All Episodes

July 11, 2025 • 74 mins

John is back talking football and opens the show talking about the Chiefs and specifically how Patrick Mahomes is looking physically and if he's put on some weight this offseason. Next, John sticks with KC and talks about Brett Veach's comments on Travis Kelce and if he's justified for being critical of the TE. Next, John talks about Kirk Cousins' comments about how if he had the chance to redo the past he likely would not have signed with Atlanta.

 Finally, John answers your questions in this episode's mailbag segment.

5:19 - Mahomes Fat?

11:38 - Brett Veach on Kelce

22:55 - Cousins regrets signing in Atlanta

26:50 - Changes in College football

40:57 - Fugazi Friday

43:01 - Mailbag

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume What is going on Everybody? John middlecoff three
and now podcast. Back in the saddle at the office,

(00:22):
got my normal equipment, feeling good. We actually were supposed
to come back today, but you know, when you're on
vacation slash, you're kind of going home. It's kind of
like a obligation sometimes the things you gotta do, so
you just get pretty worn out. Long time, a lot
of sun, a lot of lake, a few golf rounds,

(00:42):
and now back on the grind. So we're gonna talk
a little football because I didn't do I only did one.
I haven't done a football podcast. I think the last
time was before the fourth of July. And it was
just like a little mailbag. Some stories over the last
couple of days last week that I saw. I was like, God,
I kind of want to talk about mahomes Fat. I

(01:03):
was like, that is right up my alley. Travis Kelce
is he shot physically. Veach had some comments talk about
that as well. Dion Sanders was at the Big twelve
media day saying some things The Quarterback, the Netflix show
is out, and Kirk Cousins had some regrets on signing
with the Falcons. Talk about that as well as mailbag

(01:25):
at John Middlecoff at John Midlecoff is the Instagram. Fire
in those dms and get your questions answered here on
the show at John Middlecoff, questions answered here on the show.
Do that. Other than that, we'll just We're gonna have
a lot of football podcasts, so buckle up. Football is
not far away. Hell. I think the forty nine ers
rookies report in five days seems insane to me, but

(01:48):
they can't be alone. There's got to be a decent
amount of teams rookies showing up over the course of
the next week, which again is crazy, but welcome to
the league, rook Make sure you subscribe to Collins Feed
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(02:10):
We got you covered there. You don't want to miss
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subscribe to the three and Out YouTube channel and we

(02:30):
will have you covered for everything. But before we talk
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(02:52):
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(03:12):
dollars off down the Game Time App Today, last minute tickets,
lowest prices guaranteed. I saw the headline, like I'm sure
most of you, a podcaster, a Kansas City radio host,
or honestly, I didn't really care who said it. It
just clearly went pretty viral. I didn't have the energy

(03:33):
to like search the guy's background cousin fairness to this guy,
it had been out there in the world before that.
Mahomes in the summer can just be fat. In my
first reaction is the picture that went viral. Honestly, I
didn't think it looked bad. If that is considered fat,
then we are all all of us normal human beings

(03:53):
in society. I don't even think obese is a strong
enough way to describe the majority of Americans if Patrick
Mahomes is fat. But on a serious note, when it
comes to quarterbacks, being fat, is that okay? Like can
they be a little overweight if you think about it.
There are certain positions in football where having a gut

(04:17):
or extra weight is extremely important. Obviously offensive line we
see it all the time. We're bigger players. Guys weighing
three three d and twenty pounds retire and they either
go one or two ways. But a lot of them
lose a lot of weight and the first thing they
tell you is like, that wasn't my natural weight. I
needed it to use as an anchor. A lot of

(04:38):
defensive linemen, especially defensive tackles. They usually don't cut like
some of the offensive linemen, but they are taking on
and carrying weight that isn't natural because of the position.
Yet I remember, like when I first got to the Eagles,
I think there was a conditioning test and a guy
like DeShawn Jackson. I have no clue if in twenty

(05:01):
ten he was training in the off season like he
was Jerry Rice. But the reality is he did not
need to. He was a genetic freak. He weighed like
one hundred and seventy pounds, no fat on his body,
and could show up and pass conditioning tests with ease.
Most defensive backs are like that as well. If they
take off their shirt. Wide receivers defensive backs the overwhelming

(05:25):
I would say ninety nine point nine percent of them
are gonna be what we would consider in society as shredded.
These guys don't have body fat. It's why when guys
like a Deebo Samuel people can be critical, like God,
is he fat? Because wide receivers never are. And I've
always defended Deebo. His body type is actually much more
like a running back who let's face it, running backs

(05:45):
body types very but linebacker is a position where if
you ever say like that linebacker is fat going to
be a problem. Their job is literally to run around
and make tackles, chase guys, run with guys. They have
to be in good shape, and obviously most are. Quarterback
is not that I don't pay my quarterback. I don't

(06:07):
scout my quarterback. I don't need my quarterback to have abs. Honestly,
that is completely irrelevant. My quarterback, especially a guy like
Patrick Mahomes, is literally paid. When it's twenty to twenty
in the fourth quarter against the Baltimore Ravens, against the
Denver Broncos, against the Buffalo Bills, can you keep the

(06:29):
drive going on third and six? And, as he's answered
for seven eight years, fuck yes I can. So when
it comes to quarterback, I don't pay for abs. I
don't pay for body mass index. I pay for completions.
I pay for leadership, I pay for toughness, and ultimately
I pay for him to lead my team to wins.

(06:50):
He's the most important player in the entire sport and
has been now since Tom Brady essentially retired, And just
like the guys behind him, Lamar Jackson's kind of unique
right because he is a running quarterback. I have to
break down the percentages. It's obviously changes year to year,
and he probably ran I would just take an educated
gas and on the stats in front of me. A

(07:12):
little less the last couple of years than the first
couple of years. But I remember a couple of years
ago he said he was watching himself on film and
he said he looks slow and he lost some weight.
That's a huge part of his arsenal, and it is
with Josh Allen as well. But I've seen pictures of
Josh Allen with a shirt off. I wouldn't exactly call
him mister Olympia against Arnold Schwarzenaker in his prime. Joe

(07:32):
Burrow isn't going to pass many like front pages of
the magazine with a shirt off, because that doesn't matter.
No one talks about that. We have seen some quarterbacks
who are quote unquote shredded, and that's not really what
people are looking for. Why. I actually Tom Brady proved this,
looking for more flexibility pliability. So when I saw Patrick

(07:54):
Mahomes and this guy crushing him for being fat, my
first reaction was, who gives a shit? Cause, like most industries,
especially a lot of the ones that you guys work
in you're paid to produce. That's literally all that matters.
If having abs led to more wins on the football field,
then the conversation would be different. Clearly that's not the case.

