3 & Out - The 49ers and Aiyuk, Trade destinations for Aiyuk, Joint practice fights

John dives into the latest with the Brandon Aiyuk saga by discussing how the 49ers should be handling this situation on both a personal and professional level. Later, John talks about some of the rumored trade destinations for Aiyuk and which teams he thinks would be willing to make a deal to trade for him. Finally, he reacts to the latest fight between the Lions and the Giants during their joint practice and how fun it's been to watch these joint practices.

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

7:46 - Brandon Aiyuk and the 49ers

13:39 - Trade destinations for Aiyuk

26:53 - Lions-Giants joint practice

35:42 - Mailbag

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (01:59):
What is going on, everybody, John Middlecott, that's me rocking
and rolling baby. We got some trade talk. The Brandon
Ayuk thing took went to a different level on Monday
night and throughout Tuesday when Matt Mayoko consider him a
close friend close would be strong, but a friend, one

(02:19):
of the best in the business, and had a report
about trade frameworks already being done with teams like the
Browns and the New England Patriots. Schefter and rap sheet
reporting throughout Tuesday that the Steelers are getting back involved.
So you know, we got to talk about that because

(02:40):
that's there are a lot of people involved in this thing.
Now this has gotten a little crazy. I'm not gonna
lie because I stand by what I said on Monday.
Maybe I have to change the word I said. I
would be stunned if he was traded. At this point
in time, I can't be stunned. But I still expect
the forty nine ers to keep him on the team.
But this stuff is not just made up clearly, So

(03:04):
things are being discussed, and we're going to discuss. I'll
give my thoughts on everything. And then the Lions and
Giants they said they were having a joint practice. It
looked more like a UFC event, and I think it's
pretty easy to figure out why. So yeah, we'll have
a mail bag a little bit later today at John
middlecof Instagram Fire in those dms. But before we dive

(03:26):
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John Mayer reiterated what I said a long time ago
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if I've had that many experiences like this. I don't
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(04:14):
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thing since dating and now engaged to Maria. Living with
a real estate agent kind of enlightened you on people's egos,

(04:58):
on people's willingness to adapt to get a deal done,
what people argue over during a real estate deal. But
I think it's very enlightening of an individual and just
a people in general. Now, obviously, buying a home for
the overwhelming majority of people is the biggest purchase that
they'll ever make. It's the most money you put towards something.

(05:21):
It's an emotional, it's a professional, it's a personal. It
encompasses everything. But it's pretty eye opening because I've seen
they come a lot of these deals, whether you're dealing
with a five hundred thousand dollars house, whether you're dealing
with a two million dollar house, comes down to like
under ten grant. But there's ego involved. It's like, I'm

(05:42):
not going to give that. It's like, wait, you're really
going to resind your offer or tell him no based
on seven thousand dollars, you're poised to make two hundred
grant And it happens, and it happens all the time.
And the other thing I've seen forever, I wasn't able
to afford my first house till I was thirty eight

(06:03):
years old, lived in a condo forever, which wasn't cheap
because of the Bay Area, but it was really shitty
is You hear all the time that young people and
obviously homes have never been more expensive relative to what
people make. But they're like, people are never going to
sell their home if they have a great interest rate.
You hear that all the time, and in theory, that

(06:25):
makes a lot of sense, because why would you get
rid of a house if you're paying zero percent interest?
Not zero, but you know, two eight, three to one whatever. Well,
guess what. People get divorced on a daily basis. I
know people that are getting divorced currently. They haven't been
married very long. People die all the time, people move

(06:49):
for jobs. Things come out of nowhere. Hell, I see
Maria deals with a ton of clients that move into
Scottsdale for work. Where are you from? Minnesota, Georgia, Florida.
They didn't plan on it. Things change. You can never
underestimate the future, good and bad. And I see it
all the time, just because I have a front row

(07:10):
seat into this just eye opening business that she works in,
that deal with these people that ultimately comes down to
a big personal deal right for them. And I think
when this trade and the discussion over Brandon, I you,
six months ago the Niners were clearly dead set on
keeping him. And then you get to a point where

(07:33):
are you really going to not get the deal done
over a million dollars a year? Like, if you're willing
to pay twenty seven and ultimately twenty eight, we'll get
it done. Are you not gonna budget? Is it really
worth taking it an extra couple weeks? Seems a little
crazy to me, But maybe they just have a number
and we think the value over that is just not
worth it to us. And listen when when deals go

(07:55):
south with that mindset, sometimes that's true. Maybe we go
based on the budget, based on who we need to
sign and extend, we just can't go above that. Seems
crazy to me, But I'm not naive enough to think
I know all the idiosyncrasies of a salary cap of
bonus money, of what party's gonna cost. I get it,
what Trent William's gonna cost. Got a lot of moving parts.

(08:18):
But this trade is a good example of things change,
and things change fast, and Brandon Ayuk and his camp
is clearly just not playing ball and I think the
forty nine ers by this story coming out from one
of the top forty nine ers reporters. I know reporters
get mad when you source guests, but I think it's

(08:39):
pretty clear what the forty nine ers are saying, like
we need a resolution. We're not doing this any longer.
Like here's our offer, here's what other people are willing
to offer if you want to play in these team,
these two teams, let's rumble, takes two to tango. We're
ready to dance. And if you don't want our offer,
this is what these two teams are offering. We have
deals done, go play for them. And I think that's

(09:01):
what the forty nine ers did on Monday night. They
kind of drew a line in the sand because I listen,
Bosa was never going to go anywhere. If he was healthy,
he was going to play the majority of his career
for the forty nine ers. When you get to a
guy like Ayuk, listen, we really want him here. He's
a winning player, but like this is our number. We
don't feel like we're royally screwing you here. We get

(09:22):
you emotionally, think you're at a different level. We disagree.
This is what we're willing. We'll even allow you and
your agent, who was also John Lynch's agent, talk with
other teams, see if you can get more. But this
isn't free agency, so these are the only two teams
we'd be willing to accept their offer. And that's where
it kind of feels like they're at now when all
this came out, And it just shows you how fast

(09:44):
things can change, because I never would have thought a
week ago that it would come out like four teams
are being named and players are being named on other
teams with trade offers. I know this. If I was
involved in this deal and I was the Browns and
Amari Cooper is named like, I wouldn't be happy. I
wouldn't want that getting out. The Browns clearly aren't putting

(10:06):
that out. So once you drag all these other teams involved,
it gets kind of dicey. And that's how this situation is.
And let's face it, of all the teams right now
that are contending teams in the NFL, the Niners got
more crap going on than anyone else. Honestly, it's not close.
Today came out McCaffrey's hurt, their rookie Ricky Pearson hurt
his shoulder. Trent Williams is literally at home on the

(10:28):
couch and you got this thing. But I do think
the forty nine ers are ready for resolution. So let's
look at the four teams. Let's start with Washington because
it was reported they were in and now they're out.
Because part of it is Brandon Ayuk was like in
the offseason, he acted like he was Kevin Durant, like
I want to go to Washington or I want to
go to those Steelers. Well do they want you? And

(10:50):
obviously Washington has a connection with Jayden Daniels where they
played together for a year in college. Washington's out, you
know why, it makes zero sense for them to trade
for him if he was a free agent one hundred
percent paym. But for them, they aren't a player away.
They're about ten. And when you start over as a
GM and as a head coach, take a deep breath,

