March 31, 2020 • 50 mins
In this episode, Middlekauff explains why NFL GM's complaining through the media should just shut up and get ready, why Tampa is a short term rebound relationship for Tom Brady after a long marriage to New England, and recaps today's biggest headlines. He also mocks the first half of the first round of the draft and answers listener questions in Middlekauff's 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 (00:08):
What is going on? Everybody? John Middlecop Three and Out
podcast live from the quarantine studios of my home office.
I hope everyone's staying safe out there there. Hope everyone
is uh is getting by. And for those of you
listening that are on the front lines, whether we're at
a grocery store, health professional, whatever you do, you know,
(00:31):
I think we all, uh, we all can come together
and say a collective thank you. I appreciate it, and
we just keep on swinging and we'll get through this
march and uh, you know sports or sports are halted.
Thank god, the draft is still within I guess twenty
four days from today. Uh, so we have something to
(00:52):
look forward to. Thank you Roger Goodell for hosting the draft,
because without it, I don't know we'd be in trouble
for some content. But there's a lot to dive into today.
I mean, one of the big conversations going on in
football is these general managers are mad that the drafts
being held. Have some thoughts there. Jason Light, the Tampa
Bay Buccaneers general manager, was on television this morning and
(01:15):
uh spoke about Tom Brady and actually had a kind
of an interesting comment that I want to dive into
just some other stories. Then of course the Middlecoff mailbag
at John Middlecoff is UH is my handle, so slide
up into my Instagram d m s. It's also my
Twitter handle. And any question you want, we we are.
We're wide open for questions. And UH, I need you.
(01:39):
I need you to help carry me. There's a team
effort here. This is your guys show. Also, I guess,
if you haven't yet, if you could go to the
Apple or iTunes and leave a review, I would greatly
appreciate that. Obviously you already subscribed to the podcast if
you're listening to this. But let's start with this. This
coronavirus overall sucks. None of us, if we could choose,
(02:01):
would have this virus exist. It is throwing all of
our lives for a loop in some form or some fashion,
all of us in a weird way or a creature
of habits. Even entrepreneurs or musicians or you think the
most artistic people, they're still pretty routine oriented. Now on
the high end, you know football coach or a general
(02:23):
manager or a marine or you know, certain businesses are
very very routine oriented. Some of those, like podcasting, little
open ended. I can pick and choose when to do it.
But I still have specific things I do every day.
If you run a business, depending on whether you're deemed
essential right now or not, your life's thrown out. And
even if you are an essential business, you're clearly taking
(02:44):
measures that you would not normally take, and you're doing
things for your employees. I know people that run food
operations that take the temperature of everyone that comes in.
My little brother who just had a baby. His wife
was going to get, you know, your typical check up
a month or two months in, and you gotta take
your temperature before you go in. It's these curveballs are
coming every day for us that we did not expect.
(03:07):
But you know what, that's life. That's just the reality
of when these a pandemic hits or when something that
we can't predict happens. This isn't, this isn't. I guess
it's not the first time in a long time a
pandemic is hit. But we've had crazy things happened to
us before, and we always figure out ways to adapt.
Do we want to know? We would like to keep
(03:29):
business going as usual, especially in a bull economy, when
business is going well for a lot of people. No
one wants to be halted, but that those those aren't
the cards we were dealt. Corona dealt us a shitty
hand and we just have to make the best of it.
And last week Roger Goodell gave a comment and the
comment was I don't even have it in front of me,
(03:50):
but it basically said, hey, general managers, shut up, no
one wants to hear you complain. The draft is happening,
and deal with it. And you know my first react,
and I mentioned it briefly on the last part. I
kind of liked it. It kind of reminded me of
a David Stern type comment because I saw Peter King
had anonymous GM today saying, like, what about freedom of
speech and we're not allowed to complain. I don't necessarily
(04:13):
think that's the point here. It's that Colin talked about
it last week. The NFL their number one business partner
by a mile, our television networks, that's where they make
all their money. And who needs this more than anyone
right now, or the television markets or the television networks
obviously the individual markets. It'll be the highest rated event
(04:33):
sporting event, I mean in years. It will be the
highest rate of draft ever, But the point is like
this can still happen because of the nature of the event,
we don't need people there, and general managers kind of
start nitpicking the semantics. Well, we don't have the pro days,
the small school guys, and we can't bring them in.
It's like, hey, guys, it's two thousand twenty. We got
(04:53):
a thing called zoom, we got a thing called Skype.
Mix it up, figure it out. Because the draft has
had happening. And I don't want to hear any of
you guys complain, because again, our first reaction when anything
happens that throws us for a loop. In whatever business
you do, whether you own a sandwich shop or whether
you run the ravens, you're gonna be piste off. It's
(05:14):
it's a normal human reaction. I'll never blame anyone for
being mad. But after a while, like, hey, guys, the
corona's impacting us. All people are dying. We're all quarantined,
I guess except Florida, but normal states quarantined. Uh not
not really leaving our house. Joe Diffy dies. You know
this is Tony Boselli's and icy you like this is
(05:34):
a real thing. There's no more denying you like it was,
just it's impacting everybody. So if you have to kind
of change your draft plans, change your draft plans, because
luckily in two thousand twenty, this isn't technologies on your side.
You can bring these guys in. I saw the NFL
is allowing three three hour skype calls with every player
or every draft prospect that you want. Typically I've talked
(05:57):
about this before. There's a top thirty is it where
you bring in thirty players. It doesn't have to be
first round. It can be any players, Guys with character issues,
guys you might draft in the first round. Whatever, that's
not happening now. But you're still able to do something
and where I think it's gonna be interesting. And I
saw some of these draft guys telling Albert Breyr and
Peter King and their MMQB in their articles that some
(06:20):
of these draft rooms, like Chris Ballard the Colts do
a really good job of tweeting out videos. It's not
even it's not tweeting out. They put it on YouTube.
It's basically like a ten to fifteen minute series leading
up to the draft, Senior Bowl, the Combine. It's gonna
be interesting what they do this next month. But they
give a really good kind of inside look. They're not
(06:40):
giving away their secrets, but they're showing how they work
and they collaborate. And I know the Chiefs, I know
the Niners, I know the Eagles. I can speak for
the teams that I'm close with. They watch a lot
of tape in their draft room when they're going over
their draft board. It's a very collaborative effort from the
general manager down to the area scouts. It's a huge
group discussion. It's actually really healthy. It's gonna be a
(07:03):
little more difficult if you're all on Skype because you're
not able probably to watch the same tape at the
same time. Even though maybe you could do it, it's
just not gonna be a smooth So, you know what,
You're gonna have to adapt a little bit and you're
gonna have to figure out the best way because you
know what. Everyone's playing by these rules. It's an equal
playing field. If California and in Washington State were the
(07:25):
only places that were quarantined, you would be a huge
disadvantage for the Niners, the Rams, the Chargers, Seattle, the
Raiders because they're still here. Right But everyone is under
the same guidelines. Because Roger Goodell, and I'll give him
credit for this one, took it under his own in
the league office that you're all going home, No one's all.
Every building's shut because if you did not do that,
(07:46):
teams would go into the office. Now the team's gonna
be the least affected is the dictatorship that we call
New England. He's notorious in New England. There's like five
people in the draft room. The scouts are not in there,
the coaches aren't not in there. It's like ill. It's
Ernie Adams, Cassario and the owners. It's a and maybe
(08:06):
a contract. It's a small, small group. A lot of
draft rooms. Some draft rooms have every scout you've seen
the pictures of Seattle over the years, or Indie coaches,
the scouts, they're all in there. Sums are kind of split.
But this is this is a new time for everyone.
Now Belichick's equipped for a pandemic just because he doesn't
depend on that many people. He can do it all himself. Well,
(08:28):
of teams can't and they need help. General managers need help.
And it's gonna be if the teams with younger general
managers that are more technologically advanced and open minded and
fluid with technology, Like, hey, I've never used zoom before.
I'm using it later for something for another project, and
(08:49):
I just downloaded it and I didn't even know what
zoom was three weeks ago. Now I have it downloaded.
I'm gonna be doing a live feed for something with
someone local here in the Bay Area about some gambling stuff.
And it's just not that hard. Like technology in two
thousand twenty is pretty advanced. I've literally made all my
money in the media since I've kind of gone to
(09:09):
work for myself through technology, and I would view myself
as a technological idiot. I'm not Mr. Some computer whiz,
but it's really relatively basic. And they have this thing
they call YouTube. So whenever you download new technology or
interested in new technology, do you know what I always do?
I type in how do I use blank? On YouTube?
(09:32):
And you know what it always does, whether my dryer
dies or whether I'm trying to use a new streaming program,
it teaches me how to do it. Remember the books like, uh,
you know, raising a kid for dummies, building a home
for dummies. That's basically what YouTube is. Any question you
have type it in on YouTube, and it's there to
help dummies out, and football people aren't necessarily dummies, depending
(09:55):
on the age group of the individual team, but they
are creatures of habits and they're used to do things
in a specific way. And now they've got a huge
curveball throne. So these guys that are complaining, like I
understand maybe a couple of days into Corona complaining, we're
two weeks into it, Like, just just shut your mouth
and figure it out. Because this is the new reality
for the league. You're gonna have to draft players on
(10:16):
the information that you had two weeks ago and it
it ended there. So if you don't have a guy's
forty time, guess what it's gonna be on you and
your scouts to determine how fast he is on tape. Hey,
if you know you didn't get a chance to meet him, Well,
the scout that you're paying whatever you value them at,
whether it's a seventy dollar road scout or whether it's
some intern that went into the school, you're gonna have
to trust that his information on the guy's character, on
(10:40):
the guy off the field, meeting with the academic advisors,
meeting with it is right. You can't or or you're
gonna have to do your own work. And I read
another good article that a lot of coaches and general
managers are now depending on their relationships because this is
what you're gonna have to call the position coach. You're
gonna have to call the coaches you know around the
country of the specific programs of the guys you like
(11:01):
or that, or have questions on and get the real information.
And that is a really, really difficult thing to do.
And a lot of times it becomes easier at these
pro days because if I'm you know, Bill Belichick or whoever,
John Schneider or John Lynch, I show up at the thing, well,
they're always gonna want to talk to me. When I
was at Fresno State and I was a graduate assistant,
(11:22):
you know what was really cool when someone showed up
a head coach or GM, Like I saw the scouts
come all year long and I ended up becoming one.
It's cool, but you be kind like, oh, just another guy.
But when I remember Ryan Matthews the year he got
drafted for the Chargers, A J. Smith, the GM at
the time, showed up and it was a really big deal.
It was like, damn I remember kind of helping him out.
I got him some coffee. I was trying to kiss
(11:43):
his ass, hopefully to get a job. But it was like, damn.
I remember when Scott Poli showed up when I was
at Fresno State because the Patriots were there for like
they were playing the Chargers, then they were playing the Raiders,
and they stayed in California and they were staying like
San Jose, and it was always a big deal. Well,
that's and those guys were able to get great information
because the head coach is always kind of kissing their
ass or their friends or whatever. That's just not gonna
(12:05):
happen now. And your real relationships of the guys that
you know that you've had come through your through your
NFL program, guys that you've met over their coach with
over the years, are really gonna shine through. And the
hard part about that is that college coaches sometimes the
farther they get away from the season, the more pro
player they can be. If you get them in October
(12:28):
and they're three and three and they're piste off, sometimes
they give you the real information because it's raw and real. Well,
in the middle of March or the beginning of April.
You know, especially during Corona, you're at home, you're kind
of feeder up, you're just kind of relaxing. You're not
gonna be maybe as real, even if it is a
close friend of yours, because the information you have where
(12:49):
you truly believe of the player, you might not give it.