(08:17):
So I just thought it was kind of funny because
I have never once since I have been around football,
and what's twenty twenty five, So I mean, we're not
far away from going on twenty years to being around coaches,
to being on around scouts, to being around people that
cover football, to going to practices, going to games. For

(08:37):
fifteen plus years now, I have never ever heard anyone
bring up, yeah, we don't really like this guy because
we don't see his abs. No one cares, and no
one more specifically than a guy that I would say
early on in his career, his numbers were just mind blowing.
The thing that has defined Patrick Mahomes over the last

(08:59):
couple of years is like, it's kind of hard to
quantify what he brings to the table. We have watched
these games over the last couple of years when their
offense has been way less explosive, when actually they've really
been more of a defensive team. When they're head coach
who loves to pass has had to relent a little bit.
Why because some of their strengths on given matchups have

(09:20):
been running the ball. We have watched this guy make
key play after key play in the biggest moments, so
if he is a little chubby, honestly, that makes him
more relatable. So props to Mahomes for living life, winning games,
and good luck. This week at the ACC there was
also speaking of the Chiefs. Another story. You know, when

(09:43):
you're out of the mix, there's some stories you're like,
I wasn't gonna do a podcast to day, but God,
I want to talk about that is Brett Veach, I
guess had some comments to Adam Teischer, who has covered
the Chiefs I feel like for decades, and I saw
a bunch of people were like, god, FECh, he's being
critical of kel When I was flying home, I was like,
I need something to listen to, and I just clicked

(10:05):
on YouTube while our flight was delayed by like thirty minutes,
so I had a little time to kill and I
was looking like, what should I listen to on the
plane and I saw Kelsey Brothers that the podcast New
Heights came up and they were talking to buddy my
name Matt Naggy. So I was like, you know, that's
gonna be a good listen for my hour and a
half flight home. So I downloaded that bad Boy and

(10:26):
listened to it and one thing and I listened. The
Kelseys have had some really cool interviews over the years,
and Travis has been very very when you watch that,
his passion, his love, especially when they have on someone
associated with the Chiefs, whether it's Coach Reid, they've had Spags, Naggy, Veach,
you name it. He feels very very indebted to them,

(10:48):
just like they feel very very indebted to him. They
have a partnership. We see the conversation going on right
right now with Lebron James. Lebron James has always like
he didn't want partnerships, and in fairness to bout basketball,
the star player has more juice. But he never approached
it like Steph Curry. He approached it like you're gonna
do exactly what I say when I say it, no

(11:10):
question if ans or butts, Like this is gonna be
on my terms. And for the first time in Lebron
James's career, the team's like, yeah, we don't really give
a shit anymore, and he's rattled. He clearly is well.
A lot of people, especially in football, have very good
working relationships with the team. We saw Brady for two decades,
even though him in Belichick butted heads, they had a

(11:31):
great partnership financially and on the field. You've seen it
with Patrick Mahomes. His working relationship with Andy Reid, Brett Veach,
the Hunt family is fantastic. It is a partnership. And
it's so different with Travis Kelsey. So when Brett Veach
says these comments, I say, god, Brett Veach kind of
questioned him. He essentially says, well, we've all seen it
the last few years. This is Veach, this is on

(11:52):
Travis Kelcey. There are periods throughout the season where you're like,
this might be it. But when the games are the
most important and the lights are the brightest, he finds
it somewhere. But I think for a lot of players,
in situations where you're an established player, where you're you know,
an All Star or a Pro Bowl or a star,

(12:13):
gms and coaches tread very lightly. They don't want to
piss anyone off. Well, when you have a very good
working relationship with someone and I saw this for years
when I was in the Bay Area with Steph Curry
and the Warriors. Hell I saw it in baseball with
Buster Posey and the San Franco Giants. You can be
honest and not worry about how things are going to

(12:36):
be taken. In this modern day media climate where people
take things and run with it, they get aggregated and
it just becomes you're on the first you know, the
front line of first take going viral over a comment
that actually wasn't the way it was said. But I
think the power in the chiefs and this gets back
to you know, Mahomes being fat and Travis Kelsey shot

(12:58):
And I'm telling you you see this when if you
watch the Kelsey Naggi interview. Is the relationships in which
they have from the coaching staff and the front office
to the players. And I'm talking with the star players
and they're all on the same page and feelings don't
get hurt wide because everyone's been coached hard, they've been
through the battles, they've seen the highs and they've seen

(13:19):
the lows over a long period of time, and it's
one of their biggest advantages moving forward. And it's something
I think the Bills have built up. I think the
Ravens have tried to build up. They just haven't been
able to get over the hump in terms of winning
that game. But it's I think we see a lot
of people asking this, like how the Chiefs. I was
at dinner the other night and I was asked, like,

(13:42):
do you think there's no chance? Right, there's the first
time I'm not one to say that. Could the games
be rigged for the Chiefs? Could they? I was like, no,
they're not. They're winning all these close games for a reason.
They have an enormous advantage. They have cohesion, they have
chem street, and they have the same guys on the
team now for a long, long period of time. Most

(14:05):
teams cannot say that because most teams don't even give
their star players a third contract. That's pretty abnormal in
this day and age. They usually move on after seven
or eight years. I'm not talking the quarterback, but I'm
literally talking everyone else around him and the Chiefs group.
Mames is the newest guy. Chris Jones was there before him. Obviously,
Travis Kelsey has been there since twenty thirteen. So you

(14:29):
have this group of players, you have a lot of
group of coaches who have been there for a long
period of time. So when you wonder, it's like, got
of this team's offense, what's going Wait, it went fifteen
to two and they actually through the last game of
the season. It's because of that and for a long
period of time before free agency, the best teams had that.
Right when I was a kid, the same dudes on

(14:49):
the forty nine ers when I was born were still
there when I was ten years old. Right, if you
were a fan that grew up in the seventies, you
watch your team have the same group of players for
a long time, no different than the eighties. That's not
the case anymore with this modern day business. That is
the salary cap, which is these contracts, which is just
free agency and just overall player movement. And the Chiefs

(15:11):
now it's gonna come to an end, right, Patrick Mahomes
is going to outly live Travis Kelce. If you told
me this last year is Travis. I think he probably
would have retired if they would have won that game,
But more than likely this is his last year. Because
I have a hard time and I would never say never,
but seeing Travis play for another team, and if you
watch the way he talks, like I feel he thinks

(15:33):
his connection. It's almost like a Julian Edelman type situation
where it's like, when I'm done, I'm done, But this
is my squad right now. Could be wrong, and my
guess is this is his last year on the Chiefs,
because there comes to a point where it's like the
Chiefs can't keep rolling this out. We don't do, you know,
scholarships in football. But I also think, like they're on,
these guys talk all the time, so it's just it's

(15:57):
kind of refreshing to see that.

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Speaker 1 (17:55):
I haven't had a chance to watch yet. I watched
last year in you know, Maria loved Cole's cash Kirk Cousins,
it was just refreshing. It actually really made him very likable.
And this year having Joe Burrow on in Jared Goff like,
I'm going to watch over some time over the next
couple of weeks. But obviously what was going to come

(18:17):
out if Cousins was involved was surely he was going
to be asked and when I say asked, obviously producers
play a role in what you talk about. But one
of the conversations like what the hell happened? Like how
did you sign with this team? And then they drafted
the Atlanta Falcons and it gave you the cliff note version.
I'm sure a lot of you have seen this clip
go viral on Instagram, on Twitter, on TikTok. Cousins essentially said,

(18:37):
if I knew that they were going to draft a quarterback,
I probably just would have stayed with Minnesota, who was
offering a lot less money, even though they had been
very candid we were going to take a quarterback and
everyone kind of knew. It felt like in February they
loved JJ McCarthy. Remember they were getting two first round picks,
to which we thought they were going to move way up.

(18:58):
They ended up just waiting and he essentially felt them.
But Cousins said, like, listen, I just would have stayed.
And I do wonder this. Two things. One, Kirk, they
offered you ninety million dollars. No one blames you for
taking that money. I've been saying this forever. When the
Atlanta Falcons signed Cousins, they did not have the intention

(19:20):
of drafting Michael Pennix number eight. Overall, they did not.
They fell in love with Cousins because mid March free
agency happens. They signed Cousins, then they fell in love
with Pennix over the next four or five weeks. If
they knew they were going to draft Michael Pennix, and listen,
there was not a personal live in the National Football

(19:42):
League that would have said Michael Pennix wasn't going to
be there at eight. Some things, You're like, I don't
know exactly where JJ McCarthy's going to go. We all
knew in some order we knew Caleb was going one
and then wasn't going to be Jaden or Drake May,
but we knew that was going to be the top three.
Michael Penix was never going in the top ten, and
I was a Michael x fan. Really was no different
bo Nicks. Bo Nicks was never going in the top ten.

