August 1, 2019 • 31 mins
You’re listening to The Best of The Odd Couple, with Chris Broussard and Rob Parker! Lakers’ superstar LeBron James has been drawing more attention than ever this summer and now even his former GM David Griffin has something to say about him. Listen to Chris and Rob tell you what they think about the current Pelicans’ Executive’s comments. The guys take time to speak with NFL Network reporter Jane Slater who has the inside scoop on the Ezekiel Elliot Situation. Finally, Ephraim Salaam explains why Zeke and Melvin Gordon are having trouble getting the money they’re looking for with Chris and Rob, today on The Odd Couple.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of the Odd Couple podcasts.
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(00:20):
s R. You're listening to the Best of the Odd
Couple with Chris Brush and Rob Harker. A story came
out today in Sports illustrating good story on Griff. It
was a good story, good story, and you know what,
he was very candid. He was very griff. He's a
candid guy. He's an honest guy. He's a straight shooter,
(00:42):
which I like about him. But I disagree with his
sentiment and some of the things he said. Rob g
read read a few of the things that Griff said.
Here you go, Chris, you are you reading out of
the Bible. I just want to make sure because so
much of it ran true. So let's hear you all right,
here's the first quote. Now, I want to make sure
(01:04):
it's not taken out of context either, Like you know,
he's gonna say that it was. So this is the
sentence leading up to the quote. The pressures of annually
supplant supplementing Lebron James with a contending roster mounted endlessly
here's griff quote. Everything we did was so inorganic and
unsustainable and frankly not fun. I was miserable. Literally the
(01:26):
moment we won the championship, I knew I was gonna leave.
There was no way I was gonna stay for any
amount of money. WoT. Here's the deal, Rod Parker. You're
in sports to win. It's different than a lot of
other fields. Every field, of course, you want success, you
want to do a good job. But sports is different
(01:50):
in that it's all about winning for who the fans,
the players and the fans. That's it. This is not
about how happy you are at your job. And frankly,
a lot of people aren't happy at their job. There
are a lot of people most people have jobs where
they're not that happy. No, they're just doing it to
(02:14):
collect the paycheck and they got to provide for their family.
They're upstanding people and they know they gotta do what
they gotta do. And so I really don't want to
hear that the pressure to win was was so I
was miserable. I get again. He's being honest, which I get,
but in sports, this is not about you having fun
(02:37):
playing fantasy basketball, Griff. It seems like he's suggesting, and
if you read the whole article, it kind of comes
that way as well, that he would have been happier
maybe had Lebron James not gone there, And he builds
around Kyrie Irving and the journey to try to make
(03:00):
the playoffs, the journey to try to win the conference title,
the journey to try to win the NBA championship would
have been a lot more fun. It would have been
organic and all that. But guess what you're probably, I'll say,
certainly would not have won a championship. Your team may
have stayed horrible, you may have gotten fired, and chances
(03:25):
are you wouldn't be the celebrated general manager you are
today and gotten the shot you got with the New
Orleans Pelicans. So I get it. It's pressure with Lebron James.
It's pressure when you got to win a championship or bust.
But that is what sports is about. And if Griff
does a good job in New Orleans, looks good so far.
(03:47):
Let's see, I have no idea. Let's see what these
ex Lakers and Zion Williamson become and see how they
build this team. But if he does a good job
in New Orleans, that same pressure. Maybe not to the
extent because there's no Lebron James unless Zion becomes that great,
but that same pressure will be heaped on you. Again.
(04:09):
You get a little honeymoon period of a few years,
but eventually your better win. So that's my point, like,
be thankful the fact that Lebron James fell in Griff's
lap and Griffin nap. He had nothing to do with
Lebron going there. Nothing he got lucky. The fact that
Lebron James fell in his lap led him the four
(04:29):
straight finals appearances or three. I think Griff was there
for it is a blessing the Griff and you gotta
be thankful and appreciative for that blessing. You're done. I
think it was a mic drop. I'm not surprised it was.
That was on the other end, there was no mic dropping.
(04:51):
Was just predictable because the part, because the part, the
part that you always leave out is yes, I get
the championship, but that doesn't mean the process and what
you went through was great. And Chris here's the part.
I think he was spot on in that because of
this is why Lebron left Cleveland the first time. He
(05:13):
was so afraid that he wasn't gonna win. He didn't
believe in himself, so he had to run and flee
to Miami and put together a team. This is the
pressure that goes around to everybody else and why guys
don't want to play with Lebron because it is all
about Lebron and Rob g The quote that he said
about the blame. Can you got that? I thought that
(05:36):
quote is right right all the money? Can you read that?
This is what Griff said. He said the reason is
a lot of people who don't like playing around Lebron
is Lebron is getting all the credit and none of
the blame. And that's not fun for people. They don't
like being part of that world and no doubt about it,
and that is a part of Lebron's world. That's why
Kevin Durant called it a toxic environment with everything that's
(05:57):
going on. And this is the other one, Chris. You
could rip Griff all you want and say he should
be thankful in this and that. But we heard andre
Iguadowa melt the same exact thing, that it wasn't fun
expecting to win all the time in Golden State. Can
you have that quote? Robe? Please read it? Should we
(06:18):
not just just hit this out. That's not what I'm saying.
What Iguadowa was a player who's had nothing but success
on a great team, and even he said that it
can become it can become a daunting task and not
be fun. This is a player, so go ahead read it.
This is what Iguadala said to our friend Rick Bucher
on Bleacher Wary. He said, quote playing for the Warriors
(06:40):
is just like playing for Team USA. When you play
in the Olympics, you don't even enjoy it. There's the
anxiety of we have to win, we can't lose, we
can't go back home. We talk about it on the
Olympic team, we can't go back home without the gold medal.
Fellas got a lock in, let's lock in. And then
when you win, it's like, well, yeah, we got it,
we got we came back home. We won, but you
know we were supposed to. And so all I'm saying
(07:01):
is Rob Parker would rather be butler than due. That's
not what That's not what I'm saying, Chris, you're trying
to twist my words. That's not what I'm saying. When
what I'm saying, did you just have your spiel? Can
I can I talk about it? I mean, you just
had yours? You said you had your mic drop. All
I'm telling you is I thought Griff was being honest
that it's not always fun to be around Lebron and
(07:23):
this whole idea that we gotta rip up everything, trade
eight players at the midway point, do whatever for Lebron
because Lebron has to win. And there is a process
sometimes that goes on where if you can look at
Toronto and the process that they went through and they
won a championship. They made trade No, but they were deep.
(07:45):
But they gave up a star. No, they had an
organic they guess it was they it was organic. They
made a trade. They gave up their star for Kauai,
who was a guy who wasn't happy in San Antonio.
