May 5, 2023 • 36 mins
John explains the reasoning behind the Packers extending Jordan Love over exercising his 5th year option, if the relationship between Lamar Jackson and the Ravens relationship is permanently damaged after emotional contract negotiations, and why post-trade Aaron Rodgers is on cloud nine in New York, what so-called draft know-it-alls get wrong about the draft, and why the Eagles are ticked over the Cardinals tampering with former DC Jonathan Gannon.
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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 our podcast Happy Friday, put a smile on your
(00:21):
face like Aaron Rodgers with his new team, have a
good weekend. So a lot going on quarterback stuff. Jordan
Love signs a new contract. Lamar Jackson has his press conference.
Some thoughts on the draft and the fifth year options
that did not get picked up, as well as the
Eagles and the Arizona Cardinals tampering scandal. Have some takes there.
(00:48):
Other than that, we will talk football, so fire in.
We will do Middlecoff mailbag. I'll pull one out this
weekend at John Middlecoff is the Instagram. Fire in those dms,
dms wide open. We'll do a big middle Cooff mail
bag this weekend as well. Yeah, that'll be it. I'll
put it on Sunday and a lot of you guys
probably listen to it after the fact. But uh, we like,
(01:10):
we like funneling the content and other than that, what
else we got going on. We are live on AMP
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and OTAs and rookie Minnie Camps is all gonna start
get going so this next month and a half before
we take summer break. Well, I don't, but the NFL does. Uh.
(01:34):
It is fun times. You get to see players and
Aaron Rodgers is gonna actually practice. So yeah, let's let's
buckle up and see what happens and go from there. Listen,
it is a great time for sports. Uh. I'm a
newly found puckhead. And there is just a lot of
hockey going on. The NBA playoffs in full swing, Baseball
(01:55):
off and running. Sun is out. People enjoying Bruce Keys.
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code John, download the game time ap Sure. Okay, there's
a lot going on with quarterbacks. We had a Lamar
Jackson press conference. We had an official Jordan Love contract,
(02:58):
pretty unique. Something happened with him and then Aaron Rodgers,
the King of New York. So I wanted to dive
into the three different quarterbacks, and I want to start
with Jordan Love. Now, I can't stand cheap people with money.
Like I understand, if you're cheap and you don't have
any money, you have to conserve the money you have.
You got to be very careful. I despise people that
(03:20):
have a lot of money and still pinch pennies, tip poorly,
that just get consumed by every single and there's a
difference of not blowing it and just like, come on, man,
what are you doing? Like money's not an issue, and
that a lot of NFL teams now have more money
than God. So when they sign these contracts. When the
Eagles signed Jalen hurts it looks like a lot of
(03:42):
money on paper, because listen, it is a lot of
money on paper. But as we just saw with Carson Wentz,
if it doesn't go right, they'll pivot. It won't be
that big a deal. And for thirty one teams, well,
you know, some of these teams don't have as much
money as others. The Eagles are on the high end,
but for a wide range of problems. Twenty plus teams
that are led by massive successful businessmen, billionaires. Valuations of teams,
(04:08):
new stadiums, cash is flown, so they don't need to
think twice. So what makes the Packers a little unique.
They do not have an owner. And I'm not saying
they have to be conservative with their money, but they
have to be careful and they have been historically. And
it's why when Aaron Rodgers started freaking out about Gudikins,
I went, you know, Aaron, you've had it pretty good.
(04:29):
Like the Packers are a very very well run organization.
They have been my entire life, from a Hall of
Famer Ron Wolf and Holmgren through Ted Thompson to what
they have now with Gudikins and Laflora now we'll see
if those guys are as good as you know, the
previous people running the organization. But I would say this
(04:49):
in their four or five years in charge, resurrecting Aaron's career,
pivoting off of them getting a good haul for him
having talented players on the roster, Like I'm impressed the
way Gudikins hand handled the Rogers situation. Same with the floor.
That's not easy. We see coaches and gms over their
head all the time, and clearly now we'll see on
the field moving forward, can they keep the winning ways going.
(05:12):
I'm skeptical, but in terms of professional operators that they
have been impressive. And last year we saw a situation
that Daniel Jones didn't get his fifth year option, and
that was the right move. New coach, new GM, let's
kind of get a trial period, even though the owner
giants ton of money, really liked them, right, but they
(05:32):
wanted to just make him prove it. Now we can
argue how much he proved. Clearly was his best season
as a pro. Should he have got eighty million? Obviously
that's up for debate, But regardless what we all think
about the contract, they were in a tough spot. They
couldn't let them walk. It's impossible to replace them. The
owner wanted to keep them. Hell, they wanted to keep them,
(05:53):
and they had to quote unquote pay a lot of money.
And you know, if you want to say overpay, I'm
not going to argue with you. So the packers just
saw a situation that they don't want to be in. Right,
they can give a lot of money if you deserve it.
Aaron Rodgers one hundred and fifty million. They were willing
to give DeVante Adams a huge contract that he wanted
to be traded. Like, they will pay premiums for premium players,
(06:14):
but they're not just going to blow money. And that
was I think one reason Aaron Rodgers started bitching and
moaning over the last several years is he wanted them
to pay older players right, And it's like, actually I
wecided with the management, like it was pretty good business.
Most of the guys that he was pissed off that
had left. So when I first saw the story last
week or I guess it would have been, or maybe
(06:34):
it was over the weekend that they were negotiating over
the fifth year option, my first response, and anyone that's
listened to this podcast knows. I was like, what the
hell are they doing? You don't negotiate a fifth year option,
And then I immediately realized, no, they're trying to negotiate
an extension, which is smart business. And when you see
the money they gave him, basically an eight million dollars
signing bonus and it'll be on the roster for like
thirteen fourteen million dollars next year, like they're kind of
(06:58):
hedging their bet because if he sucks. If he sucks,
which is possible, like if after this season of being
in the league for several years, it just looks like
this is not going to work out. After seventeen games,
you cannot be on the hook for the fifth year
option twenty million dollar contract. That is, especially when you've
still got some of this lingering Aaron Rodgers' money on
(07:19):
the cap. That'd be a disaster. But you also can't
get into a situation where if he throws twenty three
touchdowns and ten picks and you win nine games, you're like,
you know we're gonna we want to keep rolling with this.
Do you want to be in a position where he's
a free agent and then worst case scenario, you have
to franchise tag him, which is obviously more than the
fifth year option, or give him a long term extension,
(07:41):
which ideally don't want to do until you see some
more information. Now, Jordan Love and Daniel Jones are not
perfect parallels, right, Daniel Jones has played a lot of football,
even coming into this season, so his resume, you've seen
the improvement just based on the one season. This guy's
never really played beside you know the Chiefs game, Like,
this guy's just that there's nothing. Listen, you can believe
(08:04):
in a player, and we all has have as fans.
I remember seeing it firsthand, Like you're very bullish. All
these teams are on guys, they draft on guys they
really liked, and then they acquire whether it's a free agent.
But it changes once the guy plays. Hell, you can
see him in practice. It happens all the time. Guys
have success in practice. You get paid to perform in
(08:27):
the games. Right, So it was just a smart move.
It was a smart move to mitigate their risk. If
he sucks, they still will have to pay him some money,
but they don't have to pay him as much as
they would have to pick up the fifth year option.
So the packers just continue to show well run business. Now,
the success of the franchise moving forward is either twofold,
(08:48):
this guy becomes a top fifteen quarterback and you stay
competitive and you stay in the playoff mix, or this
guy sucks so bad that you're drafting high enough to
draft one of the top quarterbacks next year and you
can just smoothly pivot with by probably cutting Jordan Love
and needing the money and whatever we'll get, you know,
Drake May. It's hard to see them be as bad
(09:12):
to get Caleb Williams, but you never know. We've definitely
seen crazier. Lamar Jackson officially signed his contract. The details
are out. We all know. I always the average per
year to me is such an overrated number. That's not
the way these guys are paid. Lamar Jackson just got
(09:32):
I think seventy five million dollars signing bonus. Like when
Aaron Judge averages thirty five million dollars a year, Steph
Curry averages forty five million dollars a year. They get
paid that every single year. That's not the way these
NFL contracts work. So Lamar Jackson just eventually signed, which
we all said that he was going to have to
if he wanted to stay on the Ravens, and as
(09:52):
we saw, like, I don't think other teams were beating
down the door to give him a fully guaranteed deal,
a sweet quarterback contract in swet he sign. But I
think looking back last year that both have egg on
their face a little bit, like they both wasted a year.
