May 30, 2023 • 36 mins
John discusses the Raiders limited options if Jimmy Garoppolo can't play with a foot injury, which teams could be in the market for DeAndre Hopkins, and answers listener questions in the Middlekauff Mailbag.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume what is going on everybody? John middlecop three
and out podcast. Happy Memorial Day to all of our
(00:24):
veterans out there. Uh, special place in my heart with
my families. I didn't know my dad's brother passed in Vietnam.
Both my grandparents fought in World War Two. So nothing
but appreciation, love and pride from the middle Cough family
and our veterans out there and everyone that's associated with
(00:46):
that listening to that or this podcast, whoever dms me.
I always have a great admiration for you guys and
women who who serve grace country in the world.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Baby.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Uh, you know, I wasn't planning on doing a podcast today,
but you know Jimmy Garoppolo story DeAndre Hopkins, I was like, yeah,
I'll just do a mail bag. I'll just put a
little content. You know some of us. I know it's
a holiday, but you gotta pay the bills you got.
You gotta keep the train rolling down the tracks. So
that that's what we're gonna do. If you ever want
to get in the mail bag at John middlecoff is
(01:22):
my Instagram and the dms are wide open. Just firing
the dms and get your question answer here on the show,
and that's what we're gonna do. So I will talk
about Jimmy Garoppolo who's injured again, DeAndre Hopkins who is released,
and then only answer some of your questions. Hopefully everyone
had a good weekend drinking, hanging, barbecuing, kicking it, getting
(01:43):
some sun, the lake, the river, the ocean, the pool,
I mean, wherever you guys are in some water, because
that's I would say, Memorial Day, Labor Day just feel
like water events, right, Unless you work in the NFL,
Labor Day is actually a lot of work because you're
cutting down your roster, you're getting your working, you're inside
the entire time. But for those of us normal people,
we just get to swim around and hang out, play
(02:05):
some golf. So that's the plan. We will have a
golf podcast tomorrow which we'll look forward to Memorial Jack
Nicholas's tournament and we will do some gambling thoughts there
and the Michael Block come down story, and then probably
another podcast later in the week. So we'll keep rocking
and rolling. So let's dive in. Do you want to
(02:25):
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And let's start with a story that made the rounds
(03:09):
this weekend, and it really goes back to when the
Raiders officially signed Jimmy Garoppolo. Because typically when you sign
a free agent, there's a scheduled press conference right one o'clock,
Jimmy Garoppolo will meet the media, come doctor, And of
course that press conference got pushed back, and then there
were ota praxes that eventually become open to the media,
(03:31):
and Jimmy Garoppolo was not present. And then there were
some comments by DeVante Adams, I'm a little my timeline
is a little messed up, and he made some things
like I'm not on board with what we're doing. And
then you start adding all the piece of the puzzles
up to the puzzle up and trying to put it
all together. What all makes sense once the story breaks
of Jimmy Garoppolo's lead contract that he failed the physical
(03:53):
when he was signing with the Oakland or the Las
Vegas Raiders and they had to put clauses in there.
He had to get a second surgery, which even goes
back to his San Francisco days when Kyle Shanahan the
forty nine Ers thought there was a chance that he
could have returned for either the NFC Championship Game or
the Super Bowl, which clearly he could not have because
his foot was all messed up and maybe he didn't
know it. Clearly something happened in the MRI. It wasn't
(04:16):
good to go. And my big issue is not with
Jimmy Garoppolo failing a physical. This is two years in
a row. Jimmy Garoppolo could not pass a physical at
the time of free agency, so that is nothing new,
nothing new with this player. He is a quarterback who
is often injured. According to my memory bank, he was
(04:37):
traded to the forty nine ers. He was never a
full time starter, obviously behind Tom Brady, but he got
hurt in those four games when Tom Brady was suspended
for the flightgate. Remember the second game he hurt his shoulder.
Then he gets traded to the forty nine Ers. His
second season, which was his first year as a full
time starter, he tore his acl Then the Super Bowl
(04:58):
year fully healthy, and then for when they're on out,
always injured. Twenty twenty, missed a bunch of games, which
led them to drafting Trey Lance. The Trey Lance's rookie year,
he got injured shoulder, thumb, obviously last year foot. So
this guy is a long, long history of durability. And
here's my thing with the Raiders is they got rid
(05:18):
of Derek Carr. Okay, I get it right. They were
not a philosophical match, right, They just didn't work scheme wise.
Josh McDaniel's him didn't see eyed eye, Derek had one
of the worst years of his career. Whatever, but you
need a quarterback and clearly they didn't Draft one, they
don't have other quarterbacks. What's his name? Stindham signed with
(05:38):
the Denver Broncos, who showed a little signs of life
last year and is one of his two starts against
the forty nine ers. So they go all in on
Jimmy Garoppolo, which he's not a type guy that you
can go all in on. He just because he's always
hurt and then when he heals, he gets hurt again.
And I think the biggest question mark here is all
the chips are in the middle of the table for
a franchise that is just desperate, let's face it. I
(06:00):
mean they just never win. Ever, they got two winning
seasons in over two decades in a league full of
parody where even the crappiest teams figure out a way
for some successful seasons. And their coach now, I think,
listen a lot of success as an offensive coordinator. A
lot of people have a lot of success with Tom Brady.
He's gotten two opportunities outside the Belichick umbrella and it
(06:22):
hasn't been pretty. Last year was an embarrassment, and now
he is tied at the hip clearly with Jimmy Garoppolo.
Which listen, if Jimmy Garoppolo can play seventeen games. I
think the Raiders could be competitive. You know, they could
try to go above five hundred nine to eight. Right,
they lack the talent. They're clearly not as good with
the forty nine ers, but he's proven to be better
than half the league at quarterback. If he's your starting quarterback,
(06:45):
he sees eyed eye with your offensive coordinator, you can function.
The problem is he's going to get hurt, like it
is inevitable. History shows us that to think that Jimmy
Garoppolo is going to avoid injury would be malpract this
from Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler. But they don't have
a choice now, like they don't have other options. So
(07:06):
when I see Florio tweeting about they got out they
don't have to pay him, well, all that is great,
and you know, Okay, Jimmy Garoppolo can't eventually pass the
physical he never gets on the field, they are fucked.
I mean, Brian Hoyer is currently their backup quarterback. If
Brian if Jimmy Garoppolo were to disappear and the Raiders
had to operate with Brian Hoyer, I think they'd win
four games, Max. So when I look back at these
(07:29):
quotes from Devonte Adams, listen, I don't necessarily agree. I
mean you can't agree from a football standpoint. Leading the
leaving the Green Bay Packers said over and over, I
understand needing a change of scenery. Hell I did it
last year, best thing I ever did. So I get
where he wanted to move back to the West Coast
play for, you know, his childhood team. I understand it
(07:49):
now from a football standpoint, like you leave the Green
Bay Packers to go to the Raiders, you're gonna downgrade,
and he immediately did. But I think when you dive
into his comments in that Ringer article, was it kind
of directed at the Jimmy Garoppolo situation. Like listen, he said,
over and over, I didn't come for Derek Carr. But
I didn't come like what's our planet, quarterback? It's not
a guy whose foots all messed up, who needed a
(08:10):
second surgery and who's not gonna be able to practice
his offseason and more than likely history which ow is
gonna get injured again. What are we going to do?
And the answer is you would be screwed. And it's like, well,
they just, you know, going for Caleb Williams. Does Josh
McDaniels have the rope to go for Caleb Williams, Like,
let's just say it's a disaster and he wins five
six games. Are we sure that Josh McDaniels in a
(08:32):
market like, let's face it, the Las Vegas Knights come
out of nowhere, created an NHL team, boom, kick ass hell,
Mark Davis hoes WNBA team won the championship last year.
