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March 13, 2026 66 mins

On this episode of 3 & Out, we break down a major quarterback move as Kyler Murray signs with the Minnesota Vikings. What does the deal mean for Minnesota’s offense, and how does Murray fit into the Vikings’ plans moving forward?

It’s also Fugazi Friday, and we dive into the latest headline surrounding Dak Prescott reportedly calling off his wedding. What’s the story, and how much should fans actually care about off-field news like this?

Plus, we open up a massive NFL mailbag, answering your questions from around the league — from quarterback debates and team outlooks to offseason moves and what to expect as the season approaches.

All that and more on this episode of 3 & Out.

Follow John on Twitter, and Instagram for the latest. 

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
What is going on by people? Happy Fugazi Friday. I
am currently in Los Angeles and I had recorded the
majority of the mail bag yesterday. I was gonna do
a big mail bag, but I knew you never know
around this time of year, a trade assigning and what
happens get to my hotel. Kyler Murray is the starting

(00:38):
quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings JJ McCarthy career over in Minnesota.
So I said, okay, this is why I brought my microphone.
Let's do a little intro to the pod, a little
reaction to the story. We also have a Fugazi today
that revolves around an NFL quarterback that I wanted to
hit on. And then we'll dive into the mailbag at
John Middlecoff. At John Middlecoff is the Instagram firing those

(00:59):
da get your questions answered here on the show. That
will That will do it for this Friday. So again
we'll react to the Kyler news, We'll do a little
Fugazi and then we'll just fire into the mailbag. And
you guys know the Drill three and Out podcast. If
you listen on Collins, make sure you subscribe all the
videos on Netflix and let's just dive into the Vikings.

(01:21):
I think big picture eye, I think it's fair to
say they were pretty desperate, because I've been saying for
a while. I was like, I don't know, man, you're
telling me they're gonna sign Kyler Murray, Kevin O'Connell. They're
gonna lose their GM. He's not stake his career, but
last year was a disaster and now have potential back
to back seasons. Go from JJ McCarthy and then go

(01:44):
to Kyler Murray and the answer was clearly yeah. And
to me, like, I don't see it. I don't think
this is gonna work. I'm going to bet against the
Minnesota Vikings in twenty twenty six. But I also understand
where he's coming from. What were his other options. I
guess he could have got Derek Carr out of retirement,
but he has to trade for that player. You know,

(02:06):
he's not gonna trade a second round pick for Mac Jones.
The forty nine ers aren't giving him away. So he
gets Kyler Murray for basically nothing because the Arizona Cardinals
are paying all this money, and I think he is
hoping to strike oil. He gets the guy that we
saw years ago that first half of the season with
Cliff Kingsbury, because he has a pretty consistent theme in

(02:27):
the NFL of guy gets injured, he's not a consistent player.
And this is a team because of some of their
core guys and because of some of the talent, because
of the coach they have that has high expectation. They
got Brian Floris, they got one of the best defensive
coordinators in the league. And this all gets back to
making a disastrous decision when it came to JJ McCarthy

(02:48):
and the ripple effects of Obviously they let Sam donoald
walk and going all in on JJ, and it blew
up in their face. So they have to go with
this situation, which again I'm just not buying. I don't
believe in it. I don't think it's going to work.
I saw there was a report his agent part of
the negotiation was they're not allowed to franchise them at
the end of the year. I'm pretty confident the Minnesota

(03:09):
Vikings aren't going to be in the business of franchise
tagging Kyler Murray in the spring of twenty twenty seven.
But I guess they just didn't have any other options.
They couldn't roll out JJ McCarthy, whose career I would
say unofficially ended today with the Minnesota Vikings. You know,
and we have seen recent memory or some recent examples

(03:32):
of guys drafted really high that do not make it
the year three right, Trey Lance wasn't even on the team.
Anthony Richardson's last year was beat out by Daniel Jones
with ease their careers end for their teams now. Anthony
Richardson played on the team throughout last year, but obviously
he's not gonna be on the team anymore now. And

(03:53):
I think this goes to the influx of money, the
pressure Now in the NFL, there has never been a
shorter clock on a player. You just don't get a
lot of time. And JJ McCarthy was drafted on a
team that is just good, that had expectations of not
just making the playoffs, but like winning playoff games, and

(04:14):
he showed last year like, we don't have time. This
isn't the UFL, this isn't college. We can't just develop
you year after year while you figure it out, and
we lose games, not in division with the up and
coming Chicago Bears, who are going to be really good
next year. I mean, the Lions have a well established
quarterback and some well established players. They're not going anywhere

(04:35):
in the Green Bay Packers resume as a franchise speaks
for itself. So our quarterback could sink our franchise, which
is essentially did last year. So I think this move
out of desperation. They get them for nothing, hoping that
their coach, who clearly is a big part of this,
can strike, you know, like he did a couple of

(04:55):
years ago with Sam Darnold. I don't necessarily see that.
I don't see a career resurgence like Sammy Sam through
thirty five touchdowns, they won fourteen games. I do not
envision that now. The guy we saw years ago, the
young version of Kyler, there was no arguing his talent,
the speed, the arm strength is pretty pretty accurate. But

(05:18):
as time has gone by, he's been banged up, can't
see anything, doesn't feel like he quite moves the same.
So I'm not buying this. I don't think it's necessarily
gonna work. I wouldn't say at all, like I don't
think they're gonna be a disaster like two or three wins.
But I think it's just gonna be a bumpy, up
and down year, and I don't envision them as a
playoff team with a quarterback room. Now, who knows of

(05:40):
JJ McCarthy is a lot to be on the team.
You know, the GM's been fired, they're gonna have a
new GM. Who knows what Kevin O'Connell thinks of him now?
You know he made that bold proclamation a couple of
years ago that players don't let down organizations. Organizations letdown players.
There's definitely some truth to that, Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield,

(06:01):
but there's just some times like this is really hard.
It is extremely difficult to just make the NFL right
as just some random special team third string defense back.
It is borderline impossible to be a quarterback in the
NFL and be good. And I think JJ McCarthy's proven

(06:21):
like he's more like most guys get drafted, can't play.
He's not a starter, and there is so much to
work on. They tried to, you know, change his mechanics
last year, and it's just like that, they just don't
have time for that. And maybe a team, maybe you'd
be able to trade him to a team that has
nothing going for it, like the Arizona Cardinals, right, and
just see if they can work. You know, they're not

(06:42):
even they don't even have a chance to win. So
I do think there would be something like, hey, we'll
trade you like a six round pick for just the
opportunity to work with this guy. And I definitely think
that's on the table. We have so many moving parts.
I think the negative momentum around JJ something that's hard
to shake. You know, Sam couldn't shake it, and it's

(07:03):
why he was out of New York, right, And Baker
couldn't shake it. It's why he was out of Cleveland. So
sometimes that negative tsunami of it's not even a narrative,
it's just what everyone's seeing, right, can't play and you
sometimes need a new opportunity. Sam took it, and I
think JJ needs that because it's not gonna work in Minnesota.