They eight other moves. It wasn't a star driven less team.
Up three or four guys and we gotta get this guy.
(08:06):
All other was Cleveland I'm talking about in general, and
I thought that his quotes were spot on and right,
and the reason why Lebrons had problems getting other guys
to come join them. They don't want to be when Lebron.
When when you're Lebron James and all your fans are
calling you the goat if you don't win, the other
(08:29):
guys are the scapegoat. And that's the problem. It's always
it's lever Lebron's fault. When has it been Lebron's fault?
You say it all the time. Chris fault against Dallas.
He played eleven years in Cleveland and they won one
CHAMPI against Dallas. He got crushed for Dallas. Dua ain't.
Wade didn't get crushed for Dallas. Chris Boss didn't get
(08:49):
crushed for Dallas. Mike Miller, if he was even there
at that time, didn't get crushed for Dallas. I don't
even know was he there. I don't know he was
there at some point. Lebron got crushed for that. That's
look that comes with greatness, Rob, That's what I'm saying.
You know you were covering the NBA at this time
with Michael Jordan. How did he and Jerry Krouse get along?
(09:11):
Jerry Cross was the general manager. Did they get along well,
and Krauss was upset. Krauss was glad when Jordan left
with Phil Jackson retired because he wanted to show he
could build his own team. No, I think I think
ownership was happy because they didn't want to pay those
guys anymore they had. Krauss wanted to show some stuff too,
though they How's that worked out? How the Bulls been
(09:34):
since Jordan? Yeah, but that's that's irrelevant of whether or
not as cool the process as you go through, whether
you enjoy it, didn't enjoy a lot, whether you enjoy it.
And I'm just saying I'm not surprised by David. David
Griffin could have kept his mouth shut accepted the championship.
He would just be I think he's honest. I don't
agree with it. I don't think he's ripping Lebron. I
(09:54):
think he's being honest with how he felt during that time.
It all makes sense to me. It just does. And
you you're you're saying again, as you always do, this
is why players don't want to play with Lebron. Anthony
Davis changed his whole public image. Anthony Davis is with
the same agency. Yeah, but he chose that he didn't
(10:15):
wake up in office. The old my gosh, if he
was with him, if he was with him, if he
was with another agency, and he with another agent and
he picked Lebron. Chris, I back off that store. He
he had another agent. No, no, this to go with that.
Whole thing is about Lebron. The whole thing was about
why did Anthony Davis sign with Rich Paul. I'm just
(10:37):
telling you the gun point. I mean, seriously, you act
like he just told them blue. He walked, Oh my gosh,
Rich Paul, I guess I gotta go play with me.
I took to someone's Rich Paul, knowing fully well that
that would get him to play with Lebron. Talk to
some of his teammates who played with him, who said
(10:57):
they don't even recognize Anthony Davis, that that's fine, that
he's not the same guy, saying I'm not saying that's
not the case, but I'm saying, you can't tell me
nobody wants to play with Lebryne when Anthony Davis is
going to play, When Richard Jefferson, Kyle Korver guys have
taken less money to go play with him. Let's just
(11:19):
keep it real. That's all a brother Sam. Be sure
to catch live editions of The Odd Couple with Chris
Brussard and Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern four
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
We're pleased to bring in the NFL network reporter does
a terrific job covering the league, Jane Slater. Jane, welcome
(11:40):
to this happening. Thanks guys for having me. I appreciate it. No,
it's great to have you. Now you've been all over
this Ezekiel Elliott's story and situation. How do you foresee
this ending? My I think if I were Jerry and
the way I see, you know, things seeming to go
from his comments, Stephen Jones con is I could see
(12:02):
them letting this go into the early part of the
season and in the first couple of games or game
maybe without Zeke. Can you see it going that far?
Speculating at this point I think would be inappropriate in
the role the I am as a reporter, but I
can at least give you this. I don't know if
the Cowboys even have an idea of how long this
thing's going to go. When I say that, because from
(12:25):
the beginning of this this was so unexpected. It's my
understanding that Zeke told him that he was going to
be there at training camp, and so that's where some
of the rugs coming in here. And you know, the
Cowboys picked up his fifth year option, and they keep
reminding us that Ezekiel Elliott is in fact under contract.
Not only do they have the fifth year option, they
(12:46):
have the ability to franchise tackets and if he does
it show up on the August six, fully pushed his
free agency down a year and then he becomes a
restricted free agent. So as much as people have talked
about all of the Ezekiel Elliot's leverage, and he certainly
has that in these discussions when you look at his
production and what he's been able to accomplish in his
three years with Dallas and who he is is a
(13:08):
back in this league, the Cowboys in a sense also
have a lot of leverage. So I think these two
sides are budding. Has a little bit here on. The
Cowboys feel like they've submitted a fair offer. They want
him to be paid. They believe he deserves to be paid.
But as it was told to me this week, they
thought that Todd Gurley deal was a bad deal. They're
(13:29):
trying to reset the market, and I would imagine that
Ezekiel Elliott's team is trying to start those discussions at
Todd Gurley money. What I was asked, is this an
issue over guaranteed money? Is just an issue over length
of the contract? I was told everything has been an issue,
that they are not closed. An offer came down yesterday
(13:52):
and it was one that the Cowboys weren't interested in entertaining.
So to be able to say I think he's going
to be here on the Augus sixth deadline, I think
he's going to be here to start training camp gets
anybody's guests. Everyone I've asked in that building doesn't seem
to have a good handled splash sent on when he's
going to report to camp. And so the next place
I go, well, is how much is an Ezekiel Elliott's
(14:14):
bank did he afford to miss game dex And that's
an answer that I don't have. Hey, Jane, was Todd
Gurley's contract a bad one? What do you rush for
over a hundred yards and ran over to Cowboys and
route to the Super Bowl? Was that a bad contract? Then? Look,
it's not so much an issue of is this guy
talented and deserves some money. It's you know, all of
(14:35):
these guys, the analytics guys will tell you that it's
a position you don't overpay. And the Cowboys right now
find themselves in a predicament in the sense that they're
probably going to have to overpay their quarterback just by
nature of the fact that Carson Wentz sent the market
and he's been paying. He's been playing for what three
hundred and twenty seven thousand dollars I think was the
(14:57):
average the last three years. He started in every single
game as a Cowboys player, the first time that's ever
happened in franchise history. And they've seen improvement from it.
But not only that, it's the leadership, that the coachability,
the way he galvanized the locker room, and the way
Dak Prescott's there. It can't they're not constantly managing the
(15:17):
distractions that Ezekiel Elliott has put forth for them. I mean,
keep in mind, it was just what a month ago
that Jerry Jones's legal team, his legal envoy, was up
there with Ezekiel Elliott as he's meeting with the commissioner
for yet another off the fielded issue. Right, Jane, here's
my other thing about that. I'm glad you brought it up.
