August 7, 2025 • 55 mins
John dives into the Browns announcing that Shedeur Sanders will be starting the Browns first preseason game and how even though he's only starting because of injuries to other QB's, this is the perfect chance to prove himself as a potential starter down the road. Next, John discusses who he likes to bet on for future MVP odds and who he thinks could be a starter. Later, John takes a minute to discuss the news that longtime NFL broadcaster Greg Papa announced that he will be missing the preseason games due to cancer.
Finally, John answers your questions in this episode's mailbag segment.
04:17 - Shedeur Sanders getting his chance
11:42 - MVP Future Odds
25:47 - Greg Papa update
38:11 - Mailbag
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. What is happening to my people? How are
you doing on this beautiful, beautiful, warm summer day. It's
about one hundred and ninety degrees outside. But so I
(00:23):
got the AC up and the microphone on because today
we're going to podcast and we're gonna talk some football
Sha Door Sanders starting for the Browns. You know, we
got to dive into that. I was scrolling around my
DraftKings app and I ended up on the MVP Future odds,
So I thought, you know what, let's talk about that.
I saw a couple of dark horses, a couple guys
that fire me the up, So we will dive into that.
(00:46):
We also do a mailbag at John Middlecoff at John
Middlecoff is the Instagram. Fire in those dms and get
your questions read here on the show. Very easy. We
like to interact with the people. What else I probably
you about it? So make sure if you listen on
Collins Feed, subscribe to the podcast. Because we got our
own three out podcast. We put a go Low Golf
(01:08):
podcast up there as well. We got you covered. We
also got a YouTube channel. All of our content is
up there. Even shot was out of the golf course
yesterday shooting some ads for some of our sponsors. We
might even put up a nine hole golf video. Gotta
get back in the mix. Your boy was swinging it
pretty well, so we got a lot of content up
on the YouTube stream, so make sure you check that out.
But before we dive into any football, you know, I
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(02:14):
Down the game time app today, last minute takets. The
lowest price is guaranteed. Let's talk about Shador Sanders and
I just think big picture. You never know how your
opportunities are gonna come, whether you're a football player, whether
you work in a certain industry in business, whether it's
trying to date someone. You just have no clue. It's
(02:36):
a great part about life. I mean, two of the
best things that have ever happened to me professionally are
getting fired. Looking back, those were pivotal moments that change
my life for the better. Professionally. Without those two things happening,
who knows where I'm at today. You see it all
the time, obviously in sports, but in other businesses. People die,
(02:59):
people get sick, people get divorced, people are forced to
move for whatever, and it creates an opportunity for someone else.
If you had nothing to do with it, it's hard to
ever apologize for the opportunity that's given. And nothing is
more true than in football. You know, brock Purty is
one of the most talked about players in the NFL.
Huge reason because he's a polarizing player, because a lot
(03:21):
of people don't think he's as good as he is.
People do regardless. His opportunity came because Trey Lance shattered
his ankle, and then Jimmy Garoppolo broke his foot. Who
knows if brock Purty ever happens. If two feet don't
get pointed the other way and guys cannot walk off
the field, think about in about a month, a little
(03:43):
less than that when training camp ends. I guess training
camp technically ends a little bit before the cutdown date.
But when you cut down from ninety guys to fifty three,
a lot of later round draft picks, guys not making
that much money won't just make the team. They will
earn starting jobs, not because they are noticeably better than
(04:05):
the guy they were competing against, but simply because they're
about the same. And this guy makes a million, and
the guy we're cutting makes ten, makes twelve, makes eight,
So you're simply getting an opportunity because you are cheaper.
Welcome to America, And Shador Sanders is getting an opportunity
to start this game, And who knows maybe the entire
(04:28):
preseason depending on injuries because of the hamstring of Kenny
Pickett and potentially Dylan Gabriel, though reports are Dylan Gabriel
looks terrible in practice, but who knows that if these
injuries persist, maybe he gets to play a lot earlier
than any of us thought. And this is football. Guys
get injured. I can't imagine if we went to look
(04:49):
at the Hall of Fame and broke down the amount
of players who began early in their career because of
a couple injuries that got thrust into action either as
a rooki or a second year player because some guys
got injured, the number would blow you away. For every
guy that's just inserted as a starter immediately, there are
a lot of guys that initially get their opportunity because
(05:12):
of injury, and sometimes opportunities come because on the other
side something bad happens. And obviously Joe Flacco, they're not
gonna waste any reps on him. They're not even wasting
that many practice reps, let alone reps in terms of
the preseason. But I'm still a little perplexed by, Like,
(05:32):
I understand if you told me Kyler Murray or Lamar
Jackson in a game had a hamstring tweak when they
were running like fifty miles an hour down the sideline.
I'd be like, yeah, that's possible. Michael Vick, you know
those type players. How does Dylan Gabriel tweak a hammy?
He's not a running quarterback. Even Kenny Pickett not a
bad athlete, but like running around doing what so. But
(05:56):
if I'm Shador, I don't care at all. And listen,
I give you door credit because it recently was reported.
I forget who Dion told this to, but he said
that Shador told him don't show up. I don't want
you here the circus that you'll bring given my status
on this team. Like I just i'd appreciate. I love you, Dad,
(06:17):
you mean everything to me, but you don't need to
come to training camp to support me like you did
with Shiloh. It's just it's not necessary here. And I
think you know, it's a good learning lesson for a
guy that is going to get the opportunity during these
preseason games when you play, everyone watches. And one problem
(06:38):
for Shador that he created was during the draft process.
One if you're not going to go really high it's
easy to fall in the draft, and a fall could
be like I thought he was going to go on
the top twenty twenty five, and all of a sudden
he was there in the mid forties. So once you
start dropping in the draft, especially multiple rounds, every team
is passing on you. But for most players, like this year,
(07:01):
I think Abdul Carter isn't a good example. He wasn't
talking to every team. Why because he knew he was
a top two or three lock, So why even waste anytime.
Dion Sanders has told stories about when he was coming
out in the draft. He did the same shit. A
lot of top players do that, not because they're dicks
or assholes. It's just a complete waste of time. But
(07:21):
when you don't know where you're gonna go, especially if
you're just like a random second round pick, it is
to your benefit to talk to every team. And the
amount of stories I heard about Shador was like, you know,
the good teams that were drafting in the twenties would
want their quarterback coach to interview him, and he'd be like,
you already got a quarterback, You're not gonna be interested
in me. And their whole point was you don't know
(07:42):
how this draft's gonna go. You could be there in
the third round, fourth round, and we'll just take it.
But we didn't get to know you. So a lot
of the teams were like, we know nothing about this guy. Well,
now we're at the position where every team evaluates you.
And the most important thing you can ever do in
football is put it on film. It's superseded everything in
the history of the game. You can get in a
(08:02):
shitload of trouble off the field, but if you put
it on that tape, people will look the other way.
And I'm not saying Shador is that you know, in
trouble or anything. I'm just saying all the stuff that
led up to the draft, all the negativity that surrounded
that situation to why he fell, he's in a position
where none of that matters anymore. You go out and listen,
(08:22):
Shador Sanders is not gonna get cut this year. I
think he's gonna make the team. And I've never seen
him throw a pass for the Cleveland Browns, right, and
who knows how this preseason is gonna go. I'm pretty confident,
sitting here before he throws a preseason pass that he's
going to make the team. But what about next year?
They got two first round picks. I think we all
agree they are going to suck. Who knows how many
(08:43):
games will play in the regular season. I would short
this team if he's playing a lot. Whoever's playing, like,
to me, they got about three or four wins written
all over him because of their offensive quarterback situation is
gonna be really, really ugly. And next year they're gonna
have multiple picks, and we all know they're going to
be in the quarterback business. So and who knows. You
(09:04):
wouldn't think they're coaching GM would lose a job, but
their own is kind of crazy. So what if a
new coach comes in, What if he doesn't want the
guy that I'm drafting number two overall? And Chador still around?
So what is Shador doing right now? He's auditioning to
the entire league And just like every player, that's gonna
get some substantial reps over these next couple weeks. So
all that stuff that happened, you know, during February, March
(09:27):
and April, none of it matters if you start slinging
that pill around because you start setting yourself up for
the future, and listen, I'm really interested to watch, and
his opportunity came because somehow a bunch of quarterbacks were
pulling hamstrings. Okay, MVP scrolling around. It's a little app
called DraftKings, and I think I'm gonna get pretty aggressive
(09:48):
with some futures. I'm gonna do some division bets. I'm
obviously I'm gonna throw a couple on the MVP, might
do a couple of conference winter bets. And you know,
over unders. I would rather just pick like are you
going to make the playoffs or not? Then the over
unders like living and dying with every single game. But
who knows. I've never dabbled in the over unders, but
we might talk about that. But the MVP is pretty simple.
(10:11):
There's a group of four and there's a group of
the four quarterbacks that we talk about all the time,
Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen. Which are the favorites to win
the MVP. They've obviously been the last two guys to
win this award. Their teams are literally favored to win
the super Bowl and the conference, despite none of them
actually winning the super Bowl or the conference with these
(10:32):
two guys, but that's where the odds are. They are
both like three four to one to win the MVP,
and their teams are I think, if I remember correctly,
like six to one to win the Super Bowl. That's
ahead of the two teams who were literally in the
Super Bowl last year. The Eagles have been there two
of the last three years. The Chiefs have been there
five of the last six years. Yet somehow these two
(10:52):
teams are favored. Now, listen, these are two great players.
They're Hall of Fame level players. Got no problem if
you want to throw a little cash on Lamar or Josh.
To me, the value though, would be in the other
two guys of that group. One is Mahomes who listen.
For the most part, when you look at MVP, especially
over the last fifteen years, it's a lot of Aaron Rodgers,
(11:14):
It's a lot of Tom Brady, it's a lot of
Peyton Manning, a lot of Patrick Mahomes and now Lamar
Jackson and Josh Allen. So it's not a lot of
random guys. It's usually the cream of the crop, not
just the best player in the league, but like one
of the best players of all time. So I don't
think you can ever go wrong picking from this group,
even though there are odds like you're getting the worst ROI.
(11:36):
I do think with Joe Burrow, he's a good example
unlike those other two guys. He's proven like he can
go the distance now winning you know, in terms of
making it to the super Bowl. Now, how you do
in the playoffs does not impact how you get voted
on before you know it is a regular season award.
But I do think when you look at Joe Burrow
last year, he was awesome and he was in the
(11:56):
discussion and his team didn't win. I think if you will,
if you want to on Joe Burrow, the logic has
to be this, the defense is just better and their
team wins twelve or thirteen games, and he puts up
similar numbers because if he does the same thing he
did last year and instead of winning nine games, his
team wins twelve or thirteen, maybe wins the division or
at least is like the five seed. He is not
(12:18):
just in the discussion. He's gonna get a lot of
votes because the one thing he has going for him,
unlike the Bills and the Ravens now is you go.
The Ravens have been one of the better run organizations
in American sports for the last twenty five plus years,
the Bills over this. Josh Allen run well, run, we
know what they're doing. Most people, and it's the media
(12:39):
that votes think the Bengals are kind of a joke.