I just saw someone tweeted it out over the weekend.
They're sitting in early records in the WNBA through four games.
Sure a lot of you have watched some of those games,
(08:53):
and like the problem is in Vegas have a bright
light city. You can't be really shitty and expect anyone
to care about you. And Mark knows this, And I
just think that if this season goes wrong, and clearly
they're tied to a guy who's often injured, it could
be a disaster for Josh McDaniels. So I'm a little surprised.
Like I understood why they were interested in him, but
(09:14):
the moment you saw that you pivot not draft a
quarterback high. I mean, it feels like they're all in
the middle of the ocean, and their boats already got
some water on it and more. I would bet on
it sinking. I just would because history would show I
can't bet on Jimmy Garoppolo staying healthy. So I think
it's insane that they've gone down this road regardless of like, oh,
(09:36):
the contract gives them out, well, great, cut them. What
the hell are you going to do? And the answer
is it would not be pretty. The other story is
that DeAndre Hopkins was released by the Arizona Cardinals, and
I think on the most basic level, the reason he
was released is they could not trade his contract. Clearly right,
(09:59):
no one was taking on basically twenty million dollars for
DeAndre Hopkins. Now, a lot of people have slid into
my DMS and asked me like why would they cut up,
Like what is the point? And the simple answer is
they don't want him on the team. They don't want
him around. He clearly hasn't been around like an OTA's
but they want to rid themselves of him as a player.
(10:20):
They don't they value more eating the money to send
him away than keeping him around their new fresh culture,
and they're rebuild that They're starting and I think big picture,
they are trying to bottom out, and that's a whole
nother question. If they are the worst team in the league,
which I think it's always easy to say at the
beginning of the season, and I did that last year,
(10:42):
like a lot of people did. I'm like, as Seattle's
going to be the worst team all the Giants they
both made the playoffs, So I'm not as confident doing that.
I'm a little rattled by last season. But I think
a lot of people, and rightfully so, and meet myself included,
feel pretty confident. This team's gonna stink. I mean, obviously,
their quarterbacks injured, they got a lot of things go
Their talent on their team is not really there. But like,
(11:07):
they cut this guy and now he's a free agent,
so you don't have to take that contract. That is
not your problem. You can sign him to whatever contract
he wants. Now. One of his sticking points, which is
actually very understandable, is him going well if Odell Beckham
got fifteen million dollars, look at my stats the last
(11:28):
three or four years, compared to that guy who gets
injured all the time. Now, Hopkins got some red flax
suspended last year some pdssues has been banged up, not
a big practice player, is pretty productive when he's on
the field. Never been fast, so it's like, well, speed's diminishing.
He's kind of got his game's different, but kind of
that an Kwon Bolden thing, like his game's not predicated
(11:48):
on speed, Like his game's aging well, because that's just
how he's always played. He's always been slow. He's a
contested catch, you know, jump ball, productive guy in the
red zone. He's just a football player. I mean he's
when he's playing well, he is a very very good
football player. I think at times, I guess he had
some seasons where he was I wouldn't go elite, but
(12:10):
you know, to a top five wide receiver. He's no
longer that guy. No one was going to pay him.
I think his problem is going to be because I
get where he's going, like, I'm not taking less than
fifteen million. Who's giving you fifteen million dollars? Won? The
money's not really out there because the teams he'd want
to go to, the Chiefs, the Bills, all the good teams,
they're not really flushed with cap space, so that's not happening.
So would he be willing to do one of those
(12:32):
purely non guaranteed deals. Remember Durell Reeves did that. Now,
that doesn't give you any security. Things go wrong at
the end of the season, they can cut you. But
I think if he wants to go to one of
the teams that he's desiring to go to, he's going
to have to kind of think outside the box. If
he just wants to go to a team, you know,
bad teams are not going to sign him. It doesn't
make any sense. And if you're him, like he's not
(12:53):
going to be interested in those teams. Obviously everyone's talking
about the Bills and the Chiefs. Like, if I am him,
he has made an astronomical amount of money. And I'm
not one to tell you to take pay cuts or
you know, I don't care how much money you make,
whether you make a hundred million dollars or ten dollars,
it's irrelevant to me. But from a football standpoint, if
(13:13):
you want to have success and money's never going to
be an issue in your life, given how much you've made,
you know, these last five six years playing in the league, Like,
I don't think it's crazy to take a little less
or an incentive base deal to go play with Josh Allen,
to go play with Patrick Mahomes, and specifically if Andy
and the Chiefs are interested, like, that's probably where i'd go,
(13:35):
bro Like, I mean, that's that would be the team
I'd be sniffing around because even with the Bills, you go, well,
I get Diggs has kind of been up in arms,
but they've got Stephan Diggs, who's been one of the
best players in the league for at his position for
a while. Now. They just drafted a tight end really high.
They still got Dawson Knox. You know, with the Chiefs,
Juju Smith's not on the team anymore. Obviously, Tyreek's long gone.
(13:56):
Beside the tight ends and the running back like, you
get a lot of juice and the guy will clearly
throw you the ball. So to me, that's what I
would do. Obviously, financially, you're not gonna get what you want,
and I get being mad like, well, I'm better Odell Beckham.
Well true, you know that's that's true, But that's not
always the way the world works. You know, Jalen Hurts
(14:16):
and Lamar Jackson. I would rather have those guys than
Deshaun Watson. Well, those guys got way less than DeShawn
Watson in terms of guaranteed. You know, it's sometimes the
way it works. Just because someone does a terrible contract
or a terrible business deal does not mean the next
person is going to get that amount. And that's probably
the case here. And if he just wants to take
the most money, which will be interested, Like, I don't
(14:39):
totally blame. That's kind of the way football players think
because their career is relatively shorter. But to me, if
I'm him the chiefs, I'm actively working with Veitch and Andy, like,
how do we make this happen? Before we dive into
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Download the free Angie Mobile app today or visit Angie
dot com. That's Angi dot com. Okay, let's dive into
the mailbank at John Middlecoff. Just my name two f's
DM's Instagram really easy to get involved. Hey John, longtime
(16:12):
listener is from Robert. Back in twenty one, you answered
my question regarding the Titans regressing after Arthur Smith moved
on and we hired Todd Downing. You said that Downing
was bad for the Raiders and was most likely going
to be bad for the Titans. I don't remember saying that.
Why is it that you could see this but a
(16:34):
staff full of people who could not see this coming?
I guess my question is why do teams consistently hire
failing coaches when the fan can tell it won't work. Thanks.
I was on the golf course yesterday with a buddy
of mine who works in the golfing business, and you know,
(16:58):
it was part of a pretty big operation that a
big company that's involved with, you know, sponsoring golfers. I mean,
they sponsor all athletes, but we are just he focuses
on golf. And we were talking about, like, you know,
how they do deals with players and agents and it's
just there's a certain agency that they like to work with.
(17:19):
And I was like, you know, people like doing business
with people they like. You know, think about most of
our own businesses. Who do you end up doing business with?
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Now?
Speaker 1 (17:29):
Obviously you have to it has to make sense, but
you lean, if you think things are going to work
out with people you're comfortable with, people you know, people
you like doing business with. And I think in football coaching,
and this is probably true, it's scouting too, is people
are hired because I like you, or we have the
(17:51):
same agent and we know each other. As stupid as
that sounds, it happens a lot. And I think Todd
Downing now can assistantly gets these jobs people like him.
I mean I know people that have worked with them
really really liked the guy. Derek Carr loved him, right,
I think Mike Rabel liked him a lot. But like,
(18:13):
and that's the thing in football, you know, in some businesses, right,
you can get away with you know he's not as good,
but it doesn't necessarily matter, right, Like you know, your
boy might have just closed on a house here in AZ.
