like growing up

(43:01):
as a kid in the nineties, hop on our bikes,
meet up with neighborhood friends, kys a little mischief that
we did that we did. I remember I was telling
someone the other day we had this water balloon launcher,
and I remember in the summer one year me I
used to run with these older kids, and the UPS
truck used to drive around the neighborhood, you know, like

(43:22):
the afternoon to do his drop offs. And if you
could time it up right on the water balloon launcher,
if you hit the side of the UPS truck as
he's driving by, it would make like a bomb like
sound because the UPS thing. And one day we were
on bikes and one dude was in a golf cart
and the guy got out of his golf cart and

(43:43):
chased him down and we all got caught and we
got in big trouble. But it's simpler times. This is
one I was like twelve. I was born in a
nine so right in the cusp, growing up without cell
phones and the internet. Gaming has become a huge kids
even prefer to watch others play video games. Don't get

(44:04):
me wrong. My siblings and I got down and sixty
four GoldenEye, NFL Blitz Mario Kart as a JV high
school football coach. Now I'm noticing how gaming is all
they want to do and talk about. My step son
loves sports, just turned six. I have a PlayStation I
never use and hesitate to introduce him to because I
don't want him to lose the passion for real life

(44:27):
and interaction. How do you think you will approach this
with Jack as he continues to grow up, not saying
gaming is bad, but I'm learning on the fly how
to balance, so it's not all he wants to do.
Thoughts on parenting and potential gaming. I yeah, I mean,
I'd be lying if I said I didn't love video

(44:49):
games when I was a kid. I remember PlayStation and
sixty four Sega. I remember I had a Sega when
I was probably in junior high and sixty four was
pretty sweet. But by you know, Xbox, I never that
was a little past my time. I didn't really play
video games. So after freshman year of college, so I mean,

(45:11):
I've gone twenty plus years of playing video games. My
wife does not like them, so that that's he We're
not gonna have a gaming kid. But I'll be honest.
I thought, you know, i'd write down a lot of
stuff and how I'm gonna approach life lessons and stuff.
I think I've mentioned this before. When your kid is

(45:31):
so young, you're just trying to get day to day.
It's like yesterday we're in the plane flying home and
he has a meltdown, and I'm like, oh my, what
do you do. You're just You're like Darrell Reeves on
an island. Everyone's staring at you. He's he's screaming as
loud as he's ever screamed. I mean, the whole American
Airline plane is just echoing up and as like, oh

(45:55):
my god. Everyone. A couple of people like, hey, I'm
a grandparent. No worries. One late, he said after it
went on for a couple of minutes, like I didn't
even know he was there till that. So everyone was cool.
But you're just in the fog award, just trying to
get by. But I think there's gonna be a fine balance.
I mean, I've thought big picture about this. You can't

(46:17):
be one of those people that never gives your kid
a device, right, or never let your kid go on
a computer. Because he was born in nineteen or twenty
twenty six, so he's gonna be growing up in the
thirties and the forties where think how often I mean,
I got I'm talking into a computer to make a living.
I wrote down notes on my iPhone, I'm recording it

(46:40):
into an external monitor where I got two televisions that
I'm about to throw in the Knicks game that are
wired to my I mean, our whole life is technologically determined,
and we lived through it, most of us. Obviously, some
people for jobs don't. But even if you run a
restaurant and you're this head chef, well, can I order
door dash? Can I get the thing delivered through my phone?

(47:01):
You don't want them to not understand and be technologically advanced.
My brother's kids are older, you know, at six, and
there's a balance of how much you let them watch.
You can't just never let them use the iPad or
never let them learn, you know, mess around with a computer, right,
or they will just get lapped in society. Now, there's
clearly a balance of you know, I can't just have you,

(47:25):
you know, being thirteen years old have a phone just
looking at porn all day. I don't know exactly how
I'm gonna attack that. But their life. It's funny. You
hear some of these stories from people who have like
high school kids, and they will like DM the girl right,
and they'll be talking on Snapchat or Instagram or TikTok
or whatever. And he says, when they get to school,