(11:13):
don't rush into anything. The more assets you have, the
more flexibility you have, you can figure it out as
you go. With your young quarterback. Clearly you're gonna need
more talent on offense and defense and as a team,
but like, let's just see what you got you're in.
No one expects you to win ten games this year.
If you win five, it might suck for the year,

(11:34):
but very understandable. Show the quarterback has made a little progress.
They can't trade a first round pick for Brandon Au
because the probability of them drafting in the top ten
is just too high. But if you're the forty nine ers,
they're not gonna give you scary Terry. So do you go,
can I get two second round picks? Well, how does

(11:56):
that help the forty nine ers right now? A first
round pick wouldn't. But but if that thing turns into seven,
you'd have to entertain it, just the possibility of it.
But it doesn't make any sense. It doesn't make sense
from Washington standpoint. It doesn't make sense for the forty
nine ers standpoint. That's why it doesn't look like it's
was never gonna happen. Let's go to the Steelers. This

(12:19):
gets complicated. They clearly like him a lot, and I
think one thing they're probably hesitant to let happen if
they can control it, is to let the Browns get them.
Here's the problem for the Steelers, because you go, well,
just trade them your first round pick ideally that picks

(12:39):
like twenty four, and then you get Brandon Aukau's under
contract for the next four or five years, and you're
in pretty good shape. You got another offensive, explosive player,
you got a bunch of defensive guys, you got a culture.
You don't have a long term answer at quarterback. The
OC yesterday or two days ago said we viewed justin
fields as a weapon. It's like, uh, it's not idea

(13:00):
what you want to hear if you're a justin field
supporter in Pittsburgh. But if you're Pittsburgh and you go, hey,
we'll give you our first round pick. Well, if you're
the Niners, a first to having two first round picks
if you're a good team is an incredible feeling at
the combine, during free agency and leading up to the draft.

(13:21):
You know when it's pretty irrelevant if you have to
give up a player to get that extra first round
pick in August, September, October, November, December, the playoffs does
nothing for you. That player literally is wearing a college
uniform gives you zero value in prison time. So to me,
there's no match there. It makes no sense. And even

(13:42):
if you're the Steelers, you can't afford that if this
situation doesn't go well, and for the first time, what
if this season the quarterback position is awful and you
go seven to ten and all of a sudden you're
draft in fourteenth and if you wanted to get aggressive,
you'd be able to get up to five. Draft a
quarterback in this upcoming draft. You have to leave that

(14:03):
flexibility open. You're not a wide receiver away and not
a player like this, ain't DeVante Adams and back to
Washington like we saw a couple of years ago. If
you trade for a great wide receiver and Davante's a
better player than you, and you give up a lot
and it doesn't work out, it's like what are we
doing here? And you lose ammunition to go get the

(14:25):
quarterback now Davante they thought they had Derek Carr. Clearly
that fell apart. The Pats this one, okay, because like
any deal, there's certain someone could knock on your door
and go, hey, I offer you a five hundred grand
for your house. Well, depending on how much your house is.
If your house is two hundred grand, You're like, hey,
have my ship packed up cash? Right now? I've a

(14:47):
packed up by tomorrow. Your house worth two million, you say,
kick rocks. So if you're the Pats, you're like, we
need some action, we got to pay somebody. Yeah, we'd
be pretty interested. But if you're brandon at the first thing,
you go, welly, I've been on a dominant team for
the last four plus years. This is easily and even

(15:10):
Pats fans will agree. One of the worst teams in
the league. They're not gonna be good, so you are
going to suck. So whatever the forty nine ers are
offering you is what the Patriots are offering you that
much more the Saint Texas or Florida. They tax you
a lot there too, so if you'd be willing to
go there, you're gonna stink and probably go immediately to

(15:32):
a relevancy that has to give him some hesitation. And
this is why I think the forty nine ers, throughout
the Pats and the Browns. Do I think a kid
from Sacramento that or I guess Nevadas, Sacramento, Arizona State
forty nine ers wants to move to Cleveland even though
that's a good team, or definitely the Patriots, I don't,
especially at the I mean, it's one thing if it's

(15:53):
like a twenty million dollar difference. But I don't think
that's what we're talking here. But the Pats can make
the forty nine ers think. It's like, hey, you know
Matt Judon, he's clearly willing to play it out this
year because, like you said, he doesn't want to get fined.
What if we trade him to you. We'll give you
Kendrick Bourne that already knows your system. And depending on
how productive i Uke is, it can fluctuate on the

(16:17):
second day. So a third round pick can turn into
a second round pick depending how many games we win,
out productive he is or whatever makes you think, like
you have a meeting over that, John Kyle, you have
your wide receiver coach, you have your d line coach,
like you're doing some evaluations your scouting department. You're having
several meetings on that, Like you're talking that out. Are

(16:38):
we better with Judon, with Leonard Floyd and Nick Bosa?
Maybe our wide receiver room clearly takes a step back.
But this guy already knows Deebo looks fantastic in camp,
this young rookie. He's heard again like these are just
conversations you have and Cleveland to me is the most
intriguing because Amari Cooper. From a statistical standpoint, it's just

(17:00):
it's just a plug and play swap. They're very similar
players in the sense of great route runners get open
on everybody. Like you feel, close your eyes, you're getting
seventy five to eighty catches a Maari's been doing it
at a you know, much longer level. I think Amari
is easily considered one of the better route runners in
the entire NFL. You know, I think Davante would be

(17:20):
near the top. Keenan's pretty high. I U because thrown
his hat in the ring and Amari, so you do that.
You're not tied to Amari because he's a free agent.
But here's the problem, because even if I can say, Okay,
I'll go there, they're gonna sign me to more money.
I'll go play there. If you're the forty nine ers,
can you do a swap for one year rental and
also not get a good pick? And that's where it

(17:41):
makes it complicated for Cleveland, because I was looking at
Cleveland's books today doing a little Jake Rosenberg Howie Roseman, like,
let's let's take a look at the money. Obviously, DeShawn
Is on the biggest contract in the history of the NFL.
Miles Garrett, while it was trumped last year by Bosa,
is still on one of the biggest contracts in the
history of the NFL for a non coquarter back. They
also signed Denzel Ward to a massive contract. They have

(18:04):
a very very high priced team. So having draft picks,
which this year for the first time in forever, they
got a bunch. Well, clearly, if I'm giving you Amri,
I don't also need to give you my first round pick.
That's a joke. True, that's fair, But I'm giving you
a young player who you are going to extend, that
you're gonna have for a while, So I'm gonna need

(18:26):
something else back because it's pretty clear that Mari is
going to be a one year rental for me. So
then we start discussing second day picks. Those are pretty
valuable because that is where you get cheap, impact starters.
Anyone in the NFL will tell you the second and
third round, obviously you have a top ten pick, it's
a chance to get a game changer. But a lot
of people get uncomfortable in the twenties because you pay

(18:48):
first round money for a pick that actually hits at
a lower percentage than even fifty to fifty. Yet in
the second and third rounds, historically, a ton of Pro bowlers,
a ton of long term starts come out of that,
and for three, actually four years, sometimes you give him
an extension. After three, you get a guy for like
a million dollars a year. And that's where I think