That's why the information in the fall, when you're an
area scout, when you're a college director and you go
into these programs with these big time players, you gotta
get really good information. And the better sources are, the
better connections are, the more access you have to the coordinators,
to the head coaches, to the trend to whoever, and
(13:11):
going above and beyond and getting that extra NEGGETI of
you know what, this guy is just not nice to
you know, let's say our assistant trainers or you know what,
this guy couldn't treat the people that can't do anything
for him any better he is. He might be one
of the best people we've ever had in the program.
And getting some of these comments when it's in the
(13:31):
middle of the season and all the you know, everyone's
kind of paying attention and the and the information is
just raw, like right now, it's like, yeah, you're thinking back,
if you're the head coach, you want the guy to
get drafted so your program looks better that there is
there's all this incentive for these teams to give you
better information that may be actually true. And I think
(13:53):
this draft is really going to put in the focus
how good you were in the fall, how good your
scouting staff was, how good you're you know, your executives
that make school calls throughout the year are how intent
you were in grilling these guys the access you had
at the Senior Bowl, where you going above and beyond
or you going out drinking and screwing around. What you
guys did at the combine, Did you guys make that
(14:15):
extra effort because that that time now is ten times
more important how much time you spent with the players,
or how much time you spent gathering information because you're
not really able to do that now. You can do
the skype calls, but you know, what can you really
gain out of a skype call. It's a lot different
than seeing a guy in person, right, and you're really
in a skype call just asking him information that you
already have. He's not, you know, coach, let me tell
(14:37):
you about the one time. You don't have this in
your notes. I got arrested. You know, I had you know,
probably three joints in my back pocket and I was
doing thirty miles an hour over the speed limit. You know,
I might have had a couple of pops as well.
It never got out. The program was able to kind
of keep it under rest, but yeah, you know, I
got a d U I with a couple of joints.
Don't don't tell anything like that's not happening. If if,
(14:58):
if that stuff didn't get out and you don't out
that information, that's on you. And these last couple of
months or some of the time when you kind of
can nail down some of that information and it's just
it's just not gonna be there. But the more of
these guys complain, now obviously they're not putting their name
on it because you don't have to be an idiot,
but you gotta you gotta get doing a different mind
mind frame, like you need to be just attacked this
(15:20):
full go with the cards you're dealt because right now
the cards coronas dealing sucks, but you gotta play the hand. Okay,
let's dive into something that I saw this morning, and
Jason light, the general manager for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers,
was on with Mike Greenberg ESPN show Get Up and
had some interesting comments and it made me think. He
(15:43):
said that Tom Brady actually when he called us, did
more recruiting to us than we necessarily did for him.
And I'm a single guy. I'm in my mid thirties
since in the peak of internet dating apps, and you
could argue they're still going strong. I I've experienced them,
I've been on them all, I've seen them all. And
(16:07):
sometimes on these apps you meet people that clearly you
never would meet, right. It's the powerful thing about these apps.
You would never meet these people, You would never come
across them in life because most people you meet typically
back in the day, you have to go out to
a bar, meet someone through a friend. Like you were
kind of limited to how much effort you wanted to
put in slash just some blind luck. Now there's somewhat
(16:30):
of an element of blind luck, but you're still in
a sixty mile radius wherever you're living, have access to
anyone that's single that wants to put themselves on that.
But the one thing I've learned in my experience being
on Internet day dating app just because you're on the app,
especially for girls, maybe it's like this for guys too.
I've always been pretty open on the app in terms
of like, if I'm on the app, I'm open to
(16:50):
go on a date, open to go out, open to
do whatever. Sometimes girls they get out of a relationship,
in my experience, and they get on this app, and
I think in theory they want to be on the app,
but they don't really want to be there. And then
maybe you even go out with them and you have
a good time, but they're not emotionally ready. And it
goes both ways. Just because two people are single doesn't
(17:11):
mean they're at the same point, like they both want
a relationship. Some people might just want to hook up.
Some people might just want some companionship. Some might want
to get married. One go to line in the on
the Internet dating streets, and anyone listening to this who's
seen it can attest to it. A lot of girls
put no hookups, I would imagine again total guests. At
(17:35):
least none of my friends who have ever been on
an Internet date dating app have ever wrote no hookups.
So there are different frame of minds on these sites.
Just like when you get with someone, like if you're
truly single and over the last person you were dating,
and so is the other person, you have a chance
if you end up liking each other, hit it off, whatever,
(17:56):
to become something. And I think what you saw with
Tom Brady is I don't know if probably the last
couple of years, I think he had toyed with it
in his head. But now after we kind of see
the way everything played out, it was pretty clear he
was ready for a breakup in the fall, right when
he restructed his contract, when he started selling his house,
when Guerrero started selling his house. I think he was
(18:18):
ready for a breakup, not because he necessarily wanted to
leave the Patriots, because he knows the Patriots had left
him a k. Belichick didn't want him back. So when
you're a human and you're dating someone and you realize
you know they don't like you that much, there is
some forms, especially if you've been in a twenty relationship.
I've never been in. Some people of you listening have
been in long term relationships, been married for a long
(18:39):
period of time. There's a lot of ups and downs
in those relationships, but that's usually what makes a relationship strong.
It's not just the good times, it's the bad times.
You've been part of. Like in a relationship, maybe you've
been part of some deaths, you've been part of some bursts,
You've been part of some highs and lows. In professionally,
you've seen a lot. And obviously Brady and Belichick had
been through the rain. So when you're gonna be in
(19:00):
a relationship like that, usually don't like, oh, it's over
and then one day you go your separate ways. That's
not how something like that works. So it took some time.
But I think Brady for the last probably five six months,
ever since he put the wheels in motion last fall,
was ready because he knew Bill was ready, and he
had enough information and realized building want him there anymore.
And sometimes you have to realize that person doesn't want
(19:20):
you and kind of have your hand forced to realize
there's more fishing in the in the sea. And the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers in turn, got a little lucky too
that they were just in this position that Brady clearly
didn't really want to go west. He wanted to stay
on on the East coast for his family, and they
had nailed a couple of wide receiver picks. They had
an offensive coach, and they needed a quarterback. Imagine if
(19:43):
Jameis's first three years hadn't been so rocky, if he
hadn't gotten trouble with the Uber driver, maybe they would
have gone Because all you read all these stories, you
hear all these players talk about him. I know a
couple of people in Tampa. They always rave about his
work ethic. People really like him in the building. Maybe
he would have been extended, and maybe they wouldn't have
had the flexibility to just his contract was out. They
could be fluid, they could be flexible, they could just
(20:05):
kind of kick him to the curb. But here's what
the Bucks always had in their back pocket. Why this
situation lined up perfect. They needed Tom to like them
because they were open that if Tom did like them,
they could move on it. Because they had Jamis that went.
You know what, if Tom goes somewhere else, goes to
Tennessee or goes to the l A Chargers, we can
just keep Jamis. We've all had that girlfriend or been
(20:26):
on the other end of the person just keeping you around,
hoping to upgrade. That's all football kind of is. You're
always looking upgrade, and unless you get Jerry Rice or
Aaron Donald or Tom Brady, it's basically impossible to upgrade
now with Belichick would tell you, well, yeah it was
ten years ago at forty three years old. We think
big picture, we can and with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers,
(20:49):
they were in a position where James hasn't nowhere to go.
Nobody wants Jamis. You know, it's fun story on Twitter.
No one's lined up to even unlike Cam Newton, who
is a old, a rising player right now, he has
a bad shoulder in a bad foot, like his medicals
are the question. James healthy. Hell, Jamis is healthier right
now than he was four months ago. He got the lasic,
he can see better. If people wanted James, they'd be
(21:12):
all over him right now. Nobody wants them yet Tampa
new worst case scenario, they could bring him back, you know,
probably win eight nine games. They could just cut down
a couple of turnovers. But at the end of the day,
they needed Tom to like them, and Tom did. And
like sometimes an internet dating or just real life dating,
you need two people to kind of have the same
frame of mind. Tampa Bay desperately wanted to like Tom Brady.
(21:34):
They were lucky. Tom Brady desperately wanted to like a
situation that fit him logistically, geographically, obviously offensively, with the
wide receivers and the tight ends, and then he can
sell himself. You know, there's no state income tax. They
will guarantee two years. I wouldn't say it was a
match made in heaven, but for Tom if you did
have to transition, given how many teams currently have quarterbacks,
(21:58):
pretty ideal scenario that this team was available, right because
if you look at the Tennessee Titans, you go, well,
they're a very run heavy team. Their best wide receiver
is was a rookie. Uh Delaney just bounced. You know,
Derrick Henry's technically, I mean, it's franchise tag, but you
can't really go anywhere. Is he gonna be happy? Is
he gonna hold out? They let their right tackle go.
(22:19):
They're in a little bit of transition despite being a
really well run and good team. We're Tampa. All the
key guys are in a contract, two tight ends, two
wide receivers. Coach isn't going anywhere. They need some offensive
line help, but they have some solid defensive guys. It
kind of made some sense. Sometimes you just need things
to aligned, and things just kind of aligned, you know.
(22:39):
Somewhat you could argue they're both a little desperate. Tampa
hadn't been in the playoffs in twelve years. Uh, desperately
just want some buzz kind of you could argue one
of the most irrelevant teams in the league. Tom Brady
is kind of looking around like, you know, I don't
really have that many options. Plus I I kind of
have some things that I want to do. I don't
(23:00):
want to go play on the West Coast. So Boom
charges Raiders. Not really, you know, on the table, I
couldn't commit to Rabel and Boom he signs Ryan Taniel.
That's not an option anymore. Where the hell am I
gonna go? So it Tom was. You could argue as
desperate as Tampa Bay was to sign them. And you
know what, what's gonna be fun about this little match
is it could be good. It could be great. It
(23:21):
could not. You know, sometimes when two desperate people get
married or get together and start dating, I mean, you
have a great honeymoon period, but eventually, right, all relationships,
they all get tested. Right, it becomes when you first
start dating someone or you first getting married, sex is awesome.
You love each other, and as time goes, you know
(23:42):
how your actual relationship is, how much is your friend.
You know that they're gonna have to learn on the
fly here. There's really not gonna be a huge honeymoon
period for Tampa Bay and Tom Brady. They were tinder dating. Uh,
they both were kind of desperate for each other. And
now we're gonna find out if this thing works. I
would bet on them having some success. But the more
(24:04):
and more I've thought about it, it's gonna be a
little more challenging probably than most of us just in
the football world. Just assume no offseason offenses that aren't
a perfect match made in heaven. And again, the reason
they got together was a little bit more out of
desperation than anyone wants to admit. Okay, let's bang out
(24:27):
a couple of stories before the Middlecoff mailbag, and just
some things that I saw that happened this weekend. Right now,
there has been corona case at the Vegas Stadium and
at the l A Stadium, And now I get construction
is still quote unquote considered an essential business. I do
feel it's gonna be hard if corona is taken off
(24:47):
of the rates in which is taken off when there
are a lot of people around. How these stadiums are
gonna avoid shutting down? Now, I there are no rules
in Nevada, but they are a couple more cases away
from I mean, m G M all the casino shut down,
So how are they going to avoid it? In l A?
California's rules are just insane. We are, by far, i'd say,
(25:08):
the most progressive state in terms of getting out in
front of it. So I understand it's all political and
you can pay people off, and these two teams want
this done. Now. The reality is is a football season
depending on who you believe, and I don't. I don't
pretend to know the future. Plus only March thirty, so
when people ask what do you think is gonna happen
this fall? Guys, I'm just trying to make it to
like first week April. Can can we just get to
(25:31):
maybe like May before we start having takes on the
football season. Let's just I I can't go there yet,
but I do know just the construction with how many
people you need to be working at these construction sites.