(15:38):
That's just where I'm going. You can't have it both ways.
Jerry Jones has dabbled into signing a lot of questionable guys,
Greg Hardy. He also tried to cool a cool against
God Goodell over right Ezekiel Elliott, And now he wants
to use that against him. How can you use that
against him when he's harbored a lot of guys who
(15:58):
have made a lot of mistakes off the field because
they can play. Does that make sense? Oh, I understand
what you're saying, and it's a valid argument. The Cowboys
absolutely know what they're getting into with these guys. I mean,
look at Randy Gregory, a guy that they continued to
support and go to bat four. But Randy Gregory is
not sitting there or holding them hostage ahead of training camp.
(16:21):
And it was Jerry Jones who was fitted at the
Hall of Fame two years ago who publicly went on
the record and defended a guy in very muddy allegations
that pertains to domestic abuse. And there were a lot
of people that that race in eyebrows. Jerry Jones lost
some respect in the league as a result of that,
and if you watch that All or Nothing specially. I
(16:42):
brought this up the other day. One of the singular
moments that stood out for me was when Jerry Jones
came over and sat right next to Ezekiel. It wasn't
the boss talking to you from across the desk. He
sat right next to Ezekiel Elliott. He tapped him on
the leg and he said, I went to bat for you.
And I think by telling the Cowboys that you are
going to be here, they were working on trying to
(17:04):
get that deal. They've handled all these structures. Oh and
by the way, the Cowboys are now involves no lawsuits,
that involves a car crash to the tune of twenty
million dollars. The sense that I'm getting is there is
just a level of frustration and headache. And again they
knew what they were getting into. Absolutely. I don't think
(17:26):
they're sitting here saying, you know, Ze, we deserve a
hometown discount because of that. But it's also we can
talk about your contract next year, two years. We're talking
about it now. We're trying to get you here, and
what you're putting on the table isn't anywhere close to
what we're willing to talk about, and that's where this
situation is currently. The Eye Couple. We're joined by Jane
(17:46):
Slater of the NFL Network. Jane, can you give us
some clarity we keep here in this August sixth deadline
if he doesn't show up. Let's what if he shows
up August tenth and says I'll play on the deal
a lot have or week one? Um? You know last
year with Levian Bell, he had the week ten where
he could show up so and then give us Yeah,
(18:09):
that was the luba. Can you give us kind of
If he doesn't show up of August six and he
shows up a week later, he still doesn't get how
does this work one second year? I'd love to give
you an answer on that, but I haven't been able
to get real clarity on that either. Just to be
completely frankented, right, we keep here in his day, right right?
(18:32):
The best way that's been described to me as it
just pushes his free agency back a year. But in
terms of a tenth deadline, how it affected Levion Bell,
I simply don't know. I even posed the question, all right,
if he shows up on August six he works out
with you, and then a week before the season he
decides to piece out what happens then. I haven't been
(18:55):
able to get a clear answer on that either, So
when I get it, I'll get back to you. Guys.
I've been perplexed as you are. In point. Frankly, some
people inside the buildings I've asked are equally perlexed. Jane
last thing and the Cowboys have their own issues. I
guess they never thought they'd be in this position. You
know what, They gotta pay three guys, and it just
(19:15):
looks like some they're gonna have to make a choice
because if they give Dak Prescott thirty million, they probably
won't have enough for Maury Cooper. And depending on what happens,
all three of these guys can't get paid, can they.
I've been told by the capologist that you can absolutely
get these three guys paid. I mean, you can always
(19:37):
get you can always get creative with guaranteed money, etc. Right,
But to your point, I mean, if you've got a
guy that's expecting the world and they're not prepared to
pay that, I don't know how that's gonna work. I
haven't gotten any since this Dak Gil's not gonna get done.
I was told that they're optimistic. This happens in training
camp a Marie Cooper is still kind of the wild
(19:58):
card to be fifteen. Hasn't done a whole lot of
talking period. There haven't been a lot of leaks from
his camp, and all the Cowboys have set is that
we've submitted an awesome one that we feel good about.
I truly believe that they were waiting to see it
was sort of where the Michael Thomas numbers were. But
I haven't heard about any new development as that USh forward.
I think Amory Cooper believes in himself, is betting on himself.
(20:22):
I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't get the numbers
that he wants. He says, Okay, cool, let's table this
and let's talk about this down the line. But that's
sort of where we're out on these three contracts. I mean,
the Cowboys have sort of said to us and sort
of managed the media and the sense, we're not going
to give you guys daily updates or numbers about where
we're had on these contracts. So they've been playing a
(20:44):
little vague on all three of those. Be quite honest, Jane,
great stuff, great information. Thanks a lot, keep up the
great Yes, thank you so much, No problem, thanks guys. Yeah,
and make sure you tune in the NFL Networks Inside
Training Camp Alive that continues through August seventh, starting each
day at ten am Eastern time. Be sure to catch
(21:05):
live editions of The Odd Couple with Chris Broussard and
Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern four pm Pacific.
Great person to bring in after Rob and I just
got into it about this NFL stuff going on with
the running backs and their salaries. It's e from Salim,
former NFL offensive linemen and Fox Sports Radio weekend host
(21:27):
from What's happening up and forth Man, Well, hey, that's
what we do. That's what the Eye Couple does. We're
gonna bring you into this now. From we have Rob
and I both always criticize the players, this collective bargainer
(21:47):
agreement for the NFL players, but we have had we
have talked with former NFL players, our colleague Marcel is
widely who defends the agreement. He was a part of it, right.
I don't know how if you were in you know,
in the committees and all that when you were a player,
But what is your view of the collective bargaining agreement
(22:08):
that the players have in the NFL um You know,
for the first off, it's how they how they approach it.
How do they approach players, especially when they're playing. Is
they come in, you know, the union reps come in,
tell you what's going on. And the only thing players,
the majority of players care about is if you get
(22:31):
your dudes check at the end of it. Right, So
for those who don't know, when they when the league
comes around and the and the and the PA, the
NFLPA comes around to every team every year during the season.
It's usually after practice Wednesday Thursday. After practice, they come in.
They have a whole big thing, a whole big speech
(22:52):
set up, and what's going on with the negotiations, what
you should have and shouldn't have, And then you know,
at my experience, they would say something like, hey, you
know you want health care forever. Do you want higher salaries?