Fair not. People don't take him seriously, so you get
extra credit elevating that group. So to me, that's how
you have to look a bat it. If you think
the Bengals are gonna be good this year, and I
mean not like I mean they were pretty good last year,
especially down the stretch. I mean a twelve thirteen win team,
I think there's value there in Joe Burrow and to me, Mahomes,
(13:00):
who's already won two of these in a weird way,
because I think it's hard for people like Lamar's already
won two. Josh finally got over this nicey kind of
got to look at it from a narrative standpoint, an
angle standpoint. And the thing with Mahomes, we all know
I think he's the best quarterback in the league. Now
his stats, he hasn't had the best stats in the league,
(13:22):
and just on an individual like game in game out basis,
over the last couple of years, people would say Josh
Allen's been better Lamar Jackson's been better. Yeah, Mahomes teams
win all the games, and they definitely win them all
when they matter, so we all kind of acknowledge, like, yeah,
it's just just don't bet against against this guy when
it matters. Well, the problem is the last couple of
years twenty seven touchdowns eleven picks last year, or fourteen
(13:44):
picks last year, twenty six touchdowns eleven picks, his stats
haven't been good enough to really be in the conversation, right,
But if you tell me this year now, I think
the question mark where she Rice's gonna get spended. I
think he actually did a couple of days ago, you know,
for the first couple games. Or maybe that was Jordan Adison.
I can't I can't up with these guys getting in
car issues. But he's gonna be gone for a couple games.
(14:05):
Can worthy take a step their running game situation, their
offensive line will be better? How much? Travis Kelcey, I
think it's hard to bet a little on their skill
guy in terms of how explosive his numbers are gonna be.
But if you believe, and you like their group, and
you think he can get back to high thirties and
in terms of touchdowns. We know the Chiefs in shitty
(14:25):
years they win eleven right good years like last year
they Cruise would be strong. I mean they won a
lot of one score games, but they're a team that
no one shocked when they win thirteen fourteen games. So
if you have a quarterback who we all consider the
best player in the league or the most important player
in the league for sure and one of the great
winners of all time, he puts up good stats on
(14:47):
a team that wins thirteen fourteen, he's just gonna be
in the conversation. Now. I am not opposed to being like, yeah,
I'm not really messing with that group, even though the
group of quarterbacks over the course of the last fifteen
years has basically just been one of those type guys.
I do think there could be a couple of dark horses.
And we had like a three and out team meeting
(15:08):
earlier day and we were just throwing different ideas around,
and my guy Noah on the on the zoom was like,
what do you think about Baker Mayfield twenty five to one.
My first reaction was like, I don't know, and I
started looking at it. If you go over the last
fifteen years. They're a couple outliers, right, A lot of
Tom Brady's, a lot of Aaron Rodgers, a lot of Mahomes,
a lot of Peyton Mannings. And then there's back to
(15:30):
back Cam Newton and Matt Ryan, And I think Baker
is something in common with both these guys one to
be I don't even want to call those guys randoms.
I mean, Cam Newton was the number one overall pick,
Matt Ryan was the number three overall pick, Baker Mayfield
number one overall pick. Those guys were really famous before
the best years of their career, right, Cam Newton, Matt
Ryan outlier years, best record in the league, super Bowl
(15:53):
level teams, And I think if you look at the
Bucks and you go, is this a team that could
win twelve thirteen games? Because last year they won ten
and they were solid and Baker put up really good numbers.
But if they could win thirteen and go thirteen and
four and be the two seed, and Baker has similar
numbers in terms of forty ish touchdowns, maybe cut down
(16:15):
a couple interceptions, though Baker's always going to be a
guy that throws some picks. But I think you can
live with it if you're winning, and it clearly he's
the best player on the team, the heartbeat of the team,
and a lot like these guys, it goes they couldn't
be here without that guy. And I think there's some
momentum when you're a really famous player like Baker Mayfield
based on your draft status. That's what Cam Newton and
(16:37):
that's what Matt Ryan had. They had momentum of someone
being in the vernacular. Now. Unlike Cam and Matt, those
guys has been on the same team the whole time.
Baker's had a little adversity, which I think adds to
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Speaker 1 (18:45):
The other guy, is this this award? You could rename
it the Quarterback Award? And I understand it, though I
would like a little more variety. I wish the best
defensive player could be in the conversation more, and I
wish the best non core to back, whether it's running
back or wide receiver, could be in the conversation more
as well. That's typically not what happens. I do think
(19:07):
there's a parallel, though, with Saquon Barkley and Terrell Davis
in nineteen ninety eight, when he won the MVP, the
Broncos had won the Super Bowl in nineteen ninety seven,
and Terrell Davis had had a massive year seventeen hundred
yards fifteen touchdowns and was just a dominant, dominant player.
He came back the next year and he ran for
(19:28):
two thousand. Now, I don't think Saquon Barkley is going
to go back to back two thousand, But like Terrell
Davis coming off a championship, we all acknowledge he's not
just as we sit here right now, the best running
back in the league. He's clearly one of the best
offensive players in the league. So if he comes back
this year with the team, I already saw Devonte Smith
(19:50):
battling back injuries. AJ Smith or AJ Browns had some injuries,
Like their wide receivers kind of get banged up, and
when all else fails, their offensive line is loaded. Hand
the ball to that guy. They just invested him. They
want him to be a star. The more he's a star,
the better they look. Right for stealing him from the Giants,
They're gonna put the nail in the coffin. And at
(20:11):
fifty to one, right, of all the guys that are
truly a long shot, he just went, well, what if Saquon,
even if he doesn't get back to two thousand, what
if he has eighteen hundred yards and the Eagles have
the best record in the NFC, which I think we
all agree is is very possible. They have easily one
of the best rosters in the league and they're gonna
(20:32):
run the ball now. The one thing is, unlike Terrell
Davis in nineteen ninety eight, John Elway wasn't running the
Toush push. So the Toush push is gonna take away
several touchdowns from Saquon last year. I think Saquon had
I didn't write it down, but like thirteen touchdowns rushing
the ball, I think let me let me just double
(20:53):
check on this. I don't want to screw this up
because obviously Jalen had a bunch. Yeah, saque at thirteen
touch sounds last year, which is fair to say. If
the tush push didn't exist, that number is easily seventeen
or eighteen, and Terrell Davis in nineteen ninety eight had
twenty one. So if that number can go from like
thirteen to eighteen, and we know how often he busts
(21:16):
these big runs. Last year he set a record I
think for most runs from scrimmage over sixty plus yards.
I just think there's some value there. I don't think
you're crazy if you're like, yeah, through fifty bucks on
Saquon Barkley and you just have a chance come the
home stretch of December. So to me, you could make
a case from Mahomes and Borough. But I do think
(21:38):
there's some value in Baker at twenty five to one
and Saquon Barkley at fifty to one. Quick thing before
we get out of here. When I got into radio,
and I got a job at ninety five to seven
the game in the Bay Area, their number one show
was hosted by a guy named John Lund and Greg Papa,
(22:00):
and Greg Papa is one of the more accomplished I
would say broadcasters that I've ever been around, because he
has called play by play games. Got He went to
Syracuse in the eighties and got hired out of college
and immediately worked in the NBA at like twenty two
years old. But by the late nineties he had called
(22:21):
A's games. He had called San Francico Giants games. He
was the broadcaster like the voice of the Oakland Raiders
for Al Davis and he also called Warriors games on television.
So and now he's currently the forty nine ers play
by play guy. He's had one of the most unique
careers and something we will never see Again, even if
(22:41):
you go to a market or there are several teams,
you'll never have a guy that been like called Yankees games,
called Giants games, called Knicks games, called Jets games, and
I called some Mets games. It's just not happening anymore,
but it was recently it came out, and I consider
him a friend. He's someone that I've admired, that I
look up to because his love and passion for sports
(23:04):
are unlike anything I've ever been around. But in terms
of a radio host, like Greg Papa will shut down
a bar, Greg Papa will party, Greg Papa will have
a good time. He is one of those personalities that
when people meet, they just love him because you don't
meet many people like him. And I was thinking the
other day, like, I haven't met that many great papas.
(23:25):
And it was reported last week, well, he came out
with a statement that he was diagnosed with cancer. And
he's the play by play guy for the forty nine ers.
And for those of you that you know, I don't
know how much you're paying attention to this, but typically
in the preseason, unlike basketball and football, there are no
local television broadcasts in football, right, so when you're you know,
(23:45):
if you're a Cowboy fan's the Cowboys Eagles, you don't
have a local broadcast. They're the local broadcast on the radio.
So he's the radio voice of the forty nine ers.
And he's sick and he's battling cancer. He's gonna go
through you know, chemo and everything to try to beat it,
and obviously he's going through a rough time. And it
(24:06):
really shook me up last week because I love Greg Papa,
He's the fucking man. And I text him. He sounded
like he's in good spirits, but he's not gonna be
able to do the football game. And you know, speaking
of opportunities, one of my best friends, guy that married
me and Maria in Nashville earlier this year, a guy
that got me into radio back in twenty thirteen when
(24:29):
I got out of football, and then we had a
radio show for years, and then we had a podcast
for a long time. Guy Haberman will fill in for
Greg and do the television broadcast for the forty nine
ers for the next three weeks. And I've always said
I think guys one of the more talented young broadcasters
in all of sports. I mean, he's already done NBA
(24:51):
games for the Warriors when they were in their heyday.
He's done professional baseball games. He does now the Big
Ten Network. He calls games with Yogi Roth and doing this,
So you know it's you're kind of torn because you're
so excited for your boys opportunity. He's calling NFL games
on television. I mean, it's not the regular season, but
it's a pretty big deal. And yet the reason he's
(25:14):
there is because Greg's sick. Who I was looking through
my phone. We have pictures. You know, Greg is one
of those guys that he's probably one of the rare
guys that you could put him in any situation in
Northern California and one he either find his way out
and they'd probably end up having a cocktail by the
end of it. And you know, we me and guy
(25:34):
were hanging out with him at a San Fransco Giants game.
And you know the way, if you've ever seen Oracle
Park where the Giants the baseball team plays, where McCovey Cove,
where you hit it over, there's like that short little
section right, so it's if you hit it far enough,
it flies over because there's not like a long stance
there's a secret bar underneath that area. It's called the
(25:55):
Gotham Club. I never knew it existed, and we were
this was two than I think nineteen. We were hanging
out with him. It must have been on like an
August or July day, and he's like, let's go to
the Gotham Club. And we walk right up and I remember,
we none of us have passes or anything. It's not
like we're there with the media. We're just there hanging out.
(26:16):
And we basically get up to the front and the
guy goes the Godfather because that was kind of his
Greg's nickname in the area, and he just lets us
in and we just we just kind of hang there
for the whole game. You can go down to like
this little fence area where you can see the field
from ground level. You're right there with the cocktail. It's incredible.
But I used to hang out with Greg after Warriors games.
(26:37):
He used to be the post game host during the
Durant Steph Curry kind of era, have cocktails in the
club after. I just have a lot of fun memories
with Greg. He's not dead or anything, but I'm just
saying I just he's just just a legendary human who's
meant a lot to my life. It's kind of crazy
how the world works coming full circle. And I know
it's the same with guy someone he has idolized from
(26:59):
a play by play standpoint and now filling his shoes,
and there aren't many people that could fill his shoes.
But it's just a it's just a pretty cool slash
powerful moment with in this situation. So I'm excited to
watch forty nine or preseason games, which I gotta be lying,
or I would be lying if I told you that
(27:19):
before this situation, because most of these preseason games that
they bore me, like they don't. I love this. I
love football like I can watch Sha Door Sanders or
you know, if Caleb's playing, if I can watch certain situations.
But once you get to the position where it's like,
you know, Collin's going on these takes about the Lions
and their disorganization, I have a hard time having any
(27:42):
judgment with anything preseason. I mean I really do, especially
once you get to like the the threes playing. It's
just none of these guys are gonna be playing on Sundays.
So but watch forty nine er game. Kay, let's dive
(28:12):
into Little Mailbag at John Middlecoff at John Middlecoff is
the Instagram fire and those dms get your questions answer here.