(47:48):
they won't even communicate like they will just text it
all night and they walk right by each other at school.
That's like, we're not gonna that's not gonna be Tell Rady,
we gotta we gotta communicate. We gotta talk. The one
thing he'll never have to do, which my generation did
and everyone younger. If you wanted to talk to a girl,
call your girlfriend, you had to call her house. Her

(48:13):
father might pick up the phone, her older brother might
pick up the phone. Her dad could listen as you're
talking to her. I remember text messaging first came out
when I was he was like a junior senior in
high school. I remember my high school girlfriend. We were
texting all the time. But back then you don't get

(48:33):
charged for texting anymore, right, it was like ten cents
of text. And I remember I was working for my
dad on the ranch and I remember like kind of
looking down and I see this cloud of dust and
I was like doing something on a tractor, and it
was it had beds. So like if you're going to
drive a truck onto the field, you would have to

(48:56):
kind of go around and then go up. You couldn't
go horizontally from an angle, You'd have to go vertically,
so you weren't bumps. He doesn't even break stride. He's
going like fifty miles an hour hitting these bumps. I'm like,
did I kill someone? And then as he gets closer,
the window comes down and I see outside the window

(49:17):
him holding some paper. So finally I just get out.
I'm like what. He's just fucking furious. This shows yet
where we are with The bill was like six hundred dollars,
which you know, two thousand and two a cell phone
bill for a high school kid six hundred dollars would
probably be like five thousand. Now he was so mad.
I'm like, Dad, I'm just texting her, like what you

(49:40):
didn't even I mean at the time, he wouldn't even
be able to comprehend what that meant or what that was.
And you got you got charge per text message. So uh,
simpler times now, John, Who would you consider the next
up and coming coach in the NFL. That's a good question,

(50:03):
I would say. I think I heard someone say this
the other day. There were ten openings this year, right,
so next year or the previous year. I forget how
many there were in twenty four, but let's just say
there were five or six and that's like half the league,
So half the league has come open in the last
couple of years. More than likely there aren't gonna be
ten again. There's a decent chance that it's three or four.

(50:25):
If Mike Tomlin wants to coach in the NFL, Mike
Tomlin is one hundred percent getting a job. So like
Mike Tomlin is immediately taking one of the jobs, like
Harbaugh this year, like Vrable last year, they're just taking
one of the jobs. So then let's just say there's four.
I think Anthony Weaver, the Ravens defensive coordinator, is I

(50:46):
met him at the combine. He's an impressive guy. He's
he's very highly thought of. I would say Flores from
just a coaching standpoint, is clearly one of the best
coach in the league. Did suit the league and is
not great treating quarterbacks, so he's got to do a
little rehabilitation with just I'm cool with offensive people because

(51:08):
one of the knocks I remember a coach telling me,
like Bro, some of the stories I've heard the way
he treats the offensive staff, It's like Bro, offense pays
the bills in this league. But he's he's pretty elite.
I would say those two guys defensive guys offensively, I
mean all the Kobi X, all the floors have jobs.
You know, if Jackson Dart and the Giants are really

(51:29):
good this year offensively, you know, Naggy clearly wanted that
Titans job and they went with Robert Sala instead. Who
you know, Saul was just coming off an incredible year
with the Niners and Naggie had a bad year, so
it wasn't even that crazy. But if you tell me
the Giants win eleven games and their offense is awesome
like Noggi, you probably get a job. But I you know,

(51:49):
Josh McDaniels is never getting a job. No one's hiring
that guy in the NFL. What if the Vikings sucked
this year, could Kevin O'Connell get fired because he would
immediately get high. But like, is he just safe there
for the next couple of years regardless how things go.
Something to keep an eye on. That'd be kind of
my wild card. I'm a Seahawks homer, so I'll admit

(52:10):
I'm biased. But are the Niners in trouble roster wise?
They are now a clear third in the division in
my opinion. Kyle is no doubt about it. One of
the best coaches, which is why they run Last year
was insane, but they lost solid. That being said, I
wonder if his power in the draft room is becoming
a problem. If you look at the niners last five

(52:31):
or six classes, it's abysmal. Outside of a generational pick
with Purdy, I look up and down their roster and
I see age, injury prone, and lack of depth. They
will still be good because they got Kyle, but it
still feels like they're far away from a talent standpoint.
Only they could only go so far from a talent standpoint.

