3 & Out - Garrett Wilson signs MASSIVE rookie extension, 49eres WR Jauan Jennings DOESN'T show, 10 QB rankings - The Herd with Colin Cowherd

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. What is going on everybody, How are we
doing John Middlecoff three and our podcasts? Hopefully everyone is
doing well. Had a lot going on today. We recorded

(00:23):
a blog podcast, which I'm doing right now, as well
as a mailbag at John Middlecoff Fire. In those dms,
I went on with Colin as well. We talked for
over an hour, so a lot of content out there
in the world. We had breaking news right before I
started recording this, which was Garrett Wilson signed a massive contract.
Juwan Jennings I woke up to wants a trade or

(00:46):
a contract extension from the forty nine ers. So it's like, hey,
thank you to the content gods. The Browns had a
high draft pick, getting some trouble this weekend, not ideal.
Back to back years, They've had some domestic violence before
the season even kicked off, So we've got a lot
of stuff going on. I'm gonna have a long mail
bag and excited to do a football podcast here in

(01:08):
the middle of July. We're a couple of weeks away
from the pads coming on and everyone practicing. But I
want to thank the content gods for throwing me a
couple curveballs that I didn't see coming today, which I
always appreciate. But you guys know the drill. If you
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(01:29):
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(01:49):
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to day last minute ticket's lowest prices guaranteed. Okay, let's
dive in and react to what just happened within the
last I mean it could have happened yesterday, but the

(03:15):
news was just reported by Schefty that Garrett Wilson has
signed a massive contract with the New York Jets. I
would say the defining move immediately when it came to
the new administration, new coach, new GM coming with the
Jets was Tewny Aaron Rodgers, we don't want you. And
I remember my reaction was, like, Aaron, this happens to

(03:37):
every player. I saw LaVar Arrington kind of going off
on Jared Goff talking about the way the Rams treated
him on his trade. He's like, quarterbacks get so sensitive
when they are told they're cut, even though it happens
to literally every other position every single day in the NFL.
Were traded Like, I mean it's a transaction league. Yeah, quarterback,

(03:59):
It's like, if you are even thinking about moving me,
I need a six month head up. And Aaron Rodgers
was relieved of his duties and they signed Justin Fields,
which I think is kind of crazy. Not that they
got rid of Aaron Rodgers have no issue with that,
but given Justin Fields twenty million dollars a year, I
thought was a bold move. But here's the thing. Garrett Wilson,

(04:20):
who Joe Douglas drafted tenth overall, has been really, really good.
And I had a question asked to me the other
day in the mail bag, like where does he rank?
Is he a top twenty guy? Is he a top
five guy? And you look at his numbers and for
the most part he has not played with Aaron Rodgers
and he has been really really productive. So I think
when you have a guy who catches one hundred balls

(04:43):
last year, ninety five balls the year before eighty three,
is a rookie playing most of those years with quarterback
situations that were not pretty. I mean, that's a lot
of Zach Wilson and Mike White producing on an offense
that isn't exactly loaded, and they know that it's coming
to you. He is an extremely talented place and I
think this shows the new administration, especially the new coaching staff,

(05:04):
believe in the person, because part of giving a huge
extension to a player, especially when you didn't draft them,
is you believe in that guy in a short period
of time. The way he's wired, the way he works,
the way he communicates. Obviously, his skills speaks for itself,
but like, you're all in on this guy, and the
going rate for wide receivers as we've seen the last
couple of years, is thirty plus million dollars a year.

(05:27):
And the one thing he's shown is he can produce
whether a four year old Rogers is throwing the ball
or Mike White's throwing in the ball. And this year,
Justin Fields is throwing in the ball, which you know
probably is not going to go that great. So this
is a way to kind of take care of him,
knowing a season coming up that you might not have
a great passing offense, but we want you to be
on this team for whoever the quarterback is over the

(05:48):
next five years because ultimately, and I was a believer
in Justin Field's coming out of college, I was wrong.
And if I was a betting man, Justin Fields ain't
gonna be the starter probably in a year, let alone
in the next four to five years. So we want
you to be around as we figured this thing out.
You're our type guy. You're obviously the league type talent,
you know, and we believe that you, when you're giving

(06:10):
this type money, can be a top five ish wide receiver.
This was my issue with giving brand and I you
call that money last year, like you're giving a guy
seventy five million dollars now, Garrett Wilson got a little
bit more, but thirty million dollars a year for someone
that is gonna catch seventy five balls Like I it's
just like I would not do business like this where

(06:30):
Garrett Wilson, Like in a perfect world, he's a guy
catching one hundred and ten hundred and twenty balls and
a lot of people thought when he was coming out
of Ohio State that he could be a top five
wide receiver. Now part of being a top five wide receiver,
you know, Justin Jefferson has had good quarterback play. Obviously,
Jamar Chase has had fantastic quarterback play. Ceedee Lamb has
played with the top twelve quarterback Like you need that

(06:53):
guy like Larry Fitzgerald had some years where it's like
I'm throwing in the ball. It's hard. So you're all
in on this guy. Totally understand it. Now. I think
the question moves to because they have him as a
building block. Quin Quenn Williams is obviously already been paid.
He's a piece of the puzzle. You know, they drafted
a left tackle a year ago from Penn State. He's

(07:14):
obviously a building block. I think the question now turns
tu Sauce Gardner, who through the first couple of years
looked like he was on like a Hall of Fame trajectory.
And as a wise man told me last year in
the NFL, you know what happened John, They started calling
pass interference on him. He couldn't just mug them all
the way down the field. And he is not Deon
Sanders or Durell Reeves when it comes to being a

(07:34):
foot athlete. He's not that type of movement guy. So
when they started calling pass interference on him and didn't
let him be as physical, it got a lot more
difficult for him. Now here's the thing, Aaron Glenn dB
at heart. Aaron Glenn defensive coordinator at heart, Steve Wilks,
same thing, dB guy, Can they build a pass defense
that can you know, put him in a position to

(07:57):
excel because I could not give him top of the
market money right now. Now maybe they would. I'd be
a little surprised if they do. Now, if he bounces back,
has a Pro Bowl year build around him as well,
and then you have this team that's built around. You
can go try to find yourself a quarterback in the draft,
and I think obviously they try to do that years
ago with Zach Wilson. It blew up in their face.

(08:18):
But Garrett Wilson has seen a lot of crazy shit
and gets financially rewarded today by the Jets. Speaking of
a guy that wants to be financially rewarded, you know,
if you're Garrett Wilson's pretty simple, Like I've produced at
a high level. I'm clearly one of the more talented
players at my position. Like this is the going rate,
and when you're a player so different like being a kid.

(08:39):
If your brother gets a bull ice scream, you want
a bowl ice scream. I'm sure a lot of people
listening to this work, especially now. You know, go into
the office a lot and there are probably people at
your office like, well, Billy doesn't need to show up
on Mondays or Fridays. You're like, well, can I fall
under that category as well? I only want to come
to the office two or three days a week as well.
They're like, well, you know, we need you here five

(09:00):
days a week. In it, we're all human beings, we all,
I know, comparison is the thief of joy or whatever.
But it's a natural thing that we do. We cannot
help it, no matter how much we tried. And in
some businesses like obviously Compson real estate are really important.
Comps and business purchasers are really important. Compson NFL contracts

(09:21):
are really important. So you see Juwan Jennings who last
year signed I would say, a very player friendly fifteen
million dollar contract. He had never been that productive. He
was a third or fourth string wide receiver. They were
led by Ayuk Kittle, McCaffrey, Debo, and he was truly
a role player. So you're like, hey, we're going to
take care of you. We're going to get it in

(09:42):
on this early. He's like, cool, I mean, it was
a no brain affirm to sign that contract. Then things
changed a year later, He's like, I'm making seven and
a half million dollars right now, which again seemed cool
last year until I caught seventy seven balls and had
six touchdowns. Because I've had a front row seat now
for years of watching guys hold out. Now I understand
when Trent Williams holds out. First ballot Hall of Famer

(10:04):
Nick Bosa, one of the best players on the team.
Deebo Samuel, even though it was kind of controversy at
the time, had literally just carried our team to the
NFC Championship Game. But I saw branded at UK last year.
He was coming off the season where he got seventy
five balls and had one more touchdown than me. So yeah,
he had some more yards, but in terms of catch volume,

(10:24):
I had a couple more catches and in terms of touchdowns,
he only had one more. So do I think I'm
a thirty million dollar wide receiver. Probably not, but I'm
definitely way more valuable than a seven and a half
million dollar wide receiver. And here's the other thing coming
into the season, are you niece torn Ricky Pearsall is
already injured? Like I am, clearly the number one wide
receiver on this team heading into week one, not even debatable.