I got a little remodel coming up, Like, I want
to like the guy who's doing the romodel, but you know,
some of these quotes, I'm getting shit. If I'm gonna
(18:34):
spend this amount of money, you better be good. Like,
I don't know anything about this, so I'm very dependent
on you being good. Ultimately, I don't give a shit.
If we're friends, I want you to do good job. Right,
And if I'm a head coach and I'm hiring a coordinator,
especially hiring a coordinator at a at a side of
the ball that I don't focus on, like, I'm pretty
(18:57):
dependent on you. So whether we're buddies and whether we
like having cocktails and shooting the shit watching some games
on TV shouldn't really matter that much. But the sad
reality is, in this business and in every business, it
does matter a lot, and like why was Matt Patricia
hired for Bill Belichick? Bill liked him. Bill liked him
(19:19):
a lot, And it has devastating consequences when that's strictly
what you do right now. Sometimes it works, like why
was Demiko Ryans and Robert Sala Shanahan's last two defensive
coordinators first and foremost because he knew him. He had
worked with Robert Solo with the Texans. Sala was best
(19:41):
friends with Matt Lafleur and like I think, was best
man in his wedding, So they had these connections. They
knew each other. And obviously Demiko he had coached him
and been around him, so he was like, on the
most basic level, he was comfortable with the person. Now
I would sure Kyle would tell you and listen, I
will tell you this about Demico. Dimiko has been good
(20:02):
at everything he'd ever had been. But like Robert Solo,
the history had said, like, this is a pretty risky hire.
Now it worked out, But like look at the guys mcveighires,
and it's a lot of it works. But I don't know, man,
it's just the way the business works. Tardy Apps, that's
(20:24):
the name of this Instagram account, longtime listener, longtime Seahawks fan.
I'll be honest, I was one of the guys calling
for Pete and John's collective heads the last five years.
I thought Pete was done overrated, tone deaf, tuned out
whatever a Russ ruiner, et cetera. But looking at Belichick
struggled massively without Brady and the way Pete struggled with Russ,
(20:46):
by which I mean only go to the playoffs almost
every single year, it feels like Pete is almost as
good of a coach as Belichick. Sure, the rings the
rings are differential in all, but then again, if Russ
hadn't stunted Pete, who knows how many more US Seahawks
fans could have won? I know you Seahawks fans could
have won a lot more. If Pete makes it the
(21:08):
NFC Championship game this year with Gino or minimum annihilates
the shah Mahan debacled down under where are the rings?
Mister harbought two point zero? I think it's time. I
think was that a shot at me? Was that the
time we all bowed to acknowledge how good of a
coach Pete is? Sorry for the ramp do you think
the Seahawks will be way better this year? Let's say this.
(21:31):
I'm with you. I never crushed Pete for the Russ
stuff because I thought, let Russ cook. You know, It's
like Pete s Now has two decades worth of the
dude's a winner. The dude won without Russ, and the
dude's winning again without Russ. So Pete's history is success
with or without Russell Wilson. Now, I do think it
(21:52):
was fair to think they were gonna suck last year
because they were banking on Gino Smith Andrew Locke. Now
it turns out Geno Smith had a career year, and
to me, their team on paper is better around Geno Smith.
I think the question is the hardest thing at the
highest level of sports. You could argue any business. It's like,
(22:13):
anyone can have a good year, anyone can make money
for two quarters. Anyone hel Michael Block finished top fifteen
at a major and then he shot eighty one the
next round, Like, can you do it over and over again?
I know Pete? Can I know dk Metcalf? Can I
know Tyler Lockett will be good?
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Right?
Speaker 1 (22:33):
I expect their defense to continue to improve. Can Geno
Smith have another season where he throws thirty touchdowns. I'm
rooting for him. Every time you hear him talk. He's
fucking impressive. Every time that you hear the team talk
about him. Sherman had him on his podcast here in
the volume. I'm a Geno Smith fan. I didn't know
that much about the guy. Easy to root for, but
(22:54):
there's one thing easy to root for a guy like,
is he gonna sustain this career? Is he just gonna
have a second career renaissance? Maybe? I don't know. I mean,
I wouldn't you know if you said, hey, you got
to put let's just pick a number five thousand dollars,
would you put five thousand dollars on Geno replicating last
season or bet against it? You would say history would
(23:15):
say that a guy you just look at the history
of Gino's career, you would probably bet against that. I
wouldn't fel great though, if you told me, I think
they'll be if Gino's good again, Yeah, they'll win ten games.
Their running game is gonna be really good. We know
they got explosive offensive players. I think anyone hating on
Pete though, listen, there's one thing like on an individual
(23:35):
game to be like Pete could have been better. If
that's fair, Belichick's a better coach. Pete, though more versatile coach.
Could Belichick have ever gone to college and do what
Pete did? No, Pete Carroll is everything urban Meyer wanted
to be. Dominate college and then go to the pros.
Urban Meyer was like, get out of here, buddy, you
don't belong in the big leagues. So yeah, I think
(23:57):
Pete Carroll has like one of the mos unique career,
Like he's a Jimmy Johnson level career, right, I mean
one in college, one in the pros. Dominated in both.
I mean he had for one of the a four
year stretch, one of the greatest defenses we've ever seen.
So yeah, I'm with you on Pete. My only question
for your squad is Geno. I saw him play the
Niners and I was like, you know, he plays some
(24:19):
good defense. Didn't quite as a season went on, You're like, huh,
rooting for the guy. I'm not. I'm pro Geno Smith.
How I like Geno Smith? If you said, hey, would
you rather hang out with Gino Smith or Russell Wilson
one million percent? Geno Smith? What do you think about
the NFL adapting a contract that only applies to players.
The organizational organization drafts like the Bird rule in the NBA,
(24:43):
drafting and developed talent should be rewarded. Side note, I
really enjoy anytime you talk of any type economics in business.
Appreciate it. I listen. It comes up a lot. I
was listening to Bill Simmons podcast. He thought that it
should be people have been talking about it forever in
the end, like you should get rewarded for like Steph
(25:04):
Curry his fifty million dollars should not count against a
salary cap when he's been on your team fifteen years,
or Yiannis or whoever. And we say this all the
time in football, like you should get rewarded for drafting. Well,
we're in football. You can't keep everybody right. You got
to let guys go. But that's never changed, and it's
something the media harps on forever. It's a lot of
(25:26):
ideas that people have talked about. Obviously you're bringing it up.
I just think it's it's one of those things that
never feels even remotely close in NFL circles. For whatever reason,
I don't know why, but it never feels like it
has any traction. We never go to the these NFL
owners meetings at one of the local four seasons in
some sweet city and be like, you know what they're
(25:46):
talking about this year? How if you have a guy
on your team more than eight years, his salary cap
hit should be half as much as a salary or whatever.
It never comes up. So yeah, I mean I'd be
all for it. I think it should be rewarded, but
it never is, Like you should be rewarded for drafting. Well,
But I also, like one thing I've always said, a
(26:09):
GM's job is about more than drafting, Like, Okay, you
miss on a draftic, who cares? Can you sign a
good free agent? Can you find a good undrafted free agent?
Can you find a good guy on some other teams
practice squad? Like building a team is not just about
quote unquote drafting. Obviously, it's the lifeblood of the business,
Like college football is life blood of your business. Recruiting
kind of now with the transfer portal, like I can
(26:30):
find sweet dudes in the transfer portal. I didn't know
until the draft that the dude the Lions drafted Gibbs,
like the dude was on Alabama was ah he started
Alabama they sign, they transferportal them from Georgia Tech. Talk
about a great move by that guy, Like see at
george Tech. I'm going to Alabama. Well, how's this gonna
work out? Do you even get any playing time?
