May 19, 2020 • 62 mins
In this episode, Middlekauff thinks there's more momentum that an NFL season is going to happen than at anytime since the beginning of the Corona quarantine, why a week with several high profile arrests is a product of the lack of OTA's, and why new proposed changes to the Rooney Rule won't produce more minority head coaches. He also answers questions in the Middlekauff Mailbag. Follow John on twitter @JohnMiddlekauff and go to theherdnow.com to find the latest content. Subscribe now!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
What is going on everybody? John Middletop three and Out podcast,
May as I hit record in the afternoon, it's been
a good day. It looks like, Uh, we'll dive in
off the top on some news about Corona and football,
you know, and just sports in general being able to
(00:30):
be played in California potentially New York, you know, and
I think that was a major question mark and it
really has been over the last month, and we'll dive
into that all. Uh, the NFL is turning into a
little bit of the wild wild West. They've had about
four or five players been arrested, uh, several involved with guns,
(00:52):
and it's it's been a crazy time. You know. It's
not ideal the NFL and football in general thrives with
a very very strict schedule. And right now the NFL,
because of the quarantine and Corona and the Zoom meetings,
isn't you know, these guys are all over the place
doing whatever they want to do, and it's it's kind
(01:12):
of causing some issues. And then the Rooney Rule and
some new additions. Potentially by the time you're listening to this,
the vote will happen or not on adding some compensation
in the form of of draft picks to hiring minority coaches.
So I have some thoughts there, and then of course
the Middlecoff mail back at John Middlecoff. I've had some
(01:34):
people reach out and be like Middlecoff kind of sarcastically.
Why do you keep saying slide into your d m s?
That's what young people say about trying to hook up
with each other. I know I'm being sarcastic. It's a joke.
The d m s are just wide open. The d
ms are wide open. You can shoot me a message
however you want to say it's slide. I don't care
how you consider it. It's a joke. I've been sarcastic
(01:55):
about it the whole time. On on Twitter or excuse
me on Instagram. Twitter. My d ms are not open
Instagram they are, and ask me whatever you want. We
call it the Middlecoff mailbag, and we do it right
here Twitter. You can tweet at me whenever you want.
Same handle at John Middlecoff is the name. Also, appreciate
everyone that has done it, if you could keep doing it.
If you have not, and you like the show Three
and Out podcast on Apple on iTunes, leave a leave
(02:18):
a review, preferably a five star, but I've seen some
people leave two and three stars. Listen, do whatever your
little heart desires, whatever you feel's fair Son, you I
would appreciate a five if you listen. Great if if
you're a hater, you know I like haters too, so
uh so, dive in there and thanks for everyone that has.
The last time I check her at ninety, you just
need like twenty more to get to a thousand. Let's
(02:39):
start off with this. The Michael Jordan documentary, I think
was just fantastic and anyone probably my age or a
little older that lived through Michael had to just be
It's just awesome. It's a trip down memory lane. I
found myself, uh being pretty nostalgic over this probably past
(02:59):
month us. You know, so many games from the nineties
were on in all sports. I found myself in some
YouTube deep rabbit holes watching music that I used to
listen to. And it's been fun that way, just kind
of kind of living in the past and no one
it shows you how famous if you became Michael Jackson,
(03:20):
Michael Jordan's just think of some of the most prints,
Eddie Murphy, whoever, some of the most famous people will
Smith in the eighties or nineties in in my childhood,
super famous. You were really freaking famous like now is
famous like online that famous maybe, but nowhere near Like
(03:42):
Michael Jordan's fame actually has never been stronger than it
is today just because just in a shoe sales and
he hasn't played Colin keeps saying he hasn't played twenty
years and he makes way more money on shoes and
everyone else. But I think it speaks to how powerful fame,
like true fame, true fame. Uh remember Garth Brooks saying
(04:02):
he did a concert when I was like Junior High.
It's Central Park, and it was like his album was
the most listened to album of all time at the time,
or maybe right behind the Beatles. You know, now with
downloads and everything, it's so different because social media. You
can go viral back then like if you were Will Smith,
if you were Michael Jordan's, if you were Cal Ripken Jr.
(04:25):
Like you're on a completely different level in social media
and the Internet has just changed that a little bit.
But I digress. Michael Jordan said something on the documentary
that really really stood out to me, and he said,
when he got to the bulls and they were terrible.
Remember part of the documentary when he first showed up,
they were called like the cocaine circus or the A
lot of cocaine was in the league, but his team
(04:47):
was a joke and said, the thing I had from
day one is I had hope. I believed, and I'm
a big believer. The older I get and the more
people that you you know, either you read a out
or you talked to, is how important optimism is. And listen,
my dad, you know, passed away a couple of years ago,
(05:07):
could be somewhat negative. And I think, you know, I
kind of could too. And I've really really worked on
that in my thirties of just being more of a
positive person because I I do think it impacts your
life dramatically, professionally, personally, in just in every element. And
I think you are It's life's too short to be miserable.
(05:30):
And I'm not talking about people that are just like
homeless people. I mean we all know them. A lot
of people that are quote unquote financially successful are miserable,
s obs, terrible way to live. And that's the thing
that stood out in the Jordan documentary is how positive
he was, and hope is really positive. It hopes else
that there is no disputing it. It's what I've struggled
(05:52):
with the corona is the negativity became, especially on social media,
became like cool. It came like the way to get
likes and retweets, shut it down forever. It's like, guys,
can we take a step back and take a deep
breath and realize that that it's not plausible, it's not feasible.
With sports, it became a little more you know, complex,
(06:16):
because whenever a governor or an elected official would bring
them up, well, sports are just more popular, you know,
are just gonna get more reaction, whether it be on
television or whether it be on social media than talking
about restaurants. Even though we all need to eat, we
don't all consume sports, but they are the polarizing topic,
(06:37):
partly because sports include a lot of people. Whether it's
the NBA and it's twenty grand, whether it's football and
it's sixty two depending on college a hundred. But I
I'm just I there's so much unknown. We're in early
May or even late April, and everyone's making these absolutes.
I'm like, why is everyone so quick to put it
in sharpie? Can't we just write things in pencil? Is
(07:00):
changing by the day. Everyone's freaking out and I've tried
and attempted to and listen, I'm human, probably like many
of you, I've had some shitty days, been really mad,
been angry, and you realize, like what am I so
mad at? Like I don't control none of us control
any of this. I have zero power to influence when
these restaurants, when sports come back, it's all out of
(07:22):
all of our control. But it is nice to see
that the governor of California said that starting June one,
sports can be played without fans, and I think Cuomo
and New York said something similar. Clearly, where we're headed
is things are gonna come back normal. I don't know
if they're ever gonna be normal, at least for this year,
(07:43):
probably not our fans by the time we get to
the NFL season is gonna be allowed? Who knows? It's
May eighteen. But I never understood as as we started
flattening the curve, why we started freaking out, acting like
we had to lock it down before we've found to cure.
And I know Dave Portnoy had a big ran about it.
(08:04):
It did become that on social media, and it was
crazy and so many people it felt like we're rooting
for it, and I this shouldn't be that polarizing an issue.
We should want to save people and at the same
time attempt to get back to normal do it together right.
It should We should celebrate people being able to go
back to work, not lose a job. But of course
(08:26):
that's not the way society works anymore. Everything is so
splintered it becomes That's why I try to not even
talk about the Corona, because it's so easy to get
negative about it. Whether you're talking about yourself listen, I
would imagine everyone listening has been impacted in some way,
whether you know someone that had it, whether your business helped.
Maybe you've been laid off, maybe you've been furloughed, Maybe
(08:47):
you run a business and you've lost business. I know
I have lost a lot of but again it's these
are the cards were dealt. You gotta figure it out.
And I do appreciate some of these governors in Listen.
Big business runs America. It pays for everything. The state
of California isn't just one of you know, arguably the
(09:08):
last ten years the most profitable and the most highest
money generating state in America. It's one of the biggest
economies in the world. Where do you think all the
money goes to run the state all by tax revenue?
What do you think happens when you shut down the economy, Well,
these businesses aren't generating any cash. How are they gonna
pay their tax bill? Especially taxes got pushed back. You
can't operate without big business. Operating makes the world go round,
(09:31):
pays the teachers, pays for the road, pay for it all.
It's all kind of tied together. Whether you like it
or you don't, Uh, it's just the This is the
reality we have. And I thought Richard Sherman had a
tweet that said, of course, you know, Gavin Newsom pivoted.
There were threats and I don't even know if they
were threats, but it was like, you can't afford to
(09:52):
lose the forty Niners, the Rams, the Chargers, maybe some
of these collegiate teams leave and lose all the tax
revenue from them leaving because they're gonna play. Football is
gonna be played, just like now it's clear basketball and
baseball they are going to be played. This is no
longer a question. It shows you, Dana White, who took
a ton of heat? You know why you took a
(10:14):
ton of heat. The guy who's usually first is the
guy getting question called an idiot. And I think sometimes
we lose sight of this in pro sports in general.
They're not a charity. They're a pro their for profit business.
Their goal is to make money. It just happens in
what I talk about. It's a game that they monetize.
(10:36):
Whether it's football, whether it's basketball, whether it's baseball, whether
it's golf, whatever sport you talk about, you know in
in the media or that you like watching, you're ultimately
just watching a business. It just happens to be their
business is a guy, you know, playing hoops or playing basketball,
Like that's the That's why we call players assets, right,
(10:58):
they're they're not They're not your normal employees like Tom
Brady is an asset. Lebron James is an asset, just
like if you sell real estate, piece of property is
or a business you have is an asset. It's it's
not that much different. Now, it's a little complicated and
there's a human element this because you're you're talking about
a person being an asset. But you could argue, is
(11:19):
Bob Iger an asset for Disney? Of course he is?
You know, is is Colin Coward an asset for Fox?
Of course he is? Right? Is Howard Stern an asset
for Serious? Like? So a lot of other businesses are
like this too, and they you know, listen, I haven't
worked in the corporate world beside a little bit of radio,
(11:40):
but I do think this rings true. The power in
any business are the not the walls that enclose the business,
is the people within those walls. But I do think
everything has gotten so negative that it's nice to just
go okay, there is some light at the end of
the tunnel, because the conversation has constantly changed, whether you
believe it's political, whether you believe whatever it's It got
(12:01):
a little out of control, and it felt like we
lost a lot of hope. And it felt like is
the PAC twelve not gonna play football? Well, of course
they're gonna play football. If other you know, uh conferences
are playing football, they have no choice because if football
didn't get played in college like in the NFL, you're
not subsidizing anything, right, Your football team just pays for
(12:24):
your football operation. In college sports, and I don't think
people quite realize this. And I didn't realize this until
I worked at Fresno State and one day there was
like a town hall meeting. Every coach was at this
meeting and that the athletic director was up there talking
about different stuff. And at the time, Pat Hill was
the head coach, and he came in a little late
(12:45):
in one of the non revenue generating sports. I every
sport beside football and depending on your university basketball. One
of the other head coaches said, Coach Hill, look at
you getting special privileges late to the meeting, and Pat said,
I'm not late to the beating. I was at a
fundraiser that they send me to paying your salary because
(13:08):
the football coach and the football program literally pays for everything.
So if you told me right now U c l
A football or Oregon football, we're not going to take
place this fall, Oregon being outlier because Phil Knight, at
the end of the day, could subsidize and save everything.
Washington State, Arizona State, those athletic departments would go under.
(13:29):
They could not survive. So the nice part about this
hope is you go, Okay, maybe USC, U c l
A all these schools on the West coast are going
to be able to play football as scheduled times. Now,
our fans gonna be allowed. Me and a buddy we
were going to go to the Oregon Ohio state game.
I think it was a second week of the season.
(13:50):
It's pretty clear that no one, if that game still
takes place, will probably be allowed in there. Now. Who knows.
I even struggle saying that, because again what I harpened
back to, it's May, and you would have said two
weeks ago, Gavin Newsom in the state of California are done,
it's over. And then all of a sudden Friday afternoon,
(14:10):
the Lakers, working with some officials, were allowed to play,
go to the practice facility and play hoops, and then
by Monday he goes, yeah, we'll be playing by June one.
Everyone just take a deep breath. Let's just keep attempting
to follow the rules. Whatever state you're in, held half
the states feels like you're just rocking and rolling. In
California is gonna just operate a little slower. We have
(14:30):
way more people. But I think it's fair to say
football is gonna happen this fall. Basketball and baseball. Who
knows about baseball. Their union and uh and the owners
are kind of at odds. Basketball is definitely coming back,
Gulf's coming back. UFC. Dana White lad the charge and
you know what, he's been proven. He probably made us
being a lot of money. He made us being a
ton of money because he had a lot of free eyeballs.
(14:51):
There's open real estate. If I was baseball at basketball,
I would doing I would be doing everything humanly possible
to be the first one back and own a couple
of weeks and just have it all to myself. Now, football,
and I've said this from really the jump of Corona
got lucky. It was their off season. Now they would
have pivoted, they would have pushed it back. They would
(15:11):
have found a way to play games. If this would
have happened in October, it just might have started the
season in June or March or who knows. They would
have done whatever they had to do to ultimately play games,
because for all these sports, the games are what pays
the bills. And I think sometimes we forget pro sports.
I know some people act like it, and the media
(15:32):
kind of does too. They are not the moral compass
for society. They're multibillion dollar businesses, and they need huge
amounts of revenue to come in because they have huge expenses.
It's why in colleges, basically one sport at every school depending.
I mean some of the schools are the big basketball programs,
(15:53):
and a couple of schools, like the women's basketball program
makes some money. But just just go to USA today
and most of them do not. And without football, it
would all go under. So I think it's finally nice
to say, like Michael Jordan's we we have a little hope.