(10:48):
So the going rate, when I see that he wants
a trade or a contract, you know, some additional money
added to his contract, don't totally blame him. Now, if
I was the forty nine ers and trying to talk
him up off the ledgs because I cannot handle another
holdout in training camp, I'd go listen. If you have
another big season, which I promise you plan on having.

(11:09):
I'd be stunned if he got seventy seven balls last year,
if he didn't catch eighty plus balls this season. He
has a good rapport of rock perty. Typically, free agency
in the NFL is not good. We have seen in
years past where guys you're like, wait, how much of
Christian Kirk does make? It happens all the time where
a wide receiver hits free agency and gets overpaid by

(11:30):
twenty thirty forty percent because of the supply does not
equal the demand. Right, Randy Moss, Larry Fitzgerald, and Chris
Carter and Justin Jefferson, Jamar Chase don't hit free agency
in their prime right now. That's not how it works.
Good players stay on their team. So if you're just
a solid player, an above average player, a good starter,

(11:50):
you get overpaid. So listen to you want you come
in and dominate and produce, you'll get easily, like three
year sixty million dollars. Hell, someone might give you three
years seventy five million dollars and fifty million dollars guaranteed,
Like you will get some money. And I'm sure that's
what the forty nine ers are trying to convince and
talk him into right now. But I totally understand where
Jawan Jennings is going. Like, listen, I see Garrett Wilson,

(12:13):
who again, better player than me. I'm not asking for
ninety million dollars, but he catches these balls on losing teams,
Like I'm productive on a team who has these expectations
to like compete for the Super Bowl. Like you need me.
I've been making big plays for you now for a while.
And here's the other thing, Kyle, you cannot play in
this offense if you don't block, Like that's a huge

(12:34):
thing with Kyle Shanahan and the wide receivers. You have
to block. Why we have a run first offense. Well,
who's arguably the best, if not one of the best
blocking wide receivers in the NFL. Me. So it's like, yeah,
it's like, even if my production is never gonna equal
the elite of the elites, and if you say, in
my prime relative to Yu before he got injured, I'm
not as good as him. Okay, we can have an

(12:55):
honest conversation here, but I'm the best fucking blocker on
the team when it comes to wide receiver and probably
it's not even that close. I ak's good, but it's
like physically he can't match me. And we see Jawan
Jennings throwing guys, you know, into the coolers. So this
is a situation that like I could see getting complicated
and listen in life and a lot of you young
people listening to this. I had no leverage in my twenties. Hell,

(13:18):
I didn't have that much leverage in most of my thirties.
Life's hard and for most of your life, especially when
you're young, you can get animated and agitated when it
comes to you know, your professional working life, whether that's
working for someone, whether it's creating your own thing. However
it goes, it's it's a grind and it can wear
on you. But I remember Colin said this a long

(13:40):
time ago. You don't get leverage that often in life,
and when you do use it, you know, Lebron is
an outlier. He had leverage for twenty plus years the
first time ever. Now it's like, hey, you don't really
have it anymore, you know. And Juwan Jennings not saying
that he has leverage like he's Jerry Rice in his prime.
But the forty nine ers are pretty dependent on him
like they need Juwan Jennings and the going wait for

(14:02):
these wide receivers now, I mean an average guy makes
like twenty three twenty four million dollars and again he's
seen it firsthand. Wide receivers them take advantage of the
forty nine ers. This is why teams are so adamant.
We do not set. We don't want to set the president.
We don't want to set the president of doing this
because the moment you do, once you give the brother

(14:22):
ice cream, the other brother wants ice cream as well,
and the forty nine ers capitulated Dwayuk's demands. Juwan Jennings
is like, why won't they capitulate to mine? Don't blame
him at all for having that mindset. God, I'm fired up.
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Speaker 1 (16:32):
The Cleveland Browns, you know it's funny. I do think
their GM and their head coach are good, but I
do think, you know, it's it's kind of like Mike
McDaniel and Brandon Staley was like this, unless I'm not
comparing Mike McDaniel with Brandon Staley. Like Mike McDaniel has

(16:52):
accomplished way more in this league than Brandon Stately. I
do think Mike McDaniel could like go to any team
and function as an offen. It's a coordinator, and like,
I don't think he has a shtick. I just think
he's kind of a goofy or weirder guy. I think
Brandon Staley is like creating what he thinks a coach
looks and sounds like and tries to act like that.
But I think both those guys are good examples of

(17:14):
like you know, they're intellectuals. Coward talks about this with McDaniel,
like the media sees themselves in them Ivy League guy
like smart guys like, oh, it could be me. And
I think when you look at Andrew Berry and Kevin Stefanski,
couple Ivy League guys, like the media wants to root
for him. They're intellectually, I would say, superior than most

(17:37):
people that work in the league. They're smart guys. It's
like the media sees a lot of themselves in those
guys because that's how they view themselves. Intellectual, intellectually superior. Yeah,
both these guys. Now, the last couple drafts, they have
back to back years where they've drafted a guy who
has a domestic violent situation before week one last year

(17:59):
is my I called Junior, who, talking to people in
the league, was a giant red flag who in training
camp allegedly well he pleaded no contest but had to
go on probation and fines putting a gun to his
fiance's head over the weekend. Quinchawn Jenkins, I'd say star
running back once upon a time, looked like he was
going to be a lock. As the scout told me

(18:21):
this weekend, I would have bet anything after seeing him
as a freshman he would be a top twenty pick.
He was sec freshman of the year. I think he
ran for like fifteen hundred yards and sixteen touchdowns dominated
at Ole Miss as an eighteen nineteen year old kid.
And then a couple years later he transfers to Ohio
State and still gets drafted in the top forty picks.
He spent basically I think close to twenty four hours

(18:43):
in jail for allegedly throat punching his girlfriend in the
chin and throat repeatedly. And this is a disaster situation
for the Browns. Also, we will get into this in
a second. The NFL has a problem right now because
all these second rounders refuse to sign their contract because
they want every penny guaranteed. And I think all but

(19:05):
two second rounders have not signed their contracts, and Jenkins
is one of those guys. He is an unsigned player. Now, Listen,
if Jenkins was a seventh round pick and some random
running back out of some random school that was like,
whatever he would have been cut today, they would cut
him immediately. So you know where I stand. I'm not

(19:26):
some moral high horse guy. I don't give a shit.
I don't look to the NFL to I would say,
guide me to the way society and the way I
and my family and my potential children should operate in life.
This is entertainment business for me. I don't give a shit, truly,
And if that makes you uncomfortable, I don't know what
to tell you. I'm numb to all this stuff, been

(19:48):
doing it long ago. But the simple reality is if
he was if he was a third day pick, if
he was a fifth fourth rounder, potentially, I think he
would be cut today. But he's a high second round pick,
and he's a big time town. And let's face it,
they drafted him to replace Nick Chubb, And I think
this is what's tough about the NFL. Sometimes you replace
a guy. Nick Chubb wasn't just a great player before
we got injured, was like everything you would want in

(20:11):
a person. He checks all the boxes. And this guy
who I started texting around like was this guy a
character concern? He's like, no, we didn't have any issues.
The only negativity we ever heard was oh Miss was
a little bitter, a little butt hurt when he transferred,
but like welcome to twenty twenty five college football. Ohio
State offered him a bag and he bounced, and in
a weird way, he kind of had like an underachieving season.

(20:33):
I think a lot of people thought that he would
go to Ohio State and dominate. And actually the other
guy I'd say had more splash plays and he's on
New England. I mean, they had two guys get drafted
in the top of the second round. But this is
what makes draftings so difficult. It's like when you draft
Mike Hall, a guy with a ton of red flags.