(19:10):
all these situations are really really complicated. Now, if the
Steelers wanted him and they'd give him the first round
pick and the forty nine ers know they're not going
to trade him, maybe they just call uncle. I don't see.
They would get destroyed for that because that first round
pick does nothing for him Week one against the Jets.
And in these situations. This is where I saw Kyle

(19:31):
say this, like every situation so different, because they were like,
does this remind you of Nick Bosa? Of course it
doesn't remind him of Nick Bosa, because Nick Bosa never
was not going to be a Niner. They are clearly
entertaining this because they're kind of tired of it. They
don't want to deal with it anymore. It's a pain
in their ass. I like Brandon Aiyuk, He's he's been
a fun player to watch expand his game over the years,

(19:54):
and he's tough. He blocks like. That's a big difference
between him and Amari. If I say they're very similar,
are on in the passing game where they're not similar
as the run game. Brandon Ayuk is one of the
better run blockers in the league. He's a badass. Like,
that's not really a Mari's thing. Guess what that is.
That's a Kyle thing. Kyle likes to run the ball
all the time. And if you're screwing up Christian McCaffrey's

(20:16):
box score, you're screwing with Kyle and he's gonna get
pissed off. Well, Brandon blocks his ass off. And that's
where all this stuff gets really really complicated. And I
do understand, like I wouldn't be that comfortable paying him
twenty eight thirty million dollars a year. I don't think
he's worth that. I really don't. You can say, well,
this is the money. This when DJ Moore gave me
a hundred catches a year, and I'm gonna throw them

(20:38):
the ball that much. Am and Raw, if he's on
the field, is gonna get me one twenty And I'm
gonna throw it that much. The forty nine ers aren't
gonna throw it that much. They never have, they never
will as long as Kyle Shannan's calling the plays. That
ain't their style. So when you have a number and
you're like, I'm not budgeting on this, Like the Eagles
pay their two wide receivers, you know what Jeffrey Lurry
has loved to do since Andy Reid in ninety nine.

(21:00):
Throw the ball. He wants to throw the ball. That
is like an Eagles ethos as an organization, we want
to pass the ball. It's an analytics thing. They're an
analytically run operation. Obviously they like running, they like running backs,
but they prefer to pass. So running backs like why
sa Quon made some sense? He actually didn't cost that much.

(21:22):
And if i U is only going to be a
seventy five to eighty catch guy, people on the internet
can argue all day long he'd go somewhere else and thrive. Great,
he ain't gonna do that there, so why are you
willing to pay the freight? But you also can't just
give him away. This is fantasy fucking football. This isn't
NFL Live with players everywhere just saying can't let them go.
That's not the way the world works, Like I do

(21:43):
need a shitload of value back, and that's what complicates
all this stuff. And even on the other team standpoint,
like steel it's easy to say no if you're the
Steelers obviously for Washington like you're we're out. It's easy
if you're Cleveland, like yeah, we'll give you a Mari
in a fifth. Well, if you're the Niners, like no,
we're giving you a younger ascending player. You're giving u
us a guy that is a one year rental in

(22:05):
the Cleveland. Why do they want a budge because they
need those draft picks. And the Pats, I think that
comes down to, is like, Okay, Brandon, you want to
go to the Pats. We'll get you a first class
ticket tomorrow. If you want to go, go sign the contract.
They'll give us back what we want. He's like, yeah, man,
I just I'll just keep up. See it the hold in,
see you guys the cafeteria. What times meetings tomorrow at

(22:25):
eight thirty. Yeah, I'll be there at eight fifteen. Get
my typical Omelet's that's what it feels like, and that's
what this situation and listen, the Niners deserve like how
did it get to this point? And I think a
big reason because I go back, why didn't they trade them?
Like if they knew that it was going to be
complicated because the offers weren't there because he's Brandon Ayuk,

(22:49):
He's not Tyreek Killer DeVante Adams. People were lined up
to give him a first round pick after the combine,
before free agency. That wasn't the case. They didn't have
a first round pick on the tape around the draft.
He can get mad. People can argue over the analytics
all you want, like the market's kind of speaking for itself,

(23:09):
and now they're hoping maybe a little desperation. Training camp
teams feel pressure, but like I said, I think this
situation is going to keep playing it out, which doesn't
help the forty nine ers, which clearly there feels like
they're more involved in this in Trent, like, hey, this
is one of the best players in the league. You
probably want to get him to the camp. He's thirty five

(23:29):
and you want him working out. And if you're a
Cowboy fan right now, you're like, what the hell's going
on with the forty nine Ers, Eagles and it's true,
and this is it's crazy, but all these other teams
are involved, and I can't imagine they're happy, especially the
teams where you're leaking. Their players might get traded. If
I'm the Browns, I'm like, come on, guys, don't don't leak.
We'd trade you with Marii Cooper. We need this guy

(23:51):
if the trade doesn't happen. Last, but not least, the
Lions and the Giants. Every clip I've seen of those
practices has been really, really enjoyable. It has been an
all out brawl in Jersey. Every other play feels like
just ten guys going at it from each side. And

(24:13):
then I started thinking, it's probably the perfect storm. It
really is. Obviously, fights happened in these training camp practies.
You're so used to hitting your own teammate you just
get tired of doing the same stuff over and over.
So finally you get to play another team. It's full speed.
Guys are hitting late, you don't know the guy. He

(24:33):
might push your head or whatever, and you're just you
get triggered and you fire. But think about this, The
Lions are now viewed as one of the best teams
in the NFL, and their coach. Remember on Hard Knocks
a couple of years ago. It's pretty nuts, and he
likes edginice and fighting. And I'm not saying he wants
guys swinging, but he wants you right on that line.

(24:55):
And that's the way he coaches. I would imagine that's
the way he was as a player. That's literally the
way he's run his operations, like we're gonna hit you
right in the teeth. Listen. He went viral for all this,
sayings like I'm gonna bite your kneecap and have a
lion on that, which is awesome. Yeah. I find Dan
Campbell one of the better characters of the NFL. So
they're this team, it's kind of like new Money or

(25:19):
maybe some new Found Muscles that walks around a little
cocky and shows up like we're gonna beat your ass.
And then you got the Giants, who everyone is making
fun of in New York in other states, on every network,
on every podcast, everyone thinks they're gonna suck. I don't

(25:39):
care who you are, I don't care if you even
kind of believe what other people are saying. If you
have any ounce of pride, eventually you go you gotta
fight for like your pride and your ego a little bit.
So you get this team that's walking around cocky as shit, rightfully,
so I think the line's gonna be really good. And

(26:00):
then you get this team that everyone's bad mouthing, ain't
a soul that ain't outside of that building, and they're like,
we're tired of this crap, and that's why I think
they're just fighting NonStop. It's like the perfect combination, right.
I take your A lot of people listening right now
probably have dogs, and you go on dog walks, and
depending on where you live, maybe you got a park

(26:21):
or maybe you got like a grass area and it
tends to be a meetup. And there's nothing worse than
a dog walk meet up if you're just you're just
in a bad mood, or you get your ear pods
in you're like, I do not want to talk to anybody,
and then you run into the chatty cathy of the neighborhood.
And it happened to me yesterday. It's like, oh my,
I can't take it. I'm like, Lolly, please just take
off and let me chase it, but she's just sitting