You know that they should have found. It's on Lamar
for not realizing, like, you're not getting that money that
Deshaun Watson got. Nobody is that's the dumbest contract in
(10:15):
the history of the league, and more more likely than not,
I feel I don't think we're ever going to see
the Deshaun Watson that we saw years ago. Too much baggage,
too much time away from football. And maybe there's a chance,
I mean, his best season they won like four games,
tad bit overrated player. I'm not saying some scrub, but
he definitely wasn't a two hundred and thirty million dollars
(10:37):
fully guaranteed contract guy, especially when he's got half a
Texas massage therapist coming after him. But Lamar Jackson and
the Ravens like should have found a way to figure
this out last year, and I put it on management,
and I put it on the quarterback because if you
would have told me this is a more prototypical quarterback,
you know, it's hard like pocket quarterbacks, What does that
(10:58):
even mean anymore? Mahomes rambles around. Obviously, Josh Allen's a
big time athlete. You know, Burrow probably the most pocket
of those three, but he could move. But Lamar Jackson
is truly a hybrid quarterback. Like I have a hard
time seeing Lamar Jackson thriving at thirty five. You know,
that's not usually the way it works, even with the
successful running quarterbacks, right, Michael Vick. Look at Russell Wilson. Now,
(11:22):
Russell Wilson was a different runner in his prime than
Lamar Jackson. But still it looks like he's washed. So
every year that you have in this guy's twenties that
you don't aren't all in everyone's on the same page,
is a complete waste. And last year is like you
just kind of threw it away to think you're just
gonna have like an eight year runway of him playing
at a high level, Like I probably I would hesitate
(11:45):
to say that. You know, the best couple of years
to me are like the next three or four and
one of them just happened, and listen, you'd be like, well,
Johnny got hurt. We had felt like and I know
that he said in the press conference that is his
knee just healed a month ago. I got that one,
Red Flagg, And I don't blame him like part of like,
I'm not laying on the line for you guys when
(12:06):
you haven't paid me, and I'm blame the Ravens for
being mad. Like, Bro, we tried to pay you a
contract that essentially you just signed a year later. Now
we can argue about the money all we want. That
he ended up getting more money because he ended up
getting guaranteed money last year. Regardless, he was going to
be so rich no matter where he went. Like the
money was never going to be the issue. It was
(12:27):
arguing over the semantics of the deal, which he was
never going to win, and just wasting a year. Where like, Bro,
you're in the prime of your career, your prime of
your athleticism, which is the point of difference for you.
You are not Joe Burrow Patrick Mahomes as a thrower.
That's just not the case. You're not on their level.
(12:47):
But where they're not on your level. Is your remarkable
running ability? Now one thing that is going to be interesting.
They are going to shift, I would imagine, to pass
the ball more, you know, try to be more of
a true you know, I don't want to say pro
style offense. I don't even know what that means, but
(13:07):
to get away from what they had been the last
three or four years, which, let's face it was basically
a college offense that worked with Lamar Jackson and listen,
once upon a time, I was going to all these
forty nine er games and the forty nine ers were
kicking everyone's ass with the pistol zone, reed Kaepernick, and
then the fourth year with Greg Roman. Now, ironically Greg
(13:28):
Roman helped get Lamargo into but you know, he got
fired and now they got I think Todd Munkin right,
But that fourth year with Greg Roman, they tried to
run more of three to four wide receiver sets in
play a true passing game, and it was a disaster.
So there's a ton of pressure on this on this player,
there's a ton of pressure on this coaching staff, and
(13:48):
sometimes like we're gonna find out, can he just be
a true quarterback like Mahomes? Right, can he play like that?
I don't know, but I think they are going to
try to find that out and very quickly. And if
they can't, it wouldn't shock me if they just roll
it right back to what he does right, which is
run the ball remarkably well, I'm fascinated to watch this
(14:12):
thing play out. I think you know, they were just
in a weird spot, and I understand his reluctance in
a financial situation, like I'm not laying it on the line,
but I also understand their anger at him, Like, Bro,
we had offered you these great contracts. Now obviously we're
past it now and now it's just about football and
getting it done in the playoffs, because that's the big knock,
(14:34):
Like is this guy good enough? I have no doubt
in my mind if Lamar Jackson is healthy. If you
tell me he's healthy, seventeen games next year, it's like
they're winning eleven twelve games. Like that's just that's the
where he's at. He's better basically than the overwhelming majority
of quarterbacks in his own conference, which is by far
better than the other conference. But like, are you gonna
(14:54):
feel good about him in that first playoff game? Because
it's been a little shaky so far. And last but
I leaves on the quarterback front. I'm telling you, man,
there is nothing in ladies, even though we skew a
closer to one hundred to zero. But you know, obviously
some ladies firing the dms are like, listen, you got
some female listeners. I get. There is nothing like change
(15:17):
sometimes to just reinvigorate a human to make you just
feel good about a situation that you didn't feel good about,
whether it's fair or not right. Anyone listening to this
that has been in a toxic relationship, that has worked
at a job they don't like and entered a job
they do like, start dating someone new that you like.
(15:39):
I mean, it makes you happy, It truly does. And
let's face it, there's a honeymoon phase with anything we
do professionally and personally, and you're seeing it right now
in full force with Aaron Rodgers. He looks happier than
a pig. And shit, I mean he's at MSG every
single night. Every single time that I opened social media,
(16:01):
it's a new it's Woody Johnson posting or the Jets
posting him just throwing bebis to Garrett Wilson. I watched
his interview with Pat McAfee. He couldn't have His smile
was enormous. You could just tell how happy he was.
And sometimes we talk a lot about this with coaches.
They like, sometimes you just need a change. The voice
(16:22):
just doesn't work. It's not because there's some idiots right
like the Bucks. Right before I started recording this, Mike
Budenholzer just got fired. And you know, I'm not I
don't claim to be red Arbach here or Phil Jackson,
but like, clearly Mike's out the village idiot, Like pretty
good coach, won a bunch of games in Atlanta, won
a championship with Milwaukee, and they just had a devastating
(16:44):
first round loss. Some might argue it's one of the
worst first round losses like the history of professional sports.
They're the betting favorite to win the NBA Championship and
then you just lose in the first round. They lost
in five games, meaning they won one fucking playoff game.
So listen, I'm I'm not going to try to bang
the table that he got screwed, though I did hear
(17:04):
someone say that. I guess his brother passed away in
the last month, but listen. It's pro sports can be cutthroat,
but maybe his message was just falling on deaf ears. Right,
Sometimes coaches just need to change places just because it's time.
Doesn't mean look at Andy Reid left Philly. How's that
working out? Seems like Andy kind of knows what he's doing, right,
I'd say the Chiefs benefited, but the Eagles it was
(17:27):
signed it was time for a divorce, And maybe it
was just simple. It was time for a divorce, right,
even though we all acknowledge like the chances Jordan Love
is ever as half as good as Aaron Rodgers's Slim
the Nun. Now, I understand if you're the Packers and
Gouda Kins and La Floyd, I can't deal with this
every year having a guy retires. Think about this the
other day, because I heard Jason Kelsey say something. Think
(17:47):
about the way Rogers and Farv and there have been
other players do this too. They're the most famous, at
least in the NFL. Just go about their retirement like
I might retire, might not. But it's not like, hey, listen,
just give me a minute, let me take a deep breath.
They're just constantly kind of toying with you. They're kind
of playing puppet master with your emotions, Like, hey, guys,
trying to run a team here where I was thinking.
