May 19, 2023 • 46 mins
John explains why the Bengals will have to let one of their star WR’s go after signing Joe Burrow to a massive extension, why it was a mistake for Davante Adams to force his way to from the Packers to the Raiders, if outrage over an agent offering vacation house stays for teams to draft his players is overblown, and if Pat McAfee will work on historically conservative ESPN. He also answers listener questions in the Middlekauff Mailbag.
Follow John onTwitter, Instagram and YouTube for the latest. Check out Gametime - the fastest growing ticketing app in the US, and the official ticketing app of 3 & Out and GoLow - for tickets to all of your favorite NFL, NBA, NHL, NCAA teams. Concert and comedy show tickets, too. Go to Gametime now to create an account, download the app and use code JOHN for $20 off your first purchase. #volume #herd
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The Volume. What is going on everybody, John Middlecoff, Three
and Out Podcasts, how are we doing? Hopefully everyone's having
(00:21):
a good Friday or good weekend. Here's the game plan.
We'll talk a little football, a little Burrow, little Davante,
little McAfee. And instead of doing a mail bag this
weekend and probably next weekend as well because it's a
holiday weekend, I'm just gonna add it on to Friday's pod.
So at John Middlecoff is the Instagram. Fire in those dms,
get your question answered here on the show. And yeah,
(00:46):
so we'll talk a little football, We'll do a little
mail bag. That's the game plan. Obviously, live on AMP
every single day of the week. Make sure you download
that app, subscribe to the YouTube channel. Volume has got
a lot of content up there, a lot of content.
And check out the merch store. You want to get
a three and out hat. They look good the Volume
dot com search merch and check out those go lo hats.
(01:10):
They look good. Three and Out hats are coming. Other
than that, any other housekeeping make sure you subscribe to
three and Out feed. If you listen on Collins podcast,
greatly appreciated. Leave a review if you could that that
always helps, and yeah, I think that's probably should do it.
But first before we dive into some football, can I
tell you about my friends at game Time, the official
(01:32):
ticketing app of this show. Here's what I need you
to do. I need you to download the game Time
app on your phone and use the promo code Jawn
and get twenty dollars off to concerts, baseball games. You
want to do something fun this summer, of course you do.
You want to get outside, take in the sun, have
some drinks, enjoy yourself. Do it on me. Download the
(01:53):
game Time app, fastest growing ticketing app in America. You
can go to any sporting event, any concert, any comedy show,
and when you use the promo code John, Joe A Jen,
you get twenty dollars off your pair of tickets. Can't
beat it. Let's start with a couple of big stories
this week were DeVante Adams and Joe Burrow, two of
(02:18):
the best players in the league. You know, kind of
drew some headlines. There was a long article on Devonte
Adams and there were some quotes from Joe Burrow. Now,
Joe Burrow talked about his contract because he is contract
extension eligible, he's clearly, you know, got a chance to
go down, as you know, one of the best players
in franchise history, if not the best. Not a long
(02:39):
way to go, but I'd say his career is his
career trajectory is pointing up right at the sky. Right,
it's already headed there. And he talked about the importance
of other people getting paid. And listen, he's not dumb.
He understands that for them to keep rolling, he can't
do it by himself. Right, LSU loaded team the last
(03:01):
couple of years, Jamar Chase T. Higgins offensive weapons a
good defense. He gets it right. It's why we hold
when guys act like idiots at the quarterback position, you know,
we can't take them seriously. Right over the years, like
when that contract clause was in Kyler Murray's contract, it
was an enormous story, not because of the clause, but
(03:22):
because it was a quarterback. We're like, what, how is
this possible? Now here's the thing. The Chiefs and the
Bengals are a fantastic rivalry right right now. Right they've
played in back to back conference championships, they've each won one.
Both games could have gone either way. You could argue
the two best quarterbacks in the league. Obviously, Mahomes is
(03:42):
the best, and Joe Burrow is right there in conversation,
I know they beat Josh Allen, but you know, I
think that's fair for debate. But here's the thing. The
Chiefs have maintained this winning with everyone being paid. Right,
Patrick Mahomes has a large contract. Travis Kelcey. They're lucky
(04:03):
plays a position that does not command offensive tackle or
defensive end or wide receiver money. Right, they have a
highly highly paid defensive lineman in Chris Jones. They made
a pivot off Tyreek Hill because of financial constraints and
it's impossible to pay everybody. And the thing when you
look at the Bengals roster, which is going to be
(04:25):
interesting because Joe Burrow is getting extended, Jamar Chase is
never going anywhere. I think what you have to ask
yourself a question is can you afford to pay two
premium wide receivers. Now T Higgins would get less than
Jamar Chase, but ideally, when you build your team, you
kind of spread it out through different positions. You can't
(04:47):
have two twenty plus million dollar wide receivers for several years.
It's just not going to work out. There was a
reason that the forty nine ers I think discuss trading
Brandon I Yuke, not because he's not a sweet player,
because they're paying Deebo Samuel huge money. And if they
were to extend ayuk or next year on his fifth
(05:09):
year option, that would be a lot of money allocated
to two guys at a premium position. Right, So it
becomes very complicated, and it's the hard part about team
building in the NFL is ideally, over a several year period,
you have a sweet defensive lineman, you have a sweet
offensive lineman. You have one sweet wide receiver. Obviously you
(05:30):
need more than one, but you have other guys that
aren't being paid as much, and it's going to be very,
very fascinating. I remember talking to a buddy on the Chiefs.
He's like, they're good. I mean obviously, I mean you
watch the two teams and it could have gone either
way this year in the conference championship game. Basically, we'll
see what it looks like once they start paying everybody.
(05:50):
And you know, Higgins is going to be the cheapest
of these twenty plus million dollars a year, even if
Joe Burrow quote unquote takes some sort of discount. He's
making forty five plus Jamar Chase in a year is
going to command you know, Justin whatever Justin Jefferson gets
this year, probably a couple percent more so the three
of those guys, if they build, if they extend the ball,
(06:12):
and clearly Burrow and Chase are going nowhere. I do
understand the Higgins. It just puts them in a tough spot.
Now I'm not into trading to Higgins, but I just
wonder can you afford to pay everybody and build a
competitive roster big picture? I do think that's a fair
question mark to ask. And I think when you look
(06:34):
at the Bengals and Joe Burrow gets this, it's probably
going to be a little more complicated than you think.
Like the Chiefs were lucky, kind of was pretty easy, right.
They had a quarterback, they had a defensive pass rusher,
they had one wide receiver, and their other sweet player
played a position that like sometimes when your best player
is like a middle linebacker or a safety or a
(06:56):
tight end, you get financially lucky because their positions do
not ask for the prices. Like is there any difference
between Travis Kelce and DeVante Adams in terms of production,
in terms of the ability to win with or tyreek
Hill obviously not like he's every bit as good as
all the elite players at the wide receiver position. Well
(07:16):
google their salaries. The Chiefs save a dramatic amount of
money because his position. Now we could argue that's unfair,
and I believe it is. Like Travis Kelcey and George
Kittle are worth every bit you know of twenty three,
twenty four, twenty five million dollars a year, but that's
not what their position pays, right, So it'll be very,
very fascinating how the Bengals handle all this because they
(07:41):
got keeper players, but the three guys you want to keep,
their salaries would add up really really fast. And could
they compare, could they you know, build a complete team,
which they've I would say they've close to had the
last several years. Obviously they had some flaws. You were
like a little bit better offensive line, you know, you
could already their corners could be much improved. But you know,
(08:04):
I mean, you get to a super Bowl with a
very good chance to win, and you have an opportunity
to win on the road again against the Chiefs like
your team's pretty damn good. And one of the reasons
it's been so good is because financially they've had a
lot of advantages. All these guys are on rookie contracts
and that's about to change. DeVante Adams. If you haven't
(08:27):
read the Ringer article, I skim through it. I'm sure
you've seen a lot of the headlines. And let me
preface everything by saying this. I love DeVante Adams. He's
a friends of State guy. We didn't overlap, But a
lot of people that I worked with did. They swear
by them. They love them. Everyone I've ever known that
has been around the guy, you know, swears by the
work ethic, the drive, the desire. His production and game
(08:50):
speaks for itself. He's not just a winning player, he's
a winning person. You want him in your organization. And
I do understand that it's tough, right for most of
our lives. And I say this all the time. We
have such a long runway in whatever we do in sports.
It's very short, right. Even if you're an all time
(09:12):
great player like he's trending toward being, his career might
be fifteen years, right, fifteen years if he lives till eighty.
It's really a short period of time in his life.
But it's a job that pays more than any other
job you'll ever have unless you start some successful business,
and it's just a very unique situation for pro athletes.
(09:34):
He was in Green Bay for ten years, one of
the most successful organizations in the league, and I get
being from the West Coast, how he might have You know,
he's admitted this. He wanted to change the scenery, he
wanted to do something different, and he wanted to get
back toward the West Coast. And I respect that. My
only pushback is in football, when you're part of a winner,
(09:54):
like when you're as good as DeVante is or any
player around the league who's an all pro level guy, consistently,
you're going to do two things. You're going to produce
and you're going to be very very rich. Those things
are inevitable, right, and especially money, Like no matter who
DeVante played for, he's going to be paid a premium.
So I do think when you're factoring in where you're
(10:15):
going to play at wide receiver, you can't really control
how good your team's going to be. Right, Aaron Rodgers
can immediately turn the Jets into a power He can
take them right to the playoffs and in the super
Bowl mix immediately. But if I just added DeVante Adams
to the Jets instead of Aaron Rodgers and they still
(10:36):
have let's say they still had Mike White and Zach Wilson,
I think we'd all agree they you know, maybe a game,
but there would not be a dramatic difference. I put
Aaron Rodgers and he plays at a high level, which
clearly he's capable of. They immediately can win twelve games.