(52:53):
You have to go back to nineteen to find a
great draft for them. Yeah, I mean your position coaches
cannot be making your picks. The position coach one. I
was texting with a buddy this. You know, Kyle told
Rich Eisen that the position coaches have to sell him
on a player. The position coaches are not your scouts.
The position coaches are paid to coach their position. You

(53:16):
think Bill Walsh or Al Davis or Andy Reid or
John Schneider, Howie Roseman would let his position coaches pick
players or just have a ton of influence. Position coaches leave.
There's no guarantee they'll be there more than a year
or two, and with the forty nine ers they leave
all the time, so that that was like what are

(53:38):
we doing? That being said, I would not count these
guys out. I think the Niners gonna be good. A
lot of question marks with health, but the high end
talent they have is elite. Their quarterbacks still elite, and
their coach is awesome. And Sala hurts, but you know,
Raheem Morris, one of Kyle's best friends, like Sala, big

(53:58):
time defensive coordinator. He was awesome with McVeigh who's also
one of his best friends. I think that's about as
seamless of a transition as you're gonna make. And you know,
Kyle's pretty ruthless when it comes to that type stuff.
Everyone thought Gus Bradley was gonna be the job. You
cannot hire Gus Bradley to be your defensive coordinator, and
I'm glad they did not. Nice guy, felt member of
the bald community. He cannot be your defensive coordinator. So

(54:21):
I think from a coaching standpoint, they'll be high end.
I just think Kyle and again strippling I had no
issue with, but the running back. You know, I think
some people are questioning that one A little bit understandable.
Everyone thought lat you know, they went twelve to five
last year with scrubs all over the place. So what

(54:44):
happens if they're just not nearly as injured because the
previous year they were I guess three years ago now
they were in the Super Bowl. But yeah, there's no
doubt about it coming into the season, they're not going
to be favorite to win the division like they were
last year. Seattle and the Rams should be both. I
haven't even looked through the odds. I would say Seattle

(55:04):
and the Rams I would both put it like plus
one twenty five, and I put the Niners like plus
two to seventy five plus three hundred and the Cardinals
like a plus ten thousand. I enjoyed the segment on
NFL Finance Cash in the Cap. This is a little

(55:26):
bit of an old DM. I tried to I got
so many new ones. I've left some people in the dust,
and like, I don't want if you sent me a DM,
I want to answer it. But it seems to me
that a top ten coach in a top ten quarterback
is what wins closer you get to the top five
in each category at the same time, the deeper the
playoff run is. This seems proven time and time again. Lombardi, Star, Noel, Bradshaw, Walsh, Montana, Akeman,

(55:53):
Jimmy Johnson, Belichick, Brady Read Mahomes, so on. Even the
Cardinals put it together short term with Air and Carson Palmer.
Slide the rankings any direction and you'll get winning seasons,
playoff success, and more importantly, hope. As a fan, I
would not disagree with you. I think football has become very,

(56:15):
very simple. If you have an elite coach and you
have an elite quarterback, and the quarterback is playing well,
you're a lock to win. If you have an elite
coach and your quarterback is a little up and down,
but he's talented Bo Nicks, you can make the playoffs.
You can be in the championship game. Rabel Drake may

(56:36):
Right a couple of years ago, Hardball, Lamar Jackson. If
Joe Brady is better than Sean McDermott, the Bills are
gonna win big because we know Josh is unreal. Chan
was solid, but I don't think anyone thought Sean was
like a top seven. I think he's better than the
public beliefs, but like, you're not ranking him ahead of
a lot of these guys. If Joe Brady becomes like

(57:00):
one of the top offensive head coaches in the league,
they're gonna win a Supa Bow in the next couple
of years. So totally agree. But that's where you also,
you know, I was thinking about this the Celtics losing.
They made a trade this summer or during the season
where they traded Anthony Simons for a center and the

(57:23):
reason for the trade was it saved him money that
they it keeping below the luxury tax. I think the
Knicks this year paying like fifty or sixty million dollars
in luxury tax. The Nuggets a couple of years ago
got rid of a bunch of guys to get under
the threashold. Several years ago, the Warriors, because they were