The NFL is, you know, basically essentially partners and they
(16:14):
do a lot. When when I worked for the Eagles,
we used to have military you know, uh, servicemen and
women come to training camp. I still have the best.
The best backpack I own is this big Cambo backpack
had my name on it with the Eagles that they
all gave us. Sweet. I mean, the NFL sent their coaches,
(16:34):
remember when uh a lot of stuff in the Middle
East over the years, and send their coaches over there.
That They've always aligned closely with the military. Now clearly
they do it for business reasons. It's good branding, right
the military. I guess there are people, but has a
pretty universal positive approval rating, at least with normal humans people.
(16:57):
I know, uh, but I also think they're The way
football operates aligned with the way the military operates. It's
a discipline oriented sport. It is a sport that is
mapped out from the moment you get up to the
moment you go to sleep. And just like the military,
who goes through basic training and training exercises, right, Seal
(17:19):
Team six didn't just show up to take out Osama.
They practiced it. Just like to become a marine or
an army ranger or whatever, you have to go through
elements of whatever the training is. Football is very similar, right.
You only play once a week. You practice all week
to get ready for the game. Really, you have this
entire thing called training camp to get ready for the season.
(17:42):
You have an entire offseason just to get ready for
training camp. There's a huge disciplinary element to football. Unlike basketball.
If you watch the MJ documentary, you don't really have
any to do all day. Hell, I mean back in
the nineties they practice in the NBA. Now they don't
even practice. And baseball it's like, yeah, just get to
the yard like too or three and we play at seven.
Football is very very regiment and the players are kind
(18:05):
of like you know, the army rangers on the front lines.
Coaches are like the generals, and the owners would be
like the politicians. But it works and it it makes
a lot of sense on a lot of fronts for
the NFL. But right now, because of the Corona, there
is no really off season. There is a mandatory I
(18:25):
guess not mandatory because the off season, so it has
to be voluntary. So it's a voluntary off season of
two hours a day, four days a week max. To
do Zoom meetings with your coaches. That's a total of
two times four is eight eight hours a week right
now that you are being again it's voluntary, but I
(18:46):
would imagine most teams are getting a high level participation
and they're seeing their players and they're doing mental work, right,
they're going over plays, going over installments, whatever. But it's
just on Zoom. No different than if you're a sales guy.
I'm sure you're doing zoom meeting or me if I
do zoom you know, calls with whoever on podcasts or
we're all just pretty based in our home office. And
(19:09):
that's what's going on in the NFL. Well, here's the problem.
Typically the O T A S would be in full
swing right now. I don't know if it'd be Phase
three or the organized whatever they like to call it.
I just call him O T A S and the
encompasses everything. But I think by May eighteenth, this week
would be full go. Every team in the league would
have practices throughout the week, and the majority of teams,
(19:30):
maybe a guy like Dak Prescott wouldn't be there, but
the majority of the teams would have close, if not
all participation. A lot of those guys get bonuses, and
they'd all be around the facility. Now underrated part of
the off season. College off season is a lot more
difficult because school is still going on. You actually practice
(19:51):
in paths uh and the and recruiting happens. It's NonStop.
The off season after the draft for the NFL is
actually really chill. Usually practice three days a week. Maybe
you have the one other day of like mental stuff,
but you get three day weekends. You know, it's really
becomes like a nine to five type job. Coaches, you know,
(20:13):
don't work crazy, Our scouts don't have that much to do.
Players you know, just are getting their workout in and
on the field and off the field you get eat
breakfast launch. It's it's very, very chill, but everyone's together.
It's a big team bonding aspect. And that wouldn't you know,
just because if O T A S were going on,
would not mean that no one would get in trouble.
(20:35):
But we had a stretch these last six or seven
days at Oliver got a d Y over the weekend
which listen in two thousand and twenty. I have little
room for any sympathy for getting a d Y. I
don't I don't even care what your excuses. Like ubers
lifts again, I haven't taken an Uber lift, probably like
a lot of people in a couple of months, I
don't Are they still leaven operating. I'm sure they are.
(20:57):
I get Uber eats, but you shouldn't get a d U.
I in modern times, especially when you're rich like you
have pretty easy access to press a button, someone will
pick you up. Cody Lattimore, I don't really even know
all the details, but there was a pistol whip, there
was a shooting, potential molestation. I don't know if it
was with someone involved with Cody, not that he is
(21:18):
being said that he did that, but there's some gray
area there. All I know is he got arrested involved
a gun and a pistol whipping, which there might be
more of the story, and if the molestation angle comes
on the other side, we might go Wow. You know,
I don't totally blame Cody Lattimore, but still headline arrested
gun and then clearly the story last week of dunn
(21:40):
Bar and DeAndre Baker. Dunbar is the new corner for
the Seattle Seahawks. DeAndre Baker former first round pick and
as someone told me over the weekend, who knows the
Giant slash covers them really well questionable human that was
well before this happened, and the Giants didn't after him,
as he said, they traded up to get him. I
(22:03):
think it's questioned on that team, how many guys on
that fifty three man roster like this guy. They don't
trust this guy. There's some red flags. So anytime you
get a red flag guy in a situation where there
are no rules. And when I say there are no rules,
there's still laws and stuff in society, but there are
no rules with your team. They can't do anything. You
can be wherever you want to be because everything's over
(22:23):
zoomed that the NFL does turn into the wild wild
West pretty fast. Now, these were four guys. There's over
two thousand players. I say it all the time. The
majority of guys, I mean the heavy majority of guys
that when I I worked in the office for two years,
had lunch every day with the entire team was around
him all the time. Majority of them aren't just like
(22:44):
pretty good guys, Like I'm talking high level, high character guys.
Every team, just like in every office, is gonna have
some sketchy people. Now, the differences with pro sports, especially football,
is when you get first round picks that happened to
be sketchy people, they also have some like not everyone
in the NFL has money money. You know, if you're
seventh round pick, even if you make the team, what
(23:05):
are you making six grand after taxes agent fees, Like, yeah,
you're you know, top three or four percent in America.
But it's not like I wouldn't call you a millionaire,
not even close. You get drafted in the first round,
you're an immediate millionaire. And that's when you're reading some
of these stories are getting in these dice games of
sixties seventy thousand dollars, Well, they have more money to bet,
you know, I never ever criticize someone for betting. Like, listen,
(23:30):
I'm a I'm pro gambling, but I couldn't bet. I
don't have seventy thousand dollars when I could look at
my bank acount, wouldn't even have the ability to get
into a seventy tho dice game. But I could get
into a seven dice game. Some people would be like,
you're crazy, right, Money is all relative, and these guys
have a lot of money, and I don't care. Even
if you do have a million dollars in the bank,
seven thousand dollars still seven thousand dollars. There's one thing
(23:53):
to lose, seven hundred dollars, even if you only have,
you know, a thousand dollars, seventy dollars a lot of money,
regardless who you are, because to get seven thousand dollars
you have to make you know, because taxas so seven
thou dollars is net income. But I think it does
show that the NFL, the nature of their sport, they
(24:14):
just got some crazy guys, and they got guys that
just part of putting a team together. You're not gonna
have fifty three or you know, the thing about the
off season is some of these guys. Now, DeAndre Baker
was a first rounder, so he wouldn't get cut, and
At Oliver won't either, also a first rounder. Cody Lottimore
on the Redskins, he who knows. You know, there's ninety guys,
(24:39):
give or take. I would imagine if we did the
breakdown on every roster. That's the thing with the off season.
So you have ninety times thirty two, so you have
a large percentage of guys that could get in trouble. Now, again,
I'm not trying to make excuse or anything because two
of these four our first round picks and are basically untouchable.
But you do have guys that can get in trouble
because their sketchy characters to just play football, that one
(25:00):
be on the team in the fall. But the NFL,
and this is why coaches, you know, I get they've
adapted well, but they would do anything to have O
t s right now because they could at least have
their team altogether. And the story for DeAndre Baker is
like he won't be allowed to attend the virtual meetings.
I was like, yeah, that that'll teach him a lesson.
(25:20):
No virtual meetings for DeAndre Baker. Way to go Giants,
no franchise like the Giants love getting on their moral
high horse. We stand for something here, give me a break,
you know. And again I'm a little biased Philly guy,
but it's like, you know, you had Josh Brown a
couple of years ago, your best player ever was doing
crack like you're just you're no different than anyone else.
(25:40):
And DeAndre Baker is a great example. And let's just
let's just hope for the NFL's standpoint, that's just it
kind of you know, we don't have an arrest here
for a couple of weeks. Ex have some guys lalo
uh try to say, out of trouble, keep the keep
the firearms in the safe, and let's let's try not
to discharge them. Okay, let's dive in. And as I
(26:02):
said off the early in the show that by the
time you're listening to this, maybe this rule gets overturned.
I guess they're just voting on it, so maybe it
doesn't pass. But we'll dive into the Rooney rule and
the additions of if you hire a minority coach you
move up six spots. If you might hire a minority
(26:23):
general manager, you move up ten spots in the third round.
There are also different additions. If you have a black
quarterback coach who's there more than a year, you get
compensations like fourth and fifth rounds and uh as uh
COMPENSI story picks and full disclosure. I'm a white guy.
So there's only so many elements I'm gonna be able
(26:46):
to talk about this. I I can't relate to some
of the situations that come across with coaches or general
managers of color trying to get jobs. But what I
have always pushed back on a little bit. And I
know that Dan Levitt, Cards and the extremists that love
talking about race always it's clear they always think everyone's
(27:07):
getting screwed and it's a major issue in the NFL.
Now from my experience working two years at Present State,
our team was definitely majority black, and I think our
coaching staff was too. And then with the Philadelphia Eagles,
I never heard race come up one time with a
player talking about player acquisition. With coaching, I was never
(27:32):
involved with hiring a coach. Uh, So I don't know now,
I know when I was at Fresno State when we
hired we hired black coaches, multiple black coaches, and then
we were looking for a wide receiver and running back coach,
and that's just who we hied. When I was with
the Eagles, we hired Sean McDermott, or we fired Sean McDermott.
One Castillo became the defensive coordinator and Todd Bowles was
(27:56):
also hired. So again, in my experience with Pat Hill
and with the Andy Reid, it never came up. I
have zero experience around that or that type. Thinking clearly
it impacts some franchises. I'm just speaking from my experience.
I've never personally gone through it. Again, white guy and
working unlike the media, who just you know is can
(28:17):
be consumed sometime with this stuff. I've lived it and
I didn't see it, but I was on I only
worked for one team, and a pretty open minded team
led by Jeffrey Lury who was really really open minded.
But clearly things need to change in the NFL. I
counted today there are four black head coaches or I
guess three black head coaches, and in Ron Rivera who's
(28:39):
a minority, and there are issues and that that's often
talked about it's hard to just get in front of
an owner and I Albert Brewer wrote that the most
three recent general managers of color were promotions, so a
big element was they were already in the billing and
(29:00):
the owner was around the guy, and the hardest part
is just getting interaction with the owner who's at the
end of the day signing the checks. Now, I don't
necessarily have an issue with attempting to fix this rule
and try to add incentives to hire a minority coach,
(29:21):
but I also think, ultimately, again maybe I'm naive to this.
If I'm an owner and I interviewed three guys and
I think this guy is the best guy for the job,
and I have a two billion dollar franchise, I'm pretty
sure I'm gonna hire who I feels best for the job.
Maybe call me crazy, but in my experience, that's really
(29:44):
what you've done. Now, factoring in who that head coach hires,
the nepotism and stuff, that's a different conversation. I'm just
talking about it from an owner's standpoint. In the reality,
with general managers, they really don't get fired that often,
maybe like one maybe two a year. The head coaching
turnover is really high, and it's a complicated issue because
(30:05):
like the one year when all there were a ton
of minorities and they all got fired. It's like, yeah,
Hugh Jackson was awful. I think Vance Joseph is one
of the worst defensive coordinators I've ever seen. Steve Wilkes
was beyond over his head, Like is that okay to say? Now,
from a hiring standpoint, one addition potentially to this Rooney
rule is they're going to add a minute instead of
(30:27):
just one minority candidate, you have to interview too, and
as people in the industry and reading quotes from the
MMQB and Peter King, a big thing is just getting
in front of them. I actually like that because sometimes
Mike Tomlin, once upon a time, was a Rooney Rule candidate, right,
look at him, turn out pretty damn good, probably a
top five coach in the NFL. But when you talk
(30:49):
about incentivizing a team with a third round pick, you
think an owner, if they don't think the guy is good,
or if all things are equal, the third round pick
is going to change much. I really don't. I really
don't think they will give a damn about that. Now,
when it comes to coordinators. I also struggle with this.
I think sometimes when you see guys of coordinators and
(31:10):
they're not getting head coaching jobs, people go, they're getting screwed.
I've said this before, but you know, the guy getting
screwed is the dude in a warehouse who's doing the
majority of the work and he's probably getting fifteen dollars
an hour. Thirty of the thirty two offensive coordinators in
two thousand nineteen made over a million dollars. And they're
(31:32):
way more than two head coaches colin plays, right, there
are a ton of head coaching play colors, and I
would imagine the two offensive coordinators who are not making
a million, we're making somewhere between eight hundred fifty and
a million dollars, right, or nine thousand dollars, so that
you're talking elite wealth. And when these coaches signed these contracts.
As an assistant coach, for the most part, you get
(31:52):
three year deal. Every defensive coordinator in the league. Let
me repeat, every defensive coordinator in the league made over
a million dollars in two thousand nine. That includes like
Vance Joseph, who's a god awful coach. And it seems
like a nice guy, just not a good coach, Robert Sala.