(20:04):
That was never gonna happen. So they would have known
if they had run their operation like most teams, this
guy was gonna be there. And this was a plug
and play, ready to go twenty four year old, twenty
five year old quarterback that had played in college for
like a fucking decade. You don't sign Cousins for ninety
million dollars to draft this guy that's on the organization.
I don't blame Cousins for taking the money. He loves

(20:27):
his money rightfully, so he's in the business of football.
But it's easy to play hindsight. I would have made
a different decision. No one had any clue because the
Falcons had no freaking clue when they paid you that money.
I also, and I know it's easy to say, I
don't think Minnesota wanted him anymore because Cousins wasn't gonna
sign for like fifteen to twenty million dollars. Clearly, just

(20:48):
look how much money the Falcons gave him. He was
also coming off of torn Achilles. So if you look
at the people that run the Minnesota Vikings, especially their GM,
google his background. It's in a little world called the finance.
And if there was ever time to basically say we're
selling off this stock. We've had a good run here,
we're out of this business, it was when a guy

(21:10):
in his mid to late thirties who can't move to
begin with rips's achilles, So I know he can say,
it's like, well, they had offered me. The coach was
saying that the coach wanted you to stay. And there
have been lots of reports did the organization want you
to stay? Did the GM want you to say? I
have a hard time seeing that I really do and listen,
maybe QUESTI would dispute this, Maybe the owner would dispute this.

(21:33):
I'm kind of calling bs. Would they have taken him
back for fifteen twenty million dollars? Sure, but like, were
they comfortable giving a guy off a torn Achilles thirty
five to forty million dollars? Even if they were, I
haven't a one year deal. I have a hard time
seeing that. I really do, and listen, this whole situation
got weird. Still on the team. I doubt he's on

(21:55):
the team week one, but it's like, look at his
landing spots. Now there's a financial element to this, there's
also just an element at this current time his cousin's done,
like his cousin shot. And I think that's a fair question.
And the pushback is, well, usually your year, you're better off,
you're two off the Achilles in any sport. I just

(22:16):
I would have a hard time making a move for
Kirk Cousins unless I was really desperate. But listen, I
don't blame him at all for taking the insane amount
of money to the Falcons, who were kind of right
for doing it. They were completely desperate at the time too,
But if they knew what they were doing, they just
would have signed like a ten million dollar bridge quarterback

(22:37):
taken Penix and Panics would have started week one and
that guy would have been his backup a case keenum
Flacco like that that type Gardner Minshew that that type
of player not give the money that they gave to Cousins.
And last but not least, and I've been thinking this
for a while because I'm sure, like many of you,
love football, see a lot of stuff on college football
and forever it was like the recruiter of the year,

(23:00):
as a great recruiter, like this assistant coach, dominant recruiter.
And for those of us that like know a lot
of people in the business, you'll text someone you're like, yeah,
he's not a great coach, but holy shit, he's great
with he's great with recruiting. And working at Fresno State,
I saw some guys who were just elite recruiters, saw
some guys who were just didn't like recruiting like it was.

(23:20):
It's a huge part of the job. But like a
lot of industries, you can get by if you're a
great positional coach, a great coordinator, and not a great recruiter,
just like you can get by if you're a great
recruiter and not necessarily a great ex's nose guy. I
do think recruiting's kind of dead. I don't really think
it exists anymore. And even Deon Sanders, who was at
the Big twelve media day, said that, like, look at

(23:43):
all the teams in the playoffs and google how much
they were spending on their roster Kenny Dillingham came out
yesterday and said, like, get ready, guys, Texas Tech is
going to be really good. So I googled it. Texas
Tech had the number two transfer portal recruiting class, ahead

(24:03):
of teams like Miami and Oregon, who are clearly spending
a lot of coin. They had this guy named Cody Campbell.
I had to google him. I knew about the guy,
didn't knowa's name. He played there. He's now a billionaire
and he's financing their program. Their team wasn't bad last year.
They have a chance to be really good this year.
Not because Joey McGuire, who Dion actually like loves, is

(24:25):
some dynamic recruiter. It's because they have a lot of money.
And I'm not talking shit about any coaches, but whenever
I see it's like, I got it, did a great
job recruiting. The only thing that matters now is like,
what are you offering the guy? Now? If both offers
are half a million dollars, he likes you more, for sure.
It's like, Okay, your relationship, your personality, you resonating with

(24:46):
his mom, dad, high school coach, whatever matters. But if
you say, well, I was offering six hundred grand and
the other team was offering three hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
Of course you landed him, like welcome to America. So
when I see it's like, god, they did a great
job recruiting bullshit, they just have a bigger check mark.
And rightfully so like I listen, I can be Ohio

(25:08):
State hater, but they were great before the money. Now
they have a ton of money and they're willing to
spend it. Their roster's always gonna be good. Why they
spend a lot of it Oregon? Why did they not
fall off after nil started? Because they it works to
their advantage. That's why everyone's been scratching their head the
last couple of years. With USC. It's like, I thought,
you guys have these enormous boosters, why aren't you spending

(25:30):
the money? And people tell you, well, they've actually spend
it on the wrong guys. But it's like Dion's right,
like this sport is all about and this isn't you know?
Two years ago when Howie landed Saquon Barkley for twenty
seven million dollars guaranteed, it was like, guys, you know,
it's a little risky is gonna be good. I remember thinking, like, one,
that's really not that much money relative to all these

(25:51):
You get guards signing for fifty million. Mike mcclinchy like
three years ago, signed for fifty million dollars guaranteed. He's
like an average foot athlete, you know, mid tier right tackle.
It's like Saquon Barkley, one of the most talented players
in the league. If he's just he does need help,
like he needs a good offensive line. But if you
have a good offensive line, like that's a fucking steal.

(26:12):
But like, who's how he bidding against? Right? In college football,
if you do want a player and it's like a
guy like, let's just use Saquon Barkley as an example.
The equivalent of that in college football, you're gonna have
the top five ten teams with all the money bidding
for his services. So anyone in business knows the more
people you got bidding. My wife's in real estate. It's
one thing when you only got one person making an

(26:33):
offer on the home. Remember twenty twenty, when interest rates
for like two and a half three percent, you got
to line out the freaking door. So you had ten offers.
It's like well, they're offering this, They're offering this is
all of a sudden, you know, especially if you live
where I lived in California. It's like, well, they got
three hundred thousand dollars over asking, well, how do you
think they did that? Not based on one person, It's
based on seventeen people that want the property. And that's

(26:53):
what's happening in college football with a transfer portal. So
these top guys go in the transfer portal and they
have film and everyone wants them so because you know
the guy's going to be an immediate starter. And I
just think, you know, this is what college football is now.
On the flip side, the same teams have always won.
Ohio State's been winning for forty years since I was alive.
I obviously they've been winning before that, but my point

(27:16):
is they've been winning forever. George has been good most
of my life. Alabama had a lull before saving got there,
but I would say they are one of the more
iconic teams in the history of the sport. Coward has
said this, and he's right. The only new team who's
really thrown their hat in the ring in the Internet
age is Oregon. Why Nike Oklahoma State for a long

(27:41):
period of time was very very competitive. Why they had
t Boone Pickens. So if you have a big money booster,
if you have a lot of money behind you, you
have a huge advantage. And this is where as being
a smaller school guy, I feel sorry for the Boise States,
the Fresno States, even the smaller programs in the bigger conferences,
they're not going to be able to compete because they