(07:24):
They're bringing Kyler Murray to replace you, Like, let's let's
just be real, it's over and listen. If he does
make it work, it would be a crowning achievement for
Kevin O'Connell. It really would. And they just lost Naylor, obviously,
they still got Jefferson, they got Addison, they reworked the
running back Steel Jones. So we'll see. I mean last

(07:49):
year their offensive line that was banged up. It was bad.
They just they went from a team two years ago
that looked like a juggernaut to just way off. So
you got a lot of question marks coming into season,
and now it's like Kyler save us, Kyler save us.
That's not really what it felt like with Sam Donald, right,

(08:09):
You know that there was part of resurrecting your career
can also be how you enter, right, Like I remember
when Alex Smith resurrected his career with Jim Harbaugh. The
expectations were really low when Sam Donald became the starter
a couple of years ago. After you know, he was
gonna be the start of no matter what. But JJ
hurt his knee in training camp. There weren't high expectations, right,

(08:33):
Not that there are high expectations for Kyler, but he's
entering a team with high expectations, like we should make
the playoffs. If we don't, we don't view ourselves like
some crappy franchise. So I just think this thing's going
to be weird. And to me, the big winners today
or the other three teams in the division, because I
think this show's Minnesota's they're just out of whack. And

(08:56):
to me, if it does go bad, they're definitely in
the quarterback mix. You know, in twenty twenty seven, which
by all accounts, I struggled to do this like it's
gonna be a great quarterback draft. Say that all the time.
Sometimes it is, sometimes it's not. You never know. You know,
Garrett Nessmeyer was supposed to be the number one overall pick,
then it gets injured. Now he's gonna go in like
the third round. So things change dramatically fast at the

(09:16):
quarterback position from an evaluation standpoint in college. And and yeah,
I think JJ McCarthy is a great example of a
guy that played on a team that was an NFL team.
Basically every starter around him offensive defensive line, tight ends,
running backs, linebackers, dbat they're all pros. His coach, a

(09:39):
high end pro coach like Jim Harbought, is one of
the best coaches in the NFL. His defensive coordinators were
Jesse Mintor and Mike McDonald. Maybe Mike was when he
was a starting, but definitely Mentor those couple of years.
Last I checked. Jesse Mencher is a head coach in
the NFL, like it doesn't get it. That's like Saban
like using an NFL player, your head coach is an

(10:03):
NFL coach, a guy that's been to a Super Bowl
and we'll probably get to another one. Oh and his
defensive coordinator is gonna be a head coach immediately once
they come back to the NFL. Like that, it doesn't
get much better in that. So I think when we
look back, it's like JJ led a pretty easy life
that this wasn't you know, an average team, him running

(10:23):
around playing for as an underdogging games like they were.
I mean for two years they were easily one of
the best teams in the country. Obviously they won the
National Championship, but they probably should have won it the
year before or at least been to the National Championship
when they lost to TCU. So yeah, I just this
is the draft you just never know. I say this

(10:43):
all the time, we always do this. There is no
such thing as a high floor player. They do not exist.
There are high ceiling guys because of physical attributes and stuff,
but there is no such thing as a floor because
any player cannot work out for whatever reason. And JJ
worked out I think for or didn't work out so
far early in his career, and I would bet against

(11:05):
it working out moving forward because it's not really the
way the league works. It's just it's hard, man, it's
really really difficult. And you saw a guy last year
that was completely overwhelmed and was an NFL caliber, not
a guy that you drafts really high and you know,
make your starting quarterback for your franchise. And I think

(11:25):
Kevin O'Connell proved the day that like, just this ain't
gonna work. Let's let's try. Kyler Murray shows you where
they're at. Before we dive into the mailback, I do
want to hit on one fugazi, and this involves an
NFL quarterback. Now I'm not gonna speculate on what went down,
but Dak Prescott was scheduled to get married in the middle,

(11:48):
I think early April, and with his fiance, they had
a couple of kids. By all accounts, they were happy.
Turns out they're not, and the wedding is off. Now
they're a room flying, We got prenups, infidelities, who knows,
not my business. Don't even care because the biggest fugazi
is I got married last year. Actually it was just

(12:10):
my anniversary. And we got married in Nashville, and the
majority of those people that were coming to my wedding
were from California. So when I say, hey, can you
do you want to come? And we didn't have a
big wedding, it was like sixty people. Kept it small.
But we were asking a lot, right to get a

(12:31):
plane flight, you, your wife, you, you're whoever. I mean
these most couples, but mothers, cousins, you name it, to
fly out, get a hotel room from multiple nights. And
this isn't a wedding where you can just hop in
your car and drive thirty minutes to go do so
whenever you have a destination wedding. And I'm sure many

(12:52):
people listening or watching this have been to one in
Mexico have been to one wherever. Right, it is somewhat
of a chore and not everyone just has unlimited resources
of like, oh, no problem, I'll get a hotel room,
I'll buy a flight. Like it's asking a lot of people.
And Dak Prescott, who is gonna retire with made like
seven hundred million dollars. When it's all said and done,

(13:13):
it's like, let's get married at Lake Cuomo. In Italy,
which sounds incredible. I mean, I bet that wedding would
have been bad ass. But the email they sent after
the wedding got called off for whatever reason was basically
like apologizing and then ended with sorry for the inconvenience.

(13:35):
Here's what I know. If you are gonna have a
destination wedding, you almost once you get to a certain point.
I'd argue within a couple months, especially something like Italy,
Like not everyone attending this wedding is probably Cede Lamb
or Jerry Jones, probably just some normal people who are
family friends. Would imagine probably a little expensive to hop

(13:57):
on a bird if you live in Texas, if you
live in Florida, if you live in Arizona and fly
to Italy and also stay somewhere to just say sorry
for your inconvenience. Sorry, whatever I did to fuck this.

Speaker 1 (14:13):
Up is now screwing you financially, Like I'm sorry if
you're going to get married in a different country, calling
it off a month before it shows you and listen,
clearly this was bad to get it called off. But
also when you're that rich, it's probably hard to fatho.
I'm like, oh, sorry for your inconvenience, Sorry for your inconvenience.

(14:36):
Is like going to McDonald's and ordering four cheeseburgers and
only getting three, and then having to go back once
you get home to grab that other cheeseburger, and then
the person at the front goes, hey, sorry for your inconvenience.
Here's an extra cheeseburger that'll make it five and a
Sunday as well, Like that's an inconvenience right right when
you get door dash and they forget the sauce, Like

(14:58):
that's an in convenience. Is not canceling an international wedding
a month before for the majority of people attending.