(20:53):
You cannot be shocked when you have an issue that
comes with the territory, and teams know that, especially during
this time of year where guys are off forty or
fifty days. They used to say it's like first time
they have money in their pocket. Now all these guys
are rich in college, so like they've had money in
their pocket for a while. I mean, this guy, this
incident allegedly happened in a rented Lamborghini SUV. Like I

(21:16):
got news for you. He was probably renting that Lamborghini
SUV when he was at Ohio State as well. This
guy's had some coin. But these situations, like you draft
my call, you can't be shocked when something happens. You
draft a red flag guy who other teams are like,
he's not on our board, you're not shocked when it happens.
But it can also happen when you draft a guy
that like, yeah, we didn't have any character red flags

(21:38):
on and then we get this alert, we get this
phone call. We're like, what is going on now? I
don't expect them to cut them. I don't know exactly
how this situation is gonna play out with all these
second rounders. I do understand where they're coming from. I've
had some people DM me. It's like I thought all
these contracts were slotted. Well, they are slotted. The second

(21:58):
rounders are not arguing over the total amount of the
money that's in the contract that can't be changed. What
they're arguing over let's just pick a number. Let's say
the total value of my contract is five million dollars.
Unlike the first round, where all first your first four
years are fully guaranteed. So when I draft you at

(22:19):
pick twelve doesn't guarantee I'm gonna pick up your fifth
year option. But when I draft you at pick twelve,
like the Cowboys just did the guard or the forty
nine ers did the pass rusher from Georgia, those two guys,
whether they become all pros or bus are guaranteed to
see every penny of their first four years of their contract.
Obviously the fifth year option. Usually, I mean always, I

(22:41):
would say ninety percent of the time is based on
how you play. Sometimes it's like, well you've underachieved a
little bit, but we're the team that drafted you. I
think second rounders are fighting for we want every penny
guaranteed because they're not and depending on how far you
go down, like we can get out of that contract
pretty early. You see guys in the second round cut
after a couple of years all the time, and the

(23:03):
reason they are cut after that period of time typically
is because I can get out of the money. It's
why you see guys that are drafted in the first
in the in the first round that it's clear they're
not very good, usually play out all four years. Every
once in a while they're traded, and that means the
other team will pick up that portion of the contract.

(23:23):
But I would say, if you have to do a
study on this, over the last ten years, it feels
like eighty ninety percent of the time a player that
I'm not going to pick up the fifth year option
on and if I don't trade him, he plays out
those four years because I'm paying him no matter what,
so I might as well. You know, in most positions
not quarterback. I can rotate you in a defensive end.
I can you know, rotate you in in safety. You

(23:45):
can play on special teams. It's what makes quarterback kind
of unique, is why guys like Kenny Pikett and Mac
Jones that they get kind of dealt because if you're
going to be a backup and I'm paying you six
seven million dollars, I might as well just trade you
to some team that is willing to pay that. And
that's happened recently. But the situation is really ugly, and
the Browns have just found themselves in these situations over

(24:06):
and over and over again. I had someone text me like,
how does Andrew Berry get extended? And I don't know.
I mean, the place is just weird. And sometimes you
get it's like you get a guy that's never had
any issue, and then he immediately has this issue. It's
just like this is the Browns. I mean, if you're
a Browns fan, you're like, how does this keep happening

(24:26):
to us? Like I was excited for this pick I personally,
I was. I was excited to watch this guy play,
and now you just have to wonder, like what's gonna happen.
One thing that I do think is gonna happen is
he's going to be on the team and they'll just
kind of deal with the you know, I guess the PR,
which I don't even know what that means, Like what's
negative PR. There's a lot of negative PR. And Deshaun
Watson gave him tw hundred thirty million. They didn't give

(24:48):
a shit, So yeah, no ugly situation. A couple other things.
ESPN dot Com came out with the rankings of their
quarterbacks of the top ten quarterbacks in the league, and
they use like scouts and coaches personally, like we have
established we know the top four. Like I'm sorry, Patrick

(25:09):
Mahomes is one. Like I don't even know how you argue,
Like you could say, well, he's he hasn't been as
good as Lamar and Josh the last couple of regular seasons. Yeah,
I don't care. I watch him make the big plays
in the playoffs, get the job done over and over,
like he has just cemented at one till someone takes
him down. However, you want to rank the next three guys, like,
I'm not gonna argue with you if you would take
Burrow over Josh, Allen and Lamar like I wouldn't. I

(25:32):
would take Josh. But if you want to take Joe
Burrow over Lamar, like, you could make that argument. If
you put Burrow on the Ravens this year, do they
win the Super Bowl? I think you can make that argument.
If you put Joe Burrow last year on the Ravens healthy,
they definitely beat the Chiefs in Baltimore. So if you
want to put Lamar Jackson fourth of those three guys,
you know, Patrick one, Josh, Joe Burrow in some order,

(25:54):
two three, and Lamar fourth, Like, I understand where you're
coming from, but those guys are cementing it for basically
from five to ten, like you can put a group
of any guy. Here's the thing. The polarizing player that
everyone freaks out about is Jalen Hurts. There are points
in time last year when everyone was arguing, like, what's
up with the Eagles passing game? It was a reported
story based on a player on the team that aj

(26:16):
Brown did not like Jalen Hurts, and it was pretty
clear it's like, you can't really get him the ball.
Here's what I don't understand. The season ended, Jalen Hurts
won the Super Bowl. Pretty sure he was a Super
Bowl MVP. I googled his career earnings. He's made seventy
million dollars up to this point. Over the course of
the next three years that number will be two hundred
million dollars. I saw Sirianni today told Reuben Frank, who's

(26:38):
a local guy, Like he's so tired of it. He
thinks it's bs. All this guy does is win. Who
gives a fuck? Jalen won. So whether you want to
put him at five, whether you want to put him
at ten, like, this isn't a dak this isn't a
Kirk Cousins, this isn't even a Jared gov situation. Jalen
Hurts won the Super Bowl and played his best game
in the Super Bowl. Two of three years he's been

(26:59):
in the Super Bowl and he's putting money. He is
the starting quarterback for the foreseeable future for the Eagles.
So some made up lists that we do every time
during this period of time everyone freaks out about. I
don't understand. I really don't because it doesn't matter. Like
Jalen Hurts the Eagles, Howie, they won, So whether we

(27:20):
put him at six, whether he put him at ten,
who cares. It's like, well, you can't have him below Goff.
It's like, well, I watched this guy on a week
in week out basis if it's based on the regular season,
like I think he can because I could make the
argument in an individual game if our teams are the
exact same. If I have Matt Stafford at quarterback, I
can beat anybody. I can beat anybody. I can't say

(27:43):
that about Dak. I can't say that about Jared Goff.
Jared Goff doesn't have a great offensive line. He can't move,
and I like Jared Goff say that about the Eagles
if you told me the Eagles had random, you know,
average weapons. It's not like Jalen Hurts is sitting there
in the pocket picking you apart. He has AJ Brown
and Devonte Smith and fucking Saguon Barkley. Pretty good little group.
I've seen the last couple of years Matt Stafford come

(28:06):
down the stretch with a team that's okay. I actually
think the Rams in a weird way, are a little
overrated from a talents perspective, especially on offense like throwing
to Puka Nakula and but he's thirty seven years old.
And if you're basing this on, like listen, we saw
last year, I would have CJ. Stroud in the top
group and then CJ. Stroud kind of fell off a

(28:26):
cliff relative to the standard everyone's saying. Jayden Daniels lock
top five quarterback, Like we'll see. Part of being a
great player in sports is doing it every single year,
like part of Patrick Mahomes is like Josh Allen, Lamar
Jackson's like every single year, I know what I'm getting
every single year, I know what I'm getting. We saw CJ. Stroud,

(28:47):
Like what is going on? Because once you get to
the top of the mountain, everyone's gunning for you. That's
when the wind blows the hardest. It's what makes it
so impressive about all these great players, Like do you
know how hard it is to do like Tiger Woods
and Tom Brady did for like a decade plus or
every single time you played, people are coming for your throats.
They circle you as the guy they want to beat.

(29:09):
Every time Aaron Judge plays a game, it's like it's
a big deal. As on the pitcher, if I can
struct get this guy out, you're the guy that I
have circled in the lineup. You had every single year. Boom,
another home run, you know, another All Star game, another
Silver Slugger, another first team All League. It's very, very

(29:29):
difficult to do that. It's what makes Peyton Mannings and
Tom Brady's and Drew Breeses and Aaron Rodgers' career so
impressive any position, Like for a decade straight, every single
team that played Aaron Donald was like, how do we
stop this guy? What do we do to double team
this guy? What do we do to chip this guy?
And I just always I get a little hesitant because

(29:52):
I know what I saw. It was awesome. I mean
it was undisputable. It's undisputed how great he was coming
down the stretch, especially in those playoff games in Detroit. Now,
the Detroit defense was pretty bad injury wise, but it's
like you just watched him as poison in the pocket.
He was fucking awesome, but everyone just anointing him like

(30:14):
he's gonna be I don't know, Steve Young or something
like it's difficult to do so yeah, but I just
don't understand why people freak out, even the teams. It's like, guys,
you won the Super Bowl, like you won, Jalen you
And I'm not saying Jalen's saying any of this, but
it's like, you, guys, get the W on your side last,

(30:36):
but not at least the SEC media days kicking off
the day. Obviously the two best conferences in the Big
Ten now has won the championship the last two years.
I just think the SEC and part of it is,
you know, in the Big Ten, if you think about it,
a lot of the states their teams play. Their college