Jason Kelce, who has thought about retirement these last couple
(18:09):
of years, have just done it pretty seamlessly, like, hey, guys,
I just need some time, give me some time. I'm
still gonna come work out. I'll keep you in the
loop the entire time. My cell phone never runs out
of service, so if you got any questions, you can
always hit me up. If I'm leaning one way, I
will let you, guys know, just open lines of communication.
And that's not really the way it goes now. I
(18:30):
understand open lines of communication when you lose respect for
someone or don't hold those guys to a high enough esteem,
especially at a high level industry like the NFL, where
you're just like yeah, I don't even care, like whatever.
The problem with Rogers doing that is like, well, you
got teammates. You know, the more the organization knows where
you stand, the easier it is for them to build
the organization. And clearly he has. I mean he immediately
(18:54):
told the Jets I'll be there this offseason. I will
work out with the guys and He's not only embraced it.
Every single night he's going to the game with different players.
So I understand where he's coming from, not in the
sense of like why he acted the way he acted
the last couple of years, but just how a new
situation Like I am so much happier, infinitely happier on
(19:16):
a daily basis, and I still can be kind of
negative sometimes being in Arizona than I was the last
couple of years in the Bay Area. It's not even
I can't I couldn't even quantify it. If there was
an ability to quantify it. It's not quantifiable, you know.
And maybe he just needed to get to a bright
lights place, right even though the Packers, and I'm not
trying to diminish the Packers are one of the biggest
(19:37):
brands in the league and he knows that. But it
was just time, you know, it was just time. And
I to me, the crazy part is two quarterbacks at
least in my adult life, that are better than him
both change teams too. Peyton Manning is Pat McAfee always
says I saw him get cut like I was on
the team when they cut Peyton Manning. Think how fucking
(19:58):
nuts that is? Peyton Manning went on an MV kick
ass for the Denver Broncos. Bill Belichick, I don't know
if you ever said these words to Tom, but he
clearly his actions spoke for we don't want you back,
Tom Brady, we don't want you back. It's the NFL.
People change, right, And I'm telling you I am bullish
on this Jets team. I really am. I think they
(20:20):
are going to be defensively, we know they're good, and
I think Rogers just gives them stability. He doesn't have
to play it like two years ago, MVP level play.
If he just plays like you know, a fringe Pro
Bowl guy, it's hard to make the Pro Bowl in
the AFC. Right, mahomes a lock, Josh Allen's probably a lock.
Joe Burrow's a lock. Like you told me, Rogers didn't
make the Pro Bowl this year. I would say, I
(20:41):
still think the Jets can win twelve or thirteen games
because to me, he can still throw twenty nine touchdowns
eight picks. You do that and you win some of
these games that like Zach Wilson, these guys were never
beating Bill Belichick, and Bill Belichick doesn't have some dominant
team anymore. But it wasn't even a fair fight. You
give them Rogers with a balanced team, a running game.
(21:03):
I mean, look what happened to the Packers. Rogers didn't
play very well that first year with La Floor. They
won a bunch of games. Why because he ran the ball.
Because he ran the ball. And you know who's there,
Nathaniel Hackett, who they are clearly very comfortable with. And
that's another thing sometimes, you know, I think it also
is one of the great what ifs in sports history,
(21:25):
is the Denver Broncos hired It's not even arguable if
you watch and I did the press conference Aaron did
with Joe Douglas, and I think it was, Yeah, it
was Robert sala On when the trade became official in
New York. Like, Nathaniel Hackett was a huge, huge reason.
If you tell me Nathaniel Hackett's not the offensive coordinator
(21:48):
and it's you know, uh, North Turner's kid or Kobias kid,
he might not be a jet. And I think the
Denver Broncos, I don't even think it's debatable hired Nathaniel
Hacket becausey thought they could try raid for Aaron Rodgers
and then all of a sudden. He took one hundred
and fifty million dollars and they ended up with Russell Wilson,
who I'm not trying to talk shit Devin Bronco fans.
Maybe he bounces back with Sean Payton, but there's a
(22:09):
Chancey sucks. There's chances just it's over for him, which
would be a disaster because yeah, and who knows. We'll
see how Rogers and Hackett work. But Jordan loves now
the Packers starting quarterback Lamar Jackson has signed and Aaron
Rodgers the happiest guy in America. I think I talked
about this the other day that at the time, I
(22:33):
think there were eleven fifth round or excuse me, first
rounders that had had their fifth year option. Well that
the date passed and officially now twelve guys, twelve players
in the twenty twenty draft had their fifth year option
picked up. That is clearly you know there's thirty two picks,
so you do the math, that's well less than fifty percent.
(22:56):
I'm a big believer when it comes to the draft
because I saw it firsthand, like working for the Eagles
and Howie the way value matters, and what I mean
value is like if I don't have to take a
guy in the second round, but I really want him
on my team, I don't use a second round pick
on him when I know that I'm going to have
an opportunity to get him in the fourth round. The
(23:17):
profits made a wise man taught me this a long
time ago. Maybe I read it, but sounds better that
someone told this to me is that you make the
profit in what you buy it for, not what you
sell it for. So anyone that's selling their home right
now for eight hundred grand, well, if you're making five hundred,
the profit was made when you bought the thing for
three hundred grand. So what you purchase a home for
(23:40):
a stock for no different than a player, right the
reason Dak Prescott and Russell Wilson, even after you gave
him an extension with the Cowboys in Seattle, when you
factor in those first three years as a mid round pick,
it's just the most incredible deal you can ever get.
And we always say that if you hit on a
first round pick like Joe Burrow, it's an incredible deal. Well,
(24:04):
imagine if you can get your starting quarterback in the
third round. So what round you take, guys, really matters.
But also, I say this all the time. We all
see it all the time. No one knows, not a
fucking soul knows who is going to be good and
who is going to be bad when the draft happens.
(24:24):
Chase Young, now I understand he was injured, went second overall,
did not have his fifth year option picked up. So
this notion that when people argue and I listen, I
see it on the internet streets when it comes to
the forty nine ers because they took a kicker in
the third round, and listen, if Jake Moody, who the
kid they've drafted from Michigan, doesn't make kicks, it is
(24:44):
a disaster draft pick. But this notion that, like, well,
you should have taken like a tight end instead. The
chances of that guy's good it's like forty of thirty
eight percent in the first round. What do you think
it is late in the third round twelve percent. So
this notion that like anyone knows anything when the draft happens.
(25:05):
It's why it's so stupid with draft grades. It's why
every single team in the league when they make the
draft peak, they're hugging. I just watched It's awesome, and
the Colts have been doing a great job on this
for years. If you go to their YouTube channel, they
have like a thirty minute thing on Draft night, and
it's obviously a lot. It goes through the entire draft,
like the second round, third round, and they're later round picks,
(25:27):
but a large percentage of it is on Anthony Richardson
and Chris Ballard said that night like they had honed
in on him a month before the draft, like they
had concluded that's who they were going to take. They
love Anthony Richardson. Obviously Shane Steiken, Jalen Hurts, so it's
easy parallel there. Anthony Richardson's a good guy. They felt
very good about his comfort, about his character, his skill set,
(25:50):
and just his physical gifts speak for themselves, and they
couldn't be any more related. I mean, all their scouts,
all their obviously their owner. Your owner calls him the
potential to be a hero that or says, you know,
can be a little wacky, but he's right. If Anthony
Richardson hits like he will be a legend in the NFL.
He'll just be like, Oh, it's the the Colt's got
(26:12):
the mobile version that they're modern day Peyton Manning, but
more than likely history would show probably won't work out.
I'm rooting for him to work out because he seems
like a good guy. I know he's a good guy
because my scout buddies that you know I've done the
write up on him, that feel very comfortable with him,
and obviously a skill set he would be a very
very fun player. But like what if he doesn't. All
(26:33):
that hugging, all that fun is for nothing, like we
see it every single year. Nobody knows anything. Now, that
doesn't mean that, like you don't go into a draft
with that mindset thinking you're gonna miss on the player
or it's not gonna work out, or you're gonna draft
someone that's not gonna have their fifth year option picked up.
(26:54):
But that is ultimately what happens, and it happens a lot.