On this podcast, we will start with Steven question for
the Mailbag. I'm a Niner fan and my brother is
a Rams fan. He seems to think that even if
Stafford is out, they will make the playoffs and make
a run in the NFC. The only team that could
(28:34):
challenge him is the Cardinals. I know you mentioned being
out on Rams. If Stafford goes down, can you please
help me bring him back to reality on the impact
of Stafford in their likelihood to be good without him.
Curious your thoughts on a healthy Diner team versus a
staffordless Rams team as well. Matt Stafford is dramatically better,
(28:54):
dramatically better than Jimmy Garoppolo, even at thirty seven years old.
So if the drop off for Jimmy to Matt Stafford
is really really wide, and I think by far one
of the biggest stories in the NFL right now. If
Matt Stafford was one hundred percent healthy to start the season,
you'd be like, They're gonna be one of the better
(29:15):
teams in the league. He has a hurriated disc. His
back is messed up, and there is no guarantee this's
gonna get better. Now on the bright side, big picture,
this is where the Rams get credit. They said, Matt,
we're not signing you to a multi year contract. We
will go year by year. You're probably gonna take a
little less money here, but you're just too old, too
(29:37):
much tread on the tires. You're an awesome player, but
we gotta go year to year. So if you want out,
we'll help you facilitate a trade and go get paid.
And he wanted to stay, and they like they're in it.
It would screw him this year a little bit, but
I do not think they can make the playoffs with
Jimmy Garoppolo. Jimmy Garoppolo has been not very good for
a while. Plus the Rams offensive line isn't exactly the
(30:01):
mid nineties Cowboys. You kind of got to stay in
there and take some hits, and that is not how
Jimmy plays football. So I would just be out on
the Rams. Not that they're gonna be a dumpster fire,
but they won ten games last year. They won ten
games last couple of years, so I have a hard
time seeing them be a ten win team. If Jimmy
(30:22):
Garoppolo is playing all the games at this point in time,
like who knows, Meggan say week one with Stafford, you
got it. We all got to agree. It's pretty concerning.
If you're a Rams fan, my question is as a scout,
what did you see from cam Ward that showed you
promise coming out of college? What about hesitation? I've been
a Titan fan since I was nine, so it was
(30:43):
really cool to finally get a superstar quarterback, the first
since Steve mcdair. I was a Jake Locker believer, but
couldn't stay healthy, had a moment, couldn't stay healthy, you
had Vince, you had something, you had a rough stretch.
I would say this. I do think there are some
similarities to his playing style coming out of college to
Caleb Williams. Big arm, big time playmaker, not the tallest
(31:07):
guy like Shade under six to two, but just a
very instinctive playmaker. Now playing within the pocket in the
construct of the offense is something that he's gonna have
to improve on. I've seen some clips and know some
people with the Titans. They love the guy, the kid,
the mindset, the work ethic, just how much he cares
and how hard he's trying right now. So being a
(31:29):
young player, you basically got to just soak everything in
and work twenty four to seven in training camp to
try to figure out what's going on. But there's an
instinctive element to playing quarterback and even Caleb. Like, if
Caleb becomes a high end player, he's never gonna be
Jared Goff. He's got to be a playmaker like Russell
Wilson and just find out a way to balance it.
(31:51):
And I mean the Russell Wilson of Seattle. To me,
there are elements there with cam Ward. He's a playmaking quarterback.
Obviously you're gonna have to be throws from the pocket
in big spots, but he's just a natural kind of
just making shit happen. So I think he's just really good.
A couple of years ago, it was more just like
the physical talents. But last year at Miami it was
(32:13):
really impressive. I mean their defense was a joke. Now
the conference wasn't great, So he's got a you know,
going from the ACC to the NFL, big jump, right,
just no different Caleb. Going from USC to it was
a pretty big jump. It's a lot different playing in Arizona,
you know, in you know, Washington State than it is
playing these guys. But I've seen some of his press conferences.
(32:33):
He seems like a really impressive guy. He's a got
to root for superstar quarterback. I don't know if I
go that far, but I don't see why he couldn't
be a good player in the NFL. Two part question,
Thoughts on YouTube golf. I love it, but I'd rather
sit down and watch Bryson, Grant Horvat and those guys
on YouTube for an hour over watching a whole weekend
of a tournament. Second, I'm an Eagles guy, but huge
(32:55):
fan of Joe Burrow. Any chance he ever gets out
of Cincinnati and wins a Super Bowl or are we
watching another damn Marino situation. I watch a lot of
YouTube golf, so yeah, big fan. The difference is I
do like watching professional golf, but I gamble on it
every week. I would say when it comes to Joe Burrow,
this is a big year. Now. You know Colin brought
(33:16):
this up and you're seeing this with these guys ask
for trades. People ask for trades all the time. Guess
who rarely gives a shit? The owner the GM, It's like, yeah,
Miles Garrett demanded a trade. It's like, here, Miles, here's
a hundred million dollars. That's not the way it works
in these other sports and basketball, we need to demand
a trade. You get traded. In baseball you typically get
(33:37):
traded too, But in football, like Joe Burrow could demand
a trade. Let's say Joe Burrow throws fifty touchdowns this
year and they won nine games, which seems crazy, but
let's just in some world or ten games and miss
the playoffs. He's like, I demand a trade. At the
super Bowl. He like goes to Super Bowl, like Miles Garrett,
he goes on the shows and he says that I
(33:57):
don't think the Bengals would care. I honestly don't think
they would do anything and be like, cool, we're not
trading him. I think it'd be that simple. So I
think he might ask for one in the next eighteen
months if it doesn't go well, and I think the
Bengals would say kick rocks, tough shit fair, not like.
I just think that's kind of is what it is.
(34:20):
I've been a listener since seventeen. I grew up in Sacramento,
so it was cool. See someone in the area have
a platform. It's been a pleasure. God like this guy.
I'm just curious if you ever get recognized in public
on a consistent basis or a bit more of these
past few years. If so, do you mind the attention
and the interaction. Uh? Yeah, I've I've been recognized. You know,
(34:45):
I'm just bald guys, So I guess easy to point out.
I don't mind it at all. I mean, it's it's
it's it's an honor to anyone that comes up to
me and say they list they like the podcast, they
listen to the podcast, they're a fan of the podcast.
That's the whole point I'm doing this for. So yes,
it's extremely extremely cool when that happens, especially if I'm
(35:07):
like with someone else, like God, this guy's pretty cool.
Me and Maria were on a walk in Tahoe and
someone came up, So what's up? So yeah, Uh don't
mind them at all. I do, though, see if you
were mine and so few and far between, it has
zero impact on how I'm living my life. I remember
(35:30):
telling someone this at Tahoe after we were having some drinks'
So I do understand if you're like Michael Jordan or
Tiger Woods or I don't know if like a business
like with Jeff Bezos or Warren Buffett get this, probably
not as much. But like Patrick Mahomes, Like Patrick Mahomes
probably can't just go out and eat a dinner with
his wife in Kansas City and just sit at a
(35:53):
normal restaurant around other people. Probably just impossible. That does
kind of suck. They're losing. I mean, obviously a lot
comes with it, the money, the fame, but you do
lose an aspect of your life, being able to just live.
I remember Ry McElroy was telling a story once when
he went over to Tiger's house because they lived near
each other in Florida, and he's like, hey, you won't
(36:15):
you want to go get dinner? This was like five
years ago, maybe maybe six, but I mean Rory was
very famous by then, but I mean Tiger was like
Michael Jackson or something. Tiger looked at him like, you
mean like out in public, Like no, I don't do that,
So how I can't? You couldn't even when you all
get to the food. So I do understand, like Steph Curry, like,
(36:38):
how does Steph Curry just do a normal human thing,
and the reality is they don't really in terms of
public situations. DeVante Adams throw back to my long asked question.
DeVante had some comments today about Travis Hunter, and I
don't see how anyone could read his comments and not
just go, yeah, of course, this is the whole thing
(36:59):
about playing both ways. And even DeVante said, can Travis
Hunter play both ways? Of course, he's physically talented enough
to do it. Can you play at a high level
and for both ways for a long time? And Davante
essentially said, I'm gonna give you a cliff note version.
Getting injured in the NFL is ae hundred percent guarantee,
one hundred percent if you play a position wide receiver
(37:22):
or corner, one hundred percent guarantee you're gonna get hurt sometime.
And DeVante's like, you basically double your risk if you
never come off the field, because if I'm a wide
receiver and I play sixty snaps during the game, well,
if I play double that one hundred and twenty or
even just an extra forty, my percentage chance of being
injured goes way up. So the mileage also on my
(37:46):
body over the course of a career isn't it just
gonna shorten your career? I've said this all along and listen,
maybe he's not. Maybe how could he be worried about
what are you gonna look like at thirty two years old?
It's all about how you're playing right now? And can
he do it right now? Can he be a starting
wide receiver in the NFL? Yes? Can he? You know,
(38:07):
I don't know depending on who you talk to that
scouted him, like exactly how to play him? Can he
just bring him in a like third and a second
and long and have him be like an off corner
and let his kind of instincts work kind of that,
you know, that's like his skill set. But can he
do it as a rookie one thousand percent? But like
over the course of your career, and then this always
(38:27):
gets complicated if it does go well, How do I
invest into a player which would be an astronomical amount
of money for a guy who's percentage chance to get
injured is double everyone else, Like if I pay Jamar
Chase one hundred and fifty million dollars, the only opportunity
Jamar Chase has to get injured when he's playing football
is on wide receiver. He does it like on defense,
(38:49):
he's on drink Gatorade. So I just agree with Davante saying,
and like Davante saying, I'm rooting for the guy. No,
I'm not rooting against him. I hope he does well,
but we have to acknowledge this is impossible to maintain
and do this long term if the goal is to
play at the highest level and be a superstar and
(39:10):
to get paid the most amount of money possible. Enjoy
the podcast. Lions missing the playoffs is actually one of
a couple of my future bets I have for this
coming year. I would like to hear your thoughts on
my favorite bets I've taken so far. Lions to miss
the playoffs, two to one Packers to win the North.
I'm in on you on that one plus two to
fifty Colts under seven and a half wins minus one ten.
(39:31):
So I saw today a little fantasy. I'm not a
big fantasy guy, but I follow fantasy websites to get
NFL information around training camp. A Dori Mitchell, now Donnie Mitchell,
the wide receiver that the Colts took last year in
the second round from Texas. Mitchell I was pretty high
on him last year. Then obviously the Colts offense fell apart.
(39:53):
I guess he just destroyed the Ravens and joint practices.
He's a really, really talented player. Now, I think you
guys that are way deeper into fantasy than me, know
that taking talented wide receivers with weird quarterback situations is
very risky. But if they're able to figure it out
between these two guys, you know, I think Anthony Richardsons
had some moments. Daniel Jones, who knows if he has
(40:15):
or not. We're gonna find out over the next couple
of weeks. Anthony Richardson I think is starting this first
preseason game. But regardless, I think the Colts could be
okay ten wins, probably not, but could they get to
eight and nine, I would say, yeah, they definitely have
enough talent on their team. If their quarterback operation is
just okay, you had Tyler Warren, you got Jonathan Taylor.
(40:36):
If Mitchell's good, Donnie Mitchell, I think his name is
Falcons over seven and a half wins, I just couldn't
bet on the Falcons. The Rams have missed the playoffs
plus one p fifty I think that is definitely a
decent bet right now if Stafford is in major question mark.