(30:57):
team is not the biggest team in the region Michigan
and Arbor, but like now the Lions are good. Yeah,
the NFL is just bigger than college football. Now, you
could argue that Ohio State football is bigger than the
Cleveland Browns the Cincinnati Bengals, but the NFL has a huge,
huge footprint in these areas like Wisconsin. What do you

(31:18):
think the biggest team is there? Wisconsin Badgers, the Green
Bay Packers, Right, Minnesota you think you think it's the
Minnesota college football team or the Vikings. Right, That's one
huge advantage the SEC has is Alabama and Auburn and
competing against anyone in that state. Right, to me, LSU
football is just bigger than the Saints. Now you could
argue with Drew Brees and John Payton were in their heyday,

(31:40):
but like going into this season, it's not even close.
The comparison of what is a bigger deal LSU footballer
the New Orleans Saints in Florida is the University of Florida,
University of Miami, Florida state outdone by the Miami Hurricanes
in twenty twenty five. I don't believe that. So one

(32:01):
thing the SEC has is a huge advantage of not
competing against the NFL the same way as some of
these other states. And I mean I had a front
row seat when Harbaugh turned Stanford around and then David
Shaw had like four straight years where they finished the
season in the top five. They struggled to get like
ten thousand people there. It was crazy, but it was like,
we care about the NFL here. And I'm not saying

(32:23):
that those teams in the Big Ten don't care about football,
Don't get me wrong. I'm just saying that that's a
huge advantage the SEC has in terms of the competition
against the NFL and the interest. It's just not the same.
And I think sometimes in the Big Ten you split
that a little bit where the SEC doesn't. And I
think when you turn on the SEC media day some
of the highlights, it honestly feels like the NFL, and

(32:46):
I think it's become the NFL light. I think the
buzz of the coaches, I didn't know how they would
do once Saban retired. I saw Buddy text me today
that I guess. Greg McElroy said that he had heard
that Saban might come back. He didn't say the team.
I was like, Alabama, But Kaylin dou bores buy out
a seventy five million dollars, that's not happening. He would

(33:06):
never go to Auburn. Have a hard time seeing him
go to Florida. Kirby's not going anywhere, Stark's not going anywhere.
So I have a hard time seeing saving come back.
But I don't know if Greg mckelero would just make
that up. I think college football this year, you know,
the buzz behind this, the transfer portal. You know, there's
part of the NFL is they're just these strict rules,

(33:28):
salary caps, salary cap you know, it's just I could
acquire this player I can't football or college football. There's
a huge wild wild West element to this, and I
would say no, no conference has more of that than
the SEC, where it's like, I don't care what the
new rules are. I don't feel like any of them
are following. Like even on the Internet now, like we

(33:51):
do business with a lot of credit card companies or
you know, gambling companies, Like it's pretty strict. You gotta
be very careful about what you say. Twenty years ago
you could say whatever you wanted. There was never a
better place to do business, you know, in the last
fifty years than literally the Internet, probably in the early
mid two thousands, because there weren't any rules. It was

(34:14):
the wowwil West and everyone that got involved if you
knew what you were doing, profited greatly. And now there
are still less rules than some industries, but relative to
what it used to be, it's dramatically different now there's
still a wowil West element to the Internet. You can
push the envelope in different things and try different things,

(34:34):
and just it's not like if you work in a
quote unquote corporate structure sometimes. But I think the sec
what makes it so fascinating. It just feels like anything
goes and there's not a story that can come out
about players, coaches, universities that would surprise you. And that's
one thing. The Big Ten. Even if they are pushing

(34:56):
the envelope as well, they feel a little more buttoned
up that way, and that might just be perception. Like
if you're telling me Ohio State is doing everything that
Georgia and LSU are doing in terms of like pushing
the envelope and some shady shit, I wouldn't blame them.
I would do that as well. But I'm very, very
excited for this college football season. I mean, we got

(35:18):
takes flying everywhere about arch Manning. I said. Jordan Rogers,
Aaron's brother that they haven't spoken in a decade, called
says like the hype train's just out of control. It's like,
I kind of agree with him now unless he answers
the hype train and is like Andrew Luck immediately. I
just don't know how he lives up to it. If
he is just like a solid NFL prospect this year,

(35:41):
it's going to feel very disappointing. And that's not his fault,
because the hype train behind him is like he's Lebron
James or Tiger Woods or you know, which happens very
very rarely, but a lot of times like Lebron James
hype train, it was pretty clear. I remember in two
thousand and two watching that high school game that was
on ESPN with Dickey Vee, like, this guy's fucking amazing.

(36:02):
I remember Tiger Wood's winning the US Amateur while he's
at Stanford. Everyone's like, this guy's amazing. This guy hasn't played,
and we know how difficult the SEC is. So I'm
excited to watch them. I'm pro arch Manning, but I
do agree that it's gonna be hard for him to
live up to the hype. I really believe that now
maybe their defense is so good, they can run the ball,

(36:24):
it doesn't matter, but it's it's gonna be the biggest
story by foreign college football. Okay, time for a little

(36:45):
mail bag. Little mail bag time at John middlecoff is
the Instagram. Fire in those dms, get your questions answered
here on the show. Fire in those dms, very very easy,
Instagram dms wide open. Two f's just my name at
John Middlecoff. We will start with Jay. Been listening for
a while, big fan, appreciate you. Here's his question. Am

(37:05):
I the only one who's skeptical of Dan Campbell this
upcoming season in Alliance? Campbell is a first time head
coach who led an awful squad before promoting Ben Johnson.
I get it, he gets guys to run through a
brick wall, but as a Raider fan, I saw a
similar type of coach with Antonio Pierce completely failed. They

(37:29):
have the talent on the roster, but feel like Campbell
hasn't quite proven himself yet and it's mostly Ben Johnson's
offense that carried them to success. You can even say
Campbell was a big part of them blowing the NFC
Championship game a couple of years back in some questionable
decisions in the second half. What are your thoughts? It's

(37:50):
a good question. I think the talent on their roster
is so immense relative to the rest of the league.
I think when healthy, they are the only team in
the NFC, that's better than them, guy for guy, especially
their starting unit would be the Eagles. So to me,
they have question marks with two new coordinators, but the
Eagles have a new offensive coordinator. I would say, I

(38:14):
know Sirianni has won the Super Bowl, but I would
take Dan Campbell over Nick Sirianni. And that's not a
shot at Nick Siriann. I think Dan Campbell I said
this to Colin. I think he's the third Hardbob brother.
I think he's excellent at what he does. And there
was a clip that went viral of when they played
the Packers in the Quarterback Show and they had so

(38:37):
many injuries they had me and you playing on defense,
and he approached the team meeting like we're gonna play
this game strictly on offense. And Dan Campbell, at his
core as an old school football guy, came up with
Bill Parcels and he has changed his tune to like
be a modern day football coach. He's like, we're gonna
win this thing on offense. We're gonna go for it
every single time, and we don't think we can stop anybody.

(38:57):
They couldn't and we're going to try to score relentlessly
and it worked. Now the NFC Championship game, he shouldn't
have been that aggressive. I totally agree. But that's a
that's an organizational philosophy of going forward on fourth down.
John Harbaugh does that. I don't always agree with it,
but a lot of teams do that nowadays because analytically

(39:18):
it says to do it. I think Dan Campbell's pretty
good and to me, if they win twelve thirteen games
with new coordinators, I think he will have proven himself
as one of the best CEO head coaches in the league.
Now you got to do it. New defensive coordinator, new
offensive coordinator. Like you said, Ben Johnson is a huge
part of their success. So we will see how it goes.

