John reacts to the big NFL news of the day that saw Aaron Rodgers sign a one-year deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers and what him playing with the Steelers next season means for Pittsburgh and the AFC. Next, John dives into the latest with Anthony Richardson and the news that he will be out for some time with a shoulder injury, what's going on with Derek Carr, and should the Commanders be concerned that Terry McLaurin isn't showing up for OTA's.
Lastly, John answers your questions in this episode's mailbag segment.
4:47 - Aaron Rodgers is a Steeler
20:19 - Latest with Anthony Richardson
22:49 - What's going on with Derek Carr
24:20 - Kyle Pitts is hurt
25:36 - McLaurin not at OTA's
35:17 - Mailbag
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. What is going on everybody? How are we doing?
Hopefully everyone is doing well, And I would imagine at
(00:21):
least if you are a Steeler fan, you can breed
a sigh of relief. Aaron Rodgers will be your quarterback
and he will be in attendance next week at mandatory
mini camp. So long awaited drama. I think we all
knew this was going to take place for a long
long time, but now we have. I would say official
(00:41):
word that Aaron Rodgers will be the Pittsburgh Steelers starting
quarterback for twenty twenty five. If I was a guessing
or betting man, I would say this will probably be
his last season playing football in the NFL. But we'll
discuss that from a couple of different angles, as well
as some other stuff going on around the NFL. Anthony
Rigson his shoulder, which he had surgery on several years ago,
(01:03):
doesn't seem to be cooperating and he's not able to
practice right now, so not ideal. Then a couple of
news and notes from around the league. If you missed it. Yesterday,
we had on John Spytech the New Raiders GM, and
we discussed being a first time GM running a draft
drafting Ash and Genty working hand in hand, and Tom
(01:25):
with Tom Brady where he used to work as the
number two under Jason Light working with Baker Mayfield. It
was awesome. So if you miss that, you can check
it out on YouTube. You can check it out on
our podcast feed. Appreciate everyone that watched and enjoyed it.
John much appreciation toward him. I mean, he was awesome,
gave me, gave me a lot of time and it
(01:47):
was great. So really really enjoyed that. But before we
dive into some football, you know, I gotta tell you
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lowest prices, guarantee the Pittsburgh Steelers turns out, which I
(02:52):
think we all knew. We're not planning on going into
the season with Mason Rudolph. Their game plan, as they've
essentially been telling it now for a while, was we're
pretty confident in Aaron Rodgers. And I think this goes
back to when Aaron flew out to Pittsburgh and he
snuck in in that Malibu that there was a handshake deal,
welcome to business, because the moment the Giants looking back
(03:15):
signed Russell Wilson, they realized they were out. And I'm
pretty sure we'll never know the exact conversation. Maybe Aaron
and Tomlin over the course of the next week will
maybe divulge some of those details, but I think everyone
knew at that moment where we were headed. We just
didn't know the date. And now we officially know that
(03:35):
Aaron Rodgers will be the quarterback for the Steelers. I
do think Pittsburgh's in a tough spot. And listen, it's
not easy to replace a legend, and that's what Roethlisberger is.
He's probably one of the more talented players in the
history of the organization, and it's an organization with i'd
say some of the more storied group of individuals in
(03:57):
the history of the sport. That they've been winning well
before I was alive and I was born in nineteen
eighty four. All they do is win. Now over the
course of basically the last decade, while they make the
playoffs and have winning records, they have no shot to
win a Super Bowl. And I think there's a big
and a fine line between like, yeah, we're winning nine
(04:17):
ten games, but we are getting curb stomped in the
first round. And as we've seen the last couple of years,
there is a distant gap not between them and the Chiefs,
the team that owns the AFC, but that next tier
of team that can't even beat the Chiefs, and that
would be the Bills and the Ravens, who are in
a different stratosphere currently than the Steelers. And I'm going
(04:40):
to relate this to like a lot of young guys,
I started losing my hair in my early twenties. I
remember being in college and looking down at my desk
because I surely wasn't listening to the professor, and seeing
hairs all over it, and knowing my dad was bald,
my brother's bald, My grandparents are bald, and so my
(05:00):
cousins on the male side are obviously bald. So I
knew it was inevitable. Yeah, when you're young and you
think you can fix the problem, and whether it was
Roguaine over the counter or Propecia a prescription drug, you
thought you could hold on, and there is no band
aid when you're losing your hair. Maybe if you have
some money, you can get hair transplants and go to Turkey,
(05:21):
But in terms of the avenues I was going, it
had no shot. It was like trying to put a
band aid over a bullet hole. And that, to me
is what the last couple of years have been for
the Pittsburgh Steelers. Like I understood why they signed Russell
Wilson and Justin Fields last year. That was a better
option than Kenny Pickett, but neither option was great. Like
(05:46):
if you're hungry and your only two options are burger
King and Urba's, it's like, yeah, you can get some food,
do you actually want to eat that? You used to
love the Rodeo cheeseburger back in the nineties for Burger King,
But that's beside the point. And I think when you
look at the Pittsburgh Steelers, like it's kind of like
last year, like would I rather have forty one year
(06:06):
old Aaron Rodgers or a mid thirties Russell Wilson and
a mobile Justin Fields? At the end of the day,
I don't think it matters because you're obviously not beating
the Chiefs, You're definitely not beating the Ravens, You're definitely
not beating the Bills. And if the Bengals can just
figure out a way to not start so damn slow,
(06:26):
you're not in the same universe as them. Why they
have elite quarterbacks in their prime And this is why,
like I'm not a believer in like one in the NFL,
it's hard a tank. Even Stephen Ross found that out
years ago when he begged Brian Flores to tank, said
he would pay him one hundred grand a loss. And
Flora's won three of his last five games, one being
(06:47):
to the Bengals and a costume Joe Burrow, and they
got stuck with Tua. Now, Tua is still better option
than I don't know, twelve to fifteen quarterbacks in the NFL,
but relative to Joe Burrows, a big gap. And the
Steelers just refuse to suck. And maybe it's because Mike
Tomlins floor is so high. Maybe just they always have
(07:08):
enough good players. They're never gonna bottom out. They're never
gonna have a season at this current pace like the
Giants have had the last couple of years, or like
the Patriots have had the last couple of years. That's
just not on the table. Now. It felt for a
split second like, well, if Aeron actually doesn't play and
they just roll in with Mason Rudolph, I don't think
they'll draft one or two, but I can see him
(07:28):
drafting like ninth or tenth, and that would be their
avenue out because google where Roethlisberger got drafted. Pretty sure
he wasn't the twenty seventh pick, and they just don't
want to do that, which I find respectable. And that's
what Aaron Rodgers gives them the option to do. Win
nine or ten games and then get beat in the
first round of the playoffs. And they're trying to band
(07:50):
aid this situation. But what's gonna happen in twenty twenty
five when they're drafting nineteenth. It's gonna be the same
thing over and over and over again. And like I've said,
I thought last year was the opportunity before the twenty
four season, that offseason to break up with Mike Tomlin,
not because he's some scrub. Do what the Saints, I mean,
(08:11):
in a different manner did with Sean Payton. Trade him,
just go your separate ways. Especially last season when Ben
Johnson was available. It just gave you a chance to
have a clean break. Mike Tomlin would have immediately been
hired and just kind of start over. But they refuse.
So I'm done acting. And I see it come up
every once in a while people are like, it's time
is over for Mike Tomlin. Not with the Steelers ownership,
(08:33):
that's not gonna end anytime soon. And their team like
this year, Like, what is their formula. They're gonna have
to have a top if they are gonna have any
chance to even be better than what we think. They're
gonna have to have one of the best defense in
the league. And they drafted a defensive tackle really high
in the draft, And to me, they're gonna have to
run the ball at an elite level. And listen, Najie Harris,
(08:55):
I've been watching them since high school. Big time recruit
goes to BAM a first round pick, thought he was
kind of average, and they drafted a guy on the
second day of the draft, Caleb Johnson from Iowa who
last season was a monster. He had fifteen hundred yards
and twenty one touchdowns. He's six foot one, two hundred
and twenty five pounds. He's a beast. They would need
(09:17):
to me to be like take a step for him
to essentially do what he did in college into the
NFL as a rookie. Fifteen hundred yards, I don't know,
twelve thirteen touchdowns. Now Arthur Smith's history obviously, Derek Henry
had some of the best years of his career running
behind him. He's gonna want to run the ball and
Can Rogers be better than whatever we saw Russell Wilson
down the stretch. Yeah, maybe, but I just I don't
(09:40):
see it. And listen, if you are going to say, hey,
they did it again. They didn't lose, yeah, I mean
that's okay, cool. Did they make any more progress toward
chasing the teams that they're trying to do. Of course not.
And you could argue they're actually going to take a
step backwards because they're just it's a sh term plan
(10:01):
with no long term solution in play. And I don't
blame Aaron Rodgers. This was clearly his not only best option.
You could argue it was his only option to not
be a bad team. I mean, if you put him
on the Giants, I don't think much changes at all,
especially when you factor in that division and the Vikings
weren't They weren't giving him an offer, so he couldn't
(10:26):
go there. And I think that this ends with Aaron Rodgers,
who knows. I mean at forty one years old. Here's
the other thing. I think we got a little spoiled
with the Tom Brady situation. He still played really well
at forty two and forty three. You know, a huge
part of Rogers' game was never playing like Tom. Tom
hasn't been able to move for decades. Aaron Rodgers when
(10:48):
he was winning MVPs four or five years ago, I
guess a little less than that. Three or four years ago.
His athletic ability still played a huge part. Now, was
he the twenty eleven twenty fifteen kind of that range
version of Aaron? No, but I would say a huge
part of his arsenal was moving around. You saw last year.
Every once in a while he begh He moved decent,
(11:09):
but for the most part it's gone. He ain't running
away from a soul and really the playmaking ability doesn't exist,
especially as the season went on and it got cold. Well,
what division does he play? The AFC North. What's the
first thing that comes to mind about the AFC North? Cold,
cold weather, smash mouth, tough football, and not that he's
(11:31):
not used to playing and that he played in Green
Bay for years, but that ability to add lib is gone.