So why I'm a big believer there is no such
which thing in practice. In theory, it's true, but in practice,
as a high floor it doesn't exist. Because every guy
that you have to draft, guy, this guy's a high floor.
This guy's a high floor. How those guys can't make
the team. Some of them do, Some of them turn
(27:14):
out to have high floors and then some of them
turn out to be like star players. So actually, actually
his floor wasn't just high, ceiling was high. And it's
just a fascinating way the NFL works now a lot
of it too, just because you don't have your fifth
year option picked up. These guys play in the league
for a long time, right, So some of those guys
that don't have their fifth year option picked up aren't
(27:36):
quote unquote bus they're not out of the league, right.
Two guys that when I you know, Mike Mayock, John Lynch,
Solomon Thomas, Cleveland Ferrel. Neither of those guys that are
fifth year option picked up, and they're off the Raiders
and they're off the Niners, right, they're onto new teams. Well,
both those guys are going to play in the league
for like eight to ten years, both of them. Cleveland
(27:57):
Farrell ironically is now on the forty nine ers. He
was just way overdrafted and we knew it at the time,
but he still would have gone in the first round,
you know what, Cleveland Ferroll probably should have gone, and
like the third if if that guy out of Clemson
was a third round pick, you go, you know what,
it's a really good draft pick. That's a fit you got.
You got a nine year pro in the third round.
(28:21):
What a pick. But when you take a guy in
the top ten and you don't pick up a see
your option because financially it doesn't pencil because part of
it you're already paying him a lot of money because
he's a high pick. It looks like a disastrous pick,
even though it's not totally because the guy is an
NFL player, But it's just kind of the way, you know,
(28:42):
this whole thing works. Two other things I saw draft wise,
Jake Hayner, the quarterback from Fresno State, and Stetson Bennett,
quarterback from Georgia, went back to back picks, and I like,
I understand why both those two teams. The Saints have
been in quarterback hell. Really, they started becoming like the
(29:04):
Denver Broncos post Paydon Manning, just this revolving door that
you just don't feel good about the position room at all.
And think of what they did this year. They re
signed Jamis to be Derek Carr's backup, and they draft
a guy in the fourth round who Jamis, you know,
should be able to beat out. He knows the offense.
(29:26):
But you know, you never know, even though I think
they gave Jamis some coin, but I think they're good
with Like we will have three quarterbacks. Hell, we'll keep
Hayn on the roster. He'll just be uh, you know,
third quarterback, and he won't dress on game days. You know,
assuming that you know that rule's not going to change.
You have three guys. Like when you start going through
(29:46):
these quarterback situations where you get into a season, you
get into positions where you're like, you know, if we
just had a solid quarterback room, we'd be in the playoffs,
but instead, our quarterback situation is a disaster. The Rams
last year had to claim Baker Mayfield because their quarterback
position was so dire, it was so bad. And let's
(30:09):
face it, like Matt Stafford's health is a major major
question mark. Now it'll be pretty interesting because I saw
the McVeigh said that Lafleur, who I forget it's Lafleur,
and forget the other coach, the quarterback coach Turner. I
don't know. All these guys are changed to go to
the same five teams. They kind of rotate really really
(30:30):
like Stetson Bennett and that was the guy that they
had honed in on it'll be interesting to see, is
that a guy that ultimately becomes a starting quarterback one day?
Because I listen, I would not have drafted him from
what I heard. He's a better player than I think
we all thought after the end of this season. But
(30:50):
one thing I learned from Colin is maturity. Especially you know,
this is not a twenty year old that video of him,
and I never tried to get on my high horse
act like I don't drink or you know, I can't
act like an idiot. But you get arrested, you're going
to the wrong place, which probably could happen to me too.
But the way that he interacted with the cops, and
(31:12):
you know, it's just like, ah, I don't know, man,
I don't know. We've seen this story before and it
usually doesn't end up well. Last but not least. I
don't think we talked about it that much during the draft.
About the situation with the Eagles. I think it happened
right before the first round, the Eagles and the Cardinals
(31:32):
that they had agreed upon a trade and basically the
Eagles got the Cardinals, who clearly drafted the top of
every round. Their third round pick. They swapped third round
picks essentially, and it happened right before the draft. It
was like, what is going on? And then it was
reported by Schefter that it was because of the tampering situation,
(31:52):
and I started thinking, they're really it always bothers me.
Like in the NBA, Adam Silver fined the Dallas Mavericks.
I think like seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars for tanking,
like the second to last game of the season. You know,
the best they could do was the ten seed, so
that's the last playing team. It's like, Adam, you're such
(32:13):
a hypocrite man. You're half your league's tanking. What if
I was Mark Cuban, I would zero chance I'd pay
you a penny. You're gonna find me for tanking. It
was what Jerry Tarkane used to said. Kentucky cheated so
bad they bust to Cleveland State. It's just so stupid.
The entire NFL, just like basketball, everyone tampers and tampering
(32:34):
is It's not like tax evasion, right, It's not like
committing felony crimes Like I'm sorry, yeah, I talked to agents.
Whether it's about potential coaching candidates, or players all the
time because all these agents and represent these coaches and
players that are on my team. So we're not just
always talking about the guys that are on my squad.
That's part of my job, right, just like you do
(32:57):
in sales, like anyone does. You're always kind of trying
to get as close as you can to the line.
So when I saw that there was a tampering situation,
I went, you know, this seems a little crazy. I'm
sure this happens all the time. And then I read
Florio wrote today that one of the reasons the Eagles
were so mad because it made sense that Vic Fangio
(33:18):
became a consultant for Philly last year and he helped
them out. Hell, he was helping them out during the playoffs.
He was helping them game plan against the forty nine
ers going into the NFC Championship game. Well, why do
you think how he had him on the payroll because
he knew that Jonathan Gannon was getting some head coaching sniffs.
And if Jonathan Gannon was going to leave, who do
you think they would have made the defensive coordinator, not
(33:40):
the guy they did, they would have named Vic Fangio
the DC. So Vic Fangio. The Eagles thought Jonathan Gannon
was not going to get the airs on a cardinal
job because a lot of people did because it was like, ah,
who they are is on what's money going to do?
And clearly they were tampering with him during that Super
Bowl kind of window between the championship game and things changed.
(34:04):
They you know, I think it's fair to say they did,
like another secret interview when you're not allowed to interview,
even though all these people would be talking normally. I
understand if you're the Eagles, like, listen, I don't care
that you took Jonathan Gannon. Hell I would rather have
you take Jonathan Gannon so I could keep and elevate
Vic Fangio. But Vic Fangio they didn't know had to
(34:25):
take the Miami job. Well, part of it is if
they would have known that Jonathan Gannon was going, Vick
Fangio would have been their defensive coordinator. So it makes
perfect sense. And who's mad the owner? What do you
think Jeffrey Lurry's trying to do? They got a Super
Bowl teams trying to win the Super Bowl. Why did
the Philadelphia Eagles lose Super Bowl last year? Because their
defense because their defense Andy Reid spreading pretty basic plays
(34:50):
near the red zone or near the goal line and
scored walk in touchdowns. Walk in touchdowns probably not happened
against Vic Fangio, one of the best defensive coordinators of
last couple decades. Not a good head coach loike Todd Bowles,
but as a defensive coordinator, you can win big with
the guy. And it makes more sense because tampering happens
all over and this was not one of those like
(35:12):
a slap on the wrist. We don't want this to happen.
This happens specifically because they screwed over a team. This
was my issue with the Mavericks, Like who they screw over?
They didn't want to play in the playing game. Your
whole league's taking at them, finding them. It's just what
are we doing? It doesn't make any sense. So yeah,
(35:33):
mcfangiel's now with the Miami Dolphins, who they could be
a little bit better on defense and their quarterback situation solved.
Who knows, maybe Miami mcfangio's stud Okay, that'll do it
for the pod. Everyone have a good weekend. Thanks to
my guy Holsts on the audio, James on the video.
Those guys take care of me, and they take care
(35:53):
of me well. And to you guys, because this wouldn't
exist without you guys. Maybe would I'd probably just be
talking at the wall, but that'd be sad. But it
probably still happened, kind of still does. Uh. I want
you guys to have a good weekend. UH have have fun.