(39:39):
I forget, I don't have it in front of me.
But whoever he elevated or hired, you know, I think
he used to be a Sean Payton guy. I mean
that's you know, Dan Campbell's a Sean Payton guy. I
think they're gonna be good. I do. I'd be stunned. Now.
A disappointing year for them would be like ten wins, right,
I don't think unless they had another rash Avenge, it's

(40:00):
even possible for them to win like six or seven games.
I wanted to know from a West Coast perspective about
Auburn football. I have grown up an Auburn fan, being
from Birmingham, Alabama. We have went downhill since firing gusmels On.
It's like we have been cursed. Freeze has recruited well,
but the wins have not shown. We currently sit eighty

(40:23):
fourth in recruiting right now. What are your thoughts on
Freeze and what record does he need to stick around.
I don't follow the daily SEC stuff clearly as close
as you, but it became a big enough story where
Hugh Freeze over the last couple of months is getting
shit on for playing too much golf and what I
love about college football specifically the SEC and I would

(40:45):
say Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan are like this as well.
Oregon USC is the following of the football fan, the
information they have. The way they realized Hugh Freeze was
playing a lot of golf is because they looked at
his gin handicap and how many times he's posting scores now. Ltimately,
recruiting is not about sitting in with mom and dad
at the kitchen table anymore, like is Auburn paying the

(41:07):
amount of money necessary to recruit. I do think buyouts
are more difficult. You know, if your buyout now is
twenty thirty forty million dollars, well, I'm paying the kids,
so you know, to pay the players to pay a
buyout and then buy a new coach, and Auburn would want,
you know, a big time coach, you know, a Dion

(41:28):
Sanders type who's going to be really expensive. It might
not make sense, so he might be saved by the
economics of the sport. I would say you're in a
tough predicament, you know, especially the last fifteen years with
Nick Now you could argue with Debor coming in the
NIL landscape, you guys should have a better opportunity. But

(41:50):
when I think Auburn football, I mean Cam Newton's kind
of an outlier, right you remove that spot obviously. You
guys play Alabama typically pretty well and have a really
good chance two years to go to beat them if
it wasn't for the Jalen Milroe pass. I do think
it's hard being in their shadow. And I think sometimes
in any industry, when you are in someone else's shadow,

(42:11):
that is just more important and bigger than you, even
if you are relatively important too, like you're You've had
really good teams, you've won a national championship. Recently, you've
been to another one. But yeah, I just think it's
really really hard being in the shadow of Alabama. Now,
if they fall off a cliff, maybe you guys can

(42:32):
move forward. But the other thing with the SEC is
like Texas is now there, They're gonna take up a
lot of oxygen A and m is going to spend
so much money. Georgia with Kirby's going nowhere, LSU underachieves
at eight to nine wins. So even if Bama has
a shitty season, they're still winning eight to nine games.
You're just in a weird spot. I'll never forget when

(42:54):
someone told me this years ago, who lives in also
in Alabama, who is around Saban's program. It's just an
SEC guy, he says the thing about this league, and
this guy's longtime NFL personnel man two. He's like, there's
nothing like the negative momentum in college in the SEC.
And we had a mutual friend, Jim McIlwain, who was

(43:15):
the coach of Florida, and he was actually not terrible
at Florida. Right, they were in the SEC Championship game
a couple times. Now. Granted the SEC East at the
time was shittier, but it's not like Jim mckawaan was
winning four games. He just wasn't Urban Myer. So the
negative momentum was already strong. Then that fake shark picture
came out and they it was just he was dead.

(43:37):
There's no way he could fight off the negative buzz
coming at him. And that's a little bit what it
feels like with you Freeze. If he goes seven to five,
it's just people are gonna hate him and they're gonna start,
I would say, picking apart everything he does, which they're
doing now, like how many golf rounds are you playing?

(43:57):
Lane Kiffin said it today at the SEC media days.
They're like, you were messing with him with an Instagram post.
He's like, it's a dead period. I was on a
fishing boat. I was joking. He's like, it's it's not
that serious, but in the SEC, it is that serious.
On Jeff Tigue's podcast, I think it was Pat Beverly.
I'm not sure, not a big NBA guy, to be honest,
there was a discussion about a player who has made

(44:19):
one hundred and seventy million in his career, and the
question was, would you give up fifty million for a rink?
This actually was Gilbert Arenas's podcast. I don't think the
player has any rings, so he's not going to go
from one to two or two to three, etc. But
my question is would you how different would an athlete
worth one hundred and twenty million dollars live from an
athlete worth one hundred and seventy million. Fifty million is

(44:41):
a lot, but for me, the worst thing in sports
is players who put money in front of success. I
love seeing players get their bag, but once you've made
your money, surely you'd take less. I think I talked
about this on a recent podcast. It was Gilbert Arenas,
and I agreed with Gilbert Arenas, like, is a ring
changing the guy's life? I don't know. Now you could

(45:03):
argue would he give up one hundred and twenty million
dollars to have led the Warriors or the Wizards to
an NBA title? Would he have been more legendary? Would
his podcast business do more than he's doing now? And
he laughed, He's like, I wouldn't give up fifty million
dollars for that, and my first reaction was I wouldn't either.
Now would I give up fifty million dollars to have
like Julian Edelman's career over like Calvin Johnson's career, Yeah,

(45:28):
I would, And I think Edelman is going to profit
for that for the next forty years. Like would I
give up fifty million dollars to have Draymond Green's career
over a guy that makes the All Star teams who
doesn't win a ring and makes more money one you'd
rather be the champion. You can have lucrative endeavors off

(45:48):
of that. So I think it depends on the specific example.
But in Gilbert Arenas's example, I would not give up
the fifty million dollars. And to me, are you a
one off champion. It's one thing if you're the core back,
but even if you're the like Tracy McGrady, would Tracy
McGrady give up fifty million dollars to have won an
NBA championship? I bet his answer would be the same

(46:09):
as Gilbert Arinus's, and it'd be no. Uh. So, I
think when you're talking multiple championships, like, yeah, you'd rather
be Ronnie Lott or Jerry Rice or you know, Devin
mccordy or Teddy Bruski, Like, yeah, it's worth a lot,
but just one win. I don't know. I don't think

(46:29):
i'd give up that. I mean, you're talking a lot
of money. Fifty million dollars a lot of money. We're
talking like five million dollars if we're talking that we've
made that much money. Yeah, I mean, I think you
can convince me when you're talking that much money. I
remember Kevin Durant when he first signed a contract extension
with the Warriors, Like he gave them a discount and
the number was like, I forget it off at the

(46:50):
top of my head. But instead of signing for like
twenty nine million, he signed for like twenty seven point eight.
It's like, I mean it, he gave them a little flexibility,
but come on, he didn't have to do it. So
if you want to give him credit for that, it's
not changing his life at all. Question for the pod

(47:12):
I'm curious with you being a successful podcaster. I like
this guy, and your wife successful in real estate. She
likes you too. I'm sure how do you and your
wife handle finances? Do y'all combine finances or keep them separate.
Do you have to check with her before buying anything
golf related or going on a golf trip, or is

(47:33):
what you do with your money all up to you.
That's a pretty good question. I would say I don't
have to shoot her a text before I buy a
golf club or golf balls. I don't know how everyone
does it, you know. I know some people that they
have kids and their wife doesn't work. I know people

(47:54):
where their wife is the breadwinner. And actually they're my friends,
the guys, so you never asked them, like does she
give you an allowance? Everything is different for every person.
We don't buy any means, have an Excel spreadsheet. We
don't technically like share financing. I guess. I mean the
house we're living in right now. I bought and then

(48:16):
we were modeled. I paid for I pay the mortgage.
But like I know, she has a separate property that
I have nothing to do with. She has money that
I don't. You know, she can just buy whatever she wants.
Same thing for me. You know, she buys groceries and
does certain things that I don't even think about. And

(48:38):
then there are things, you know, with the house that
she doesn't think about. And obviously it's going to change
when we have a kid. Like the other day, there
was a stroller on sale. I don't even want to
say out loud how much the stroller was, but I
guess it's the going rate for strollers. It's also a
car seat. I mean, it's insane. Was on sale for
like thirty percent off, and I just handed her my

(48:59):
credit card. Uh, you know, I think we're gonna get
her a new car coming up. I'm sure we will.
I don't know, I don't know. We just haven't. There
aren't really any financial we haven't really had any issues
in terms of like who pays for that, who pays
for what? Pretty seamless transition. There's no we don't have

(49:20):
any shared credit cards or shared bank accounts as of
right now. Again, maybe that changes as we have children,
as our lives change, but I just try to pay
for as much as I can, and she contributes and
we just live our life. It's actually been I mean,
I've heard some horror stories with friends, but it's been

(49:40):
a really, I don't know, seamless transition. And you know,
sometimes when you're young and a lot of you guys
that have been married or serious relationships in your twenties,
when you start dating and you like have nothing right,
and that's what would happen. Most people start dating in
college or dating fresh you know, your first job. It's
not like you have that much, especially tangible assets. When

(50:02):
we started dating, I was thirty five. I was thirty five.
I guess I was seven years older. I was thirty seven.
She was thirty. Like she had a career that was crushing,
making way more money when I was thirty, and obviously
my career was going pretty well at the time too.
From a financial issue or aspect, we haven't We don't
even really talk about it, just kind of happens. One

(50:24):
major difference I've noticed though, is like if I'm going
to go pick up food or ordering door dash, you know,
I would DoorDash. When I live by myself, I would
eat Chipotle or meals like that, I don't know, five
nights a week. And that's now when you do eat out,
you pay for two the plane tickets, you know, because
we both have family in northern California. Instead of just