And the other thing we saw out of Tom that
last season, and I don't blame any of these guys,
and we saw it a little bit with Rogers, you know,
in twenty twenty four playing for the Jets in what
world when you're in your forties, when you have hundreds
of millions of dollars in the bank, are you going
(11:52):
to stay in that pocket that extra second so you
can deliver that ball? On third and eight in the
fourth quarter, was seven minutes left in a game where
you're down for and if you don't get this first down,
who knows. I mean, it could be the game. And
those guys were willing to do that for the most
of their career, and that's what made him great players.
Once you get in the fourth I'm not getting molly
(12:13):
whopped here by this untouched, blitzing defender who is going
to hit me right in my chest and I might
not be able to breathe when I hit the grounds.
Why they kind of let the ball go early or
they just hit the ground, And you become, again, relative
to what they were, a shell of themselves, because what
(12:33):
they were were, especially in Aaron Rodgers case, best player,
you probably argue in the history of the Packers, and
one of the greatest players of all time. And that's
not what is he a serviceable player? Is he a
functionable player? Of course, he's still really talented. He still
throws the ball with a high velocity, and when he
(12:55):
has time, he's an accurate passer. But the version of
the guy that Lafleur and Gudakin's got to win those
MVPs is not the same guy that we saw last year,
which is of course he's not. He's forty one years old,
so I don't know. I mean, Steelers man, I feel
for Steelers fans because it could be worse. I mean,
(13:17):
you could be a shitty organization. But it's like, what
are we doing here? Where are we going? And the
answer we all know when it comes to the AFC
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Speaker 1 (16:20):
Couple other things around the NFL. You guys know where
I stand on Anthony Richardson and the Daniel Jones situation. One.
I wouldn't want either one of these quarterbacks. But I've
seen this song and dance before. We just saw it
a couple of years ago with Trey Lance draft to
guy high clearly not working out. The players on the
team aren't behind it. You bring in another guy, it's over,
(16:40):
not even when training camp starts, and the coaches and
the gms can say whatever they want. This ended the
moment they gave Daniel Jones fourteen million dollars. It was
his job to lose. Just like in the example I've
used with the forty nine Ers, the moment they signed
Sam Darnold, Trey Lance wasn't even gonna be the second
string quarterback anymore with the forty nine Ers, And that's
the way it played out now. Trey Lance ended up
getting traded to the Cowboys. I think it would be
(17:03):
more difficult to trade Anthony Rigson given that he's currently injured,
but same type deal, and now that he has an
injury that dates back to the shoulder injury in twenty
twenty three, which knocked him out for the season. It's
clearly not good and sometimes you have a shoulder injury
at quarterback position. Happened to Cam and he was never
(17:23):
the same. I mean Cam in his heyday, never the
most accurate passer, but was like I'm trying to think
of a closer that throws one hundred and three miles
an hour. I mean just had a bazooka. And then
those last couple of years with Caroline and then definitely
for the Patriots, his arm was a shell of itself.
And I'm no doctor, didn't go to medical school, but
(17:45):
I know shoulder injuries. When it comes to quarterbacks, fatigue
and soreness, especially at a young age, it's one thing.
It's like, you know, like when Tom Brady or Peyton
Manning or Drew Brees or some of these Broethlisberger, some
of these guys in their mid to late there, he
need a day off or a couple of days off
or totally understandable. It's another thing to be under twenty
(18:06):
five years old. You should be fresh as the days.
You should be able to throw an unlimited amount of footballs,
and it's like, yeah, it's hurting. I'm in pain, so listen.
Totally understand why they swung for the fences. I commend
and admire that mindset. I think it's the right mindset
to have. And just as like when Aaron Judge hits
(18:28):
a walk off three run home run, he's swinging for
the fences. Sometimes you don't even make contact and you strikeout,
and you go back to the dugout and put your
shit together and you can head home. And I think
that's what we have to acknowledge. Chris Ballard swung for
the fences on this one, and he didn't make contact.
He whiffed. Derek Carr. I don't pretend to quite know
(18:51):
everything that's going on here. Clearly it got weird with
the Saints. I do think Derek has shown over the
course of his career he's a high character guy. But
I do think it's kind of easy to say. He
made some comments essentially saying that you know, part of
the reason he retired is he didn't want to get
surgery and just collect a bunch of money for the
(19:12):
Saints and do nothing. Now, his actions spoke louder than
his words. He gave the Saints. I think ten million
dollars back, which he could have collected if he had
just gotten the surgery. But I do think he knew,
whether he was healthy or not, that Kellen Moore did
not want him, that this new coaching staff wanted no
(19:33):
part of him. Now he's made comments about that his
career is really over. We'll see and it'll be interesting,
like does he get surgery or was it one of
those where like if you're just a normal citizen, you know,
it's like, yeah, you could get your you know, your
MCL feels a little weird, you could get surgery. Or
he could also just live through it. And most human
(19:54):
beings try to avoid surgery at all times. Like obviously
to play football, you need to get work done. But
it's like, yeah, you get surgery right now, you're probably
not playing golf for a while, probably aren't just enjoying
your family and hanging out this summer. So maybe he
doesn't get surgery. And to me, if you don't get surgery,
it probably truly ends his career. And that's what all
science point to right now. The other thing that we
(20:16):
had talked about a couple weeks ago that Kyle Pitts
was like holding out because he wanted a new contract.
Turns out he was actually injured. But there are a
bunch of rumors that teams have called in trying to
trade for him. To me, there's enough smoke with this situation.
If Pitts is healthy, he is not going to be
(20:36):
on the Atlanta Falcons. And I think it's one of
those where a team that really liked him in the
draft can get him for like a fifth round pick. Now,
part of it is because of his contract it ends
after the season, and he's expensive. He almost makes eleven
million dollars for a guy catching less than fifty balls.
But there is definitely going to be a team that thinks, like, listen,
(20:59):
we had this guy rated as a top five, top
ten pick in the draft a couple of years ago.
We have seen guys like this, you know, Darren Waller
is a good example of Like when Darren Waller really
got it figured out for a couple of years with
Gruden and the Raiders, he was an elite player. And
I think people will look at Kyle Pitts kind of
in that mold. Is Kyle Pitt's gonna block of course not,
but that's not what we're trading him for. And someone
(21:22):
that has the cap space, like I'll give a fifth
or six round pick because I think at the end
of the day, that's that's all that Atlanta would end
up fetching for him. Welcome to Chasing Challenges, brought to
you by Microsoft. In the NFL. Just like in the
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(21:42):
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(22:05):
to say bring it on. This week, we're discussing the
challenge face by I do think Washington is in an
interesting spot. They have this incredible first year with Adam,
with Dan Quinn, with Jayde Daniels. It couldn't have gone
any better. Jayden has this historic season, It resurrects a franchise,
They win a couple of playoff games. It's just it's
(22:25):
incredible how far they made it given their roster, and
then this season they load up. They trade for Deebo
Samuel they trade for Laramie Tunzel. It's like, God, there
actually could be. It's weird to say about a team
that was in the Final four, but a lot more
substance behind it that their roster should be dramatically better.
(22:45):
And then I see a headline that like, Terry McLaurin
hasn't been there this week or last week and doesn't
plan on coming to OTAs because why he wants a
contract extension. Don't blame him. He makes twenty three million dollars.
He looks at guys like Brandon Ayuk making twenty nine thirty.
He looks at Deebo Samuel on his own team, who's
making more. And there are videos about Laramie Tunzel, who
(23:08):
hasn't been around either, kind of going viral about like
don't worry that he's not at OTA's Look how good
a shape he's in. You guys know why the Houston
Texans traded Laramie Tunzel not because they thought the guy
wasn't good. Of course, they know that their offensive line sucked.
He by far was their best player, and they don't
just be like, yeah, we'll just trade our left tackle.
(23:29):
It's because they knew that he wanted a massive contract extension.
So you got Laramie Tunzel and you got Terry McLaurin.
And here's the thing. When you pay a linebacker or
a safety, or a tight end or certain positions, even
if they are elite players, right like how Hee given
Zach Bond some money or or Christian McCaffrey or Sakuon
(23:51):
Barkley or George Kittle some of these positions to get
these contract extentions. It actually doesn't cost you that much
money when you give a contract extension or a new
con to a guy like Terry McLaurin or a guy
like Larry mc tunzel. It is really expensive. Now, part
of having this rookie contract with Jayden Daniels is to
take advantage of that with other players. But here's the thing.
(24:13):
This is Larry mc tunzel's third contract and he's gonna,
i'm sure want well over one hundred million dollars guaranteed.
What do you think Terry mclaurin's gonna cost plays wide
receiver who's been your star wide receiver for years? And
he looks around what other guys he understands. Okay, maybe
I'm not justin Jefferson or Jamar Chase. But I'm definitely
in the category of like the Ayux and the Amanas
Saint Browns and kind of that crew. And I'm a
(24:34):
year later. So you factor in just natural inflation of
the salary camp and I think you could be looking
at the two guys. I don't know if that's eighty
million for McLaurin guaranteed and definitely one hundred guaranteed for Tunzel.
I mean, you're looking at a lot of money between
two players. It's probably why these deals haven't got done
quite yet because they're complicated. But this also shows like
(24:55):
how important and how different each individual year is, and
coaching and gms say this all the time. Every year
is his own entity, Every year is its own team,
Every year is his own story because what happened last
year is completely different than this year. We have a
new draft class, we have new players in free agency,
we have guys that played a role last year that
(25:17):
are now gone. So you just never know. You have
contractual situations that come up, you have coaching staff turnover,
and I think not that this is there's a good
problem to have. I mean, these are good players, but
you are talking large amounts of money, and you always
have to think twice before giving that out. You know, McLaurin,
I would have no hesitation giving him some big time money.
(25:40):
I think the Tunswell thing is, you know, a little complicated.