Of course, current players are gonna say higher salaries stuff
like that, and then they say, okay, well, you know
you're gonna listen to it. And the first question is
when do we get to check, Like, when do we
(23:12):
get our dudes checks ten grand. It's probably be more now,
but it was like ten grand, right, you get your
ten grand and you move on. So guy's not even
really paying attention. They just want to get home. They
want to get that check. Get home. Maybe you tell
your significant other about it or not, or maybe that's
your Vegas freak off money. Who knows. But then the
(23:33):
way the information is given to us, it's CW so
you're not really paying attention to it. So they're just like, yeah, yeah, whatever,
whatever the NFLPA wants you to do. They'll accentuate that
point and then be like yeah, and it's the best
for all of us. He'd be like, all right, fine, cool, boom,
let's go where the money at? Wow? How about the
(23:54):
running back to the situation where I mean, we saw
it with Levon last year. Now we're looking at he
killed Elevant Elliott and uh Melvin Gordon. And basically they
want these guys to be workhorses, and they have the
control of those guys for the first five years, and
then after they do all that, they go, oh, you know,
we can't pay you only you don't even get four
(24:15):
yards to carry. You have kind of overworked you, kind
of broken down. So it's a situation where it might
be unfair for running backs because of the way they're used,
you know what I mean. And then where other players
have longer shelf lives than than than running backs. You
see it that way. Um, the premium for running backs
is definitely not the same as it used to be.
(24:37):
I think Adrian Peterson was really the last big, huge
contract for a running back because it became a two
back league. It became like guys aren't doing it by
themselves anymore. That that when when I was Jamal Anderson
was a one back guy, right, Terrell David, they're one
back guy, Sean Alexander one. That was an error where
(25:00):
you had one of the top running backs in the game,
you were doing it, and you were gonna give them
three hundred four hundred you know, carried a year. That's
just what it was. Then it became okay, we're gonna
do thunder and lightning with Ward done and um uh
djay ducat I think it was. And then you know,
you had all of these teams going to these secondary backs.
(25:21):
But now you have a resurgence of guys who can
carry that Lottle Levian Bell, you have Ezekiel Alle you
have the I'm not sold on Gordon like I just
that's just not Yeah, he's only had one thousand yards season.
It was only what like eleven hundred and forty yards
(25:42):
or something like that at at three point nine yards
to carry. Last year he had eight. He only played twelve.
It's just he's he hasn't done enough to break the
back the charges. He's been so hurt, the charges have
been forced to do without him, so they're like, okay,
well and they've done would have well, but it's that's exactly.
(26:03):
But from the only thing I'll say is for all
this stuff you just said, and basically dog Melvin Gordon
is funny. Yet he he asked for a holder, he
has a holdout and they doublest contract. They won the
doublest contract. So obviously did some other money. How did
they go from five million to say we'll give you
ten million because obviously he's not being paid what his words?
Would you agree with that? I mean the money is there,
(26:26):
but you got to prove yourself, right you really as
a running back you want to hold out? You've had
one thousand yards season, think about that won the league
and where he averaged more than where he averaged four
or more yards a carry one out of form and
we can't do that, Like what what what are we doing?
(26:46):
Whoever advising him, they're missing the point. It's the eye couple.
We're joined by e from s lin Efron. Let me
ask you, this former NFL offensive lineman, you haven't been alignment.
I mean, you guys get the least amount of credit,
the least amount of publicity, and oftentimes outside of the
left tackle, the least amount of money. Do you guys
(27:08):
look at it differently? Uh? You know? I mean do
you how did that lineman look at running backs complaining
about the money and stuff? It's funny to us. And
that the thing that that never had happened before until
last year last season, when some of the linemen came
out and spoke out against Levion Bell like that was
crazy to me. That is crazy to talk about some
(27:28):
other man's money. Man, I thought I was crazy. That's
the thing I've ever saying. Yep, you're the ligneman coming
out talking about you make this much and I make
this much. That's look if that's the direction to league
going in, and I'm glad I'm out because I would
have went crazy in that locker role, right, you just
you can't do that. That has nothing to do with
you as an offensive linemen. We do our job. We
(27:48):
are the epitome of do your job, and it's it's
not gonna be any no fan fair, it's no autograph signings.
It's you. It's the yeoman's work. You do your job,
and the more you do it, the better you do it.
You'll make some money, but the teams UH benefits greatly
from you doing your job. Those five guys up front,
(28:10):
that's what it is. There's no bill boards, was five
offensive linemen on the way they do that. There are
running backs gonna have to eventually take that mentality now
because they're there. They're pounding right. What you gotta do
is look with Seattle, they got about twelve running backs
up there. I don't know how many running backs they
got in camp, but what it created was it created
(28:33):
a sense of competition. The guys are hungry for the ball.
Their first round draft pick last year barely got to
touches when he got healthy. He's a dynamic running back,
but we didn't know it because he barely got touches.
Richard Penny you know what I mean. So what's happening
is you can find running back. You can find running backs.
Denver proved that years ago. Right thro Davids wasn't a
(28:54):
first round draft pick, none of the none of those guys.
But they could never win until they finally got a
guy could run like that. And Seattle, when did they
find the guy? Where did they find it? Yeah? No,
I'm not saying yeah, I get I get that. A
lot of great players are in the first round. I
mean we've seen Tom Brady, Joe Montana, a lot of
guys undrafted. But I was saying Seattle is a perfect
(29:15):
example about they cost themselves a Super Bowl by not
giving the ball to the running back. They have one
right there, Yeah they did. Once you have them, right,
you realize, like once you do accuse them. Once you
don't have them, you realize how much you need one. Right,
that's the old crooks. But when you have them and
you work them, it's like, well, how much years, how
(29:36):
many more years, how much Tredy has left on the tire.
It's that's that'll always be an argument, those days of
paying quarter running backs. Uh MVP league running backs on
the league MVPs anymore. So, remember that they were seriously
they were seriously considered for a quarterbacks those days. Those
days are over, no doubt about. We got thirty seconds
(29:58):
left quickly. Who who What would you do if you
were Jerry Jones in this situation? Um, you you gotta
you gotta pay. First of all, you gotta pay a quarterback.
You gotta pay that quest Scott. I mean that, I
get what he wants to do. I get I can't
trust Ezekiel Elliot off off the field. Yeah, but he's
(30:18):
made a history of signing players like that. He's the
one who he do want to put up a cool
against Roger goodell over anymore like that. Ain't going for that.
He's like, yo, man, you gotta step back, like we're
not doing that. We can't do it. We can't afford
to do that. Right, you lose Ezekiel Elliott, he gets it.
He just got in trouble again. When does the stop? Right?
(30:42):
I don't know. They can always go out and signed
We signed Greg Hardy again, right, I mean, come on,
But from though, you can't use that argument because the
Dallas Cowboys more than that. But they used to do.
They've signed nothing. You can't turn over a new leaf.