So talk to everyone soon. See it the volume
The volume. What is going on everybody, John Middlecoff three
and our podcast Happy Friday, put a smile on your
(00:21):
face like Aaron Rodgers with his new team, have a
good weekend. So a lot going on quarterback stuff. Jordan
Love signs a new contract. Lamar Jackson has his press conference.
Some thoughts on the draft and the fifth year options
that did not get picked up, as well as the
Eagles and the Arizona Cardinals tampering scandal. Have some takes there.
(00:48):
Other than that, we will talk football, so fire in.
We will do Middlecoff mailbag. I'll pull one out this
weekend at John Middlecoff is the Instagram. Fire in those dms,
dms wide open. We'll do a big middle Cooff mail
bag this weekend as well. Yeah, that'll be it. I'll
put it on Sunday and a lot of you guys
probably listen to it after the fact. But uh, we like,
(01:10):
we like funneling the content and other than that, what
else we got going on. We are live on AMP
every single day of the week, so download the Amazon Amp.
Youtub'es up and running, check out the Volumes YouTube channel
and OTAs and rookie Minnie Camps is all gonna start
get going so this next month and a half before
we take summer break. Well, I don't, but the NFL does. Uh.
(01:34):
It is fun times. You get to see players and
Aaron Rodgers is gonna actually practice. So yeah, let's let's
buckle up and see what happens and go from there. Listen,
it is a great time for sports. Uh. I'm a
newly found puckhead. And there is just a lot of
hockey going on. The NBA playoffs in full swing, Baseball
(01:55):
off and running. Sun is out. People enjoying Bruce Keys.
You want to go to an event. You want to
go to one of these games, Well, my friends at
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Take a friend, take your wife, take your son, do
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code John, download the game time ap Sure. Okay, there's
a lot going on with quarterbacks. We had a Lamar
Jackson press conference. We had an official Jordan Love contract,
(02:58):
pretty unique. Something happened with him and then Aaron Rodgers,
the King of New York. So I wanted to dive
into the three different quarterbacks, and I want to start
with Jordan Love. Now, I can't stand cheap people with money.
Like I understand, if you're cheap and you don't have
any money, you have to conserve the money you have.
You got to be very careful. I despise people that
(03:20):
have a lot of money and still pinch pennies, tip poorly,
that just get consumed by every single and there's a
difference of not blowing it and just like, come on, man,
what are you doing? Like money's not an issue, and
that a lot of NFL teams now have more money
than God. So when they sign these contracts. When the
Eagles signed Jalen hurts it looks like a lot of
(03:42):
money on paper, because listen, it is a lot of
money on paper. But as we just saw with Carson Wentz,
if it doesn't go right, they'll pivot. It won't be
that big a deal. And for thirty one teams, well,
you know, some of these teams don't have as much
money as others. The Eagles are on the high end,
but for a wide range of problems. Twenty plus teams
that are led by massive successful businessmen, billionaires. Valuations of teams,
(04:08):
new stadiums, cash is flown, so they don't need to
think twice. So what makes the Packers a little unique.
They do not have an owner. And I'm not saying
they have to be conservative with their money, but they
have to be careful and they have been historically. And
it's why when Aaron Rodgers started freaking out about Gudikins,
I went, you know, Aaron, you've had it pretty good.
(04:29):
Like the Packers are a very very well run organization.
They have been my entire life, from a Hall of
Famer Ron Wolf and Holmgren through Ted Thompson to what
they have now with Gudikins and Laflora now we'll see
if those guys are as good as you know, the
previous people running the organization. But I would say this
(04:49):
in their four or five years in charge, resurrecting Aaron's career,
pivoting off of them getting a good haul for him
having talented players on the roster, Like I'm impressed the
way Gudikins hand handled the Rogers situation. Same with the floor.
That's not easy. We see coaches and gms over their
head all the time, and clearly now we'll see on
the field moving forward, can they keep the winning ways going.
(05:12):
I'm skeptical, but in terms of professional operators that they
have been impressive. And last year we saw a situation
that Daniel Jones didn't get his fifth year option, and
that was the right move. New coach, new GM, let's
kind of get a trial period, even though the owner
giants ton of money, really liked them, right, but they
(05:32):
wanted to just make him prove it. Now we can
argue how much he proved. Clearly was his best season
as a pro. Should he have got eighty million? Obviously
that's up for debate, But regardless what we all think
about the contract, they were in a tough spot. They
couldn't let them walk. It's impossible to replace them. The
owner wanted to keep them. Hell, they wanted to keep them,
(05:53):
and they had to quote unquote pay a lot of money.
And you know, if you want to say overpay, I'm
not going to argue with you. So the packers just
saw a situation that they don't want to be in. Right,
they can give a lot of money if you deserve it.
Aaron Rodgers one hundred and fifty million. They were willing
to give DeVante Adams a huge contract that he wanted
to be traded. Like, they will pay premiums for premium players,
(06:14):
but they're not just going to blow money. And that
was I think one reason Aaron Rodgers started bitching and
moaning over the last several years is he wanted them
to pay older players right, And it's like, actually I
wecided with the management, like it was pretty good business.
Most of the guys that he was pissed off that
had left. So when I first saw the story last
week or I guess it would have been, or maybe
(06:34):
it was over the weekend that they were negotiating over
the fifth year option, my first response, and anyone that's
listened to this podcast knows. I was like, what the
hell are they doing? You don't negotiate a fifth year option,
And then I immediately realized, no, they're trying to negotiate
an extension, which is smart business. And when you see
the money they gave him, basically an eight million dollars
signing bonus and it'll be on the roster for like
thirteen fourteen million dollars next year, like they're kind of
(06:58):
hedging their bet because if he sucks. If he sucks,
which is possible, like if after this season of being
in the league for several years, it just looks like
this is not going to work out. After seventeen games,
you cannot be on the hook for the fifth year
option twenty million dollar contract. That is, especially when you've
still got some of this lingering Aaron Rodgers' money on
(07:19):
the cap. That'd be a disaster. But you also can't
get into a situation where if he throws twenty three
touchdowns and ten picks and you win nine games, you're like,
you know we're gonna we want to keep rolling with this.
Do you want to be in a position where he's
a free agent and then worst case scenario, you have
to franchise tag him, which is obviously more than the
fifth year option, or give him a long term extension,
(07:41):
which ideally don't want to do until you see some
more information. Now, Jordan Love and Daniel Jones are not
perfect parallels, right, Daniel Jones has played a lot of football,
even coming into this season, so his resume, you've seen
the improvement just based on the one season. This guy's
never really played beside you know the Chiefs game, Like,
this guy's just that there's nothing. Listen, you can believe
(08:04):
in a player, and we all has have as fans.
I remember seeing it firsthand, Like you're very bullish. All
these teams are on guys, they draft on guys they
really liked, and then they acquire whether it's a free agent.
But it changes once the guy plays. Hell, you can
see him in practice. It happens all the time. Guys
have success in practice. You get paid to perform in
(08:27):
the games. Right, So it was just a smart move.
It was a smart move to mitigate their risk. If
he sucks, they still will have to pay him some money,
but they don't have to pay him as much as
they would have to pick up the fifth year option.
So the packers just continue to show well run business. Now,
the success of the franchise moving forward is either twofold,
(08:48):
this guy becomes a top fifteen quarterback and you stay
competitive and you stay in the playoff mix, or this
guy sucks so bad that you're drafting high enough to
draft one of the top quarterbacks next year and you
can just smoothly pivot with by probably cutting Jordan Love
and needing the money and whatever we'll get, you know,
Drake May. It's hard to see them be as bad
(09:12):
to get Caleb Williams, but you never know. We've definitely
seen crazier. Lamar Jackson officially signed his contract. The details
are out. We all know. I always the average per
year to me is such an overrated number. That's not
the way these guys are paid. Lamar Jackson just got
(09:32):
I think seventy five million dollars signing bonus. Like when
Aaron Judge averages thirty five million dollars a year, Steph
Curry averages forty five million dollars a year. They get
paid that every single year. That's not the way these
NFL contracts work. So Lamar Jackson just eventually signed, which
we all said that he was going to have to
if he wanted to stay on the Ravens, and as
(09:52):
we saw, like, I don't think other teams were beating
down the door to give him a fully guaranteed deal,
a sweet quarterback contract in swet he sign. But I
think looking back last year that both have egg on
their face a little bit, like they both wasted a year.