And let's face it, Dbo is in a situation where
he's playing for money because if he has a good season,
he will get paid again if he doesn't, like he
kind of probably is on a year by year basis,
and so he's a guy in that room who has
a lot to prove. And I just think there are
some more persons nowadays with expectations and you add players
(26:05):
like this, there just becomes more risk. And I'm not
jumping off the Commander's bandwagon and think like they're gonna
fall apart here, but they they's got more stuff going
on right now, especially when you add that they're not
like the little engine that could. They're not the team
that no one's paying attention to anymore. They're a team
that now, when you play this happened to Lions a
(26:26):
couple of years ago, like when the Commanders are on
your schedule, you're gonna take that game very fucking seriously.
And that hasn't happened for that franchise in decades. So
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Speaker 1 (27:17):
Okay, let's do a little mail back here on Fugezi Friday,
and you guys know the drill at John Middlecoff at
John Middlecoff is my Instagram. Fire into those dms and
get your questions answered. Here on the show, we will
start with Xander, not Shoffley, but a different Xander who's
a big Ravens fan. I big Ravens fan. It admittally
(27:39):
funny to see the dumpster fire that is the Browns. However,
at some point it becomes embarrassing for the NFL. I
feel as if upper management doesn't care about winning football
games and continue to not only put a terrible product
in the field, but they also hurt the rest of
the league. The Watson deal had potential to destroy the
quarterback market. The league clearly didn't want Manzel or Chaudor
(28:01):
to go as high as they did. To humble them,
it feels as if the Browns try to sabotage the
rest of the league. Do you think the Browns are
trying to mess with the rest of the NFL? Or
is there some reason they always seem to be making
the wrong move. I don't think anyone didn't take Shador
Sanders or Johnny Manziel to quote unquote humble them. I
(28:21):
think they didn't draft Johnny because at the time, I
think a lot of people thought he was like a
drunk and a druggie, which played out that way. And
the Shador thing, I think a lot of people thought
that he wasn't a starting quarterback, and the draft process
has been well documented was a disaster. So I think
it was more they just weren't comfortable drafting them. I
(28:41):
don't think it was about It's not about humbling them.
I don't think teams think like that. I mean, it's
just a business trying to make money, trying to win.
I think the Browns are trying to win. I think
their owner, who's really rich and successful and really you know,
outside of football, he's one of those guys that can't
help but be really, really involved. And you know, most
(29:04):
of these guys, no matter how much they know in
their individual industries, to make a bunch of money doesn't
translate to football, it really. I mean, David Tepper is
one of the greatest investors of all time. I mean,
look how the Panthers have been going. I mean it's
I guess this matt Ishbia guy in my backyard that
owns the Suns. Google how much that guy's worth. Look
(29:25):
at the Suns. I think these guys. You know, in business,
I've been saying this for a while, you can buy
your way out of it. In football you can't because
of these salary caps, because you only have so many resources.
You know, in business, I have unlimited resources. Right in football,
I only got so many draft picks and so much
cap space to buy a player. So the Chador thing,
(29:47):
I've said it from the beginning had the owner written
all over it. Now you could argue Dylan Gabriel in
the third round now, and that's on the coach and
the GM clearly. But the other thing is the NFL.
This is a television shows where they make all their
money from TV. Part of an entertaining television show. You
(30:07):
need heroes and you need villains. I'm not proud to
say it, but because of her, I've watched a lot
of reality television show and the train wrecks on some
of these reality television shows, especially on Bravo, are the
only reason that I can stomach it, because it's like
you can't turn away. And for every the Chiefs and
(30:27):
the Ravens and now the you know, the Eagles and
the McVeigh rams and the Shanahan Niners, like you need
some shit shows. And that adds to the drama of
the league. Never forget when the playoffs are going on
in the NFL, the two biggest stories the playoff games
are for the weekend. During the week it's really all
(30:49):
about the coaching firings and hirings. So it all plays
a part into the reality television show that is the
National Football League. I'm curious what your favorite team uniforms
are I don't know. I mean, I maybe I'm nostalgic.
(31:10):
I would go back to like some of the stuff
from the nineties. I'm a traditionalist, like I loved just
when you look at the eighties, even like the forty
nine Ers, the Giants, the Bears. I don't know. I
don't even think that's the subject that I really don't care,
(31:33):
because I'm not even like turned off by weird uniforms.
Remember the uniforms that like once Seattle started going neon, Like,
I really don't care. Honestly, that's one thing like uniforms,
like obviously I like in college, Penn State, Notre Dame.
There's a traditional nature to some of the sc But
(31:53):
I also don't like Oregan's eight million uniforms don't bother
me either. It's I just don't have the energy, and
you're not necessarily asking me this. But like some of
the stuff that I guess quote unquote turns people off,
like I'm indifferent. I guess I just don't care. Long
winded way of saying, just don't care. Love the pod
(32:14):
listen every day. I've seen Coward say that Breeze is
not a top ten all time quarterback. Probably one of
the craziest things I've ever heard, consider he played fifteen season,
second most and almost second in almost every statistical category
factoring in he inherited a dumpster fire, beat three Hall
of Fame quarterbacks to win Super Bowl. Can you rank
your top ten of all time? I would say, in
(32:36):
no particular order, you go Brady Montana, l Way, Marino,
Farv Rogers. I would say if I could get both
for in their prime, I would take Young over Breeze Mahomes. Yeah,
I would say Breeze would be in the discussion. It's
(32:56):
hard I can't really speak to like, you know, they
a Tittles and Johnny Unitas and Roger Stallback. You know,
I don't have a great feel. I mean, we can
bring up stats and stuff, but you guys know where
I stand. If I didn't watch him, it's hard for
me to argue. It really is like I never watched
(33:17):
Larry burdon his prime or Magic Johnson. I know those
guys are awesome. I didn't really watch Elway or Marino
in their prime, but like I know enough football, and
I saw both those guys play in their latter stages.
Like obviously those guys are badasses, so I would say
he would be in the discussion. If you go Brady Montana, Elway, Marino, Oh, Peyton, Manning, Rogers,
(33:46):
Farv Young, Mahomes, I think he'd be in the discussion.
He's fucking good. He's first about Hall of Famer. Sometimes
these arguments, Who cares whether he's eighth or eleventh, It
doesn't change anything. As a Titans fan, I'm a fan
of Brian Callahan in theory. He comes off intelligent and
(34:07):
thoughtful in his press conferences and interviews. However, he went
three and fourteen and his team was highly penalized. They
look sloppy, and they were blown out in half the losses.
Levis looked worse in the second year from his rookie season.
Even chocking quarterback up is the biggest issue. The roster
is still bottom five and no one has grand expectations
(34:29):
for this year. But our owner is a head case.
She fired a GM head coach every year for the
past three off seasons, and Brian now is scarily is
squarely at risk of making it four. What's your read
on Callahan. I have a good buddy that works for him,
that loves him. Obviously, you know, with his dad being there,
(34:50):
you would think their offense, if line is going to
be good. I think most people view Brian Callahan as
very knowledgeable at the position, but their defense was solid
last year, they just kind of like, after a while
when your offense is that shitty. I think it's hard
to underestimate when your quarterback position, there's a difference between
(35:12):
like unsettled and just a complete tire fire train wreck.
And that's what it was really from the jump. And
after a while, even if your defense is okay, they
eventually give up because your offense sucks so bad. So
I think you almost got to give them a little
bit of a pass. Now. I also think you've got
to be realistic. You know, it's a rookie quarterback. Most
(35:35):
people are not going to be Jade Daniels, so there's
gonna be a lot of ups and downs. And if
he has a season that's more like a Caleb Williams
or something, then it could be a little weird. So
I don't I think if they won six or seven games,
it would be a step in the right direction. But
does Borganzi the new GM and Brinker, do those guys
(35:56):
want to bring in a new guy, like you said,
the owner, who's the dog? You know? How does she
handle it? Who knows? I think there's just a lot
of question marks. But I know the Titans, I mean,
they've spoken about it, but they're really really high on
cam Ward. So to me, I have a hard time
seeing that they would pivot off him if he looks
like he's got a chance to be like a franchise
(36:18):
top ten quarterback in the NFL. Why is quarterback the
only position where we seem willing to put modern guys
on the all time list Mahomes and to a lesser extent,
Lamar being ranked among all time greats. I feel like
when you talk about quarterback rankings, Mahomes is always mentioned,
but when you talk about all time running backs, someone
like Derek Henry never is. Why is that? You know?
(36:41):
I don't know the unwritten rules for ranking talk, but
you do bring up a fair point, right, like greatest
defensive lineman. It took like Aaron Donald to retire before
everyone was like Aaron Donald right in the mix. I
don't know why that takes place. I guess you have
to be really, really special. I mean, Derrick Henry is unreal.
(37:05):
I think he's a Hall of Famer, but he started slow.
Not that necessarily matters. I mean, we've had guys starting
I don't know. I don't have a great answer for you,
but you're right, you're dead on. I'm a former PGA
pro but got out and I'm going back to school
(37:27):
with this fall for communications. Before I ask, I wanted
to let you know that you and Colin are two
of the biggest people I look up to. Well, I
appreciate being in that company, and you're probably pretty good
at golf. Always been curious about this because I never
quite seen anything like it. What was the reaction in
the building when Danny Watkins got caught moonlighting as a
(37:48):
firefighter at the end of the twenty twelve season. Not
sure if you ever come back around Philly, but would
love to play golf with you if you do. I
in twenty twelve, I was living in San Francisco and
doing the West Coast, so I don't I don't have
a great memory of that I was in the office.
(38:09):
The only thing I would say about Danny Watkins one
he was really good in college. I mean, he was
really good at Baylor, and you know, I think the
easy projection was he was going to be like Logan
Mankins left tackle, put him at guard and he was
going to be really good. Turns out he was just
and everyone knew it right away, extremely immature, and it
(38:31):
was clear like this guy's like wired, like a twelve
year old. Just a disastrous pick. But it's not like
I mean, he was good in college. I will defend
it that way. Was having some cocktails with the boys.
What a great time to be alive having cocktails with
the boys, and got into a bait debate about the
sweetest thing in sports. Popular answer was a running back
(38:53):
going untouched up the middle for seventy five clean one
punch ko in UFC pure nothing but net three ball
from the logo jumping one handed catch over the middle. Personally,
nothing gets me fired up like seeing a shortstop or
outfielder throw an absolute seed across the diamond to get
(39:14):
someone out. What play in sports gets you fired up?