I don't think that's crazy at all. Bill's under eleven
and a half wins. I think Bills are good. I
(40:59):
would pick the Bill to win twelve thirteen games every
single year until Josh Allen falls off a cliff. I
heard you list the top defensive coordinators and felt like
Spags got snubbed. Do you consider I'm a top tier
defense I do? You? Just sometimes when I'm just ranting
and Raven, you forget about a guy. Obviously he's one
of the best coordinators in the league. Spags, Fangio, Demiko Sla,
(41:19):
Mike McDonald. I mean, there's a there's a short list
Brian Flores of just elite defensive minds. Belichick who's not
in the NFL. But what era of quarterbacks would you
consider the best era ever? I think if you're older,
you feel pretty confident about saying well, I grew up
on Marino Elway and Joe freaking Montana, like that's that's
(41:44):
hard to beat. I grew up on Steve Young, Brefarv,
Troy Aikman pretty good. I do think the stretch of
Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers with like Drew
Brees and Roethlisberger and Philip Rivers, and I mean that's
that was a pretty good stretch, pretty hard to beat.
If Tom Brady's the best quarterback of all time, Peyton
Mannings considered a top five guy of all time, you
(42:06):
could make the argument Rogers the top five guy right there,
at least top six to seven. You know, Drew Brees
is the top fifteen quarterback. I think Roethlisberger when he
was on was as good as anybody I've ever seen.
So I think that run from like early two thousands
to like twenty fifteen pretty freaking good. We're on a
(42:27):
pretty good one right now with the top crew guys,
I think it's just cyclical. Every decade plus you kind
of get a new crew guys to kind of separate
from the pack. And that was the group I grew
up on. Was Steve Young, was Brett Favre, and Treyman.
But it was really I mean, Brett fav was the
best of that group, and Steve was damn good too.
(42:50):
Troy was just on such a good team and was
a really good player. But I think when you look
around the totality of other quarterbacks in that era, it
might not be as great as it was now. A
question for the pod about Stafford's injury kind of pissed
this is coming up now when just a few months
ago they that he was complaining about more guaranteed money.
(43:11):
Wonder if Kelly and He knew it and just wanted
to squeeze the last remaining money that they could. Maybe
an MRI doesn't pick up back. I'm not a doctor
and know how all that stuff works. But to sign
a contract, you get a physical, even if you're on
the team. Typically, especially in a situation like that, see
a free agent. I guess he technically wasn't Maybe he
(43:32):
didn't get a physical, but they, I mean he was
around them. Did he tweak his back somewhere after the season?
Is this something that came up. I'd also say, you know,
part of business, especially in a business like this, as
you get as much money until they say there's no
money left. You know, when you hear players talk, they go,
I'm not worried about the salary cap. I don't, That's
(43:53):
not my problem. I heard Trent Williams say that the
other day, was like, I don't even factor in the
salary cap. When I'm worrying about my salary, that is
not my problem. I think Matt Stafford would go not
my problem who you're paying, how But based on what
I've done for this franchise, even if my back is
a little tweaked, even if he fucked him. That's where
(44:14):
McVeigh unless would get credit because clearly, if they knew
Matt Stafford had a bad back, they just would have
They would have traded him. But even if he kind
of knew, like, oh my backsacking weird, you got to
give them credit for like, listen, listen, buddy, we're going
no more than one year. This is a year by
year thing. So I do stand by like that was
(44:37):
shrewd business, because it would have been pretty easy to
be like, oh, we love you, Matt, We'll give you
a couple of years. Most teams would have done, most
owners would have done. My question is about scouts and
the GM. As a former scout, how much is the
final draft board is controlled by the GM versus the
intel gathered by the scouting team. I'm curious to know
how much influence the scouting team has on building NFL rosters. Well,
(45:01):
they have a lot because they bring all the information.
So most of the information that the coaches and the
GM use once they meet kids at the combine at
All Star games and then bring them in the facility
is based on that information that they've and all the
details about the person that the scout has gathered. So
(45:23):
that information is extremely important. And it's not like, you know,
why doesn't AI just replace them. I'm just using an
example because is not public information, like you have to
go to the school to get the information, and so
there is a value there. And depending on the team,
certain scouts and certain personnel departments have more power than others.
(45:46):
There are a lot of teams where the coach and
if the coach has a lot of juice, that means
his staff has a lot of juice. So a lot
of times the draft board will be somewhat set, you know,
early ish April. Then the coaching staff gets very involved
and they got takes. Well why do they get takes
because unlike the scouting staff who has evaluated these guys
(46:10):
for years, Right, if you have the sec you have
watched certain players since they were freshmen, so you know
the player, and if you're watching a star player, like
if you were going into Ohio State last year. If
you're an assistant GM or a college scouting director and
you hit Ohio State and Alabama, who do you think
(46:31):
you ask people about Caleb Downs? So you have been
accumulating information on guys that are going to get drafted
in a year or two right now. You don't think
all these scouts are talking to the Brian hartline and
the head coach like, so, man, tell me about Jeremiah
Smith even though he's two years away. So you're just
gathering information and you know most kids is good, but
(46:55):
who knows. You never know what could be bad. It
could just be like, yeah, we're working through some things,
pretty immature. Got young guy, and then by their junior
year they're mature, but you have a running diary about them. Well,
the coaches get involved, and what do they do. Let
me get Kirby on the phone. Let me get my
boy Sark on the phone. Let me get position coaches,
and they call these guys in. They're like, I'm telling you,
(47:16):
my best friend from college is the D line coach
at Oregon and he told me my coach this this
guy's and that's where kind of can shift is. Belichick
was notorious for this. The scouting staff would set the
board and then the draft would come and the draft
board would be completely different. I mean, look at the scouts.
I mean they're all over the league running teams. They're
(47:38):
all high level guys. Yet Bill had all these bad drafts.
Well why because Bill wasn't listening to anybody. I think
sometimes a GM wants to listen to a scouting staff,
but the coach has so much juice because the coach
is making three If you're a GM and you're making
five million dollars, which is an incredible job, great amount
(47:58):
of money. Well what if your coach, which is making
fourteen You think when you know, push comes to shove
and you're in argument a day before the draft, you're
trying to set the board with the coach and the owner.
Coaches like, well, I talked to my boy, you know,
Sharon Moore or Dabbo gave me a call the other
day and he said that you gotta be careful with
this guy. Or it's usually the opp it's usually something positive.
(48:22):
It's like he said, he loves this guy. Well, of
course he does, because the higher that guy gets drafted,
the better it looks for him so that's where I
think things get way crazy. We're in basketball and baseball
for the most part. Like in baseball, no one's telling
the GM what to do. No one's telling Billy Bean,
Andrew Friedman, any of these guys. They run the show.
(48:42):
In basketball, the gms have a lot of juice. In football,
the coach gets so involved because the draft process is
so long and they start watching guys and they're like,
you know, Steven A or Colin, they got takes. If
you had to save your life. To save your life,
you can rotate them as you please, one game in
(49:04):
their prime, all things equal, Who is your choice? A
Saquan and ap B, Chris Johnson and lt C, Derrick
Henry and Marshall Falk, D CMC and Jerome Bettis. I
think the worst player. Here's the thing with the running back, Like,
if you give me, you know, D Saquan and Adrian Peterson,
(49:30):
I need a little thunder and lightning. So like Derrick
Henry and Marshall Falk would be pretty unreal. Chris Johnson,
Ladanian Thomlinson, Like I would never take Ladanian Thomlinson off
the field, CMC and Jerome Bettis. That's a little like
it's a little left right. You know you got the
(49:50):
big power back. I probably just go Derrick Henry and
Marshall Falk. I mean Marshall Fawlk's one of the greatest
players in the history of league, and Derek Henry is
gonna be a first Poulet Hall of Famer. I do
think Chris cmc and Jerome bettis both healthy in their prime,
would would do some would do some damage. Saquon and
Adrian Peterson kind of similar players, elite between the tackles,
(50:11):
high end speed, just awesome tote in the rock. Neither guy,
especially Adrian Peterson's not good in pass protection. Saquon when
he tries is pretty good. Not great pass catchers. Adrian
Peterson had bad hands. So for two guys that I mean,
Adrian's gonna be Hall of Famer. Saquon if he stays
healthy for a couple years, gonna be a Hall of Famer,
(50:33):
Definitely Hall of Fame level player. I don't know if
he can put up the numbers, but that one sounds
great on paper, but in theory, I'd probably go Dereck Henry,
Marshall fak Okay, last question win on this, of course,
is about Jerry cowboy fan, far from a Jerry fan,
But are we really gonna act like Jerry hasn't offered
Micah contract to make him the highest paid non quarterback. Also,
(50:55):
last season, Micah was saying he doesn't want to be
the highest paid. He wants to be a to build
a team. So which is it sounds like his agent
has taken over and wants his cut. My prediction forty
five million, four year extension, and the media talks about
how Jerry overpaid for Micah within five minutes of the news.
Obviously there's a lot going on here. I think it's
(51:15):
pretty simple that in any line of business, right, there
are different people that do different roles. On this podcast.
I don't cut up my social clips. I don't even
know how to do that. I don't load the podcast
to the feed. I don't I'm not pressing the button
and cutting it up and putting it on YouTube. We
(51:37):
got a team, We got a bunch of guys kicking
ass and taking names. Just like in all your industries,
whatever you do, you probably work with other people that
do other things. And if you're an individual and you
pay someone to do something, and I'm telling you, like Hey,
we need you to sign this contract. And I go,
let's use an example. I don't have an agent or
(52:00):
lawyer that negotiates my contracts. I guess if I had
a big question, I would I could reach out to somebody.
But for the most part, if like, hey, we had
to put together this contract for you to do these
shows with Coward on Fox Sports, here it is, and
I say, actually, could you send it to my lawyer
or my agent or whatever. Right, I pay that guy
(52:21):
to look over the contract. And Jerry won't call the
guy that looks over the contract. It's literally his job.
It's why Micah Parsons pays him. Now, if it was
an outlier situation, like no one in the NFL does this,
what's going on here, Micah? Literally everyone does this beside
a couple guys here and there. Throughout the years. It
is a standard process that has been the way that
(52:44):
they have signed other players as worked through their agent.
So when Jerry tries to do a deal straight up
with Micah Parsons, you could argue it's a little unfair.
Jerry's done a kajillion deals in his life, right, stadium deals,
player com tracks, you name it, oil deals, buying teams.
He's a deal maker. Like when you think of Jerry Jones,
(53:06):
do you think a guy that does deals. Michaeh. Parson
is a pass rusher, not a deal maker. Like Michah
Parsons has that podcast on Bleacher Report, right, do you
think Michah Parsons did that deal? Of course, not his
marketing team or his agent did it all, set it
all up and then they sent him the equipment. I
mean with a guy setting it all up, maybe Mike
(53:28):
already had it set up, but like, do you think
he negotiated the details of that contract. No, it's not
his job. So he pays people to do that. So
it's like like we're going to live this weekend, Me
and Coward two hundred million dollars, feel God, the one
hundred and fifty DJ and Bryce and three hundred ROMB got.
They had a manager, an agent, or a lawyer negotiate
(53:50):
the deal and then they paid him whatever maybe million
dollar flat fee or whatever it was. But like that
was the guy's job. So my issue with this whole
situation is like if you want to get a deal
done and you know Mike is like you got to
go through this guy. This I'm paying him to do
this for me, and Jerry won't like, what are we doing?
What's the point of all this? And I get Jerry's position.
(54:13):
If this guy did something to pish you off. I'm
not privy done know if that happened or not. But
it's to be mad at Mica for not wanting to
talk with Jerry when Jerry knows that he's not even
running point on this because the agent is. It all
seems like a waste of time. I also think we
get a little caught up with numbers getting thrown around
(54:35):
by NFL reporters, like this guy wants forty this guy
wants forty five. Who knows? But I do know that
the agent, of course, he wants a cut. That's literally
his business is to do big deals and get a cut.