(57:44):
a repeat offender, were paying like one hundred and fifty
one hundred and eighty million dollars in the luxury tax.
If they hadn't shed some salary, the next bill the
next year would have been like three hundred million in tax.
In the NFL, there's no luxury tax, right, there's a
hard cap. You can't go above it. You can spend
more cash than the cap right and manipulate deals, but

(58:06):
you can never just have unlimited players because you can't
manipulate the cap that much once you have high priced players.
We're in the NBA like it is what it is,
and if you want to go way over the cap,
you are going to get a huge bill, and unless
you're winning championships, it is never going to be worth it.
In the NFL, it's like the Bengals, who are quote

(58:27):
unquote cheap, have three guys making huge cash on offense, quarterback,
two wide receivers, and then this year trade the tenth pick,
which would actually be a cost effective player for a
guy making twenty five million dollars a year and give
him an extension in dexter lawrence. It's like, yeah, we
don't pay tax on any of it. I was like
the power of the NFL over the NBA, who just

(58:50):
three x their media deal is everyone's rich. Everyone has
the money if they want to. Everyone pulls from there.
There is no local television deals. They're not as I
would say, what word am I looking for? Rely? They

(59:11):
don't rely on the local revenue like they do in
the NBA and baseball. In baseball, it's a huge advantage
that the Dodgers sell out every single game fifty thousand people.
Like the Giants over the last couple of years have
not been good. They don't sell out like they used
to do with Buster Posey, Tim Linscom and Madison Bumgarner.
They are making less money now than they used to
make and that impacts their bottom line. Where in the football,

(59:35):
it's like the Bengals just had an awful season and
they're still flushed with cash. It's just up to the
owner whether he wants to be aggressive or not. And
it's one huge, huge advantage of just being in the
NFL in terms of the business structure of an owner.
It's like you got the money if you want it,
and if you get the right GM who can figure
it out, Like you can do some serious damage. Where

(59:58):
I mean baseball, only teams are even trying, and even
if you try, you're not guaranteed. Look at the Phillies
and the Mets. They suck. Phillies got right ectually because
they played the Giants, but the Mets have been terrible.
Would love to know how you think the Rams will
approach paying these younger players. In twenty three, the Rams

(01:00:18):
drafted Puka, Byron Young, Steve Avila, Kobe Turner, and more.
I think the Rams will have to make some serious
decisions over the next twelve months. This is the knock
on not going all in right now because Jared versus
going into year three, if he has a big year,

(01:00:40):
he's gonna get an enormous contract. We saw if Puka
can get right with you know, with the UH rehab stuff,
that number is not going to be small. So the
Chiefs have traded Tyreek Hill, have traded Trent McDuffie, not
because they didn't like those players on their team, because
financially it was like, we can't pay this much. So

(01:01:03):
the Rams are gonna have very very tough decisions now
maybe less need would go. This is why we got
a rookie quarterback. So when Stafford was say he retires
at the end of the year, we have a quarterback
who we like, who also doesn't make that much money.
So I see both sides. But this could be the
last year with this many good players on the team

(01:01:24):
because there's no way you can pay all these guys,
especially if Puka gets on the straight and narrow. We
know how much his contract costs. If Jared Verse has
a big season, we know how much edge rushers cost.
So just in those two guys alone, I mean, Puka
would be one hundred and twenty million dollars guaranteed, Jared
Verse be over a hundred million dollars guaranteed. That's just
two players, not even counting your quarterback. Gets very, very complicated.