You too, you too. You keep saying that used too. Yeah,
well yeah they used to do that, right, It's not
(31:05):
happening anymore. You can't, you can't dedicate that type of
money because somebody you can't trust. He from great stuff, man,
great insight. We appreciated brother, and uh we've been listening
to you on the weekend. Absolutely brother pack. Thanks
Thanks for listening to the best of the Odd Couple podcasts.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday from seven
pm to ten pm Eastern four to seven Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for The Odd
Couple at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching f
(00:20):
s R. You're listening to the Best of the Odd
Couple with Chris Brush and Rob Harker. A story came
out today in Sports illustrating good story on Griff. It
was a good story, good story, and you know what,
he was very candid. He was very griff. He's a
candid guy. He's an honest guy. He's a straight shooter,
(00:42):
which I like about him. But I disagree with his
sentiment and some of the things he said. Rob g
read read a few of the things that Griff said.
Here you go, Chris, you are you reading out of
the Bible. I just want to make sure because so
much of it ran true. So let's hear you all right,
here's the first quote. Now, I want to make sure
(01:04):
it's not taken out of context either, Like you know,
he's gonna say that it was. So this is the
sentence leading up to the quote. The pressures of annually
supplant supplementing Lebron James with a contending roster mounted endlessly
here's griff quote. Everything we did was so inorganic and
unsustainable and frankly not fun. I was miserable. Literally the
(01:26):
moment we won the championship, I knew I was gonna leave.
There was no way I was gonna stay for any
amount of money. WoT. Here's the deal, Rod Parker. You're
in sports to win. It's different than a lot of
other fields. Every field, of course, you want success, you
want to do a good job. But sports is different
(01:50):
in that it's all about winning for who the fans,
the players and the fans. That's it. This is not
about how happy you are at your job. And frankly,
a lot of people aren't happy at their job. There
are a lot of people most people have jobs where
they're not that happy. No, they're just doing it to
(02:14):
collect the paycheck and they got to provide for their family.
They're upstanding people and they know they gotta do what
they gotta do. And so I really don't want to
hear that the pressure to win was was so I
was miserable. I get again. He's being honest, which I get,
but in sports, this is not about you having fun
(02:37):
playing fantasy basketball, Griff. It seems like he's suggesting, and
if you read the whole article, it kind of comes
that way as well, that he would have been happier
maybe had Lebron James not gone there, And he builds
around Kyrie Irving and the journey to try to make
(03:00):
the playoffs, the journey to try to win the conference title,
the journey to try to win the NBA championship would
have been a lot more fun. It would have been
organic and all that. But guess what you're probably, I'll say,
certainly would not have won a championship. Your team may
have stayed horrible, you may have gotten fired, and chances
(03:25):
are you wouldn't be the celebrated general manager you are
today and gotten the shot you got with the New
Orleans Pelicans. So I get it. It's pressure with Lebron James.
It's pressure when you got to win a championship or bust.
But that is what sports is about. And if Griff
does a good job in New Orleans, looks good so far.
(03:47):
Let's see, I have no idea. Let's see what these
ex Lakers and Zion Williamson become and see how they
build this team. But if he does a good job
in New Orleans, that same pressure. Maybe not to the
extent because there's no Lebron James unless Zion becomes that great,
but that same pressure will be heaped on you. Again.
(04:09):
You get a little honeymoon period of a few years,
but eventually your better win. So that's my point, like,
be thankful the fact that Lebron James fell in Griff's
lap and Griffin nap. He had nothing to do with
Lebron going there. Nothing he got lucky. The fact that
Lebron James fell in his lap led him the four
(04:29):
straight finals appearances or three. I think Griff was there
for it is a blessing the Griff and you gotta
be thankful and appreciative for that blessing. You're done. I
think it was a mic drop. I'm not surprised it was.
That was on the other end, there was no mic dropping.
(04:51):
Was just predictable because the part, because the part, the
part that you always leave out is yes, I get
the championship, but that doesn't mean the process and what
you went through was great. And Chris here's the part.
I think he was spot on in that because of
this is why Lebron left Cleveland the first time. He
(05:13):
was so afraid that he wasn't gonna win. He didn't
believe in himself, so he had to run and flee
to Miami and put together a team. This is the
pressure that goes around to everybody else and why guys
don't want to play with Lebron because it is all
about Lebron and Rob g The quote that he said
about the blame. Can you got that? I thought that
(05:36):
quote is right right all the money? Can you read that?
This is what Griff said. He said the reason is
a lot of people who don't like playing around Lebron
is Lebron is getting all the credit and none of
the blame. And that's not fun for people. They don't
like being part of that world and no doubt about it,
and that is a part of Lebron's world. That's why
Kevin Durant called it a toxic environment with everything that's
(05:57):
going on. And this is the other one, Chris. You
could rip Griff all you want and say he should
be thankful in this and that. But we heard andre
Iguadowa melt the same exact thing, that it wasn't fun
expecting to win all the time in Golden State. Can
you have that quote? Robe? Please read it? Should we
(06:18):
not just just hit this out. That's not what I'm saying.
What Iguadowa was a player who's had nothing but success
on a great team, and even he said that it
can become it can become a daunting task and not
be fun. This is a player, so go ahead read it.
This is what Iguadala said to our friend Rick Bucher
on Bleacher Wary. He said, quote playing for the Warriors
(06:40):
is just like playing for Team USA. When you play
in the Olympics, you don't even enjoy it. There's the
anxiety of we have to win, we can't lose, we
can't go back home. We talk about it on the
Olympic team, we can't go back home without the gold medal.
Fellas got a lock in, let's lock in. And then
when you win, it's like, well, yeah, we got it,
we got we came back home. We won, but you
know we were supposed to. And so all I'm saying
(07:01):
is Rob Parker would rather be butler than due. That's
not what That's not what I'm saying, Chris, you're trying
to twist my words. That's not what I'm saying. When
what I'm saying, did you just have your spiel? Can
I can I talk about it? I mean, you just
had yours? You said you had your mic drop. All
I'm telling you is I thought Griff was being honest
that it's not always fun to be around Lebron and
(07:23):
this whole idea that we gotta rip up everything, trade
eight players at the midway point, do whatever for Lebron
because Lebron has to win. And there is a process
sometimes that goes on where if you can look at
Toronto and the process that they went through and they
won a championship. They made trade No, but they were deep.
(07:45):
But they gave up a star. No, they had an
organic they guess it was they it was organic. They
made a trade. They gave up their star for Kauai,
who was a guy who wasn't happy in San Antonio.
They eight other moves. It wasn't a star driven less team.
Up three or four guys and we gotta get this guy.
(08:06):
All other was Cleveland I'm talking about in general, and
I thought that his quotes were spot on and right,
and the reason why Lebrons had problems getting other guys
to come join them. They don't want to be when Lebron.