So as a wide receiver. And just like most positions,
if you're a star left tackle, if you're a star linebacker,
(10:57):
you can only dictate so much so when you decide
to leave, which I respect I've made change the scenery
several times. But when you do that, you can't really complain,
right because you chose this. And the Packers wanted to
keep him, and he says, I want to go. And
one thing he said a lot through this article was
(11:20):
he needed to prove that he was an elite player.
That it wasn't because of Aaron Rodgers. And I wonder
sometimes with this generation, like historically, athletes, especially great ones,
always try to find some way to create a chip
in their shoulder, chip on their shoulder, create an edge
for themselves, create some sort of motivation, which I totally
(11:41):
respect everyone does. But I do think when he said
that out loud, like I don't know who said that,
like who has ever said I don't know if DeVante
would be good without Aaron Rodgers, especially in the last
several years. Also, it'd be one thing if it felt
like some sort of I don't want to say battle
between the two, but Aaron Rodgers has been pretty outspoken
(12:01):
the last several years that the two best players he's
ever played with are Charles Woodson, who's a first ballot
Hall of Famer, and DeVante Adams, who is definitely trending
that way. So I actually don't think there's some like
what this player would be without the other guy. Hell,
we saw it last year. Tyreek Hill immediately turned himself
(12:21):
into that. And how good would Patrick Mahomes be without him?
And Boom who wins the MVP, wins another Super Bowl
and Tyrek dominates sometimes independent from each other. Those two
guys are awesome, right, Roberkowski would have been sweet wherever
Tom Brady could play with whoever, like sometimes great combinations
work right, but if you split the two guys apart,
they would still have a lot of success. But he
(12:44):
chose to leave the Packers, which was his choice, to
go to one of the most dysfunctional organizations we've ever seen,
and in the Internet age, a franchise that always loses.
I mean, they've made the playoffs two times in basically
two and a half decades, and their two playoff bursts,
they've lost both of them, and they were both on
(13:05):
the road. One of them they got destroyed the year
when Derek got hurt two years ago against the Bengals.
Game wasn't really as close as the final score indicated,
even though the Raiders had a chance to tie it
at the end. But Davante has to justify and it
felt like he was trying to do this in the
article why he made this move, and he kept doubling down,
(13:26):
like I didn't just make this move, you know, for
Derek Carr, which clearly you know it's not like he
demanded a trade once Derek got sent home and is
now on another team. But one thing he couldn't hide,
and I don't totally blame him, is like Jimmy Garoppolo
is not a great quarterback fit for him, like Jimmy
Garoppolo is not obviously Aaron Rodgers, but even Derek in
(13:47):
terms of explosive balls down the field. Like, I think
DeVante realizes, this is not going to be conducive to
my success. Look at Jimmy Garoppolo in his time starting
with San Francisco, and wide receivers who flourished in terms
of numbers didn't really happen. I mean, Deebo was getting
the ball as a running back or on quick screens,
(14:10):
not really down the field, right, So I think Davante knows, like,
this is not going to be great for me. But
like you signed up for this, you wanted to leave
Aaron Rodgers to go to the Raiders, who lose a
lot and also have a coach. It'd be one thing
if you went to a team and they had a
coach they had just hired a coach with a lot
of success. But Josh McDaniels as the head coach has
(14:30):
been an utter disaster. So I get where and I
don't want to say he's being defensive, but he's trying
to justify a move that I think most football fans go, yeah,
probably not working. Out great, but trying to say, like,
I'm proud to be an All Pro Davante. You could
be an All Pro playing with the Houston Texas. You're
that great of a player. But I think, like you
(14:51):
chose to go to this franchise, you know, it's going
to be very, very difficult to win in that division,
you know, especially now that Sean Payton's there. I think
most human beings and this is not like personal, are
gonna choose the Raiders to finish last, and it's gonna
be very difficult, Like I'll be surprised if they don't.
(15:13):
And you know, this is situations already kind of getting
a little weird with them saying I don't think we
quite see eye to eye on the offense and not
sure where we're going. Yeah, man, I mean this is
what you signed up for. Before we dive into what's next.
Do you know that Angie's List is now Angie your
home for everything home and as someone who is currently
(15:34):
house shopping and who has bought property. Before you walk in,
you go, well, I need to fix the kitchen, I
need to want to improve this bathroom, I want to
fix some stuff in the backyard. And then you go well,
I don't do this for a living. Where do I
even start? Who do I even contact? That's where Angie
has twenty years of experience combined with new tools to
simplify the process. Over two hundred and twenty thousand pros
(15:57):
in their network, they can help you get the best
price for your They have new projects that are priced
upfront and clearly lays out the cost before you buy.
With Angie, you can request quotes from multiple pros in
your area. The pros in your network are locally based.
In just a few taps in the Angie app or
click on the site, you can have Angie tackle your
(16:18):
home service project from start to finish. Download the free
Angie Mobile app today or visit Angie dot com. That's
Angi dot com. A couple other quick stories. There was
(16:39):
a report several days ago that David Kanter, an agent,
a high profile agent, had been offering teams and gms
and personnel people basically his vacation homes Miami, Salt Lake City.
I don't exactly know where all of them are if
they would draft his players, you know, and one I
(17:01):
thought it was kind of funny, obviously, you know, Mike Florio,
Pro football talk made a very big deal of it.
My first reaction was like, isn't that kind of business?
You know, isn't part of business, whatever industry you're in,
listening to this is kind of taking care of your clientelese.
You know, the two industries I'm the most closest to
growing up, and you know, most of my friends work
(17:23):
in are either farming or construction, And I think there
are a lot of parallels to the two of them
in terms of taking care of the people you do
business with, or taking care of people that you want
to do business with, whether it be golf trips, suites
at games. For a long period of time when I
was growing up, the guy my dad worked for had
(17:43):
basically the best duck hunting in California, and a lot
of people, you know, business wise, were taken out there
for you know, business deals like Welcome to America. Isn't
that the way it kind of works now? Just that's
because you take a guy to Pebble Beach or some
sweet duck blind or the Laker or a Yankee game.
(18:06):
Never guarantees you you're gonna get the deal like you
still have to, you know, whether it be in construction,
hit a certain number have the capability of, you know,
getting the job done. So just because I whine and
dine you or offer you some incentive like this is
(18:26):
this is too big a business most most industries, including
the NFL, to just be like, well, you know, this
guy took me to Pebble Beach, lacc a Laker game,
and paid for two weeks of dinners. He's getting my
business even though he's way shittier than the other guy
who didn't do that and will make me more money.
That's not the way it works, definitely not in twenty
(18:48):
twenty three. So yeah, he can offer me a Miami
condo or wherever his vacation homes may be. But no
GM is going to draft your player just because you
give me a week free on the beach for my family.
If the guy can't play, Just like in a construction bid,
(19:09):
I'm not going to get the bid if I am
way under the number just because I took care of you.
And if you know that my company can't handle the job.
So this notion that this shit doesn't go on, you'd
either be naive, not work in the private sector, or
just not quite understand how the world works. But two,
(19:31):
anyone thinking that someone would just draft a player if
you don't think the guy can play because of a
couple of nights day. Like one reason that it's going
to be very difficult, like when you hear some of
these stories. You know, the Alabama baseball coach just got
fired for giving tips about a picture being scratched, and
historically there have been stories about guys throwing games in college.
(19:55):
It's very, very difficult in twenty twenty three. And I
don't worry about this at all with a with a
player or a coach. Definitely in any pro sports, but
probably even now in college in football and nil when
it comes to gambling, because they're all making too much money.
Back when a player wasn't making that much money, and
(20:16):
if I could offer you double his salary, you might
throw the game and I might be able to influence it.
But the moment I start making seven figures, eight figures,
fifty grand, one hundred grand, I don't give a shit.
I make eleven million dollars a year if I'm an
NFL head coach, if I'm the starting quarterback, whatever, if
I'm the starting point guard, even if I'm the starting
(20:37):
point guard at UCLA or Duke or North Carolina. I'm
making big coin. You can't have Caleb Williams or Drake
may throw a game. Do you know how much money
those guys are making? So when I look at this,
I go, yeah, he might have offered it. If offers
get you know, thrown out all the time in any
sort of industry. Can the guy one of whatever player
(20:59):
he he has on his roster help my team win?
Do I think he's any good? Because if I don't,
then there's no chance on God's green Earth, I'm gonna
draft him. My coach is making ten million as a GM.
I make it anywhere from two to five. My life's
too good. I can't afford to travel wherever the fuck
I want. I don't need your free beach house. Now.
(21:21):
If I draft the guy because I like it, and
then you give me the beach house, like yeah, well,
gome to life now. Can you know Florio and those
type people are gonna come after and try to get
you know, someone in trouble, I'm sure, but to me,
to me, it's a big nothing burger. The other interesting
story is one thing you've really seen in the age
(21:42):
of podcasts and YouTube is the rise of these players
that once they finished playing, or like in Pat McAfee's case,
retire early just to start doing content, and just because
you're a former player. If you start doing content, you
might get an initial boost, but your stuff's got to
be good, right. The reason Draymond Green or Pat McAfee
(22:03):
or the Kelsey Brothers are working is because if you
follow or watch, you know, or listen to their content,
it's entertaining. Just because, like if Steph Curry started a
podcast tomorrow and it was boring, it would not last.
I remember when I was I owned some Spotify stock
and they started just hiring all these people to do podcasts,
(22:25):
Kim Kardashian, Michelle Obama, all these huge names, and I
was thinking, like, well, can any of these guys host
a podcast? Is going to be entertaining? What happened after
a year dropped the ball wasn't working right. Usually podcasts
are run by people that know how to entertain, and
there are clearly some people in the space that are
kind of natural at it right, that are really really good.