(01:01:48):
I don't know which players want to see how this
year plays out, but they're gonna get Trent McDuffie. They
just gave a hundred million dollars. It's complicated. I'm expecting

(01:02:09):
my second in July. Buckling Up Part two. I got
the gram partially to message you. I enjoy and uh
most of your takes. I love football and graduated back
in eight. You have that I do disagree with is
that the cream always rises at the top. There are
plenty of quarterbacks who don't get the recognition like Stafford

(01:02:30):
when he was in Detroit did on a national scale. Also,
Baker Mayfield's career has been awesome since he left the Browns.
Imagine how many other quarterbacks got one shot and did
not get another. What do you think contributes to the
third point is haven't heard too much business talk from

(01:02:50):
you in the last couple of months. Do you have
any stocks uc value in? I have one. I have
an ETF. No, this isn't financial advice called PBW. It's
like a clean energy that I got heavily in like
three years ago, and that thing four years it plummeted.
I mean I was down eighty percent and he goes like,
you know, I could either take a loss or we

(01:03:11):
can just battle back. And you know, you would think
that the Democrats would be good for clean energy, but
Trump this this thing has exploded when he's been in office,
so it has ripped back. I meant like I averaged
down to like forty five dollars. I mean at one
point I was into like seventy. It was down below twenty,

(01:03:31):
and I think it closed the day at like thirty
seven thirty eight. I was always like, if I ever
get back to even, I'm out. But if I ever
get back to even, it means it's been ripping. So
no financial advice here, none. I wouldn't even recommend that one.
I don't even know. I've just I've been in it
so long and haven't wanted to take an l I
would say the quarterback thing. Most guys do get another shot, though,

(01:03:56):
Like find me people that don't get another shot who
are drafted, I, you don't get another shot. The cream
doesn't always rise if you're drafted later, Like there's no
guarantee Will Howard or Riley Leonard or you know, Garrett
Nussmeyer or any of those. But that's you weren't drafted
that I you did not have much value coming onto
the market, and then you haven't done enough to get
a shot. But if you are drafted, I Baker Mayfield,

(01:04:19):
you get shots. Sam Darnold, you get shots. Daniel Jones,
like Trey Lance has been signed multiple spots. He just
can't win a job. But Zach Wilson, like those guys
just haven't gone away. They're getting opportunities to play, you know,
or to be on a team, to be a backup,
to win a backup job. And when you're a backup,

(01:04:40):
you're one rolled ankle or one broken classical away from
being the full time starter. So Matt Stafford also signed
up to stay in Detroit, right, he kept taking in
an obscene amount of money in contracts He could have
got out at points done or forced his way out
but he never did. He like of money and he

(01:05:02):
got kind of lucky the way it played out, But
he was I don't want to say it was cool
with losing, but the money made him okay with losing.
There's no way around it. Love the show and Dad Diaries.
I've just recently became a father as well, and ready
to snap on the daily with the lack of sleep.
It's no joke. Do you think less Need is secretly

(01:05:22):
happy the Puka went to rehab. Now they don't have
to match the contract from Smith and Jigba and allows
them to use the immature behavior as a bargaining chip. Well,
it wasn't sustainable, you know. It's like he was in
kind of no man's land where he was so elite,
but then off the field like it was one thing

(01:05:44):
after another, and you just can't have that, especially when
the guy wants a lot of money. But if I
go to rehab and I cleaned my shit up, it's like, Okay,
I understand you're not gonna pay me top dollar because
I just went to rehab. That's part of life. See
it came, I'll be ready week one. Well, what if
I'm dominating again? You could argue the price and then

(01:06:05):
I stay out of the straight and narrow. I don't
think the price is gonna go down if he has
another huge season. So I think he's happy when to
react because he wants one of his best players, one
of the best picks that he'll ever make, to like
get a shit together, Rea, I don't. I think it
was technically like a wellness center or whatever, one of
those things they have in SoCal that for the rich

(01:06:27):
and famous. Regardless, I can't see another headline about you, buddy,
But it can't. They're not gonna happen. Like justin Jefferson,
Jackson Smith, all these guys making all this money, they
never have negative headlines. They're never an issue. We get it,
you're famous, you're in LA, but you can't be causing problems.

(01:06:49):
So do I think he was happy. I don't know
if he was happy. He just I think they just
want this to go away, Like figure it out, be
able to a hand. Mature if you can't handle booze,
No more drinking. If you can't handle booze, trick a
little less. Start hanging out with some fucking non losers,

(01:07:11):
Get with some normal people, Like can you just hang
out with Davante, Can you just hang out with like
people with some families, said of these streamers that have
absolutely nothing to lose because their job and the business
they're in is to do crazy shit. That's how they
make money. A potential fugazi Friday, I'm about to graduate

(01:07:31):
law school and pursue a career as a tax attorney.
Like any other business. A lot of what I do
is rubbing elbows. My fugazi is all these successful attorneys
I talk to, love to chat for thirty minutes about guidance,
career choices, et cetera. But each one of them, of
these people make it very clear at the end of
the convo that their firm is not looking for hire.