I was thinking about this watching the first game one
of the Stanley Cup Finals. I guess football, if you
throw a touchdown, but if it's late in the game
or an overtime, you're kind of on the edge of
your seat. Hockey, you are like on the edge of
(39:36):
your seat, the action, but the moment that goal happens,
the game just ends. It's extremely abrupt. So I would
say a goal in hockey at the end is pretty exhilarating.
I would say the same thing about baseball. You know,
in a playoff game, in a tie game, whether they're
not doing the runner at second and someone just hits
a home run and the game immediately ends. I think
(39:59):
anything that ends the game is that that could be
a game winning shot. In basketball, we saw like Aaron Gordon,
for example, in the playoffs for Denver, like that moment
where there's no time left from the shot and everyone
just goes nuts. Whether you're at home and the place
goes bananas, or whether you're on the road and the
place goes silent. I think, you know, in football, most
(40:21):
of the walkoffs, I would say, tend to be a
field goal. So in basketball, you know, anytime it's a
long shot, it's pretty exhilarating. Baseball, anytime there's a walk
off home run, that's a pretty badass. There was a
moment I was dialed in shows you what time of
year we're at the softball game. It was the Semis
(40:43):
Oklahoma against Texas Tech Oklahoma has won four straight national championships,
and that they were headed toward their fifth and they're
losing in the bottom of the seventh, which in softball
you only play seven innings, and the ninth hitter hit
a gameing home run to make it to two. Now
they ended up losing in the bottom of the d
(41:04):
maybe it was the top of the ending, they lost
in the bottom of the inning, but it was just
like it was a jaw dropping moment. So I think
there's something special. We can debate baseball's cultural importance. What
I do think we can't debate is there are moments
in that sport with a home run that in the
(41:25):
bottom or top of the last ending of a game
that are freaking awesome. Question for the pod, how do
you keep your sanity with working from home and never leaving? Well,
I would say a couple of things. I leave every day.
I mean, at minimum go to the gym and try
to go for a walk, So I mean I'm never
not leaving the house. I've been working from home well
(41:48):
before anyone even talked about working from home in twenty seventeen.
Part of it, I was just fired. I had to
start my own thing and started podcasting in twenty seventeen.
For the first four or five years, I live by myself,
so I had a two bedroom condo. I've never worked
from home while my office was in my bedroom, that
(42:09):
that would be difficult for me. A second, when I
first started dating Maria, we lived in an apartment. I
rented a second studio apartment and just turned that into
my office, so I left every day. And then since
I've been here at the house, I mean we got
some I got four bedrooms, so I got some rooms
(42:29):
to go to. But we don't have children yet. I
don't think it would be possible to keep my sanity
with kids and work from home. It's why I gotta
have to find an office. I'm already doing some initial
digging and to have a place to separate church and state.
But early on I didn't have a choice. I didn't
have any money in any options to do anything else,
(42:54):
so it was out of necessity. And I would say
lately it's been con venions slash it just I haven't
needed one yet, so I've been able to balance it.
I've been doing it long enough to you know, I'm
not doing. What I do is kind of unique, so
(43:16):
it's in some businesses it would be more difficult than others.
You know, I'm not sitting on calls all day and
stuff like that. But yeah, I mean it's definitely sometimes
I'm probably fatter because of it. I can just go
to the kitchen. But who's to say if I had
an office, I wouldn't have snacks. Good question. I'm very
(43:40):
low on the Dolphins this year. How realistic do you
think Gruden to the Dolphins is in twenty six? I
would say it'd be on the table. I think if
they suck this year, which I think is a decent chance,
that owner's proven to be nuts, He's proven to be
going after big fish. I mean, he tried to get
Harbaugh multiple times. Who were his options? Like? Who are
(44:02):
I guess if Mike Tomlin was available, maybe like a
Kirby Smart type. But yeah, I would say that Gruden.
My guess would be is in January of twenty twenty six,
John Gruden is either the head coach of a college
like a I'm just gonna use this team even though
Billy Napier they might be good this year, like a
(44:24):
Florida you know, like an SEC team, or a team
like the Dolphins. I was thinking that the AFC is
better than the NFC. It seems like the AFC is
has starting quarterbacks and less impressive rosters, and the NFC
has less good quarterbacks with better rosters. I think at
the playoffs were merged between the top fourteen teams, we
(44:47):
wouldn't see NFC teams make it to the Super Bowl. Well,
I mean, I think we saw the Eagles beat the
shit out of the Chiefs, So I think the Eagles
proved that they would they could play with the Ravens,
the Bills, and obviously the Chiefs. I think that the
Eagles could. I think the Lions are healthy depending on
(45:08):
where they're playing. Like, I like the Lions a lot
more at home against the Bills or the Ravens than
I would on the road. But yeah, like what I
like Washington last year against those teams. No, I mean,
you're you're looking at, you know, the Chiefs from the
middle of a dynasty and you got josh Allen Lamar Jackson.
So even if you got a healthy Lion's again, the
(45:28):
Eagles are pretty good. So I I I would say
the Eagles are every bit obviously, I mean, we just
saw it, but they would have no problem, but I
hear what you're saying. I just think you got to
just watch how this year plays out, you know, every
years new so we'll see uh contacts on Brazil and
(45:55):
why it's smart for the NFL. I spent months in
Brazil as an ex Jane student last year, and most
people would be shocked about how popular American entertainment is
in the country, for sports, music, and TV and movies.
The country is huge, with over two hundred million people,
(46:16):
many of who are just recently getting internet access and
learning English. The market is ripe for the picking. Living
there a relatively short time, I saw countless NBA Baseball
and NFL jerseys and heard older and newer American music,
with quote unquote localized television dying a slow death and
(46:36):
streaming to continue to dominate. The writing is on the wall,
not really a question, just a statement. Appreciate all you do.
That's that's good knowledge. That's why we incorporate the people here.
Your boys never been to Brazil, would love to get
on those nude beaches, walk around and like you said,
watch some American sports. So good tay two hundred million people. People.
(47:00):
Are you sure Brazil is that many people could be wrong.
Brazil population here you are, Jesus, I didn't realize Brazil
was that big. If you would have said how many
people live in Brazil or what's the population of Brazil,
(47:26):
it shows you. I mean it's gonna I'm gonna sound
like an idiot. I think I would have said like
twenty million people, maybe fifty It's hard to know exactly
what you would say after the fact. I just know
I never would have got anywhere near two hundred million people.
I think I used to respect how dominant they were
(47:47):
in soccer because I assumed they were smaller. I was like,
it's crazy how good they are with yeah, see like
Spain fifty million people, Italy fifty eight million people. I
would have thought in that ballpark, I really would have.
(48:08):
So I actually respect some of these European countries with
dominating at soccer. Brazil, no shit, they're good. So they're
number one sport and they got fucking two hundred million people.
I used to think of them really, really highly at soccer,
which obviously I still do because they're a great soccer team.
(48:28):
But look how many people they got to pick from
for the mailbag. Ashon genty Hampton and RJ. Harvey were
drafted in the top sixty by rival teams in the
AFC West. Fans of the three teams think they got
the best running back in the draft. Who is your
favorite to have the best rookie among these three backs?
(48:49):
Taking into account each team's O line, coaching and overall offense,
I would say Bronco fans don't think they got the
best running back in the draft. But I hear what
you're saying. I actually watched a little RJ. Harvey today
after you gave me this question. He clearly has some
a skill set. I don't I don't want to compare
(49:11):
him exactly to this guy because I think, what the
hell is his name? Running back? My brain's not working
on Thursday afternoon. Alvin Kamara. He's a more fluid player.
But his ability to catch the ball, which is clearly
something that Sean Payton's going to want to do, and
(49:32):
for bo Nicks spreading the offense out a little bit
to throw them the ball. He's talented player. And if
he would have played at a bigger school, I do
think that he I do think that he would have
gotten higher. I would say we still have a lot
of questions. How good the Raiders are going to be.
You know, if you're down in games, you're not running
(49:53):
the ball as much in the second half. How good
is their offensive line? There's this question marks with the
team I was thinking about after I talked to Spikes Act.
Their team in twenty twenty six is probably gonna be
so much better than it is gonna be this year.
They're in a transitional year, and sometimes when you have
(50:14):
a bad transition team, just a team I don't want
to say in flux, but just a lot of moving parts.
It's not the easiest spot. From running back, I do
think the easiest guy to pick is gonna be with
the Chargers. They're gonna have a big time. They have
two stud tackles. They signed Beckden in free agency, who's
(50:37):
a road grader who just started for the Eagles. And
we know their coach has, like I mean, just fantasizes
about running the ball. So I would be stunned again
all these guys' health, you know, factoring in in terms
of pure rushing stats. If Hampton doesn't have a massive season,
(51:00):
now I could see RG Harvey catching the ball a
lot and having a well rounded season, and I would
be stunned if if Gent doesn't have moments. But I mean,
what realistically are the Raiders going to be right six
to seven win team? But you know, one of those
(51:20):
teams that, like next year everyone's picking to potentially be
a wild card, it can be tough spot for running
back and if they prove that, like they're not a
threat to pass the ball. I mean, Bower's really good,
but you load the box and how good is their
offensive line? How good is their defense going to be?
There's just a lot more question marks with the Raiders
(51:42):
than there are with those other two teams, and to me,
that helps the running back. The other thing is Chip Kelly,
like we'll see I mean, I you know, I think
look at the other two offensive coordinators. Say what you
want about Greg Grumman. We know he can run the ball.
And obviously Sean Payton, I mean just been out of
the NFL for a little while, and when he got
(52:05):
ran out of the NFL, it wasn't exactly going well
it's been a while. That was twenty sixteen, But he
doesn't have the advantage like he did last year at
Ohio State and real even two years ago when UCLA
was solid it was not because of their offense. Their
defense was elite. That's why Anthony Linson Deanton Lynn is
(52:26):
now at USC as a defensive coordinator because he had
He was awesome as a coordinator. So I would say
that Genty just has question marks because of what's around him.