Speaker 2 (15:08):
Be like ep, you guys figure it out. I mean,
so whatever happened and rumors are flying that had massive
ramifications I'm sure on a lot of people because my
guess is it wasn't a ten person wedding. So this
is something that's probably hard at this point in time
in Dak's life, who I'm a big fan of. He's
become I'm very impressed with the play, but he's always

(15:31):
been impressive off the field. Never judge, wanna ever speculate
on how people are, because you never know. I've known
ugly people who are finaglars. And I've known great looking
people that wouldn't cheat on their wife for a billion dollars,
So you just it's hard to judge anyone. I just
know that you can never ever call off a wedding

(15:53):
that is in Italy when everyone coming to that wedding
is from the States a month before, and end the
email with canceling it with sorry for your inconvenience. That one,
all timer, let's head it to the mailbag. Today's show

(16:15):
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(18:03):
John Middlecoff at John Middlecoff is the Instagram fire in
those DMS questions answered here on This Little Old Podcast
let's start with uh, let's start with Jake John I'm
a Vikings fan, but I'm completely blown away by what
the culture doing the past twelve months. They gave up

(18:24):
two first for Sauce. Then they paid wide receiver Pierce
a massive contract. He's good, but the contract is ridiculous
for a one trick pony wide receiver that just runs
down the field. Then to top it off, they signed
Daniel Jones to a two year deal at almost fifty
million dollars AAVY. By the way, He's coming off an
Achilles injury and has played ten quality games over the

(18:46):
past few years. What are your thoughts on the situation,
especially since most people see their GM as a high
IQ guy. My take has always been, did a couple
of years ago Jim or say forced him into the
anthe Ridge thing. It blew up in his face. So
he had been there then for years they had nothing
to show. They hadn't been in the playoffs in forever,

(19:07):
hadn't won the division. The Texans are thriving, the Jags
are then good. He felt a sense of urgency, and
then Daniel Jones. It felt like it couldn't have gone
much better. Those first whatever two months, they're whatever eight
and two offense is like incredible, and Daniel Jones is
slinging it. And he made a move that he's never

(19:27):
come remotely close to making when he did the two
first round picks for Sace Garden, which I thought was insane,
even if your team is excellent. I thought it was
a bold move. And sometimes when you get aggressive, no
different anyone that plays poker, you put all your chips
in the middle of the table, it can blow up
in your face. And within a couple weeks of putting

(19:48):
all his chips in the middle of the table, it
did blow up in his face. Sauce got hurt, Daniel
Jones got hurt, and they imploded, and they missed the playoffs.
And now they don't have first round picks, they don't
have a quarterback, and so they have to sign Daniel Jones, which,
like I said, whatever Daniel Jones's agent is making, he's underpaid.

(20:10):
No one has done less in NFL history and made more.
And to give a guy, even like you said, you
know it's not technically a one hundred million dollar deal,
but to give a guy to have to transition tag
transition tech, who else was giving Daniel Jones thirty seven
million dollars. If you offer Daniel Jones right now off

(20:30):
of Achilles one year, twenty million dollars, where is his market?
Who else is paying the guy? I'm sorry, I don't
see that happening, especially and I get he's different age,
but Cousins got that hundred million dollar contract off the
Achilles and it was a disaster. I don't know who
you're betting against, but the problem is he's so leveraged

(20:51):
with the sauce trade he felt obligated to do the
Daniel Jones contract and this has been back to back
teams where Daniel Jones had him by the balls. Like
I'd argue, you would have been better off franchise tagging
Alec Pierce and just being like Daniel will negotiate whoever
you're gonna negotiate against. But we're not that worried, right,

(21:13):
this is you're a businessman, we're a businessman. So I
just think it got away from and they got there
back against the corner. Right. The number one thing you
learn in life, I don't care if it's a hundred
dollars deal or a hundred million dollar deal. You never
want to do any sort of business out of desperation,
Because when you do business deals out of desperation, I
just think you tend to regret them. Whether that's buying

(21:36):
a home, whether that's you know, buying a player, whether
that's anytime that you know, whatever industry you're in, when
you could make solid decisions and be willing to walk away,
that's when you make your best decisions. And they were
not only not willing to walk away, they like all
their chips were in the middle of the table on
this guy. And it started with the sauce trade that

(21:57):
that threw everything off. What a disaster. I mean, I
was texting someone today. The Titans have a long way
to go, But what if with Brian Dayball and Sala
they get Jeremiah Love. They're just competitive. Next year, the
Texas are clearly going to be good. I would imagine

(22:18):
the Jags are good again. I mean, there's a chance
this team has to Daniel Jones coming off an Achilles.
It's not out of the realm possibility. The culture lasts
in this division. I don't know if I bet on that,
but they're definitely a clear third question for the bag
Are there any other extremely loyal Max Crosby types in

(22:39):
the league. And do you think we're starting to move
starting to move away from these divas demanding more money
instead of taking more team friendly contracts. It's worth noting
the three highest paid quarterbacks in the league, Jackson, Burrow,
Prescott all missed the playoffs. Meanwhile Brady was taking team
friendly discounts. I understand knowing you're worth as a player,

(23:02):
but you know what boosh you're worth super Bowl rings? Uh.
I do think there's just a balance, you know, when
you want to milk the team, like Dak Prescott, he
wants to milk every time the team for every dollar possible. Well,
he's not good enough to make up that difference in

(23:23):
the setup of the league. And it's like, Dak, the
difference of you making sixty million dollars a year and
let's say fifty million dollars a year changes your life
zero And with what you make off the field, because
you're the starting quarterback of the Cowboys easily not only
makes up for it, but you're one of the more
marketable guys in the league because you're that position. So

(23:44):
like there are decisions that are made that have like
we got to get every dollar possible, and then you
bitch a million team's not good enough. And I understand
if it's the difference, like this is my first big contract,
totally get it. But there are some guys it's like man,
and I think it's hard because they go, that's not
my problem. I don't have any equity in this deal.
I'm just an employee, So I mean, I see both

(24:05):
sides from just a business standpoint. But once you get
to the amount of money, once you start talking fifty
sixty seventy million dollars, if someone goes, hey, man, I
took a little bit less to try to facilitate keeping
these three guys like I kind of understand it, especially
if you're in a big, big market or a big
time team, you parlay that into so much off the field,

(24:29):
like you know, marketable you are as the starting quarterback.
Like when I heard brock Perty didn't make anything in
the first three years, like that actually wasn't true. After
a while, he was making a ton off the field.
You know why, because he's the starting quarterback for the
forty nine ers. So Toyota and these brands paying him
Ariot the boot brand, do you think they would have
paid him if he was a starting quarterback for the
years on the Cardinals or the you know, some of

(24:52):
these other brands, the New York Jets. No fucking chance
on God's Green Earth. So I never understand that, but
it kind of is what it is. You don't get
any credit for that as a team, You just don't.
Brady's an outlier. I mean, in fairness, Peyton Manning. There
were always stories when I was in the league that
Pollion and Tom comm Didn't used to scream at him,

(25:15):
like Pollion be like Tom, if we pay him this,
we can't sign other guys. And Tom's response is we
don't give a shit. We want every penny. Now. Peyton
Manning's good enough to overcome losing some guys. Most of
these quarterbacks are not. So I feel zero sympathy for
Joe Burrow, Like you signed a contract with the Cincinnati Bengals.