If the corona is impacting these people, and both sites
have already had a case. It feels like there are
another case or two away from just getting shut down. Now,
(25:54):
the California one would probably get shut down before the
Vegas one. Maybe the Vegas one. They could have fifteen
Corona cases and no one would care because the state
is to invest in the state paid for it. Where
in l A. It's a little out of Cronky's hands.
He's cutting the checks. But you know, is he in
bed with the politicians. I'm sure he is a little bit.
But eventually, if guys get sick, there's only so much
(26:15):
you can do. Uh, Clowney, I saw a report that
Clowney might not sign until training camp. Why is it
always something with this guy? It's like every freaking guy
that's a decent player and a good players already signed. Clowney,
what are you doing? Just whatever? The best offer is that.
(26:37):
There's not some magical offer coming down the pipe. It
is what it is. You are who you are. So
if someone's offering you a sixty seventy million dollars, guaranteed
you're not getting ninety. Hell, I wouldn't give you eighty.
Some of these teams are kind of crazy to give
you seventy. You just two hit or miss of a
player very talented, but there there's a reason you're unsigned.
(26:57):
Think about this. The hardest position to find beside quarterback
are sweet pass rushers and Clowney the number one overall.
Pick a guy that's had multiple you know, ten plus
I guess it's like nine and a half, but it's
a really good player refuses to sign for what his
market value is. The market told you what your value was, Clowney,
(27:17):
The market's already spoken every team. There's never been more
money than was just on the on the open market
three weeks ago or two weeks ago, wherever, whenever free
agency happened, that they showed you the offers that you
got offered, that that was the market, and a lot
of that money has dried up now. So I don't
know what you're holding out hope for that, like some
(27:37):
imaginary teams just all of a sudden gonna have some
huge money. Now, maybe a guy gets hurt or not.
But just because a guy gets hurt doesn't mean if
I lose a player in early August, I'm just all
of a sudden gonna give Clowney eighty million dollars to
sign with me. I don't think now. Maybe I would
overpay for one year, but why wouldn't he have taken
some of the multi year deals that were on the table.
(27:59):
Sometimes these guy, I don't know if it's the guy,
the players, their agents, They just make poor decisions. Levian
Bell did it a couple of years ago, Melvin Gordon
did it last year, and I think Klan is getting
bad advice. I did a little mock draft on the
athletic little site that I uh I worked for on
the side, and I thought, I just bang out a
(28:20):
little bit. We'll just go team by team. I did
the top thirteen picks again. I ended with the forty niners,
the Bengals Joe Burrow, pretty no brainer for the second
overall pick. In In my mock draft, I had the
Redskins trading back and the Dolphins who traded Laramie Tunzil,
who traded Minka Fitzpatrick, who have been looking for Dan
(28:40):
Marino since Dan Marino walked away, desperately need a start quarterback,
and if TWA checks out, I haven't picking two up.
There there's a chance they like Herbert more. But if
I was them, I would be willing to trade maybe
pick twenty six in the second round pick to get
up and ensure I get the guy I cannot be
passed in the draft. Whoever my second quarterback is on
the board, because obviously Joe Burrow is gonna be gone.
(29:02):
I can't let that guy fall past me. I have
to land that guy. And if I'm the Redskins, I
I need so much work, so much help. If I
can acquire multiple first round picks, like pick five, pick
in a second round pick just to move back three spots,
I'm still gonna end up with a really good player.
Any like John Audie pass on Chase Young, well, if
they trade Trent Williams. They desperately need a left tackle,
(29:24):
and you could argue the three most important positions quarterback,
left tackle, or right tackle. They're really important to and
pass rushers. So if I the Lions would end up
with Chase Young, it would be the gift from God.
If the Miami Dolphins go up to two, the Lions,
who had only the Dolphins had less sacks last year
than the Detroit Lions, desperately need a good pass rusher.
They get Chase Young. The New York Giants, who love
(29:47):
size and speed. Historically the Michael stray Hands, the Kiwa Nukahs,
the j Pps, the Justin Tucks. They love like Eric Flowers.
They're enamored with size and length. To me, Isaiah Simmons
just it would be the guy that's who I would
go with over an offensive lineman. And then the Redskins
take the offensive tackle backed in from Louisville. The dude
(30:08):
was like three seventy pounds, who rans the five eleven,
who's just a physical freak. You get him with Ron
Rivery and you play bullyball. Chargers take Justin Herbert. Uh.
They clearly need a quarterback. Tyrod Taylor is a marginal
starter at best, and they need a little juice going
into the new stadium. The Carolina Panthers end up with Oduka.
I think it's how you say his name in the
corner from Ohio State, which is he's a star. I mean,
(30:30):
he's a legitimate cover corner. But I know this. If
I was running a team and I think, let's say
this guy is gonna be Patrick Peterson, but I would
take offensive tackles and I would take a pass rusher
over a corner. And you could argue if Isaiah Simmons
is truly like a tall honey Badger meets you know,
(30:52):
just this hybrid player outside linebacker star kind of can
pass rush, do it everything. I would rather have Isaiah
Simmons than a corner because I I like corners and
they matter. But if you're a lockdown corner, I can
just throw to the other side. If you're a honey Badger,
I don't know what side he's gonna I don't know
where he's gonna be, right, I just I don't Uh.
The Arizona Cardinals, I think clearly they could take an
(31:15):
offensive lineman. But if I was the Cardinals, I would
justify by this. Well, my little quarterbacks faster than all hell,
so at least he can avoid pass rushers. Uh. My
defense is stinks right now. I have one good defensive
player that I feel confident. I guess I got to
Patrick Peterson, but I got Chandler Jones, especially in my
front seven. I need to get him some help. We
haven't had a legit defensive line since Klais Campbell has
(31:36):
been traded, and we've kind of fallen off the map.
You put Derek Brown with Chandler Jones, you're in You're
in a conference against Russell Wilson against Kyle Shanahan against
McVeigh and all those. You gotta be able to rush
the pastor the Jacksonville Jaguars have got rid of Klais
Campbell and Malik Jackson the last twelve months. They desperately
need a good defensive lineman, so I gave them Javon
(31:56):
kin Law from South Carolina, who's kind of this physical
free The Browns, uh, they have wide receivers everywhere. They
got multiple running backs, they got multiple tight ends, they
got good defensive players, their offensive line stinx, and they
signed Jack Conklin, a playwright tackle. You know, in this mock,
I got them taking Tristan Worse. I mean, they're taking
an offensive tackle as they should. And then Baker Mayfield
(32:18):
has legitimately zero excuses. Who have two legit tackles. He'll
have multiple wide receivers, who have multiple sweet running backs.
He'll have a sweet new tight end. He'll have another
tight ends come back from injury. Like time to put
up or shut up. New York Jets kind of like
the Cardinals, like they need offensive line help. But the
Jets did sign a lot of offensive lineman over the
last three weeks or two weeks. Now, I guess I
(32:40):
get in quarantine. You kind of loose track of time.
I gave him Jerry Judy because I think there's two
ways to look at it. You put you put in
a bunch of, you know, functional starters. Now, you could
always take a great offensive lineman. But if you're other
parts of your offensive line are week just having one
star tackle doesn't necessarily change it. I know what you
can't do if you have no one to throw too.
(33:00):
Even if I am blocking for you, the quarterback can't function.
They have one legitimate offensive player and that's Levian Bill.
Jamison Crowder actually wasn't bad last year. Robby Anderson, their
deep threats gone to meet Jerry Judy. He comes from
a big time program. He's been the star wide receiver
there for multiple years. Uh, he's had a five catches
and twenty four touchdowns the last two years. I think
(33:20):
he'd fit right in in in New York and he'd
be Sam Donald's go to guy for years to come.
I think the Raiders and Niners these next two picks
are interesting because both of them have another first round pick.
The Raiders have a ton of needs. Uh, they easily
could take another corner. I mean, they signed some solid linebackers,
but if they like a fast linebacker enough, you can
never have enough death. You could argue if one of
(33:41):
those defensive linemen fall to them, they could do that,
but they're best wide receivers. Tyrone Williams, who you know,
it's a good number two, probably an ideal elite three.
I got him taking Ceedee Lamb. Derek Carr has done
his best work when he's had Davante Adams in college,
and then Michael Crabtree in the pros. Guys with huge
catching radiuses that make up for poor ball placement and
(34:02):
that you can just throw it up to even when
they're covered and let him make plays in that Ceedee Lamb.
And then for the forty Niners, I gave him Henry Ruggs.
Kyle desperately wants a speed guy in that offense. You
put a speed guy to go deep, you put Kittle
over the middle, and you have d Bow on one
side just working his magic. You've got a legitimate offense,
especially when you factor in all the running backs. So
that's my mock draft on the athletic. You gotta pay
(34:23):
for it, but I gave it to you. Here free. Uh,
so go if you haven't already subscribed Athletic I love
that place. Okay, let's go Middle Coff mail bag at
John Middlecoff. Uh is my Instagram handle. D MS wide open,
slide up in them if you're sliding in the d ms.
Also leave a little uh leave a little apparable review
(34:43):
on the three and Out podcast, John fan of both pods,
appreciate you pumping out stuff during the quarantine. Seeing almost
all the experts placing one of the top three wide
receivers Judy Lamb and Ruggs to San Francisco at thirteen,
but you think there's a chance they replaced Buckner directly
with the pick. Derrick Brown, Auburn defensive tackle, has been
(35:04):
sliding the late teams because of predicted runs at offensive
tackle and wide receiver, but he's clearly a top ten
talent him and default of similar disruptive gap eating play styles.
While Brown isn't six seven the mountain of a man
defot is, he's still a massive for a defensive tackle.
A couple other points, out of all of stenses, o
C and head coach Shanahan has only had two offensive
(35:25):
two had two offensive skill players drafted onto his team
in the first round, both quarterbacks r G three and
Johnny Manzel. God, I forget that the coach Johnny Manzel.
That's insane. All others have been offensive linemen or defensive players.
Could be a trend. Also, Lynches seen a successful GM
after drafting two defensive lineman early, even though he whipped
on Thomas. Is he tempted to stick to what has
(35:47):
gone well? It's a good question. I I think what
makes the Niners fascinating is they have two picks. So
the reason it's a deep wide receiver draft, they could
easily take a guy at thirty one. So with thirteen,
the reason you have their team is because you got
rid of to Forest Buckner, so you could fill a spot.
You could also take a corner the CJ. Henderson I
(36:08):
think is his name, the corner from Florida. The Niners
have one stud corner and Richard Sherman who's gonna be
a free agent after next year, and then their other
corner position is undrafted free agent Emmanuel Moseley and a
Kellow Weatherspoon, so I think they could easily take a corner.
I also think they could trade back. I I don't
(36:29):
think there's a lot to do. One things. What do
you think the niner is gonna do with the first
round picks they have? Uh? Do you know what's fun
about the draft? And I think what makes the Raiders
and makes the forty Niners so talked about and the Dolphins?
Uh is there any other teams with multiple first round picks?
Trying to think the Texas don't have any of the
Bears don't have any. Is anytime you get multiple first
(36:49):
round picks, it's like you're showing up the casino, not
with a bag of cash, but two bags of cash.
You're like, I can't wait to gamble. And that's what it's.
It's a fun time to be a to be a
football fan when your team has two first round picks,
even if one of them is in the late twenties.
With the Raiders, they got picked twelve and nineteen, Like
they could do some crazy shit. I mean, they could
(37:10):
trade up really high in the draft if they want
to do and get a player, or they could use
one of them to trade back. They could just sit
there and pick both guys. Forty is a little different
than the Raiders have a second or third or fourth
round pick. So would a team, you know, some of
these teams and the teams or even in the twenties
be willing to kind of move up. I think the
(37:32):
lots on the table. If I'm gonna pick the Niners,
I would go corner, wide receiver, or defensive line. Uh.