(01:07:55):
I didn't freaking ask them for a job. I don't
expect them to just offer me one while we're sipping
on a beer the first time we met. I get
it from their angle. It's just funny to me. I
hear you, Doug, actual bad question. Being a Birds fan,
I got to suffer through the awkward twenty five season
like us all. I don't think the old line collapse

(01:08:16):
injuries gets enough credit for the contribution to the mess.
I think it's a one off disaster, but I designed it.
At least twenty five percent of the twenty five offensive
implosion blame thoughts. Big Dom was extended. I saw that,
So you lost Halliby, who I started working with back
in the day, and Big Dom. Big Tom told me

(01:08:37):
some pretty funny stories. I don't think I'm privy to
say about his life in the ex you know, not
about the extension necessarily, but Big Don's gone just a
lot going on. Guys just stud love that guy. There
can't be many security guards for people in his role.
They extend, get a contract extension, and people talk about

(01:08:59):
online shows you he's really become a caricature. You guys
won the Super Bowl. You had a guy have one
of the great seasons in the history of the league
at running back. And I mean the league was defined
by Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, Jim Brown, like historically running
backs were like the best players in the league beside
the quarterbacks, and right there with the quarterbacks, especially in

(01:09:20):
Walter Payton and Jim Brown's era. He just yeah, I mean,
I think you're running game. You know. Saquan even said,
like did he work as hard? Was he his focused?
Just clear the offensive line injuries, the stout land, the
offensive coordinator, the mesh was off with the cohesion, the

(01:09:40):
play calling was shitty. Saquon just couldn't get going. Did
he lead the league and most times hit behind the
line of scrimmage? It was his off. I mean, I
totally agree, I couldn't agree more might even be more
than twenty five percent. But also shows you, like a
lot of hurts of success is tied to the run game,

(01:10:03):
which is why they hired Manion, who kind of is
going to get them under center, running the ball, play action,
some easy layout throws. It's gonna be fascinating to watch
when on this. Being a Canadian fan, I'm also a
huge CFL guy, and the rivalries that developed with the

(01:10:23):
nineteen league make the games exciting. My questions are this,
do you ever watch the CFL in the summer when
the American sports calendar is slow? If so, what are
your thoughts in the game overall? When you were a scout,
how often did you look for CFL players? Appreciate the question.
My second year in the league, I was a pro

(01:10:43):
quote unquote a pro scout, so basically you evaluate, I
got like ten teams, so I evaluate all the players
on the team throughout the year. And then I also
do the leagues right practice squad guys too, and then
like the random minor league teams and CFL was one
of them. I actually went to Vancouver to scout this

(01:11:07):
guy in the BC Lions who was a defensive tackle
who ended up staying in Canada, but we tried to
sign him and he just wouldn't come. But he was
a legit remember in like six four two ninety. Well,
I scouted the CFL multiple years. Actually I got nothing
against the league. One of a buddy of mine's brother,

(01:11:31):
Travis Brown, coached there for a long time. In the league,
I've always you know, people have gotten their coaching professions
started there. Obviously, once you play in the winner, it
gets really cold certain places. It's a competitive league, you know.
Where I grew up in Davis, UC Davis's rival with
Sack State. Ricky Ray was the quarterback at Sack State,

(01:11:54):
like when I was in junior high high school. He
went on to become like a legendary quarterback the CFL.
But I don't at this point in time in my life,
I haven't watched it in my adult life. So beside
for work, when I did it in the league. I
have not watched the CFL. Now, if it's like on
TV and I'm like having a beer and there's nothing

(01:12:15):
else on, I will watch a little bit of it. Obviously,
the running starts from the wide receivers. The difference between
the two downs and the three downs right before a punt, Yeah,
I respect it. That's why I would say I respect it,
just don't really watch it. The volume