I mean, they're just minorities all over the league at
coordinator positions. Now, I get a lot of people aspire
(32:15):
to be a you know, a head coach. But I've
always said this, a lot of guys should just stay
in the coordinator role for a long period of time,
rack up millions of dollars, and not have to worry
about They're not meant to be head coaches, just like
not everyone, not everyone is meant to be in a
some people are bees, right. We see it all the
time in football. A lot of guys become North Turner
(32:36):
really good coordinator, bad head coach. It's like Wade Phillips,
good coordinator, bad head coach. Now the incentive like for
quarterback coaches and get guys in the pipeline, I understand,
But I'm not a coach, never aspired to be, never
wanted to be, don't have the patience to be one.
(32:56):
I don't know if you can like force guys into
spots like you're just gonna take a running back coach
and put them at a quarterback coach, Like do you
think a coach is just gonna do that or an
owner are going to force a coach to do that.
That doesn't make much sense. Arguably, the two best position
coaches I've been around in my life or was Tim
Skipper when I was at Fresno State, who went with
Jim mcwaine to Colorado State in Florida has been at
(33:18):
UNLV and Do Staley at with the Eagles, who have
been blocked from different coordinator jobs. But those are two
easily the best position coaches I was around by far. Now,
I don't claim to have been around football for thirty years,
but I also whenever I went to a practice, And
this is what I struggle with. Once you start working
(33:39):
in sports, you don't even see race. You don't even
talk about it. It's just just part of the team, right,
whatever has to happen to win the game. Now, the
point of this, you know, change is a hiring practice,
which I understand, and I I like, hell, make it
three people, because if you're gonna go to a legit
(34:01):
open search. I also struggle with this. If you're a
team and you know, let's say next year you want
to hire Lincoln Riley and Lincoln Riley says he's in
do I still like that's my issue with the Rooney rule,
and most teams right don't have one candidate mind. They
want to interview like five or six people. Hell, I
(34:23):
might up that number to three. You have to interview
three minority candidates, right, That wouldn't bother me, Like, I
think that would make some sense? Why why too? Would
make it three? You're already gonna interview ten plus people anyway,
might as well interview a bunch of different people from
a bunch of different backgrounds. I also think the hiring
practices are very cyclical. You know, it's like anything, things
change up and down, like the stock market. Right now.
(34:45):
Offensive coaches are really involved in vogue. Right, have a
guy that's skinny, chisels jawline white, offensive coach that's feel
felt like everyone they got hired the last couple of years.
It's not gonna be the case forever. You know why.
A lot of those guys are gonna fail. Cliff Kingsbury
probably gonna fail. Never won more more than seven games
in his life, lafleur, Are we sure he's any good?
(35:06):
I know they won thirteen games. Offense was terrible. It
could be a disaster with Roger's love like he could
be out of a job. Some of these guys like
are just gonna be out of a job, And you
know what's gonna go. I don't want to hire a
young offensive guy. Maybe I'll hire an older defensive guy.
So the guys that haven't been getting chances the last
several years, I think it could dramatically change because, like anything,
(35:27):
nothing ever stays the same in the NFL. Now, you
would say the rules, and I've said this before, kind
of dictate the defense. Is that a huge disadvantage And
is that really gonna change? Are we gonna go back
in like five or six years and be like, you
know what, the Ronnie Lott style of just taking guy's
head off and Dick but Kiss and nich Key were
playing like that again, probably not. So offense is more
than likely going to be in vogue. And that's why
(35:47):
they're pushing to have quarterback coaches and centivized you know,
fourth or fifth round pick. If you have a quarterback
coach that's a minority for over a year. I just
don't know how you force that, Like, what if you
don't have a guy on staff and you want to
elevate your quality control guy and he just doesn't fit
that Bill or whatever. Right, he's more of an offensive
line coach or a wide receiver coach. Now again, I'm
(36:07):
not a coach. I think they're on the right path here.
I just the draft pick compensation. I just I really
don't think owners are gonna care that that one to
me looks better on paper. And what if you're like
the Steelers and you go seven and nine and Mike
tom and your head coach and you've always done it
the right way. Hell, the rules named after you, and
(36:28):
some team hires a guy, you know, a head coach
that is black. They could just jump you. You're like,
we're not screwing around? Are what are we doing? Or
what if you're the Redskins you got Ron Rivera and
you just get jumped in the process because some other team.
I think it's a little bit of It looks good
on paper, and I know it went to kind of
viral on Twitter, but I don't know if it works
(36:49):
great in practice. Okay, let's uh, let's do the Middlecoff
mail bag at John Middlecoff is the Instagram d MS
wide open fire up in leave a question. This is
part of your d MS that you fly through as
fast as humanly possible to get to the actual question,
so I'll keep it brief. I'm a big fan of
the podcast. Keep up the good work, appreciate it. Okay,
(37:13):
my question is about the a f C South. Admittedly
I'm a Titans fan. I don't fully understand around the
hype around the Colts and Chris Ballard as the clear
favorite to win the division according to most of the media.
Ballard and Wright gets so much praise, and I think
they're really good at what they do, but it seems
so overblown comparatively speaking. Meanwhile, the same people are calling
last year a fluke of the Titans, despite retaining Slash,
(37:35):
upgrading nearly everybody, and having a great draft. Look the
last couple of years. Chris Ballard luck ten and six,
Chris Ballard without luck eleven and twenty one. John Robinson
with Mariotta Castle Gabert and Taniel eight. Well, John Robinson
has been on this, uh this podcast, friend of the show,
friend of mine. I'm a big John Robinson guy. I
like John Robinson, The Titans love Rabel. Remind me again
(37:58):
why Rivers, who is thirty five been forty five himself
over the last forty five years, is suddenly going to
turn the Colts around into a ten win team. You're
making sense. These are fair arguments. Also, Tanney Hill doesn't
deserve the reputation he gets as the washed up dolphin
quarterback that hands the ball to Henry. Everybody is somehow
missing that he came in last year and was one
of the best quarterbacks bistically all year. He didn't go
(38:19):
to the Pro Bowl and win Comeback Player of the
Year for nothing. He was. Now, maybe this was a
fluke and this year he'll take a step back, But
until he does, he's gotten so much disrespect. So it's
not really a question, just a statement. That was a
pretty good little rant right there. I I can't necessarily
disagree that the Titans are gonna be good this year.
Vrabel is a big time coach. He's basically like the
(38:39):
Kyle Shanahan or Sean McVeigh of defensive coaches. A little
different because he played in the league. But you know,
a guy in his early mid forties, complete badass. Uh
went to the playoffs last year multiple I mean, he
went into Foxboro, ended Brady's career in New England, ended it,
(39:00):
put a stake in it, went to the league m
v P hit him directly in the teeth and kicked
John Harbaugh's ass and then like he ran into a
bus aw and Andy in the chiefs. It was up
ten nothing. Their team's good, that they are going to
be good now. The Colts to me are a great
wild card. I think they had a good draft Buckner
(39:23):
Pittman and Jonathan Taylor. If you can keep t Y healthy,
their offensive lines really good, their defense is solid. You're right,
the Rivers thing, there's a chance he shot right there.
There's a chance. I'll use a golf analogy. If you're
just like a single digit handicap, Let's say you're like
a seven. That means on any given day, and let's
say you haven't it's been corony. You haven't played that much.
(39:45):
Like you might go out and shoot seventy eight, but
you could easily. And I know I can shoot like
nine two. And there's a decent chance, you know, if
Rivers shoots in the seventies, the golf equivalent, the Colts
have a shot. But there is a very decent chance.
When the when the season end, you look at the scorecard,
it's his and there are four triples, two doubles and
a bunch of out of bounds and no bodies that
(40:07):
that is very possible. The guy I watched last year,
and I watched way too much Charge of Football was terrible.
He he was not very good. He was he was bad.
He just plainly was not good. So they're betting on
him coming back. And I think sometimes when you use
your connection to a player, and that's what Frank and
(40:28):
I forget that their offensive coordinator, how to say his name,
younger guy nick something. They know him really well. And
I think sometimes like that, it's like standing up for
your kid when he gets in trouble. It's like, you know,
you might be a little too emotionally close to this
because the tape spoke for itself. It was bad. Now,
if he can somehow just be decent, maybe they'd be okay.
(40:50):
But I think it's very fair to say that, you guys,
And I think Bill O'Brien would say, what now, they
lost Hopkins. I mean they lost their best player. Now,
I guess their most important players the quarterback. But DeAndre
has been their best player in the last two years.
J J is a year older. They're depending on a
lot of injured guys. Yeah, I mean, if you told
me the Titans win the division, like I'm not. I'm
(41:10):
not gonna argue with you. I think the Broncos are
gonna be a surprise playoff team in two thousand and twenty,
and I think there's a real chance that Drew Lock
has a better season than Baker Mayfield. What are your
thoughts about Denver and Locke and how they might stack
up against playoff teams like the Browns. Well, I was
actually I was driving home. I was in the car
the other day and on a decent on like an
(41:32):
hour drive, and I flipped on WOJS podcast and he
had on Stefanski and his dad. His dad's like an
NBA exec. That's why he was on a woach. But
Kevin the new coach of the Browns, is on and
he's really impressive. I know some people obviously that are
you know in Philly, that know them, and they really
like him. But his first time head coach has only
been a coordinator for one year. The Browns roster top
(41:53):
to bottom is better than the Broncos now. I like Fanjiel,
I know Fangio can coach and last you're despite a
crazy awful start with Flacco playing like a total stiff.
They still ended up seven and nine, and Drew Lock
showed a lot of like promise towards the end of
the season. They add Melvin Gordon, They added Pat Schrmer
to be their offensive coordinator. You've got Melvin Gordon and
(42:14):
Philip Lindsay, so you're running game is really good. You
add Jerry Judy in the first round to go with
Noah fan last year in the first round, to go
with kJ Hamdler and Sutton. Like. They got some dudes
on offense. You know, Vic Fangio is arguably the best
defensive coordinator in the league. You got Bradley Chubb coming
back off the a c L to go along with
Von Miller. Still got a little something left. They got
the really good safety. Uh yeah, I mean the great
(42:36):
part about Vic Fangio's defense is one of the reasons
they could let Chris Harris leave is they don't need
top corners. When Vic was kicking everyone's ass in uh
in San Francisco, the corners were like Carlos Rogers and
Chris Culiver. Got to Chicago, they's had randoms uh first
one to say three and I has become a go
to pod during the lockdown appreciate it. I was listening
to you a couple of weeks back when you predicted
(42:59):
that Less need by not be as good as a
RAMS GM, and thinking about it, I tend to agree,
especially if they balls up. If they balls up the
Ramsey deal, blow up the Ramsey deal, if he has moved,
if he moves on, who could you see replacing him?
I guess Less could the Rams throw a big money
at someone like Howie Roseman love to hear your thoughts.
(43:20):
I would say, well, how he's under contract? How we
I mean, I don't know how much money he makes,
but he's the boss of the Philadelphia Eagles. Would you
rather be the boss of the l A Rams? I
think what happens, depending on how the season goes, McVey
would get a lot more juice, and McVeigh would basically
pick a partner kind of like Kyle Shanahan did with
(43:42):
John Lynch or Pete Carroll you know, did with John Schneider,
or kind of like Andy and Beach, Like he'd want
his own guy. I don't know who his quote unquote
guy is, but that would be my guess. If it
happens the problem with the Ramsey trade. And I was
told this by someone in the NFL when they traded
for him. If I'm gonna trade a lot for a player,
(44:02):
I signed him that day. If I'm trading multiple ones,
just like Ryan Pace did, I signed you the day
I trade for you. Because it just makes everything much
easier because in a couple of years, the contracts not
as crazy. Well, Ramsey's big deal, I was told it's
like he told him, Yeah, you don't need to sign
me right away. He's kind of like Darrell Reevas. He
wanted to get to the end of his contract so
(44:23):
he could totally break the bank. Well, here's the problem.
Goff already broke the bank. Aaron Donald broke the bank,
and Ramsey who knows how much he'd cost. It might
not be quite Aaron Donald's eighties seven million, but it
ain't gonna be fifty. It's gonna be like, so you're
gonna have three guys guaranteed money, you know, combined like
two million dollars for a couple of years. It would
(44:44):
just be a little complicated. I just I just don't
think lesson he knows what he's doing. I don't know,
like have some name of some guy, because I don't
know who Sean McVeigh knows or likes, but I I
think it would be someone he wanted. I'm wondering if
you think the Chargers would work and if they moved
to Salt Lake City, like you mentioned the air disaster
(45:06):
in l A and Salt Lake geographically would be a
fit given the rest of the division is located. Don't
totally hate that idea. Let me google. Obviously, you guys
got an NBA team has a fervor fan base. Utah
is a big deal Utah football. That is Salt Lake
City population because that's a big thing for the NFL,
(45:31):
you guys, population two thousand. I just I don't know
if there's enough people there, especially with Vegas being relatively
close and then already having an NFL team. I like
where your heads at, and I like the idea. I
just I don't know if they would give into that,
you know, like for example, Sacramentos got like four d
fifty people. I just I don't think it's big enough.
(45:52):
Do you think Blake Martinez and James Bradberry was a
better fit for the New York Giants over Corey Littleton
and Byron Jones Or was it about the money? Well,
I think Littleton is a better player than Blake Martinez,
though I don't. I think Blake Martinez get shipped on
by the media. He's not a terrible player, He's a
solid starter. I would take Littleton just because he's a
damn good cover guy. Now, Byron Jones a better player
(46:14):
than James Bradberry, given that they gave Byron Jones forty
million dollars guaranteed and Bradberry got like fifteen million dollars
a year. The money factors in. I think the Giants
would have rather had Byron Jones. He just costs too
much money. So yeah, I don't love Blake Martinez and
James Bradberry over. I would rather have a little Tin
and Byron Jones. So I think it was just simply, yeah,
(46:36):
it was about the money. I'm wondering about. Your thoughts
are on the Wisconsin Badgers. I personally believe the program
is held back by Barry alvare Edge, who who hires
close minded coaches who continue his legacy of running the
ball on first a second down. We have such bad
quarterbacks that we can't get anything going against good teams,
or we get crappy programs that just put up nine
(46:57):
in the box and still beat us. I'm tired of
going to rose Balls and looking like clowns. Alvarez is
a drunk bastard. Barry's a legend. But I think that
their programs are really, really high level. You know, they're
not getting five star guys, yet every year they're competing
to go to Rose Bowls. Were in the mix and
(47:17):
in the conference championship game against Ohio State and even
last year, like they're just not gonna get the athletes
on the whole of the house. State's gonna get. But
they beat the crap out of Michigan. I remember watching
that game. Wasn't it twenty one or nothing? At half?