But all those guys, I'd be stunned if they're all
three not really really good NFL players. Obviously, the volume
The volume. What is going on everybody? How are we doing?
Hopefully everyone is doing well, And I would imagine at
(00:21):
least if you are a Steeler fan, you can breed
a sigh of relief. Aaron Rodgers will be your quarterback
and he will be in attendance next week at mandatory
mini camp. So long awaited drama. I think we all
knew this was going to take place for a long
long time, but now we have. I would say official
(00:41):
word that Aaron Rodgers will be the Pittsburgh Steelers starting
quarterback for twenty twenty five. If I was a guessing
or betting man, I would say this will probably be
his last season playing football in the NFL. But we'll
discuss that from a couple of different angles, as well
as some other stuff going on around the NFL. Anthony
Rigson his shoulder, which he had surgery on several years ago,
(01:03):
doesn't seem to be cooperating and he's not able to
practice right now, so not ideal. Then a couple of
news and notes from around the league. If you missed it. Yesterday,
we had on John Spytech the New Raiders GM, and
we discussed being a first time GM running a draft
drafting Ash and Genty working hand in hand, and Tom
(01:25):
with Tom Brady where he used to work as the
number two under Jason Light working with Baker Mayfield. It
was awesome. So if you miss that, you can check
it out on YouTube. You can check it out on
our podcast feed. Appreciate everyone that watched and enjoyed it.
John much appreciation toward him. I mean, he was awesome,
gave me, gave me a lot of time and it
(01:47):
was great. So really really enjoyed that. But before we
dive into some football, you know, I gotta tell you
about my friends, my partners in the official ticketing app
of this podcast, Game time best ticketing app in America,
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(02:09):
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(02:52):
think we all knew. We're not planning on going into
the season with Mason Rudolph. Their game plan, as they've
essentially been telling it now for a while, was we're
pretty confident in Aaron Rodgers. And I think this goes
back to when Aaron flew out to Pittsburgh and he
snuck in in that Malibu that there was a handshake deal,
welcome to business, because the moment the Giants looking back
(03:15):
signed Russell Wilson, they realized they were out. And I'm
pretty sure we'll never know the exact conversation. Maybe Aaron
and Tomlin over the course of the next week will
maybe divulge some of those details, but I think everyone
knew at that moment where we were headed. We just
didn't know the date. And now we officially know that
(03:35):
Aaron Rodgers will be the quarterback for the Steelers. I
do think Pittsburgh's in a tough spot. And listen, it's
not easy to replace a legend, and that's what Roethlisberger is.
He's probably one of the more talented players in the
history of the organization, and it's an organization with i'd
say some of the more storied group of individuals in
(03:57):
the history of the sport. That they've been winning well
before I was alive and I was born in nineteen
eighty four. All they do is win. Now over the
course of basically the last decade, while they make the
playoffs and have winning records, they have no shot to
win a Super Bowl. And I think there's a big
and a fine line between like, yeah, we're winning nine
(04:17):
ten games, but we are getting curb stomped in the
first round. And as we've seen the last couple of years,
there is a distant gap not between them and the Chiefs,
the team that owns the AFC, but that next tier
of team that can't even beat the Chiefs, and that
would be the Bills and the Ravens, who are in
a different stratosphere currently than the Steelers. And I'm going
(04:40):
to relate this to like a lot of young guys,
I started losing my hair in my early twenties. I
remember being in college and looking down at my desk
because I surely wasn't listening to the professor, and seeing
hairs all over it, and knowing my dad was bald,
my brother's bald, My grandparents are bald, and so my
(05:00):
cousins on the male side are obviously bald. So I
knew it was inevitable. Yeah, when you're young and you
think you can fix the problem, and whether it was
Roguaine over the counter or Propecia a prescription drug, you
thought you could hold on, and there is no band
aid when you're losing your hair. Maybe if you have
some money, you can get hair transplants and go to Turkey,
(05:21):
But in terms of the avenues I was going, it
had no shot. It was like trying to put a
band aid over a bullet hole. And that, to me
is what the last couple of years have been for
the Pittsburgh Steelers. Like I understood why they signed Russell
Wilson and Justin Fields last year. That was a better
option than Kenny Pickett, but neither option was great. Like
(05:46):
if you're hungry and your only two options are burger
King and Urba's, it's like, yeah, you can get some food,
do you actually want to eat that? You used to
love the Rodeo cheeseburger back in the nineties for Burger King,
But that's beside the point. And I think when you
look at the Pittsburgh Steelers, like it's kind of like
last year, like would I rather have forty one year
(06:06):
old Aaron Rodgers or a mid thirties Russell Wilson and
a mobile Justin Fields? At the end of the day,
I don't think it matters because you're obviously not beating
the Chiefs, You're definitely not beating the Ravens, You're definitely
not beating the Bills. And if the Bengals can just
figure out a way to not start so damn slow,
(06:26):
you're not in the same universe as them. Why they
have elite quarterbacks in their prime And this is why,
like I'm not a believer in like one in the NFL,
it's hard a tank. Even Stephen Ross found that out
years ago when he begged Brian Flores to tank, said
he would pay him one hundred grand a loss. And
Flora's won three of his last five games, one being
(06:47):
to the Bengals and a costume Joe Burrow, and they
got stuck with Tua. Now, Tua is still better option
than I don't know, twelve to fifteen quarterbacks in the NFL,
but relative to Joe Burrows, a big gap. And the
Steelers just refuse to suck. And maybe it's because Mike
Tomlins floor is so high. Maybe just they always have
(07:08):
enough good players. They're never gonna bottom out. They're never
gonna have a season at this current pace like the
Giants have had the last couple of years, or like
the Patriots have had the last couple of years. That's
just not on the table. Now. It felt for a
split second like, well, if Aeron actually doesn't play and
they just roll in with Mason Rudolph, I don't think
they'll draft one or two, but I can see him
(07:28):
drafting like ninth or tenth, and that would be their
avenue out because google where Roethlisberger got drafted. Pretty sure
he wasn't the twenty seventh pick, and they just don't
want to do that, which I find respectable. And that's
what Aaron Rodgers gives them the option to do. Win
nine or ten games and then get beat in the
first round of the playoffs. And they're trying to band
(07:50):
aid this situation. But what's gonna happen in twenty twenty
five when they're drafting nineteenth. It's gonna be the same
thing over and over and over again. And like I've said,
I thought last year was the opportunity before the twenty
four season, that offseason to break up with Mike Tomlin,
not because he's some scrub. Do what the Saints, I mean,
(08:11):
in a different manner did with Sean Payton. Trade him,
just go your separate ways. Especially last season when Ben
Johnson was available. It just gave you a chance to
have a clean break. Mike Tomlin would have immediately been
hired and just kind of start over. But they refuse.
So I'm done acting. And I see it come up
every once in a while people are like, it's time
is over for Mike Tomlin. Not with the Steelers ownership,
(08:33):
that's not gonna end anytime soon. And their team like
this year, Like, what is their formula. They're gonna have
to have a top if they are gonna have any
chance to even be better than what we think. They're
gonna have to have one of the best defense in
the league. And they drafted a defensive tackle really high
in the draft, And to me, they're gonna have to
run the ball at an elite level. And listen, Najie Harris,
(08:55):
I've been watching them since high school. Big time recruit
goes to BAM a first round pick, thought he was
kind of average, and they drafted a guy on the
second day of the draft, Caleb Johnson from Iowa who
last season was a monster. He had fifteen hundred yards
and twenty one touchdowns. He's six foot one, two hundred
and twenty five pounds. He's a beast. They would need
(09:17):
to me to be like take a step for him
to essentially do what he did in college into the
NFL as a rookie. Fifteen hundred yards, I don't know,
twelve thirteen touchdowns. Now Arthur Smith's history obviously, Derek Henry
had some of the best years of his career running
behind him. He's gonna want to run the ball and
Can Rogers be better than whatever we saw Russell Wilson
down the stretch. Yeah, maybe, but I just I don't
(09:40):
see it. And listen, if you are going to say, hey,
they did it again. They didn't lose, yeah, I mean
that's okay, cool. Did they make any more progress toward
chasing the teams that they're trying to do. Of course not.
And you could argue they're actually going to take a
step backwards because they're just it's a sh term plan
(10:01):
with no long term solution in play. And I don't
blame Aaron Rodgers. This was clearly his not only best option.
You could argue it was his only option to not
be a bad team. I mean, if you put him
on the Giants, I don't think much changes at all,
especially when you factor in that division and the Vikings
weren't They weren't giving him an offer, so he couldn't
(10:26):
go there. And I think that this ends with Aaron Rodgers,
who knows. I mean at forty one years old. Here's
the other thing. I think we got a little spoiled
with the Tom Brady situation. He still played really well
at forty two and forty three. You know, a huge
part of Rogers' game was never playing like Tom. Tom
hasn't been able to move for decades. Aaron Rodgers when
(10:48):
he was winning MVPs four or five years ago, I
guess a little less than that. Three or four years ago.
His athletic ability still played a huge part. Now, was
he the twenty eleven twenty fifteen kind of that range
version of Aaron? No, but I would say a huge
part of his arsenal was moving around. You saw last year.
Every once in a while he begh He moved decent,
(11:09):
but for the most part it's gone. He ain't running
away from a soul and really the playmaking ability doesn't exist,
especially as the season went on and it got cold. Well,
what division does he play? The AFC North. What's the
first thing that comes to mind about the AFC North? Cold,
cold weather, smash mouth, tough football, and not that he's
(11:31):
not used to playing and that he played in Green
Bay for years, but that ability to add lib is gone.
And the other thing we saw out of Tom that
last season, and I don't blame any of these guys,
and we saw it a little bit with Rogers, you know,
in twenty twenty four playing for the Jets in what
world when you're in your forties, when you have hundreds
of millions of dollars in the bank, are you going
(11:52):
to stay in that pocket that extra second so you
can deliver that ball? On third and eight in the
fourth quarter, was seven minutes left in a game where
you're down for and if you don't get this first down,
who knows. I mean, it could be the game. And
those guys were willing to do that for the most
of their career, and that's what made him great players.