(22:47):
And Pat McAfee is clearly one of those guys. And
it was just reported or over the last twenty four
hours that he's leaving. You know, his operation and partnering
with ESPN, and there has been a lot of blowback,
calling him, quote unquote a sellout. And I have a
couple opinions on this one. I find Pat very entertaining
(23:10):
just because he's different. Most of the media bores me.
They all throw the same pitch every time there's a story.
I know the angle they're gonna take. There is not
a more predictable group in twenty twenty three than just
the general media, whether it be in sports, whether it
be in politics. You give me someone in the media's
(23:30):
name and just give me a story, I'll tell you
the angle they're gonna take. And Pat's just different. You
don't know what he's gonna say. He just could come
out of left field. He has on fun guests, they
fuck around. It's very raw, real and authentic, which I
think we really like in twenty twenty three moving forward, Like,
(23:50):
I think my generation, people forty and under, just aren't
really into bs. You know, my parents, you know, the
baby boomer generation, people that grew up in earlier generations,
they could handle a lot of you know, just fluff,
you know it. Just society is just a lot different,
and I think everyone that's having success now, Ron Reel
(24:11):
is really in and when you think of ESPN, you
don't really feel that way, right, You don't think of
that now. When I woke up on Thursday morning, I
saw a headline from the Wall Street Journal, and this
has been well reported in business circles that Disney has
been thinking about getting rid of ESPN right and just
kind of spinning it off into its own entity and
selling it to someone. And I do wonder if that
(24:34):
element allows Pat because I think is one of his
best attributes. She's got a lot of them. Is it's
just kind of fearless. He'll say whatever, and because of
the platform he's on YouTube, he can swear. He can
just say whatever he wants, which will not be tolerated,
you know, or at least historically has not been at ESPN.
(24:55):
Think about when Pardon might take Big Cat and PFT
got that Van show and everyone at ESPN freaked the
you know what out. Part of my take is the
biggest sports podcast by a pretty wide margin. They are
what anyone would call in business a cash cow. They
print money. You know what ESPN would have done to
(25:15):
get involved with that brand looking back, Yet they were
forced because a couple people that women that work for
their network. If you replace not a soul, what of
notice freaked out? And ultimately they got fired And you
could argue ESPN might be a little different now. I
don't know, but you know what if Pat pissed someone
(25:36):
off and they want them gone, now they're paying Pad
a lot of money. Maybe times have changed, But clearly
he's got a lot of leverage on this. The most
important thing any of us have in the podcast space
is something we call ip Do your own your podcast
or does someone else own your podcast? Right? Because if
you own your podcast is like you own the real estate,
you know, and that's very, very important. And clearly he
(25:58):
had a lot of leverage in the deal. He's going
to own his podcast, his YouTube channel. And the one
thing ESPN does a couple of things, just like any
big company that you partner with does, is Pat clearly
has a lot of expenses. He's got a lot of
people working for him. Well, who do you think immediately
then covers their insurance? Right, ESPN? Who do you think immediately?
I'm sure he got paid more money than he could
(26:20):
afford to pay him or you know, feel comfortable paying him.
Probably got all his people raises, so he took care
of people, right, which I wonder, which I would imagine
is a big driver. The other thing that's gonna happen
is they're going to put him on ESPN on a
daily basis, like no one is watching. I think Get
Up does pretty well with Greenberg, but these other shows.
You know, when I was in college and even I
(26:43):
remember moving to Philly, ESPN's lineup in radio was remarkable.
It was Mike and Mike, which you could call cheesy
or whatever. It was an enormous revenue generating show. The
coward to SVP and Rissillo, and I think Gottlieb was
after them. I mean, it was just it was a
boheman and they don't care about radio anymore. And part
(27:05):
of radio has changed, right, Look at Colin. Is Colin
a radio show or is he a television show? Now?
Colin's also got podcast networks. He's got a lot going on.
But you know, it's a simulcast now, and that's what
Pat is. It's a simulcast. That's what all of this is.
You got to be on video and you got to
be on audio. But I do wonder if there're gonna
be limitations on his authenticity, which is what makes Pat
(27:29):
so awesome, what makes you know people kind of gravitate
to him. And I bet what he would say is listen,
our ceiling, even at YouTube is only so high, right
we get you know, when we get Aaron Rodgers on
or a big guest on, we can get six figures
watching it one time, but for the most part, we're
probably averaging thirty five forty fifty K watching it. One
time you put us on ESPN, we're immediately five six hundred.
(27:52):
The exposure is dramatically grown. So I always push back
when someone calls someone to sell out because like any talk,
shit walks and a business either growing or dying, so
you always got to look to grow, and the more
you grow, the more people you add, the more expensive
it gets. So I understand why he did it, and
I think he understands that made some you know kind
(28:15):
of like if you get me, this is what you're getting.
The problem is, like you're on television, there are some
rules you know, he's gonna have to and he's even
said that, like there's no game just dropping f bomb
that won't be tolerated, and I think ESPN is trying
to you kind of, you know, figure out a way
to be kind of more relevant than they've become, because
(28:36):
I felt their brand has never been less strong in
my lifetime. Right forever, it was just trending up, trending up,
trending up, trending up. And now it feels like it's
carried by a couple guys and some games. Right, you
remove a couple of their newsbreakers, woes and schefter in
the games, like, you know, are we really watching much
of it? Not really? I know I'm not, and I
(28:58):
am their demo thirty seven year old sports junkie. And
if you don't have either on a live event I
want to watch, like today I'm watching the PGA Championship
or a personality I want to watch, and they don't
have any one of those anymore. I'm not turning on
your channel. And I think ratings speak for itself the
cord cutting. So they're trying to adapt, and I give
(29:19):
them credit because this is the guy you would go after.
It's gonna be fascinating to see if it works. I
would say that it's gonna be bumpy and people are
gonna complain, and because that's just a lot of the
type people they have under their umbrella complain a lot,
always bitching and moanent always, you know, pointing the finger
at someone else. And most of those people that are
(29:40):
doing that aren't that important. They're very I hate to
say it'm fireable, replaceable, you know, and Pat now is
not right, so he's he's kind of untouchable. And it'll
be interesting to watch how this all plays out, you know,
as he transitions. I would imagine he's by football season,
he'll be full time ESPN. It's banging out a couple
(30:01):
of mailbag questions. We'll just contain it all to this podcast.
Like I said earlier and at John Middlecoff is the
Instagram fire in those dms get you a question answered
here on the show. We usually do this on Sunday,
but you know, the next couple of weeks gonna be busy,
got some stuff going on, so I thought I would
just contain it to this podcast. I've been an avid
(30:22):
listener for about a year. I live in Texas. You
probably have heard the deal between ESPN and McAfee. The
main part that caught my attention is ESPN is letting
Pat have full creative control and broadcasting the show live
on YouTube. Do you think ESPN big networks start offering
similar deals to creators or is this more of a
deal given ESPN's popularity and existing or McAfee's popularity and
(30:47):
existing relationship with ESPN. I think they've been courting him
now for a while. I think what he does is very,
very specific, right. I mean, he hosts NFL's King, he
owns an NFL show, dabbles in a little bit of
NBA and NHL, but the NFL is his main baby.
He gets Aaron Rodgers every week, He gets a ton
of guests already without the help of anybody, So it
(31:09):
makes a lot of sense. His show is clearly more
popular than any you know, ESPN radio show, that's for sure.
And that's kind of what he is, right, this hybrid
sim will cast like we talked about earlier. I just
think he had a lot of leverage. That's what life's about, right.
When you have no leverage, you do whatever they tell you.
When you have all the leverage, you don't need to
(31:30):
do this. The most powerful thing McAfee had on his
hands was he could say no. So when you can
say no, right, are you even willing to say no?
Even if you don't have as much leverage. Sometimes like
a guy like Pat, you might get a little more.
So I think the key with Pat is he did
not need them. They needed him more than he needed them.
Given why, I bet his offer was pretty incredible. Yeah,
(31:55):
so I think part of it is less about future
creators and more about his individual situation, right, and that's
what he just Yeah, Like I said, he's had a
lot of leverage. A longtime listener from Australia hope you
are well. What are your thoughts on the Colts draft
grade given by analysts across the NFL circles? They've consistently
(32:18):
received a high grade from multiple outlets. However, I'm not
seeing it. Are these grades just review of filling roster
requirements or do you think we actually acquired some solid
pieces Like most I think ar was definitely a reach,
but interested to see how it develops. What's your take
on the development on his development surrounding his throwing ability
(32:40):
and mechanics. I think a lot of draft grades strictly
have to do with the people grading you what they
thought of those players. So if I loved Anthony Richardson
and thought he should go number one overall, and you
took him for overall, and I think his upside is
higher than any player in the draft. You're gonna skew right.
(33:01):
So then let's just focus on their first three players.
Ar Kansas State quarterback Julius Brentz, who I remember when
they drafted them, seeing some highlights. I don't have a
scatting report on them. And the fast wide receiver from
North Carolina, Josh Downs. A lot of people like Downs,
(33:22):
obviously getting them in the third round. Never forget, the Colts,
once upon a time had a lot of success drafting
a third round wide receiver named t Y Hilton. I'm
not comparing these two, but so let's just say they
get three starters out of their draft. And obviously the quarterback.
You know, you know nothing about the draft, right in
terms of how good these guys are going to be.