I love the pod wondering if Rodgers is truly declining
or he just getting used to a new system. He
has also had horrible wide receivers and Davante did miss
five weeks also Green Bay super Bowl window closed. I
(37:56):
think it's fair to say he's declining a little bit.
He doesn't quite move like he used to. His accuracy
to me in big games was a little off. Now
I do think there are some fair counters his wide
receiver corps besides seventeen was bad, Jimmy Graham bad. Their
running game was good. Uh, the this is not Donald Driver,
Greg Jennings, Jamichael Finley, Randall Cobb, that it's not that
(38:20):
Jordy Nelson, that that group is not walking through the door.
So I wouldn't say he's shot or anything. He just
kind of had an up and down season for a
guy who stats look pretty good and team won a
lot of games. I think what's weird about Aaron Rodgers.
His team went thirteen and three. Statistically, he looked solid.
But there is to me, there's something with the eye
(38:41):
test and a Packer fan just like any NFL fan,
because we've been watching Rogers for a decade, and for
about seven or eight of those years in the decade,
it was like watching unlike anything we've ever seen. You know,
when you flip on the TV and you watch Lebron,
you got yeah, I don't think I've ever seen that before, right,
You just that doesn't look normal, even Brady, like Brady
(39:01):
is the best at it. But we've seen tall uh
you know, immobile quarterbacks. He just throws dimes or historically has,
but I've seen we've seen his type. I've never really
seen a Rodgers. Now, some people that if you watch
Marino and Elway, Like I was born in the mid eighties,
I didn't really get to feel those guys. I canna
watch YouTube, but it's different when you watch a guy live.
Watching Aaron Rodgers live again had some flaws or whatever,
(39:25):
teammates and all that stuff. When he was on, he
was unstoppable. We all agree with that. Whether you like
the Packers who don't like the Packers. Dude was a killer,
straight assassin, and I think there were times this year
where he went does he still have that? Uh? My
beef with Aaron has always been his fundamentals are shitty.
Now you can get by with bad fundamentals when you're
(39:47):
a freak and his arm was elite, his accuracy was elite. Well,
that doesn't stay with you forever. There's a reason Like
Peyton Manning and Tom Brady now they had to or
Drew Brees have elite fundamentals, eat, always in perfect spots,
shoulders parallel to the target, arm, all that stuff. Like
Rogers doesn't mess with that. He gets away with it.
Think of basketball players. When you're an elite athlete, you
(40:10):
can kind of screw around like Russell Westbrook and still
drop thirty five. When that athleticism diminishes, if you can't
really shoot, you get exposed. Now, Rogers always has been accurate,
but it gets a little harder when you're thirty sixty
seven years old, when your feet aren't set when you're
drifting back. His fundamentals are is bad? Now? Can they
just get I think it's sometimes hard to treat a
(40:30):
you know, teach a new dog treat an old dog
new tricks. But if he could just get control of
some of his fundamentals, I think he might have a
chance to still be elite. I would, by no means
count him out. I love the pod it has been.
It has a visceral, not overproduced feel to it. I
(40:51):
appreciate that. Did you do anything to help did you
do anything to help you find your voice? What mike
do you use? Sound quality is on point? Well, I
use a H four N Pro, which is this zoom
It's like a little box, and then I plug a mic.
USB mikes if you're trying to start your own podcast,
non never sound as good. So you want I think
(41:13):
it's I forget the cable's name, auxiliary cable. It's got
some cable name. I'm not see. I'm not a radio guy.
I'm just scout businessman who now talks. So I don't
know the lingo. I just I looked it up when
a lot of people were using on podcasts. You don't
want a USB mike. I plugged my mic into the
H four N Pro and then I plug that into
(41:34):
my computer, and then I press record on garage band
on my Apple computer, and then that's it. It actually
isn't that complicated. Now. The H four N Pro I
think cost me, I don't know, three bucks. The Mike's
actually really cheap. I got him on Amazon. The cords
are cheap, got him on Amazon. The MIC's stand probably
combined cost fifty bucks. The mic, the mic stand, and
(41:56):
the chord. So really my only purchase was I bought
a computer a couple of years ago. I needed a
new one. It's nice, and I bought this Zoom and
then you can just produce a show. It's pretty easy.
Technology is a hell of a thing. Can you talk
about how the coronavirus is going to affect college seniors
going to the draft who didn't quite make the combine
cut and aren't going to be able to have their
(42:17):
pro days. Got two buddies from high school. One of
them is a little undersized but has intangibles, but won't
be able to show his speed athleticism at his at
his pro day, and that sets him apart similar to
the other guy, He just a sick athlete, played almost
every position in college, really needed to display his vast
skill set. What this means for them, I think you
bring up a great point. Pro days if I'm going
(42:40):
to a pro day like Jerry Judy and those guys, like,
we've seen it all. Most of the first round guys
they crushed the combine. Now some guys hold out, like
kJ Hamler, the Penn Steak guy. But but I know
that guy's fast. To me, I think you're right. The
pro days effect a guy that might have been a
six or seventh round pick. Now is that guy gonna
get drafted? He might not if I don't have very
fight speed. But this is also where if you're a
(43:02):
scout and you've got in let's just pick us random school.
Let's say your buddy plays at Arizona and he's kind
of an under the radar player, but you love him
and you think he's a draftable player. Over this next
month is when you kind of start pounding the table
for guys like that. Say hey, coach, Hey whoever your
GM is, Hey Bill, Hey Jim, hey John, we need
to draft this guy. This is a draftable player to
(43:24):
use a six or seventh round pick on. And this
is when I think this draft is going to be very,
very scout heavy. For non New England teams, this is
a time when you can really step up and you
know and have the opportunity to kind of make your
voice heard because the GM's are gonna have to rely
on you. They're not gonna have the information they didn't
(43:46):
go into some of these schools. These guys aren't gonna
have workout numbers. You're not gonna have any measurables. So
this is for the guys that have been at the
boots on the ground. All these scouts that have been
to these practices have seen these guys play live. This
is when you set for it yourself. This might in
a couple of years we hear about that's when uh Bill,
Bill Middlecoff I just used my last name, became like
(44:08):
we knew he was a good scout, but he eventually
became the assistant general manager because he shined during the coronavirus.
I think it's a time for a lot of scouts
to like, if you put another work, you should shine.
Right now, I'd be hitting my GM up every day,
like we gotta be all over this guy, this guy,
and this guy. Since the Buck signed Brady, I think
they are in wind Mount Win now mode. What is
your take on them trading for Trent Williams. They have
(44:29):
the fourteenth pick, and I don't think they will be
in place to draft the tackle. Well, you can't trade
the fourteenth pick for a thirty one year old offensive
tackle who hasn't played in a year. Now. Trent Williams
when he was playing his elite seven time Pro bowler,
all those all pros, baller, I mean absolute baller, was
headed straight to the Hall of Fame. And if you
put Trent Williams on a team that had been winning,
I think he'd be one of the more famous players
(44:51):
in the league. But I definitutely they have a second
round pick. I can't trade a first round pick for
you can't. Can't do it like it's that not in
that business now, I hear you or in wind now mode,
and they are anytime you sign a forty three year
old quarterback and you give him fifty million dollars. But
you've got to be prudent. And I do think one
of the top tackles will be there at fourteen. Now.
If they're not, you could always take a defensive player
(45:12):
and use your second round pick to get him because
he's clearly available. Uh, let me see what I can
I get a lot of d ms here. I'm trying
to work through him. Okay, I've been thinking of how
(45:33):
you asked how you asked this question for a while while.
Why is Herbert being questioned as much as he is,
even though to me his circumstances are the worst out
of all the top four quarterbacks. A lot of talk
about love and how great of a year he had
two years ago, but then because of the new coach
and no talent around him, he struggled. Now, look at
Herbert three coaches in four years, two of which Willie
Taggert Mark Helfritch, who are clearly not top tier court
(45:56):
coaches agree Taggert being a guy who tagged Herbert at
is not a great leader. Ha ha. I just I
don't know why I read that, ha ha, But that
was just verbat him. I like you Burgundy reads the prompter.
Then talk about no talent. Organ has had a week
receiving course since Chip left for Philly fifty two drops
in two thousand and eight. This guy's got some good knowledge.
Maybe I'm being biased Duck fan, and I actually think
(46:17):
Herbert sliding in the draft will be good for his career.
I wish Joey Harrington and Marcus has been picked later
in the draft and had better management around them. But
I feel like no one is giving Herbert any of
the excuses. They're throwing to the other guy's thoughts. Easton,
that's a that's a good question, Eason. Uh. I think
NFL teams are talking about this. I don't think media
(46:38):
people are talking about this. In the NFL. In the
draft room, people that like Herbert are one million percent
saying look who Toah and look who Joe Burrow played with.
His worst wide receiver would easily be Organ's best. To me,
the kicker is they're running backs at Organ sucked. Their
running backs and receivers are terrible. Like to Herbert wasn't
playing with much when he won the Rose Bowl. And
(46:58):
I get he didn't have to win it with his
own him. He wanted with his legs. To me, he
willed them to a victory against one of the best
defenses in the country. I actually think that's his most
impressive game of his career. We're all watching all at
home watching the Rose Bowl, and he just refused to
let his team loose against a hard core, physical, well
coached Wisconsin Just a I don't know top twelve program
(47:21):
right now, and Herbert just carried his squad to a victory.
I get it was with his legs, but I don't
blame he had no one to throw to. So I'm
with you. I'm a I'm a Herbert guy. I think
in the right situation, he goes the right team. Uh,
he's gonna be in position to win. I think the
Chargers would be a good spot for him. I listen
to pod every day. Man, h's frying of colins still,
(47:43):
but I can't lie to press play on yours first, Now,
appreciate that how do you keep your your head so clean?
Serious question? Well, I I guess a lot of guys
I haven't had this problem. Now. I guess I've been
shaving my head since about two thousand elevens, almost a decade. Uh.
The haircut business is not an essential thing in life,
so that none of you guys are able to get haircuts.
The good thing about being bald is if virus like
(48:06):
Corona comes out of nowhere and wipes all these businesses
out and we have to stay quarantined, I'm still able
to get a haircut every other day because I take
a Mark three and I go in the shower and
I just let it rip. And I've been doing that
now for about When I first started shaving my head,
I just trimmed it to like a one. Now I
go full bald. I think it's a it's a sign
of security, you know. I mean after I was very
(48:29):
scared to go bald, and then once I went bald,
I was scared to actually pick my head. And then
once I picked my head, you can't ever go back
because you realize you can't be in your early to
mid thirties and have a cold de sac. It can't work.
You just you look terrible. My dad's generation was in
the sixties, seventies, eighties. I guess you can pull it
off to that twenty it's not allowed. If you go bald.
You just gotta shave it. You just you just gotta
(48:49):
let it rip unless you have a beard and it
all connects. Like Mike Garafolo the NFL Network, pretty uh reporter,
he pulls it off, actually pretty well. He he really does.
I can't because I can't really grow a full beard,
and it's just it's just a terrible look. So I
basically just go mock three. Usually, if I'm gonna shave,
I try to get a workout first. So it's nice
(49:10):
and sweaty and it just flies off, flies off the bone,
kind of like brisket. You know when you when you
perfectly cook the right type barbecue and the meat just
falls off like a good ribs. That's how the hair
after a good sweat. Now, if you try to shave
too often, it can be it can be intense. But
I actually think your head just kind of gets gets
used to it. Like I don't get razor burn or anything.