(28:02):
are not going to be in. As Katie Dillingham said it,
recruiting's dead. Retention is the new recruiting and can you
keep the players? And when you get a good player,
can you keep them? We had on Jake Dickard, who's
now the coach at Wake Forest Well, who was his
quarterback last year, the starting quarterback for Oklahoma, who they

(28:25):
tried to keep at Washington State. Somehow got a million
dollars to attempt to keep his services. I'm out going
to Oklahoma. Who could blame him? If he was offered
a million dollars to stay at Washington State? What do
you think Oklahoma paid him double triple? This is just
the world we're in. So I think that college football

(28:46):
is going to continue to be crazy and everyone's going
to complain. But all the top teams are the ones
with the money. And whenever I see this and listen,
I don't quite understand how exactly this salary cap is
going to work. Like, okay, twenty two million in football,
some people have said, like football gets thirteen to fifteen
million dollars. They do. If I'm at a program, it's like, well,

(29:07):
I'm making ninety percent of the money and I'm only
getting sixty percent. How the fuck does that pencil? Surely doesn't.
But regardless how it ends up playing out, especially early on,
you're gonna double dip. Because in the NFL, when I
get Patrick Mahomes, right, I don't have to worry about
his nil. That's on his marketing manager or agent. Right,

(29:28):
So when you see Patrick Mahomes with Oakley sunglasses or
on the State Farm commercial, or you see Steph Curry
with under Armour or with Callaway golf, he's doing that separately.
The team doesn't have to waste time on that. Well,
in college football, when I sign you, if I'm Georgia,
if I'm Alabama, if I'm Texas, if I'm USC I'm

(29:48):
gonna have to deal with both. And when I see
these headlines like whether there's gonna be a strict process
to judge the contracts of nil bull shit, because forever
it was like, you're not allowed to pay players, Yet
all over the country guys were getting paid well before
nil and rightfully so, bro It's called business, it's called capitalism.

(30:09):
Used to be small brown bags fulled with a decent
amount of money. Now you're talking ten x. That's and
that's just gonna be on the side of what I'm
making on the salary cap. So I think college football,
a lot of people are going to continue to complain
get the same teams beside a couple of new ones.
If you've got a billionaire former player like Texas Tech,

(30:29):
maybe all of a sudden, Texas Tech is going to
be the new or right there with a Texas A,
Texas A and m LSU help, maybe they surpass some
of these SEC teams because how do you compete against that?
And the answer is it's hard to Okay, before we

(30:58):
dive into the mail bag, one gigantic fugazi is obviously
depending on your skin tone. You know, I had some friends,
definitely some friends brothers who are just pale white. You
go out in the sun summer, you need to apply
basically a whole bottle of sunscreen. This isn't the healthiest thing,

(31:20):
but I honestly didn't wear sunscreen up until I got older.
But it used to work right even if I was
in Lake Tahoe, if I was wherever I applied sunscreen,
it would protect my skin from I don't know, peeling off.
I feel like my entire body over the next three
or four days, and I felt like over the week
that I was on the leg, hanging out, playing golf whatever.
I applied a lot of sunscreen. I understand the sun,

(31:42):
you're at elevation, you're sixty five, seven thousand, eight thousand
feet whatever it is. But I do wonder like sunscreen
even work. Because I'm doing fifty SPF. My feet are peeling,
my legs are peeling, I'm burn everywhere. One mistake I
made a long time ago when I first went bald.
I went with a buddy to the lake with his

(32:04):
girlfriend now wife, a bunch of her friends, and we
just we just had a good time. Booze was flowing,
hanging out. This is probably twenty eleven ish, and I
had just shaved my head, so the top of my
head had never seen the sun, and I, of course
had never put sunscreen I don't know on the top
of my head, and I didn't do it, and we're

(32:25):
out hanging out all day, boozing whatever, and like three
days later, my entire head peeled off. So ever since then,
I do take my head and my face really seriously.
But I felt like sunscreen you used to protect my body.
And I don't know. I understand as you get older,
your skin thins, but yeah, I just I'm about Maria's.

(32:46):
Her entire body is about the peel and again we're
applying it. We're being health conscious and you gotta protect.
But I don't know. Maybe you go to Lake Tahoe
just wear long pants, long sleeves and a hat even
win its ninety degrees. Okay, let's do a little mail
at JOHB Middlecoff. At JOHB Midlecoff is the Instagram fire

(33:06):
in those dms, get your questions answered here on the
show mail bag question what do you think a realistic
season is for the Bears? I feel like with the
weapons and Ben Johnson being the next Shanahan has a
high ceiling. Caleb is obviously talented and they fix the line.

(33:27):
Could they win eleven games and win the division if
everyone beats each other up? I would say when the
division feels really, really strong, I think it's fair to say,
best case scenario, defense should be good, but it's you know,
it's a new coordinator. The defense was good last year
with Ibra Flus, So you get a new voice. I'm

(33:49):
sure you get some new terminology. You just get some
new ideas thoughts. But let's they got good players on defense. Offensively, also,
you know everything's new, so there's just a transition process,
given how much pressure is on them. But if you
just say they get let's say they're way better the
second half of the season. I think ten eleven games

(34:10):
making the playoffs is very much a fair expectation. I
think if you tell me that the Bears win the division,
Ben Johnson's one percent the coach of the year, I
just don't see the scenario. If you tell me right
now the Bears win the NFC North, He's I just
don't see how you could have a better coaching job.
I mean, they were atrocious last year. I mean they were.

(34:31):
It's a lot of the same players, so I know
they've added a couple new offensive linemen, but they're still
gonna depend on DJ Moore. They're still gonna depend on
Caleb obviously, you know the defensive personnel. Their star players
haven't changed. So ten and eleven, if he won eleven games,
you could argue that even if they were like the
six seed coach of the year. So I think that's

(34:52):
fair me realistic. I would say eight to nine. I
think it's a big transit won. The division's really hard,
Detroit's gonna be healthy to start the season. The Packers
fair not, I mean kind of own you. The Minnesota
Vikings roster is just better and they've they've won before.
That's another thing. These other teams have won, right These

(35:13):
other teams have won and ben winning. The Packers have
been winning, the Lions have been winning, The Vikings have
won two of the last three years. One. You know, so,
I think you're asking a bunch of guys who you
have a ton of talents and some new guys who
have definitely won, just to now start winning. And that's
a pretty big step to take. Question for the back.

(35:37):
First off, congratulations on the pregnancy. My wife's pregnant breaking news.
Put it out on social media. But yeah, she's been
pregnant for a little while, so twelve weeks I guess
the end of the starting the second trimester, I think
is what they say. So congratulations to me for not
really doing much. But swimmers can swim. Other than that,

(36:00):
she's way harder for her. Appreciate that. Second, what are
your NFL Conference Championship games predictions? As a Bucks fan?
I feel confident the boys can get rolling at the
end and can lead us to glory. Uh, it's a
good question. I would say when you look at the
top of the NFC, you would say the Eagles should

(36:21):
be the favorite. They are the favorite, they deserve to
be the favorite. They're team stacked. Then there's the group
of like the Lions are pretty damn good, question marks,
new coordinators, vikings, pretty damn good, coaches, never won a
playoff game, new quarterback packers like what's their health situation?
Who is Jordan? Love? The Rams? We like the Rams,

(36:44):
we like McVeigh. It's not like they've been winning thirteen
fourteen games. They won ten games last year and you
look at statistically like they weren't as good of a
defense is the way they've talked about now. One thing
the comp I've made. I remember watching Khalil Max rookie season.
I think he had four and a half sacks, but
if you watched him, he was good. You're like, I