No one has any clue. So I guess my overall
(33:45):
take is zero stock into draft grades two. I think
the quarterback they're swinging for the fences year one could
be Rocky. It's we won't even begin to be able
to judge for three years. I think to be a
good draft, the corner, the wide receiver, you got, an
(34:05):
offensive tackle, you got some other defensive players. I think
you gotta have you know, four of these next you
had one two, shit, one, two, three, four, four players
in the top one ten and then another guy in
the top one fifty beside the quarterback. I think two
(34:27):
of those guys have to be starters. I mean, one
thing you guys lacked or the Colts, I guess I'm
talking to you, Like your Chris Ballard is play speed. Right,
So if the wide receiver in the corner, your defense
was fine. You know in theory, your offense just lacks
some juice. So if you get a little more juice
with this rookie. But sometimes it's hard for rookie wide receivers.
(34:48):
I just think, listen, I like the mindset of the quarterback.
The other guys. I can't pretend to have a take.
Who the fuck knows with all this media hype around Darnold,
does Lance end up on the practice squad or will
Kyle dress three quarterbacks on game day? If another team
signed Lance off our practice squad, would SF save any
(35:10):
money salary cap wise? Well for him to end up
on the practice squad it would take this obviously, everyone
beats him out. They would have to cut him, So
if they cut him at the fifty three man roster construction,
he would have to pass through waivers, meaning every team
in the league would have to pass on him. Now,
if you claimed him, you have to put him on
(35:33):
your roster and take his contract, So the forty nine
ers would be off the hook for his remaining guaranteed
salaries this year and next. They would still have some
dead cap issues because they gave him a signing bonus
of whatever twenty five million dollars when they drafted him.
But if they cut him and no one claimed them,
then they would get double dings and then someone could
(35:55):
easily claim, you know, sign him to their active roster
for much cheaper. I think we're a long ways away
from that, but uh, you know, shit, it's going to
be a very very interesting training camp in San Francisco.
Question for the pot from the perspective of a borderline
draft prospect, what would the advantage be to get drafted
in the seventh round versus going undrafted. A friend of
(36:18):
a friend was immediately signed after the draft, and it
would seem to me that being able to sign with
whoever might be an advantage to following with the Tide
of who picks you. Given there's no guaranteed roster spot
and plenty of undrafted free agents playing in the NFL.
I was hoping you could distinguish the two. Well, to me,
(36:38):
there's two ways to look at it. There is, it's
an honor to be drafted, right to say, whether you
last one year in the NFL or five, being drafted
in the NFL is pretty cool, right, But the most
important thing, whether you're a seventh rounder or an undrafted
free agent once the draft ends, is playing in the
NFL as an undrafted free agent. Like if you draft
(37:02):
me with the second to last pick, and I'm let's
just say a wide receiver because you had a fourth
round grade on me, and the team's like, shit, let's
just take this guy. We'd want him as an undrafted
free agent. Let's take him with our you know, the
second to last pick in the draft. Get him on
the team because we had a great grade on him.
What if that team already has five guys that are
a lock to make the team at wide receiver, I'm
in major trouble. Right. So if it was up to
(37:25):
me and I was the player slash agent, I might
not choose that team. Because as a definitely, the agent
is the guy that the teams are talking with. He
is trying to guide the player as an undrafted free
agent to a play. Like if I'm an undrafted free
agent running back, where would you want to go to?
All the Shamahan guys? Why they run the ball? You'd
(37:47):
want to go to a place that values running, So
mighty Kyle could be McVeigh doesn't really as much lafleur vrabel.
I know technically he doesn't have a Shanahan guy, but
you know what I mean, Like, you want to go
to a place where they run the ball? And two
you look at the depth chart, You're like, well, they
only got one guy who's a lock. Then they got
these other guys you could make the roster. Or if
(38:09):
I was a defensive lineman, where do you want to
go to a place with a shitty defensive line? Would
you rather get drafted? You know, pick I don't even
know how many picks are on the draft. Let's just
I'll just pick an even number. It changes by the year, right,
two fifty. Let's just say two fifty, So two fifty
is the last draft pick? Would you rather be the
two hundred and forty seventh pick. Again, I know this
(38:30):
number might be wrong, but let's just say two hundred
and forty seventh pick by the Philadelphia Eagles and be
a defensive lineman and be like, well, they might have
the defensive defensive line in the draft or in the league,
or the Niners or just a team with a fantastic
defensive line. Or would you rather be an undrafted free
agent so you don't get drafted and be like, who's
got the shittiest pass rush? Right, Raiders, whoever? You know?
(38:54):
And pick that team. I think is pretty clear what
you'd want to do. You want to go to the
best place to give yourself self a chance to succeed. Now,
big picture, it's hard to make the NFL, so I
think you can play that game. And sometimes it's completely obvious, right,
you would rather as a seventh round quarterback go to
(39:14):
a place like I'm trying to just think off the
top of my head. Let's just pick a team the
Bills that just like I might be able to make
the team. Then go to a place with like four
court like the forty nine ers. You wouldn't want the forty
nineers to draft you because you're not gonna be able
to make the fifty three man roster, as you know,
based on this year. Obviously Perty did last year. But
(39:37):
even last year with Perty, if it was up to party,
would he have chose the forty nine ers? You know,
they had Trey Lance. They had just given two million
dollars to Sudfeld, so he was gonna be the third
pick or the third quarterback. Now he turns out he
beat Sudfeld out. But I don't think you would choose
that team. You would rather go to a place where
(39:59):
they had a set veteran and then maybe an older
guy who might not be that good. If that's if
I explain that. Well, but you see, also it's kind
of easy to overthink it. Every few years, a new
position is coveted by teams in the NFL. What position
do you see being the next position? Similar to wide
receiver the last few years, Well, I think you can
(40:21):
never have enough inside pass rushers. But you'd argue those
are always coveted, right. I mean, the reason wide receivers
are more coveted now than maybe years in the past
is because it's a passing game. So who impacts the
passing game wide receivers, tight ends quarterbacks, offensive tackles, pass rushers, corners.
(40:41):
All those guys are in demand. I think it just
depends on specific schemes that are having a lot of success.
You know, forever everyone wants Pete Carroll had a lot
of success with Lob and those guys became head coaches
across the league. What happened everyone and want Everyone wanted tall,
bump and run corners, So it changes. I don't have
(41:03):
a great answer for you there. Okay, last one. Any
thoughts on the Spurs winning the draft lottery and do
you think this prolonged Pop staying on as coach as
he's been discussing retirement for years. One thing I think
is funny, and this is why I think some coaches
are better at it than others. Of working the media.
(41:26):
It's weird, right. Pop's an asshole to reporters on the sideline.
He has had two of the most famous tank jobs
in NBA history, but because he's won, no one ever
looks at him like a tanker. We tanked for Duncan,
he obviously tanked this year, Yet when other teams tank,
we shit on him and destroy him. Pop Can kind
of get away from it now. It worked and The
(41:48):
thing with the NBA lottery is they I'll give Adam
Silver credit on this one. He changed the odds. So
just because forever you had a huge advantage if you
had one of the best records, right, you're basically guarante
to be a top three pick. Well, now the team's
with the worst records, I'm pretty sure they were just
fourth and fifth Detroit. You know you're not guaranteed anything.
(42:10):
So there's clearly luck involved. One take on the prospect.
He clearly, like I'm not gonna try to zag on
this one, he's clearly, you know, an elite prospect by
all NBA personnel. When you do look at him, how
often does a guy that size, You know, Kevin Durant
is like at an all time outlier, right to be
(42:32):
that tall, that fluid, that athletic and be that skilled
as like he's like Steph Curry but he's seven feet
tall and he can play defense. You know, this guy
seven foot five. The concern for me would just be
does that body is that just too big? As crazy
as that sounds, is that too big? Think about Yao Ming.
(42:53):
When he was healthy, it was like Jesus, this guy
was he was really turning into just an unstoppable player,
but his body couldn't hold up. Now he's bigger, had
more carried more weight, but that would concern me. Now,
obviously you take the guy number one overall. I do
think the pressure on this guy is beyond iments. You know,
when I was thinking the other day, like, who are
(43:14):
the best prospects of like my adult life? So from
like you know, high school on the early two thousands
till now you Lebron, I'd put Andrew Lock. You know,
Bryce Harper. I mean, the dude was on Sports Illustrated
in like high school and he's lived up to it. MVPs.
He's a three hundred million dollars player. He's fucking awesome.
Even Anthony Davis was a pretty elite prospect led Kentucky
(43:38):
number one overall pick. When you watch him play when
he's on, you know, he's just an elite player. Like
anything less than just every year being like an All
NBA guy is a complete disappointment, right, Like the pressure
on Trevor Lawrence. Anything but seven eight Pro Bowls moving
forward and he plays in a conference would be disappointing.
Giving the given the hype because it's like, you know,
he's right there with Andrew lock Well, Andrew Luck, who,
(44:00):
while he did retire early, went to like four Pro
Bowls in five or six years, you know, and he
was kicking ass and taking names and winning. It was
clear Andrew Luck was sweet immediately, right Lebron Bryce Harper,
So this guy, you better be sweet immediately because the
hype on him is outrageous now, you know, it's classic TV, right,
(44:21):
people are arguing most is he more hype prospect than Lebron?
Of course not Lebron. He was Lebron translated better. You're
like six ' eight, that big, that athletic. When have
we ever seen a guy this tall? It's just it's
very He's just an outlier body type, and sometimes outlier
body types more often than not, they don't work besides
(44:44):
some highlights. It's not like I scouted the guy, but
I just i'd be a little nervous as health wise,
and I had the hype. Is everyone says he's gonna
live up to it. We'll see fascinating to watch is
what makes sports fun. That's what's fun about drafts, right,
p on individual players. You know, Pop won't be there
much longer, But I just I do think the Spurs
(45:06):
get a little bit of a pass though they've tanked,
not consistently like sam Hinky, but they've done it. They
definitely did it this year, and when it works out,
everyone celebrates you, especially in a draft where you don't
even need to think, the problem for Samhnky is he
kept tanking and then he had to think, and he
didn't pick the right guys. Besides Joel Embiid, he just
wasn't picking the right players. This one is just a
(45:27):
beepy fast you don't even need to think where It's
like next year you get the number one overall pick.