(26:41):
there watching us. It's like, oh, this is awful. You
got to think of a great excuse on the fly.
Or you know, in Arizona it's so hot, you gotta
try to take your dog on a walk really early
in the morning. So if you go like five thirty
six or whatever to the to the grass or the
dog park or just the wherever you're going, and you
just have had your coffee yet. I don't mind getting

(27:02):
up early, but I'm not a morning person in the
sense of I'm not happy in the morning. So like,
just give me. I need a coffee, I need a couple,
uh need a couple of nicotine patches. Ideally get a workout,
but like, if that's my first I don't want to
talk that the soul and you can't avoid it. And
there's just an edginess to it. And I don't even

(27:23):
know where I was going with it, but I just
think there's just just an edginess to this group and
to both sides. And it was just a perfect company.
Oh I was gonna say, is you know there are
certain dogs? I was like, what was that? What was
the point of this story. It's because if you take
your you know, you get to know dog. Oh that's
a little sweetpea that's a little that's brody, you know,
that's that's a that's ah lily. You know, you get

(27:46):
to know all the dog, but there are a couple
of dogs you're like, you can't put the two together
because it's a brawl. And I think this is one
of those situations because I bet there are practices going
on that just fighting is just not gonna happen. And again,
there's a difference between a push and just all out
brawl after all out brawl, after all out brawl, after
all out brawl, And I just think it's pretty understandable

(28:07):
when you look at the plight of both these teams,
what's being said about each one, the way they carry themselves,
and the giants just kind of it's kind of fight
or flight, like you're just gonna take it and get embarrassed,
or you're gonna push back. And ideally in these situations,
no one breaks a hand or gets hurt because that
it's kind of pointless in a weird way, Like obviously

(28:30):
you want to see some fight in your guys, you
want to see them have an edge. Daniel Jones, I
thought Joe Shane run around one. It's it's very entertaining
but like big picture, like what are we getting out
of this? There's something about like supporting your quarterback or
supporting your running back or you know, being there for
your middle lineback or whatever. Totally, but there's also like
a fine line of like what productive happens after the

(28:51):
first shove? Only bad things can happen. Only an injury
can happen, a broken hand to like a dB or
something's pretty devastating. Oh, I don't know. I just all
I know is I really really enjoyed all the clips.
I can't get enough of them. I don't think I've
ever seen back to back practices with more viral clips

(29:13):
of fights. It feels like, at minimum Florio did an
article on Monday he had five clips. It's like here's
a clip, here's a clip. Here's Joe Shane in the clip.
Here's Daniel Jones in the clip. It was like it
was in like two sets of drills, and then I
saw more happen today. So Congress, those two teams for
entertaining us. Okay, let's do a little thing we call

(29:44):
the mailbag at John Middlecoff. At John Middlecoff is the
Instagram firing those dms. Get your questions answered here on
the show. It's my Instagram. DM's wide open. You guys
know the drill. Let's start here with JT Sports. Josh
Allen is not better than Lamar. You make it seem
like Allen always plays well in the playoffs, when he

(30:04):
nearly gave the wild card game to the Dolphins with
Skyler Thompson with all those turnovers, then he played garbage
the following week and got embarrassed by the Bengals. He
also choked the fourth quarter of this past season against
the Chiefs Divisional round. But it's Sean mcdermot's fault. But
you put all the Ravens losses in the AFC Championship
on Lamar, but never talk about Zay Flowers fumble inside

(30:27):
the five that took away the game. Lamar is the
second best win loss record in the NFL since he's
been starting, right behind Mahomes, and the Ravens have had
the one seed twice when he's won the MVP. He's
also been a more efficient passer than Josh Allen is
a turnover machine. Lamar Jackson takes care of the ball.
I mean, let's not act like they both can't beat

(30:47):
Mahomes no matter who plays better. They both come up
short in the end. Well, here's my thing. I think
Josh Allen is better than Lamar Jackson. If you put
Josh Allen last year on the Ravens, who have had,
like you said, the number one seed, what happened once
they got worked by the Titans. Lamar was bad and

(31:11):
last year was embarrassing. The Chief scored seventeen points. Here
are the playoff stats for the two guys. If you
put Josh Allen on the Ravens these last five years,
I think they have a super Bowl. Josh Allen in
the playoffs sixty five percent, twenty one touchdowns, four interceptions,

(31:32):
and five touchdowns on the ground. He's played in ten
playoff games, partly because he's won more playoff games than Lamar.
Lamar in six six touchdowns, six picks, fifty seven percent
in three rushing touchdowns. The gap of these two guys
in the playoffs. Lamar is a fantastic regular season player.

(31:52):
So's James Harden. Who do you want to play in
the playoffs? James Harden? Now I don't think Lamar is
James Harden. He cares about football, he works hard at football.
I would want Lamar Jackson on my team. But this
is no longer an argument. We have objective facts. The
Ravens are a much better roster than the Bills. For example,

(32:15):
last year, losing that game, like you just don't shake
losing that Titans game a couple of years ago was
a fucking embarrassment. And the one quote unquote embarrassment by
the Bills was something Josh Allen had no control over
when he threw all those touchdowns on the road in
Kansas City and his defense blew it, and even Andy

(32:37):
Reid was like, yeah, this is unfair. Both teams should
touch the ball and that's what happens now. So we're
nitpicking the elite of the elite here. And I don't
think anyone could say with a straight face if you
gave every general manager who would you wanted your quarterback
for the next five years out of the thirty two guys,
I think the number would be close to thirty two

(32:59):
with Josh Allen. Now, Lamar would get picked over the
majority of other guys not named Josh Allen and Mahomes.
But give me a break, Like, we know what we've seen,
we have the stats, we've had the eye test. It
ain't fucking close. They're just not that close. Again, we're
nitpicking the best of the best here, the best of
the best. We do this a lot in the NBA.

(33:21):
It's why Steph Curry and Lebron James like they don't
have anything in common with Embiid and James Harden. They
both make hundreds of millions of dollars, have all these
all star games. Joel Embiid, you know, it's like the
gaps wide at the top of the mountain. It really is.
And Josh almost lost to Skyler. He didn't. He didn't lose.

(33:45):
I mean, he's played more playoff games. Why they've won more.
And let's face it, you guys have had two of
the worst losses at home in the last five six
years in the playoffs, the Titans game and the heavy favorites.
Part of losing as a favorite is way worse. It

(34:05):
just is. Now. Yeah, that loss to the Bengals was bad.
No arguing that it was ugly. It really was. What happened.
Then the Bengals beat the Chiefs, I'd say, age pretty well.
They got worked, so did the defense, ran it right
down the throat. I don't think the notion that is

(34:27):
not it's just he's a better player. He's just a
better player. I don't know how else to verbalize it,
And that sounds like a criticism Lamark, Like he's a
fantastic player who's had an incredible start to his career,
but a win loss record. The Ravens have been winning
for twenty five years. Everyone wins there. Joe Flacco won there,

(34:47):
Trent Dilfer won there, like quarterbacks are gonna win now. Lamar,
I think, is a better player obviously than Joe Flacco.
But Joe Flacco had moments in the playoffs that Lamar
simply has not had yet. Now there's a lot of
career left, but I don't think. I don't know if
this Ravens team is going to be quite as good
as last year's team. Definitely not. I mean, they have
the best defense in the league. The Ravens should have