(37:05):
don't want the numbers for you. This guy's coming. And
then over the next couple of years he was coming.
And I think that's Jared Verse. So it's like Jared
Vers this year, is he like one of the best
players on defense in the league, Because that kind of
changes you. Stafford's health is pretty big. The forty nine
ers like, what's their deal? So I think, yeah, I
think it's pretty wide open. I really do. I mean,

(37:25):
the Eagles have a new offensive coordinator. The Eagles have
four offensive coordinators four years of Jalen Hurts, so that
that would be the Commanders like, what's how does it
come together with Tunzel with Debo? Did they figure out
the McLaurin situation. I think there's a lot of good
teams in the NFC. It's kind of just how you know,

(37:46):
injuries obviously play a huge factor. I mean that derailed
the Lions' chances, right, it really did. How you're playing
toward the end of the season. Look at the Rams
last year obviously the Washington Do you get hot at
the right time? Does your quarterback get hot? So it's
what makes football pretty cool, right Like I saw the
thunder have given out like a billion dollars in the

(38:09):
last week. Every human being alive is gonna pick the
Thunder next year, rightfully. So we have this core of
young guys and rosters loaded. And basketball has always kind
of been like that. It's like, yeah, there's three or
four teams that can win it. It's kind of the
way it is. Maybe on a good year five or six,
Like in football, there are the Chiefs are gonna have
a year where they don't win in the playoffs, right

(38:31):
They're just gonna have a year second round where they lose.
It happened to Belichick and Brady. So the Bills, the Ravens,
these other teams, the Chargers in the Broncos. I just
saw Najie Harris. I had a little firework incident. I
don't maybe I'm gonna sound like the old guy. I
used to love fireworks, firecrackers, Like most young kids had

(38:51):
a little pyro side. Once you get to a certain age,
like I don't quite get it. And we have specific
situations in football with JPP blowing off his hands. I
just think the risk. Where I'm from, actually around the
Sacramento area, there was a fire work because in California

(39:12):
you can't sell like M eight's and the good shit.
There was a storage facility that somehow something went very wrong.
I think this was last week July second or July third,
and it looked like, I mean, like a Middle East
war and seven people are I remember last I saw
the story We're Missing AKA Dead. So I just and

(39:35):
I get it if you got young kids to do
like some of the shitty fireworks to have a good time.
But I just I just don't see the risk first reward.
I don't quite understand it. My question is regarding the Niners. Obviously,
Perty signs the big deal this offseason, but since Kyle
has been the head coach, they've never had a high

(39:56):
end quarterback. They've been successful building a team around the quarterback,
then paying the quarterback, then paying the quarterback doesn't screw
it up. My question to you is what does Kyle
value more high end quarterback play or focus on drafting
and developing the full roster. Do you think he trusts
Purty to get the team into the playoffs, or does
he think he needs draft capital to help build a

(40:17):
team around his quarterback. Again, I mean, Kyle is so
scarred from that Trey Lance situation where he tried to
manipulate and creates a small school like Josh Allen Lamar Jackson,
guy who's a third stringer. I'm honestly shocked still in
the NFL. So Kyle thinks brock Purty's really good. Listen,

(40:39):
rock Party is good. He's somewhere between eight to twelve
On given weeks. He can play like one of the
better quarterbacks in the league, and he can have weeks
where he's not as good, and he has some flaws,
but he's a really good starting quarterback and if you
do a good job building your team, you can win
with him. I've said it forever, Like look at the
Eagles and Alliance that they're paying their quarterbacks a ton

(40:59):
of money. Nobody views either guy like a top five quarterback.
Nobody Jalen Hurts last year, halfway through the season, people like,
what the hell is going on? What's wrong with their
passing game? Brandon Graham's likeyeah, he, Jan Brown and Jalen
Hurts hate each other. Just kidding. Jared Goff. People are like, uh,
I mean, he's got some limitations. You gotta protect them.
But no one views either guy's top five quarterback. Jalen

(41:21):
Hurts had played like a top five quarterback the last
two weeks of the season against the Commanders and then
in the Super Bowl. But in terms of like, no
one ranks him in the top five and he makes
a ton of money. They build the team around him.
That's this football. Joe Montana played on some of the
most talented teams in the history of the league. You
gotta do a good job building around him. Rock Purty's

(41:41):
good enough if you build a team, said forever. The
pressure is on John and Kyle. Now Rock Purty showing
you who he is. If a team's good, he can win.
Won a lot of games going back to college. Guy's
a winning player. Is he Mahomes or Josh Allen or
Lamar Jackson. No, he's not Joe Burrow. We know that. Like,
who's comparing him to that first take? I don't know.

(42:06):
So yeah, I mean they're all in on party. This
is no they're no drafting pretty fails. Kyle's gonna be
done with the forty nine ers in the NFL. Do
head coaches spend much time coaching up individual players or
are they mainly interacting with the coaching staff and allowing
them to micro manage the players. I can't speak for

(42:27):
every coach I haven't seen. If you go around the league,
you know, I've never seen John Harbaugh at a practice.
I've never seen Sean Payton, never seen Jean Payton at
a practice. So I've never seen these guys at practice.
But my experience Andy Reid, Kyle Shanahan, Jim Harbaugh, some

(42:49):
of the Raiders guys, Dennis Allen, Jack del Rio. I
think it changes, right if you are a former player
like Harball or Jack del Rio linebacker. Sometimes they are
just gonna be inclined to gravitate, especially if they're not
the play caller, to gravitate toward their position, and then
they kind of give them tips. But the CEO, head coach,

(43:11):
his main gig is kind of like which is pretty
clear the overseer. Now, they talk to individual players, but
I think a lot of their job when they see
things they don't like, are kind of dictating that to
the assistant coach or dictating that to the coordinator. And
then you get guys like if you're Kyle Shanahan or
Sean McVay or Mike McDonald and Seattle like the coordinator

(43:34):
of even though you're the head coach or the coordinator,
you spend much more time coaching up individual players of
what you want because you lead, like Travis Kelce talks
watching the podcast talks a lot about like Andy Reid,
running the installs. So if you're running the installs of
a play, all the guys are looking at you. You

(43:55):
are coaching them up on what you want them to do.
So I think it's very pacific. You know, a guy
like a guy like I'm trying to think of an
example who'd be a coach, a Tomlin or Harbaugh, either
the Harbab brothers, Sirianni. They're not installing the place right,

(44:20):
but they are active at meetings, They're obviously active at practice.
It's it's probably somewhere that leads much more to dictating
it to your coaches than it is if you are
the defensive coordinator of the team. Right, if you're Ben Johnson,
you're coaching it up. You are spending a lot of
time with with Caleb with what you want. Where Rome

(44:42):
or DJ are breaking off the route. You know, it's
like you are dictating, Like you watch Kyle practice, like
he's telling who to go where. Maybe not at practice
as much, you know, because in the NFL, you know,
high school or even college, you probably spend more time
at practice specific teaching. I think in the NFL you're

(45:03):
trying to rattle off, especially in training camp. I think
it happens more in the season when you have less guys.
But in training camp it's a lot of just rapid
fire run the plays. Maybe if something is a really
screws up, you run it again, and then you teach
in the walk through the meeting room. I think in
the regular season there's a lot more less players. You know,

(45:24):
in training camp there's ninety guys out there. There's a
lot going on. Regular season, you kind of have a
decent idea who's gonna play, who's not, and I mean
you have a really good idea, and then you kind
of can dictate a practice. The media is not allowed
out there. You're installing specific plays against specific teams. So
it's I think it depends on the time of year.