It's like, Okayleb Williams, Okay, Audios, have a good weekend.
Talk soon. Peace The Volume Z
The Volume. What is going on everybody, John Middlecoff, Three
and Out Podcasts, how are we doing? Hopefully everyone's having
(00:21):
a good Friday or good weekend. Here's the game plan.
We'll talk a little football, a little Burrow, little Davante,
little McAfee. And instead of doing a mail bag this
weekend and probably next weekend as well because it's a
holiday weekend, I'm just gonna add it on to Friday's pod.
So at John Middlecoff is the Instagram. Fire in those dms,
get your question answered here on the show. And yeah,
(00:46):
so we'll talk a little football, We'll do a little
mail bag. That's the game plan. Obviously, live on AMP
every single day of the week. Make sure you download
that app, subscribe to the YouTube channel. Volume has got
a lot of content up there, a lot of content.
And check out the merch store. You want to get
a three and out hat. They look good the Volume
dot com search merch and check out those go lo hats.
(01:10):
They look good. Three and Out hats are coming. Other
than that, any other housekeeping make sure you subscribe to
three and Out feed. If you listen on Collins podcast,
greatly appreciated. Leave a review if you could that that
always helps, and yeah, I think that's probably should do it.
But first before we dive into some football, can I
tell you about my friends at game Time, the official
(01:32):
ticketing app of this show. Here's what I need you
to do. I need you to download the game Time
app on your phone and use the promo code Jawn
and get twenty dollars off to concerts, baseball games. You
want to do something fun this summer, of course you do.
You want to get outside, take in the sun, have
some drinks, enjoy yourself. Do it on me. Download the
(01:53):
game Time app, fastest growing ticketing app in America. You
can go to any sporting event, any concert, any comedy show,
and when you use the promo code John, Joe A Jen,
you get twenty dollars off your pair of tickets. Can't
beat it. Let's start with a couple of big stories
this week were DeVante Adams and Joe Burrow, two of
(02:18):
the best players in the league. You know, kind of
drew some headlines. There was a long article on Devonte
Adams and there were some quotes from Joe Burrow. Now,
Joe Burrow talked about his contract because he is contract
extension eligible, he's clearly, you know, got a chance to
go down, as you know, one of the best players
in franchise history, if not the best. Not a long
(02:39):
way to go, but I'd say his career is his
career trajectory is pointing up right at the sky. Right,
it's already headed there. And he talked about the importance
of other people getting paid. And listen, he's not dumb.
He understands that for them to keep rolling, he can't
do it by himself. Right, LSU loaded team the last
(03:01):
couple of years, Jamar Chase T. Higgins offensive weapons a
good defense. He gets it right. It's why we hold
when guys act like idiots at the quarterback position, you know,
we can't take them seriously. Right over the years, like
when that contract clause was in Kyler Murray's contract, it
was an enormous story, not because of the clause, but
(03:22):
because it was a quarterback. We're like, what, how is
this possible? Now here's the thing. The Chiefs and the
Bengals are a fantastic rivalry right right now. Right they've
played in back to back conference championships, they've each won one.
Both games could have gone either way. You could argue
the two best quarterbacks in the league. Obviously, Mahomes is
(03:42):
the best, and Joe Burrow is right there in conversation,
I know they beat Josh Allen, but you know, I
think that's fair for debate. But here's the thing. The
Chiefs have maintained this winning with everyone being paid. Right,
Patrick Mahomes has a large contract. Travis Kelcey. They're lucky
(04:03):
plays a position that does not command offensive tackle or
defensive end or wide receiver money. Right, they have a
highly highly paid defensive lineman in Chris Jones. They made
a pivot off Tyreek Hill because of financial constraints and
it's impossible to pay everybody. And the thing when you
look at the Bengals roster, which is going to be
(04:25):
interesting because Joe Burrow is getting extended, Jamar Chase is
never going anywhere. I think what you have to ask
yourself a question is can you afford to pay two
premium wide receivers. Now T Higgins would get less than
Jamar Chase, but ideally, when you build your team, you
kind of spread it out through different positions. You can't
(04:47):
have two twenty plus million dollar wide receivers for several years.
It's just not going to work out. There was a
reason that the forty nine ers I think discuss trading
Brandon I Yuke, not because he's not a sweet player,
because they're paying Deebo Samuel huge money. And if they
were to extend ayuk or next year on his fifth
(05:09):
year option, that would be a lot of money allocated
to two guys at a premium position. Right, So it
becomes very complicated, and it's the hard part about team
building in the NFL is ideally, over a several year period,
you have a sweet defensive lineman, you have a sweet
offensive lineman. You have one sweet wide receiver. Obviously you
(05:30):
need more than one, but you have other guys that
aren't being paid as much, and it's going to be very,
very fascinating. I remember talking to a buddy on the Chiefs.
He's like, they're good. I mean obviously, I mean you
watch the two teams and it could have gone either
way this year in the conference championship game. Basically, we'll
see what it looks like once they start paying everybody.
(05:50):
And you know, Higgins is going to be the cheapest
of these twenty plus million dollars a year, even if
Joe Burrow quote unquote takes some sort of discount. He's
making forty five plus Jamar Chase in a year is
going to command you know, Justin whatever Justin Jefferson gets
this year, probably a couple percent more so the three
of those guys, if they build, if they extend the ball,
(06:12):
and clearly Burrow and Chase are going nowhere. I do
understand the Higgins. It just puts them in a tough spot.
Now I'm not into trading to Higgins, but I just
wonder can you afford to pay everybody and build a
competitive roster big picture? I do think that's a fair
question mark to ask. And I think when you look
(06:34):
at the Bengals and Joe Burrow gets this, it's probably
going to be a little more complicated than you think.
Like the Chiefs were lucky, kind of was pretty easy, right.
They had a quarterback, they had a defensive pass rusher,
they had one wide receiver, and their other sweet player
played a position that like sometimes when your best player
is like a middle linebacker or a safety or a
(06:56):
tight end, you get financially lucky because their positions do
not ask for the prices. Like is there any difference
between Travis Kelce and DeVante Adams in terms of production,
in terms of the ability to win with or tyreek
Hill obviously not like he's every bit as good as
all the elite players at the wide receiver position. Well
(07:16):
google their salaries. The Chiefs save a dramatic amount of
money because his position. Now we could argue that's unfair,
and I believe it is. Like Travis Kelcey and George
Kittle are worth every bit you know of twenty three,
twenty four, twenty five million dollars a year, but that's
not what their position pays, right, So it'll be very,
very fascinating how the Bengals handle all this because they
(07:41):
got keeper players, but the three guys you want to keep,
their salaries would add up really really fast. And could
they compare, could they you know, build a complete team,
which they've I would say they've close to had the
last several years. Obviously they had some flaws. You were
like a little bit better offensive line, you know, you
could already their corners could be much improved. But you know,
(08:04):
I mean, you get to a super Bowl with a
very good chance to win, and you have an opportunity
to win on the road again against the Chiefs like
your team's pretty damn good. And one of the reasons
it's been so good is because financially they've had a
lot of advantages. All these guys are on rookie contracts
and that's about to change. DeVante Adams. If you haven't
(08:27):
read the Ringer article, I skim through it. I'm sure
you've seen a lot of the headlines. And let me
preface everything by saying this. I love DeVante Adams. He's
a friends of State guy. We didn't overlap, But a
lot of people that I worked with did. They swear
by them. They love them. Everyone I've ever known that
has been around the guy, you know, swears by the
work ethic, the drive, the desire. His production and game
(08:50):
speaks for itself. He's not just a winning player, he's
a winning person. You want him in your organization. And
I do understand that it's tough, right for most of
our lives. And I say this all the time. We
have such a long runway in whatever we do in sports.
It's very short, right. Even if you're an all time
(09:12):
great player like he's trending toward being, his career might
be fifteen years, right, fifteen years if he lives till eighty.
It's really a short period of time in his life.
But it's a job that pays more than any other
job you'll ever have unless you start some successful business,
and it's just a very unique situation for pro athletes.
(09:34):
He was in Green Bay for ten years, one of
the most successful organizations in the league, and I get
being from the West Coast, how he might have You know,
he's admitted this. He wanted to change the scenery, he
wanted to do something different, and he wanted to get
back toward the West Coast. And I respect that. My
only pushback is in football, when you're part of a winner,
(09:54):
like when you're as good as DeVante is or any
player around the league who's an all pro level guy, consistently,
you're going to do two things. You're going to produce
and you're going to be very very rich. Those things
are inevitable, right, and especially money, Like no matter who
DeVante played for, he's going to be paid a premium.
So I do think when you're factoring in where you're
(10:15):
going to play at wide receiver, you can't really control
how good your team's going to be. Right, Aaron Rodgers
can immediately turn the Jets into a power He can
take them right to the playoffs and in the super
Bowl mix immediately. But if I just added DeVante Adams
to the Jets instead of Aaron Rodgers and they still
(10:36):
have let's say they still had Mike White and Zach Wilson,
I think we'd all agree they you know, maybe a game,
but there would not be a dramatic difference. I put
Aaron Rodgers and he plays at a high level, which
clearly he's capable of. They immediately can win twelve games.
So as a wide receiver. And just like most positions,
if you're a star left tackle, if you're a star linebacker,
(10:57):
you can only dictate so much so when you decide
to leave, which I respect I've made change the scenery
several times. But when you do that, you can't really complain,
right because you chose this. And the Packers wanted to
keep him, and he says, I want to go. And
one thing he said a lot through this article was
(11:20):
he needed to prove that he was an elite player.