(50:48):
buying one, you buy two round trips. That's a little
bit of a game changer, but you just kind of
become numb to it after a while, and then you
got a kid come and you eventually pay for them.
Part of growing up, part of growing up. Yeah, but
pretty easily transitioned for us so far, no issues, which
is nice. What are your thoughts on Florida since Billy

(51:08):
has taken over. We went six and seven, five and
seven and eight and five. Given the schedule we faced
with DJ Lagway won every single game. He started with
a bad hamstring, and we would have beaten Georgia if
he wasn't hurt. Do you think we can win ten games?
If you look at the personnel? We have our most
talented roster on paper since Billy took over, and it
make or break year for Billy nine or ten wins
where it's a fireball offense. It sure looked like he

(51:31):
was done early in the season. I thought by the
end of the year, you guys were playing like a
top ten team. I remember watching the last couple of
games in the season thinking like, this team looks fantastic
from a physicality standpoint to just like a chemistry standpoint.
And I remember watching a couple of your guys' big wins,
watching Billy Napier after the game and he's like, it's

(51:53):
really cool to watch these guys come together, Like you
guys were a team. If you would have gotten too
the playoffs, like I would have liked you more than
Tennessee going into the playoff game. Obviously, there's a ton
of hype. This coach is coaching for his job. People
really really like in the scouting community and my friends,
I know a couple of agents, like I just know

(52:13):
a lot of people in the football world in the
SEC that like Billy Napier. People are rooting for Billy Napier.
And he's a guy. If he's able to win nine
or ten games, usually that negative momentum in the South
that kills you and it just gets you like a
tidal wave. And if he's able to win ten games
make a playoff spot, that would be an incredible accomplishment

(52:37):
that he was able to fend off like the Matrix,
the SEC Grim Reaper. This is my second time attempting
to get my question read. I would love a chance
to open this can of worms discussion about the disrespect
of Dak Prescott. Your takes are amazing overall, and you're
extremely informative, but when it comes to Dak, You and

(52:59):
Colin and everyone ons one constantly puts him in a
lower tier than his play and cher numbers demand. He
should have won the MVP over Lamar two years ago.
His stats were just that much better. I'll give you
he's coming off a weird season with an injury, and
of course he hasn't given us a super Bowl yet,
but neither has Lamar or Joss or plenty of others. Guys.

(53:20):
He hasn't even got you to the championship game. You guys,
had hosted two home playoff games before last year in
three years, you lost them both to the Packers and
the forty nine ers. Two home playoff games, you lost
them both, and he played like shit turnovers. I'm not
a Josh hat or Dak hater, but like the criticism

(53:42):
in the playoffs, I mean, Lamar gets highly criticized, and
Dak is way worse, way worse in that run when
Dan quinn was the DC and McCarthy was the head coach,
I thought the one year they lost the Niners in
San Francisco, so it would have been the second round
who they beat Tampa in the first round and Dak

(54:02):
had the best game of his career. You guys had
a super Bowl level defense and Dak didn't play well
in that game either, So it's like he's been a
really good regular season player. And I agree with you, Lamar.
Two years ago when he won the MVP, it's one
of the worst MVP seasons of all time. And I'm
not even just blaming him. I'm saying, whoever would have
won it, if Dak would have won it, fine, But

(54:25):
then Dak didn't play well in the playoffs, so it's
like you gotta play one in the playoffs. Yeah, he's fine,
I got no problem. I think he's a top twelve
quarterback who is really really underachieved in January, which by
far is the most important time of year. Right we
all agree there. I'm curious, are you're a boxing fan,

(54:57):
who do you have in Canelo Crawford fight. I'm not really,
but I'm a fomo guy. So if you tell me
Mike Tyson's fighting Jake Paul, if Pacquiao's fighting Mayweather, if
Mike Tyson's fighting Holy Field, I'm in. If the event
gets big enough and can cross through just the niche

(55:20):
of you know, the fight world, I'm in. If it
doesn't like I typically not. It's not because I don't.
I mean, I enjoy watching boxing. I'll never forget in
college watching that Pacquiao Mayweather fight, thinking like this is
the biggest this sucks. Part of it is Floyd just
kind of dances around because he's so good you can't
hit him. But I miss heavyweights. I mean, you grow

(55:45):
up in the nineties, Tyson Lennox, Lewis holy Field, some
of just a shit show that were those fights. It
just feels like not the same. But I have no
take on Canela Crawford. I mean, I know it's going on.
I think is Max Kellerman calling the fight, But I
don't have like an opinion or take because I mean

(56:06):
I don't watch Cowboy fan. Do you think the new
coach it'll be another repeat of McCarthy and Garrett with
Dak a three to four season run. Well, they'll win
anywhere between nine to eleven games, maybe make the playoffs
a couple times, and lose in round one. I'm a
big Dak guy, love the Cowboys, and I'm not sure
the entire shift in philosophy is exactly they need to do,
But it feels like they are just trying to continue

(56:26):
getting over the hump by doing it the cowboy way,
and that just smells of similar results. Defense got crushed
by the run last year, and we go out and
draft more offense. Feels like it's going to be another
year of getting gashed in the run game. I recorded
a podcast with Colin on Monday and we kind of
the Lakers kind of came up, and I think the Lakers,

(56:49):
I think the Steelers the Lakers sold, but I mean
what they were under the Bus family once Doctor Buss died.
What the Steelers have become under this version of the Rooneyes,
What the Cowboys have become with Jerry. I think it's
really really hard when you have this like brand name
of a family and they've been doing it forever in

(57:10):
their high highs or so far in the past, and
they're kind of writing off what used to be and
sometimes you just need some new blood in there. And
in fairness to the Lakers, I mean they hired outside
people and Rob Polinka, but the reason he got hired
was he was Kobe Bryant's agent, right, I mean, Jerry's
the guy making all the decisions right at the end

(57:31):
of the day. Omar Khan, like the Runies, are telling
him what to do. Tomlin has some juice. But Tom's
been there for almost two decades now, and I think
sometimes when you know, look at how many different people,
how he is employed over fifteen years, they churned their
front office and coaching staff like a NFL roster. That

(57:52):
is not the way the Cowboys, the Steelers, and the
Lakers like. It's like the same people doing it over
and over and over again. And sometimes that work, but
sometimes you do need some fresh blood, some new perspective,
some just different experiences coming in and listen to. You

(58:13):
could convince me the Cowboys win ten games this year.
You could convince me they win six. I think it's
all on the table. I liked them last year, obviously
got burned, but I don't even know. Probably pick them
to finish third in that division. If you tell me
they went nine to eight and or the seven seed, believable.
If you tell me they win seven to ten and

(58:33):
pretty average, very believable as well. I think it's all
on the table. My question is do you think the
Steelers have a chance to actually make a run. I've
been a Steeler fan for thirteen years, and all I've
seen is letdown after letdown. I want them to win,
but I'm worried we won't be explosive enough on offense.

(58:55):
Second part question do you think the Steelers are in
trouble this upcoming season? I would say when you look
at the history in sports in general of guys over forty,
it usually ends pretty ugly. For the most part, sports
and specifically football does not end with the owner handing

(59:17):
the trophy to John Elway. This one's for John or
even Peyton Mannings last season on the Dais with Jim
Nantz winning the Super Bowl. It usually ends with like,
my arm doesn't really work, I'm injured, I'm Tom Brady.
Our team's not that good. Just kind of an ugly,
weird ending, worst case scenario. It's like Tony Romo, You're
laying there on the ground with a bad back, And

(59:39):
if you told me the best case scenario for the Steelers,
what's best case scenario? Did Rogers play seventeen games that
the defense stays healthy and they win like eleven games,
and they're just they're pretty damn good. They're not the
upper echelon, but they're pretty damn good. Like they're a
legit team that feels on the pie chart possibly of
possible abilities, like less than twenty five percent, and the

(01:00:04):
more and more I think about it, just based on
my life of thirty plus years now watching sports. This
falls from baseball and basketball as well, Like if Lebron
James just keeps on playing, eventually he's gonna have a
major injury, because that's just kind of the way it works,
wear and tear. I don't care how hard you train.
Happened to Kobe, happens to every happened to Steph Curry,

(01:00:27):
what happened to anybody? And I think, what's the likelihood
of Aaron Rodgers not getting injured? He doesn't move like
he used to, but he does like to move, and
he already had a serious injury a couple of years ago.
And again, it could be as simple as like someone
falls into his knee weird and he just sprains his

(01:00:47):
you know, a knee or an ankle, and all of
a sudden, where he used to might miss seven days,
he misses twenty one. And if he miss his several games,
and let's say he's not even playing that, well, you
can lose a bunch of games. The other thing is
the way they've built this thing. There's just tangible pressure