It was like, hey, hardball, you don't belong on the
same field as us. Chris a good coach, Jim Leonard
(47:39):
is a badass. The defensive coordinator, I'm with you. Was
it was it last year that they had the left
handed quarterback. They could throw like twenty yards like that.
That's a joke like that. This is Wisconsin. You run
a pro style offense. You should get a guy that
is a borderline NFL player. The left handed guy. I'm
sure he's a nice kid, but gott he was a
bad quarterback, Like, you can't roll that out now. I'm
(48:01):
pretty sure I heard like Boomer Siason. I don't know
where I heard this, but didn't They sign like a
five star kid from New Jersey last year, so I'd
imagine he's gonna be the starter. Um, But losing Jonathan Taylor,
I mean that's a big blow. But the one thing
they do better than anyone is produced running backs. But
if they can get more explosive on offense as a
passing game, They've always has had the defense. When I
(48:24):
was a g A at Fresno State, they had like
what j J. Watt? They had this other defensive end
to was swite. I remember them coming out there. I
think Joe Thomas was on They were so big. Maybe
Joe Thomas wasn't on the team, but they had some
other sweet offensive lineman. I love the program. There seems
to be a huge disconnect from the national media and
local media when it comes to the Steelers. What's your
(48:46):
take on listening to Cowards of the World and comparing
it to what the twenty five year old beat writer
says also the Steelers, Well, I don't, I honestly don't.
What What's Collins take on the Steelers or the twenty
five year old beat. I don't know what they're and
I know Colin has been critical of Tomlin over the years,
but I don't think he thinks they suck or anything.
Does he? Also, the Steelers are absolutely loaded on defense,
(49:06):
and Colburt and Tomlin have doubled down on what they
think of deep Big Ben will be ready. Are they
being slept on a little too much? If Ben ends
up being healthy? Well? Ben tweeted out this video, very humble,
of him on a private jet flying somewhere to go
throw to Juju and James Conner and all the guys,
and he looked, I mean just throwing the ball pretty well,
which is saying something right, because he had Tommy John
(49:29):
his shoulder fell off. He is thirty eight years old,
and he's a he's a weather thirty eight. Like Drew
Brees and Tom Brady at thirty eight and Ben at
thirty eight. You could say that Ben is like more
like a forty seven year old. We all have that
friend who's like, you know, I'm in my mid thirties.
I got I got some friends who looked fantastic, You're like, God,
I guy could pass for twenty seven. And you just
(49:50):
got some friends that just look terrible. They're like, is
that guy forty six? And to me Ben is one
of those. Now Ben is you know, he's had a
lot of sick says he can play in big games. Uh,
their team, their defense is really good. Mike Tomins never
had a losing season. If Ben is just I would say,
(50:12):
you know, a seven out of ten next year, why
should they win eight? Nate with Duck Hodges and Mason Rudolph.
So if Ben can give him sixteen games, which I
think I saw a stat see the three or four
of the last ten years you've play sixteen games. The
reality of Ben just doesn't play sixteen games. He gets
hurt a lot. He can't move, unlike Rivers right or
(50:33):
Eli or one of those guys that can't move. Ben,
because when he was younger could kind of move. I
mean no, he could move kind of thinks he can
move still. So I think he gets in these just
precarious situations and that's why he ends up getting hurt.
Guys fall on him, Guys roll on him. Ben's just
a trip man. There was a Raider game a couple
of years ago where Roethlisberger gets hurt at halftime they're
(50:57):
killing the Raiders. It's like nineteen to nothing. It's hurt
at the end of the first half. Sits out the
entire second half. The Raiders then take the lead late
in the game, then puts back on his helmet, comes
back in the game. Like Ben, if you could come
back in the game, either come back in the game.
He literally waited till they were down, like Captain Hero.
(51:17):
It came back in the game. And don't get me wrong,
I'm making fun of Ben. I have nothing but respect,
first ballot Hall of Famer. I just it's just hard
for me to trust him staying healthy. Just found your
podcast the other day. Been loving it. Great insight, no bullshit,
speaking your mind, salute, no question there. I actually knew
when I started reading it. Just wanted to read a
little compliment. How do you feel about the Ravens off
(51:39):
season and what are your expectations for the season. Yeah,
I mean I I've been saying the same thing about
the Ravens for the last six months, that their teams stacked.
They're gonna be a double digit win team. They're absolutely loaded.
I mean, we know their coach is good, we know
there are a whole operations good. They're strictly and this
season gonna be judged on the playoffs. They're like the
Houston Rockets. No one gives a damn how many points
(52:02):
you score anymore in these regular season games or how
many teams you beat or how many threes you shoot?
Like can you make it out a second round? Can
you win a playoff game? For the Rockets? Can you
win a playoff series? The matters if you're the Ravens,
Like can you when you're at seven eight point favorite
against Tennessee Titans in January? Can you win the game?
(52:22):
Like when you're playing the Broncos in the first round
of the playoff? Can you beat him? Or we're gonna
be one and done three straight years? Because that's reminds
me of Russell Westbrook. Kevin Durant left three straight years
one and done. Why do you think so many people
are unsure about Justin Herbert. I've been going back and
comparing highlights of him and Trevor Lawrence, and herbert highlights
actually look better. I understand it's hard to get a
(52:44):
clear picture from the highlight reels, but most of lawrence
highlights are jump balls to Higgins, and a lot of them,
Higgins has to slow down and wait for the ball.
Herberts highlights to me look like NFL lover accuracy. Yeah,
I think it's the the offense that he runs there
war moments when calls. If you watch him play, and
I watched a lot of Oregon football this year, balls
do He misses some wide open guys, but he also
(53:06):
makes plays. I think he kind of got this knock
that he was kind of robotic and like when you
watch TA Now. Granted he's got Jerry Rice, Randy Moss,
Chris Carter and uh and Sean Jackson out there, but
he'll go through his reads at like Tom Brady Peyton
Manning level speed, fly across the field one, two to three,
(53:29):
and then back across the It's incredible. Joe Burrows a
lot like that too, Herbert. You don't really see him
just firing all over the field. He's, I do agree,
is a little robotic, but he's very talented. And I
saw two guys, I mean, we all have the last
five or six years come out that we're kind of
raw elite talents in Carson Winston, Josh Allen like it works.
(53:53):
So the Chargers have no excuse like you got this
raw talent. You got a guy six four or six
five who has been pretty accurate in college. I think
he's average, like he's been a four year starter. He's
got a huge arm, and he can move on a
team was just big time weapons. I think Herbert should
be good next year. I mean, they got Mike Williams,
Keenan Allen, Eckler, Hunter Henry what else you need? Vincent
(54:17):
Jackson and lt Why are people predicting the Raiders to
finish third, possibly fourth in the a f C West.
I get it, their defense wasn't trocious last year. I
mean that's probably a big reason, but we upgraded our
defense with the addition of Littleton Kwaikowski, Mukama, Damarious Randall,
and John abram Is coming back from injury. Also, why
(54:38):
do you and the various other not credit Max Crosby.
The dude had ten sacks as a rookie last year
on a terrible defense, and he didn't start for a
few games. Show the man some love, well four and
a half for five of those. I think I think
he racked up about six of the ten against the
Chargers back up in the Bengals. I like Max a
(55:00):
good player, but sometimes sacks And I learned this scouting
college guys are not all equal. Getting a sack on
Trent Williams or Jason Peters or you know, Mitchell Schwartz
is not the same of beating the crap out of
the Chargers backup left tackle. It's just it's just not
or or an unblocked play. The guy's good, he plays hard.
(55:22):
He should be a very good starter in the league
for a while. Is he gonna make Pro Bowls? I
don't know. Maybe he will. Maybe he's like Jared Allen.
Maybe that's his camp. He can become Jared Allen. He's
a good player. The defense terrible, and I'm not sure
the defensive coordinators any good. But offensively, they got a
lot of weapons. Now you got Rugs, you got Waller,
(55:43):
you got Jacobs, you got the two dudes they drafted,
but about in the kind of do it all dude
from Kentucky edwards from South Carolina. They signed Tyrolle Williams
last year. They got a good offensive line. Their offensive
score points. Now, Jonathan Abrahm, like I know, he's the
first round pick. He played a half and his defining
(56:03):
skill is kind of hitting people, which is the reason
he tore his shoulder, Like you can't. It's hard to
play like Ronnie Lott in two thousand twenty now Jonathan
Abram if it was seven, I'd be like, you know what,
he's gonna be one of the baddest m efforts in
the league. But you can't. Really He's like Cam Chancer.
I don't know how he plays, so I'm not saying
he can't be good, but he's gonna have to be
(56:24):
a really good cover guy and be like, you don't
get you're not allowed to knock people out anymore. If
they were, I'd be like, I want Jonathan Abram on
my team. You just need to be there's a balance
to it, you know, like you kind of gotta cover
now you can still hit. I think the Niners defensive
backs were a good example of that, Like Jimmy Ward.
(56:45):
Jimmy's a versatile piece because he can cover. Jonathan's gotta
be able to cover, especially in a division with Hunter, Henry,
Travis Kelsey, Noah Fant, They're gonna need him to cover
the tight ends. And I'm with you, Like the the
f C West could have, I mean the Chiefs are
gonna be dominant, but the Chargers in Denver have probably
(57:07):
better rosters than you. They have way more Pro Bowl
players in the Raiders. Now, if Derek can be like
two thousand and sixteen again, you guys could win nine
or ten games. But it's just hard for me to
I wouldn't pick you to win nine or ten games,
though I wouldn't be shocked if you did. The division
is really good. I think when the dust settles, the
a f C West could be the best division of football.
(57:29):
All four teams. The Chiefs are going to the playoffs,
it wouldn't shock me if the other if one or
two of the other three teams did, especially in the
seven team playoff format. I think the a f C
or NFC NFC West probably the best on paper, given
you got the Niner Seattle, the Rams went nine and seven,
and then just all the people that Cardinals added, Hey John,
(57:50):
big fan of three and out, also a big produce fan.
Coming off an injury riddled season without Randall More and
playing with a four string true freshman quarterback, how do
you see them playing this season? Having arstead of wide
receiver corps of randomore David Bell and Malik Carr. What
do you see their season turning out to be? Full disclosure,
I don't know that much about produe football. Let me
(58:12):
bring up their schedule. The thing I would first say
is kind of like playing in the a f C
or NFC West. They play in the Big Ten, and
I think the last couple of years it's easily been,
you know, the best conference in football after the SEC.
I mean last year it was by a mile right, Um,
last year they went three and six. So this upcoming
(58:35):
season at Nebraska, I'll give you a win Memphis, they
were good last year. Coach went to Florida State home
home opener. Well, the game is at Nebraska, but I'll
still give you a win. First Memphis, that's a sneaky game.
Then you get air Force, who I don't know, runs
triple options. That's not easy. At BC win Rutgers, win
(58:56):
at Illinois, win at Michigan, probably an l Northwestern. Okay,
I'll give you a win there at Minnesota. Man that's
p J. Flack has a program rolling Wisconsin Iowa. Yeah,
I said, I think you guys could win six seven
games after going whatever, you would you win three and
(59:17):
six this year? Question for the pod from a twenty
two year old Pats fan on Howard Stern. Tom Brady
openly admitted that he would refuse to throw to guys
he didn't fully trust. New England is a notorious tough
environment for rookies, and rookie wide receivers always seemed to
struggle gaining Tom's trust. Now with Brady out of New
(59:39):
England and stid him in, do you think a second
year guy like Nickiel, Harry and Jacobe Myers could have
serious improvement now they have a quarterback more willing to
throw to them. For sure. I would imagine being a
twenty two year old rookie last year for those two guys,
but especially Nikiel who got hurt and then came back
and it did not go well. You are playing with
(01:00:00):
Tom Brady, not like two thousand seven Tom Brady, not
two thousand fifteen Tom Brady, two thousand nineteen Tom Brady
six rings the the goat in pen in sharpie like
it's not even an argument, and the great it's forty
two years old, so you're twenty two. He's got you
by twenty years. He's not throwing you the ball. The
(01:00:21):
offense is really complicated you got McDaniels yelling at you,
you got Belichick in your ass, and you've got Tom
just staring you down, mean mugging, even though he's a
good teammate, you know what I mean, like as a team,
as a as an off offensive player, trying to help,
you know, force you to get better. It's just an
intimidating situation. Now you got Jared Stidham, if you're nakil,
Harry shod him. You know, as he's learning everything can
(01:00:43):
take a little heat off you. You got Belichick and
Josh McDaniels up his ass, and you can just run
routes and just try to get open and make some plays.
But stid him, in theory, given that he's replacing Tom,
is gonna take the majority of the heat just because
they're gonna need him to understand what's going on. So
there's no excuse for Myers and Nikkil to not know
what's going on. They've been in the offensive year, so
(01:01:05):
stid him. But the pressure of being a quarterback is
just immense. Right, They're gonna be on a about being
loud in the huddle, being on guys, just it's gonna
be a year long thing of them riding him, and
I mean, if he's good, Patriots could be competitive. If
he's bad, I mean they're probably screwed. I appreciate everyone listening.