(25:37):
Who do you think you were getting in business with?
Stafford's given some discounts last year and again this year,
but he also benefits from it makes a ton off
the field with sleep number gets to play for McVeigh,
gets to win. He's already super rich, right, And I'm
with you what you make as a multiple time super
Bowl champion, you become marketable forever. So yeah, you don't

(26:02):
make as much in the playoffs, but if you win
a super Bowl or win a couple of Super Bowls.
Patrick mahomes earning power doesn't end once he retires. Is
Dak Prescott that marketable at forty nine years old and single?
Not sure? Probably won't be single? Then I just saw

(26:24):
Brandon Ayuk, So I guess my point is, I think
a lot of guys are loyal, but the business and
the numbers are so big. People get so emotional. There's
a lot of variables. You got agents involved that you know,
are putting ideas in your in your ear, you know.
I think the video that went viral of the Bill
Center saying like who took a team friendly discount? Said,

(26:47):
I'm making thirteen million dollars a year. Could I have
made sixteen? Sure? But I live pretty high on the
hog for thirteen million dollars a year. I think the
average person doesn't care that much, and it's not going
to feel sympathy either way. This is an argument the
media gets in a lot. I just think don't think
most people care, especially the numbers in which are being

(27:08):
thrown around for these players, right, Like let's say Tyler Linderbaum,
who's making twenty seven million dollars a year, making ten
million dollars more than the next high speed center. Once
the Crosby deal went through, Let's say they couldn't keep
them both, and Linderbaum said, hey, I'll give back. I
got to give back three or four million dollars a

(27:29):
year to keep to make Max on the team as
well on the Raiders. Oh, it's a good gesture. But
like gave back a couple million dollars after taxes, Like,
what are we really talking again? That's it's not my money,
and I always respect it's It's why I'm always understanding
of the tax conversation with these large amounts of money.

(27:50):
But I also think, like the difference of a two
hundred and twenty million dollar contract and a two hundred
million dollar contract, when the dust settles, it doesn't change
your life. Literally, one iota has zero impact. And if
you're on certain teams the amount of money, like Dak
Prescott makes so much more money off the field without

(28:10):
a Super Bowl than Sam Darnold does on Seattle with
the super Bowl because of the Brandy's on But I
don't think players care, clearly, so I think the loyalty.
I think the loyalty has changed. But nothing is bigger
pet peeve of mine than it's like, this is a business. Yeah, no, shit,
we didn't think this was a charity, you know, like

(28:31):
when players say that, like, yeah, we know. We didn't
think this was high school football. Guys. I just saw
Brandon Ayuk was released and the Niners have to pay
thirty million dollars in dead cap. Can you explain the
hell the Niners have to pay a player that quit
on the team because Kyle and John told him to
not come back to practice. I thought Ayuk was clear
to play but refused, which voided the contract. Sorry for rambling.

(28:55):
I don't know all the details of the contract, but
when you sign a com tract and give a signing bonus,
which Brandon i Uk contract, God, my I need a
new phone. So Brandon Ayuk's contract, he got a four year,
one hundred and twenty million dollar deal with a twenty

(29:20):
three million dollar bonus. So he was paid twenty three
million dollars at the start of that contract, and then
that gets kind of amortized over the course of the deal.
Most of the big cap hits on his deal. Were
these fake years in twenty seven, twenty eight, twenty nine

(29:40):
that they were never going to pay him on that contract? Right,
they would have redone it after twenty five, twenty six,
twenty seven, like once you got a twenty eight and
twenty nine. But just because he quits doesn't mean that
you still don't see the implications of the bonus money
you gave him. So that cap number gets spread and
the guaranteed numbers throughout the life of the contract. It's

(30:03):
why Derek Carr is technically still under contract for the Saints.
They gave him what like three years one hundred million.
I forget his exact contract, but they gave him like
seventy million dollars guaranteed. That number. Even if you retire
like the number that you advertized, it still impacts your books. Remember,
like Des Bryant and Tony Romo were not on the Cowboys.

(30:24):
Tony was retired calling games, and they were still paying
for it. So it's because of that, and he definitely
like gave back some of the guaranteed money. But I
think the way it impacts your cap with the signing
still hurts you immediately. I mean look, there's no way
around it. It's one of the worst contracts in the

(30:46):
history league when you factor in like some of these quarterbacks,
you know, Tuah Kyler felt like the team liked him.
The forty nine ers were ready to get rid of them,
and they wanted to get rid of them, but they
kept getting cold feet to cost and style and couldn't
pull the trigger and then sign them to this contract
that they immediately regretted and then obviously got injured and
then you just quit on the team and kind of

(31:07):
lost his marbles. So it just this disaster all the
way around, no way around it, complete disaster. I don't
quite understand all the mechanisms of like the specific numbers.
I just know when you give a guy a signing
bonus of ten million or fifty million of whatever at
the life of the contract, that hit your books way
later because you always push it down. But you gotta

(31:28):
pay for it, right. It'd be the equivalent of like, hey,
you can go buy something we're twenty grand and put
it on a credit card and you only have to
pay five dollars for the next couple of years, but
in two years you're gonna owe that entire amount of money,
so it's either on you to push it back down

(31:49):
or pay it. And that's where I think these contracts
sometimes when you get in a position where a guy
gets injured, a situation like Ayuk where you want to
get out and cut. It's why the Eagle there are
major cap ramifications for them to trade aj Brown. They
just gave him a contract. So when you just give
a guy a contract and you try to get out

(32:11):
the thing with Max Crosby, they didn'tive him any bonus money,
they didn't give him a signing bonus. They just gave
him ninety million dollars and it was, you know, guaranteed,
but it was like an NBA or a Major League
Baseball contract. A lot of these guys like, yeah, I'll
sign a contract, but I want I want a direct
deposit now, Homie at like twenty seven million dollars, which

(32:34):
has to be incredible. I just got my thirty million
direct deposits. And that's where the tax States like hits
a lot harder when you're in Dallas. I mean, you
talk about dak to ching to ching to Cheing, big
fan of the show. A couple of things, is it
me or is the Daniel Jones contract insane, historically below

(32:56):
average and coming off injuries. Second, why don't teams the
number one pick just take the best quarterback and then
trade them to the highest bidder after the draft rather
than draft eight trades?