Once you get in the fourth I'm not getting molly
(12:13):
whopped here by this untouched, blitzing defender who is going
to hit me right in my chest and I might
not be able to breathe when I hit the grounds.
Why they kind of let the ball go early or
they just hit the ground, And you become, again, relative
to what they were, a shell of themselves, because what
(12:33):
they were were, especially in Aaron Rodgers case, best player,
you probably argue in the history of the Packers, and
one of the greatest players of all time. And that's
not what is he a serviceable player? Is he a
functionable player? Of course, he's still really talented. He still
throws the ball with a high velocity, and when he
(12:55):
has time, he's an accurate passer. But the version of
the guy that Lafleur and Gudakin's got to win those
MVPs is not the same guy that we saw last year,
which is of course he's not. He's forty one years old,
so I don't know. I mean, Steelers man, I feel
for Steelers fans because it could be worse. I mean,
(13:17):
you could be a shitty organization. But it's like, what
are we doing here? Where are we going? And the
answer we all know when it comes to the AFC
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Speaker 1 (16:20):
Couple other things around the NFL. You guys know where
I stand on Anthony Richardson and the Daniel Jones situation. One.
I wouldn't want either one of these quarterbacks. But I've
seen this song and dance before. We just saw it
a couple of years ago with Trey Lance draft to
guy high clearly not working out. The players on the
team aren't behind it. You bring in another guy, it's over,
(16:40):
not even when training camp starts, and the coaches and
the gms can say whatever they want. This ended the
moment they gave Daniel Jones fourteen million dollars. It was
his job to lose. Just like in the example I've
used with the forty nine Ers, the moment they signed
Sam Darnold, Trey Lance wasn't even gonna be the second
string quarterback anymore with the forty nine Ers, And that's
the way it played out now. Trey Lance ended up
getting traded to the Cowboys. I think it would be
(17:03):
more difficult to trade Anthony Rigson given that he's currently injured,
but same type deal, and now that he has an
injury that dates back to the shoulder injury in twenty
twenty three, which knocked him out for the season. It's
clearly not good and sometimes you have a shoulder injury
at quarterback position. Happened to Cam and he was never
(17:23):
the same. I mean Cam in his heyday, never the
most accurate passer, but was like I'm trying to think
of a closer that throws one hundred and three miles
an hour. I mean just had a bazooka. And then
those last couple of years with Caroline and then definitely
for the Patriots, his arm was a shell of itself.
And I'm no doctor, didn't go to medical school, but
(17:45):
I know shoulder injuries. When it comes to quarterbacks, fatigue
and soreness, especially at a young age, it's one thing.
It's like, you know, like when Tom Brady or Peyton
Manning or Drew Brees or some of these Broethlisberger, some
of these guys in their mid to late there, he
need a day off or a couple of days off
or totally understandable. It's another thing to be under twenty
(18:06):
five years old. You should be fresh as the days.
You should be able to throw an unlimited amount of footballs,
and it's like, yeah, it's hurting. I'm in pain, so listen.
Totally understand why they swung for the fences. I commend
and admire that mindset. I think it's the right mindset
to have. And just as like when Aaron Judge hits
(18:28):
a walk off three run home run, he's swinging for
the fences. Sometimes you don't even make contact and you strikeout,
and you go back to the dugout and put your
shit together and you can head home. And I think
that's what we have to acknowledge. Chris Ballard swung for
the fences on this one, and he didn't make contact.
He whiffed. Derek Carr. I don't pretend to quite know
(18:51):
everything that's going on here. Clearly it got weird with
the Saints. I do think Derek has shown over the
course of his career he's a high character guy. But
I do think it's kind of easy to say. He
made some comments essentially saying that you know, part of
the reason he retired is he didn't want to get
surgery and just collect a bunch of money for the
(19:12):
Saints and do nothing. Now, his actions spoke louder than
his words. He gave the Saints. I think ten million
dollars back, which he could have collected if he had
just gotten the surgery. But I do think he knew,
whether he was healthy or not, that Kellen Moore did
not want him, that this new coaching staff wanted no
(19:33):
part of him. Now he's made comments about that his
career is really over. We'll see and it'll be interesting,
like does he get surgery or was it one of
those where like if you're just a normal citizen, you know,
it's like, yeah, you could get your you know, your
MCL feels a little weird, you could get surgery. Or
he could also just live through it. And most human
(19:54):
beings try to avoid surgery at all times. Like obviously
to play football, you need to get work done. But
it's like, yeah, you get surgery right now, you're probably
not playing golf for a while, probably aren't just enjoying
your family and hanging out this summer. So maybe he
doesn't get surgery. And to me, if you don't get surgery,
it probably truly ends his career. And that's what all
science point to right now. The other thing that we
(20:16):
had talked about a couple weeks ago that Kyle Pitts
was like holding out because he wanted a new contract.
Turns out he was actually injured. But there are a
bunch of rumors that teams have called in trying to
trade for him. To me, there's enough smoke with this situation.
If Pitts is healthy, he is not going to be
(20:36):
on the Atlanta Falcons. And I think it's one of
those where a team that really liked him in the
draft can get him for like a fifth round pick. Now,
part of it is because of his contract it ends
after the season, and he's expensive. He almost makes eleven
million dollars for a guy catching less than fifty balls.
But there is definitely going to be a team that thinks, like, listen,
(20:59):
we had this guy rated as a top five, top
ten pick in the draft a couple of years ago.
We have seen guys like this, you know, Darren Waller
is a good example of Like when Darren Waller really
got it figured out for a couple of years with
Gruden and the Raiders, he was an elite player. And
I think people will look at Kyle Pitts kind of
in that mold. Is Kyle Pitt's gonna block of course not,
but that's not what we're trading him for. And someone
(21:22):
that has the cap space, like I'll give a fifth
or six round pick because I think at the end
of the day, that's that's all that Atlanta would end
up fetching for him. Welcome to Chasing Challenges, brought to
you by Microsoft. In the NFL. Just like in the
business world, overcoming obstacles is key to success. Microsoft empowers
(21:42):
business decision makers with AI solutions, simplified cloud and data management,
and trustworthy, responsible technology to turn challenges into opportunities. In
this segment, we'll explore some of the biggest challenges being
faced in the NFL and how they can be overcome.
Whatever challenge you're facing, Microsoft empowers you with the expertise
(22:05):
to say bring it on. This week, we're discussing the
challenge face by I do think Washington is in an
interesting spot. They have this incredible first year with Adam,
with Dan Quinn, with Jayde Daniels. It couldn't have gone
any better. Jayden has this historic season, It resurrects a franchise,
They win a couple of playoff games. It's just it's
(22:25):
incredible how far they made it given their roster, and
then this season they load up. They trade for Deebo
Samuel they trade for Laramie Tunzel. It's like, God, there
actually could be. It's weird to say about a team
that was in the Final four, but a lot more
substance behind it that their roster should be dramatically better.
(22:45):
And then I see a headline that like, Terry McLaurin
hasn't been there this week or last week and doesn't
plan on coming to OTAs because why he wants a
contract extension. Don't blame him. He makes twenty three million dollars.
He looks at guys like Brandon Ayuk making twenty nine thirty.
He looks at Deebo Samuel on his own team, who's
making more. And there are videos about Laramie Tunzel, who
(23:08):
hasn't been around either, kind of going viral about like
don't worry that he's not at OTA's Look how good
a shape he's in. You guys know why the Houston
Texans traded Laramie Tunzel not because they thought the guy
wasn't good. Of course, they know that their offensive line sucked.
He by far was their best player, and they don't
just be like, yeah, we'll just trade our left tackle.
(23:29):
It's because they knew that he wanted a massive contract extension.
So you got Laramie Tunzel and you got Terry McLaurin.
And here's the thing. When you pay a linebacker or
a safety, or a tight end or certain positions, even
if they are elite players, right like how Hee given
Zach Bond some money or or Christian McCaffrey or Sakuon
(23:51):
Barkley or George Kittle some of these positions to get
these contract extentions. It actually doesn't cost you that much
money when you give a contract extension or a new
con to a guy like Terry McLaurin or a guy
like Larry mc tunzel. It is really expensive. Now, part
of having this rookie contract with Jayden Daniels is to
take advantage of that with other players. But here's the thing.
(24:13):
This is Larry mc tunzel's third contract and he's gonna,
i'm sure want well over one hundred million dollars guaranteed.
What do you think Terry mclaurin's gonna cost plays wide
receiver who's been your star wide receiver for years? And
he looks around what other guys he understands. Okay, maybe
I'm not justin Jefferson or Jamar Chase. But I'm definitely
in the category of like the Ayux and the Amanas
Saint Browns and kind of that crew. And I'm a
(24:34):
year later. So you factor in just natural inflation of
the salary camp and I think you could be looking
at the two guys. I don't know if that's eighty
million for McLaurin guaranteed and definitely one hundred guaranteed for Tunzel.
I mean, you're looking at a lot of money between
two players. It's probably why these deals haven't got done
quite yet because they're complicated. But this also shows like
(24:55):
how important and how different each individual year is, and
coaching and gms say this all the time. Every year
is his own entity, Every year is its own team,
Every year is his own story because what happened last
year is completely different than this year. We have a
new draft class, we have new players in free agency,
we have guys that played a role last year that
(25:17):
are now gone. So you just never know. You have
contractual situations that come up, you have coaching staff turnover,
and I think not that this is there's a good
problem to have. I mean, these are good players, but
you are talking large amounts of money, and you always
have to think twice before giving that out. You know, McLaurin,
I would have no hesitation giving him some big time money.
(25:40):
I think the Tunswell thing is, you know, a little complicated.
And let's face it, Dbo is in a situation where
he's playing for money because if he has a good season,
he will get paid again if he doesn't, like he
kind of probably is on a year by year basis,
and so he's a guy in that room who has
a lot to prove. And I just think there are
some more persons nowadays with expectations and you add players
(26:05):
like this, there just becomes more risk. And I'm not
jumping off the Commander's bandwagon and think like they're gonna
fall apart here, but they they's got more stuff going
on right now, especially when you add that they're not
like the little engine that could. They're not the team
that no one's paying attention to anymore. They're a team
that now, when you play this happened to Lions a
(26:26):
couple of years ago, like when the Commanders are on
your schedule, you're gonna take that game very fucking seriously.