(45:45):
OTA's two, like there's a lot of like that's where
most of the teaching from a from a standpoint of
things are a little slower once training camp comes, like
you better know the plays or one, especially if you're young,
you're just gonna get lapped. So I think there are
a lot of variables. So that's a good question. I
think it's a hard question to ask, and it's very

(46:07):
very specific toward the team, the coach, the scheme, his role,
the age of the players. You know, it's like some
of these teams too. If you have what would be
an example here, like if you have an older player

(46:31):
that's been on the team for seven, eight years, ten years,
he asks you know, he spends a lot of time.
If you went to a Niner practice, you would watch
George Kittle or Kyle Uschek talking to a lot of
the younger players at training camp, kind of coaching them up,
giving them tips what to do, because Kyle is just
like next play, next group, this is what the coordinators do.

(46:55):
So if you I'm just using the Niers example because
I've spent the most time at their practice, you come
off the feet if you're a young linebacker and the
threes jump on you're the twos like Fred Warner or
green Law would have go over you and Maye Pray
talk to you. So they do a lot of coaching
the veteran players, and that's that's true for whoever your
team is. Right, if you're a young wide receiver and

(47:16):
you're on the Eagles, you know you can AJ Brown
can tell you, like, hey, you know they like this
route to be broken Jalen likes this to be broken
off at seven yards, not eight, even though the teaching
point is technically eight. You know stuff like that. A
Packer fan, where do you think Matt Lafleur in the
coaching ranks and coaching? As a Packer fan? He has

(47:37):
moments that are genius and then moments that leave us
all scratching our heads with game management and decision making,
even in the NFC North Am I overreacting? Yeah? I
mean I no one's gonna put him in the top five,
but he's better than and he's proven a lot. Then
I don't know the majority of the league, right, they're

(47:58):
thirty two coaches, so he's easily better than half. Like
cut off the sixteen. Now we're fifteen on. I think
he's probably closer to like eight or nine than he
is fifteen. And like you said, he has had moments
where went into Dallas and beat the shit out of
the Cowboys on the road. Last year was tough. I mean,

(48:19):
the quarterback wasn't playing that well. Injuries in that Eagle game.
I don't know what he could have done. He's had
some moments in the pass he would like back. Obviously
the field goal against Tampa. But I think he's pretty good.
He's I think if you just asked a casual fan,

(48:41):
Matt Lafleur or Kevin O'Connell, I have used as an
example most people, I think the initial oh, Kevin O'Connell. Yeah,
Kevin O'Connell's had two playoff games where he's had like
thirteen and fifteen win team fourteen win teams and he
can't win him. Kevin O'Connell lost the Giants couple of
years ago, Daniel Jones at home. You can say the

(49:01):
Rams loss isn't as crazy, and I agree, but like
you lost the Giants happened. People think I talked shit
about Kevin ccon. I'm not anti Kevin O'Connell. I think
he's a good coach. But my point is simply that
I think everyone listening and talking the overwhelming majority. If
you had to just pick one, most people would just

(49:23):
gravitate toward Kevin. It could be wrong. I just this
is my gut feel of just kinda have a pretty
good beat on people. Kevin O'Connell over the floor. Are
we sure? What do you think? Keenan Allen ends up?
I think a lot of these guys, you know, older
players that have been making a lot of coin for

(49:45):
a long period of time, really struggle when their arrows
kind of pointed down. They're older. Right around free agency,
when they're available, people's low ball. Like, if you're used
to making nine percentage percent of people can't relate to this.
But if you've been used to making fifteen million, probably
pretty hard when someone's like, eh, we're just our best

(50:08):
offers three. You know, it's like even used to making
five hundred grand and you still think you're good at
your job and someone offers you a hundred You're like, oh,
I'm not taking that gig. I think that happens to
a lot of these older players that most of the
offers during the off season relative to what they were making,
is really low, So it's a humbling time. Now they

(50:33):
can get hope there are injuries, someone gets hurt and
all of a sudden people are desperate. So that three
million that you're being offered maybe goes to eight or nine.
But if that doesn't happen, I think you could be
in a little trouble. So I don't know. I think

(50:56):
more than they ever tell is well lot lot about money. Hi, John,
what's your opinion on Garrett Wilson. I've seen people rank
him anywhere between the top five to out of the
top twenty. Keep up the great work, uh, I think he,
I think more than any other position. Wide receivers a

(51:20):
lot of stuffs out of their control. So when you
play in chaotic offenses, in chaotic organizations, Jerry Rice played
with Joe Mountan and Steve Young. You know, Randy Moss
early on his career had good quarterbacks and he went
Tom Brady so good when a good wide receiver. Larry

(51:42):
Fitzgerald looked pretty good when he had Carson Palmer or
Kurt Warren throwing the ball. So when you're a very
talented wide receiver and you have a good quarterback situation,
you're gonna look unreal. Antonio Brown for six years had
Roethlisberger slinging in the pill Tyreek Hill in the peak
of his powers, had Patrick Mahomes thrown in the rock.

(52:02):
So if you put Garrett Wilson with Patrick Mahomes or
Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson, I think he'd be pretty unreal.
You know, last year I was expecting, actually his numbers
to not look this good. He had one hundred catches
for eleven hundred yards. I think he's a top ten
talent in the league. You know, if you had a
draft from scratch, would he cracked the top five? Probably not,

(52:25):
But I think once we got six to ten range
when you factor in his age, you know, if you
think about it, like Jamar Chase, you know, or Justin Jefferson,
Jamar Chase, Ceedee Lamb, and I think Tyreek's kind of
trending the other way. So you would have Jefferson Chase,
I would have Ceedee Lamb. Out of those three guys,

(52:47):
I'd feel pretty confident about those guys. Then you get
this group of like Aman Ross Saint Brown. Would I
rather have Amin Ross Saint Brown or Garrett Wilson. Well,
I think obviously in the scheme Amen Ross Saint Brown
and he's just But like I think if you put
Garrett Wilson on the Lions, nothing would dip. And I
think if you gave non Lions like every team in

(53:08):
the league, you could pick one of the two guys.
From a talent standpoint, I think you would take Garrett Wilson.
Now there are stuff that Saint Brown brings to the table,
Like I know for a fact, I can go to
war with that guy. Like Drake London, I would take
Garrett Wilson over Drake London. Brian Thomas junior one year in,
I think he's gonna be pretty good. You know, Malik Neighbors.

(53:29):
I'd probably take Malik Neighbors. But again, like this is yeah,
I think he's a top ten wide receiver in the league.

(53:51):
With all the chaos and realignment in college football, what
are your thoughts on adopting regulation style conferences. That way
we can transition to the NFL of two main conferences
while still allowing schools to compete at their respective levels.
Relegations never happening. I know people love it in European soccer,

(54:14):
but it is just not happening in pro sports ever,
because if I'm spending the amount of money I have
to spend and it doesn't go well, Okay, we fucked up,
but I still spent how billions of dollars has never
happened in college football the same way. They're just no,
none of these. It's a partnership. Now. You could argue

(54:38):
that Ohio State, Michigan, Oregon, Penn State carry the Big Ten,
and that's true. You could argue that LSU, Bama, Georgia,
you know, carry the SEC in terms of ratings, in
terms of whatever, and you could add other teams there too,
But it's ultimately a partnership. And are the Cowboys? Are
the Packers? Are the Niners? Are the Eagles more important

(54:59):
than and the Cardinals, the Jags and the Titans. Sure,
but part of the power of the NFL is the
group partnership. So I just it gets brought up a lot.
It's just not happening. Okay, question for the mailbag. First

(55:20):
of all, congrats, appreciate it. Also, I heard someone earlier
in a different podcast mentioned why people don't talk about
the UFC. Something that shocked me way more is the
big talk shows don't talk about big golf events like
the Masters. I was shocked when I saw no one
talked about Rory winning when I'm pretty sure the average
twelve million views on Sunday and Monday. No one even

(55:41):
said a single pot or peep about it. Kind of
just blew my mind. The number of eyeballs is way
bigger than UFC, and still no one said a single thing.
You know, I don't know what shows you're alluding to.
You know, if you think about the TV shows, I
think Colin definitely let his television show that day of
Fox Sports one talking about it one hundred I remember watching,

(56:03):
So maybe you're talking about some of the ESPN shows.
Maybe those people don't watch. I also think we overvalue
you know, it's like, well, so you know Stephen A. Smith,
who cares five hundred thousand people watch his show? Pardon
my take. I don't know what the number is, but
it's dwarfs that they definitely led with that. I did

(56:25):
a podcast on it. I mean, I think a lot
of people did so. I think if you just rely
on like what are the TV shows? This isn't two
thousand and four, you know, I bet a lot of
YouTube shows. Did you know Pat McAfee did so. I
I just think that legacy media, A lot of those
people don't watch golf if it's not Tiger. They don't care.
They would rather talk about Lebron versus Jordan. And that's fine.