Speaker 2 (26:49):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Not only am I gonna kick ass for them? I'm
gonna get drafted in the top fifteen. So I hear you.
It just it doesn't feel like it ever gets remotely
clear happening. Greetings from Berlin, Germany. I'm a Bengals fan
as when wondering why playoff teams like the Bengals are
Eagles still have thirteen to fourteen million left in cap
(27:11):
space per overthcap dot com. If you are a Super
Bowl contender, shouldn't you spend all the available cap space
in order to get the best team possible on the field.
I suppose there are still capable veterans available at every
position group, Especially the Bengals still have some depth issues
on their defensive line and are not spending the money
(27:33):
on a veteran. When you look at the chart over
the cap dot Com, the Bengals and Eagles are the
only playoff teams with so much cap space. Why are
teams in general not spending cap space. Well, I think
it's pretty simple. Excuse the Bengals, for example, they could
extend two guys this offseason, Joe Burrow and t Higgins,
(27:57):
and immediately use up that cap space. They have internal
candidates to extend to utilize that cap space. And in general,
should you just use the cap space to use the
cap space? Right? Like, just because you have you don't
need to buy anything. You don't need to buy a home,
You don't need anything. Let's just say you got fifty
thousand dollars in a savings account. Like what if that
(28:20):
savings account is for a quote unquote rainy day, or
what if it's for like you easily could go like
buy a Rolex, buy a new car, Like you could
easily do things. But do you need a new car?
Do you need a watch? You would you even wear
a watch? Like, Yeah, I could go sign some I'd
go sign DeAndre Hopkins, but like, is that more important
(28:41):
than signing the guy? Here's the other thing, like the
savings analogy, but what if something crazy happens? What if
a good deal comes available? Like, you can always make trades.
Sometimes making trades, guys have bigger salaries. Remember a couple
of years ago, the Rams had to give up a
second and third round pick to get von Miller because
(29:01):
they didn't have any salary cap space. So the Broncos
had to eat the cap space. They might not have
had to give that up if they would have had obviously,
you know, they couldn't have foreseen that happening, but if
they would have had more cap space. So there's a
give and take with everything having cap space. To me,
if there are specific players, like if you could have
signed player X one improves your team, but most free
(29:24):
agents suck. Look at this free agent class beside like
Javon Hargrave, who was good in the free agent class
that got quote unquote a lot of money mcglinchy. Can
you imagine giving a glinchy fifty million dollars? So just
because the guy's a free agent and you never know,
like guys get cut at any moment, Guys are available
trades at any moment. Having having flexibility is always smart,
(29:48):
right And this back to the savings analogy. If you
just have endlessen not everyone can save. I'm not saying
you should have money saved at all times, but when
you just have nothing in your savings account, you have
no flexibility. The moment you get screwed, you get laid off,
you don't have a job, you're not making any money,
like you are in dire straits immediately. But when you
got a little nest egg, like yeah, something bad happens,
(30:08):
there's a medical emergency, you know, you got a little
wiggle room. And that to me, a salary cap space.
It just kind of gives you wiggle room. So like,
if you can give me one specific example, like this
player they should have signed, and sometimes that happens, and
then that said player in free agency or that was
available turns out not to be good. So I'm never
(30:29):
opposed to having some salary cap space for good teams
because it does give them a lot of flexibility. Even
with as much content as you put out, I am
still always looking for podcasts with more football content. What
are some podcasts you listen to recommend? I would say
(30:50):
the podcast football podcast I listened to. I would say
the only pure football podcast I listened to would be
I listened to Michael Lombardi podcasts. He can be a
little angry listen. I like him, I know he knows
his shit. Can be a little angry for me at times,
not that I'm against negativity and you know, like you know,
I listened to him today on the Jimmy Garoppolo thing.
(31:12):
It's like, bro, let's just call a spade a spape
that they sign an injured player. I know you're boys
with Josh McDaniels, but the risk is not the the
addendum in the contract, it's why are you signing this
player in the first place. Uh. But yeah, I don't
honestly listen to that much football content. Now. The one
thing I've started to do, I listened to Chris Long
(31:35):
whenever he has on like he had on Jason Kelsey,
that that was good when the Kelsey brothers have on
a good guess. So I will listen to players podcasts
when they have guests because I think their relationship with
those guys are something you're not getting anywhere else. Right,
they know him, they're friends, they played with him. I
think it's pretty cool. So I will listen to those interviews.
(31:58):
But honestly, I don't. I don't listen to that much
football content, to be honest with, Especially in the offseason.
I tried to listen to more finance podcasts. I listened
to NBA podcasts. Yeah, I listened to a lot of
golf content. I listened to a lot of golf podcasts. Hey, John,
(32:20):
Seahawks fan here, Why do you think Seattle decided to
invest their fifth overall pick at cornerback when they knew
they needed to impact players on the defensive line. The
pass rush was definitely one of the glaring issues last season.
Your thoughts, because I think Seattle, over their decade of
success with the Russ era, had been burned a couple
(32:40):
times by character guys and they've and Pete Carroll's always
been pretty open minded to that. But one thing I
think they learned last year removing Russ, who I don't
want to call it cancer, but was clearly an issue
for them, and not in like a legal way, but
just in the egomaniac way that it was like, you know,
(33:03):
we had a team that was just full of guys
that was just doing whatever it took to win and
just good guys. And they could have taken Jalen Carter,
and I think the difference is, and I don't know,
maybe you've listened to I haven't listened to every press
conference they've given. Like Witherspoon was the type guy that
was like this guy is just not gonna miss this guy, character, physicality, play,
(33:28):
just kind of had like a Cam Chancellor Richard Sherman
vibe to him as a person player just bat right.
It was just gonna work where Jalen was a huge
I don't want to say a hail Mary, but could
blow up in your face. And I think what they
just experienced, They're like, we don't want to risk what
we have where the Eagles go. We have so much
(33:50):
of that at the highest level that we could take it.
So I supported them doing it. I think they saw
a lot of you know, the lob type mentality, mindset,
character type, you know, a profile in him, and I
can't I completely understand it. I think it's always easy.
(34:14):
And Jim Washburn, who is one of the best defensive
coaches of all time and now his protege, Chris Caserk
is the forty nine ers guy you know, used to
always say this and listen, Jim had no problem coaching
some crazies. But he's like, it's so easy for the
scouts to be like, listen, the guy's got some issues,
but I'm telling you, stude can rush the edge like
(34:35):
double teams. Good luck. No one's gonna stop him. He's like, ah,
that's great, but I got to deal with this guy
Monday through Saturday when you guys are in your office,
listen to sports talk radio, watching players bs and with
your buddies on the road. Right, I got to coach
this guy. I have to deal with him. You don't.
So it's it's easy for the scouts always to say
(34:57):
take this chance.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
Right.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
See, that's you know, saying, man, you should stay with her, right.
I think we always have when people get divorces or
people get married or whatever. Everyone on the outside always
has these opinions on relationships like are you the one
spending the night with her every night? Are you the
one living with her or him?
Speaker 2 (35:17):
Right?
Speaker 1 (35:17):
Is that the way because like that person usually knows better.
It's why whenever someone's like should I get a breakup
or whatever, it's like, only you know, it's I can't
tell you. I ain't laying down at night for the
last three years like you are, right. That's why coaches
sometimes now they can be negative and positive in ways
that like can be a little over the top just
(35:38):
in general, but that is a fair thing. Like the
position coach to deal with them in Pete's obviously very
hands on with the defense. Yeah, we'll end on that one.
Have a good have a good week, but I'll talk
to you tomorrow and talk soon.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
See it the volume
The volume what is going on everybody? John middlecop three
and out podcast. Happy Memorial Day to all of our
(00:24):
veterans out there. Uh, special place in my heart with
my families. I didn't know my dad's brother passed in Vietnam.