The agent doesn't care about the solar cap, doesn't give
a shit. And most players and listen, it's easy for
Mike and say, I bet he doesn't care either, And
(54:56):
I don't even blame him. It's not his problem. That's
Jerry's problem. But this situation just feels like it's getting
a little exhausting, honestly, Like, just can't these guys figure it?
Out the volume,
The volume. What is happening to my people? How are
you doing on this beautiful, beautiful, warm summer day. It's
about one hundred and ninety degrees outside. But so I
(00:23):
got the AC up and the microphone on because today
we're going to podcast and we're gonna talk some football
Sha Door Sanders starting for the Browns. You know, we
got to dive into that. I was scrolling around my
DraftKings app and I ended up on the MVP Future odds,
So I thought, you know what, let's talk about that.
I saw a couple of dark horses, a couple guys
that fire me the up, So we will dive into that.
(00:46):
We also do a mailbag at John Middlecoff at John
Middlecoff is the Instagram. Fire in those dms and get
your questions read here on the show. Very easy. We
like to interact with the people. What else I probably
you about it? So make sure if you listen on
Collins Feed, subscribe to the podcast. Because we got our
own three out podcast. We put a go Low Golf
(01:08):
podcast up there as well. We got you covered. We
also got a YouTube channel. All of our content is
up there. Even shot was out of the golf course
yesterday shooting some ads for some of our sponsors. We
might even put up a nine hole golf video. Gotta
get back in the mix. Your boy was swinging it
pretty well, so we got a lot of content up
on the YouTube stream, so make sure you check that out.
But before we dive into any football, you know, I
(01:30):
gotta tell you about my friends. You know, I gotta
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Down the game time app today, last minute takets. The
lowest price is guaranteed. Let's talk about Shador Sanders and
I just think big picture. You never know how your
opportunities are gonna come, whether you're a football player, whether
you work in a certain industry in business, whether it's
trying to date someone. You just have no clue. It's
(02:36):
a great part about life. I mean, two of the
best things that have ever happened to me professionally are
getting fired. Looking back, those were pivotal moments that change
my life for the better. Professionally. Without those two things happening,
who knows where I'm at today. You see it all
the time, obviously in sports, but in other businesses. People die,
(02:59):
people get sick, people get divorced, people are forced to
move for whatever, and it creates an opportunity for someone else.
If you had nothing to do with it, it's hard to
ever apologize for the opportunity that's given. And nothing is
more true than in football. You know, brock Purty is
one of the most talked about players in the NFL.
Huge reason because he's a polarizing player, because a lot
(03:21):
of people don't think he's as good as he is.
People do regardless. His opportunity came because Trey Lance shattered
his ankle, and then Jimmy Garoppolo broke his foot. Who
knows if brock Purty ever happens. If two feet don't
get pointed the other way and guys cannot walk off
the field, think about in about a month, a little
(03:43):
less than that when training camp ends. I guess training
camp technically ends a little bit before the cutdown date.
But when you cut down from ninety guys to fifty three,
a lot of later round draft picks, guys not making
that much money won't just make the team. They will
earn starting jobs, not because they are noticeably better than
(04:05):
the guy they were competing against, but simply because they're
about the same. And this guy makes a million, and
the guy we're cutting makes ten, makes twelve, makes eight,
So you're simply getting an opportunity because you are cheaper.
Welcome to America, And Shador Sanders is getting an opportunity
to start this game, And who knows maybe the entire
(04:28):
preseason depending on injuries because of the hamstring of Kenny
Pickett and potentially Dylan Gabriel, though reports are Dylan Gabriel
looks terrible in practice, but who knows that if these
injuries persist, maybe he gets to play a lot earlier
than any of us thought. And this is football. Guys
get injured. I can't imagine if we went to look
(04:49):
at the Hall of Fame and broke down the amount
of players who began early in their career because of
a couple injuries that got thrust into action either as
a rooki or a second year player because some guys
got injured, the number would blow you away. For every
guy that's just inserted as a starter immediately, there are
a lot of guys that initially get their opportunity because
(05:12):
of injury, and sometimes opportunities come because on the other
side something bad happens. And obviously Joe Flacco, they're not
gonna waste any reps on him. They're not even wasting
that many practice reps, let alone reps in terms of
the preseason. But I'm still a little perplexed by, Like,
(05:32):
I understand if you told me Kyler Murray or Lamar
Jackson in a game had a hamstring tweak when they
were running like fifty miles an hour down the sideline.
I'd be like, yeah, that's possible. Michael Vick, you know
those type players. How does Dylan Gabriel tweak a hammy?
He's not a running quarterback. Even Kenny Pickett not a
bad athlete, but like running around doing what so. But
(05:56):
if I'm Shador, I don't care at all. And listen,
I give you door credit because it recently was reported.
I forget who Dion told this to, but he said
that Shador told him don't show up. I don't want
you here the circus that you'll bring given my status
on this team. Like I just i'd appreciate. I love you, Dad,
(06:17):
you mean everything to me, but you don't need to
come to training camp to support me like you did
with Shiloh. It's just it's not necessary here. And I
think you know, it's a good learning lesson for a
guy that is going to get the opportunity during these
preseason games when you play, everyone watches. And one problem
(06:38):
for Shador that he created was during the draft process.
One if you're not going to go really high it's
easy to fall in the draft, and a fall could
be like I thought he was going to go on
the top twenty twenty five, and all of a sudden
he was there in the mid forties. So once you
start dropping in the draft, especially multiple rounds, every team
is passing on you. But for most players, like this year,
(07:01):
I think Abdul Carter isn't a good example. He wasn't
talking to every team. Why because he knew he was
a top two or three lock, So why even waste anytime.
Dion Sanders has told stories about when he was coming
out in the draft. He did the same shit. A
lot of top players do that, not because they're dicks
or assholes. It's just a complete waste of time. But
(07:21):
when you don't know where you're gonna go, especially if
you're just like a random second round pick, it is
to your benefit to talk to every team. And the
amount of stories I heard about Shador was like, you know,
the good teams that were drafting in the twenties would
want their quarterback coach to interview him, and he'd be like,
you already got a quarterback, You're not gonna be interested
in me. And their whole point was you don't know
(07:42):
how this draft's gonna go. You could be there in
the third round, fourth round, and we'll just take it.
But we didn't get to know you. So a lot
of the teams were like, we know nothing about this guy. Well,
now we're at the position where every team evaluates you.
And the most important thing you can ever do in
football is put it on film. It's superseded everything in
the history of the game. You can get in a
(08:02):
shitload of trouble off the field, but if you put
it on that tape, people will look the other way.
And I'm not saying Shador is that you know, in
trouble or anything. I'm just saying all the stuff that
led up to the draft, all the negativity that surrounded
that situation to why he fell, he's in a position
where none of that matters anymore. You go out and listen,
(08:22):
Shador Sanders is not gonna get cut this year. I
think he's gonna make the team. And I've never seen
him throw a pass for the Cleveland Browns, right, and
who knows how this preseason is gonna go. I'm pretty confident,
sitting here before he throws a preseason pass that he's
going to make the team. But what about next year?
They got two first round picks. I think we all
agree they are going to suck. Who knows how many
(08:43):
games will play in the regular season. I would short
this team if he's playing a lot. Whoever's playing, like,
to me, they got about three or four wins written
all over him because of their offensive quarterback situation is
gonna be really, really ugly. And next year they're gonna
have multiple picks, and we all know they're going to
be in the quarterback business. So and who knows. You
(09:04):
wouldn't think they're coaching GM would lose a job, but
their own is kind of crazy. So what if a
new coach comes in, What if he doesn't want the
guy that I'm drafting number two overall? And Chador still around?
So what is Shador doing right now? He's auditioning to
the entire league And just like every player, that's gonna
get some substantial reps over these next couple weeks. So
all that stuff that happened, you know, during February, March
(09:27):
and April, none of it matters if you start slinging
that pill around because you start setting yourself up for
the future, and listen, I'm really interested to watch, and
his opportunity came because somehow a bunch of quarterbacks were
pulling hamstrings. Okay, MVP scrolling around. It's a little app
called DraftKings, and I think I'm gonna get pretty aggressive
(09:48):
with some futures. I'm gonna do some division bets. I'm
obviously I'm gonna throw a couple on the MVP, might
do a couple of conference winter bets. And you know,
over unders. I would rather just pick like are you
going to make the playoffs or not? Then the over
unders like living and dying with every single game. But
who knows. I've never dabbled in the over unders, but
we might talk about that. But the MVP is pretty simple.
(10:11):
There's a group of four and there's a group of
the four quarterbacks that we talk about all the time,
Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen. Which are the favorites to win
the MVP. They've obviously been the last two guys to
win this award. Their teams are literally favored to win
the super Bowl and the conference, despite none of them
actually winning the super Bowl or the conference with these
(10:32):
two guys, but that's where the odds are. They are
both like three four to one to win the MVP,
and their teams are I think, if I remember correctly,
like six to one to win the Super Bowl. That's
ahead of the two teams who were literally in the
Super Bowl last year. The Eagles have been there two
of the last three years. The Chiefs have been there
five of the last six years. Yet somehow these two
(10:52):
teams are favored. Now, listen, these are two great players.
They're Hall of Fame level players. Got no problem if
you want to throw a little cash on Lamar or Josh.
To me, the value though, would be in the other
two guys of that group. One is Mahomes who listen.
For the most part, when you look at MVP, especially
over the last fifteen years, it's a lot of Aaron Rodgers,
(11:14):
It's a lot of Tom Brady, it's a lot of
Peyton Manning, a lot of Patrick Mahomes and now Lamar
Jackson and Josh Allen. So it's not a lot of
random guys. It's usually the cream of the crop, not
just the best player in the league, but like one
of the best players of all time. So I don't
think you can ever go wrong picking from this group,
even though there are odds like you're getting the worst ROI.
(11:36):
I do think with Joe Burrow, he's a good example
unlike those other two guys. He's proven like he can
go the distance now winning you know, in terms of
making it to the super Bowl. Now, how you do
in the playoffs does not impact how you get voted
on before you know it is a regular season award.
But I do think when you look at Joe Burrow
last year, he was awesome and he was in the
(11:56):
discussion and his team didn't win. I think if you will,
if you want to on Joe Burrow, the logic has
to be this, the defense is just better and their
team wins twelve or thirteen games, and he puts up
similar numbers because if he does the same thing he
did last year and instead of winning nine games, his
team wins twelve or thirteen, maybe wins the division or
at least is like the five seed. He is not
(12:18):
just in the discussion. He's gonna get a lot of
votes because the one thing he has going for him,
unlike the Bills and the Ravens now is you go.
The Ravens have been one of the better run organizations
in American sports for the last twenty five plus years,
the Bills over this. Josh Allen run well, run, we
know what they're doing. Most people, and it's the media
(12:39):
that votes think the Bengals are kind of a joke.
Fair not. People don't take him seriously, so you get
extra credit elevating that group. So to me, that's how
you have to look a bat it. If you think
the Bengals are gonna be good this year, and I
mean not like I mean they were pretty good last year,
especially down the stretch. I mean a twelve thirteen win team,
I think there's value there in Joe Burrow and to me, Mahomes,
(13:00):
who's already won two of these in a weird way,
because I think it's hard for people like Lamar's already
won two. Josh finally got over this nicey kind of
got to look at it from a narrative standpoint, an
angle standpoint. And the thing with Mahomes, we all know
I think he's the best quarterback in the league. Now
his stats, he hasn't had the best stats in the league,
(13:22):
and just on an individual like game in game out basis,
over the last couple of years, people would say Josh
Allen's been better Lamar Jackson's been better. Yeah, Mahomes teams
win all the games, and they definitely win them all
when they matter, so we all kind of acknowledge, like, yeah,
it's just just don't bet against against this guy when
it matters. Well, the problem is the last couple of
years twenty seven touchdowns eleven picks last year, or fourteen
(13:44):
picks last year, twenty six touchdowns eleven picks, his stats
haven't been good enough to really be in the conversation, right,
But if you tell me this year now, I think
the question mark where she Rice's gonna get spended. I
think he actually did a couple of days ago, you know,
for the first couple games. Or maybe that was Jordan Adison.