Speaker 1 (33:09):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (33:10):
Well, the second part because you if you're gonna trade
the number one pick for you know, a quarterback and
get several picks, like a first, a second, next year's one,
you want to use those picks for yourself, like you
want to make the pick. Right. So if I'm trading
pick one, Let's say the Raiders want to trade for
Dana Mendozo and they traded to a team for like

(33:33):
the third pick, the thirty third pick and next year's
one and next year three. Well, I want to pick
the guy at three, and I want to pick the
guy at thirty three. So that's the reason that doesn't happen.
The Daniel Jones, I'm at a loss now, but I
also get it. But it's just like he just he
just fleeces people, man, he really does. He finds himself

(33:55):
in positions and he takes advantage of it. Is it
possible Crosby may have dodged a bullet? I feel like
when anyone in the media, here's the Ravens. They immediately
foam at the mouth and think twenty thirteen or prime Lamar.
In reality, the Ravens have picked fourteen for a reason,
and it feels like they're in a major rebuild. They

(34:16):
have a young, unproven combo at head coach, offensive coordinator,
lost their center, tight end, defensive players, Metabuki had a
neck injury. Lamar looked like he lost his step last
season in his contract situation is uncertain with only two
years left. Henry's thirty two years old. It feels like
a team with a lot of question marks. I do
think that's fair. You know, likely had huge catches for Lamar,

(34:38):
huge catches starting center. Whether we agree or disagree with
the contract, there is no disputing like a full time
starter on one of the best offenses, been a Pro
Bowl level guy. Like that's a pretty big loss. And
I think DaCosta said we've had a pretty good track
record find at centers, Like, I hear you, buddy, But
I think if you just ask yourself this, would you

(35:01):
rather be on the Ravens or the Raiders. That's where
I think the Lamar thing, or I mean the Max thing,
Like I think any player would rather be on the
Ravens next year. Now, big picture, like, maybe this isn't
the Ravens that we used to know. I mean, they
went eight to nine, they easily with a missfield could
have been nine to eight, and who knows, maybe they
win a playoff game. But I'm with you, there are

(35:22):
some question marks. Lamar's health, their best defensive lineman neck injury,
Hendrickson's coming off an injury, fourteenth pick, like, not every
rookie can just hit the ground running, So the Ravens
do have a lot of legitimate question marks. That division's
wide open. I mean the Bengals defensively, who knows, Steelers

(35:45):
don't have a quarterback? Browns with the Browns love the
Pod just had jaw surgery, so had lots of ups
and downs. Perfect way for me to start my day
when you drop an episode. Congrats on Jack. My wife
and I just started to go down the road of
starting a family. Congratulations, buckle up. Question or I guess

(36:07):
rumor I've heard being circulated around friends I have who
I work around friends I have who work in the league.
Rumor is that Ayuk didn't just not take his rehab
for his ACL mcl m moniscus tear seriously, but he
didn't really rehab at all. That's a rumor going around
the internet which you might have seen as well, which

(36:29):
would cause the need and never be the same and
he potentially never play again. I know you have deep
ties in the Niners. You know what's funny is like
I have deep ties because I've been watching them my
whole life. But I is not like Kyle calls me.
I text John, he ain't texting me back. I like Parrague,
but I am much more tied in. I follow their

(36:51):
team closely, but I my inside information with the top boys.
They ain't feeding it to me. Hell, they get mad
at me and have people call me about things I say,
so shit. It's like, I'm your supporter, guys, but I
have no inside information on this beside what has been reported.
Clearly just a sad disaster. Now, I said, the whole time,

(37:14):
giving a guy seventy five million dollars, it was catching
seventy five balls in an offense that's a run first
throw to the tight end. I never made sense. I
never understood it. I never understood letting Brandon Ayuk bend
the forty nine ers over. I didn't get it. I
still don't get it. And his agent is the same

(37:34):
as John Lynch's agent. I just I'll never understand that one.
I get the debo one. It didn't work out, but
I totally understand. I've gotten all the deals Trent Williams, Bosa,
Fred Warner, extending Kittle, even party. I never understood the
Ayuk one. I'm on record saying like this is crazy.
You're gonna pay them? Like Amen, Ross Saint Brown, what

(37:55):
the fuck are we doing? And the answer was from
Kyle wish we could have that one back. The biggest
mistake they made is not trading him before the draft.
They should have traded him before the draft. Instead, they
let it go to training camp, and then when they
would get trades, he wouldn't sign. If they traded him

(38:18):
before the draft, he would have gone. It would have
been fine. You could have got like a second and
a third and just pivoted. But they just they were
in the super Bowl mode and then they ended up
going six to eleven. He got injured in just a nightmare.
I trust John Schnyder to make the right choices on
drafting and free agents, but I'm a bit worried after
letting a good amount of key players leave. I knew

(38:40):
that this would happen, but I thought we would at
least keep Kobe Bryant after how well he has done
the last few years. I know we need a running
back into safety. Now that both Kenneth Walker and Kobe
Bryant are gone, do you think they are just waiting
for the draft to fill these holes. Kobe Bryant's a
good player, but he got a lot of money. And

(39:01):
if you're Seattle, you go. We got guys that we
have to invest in. And to give a guy thirteen
fourteen million dollars a year, it's a lot. And the
Kenneth Walker thing in November, no one would have thought
Kenneth Walker was going to get a big contract. He
had one of the hottest stretches at the end of
the year. There was no way the Seattle was going

(39:25):
to match that contract. I'm still a little surprised the
Chiefs gave him as much as they did, but they've
clearly liked him since college, and I do wonder if
they're going to go to a run heavy offense. But
to me, if you had told me that they had
let a star defensive lineman, a star wide receiver, something
like that offensive lineman. They let a running back in

(39:49):
a safety, Go, well, this draft's loaded with safeties and
you can find running backs. I don't think it's that crazy.
I really don't. I have a question regarding team success
in the NFL. For my investment theory class, I have
to build a ten plus factor model to accurately predict

(40:09):
how much success a team has based on preseason odds.
My question is what non obvious factors leads teams to
continue to win games year after year. It's a good question.
I would say the obvious ones, clearly if you have
a bad year would be injuries, would be close game

(40:31):
or turnover swings. Right. A couple of years ago, the
Chiefs were excellent close games. Last year they were not.
Turnover swings are big one strength of schedule. The forty
nine ers benefited, the Patriots benefited this year from that.
I would say non obvious ones would be guys having
poor seasons. Right, Like, if you think a team is
gonna win ten to eleven games and are one of