Both my grandparents fought in World War Two. So nothing
but appreciation, love and pride from the middle Cough family
and our veterans out there and everyone that's associated with
(00:46):
that listening to that or this podcast, whoever dms me.
I always have a great admiration for you guys and
women who who serve grace country in the world.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Baby.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Uh, you know, I wasn't planning on doing a podcast today,
but you know Jimmy Garoppolo story DeAndre Hopkins, I was like, yeah,
I'll just do a mail bag. I'll just put a
little content. You know some of us. I know it's
a holiday, but you gotta pay the bills you got.
You gotta keep the train rolling down the tracks. So
that that's what we're gonna do. If you ever want
to get in the mail bag at John middlecoff is
(01:22):
my Instagram and the dms are wide open. Just firing
the dms and get your question answer here on the show,
and that's what we're gonna do. So I will talk
about Jimmy Garoppolo who's injured again, DeAndre Hopkins who is released,
and then only answer some of your questions. Hopefully everyone
had a good weekend drinking, hanging, barbecuing, kicking it, getting
(01:43):
some sun, the lake, the river, the ocean, the pool,
I mean, wherever you guys are in some water, because
that's I would say, Memorial Day, Labor Day just feel
like water events, right, Unless you work in the NFL,
Labor Day is actually a lot of work because you're
cutting down your roster, you're getting your working, you're inside
the entire time. But for those of us normal people,
we just get to swim around and hang out, play
(02:05):
some golf. So that's the plan. We will have a
golf podcast tomorrow which we'll look forward to Memorial Jack
Nicholas's tournament and we will do some gambling thoughts there
and the Michael Block come down story, and then probably
another podcast later in the week. So we'll keep rocking
and rolling. So let's dive in. Do you want to
(02:25):
go to a football game this fall? Do you want
to go to a college football game? You want to
go to an NFL game. I got you covered. Here's
what you do. You download the game Time app. Just
go to your smartphone download game Time. Fastest growing ticket
app in America, happens to be the official ticketing app
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You sign up. You want to go to a concert,
(02:46):
you want to go to a football game, you want
to go to a baseball game, you want to go
to a comedy show, And use the promo code John,
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Download the game Time app. Promo code John. Have a
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And let's start with a story that made the rounds
(03:09):
this weekend, and it really goes back to when the
Raiders officially signed Jimmy Garoppolo. Because typically when you sign
a free agent, there's a scheduled press conference right one o'clock,
Jimmy Garoppolo will meet the media, come doctor, And of
course that press conference got pushed back, and then there
were ota praxes that eventually become open to the media,
(03:31):
and Jimmy Garoppolo was not present. And then there were
some comments by DeVante Adams, I'm a little my timeline
is a little messed up, and he made some things
like I'm not on board with what we're doing. And
then you start adding all the piece of the puzzles
up to the puzzle up and trying to put it
all together. What all makes sense once the story breaks
of Jimmy Garoppolo's lead contract that he failed the physical
(03:53):
when he was signing with the Oakland or the Las
Vegas Raiders and they had to put clauses in there.
He had to get a second surgery, which even goes
back to his San Francisco days when Kyle Shanahan the
forty nine Ers thought there was a chance that he
could have returned for either the NFC Championship Game or
the Super Bowl, which clearly he could not have because
his foot was all messed up and maybe he didn't
know it. Clearly something happened in the MRI. It wasn't
(04:16):
good to go. And my big issue is not with
Jimmy Garoppolo failing a physical. This is two years in
a row. Jimmy Garoppolo could not pass a physical at
the time of free agency, so that is nothing new,
nothing new with this player. He is a quarterback who
is often injured. According to my memory bank, he was
(04:37):
traded to the forty nine ers. He was never a
full time starter, obviously behind Tom Brady, but he got
hurt in those four games when Tom Brady was suspended
for the flightgate. Remember the second game he hurt his shoulder.
Then he gets traded to the forty nine Ers. His
second season, which was his first year as a full
time starter, he tore his acl Then the Super Bowl
(04:58):
year fully healthy, and then for when they're on out,
always injured. Twenty twenty, missed a bunch of games, which
led them to drafting Trey Lance. The Trey Lance's rookie year,
he got injured shoulder, thumb, obviously last year foot. So
this guy is a long, long history of durability. And
here's my thing with the Raiders is they got rid
(05:18):
of Derek Carr. Okay, I get it right. They were
not a philosophical match, right, They just didn't work scheme wise.
Josh McDaniel's him didn't see eyed eye, Derek had one
of the worst years of his career. Whatever, but you
need a quarterback and clearly they didn't Draft one, they
don't have other quarterbacks. What's his name? Stindham signed with
(05:38):
the Denver Broncos, who showed a little signs of life
last year and is one of his two starts against
the forty nine ers. So they go all in on
Jimmy Garoppolo, which he's not a type guy that you
can go all in on. He just because he's always
hurt and then when he heals, he gets hurt again.
And I think the biggest question mark here is all
the chips are in the middle of the table for
a franchise that is just desperate, let's face it. I
(06:00):
mean they just never win. Ever, they got two winning
seasons in over two decades in a league full of
parody where even the crappiest teams figure out a way
for some successful seasons. And their coach now, I think,
listen a lot of success as an offensive coordinator. A
lot of people have a lot of success with Tom Brady.
He's gotten two opportunities outside the Belichick umbrella and it
(06:22):
hasn't been pretty. Last year was an embarrassment, and now
he is tied at the hip clearly with Jimmy Garoppolo.
Which listen, if Jimmy Garoppolo can play seventeen games. I
think the Raiders could be competitive. You know, they could
try to go above five hundred nine to eight. Right,
they lack the talent. They're clearly not as good with
the forty nine ers, but he's proven to be better
than half the league at quarterback. If he's your starting quarterback,
(06:45):
he sees eyed eye with your offensive coordinator, you can function.
The problem is he's going to get hurt, like it
is inevitable. History shows us that to think that Jimmy
Garoppolo is going to avoid injury would be malpract this
from Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler. But they don't have
a choice now, like they don't have other options. So
(07:06):
when I see Florio tweeting about they got out they
don't have to pay him, well, all that is great,
and you know, Okay, Jimmy Garoppolo can't eventually pass the
physical he never gets on the field, they are fucked.
I mean, Brian Hoyer is currently their backup quarterback. If
Brian if Jimmy Garoppolo were to disappear and the Raiders
had to operate with Brian Hoyer, I think they'd win
four games, Max. So when I look back at these
(07:29):
quotes from Devonte Adams, listen, I don't necessarily agree. I
mean you can't agree from a football standpoint. Leading the
leaving the Green Bay Packers said over and over, I
understand needing a change of scenery. Hell I did it
last year, best thing I ever did. So I get
where he wanted to move back to the West Coast
play for, you know, his childhood team. I understand it
(07:49):
now from a football standpoint, like you leave the Green
Bay Packers to go to the Raiders, you're gonna downgrade,
and he immediately did. But I think when you dive
into his comments in that Ringer article, was it kind
of directed at the Jimmy Garoppolo situation. Like listen, he said,
over and over, I didn't come for Derek Carr. But
I didn't come like what's our planet, quarterback? It's not
a guy whose foots all messed up, who needed a
(08:10):
second surgery and who's not gonna be able to practice
his offseason and more than likely history which ow is
gonna get injured again. What are we going to do?
And the answer is you would be screwed. And it's like, well,
they just, you know, going for Caleb Williams. Does Josh
McDaniels have the rope to go for Caleb Williams, Like,
let's just say it's a disaster and he wins five
six games. Are we sure that Josh McDaniels in a
(08:32):
market like, let's face it, the Las Vegas Knights come
out of nowhere, created an NHL team, boom, kick ass hell,
Mark Davis hoes WNBA team won the championship last year.