That it wasn't because of Aaron Rodgers. And I wonder
sometimes with this generation, like historically, athletes, especially great ones,
always try to find some way to create a chip
in their shoulder, chip on their shoulder, create an edge
for themselves, create some sort of motivation, which I totally
(11:41):
respect everyone does. But I do think when he said
that out loud, like I don't know who said that,
like who has ever said I don't know if DeVante
would be good without Aaron Rodgers, especially in the last
several years. Also, it'd be one thing if it felt
like some sort of I don't want to say battle
between the two, but Aaron Rodgers has been pretty outspoken
(12:01):
the last several years that the two best players he's
ever played with are Charles Woodson, who's a first ballot
Hall of Famer, and DeVante Adams, who is definitely trending
that way. So I actually don't think there's some like
what this player would be without the other guy. Hell,
we saw it last year. Tyreek Hill immediately turned himself
(12:21):
into that. And how good would Patrick Mahomes be without him?
And Boom who wins the MVP, wins another Super Bowl
and Tyrek dominates sometimes independent from each other. Those two
guys are awesome, right, Roberkowski would have been sweet wherever
Tom Brady could play with whoever, like sometimes great combinations
work right, but if you split the two guys apart,
they would still have a lot of success. But he
(12:44):
chose to leave the Packers, which was his choice, to
go to one of the most dysfunctional organizations we've ever seen,
and in the Internet age, a franchise that always loses.
I mean, they've made the playoffs two times in basically
two and a half decades, and their two playoff bursts,
they've lost both of them, and they were both on
(13:05):
the road. One of them they got destroyed the year
when Derek got hurt two years ago against the Bengals.
Game wasn't really as close as the final score indicated,
even though the Raiders had a chance to tie it
at the end. But Davante has to justify and it
felt like he was trying to do this in the
article why he made this move, and he kept doubling down,
(13:26):
like I didn't just make this move, you know, for
Derek Carr, which clearly you know it's not like he
demanded a trade once Derek got sent home and is
now on another team. But one thing he couldn't hide,
and I don't totally blame him, is like Jimmy Garoppolo
is not a great quarterback fit for him, like Jimmy
Garoppolo is not obviously Aaron Rodgers, but even Derek in
(13:47):
terms of explosive balls down the field. Like, I think
DeVante realizes, this is not going to be conducive to
my success. Look at Jimmy Garoppolo in his time starting
with San Francisco, and wide receivers who flourished in terms
of numbers didn't really happen. I mean, Deebo was getting
the ball as a running back or on quick screens,
(14:10):
not really down the field, right, So I think Davante knows, like,
this is not going to be great for me. But
like you signed up for this, you wanted to leave
Aaron Rodgers to go to the Raiders, who lose a
lot and also have a coach. It'd be one thing
if you went to a team and they had a
coach they had just hired a coach with a lot
of success. But Josh McDaniels as the head coach has
(14:30):
been an utter disaster. So I get where and I
don't want to say he's being defensive, but he's trying
to justify a move that I think most football fans go, yeah,
probably not working. Out great, but trying to say, like,
I'm proud to be an All Pro Davante. You could
be an All Pro playing with the Houston Texas. You're
that great of a player. But I think, like you
(14:51):
chose to go to this franchise, you know, it's going
to be very, very difficult to win in that division,
you know, especially now that Sean Payton's there. I think
most human beings and this is not like personal, are
gonna choose the Raiders to finish last, and it's gonna
be very difficult, Like I'll be surprised if they don't.
(15:13):
And you know, this is situations already kind of getting
a little weird with them saying I don't think we
quite see eye to eye on the offense and not
sure where we're going. Yeah, man, I mean this is
what you signed up for. Before we dive into what's next.
Do you know that Angie's List is now Angie your
home for everything home and as someone who is currently
(15:34):
house shopping and who has bought property. Before you walk in,
you go, well, I need to fix the kitchen, I
need to want to improve this bathroom, I want to
fix some stuff in the backyard. And then you go well,
I don't do this for a living. Where do I
even start? Who do I even contact? That's where Angie
has twenty years of experience combined with new tools to
simplify the process. Over two hundred and twenty thousand pros
(15:57):
in their network, they can help you get the best
price for your They have new projects that are priced
upfront and clearly lays out the cost before you buy.
With Angie, you can request quotes from multiple pros in
your area. The pros in your network are locally based.
In just a few taps in the Angie app or
click on the site, you can have Angie tackle your
(16:18):
home service project from start to finish. Download the free
Angie Mobile app today or visit Angie dot com. That's
Angi dot com. A couple other quick stories. There was
(16:39):
a report several days ago that David Kanter, an agent,
a high profile agent, had been offering teams and gms
and personnel people basically his vacation homes Miami, Salt Lake City.
I don't exactly know where all of them are if
they would draft his players, you know, and one I
(17:01):
thought it was kind of funny, obviously, you know, Mike Florio,
Pro football talk made a very big deal of it.
My first reaction was like, isn't that kind of business?
You know, isn't part of business, whatever industry you're in,
listening to this is kind of taking care of your clientelese.
You know, the two industries I'm the most closest to
growing up, and you know, most of my friends work
(17:23):
in are either farming or construction, And I think there
are a lot of parallels to the two of them
in terms of taking care of the people you do
business with, or taking care of people that you want
to do business with, whether it be golf trips, suites
at games. For a long period of time when I
was growing up, the guy my dad worked for had
(17:43):
basically the best duck hunting in California, and a lot
of people, you know, business wise, were taken out there
for you know, business deals like Welcome to America. Isn't
that the way it kind of works now? Just that's
because you take a guy to Pebble Beach or some
sweet duck blind or the Laker or a Yankee game.
(18:06):
Never guarantees you you're gonna get the deal like you
still have to, you know, whether it be in construction,
hit a certain number have the capability of, you know,
getting the job done. So just because I whine and
dine you or offer you some incentive like this is
(18:26):
this is too big a business most most industries, including
the NFL, to just be like, well, you know, this
guy took me to Pebble Beach, lacc a Laker game,
and paid for two weeks of dinners. He's getting my
business even though he's way shittier than the other guy
who didn't do that and will make me more money.
That's not the way it works, definitely not in twenty
(18:48):
twenty three. So yeah, he can offer me a Miami
condo or wherever his vacation homes may be. But no
GM is going to draft your player just because you
give me a week free on the beach for my family.
If the guy can't play, Just like in a construction bid,
(19:09):
I'm not going to get the bid if I am
way under the number just because I took care of you.
And if you know that my company can't handle the job.
So this notion that this shit doesn't go on, you'd
either be naive, not work in the private sector, or
just not quite understand how the world works. But two,
(19:31):
anyone thinking that someone would just draft a player if
you don't think the guy can play because of a
couple of nights day. Like one reason that it's going
to be very difficult, like when you hear some of
these stories. You know, the Alabama baseball coach just got
fired for giving tips about a picture being scratched, and
historically there have been stories about guys throwing games in college.
(19:55):
It's very, very difficult in twenty twenty three. And I
don't worry about this at all with a with a
player or a coach. Definitely in any pro sports, but
probably even now in college in football and nil when
it comes to gambling, because they're all making too much money.
Back when a player wasn't making that much money, and
(20:16):
if I could offer you double his salary, you might
throw the game and I might be able to influence it.
But the moment I start making seven figures, eight figures,
fifty grand, one hundred grand, I don't give a shit.
I make eleven million dollars a year if I'm an
NFL head coach, if I'm the starting quarterback, whatever, if
I'm the starting point guard, even if I'm the starting
(20:37):
point guard at UCLA or Duke or North Carolina. I'm
making big coin. You can't have Caleb Williams or Drake
may throw a game. Do you know how much money
those guys are making? So when I look at this,
I go, yeah, he might have offered it. If offers
get you know, thrown out all the time in any
sort of industry. Can the guy one of whatever player
(20:59):
he he has on his roster help my team win?
Do I think he's any good? Because if I don't,
then there's no chance on God's green Earth, I'm gonna
draft him. My coach is making ten million as a GM.
I make it anywhere from two to five. My life's
too good. I can't afford to travel wherever the fuck
I want. I don't need your free beach house. Now.
(21:21):
If I draft the guy because I like it, and
then you give me the beach house, like yeah, well,
gome to life now. Can you know Florio and those
type people are gonna come after and try to get
you know, someone in trouble, I'm sure, but to me,
to me, it's a big nothing burger. The other interesting
story is one thing you've really seen in the age
(21:42):
of podcasts and YouTube is the rise of these players
that once they finished playing, or like in Pat McAfee's case,
retire early just to start doing content, and just because
you're a former player. If you start doing content, you
might get an initial boost, but your stuff's got to
be good, right. The reason Draymond Green or Pat McAfee
(22:03):
or the Kelsey Brothers are working is because if you
follow or watch, you know, or listen to their content,
it's entertaining. Just because, like if Steph Curry started a
podcast tomorrow and it was boring, it would not last.
I remember when I was I owned some Spotify stock
and they started just hiring all these people to do podcasts,
(22:25):
Kim Kardashian, Michelle Obama, all these huge names, and I
was thinking, like, well, can any of these guys host
a podcast? Is going to be entertaining? What happened after
a year dropped the ball wasn't working right. Usually podcasts
are run by people that know how to entertain, and
there are clearly some people in the space that are
kind of natural at it right, that are really really good.
(22:47):
And Pat McAfee is clearly one of those guys. And
it was just reported or over the last twenty four
hours that he's leaving. You know, his operation and partnering
with ESPN, and there has been a lot of blowback,
calling him, quote unquote a sellout. And I have a
couple opinions on this one. I find Pat very entertaining
(23:10):
just because he's different. Most of the media bores me.