If I didn't get to your question, I will try
(01:01:26):
to get to it next week or not next week,
this Friday, because we do two podcasts a week, even
in Quarantine and the Corona. Don't worry. Keep content pumping.
It's what we do. Holler at your boy, have a
good week, see you later, Tell your friends, and leave
a review.
What is going on everybody? John Middletop three and Out podcast,
May as I hit record in the afternoon, it's been
a good day. It looks like, Uh, we'll dive in
off the top on some news about Corona and football,
you know, and just sports in general being able to
(00:30):
be played in California potentially New York, you know, and
I think that was a major question mark and it
really has been over the last month, and we'll dive
into that all. Uh, the NFL is turning into a
little bit of the wild wild West. They've had about
four or five players been arrested, uh, several involved with guns,
(00:52):
and it's it's been a crazy time. You know. It's
not ideal the NFL and football in general thrives with
a very very strict schedule. And right now the NFL,
because of the quarantine and Corona and the Zoom meetings,
isn't you know, these guys are all over the place
doing whatever they want to do, and it's it's kind
(01:12):
of causing some issues. And then the Rooney Rule and
some new additions. Potentially by the time you're listening to this,
the vote will happen or not on adding some compensation
in the form of of draft picks to hiring minority coaches.
So I have some thoughts there, and then of course
the Middlecoff mail back at John Middlecoff. I've had some
(01:34):
people reach out and be like Middlecoff kind of sarcastically.
Why do you keep saying slide into your d m s?
That's what young people say about trying to hook up
with each other. I know I'm being sarcastic. It's a joke.
The d m s are just wide open. The d
ms are wide open. You can shoot me a message
however you want to say it's slide. I don't care
how you consider it. It's a joke. I've been sarcastic
(01:55):
about it the whole time. On on Twitter or excuse
me on Instagram. Twitter. My d ms are not open
Instagram they are, and ask me whatever you want. We
call it the Middlecoff mailbag, and we do it right
here Twitter. You can tweet at me whenever you want.
Same handle at John Middlecoff is the name. Also, appreciate
everyone that has done it, if you could keep doing it.
If you have not, and you like the show Three
and Out podcast on Apple on iTunes, leave a leave
(02:18):
a review, preferably a five star, but I've seen some
people leave two and three stars. Listen, do whatever your
little heart desires, whatever you feel's fair Son, you I
would appreciate a five if you listen. Great if if
you're a hater, you know I like haters too, so
uh so, dive in there and thanks for everyone that has.
The last time I check her at ninety, you just
need like twenty more to get to a thousand. Let's
(02:39):
start off with this. The Michael Jordan documentary, I think
was just fantastic and anyone probably my age or a
little older that lived through Michael had to just be
It's just awesome. It's a trip down memory lane. I
found myself, uh being pretty nostalgic over this probably past
(02:59):
month us. You know, so many games from the nineties
were on in all sports. I found myself in some
YouTube deep rabbit holes watching music that I used to
listen to. And it's been fun that way, just kind
of kind of living in the past and no one
it shows you how famous if you became Michael Jackson,
(03:20):
Michael Jordan's just think of some of the most prints,
Eddie Murphy, whoever, some of the most famous people will
Smith in the eighties or nineties in in my childhood,
super famous. You were really freaking famous like now is
famous like online that famous maybe, but nowhere near Like
(03:42):
Michael Jordan's fame actually has never been stronger than it
is today just because just in a shoe sales and
he hasn't played Colin keeps saying he hasn't played twenty
years and he makes way more money on shoes and
everyone else. But I think it speaks to how powerful fame,
like true fame, true fame. Uh remember Garth Brooks saying
(04:02):
he did a concert when I was like Junior High.
It's Central Park, and it was like his album was
the most listened to album of all time at the time,
or maybe right behind the Beatles. You know, now with
downloads and everything, it's so different because social media. You
can go viral back then like if you were Will Smith,
if you were Michael Jordan's, if you were Cal Ripken Jr.
(04:25):
Like you're on a completely different level in social media
and the Internet has just changed that a little bit.
But I digress. Michael Jordan said something on the documentary
that really really stood out to me, and he said,
when he got to the bulls and they were terrible.
Remember part of the documentary when he first showed up,
they were called like the cocaine circus or the A
lot of cocaine was in the league, but his team
(04:47):
was a joke and said, the thing I had from
day one is I had hope. I believed, and I'm
a big believer. The older I get and the more
people that you you know, either you read a out
or you talked to, is how important optimism is. And listen,
my dad, you know, passed away a couple of years ago,
(05:07):
could be somewhat negative. And I think, you know, I
kind of could too. And I've really really worked on
that in my thirties of just being more of a
positive person because I I do think it impacts your
life dramatically, professionally, personally, in just in every element. And
I think you are It's life's too short to be miserable.
(05:30):
And I'm not talking about people that are just like
homeless people. I mean we all know them. A lot
of people that are quote unquote financially successful are miserable,
s obs, terrible way to live. And that's the thing
that stood out in the Jordan documentary is how positive
he was, and hope is really positive. It hopes else
that there is no disputing it. It's what I've struggled
(05:52):
with the corona is the negativity became, especially on social media,
became like cool. It came like the way to get
likes and retweets, shut it down forever. It's like, guys,
can we take a step back and take a deep
breath and realize that that it's not plausible, it's not feasible.
With sports, it became a little more you know, complex,
(06:16):
because whenever a governor or an elected official would bring
them up, well, sports are just more popular, you know,
are just gonna get more reaction, whether it be on
television or whether it be on social media than talking
about restaurants. Even though we all need to eat, we
don't all consume sports, but they are the polarizing topic,
(06:37):
partly because sports include a lot of people. Whether it's
the NBA and it's twenty grand, whether it's football and
it's sixty two depending on college a hundred. But I
I'm just I there's so much unknown. We're in early
May or even late April, and everyone's making these absolutes.
I'm like, why is everyone so quick to put it
in sharpie? Can't we just write things in pencil? Is
(07:00):
changing by the day. Everyone's freaking out and I've tried
and attempted to and listen, I'm human, probably like many
of you, I've had some shitty days, been really mad,
been angry, and you realize, like what am I so
mad at? Like I don't control none of us control
any of this. I have zero power to influence when
these restaurants, when sports come back, it's all out of
(07:22):
all of our control. But it is nice to see
that the governor of California said that starting June one,
sports can be played without fans, and I think Cuomo
and New York said something similar. Clearly, where we're headed
is things are gonna come back normal. I don't know
if they're ever gonna be normal, at least for this year,
(07:43):
probably not our fans by the time we get to
the NFL season is gonna be allowed? Who knows? It's
May eighteen. But I never understood as as we started
flattening the curve, why we started freaking out, acting like
we had to lock it down before we've found to cure.
And I know Dave Portnoy had a big ran about it.
(08:04):
It did become that on social media, and it was
crazy and so many people it felt like we're rooting
for it, and I this shouldn't be that polarizing an issue.
We should want to save people and at the same
time attempt to get back to normal do it together right.
It should We should celebrate people being able to go
back to work, not lose a job. But of course
(08:26):
that's not the way society works anymore. Everything is so
splintered it becomes That's why I try to not even
talk about the Corona, because it's so easy to get
negative about it. Whether you're talking about yourself listen, I
would imagine everyone listening has been impacted in some way,
whether you know someone that had it, whether your business helped.
Maybe you've been laid off, maybe you've been furloughed, Maybe
(08:47):
you run a business and you've lost business. I know
I have lost a lot of but again it's these
are the cards were dealt. You gotta figure it out.
And I do appreciate some of these governors in Listen.
Big business runs America. It pays for everything. The state
of California isn't just one of you know, arguably the
(09:08):
last ten years the most profitable and the most highest
money generating state in America. It's one of the biggest
economies in the world. Where do you think all the
money goes to run the state all by tax revenue?
What do you think happens when you shut down the economy, Well,
these businesses aren't generating any cash. How are they gonna
pay their tax bill? Especially taxes got pushed back. You
can't operate without big business. Operating makes the world go round,
(09:31):
pays the teachers, pays for the road, pay for it all.
It's all kind of tied together. Whether you like it
or you don't, Uh, it's just the This is the
reality we have. And I thought Richard Sherman had a
tweet that said, of course, you know, Gavin Newsom pivoted.
There were threats and I don't even know if they
were threats, but it was like, you can't afford to
(09:52):
lose the forty Niners, the Rams, the Chargers, maybe some
of these collegiate teams leave and lose all the tax
revenue from them leaving because they're gonna play. Football is
gonna be played, just like now it's clear basketball and
baseball they are going to be played. This is no
longer a question. It shows you, Dana White, who took
a ton of heat? You know why you took a
(10:14):
ton of heat. The guy who's usually first is the
guy getting question called an idiot. And I think sometimes
we lose sight of this in pro sports in general.
They're not a charity. They're a pro their for profit business.
Their goal is to make money. It just happens in
what I talk about. It's a game that they monetize.
(10:36):
Whether it's football, whether it's basketball, whether it's baseball, whether
it's golf, whatever sport you talk about, you know in
in the media or that you like watching, you're ultimately
just watching a business. It just happens to be their
business is a guy, you know, playing hoops or playing basketball,
Like that's the That's why we call players assets, right,
(10:58):
they're they're not They're not your normal employees like Tom
Brady is an asset. Lebron James is an asset, just
like if you sell real estate, piece of property is
or a business you have is an asset. It's it's
not that much different. Now, it's a little complicated and
there's a human element this because you're you're talking about
a person being an asset. But you could argue, is
(11:19):
Bob Iger an asset for Disney? Of course he is?
You know, is is Colin Coward an asset for Fox?
Of course he is? Right? Is Howard Stern an asset
for Serious? Like? So a lot of other businesses are
like this too, and they you know, listen, I haven't
worked in the corporate world beside a little bit of radio,
(11:40):
but I do think this rings true. The power in
any business are the not the walls that enclose the business,
is the people within those walls. But I do think
everything has gotten so negative that it's nice to just
go okay, there is some light at the end of
the tunnel, because the conversation has constantly changed, whether you
believe it's political, whether you believe whatever it's It got
(12:01):
a little out of control, and it felt like we
lost a lot of hope. And it felt like is
the PAC twelve not gonna play football? Well, of course
they're gonna play football. If other you know, uh conferences
are playing football, they have no choice because if football
didn't get played in college like in the NFL, you're
not subsidizing anything, right, Your football team just pays for
(12:24):
your football operation. In college sports, and I don't think
people quite realize this. And I didn't realize this until
I worked at Fresno State and one day there was
like a town hall meeting. Every coach was at this
meeting and that the athletic director was up there talking
about different stuff. And at the time, Pat Hill was
the head coach, and he came in a little late
(12:45):
in one of the non revenue generating sports. I every
sport beside football and depending on your university basketball. One
of the other head coaches said, Coach Hill, look at
you getting special privileges late to the meeting, and Pat said,
I'm not late to the beating. I was at a
fundraiser that they send me to paying your salary because
(13:08):
the football coach and the football program literally pays for everything.
So if you told me right now U c l
A football or Oregon football, we're not going to take
place this fall, Oregon being outlier because Phil Knight, at
the end of the day, could subsidize and save everything.
Washington State, Arizona State, those athletic departments would go under.
(13:29):
They could not survive. So the nice part about this
hope is you go, Okay, maybe USC, U c l
A all these schools on the West coast are going
to be able to play football as scheduled times. Now,
our fans gonna be allowed. Me and a buddy we
were going to go to the Oregon Ohio state game.
I think it was a second week of the season.
(13:50):
It's pretty clear that no one, if that game still
takes place, will probably be allowed in there. Now. Who knows.
I even struggle saying that, because again what I harpened
back to, it's May, and you would have said two
weeks ago, Gavin Newsom in the state of California are done,
it's over. And then all of a sudden Friday afternoon,
(14:10):
the Lakers, working with some officials, were allowed to play,
go to the practice facility and play hoops, and then
by Monday he goes, yeah, we'll be playing by June one.
Everyone just take a deep breath. Let's just keep attempting
to follow the rules. Whatever state you're in, held half
the states feels like you're just rocking and rolling. In
California is gonna just operate a little slower. We have
(14:30):
way more people. But I think it's fair to say
football is gonna happen this fall. Basketball and baseball. Who
knows about baseball. Their union and uh and the owners
are kind of at odds. Basketball is definitely coming back,
Gulf's coming back. UFC. Dana White lad the charge and
you know what, he's been proven. He probably made us
being a lot of money. He made us being a
ton of money because he had a lot of free eyeballs.
(14:51):
There's open real estate. If I was baseball at basketball,
I would doing I would be doing everything humanly possible
to be the first one back and own a couple
of weeks and just have it all to myself. Now, football,
and I've said this from really the jump of Corona
got lucky. It was their off season. Now they would
have pivoted, they would have pushed it back. They would
(15:11):
have found a way to play games. If this would
have happened in October, it just might have started the
season in June or March or who knows. They would
have done whatever they had to do to ultimately play games,
because for all these sports, the games are what pays
the bills. And I think sometimes we forget pro sports.
I know some people act like it, and the media
(15:32):
kind of does too. They are not the moral compass
for society. They're multibillion dollar businesses, and they need huge
amounts of revenue to come in because they have huge expenses.
It's why in colleges, basically one sport at every school depending.
I mean some of the schools are the big basketball programs,
(15:53):
and a couple of schools, like the women's basketball program
makes some money. But just just go to USA today
and most of them do not. And without football, it
would all go under. So I think it's finally nice
to say, like Michael Jordan's we we have a little hope.
The NFL is, you know, basically essentially partners and they
(16:14):
do a lot. When when I worked for the Eagles,
we used to have military you know, uh, servicemen and
women come to training camp. I still have the best.
The best backpack I own is this big Cambo backpack
had my name on it with the Eagles that they
all gave us. Sweet. I mean, the NFL sent their coaches,
(16:34):
remember when uh a lot of stuff in the Middle
East over the years, and send their coaches over there.