(49:32):
It's it's pretty easy. And I got pretty sensitive skin,
and I, uh, yeah, I just just shave. And the
key is a little lotion too. You know, it's a
little you can't you can't have a dry head. But
appreciate everyone listening, and uh, enjoy quarantine as as well
as possible. Keep your head up and I'll see a
little later in the week. So a s
What is going on? Everybody? John Middlecop Three and Out
podcast live from the quarantine studios of my home office.
I hope everyone's staying safe out there there. Hope everyone
is uh is getting by. And for those of you
listening that are on the front lines, whether we're at
a grocery store, health professional, whatever you do, you know,
(00:31):
I think we all, uh, we all can come together
and say a collective thank you. I appreciate it, and
we just keep on swinging and we'll get through this
march and uh, you know sports or sports are halted.
Thank god, the draft is still within I guess twenty
four days from today. Uh, so we have something to
(00:52):
look forward to. Thank you Roger Goodell for hosting the draft,
because without it, I don't know we'd be in trouble
for some content. But there's a lot to dive into today.
I mean, one of the big conversations going on in
football is these general managers are mad that the drafts
being held. Have some thoughts there. Jason Light, the Tampa
Bay Buccaneers general manager, was on television this morning and
(01:15):
uh spoke about Tom Brady and actually had a kind
of an interesting comment that I want to dive into
just some other stories. Then of course the Middlecoff mailbag
at John Middlecoff is UH is my handle, so slide
up into my Instagram d m s. It's also my
Twitter handle. And any question you want, we we are.
We're wide open for questions. And UH, I need you.
(01:39):
I need you to help carry me. There's a team
effort here. This is your guys show. Also, I guess,
if you haven't yet, if you could go to the
Apple or iTunes and leave a review, I would greatly
appreciate that. Obviously you already subscribed to the podcast if
you're listening to this. But let's start with this. This
coronavirus overall sucks. None of us, if we could choose,
(02:01):
would have this virus exist. It is throwing all of
our lives for a loop in some form or some fashion,
all of us in a weird way or a creature
of habits. Even entrepreneurs or musicians or you think the
most artistic people, they're still pretty routine oriented. Now on
the high end, you know football coach or a general
(02:23):
manager or a marine or you know, certain businesses are
very very routine oriented. Some of those, like podcasting, little
open ended. I can pick and choose when to do it.
But I still have specific things I do every day.
If you run a business, depending on whether you're deemed
essential right now or not, your life's thrown out. And
even if you are an essential business, you're clearly taking
(02:44):
measures that you would not normally take, and you're doing
things for your employees. I know people that run food
operations that take the temperature of everyone that comes in.
My little brother who just had a baby. His wife
was going to get, you know, your typical check up
a month or two months in, and you gotta take
your temperature before you go in. It's these curveballs are
coming every day for us that we did not expect.
(03:07):
But you know what, that's life. That's just the reality
of when these a pandemic hits or when something that
we can't predict happens. This isn't, this isn't. I guess
it's not the first time in a long time a
pandemic is hit. But we've had crazy things happened to
us before, and we always figure out ways to adapt.
Do we want to know? We would like to keep
(03:29):
business going as usual, especially in a bull economy, when
business is going well for a lot of people. No
one wants to be halted, but that those those aren't
the cards we were dealt. Corona dealt us a shitty
hand and we just have to make the best of it.
And last week Roger Goodell gave a comment and the
comment was I don't even have it in front of me,
(03:50):
but it basically said, hey, general managers, shut up, no
one wants to hear you complain. The draft is happening,
and deal with it. And you know my first react,
and I mentioned it briefly on the last part. I
kind of liked it. It kind of reminded me of
a David Stern type comment because I saw Peter King
had anonymous GM today saying, like, what about freedom of
speech and we're not allowed to complain. I don't necessarily
(04:13):
think that's the point here. It's that Colin talked about
it last week. The NFL their number one business partner
by a mile, our television networks, that's where they make
all their money. And who needs this more than anyone
right now, or the television markets or the television networks
obviously the individual markets. It'll be the highest rated event
(04:33):
sporting event, I mean in years. It will be the
highest rate of draft ever, But the point is like
this can still happen because of the nature of the event,
we don't need people there, and general managers kind of
start nitpicking the semantics. Well, we don't have the pro days,
the small school guys, and we can't bring them in.
It's like, hey, guys, it's two thousand twenty. We got
(04:53):
a thing called zoom, we got a thing called Skype.
Mix it up, figure it out. Because the draft has
had happening. And I don't want to hear any of
you guys complain, because again, our first reaction when anything
happens that throws us for a loop. In whatever business
you do, whether you own a sandwich shop or whether
you run the ravens, you're gonna be piste off. It's
(05:14):
it's a normal human reaction. I'll never blame anyone for
being mad. But after a while, like, hey, guys, the
corona's impacting us. All people are dying. We're all quarantined,
I guess except Florida, but normal states quarantined. Uh not
not really leaving our house. Joe Diffy dies. You know
this is Tony Boselli's and icy you like this is
(05:34):
a real thing. There's no more denying you like it was,
just it's impacting everybody. So if you have to kind
of change your draft plans, change your draft plans, because
luckily in two thousand twenty, this isn't technologies on your side.
You can bring these guys in. I saw the NFL
is allowing three three hour skype calls with every player
or every draft prospect that you want. Typically I've talked
(05:57):
about this before. There's a top thirty is it where
you bring in thirty players. It doesn't have to be
first round. It can be any players, Guys with character issues,
guys you might draft in the first round. Whatever, that's
not happening now. But you're still able to do something
and where I think it's gonna be interesting. And I
saw some of these draft guys telling Albert Breyr and
Peter King and their MMQB in their articles that some
(06:20):
of these draft rooms, like Chris Ballard the Colts do
a really good job of tweeting out videos. It's not
even it's not tweeting out. They put it on YouTube.
It's basically like a ten to fifteen minute series leading
up to the draft, Senior Bowl, the Combine. It's gonna
be interesting what they do this next month. But they
give a really good kind of inside look. They're not
(06:40):
giving away their secrets, but they're showing how they work
and they collaborate. And I know the Chiefs, I know
the Niners, I know the Eagles. I can speak for
the teams that I'm close with. They watch a lot
of tape in their draft room when they're going over
their draft board. It's a very collaborative effort from the
general manager down to the area scouts. It's a huge
group discussion. It's actually really healthy. It's gonna be a
(07:03):
little more difficult if you're all on Skype because you're
not able probably to watch the same tape at the
same time. Even though maybe you could do it, it's
just not gonna be a smooth So, you know what,
You're gonna have to adapt a little bit and you're
gonna have to figure out the best way because you
know what. Everyone's playing by these rules. It's an equal
playing field. If California and in Washington State were the
(07:25):
only places that were quarantined, you would be a huge
disadvantage for the Niners, the Rams, the Chargers, Seattle, the
Raiders because they're still here. Right But everyone is under
the same guidelines. Because Roger Goodell, and I'll give him
credit for this one, took it under his own in
the league office that you're all going home, No one's all.
Every building's shut because if you did not do that,
(07:46):
teams would go into the office. Now the team's gonna
be the least affected is the dictatorship that we call
New England. He's notorious in New England. There's like five
people in the draft room. The scouts are not in there,
the coaches aren't not in there. It's like ill. It's
Ernie Adams, Cassario and the owners. It's a and maybe
(08:06):
a contract. It's a small, small group. A lot of
draft rooms. Some draft rooms have every scout you've seen
the pictures of Seattle over the years, or Indie coaches,
the scouts, they're all in there. Sums are kind of split.
But this is this is a new time for everyone.
Now Belichick's equipped for a pandemic just because he doesn't
depend on that many people. He can do it all himself. Well,
(08:28):
of teams can't and they need help. General managers need help.
And it's gonna be if the teams with younger general
managers that are more technologically advanced and open minded and
fluid with technology, Like, hey, I've never used zoom before.
I'm using it later for something for another project, and
(08:49):
I just downloaded it and I didn't even know what
zoom was three weeks ago. Now I have it downloaded.
I'm gonna be doing a live feed for something with
someone local here in the Bay Area about some gambling stuff.
And it's just not that hard. Like technology in two
thousand twenty is pretty advanced. I've literally made all my
money in the media since I've kind of gone to
(09:09):
work for myself through technology, and I would view myself
as a technological idiot. I'm not Mr. Some computer whiz,
but it's really relatively basic. And they have this thing
they call YouTube. So whenever you download new technology or
interested in new technology, do you know what I always do?
I type in how do I use blank? On YouTube?
(09:32):
And you know what it always does, whether my dryer
dies or whether I'm trying to use a new streaming program,
it teaches me how to do it. Remember the books like, uh,
you know, raising a kid for dummies, building a home
for dummies. That's basically what YouTube is. Any question you
have type it in on YouTube, and it's there to
help dummies out, and football people aren't necessarily dummies, depending
(09:55):
on the age group of the individual team, but they
are creatures of habits and they're used to do things
in a specific way. And now they've got a huge
curveball throne. So these guys that are complaining, like I
understand maybe a couple of days into Corona complaining, we're
two weeks into it, Like, just just shut your mouth
and figure it out. Because this is the new reality
for the league. You're gonna have to draft players on
(10:16):
the information that you had two weeks ago and it
it ended there. So if you don't have a guy's
forty time, guess what it's gonna be on you and
your scouts to determine how fast he is on tape. Hey,
if you know you didn't get a chance to meet him, Well,
the scout that you're paying whatever you value them at,
whether it's a seventy dollar road scout or whether it's
some intern that went into the school, you're gonna have
to trust that his information on the guy's character, on
(10:40):
the guy off the field, meeting with the academic advisors,
meeting with it is right. You can't or or you're
gonna have to do your own work. And I read
another good article that a lot of coaches and general
managers are now depending on their relationships because this is
what you're gonna have to call the position coach. You're
gonna have to call the coaches you know around the
country of the specific programs of the guys you like
(11:01):
or that, or have questions on and get the real information.
And that is a really, really difficult thing to do.
And a lot of times it becomes easier at these
pro days because if I'm you know, Bill Belichick or whoever,
John Schneider or John Lynch, I show up at the thing, well,
they're always gonna want to talk to me. When I
was at Fresno State and I was a graduate assistant,
(11:22):
you know what was really cool when someone showed up
a head coach or GM, Like I saw the scouts
come all year long and I ended up becoming one.
It's cool, but you be kind like, oh, just another guy.
But when I remember Ryan Matthews the year he got
drafted for the Chargers, A J. Smith, the GM at
the time, showed up and it was a really big deal.
It was like, damn I remember kind of helping him out.
I got him some coffee. I was trying to kiss
(11:43):
his ass, hopefully to get a job. But it was like, damn.
I remember when Scott Poli showed up when I was
at Fresno State because the Patriots were there for like
they were playing the Chargers, then they were playing the Raiders,
and they stayed in California and they were staying like
San Jose, and it was always a big deal. Well,
that's and those guys were able to get great information
because the head coach is always kind of kissing their
ass or their friends or whatever. That's just not gonna
(12:05):
happen now. And your real relationships of the guys that
you know that you've had come through your through your
NFL program, guys that you've met over their coach with
over the years, are really gonna shine through. And the
hard part about that is that college coaches sometimes the
farther they get away from the season, the more pro
player they can be. If you get them in October
(12:28):
and they're three and three and they're piste off, sometimes
they give you the real information because it's raw and real. Well,
in the middle of March or the beginning of April.
You know, especially during Corona, you're at home, you're kind
of feeder up, you're just kind of relaxing. You're not
gonna be maybe as real, even if it is a
close friend of yours, because the information you have where
(12:49):
you truly believe of the player, you might not give it.