(56:48):
I mean, that's what their business model is. But I
think sometimes we overvalue, like what did they who cares
their audience relative to some of these other audiences that
are talking about it aren't even close to is big?
So I also, you know, one of the reasons ESPN,
for example, talks about UFC is they are in business

(57:09):
with UFC. Right, I'm pretty sure ESPN Plus has UFC stuff.
Dana did a deal with ESPN years ago. I don't
know how long that deal goes. I'm I'm not super
dialed in, but I know, like that's why they promote it.
No different than like Fox Sports. You know Colin. Colin
likes soccer obviously like soccer a lot. But one reason

(57:30):
they talk about it like they have contracts to talk
to do Soccer World Cup, Like Alexi Laws comes on
they host the Gold Cup like it's you kind of
talk what your programming is. I think that that plays
a part too. You know, if ESPN had the Masters,
they would do more Master stuff. In terms of Saturday

(57:50):
and Sunday, I know they play a role on Thursday
and Friday. But I'm with you, there's not a basketball
game this year. Well, I guess game seven did. Game
seven got sixteen million people, but it was before Game seven.
It was easily the lowest rated NBA Finals in like
three decades. It's like seven eight million people watch them.

(58:15):
But basketball in terms of like you know, you name
the whoever is very good on the internet does very well.
You can run businesses based on the algorithms with basketball stuff.
Harder to do that with golf. So like I understand,
like for this one time, who even cares? All the

(58:36):
stuff comes down to business? It really does. And the
business is just like how many people are watching? How
much can we sell? How much money can we move
based on what topics? Question for the back, you recently
said the Dolphins owner has serious interest in hiring Jim Harbaugh.
The question is, do you think the gym would be

(58:59):
coaching the Dolphins right now instead of the Chargers if
they had taken Herbert fifth overall in twenty twenty instead
of Tua. That's a good question. I don't think Jim
Harball would coach Tua. I so is your question would
if he was coaching the Dolphins? Do you think that

(59:19):
Jim Harball would be. Yeah, maybe I think he would have.
The Dolphins have gone after Jim multiple times, so it's
not like a one off situation. I think he would
have been inclined to if someone had justin Herbert and
he could coach their team, he would have. So yeah,

(59:41):
I think there's a decent chance. I don't think he
would be the Chargers head coach if they did not
have a good quarterback situation, and if you flip flop
the two quarterbacks, I don't think Jim Harball would take
that job if Tula as their coach or quarterback. A
quick question about Love and a second year regression. Warren

(01:00:03):
Sharp put out a list of the third down incompletions
due to receiver errors, and green Bay led that statistic
with thirty two point seven percent. Next was the Bengals
at eighteen percent. Jalen Hurts was around eight point five percent,
and GoF was at seven point five percent. And Love
was never truly one hundred percent healthy last year, but

(01:00:25):
still was a top ten in all the metrics. Given
that if Green Bay is just league average, can we
expect the Love and the offense to be dynamic? You
guys know, where I stand. I own stock. I think
they're gonna be good. If you tell me the Packers
defense is good like it was last year. I think
the Packers are twelve or thirteen win team. And if
you win thirteen games over the last decade, I bet

(01:00:48):
you win your division. I don't know eighty percent of
the time, like last year was abnormal, right, you had
two teams with fourteen wins in weeks. Now it's it's
a little skewed because we've added a game. But you
guys know, I mean, if you win thirteen games, you
get a pretty damn good chance to win your division,
even if you're in a good division. So I think
they're gonna be good. We get a lot of Packer

(01:01:10):
fans because I got another question. I I think the
thing with Jordan Love is you also got to embrace
what he is. Is he gonna be a top five
player in the league. Probably not, but his ceiling in
his high end, which we didn't see as much last
year as we did two years ago, is pretty high.

(01:01:32):
And when you're not healthy in your have you don't
have much experience, like it can be kind of rocky.
And like you said, the receivers were just all over
the map last year, but they always have a good
offensive line. Jacob's a stud. They do have a lot
of bodies on offense. They just got to figure out
which ones, and like, can they get their version of
Jordy Nelson or DeVante to kind of come out of

(01:01:52):
this group? Maybe it's the guy they just drafted. But
to me, if their defense is good, like the team's
gonna be good. I appreciate the respect you give toward
my Packers, but my question is at what point will
you change your tune and become more critical. Love is
one of the higher paid quarterbacks and as yet to
take the next step. Our young wide receiver corps that

(01:02:14):
everyone hypes up hasn't been consistently reliable. We have some
nice Peter pieces scattered throughout the roster. I'm concerned about
becoming the Steelers good enough to win during the regular
season against the bottom half of the league, but never
true contender for a championship. Your thoughts, Are you guys

(01:02:34):
as good as you were from like ten to fifteen?
Of course not. Even though you only won one Super Bowl,
you guys were legit super Bowl contenders that four or
five years. A couple of years ago when you lost
to the Bucks, I thought that was your best team.
I thought those two years with Rogers when he was older,
the year you lost the Niners like those are tough losses,

(01:02:57):
but you were true Super Bowl contenders. You weren't a
super contender this year. Toward the end of the season, clearly,
I do think you can be one this year though.
If you told me NFL teams were stocks, you can
buy one of two stocks this upcoming year, the Packers
or the Steelers, and whoever goes farther in the playoffs

(01:03:19):
or just throughout the Seaton, who has a better record,
and at the end of the year, whoever is progressed
longer in the season. Ten X is your money, and
you're allowed to put down whatever you want. I would
not hesitate to pick the Packers, would not hesitate. So
you guys are not the Steelers hip. I promise you

(01:03:40):
that what is the next disposable position in the NFL
when it comes to value, that's going to be overlooked
the way running back was. I think it's pretty clear
right now. Safety is. I just now safety has never
had the value as corner or pass rusher. But I
think we have to admit that certain teams didn't value

(01:04:02):
linebacker like other teams. The Eagles are a good example
that their historic value in terms of what they would
pay a linebacker was they would let a lot of
guys walk after Bond last year. And the way this
league is, who does that guy end up on a
lot running backs and tight ends? Well? What is the
league full of dynamic running backs and tight ends? So linebackers.

(01:04:25):
And I believe this since honestly, for I got around
the Niners and saw Willison Bowman. It's like, if you
have a good middle linebacker, let alone two of them,
you can If you have two good linebackers, your defense
is good because they account for like, let's just conservatively
say twenty five twenty eight tackles some games like thirty

(01:04:46):
five to forty forty to be high, but low thirties.
They can pressure the quarterback because they can blitz. They
can cover the running back behind the line of scrimmage,
which a lot of teams you know, wheel routes, and
that's a huge wich part of the game. And now
with tight ends going down the scene, if I can
cover that guy, it's a huge point of difference. So

(01:05:08):
I would say linebacker is not as undervalued as it was.
Fred Warner makes a lot of money, Roquan makes a
lot of money. Is Zac Bond just got paid. A
ton of other guys have been paid. So I would
say safety would be the one because guards guards are
making a ton. Tray Smith just got franchise. He makes
twenty three million dollars. Hell centers make decent money if
you're good, So I think it's safety question for the pod.