(35:10):
won both games by double digit points. They should have
beat the Chiefs, and they should have been the forty
nine ers. But you can say Dave Flowers fumble. Lamar
was fucking terrible. I mean he was skipping balls on
wheel routes, which, as we're judging, the highest level of competition,
go around the sports. When Rory blows it. When you know,

(35:32):
when high end basketball players blow it like they get
criticized extra hard. Why because the expectations are super high.
No one cares that to his average beside the Dolphins,
like we kind of know it. I've listened to Cowards
since the beginning my travel sales career, right around college.
I came across your pod and I really enjoy it.
He said, I'm your favorite, but I didn't want to

(35:52):
boost my ego here. I love how you discussed the
entire operation. My dream career has always been an NFL
front office back question as a scout, who is one mid,
late or underrated player you love for the Eagles. I
saw Joe Ortiz, who worked in the I mean I
only worked in the NFL for three years, but there

(36:13):
the day and age of like finding guys in the
seventies and eighties that no one knows about, and all
of a sudden it's like, how did they get this
diamond in the rough? Those don't exist? And when you're
in a draft meeting, I would say, and Joe Ortiz
was on Rich Eisen he put this pretty well. Every
player on the draft board, obviously the top one hundred guys,

(36:35):
six seven people watch them, your GM, your assistant GM,
your college director, multiple scouts, the position coach, the coordinator,
the head coach. So within seven eight guys, there's not
like I'm banging the table harder. They're gonna be three
or four. Let's say it's a polarizing player. Half are
gonna like them half or not. But there's not a

(36:56):
player on a draft board in the Internet era, definitely
the last fifteen plus years. That's like, how did you
find this dude from Texas State, Western East South? It
just doesn't happen. It really doesn't. So even though this
was tw eleven, twenty, twelve, thirteen, it wasn't like that. Honestly,

(37:20):
when I was at Fresno State. It was the same
thing in recruiting. By the time the Internet had really
blown up, and rivals and some of these different sites,
it's really really hard to get a diamond. And the
moment guys come on the radar, other people come sniffing
around and so many people talk, so I think I
hear what you're saying, and I think there are legendary

(37:41):
stories about like he was the only guy that saw
Mickey Mannle play in high school like those days are
so over, I mean so over. If there is a
player that comes off the draft board on a given
year and of every team in the league doesn't have
multiple grades on on them. Obviously, once you get to

(38:02):
the six seventh round, maybe your GM isn't super locked
in on every player, but your college director, your scouts,
a couple of coaches. It's an NFL building. Maybe they're
getting bigger, just in a football building in general, isn't
that big. You have whatever, how many coaches you have,
you know, some assistant coaches to the position coaches, you
have your coordinators. You got multiple scouts in different regions

(38:25):
right six seven four to six seven kind of range.
You have several executives, and you're all kind of watching
the guys. And the other thing is right around after
the combine, you do these things called cross checks. So
every scout. Some do it by regions, some do it
by position, some do it by if somehow they group it.

(38:48):
You have so many grades on a player, Now I
might like a player more than the GM, no different
than you might like a player on your team more
than your brother or your best friend. And you just
kind of talk it out right now when you're talking
as a fan or like we are in a podcast,
there's not really a resolution. But eventually when the board

(39:09):
is getting set, that's where there's one decision maker and
he goes, well, I think we should slot this guy here.
And that's kind of usually a combination of the GM
and the coach, right, but there's not There was one
guy and I've told this story Andrewson Dajo who played
in the league for a long time, but he was
playing for the Sacramento Mountain Lions, who was one of
those leagues that happened for a year. I bet now

(39:32):
with the XFL and the UFL or whatever the hell
of the league's called, that would be the only area.
But in the draft, there's no like fourth round pick
that only I graded and I'm screaming for and no
one wants. It just doesn't work like that. Lately, I've
been hearing a lot of talk about stadium atmosphere. I've
been a Ravens fan since two thousand. When they won

(39:53):
the Super Bowl in two thousand and one, I was
about twelve years old at the time. With no local
NFL teams in LA, I'm going to my first Ravens
game in November facing the Chargers at Sofi Stadium. I
bought VIP tickets at the hundred level. We've got a
guy doing well in life. How can I maximize my
first game with VIP level access? Would it be easier

(40:15):
to get players to sign my jersey? You know, football
is a little different than like baseball, for example, I
remember being a kid, you wanted to get to the
yard early. Maybe I get Matt Williams to sign my ball,
Maybe jose Canseco will sign my glove. Right In football,
it's not as lax on game day. You have to

(40:36):
get there really early, when the guys are warming up
kind of in shorts and a T shirt and you're
at one hundred level. Means you can get to the
front of kind of the railing. I've never done that,
so I can't really speak to that. I would say
Sofi is pretty sweet and stadium. Some people hit me,
obviously Philly when they're goods a great atmosphere, the Ravens,

(41:00):
the Lions now, and I think we all agree for
the most part, the the atmospheres in the pros relative
like it's just impossible to compare to LSU, you know,
to compare to Michigan, Ohio State to compare to some
of these collegiate atmospheres. So Far someone hit me up said,

(41:25):
so far as atmosphere is awesome. It's the best stadium
I've ever been to. But part of having an awesome
atmosphere is it should be if you go to a
Chiefs game, right, if you go to a Ravens game,
if you go to a Packer game, if you go
to a Lions game. This year, it's gonna be the
overwhelming majority. I mean, honestly, should be well over ninety percent,

(41:47):
ninety five percent hometown. You go to an LSU night game,
it's it's or a Michigan game, it's their home crowd.
Not one hundred percent, but much closer to one hundred
than like eighty. And that adds to the atmosphere. When
you go to SOFI, it's kind of split. Obviously if
they play the forty nine Ers, but if they play

(42:07):
the Cowboys, if they play the Steelers, if they played
the Packers, you're not even talking fifty to fifty. The
other team will take over the stadium. The Ravens. I
don't know if they'll be fifty fifty, but there's gonna
be a ton of Ravens fans there, so like, you
go to a Ravens home game, especially a big home game,
be all Ravens fans, and I would just have a
good time. I don't know about you, guys, but one

(42:33):
thing I always regret in my life is I went
to the Warriors Game seven against the Cavs when Lebron
beat them and brought the championship home to Cleveland, and
I got too drunk in the sense of I should
have just had at most of beer or two, but

(42:54):
I probably had about fifteen. And I kind of regretted
looking back of not just it was a historic moment,
you didn't you don't know going to a game, what's
gonna happen. I mean you do a little bit more
like a playoff game or situation like that. But listen,
I have no problem if you want to go to
a game and get and get you know, get housed.

(43:14):
But I kind of regret that. And I've always gone
to games. I'm not a big like boozer. If I'm
going to a sweet game, I'll have a cocktail maybe,
but I would enjoy it. You want to be able
to remember everything that happened, like in one hundred level.
You're living well. I have a question for the mailbag.