(40:54):
the favorites to win their division or their conference, and
then they have a couple players who have down years.
And the other thing is usually good teams have higher
paid players. If you have higher paid veterans who start
turning the wrong way, that can be a problem. Right
if you look at the ravens Lamar had a bad

(41:16):
year because he was banged up, missing games like it
was just it was just off and defensively they weren't
that good. You can never factor in like Joe Burrow
missed half the season, right or missed. I forget exactly
how many games Pretty did too. Pretty misses seven eight games.
If you would have told me at the beginning of
the year, Pretty missed seven eight games. With forty nine
ers can win like seven games. But I couldn't have

(41:38):
factored in Mac Jones, the backup quarterback. And the other
thing is you can it's hard to know, Like when
you get new coordinators or first time coaches. You never know,
like we all like Liam Cohen with Baker Mayfield, I
never thought the Jags would look as good as they
looked in his Italian defensive coordinator. They were just kicking
ass and taking names. So you just you don't know.

(42:03):
You don't know how a guy's gonna transition. So I
don't know if that answers your question. You know there
are things in a locker room, maybe because every year
you have a percentage of turnover. Some teams it's low
twenty some teams is like thirty forty percent. I would
imagine the Raiders this year turnover is gonna be extremely high.

(42:23):
The Raven's turnover is gonna be really high. Chiefs turnover
on defense gonna be high. You just have natural turnover
in the NFL. Well, if you insert new players, whether
it be rookies, whether it be second year guys who
were drafted the previous year as backups, or whether you
sign guys from other teams, there's a chemistry aspect that

(42:45):
you never know how it's gonna work, which to me
is usually on the coaching staff to figure that out
and create that and then build from that. But at
the end of the day, the players have to get
along and have to like each other, and have to
have some natural on the field chemistry which naturally works
its way to off the field chemistry. I'm a believer

(43:08):
in you don't have to be best friends with everybody,
but typically when you like people, you work better with them.
I would say, I mean, we all have done business
with people we hate. It's much more enjoyable to do
business with people you like. So I don't know if
that answers your question. I don't think there's a right

(43:30):
or wrong answer. I mean teams study this every year,
Like did the Chiefs? Why did the Chiefs take a
huge step back last year? Will Mahomes didn't have a
great year. Kelsey had a big time down year. Their
offensive line issues. Right Simmons miss some games, The right
tackle was an issue. Receivers were hit or miss defense.

(43:54):
Carl Loftis wasn't as good. He had just been paid.
It's not like their coaches got dumb overnight. Right, It's
not like Mahomes forgot how to play. It's just like
shit happens. It's hard. I think it's very, very difficult.
That's so it's hard to quantify on a yearly basis.

(44:23):
As an Eagles fan, the loss of Stoutland the offensive
line coach concerns me. Can you go into how important
an elite position group coaches not only for the preparation
and game day, but with the draft coming up talent evaluation?
Do these guys have more input than scouts, coordinators, head
coaches regarding their position group side question. As a new
dad and golfer myself, thoughts on bringing the baby kid

(44:46):
to the golf course and push on the golf course
in a push cart stroller good in theory, but as
someone who is conscious of others and hates noise in
the backswing, not sure I can get on board. To me,
they have to be at a certain age where you
can just kind of put them in the cart. I
think the stroller, I don't know if I would do that.

(45:08):
Maybe to the range, but you'd have to, like you said,
you have to have an area in the range. What
do you do when it starts crying, You gotta grab it.
I'm not a big bring the baby to the golf
course until they hit somewhat of a certain age till
maybe they can start playing. Great question, though, from what
I've heard, like it was time. Stoutland is at an

(45:29):
incredible career. He's been one of the best offensive line
coaches in the league. He will be an offensive line coach,
I'm sure if he wants to keep coaching again. But
there gets to a point for certain coaches, position coaches,
like he kind of got to get along with the
other coaches. You're not the boss. Right, you are, I
don't want to say a worker bee, but in the hierarchy,

(45:52):
like you ate the head hauncho. So like this year,
I think there was some button heads and it's like,
you're paid three point five million dollars and the offensive
line was playing like shit. So I I'm not sure
people in Philly were, like I think everyone was. It
was time, incredible run ton of credit for what they've

(46:16):
accomplished for Kelsey and Malatta and Lane Johnson, all these guys.
But I from what I had heard, it was time.
And some of that is like, you start making three
point five million dollars the offensive line coach, you don't
listen to anybody, and it's like you're a position coach.
You ask your players to listen to other people. So,
and I'm Stoutlin's not alone on this. A lot of

(46:38):
coaches get like this. We've talked about this before. Eagles
get so big with some of these position coaches because
they make so much money. When you make seventy five
thousand dollars, you kind of got to listen to the boss.
You start making millions of dollars, it's like, oh, are
you the CEO? No, are you the number two. No,
I'm like the three or four. But I make so

(47:00):
much and I'm gonna guarantee contract I can do whatever
I want. I think it became a problem, so time
will tell the new offensive line coach and the new
staff like that. That to me is a question mark.
But I don't have an issue with the divorce from
what I know with stout one. Sometimes it's just time

(47:20):
if you don't get along, And this happens all sorts
of coaching staffs. Some of these position coaches start pushing back.
Happens with coordinators, with head coaches. It's not you can't
function like you gotta get a divorce. You have to separate.
So I think that played a role. You're a new dad,

(47:42):
so I thought you're a good one to ask my
fiance's brother and wife. So your future brother in law
had a child this year. Was her first niece or nephew,
so she was understandably very excited. I am the youngest
of a big family, so already had a few lost

(48:04):
its luster a bit, what's fun to begin with. But
her niece totally dominates her family's life and partially mine.
Most of our conversations are about her FaceTime at least
once a day. And when we see here, we're the
ones tasked with diapers, feedings, bass et cetera. It feels

(48:26):
like I'm raising a child that's not ours. Am I
an ass for thinking this? Absolutely not. It can be
really annoying when parents, young parents, all they talk with
their friends about is their kid, Like that's just the
only level of conversation. It's like, we're adults. Can we

(48:48):
have some other conversations too, Like can we just be
adults as well? Like there has to be some sort
of balance. But it's also understandable when you have a child,
especially for her. I mean, my wife's like living with Jack.
I mean they spend every waking moment. She took her
to the real estate office today to like everyone wanted
to meet her, so she just they went at like lunchtime,

(49:11):
and every time she would hand Jack off to someone else,
he would freak like he is so connected to her
now eight weeks into life, right, So their connection is
the connection between the woman and the child and the
father and the child early on is just way different.
If someone if I had a friend or brother or