(01:01:09):
you trade for DK. The TJ thing is kind of
now or never. The Tomlin thing, it's like, are we
gonna shit ter? Get off? The Pots kind of weird.
The Ravens and the Bills, let alone the Chiefs just
kind of rolling. It just feels like they're I don't
want to say quite a ticking time bomb, but I
do think there's a scenario where a couple of injuries

(01:01:32):
happen and they win. They're just not good. They would
never be terrible. But like, what if I told you
right now Rogers missed a month they could lose every game.
Mason Rudolph started every single game, and we saw Rogers
last year, Like, it's not like the jetson have bad,
Like they got some good players, lost a lot of

(01:01:53):
tight games. Now, you could make the argument he's gonna
be a year off the injury. Maybe he's much more
vibrant and much quicker. Maybe, but he's he's not thirty,
he's forty one. I go back and forth. I'm like, say,
you're just gonna pick him to win ten or eleven games,
or like, is this the year they win seven? And
it's like a weird ugly seven. I do think that's

(01:02:15):
on the table. Any thoughts on WVU West Virginia take
me home bringing back rich Rodriguez. I saw some clip
the other day. I think they beat because it was
like a throwback to Pat White. And who was the
running back? Was Steve Slayton? Was that the running back?

(01:02:36):
I think they played Georgia. It was either the first
game of the year or a bowl game, and they
won and it was like they were really humming there.
And remember he was turning down jobs. I think he
turned down the Alabama job the year Saban got it,
ended up going to Michigan. My year scouting the West Coast,
he was the Arizona head coach. I liked him. I

(01:02:58):
remember a BSM with him. Pat he obviously loves them.
I think they're gonna be at a disadvantage in the
landscape of college football, Like do they have the money
to keep players? If they get a star player, a
pac Man Jones, a Pat White, could they keep him
away from LSU, bam, Ohio State, Michigan. It's hard, but

(01:03:18):
I don't think they could have done much better than
what they had. They got a guy that's really passionate
about that place, that loves that place, and at this
point in time, he's got a big chip on his shoulder,
so I'm excited to watch him. He had been at
was it Jackson State or whatever, doing really well. I mean,
the guy's a ball coach, and to me, he's a
great example. Rich Rodriguez belongs in the southern region, right,

(01:03:43):
like the from West Virginia down over to Texas. Like
he belongs in that area, like West Virginia or going
to Michigan. Terrible fit. I actually think he would have
been a decent fit at Alabama. They wouldn't have loved
the offensive style, but they would have liked his personality toughness,
like Nick Saban's born and raised in West Virginia. I

(01:04:04):
think Southern people usually excel, like obviously they gotta be
a good coach. But Jim mcklewain, West Coast guy, Florida
Hayden him, Urban Meyers an outlier, Urban Meerka coach, and
Alaska win. You know, Chip Kelly was a little bit
of an outlier. Northeastern Oregon worked, but UCLA started getting weird.
It's like, what's this, what's your deal here? Like huh?

(01:04:26):
Like I always supported when almost said James Gandalfeini but
with uh, what the hell is his name? Who's the
coach of rud Gers right now? A chianu and and
the Tennessee fans remember like Klay Travis and a bunch
of people are like we know Greg Ciana would have

(01:04:48):
been a disaster at the University of Tennessee. It would
have been a terrible personality fit. It would not have worked.
Now people were like, this was crazy. No, I was
on board with the fan backlash. Would not have worked,
like when A and M was gonna hire stoops that
could work, Like I could see that happening. There are
some where are like, this is never gonna happen. Lincoln

(01:05:11):
Riley USC It's a weird fit. Another life question. Currently
in my mid twenties and have been with my partner
for four years. We have seen a lot of our
friends and family tie the knot in the past twelve
to eighteen months, and I keep receiving skittish remarks from
a lot of our relatives asking what's taking me so

(01:05:33):
long to propose? Mine and her parents want grand babies.
But I don't see what the rush is at all,
given that we are both recent graduates and I am
looking to upgrade on my current basic job in banking
to something a lot more similar as someone who put
their work first for a long time. What do you say?
I would say two things. Unless they're paying for your

(01:05:56):
wedding or going to provide child care for you their opinions,
you should not give a shit about what they say.
I've said this forever, and this is where I try
to judge other people in their relationships. Whoever you're sleeping with,
and you're in a relationship with, only you really know
the ambitions, what you guys aspire to do, where you're at,

(01:06:19):
what you guys are comfortable doing. Everyone else has a
lot of opinions, but unless they're funding your life, paying
for your rent, gonna help pay for your wedding, honestly,
i'd argue their opinions like I'm not saying, not be
cordial and nice and laughing off, but I would not
worry what they think at all. The only person you

(01:06:40):
should be worried about are you and your future wife.
And if you're not comfortable or ready to do that
and she's on board, then don't do it like it's
one thing. It's like, hey, her mom's all over us.
They're gonna give us some money for the wedding. She's
gonna babysit for us, Like okay, it's like i'd be
open minded to like, hey, you got help here, but

(01:07:01):
if like this is just their opinions and you're cutting
all them checks and you got to figure out, like, okay,
we get married, who's gonna pay for this wedding? Then
I got h we're gonna have a baby, Like we're
both working, what are we gonna do? It's complicated. They
don't factor any of that in. So I'm very very
protective over like, don't worry about other people's opinions. And
I know it's difficult, especially if you live around these people,

(01:07:24):
but like you gotta worry about you and your future
wife's happiness more than these other people because they have agendas,
Like you know, part of being a grandparent. I if
I don't really have the babysit is like I just
get to see the kid when I want, Like I've
been an uncle to my brother's kids. It's great. He's
got to deal with their craziness on a daily basis.
It's hard. He's got a couple young boys who are

(01:07:46):
going ninety nine miles an hour twenty four seven three
sixty five. I just get to fly in, we go
swimming a little, we might hang out, screw around. Then
when he gets in trouble, I don't have to deal
with it. So that's how a lot of these people
giving their opinions to you are. It's like you're in
your mid twenties, Like, do not do something you're not
comfortable with because someone else has that opinion. That's the

(01:08:08):
easiest and quickest way to be miserable. Like get married
and have children because or try to because you want
to do it, not because your aunt is giving you
a hard time, or you're you know, you're jealous of
what things look like on Instagram with other people. That
will not lead to happiness. I promise you that and

(01:08:30):
only way forever if you want to marry her. But
you're in your mid twenties, man, it's Shit's life's expensive.
It's easy for older people to have a lot of
different opinions. My mom bought her house. We're talking about
this when we were home for vacation. I was like,
because my brother had the documents for like seventy five
thousand dollars. She lives in a very nice area on

(01:08:54):
a golf course. Seventy five thousand dollars get like twenty
five x at now. No grant is a long time ago,
but like they're the way they view things are a
lot different sometimes and I'm not. I'm not. She was
never hard on me, but she even had a comment
She's like, you know, I'm glad everything worked out that

(01:09:14):
you you know you wait, you waited this long. Like
I didn't wait this long. I didn't meet anyone I
wanted to marry. So it's like, you don't meet someone
you want to marry, what are you gonna do? Just
get married? Just say I'm married. It's like, have some
people I know get a divorce. I'm forty years old,
I could count, I wouldn't even be able to count
on both hands. I'd go, I'd run through it didn't

(01:09:34):
need my toes. The amount of people I know, either
for close friends, family members, acquaintances that did not make
it like five years that got married in their thirties
because like some people get married for the wrong reasons.
Looks cool on Instagram. It's like, well do you like
the person? And then having kids. Many of you guys

(01:09:56):
know this. They listen to me, it's like, that's a
whole different dynam Why do you think people are hesitant
to give bow Nicks credit for the season he just had.

(01:10:18):
He walked into a tough situation. National media labeled him
a major draft reach, and some said the pick could
ruin Peyton's legacy. The team has been dealing with the
largest dead cap hit in NFL history, had a bottom
three roster according to PFF, and was projected to win
four or five games. Like people like to give the
majority of the credit to Sean, which is fair, but

(01:10:39):
they also had to heat praise on the offensive line,
the same offensive line that was heavily criticized when Russell
Wilson was playing. It feels like people are bending over
backward to avoid giving Knicks is due and hold on
to pre draft narratives. People don't like being wrong. It's
just that simple. And the easy thing was where everyone
was piling on bow Nick sucks. He wasn't good, he

(01:11:00):
was not gonna be a good player. The Broncos were
gonna suck, and it's hard to just say I was wrong.
Bonex is actually pretty good. I just think it's very
difficult for a lot of people in this quote unquote
business to just be like, Yeah, Bonex is a pretty
good player. Was he perfect as a work of course not?
Could he improve a lot? Does he need to improve? Yes?