They all throw the same pitch every time there's a story.
I know the angle they're gonna take. There is not
a more predictable group in twenty twenty three than just
the general media, whether it be in sports, whether it
be in politics. You give me someone in the media's
(23:30):
name and just give me a story, I'll tell you
the angle they're gonna take. And Pat's just different. You
don't know what he's gonna say. He just could come
out of left field. He has on fun guests, they
fuck around. It's very raw, real and authentic, which I
think we really like in twenty twenty three moving forward, Like,
(23:50):
I think my generation, people forty and under, just aren't
really into bs. You know, my parents, you know, the
baby boomer generation, people that grew up in earlier generations,
they could handle a lot of you know, just fluff,
you know it. Just society is just a lot different,
and I think everyone that's having success now, Ron Reel
(24:11):
is really in and when you think of ESPN, you
don't really feel that way, right, You don't think of
that now. When I woke up on Thursday morning, I
saw a headline from the Wall Street Journal, and this
has been well reported in business circles that Disney has
been thinking about getting rid of ESPN right and just
kind of spinning it off into its own entity and
selling it to someone. And I do wonder if that
(24:34):
element allows Pat because I think is one of his
best attributes. She's got a lot of them. Is it's
just kind of fearless. He'll say whatever, and because of
the platform he's on YouTube, he can swear. He can
just say whatever he wants, which will not be tolerated,
you know, or at least historically has not been at ESPN.
(24:55):
Think about when Pardon might take Big Cat and PFT
got that Van show and everyone at ESPN freaked the
you know what out. Part of my take is the
biggest sports podcast by a pretty wide margin. They are
what anyone would call in business a cash cow. They
print money. You know what ESPN would have done to
(25:15):
get involved with that brand looking back, Yet they were
forced because a couple people that women that work for
their network. If you replace not a soul, what of
notice freaked out? And ultimately they got fired And you
could argue ESPN might be a little different now. I
don't know, but you know what if Pat pissed someone
(25:36):
off and they want them gone, now they're paying Pad
a lot of money. Maybe times have changed, But clearly
he's got a lot of leverage on this. The most
important thing any of us have in the podcast space
is something we call ip Do your own your podcast
or does someone else own your podcast? Right? Because if
you own your podcast is like you own the real estate,
you know, and that's very, very important. And clearly he
(25:58):
had a lot of leverage in the deal. He's going
to own his podcast, his YouTube channel. And the one
thing ESPN does a couple of things, just like any
big company that you partner with does, is Pat clearly
has a lot of expenses. He's got a lot of
people working for him. Well, who do you think immediately
then covers their insurance? Right, ESPN? Who do you think immediately?
I'm sure he got paid more money than he could
(26:20):
afford to pay him or you know, feel comfortable paying him.
Probably got all his people raises, so he took care
of people, right, which I wonder, which I would imagine
is a big driver. The other thing that's gonna happen
is they're going to put him on ESPN on a
daily basis, like no one is watching. I think Get
Up does pretty well with Greenberg, but these other shows.
You know, when I was in college and even I
(26:43):
remember moving to Philly, ESPN's lineup in radio was remarkable.
It was Mike and Mike, which you could call cheesy
or whatever. It was an enormous revenue generating show. The
coward to SVP and Rissillo, and I think Gottlieb was
after them. I mean, it was just it was a
boheman and they don't care about radio anymore. And part
(27:05):
of radio has changed, right, Look at Colin. Is Colin
a radio show or is he a television show? Now?
Colin's also got podcast networks. He's got a lot going on.
But you know, it's a simulcast now, and that's what
Pat is. It's a simulcast. That's what all of this is.
You got to be on video and you got to
be on audio. But I do wonder if there're gonna
be limitations on his authenticity, which is what makes Pat
(27:29):
so awesome, what makes you know people kind of gravitate
to him. And I bet what he would say is listen,
our ceiling, even at YouTube is only so high, right
we get you know, when we get Aaron Rodgers on
or a big guest on, we can get six figures
watching it one time, but for the most part, we're
probably averaging thirty five forty fifty K watching it. One
time you put us on ESPN, we're immediately five six hundred.
(27:52):
The exposure is dramatically grown. So I always push back
when someone calls someone to sell out because like any talk,
shit walks and a business either growing or dying, so
you always got to look to grow, and the more
you grow, the more people you add, the more expensive
it gets. So I understand why he did it, and
I think he understands that made some you know kind
(28:15):
of like if you get me, this is what you're getting.
The problem is, like you're on television, there are some
rules you know, he's gonna have to and he's even
said that, like there's no game just dropping f bomb
that won't be tolerated, and I think ESPN is trying
to you kind of, you know, figure out a way
to be kind of more relevant than they've become, because
(28:36):
I felt their brand has never been less strong in
my lifetime. Right forever, it was just trending up, trending up,
trending up, trending up. And now it feels like it's
carried by a couple guys and some games. Right, you
remove a couple of their newsbreakers, woes and schefter in
the games, like, you know, are we really watching much
of it? Not really? I know I'm not, and I
(28:58):
am their demo thirty seven year old sports junkie. And
if you don't have either on a live event I
want to watch, like today I'm watching the PGA Championship
or a personality I want to watch, and they don't
have any one of those anymore. I'm not turning on
your channel. And I think ratings speak for itself the
cord cutting. So they're trying to adapt, and I give
(29:19):
them credit because this is the guy you would go after.
It's gonna be fascinating to see if it works. I
would say that it's gonna be bumpy and people are
gonna complain, and because that's just a lot of the
type people they have under their umbrella complain a lot,
always bitching and moanent always, you know, pointing the finger
at someone else. And most of those people that are
(29:40):
doing that aren't that important. They're very I hate to
say it'm fireable, replaceable, you know, and Pat now is
not right, so he's he's kind of untouchable. And it'll
be interesting to watch how this all plays out, you know,
as he transitions. I would imagine he's by football season,
he'll be full time ESPN. It's banging out a couple
(30:01):
of mailbag questions. We'll just contain it all to this podcast.
Like I said earlier and at John Middlecoff is the
Instagram fire in those dms get you a question answered
here on the show. We usually do this on Sunday,
but you know, the next couple of weeks gonna be busy,
got some stuff going on, so I thought I would
just contain it to this podcast. I've been an avid
(30:22):
listener for about a year. I live in Texas. You
probably have heard the deal between ESPN and McAfee. The
main part that caught my attention is ESPN is letting
Pat have full creative control and broadcasting the show live
on YouTube. Do you think ESPN big networks start offering
similar deals to creators or is this more of a
deal given ESPN's popularity and existing or McAfee's popularity and
(30:47):
existing relationship with ESPN. I think they've been courting him
now for a while. I think what he does is very,
very specific, right. I mean, he hosts NFL's King, he
owns an NFL show, dabbles in a little bit of
NBA and NHL, but the NFL is his main baby.
He gets Aaron Rodgers every week, He gets a ton
of guests already without the help of anybody, So it
(31:09):
makes a lot of sense. His show is clearly more
popular than any you know, ESPN radio show, that's for sure.
And that's kind of what he is, right, this hybrid
sim will cast like we talked about earlier. I just
think he had a lot of leverage. That's what life's about, right.
When you have no leverage, you do whatever they tell you.
When you have all the leverage, you don't need to
(31:30):
do this. The most powerful thing McAfee had on his
hands was he could say no. So when you can
say no, right, are you even willing to say no?
Even if you don't have as much leverage. Sometimes like
a guy like Pat, you might get a little more.
So I think the key with Pat is he did
not need them. They needed him more than he needed them.
Given why, I bet his offer was pretty incredible. Yeah,
(31:55):
so I think part of it is less about future
creators and more about his individual situation, right, and that's
what he just Yeah, Like I said, he's had a
lot of leverage. A longtime listener from Australia hope you
are well. What are your thoughts on the Colts draft
grade given by analysts across the NFL circles? They've consistently
(32:18):
received a high grade from multiple outlets. However, I'm not
seeing it. Are these grades just review of filling roster
requirements or do you think we actually acquired some solid
pieces Like most I think ar was definitely a reach,
but interested to see how it develops. What's your take
on the development on his development surrounding his throwing ability
(32:40):
and mechanics. I think a lot of draft grades strictly
have to do with the people grading you what they
thought of those players. So if I loved Anthony Richardson
and thought he should go number one overall, and you
took him for overall, and I think his upside is
higher than any player in the draft. You're gonna skew right.
(33:01):
So then let's just focus on their first three players.
Ar Kansas State quarterback Julius Brentz, who I remember when
they drafted them, seeing some highlights. I don't have a
scatting report on them. And the fast wide receiver from
North Carolina, Josh Downs. A lot of people like Downs,
(33:22):
obviously getting them in the third round. Never forget, the Colts,
once upon a time had a lot of success drafting
a third round wide receiver named t Y Hilton. I'm
not comparing these two, but so let's just say they
get three starters out of their draft. And obviously the quarterback.
You know, you know nothing about the draft, right in
terms of how good these guys are going to be.
No one has any clue. So I guess my overall
(33:45):
take is zero stock into draft grades two. I think
the quarterback they're swinging for the fences year one could
be Rocky. It's we won't even begin to be able
to judge for three years. I think to be a
good draft, the corner, the wide receiver, you got, an
(34:05):
offensive tackle, you got some other defensive players. I think
you gotta have you know, four of these next you
had one two, shit, one, two, three, four, four players
in the top one ten and then another guy in
the top one fifty beside the quarterback. I think two
(34:27):
of those guys have to be starters. I mean, one
thing you guys lacked or the Colts, I guess I'm
talking to you, Like your Chris Ballard is play speed. Right,
So if the wide receiver in the corner, your defense
was fine. You know in theory, your offense just lacks
some juice. So if you get a little more juice
with this rookie. But sometimes it's hard for rookie wide receivers.