That They've always aligned closely with the military. Now clearly
they do it for business reasons. It's good branding, right
the military. I guess there are people, but has a
pretty universal positive approval rating, at least with normal humans people.
(16:57):
I know, uh, but I also think they're The way
football operates aligned with the way the military operates. It's
a discipline oriented sport. It is a sport that is
mapped out from the moment you get up to the
moment you go to sleep. And just like the military,
who goes through basic training and training exercises, right, Seal
(17:19):
Team six didn't just show up to take out Osama.
They practiced it. Just like to become a marine or
an army ranger or whatever, you have to go through
elements of whatever the training is. Football is very similar, right.
You only play once a week. You practice all week
to get ready for the game. Really, you have this
entire thing called training camp to get ready for the season.
(17:42):
You have an entire offseason just to get ready for
training camp. There's a huge disciplinary element to football. Unlike basketball.
If you watch the MJ documentary, you don't really have
any to do all day. Hell, I mean back in
the nineties they practice in the NBA. Now they don't
even practice. And baseball it's like, yeah, just get to
the yard like too or three and we play at seven.
Football is very very regiment and the players are kind
(18:05):
of like you know, the army rangers on the front lines.
Coaches are like the generals, and the owners would be
like the politicians. But it works and it it makes
a lot of sense on a lot of fronts for
the NFL. But right now, because of the Corona, there
is no really off season. There is a mandatory I
(18:25):
guess not mandatory because the off season, so it has
to be voluntary. So it's a voluntary off season of
two hours a day, four days a week max. To
do Zoom meetings with your coaches. That's a total of
two times four is eight eight hours a week right
now that you are being again it's voluntary, but I
(18:46):
would imagine most teams are getting a high level participation
and they're seeing their players and they're doing mental work, right,
they're going over plays, going over installments, whatever. But it's
just on Zoom. No different than if you're a sales guy.
I'm sure you're doing zoom meeting or me if I
do zoom you know, calls with whoever on podcasts or
we're all just pretty based in our home office. And
(19:09):
that's what's going on in the NFL. Well, here's the problem.
Typically the O T A S would be in full
swing right now. I don't know if it'd be Phase
three or the organized whatever they like to call it.
I just call him O T A S and the
encompasses everything. But I think by May eighteenth, this week
would be full go. Every team in the league would
have practices throughout the week, and the majority of teams,
(19:30):
maybe a guy like Dak Prescott wouldn't be there, but
the majority of the teams would have close, if not
all participation. A lot of those guys get bonuses, and
they'd all be around the facility. Now underrated part of
the off season. College off season is a lot more
difficult because school is still going on. You actually practice
(19:51):
in paths uh and the and recruiting happens. It's NonStop.
The off season after the draft for the NFL is
actually really chill. Usually practice three days a week. Maybe
you have the one other day of like mental stuff,
but you get three day weekends. You know, it's really
becomes like a nine to five type job. Coaches, you know,
(20:13):
don't work crazy, Our scouts don't have that much to do.
Players you know, just are getting their workout in and
on the field and off the field you get eat
breakfast launch. It's it's very, very chill, but everyone's together.
It's a big team bonding aspect. And that wouldn't you know,
just because if O T A S were going on,
would not mean that no one would get in trouble.
(20:35):
But we had a stretch these last six or seven
days at Oliver got a d Y over the weekend
which listen in two thousand and twenty. I have little
room for any sympathy for getting a d Y. I
don't I don't even care what your excuses. Like ubers
lifts again, I haven't taken an Uber lift, probably like
a lot of people in a couple of months, I
don't Are they still leaven operating. I'm sure they are.
(20:57):
I get Uber eats, but you shouldn't get a d U.
I in modern times, especially when you're rich like you
have pretty easy access to press a button, someone will
pick you up. Cody Lattimore, I don't really even know
all the details, but there was a pistol whip, there
was a shooting, potential molestation. I don't know if it
was with someone involved with Cody, not that he is
(21:18):
being said that he did that, but there's some gray
area there. All I know is he got arrested involved
a gun and a pistol whipping, which there might be
more of the story, and if the molestation angle comes
on the other side, we might go Wow. You know,
I don't totally blame Cody Lattimore, but still headline arrested
gun and then clearly the story last week of dunn
(21:40):
Bar and DeAndre Baker. Dunbar is the new corner for
the Seattle Seahawks. DeAndre Baker former first round pick and
as someone told me over the weekend, who knows the
Giant slash covers them really well questionable human that was
well before this happened, and the Giants didn't after him,
as he said, they traded up to get him. I
(22:03):
think it's questioned on that team, how many guys on
that fifty three man roster like this guy. They don't
trust this guy. There's some red flags. So anytime you
get a red flag guy in a situation where there
are no rules. And when I say there are no rules,
there's still laws and stuff in society, but there are
no rules with your team. They can't do anything. You
can be wherever you want to be because everything's over
(22:23):
zoomed that the NFL does turn into the wild wild
West pretty fast. Now, these were four guys. There's over
two thousand players. I say it all the time. The
majority of guys, I mean the heavy majority of guys
that when I I worked in the office for two years,
had lunch every day with the entire team was around
him all the time. Majority of them aren't just like
(22:44):
pretty good guys, Like I'm talking high level, high character guys.
Every team, just like in every office, is gonna have
some sketchy people. Now, the differences with pro sports, especially football,
is when you get first round picks that happened to
be sketchy people, they also have some like not everyone
in the NFL has money money. You know, if you're
seventh round pick, even if you make the team, what
(23:05):
are you making six grand after taxes agent fees, Like, yeah,
you're you know, top three or four percent in America.
But it's not like I wouldn't call you a millionaire,
not even close. You get drafted in the first round,
you're an immediate millionaire. And that's when you're reading some
of these stories are getting in these dice games of
sixties seventy thousand dollars, Well, they have more money to bet,
you know, I never ever criticize someone for betting. Like, listen,
(23:30):
I'm a I'm pro gambling, but I couldn't bet. I
don't have seventy thousand dollars when I could look at
my bank acount, wouldn't even have the ability to get
into a seventy tho dice game. But I could get
into a seven dice game. Some people would be like,
you're crazy, right, Money is all relative, and these guys
have a lot of money, and I don't care. Even
if you do have a million dollars in the bank,
seven thousand dollars still seven thousand dollars. There's one thing
(23:53):
to lose, seven hundred dollars, even if you only have,
you know, a thousand dollars, seventy dollars a lot of money,
regardless who you are, because to get seven thousand dollars
you have to make you know, because taxas so seven
thou dollars is net income. But I think it does
show that the NFL, the nature of their sport, they
(24:14):
just got some crazy guys, and they got guys that
just part of putting a team together. You're not gonna
have fifty three or you know, the thing about the
off season is some of these guys. Now, DeAndre Baker
was a first rounder, so he wouldn't get cut, and
At Oliver won't either, also a first rounder. Cody Lottimore
on the Redskins, he who knows. You know, there's ninety guys,
(24:39):
give or take. I would imagine if we did the
breakdown on every roster. That's the thing with the off season.
So you have ninety times thirty two, so you have
a large percentage of guys that could get in trouble. Now, again,
I'm not trying to make excuse or anything because two
of these four our first round picks and are basically untouchable.
But you do have guys that can get in trouble
because their sketchy characters to just play football, that one
(25:00):
be on the team in the fall. But the NFL,
and this is why coaches, you know, I get they've
adapted well, but they would do anything to have O
t s right now because they could at least have
their team altogether. And the story for DeAndre Baker is
like he won't be allowed to attend the virtual meetings.
I was like, yeah, that that'll teach him a lesson.
(25:20):
No virtual meetings for DeAndre Baker. Way to go Giants,
no franchise like the Giants love getting on their moral
high horse. We stand for something here, give me a break,
you know. And again I'm a little biased Philly guy,
but it's like, you know, you had Josh Brown a
couple of years ago, your best player ever was doing
crack like you're just you're no different than anyone else.
(25:40):
And DeAndre Baker is a great example. And let's just
let's just hope for the NFL's standpoint, that's just it
kind of you know, we don't have an arrest here
for a couple of weeks. Ex have some guys lalo
uh try to say, out of trouble, keep the keep
the firearms in the safe, and let's let's try not
to discharge them. Okay, let's dive in. And as I
(26:02):
said off the early in the show that by the
time you're listening to this, maybe this rule gets overturned.
I guess they're just voting on it, so maybe it
doesn't pass. But we'll dive into the Rooney rule and
the additions of if you hire a minority coach you
move up six spots. If you might hire a minority
(26:23):
general manager, you move up ten spots in the third round.
There are also different additions. If you have a black
quarterback coach who's there more than a year, you get
compensations like fourth and fifth rounds and uh as uh
COMPENSI story picks and full disclosure. I'm a white guy.
So there's only so many elements I'm gonna be able
(26:46):
to talk about this. I I can't relate to some
of the situations that come across with coaches or general
managers of color trying to get jobs. But what I
have always pushed back on a little bit. And I
know that Dan Levitt, Cards and the extremists that love
talking about race always it's clear they always think everyone's
(27:07):
getting screwed and it's a major issue in the NFL.
Now from my experience working two years at Present State,
our team was definitely majority black, and I think our
coaching staff was too. And then with the Philadelphia Eagles,
I never heard race come up one time with a
player talking about player acquisition. With coaching, I was never
(27:32):
involved with hiring a coach. Uh, So I don't know now,
I know when I was at Fresno State when we
hired we hired black coaches, multiple black coaches, and then
we were looking for a wide receiver and running back coach,
and that's just who we hied. When I was with
the Eagles, we hired Sean McDermott, or we fired Sean McDermott.
One Castillo became the defensive coordinator and Todd Bowles was
(27:56):
also hired. So again, in my experience with Pat Hill
and with the Andy Reid, it never came up. I
have zero experience around that or that type. Thinking clearly
it impacts some franchises. I'm just speaking from my experience.
I've never personally gone through it. Again, white guy and
working unlike the media, who just you know is can
(28:17):
be consumed sometime with this stuff. I've lived it and
I didn't see it, but I was on I only
worked for one team, and a pretty open minded team
led by Jeffrey Lury who was really really open minded.
But clearly things need to change in the NFL. I
counted today there are four black head coaches or I
guess three black head coaches, and in Ron Rivera who's
(28:39):
a minority, and there are issues and that that's often
talked about it's hard to just get in front of
an owner and I Albert Brewer wrote that the most
three recent general managers of color were promotions, so a
big element was they were already in the billing and
(29:00):
the owner was around the guy, and the hardest part
is just getting interaction with the owner who's at the
end of the day signing the checks. Now, I don't
necessarily have an issue with attempting to fix this rule
and try to add incentives to hire a minority coach,
(29:21):
but I also think, ultimately, again maybe I'm naive to this.
If I'm an owner and I interviewed three guys and
I think this guy is the best guy for the job,
and I have a two billion dollar franchise, I'm pretty
sure I'm gonna hire who I feels best for the job.
Maybe call me crazy, but in my experience, that's really
(29:44):
what you've done. Now, factoring in who that head coach hires,
the nepotism and stuff, that's a different conversation. I'm just
talking about it from an owner's standpoint. In the reality,
with general managers, they really don't get fired that often,
maybe like one maybe two a year. The head coaching
turnover is really high, and it's a complicated issue because
(30:05):
like the one year when all there were a ton
of minorities and they all got fired. It's like, yeah,
Hugh Jackson was awful. I think Vance Joseph is one
of the worst defensive coordinators I've ever seen. Steve Wilkes
was beyond over his head, Like is that okay to say? Now,
from a hiring standpoint, one addition potentially to this Rooney
rule is they're going to add a minute instead of
(30:27):
just one minority candidate, you have to interview too, and
as people in the industry and reading quotes from the
MMQB and Peter King, a big thing is just getting
in front of them. I actually like that because sometimes
Mike Tomlin, once upon a time, was a Rooney Rule candidate, right,
look at him, turn out pretty damn good, probably a
top five coach in the NFL. But when you talk
(30:49):
about incentivizing a team with a third round pick, you
think an owner, if they don't think the guy is good,
or if all things are equal, the third round pick
is going to change much. I really don't. I really
don't think they will give a damn about that. Now,
when it comes to coordinators. I also struggle with this.
I think sometimes when you see guys of coordinators and
(31:10):
they're not getting head coaching jobs, people go, they're getting screwed.
I've said this before, but you know, the guy getting
screwed is the dude in a warehouse who's doing the
majority of the work and he's probably getting fifteen dollars
an hour. Thirty of the thirty two offensive coordinators in
two thousand nineteen made over a million dollars. And they're
(31:32):
way more than two head coaches colin plays, right, there
are a ton of head coaching play colors, and I
would imagine the two offensive coordinators who are not making
a million, we're making somewhere between eight hundred fifty and
a million dollars, right, or nine thousand dollars, so that
you're talking elite wealth. And when these coaches signed these contracts.
As an assistant coach, for the most part, you get
(31:52):
three year deal. Every defensive coordinator in the league. Let
me repeat, every defensive coordinator in the league made over
a million dollars in two thousand nine. That includes like
Vance Joseph, who's a god awful coach. And it seems
like a nice guy, just not a good coach, Robert Sala.
I mean, they're just minorities all over the league at
coordinator positions. Now, I get a lot of people aspire
(32:15):
to be a you know, a head coach. But I've
always said this, a lot of guys should just stay
in the coordinator role for a long period of time,
rack up millions of dollars, and not have to worry
about They're not meant to be head coaches, just like
not everyone, not everyone is meant to be in a
some people are bees, right. We see it all the
time in football. A lot of guys become North Turner
(32:36):
really good coordinator, bad head coach. It's like Wade Phillips,
good coordinator, bad head coach. Now the incentive like for
quarterback coaches and get guys in the pipeline, I understand,
But I'm not a coach, never aspired to be, never
wanted to be, don't have the patience to be one.