I can't I can't up with these guys getting in
car issues. But he's gonna be gone for a couple games.
(14:05):
Can worthy take a step their running game situation, their
offensive line will be better? How much? Travis Kelcey, I
think it's hard to bet a little on their skill
guy in terms of how explosive his numbers are gonna be.
But if you believe, and you like their group, and
you think he can get back to high thirties and
in terms of touchdowns. We know the Chiefs in shitty
(14:25):
years they win eleven right good years like last year
they Cruise would be strong. I mean they won a
lot of one score games, but they're a team that
no one shocked when they win thirteen fourteen games. So
if you have a quarterback who we all consider the
best player in the league or the most important player
in the league for sure and one of the great
winners of all time, he puts up good stats on
(14:47):
a team that wins thirteen fourteen, he's just gonna be
in the conversation. Now. I am not opposed to being like, yeah,
I'm not really messing with that group, even though the
group of quarterbacks over the course of the last fifteen
years has basically just been one of those type guys.
I do think there could be a couple of dark horses.
And we had like a three and out team meeting
(15:08):
earlier day and we were just throwing different ideas around,
and my guy Noah on the on the zoom was like,
what do you think about Baker Mayfield twenty five to one.
My first reaction was like, I don't know, and I
started looking at it. If you go over the last
fifteen years. They're a couple outliers, right, A lot of
Tom Brady's, a lot of Aaron Rodgers, a lot of Mahomes,
a lot of Peyton Mannings. And then there's back to
(15:30):
back Cam Newton and Matt Ryan, And I think Baker
is something in common with both these guys one to
be I don't even want to call those guys randoms.
I mean, Cam Newton was the number one overall pick,
Matt Ryan was the number three overall pick, Baker Mayfield
number one overall pick. Those guys were really famous before
the best years of their career, right, Cam Newton, Matt
Ryan outlier years, best record in the league, super Bowl
(15:53):
level teams, And I think if you look at the
Bucks and you go, is this a team that could
win twelve thirteen games? Because last year they won ten
and they were solid and Baker put up really good numbers.
But if they could win thirteen and go thirteen and
four and be the two seed, and Baker has similar
numbers in terms of forty ish touchdowns, maybe cut down
(16:15):
a couple interceptions, though Baker's always going to be a
guy that throws some picks. But I think you can
live with it if you're winning, and it clearly he's
the best player on the team, the heartbeat of the team,
and a lot like these guys, it goes they couldn't
be here without that guy. And I think there's some
momentum when you're a really famous player like Baker Mayfield
based on your draft status. That's what Cam Newton and
(16:37):
that's what Matt Ryan had. They had momentum of someone
being in the vernacular. Now. Unlike Cam and Matt, those
guys has been on the same team the whole time.
Baker's had a little adversity, which I think adds to
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Speaker 1 (18:45):
The other guy, is this this award? You could rename
it the Quarterback Award? And I understand it, though I
would like a little more variety. I wish the best
defensive player could be in the conversation more, and I
wish the best non core to back, whether it's running
back or wide receiver, could be in the conversation more
as well. That's typically not what happens. I do think
(19:07):
there's a parallel, though, with Saquon Barkley and Terrell Davis
in nineteen ninety eight, when he won the MVP, the
Broncos had won the Super Bowl in nineteen ninety seven,
and Terrell Davis had had a massive year seventeen hundred
yards fifteen touchdowns and was just a dominant, dominant player.
He came back the next year and he ran for
(19:28):
two thousand. Now, I don't think Saquon Barkley is going
to go back to back two thousand, But like Terrell
Davis coming off a championship, we all acknowledge he's not
just as we sit here right now, the best running
back in the league. He's clearly one of the best
offensive players in the league. So if he comes back
this year with the team, I already saw Devonte Smith
(19:50):
battling back injuries. AJ Smith or AJ Browns had some injuries,
Like their wide receivers kind of get banged up, and
when all else fails, their offensive line is loaded. Hand
the ball to that guy. They just invested him. They
want him to be a star. The more he's a star,
the better they look. Right for stealing him from the Giants,
They're gonna put the nail in the coffin. And at
(20:11):
fifty to one, right, of all the guys that are
truly a long shot, he just went, well, what if Saquon,
even if he doesn't get back to two thousand, what
if he has eighteen hundred yards and the Eagles have
the best record in the NFC, which I think we
all agree is is very possible. They have easily one
of the best rosters in the league and they're gonna
(20:32):
run the ball now. The one thing is, unlike Terrell
Davis in nineteen ninety eight, John Elway wasn't running the
Toush push. So the Toush push is gonna take away
several touchdowns from Saquon last year. I think Saquon had
I didn't write it down, but like thirteen touchdowns rushing
the ball, I think let me let me just double
(20:53):
check on this. I don't want to screw this up
because obviously Jalen had a bunch. Yeah, saque at thirteen
touch sounds last year, which is fair to say. If
the tush push didn't exist, that number is easily seventeen
or eighteen, and Terrell Davis in nineteen ninety eight had
twenty one. So if that number can go from like
thirteen to eighteen, and we know how often he busts
(21:16):
these big runs. Last year he set a record I
think for most runs from scrimmage over sixty plus yards.
I just think there's some value there. I don't think
you're crazy if you're like, yeah, through fifty bucks on
Saquon Barkley and you just have a chance come the
home stretch of December. So to me, you could make
a case from Mahomes and Borough. But I do think
(21:38):
there's some value in Baker at twenty five to one
and Saquon Barkley at fifty to one. Quick thing before
we get out of here. When I got into radio,
and I got a job at ninety five to seven
the game in the Bay Area, their number one show
was hosted by a guy named John Lund and Greg Papa,
(22:00):
and Greg Papa is one of the more accomplished I
would say broadcasters that I've ever been around, because he
has called play by play games. Got He went to
Syracuse in the eighties and got hired out of college
and immediately worked in the NBA at like twenty two
years old. But by the late nineties he had called
(22:21):
A's games. He had called San Francico Giants games. He
was the broadcaster like the voice of the Oakland Raiders
for Al Davis and he also called Warriors games on television.
So and now he's currently the forty nine ers play
by play guy. He's had one of the most unique
careers and something we will never see Again, even if
(22:41):
you go to a market or there are several teams,
you'll never have a guy that been like called Yankees games,
called Giants games, called Knicks games, called Jets games, and
I called some Mets games. It's just not happening anymore,
but it was recently it came out, and I consider
him a friend. He's someone that I've admired, that I
look up to because his love and passion for sports
(23:04):
are unlike anything I've ever been around. But in terms
of a radio host, like Greg Papa will shut down
a bar, Greg Papa will party, Greg Papa will have
a good time. He is one of those personalities that
when people meet, they just love him because you don't
meet many people like him. And I was thinking the
other day, like, I haven't met that many great papas.
(23:25):
And it was reported last week, well, he came out
with a statement that he was diagnosed with cancer. And
he's the play by play guy for the forty nine ers.
And for those of you that you know, I don't
know how much you're paying attention to this, but typically
in the preseason, unlike basketball and football, there are no
local television broadcasts in football, right, so when you're you know,
(23:45):
if you're a Cowboy fan's the Cowboys Eagles, you don't
have a local broadcast. They're the local broadcast on the radio.
So he's the radio voice of the forty nine ers.
And he's sick and he's battling cancer. He's gonna go
through you know, chemo and everything to try to beat it,
and obviously he's going through a rough time. And it
(24:06):
really shook me up last week because I love Greg Papa,
He's the fucking man. And I text him. He sounded
like he's in good spirits, but he's not gonna be
able to do the football game. And you know, speaking
of opportunities, one of my best friends, guy that married
me and Maria in Nashville earlier this year, a guy
that got me into radio back in twenty thirteen when
(24:29):
I got out of football, and then we had a
radio show for years, and then we had a podcast
for a long time. Guy Haberman will fill in for
Greg and do the television broadcast for the forty nine
ers for the next three weeks. And I've always said
I think guys one of the more talented young broadcasters
in all of sports. I mean, he's already done NBA
(24:51):
games for the Warriors when they were in their heyday.
He's done professional baseball games. He does now the Big
Ten Network. He calls games with Yogi Roth and doing this,
So you know it's you're kind of torn because you're
so excited for your boys opportunity. He's calling NFL games
on television. I mean, it's not the regular season, but
it's a pretty big deal. And yet the reason he's
(25:14):
there is because Greg's sick. Who I was looking through
my phone. We have pictures. You know, Greg is one
of those guys that he's probably one of the rare
guys that you could put him in any situation in
Northern California and one he either find his way out
and they'd probably end up having a cocktail by the
end of it. And you know, we me and guy
(25:34):
were hanging out with him at a San Fransco Giants game.
And you know the way, if you've ever seen Oracle
Park where the Giants the baseball team plays, where McCovey Cove,
where you hit it over, there's like that short little
section right, so it's if you hit it far enough,
it flies over because there's not like a long stance
there's a secret bar underneath that area. It's called the
(25:55):
Gotham Club. I never knew it existed, and we were
this was two than I think nineteen. We were hanging
out with him. It must have been on like an
August or July day, and he's like, let's go to
the Gotham Club. And we walk right up and I remember,
we none of us have passes or anything. It's not
like we're there with the media. We're just there hanging out.
(26:16):
And we basically get up to the front and the
guy goes the Godfather because that was kind of his
Greg's nickname in the area, and he just lets us
in and we just we just kind of hang there
for the whole game. You can go down to like
this little fence area where you can see the field
from ground level. You're right there with the cocktail. It's incredible.
But I used to hang out with Greg after Warriors games.
(26:37):
He used to be the post game host during the
Durant Steph Curry kind of era, have cocktails in the
club after. I just have a lot of fun memories
with Greg. He's not dead or anything, but I'm just
saying I just he's just just a legendary human who's
meant a lot to my life. It's kind of crazy
how the world works coming full circle. And I know
it's the same with guy someone he has idolized from
(26:59):
a play by play standpoint and now filling his shoes,
and there aren't many people that could fill his shoes.
But it's just a it's just a pretty cool slash
powerful moment with in this situation. So I'm excited to
watch forty nine or preseason games, which I gotta be lying,
or I would be lying if I told you that
(27:19):
before this situation, because most of these preseason games that
they bore me, like they don't. I love this. I
love football like I can watch Sha Door Sanders or
you know, if Caleb's playing, if I can watch certain situations.
But once you get to the position where it's like,
you know, Collin's going on these takes about the Lions
and their disorganization, I have a hard time having any
(27:42):
judgment with anything preseason. I mean I really do, especially
once you get to like the the threes playing. It's
just none of these guys are gonna be playing on Sundays.
So but watch forty nine er game. Kay, let's dive
(28:12):
into Little Mailbag at John Middlecoff at John Middlecoff is
the Instagram fire and those dms get your questions answer here.
On this podcast, we will start with Steven question for
the Mailbag. I'm a Niner fan and my brother is
a Rams fan. He seems to think that even if
Stafford is out, they will make the playoffs and make
a run in the NFC. The only team that could
(28:34):
challenge him is the Cardinals. I know you mentioned being
out on Rams. If Stafford goes down, can you please
help me bring him back to reality on the impact
of Stafford in their likelihood to be good without him.