(34:48):
I just think, listen, I like the mindset of the quarterback.
The other guys. I can't pretend to have a take.
Who the fuck knows with all this media hype around Darnold,
does Lance end up on the practice squad or will
Kyle dress three quarterbacks on game day? If another team
signed Lance off our practice squad, would SF save any
(35:10):
money salary cap wise? Well for him to end up
on the practice squad it would take this obviously, everyone
beats him out. They would have to cut him, So
if they cut him at the fifty three man roster construction,
he would have to pass through waivers, meaning every team
in the league would have to pass on him. Now,
if you claimed him, you have to put him on
(35:33):
your roster and take his contract, So the forty nine
ers would be off the hook for his remaining guaranteed
salaries this year and next. They would still have some
dead cap issues because they gave him a signing bonus
of whatever twenty five million dollars when they drafted him.
But if they cut him and no one claimed them,
then they would get double dings and then someone could
(35:55):
easily claim, you know, sign him to their active roster
for much cheaper. I think we're a long ways away
from that, but uh, you know, shit, it's going to
be a very very interesting training camp in San Francisco.
Question for the pot from the perspective of a borderline
draft prospect, what would the advantage be to get drafted
in the seventh round versus going undrafted. A friend of
(36:18):
a friend was immediately signed after the draft, and it
would seem to me that being able to sign with
whoever might be an advantage to following with the Tide
of who picks you. Given there's no guaranteed roster spot
and plenty of undrafted free agents playing in the NFL.
I was hoping you could distinguish the two. Well, to me,
(36:38):
there's two ways to look at it. There is, it's
an honor to be drafted, right to say, whether you
last one year in the NFL or five, being drafted
in the NFL is pretty cool, right, But the most
important thing, whether you're a seventh rounder or an undrafted
free agent once the draft ends, is playing in the
NFL as an undrafted free agent. Like if you draft
(37:02):
me with the second to last pick, and I'm let's
just say a wide receiver because you had a fourth
round grade on me, and the team's like, shit, let's
just take this guy. We'd want him as an undrafted
free agent. Let's take him with our you know, the
second to last pick in the draft. Get him on
the team because we had a great grade on him.
What if that team already has five guys that are
a lock to make the team at wide receiver, I'm
in major trouble. Right. So if it was up to
(37:25):
me and I was the player slash agent, I might
not choose that team. Because as a definitely, the agent
is the guy that the teams are talking with. He
is trying to guide the player as an undrafted free
agent to a play. Like if I'm an undrafted free
agent running back, where would you want to go to?
All the Shamahan guys? Why they run the ball? You'd
(37:47):
want to go to a place that values running, So
mighty Kyle could be McVeigh doesn't really as much lafleur vrabel.
I know technically he doesn't have a Shanahan guy, but
you know what I mean, Like, you want to go
to a place where they run the ball? And two
you look at the depth chart, You're like, well, they
only got one guy who's a lock. Then they got
these other guys you could make the roster. Or if
(38:09):
I was a defensive lineman, where do you want to
go to a place with a shitty defensive line? Would
you rather get drafted? You know, pick I don't even
know how many picks are on the draft. Let's just
I'll just pick an even number. It changes by the year, right,
two fifty. Let's just say two fifty, So two fifty
is the last draft pick? Would you rather be the
two hundred and forty seventh pick. Again, I know this
(38:30):
number might be wrong, but let's just say two hundred
and forty seventh pick by the Philadelphia Eagles and be
a defensive lineman and be like, well, they might have
the defensive defensive line in the draft or in the league,
or the Niners or just a team with a fantastic
defensive line. Or would you rather be an undrafted free
agent so you don't get drafted and be like, who's
got the shittiest pass rush? Right, Raiders, whoever? You know?
(38:54):
And pick that team. I think is pretty clear what
you'd want to do. You want to go to the
best place to give yourself self a chance to succeed. Now,
big picture, it's hard to make the NFL, so I
think you can play that game. And sometimes it's completely obvious, right,
you would rather as a seventh round quarterback go to
(39:14):
a place like I'm trying to just think off the
top of my head. Let's just pick a team the
Bills that just like I might be able to make
the team. Then go to a place with like four
court like the forty nine ers. You wouldn't want the forty
nineers to draft you because you're not gonna be able
to make the fifty three man roster, as you know,
based on this year. Obviously Perty did last year. But
(39:37):
even last year with Perty, if it was up to party,
would he have chose the forty nine ers? You know,
they had Trey Lance. They had just given two million
dollars to Sudfeld, so he was gonna be the third
pick or the third quarterback. Now he turns out he
beat Sudfeld out. But I don't think you would choose
that team. You would rather go to a place where
(39:59):
they had a set veteran and then maybe an older
guy who might not be that good. If that's if
I explain that. Well, but you see, also it's kind
of easy to overthink it. Every few years, a new
position is coveted by teams in the NFL. What position
do you see being the next position? Similar to wide
receiver the last few years, Well, I think you can
(40:21):
never have enough inside pass rushers. But you'd argue those
are always coveted, right. I mean, the reason wide receivers
are more coveted now than maybe years in the past
is because it's a passing game. So who impacts the
passing game wide receivers, tight ends quarterbacks, offensive tackles, pass rushers, corners.
(40:41):
All those guys are in demand. I think it just
depends on specific schemes that are having a lot of success.
You know, forever everyone wants Pete Carroll had a lot
of success with Lob and those guys became head coaches
across the league. What happened everyone and want Everyone wanted tall,
bump and run corners, So it changes. I don't have
(41:03):
a great answer for you there. Okay, last one. Any
thoughts on the Spurs winning the draft lottery and do
you think this prolonged Pop staying on as coach as
he's been discussing retirement for years. One thing I think
is funny, and this is why I think some coaches
are better at it than others. Of working the media.
(41:26):
It's weird, right. Pop's an asshole to reporters on the sideline.
He has had two of the most famous tank jobs
in NBA history, but because he's won, no one ever
looks at him like a tanker. We tanked for Duncan,
he obviously tanked this year, Yet when other teams tank,
we shit on him and destroy him. Pop Can kind
of get away from it now. It worked and The
(41:48):
thing with the NBA lottery is they I'll give Adam
Silver credit on this one. He changed the odds. So
just because forever you had a huge advantage if you
had one of the best records, right, you're basically guarante
to be a top three pick. Well, now the team's
with the worst records, I'm pretty sure they were just
fourth and fifth Detroit. You know you're not guaranteed anything.
(42:10):
So there's clearly luck involved. One take on the prospect.
He clearly, like I'm not gonna try to zag on
this one, he's clearly, you know, an elite prospect by
all NBA personnel. When you do look at him, how
often does a guy that size, You know, Kevin Durant
is like at an all time outlier, right to be
(42:32):
that tall, that fluid, that athletic and be that skilled
as like he's like Steph Curry but he's seven feet
tall and he can play defense. You know, this guy
seven foot five. The concern for me would just be
does that body is that just too big? As crazy
as that sounds, is that too big? Think about Yao Ming.
(42:53):
When he was healthy, it was like Jesus, this guy
was he was really turning into just an unstoppable player,
but his body couldn't hold up. Now he's bigger, had
more carried more weight, but that would concern me. Now,
obviously you take the guy number one overall. I do
think the pressure on this guy is beyond iments. You know,
when I was thinking the other day, like, who are
(43:14):
the best prospects of like my adult life? So from
like you know, high school on the early two thousands
till now you Lebron, I'd put Andrew Lock. You know,
Bryce Harper. I mean, the dude was on Sports Illustrated
in like high school and he's lived up to it. MVPs.
He's a three hundred million dollars player. He's fucking awesome.
Even Anthony Davis was a pretty elite prospect led Kentucky
(43:38):
number one overall pick. When you watch him play when
he's on, you know, he's just an elite player. Like
anything less than just every year being like an All
NBA guy is a complete disappointment, right, Like the pressure
on Trevor Lawrence. Anything but seven eight Pro Bowls moving
forward and he plays in a conference would be disappointing.
Giving the given the hype because it's like, you know,
he's right there with Andrew lock Well, Andrew Luck, who,
(44:00):
while he did retire early, went to like four Pro
Bowls in five or six years, you know, and he
was kicking ass and taking names and winning. It was
clear Andrew Luck was sweet immediately, right Lebron Bryce Harper,
So this guy, you better be sweet immediately because the
hype on him is outrageous now, you know, it's classic TV, right,
(44:21):
people are arguing most is he more hype prospect than Lebron?
Of course not Lebron. He was Lebron translated better. You're
like six ' eight, that big, that athletic. When have
we ever seen a guy this tall? It's just it's
very He's just an outlier body type, and sometimes outlier
body types more often than not, they don't work besides
(44:44):
some highlights. It's not like I scouted the guy, but
I just i'd be a little nervous as health wise,
and I had the hype. Is everyone says he's gonna
live up to it. We'll see fascinating to watch is
what makes sports fun. That's what's fun about drafts, right,
p on individual players. You know, Pop won't be there
much longer, But I just I do think the Spurs
(45:06):
get a little bit of a pass though they've tanked,
not consistently like sam Hinky, but they've done it. They
definitely did it this year, and when it works out,
everyone celebrates you, especially in a draft where you don't
even need to think, the problem for Samhnky is he
kept tanking and then he had to think, and he
didn't pick the right guys. Besides Joel Embiid, he just
wasn't picking the right players. This one is just a
(45:27):
beepy fast you don't even need to think where It's
like next year you get the number one overall pick.
It's like, Okayleb Williams, Okay, Audios, have a good weekend.
Talk soon. Peace The Volume Z
Host
John Middlekauff
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.