I just saw someone tweeted it out over the weekend.
They're sitting in early records in the WNBA through four games.
Sure a lot of you have watched some of those games,
(08:53):
and like the problem is in Vegas have a bright
light city. You can't be really shitty and expect anyone
to care about you. And Mark knows this, And I
just think that if this season goes wrong, and clearly
they're tied to a guy who's often injured, it could
be a disaster for Josh McDaniels. So I'm a little surprised.
Like I understood why they were interested in him, but
(09:14):
the moment you saw that you pivot not draft a
quarterback high. I mean, it feels like they're all in
the middle of the ocean, and their boats already got
some water on it and more. I would bet on
it sinking. I just would because history would show I
can't bet on Jimmy Garoppolo staying healthy. So I think
it's insane that they've gone down this road regardless of like, oh,
(09:36):
the contract gives them out, well, great, cut them. What
the hell are you going to do? And the answer
is it would not be pretty. The other story is
that DeAndre Hopkins was released by the Arizona Cardinals, and
I think on the most basic level, the reason he
was released is they could not trade his contract. Clearly right,
(09:59):
no one was taking on basically twenty million dollars for
DeAndre Hopkins. Now, a lot of people have slid into
my DMS and asked me like why would they cut up,
Like what is the point? And the simple answer is
they don't want him on the team. They don't want
him around. He clearly hasn't been around like an OTA's
but they want to rid themselves of him as a player.
(10:20):
They don't they value more eating the money to send
him away than keeping him around their new fresh culture,
and they're rebuild that They're starting and I think big picture,
they are trying to bottom out, and that's a whole
nother question. If they are the worst team in the league,
which I think it's always easy to say at the
beginning of the season, and I did that last year,
(10:42):
like a lot of people did. I'm like, as Seattle's
going to be the worst team all the Giants they
both made the playoffs, So I'm not as confident doing that.
I'm a little rattled by last season. But I think
a lot of people, and rightfully so, and meet myself included,
feel pretty confident. This team's gonna stink. I mean, obviously,
their quarterbacks injured, they got a lot of things go
Their talent on their team is not really there. But like,
(11:07):
they cut this guy and now he's a free agent,
so you don't have to take that contract. That is
not your problem. You can sign him to whatever contract
he wants. Now. One of his sticking points, which is
actually very understandable, is him going well if Odell Beckham
got fifteen million dollars, look at my stats the last
(11:28):
three or four years, compared to that guy who gets
injured all the time. Now, Hopkins got some red flax
suspended last year some pdssues has been banged up, not
a big practice player, is pretty productive when he's on
the field. Never been fast, so it's like, well, speed's diminishing.
He's kind of got his game's different, but kind of
that an Kwon Bolden thing, like his game's not predicated
(11:48):
on speed, Like his game's aging well, because that's just
how he's always played. He's always been slow. He's a
contested catch, you know, jump ball, productive guy in the
red zone. He's just a football player. I mean he's
when he's playing well, he is a very very good
football player. I think at times, I guess he had
some seasons where he was I wouldn't go elite, but
(12:10):
you know, to a top five wide receiver. He's no
longer that guy. No one was going to pay him.
I think his problem is going to be because I
get where he's going, like, I'm not taking less than
fifteen million. Who's giving you fifteen million dollars? Won? The
money's not really out there because the teams he'd want
to go to, the Chiefs, the Bills, all the good teams,
they're not really flushed with cap space, so that's not happening.
So would he be willing to do one of those
(12:32):
purely non guaranteed deals. Remember Durell Reeves did that. Now,
that doesn't give you any security. Things go wrong at
the end of the season, they can cut you. But
I think if he wants to go to one of
the teams that he's desiring to go to, he's going
to have to kind of think outside the box. If
he just wants to go to a team, you know,
bad teams are not going to sign him. It doesn't
make any sense. And if you're him, like he's not
(12:53):
going to be interested in those teams. Obviously everyone's talking
about the Bills and the Chiefs. Like, if I am him,
he has made an astronomical amount of money. And I'm
not one to tell you to take pay cuts or
you know, I don't care how much money you make,
whether you make a hundred million dollars or ten dollars,
it's irrelevant to me. But from a football standpoint, if
(13:13):
you want to have success and money's never going to
be an issue in your life, given how much you've made,
you know, these last five six years playing in the league, Like,
I don't think it's crazy to take a little less
or an incentive base deal to go play with Josh Allen,
to go play with Patrick Mahomes, and specifically if Andy
and the Chiefs are interested, like, that's probably where i'd go,
(13:35):
bro Like, I mean, that's that would be the team
I'd be sniffing around because even with the Bills, you go, well,
I get Diggs has kind of been up in arms,
but they've got Stephan Diggs, who's been one of the
best players in the league for at his position for
a while. Now. They just drafted a tight end really high.
They still got Dawson Knox. You know, with the Chiefs,
Juju Smith's not on the team anymore. Obviously, Tyreek's long gone.
(13:56):
Beside the tight ends and the running back like, you
get a lot of juice and the guy will clearly
throw you the ball. So to me, that's what I
would do. Obviously, financially, you're not gonna get what you want,
and I get being mad like, well, I'm better Odell Beckham.
Well true, you know that's that's true, But that's not
always the way the world works. You know, Jalen Hurts
(14:16):
and Lamar Jackson. I would rather have those guys than
Deshaun Watson. Well, those guys got way less than DeShawn
Watson in terms of guaranteed. You know, it's sometimes the
way it works. Just because someone does a terrible contract
or a terrible business deal does not mean the next
person is going to get that amount. And that's probably
the case here. And if he just wants to take
the most money, which will be interested, Like, I don't
(14:39):
totally blame. That's kind of the way football players think
because their career is relatively shorter. But to me, if
I'm him the chiefs, I'm actively working with Veitch and Andy, like,
how do we make this happen? Before we dive into
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Download the free Angie Mobile app today or visit Angie
dot com. That's Angi dot com. Okay, let's dive into
the mailbank at John Middlecoff. Just my name two f's
DM's Instagram really easy to get involved. Hey John, longtime
(16:12):
listener is from Robert. Back in twenty one, you answered
my question regarding the Titans regressing after Arthur Smith moved
on and we hired Todd Downing. You said that Downing
was bad for the Raiders and was most likely going
to be bad for the Titans. I don't remember saying that.
Why is it that you could see this but a
(16:34):
staff full of people who could not see this coming?
I guess my question is why do teams consistently hire
failing coaches when the fan can tell it won't work. Thanks.
I was on the golf course yesterday with a buddy
of mine who works in the golfing business, and you know,
(16:58):
it was part of a pretty big operation that a
big company that's involved with, you know, sponsoring golfers. I mean,
they sponsor all athletes, but we are just he focuses
on golf. And we were talking about, like, you know,
how they do deals with players and agents and it's
just there's a certain agency that they like to work with.
(17:19):
And I was like, you know, people like doing business
with people they like. You know, think about most of
our own businesses. Who do you end up doing business with?
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Now?
Speaker 1 (17:29):
Obviously you have to it has to make sense, but
you lean, if you think things are going to work
out with people you're comfortable with, people you know, people
you like doing business with. And I think in football coaching,
and this is probably true, it's scouting too, is people
are hired because I like you, or we have the
(17:51):
same agent and we know each other. As stupid as
that sounds, it happens a lot. And I think Todd
Downing now can assistantly gets these jobs people like him.
I mean I know people that have worked with them
really really liked the guy. Derek Carr loved him, right,
I think Mike Rabel liked him a lot. But like,
(18:13):
and that's the thing in football, you know, in some businesses, right,
you can get away with you know he's not as good,
but it doesn't necessarily matter, right, Like you know, your
boy might have just closed on a house here in AZ.