Curious your thoughts on a healthy Diner team versus a
staffordless Rams team as well. Matt Stafford is dramatically better,
(28:54):
dramatically better than Jimmy Garoppolo, even at thirty seven years old.
So if the drop off for Jimmy to Matt Stafford
is really really wide, and I think by far one
of the biggest stories in the NFL right now. If
Matt Stafford was one hundred percent healthy to start the season,
you'd be like, They're gonna be one of the better
(29:15):
teams in the league. He has a hurriated disc. His
back is messed up, and there is no guarantee this's
gonna get better. Now on the bright side, big picture,
this is where the Rams get credit. They said, Matt,
we're not signing you to a multi year contract. We
will go year by year. You're probably gonna take a
little less money here, but you're just too old, too
(29:37):
much tread on the tires. You're an awesome player, but
we gotta go year to year. So if you want out,
we'll help you facilitate a trade and go get paid.
And he wanted to stay, and they like they're in it.
It would screw him this year a little bit, but
I do not think they can make the playoffs with
Jimmy Garoppolo. Jimmy Garoppolo has been not very good for
a while. Plus the Rams offensive line isn't exactly the
(30:01):
mid nineties Cowboys. You kind of got to stay in
there and take some hits, and that is not how
Jimmy plays football. So I would just be out on
the Rams. Not that they're gonna be a dumpster fire,
but they won ten games last year. They won ten
games last couple of years, so I have a hard
time seeing them be a ten win team. If Jimmy
(30:22):
Garoppolo is playing all the games at this point in time,
like who knows, Meggan say week one with Stafford, you
got it. We all got to agree. It's pretty concerning.
If you're a Rams fan, my question is as a scout,
what did you see from cam Ward that showed you
promise coming out of college? What about hesitation? I've been
a Titan fan since I was nine, so it was
(30:43):
really cool to finally get a superstar quarterback, the first
since Steve mcdair. I was a Jake Locker believer, but
couldn't stay healthy, had a moment, couldn't stay healthy, you
had Vince, you had something, you had a rough stretch.
I would say this. I do think there are some
similarities to his playing style coming out of college to
Caleb Williams. Big arm, big time playmaker, not the tallest
(31:07):
guy like Shade under six to two, but just a
very instinctive playmaker. Now playing within the pocket in the
construct of the offense is something that he's gonna have
to improve on. I've seen some clips and know some
people with the Titans. They love the guy, the kid,
the mindset, the work ethic, just how much he cares
and how hard he's trying right now. So being a
(31:29):
young player, you basically got to just soak everything in
and work twenty four to seven in training camp to
try to figure out what's going on. But there's an
instinctive element to playing quarterback and even Caleb. Like, if
Caleb becomes a high end player, he's never gonna be
Jared Goff. He's got to be a playmaker like Russell
Wilson and just find out a way to balance it.
(31:51):
And I mean the Russell Wilson of Seattle. To me,
there are elements there with cam Ward. He's a playmaking quarterback.
Obviously you're gonna have to be throws from the pocket
in big spots, but he's just a natural kind of
just making shit happen. So I think he's just really good.
A couple of years ago, it was more just like
the physical talents. But last year at Miami it was
(32:13):
really impressive. I mean their defense was a joke. Now
the conference wasn't great, So he's got a you know,
going from the ACC to the NFL, big jump, right,
just no different Caleb. Going from USC to it was
a pretty big jump. It's a lot different playing in Arizona,
you know, in you know, Washington State than it is
playing these guys. But I've seen some of his press conferences.
(32:33):
He seems like a really impressive guy. He's a got
to root for superstar quarterback. I don't know if I
go that far, but I don't see why he couldn't
be a good player in the NFL. Two part question,
Thoughts on YouTube golf. I love it, but I'd rather
sit down and watch Bryson, Grant Horvat and those guys
on YouTube for an hour over watching a whole weekend
of a tournament. Second, I'm an Eagles guy, but huge
(32:55):
fan of Joe Burrow. Any chance he ever gets out
of Cincinnati and wins a Super Bowl or are we
watching another damn Marino situation. I watch a lot of
YouTube golf, so yeah, big fan. The difference is I
do like watching professional golf, but I gamble on it
every week. I would say when it comes to Joe Burrow,
this is a big year. Now. You know Colin brought
(33:16):
this up and you're seeing this with these guys ask
for trades. People ask for trades all the time. Guess
who rarely gives a shit? The owner the GM, It's like, yeah,
Miles Garrett demanded a trade. It's like, here, Miles, here's
a hundred million dollars. That's not the way it works
in these other sports and basketball, we need to demand
a trade. You get traded. In baseball you typically get
(33:37):
traded too, But in football, like Joe Burrow could demand
a trade. Let's say Joe Burrow throws fifty touchdowns this
year and they won nine games, which seems crazy, but
let's just in some world or ten games and miss
the playoffs. He's like, I demand a trade. At the
super Bowl. He like goes to Super Bowl, like Miles Garrett,
he goes on the shows and he says that I
(33:57):
don't think the Bengals would care. I honestly don't think
they would do anything and be like, cool, we're not
trading him. I think it'd be that simple. So I
think he might ask for one in the next eighteen
months if it doesn't go well, and I think the
Bengals would say kick rocks, tough shit fair, not like.
I just think that's kind of is what it is.
(34:20):
I've been a listener since seventeen. I grew up in Sacramento,
so it was cool. See someone in the area have
a platform. It's been a pleasure. God like this guy.
I'm just curious if you ever get recognized in public
on a consistent basis or a bit more of these
past few years. If so, do you mind the attention
and the interaction. Uh? Yeah, I've I've been recognized. You know,
(34:45):
I'm just bald guys, So I guess easy to point out.
I don't mind it at all. I mean, it's it's
it's it's an honor to anyone that comes up to
me and say they list they like the podcast, they
listen to the podcast, they're a fan of the podcast.
That's the whole point I'm doing this for. So yes,
it's extremely extremely cool when that happens, especially if I'm
(35:07):
like with someone else, like God, this guy's pretty cool.
Me and Maria were on a walk in Tahoe and
someone came up, So what's up? So yeah, Uh don't
mind them at all. I do, though, see if you
were mine and so few and far between, it has
zero impact on how I'm living my life. I remember
(35:30):
telling someone this at Tahoe after we were having some drinks'
So I do understand if you're like Michael Jordan or
Tiger Woods or I don't know if like a business
like with Jeff Bezos or Warren Buffett get this, probably
not as much. But like Patrick Mahomes, Like Patrick Mahomes
probably can't just go out and eat a dinner with
his wife in Kansas City and just sit at a
(35:53):
normal restaurant around other people. Probably just impossible. That does
kind of suck. They're losing. I mean, obviously a lot
comes with it, the money, the fame, but you do
lose an aspect of your life, being able to just live.
I remember Ry McElroy was telling a story once when
he went over to Tiger's house because they lived near
each other in Florida, and he's like, hey, you won't
(36:15):
you want to go get dinner? This was like five
years ago, maybe maybe six, but I mean Rory was
very famous by then, but I mean Tiger was like
Michael Jackson or something. Tiger looked at him like, you
mean like out in public, Like no, I don't do that,
So how I can't? You couldn't even when you all
get to the food. So I do understand, like Steph Curry, like,
(36:38):
how does Steph Curry just do a normal human thing,
and the reality is they don't really in terms of
public situations. DeVante Adams throw back to my long asked question.
DeVante had some comments today about Travis Hunter, and I
don't see how anyone could read his comments and not
just go, yeah, of course, this is the whole thing
(36:59):
about playing both ways. And even DeVante said, can Travis
Hunter play both ways? Of course, he's physically talented enough
to do it. Can you play at a high level
and for both ways for a long time? And Davante
essentially said, I'm gonna give you a cliff note version.
Getting injured in the NFL is ae hundred percent guarantee,
one hundred percent if you play a position wide receiver
(37:22):
or corner, one hundred percent guarantee you're gonna get hurt sometime.
And DeVante's like, you basically double your risk if you
never come off the field, because if I'm a wide
receiver and I play sixty snaps during the game, well,
if I play double that one hundred and twenty or
even just an extra forty, my percentage chance of being
injured goes way up. So the mileage also on my
(37:46):
body over the course of a career isn't it just
gonna shorten your career? I've said this all along and listen,
maybe he's not. Maybe how could he be worried about
what are you gonna look like at thirty two years old?
It's all about how you're playing right now? And can
he do it right now? Can he be a starting
wide receiver in the NFL? Yes? Can he? You know,
(38:07):
I don't know depending on who you talk to that
scouted him, like exactly how to play him? Can he
just bring him in a like third and a second
and long and have him be like an off corner
and let his kind of instincts work kind of that,
you know, that's like his skill set. But can he
do it as a rookie one thousand percent? But like
over the course of your career, and then this always
(38:27):
gets complicated if it does go well, How do I
invest into a player which would be an astronomical amount
of money for a guy who's percentage chance to get
injured is double everyone else, Like if I pay Jamar
Chase one hundred and fifty million dollars, the only opportunity
Jamar Chase has to get injured when he's playing football
is on wide receiver. He does it like on defense,
(38:49):
he's on drink Gatorade. So I just agree with Davante saying,
and like Davante saying, I'm rooting for the guy. No,
I'm not rooting against him. I hope he does well,
but we have to acknowledge this is impossible to maintain
and do this long term if the goal is to
play at the highest level and be a superstar and
(39:10):
to get paid the most amount of money possible. Enjoy
the podcast. Lions missing the playoffs is actually one of
a couple of my future bets I have for this
coming year. I would like to hear your thoughts on
my favorite bets I've taken so far. Lions to miss
the playoffs, two to one Packers to win the North.
I'm in on you on that one plus two to
fifty Colts under seven and a half wins minus one ten.
(39:31):
So I saw today a little fantasy. I'm not a
big fantasy guy, but I follow fantasy websites to get
NFL information around training camp. A Dori Mitchell, now Donnie Mitchell,
the wide receiver that the Colts took last year in
the second round from Texas. Mitchell I was pretty high
on him last year. Then obviously the Colts offense fell apart.
(39:53):
I guess he just destroyed the Ravens and joint practices.
He's a really, really talented player. Now, I think you
guys that are way deeper into fantasy than me, know
that taking talented wide receivers with weird quarterback situations is
very risky. But if they're able to figure it out
between these two guys, you know, I think Anthony Richardsons
had some moments. Daniel Jones, who knows if he has
(40:15):
or not. We're gonna find out over the next couple
of weeks. Anthony Richardson I think is starting this first
preseason game. But regardless, I think the Colts could be
okay ten wins, probably not, but could they get to
eight and nine, I would say, yeah, they definitely have
enough talent on their team. If their quarterback operation is
just okay, you had Tyler Warren, you got Jonathan Taylor.
(40:36):
If Mitchell's good, Donnie Mitchell, I think his name is
Falcons over seven and a half wins, I just couldn't
bet on the Falcons. The Rams have missed the playoffs
plus one p fifty I think that is definitely a
decent bet right now if Stafford is in major question mark.
I don't think that's crazy at all. Bill's under eleven
and a half wins. I think Bills are good. I
(40:59):
would pick the Bill to win twelve thirteen games every
single year until Josh Allen falls off a cliff. I
heard you list the top defensive coordinators and felt like
Spags got snubbed. Do you consider I'm a top tier
defense I do? You? Just sometimes when I'm just ranting
and Raven, you forget about a guy. Obviously he's one
of the best coordinators in the league. Spags, Fangio, Demiko Sla,
(41:19):
Mike McDonald. I mean, there's a there's a short list
Brian Flores of just elite defensive minds. Belichick who's not
in the NFL. But what era of quarterbacks would you
consider the best era ever? I think if you're older,
you feel pretty confident about saying well, I grew up
on Marino Elway and Joe freaking Montana, like that's that's
(41:44):
hard to beat. I grew up on Steve Young, Brefarv,
Troy Aikman pretty good. I do think the stretch of
Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers with like Drew
Brees and Roethlisberger and Philip Rivers, and I mean that's
that was a pretty good stretch, pretty hard to beat.