(49:32):
sister came over to my house and I tasked them
with changing the diapers and feeding. If you told me
my brother or brother in law shoved me, screamed at me,
or refuse to ever come over again, I would not
blame them. That is fucking ridiculous. Now it's one thing

(49:52):
like hey, could you help me grab that bottle or whatever,
totally understandable. But if you come over and you just
act as a babysitter, it's like, I ain't your mom,
We ain't you ain't paying us. That's ridiculous to me,
especially you. It's if your wife or fiance wants to
do it and doesn't mind. But if they say, hey,

(50:13):
could you go change the diaper? Like that's a no,
That's a no for me, Doug, Like that's that seems outrageous.
And they are. They are pushing the envelope on this one.
So I'm with you. I think that this is a
a boundary cross for sure. Now here's the thing. If

(50:36):
you don't establish some boundaries or ground rules, people will
take advantage of you. Whether it be when it comes
to babysitting and that type stuff, whether it comes to work,
I don't care what it is. And these it's it's
it's a lot easier in professional settings when you're kind

(50:57):
of less emotionally tied, you could be a little more aggressive, right,
it's a little more cutthroat in the private sector. With family,
it can be delicate because what are you gonna stand
up and say, I'm never changing your baby's diaper ever again,
don't ever ask me to do that like that. That
might not go well. So you got to be kind
of tactful with how you approach this. But there's gotta

(51:19):
be some sort of like maybe you gotta tell your wife,
maybe you know your fiance, like we got to get
this back, like this is kind of gotten egregious. Maybe
you work through the parents, but then you got to
balance it where you don't feel like you're gossiping about them.
I don't know, you're in a tough situation. I do
know this, though, you got to plug the hole before

(51:40):
that before that leak gets way worse. So you got
to be very careful. This thing could take on a
life of its own. I don't have a great answer
for you, though no one's ever asked me, and I'm
the last guy in my life to have a baby.
I guess I got one more buddy who probably have
a baby here soon. But brothers, cousins, friends. Like most

(52:04):
everyone I know has a little kid. I've never ever
gone to someone's house with a baby and changed someone
else's diaper. The first diaper I've ever changed was my
own son's, and I do think for the most part,
for a guy, that should be the case unless something
situation like you know, a tragedy happens or something you

(52:26):
take over someone else's child totally. But I in a
situation like that, that that that to me feels egregious.
That does I just moved my whole family out to
California from Kansas and started law school at Stanford. Jesus,
we got a smart listener. Your pod has been great
to football, and I love to hear your Chiefs take

(52:46):
since you know Beach and Andy. My question, I keep
seeing pundit's discounting the Chiefs as if they were not
in the Super Bowl over and over. I trust the
team to get back, but something has seemed off with
their offense the last few years. What do you think
needs to change? Well, Mahomes wasn't good last year. Running
the ball has been a problem. So easiest way to
get Mahomes back on track take a little pressure off

(53:09):
them run the football. Get Kenneth Walker, be very fascinated.
Improve the offensive line. You draft Simmons last year, you
already got a couple good interior offensive linemen. You draft
to right tackle at nine, and boom, you got a
good offensive line. That's simple. So and what do you
do with a good up run the ball? You still

(53:30):
got Kelsey or she Rice if he doesn't get suspended
for life, and you know Worthy is an interesting player.
You could draft a weapon in the second round, whether
that's a tight end, whether that's a wide receiver. I
think you use it on a skill guy in the
second round. But you just lost a ton of dudes

(53:51):
on defense as well, so she's have some holes. There's
no way around that. I would feel pretty confident that
it at least maybe twenty six won't be a Super
Bowl year, but like you should be a playoff team
if I'm home Sealthie. With Shane Lowry's meltdown, you mentioned
the viewers love to see golfer struggle and choke, and

(54:12):
I agree. I always love watching the US Open when
guys are making bogies and scoring around even part. But
why is this in other sports? We don't root for
guys to choke or suck unless they're playing against your team.
We'd never say we enjoy watching Mahomes throw picks or
see KD misshots. I think this is pretty simple because

(54:36):
when you watch football or you watch baseball, you watch basketball,
you want to see greatness. Right, It's cool to watch
a guy just drain Steph Curry draining threes, or guy
hit home runs or sweet plays on a football field.
Most of us after high school are not playing any

(54:56):
of those sports, so it's like you kind of dream
like what would be like to play to be sweet.
A lot of people that watch golf play golf and
suck at golf. So the most relatable thing when you're
watching the best players or the random guy on the
PGA tour do is to hit a crappy shot, pump

(55:18):
one ob hit one in the water. You know why,
because whether you're a five handicap or whether you're a
twenty handicap, if I say, hey, this hole's for one
hundred bucks, we have all or this holes for five bucks.
Hit one behind a tree, hit one in a bush,
hit one in the water, it actually is like, damn,
can't believe he did that, because you know you can
do that. When I see Aaron Judge or Bryce Harper

(55:41):
hit one four hundred and fifty feet, none of us
are doing that. When I see Saquon bust a seventy
yard run, you know, twenty five miles an hour, like
I've never seen that before, and that's no one's doing that, right,
Or when you watch Lebron or Kevin Durant or whoever,
it's like, never seen anyone that could do that. We're

(56:02):
in golf. I've seen guys that get in the water.
I'd literally hit in the water. I just think it's
a relatable. Golf's the one sport that people can play
in their sixties seventies. We could argue whether it's activity
that you can play well in your seventies if you're
in decent health. No one's playing tackle football, like if

(56:24):
you don't play in high school or college past twenty one.
You know, even people that play like beer league softball,
it's a lot different than like fast pitch baseball, even
like a run at the gym, it's a lot different
than playing organized high school or college basketball. So playing
golf's playing golf. Like Shane Lowry melting down at what

(56:50):
was that the cognizant a couple of weeks ago. Is
he would hit the same shot you would if you're
standing there one hundred and eighty yard part three. We've
all played one hundred and eighty yard part three. So
the one thing I say about golf that's different than
my relationship with football is like, I'm never gonna play
a football game on Lambeufield, right, I'm never going to

(57:10):
play a pickup game at MSG. But I've played Olympic Club,
I've played TBC Scottsdale like I've played or I've walked
you know, Pebble Beach and iron A Mick and you
know some of these courses. I've played LACC where the
head of US Open. I can do the things the
pros do. And that's what makes I think golf just

(57:31):
this unique connection to people that play it, that also
watch the pros play. Then I never played in the NFL.
I don't know what it's like to you know, have
a broken you know, toe and try to block Miles Garrett.
But I like watching it. I enjoy it. I respect
the shit out of it. Question with the McDuffie trade,