And that hasn't happened for that franchise in decades. So
that's it for this week's Chasing challenges. Remember Microsoft's AI
solutions empower you to take bold steps and make informed decisions,
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(26:47):
Microsoft as your trusted partner, you can navigate your journey
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Speaker 3 (27:00):
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Speaker 1 (27:17):
Okay, let's do a little mail back here on Fugezi Friday,
and you guys know the drill at John Middlecoff at
John Middlecoff is my Instagram. Fire into those dms and
get your questions answered. Here on the show, we will
start with Xander, not Shoffley, but a different Xander who's
a big Ravens fan. I big Ravens fan. It admittally
(27:39):
funny to see the dumpster fire that is the Browns. However,
at some point it becomes embarrassing for the NFL. I
feel as if upper management doesn't care about winning football
games and continue to not only put a terrible product
in the field, but they also hurt the rest of
the league. The Watson deal had potential to destroy the
quarterback market. The league clearly didn't want Manzel or Chaudor
(28:01):
to go as high as they did. To humble them,
it feels as if the Browns try to sabotage the
rest of the league. Do you think the Browns are
trying to mess with the rest of the NFL? Or
is there some reason they always seem to be making
the wrong move. I don't think anyone didn't take Shador
Sanders or Johnny Manziel to quote unquote humble them. I
(28:21):
think they didn't draft Johnny because at the time, I
think a lot of people thought he was like a
drunk and a druggie, which played out that way. And
the Shador thing, I think a lot of people thought
that he wasn't a starting quarterback, and the draft process
has been well documented was a disaster. So I think
it was more they just weren't comfortable drafting them. I
(28:41):
don't think it was about It's not about humbling them.
I don't think teams think like that. I mean, it's
just a business trying to make money, trying to win.
I think the Browns are trying to win. I think
their owner, who's really rich and successful and really you know,
outside of football, he's one of those guys that can't
help but be really, really involved. And you know, most
(29:04):
of these guys, no matter how much they know in
their individual industries, to make a bunch of money doesn't
translate to football, it really. I mean, David Tepper is
one of the greatest investors of all time. I mean,
look how the Panthers have been going. I mean it's
I guess this matt Ishbia guy in my backyard that
owns the Suns. Google how much that guy's worth. Look
(29:25):
at the Suns. I think these guys. You know, in business,
I've been saying this for a while, you can buy
your way out of it. In football you can't because
of these salary caps, because you only have so many resources.
You know, in business, I have unlimited resources. Right in football,
I only got so many draft picks and so much
cap space to buy a player. So the Chador thing,
(29:47):
I've said it from the beginning had the owner written
all over it. Now you could argue Dylan Gabriel in
the third round now, and that's on the coach and
the GM clearly. But the other thing is the NFL.
This is a television shows where they make all their
money from TV. Part of an entertaining television show. You
(30:07):
need heroes and you need villains. I'm not proud to
say it, but because of her, I've watched a lot
of reality television show and the train wrecks on some
of these reality television shows, especially on Bravo, are the
only reason that I can stomach it, because it's like
you can't turn away. And for every the Chiefs and
(30:27):
the Ravens and now the you know, the Eagles and
the McVeigh rams and the Shanahan Niners, like you need
some shit shows. And that adds to the drama of
the league. Never forget when the playoffs are going on
in the NFL, the two biggest stories the playoff games
are for the weekend. During the week it's really all
(30:49):
about the coaching firings and hirings. So it all plays
a part into the reality television show that is the
National Football League. I'm curious what your favorite team uniforms
are I don't know. I mean, I maybe I'm nostalgic.
(31:10):
I would go back to like some of the stuff
from the nineties. I'm a traditionalist, like I loved just
when you look at the eighties, even like the forty
nine Ers, the Giants, the Bears. I don't know. I
don't even think that's the subject that I really don't care,
(31:33):
because I'm not even like turned off by weird uniforms.
Remember the uniforms that like once Seattle started going neon, Like,
I really don't care. Honestly, that's one thing like uniforms,
like obviously I like in college, Penn State, Notre Dame.
There's a traditional nature to some of the sc But
(31:53):
I also don't like Oregan's eight million uniforms don't bother
me either. It's I just don't have the energy, and
you're not necessarily asking me this. But like some of
the stuff that I guess quote unquote turns people off,
like I'm indifferent. I guess I just don't care. Long
winded way of saying, just don't care. Love the pod
(32:14):
listen every day. I've seen Coward say that Breeze is
not a top ten all time quarterback. Probably one of
the craziest things I've ever heard, consider he played fifteen season,
second most and almost second in almost every statistical category
factoring in he inherited a dumpster fire, beat three Hall
of Fame quarterbacks to win Super Bowl. Can you rank
your top ten of all time? I would say, in
(32:36):
no particular order, you go Brady Montana, l Way, Marino,
Farv Rogers. I would say if I could get both
for in their prime, I would take Young over Breeze Mahomes. Yeah,
I would say Breeze would be in the discussion. It's
(32:56):
hard I can't really speak to like, you know, they
a Tittles and Johnny Unitas and Roger Stallback. You know,
I don't have a great feel. I mean, we can
bring up stats and stuff, but you guys know where
I stand. If I didn't watch him, it's hard for
me to argue. It really is like I never watched
(33:17):
Larry burdon his prime or Magic Johnson. I know those
guys are awesome. I didn't really watch Elway or Marino
in their prime, but like I know enough football, and
I saw both those guys play in their latter stages.
Like obviously those guys are badasses, so I would say
he would be in the discussion. If you go Brady Montana, Elway, Marino, Oh, Peyton, Manning, Rogers,
(33:46):
Farv Young, Mahomes, I think he'd be in the discussion.
He's fucking good. He's first about Hall of Famer. Sometimes
these arguments, Who cares whether he's eighth or eleventh, It
doesn't change anything. As a Titans fan, I'm a fan
of Brian Callahan in theory. He comes off intelligent and
(34:07):
thoughtful in his press conferences and interviews. However, he went
three and fourteen and his team was highly penalized. They
look sloppy, and they were blown out in half the losses.
Levis looked worse in the second year from his rookie season.
Even chocking quarterback up is the biggest issue. The roster
is still bottom five and no one has grand expectations
(34:29):
for this year. But our owner is a head case.
She fired a GM head coach every year for the
past three off seasons, and Brian now is scarily is
squarely at risk of making it four. What's your read
on Callahan. I have a good buddy that works for him,
that loves him. Obviously, you know, with his dad being there,
(34:50):
you would think their offense, if line is going to
be good. I think most people view Brian Callahan as
very knowledgeable at the position, but their defense was solid
last year, they just kind of like, after a while
when your offense is that shitty. I think it's hard
to underestimate when your quarterback position, there's a difference between
(35:12):
like unsettled and just a complete tire fire train wreck.
And that's what it was really from the jump. And
after a while, even if your defense is okay, they
eventually give up because your offense sucks so bad. So
I think you almost got to give them a little
bit of a pass. Now. I also think you've got
to be realistic. You know, it's a rookie quarterback. Most
(35:35):
people are not going to be Jade Daniels, so there's
gonna be a lot of ups and downs. And if
he has a season that's more like a Caleb Williams
or something, then it could be a little weird. So
I don't I think if they won six or seven games,
it would be a step in the right direction. But
does Borganzi the new GM and Brinker, do those guys
(35:56):
want to bring in a new guy, like you said,
the owner, who's the dog? You know? How does she
handle it? Who knows? I think there's just a lot
of question marks. But I know the Titans, I mean,
they've spoken about it, but they're really really high on
cam Ward. So to me, I have a hard time
seeing that they would pivot off him if he looks
like he's got a chance to be like a franchise
(36:18):
top ten quarterback in the NFL. Why is quarterback the
only position where we seem willing to put modern guys
on the all time list Mahomes and to a lesser extent,
Lamar being ranked among all time greats. I feel like
when you talk about quarterback rankings, Mahomes is always mentioned,
but when you talk about all time running backs, someone
like Derek Henry never is. Why is that? You know?
(36:41):
I don't know the unwritten rules for ranking talk, but
you do bring up a fair point, right, like greatest
defensive lineman. It took like Aaron Donald to retire before
everyone was like Aaron Donald right in the mix. I
don't know why that takes place. I guess you have
to be really, really special. I mean, Derrick Henry is unreal.
(37:05):
I think he's a Hall of Famer, but he started slow.
Not that necessarily matters. I mean, we've had guys starting
I don't know. I don't have a great answer for you,
but you're right, you're dead on. I'm a former PGA
pro but got out and I'm going back to school
(37:27):
with this fall for communications. Before I ask, I wanted
to let you know that you and Colin are two
of the biggest people I look up to. Well, I
appreciate being in that company, and you're probably pretty good
at golf. Always been curious about this because I never
quite seen anything like it. What was the reaction in
the building when Danny Watkins got caught moonlighting as a
(37:48):
firefighter at the end of the twenty twelve season. Not
sure if you ever come back around Philly, but would
love to play golf with you if you do. I
in twenty twelve, I was living in San Francisco and
doing the West Coast, so I don't I don't have
a great memory of that I was in the office.
(38:09):
The only thing I would say about Danny Watkins one
he was really good in college. I mean, he was
really good at Baylor, and you know, I think the
easy projection was he was going to be like Logan
Mankins left tackle, put him at guard and he was
going to be really good. Turns out he was just
and everyone knew it right away, extremely immature, and it
(38:31):
was clear like this guy's like wired, like a twelve
year old. Just a disastrous pick. But it's not like
I mean, he was good in college. I will defend
it that way. Was having some cocktails with the boys.
What a great time to be alive having cocktails with
the boys, and got into a bait debate about the
sweetest thing in sports. Popular answer was a running back
(38:53):
going untouched up the middle for seventy five clean one
punch ko in UFC pure nothing but net three ball
from the logo jumping one handed catch over the middle. Personally,
nothing gets me fired up like seeing a shortstop or
outfielder throw an absolute seed across the diamond to get
(39:14):
someone out. What play in sports gets you fired up?