When when you're Lebron James and all your fans are
calling you the goat if you don't win, the other
(08:29):
guys are the scapegoat. And that's the problem. It's always
it's lever Lebron's fault. When has it been Lebron's fault?
You say it all the time. Chris fault against Dallas.
He played eleven years in Cleveland and they won one
CHAMPI against Dallas. He got crushed for Dallas. Dua ain't.
Wade didn't get crushed for Dallas. Chris Boss didn't get
(08:49):
crushed for Dallas. Mike Miller, if he was even there
at that time, didn't get crushed for Dallas. I don't
even know was he there. I don't know he was
there at some point. Lebron got crushed for that. That's
look that comes with greatness, Rob, That's what I'm saying.
You know you were covering the NBA at this time
with Michael Jordan. How did he and Jerry Krouse get along?
(09:11):
Jerry Cross was the general manager. Did they get along well,
and Krauss was upset. Krauss was glad when Jordan left
with Phil Jackson retired because he wanted to show he
could build his own team. No, I think I think
ownership was happy because they didn't want to pay those
guys anymore they had. Krauss wanted to show some stuff too,
though they How's that worked out? How the Bulls been
(09:34):
since Jordan? Yeah, but that's that's irrelevant of whether or
not as cool the process as you go through, whether
you enjoy it, didn't enjoy a lot, whether you enjoy it.
And I'm just saying I'm not surprised by David. David
Griffin could have kept his mouth shut accepted the championship.
He would just be I think he's honest. I don't
agree with it. I don't think he's ripping Lebron. I
(09:54):
think he's being honest with how he felt during that time.
It all makes sense to me. It just does. And
you you're you're saying again, as you always do, this
is why players don't want to play with Lebron. Anthony
Davis changed his whole public image. Anthony Davis is with
the same agency. Yeah, but he chose that he didn't
(10:15):
wake up in office. The old my gosh, if he
was with him, if he was with him, if he
was with another agency, and he with another agent and
he picked Lebron. Chris, I back off that store. He
he had another agent. No, no, this to go with that.
Whole thing is about Lebron. The whole thing was about
why did Anthony Davis sign with Rich Paul. I'm just
(10:37):
telling you the gun point. I mean, seriously, you act
like he just told them blue. He walked, Oh my gosh,
Rich Paul, I guess I gotta go play with me.
I took to someone's Rich Paul, knowing fully well that
that would get him to play with Lebron. Talk to
some of his teammates who played with him, who said
(10:57):
they don't even recognize Anthony Davis, that that's fine, that
he's not the same guy, saying I'm not saying that's
not the case, but I'm saying, you can't tell me
nobody wants to play with Lebryne when Anthony Davis is
going to play, When Richard Jefferson, Kyle Korver guys have
taken less money to go play with him. Let's just
(11:19):
keep it real. That's all a brother Sam. Be sure
to catch live editions of The Odd Couple with Chris
Brussard and Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern four
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
We're pleased to bring in the NFL network reporter does
a terrific job covering the league, Jane Slater. Jane, welcome
(11:40):
to this happening. Thanks guys for having me. I appreciate it. No,
it's great to have you. Now you've been all over
this Ezekiel Elliott's story and situation. How do you foresee
this ending? My I think if I were Jerry and
the way I see, you know, things seeming to go
from his comments, Stephen Jones con is I could see
(12:02):
them letting this go into the early part of the
season and in the first couple of games or game
maybe without Zeke. Can you see it going that far?
Speculating at this point I think would be inappropriate in
the role the I am as a reporter, but I
can at least give you this. I don't know if
the Cowboys even have an idea of how long this
thing's going to go. When I say that, because from
(12:25):
the beginning of this this was so unexpected. It's my
understanding that Zeke told him that he was going to
be there at training camp, and so that's where some
of the rugs coming in here. And you know, the
Cowboys picked up his fifth year option, and they keep
reminding us that Ezekiel Elliott is in fact under contract.
Not only do they have the fifth year option, they
(12:46):
have the ability to franchise tackets and if he does
it show up on the August six, fully pushed his
free agency down a year and then he becomes a
restricted free agent. So as much as people have talked
about all of the Ezekiel Elliot's leverage, and he certainly
has that in these discussions when you look at his
production and what he's been able to accomplish in his
three years with Dallas and who he is is a
(13:08):
back in this league, the Cowboys in a sense also
have a lot of leverage. So I think these two
sides are budding. Has a little bit here on. The
Cowboys feel like they've submitted a fair offer. They want
him to be paid. They believe he deserves to be paid.
But as it was told to me this week, they
thought that Todd Gurley deal was a bad deal. They're
(13:29):
trying to reset the market, and I would imagine that
Ezekiel Elliott's team is trying to start those discussions at
Todd Gurley money. What I was asked, is this an
issue over guaranteed money? Is just an issue over length
of the contract? I was told everything has been an issue,
that they are not closed. An offer came down yesterday
(13:52):
and it was one that the Cowboys weren't interested in entertaining.
So to be able to say I think he's going
to be here on the Augus sixth deadline, I think
he's going to be here to start training camp gets
anybody's guests. Everyone I've asked in that building doesn't seem
to have a good handled splash sent on when he's
going to report to camp. And so the next place
I go, well, is how much is an Ezekiel Elliott's
(14:14):
bank did he afford to miss game dex And that's
an answer that I don't have. Hey, Jane, was Todd
Gurley's contract a bad one? What do you rush for
over a hundred yards and ran over to Cowboys and
route to the Super Bowl? Was that a bad contract? Then? Look,
it's not so much an issue of is this guy
talented and deserves some money. It's you know, all of
(14:35):
these guys, the analytics guys will tell you that it's
a position you don't overpay. And the Cowboys right now
find themselves in a predicament in the sense that they're
probably going to have to overpay their quarterback just by
nature of the fact that Carson Wentz sent the market
and he's been paying. He's been playing for what three
hundred and twenty seven thousand dollars I think was the
(14:57):
average the last three years. He started in every single
game as a Cowboys player, the first time that's ever
happened in franchise history. And they've seen improvement from it.
But not only that, it's the leadership, that the coachability,
the way he galvanized the locker room, and the way
Dak Prescott's there. It can't they're not constantly managing the
(15:17):
distractions that Ezekiel Elliott has put forth for them. I mean,
keep in mind, it was just what a month ago
that Jerry Jones's legal team, his legal envoy, was up
there with Ezekiel Elliott as he's meeting with the commissioner
for yet another off the fielded issue. Right, Jane, here's
my other thing about that. I'm glad you brought it up.
(15:38):
That's just where I'm going. You can't have it both ways.