If Tom Brady's the best quarterback of all time, Peyton
Mannings considered a top five guy of all time, you
(42:06):
could make the argument Rogers the top five guy right there,
at least top six to seven. You know, Drew Brees
is the top fifteen quarterback. I think Roethlisberger when he
was on was as good as anybody I've ever seen.
So I think that run from like early two thousands
to like twenty fifteen pretty freaking good. We're on a
(42:27):
pretty good one right now with the top crew guys,
I think it's just cyclical. Every decade plus you kind
of get a new crew guys to kind of separate
from the pack. And that was the group I grew
up on. Was Steve Young, was Brett Favre, and Treyman.
But it was really I mean, Brett fav was the
best of that group, and Steve was damn good too.
(42:50):
Troy was just on such a good team and was
a really good player. But I think when you look
around the totality of other quarterbacks in that era, it
might not be as great as it was now. A
question for the pod about Stafford's injury kind of pissed
this is coming up now when just a few months
ago they that he was complaining about more guaranteed money.
(43:11):
Wonder if Kelly and He knew it and just wanted
to squeeze the last remaining money that they could. Maybe
an MRI doesn't pick up back. I'm not a doctor
and know how all that stuff works. But to sign
a contract, you get a physical, even if you're on
the team. Typically, especially in a situation like that, see
a free agent. I guess he technically wasn't Maybe he
(43:32):
didn't get a physical, but they, I mean he was
around them. Did he tweak his back somewhere after the season?
Is this something that came up. I'd also say, you know,
part of business, especially in a business like this, as
you get as much money until they say there's no
money left. You know, when you hear players talk, they go,
I'm not worried about the salary cap. I don't, That's
(43:53):
not my problem. I heard Trent Williams say that the
other day, was like, I don't even factor in the
salary cap. When I'm worrying about my salary, that is
not my problem. I think Matt Stafford would go not
my problem who you're paying, how But based on what
I've done for this franchise, even if my back is
a little tweaked, even if he fucked him. That's where
(44:14):
McVeigh unless would get credit because clearly, if they knew
Matt Stafford had a bad back, they just would have
They would have traded him. But even if he kind
of knew, like, oh my backsacking weird, you got to
give them credit for like, listen, listen, buddy, we're going
no more than one year. This is a year by
year thing. So I do stand by like that was
(44:37):
shrewd business, because it would have been pretty easy to
be like, oh, we love you, Matt, We'll give you
a couple of years. Most teams would have done, most
owners would have done. My question is about scouts and
the GM. As a former scout, how much is the
final draft board is controlled by the GM versus the
intel gathered by the scouting team. I'm curious to know
how much influence the scouting team has on building NFL rosters. Well,
(45:01):
they have a lot because they bring all the information.
So most of the information that the coaches and the
GM use once they meet kids at the combine at
All Star games and then bring them in the facility
is based on that information that they've and all the
details about the person that the scout has gathered. So
(45:23):
that information is extremely important. And it's not like, you know,
why doesn't AI just replace them. I'm just using an
example because is not public information, like you have to
go to the school to get the information, and so
there is a value there. And depending on the team,
certain scouts and certain personnel departments have more power than others.
(45:46):
There are a lot of teams where the coach and
if the coach has a lot of juice, that means
his staff has a lot of juice. So a lot
of times the draft board will be somewhat set, you know,
early ish April. Then the coaching staff gets very involved
and they got takes. Well why do they get takes
because unlike the scouting staff who has evaluated these guys
(46:10):
for years, Right, if you have the sec you have
watched certain players since they were freshmen, so you know
the player, and if you're watching a star player, like
if you were going into Ohio State last year. If
you're an assistant GM or a college scouting director and
you hit Ohio State and Alabama, who do you think
(46:31):
you ask people about Caleb Downs? So you have been
accumulating information on guys that are going to get drafted
in a year or two right now. You don't think
all these scouts are talking to the Brian hartline and
the head coach like, so, man, tell me about Jeremiah
Smith even though he's two years away. So you're just
gathering information and you know most kids is good, but
(46:55):
who knows. You never know what could be bad. It
could just be like, yeah, we're working through some things,
pretty immature. Got young guy, and then by their junior
year they're mature, but you have a running diary about them. Well,
the coaches get involved, and what do they do. Let
me get Kirby on the phone. Let me get my
boy Sark on the phone. Let me get position coaches,
and they call these guys in. They're like, I'm telling you,
(47:16):
my best friend from college is the D line coach
at Oregon and he told me my coach this this
guy's and that's where kind of can shift is. Belichick
was notorious for this. The scouting staff would set the
board and then the draft would come and the draft
board would be completely different. I mean, look at the scouts.
I mean they're all over the league running teams. They're
(47:38):
all high level guys. Yet Bill had all these bad drafts.
Well why because Bill wasn't listening to anybody. I think
sometimes a GM wants to listen to a scouting staff,
but the coach has so much juice because the coach
is making three If you're a GM and you're making
five million dollars, which is an incredible job, great amount
(47:58):
of money. Well what if your coach, which is making
fourteen You think when you know, push comes to shove
and you're in argument a day before the draft, you're
trying to set the board with the coach and the owner.
Coaches like, well, I talked to my boy, you know,
Sharon Moore or Dabbo gave me a call the other
day and he said that you gotta be careful with
this guy. Or it's usually the opp it's usually something positive.
(48:22):
It's like he said, he loves this guy. Well, of
course he does, because the higher that guy gets drafted,
the better it looks for him so that's where I
think things get way crazy. We're in basketball and baseball
for the most part. Like in baseball, no one's telling
the GM what to do. No one's telling Billy Bean,
Andrew Friedman, any of these guys. They run the show.
(48:42):
In basketball, the gms have a lot of juice. In football,
the coach gets so involved because the draft process is
so long and they start watching guys and they're like,
you know, Steven A or Colin, they got takes. If
you had to save your life. To save your life,
you can rotate them as you please, one game in
(49:04):
their prime, all things equal, Who is your choice? A
Saquan and ap B, Chris Johnson and lt C, Derrick
Henry and Marshall Falk, D CMC and Jerome Bettis. I
think the worst player. Here's the thing with the running back, Like,
if you give me, you know, D Saquan and Adrian Peterson,
(49:30):
I need a little thunder and lightning. So like Derrick
Henry and Marshall Falk would be pretty unreal. Chris Johnson,
Ladanian Thomlinson, Like I would never take Ladanian Thomlinson off
the field, CMC and Jerome Bettis. That's a little like
it's a little left right. You know you got the
(49:50):
big power back. I probably just go Derrick Henry and
Marshall Falk. I mean Marshall Fawlk's one of the greatest
players in the history of league, and Derek Henry is
gonna be a first Poulet Hall of Famer. I do
think Chris cmc and Jerome bettis both healthy in their prime,
would would do some would do some damage. Saquon and
Adrian Peterson kind of similar players, elite between the tackles,
(50:11):
high end speed, just awesome tote in the rock. Neither guy,
especially Adrian Peterson's not good in pass protection. Saquon when
he tries is pretty good. Not great pass catchers. Adrian
Peterson had bad hands. So for two guys that I mean,
Adrian's gonna be Hall of Famer. Saquon if he stays
healthy for a couple years, gonna be a Hall of Famer,
(50:33):
Definitely Hall of Fame level player. I don't know if
he can put up the numbers, but that one sounds
great on paper, but in theory, I'd probably go Dereck Henry,
Marshall fak Okay, last question win on this, of course,
is about Jerry cowboy fan, far from a Jerry fan,
But are we really gonna act like Jerry hasn't offered
Micah contract to make him the highest paid non quarterback. Also,
(50:55):
last season, Micah was saying he doesn't want to be
the highest paid. He wants to be a to build
a team. So which is it sounds like his agent
has taken over and wants his cut. My prediction forty
five million, four year extension, and the media talks about
how Jerry overpaid for Micah within five minutes of the news.
Obviously there's a lot going on here. I think it's
(51:15):
pretty simple that in any line of business, right, there
are different people that do different roles. On this podcast.
I don't cut up my social clips. I don't even
know how to do that. I don't load the podcast
to the feed. I don't I'm not pressing the button
and cutting it up and putting it on YouTube. We
(51:37):
got a team, We got a bunch of guys kicking
ass and taking names. Just like in all your industries,
whatever you do, you probably work with other people that
do other things. And if you're an individual and you
pay someone to do something, and I'm telling you, like Hey,
we need you to sign this contract. And I go,
let's use an example. I don't have an agent or
(52:00):
lawyer that negotiates my contracts. I guess if I had
a big question, I would I could reach out to somebody.
But for the most part, if like, hey, we had
to put together this contract for you to do these
shows with Coward on Fox Sports, here it is, and
I say, actually, could you send it to my lawyer
or my agent or whatever. Right, I pay that guy
(52:21):
to look over the contract. And Jerry won't call the
guy that looks over the contract. It's literally his job.
It's why Micah Parsons pays him. Now, if it was
an outlier situation, like no one in the NFL does this,
what's going on here, Micah? Literally everyone does this beside
a couple guys here and there. Throughout the years. It
is a standard process that has been the way that
(52:44):
they have signed other players as worked through their agent.
So when Jerry tries to do a deal straight up
with Micah Parsons, you could argue it's a little unfair.
Jerry's done a kajillion deals in his life, right, stadium deals,
player com tracks, you name it, oil deals, buying teams.
He's a deal maker. Like when you think of Jerry Jones,
(53:06):
do you think a guy that does deals. Michaeh. Parson
is a pass rusher, not a deal maker. Like Michah
Parsons has that podcast on Bleacher Report, right, do you
think Michah Parsons did that deal? Of course, not his
marketing team or his agent did it all, set it
all up and then they sent him the equipment. I
mean with a guy setting it all up, maybe Mike
(53:28):
already had it set up, but like, do you think
he negotiated the details of that contract. No, it's not
his job. So he pays people to do that. So
it's like like we're going to live this weekend, Me
and Coward two hundred million dollars, feel God, the one
hundred and fifty DJ and Bryce and three hundred ROMB got.
They had a manager, an agent, or a lawyer negotiate
(53:50):
the deal and then they paid him whatever maybe million
dollar flat fee or whatever it was. But like that
was the guy's job. So my issue with this whole
situation is like if you want to get a deal
done and you know Mike is like you got to
go through this guy. This I'm paying him to do
this for me, and Jerry won't like, what are we doing?
What's the point of all this? And I get Jerry's position.
(54:13):
If this guy did something to pish you off. I'm
not privy done know if that happened or not. But
it's to be mad at Mica for not wanting to
talk with Jerry when Jerry knows that he's not even
running point on this because the agent is. It all
seems like a waste of time. I also think we
get a little caught up with numbers getting thrown around
(54:35):
by NFL reporters, like this guy wants forty this guy
wants forty five. Who knows? But I do know that
the agent, of course, he wants a cut. That's literally
his business is to do big deals and get a cut.
The agent doesn't care about the solar cap, doesn't give
a shit. And most players and listen, it's easy for
Mike and say, I bet he doesn't care either, And
(54:56):
I don't even blame him. It's not his problem. That's
Jerry's problem. But this situation just feels like it's getting
a little exhausting, honestly, Like, just can't these guys figure it?
Out the volume,
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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