(43:35):
Rather than preseason of extending the season, why do you
think of having a knockout Cup tournament as a second
trophy to win the NFL? You already have the perfect
number of teams thirty two, meaning it would be a
five round knockout all team ender enter in a random
draw and the winner stays until the final, with the
winner getting the trophy. Well, that the problem. It'd probably

(44:03):
be incredible year one. But what's the point of the
regular season, right? You just had a random draw. So
let's say you had a fifteen seventeen games at whatever
this season was. Why does it matter where you finish?
Because you could finish sixteen and one and play a
team with three wins, what if they beat you? Why

(44:27):
does that team get rewarded for being terrible? I think
there's a pushback. You know, are they letting too many
teams in the playoffs? I think that's a pushback in
sports in general. Right Baseball expanded their playoffs. It used
to be a really big deal to we won the Petnitt.
I mean, I think if you ask the average like

(44:49):
twenty six year old in America, that like sports, what
it means to win the Pennant. They'd have absolutely no clue.
And they've expanded the playoffs obviously by a bunch of
wildcard teams. The NBA has a playing they've added four
total teams, obviously, the NFL added two total teams. Now
I get the other side. This is business. You're trying
to drive revenue, and the revenue is driven by the games.

(45:11):
So I understand it, but I wouldn't be in favor
of doing that. I like you thinking outside the box. Listen,
there are no stupid questions, just stupid people, and you're
not one of them. Clearly, you cannot win a Super
Bowl without a top six to eight quarterback or a
stacked roster and a good quarterback on a rookie contract.

(45:34):
Why do you think teams who do not have a
top six or eight quarterback sign their quarterbacks to massive
extensions Dolphins now Cowboys in the recent past. Do you
think it would be better to stay mediocre but somewhat
relevant with a middle tier quarterback or let go of

(45:55):
them and bottom out for the chance of getting a
top quarterback, most likely in the draft. If you were
an NFLGM faced in a situation like this, would you
lose your other star players if bottoming out were to occur.
Where is the starting point to build up a Super
Bowl contending team coach, owner? I think it's very, very difficult.

(46:18):
And one major difference which is clearly benefited football is
tanking is not really a big thing. No one really tanks.
It's happened really one time. I would say, it feels
like over the last fifteen years, I'm not going to
start to finish tank like the Browns attempted to pull.
I have no problem ever tanking in December if you

(46:40):
have a couple wins, I'm all for, like controlling your
own destiny at that point. But I don't think there's
a team in the league if you talk to the
owner and coach. Clearly some teams know they're not as
good as others that don't plan on, Hey we might
not win the super Bowl, but can we get eight wins?
Because winning in foot ball is a really big deal,

(47:03):
and when you start losing, you become a relevant so fast.
And the draft is a pretty big crap shoot. Like
for as much hype as there is on all these quarterbacks,
Caleb included, I'm recording this before hard Knocks, I saw
almost say Greg Olsen, but it was zach Ertz. I'd
forgotten he was on the Commanders, but he said, stop saying.

(47:25):
Jaden Daniels is gonna be good. He's good right now.
And the hype on Jaden, on Caleb on who else
Drake's the hype's not very big, and Pennexus on the
bench bo Nicks' third string. But I think on those
two guys that we know historically like, it doesn't work out.
It just doesn't like more than likely, Caleb or Jaden

(47:48):
Daniels is just not gonna be good. History tells us
that if you just pick those two players, the likelihood
that both those guys are like ah, both top ten
quarterbacks very very rare. So just because you have height prospects,
there's no you just never know. So I would do
what basically every other GM does, try to win desperately. Now,

(48:11):
once you're not winning, pivot sell players at the trade deadline.
But I would do everything in my humanly possible to win.
And I think winning, you know, really starts with the owner.
Is he willing to pay? Is he willing to cut
big checks for your own guys in free agency? Does
he give you the green light to be aggressive in
the draft, does he support your staff? Does he give

(48:34):
you the most money to hire assistant coaches? So it
starts there with his checkbook, and does he not meddle?
I mean, if he's telling you who to draft and
who to sign and who to hire, then you're gonna
have problems. And then obviously the impact of the coach
is there's not a sport like it, right, especially if
you get the right coach who also calls plays. The

(48:56):
impact he can have is just second to none based
on basically every other sport. So I think you just
try to win, you really do. Now, I think there
are situations where you go, can we play this out
another year? And that's where I think there's a balance, right.
I wouldn't if I ran the Dolphins, I wouldn't cut Toua.

(49:18):
I wouldn't trade him for nothing, But I'd go, can
we just play it out another year? Wasn't not on
his fifth year option? Wasn't his scheduled to pay him
well over twenty million dollars. Couldn't we just go let's
just see this year, this was a big year. Let's
just see how it goes. I'm never opposed to letting
it play out, gain more information. Like we've been winning,

(49:39):
so the owner's kind of happy, right, we've made the
playoffs a couple times. But what's the rush to kind
of hitch my wagon as an executive as a coach
to a player that I can't totally trust. I get
Dak more than TOA. I just don't get to A.
I don't. I let me rephrase that. I mean I

(50:01):
get two of the player. I don't get signing him
to the extension right now, I don't. His agent can
be pissed all he wants to, like, what's two are
gonna do? Like to it?

Speaker 2 (50:10):
You play?

Speaker 1 (50:10):
Well, you're looking at a two hundred million dollar pay
day and if if some reason, the Dolphins don't watch it,
three or four teams will be lined up go win
a couple of playoff games. We just talked about Lamar,
you know he struggles to do that using my girlfriend's

(50:32):
Instagram huge huge Hawks fan from Tennessee. Cool part about
I guess this is true in all sports. But you
meet people all over the country that are fans of
teams from other places. It's always cool, and it always uh.
I just I have a soft spot for that. Even

(50:53):
though I hate them immensely, I also have a huge
respect for them. My question is about the Niners. To
do what they've been able to do consistently for the
past five years is something that I respect. You think
after five long years battling to get back to the
Super Bowl only to get back to lose in similar
fashion of the same team will take a toll on

(51:13):
them mentally. I know everybody's expecting them to run it back,
and rightfully so, but could you see them having a
similar season to the Rams the season after their Super
Bowl win a couple of years ago. With the constant
heartbreaks this team has gone through and the amount of
noise and chatter coming out of their locker room, it
seems plausible to me this could happen, considering they have

(51:37):
a lot of older key players. Well, if you remember
the Rams season when they fell apart, one main reason
was Matt Staffer got injured. If Brock Purdy were to
get injured and they would have to go to Joshua
Dobbs and Kyle Allen, who's definitely not josh Allen, they

(51:59):
would be in made your trouble if you told me
Purty has a major injury or misses a month or something,
they would be screwed. So I would say that they
just have too much talent on their roster. If Purdy's playing,
the other thing is their coach. Again, this goes to

(52:19):
party and the same with Stafford. If mcveigh's there and
Kyle's there and they have a good quarterback, they're just
gonna be good. They're gonna be competitive. Now, you never
know with injuries. I think they wear and tear. You know,
Kyle's like most teams, the OTAs are a joke. I
mean they really are in the Niners for training camp.

(52:41):
Like Bosa McCaffrey technically is injured right now, but Trent Williams,
these guys practice like twice a week so that they
get treated pretty well. That this is not the junction boys,
Bear Bryant. That's where I think it could wear you down.
I think if you make all these runs and you
know the rules that used to be hitting the double days,

(53:02):
you just kind of run out of juice. I don't
think he do anymore, especially when you have guys under thirty.
It's like Tesla. You know, you just recharge it and
you just hope the charger doesn't catch on fire and
burn your house out. Last episode, I heard you say
you think Jaden Daniels could struggle in Washington, part due
to him having a defensive head coach in dan Quint.