(01:11:21):
What I bet on him improving, giving his coach and
giving the team infrastructure one thousand percent. I would be
stunned if he's not good this year. Now, is he
gonna be Peyton Manning or Tom Brady? I don't know.
But is he gonna be a top twelve starter, fifteen
starter half of the league for sure of this year? Yes?
Does he have a chance to be a top ten

(01:11:42):
quarterback in the league the next couple years? I would
say yeah, based on who's coaching him, based on how
well run the organization is now. Uh. He plays with
a great defense, which is important. Remember Tom Brady got
to ease into his career. The defense was awesome. That helps.
So yeah, I'm I think they're gonna be good. Congratulate

(01:12:02):
your recent success. I have two boys myself and was
able to name them after my two favorite athletes, Nolan
Ryan and Grant Hill. Nolan and Grant those are good names.
Will the strategy come into play as you name your kiddo? Uh?
I would say not athletically driven. But yeah, we've already
named it. I don't know if I'm allowed to give

(01:12:22):
it out yet. But name was pretty simple, wasn't. It
was more for me in terms of like family, friends
and other people in my life than it was, you know,
Michael Jordan Middlecoff, which would be sick. I threw that
out the other day, like, can we just name Michael
Jordan Middlecoff. Here's my son, Tiger Middlecoff. This is Tiger

(01:12:45):
Tiger Woods. No, Tiger Middlecoff. Does he play golf? I
mean he got to set a clubs. I don't know
if he knows what he's doing. Those would be my
two options. Michael Jordan Middlecoff and Tiger Woods middle Cough. Tiger,
I mean, Tiger has a sweet name. It's like taking
my son to first grade. Tiger is Tiger here. You

(01:13:08):
know when they read the do they even do roll
call anymore in school? Okay, a couple more questions. I've
lived in Colorado half of my life, in Chicago half
of my life. This year, my two playoff law team.
This year, my two teams look like playoff bound. I
think the Bears are good at the offseason, still have
bad ownership and have a brand new head coach. Although

(01:13:31):
I believe the hype, the Broncos feel like they're improved
dramatically on the personnel side and already have the coach
and ownership down, also building off what was successful season
last year. I saw Knick's tears and he had the
Bears above the Broncos. I would guess you're talking Nick right.
There's no way you can have the Bears above the Broncos.
It's impossible. They have a first time head coach. The

(01:13:53):
franchise has not been winning. They've had a great offseason.
The two guards in the center, great moves. We do
not know if they're gonna be any good. We have
thought they were gonna be good time and time again.
The Broncos are going to be good. They have a
coach who resurrected the fucking Saints. Say what you want
about Sean Payton. I know he pisses people off. If

(01:14:15):
you told me Sean Payton was the head coach of
the Bears, I'd say they are a lock playoff team
this year. Ben Johnson might be good. It's way harder
to be a head coach. I don't know, but I'm
with you. I think the Broncos are gonna be good.
The Bears could be good. The Bears should win ten games.
But it's like we'll see a lot of pressure on
the quarterback, a lot of pressure on a coach who

(01:14:37):
a couple of years ago was like scared to be
a head coach. Maybe now he's good. I don't know.
I could not have the Bears about the round. That's
insane to me. My question is this last question. Is
it realists to think there will be teams based in
Europe full time playing in the NFL or a separate
league associate with the NFL. If not, do you think
there will ever be enough talent worldwide to have a

(01:15:00):
legitimate USA versus World game what the NBA has considered
the All Star Game. I would say no chance with
the world versus the NFL. I mean, the footballs are sport.
You know some of these other sports Tennis, golf, baseball, basketball.
So many different countries play, Like is Germany playing tackle football?

(01:15:23):
Is could you find tackle football in London? Are they
playing tackle football in Mexico or Brazil? I doubt it,
but I know for a fact they're all playing basketball,
They're all playing golf, they're all a large percentage of
them are playing baseball soccer, so I think no, I
would say the world No. I think they're much more

(01:15:48):
likely just to put the TV package over there than
actually have teams over there. Could be wrong. I mean,
you'd have to ask Roger and the new PGA commissioner
role app. I'm sure they had conversations. But I think
the television package to have a game sixteen days a year,
so basically starting week two through Week sixteen or seventeen

(01:16:11):
whatever equals. So every team does it, and I guess
you could rotate. Some teams might play multiple games. But
I have a package where I sell like Thursday Night
Football for a huge stretch of the season that Netflix
has the six thirty am Pacific Standard time kickoff, which
I'm not looking forward to, but that's inevitable. Now. Is

(01:16:31):
there a team in Europe or multiple teams as of
sitting here right now? I would lean no, but I
wouldn't put a lot of money on that. I do
think it's a lock for the morning TV package. I
do think the logistics make playing over their teams very
very difficult, and I do wonder now you could sell

(01:16:56):
these franchises for let's say each eight billion. But you're
at the point like how many people have this much money?
Like how many humans are there they can afford? So
even if you're like, Okay, we're gonna have two teams
over in London eight billion a pop, how many human
beings won in on that. Maybe I'm underestimating even the
small percentage of people that could afford that. Now, with

(01:17:17):
private equity, maybe it's a little more feasible to have groups.
It's not really how the NFL is operated, but I
guess things change, especially with the money. Yeah, I don't
know A big fan of you and Nick Wright. With
both you guys being friends and business partners with Coward,
do you have a personal working relationship with each other?
I said, I have his number. I know he's playing

(01:17:40):
the World Series of Poker. I'm gonna text him probably
after this week to get him on the podcast. Sometimes
I've never met Nick. I don't think I've ever talked
to him. I've been in a Super Bowl party. He
was on the other side. A million people were there.
I didn't say anything to him. But no, I don't
have a relationship with him. I've never met him. Yeah,

(01:18:00):
I mean I've followed his career for a long time,
but I don't know him personally. I've always one thing
I respect, even if I disagree with your takes, even
if I would say politically, we're way different just in
general with any human being that's in this kind of world.
If I think that you really like sports, because I
think there's been a large percentage of people that have

(01:18:22):
come into this business town I can just make money
and bullshit my way, and I think it happens all
the time, Like there are a handful of people that
I know, like this guy loves it. Like ultimately, I
got into this because I loved it, and like anything
you do it long enough, there are things about it
you don't like as much as you once did. But
like I still love watching a football game. I still

(01:18:45):
love watching like Alabama Georgia or you know, the Bill's Chiefs,
like it still really gets my juice's phone. I love
watching the Masters or the British Open. I even still
really like even though I don't watch basketball or baseball
early like I did ten, fifteen, twenty years ago, Like
I love watching a big NBA playoff game or big

(01:19:06):
March Madness game or the World Series when it's Yankees Dodgers,
Like that's just fucking this is what I love to
do watch. I'm a consumer first, and the one thing
I've always respected about Nick I feel like he really
really enjoys watching the games. And I think it's pretty
clear there are a lot of people in this business
that I don't think really do. I know? Colin still

(01:19:26):
like text me all the time during football season, like
can you believe this guy? What do you think of
this guy? Like, I just know he loves watching football,
you know, like he I know when a USC is
playing Michigan, like he's geeked up for that game. And
I just think a lot of guys lose that. And
sometimes if you're a beat rider or whatever, it's it's
a different experience. But I really I get along and

(01:19:47):
I did when I worked in the Berry media. And
trust me, the way I live my life is a
lot different the way these guys live their life. And
I call these guys very close friends because like I
know that they really like it. I love Tim Kawakami,
who started the Athletic, Like that guy just loves sports.
He's good at his job, he's a great columnist. He's

(01:20:07):
just he's just he's just good. I mean he's someone
I've I looked up to when I first got kind
of in the business. Greg Papa, same thing. I mean,
these guys love a big game, like they get up
for it like when they were young, and I anyone
who can kind of keep that fire. I'm regardless of
whether I agree with your takes or you know, whether

(01:20:28):
if it wasn't for sports, we'd be friends and get
along and hang out. In real life, we're gonna get along.
And I've met a lot of people in this business
that I just I can just get along with because
of our love of the actual games, which I think
sometimes in this world can get lost the volume

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3 & Out - Garrett Wilson signs MASSIVE rookie extension, 49eres WR Jauan Jennings DOESN'T show, 10 QB rankings

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}3 & Out - Garrett Wilson signs MASSIVE rookie extension, 49eres WR Jauan Jennings DOESN'T show, 10 QB rankings