You know that they should have found. It's on Lamar
for not realizing, like, you're not getting that money that
Deshaun Watson got. Nobody is that's the dumbest contract in
(10:15):
the history of the league, and more more likely than not,
I feel I don't think we're ever going to see
the Deshaun Watson that we saw years ago. Too much baggage,
too much time away from football. And maybe there's a chance,
I mean, his best season they won like four games,
tad bit overrated player. I'm not saying some scrub, but
he definitely wasn't a two hundred and thirty million dollars
(10:37):
fully guaranteed contract guy, especially when he's got half a
Texas massage therapist coming after him. But Lamar Jackson and
the Ravens like should have found a way to figure
this out last year, and I put it on management,
and I put it on the quarterback because if you
would have told me this is a more prototypical quarterback,
you know, it's hard like pocket quarterbacks, What does that
(10:58):
even mean anymore? Mahomes rambles around. Obviously, Josh Allen's a
big time athlete. You know, Burrow probably the most pocket
of those three, but he could move. But Lamar Jackson
is truly a hybrid quarterback. Like I have a hard
time seeing Lamar Jackson thriving at thirty five. You know,
that's not usually the way it works, even with the
successful running quarterbacks, right, Michael Vick. Look at Russell Wilson. Now,
(11:22):
Russell Wilson was a different runner in his prime than
Lamar Jackson. But still it looks like he's washed. So
every year that you have in this guy's twenties that
you don't aren't all in everyone's on the same page,
is a complete waste. And last year is like you
just kind of threw it away to think you're just
gonna have like an eight year runway of him playing
at a high level, Like I probably I would hesitate
(11:45):
to say that. You know, the best couple of years
to me are like the next three or four and
one of them just happened, and listen, you'd be like, well,
Johnny got hurt. We had felt like and I know
that he said in the press conference that is his
knee just healed a month ago. I got that one,
Red Flagg, And I don't blame him like part of like,
I'm not laying on the line for you guys when
(12:06):
you haven't paid me, and I'm blame the Ravens for
being mad. Like, Bro, we tried to pay you a
contract that essentially you just signed a year later. Now
we can argue about the money all we want. That
he ended up getting more money because he ended up
getting guaranteed money last year. Regardless, he was going to
be so rich no matter where he went. Like the
money was never going to be the issue. It was
(12:27):
arguing over the semantics of the deal, which he was
never going to win, and just wasting a year. Where like, Bro,
you're in the prime of your career, your prime of
your athleticism, which is the point of difference for you.
You are not Joe Burrow Patrick Mahomes as a thrower.
That's just not the case. You're not on their level.
(12:47):
But where they're not on your level. Is your remarkable
running ability? Now one thing that is going to be interesting.
They are going to shift, I would imagine, to pass
the ball more, you know, try to be more of
a true you know, I don't want to say pro
style offense. I don't even know what that means, but
(13:07):
to get away from what they had been the last
three or four years, which, let's face it was basically
a college offense that worked with Lamar Jackson and listen,
once upon a time, I was going to all these
forty nine er games and the forty nine ers were
kicking everyone's ass with the pistol zone, reed Kaepernick, and
then the fourth year with Greg Roman. Now, ironically Greg
(13:28):
Roman helped get Lamargo into but you know, he got
fired and now they got I think Todd Munkin right,
But that fourth year with Greg Roman, they tried to
run more of three to four wide receiver sets in
play a true passing game, and it was a disaster.
So there's a ton of pressure on this on this player,
there's a ton of pressure on this coaching staff, and
(13:48):
sometimes like we're gonna find out, can he just be
a true quarterback like Mahomes? Right, can he play like that?
I don't know, but I think they are going to
try to find that out and very quickly. And if
they can't, it wouldn't shock me if they just roll
it right back to what he does right, which is
run the ball remarkably well, I'm fascinated to watch this
(14:12):
thing play out. I think you know, they were just
in a weird spot, and I understand his reluctance in
a financial situation, like I'm not laying it on the line,
but I also understand their anger at him, Like, Bro,
we had offered you these great contracts. Now obviously we're
past it now and now it's just about football and
getting it done in the playoffs, because that's the big knock,
(14:34):
Like is this guy good enough? I have no doubt
in my mind if Lamar Jackson is healthy. If you
tell me he's healthy, seventeen games next year, it's like
they're winning eleven twelve games. Like that's just that's the
where he's at. He's better basically than the overwhelming majority
of quarterbacks in his own conference, which is by far
better than the other conference. But like, are you gonna
(14:54):
feel good about him in that first playoff game? Because
it's been a little shaky so far. And last but
I leaves on the quarterback front. I'm telling you, man,
there is nothing in ladies, even though we skew a
closer to one hundred to zero. But you know, obviously
some ladies firing the dms are like, listen, you got
some female listeners. I get. There is nothing like change
(15:17):
sometimes to just reinvigorate a human to make you just
feel good about a situation that you didn't feel good about,
whether it's fair or not right. Anyone listening to this
that has been in a toxic relationship, that has worked
at a job they don't like and entered a job
they do like, start dating someone new that you like.
(15:39):
I mean, it makes you happy, It truly does. And
let's face it, there's a honeymoon phase with anything we
do professionally and personally, and you're seeing it right now
in full force with Aaron Rodgers. He looks happier than
a pig. And shit, I mean he's at MSG every
single night. Every single time that I opened social media,
(16:01):
it's a new it's Woody Johnson posting or the Jets
posting him just throwing bebis to Garrett Wilson. I watched
his interview with Pat McAfee. He couldn't have His smile
was enormous. You could just tell how happy he was.
And sometimes we talk a lot about this with coaches.
They like, sometimes you just need a change. The voice
(16:22):
just doesn't work. It's not because there's some idiots right
like the Bucks. Right before I started recording this, Mike
Budenholzer just got fired. And you know, I'm not I
don't claim to be red Arbach here or Phil Jackson,
but like, clearly Mike's out the village idiot, Like pretty
good coach, won a bunch of games in Atlanta, won
a championship with Milwaukee, and they just had a devastating
(16:44):
first round loss. Some might argue it's one of the
worst first round losses like the history of professional sports.
They're the betting favorite to win the NBA Championship and
then you just lose in the first round. They lost
in five games, meaning they won one fucking playoff game.
So listen, I'm I'm not going to try to bang
the table that he got screwed, though I did hear
(17:04):
someone say that. I guess his brother passed away in
the last month, but listen. It's pro sports can be cutthroat,
but maybe his message was just falling on deaf ears. Right,
Sometimes coaches just need to change places just because it's time.
Doesn't mean look at Andy Reid left Philly. How's that
working out? Seems like Andy kind of knows what he's doing, right,
I'd say the Chiefs benefited, but the Eagles it was
(17:27):
signed it was time for a divorce, And maybe it
was just simple. It was time for a divorce, right,
even though we all acknowledge like the chances Jordan Love
is ever as half as good as Aaron Rodgers's Slim
the Nun. Now, I understand if you're the Packers and
Gouda Kins and La Floyd, I can't deal with this
every year having a guy retires. Think about this the
other day, because I heard Jason Kelsey say something. Think
(17:47):
about the way Rogers and Farv and there have been
other players do this too. They're the most famous, at
least in the NFL. Just go about their retirement like
I might retire, might not. But it's not like, hey, listen,
just give me a minute, let me take a deep breath.
They're just constantly kind of toying with you. They're kind
of playing puppet master with your emotions, Like, hey, guys,
trying to run a team here where I was thinking.
Jason Kelce, who has thought about retirement these last couple
(18:09):
of years, have just done it pretty seamlessly, like, hey, guys,
I just need some time, give me some time. I'm
still gonna come work out. I'll keep you in the
loop the entire time. My cell phone never runs out
of service, so if you got any questions, you can
always hit me up. If I'm leaning one way, I
will let you, guys know, just open lines of communication.