I was thinking about this watching the first game one
of the Stanley Cup Finals. I guess football, if you
throw a touchdown, but if it's late in the game
or an overtime, you're kind of on the edge of
your seat. Hockey, you are like on the edge of
(39:36):
your seat, the action, but the moment that goal happens,
the game just ends. It's extremely abrupt. So I would
say a goal in hockey at the end is pretty exhilarating.
I would say the same thing about baseball. You know,
in a playoff game, in a tie game, whether they're
not doing the runner at second and someone just hits
a home run and the game immediately ends. I think
(39:59):
anything that ends the game is that that could be
a game winning shot. In basketball, we saw like Aaron Gordon,
for example, in the playoffs for Denver, like that moment
where there's no time left from the shot and everyone
just goes nuts. Whether you're at home and the place
goes bananas, or whether you're on the road and the
place goes silent. I think, you know, in football, most
(40:21):
of the walkoffs, I would say, tend to be a
field goal. So in basketball, you know, anytime it's a
long shot, it's pretty exhilarating. Baseball, anytime there's a walk
off home run, that's a pretty badass. There was a
moment I was dialed in shows you what time of
year we're at the softball game. It was the Semis
(40:43):
Oklahoma against Texas Tech Oklahoma has won four straight national championships,
and that they were headed toward their fifth and they're
losing in the bottom of the seventh, which in softball
you only play seven innings, and the ninth hitter hit
a gameing home run to make it to two. Now
they ended up losing in the bottom of the d
(41:04):
maybe it was the top of the ending, they lost
in the bottom of the inning, but it was just
like it was a jaw dropping moment. So I think
there's something special. We can debate baseball's cultural importance. What
I do think we can't debate is there are moments
in that sport with a home run that in the
(41:25):
bottom or top of the last ending of a game
that are freaking awesome. Question for the pod, how do
you keep your sanity with working from home and never leaving? Well,
I would say a couple of things. I leave every day.
I mean, at minimum go to the gym and try
to go for a walk, So I mean I'm never
not leaving the house. I've been working from home well
(41:48):
before anyone even talked about working from home in twenty seventeen.
Part of it, I was just fired. I had to
start my own thing and started podcasting in twenty seventeen.
For the first four or five years, I live by myself,
so I had a two bedroom condo. I've never worked
from home while my office was in my bedroom, that
(42:09):
that would be difficult for me. A second, when I
first started dating Maria, we lived in an apartment. I
rented a second studio apartment and just turned that into
my office, so I left every day. And then since
I've been here at the house, I mean we got
some I got four bedrooms, so I got some rooms
(42:29):
to go to. But we don't have children yet. I
don't think it would be possible to keep my sanity
with kids and work from home. It's why I gotta
have to find an office. I'm already doing some initial
digging and to have a place to separate church and state.
But early on I didn't have a choice. I didn't
have any money in any options to do anything else,
(42:54):
so it was out of necessity. And I would say
lately it's been con venions slash it just I haven't
needed one yet, so I've been able to balance it.
I've been doing it long enough to you know, I'm
not doing. What I do is kind of unique, so
(43:16):
it's in some businesses it would be more difficult than others.
You know, I'm not sitting on calls all day and
stuff like that. But yeah, I mean it's definitely sometimes
I'm probably fatter because of it. I can just go
to the kitchen. But who's to say if I had
an office, I wouldn't have snacks. Good question. I'm very
(43:40):
low on the Dolphins this year. How realistic do you
think Gruden to the Dolphins is in twenty six? I
would say it'd be on the table. I think if
they suck this year, which I think is a decent chance,
that owner's proven to be nuts, He's proven to be
going after big fish. I mean, he tried to get
Harbaugh multiple times. Who were his options? Like? Who are
(44:02):
I guess if Mike Tomlin was available, maybe like a
Kirby Smart type. But yeah, I would say that Gruden.
My guess would be is in January of twenty twenty six,
John Gruden is either the head coach of a college
like a I'm just gonna use this team even though
Billy Napier they might be good this year, like a
(44:24):
Florida you know, like an SEC team, or a team
like the Dolphins. I was thinking that the AFC is
better than the NFC. It seems like the AFC is
has starting quarterbacks and less impressive rosters, and the NFC
has less good quarterbacks with better rosters. I think at
the playoffs were merged between the top fourteen teams, we
(44:47):
wouldn't see NFC teams make it to the Super Bowl. Well,
I mean, I think we saw the Eagles beat the
shit out of the Chiefs, So I think the Eagles
proved that they would they could play with the Ravens,
the Bills, and obviously the Chiefs. I think that the
Eagles could. I think the Lions are healthy depending on
(45:08):
where they're playing. Like, I like the Lions a lot
more at home against the Bills or the Ravens than
I would on the road. But yeah, like what I
like Washington last year against those teams. No, I mean,
you're you're looking at, you know, the Chiefs from the
middle of a dynasty and you got josh Allen Lamar Jackson.
So even if you got a healthy Lion's again, the
(45:28):
Eagles are pretty good. So I I I would say
the Eagles are every bit obviously, I mean, we just
saw it, but they would have no problem, but I
hear what you're saying. I just think you got to
just watch how this year plays out, you know, every
years new so we'll see uh contacts on Brazil and
(45:55):
why it's smart for the NFL. I spent months in
Brazil as an ex Jane student last year, and most
people would be shocked about how popular American entertainment is
in the country, for sports, music, and TV and movies.
The country is huge, with over two hundred million people,
(46:16):
many of who are just recently getting internet access and
learning English. The market is ripe for the picking. Living
there a relatively short time, I saw countless NBA Baseball
and NFL jerseys and heard older and newer American music,
with quote unquote localized television dying a slow death and
(46:36):
streaming to continue to dominate. The writing is on the wall,
not really a question, just a statement. Appreciate all you do.
That's that's good knowledge. That's why we incorporate the people here.
Your boys never been to Brazil, would love to get
on those nude beaches, walk around and like you said,
watch some American sports. So good tay two hundred million people. People.
(47:00):
Are you sure Brazil is that many people could be wrong.
Brazil population here you are, Jesus, I didn't realize Brazil
was that big. If you would have said how many
people live in Brazil or what's the population of Brazil,
(47:26):
it shows you. I mean it's gonna I'm gonna sound
like an idiot. I think I would have said like
twenty million people, maybe fifty It's hard to know exactly
what you would say after the fact. I just know
I never would have got anywhere near two hundred million people.
I think I used to respect how dominant they were
(47:47):
in soccer because I assumed they were smaller. I was like,
it's crazy how good they are with yeah, see like
Spain fifty million people, Italy fifty eight million people. I
would have thought in that ballpark, I really would have.
(48:08):
So I actually respect some of these European countries with
dominating at soccer. Brazil, no shit, they're good. So they're
number one sport and they got fucking two hundred million people.
I used to think of them really, really highly at soccer,
which obviously I still do because they're a great soccer team.
(48:28):
But look how many people they got to pick from
for the mailbag. Ashon genty Hampton and RJ. Harvey were
drafted in the top sixty by rival teams in the
AFC West. Fans of the three teams think they got
the best running back in the draft. Who is your
favorite to have the best rookie among these three backs?
(48:49):
Taking into account each team's O line, coaching and overall offense,
I would say Bronco fans don't think they got the
best running back in the draft. But I hear what
you're saying. I actually watched a little RJ. Harvey today
after you gave me this question. He clearly has some
a skill set. I don't I don't want to compare
(49:11):
him exactly to this guy because I think, what the
hell is his name? Running back? My brain's not working
on Thursday afternoon. Alvin Kamara. He's a more fluid player.
But his ability to catch the ball, which is clearly
something that Sean Payton's going to want to do, and
(49:32):
for bo Nicks spreading the offense out a little bit
to throw them the ball. He's talented player. And if
he would have played at a bigger school, I do
think that he I do think that he would have
gotten higher. I would say we still have a lot
of questions. How good the Raiders are going to be.
You know, if you're down in games, you're not running
(49:53):
the ball as much in the second half. How good
is their offensive line? There's this question marks with the
team I was thinking about after I talked to Spikes Act.
Their team in twenty twenty six is probably gonna be
so much better than it is gonna be this year.
They're in a transitional year, and sometimes when you have
(50:14):
a bad transition team, just a team I don't want
to say in flux, but just a lot of moving parts.
It's not the easiest spot. From running back, I do
think the easiest guy to pick is gonna be with
the Chargers. They're gonna have a big time. They have
two stud tackles. They signed Beckden in free agency, who's
(50:37):
a road grader who just started for the Eagles. And
we know their coach has, like I mean, just fantasizes
about running the ball. So I would be stunned again
all these guys' health, you know, factoring in in terms
of pure rushing stats. If Hampton doesn't have a massive season,
(51:00):
now I could see RG Harvey catching the ball a
lot and having a well rounded season, and I would
be stunned if if Gent doesn't have moments. But I mean,
what realistically are the Raiders going to be right six
to seven win team? But you know, one of those
(51:20):
teams that, like next year everyone's picking to potentially be
a wild card, it can be tough spot for running
back and if they prove that, like they're not a
threat to pass the ball. I mean, Bower's really good,
but you load the box and how good is their
offensive line? How good is their defense going to be?
There's just a lot more question marks with the Raiders
(51:42):
than there are with those other two teams, and to me,
that helps the running back. The other thing is Chip Kelly,
like we'll see I mean, I you know, I think
look at the other two offensive coordinators. Say what you
want about Greg Grumman. We know he can run the ball.
And obviously Sean Payton, I mean just been out of
the NFL for a little while, and when he got
(52:05):
ran out of the NFL, it wasn't exactly going well
it's been a while. That was twenty sixteen, But he
doesn't have the advantage like he did last year at
Ohio State and real even two years ago when UCLA
was solid it was not because of their offense. Their
defense was elite. That's why Anthony Linson Deanton Lynn is
(52:26):
now at USC as a defensive coordinator because he had
He was awesome as a coordinator. So I would say
that Genty just has question marks because of what's around him.
But all those guys, I'd be stunned if they're all
three not really really good NFL players. Obviously, the volume
Host
John Middlekauff
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