(57:55):
do you still think Chris Jones is traded? I know
you were saying that at the start of the offseason,
but now I don't anymore. I mean, at this point
in time, I would guess he's just on the team,
and I guess I underestimated their emotional connection. I obviously
with Mahomes like he's their quarterback, but Chris Jones, Travis Kelcey,
I think they are much more connected and vested with

(58:17):
those guys than the average team is with an aging veteran,
so that they there's a connection that Andy has with
those guys. That is something that I underestimated because I
would have bet he was traded, And not only is
he not traded, he's probably gonna be He's clearly gonna
be on the team next year, and they'd probably say
we need him on the team, which kind of understand

(58:39):
for the mail back, specifically Fugazi Friday. On a scale
of one to ten, how Fugazi was bam out of
bios eight three point game against the Wizards, Well, he
shot forty three free throw attempts. What do you make
thirty eight of them? I googled it today. It's the
most free throw attempts ever in a game. He shot
one hundred and fifty percent from the field, and he

(59:00):
shot under thirty percent from three, so blow league averages
on both. I don't I didn't do a deep dive
into Kobe's game against the Raptors, who I could be wrong.
I don't think we're good that year, and they were
up twenty and he stayed in the game. I never
have a problem with the guy staying in a game
when he has a lot of points. I was was

(59:23):
I there? No, I don't think I was watching home.
I won so many Warriors games, saw so many moments.
I think I was watching in Memoryville. When Clay had
the thirty seven quarter, I thought Steve Kurs should let
him play the whole game and get like seventy points.
But he didn't because they were up a ton. They
were back then, they were blowing everybody out and maybe

(59:45):
the game wasn't Sacramento. I don't even remember, but the
thirty seven point quarters, Clay's had more important moments like
this game six against OKC. But that is the craziest
thing I've ever seen, probably any player do. I mean,
it was absurd. He couldn't miss, and I'm all for
just like, let it, just let it play out whatever,

(01:00:08):
But when you are not making that many shots and
getting fouled at the rate. Then I googled last night
because I was on the group text for three and out,
I'm like, how many points this guy average? Twenty? So
I googled it. He averages eighteen point like five. So
it's not like Bam is Kobe or Wilt like a
guy that you know is a thirty thirty five point
a game scorer. It's not that it's not his game. Really,

(01:00:30):
So when I saw the ticker com, I went, this
is this fake? I honestly had the same reaction when
I saw Bam scored eighty three. Then when I saw
the the Ravens did takebacks, I didn't believe it. I
thought it was fake. And then once you see the numbers,
you're like, what what now? I also don't want to
sound like a hater. You score eighty three, you score

(01:00:52):
eighty three. I just think we've seen some scoring games,
you know, the sixty pointers over the years. Obviously Kobe's one.
I just felt like I don't know something. Kobe, Wilt,
and Bam Autebio are on the same list. How many

(01:01:14):
did Kobe score his last game? Oh, he scored fifty
so Kobe's last game, which is one of the cooler
games I've ever watched. And I'm a Laker hater. I
mainly I hated Kobe, and then I liked him a
lot once he retired. But in that game, Kobe had
fifty point, No, he had sixty points. He went in

(01:01:40):
twenty two of fifty and six of twenty one from
three point, but he he only took twelve free throws.
Like to shoot forty three free throws, That to me
is I haven't watched any of the game, honestly, I
haven't even watched the highlights. But when you tell me
he shot forty three free throws, that to me is

(01:02:03):
a pretty big that's a pretty big fugazi. And I
get it. You're playing a team that doesn't want to win.
I'm just gonna go to this box scorer. So he
was twenty of forty three, So that's that's whatever. You're
gunning seven to twenty two from three, which isn't great,
but you shoot seven three, you make seven threes, you

(01:02:24):
score twenty points. The thirty six to forty three free
throws like that is fucking absurd. There was no one
in this game, like, none of the Wizards had more
than eight. What would you say is a lot of
free throws in the game for a player to take,
like fourteen, eighteen, forty three. How's that even possible? How

(01:02:45):
many guys fouled out on the Wizards. Doesn't look like
anyone did forty three free throw attempts. To me, that's
the fugazi like, you just you just can't have that
many free throw attempts in us to take the game
is like, okay, that's like an all time great game. Okay,

(01:03:16):
we'll end on this. Bears fan here, I feel as
the Packers are a tooling their teams this season. Wouldn't
this open up an opportunity for the Bears to be
all in? Specifically with Caleb's rookie deal, I feel like
there's pressure for Chicago to take the next two years,
you really take the next step into being a super
Bowl team. I totally agree. I said this the other day.

(01:03:37):
If Caleb gets a little bit better and they make
an aggressive move or have a good draft, like, I
don't see why they couldn't be the number one seed
in the NFC or compete to be the number one
seed in the NFC. I mean, this year they were
technically the two seed, but I think we all agree
it was a little smoke and mirrors is a two seed, right,

(01:03:58):
They just have these magical moments. The defense was bad.
I do think next year like they could be really
good if they make a move or two to go
into next year. Whether that's trade a draft pick for
a player, still acquire a guy, I don't know, but
they are. They got multiple picks at the end of
the second round. Maybe they can move up in the

(01:04:18):
first round package one of those picks to get hired
to pick a better player. But I think this year
they have a big time opportunity. Right. Seattle's still gonna
be good, The Rams are gonna be favored. The forty
nine ers have a bunch of injuries still, the Eagles
got a lot going on. The South stinks, the Packers

(01:04:39):
and the Lions, all these teams have a lot of
question marks. The Vikings don't have a quarterback, so I
think it's wide open for the I'm with you, I
think there's a great opportunity. If you tell me, Caleb
is way more accurate this year, they easily could be
like a thirteen to fourteen, like legitimate, like this team
can win the Super I think we all agree, like

(01:05:01):
they weren't gonna win the Super Bowl last year with
their defense, but if their defense is just solid and
he gets like, doesn't just need the magical moments, but
he can just be consistently good for quarters right and
not just have like awful moments where he's like skipping
balls or airmailing balls. They could be dumb with their coach.

(01:05:21):
I'm pretty high on the Bears coming in next year.
But also like, that's what's fascinating about pro sports is
everyone's gonna be high on them. Everyone's gonna be blowing them,
everyone's gonna annoint them, Like how do they respond? And
I'm fascinated to watch And I'm that was as fun
as I had watching football. Watching their team play last year.
It was from an entertainment standpoint, and I got no

(01:05:43):
dog in the fight. Just watching them play it was
a joy. It was fun to watch Bears football. I
love big cities that love football. Their home games were awesome,
Their Packer games were incredible. That Rams game was just
theater it was. It was thoroughly enjoyable. If I'm a
Bears fan, I'm with you. I think, like, hey, hey, poles.

(01:06:06):
If the opportunity strikes, let's put the chips in the
middle of the table and let's go for broke. Here
the volume m HM
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