That's why the information in the fall, when you're an
area scout, when you're a college director and you go
into these programs with these big time players, you gotta
get really good information. And the better sources are, the
better connections are, the more access you have to the coordinators,
to the head coaches, to the trend to whoever, and
(13:11):
going above and beyond and getting that extra NEGGETI of
you know what, this guy is just not nice to
you know, let's say our assistant trainers or you know what,
this guy couldn't treat the people that can't do anything
for him any better he is. He might be one
of the best people we've ever had in the program.
And getting some of these comments when it's in the
(13:31):
middle of the season and all the you know, everyone's
kind of paying attention and the and the information is
just raw, like right now, it's like, yeah, you're thinking back,
if you're the head coach, you want the guy to
get drafted so your program looks better that there is
there's all this incentive for these teams to give you
better information that may be actually true. And I think
(13:53):
this draft is really going to put in the focus
how good you were in the fall, how good your
scouting staff was, how good you're you know, your executives
that make school calls throughout the year are how intent
you were in grilling these guys the access you had
at the Senior Bowl, where you going above and beyond
or you going out drinking and screwing around. What you
guys did at the combine, Did you guys make that
(14:15):
extra effort because that that time now is ten times
more important how much time you spent with the players,
or how much time you spent gathering information because you're
not really able to do that now. You can do
the skype calls, but you know, what can you really
gain out of a skype call. It's a lot different
than seeing a guy in person, right, and you're really
in a skype call just asking him information that you
already have. He's not, you know, coach, let me tell
(14:37):
you about the one time. You don't have this in
your notes. I got arrested. You know, I had you know,
probably three joints in my back pocket and I was
doing thirty miles an hour over the speed limit. You know,
I might have had a couple of pops as well.
It never got out. The program was able to kind
of keep it under rest, but yeah, you know, I
got a d U I with a couple of joints.
Don't don't tell anything like that's not happening. If if,
(14:58):
if that stuff didn't get out and you don't out
that information, that's on you. And these last couple of
months or some of the time when you kind of
can nail down some of that information and it's just
it's just not gonna be there. But the more of
these guys complain, now obviously they're not putting their name
on it because you don't have to be an idiot,
but you gotta you gotta get doing a different mind
mind frame, like you need to be just attacked this
(15:20):
full go with the cards you're dealt because right now
the cards coronas dealing sucks, but you gotta play the hand. Okay,
let's dive into something that I saw this morning, and
Jason light, the general manager for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers,
was on with Mike Greenberg ESPN show Get Up and
had some interesting comments and it made me think. He
(15:43):
said that Tom Brady actually when he called us, did
more recruiting to us than we necessarily did for him.
And I'm a single guy. I'm in my mid thirties
since in the peak of internet dating apps, and you
could argue they're still going strong. I I've experienced them,
I've been on them all, I've seen them all. And
(16:07):
sometimes on these apps you meet people that clearly you
never would meet, right. It's the powerful thing about these apps.
You would never meet these people, You would never come
across them in life because most people you meet typically
back in the day, you have to go out to
a bar, meet someone through a friend. Like you were
kind of limited to how much effort you wanted to
put in slash just some blind luck. Now there's somewhat
(16:30):
of an element of blind luck, but you're still in
a sixty mile radius wherever you're living, have access to
anyone that's single that wants to put themselves on that.
But the one thing I've learned in my experience being
on Internet day dating app just because you're on the app,
especially for girls, maybe it's like this for guys too.
I've always been pretty open on the app in terms
of like, if I'm on the app, I'm open to
(16:50):
go on a date, open to go out, open to
do whatever. Sometimes girls they get out of a relationship,
in my experience, and they get on this app, and
I think in theory they want to be on the app,
but they don't really want to be there. And then
maybe you even go out with them and you have
a good time, but they're not emotionally ready. And it
goes both ways. Just because two people are single doesn't
(17:11):
mean they're at the same point, like they both want
a relationship. Some people might just want to hook up.
Some people might just want some companionship. Some might want
to get married. One go to line in the on
the Internet dating streets, and anyone listening to this who's
seen it can attest to it. A lot of girls
put no hookups, I would imagine again total guests. At
(17:35):
least none of my friends who have ever been on
an Internet date dating app have ever wrote no hookups.
So there are different frame of minds on these sites.
Just like when you get with someone, like if you're
truly single and over the last person you were dating,
and so is the other person, you have a chance
if you end up liking each other, hit it off, whatever,
(17:56):
to become something. And I think what you saw with
Tom Brady is I don't know if probably the last
couple of years, I think he had toyed with it
in his head. But now after we kind of see
the way everything played out, it was pretty clear he
was ready for a breakup in the fall, right when
he restructed his contract, when he started selling his house,
when Guerrero started selling his house. I think he was
(18:18):
ready for a breakup, not because he necessarily wanted to
leave the Patriots, because he knows the Patriots had left
him a k. Belichick didn't want him back. So when
you're a human and you're dating someone and you realize
you know they don't like you that much, there is
some forms, especially if you've been in a twenty relationship.
I've never been in. Some people of you listening have
been in long term relationships, been married for a long
(18:39):
period of time. There's a lot of ups and downs
in those relationships, but that's usually what makes a relationship strong.
It's not just the good times, it's the bad times.
You've been part of. Like in a relationship, maybe you've
been part of some deaths, you've been part of some bursts,
You've been part of some highs and lows. In professionally,
you've seen a lot. And obviously Brady and Belichick had
been through the rain. So when you're gonna be in
(19:00):
a relationship like that, usually don't like, oh, it's over
and then one day you go your separate ways. That's
not how something like that works. So it took some time.
But I think Brady for the last probably five six months,
ever since he put the wheels in motion last fall,
was ready because he knew Bill was ready, and he
had enough information and realized building want him there anymore.
And sometimes you have to realize that person doesn't want
(19:20):
you and kind of have your hand forced to realize
there's more fishing in the in the sea. And the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers in turn, got a little lucky too
that they were just in this position that Brady clearly
didn't really want to go west. He wanted to stay
on on the East coast for his family, and they
had nailed a couple of wide receiver picks. They had
an offensive coach, and they needed a quarterback. Imagine if
(19:43):
Jameis's first three years hadn't been so rocky, if he
hadn't gotten trouble with the Uber driver, maybe they would
have gone Because all you read all these stories, you
hear all these players talk about him. I know a
couple of people in Tampa. They always rave about his
work ethic. People really like him in the building. Maybe
he would have been extended, and maybe they wouldn't have
had the flexibility to just his contract was out. They
could be fluid, they could be flexible, they could just
(20:05):
kind of kick him to the curb. But here's what
the Bucks always had in their back pocket. Why this
situation lined up perfect. They needed Tom to like them
because they were open that if Tom did like them,
they could move on it. Because they had Jamis that went.
You know what, if Tom goes somewhere else, goes to
Tennessee or goes to the l A Chargers, we can
just keep Jamis. We've all had that girlfriend or been
(20:26):
on the other end of the person just keeping you around,
hoping to upgrade. That's all football kind of is. You're
always looking upgrade, and unless you get Jerry Rice or
Aaron Donald or Tom Brady, it's basically impossible to upgrade
now with Belichick would tell you, well, yeah it was
ten years ago at forty three years old. We think
big picture, we can and with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers,
(20:49):
they were in a position where James hasn't nowhere to go.
Nobody wants Jamis. You know, it's fun story on Twitter.
No one's lined up to even unlike Cam Newton, who
is a old, a rising player right now, he has
a bad shoulder in a bad foot, like his medicals
are the question. James healthy. Hell, Jamis is healthier right
now than he was four months ago. He got the lasic,
he can see better. If people wanted James, they'd be
(21:12):
all over him right now. Nobody wants them yet Tampa
new worst case scenario, they could bring him back, you know,
probably win eight nine games. They could just cut down
a couple of turnovers. But at the end of the day,
they needed Tom to like them, and Tom did. And
like sometimes an internet dating or just real life dating,
you need two people to kind of have the same
frame of mind. Tampa Bay desperately wanted to like Tom Brady.
(21:34):
They were lucky. Tom Brady desperately wanted to like a
situation that fit him logistically, geographically, obviously offensively, with the
wide receivers and the tight ends, and then he can
sell himself. You know, there's no state income tax. They
will guarantee two years. I wouldn't say it was a
match made in heaven, but for Tom if you did
have to transition, given how many teams currently have quarterbacks,
(21:58):
pretty ideal scenario that this team was available, right because
if you look at the Tennessee Titans, you go, well,
they're a very run heavy team. Their best wide receiver
is was a rookie. Uh Delaney just bounced. You know,
Derrick Henry's technically, I mean, it's franchise tag, but you
can't really go anywhere. Is he gonna be happy? Is
he gonna hold out? They let their right tackle go.
(22:19):
They're in a little bit of transition despite being a
really well run and good team. We're Tampa. All the
key guys are in a contract, two tight ends, two
wide receivers. Coach isn't going anywhere. They need some offensive
line help, but they have some solid defensive guys. It
kind of made some sense. Sometimes you just need things
to aligned, and things just kind of aligned, you know.
(22:39):
Somewhat you could argue they're both a little desperate. Tampa
hadn't been in the playoffs in twelve years. Uh, desperately
just want some buzz kind of you could argue one
of the most irrelevant teams in the league. Tom Brady
is kind of looking around like, you know, I don't
really have that many options. Plus I I kind of
have some things that I want to do. I don't
(23:00):
want to go play on the West Coast. So Boom
charges Raiders. Not really, you know, on the table, I
couldn't commit to Rabel and Boom he signs Ryan Taniel.
That's not an option anymore. Where the hell am I
gonna go? So it Tom was. You could argue as
desperate as Tampa Bay was to sign them. And you
know what, what's gonna be fun about this little match
is it could be good. It could be great. It
(23:21):
could not. You know, sometimes when two desperate people get
married or get together and start dating, I mean, you
have a great honeymoon period, but eventually, right, all relationships,
they all get tested. Right, it becomes when you first
start dating someone or you first getting married, sex is awesome.
You love each other, and as time goes, you know
(23:42):
how your actual relationship is, how much is your friend.
You know that they're gonna have to learn on the
fly here. There's really not gonna be a huge honeymoon
period for Tampa Bay and Tom Brady. They were tinder dating. Uh,
they both were kind of desperate for each other. And
now we're gonna find out if this thing works. I
would bet on them having some success. But the more
(24:04):
and more I've thought about it, it's gonna be a
little more challenging probably than most of us just in
the football world. Just assume no offseason offenses that aren't
a perfect match made in heaven. And again, the reason
they got together was a little bit more out of
desperation than anyone wants to admit. Okay, let's bang out
(24:27):
a couple of stories before the Middlecoff mailbag, and just
some things that I saw that happened this weekend. Right now,
there has been corona case at the Vegas Stadium and
at the l A Stadium, And now I get construction
is still quote unquote considered an essential business. I do
feel it's gonna be hard if corona is taken off
(24:47):
of the rates in which is taken off when there
are a lot of people around. How these stadiums are
gonna avoid shutting down? Now, I there are no rules
in Nevada, but they are a couple more cases away
from I mean, m G M all the casino shut down,
So how are they going to avoid it? In l A?
California's rules are just insane. We are, by far, i'd say,
(25:08):
the most progressive state in terms of getting out in
front of it. So I understand it's all political and
you can pay people off, and these two teams want
this done. Now. The reality is is a football season
depending on who you believe, and I don't. I don't
pretend to know the future. Plus only March thirty, so
when people ask what do you think is gonna happen
this fall? Guys, I'm just trying to make it to
like first week April. Can can we just get to
(25:31):
maybe like May before we start having takes on the
football season. Let's just I I can't go there yet,
but I do know just the construction with how many
people you need to be working at these construction sites.
If the corona is impacting these people, and both sites
have already had a case. It feels like there are
another case or two away from just getting shut down. Now,
(25:54):
the California one would probably get shut down before the
Vegas one. Maybe the Vegas one. They could have fifteen
Corona cases and no one would care because the state
is to invest in the state paid for it. Where
in l A. It's a little out of Cronky's hands.