And that's not really the way it goes now. I
(18:30):
understand open lines of communication when you lose respect for
someone or don't hold those guys to a high enough esteem,
especially at a high level industry like the NFL, where
you're just like yeah, I don't even care, like whatever.
The problem with Rogers doing that is like, well, you
got teammates. You know, the more the organization knows where
you stand, the easier it is for them to build
the organization. And clearly he has. I mean he immediately
(18:54):
told the Jets I'll be there this offseason. I will
work out with the guys and He's not only embraced it.
Every single night he's going to the game with different players.
So I understand where he's coming from, not in the
sense of like why he acted the way he acted
the last couple of years, but just how a new
situation Like I am so much happier, infinitely happier on
(19:16):
a daily basis, and I still can be kind of
negative sometimes being in Arizona than I was the last
couple of years in the Bay Area. It's not even
I can't I couldn't even quantify it. If there was
an ability to quantify it. It's not quantifiable, you know.
And maybe he just needed to get to a bright
lights place, right even though the Packers, and I'm not
trying to diminish the Packers are one of the biggest
(19:37):
brands in the league and he knows that. But it
was just time, you know, it was just time. And
I to me, the crazy part is two quarterbacks at
least in my adult life, that are better than him
both change teams too. Peyton Manning is Pat McAfee always
says I saw him get cut like I was on
the team when they cut Peyton Manning. Think how fucking
(19:58):
nuts that is? Peyton Manning went on an MV kick
ass for the Denver Broncos. Bill Belichick, I don't know
if you ever said these words to Tom, but he
clearly his actions spoke for we don't want you back,
Tom Brady, we don't want you back. It's the NFL.
People change, right, And I'm telling you I am bullish
on this Jets team. I really am. I think they
(20:20):
are going to be defensively, we know they're good, and
I think Rogers just gives them stability. He doesn't have
to play it like two years ago, MVP level play.
If he just plays like you know, a fringe Pro
Bowl guy, it's hard to make the Pro Bowl in
the AFC. Right, mahomes a lock, Josh Allen's probably a lock.
Joe Burrow's a lock. Like you told me, Rogers didn't
make the Pro Bowl this year. I would say, I
(20:41):
still think the Jets can win twelve or thirteen games
because to me, he can still throw twenty nine touchdowns
eight picks. You do that and you win some of
these games that like Zach Wilson, these guys were never
beating Bill Belichick, and Bill Belichick doesn't have some dominant
team anymore. But it wasn't even a fair fight. You
give them Rogers with a balanced team, a running game.
(21:03):
I mean, look what happened to the Packers. Rogers didn't
play very well that first year with La Floor. They
won a bunch of games. Why because he ran the ball.
Because he ran the ball. And you know who's there,
Nathaniel Hackett, who they are clearly very comfortable with. And
that's another thing sometimes, you know, I think it also
is one of the great what ifs in sports history,
(21:25):
is the Denver Broncos hired It's not even arguable if
you watch and I did the press conference Aaron did
with Joe Douglas, and I think it was, Yeah, it
was Robert sala On when the trade became official in
New York. Like, Nathaniel Hackett was a huge, huge reason.
If you tell me Nathaniel Hackett's not the offensive coordinator
(21:48):
and it's you know, uh, North Turner's kid or Kobias kid,
he might not be a jet. And I think the
Denver Broncos, I don't even think it's debatable hired Nathaniel
Hacket becausey thought they could try raid for Aaron Rodgers
and then all of a sudden. He took one hundred
and fifty million dollars and they ended up with Russell Wilson,
who I'm not trying to talk shit Devin Bronco fans.
Maybe he bounces back with Sean Payton, but there's a
(22:09):
Chancey sucks. There's chances just it's over for him, which
would be a disaster because yeah, and who knows. We'll
see how Rogers and Hackett work. But Jordan loves now
the Packers starting quarterback Lamar Jackson has signed and Aaron
Rodgers the happiest guy in America. I think I talked
about this the other day that at the time, I
(22:33):
think there were eleven fifth round or excuse me, first
rounders that had had their fifth year option. Well that
the date passed and officially now twelve guys, twelve players
in the twenty twenty draft had their fifth year option
picked up. That is clearly you know there's thirty two picks,
so you do the math, that's well less than fifty percent.
(22:56):
I'm a big believer when it comes to the draft
because I saw it firsthand, like working for the Eagles
and Howie the way value matters, and what I mean
value is like if I don't have to take a
guy in the second round, but I really want him
on my team, I don't use a second round pick
on him when I know that I'm going to have
an opportunity to get him in the fourth round. The
(23:17):
profits made a wise man taught me this a long
time ago. Maybe I read it, but sounds better that
someone told this to me is that you make the
profit in what you buy it for, not what you
sell it for. So anyone that's selling their home right
now for eight hundred grand, well, if you're making five hundred,
the profit was made when you bought the thing for
three hundred grand. So what you purchase a home for
(23:40):
a stock for no different than a player, right the
reason Dak Prescott and Russell Wilson, even after you gave
him an extension with the Cowboys in Seattle, when you
factor in those first three years as a mid round pick,
it's just the most incredible deal you can ever get.
And we always say that if you hit on a
first round pick like Joe Burrow, it's an incredible deal. Well,
(24:04):
imagine if you can get your starting quarterback in the
third round. So what round you take, guys, really matters.
But also, I say this all the time. We all
see it all the time. No one knows, not a
fucking soul knows who is going to be good and
who is going to be bad when the draft happens.
(24:24):
Chase Young, now I understand he was injured, went second overall,
did not have his fifth year option picked up. So
this notion that when people argue and I listen, I
see it on the internet streets when it comes to
the forty nine ers because they took a kicker in
the third round, and listen, if Jake Moody, who the
kid they've drafted from Michigan, doesn't make kicks, it is
(24:44):
a disaster draft pick. But this notion that, like, well,
you should have taken like a tight end instead. The
chances of that guy's good it's like forty of thirty
eight percent in the first round. What do you think
it is late in the third round twelve percent. So
this notion that like anyone knows anything when the draft happens.
(25:05):
It's why it's so stupid with draft grades. It's why
every single team in the league when they make the
draft peak, they're hugging. I just watched It's awesome, and
the Colts have been doing a great job on this
for years. If you go to their YouTube channel, they
have like a thirty minute thing on Draft night, and
it's obviously a lot. It goes through the entire draft,
like the second round, third round, and they're later round picks,
(25:27):
but a large percentage of it is on Anthony Richardson
and Chris Ballard said that night like they had honed
in on him a month before the draft, like they
had concluded that's who they were going to take. They
love Anthony Richardson. Obviously Shane Steiken, Jalen Hurts, so it's
easy parallel there. Anthony Richardson's a good guy. They felt
very good about his comfort, about his character, his skill set,
(25:50):
and just his physical gifts speak for themselves, and they
couldn't be any more related. I mean, all their scouts,
all their obviously their owner. Your owner calls him the
potential to be a hero that or says, you know,
can be a little wacky, but he's right. If Anthony
Richardson hits like he will be a legend in the NFL.
He'll just be like, Oh, it's the the Colt's got
(26:12):
the mobile version that they're modern day Peyton Manning, but
more than likely history would show probably won't work out.
I'm rooting for him to work out because he seems
like a good guy. I know he's a good guy
because my scout buddies that you know I've done the
write up on him, that feel very comfortable with him,
and obviously a skill set he would be a very
very fun player. But like what if he doesn't. All
(26:33):
that hugging, all that fun is for nothing, like we
see it every single year. Nobody knows anything. Now, that
doesn't mean that, like you don't go into a draft
with that mindset thinking you're gonna miss on the player
or it's not gonna work out, or you're gonna draft
someone that's not gonna have their fifth year option picked up.
(26:54):
But that is ultimately what happens, and it happens a lot.
So why I'm a big believer there is no such
which thing in practice. In theory, it's true, but in practice,
as a high floor it doesn't exist. Because every guy
that you have to draft, guy, this guy's a high floor.