(32:56):
I don't know if you can like force guys into
spots like you're just gonna take a running back coach
and put them at a quarterback coach, Like do you
think a coach is just gonna do that or an
owner are going to force a coach to do that.
That doesn't make much sense. Arguably, the two best position
coaches I've been around in my life or was Tim
Skipper when I was at Fresno State, who went with
Jim mcwaine to Colorado State in Florida has been at
(33:18):
UNLV and Do Staley at with the Eagles, who have
been blocked from different coordinator jobs. But those are two
easily the best position coaches I was around by far. Now,
I don't claim to have been around football for thirty years,
but I also whenever I went to a practice, And
this is what I struggle with. Once you start working
(33:39):
in sports, you don't even see race. You don't even
talk about it. It's just just part of the team, right,
whatever has to happen to win the game. Now, the
point of this, you know, change is a hiring practice,
which I understand, and I I like, hell, make it
three people, because if you're gonna go to a legit
(34:01):
open search. I also struggle with this. If you're a
team and you know, let's say next year you want
to hire Lincoln Riley and Lincoln Riley says he's in
do I still like that's my issue with the Rooney rule,
and most teams right don't have one candidate mind. They
want to interview like five or six people. Hell, I
(34:23):
might up that number to three. You have to interview
three minority candidates, right, That wouldn't bother me, Like, I
think that would make some sense? Why why too? Would
make it three? You're already gonna interview ten plus people anyway,
might as well interview a bunch of different people from
a bunch of different backgrounds. I also think the hiring
practices are very cyclical. You know, it's like anything, things
change up and down, like the stock market. Right now.
(34:45):
Offensive coaches are really involved in vogue. Right, have a
guy that's skinny, chisels jawline white, offensive coach that's feel
felt like everyone they got hired the last couple of years.
It's not gonna be the case forever. You know why.
A lot of those guys are gonna fail. Cliff Kingsbury
probably gonna fail. Never won more more than seven games
in his life, lafleur, Are we sure he's any good?
(35:06):
I know they won thirteen games. Offense was terrible. It
could be a disaster with Roger's love like he could
be out of a job. Some of these guys like
are just gonna be out of a job, And you
know what's gonna go. I don't want to hire a
young offensive guy. Maybe I'll hire an older defensive guy.
So the guys that haven't been getting chances the last
several years, I think it could dramatically change because, like anything,
(35:27):
nothing ever stays the same in the NFL. Now, you
would say the rules, and I've said this before, kind
of dictate the defense. Is that a huge disadvantage And
is that really gonna change? Are we gonna go back
in like five or six years and be like, you
know what, the Ronnie Lott style of just taking guy's
head off and Dick but Kiss and nich Key were
playing like that again, probably not. So offense is more
than likely going to be in vogue. And that's why
(35:47):
they're pushing to have quarterback coaches and centivized you know,
fourth or fifth round pick. If you have a quarterback
coach that's a minority for over a year. I just
don't know how you force that, Like, what if you
don't have a guy on staff and you want to
elevate your quality control guy and he just doesn't fit
that Bill or whatever. Right, he's more of an offensive
line coach or a wide receiver coach. Now again, I'm
(36:07):
not a coach. I think they're on the right path here.
I just the draft pick compensation. I just I really
don't think owners are gonna care that that one to
me looks better on paper. And what if you're like
the Steelers and you go seven and nine and Mike
tom and your head coach and you've always done it
the right way. Hell, the rules named after you, and
(36:28):
some team hires a guy, you know, a head coach
that is black. They could just jump you. You're like,
we're not screwing around? Are what are we doing? Or
what if you're the Redskins you got Ron Rivera and
you just get jumped in the process because some other team.
I think it's a little bit of It looks good
on paper, and I know it went to kind of
viral on Twitter, but I don't know if it works
(36:49):
great in practice. Okay, let's uh, let's do the Middlecoff
mail bag at John Middlecoff is the Instagram d MS
wide open fire up in leave a question. This is
part of your d MS that you fly through as
fast as humanly possible to get to the actual question,
so I'll keep it brief. I'm a big fan of
the podcast. Keep up the good work, appreciate it. Okay,
(37:13):
my question is about the a f C South. Admittedly
I'm a Titans fan. I don't fully understand around the
hype around the Colts and Chris Ballard as the clear
favorite to win the division according to most of the media.
Ballard and Wright gets so much praise, and I think
they're really good at what they do, but it seems
so overblown comparatively speaking. Meanwhile, the same people are calling
last year a fluke of the Titans, despite retaining Slash,
(37:35):
upgrading nearly everybody, and having a great draft. Look the
last couple of years. Chris Ballard luck ten and six,
Chris Ballard without luck eleven and twenty one. John Robinson
with Mariotta Castle Gabert and Taniel eight. Well, John Robinson
has been on this, uh this podcast, friend of the show,
friend of mine. I'm a big John Robinson guy. I
like John Robinson, The Titans love Rabel. Remind me again
(37:58):
why Rivers, who is thirty five been forty five himself
over the last forty five years, is suddenly going to
turn the Colts around into a ten win team. You're
making sense. These are fair arguments. Also, Tanney Hill doesn't
deserve the reputation he gets as the washed up dolphin
quarterback that hands the ball to Henry. Everybody is somehow
missing that he came in last year and was one
of the best quarterbacks bistically all year. He didn't go
(38:19):
to the Pro Bowl and win Comeback Player of the
Year for nothing. He was. Now, maybe this was a
fluke and this year he'll take a step back, But
until he does, he's gotten so much disrespect. So it's
not really a question, just a statement. That was a
pretty good little rant right there. I I can't necessarily
disagree that the Titans are gonna be good this year.
Vrabel is a big time coach. He's basically like the
(38:39):
Kyle Shanahan or Sean McVeigh of defensive coaches. A little
different because he played in the league. But you know,
a guy in his early mid forties, complete badass. Uh
went to the playoffs last year multiple I mean, he
went into Foxboro, ended Brady's career in New England, ended it,
(39:00):
put a stake in it, went to the league m
v P hit him directly in the teeth and kicked
John Harbaugh's ass and then like he ran into a
bus aw and Andy in the chiefs. It was up
ten nothing. Their team's good, that they are going to
be good now. The Colts to me are a great
wild card. I think they had a good draft Buckner
(39:23):
Pittman and Jonathan Taylor. If you can keep t Y healthy,
their offensive lines really good, their defense is solid. You're right,
the Rivers thing, there's a chance he shot right there.
There's a chance. I'll use a golf analogy. If you're
just like a single digit handicap, Let's say you're like
a seven. That means on any given day, and let's
say you haven't it's been corony. You haven't played that much.
(39:45):
Like you might go out and shoot seventy eight, but
you could easily. And I know I can shoot like
nine two. And there's a decent chance, you know, if
Rivers shoots in the seventies, the golf equivalent, the Colts
have a shot. But there is a very decent chance.
When the when the season end, you look at the scorecard,
it's his and there are four triples, two doubles and
a bunch of out of bounds and no bodies that
(40:07):
that is very possible. The guy I watched last year,
and I watched way too much Charge of Football was terrible.
He he was not very good. He was he was bad.
He just plainly was not good. So they're betting on
him coming back. And I think sometimes when you use
your connection to a player, and that's what Frank and
(40:28):
I forget that their offensive coordinator, how to say his name,
younger guy nick something. They know him really well. And
I think sometimes like that, it's like standing up for
your kid when he gets in trouble. It's like, you know,
you might be a little too emotionally close to this
because the tape spoke for itself. It was bad. Now,
if he can somehow just be decent, maybe they'd be okay.
(40:50):
But I think it's very fair to say that, you guys,
And I think Bill O'Brien would say, what now, they
lost Hopkins. I mean they lost their best player. Now,
I guess their most important players the quarterback. But DeAndre
has been their best player in the last two years.
J J is a year older. They're depending on a
lot of injured guys. Yeah, I mean, if you told
me the Titans win the division, like I'm not. I'm
(41:10):
not gonna argue with you. I think the Broncos are
gonna be a surprise playoff team in two thousand and twenty,
and I think there's a real chance that Drew Lock
has a better season than Baker Mayfield. What are your
thoughts about Denver and Locke and how they might stack
up against playoff teams like the Browns. Well, I was
actually I was driving home. I was in the car
the other day and on a decent on like an
(41:32):
hour drive, and I flipped on WOJS podcast and he
had on Stefanski and his dad. His dad's like an
NBA exec. That's why he was on a woach. But
Kevin the new coach of the Browns, is on and
he's really impressive. I know some people obviously that are
you know in Philly, that know them, and they really
like him. But his first time head coach has only
been a coordinator for one year. The Browns roster top
(41:53):
to bottom is better than the Broncos now. I like Fanjiel,
I know Fangio can coach and last you're despite a
crazy awful start with Flacco playing like a total stiff.
They still ended up seven and nine, and Drew Lock
showed a lot of like promise towards the end of
the season. They add Melvin Gordon, They added Pat Schrmer
to be their offensive coordinator. You've got Melvin Gordon and
(42:14):
Philip Lindsay, so you're running game is really good. You
add Jerry Judy in the first round to go with
Noah fan last year in the first round, to go
with kJ Hamdler and Sutton. Like. They got some dudes
on offense. You know, Vic Fangio is arguably the best
defensive coordinator in the league. You got Bradley Chubb coming
back off the a c L to go along with
Von Miller. Still got a little something left. They got
the really good safety. Uh yeah, I mean the great
(42:36):
part about Vic Fangio's defense is one of the reasons
they could let Chris Harris leave is they don't need
top corners. When Vic was kicking everyone's ass in uh
in San Francisco, the corners were like Carlos Rogers and
Chris Culiver. Got to Chicago, they's had randoms uh first
one to say three and I has become a go
to pod during the lockdown appreciate it. I was listening
to you a couple of weeks back when you predicted
(42:59):
that Less need by not be as good as a
RAMS GM, and thinking about it, I tend to agree,
especially if they balls up. If they balls up the
Ramsey deal, blow up the Ramsey deal, if he has moved,
if he moves on, who could you see replacing him?
I guess Less could the Rams throw a big money
at someone like Howie Roseman love to hear your thoughts.
(43:20):
I would say, well, how he's under contract? How we
I mean, I don't know how much money he makes,
but he's the boss of the Philadelphia Eagles. Would you
rather be the boss of the l A Rams? I
think what happens, depending on how the season goes, McVey
would get a lot more juice, and McVeigh would basically
pick a partner kind of like Kyle Shanahan did with
(43:42):
John Lynch or Pete Carroll you know, did with John Schneider,
or kind of like Andy and Beach, Like he'd want
his own guy. I don't know who his quote unquote
guy is, but that would be my guess. If it
happens the problem with the Ramsey trade. And I was
told this by someone in the NFL when they traded
for him. If I'm gonna trade a lot for a player,
(44:02):
I signed him that day. If I'm trading multiple ones,
just like Ryan Pace did, I signed you the day
I trade for you. Because it just makes everything much
easier because in a couple of years, the contracts not
as crazy. Well, Ramsey's big deal, I was told it's
like he told him, Yeah, you don't need to sign
me right away. He's kind of like Darrell Reevas. He
wanted to get to the end of his contract so
(44:23):
he could totally break the bank. Well, here's the problem.
Goff already broke the bank. Aaron Donald broke the bank,
and Ramsey who knows how much he'd cost. It might
not be quite Aaron Donald's eighties seven million, but it
ain't gonna be fifty. It's gonna be like, so you're
gonna have three guys guaranteed money, you know, combined like
two million dollars for a couple of years. It would
(44:44):
just be a little complicated. I just I just don't
think lesson he knows what he's doing. I don't know,
like have some name of some guy, because I don't
know who Sean McVeigh knows or likes, but I I
think it would be someone he wanted. I'm wondering if
you think the Chargers would work and if they moved
to Salt Lake City, like you mentioned the air disaster
(45:06):
in l A and Salt Lake geographically would be a
fit given the rest of the division is located. Don't
totally hate that idea. Let me google. Obviously, you guys
got an NBA team has a fervor fan base. Utah
is a big deal Utah football. That is Salt Lake
City population because that's a big thing for the NFL,
(45:31):
you guys, population two thousand. I just I don't know
if there's enough people there, especially with Vegas being relatively
close and then already having an NFL team. I like
where your heads at, and I like the idea. I
just I don't know if they would give into that,
you know, like for example, Sacramentos got like four d
fifty people. I just I don't think it's big enough.
(45:52):
Do you think Blake Martinez and James Bradberry was a
better fit for the New York Giants over Corey Littleton
and Byron Jones Or was it about the money? Well,
I think Littleton is a better player than Blake Martinez,
though I don't. I think Blake Martinez get shipped on
by the media. He's not a terrible player, He's a
solid starter. I would take Littleton just because he's a
damn good cover guy. Now, Byron Jones a better player
(46:14):
than James Bradberry, given that they gave Byron Jones forty
million dollars guaranteed and Bradberry got like fifteen million dollars
a year. The money factors in. I think the Giants
would have rather had Byron Jones. He just costs too
much money. So yeah, I don't love Blake Martinez and
James Bradberry over. I would rather have a little Tin
and Byron Jones. So I think it was just simply, yeah,
(46:36):
it was about the money. I'm wondering about. Your thoughts
are on the Wisconsin Badgers. I personally believe the program
is held back by Barry alvare Edge, who who hires
close minded coaches who continue his legacy of running the
ball on first a second down. We have such bad
quarterbacks that we can't get anything going against good teams,
or we get crappy programs that just put up nine
(46:57):
in the box and still beat us. I'm tired of
going to rose Balls and looking like clowns. Alvarez is
a drunk bastard. Barry's a legend. But I think that
their programs are really, really high level. You know, they're
not getting five star guys, yet every year they're competing
to go to Rose Bowls. Were in the mix and
(47:17):
in the conference championship game against Ohio State and even
last year, like they're just not gonna get the athletes
on the whole of the house. State's gonna get. But
they beat the crap out of Michigan. I remember watching
that game. Wasn't it twenty one or nothing? At half?