He's cutting the checks. But you know, is he in
bed with the politicians. I'm sure he is a little bit.
But eventually, if guys get sick, there's only so much
(26:15):
you can do. Uh, Clowney, I saw a report that
Clowney might not sign until training camp. Why is it
always something with this guy? It's like every freaking guy
that's a decent player and a good players already signed. Clowney,
what are you doing? Just whatever? The best offer is that.
(26:37):
There's not some magical offer coming down the pipe. It
is what it is. You are who you are. So
if someone's offering you a sixty seventy million dollars, guaranteed
you're not getting ninety. Hell, I wouldn't give you eighty.
Some of these teams are kind of crazy to give
you seventy. You just two hit or miss of a
player very talented, but there there's a reason you're unsigned.
(26:57):
Think about this. The hardest position to find beside quarterback
are sweet pass rushers and Clowney the number one overall.
Pick a guy that's had multiple you know, ten plus
I guess it's like nine and a half, but it's
a really good player refuses to sign for what his
market value is. The market told you what your value was, Clowney,
(27:17):
The market's already spoken every team. There's never been more
money than was just on the on the open market
three weeks ago or two weeks ago, wherever, whenever free
agency happened, that they showed you the offers that you
got offered, that that was the market, and a lot
of that money has dried up now. So I don't
know what you're holding out hope for that, like some
(27:37):
imaginary teams just all of a sudden gonna have some
huge money. Now, maybe a guy gets hurt or not.
But just because a guy gets hurt doesn't mean if
I lose a player in early August, I'm just all
of a sudden gonna give Clowney eighty million dollars to
sign with me. I don't think now. Maybe I would
overpay for one year, but why wouldn't he have taken
some of the multi year deals that were on the table.
(27:59):
Sometimes these guy, I don't know if it's the guy,
the players, their agents, They just make poor decisions. Levian
Bell did it a couple of years ago, Melvin Gordon
did it last year, and I think Klan is getting
bad advice. I did a little mock draft on the
athletic little site that I uh I worked for on
the side, and I thought, I just bang out a
(28:20):
little bit. We'll just go team by team. I did
the top thirteen picks again. I ended with the forty niners,
the Bengals Joe Burrow, pretty no brainer for the second
overall pick. In In my mock draft, I had the
Redskins trading back and the Dolphins who traded Laramie Tunzil,
who traded Minka Fitzpatrick, who have been looking for Dan
(28:40):
Marino since Dan Marino walked away, desperately need a start quarterback,
and if TWA checks out, I haven't picking two up.
There there's a chance they like Herbert more. But if
I was them, I would be willing to trade maybe
pick twenty six in the second round pick to get
up and ensure I get the guy I cannot be
passed in the draft. Whoever my second quarterback is on
the board, because obviously Joe Burrow is gonna be gone.
(29:02):
I can't let that guy fall past me. I have
to land that guy. And if I'm the Redskins, I
I need so much work, so much help. If I
can acquire multiple first round picks, like pick five, pick
in a second round pick just to move back three spots,
I'm still gonna end up with a really good player.
Any like John Audie pass on Chase Young, well, if
they trade Trent Williams. They desperately need a left tackle,
(29:24):
and you could argue the three most important positions quarterback,
left tackle, or right tackle. They're really important to and
pass rushers. So if I the Lions would end up
with Chase Young, it would be the gift from God.
If the Miami Dolphins go up to two, the Lions,
who had only the Dolphins had less sacks last year
than the Detroit Lions, desperately need a good pass rusher.
They get Chase Young. The New York Giants, who love
(29:47):
size and speed. Historically the Michael stray Hands, the Kiwa Nukahs,
the j Pps, the Justin Tucks. They love like Eric Flowers.
They're enamored with size and length. To me, Isaiah Simmons
just it would be the guy that's who I would
go with over an offensive lineman. And then the Redskins
take the offensive tackle backed in from Louisville. The dude
(30:08):
was like three seventy pounds, who rans the five eleven,
who's just a physical freak. You get him with Ron
Rivery and you play bullyball. Chargers take Justin Herbert. Uh.
They clearly need a quarterback. Tyrod Taylor is a marginal
starter at best, and they need a little juice going
into the new stadium. The Carolina Panthers end up with Oduka.
I think it's how you say his name in the
corner from Ohio State, which is he's a star. I mean,
(30:30):
he's a legitimate cover corner. But I know this. If
I was running a team and I think, let's say
this guy is gonna be Patrick Peterson, but I would
take offensive tackles and I would take a pass rusher
over a corner. And you could argue if Isaiah Simmons
is truly like a tall honey Badger meets you know,
(30:52):
just this hybrid player outside linebacker star kind of can
pass rush, do it everything. I would rather have Isaiah
Simmons than a corner because I I like corners and
they matter. But if you're a lockdown corner, I can
just throw to the other side. If you're a honey Badger,
I don't know what side he's gonna I don't know
where he's gonna be, right, I just I don't Uh.
The Arizona Cardinals, I think clearly they could take an
(31:15):
offensive lineman. But if I was the Cardinals, I would
justify by this. Well, my little quarterbacks faster than all hell,
so at least he can avoid pass rushers. Uh. My
defense is stinks right now. I have one good defensive
player that I feel confident. I guess I got to
Patrick Peterson, but I got Chandler Jones, especially in my
front seven. I need to get him some help. We
haven't had a legit defensive line since Klais Campbell has
(31:36):
been traded, and we've kind of fallen off the map.
You put Derek Brown with Chandler Jones, you're in You're
in a conference against Russell Wilson against Kyle Shanahan against
McVeigh and all those. You gotta be able to rush
the pastor the Jacksonville Jaguars have got rid of Klais
Campbell and Malik Jackson the last twelve months. They desperately
need a good defensive lineman, so I gave them Javon
(31:56):
kin Law from South Carolina, who's kind of this physical
free The Browns, uh, they have wide receivers everywhere. They
got multiple running backs, they got multiple tight ends, they
got good defensive players, their offensive line stinx, and they
signed Jack Conklin, a playwright tackle. You know, in this mock,
I got them taking Tristan Worse. I mean, they're taking
an offensive tackle as they should. And then Baker Mayfield
(32:18):
has legitimately zero excuses. Who have two legit tackles. He'll
have multiple wide receivers, who have multiple sweet running backs.
He'll have a sweet new tight end. He'll have another
tight ends come back from injury. Like time to put
up or shut up. New York Jets kind of like
the Cardinals, like they need offensive line help. But the
Jets did sign a lot of offensive lineman over the
last three weeks or two weeks. Now, I guess I
(32:40):
get in quarantine. You kind of loose track of time.
I gave him Jerry Judy because I think there's two
ways to look at it. You put you put in
a bunch of, you know, functional starters. Now, you could
always take a great offensive lineman. But if you're other
parts of your offensive line are week just having one
star tackle doesn't necessarily change it. I know what you
can't do if you have no one to throw too.
(33:00):
Even if I am blocking for you, the quarterback can't function.
They have one legitimate offensive player and that's Levian Bill.
Jamison Crowder actually wasn't bad last year. Robby Anderson, their
deep threats gone to meet Jerry Judy. He comes from
a big time program. He's been the star wide receiver
there for multiple years. Uh, he's had a five catches
and twenty four touchdowns the last two years. I think
(33:20):
he'd fit right in in in New York and he'd
be Sam Donald's go to guy for years to come.
I think the Raiders and Niners these next two picks
are interesting because both of them have another first round pick.
The Raiders have a ton of needs. Uh, they easily
could take another corner. I mean, they signed some solid linebackers,
but if they like a fast linebacker enough, you can
never have enough death. You could argue if one of
(33:41):
those defensive linemen fall to them, they could do that,
but they're best wide receivers. Tyrone Williams, who you know,
it's a good number two, probably an ideal elite three.
I got him taking Ceedee Lamb. Derek Carr has done
his best work when he's had Davante Adams in college,
and then Michael Crabtree in the pros. Guys with huge
catching radiuses that make up for poor ball placement and
(34:02):
that you can just throw it up to even when
they're covered and let him make plays in that Ceedee Lamb.
And then for the forty Niners, I gave him Henry Ruggs.
Kyle desperately wants a speed guy in that offense. You
put a speed guy to go deep, you put Kittle
over the middle, and you have d Bow on one
side just working his magic. You've got a legitimate offense,
especially when you factor in all the running backs. So
that's my mock draft on the athletic. You gotta pay
(34:23):
for it, but I gave it to you. Here free. Uh,
so go if you haven't already subscribed Athletic I love
that place. Okay, let's go Middle Coff mail bag at
John Middlecoff. Uh is my Instagram handle. D MS wide open,
slide up in them if you're sliding in the d ms.
Also leave a little uh leave a little apparable review
(34:43):
on the three and Out podcast, John fan of both pods,
appreciate you pumping out stuff during the quarantine. Seeing almost
all the experts placing one of the top three wide
receivers Judy Lamb and Ruggs to San Francisco at thirteen,
but you think there's a chance they replaced Buckner directly
with the pick. Derrick Brown, Auburn defensive tackle, has been
(35:04):
sliding the late teams because of predicted runs at offensive
tackle and wide receiver, but he's clearly a top ten
talent him and default of similar disruptive gap eating play styles.
While Brown isn't six seven the mountain of a man
defot is, he's still a massive for a defensive tackle.
A couple other points, out of all of stenses, o
C and head coach Shanahan has only had two offensive
(35:25):
two had two offensive skill players drafted onto his team
in the first round, both quarterbacks r G three and
Johnny Manzel. God, I forget that the coach Johnny Manzel.
That's insane. All others have been offensive linemen or defensive players.
Could be a trend. Also, Lynches seen a successful GM
after drafting two defensive lineman early, even though he whipped
on Thomas. Is he tempted to stick to what has
(35:47):
gone well? It's a good question. I I think what
makes the Niners fascinating is they have two picks. So
the reason it's a deep wide receiver draft, they could
easily take a guy at thirty one. So with thirteen,
the reason you have their team is because you got
rid of to Forest Buckner, so you could fill a spot.
You could also take a corner the CJ. Henderson I
(36:08):
think is his name, the corner from Florida. The Niners
have one stud corner and Richard Sherman who's gonna be
a free agent after next year, and then their other
corner position is undrafted free agent Emmanuel Moseley and a
Kellow Weatherspoon, so I think they could easily take a corner.
I also think they could trade back. I I don't
(36:29):
think there's a lot to do. One things. What do
you think the niner is gonna do with the first
round picks they have? Uh? Do you know what's fun
about the draft? And I think what makes the Raiders
and makes the forty Niners so talked about and the Dolphins?
Uh is there any other teams with multiple first round picks?
Trying to think the Texas don't have any of the
Bears don't have any. Is anytime you get multiple first
(36:49):
round picks, it's like you're showing up the casino, not
with a bag of cash, but two bags of cash.
You're like, I can't wait to gamble. And that's what it's.
It's a fun time to be a to be a
football fan when your team has two first round picks,
even if one of them is in the late twenties.
With the Raiders, they got picked twelve and nineteen, Like
they could do some crazy shit. I mean, they could
(37:10):
trade up really high in the draft if they want
to do and get a player, or they could use
one of them to trade back. They could just sit
there and pick both guys. Forty is a little different
than the Raiders have a second or third or fourth
round pick. So would a team, you know, some of
these teams and the teams or even in the twenties
be willing to kind of move up. I think the
(37:32):
lots on the table. If I'm gonna pick the Niners,
I would go corner, wide receiver, or defensive line. Uh.