Jerry Jones has dabbled into signing a lot of questionable guys,
Greg Hardy. He also tried to cool a cool against
God Goodell over right Ezekiel Elliott, And now he wants
to use that against him. How can you use that
against him when he's harbored a lot of guys who
(15:58):
have made a lot of mistakes off the field because
they can play. Does that make sense? Oh, I understand
what you're saying, and it's a valid argument. The Cowboys
absolutely know what they're getting into with these guys. I mean,
look at Randy Gregory, a guy that they continued to
support and go to bat four. But Randy Gregory is
not sitting there or holding them hostage ahead of training camp.
(16:21):
And it was Jerry Jones who was fitted at the
Hall of Fame two years ago who publicly went on
the record and defended a guy in very muddy allegations
that pertains to domestic abuse. And there were a lot
of people that that race in eyebrows. Jerry Jones lost
some respect in the league as a result of that,
and if you watch that All or Nothing specially. I
(16:42):
brought this up the other day. One of the singular
moments that stood out for me was when Jerry Jones
came over and sat right next to Ezekiel. It wasn't
the boss talking to you from across the desk. He
sat right next to Ezekiel Elliott. He tapped him on
the leg and he said, I went to bat for you.
And I think by telling the Cowboys that you are
going to be here, they were working on trying to
(17:04):
get that deal. They've handled all these structures. Oh and
by the way, the Cowboys are now involves no lawsuits,
that involves a car crash to the tune of twenty
million dollars. The sense that I'm getting is there is
just a level of frustration and headache. And again they
knew what they were getting into. Absolutely. I don't think
(17:26):
they're sitting here saying, you know, Ze, we deserve a
hometown discount because of that. But it's also we can
talk about your contract next year, two years. We're talking
about it now. We're trying to get you here, and
what you're putting on the table isn't anywhere close to
what we're willing to talk about, and that's where this
situation is currently. The Eye Couple. We're joined by Jane
(17:46):
Slater of the NFL Network. Jane, can you give us
some clarity we keep here in this August sixth deadline
if he doesn't show up. Let's what if he shows
up August tenth and says I'll play on the deal
a lot have or week one? Um? You know last
year with Levian Bell, he had the week ten where
he could show up so and then give us Yeah,
(18:09):
that was the luba. Can you give us kind of
If he doesn't show up of August six and he
shows up a week later, he still doesn't get how
does this work one second year? I'd love to give
you an answer on that, but I haven't been able
to get real clarity on that either. Just to be
completely frankented, right, we keep here in his day, right right?
(18:32):
The best way that's been described to me as it
just pushes his free agency back a year. But in
terms of a tenth deadline, how it affected Levion Bell,
I simply don't know. I even posed the question, all right,
if he shows up on August six he works out
with you, and then a week before the season he
decides to piece out what happens then. I haven't been
(18:55):
able to get a clear answer on that either, So
when I get it, I'll get back to you. Guys.
I've been perplexed as you are. In point. Frankly, some
people inside the buildings I've asked are equally perlexed. Jane
last thing and the Cowboys have their own issues. I
guess they never thought they'd be in this position. You
know what, They gotta pay three guys, and it just
(19:15):
looks like some they're gonna have to make a choice
because if they give Dak Prescott thirty million, they probably
won't have enough for Maury Cooper. And depending on what happens,
all three of these guys can't get paid, can they.
I've been told by the capologist that you can absolutely
get these three guys paid. I mean, you can always
(19:37):
get you can always get creative with guaranteed money, etc. Right,
But to your point, I mean, if you've got a
guy that's expecting the world and they're not prepared to
pay that, I don't know how that's gonna work. I
haven't gotten any since this Dak Gil's not gonna get done.
I was told that they're optimistic. This happens in training
camp a Marie Cooper is still kind of the wild
(19:58):
card to be fifteen. Hasn't done a whole lot of
talking period. There haven't been a lot of leaks from
his camp, and all the Cowboys have set is that
we've submitted an awesome one that we feel good about.
I truly believe that they were waiting to see it
was sort of where the Michael Thomas numbers were. But
I haven't heard about any new development as that USh forward.
I think Amory Cooper believes in himself, is betting on himself.
(20:22):
I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't get the numbers
that he wants. He says, Okay, cool, let's table this
and let's talk about this down the line. But that's
sort of where we're out on these three contracts. I mean,
the Cowboys have sort of said to us and sort
of managed the media and the sense, we're not going
to give you guys daily updates or numbers about where
we're had on these contracts. So they've been playing a
(20:44):
little vague on all three of those. Be quite honest, Jane,
great stuff, great information. Thanks a lot, keep up the
great Yes, thank you so much, No problem, thanks guys. Yeah,
and make sure you tune in the NFL Networks Inside
Training Camp Alive that continues through August seventh, starting each
day at ten am Eastern time. Be sure to catch
(21:05):
live editions of The Odd Couple with Chris Broussard and
Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern four pm Pacific.
Great person to bring in after Rob and I just
got into it about this NFL stuff going on with
the running backs and their salaries. It's e from Salim,
former NFL offensive linemen and Fox Sports Radio weekend host
(21:27):
from What's happening up and forth Man, Well, hey, that's
what we do. That's what the Eye Couple does. We're
gonna bring you into this now. From we have Rob
and I both always criticize the players, this collective bargainer
(21:47):
agreement for the NFL players, but we have had we
have talked with former NFL players, our colleague Marcel is
widely who defends the agreement. He was a part of it, right.
I don't know how if you were in you know,
in the committees and all that when you were a player,
But what is your view of the collective bargaining agreement
(22:08):
that the players have in the NFL um You know,
for the first off, it's how they how they approach it.
How do they approach players, especially when they're playing. Is
they come in, you know, the union reps come in,
tell you what's going on. And the only thing players,
the majority of players care about is if you get
(22:31):
your dudes check at the end of it. Right, So
for those who don't know, when they when the league
comes around and the and the and the PA, the
NFLPA comes around to every team every year during the season.
It's usually after practice Wednesday Thursday. After practice, they come in.
They have a whole big thing, a whole big speech
(22:52):
set up, and what's going on with the negotiations, what
you should have and shouldn't have, And then you know,
at my experience, they would say something like, hey, you
know you want health care forever. Do you want higher salaries?