I got a little remodel coming up, Like, I want
to like the guy who's doing the romodel, but you know,
some of these quotes, I'm getting shit. If I'm gonna
(18:34):
spend this amount of money, you better be good. Like,
I don't know anything about this, so I'm very dependent
on you being good. Ultimately, I don't give a shit.
If we're friends, I want you to do good job. Right,
And if I'm a head coach and I'm hiring a coordinator,
especially hiring a coordinator at a at a side of
the ball that I don't focus on, like, I'm pretty
(18:57):
dependent on you. So whether we're buddies and whether we
like having cocktails and shooting the shit watching some games
on TV shouldn't really matter that much. But the sad
reality is, in this business and in every business, it
does matter a lot, and like why was Matt Patricia
hired for Bill Belichick? Bill liked him. Bill liked him
(19:19):
a lot, And it has devastating consequences when that's strictly
what you do right now. Sometimes it works, like why
was Demiko Ryans and Robert Sala Shanahan's last two defensive
coordinators first and foremost because he knew him. He had
worked with Robert Solo with the Texans. Sala was best
(19:41):
friends with Matt Lafleur and like I think, was best
man in his wedding, So they had these connections. They
knew each other. And obviously Demiko he had coached him
and been around him, so he was like, on the
most basic level, he was comfortable with the person. Now
I would sure Kyle would tell you and listen, I
will tell you this about Demico. Dimiko has been good
(20:02):
at everything he'd ever had been. But like Robert Solo,
the history had said, like, this is a pretty risky hire.
Now it worked out, But like look at the guys mcveighires,
and it's a lot of it works. But I don't know, man,
it's just the way the business works. Tardy Apps, that's
(20:24):
the name of this Instagram account, longtime listener, longtime Seahawks fan.
I'll be honest, I was one of the guys calling
for Pete and John's collective heads the last five years.
I thought Pete was done overrated, tone deaf, tuned out
whatever a Russ ruiner, et cetera. But looking at Belichick
struggled massively without Brady and the way Pete struggled with Russ,
(20:46):
by which I mean only go to the playoffs almost
every single year, it feels like Pete is almost as
good of a coach as Belichick. Sure, the rings the
rings are differential in all, but then again, if Russ
hadn't stunted Pete, who knows how many more US Seahawks
fans could have won? I know you Seahawks fans could
have won a lot more. If Pete makes it the
(21:08):
NFC Championship game this year with Gino or minimum annihilates
the shah Mahan debacled down under where are the rings?
Mister harbought two point zero? I think it's time. I
think was that a shot at me? Was that the
time we all bowed to acknowledge how good of a
coach Pete is? Sorry for the ramp do you think
the Seahawks will be way better this year? Let's say this.
(21:31):
I'm with you. I never crushed Pete for the Russ
stuff because I thought, let Russ cook. You know, It's
like Pete s Now has two decades worth of the
dude's a winner. The dude won without Russ, and the
dude's winning again without Russ. So Pete's history is success
with or without Russell Wilson. Now, I do think it
(21:52):
was fair to think they were gonna suck last year
because they were banking on Gino Smith Andrew Locke. Now
it turns out Geno Smith had a career year, and
to me, their team on paper is better around Geno Smith.
I think the question is the hardest thing at the
highest level of sports. You could argue any business. It's like,
(22:13):
anyone can have a good year, anyone can make money
for two quarters. Anyone hel Michael Block finished top fifteen
at a major and then he shot eighty one the
next round, Like, can you do it over and over again?
I know Pete? Can I know dk Metcalf? Can I
know Tyler Lockett will be good?
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Right?
Speaker 1 (22:33):
I expect their defense to continue to improve. Can Geno
Smith have another season where he throws thirty touchdowns. I'm
rooting for him. Every time you hear him talk. He's
fucking impressive. Every time that you hear the team talk
about him. Sherman had him on his podcast here in
the volume. I'm a Geno Smith fan. I didn't know
that much about the guy. Easy to root for, but
(22:54):
there's one thing easy to root for a guy like,
is he gonna sustain this career? Is he just gonna
have a second career renaissance? Maybe? I don't know. I mean,
I wouldn't you know if you said, hey, you got
to put let's just pick a number five thousand dollars,
would you put five thousand dollars on Geno replicating last
season or bet against it? You would say history would
(23:15):
say that a guy you just look at the history
of Gino's career, you would probably bet against that. I
wouldn't fel great though, if you told me, I think
they'll be if Gino's good again, Yeah, they'll win ten games.
Their running game is gonna be really good. We know
they got explosive offensive players. I think anyone hating on
Pete though, listen, there's one thing like on an individual
(23:35):
game to be like Pete could have been better. If
that's fair, Belichick's a better coach. Pete, though more versatile coach.
Could Belichick have ever gone to college and do what
Pete did? No, Pete Carroll is everything urban Meyer wanted
to be. Dominate college and then go to the pros.
Urban Meyer was like, get out of here, buddy, you
don't belong in the big leagues. So yeah, I think
(23:57):
Pete Carroll has like one of the mos unique career,
Like he's a Jimmy Johnson level career, right, I mean
one in college, one in the pros. Dominated in both.
I mean he had for one of the a four
year stretch, one of the greatest defenses we've ever seen.
So yeah, I'm with you on Pete. My only question
for your squad is Geno. I saw him play the
Niners and I was like, you know, he plays some
(24:19):
good defense. Didn't quite as a season went on, You're like, huh,
rooting for the guy. I'm not. I'm pro Geno Smith.
How I like Geno Smith? If you said, hey, would
you rather hang out with Gino Smith or Russell Wilson
one million percent? Geno Smith? What do you think about
the NFL adapting a contract that only applies to players.
The organizational organization drafts like the Bird rule in the NBA,
(24:43):
drafting and developed talent should be rewarded. Side note, I
really enjoy anytime you talk of any type economics in business.
Appreciate it. I listen. It comes up a lot. I
was listening to Bill Simmons podcast. He thought that it
should be people have been talking about it forever in
the end, like you should get rewarded for like Steph
(25:04):
Curry his fifty million dollars should not count against a
salary cap when he's been on your team fifteen years,
or Yiannis or whoever. And we say this all the
time in football, like you should get rewarded for drafting. Well,
we're in football. You can't keep everybody right. You got
to let guys go. But that's never changed, and it's
something the media harps on forever. It's a lot of
(25:26):
ideas that people have talked about. Obviously you're bringing it up.
I just think it's it's one of those things that
never feels even remotely close in NFL circles. For whatever reason,
I don't know why, but it never feels like it
has any traction. We never go to the these NFL
owners meetings at one of the local four seasons in
some sweet city and be like, you know what they're
(25:46):
talking about this year? How if you have a guy
on your team more than eight years, his salary cap
hit should be half as much as a salary or whatever.
It never comes up. So yeah, I mean I'd be
all for it. I think it should be rewarded, but
it never is, Like you should be rewarded for drafting. Well,
But I also, like one thing I've always said, a
(26:09):
GM's job is about more than drafting, Like, Okay, you
miss on a draftic, who cares? Can you sign a
good free agent? Can you find a good undrafted free agent?
Can you find a good guy on some other teams
practice squad? Like building a team is not just about
quote unquote drafting. Obviously, it's the lifeblood of the business,
Like college football is life blood of your business. Recruiting
kind of now with the transfer portal, like I can
(26:30):
find sweet dudes in the transfer portal. I didn't know
until the draft that the dude the Lions drafted Gibbs,
like the dude was on Alabama was ah he started
Alabama they sign, they transferportal them from Georgia Tech. Talk
about a great move by that guy, Like see at
george Tech. I'm going to Alabama. Well, how's this gonna
work out? Do you even get any playing time?