It was like, hey, hardball, you don't belong on the
same field as us. Chris a good coach, Jim Leonard
(47:39):
is a badass. The defensive coordinator, I'm with you. Was
it was it last year that they had the left
handed quarterback. They could throw like twenty yards like that.
That's a joke like that. This is Wisconsin. You run
a pro style offense. You should get a guy that
is a borderline NFL player. The left handed guy. I'm
sure he's a nice kid, but gott he was a
bad quarterback, Like, you can't roll that out now. I'm
(48:01):
pretty sure I heard like Boomer Siason. I don't know
where I heard this, but didn't They sign like a
five star kid from New Jersey last year, so I'd
imagine he's gonna be the starter. Um, But losing Jonathan Taylor,
I mean that's a big blow. But the one thing
they do better than anyone is produced running backs. But
if they can get more explosive on offense as a
passing game, They've always has had the defense. When I
(48:24):
was a g A at Fresno State, they had like
what j J. Watt? They had this other defensive end
to was swite. I remember them coming out there. I
think Joe Thomas was on They were so big. Maybe
Joe Thomas wasn't on the team, but they had some
other sweet offensive lineman. I love the program. There seems
to be a huge disconnect from the national media and
local media when it comes to the Steelers. What's your
(48:46):
take on listening to Cowards of the World and comparing
it to what the twenty five year old beat writer
says also the Steelers, Well, I don't, I honestly don't.
What What's Collins take on the Steelers or the twenty
five year old beat. I don't know what they're and
I know Colin has been critical of Tomlin over the years,
but I don't think he thinks they suck or anything.
Does he? Also, the Steelers are absolutely loaded on defense,
(49:06):
and Colburt and Tomlin have doubled down on what they
think of deep Big Ben will be ready. Are they
being slept on a little too much? If Ben ends
up being healthy? Well? Ben tweeted out this video, very humble,
of him on a private jet flying somewhere to go
throw to Juju and James Conner and all the guys,
and he looked, I mean just throwing the ball pretty well,
which is saying something right, because he had Tommy John
(49:29):
his shoulder fell off. He is thirty eight years old,
and he's a he's a weather thirty eight. Like Drew
Brees and Tom Brady at thirty eight and Ben at
thirty eight. You could say that Ben is like more
like a forty seven year old. We all have that
friend who's like, you know, I'm in my mid thirties.
I got I got some friends who looked fantastic, You're like, God,
I guy could pass for twenty seven. And you just
(49:50):
got some friends that just look terrible. They're like, is
that guy forty six? And to me Ben is one
of those. Now Ben is you know, he's had a
lot of sick says he can play in big games. Uh,
their team, their defense is really good. Mike Tomins never
had a losing season. If Ben is just I would say,
(50:12):
you know, a seven out of ten next year, why
should they win eight? Nate with Duck Hodges and Mason Rudolph.
So if Ben can give him sixteen games, which I
think I saw a stat see the three or four
of the last ten years you've play sixteen games. The
reality of Ben just doesn't play sixteen games. He gets
hurt a lot. He can't move, unlike Rivers right or
(50:33):
Eli or one of those guys that can't move. Ben,
because when he was younger could kind of move. I
mean no, he could move kind of thinks he can
move still. So I think he gets in these just
precarious situations and that's why he ends up getting hurt.
Guys fall on him, Guys roll on him. Ben's just
a trip man. There was a Raider game a couple
of years ago where Roethlisberger gets hurt at halftime they're
(50:57):
killing the Raiders. It's like nineteen to nothing. It's hurt
at the end of the first half. Sits out the
entire second half. The Raiders then take the lead late
in the game, then puts back on his helmet, comes
back in the game. Like Ben, if you could come
back in the game, either come back in the game.
He literally waited till they were down, like Captain Hero.
(51:17):
It came back in the game. And don't get me wrong,
I'm making fun of Ben. I have nothing but respect,
first ballot Hall of Famer. I just it's just hard
for me to trust him staying healthy. Just found your
podcast the other day. Been loving it. Great insight, no bullshit,
speaking your mind, salute, no question there. I actually knew
when I started reading it. Just wanted to read a
little compliment. How do you feel about the Ravens off
(51:39):
season and what are your expectations for the season. Yeah,
I mean I I've been saying the same thing about
the Ravens for the last six months, that their teams stacked.
They're gonna be a double digit win team. They're absolutely loaded.
I mean, we know their coach is good, we know
there are a whole operations good. They're strictly and this
season gonna be judged on the playoffs. They're like the
Houston Rockets. No one gives a damn how many points
(52:02):
you score anymore in these regular season games or how
many teams you beat or how many threes you shoot?
Like can you make it out a second round? Can
you win a playoff game? For the Rockets? Can you
win a playoff series? The matters if you're the Ravens,
Like can you when you're at seven eight point favorite
against Tennessee Titans in January? Can you win the game?
(52:22):
Like when you're playing the Broncos in the first round
of the playoff? Can you beat him? Or we're gonna
be one and done three straight years? Because that's reminds
me of Russell Westbrook. Kevin Durant left three straight years
one and done. Why do you think so many people
are unsure about Justin Herbert. I've been going back and
comparing highlights of him and Trevor Lawrence, and herbert highlights
actually look better. I understand it's hard to get a
(52:44):
clear picture from the highlight reels, but most of lawrence
highlights are jump balls to Higgins, and a lot of them,
Higgins has to slow down and wait for the ball.
Herberts highlights to me look like NFL lover accuracy. Yeah,
I think it's the the offense that he runs there
war moments when calls. If you watch him play, and
I watched a lot of Oregon football this year, balls
do He misses some wide open guys, but he also
(53:06):
makes plays. I think he kind of got this knock
that he was kind of robotic and like when you
watch TA Now. Granted he's got Jerry Rice, Randy Moss,
Chris Carter and uh and Sean Jackson out there, but
he'll go through his reads at like Tom Brady Peyton
Manning level speed, fly across the field one, two to three,
(53:29):
and then back across the It's incredible. Joe Burrows a
lot like that too, Herbert. You don't really see him
just firing all over the field. He's, I do agree,
is a little robotic, but he's very talented. And I
saw two guys, I mean, we all have the last
five or six years come out that we're kind of
raw elite talents in Carson Winston, Josh Allen like it works.
(53:53):
So the Chargers have no excuse like you got this
raw talent. You got a guy six four or six
five who has been pretty accurate in college. I think
he's average, like he's been a four year starter. He's
got a huge arm, and he can move on a
team was just big time weapons. I think Herbert should
be good next year. I mean, they got Mike Williams,
Keenan Allen, Eckler, Hunter Henry what else you need? Vincent
(54:17):
Jackson and lt Why are people predicting the Raiders to
finish third, possibly fourth in the a f C West.
I get it, their defense wasn't trocious last year. I
mean that's probably a big reason, but we upgraded our
defense with the addition of Littleton Kwaikowski, Mukama, Damarious Randall,
and John abram Is coming back from injury. Also, why
(54:38):
do you and the various other not credit Max Crosby.
The dude had ten sacks as a rookie last year
on a terrible defense, and he didn't start for a
few games. Show the man some love, well four and
a half for five of those. I think I think
he racked up about six of the ten against the
Chargers back up in the Bengals. I like Max a
(55:00):
good player, but sometimes sacks And I learned this scouting
college guys are not all equal. Getting a sack on
Trent Williams or Jason Peters or you know, Mitchell Schwartz
is not the same of beating the crap out of
the Chargers backup left tackle. It's just it's just not
or or an unblocked play. The guy's good, he plays hard.
(55:22):
He should be a very good starter in the league
for a while. Is he gonna make Pro Bowls? I
don't know. Maybe he will. Maybe he's like Jared Allen.
Maybe that's his camp. He can become Jared Allen. He's
a good player. The defense terrible, and I'm not sure
the defensive coordinators any good. But offensively, they got a
lot of weapons. Now you got Rugs, you got Waller,
(55:43):
you got Jacobs, you got the two dudes they drafted,
but about in the kind of do it all dude
from Kentucky edwards from South Carolina. They signed Tyrolle Williams
last year. They got a good offensive line. Their offensive
score points. Now, Jonathan Abrahm, like I know, he's the
first round pick. He played a half and his defining
(56:03):
skill is kind of hitting people, which is the reason
he tore his shoulder, Like you can't. It's hard to
play like Ronnie Lott in two thousand twenty now Jonathan
Abram if it was seven, I'd be like, you know what,
he's gonna be one of the baddest m efforts in
the league. But you can't. Really He's like Cam Chancer.
I don't know how he plays, so I'm not saying
he can't be good, but he's gonna have to be
(56:24):
a really good cover guy and be like, you don't
get you're not allowed to knock people out anymore. If
they were, I'd be like, I want Jonathan Abram on
my team. You just need to be there's a balance
to it, you know, like you kind of gotta cover
now you can still hit. I think the Niners defensive
backs were a good example of that, Like Jimmy Ward.
(56:45):
Jimmy's a versatile piece because he can cover. Jonathan's gotta
be able to cover, especially in a division with Hunter, Henry,
Travis Kelsey, Noah Fant, They're gonna need him to cover
the tight ends. And I'm with you, Like the the
f C West could have, I mean the Chiefs are
gonna be dominant, but the Chargers in Denver have probably
(57:07):
better rosters than you. They have way more Pro Bowl
players in the Raiders. Now, if Derek can be like
two thousand and sixteen again, you guys could win nine
or ten games. But it's just hard for me to
I wouldn't pick you to win nine or ten games,
though I wouldn't be shocked if you did. The division
is really good. I think when the dust settles, the
a f C West could be the best division of football.
(57:29):
All four teams. The Chiefs are going to the playoffs,
it wouldn't shock me if the other if one or
two of the other three teams did, especially in the
seven team playoff format. I think the a f C
or NFC NFC West probably the best on paper, given
you got the Niner Seattle, the Rams went nine and seven,
and then just all the people that Cardinals added, Hey John,
(57:50):
big fan of three and out, also a big produce fan.
Coming off an injury riddled season without Randall More and
playing with a four string true freshman quarterback, how do
you see them playing this season? Having arstead of wide
receiver corps of randomore David Bell and Malik Carr. What
do you see their season turning out to be? Full disclosure,
I don't know that much about produe football. Let me
(58:12):
bring up their schedule. The thing I would first say
is kind of like playing in the a f C
or NFC West. They play in the Big Ten, and
I think the last couple of years it's easily been,
you know, the best conference in football after the SEC.
I mean last year it was by a mile right, Um,
last year they went three and six. So this upcoming
(58:35):
season at Nebraska, I'll give you a win Memphis, they
were good last year. Coach went to Florida State home
home opener. Well, the game is at Nebraska, but I'll
still give you a win. First Memphis, that's a sneaky game.
Then you get air Force, who I don't know, runs
triple options. That's not easy. At BC win Rutgers, win
(58:56):
at Illinois, win at Michigan, probably an l Northwestern. Okay,
I'll give you a win there at Minnesota. Man that's
p J. Flack has a program rolling Wisconsin Iowa. Yeah,
I said, I think you guys could win six seven
games after going whatever, you would you win three and
(59:17):
six this year? Question for the pod from a twenty
two year old Pats fan on Howard Stern. Tom Brady
openly admitted that he would refuse to throw to guys
he didn't fully trust. New England is a notorious tough
environment for rookies, and rookie wide receivers always seemed to
struggle gaining Tom's trust. Now with Brady out of New
(59:39):
England and stid him in, do you think a second
year guy like Nickiel, Harry and Jacobe Myers could have
serious improvement now they have a quarterback more willing to
throw to them. For sure. I would imagine being a
twenty two year old rookie last year for those two guys,
but especially Nikiel who got hurt and then came back
and it did not go well. You are playing with
(01:00:00):
Tom Brady, not like two thousand seven Tom Brady, not
two thousand fifteen Tom Brady, two thousand nineteen Tom Brady
six rings the the goat in pen in sharpie like
it's not even an argument, and the great it's forty
two years old, so you're twenty two. He's got you
by twenty years. He's not throwing you the ball. The
(01:00:21):
offense is really complicated you got McDaniels yelling at you,
you got Belichick in your ass, and you've got Tom
just staring you down, mean mugging, even though he's a
good teammate, you know what I mean, like as a team,
as a as an off offensive player, trying to help,
you know, force you to get better. It's just an
intimidating situation. Now you got Jared Stidham, if you're nakil,
Harry shod him. You know, as he's learning everything can
(01:00:43):
take a little heat off you. You got Belichick and
Josh McDaniels up his ass, and you can just run
routes and just try to get open and make some plays.
But stid him, in theory, given that he's replacing Tom,
is gonna take the majority of the heat just because
they're gonna need him to understand what's going on. So
there's no excuse for Myers and Nikkil to not know
what's going on. They've been in the offensive year, so
(01:01:05):
stid him. But the pressure of being a quarterback is
just immense. Right, They're gonna be on a about being
loud in the huddle, being on guys, just it's gonna
be a year long thing of them riding him, and
I mean, if he's good, Patriots could be competitive. If
he's bad, I mean they're probably screwed. I appreciate everyone listening.
If I didn't get to your question, I will try
(01:01:26):
to get to it next week or not next week,
this Friday, because we do two podcasts a week, even
in Quarantine and the Corona. Don't worry. Keep content pumping.
It's what we do. Holler at your boy, have a
good week, see you later, Tell your friends, and leave
a review.
Host
John Middlekauff
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