(01:05:34):
Are you an early riser? What type of fitness training
do you do? Uh? Good question. It depends on the
time of year. I would say the summer seven ish
seven point thirty, depending on what's going on the season,
which training camp I wouldn't even count like the actual season.

(01:05:58):
I'm up late, like my little brother, for example, gets
up at like five five thirty. He also goes to
bed at like nine during the season, Sunday night, Monday night,
Thursday night, especially, you know, half the football season, I'm
on Pacific Standard time, but then it kicks up so
we're on Mountain time sometimes three days a week. I'm

(01:06:19):
not going to bed till like midnight. So I'm one
of those people like I don't really operate off like
four or five hours sleep. I do need six seven,
so maybe during that time I get up seven thirty eight.
I would say sometimes after Monday night football, Sunday night football,
and Thursday night football, and then during the through the week,

(01:06:39):
kind of depends on the time of year, usually between
six fifteen and six forty five. I would say, if
I go to bed at a normal time, usually get up,
go to my coffee maker, get a double shot of espresso,
Come look at the market, bank account internet, slam that
cop if you drink some water, maybe take the dog

(01:07:01):
for a walk. Then usually go to the gym within
like an hour of taking that double shot of espresso,
and then this my day kind of goes on from there.
So it's it's it's pretty time related in terms of
from getting up super early or just kind of I
need some sleep because I can't when I'm tired. It's

(01:07:26):
just hard for me to podcast, I mean on it
because my brain doesn't work. And I was like that
in the NFL. I just need some sleep. I have
a lot of respect for guys that don't need much sleep.
It's a life hack if you don't need much life sleep,
and that's you know something that like you can function
and your brain works on way less than eight hours.

(01:07:50):
You can dominate in society. It's a it's a huge,
huge point of difference. I do not have that. I
don't need like eight exactly, but I need more six
or seven than four or five. Some people just don't
need much sleep. I wanted to open and discuss about
the UFC. My girlfriend really, she put me on it

(01:08:11):
about five years ago, and I've loved it ever since.
I don't girlfriend likes it. That's seems like a keeper
for starters. It's something something super competitive and entertaining to
watch during the summer when not much stuff is going on. Also,
the mentality shared between football and the UFC fighters are
quite similar. It's you and the man across from you.

(01:08:33):
They don't like you, and you don't like them. If
you ask me, a hospital ball over the middle is
more dangerous than anything in the UFC. Considering you can
control your own destiny. It's one Saturday night, and I'll
matching a card. You won't be disappointed again. I've watched
the UFC. I just I guess I just don't build,
you know, nights or events like some of you guys

(01:08:56):
like I don't look forward to them unless it's thing
that transcends, right, if you tell me that, like when
Connor McGregor was fighting, and I'm like this with boxing,
if Mike Tyson's fighting Jake Paul or Floyd Mayweather's fighting,
paqiaw like I have fomo in terms of enormous events

(01:09:17):
that I know that I can't miss that aren't football, golf,
the World Series, in the NBA finals, shit like that
March Madness, right, stuff that aren't off the beaten path.
If I know that, like I should be paying attention
to this, I'm gonna pay attention if I know a
lot of people are watching. If you tell me Connor
McGregor is gonna box Jake Paul, like, I'm going to watch.
I'm that type consumer when it comes to fighter fighting.

(01:09:39):
But if you just give me a random card, like
I paid attention to the Sugar Shan guy do with
the purple pink hare why because he was Scottsdale and
I remember this guy told me that he knew him
he trained at this place I went to CrossFit. I'm like, okay,
I'll pay attention to this. So if there's not like
a personal connection, it's just harder for me to get into.
Like I said, I have nothing again against the violence.

(01:10:01):
I'm pro violence. I just I only have so much time.
My wife doesn't like it either, so it's like if
she was into it, I'd probably watch it more. You
have to when you watch as much sports as me,
you have to pick and choose, Like, hey, I'm just
gonna give this up because the Trump card I have

(01:10:22):
even with golf, and we got a six months a year.
I got golf on the TV Thursday through Sunday and
then from which she's cool with. I mean, the NFL
Sundays are a really big deal in my home. But
I've really got her into college football. We got a
lot of football like most of you. I mean, football
is on, there's a game on, It's on three TVs

(01:10:43):
in the house. Okay, last question, who do you think
is under more pressure to win immediately? Ben Johnson the
Bears or Liam Cohen and the Jacks. That's not even
a question. The Bears. It's a hard job, like a
lot of the big jobs in the NFL, because of
the market size, because of the pressure, because of how

(01:11:04):
many fans you have. Obviously there's pressure in Jacksonville because
of what they did. I'd argue that pressure is as
much on the GM as it is on the coach,
and there's just not as much pressure in Jacksonville. Not
really debatable, you know, It's just the pressure in Chicago
is really really difficult, and ebra Flus was completely over

(01:11:28):
his head and got embarrassed. Ben Johnson is clearly a
more talented coach than ibra Flus, but being a head
coach is a lot different than being a position coach
or coordinator. And the hype behind Caleb Williams, Like, let's
face it, there's still a lot of hype and unknown
about Caleb Williams based on what we've seen. Like Trevor
Lawrence isn't good. He just kind of kind of average,

(01:11:51):
you know. I think most people agree, like, yeah, he's
kind of whatever. There's not really much pressure behind coaching
Trevor Lawrence because most people don't think he's any good.
There's a lot of pressure behind coaching Caleb Williams, who
many people thought was like an all time great prospect
and the best part about football, just like any sport,
but the power of football, A lot of hype comes

(01:12:14):
behind these guys, right because years in college, like Cooper
flag Ton of Hype played one year. You know, is
he the greatest things that slight spread? Maybe? Sure, He's
probably gonna be pretty good. Look damn good when I
watched him. But if you tell me he makes two
All Stars instead of ten, believable, Tell me to make
ten kind of believable too. I don't know football. You

(01:12:35):
never know, ever know. I mean, Trevor Lawrence was supposed
to be the best prospect since Andrew Luck and Peyton Manning.
I think he's averaged the day is long. I actually
thought he was. I'm not trying to do hindsight. It
was a little overrated in college. Would have taken him
one as well, but I just thought, like based on

(01:12:56):
the high link, comparing him to Andrew Luck, I thought
was laughable, especially when he's like, yeah, I don't even
know like football that much. Not fairness. Andrew Luck after
some injuries retired at like thirty. But maybe they got
more in common than you think. But Andrew Luck was
You cannot argue what Andrew Luck played. He was good,
was excellent. I mean, for three straight years has taken

(01:13:16):
took the team that won two games immediately the playoffs
three straight year they're in the championship game. So I
would say the bears by country mile the pressure and
it's not like he's gonna get fired or anything, but
it's it would be into if they went seven to ten,
it would be a massive story. It would be a
massive story. If the Jags won six, six or seven games,

(01:13:38):
no one really cares. They make the playoffs. Their a
big story. They're winning games, they're a big story. But
if they're under five hundred, like, no one's talking about it,
no one's paying attention. The Travis Hunter is kind of
a big offseason story. If the team's bad, we're not
talking about Travis Hunter. It's just not gonna happen. Like,
no one cares how many snaps he gets on defense.
Maybe a throwaway at the end of shows, have the questions.

(01:14:00):
Talk to you guys soon. Have a great weekend. The
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