Of course, current players are gonna say higher salaries stuff
like that, and then they say, okay, well, you know
you're gonna listen to it. And the first question is
when do we get to check, Like, when do we
(23:12):
get our dudes checks ten grand. It's probably be more now,
but it was like ten grand, right, you get your
ten grand and you move on. So guy's not even
really paying attention. They just want to get home. They
want to get that check. Get home. Maybe you tell
your significant other about it or not, or maybe that's
your Vegas freak off money. Who knows. But then the
(23:33):
way the information is given to us, it's CW so
you're not really paying attention to it. So they're just like, yeah, yeah, whatever,
whatever the NFLPA wants you to do. They'll accentuate that
point and then be like yeah, and it's the best
for all of us. He'd be like, all right, fine, cool, boom,
let's go where the money at? Wow? How about the
(23:54):
running back to the situation where I mean, we saw
it with Levon last year. Now we're looking at he
killed Elevant Elliott and uh Melvin Gordon. And basically they
want these guys to be workhorses, and they have the
control of those guys for the first five years, and
then after they do all that, they go, oh, you know,
we can't pay you only you don't even get four
(24:15):
yards to carry. You have kind of overworked you, kind
of broken down. So it's a situation where it might
be unfair for running backs because of the way they're used,
you know what I mean. And then where other players
have longer shelf lives than than than running backs. You
see it that way. Um, the premium for running backs
is definitely not the same as it used to be.
(24:37):
I think Adrian Peterson was really the last big, huge
contract for a running back because it became a two
back league. It became like guys aren't doing it by
themselves anymore. That that when when I was Jamal Anderson
was a one back guy, right, Terrell David, they're one
back guy, Sean Alexander one. That was an error where
(25:00):
you had one of the top running backs in the game,
you were doing it, and you were gonna give them
three hundred four hundred you know, carried a year. That's
just what it was. Then it became okay, we're gonna
do thunder and lightning with Ward done and um uh
djay ducat I think it was. And then you know,
you had all of these teams going to these secondary backs.
(25:21):
But now you have a resurgence of guys who can
carry that Lottle Levian Bell, you have Ezekiel Alle you
have the I'm not sold on Gordon like I just
that's just not Yeah, he's only had one thousand yards season.
It was only what like eleven hundred and forty yards
(25:42):
or something like that at at three point nine yards
to carry. Last year he had eight. He only played twelve.
It's just he's he hasn't done enough to break the
back the charges. He's been so hurt, the charges have
been forced to do without him, so they're like, okay,
well and they've done would have well, but it's that's exactly.
(26:03):
But from the only thing I'll say is for all
this stuff you just said, and basically dog Melvin Gordon
is funny. Yet he he asked for a holder, he
has a holdout and they doublest contract. They won the
doublest contract. So obviously did some other money. How did
they go from five million to say we'll give you
ten million because obviously he's not being paid what his words?
Would you agree with that? I mean the money is there,
(26:26):
but you got to prove yourself, right you really as
a running back you want to hold out? You've had
one thousand yards season, think about that won the league
and where he averaged more than where he averaged four
or more yards a carry one out of form and
we can't do that, Like what what what are we doing?
(26:46):
Whoever advising him, they're missing the point. It's the eye couple.
We're joined by e from s lin Efron. Let me
ask you, this former NFL offensive lineman, you haven't been alignment.
I mean, you guys get the least amount of credit,
the least amount of publicity, and oftentimes outside of the
left tackle, the least amount of money. Do you guys
(27:08):
look at it differently? Uh? You know? I mean do
you how did that lineman look at running backs complaining
about the money and stuff? It's funny to us. And
that the thing that that never had happened before until
last year last season, when some of the linemen came
out and spoke out against Levion Bell like that was
crazy to me. That is crazy to talk about some
(27:28):
other man's money. Man, I thought I was crazy. That's
the thing I've ever saying. Yep, you're the ligneman coming
out talking about you make this much and I make
this much. That's look if that's the direction to league
going in, and I'm glad I'm out because I would
have went crazy in that locker role, right, you just
you can't do that. That has nothing to do with
you as an offensive linemen. We do our job. We
(27:48):
are the epitome of do your job, and it's it's
not gonna be any no fan fair, it's no autograph signings.
It's you. It's the yeoman's work. You do your job,
and the more you do it, the better you do it.
You'll make some money, but the teams UH benefits greatly
from you doing your job. Those five guys up front,
(28:10):
that's what it is. There's no bill boards, was five
offensive linemen on the way they do that. There are
running backs gonna have to eventually take that mentality now
because they're there. They're pounding right. What you gotta do
is look with Seattle, they got about twelve running backs
up there. I don't know how many running backs they
got in camp, but what it created was it created
(28:33):
a sense of competition. The guys are hungry for the ball.
Their first round draft pick last year barely got to
touches when he got healthy. He's a dynamic running back,
but we didn't know it because he barely got touches.
Richard Penny you know what I mean. So what's happening
is you can find running back. You can find running backs.
Denver proved that years ago. Right thro Davids wasn't a
(28:54):
first round draft pick, none of the none of those guys.
But they could never win until they finally got a
guy could run like that. And Seattle, when did they
find the guy? Where did they find it? Yeah? No,
I'm not saying yeah, I get I get that. A
lot of great players are in the first round. I
mean we've seen Tom Brady, Joe Montana, a lot of
guys undrafted. But I was saying Seattle is a perfect
(29:15):
example about they cost themselves a Super Bowl by not
giving the ball to the running back. They have one
right there, Yeah they did. Once you have them, right,
you realize, like once you do accuse them. Once you
don't have them, you realize how much you need one. Right,
that's the old crooks. But when you have them and
you work them, it's like, well, how much years, how
(29:36):
many more years, how much Tredy has left on the tire.
It's that's that'll always be an argument, those days of
paying quarter running backs. Uh MVP league running backs on
the league MVPs anymore. So, remember that they were seriously
they were seriously considered for a quarterbacks those days. Those
days are over, no doubt about. We got thirty seconds
(29:58):
left quickly. Who who What would you do if you
were Jerry Jones in this situation? Um, you you gotta
you gotta pay. First of all, you gotta pay a quarterback.
You gotta pay that quest Scott. I mean that, I
get what he wants to do. I get I can't
trust Ezekiel Elliot off off the field. Yeah, but he's
(30:18):
made a history of signing players like that. He's the
one who he do want to put up a cool
against Roger goodell over anymore like that. Ain't going for that.
He's like, yo, man, you gotta step back, like we're
not doing that. We can't do it. We can't afford
to do that. Right, you lose Ezekiel Elliott, he gets it.
He just got in trouble again. When does the stop? Right?
(30:42):
I don't know. They can always go out and signed
We signed Greg Hardy again, right, I mean, come on,
But from though, you can't use that argument because the
Dallas Cowboys more than that. But they used to do.
They've signed nothing. You can't turn over a new leaf.
You too, you too. You keep saying that used too. Yeah,
well yeah they used to do that, right, It's not
(31:05):
happening anymore. You can't, you can't dedicate that type of
money because somebody you can't trust. He from great stuff, man,
great insight. We appreciated brother, and uh we've been listening
to you on the weekend. Absolutely brother pack. Thanks
Hosts And Creators
kelvin washington
Rob Parker
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