(53:25):
But didn't Cliff Kingsbury walk away from a deal with
Vegas to come to DC. Washington had to have to
know Jaden was gonna be theirs with a second overall pick.
Cliff has coached up many successful quarterbacks, especially Mobile Ones Caleb.
I think Jayden is in a better situation. I know
Jaden had neighbors in college, but he will have scary

(53:47):
Terry and zach Ertz. So my question is, do you
think Shane Waldron is a better oca than Cliff? Secondly,
do you think Milik Neighbors will be a better pro
than Terry McLaurin. Malik Neighbors is more talented then Terry.
If Malik Neighbors hits, you're looking at like a more
physical Odell Beckham in the in his prime. I mean,

(54:08):
you're looking at an elite player if he hits, but
you never know. It's football, Daniel Jones, I wouldn't bet
on it, but Malik Neighbors. The highlights come out of
Giants Camp. I mean he's got it. He's got Jamar
Chase physicality, but the high end speed, the ball skills.
I mean, he's a pretty special talent. Terry's a really

(54:30):
good player. I mean, Malik has the upside. Terry's an
excellent player, but I don't think most people, nobody considers
him like a top five or six white out in
the league. Malik Neighbors if it works out in like
three or four years, could be right up there with
the best in the NFL at the position. But that's
a big if. I would say Shane Waldron, I like

(54:53):
that style of offense. I don't like Cliff's style of offense.
It's not for me. We talked about this the other day.
You're just kind of of a product of what you know,
being around Pat Hill, old school offense, Jim Harbaugh, and
he throws it more, but there's a physical edge to him.
Cliff's not my cup of tea when it comes to football.

(55:14):
But like you said, like he is Taylor made for
guys like Jayden. I think comparing him to Kyler, who
talking with my guy from Fantasy Pros yesterday, Pat Fitzmorris,
Kyler's one of the more talented prospects in recent memory. Like,
I don't think Jaden's is talented him. One, he's not

(55:34):
as fast. Two he's not as elusive. Kyler has an
elite arm. He's just now. Obviously Jayden's taller, but that's
the only thing that Jaden Daniels has over Kyler. He's taller.
Kyler does everything better to me if Jaden Daniels becomes
Kyler Murray. Washington's in really really good shape. And when

(55:54):
I say struggle, I just don't think they're teams that good.
I think it's gonna be a big, big struggle and
the division's good. Like we nitpicked the Cowboys, they're dramatically
better than Washington. Obviously the Eagles are, and the Giants
are pretty good on defense. So Washington's O line sucks,
and what are the Giants good at defensive line? So

(56:15):
I also think I get very concerned with players, and
I'm not anti Jayden Daniels, but when you have a skill,
people think I'm sure I'd hate Lamar. I do not.
I think Lamar is an awesome player. No guys that
have been around him, the character stuff, I love everything
I've ever heard about the guy and one thing Lamar
does a really good job of is when he runs

(56:38):
around avoiding hits, partly because he's so elusive and so fast,
but he doesn't take a lot of huge shots. When
I was with the Eagles, Michael Vick was probably the
worst in NFL history at avoiding hits. Honestly, he like
like looked like he was looking for him and he
got injured a lot. And we talked about this yesterday
on the Fancy Podcast. Jayden took shots shots in college

(57:03):
and the SEC's you know, the light version of the
NFL obviously elite defensive players, and they played Florida State
and he got crushed there too. You can't do that,
But I think that's a hard skill to teach. Either
kind of have it or you don't. And I think
Kyler's pretty good at this too, And again part of
it their skill set that they're a little more explosive

(57:24):
than Jayden. Laterally, there's just like an innate quality with
them to kind of know. I feel like Jayden is
a good athlete, clearly, but you watch him run around,
I just maybe there's a combination of fearlessness and just
the instincts of avoiding that just don't exist like they
do for Lamar and Kyler. But saying that Cliff made

(57:44):
Kyler a great player, Kyler's a better player. He was
a better player coming out of college. I think if
Kyler was in this draft, Washington would have taken him
too over Jayden Daniels if he was coming out of Oklahoma
and he was coming out of LSU. Say what you
want about Kyler in the video games, I will never

(58:04):
dispute his ability because when he gets humming, holy shit,
he's fun to watch because he's just an elite. He's
an elite talent. I don't know if Jaden Daniel is
an elite town He's a really good prospect. I mean
the only knock on Kyler was height, which is a
big knock. I mean he's really small, but elite arm.
He's actually pretty accurate, elite speed, elite elusiveness, elite scramble

(58:28):
and throw ability. As the quarterbacks are getting paid, I
tend to really project what they can do with the
team around them. If you had to guarantee one of
these guys Love Hurts, Golf or Lamar will win the
Super Bowl in the next five years, who would it be.
It's a good question. I'm sorry Ravens fans, but until

(58:49):
Lamar approves me, otherwise, you can't bet on him because
I've seen him with the best of the best team
and can't get it done. Goff, their team is pretty stacked.
This year is kind of wide open for him. I
would say they got a pretty good chance this year
to get to the super Bowl. If you get to
the Super Bowl, you can win it. I would say
something similar to Jalen Hurts. I mean, their team's pretty

(59:09):
good on paper right now. I would say the difference
to Jalen and Jared is Jared's had the same coordinator
for his whole career in Detroit, really, so advantage Jared.
Goff there to me, Jordan Love. Until I see the
Packers defense good, you just they can't win with the

(59:30):
way they've been playing defense. Now clear they may have changed,
but until we see it on Sundays, you just never know.
Because we thought they'd be better on defense some years
and it just didn't materialize. So if I had to
rank it, I would go golf. Jalen one A and
one B. Both guys have been to a Super Bowl,
so they've proven they can get there. They've won playoff

(59:53):
games Lamar two and Jordan Love three. I'm not saying
Jordan Love can't do it. We saw him play well,
but you can't make these runs if your defense is
shitty and the packers. To me, the pressure is not
on the offense. And really, Jordan Love this year, I
think they're gonna be fine. It's like, can you go

(01:00:13):
toe to toe with some of these other physical defenses.
Just recently been getting into golf and going out playing
with buddies. Any recommendations for someone starting out, have a
good time, enjoy yourself, have some beers, get you know,
play five dollars aside. I'd say practice, but you're not

(01:00:34):
a pro. Practicing sucks. Let's go play, have fun. And
if you really get into it and you suck, I mean,
maybe find a guy around where you live and get
a lesson. Fan from Australia actually just read on the
New York Post that this guy was on a camping
trip next to way where the biggest crocs in Australia live,

(01:00:57):
and fell into the water and his wife was reaching
down to help him out and she was only lifeline
out but she started to slip too, so he let
go of her hand. Because he didn't want to drag
her in and obviously got eaten. And they found and
euthanized the croc, and the croc was sixteen feet long.