Speaker 2 (26:49):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Not only am I gonna kick ass for them? I'm
gonna get drafted in the top fifteen. So I hear you.
It just it doesn't feel like it ever gets remotely
clear happening. Greetings from Berlin, Germany. I'm a Bengals fan
as when wondering why playoff teams like the Bengals are
Eagles still have thirteen to fourteen million left in cap
(27:11):
space per overthcap dot com. If you are a Super
Bowl contender, shouldn't you spend all the available cap space
in order to get the best team possible on the field.
I suppose there are still capable veterans available at every
position group, Especially the Bengals still have some depth issues
on their defensive line and are not spending the money
(27:33):
on a veteran. When you look at the chart over
the cap dot Com, the Bengals and Eagles are the
only playoff teams with so much cap space. Why are
teams in general not spending cap space. Well, I think
it's pretty simple. Excuse the Bengals, for example, they could
extend two guys this offseason, Joe Burrow and t Higgins,
(27:57):
and immediately use up that cap space. They have internal
candidates to extend to utilize that cap space. And in general,
should you just use the cap space to use the
cap space? Right? Like, just because you have you don't
need to buy anything. You don't need to buy a home,
You don't need anything. Let's just say you got fifty
thousand dollars in a savings account. Like what if that
(28:20):
savings account is for a quote unquote rainy day, or
what if it's for like you easily could go like
buy a Rolex, buy a new car, Like you could
easily do things. But do you need a new car?
Do you need a watch? You would you even wear
a watch? Like, Yeah, I could go sign some I'd
go sign DeAndre Hopkins, but like, is that more important
(28:41):
than signing the guy? Here's the other thing, like the
savings analogy, but what if something crazy happens? What if
a good deal comes available? Like, you can always make trades.
Sometimes making trades, guys have bigger salaries. Remember a couple
of years ago, the Rams had to give up a
second and third round pick to get von Miller because
(29:01):
they didn't have any salary cap space. So the Broncos
had to eat the cap space. They might not have
had to give that up if they would have had obviously,
you know, they couldn't have foreseen that happening, but if
they would have had more cap space. So there's a
give and take with everything having cap space. To me,
if there are specific players, like if you could have
signed player X one improves your team, but most free
(29:24):
agents suck. Look at this free agent class beside like
Javon Hargrave, who was good in the free agent class
that got quote unquote a lot of money mcglinchy. Can
you imagine giving a glinchy fifty million dollars? So just
because the guy's a free agent and you never know,
like guys get cut at any moment, Guys are available
trades at any moment. Having having flexibility is always smart,
(29:48):
right And this back to the savings analogy. If you
just have endlessen not everyone can save. I'm not saying
you should have money saved at all times, but when
you just have nothing in your savings account, you have
no flexibility. The moment you get screwed, you get laid off,
you don't have a job, you're not making any money,
like you are in dire straits immediately. But when you
got a little nest egg, like yeah, something bad happens,
(30:08):
there's a medical emergency, you know, you got a little
wiggle room. And that to me, a salary cap space.
It just kind of gives you wiggle room. So like,
if you can give me one specific example, like this
player they should have signed, and sometimes that happens, and
then that said player in free agency or that was
available turns out not to be good. So I'm never
(30:29):
opposed to having some salary cap space for good teams
because it does give them a lot of flexibility. Even
with as much content as you put out, I am
still always looking for podcasts with more football content. What
are some podcasts you listen to recommend? I would say
(30:50):
the podcast football podcast I listened to. I would say
the only pure football podcast I listened to would be
I listened to Michael Lombardi podcasts. He can be a
little angry listen. I like him, I know he knows
his shit. Can be a little angry for me at times,
not that I'm against negativity and you know, like you know,
I listened to him today on the Jimmy Garoppolo thing.
(31:12):
It's like, bro, let's just call a spade a spape
that they sign an injured player. I know you're boys
with Josh McDaniels, but the risk is not the the
addendum in the contract, it's why are you signing this
player in the first place. Uh. But yeah, I don't
honestly listen to that much football content. Now. The one
thing I've started to do, I listened to Chris Long
(31:35):
whenever he has on like he had on Jason Kelsey,
that that was good when the Kelsey brothers have on
a good guess. So I will listen to players podcasts
when they have guests because I think their relationship with
those guys are something you're not getting anywhere else. Right,
they know him, they're friends, they played with him. I
think it's pretty cool. So I will listen to those interviews.
(31:58):
But honestly, I don't. I don't listen to that much
football content, to be honest with, Especially in the offseason.
I tried to listen to more finance podcasts. I listened
to NBA podcasts. Yeah, I listened to a lot of
golf content. I listened to a lot of golf podcasts. Hey, John,
(32:20):
Seahawks fan here, Why do you think Seattle decided to
invest their fifth overall pick at cornerback when they knew
they needed to impact players on the defensive line. The
pass rush was definitely one of the glaring issues last season.
Your thoughts, because I think Seattle, over their decade of
success with the Russ era, had been burned a couple
(32:40):
times by character guys and they've and Pete Carroll's always
been pretty open minded to that. But one thing I
think they learned last year removing Russ, who I don't
want to call it cancer, but was clearly an issue
for them, and not in like a legal way, but
just in the egomaniac way that it was like, you know,
(33:03):
we had a team that was just full of guys
that was just doing whatever it took to win and
just good guys. And they could have taken Jalen Carter,
and I think the difference is, and I don't know,
maybe you've listened to I haven't listened to every press
conference they've given. Like Witherspoon was the type guy that
was like this guy is just not gonna miss this guy, character, physicality, play,
(33:28):
just kind of had like a Cam Chancellor Richard Sherman
vibe to him as a person player just bat right.
It was just gonna work where Jalen was a huge
I don't want to say a hail Mary, but could
blow up in your face. And I think what they
just experienced, They're like, we don't want to risk what
we have where the Eagles go. We have so much
(33:50):
of that at the highest level that we could take it.
So I supported them doing it. I think they saw
a lot of you know, the lob type mentality, mindset,
character type, you know, a profile in him, and I
can't I completely understand it. I think it's always easy.
(34:14):
And Jim Washburn, who is one of the best defensive
coaches of all time and now his protege, Chris Caserk
is the forty nine ers guy you know, used to
always say this and listen, Jim had no problem coaching
some crazies. But he's like, it's so easy for the
scouts to be like, listen, the guy's got some issues,
but I'm telling you, stude can rush the edge like
(34:35):
double teams. Good luck. No one's gonna stop him. He's like, ah,
that's great, but I got to deal with this guy
Monday through Saturday when you guys are in your office,
listen to sports talk radio, watching players bs and with
your buddies on the road. Right, I got to coach
this guy. I have to deal with him. You don't.
So it's it's easy for the scouts always to say
(34:57):
take this chance.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
Right.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
See, that's you know, saying, man, you should stay with her, right.
I think we always have when people get divorces or
people get married or whatever. Everyone on the outside always
has these opinions on relationships like are you the one
spending the night with her every night? Are you the
one living with her or him?
Speaker 2 (35:17):
Right?
Speaker 1 (35:17):
Is that the way because like that person usually knows better.
It's why whenever someone's like should I get a breakup
or whatever, it's like, only you know, it's I can't
tell you. I ain't laying down at night for the
last three years like you are, right. That's why coaches
sometimes now they can be negative and positive in ways
that like can be a little over the top just
(35:38):
in general, but that is a fair thing. Like the
position coach to deal with them in Pete's obviously very
hands on with the defense. Yeah, we'll end on that one.
Have a good have a good week, but I'll talk
to you tomorrow and talk soon.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
See it the volume
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