This guy's a high floor. How those guys can't make
the team. Some of them do, Some of them turn
(27:14):
out to have high floors and then some of them
turn out to be like star players. So actually, actually
his floor wasn't just high, ceiling was high. And it's
just a fascinating way the NFL works now a lot
of it too, just because you don't have your fifth
year option picked up. These guys play in the league
for a long time, right, So some of those guys
that don't have their fifth year option picked up aren't
(27:36):
quote unquote bus they're not out of the league, right.
Two guys that when I you know, Mike Mayock, John Lynch,
Solomon Thomas, Cleveland Ferrel. Neither of those guys that are
fifth year option picked up, and they're off the Raiders
and they're off the Niners, right, they're onto new teams. Well,
both those guys are going to play in the league
for like eight to ten years, both of them. Cleveland
(27:57):
Farrell ironically is now on the forty nine ers. He
was just way overdrafted and we knew it at the time,
but he still would have gone in the first round,
you know what, Cleveland Ferroll probably should have gone, and
like the third if if that guy out of Clemson
was a third round pick, you go, you know what,
it's a really good draft pick. That's a fit you got.
You got a nine year pro in the third round.
(28:21):
What a pick. But when you take a guy in
the top ten and you don't pick up a see
your option because financially it doesn't pencil because part of
it you're already paying him a lot of money because
he's a high pick. It looks like a disastrous pick,
even though it's not totally because the guy is an
NFL player, But it's just kind of the way, you know,
(28:42):
this whole thing works. Two other things I saw draft wise,
Jake Hayner, the quarterback from Fresno State, and Stetson Bennett,
quarterback from Georgia, went back to back picks, and I like,
I understand why both those two teams. The Saints have
been in quarterback hell. Really, they started becoming like the
(29:04):
Denver Broncos post Paydon Manning, just this revolving door that
you just don't feel good about the position room at all.
And think of what they did this year. They re
signed Jamis to be Derek Carr's backup, and they draft
a guy in the fourth round who Jamis, you know,
should be able to beat out. He knows the offense.
(29:26):
But you know, you never know, even though I think
they gave Jamis some coin, but I think they're good
with Like we will have three quarterbacks. Hell, we'll keep
Hayn on the roster. He'll just be uh, you know,
third quarterback, and he won't dress on game days. You know,
assuming that you know that rule's not going to change.
You have three guys. Like when you start going through
(29:46):
these quarterback situations where you get into a season, you
get into positions where you're like, you know, if we
just had a solid quarterback room, we'd be in the playoffs,
but instead, our quarterback situation is a disaster. The Rams
last year had to claim Baker Mayfield because their quarterback
position was so dire, it was so bad. And let's
(30:09):
face it, like Matt Stafford's health is a major major
question mark. Now it'll be pretty interesting because I saw
the McVeigh said that Lafleur, who I forget it's Lafleur,
and forget the other coach, the quarterback coach Turner. I
don't know. All these guys are changed to go to
the same five teams. They kind of rotate really really
(30:30):
like Stetson Bennett and that was the guy that they
had honed in on it'll be interesting to see, is
that a guy that ultimately becomes a starting quarterback one day?
Because I listen, I would not have drafted him from
what I heard. He's a better player than I think
we all thought after the end of this season. But
(30:50):
one thing I learned from Colin is maturity. Especially you know,
this is not a twenty year old that video of him,
and I never tried to get on my high horse
act like I don't drink or you know, I can't
act like an idiot. But you get arrested, you're going
to the wrong place, which probably could happen to me too.
But the way that he interacted with the cops, and
(31:12):
you know, it's just like, ah, I don't know, man,
I don't know. We've seen this story before and it
usually doesn't end up well. Last but not least. I
don't think we talked about it that much during the draft.
About the situation with the Eagles. I think it happened
right before the first round, the Eagles and the Cardinals
(31:32):
that they had agreed upon a trade and basically the
Eagles got the Cardinals, who clearly drafted the top of
every round. Their third round pick. They swapped third round
picks essentially, and it happened right before the draft. It
was like, what is going on? And then it was
reported by Schefter that it was because of the tampering situation,
(31:52):
and I started thinking, they're really it always bothers me.
Like in the NBA, Adam Silver fined the Dallas Mavericks.
I think like seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars for tanking,
like the second to last game of the season. You know,
the best they could do was the ten seed, so
that's the last playing team. It's like, Adam, you're such
(32:13):
a hypocrite man. You're half your league's tanking. What if
I was Mark Cuban, I would zero chance I'd pay
you a penny. You're gonna find me for tanking. It
was what Jerry Tarkane used to said. Kentucky cheated so
bad they bust to Cleveland State. It's just so stupid.
The entire NFL, just like basketball, everyone tampers and tampering
(32:34):
is It's not like tax evasion, right, It's not like
committing felony crimes Like I'm sorry, yeah, I talked to agents.
Whether it's about potential coaching candidates, or players all the
time because all these agents and represent these coaches and
players that are on my team. So we're not just
always talking about the guys that are on my squad.
That's part of my job, right, just like you do
(32:57):
in sales, like anyone does. You're always kind of trying
to get as close as you can to the line.
So when I saw that there was a tampering situation,
I went, you know, this seems a little crazy. I'm
sure this happens all the time. And then I read
Florio wrote today that one of the reasons the Eagles
were so mad because it made sense that Vic Fangio
(33:18):
became a consultant for Philly last year and he helped
them out. Hell, he was helping them out during the playoffs.
He was helping them game plan against the forty nine
ers going into the NFC Championship game. Well, why do
you think how he had him on the payroll because
he knew that Jonathan Gannon was getting some head coaching sniffs.
And if Jonathan Gannon was going to leave, who do
you think they would have made the defensive coordinator, not
(33:40):
the guy they did, they would have named Vic Fangio
the DC. So Vic Fangio. The Eagles thought Jonathan Gannon
was not going to get the airs on a cardinal
job because a lot of people did because it was like, ah,
who they are is on what's money going to do?
And clearly they were tampering with him during that Super
Bowl kind of window between the championship game and things changed.
(34:04):
They you know, I think it's fair to say they did,
like another secret interview when you're not allowed to interview,
even though all these people would be talking normally. I
understand if you're the Eagles, like, listen, I don't care
that you took Jonathan Gannon. Hell I would rather have
you take Jonathan Gannon so I could keep and elevate
Vic Fangio. But Vic Fangio they didn't know had to
(34:25):
take the Miami job. Well, part of it is if
they would have known that Jonathan Gannon was going, Vick
Fangio would have been their defensive coordinator. So it makes
perfect sense. And who's mad the owner? What do you
think Jeffrey Lurry's trying to do? They got a Super
Bowl teams trying to win the Super Bowl. Why did
the Philadelphia Eagles lose Super Bowl last year? Because their
defense because their defense Andy Reid spreading pretty basic plays
(34:50):
near the red zone or near the goal line and
scored walk in touchdowns. Walk in touchdowns probably not happened
against Vic Fangio, one of the best defensive coordinators of
last couple decades. Not a good head coach loike Todd Bowles,
but as a defensive coordinator, you can win big with
the guy. And it makes more sense because tampering happens
all over and this was not one of those like
(35:12):
a slap on the wrist. We don't want this to happen.
This happens specifically because they screwed over a team. This
was my issue with the Mavericks, Like who they screw over?
They didn't want to play in the playing game. Your
whole league's taking at them, finding them. It's just what
are we doing? It doesn't make any sense. So yeah,
(35:33):
mcfangiel's now with the Miami Dolphins, who they could be
a little bit better on defense and their quarterback situation solved.
Who knows, maybe Miami mcfangio's stud Okay, that'll do it
for the pod. Everyone have a good weekend. Thanks to
my guy Holsts on the audio, James on the video.
Those guys take care of me, and they take care
(35:53):
of me well. And to you guys, because this wouldn't
exist without you guys. Maybe would I'd probably just be
talking at the wall, but that'd be sad. But it
probably still happened, kind of still does. Uh. I want
you guys to have a good weekend. UH have have fun.
So talk to everyone soon. See it the volume
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