(01:01:21):
I was thinking about this, if you were gonna go down,
would you rather get eaten by a crocodile or a shark? Now,
the thing with the crocodile, they're gonna eat you. The shark,
you're just gonna bleed to death because it bites you
and you're not a seal. But that initial bite and
the power of the shark and then just beat out

(01:01:42):
there in the water. Tough question to ask or answer.
I don't know. I think the crocodile would be worse.
I really in a river or some grimy lake, which
just crocodile's chomping on you, doing the spin, ripping your
bones apart. At least Jaws just takes one bite and
then takes off. Listen to your convo with Jake Rosenberg

(01:02:05):
made me think Kirk cousins contract of one hundred and
eighty million with fifty million dollars signing bones. Could that
mean after this year he might have around three years
one hundred million left of owing, assuming he is healthy
post Achilles. Would that become an attractive to a trading team.
I know Atlanta would have a big dead cap, but
could they expect a decent draft compensation as a trading

(01:02:28):
team with Cousins three years one hundred million dollars left
owing sounds a lot more attractive than two hundred millions
for four years that people are talking with Dak Prescott. Well,
there are a couple of variables here. Kirk Cousins is
a no trade clause. But if they were gonna bench
him and go with Pennix, that would get waived. You'd

(01:02:48):
have to look. One thing Jake talked about is the
way cash goes. So if over the next I don't
know six months, the Falcons have paid, let's just pick number,
because I think ninety guaranteed. Let's say they've paid, I'm guessing,
I don't know the contract in front of me, seventy
of it. You're not on the hook for that much

(01:03:08):
as the trading team now his value. If you're benching him,
the question would be why so did he get benched?
Because you're just you're kind of doing a far of
Rogers or Rogers love. I know Rogers didn't get bench,
but you know what I mean, you just like we
think this guy's gonna be better Mahomes Alex Smith. Let's
just pivot. If that's the case, and he's played well

(01:03:31):
and you guys won ten games and we're in a
playoff game and won the division, he would have value.
If you're going to penix because he doesn't look as
good as he's looked, then I don't think he has
as much value at all. Doesn't mean you can't unload
the contract, but I don't think he would get any
trade compensation of any importance. Question for the mailbag, what's

(01:03:56):
your take on fantasy football? Do you participate in any leagues?
Do you think their popularity will decline due to the
vast legalization of sports betting full transparency. I've never been
a big fantasy guy. I've never played. Maybe I did
play in one league one time, like the radio station,
I mean a decade ago. It's never been my thing.

(01:04:18):
For whatever reason now I have When I lived in
California and DraftKings kind of came on the scene, remember
the year when DraftKings and fan Duel DraftKings podcast. So
pretend I didn't even say that other name. We're just
every other ad. It was incredible. I mean they spent
a lot of coin early on. Well, obviously gambling wasn't

(01:04:38):
It wasn't legal then anywhere beside the like Vegas or whatever.
But you could play daily fantasy. And I used to
play that all the time. And I don't. I'll dabble,
like play some five ten dollars daily fantasy games on
a given week just to be entertained. But I don't
play leagues like the fantasy pros guys like a lot
of you guys, you know, Matt berry Field, g Eight's

(01:05:00):
all those guys. I the thing with gambling, and I
do agree that over the next decade, because ultimately what
fantasy is. I think fantasy brings an element that gambling doesn't.
I know some guys that play in leagues that are
like thousand dollars buy ins. Obviously there are some legendary
leagues with multi millionaires. Some of you guys playing leagues

(01:05:23):
that I don't know, one hundred dollars buy it. Whatever
the buy in is. There is a communal play with
your friends aspect. I do think the older you get,
you get married, you have kids, it is it can
be more. It's easier to gamble. It's easier to like,
goh shit, I kind of like this team plus four
this week. Then to set your line up, follow it

(01:05:43):
waiver Wire. I think it's it's it's tailor made for
younger dudes with less time or more time and less
things going on. I do think it gets more difficult,
which is where gambling comes in. Which also the older
you get, ideally you should have a little more money,
easier to get involve. So I think fantasy football has
played a huge, huge role in the casual popularity of

(01:06:07):
the NFL. But to me, it's like, and this is
no disrespect because I respect it because I know it's
important to the game that I love and all of
us love to watch and talk about. As gambling gets
bigger and bigger, it's gonna feel this is a guess,
a little like JV vers Varsity. Now, that doesn't mean

(01:06:30):
fantasy is gonna go away. It doesn't mean that these
leagues are gonna stop. But I do think that gambling
is just It's always been important to football. It's the
sport that we gamble on first and foremost in this country.
But the access has been difficult. I mean, you could
have a bookie trust me. I've made some payments in
the back of a Burger King parking lot, but those

(01:06:52):
days are kind of over. And the ability to do
everything on our phone, you just don't have to follow
as much. I think part of fantasy what makes it
difficult is if you have like you're an accountant or
your doctor or whatever, and you love football, it can
be difficult. And how often do you hear, especially people
my age, like once you get in your late thirties forties,

(01:07:13):
like I didn't even know this guy was injured. I
didn't have a quarterback this week. I think that happens
more and more, and I think those guys kind of
phase out and get more into gambling. But the element
of doing it with your buddies, there's nothing like that, right,
I mean, that's what's the point of living if you
can't have some activities with your close friends or your close colleagues.
So that's something that gambling. Let's face. When I gamble,

(01:07:38):
I like to watch the game by myself and pace around.
It's a very isolated act where fantasy, if you're in
a league, is much more communal. Right, you can be
on a text chain with everybody, so that there are
elements that gambling can never quite bring to the table.
But I do think there are elements of I mean,

(01:08:00):
you can win, you name the price, depending on what
you're willing to bet in four hours. That's not really
the way fantasy works. Daily fantasy works that way. But yeah,
we'll end on that one. That was a good question,
So respect to my fantasy people, I think it's difficult.
The hard part for me is the way we talk
about football, the importance of football, and then you get

(01:08:23):
to fantasy and the running back is the most important
player and I get it, the way it's scored and everything.
That always threw me off. I guess it was a
little more normal back and like if you're playing in
two thousand and two, but always talk about now as
the quarterbacks. They're all making the most money. They clearly
are the most important player on a given team to
have success, that guy has to play well for you
to succeed. And it's like, hey, you get this guy,

(01:08:44):
you get like Jared Goff, you know, on the whatever
round I think you do with just a pro bowler
and you're taking his backup running back over him. I
don't know if that's the case. You know what I mean,
but it is what it is. It's always been that way.
I know this. It's fantasy for podcasts, the do we

(01:09:04):
add on for fantasy pros. It's a big business. It
is so I you're a big business. You're doing a
shitload of downloads, your top ten podcasts, and you're making
I respect you. I don't do it, but it doesn't
mean I don't respect it right Like I'm not. I'm
not ordering every UFC fight. I have nothing but admiration

(01:09:25):
for Dana in that business and what they've built. It's
fucking incredible. Hell, I loved wrestling growing up, like probably
a lot of people boys my age. Because of Stone
Cold in the Rock, I do not watch it anymore.
I have a lot of admiration for the way that
business operates. You know, Vince Obviously it's got some shit
going on, but Triple H and every time I see

(01:09:46):
him and Collins old Agent Nick con like, that thing's
a big boy business for a reason. It's a well
run thing. I don't watch it, but I'm not one
of those people that doesn't respect the following, the interest
in the revenue capabilities they have and just the bohemoth
that has been built. Uh, and it's continuing to roll,

(01:10:07):
you know, keep the train on the tracks, you know,
rolling on down, no slowing down. It's impressive in fantasy
kind of feels kind of similar. It's it's it's big,
it's I mean, it's massive. I'm an outlier. I do
all this stuff with football, talk about football, watch football
for a living. I'm just don't play the volume.