I love the pod wondering if Rodgers is truly declining
or he just getting used to a new system. He
has also had horrible wide receivers and Davante did miss
five weeks also Green Bay super Bowl window closed. I
(37:56):
think it's fair to say he's declining a little bit.
He doesn't quite move like he used to. His accuracy
to me in big games was a little off. Now
I do think there are some fair counters his wide
receiver corps besides seventeen was bad, Jimmy Graham bad. Their
running game was good. Uh, the this is not Donald Driver,
Greg Jennings, Jamichael Finley, Randall Cobb, that it's not that
(38:20):
Jordy Nelson, that that group is not walking through the door.
So I wouldn't say he's shot or anything. He just
kind of had an up and down season for a
guy who stats look pretty good and team won a
lot of games. I think what's weird about Aaron Rodgers.
His team went thirteen and three. Statistically, he looked solid.
But there is to me, there's something with the eye
(38:41):
test and a Packer fan just like any NFL fan,
because we've been watching Rogers for a decade, and for
about seven or eight of those years in the decade,
it was like watching unlike anything we've ever seen. You know,
when you flip on the TV and you watch Lebron,
you got yeah, I don't think I've ever seen that before, right,
You just that doesn't look normal, even Brady, like Brady
(39:01):
is the best at it. But we've seen tall uh
you know, immobile quarterbacks. He just throws dimes or historically has,
but I've seen we've seen his type. I've never really
seen a Rodgers. Now, some people that if you watch
Marino and Elway, Like I was born in the mid eighties,
I didn't really get to feel those guys. I canna
watch YouTube, but it's different when you watch a guy live.
Watching Aaron Rodgers live again had some flaws or whatever,
(39:25):
teammates and all that stuff. When he was on, he
was unstoppable. We all agree with that. Whether you like
the Packers who don't like the Packers. Dude was a killer,
straight assassin, and I think there were times this year
where he went does he still have that? Uh? My
beef with Aaron has always been his fundamentals are shitty.
Now you can get by with bad fundamentals when you're
(39:47):
a freak and his arm was elite, his accuracy was elite. Well,
that doesn't stay with you forever. There's a reason Like
Peyton Manning and Tom Brady now they had to or
Drew Brees have elite fundamentals, eat, always in perfect spots,
shoulders parallel to the target, arm, all that stuff. Like
Rogers doesn't mess with that. He gets away with it.
Think of basketball players. When you're an elite athlete, you
(40:10):
can kind of screw around like Russell Westbrook and still
drop thirty five. When that athleticism diminishes, if you can't
really shoot, you get exposed. Now, Rogers always has been accurate,
but it gets a little harder when you're thirty sixty
seven years old, when your feet aren't set when you're
drifting back. His fundamentals are is bad? Now? Can they
just get I think it's sometimes hard to treat a
(40:30):
you know, teach a new dog treat an old dog
new tricks. But if he could just get control of
some of his fundamentals, I think he might have a
chance to still be elite. I would, by no means
count him out. I love the pod it has been.
It has a visceral, not overproduced feel to it. I
(40:51):
appreciate that. Did you do anything to help did you
do anything to help you find your voice? What mike
do you use? Sound quality is on point? Well, I
use a H four N Pro, which is this zoom
It's like a little box, and then I plug a mic.
USB mikes if you're trying to start your own podcast,
non never sound as good. So you want I think
(41:13):
it's I forget the cable's name, auxiliary cable. It's got
some cable name. I'm not see. I'm not a radio guy.
I'm just scout businessman who now talks. So I don't
know the lingo. I just I looked it up when
a lot of people were using on podcasts. You don't
want a USB mike. I plugged my mic into the
H four N Pro and then I plug that into
(41:34):
my computer, and then I press record on garage band
on my Apple computer, and then that's it. It actually
isn't that complicated. Now. The H four N Pro I
think cost me, I don't know, three bucks. The Mike's
actually really cheap. I got him on Amazon. The cords
are cheap, got him on Amazon. The MIC's stand probably
combined cost fifty bucks. The mic, the mic stand, and
(41:56):
the chord. So really my only purchase was I bought
a computer a couple of years ago. I needed a
new one. It's nice, and I bought this Zoom and
then you can just produce a show. It's pretty easy.
Technology is a hell of a thing. Can you talk
about how the coronavirus is going to affect college seniors
going to the draft who didn't quite make the combine
cut and aren't going to be able to have their
(42:17):
pro days. Got two buddies from high school. One of
them is a little undersized but has intangibles, but won't
be able to show his speed athleticism at his at
his pro day, and that sets him apart similar to
the other guy, He just a sick athlete, played almost
every position in college, really needed to display his vast
skill set. What this means for them, I think you
bring up a great point. Pro days if I'm going
(42:40):
to a pro day like Jerry Judy and those guys, like,
we've seen it all. Most of the first round guys
they crushed the combine. Now some guys hold out, like
kJ Hamler, the Penn Steak guy. But but I know
that guy's fast. To me, I think you're right. The
pro days effect a guy that might have been a
six or seventh round pick. Now is that guy gonna
get drafted? He might not if I don't have very
fight speed. But this is also where if you're a
(43:02):
scout and you've got in let's just pick us random school.
Let's say your buddy plays at Arizona and he's kind
of an under the radar player, but you love him
and you think he's a draftable player. Over this next
month is when you kind of start pounding the table
for guys like that. Say hey, coach, Hey whoever your
GM is, Hey Bill, Hey Jim, hey John, we need
to draft this guy. This is a draftable player to
(43:24):
use a six or seventh round pick on. And this
is when I think this draft is going to be very,
very scout heavy. For non New England teams, this is
a time when you can really step up and you
know and have the opportunity to kind of make your
voice heard because the GM's are gonna have to rely
on you. They're not gonna have the information they didn't
(43:46):
go into some of these schools. These guys aren't gonna
have workout numbers. You're not gonna have any measurables. So
this is for the guys that have been at the
boots on the ground. All these scouts that have been
to these practices have seen these guys play live. This
is when you set for it yourself. This might in
a couple of years we hear about that's when uh Bill,
Bill Middlecoff I just used my last name, became like
(44:08):
we knew he was a good scout, but he eventually
became the assistant general manager because he shined during the coronavirus.
I think it's a time for a lot of scouts
to like, if you put another work, you should shine.
Right now, I'd be hitting my GM up every day,
like we gotta be all over this guy, this guy,
and this guy. Since the Buck signed Brady, I think
they are in wind Mount Win now mode. What is
your take on them trading for Trent Williams. They have
(44:29):
the fourteenth pick, and I don't think they will be
in place to draft the tackle. Well, you can't trade
the fourteenth pick for a thirty one year old offensive
tackle who hasn't played in a year. Now. Trent Williams
when he was playing his elite seven time Pro bowler,
all those all pros, baller, I mean absolute baller, was
headed straight to the Hall of Fame. And if you
put Trent Williams on a team that had been winning,
I think he'd be one of the more famous players
(44:51):
in the league. But I definitutely they have a second
round pick. I can't trade a first round pick for
you can't. Can't do it like it's that not in
that business now, I hear you or in wind now mode,
and they are anytime you sign a forty three year
old quarterback and you give him fifty million dollars. But
you've got to be prudent. And I do think one
of the top tackles will be there at fourteen. Now.
If they're not, you could always take a defensive player
(45:12):
and use your second round pick to get him because
he's clearly available. Uh, let me see what I can
I get a lot of d ms here. I'm trying
to work through him. Okay, I've been thinking of how
(45:33):
you asked how you asked this question for a while while.
Why is Herbert being questioned as much as he is,
even though to me his circumstances are the worst out
of all the top four quarterbacks. A lot of talk
about love and how great of a year he had
two years ago, but then because of the new coach
and no talent around him, he struggled. Now, look at
Herbert three coaches in four years, two of which Willie
Taggert Mark Helfritch, who are clearly not top tier court
(45:56):
coaches agree Taggert being a guy who tagged Herbert at
is not a great leader. Ha ha. I just I
don't know why I read that, ha ha, But that
was just verbat him. I like you Burgundy reads the prompter.
Then talk about no talent. Organ has had a week
receiving course since Chip left for Philly fifty two drops
in two thousand and eight. This guy's got some good knowledge.
Maybe I'm being biased Duck fan, and I actually think
(46:17):
Herbert sliding in the draft will be good for his career.
I wish Joey Harrington and Marcus has been picked later
in the draft and had better management around them. But
I feel like no one is giving Herbert any of
the excuses. They're throwing to the other guy's thoughts. Easton,
that's a that's a good question, Eason. Uh. I think
NFL teams are talking about this. I don't think media
(46:38):
people are talking about this. In the NFL. In the
draft room, people that like Herbert are one million percent
saying look who Toah and look who Joe Burrow played with.
His worst wide receiver would easily be Organ's best. To me,
the kicker is they're running backs at Organ sucked. Their
running backs and receivers are terrible. Like to Herbert wasn't
playing with much when he won the Rose Bowl. And
(46:58):
I get he didn't have to win it with his
own him. He wanted with his legs. To me, he
willed them to a victory against one of the best
defenses in the country. I actually think that's his most
impressive game of his career. We're all watching all at
home watching the Rose Bowl, and he just refused to
let his team loose against a hard core, physical, well
coached Wisconsin Just a I don't know top twelve program
(47:21):
right now, and Herbert just carried his squad to a victory.
I get it was with his legs, but I don't
blame he had no one to throw to. So I'm
with you. I'm a I'm a Herbert guy. I think
in the right situation, he goes the right team. Uh,
he's gonna be in position to win. I think the
Chargers would be a good spot for him. I listen
to pod every day. Man, h's frying of colins still,
(47:43):
but I can't lie to press play on yours first, Now,
appreciate that how do you keep your your head so clean?
Serious question? Well, I I guess a lot of guys
I haven't had this problem. Now. I guess I've been
shaving my head since about two thousand elevens, almost a decade. Uh.
The haircut business is not an essential thing in life,
so that none of you guys are able to get haircuts.
The good thing about being bald is if virus like
(48:06):
Corona comes out of nowhere and wipes all these businesses
out and we have to stay quarantined, I'm still able
to get a haircut every other day because I take
a Mark three and I go in the shower and
I just let it rip. And I've been doing that
now for about When I first started shaving my head,
I just trimmed it to like a one. Now I
go full bald. I think it's a it's a sign
of security, you know. I mean after I was very
(48:29):
scared to go bald, and then once I went bald,
I was scared to actually pick my head. And then
once I picked my head, you can't ever go back
because you realize you can't be in your early to
mid thirties and have a cold de sac. It can't work.
You just you look terrible. My dad's generation was in
the sixties, seventies, eighties. I guess you can pull it
off to that twenty it's not allowed. If you go bald.
You just gotta shave it. You just you just gotta
(48:49):
let it rip unless you have a beard and it
all connects. Like Mike Garafolo the NFL Network, pretty uh reporter,
he pulls it off, actually pretty well. He he really does.
I can't because I can't really grow a full beard,
and it's just it's just a terrible look. So I
basically just go mock three. Usually, if I'm gonna shave,
I try to get a workout first. So it's nice
(49:10):
and sweaty and it just flies off, flies off the bone,
kind of like brisket. You know when you when you
perfectly cook the right type barbecue and the meat just
falls off like a good ribs. That's how the hair
after a good sweat. Now, if you try to shave
too often, it can be it can be intense. But
I actually think your head just kind of gets gets
used to it. Like I don't get razor burn or anything.
(49:32):
It's it's pretty easy. And I got pretty sensitive skin,
and I, uh, yeah, I just just shave. And the
key is a little lotion too. You know, it's a
little you can't you can't have a dry head. But
appreciate everyone listening, and uh, enjoy quarantine as as well
as possible. Keep your head up and I'll see a
little later in the week. So a s
Host
John Middlekauff
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