In this episode, Middlekauff looks at Dak passing on Dallas' $30 million per offer, why Jerry should pull the offer sheet, why Antonio Brown needs to produce at a high level to justify his dumpster fire behavior, if violent hits are making a comeback, the opposite philosophies coaches around the league have about playing starters in the preseason, 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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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
What is going on? My people? Football is back three
and out pod. That's this with John Middlecoff. That's me.
I consume football from basically Thursday night or just start
for a lot of Friday, multiple games Friday, and then
a lot Saturday. And it was glorious, It really was.
(00:32):
Did I watched something? Was there game on Thursday? I
don't even know now when I say glorious. First half
of preseason games are watchable the second The second half
can be a challenging watch for sure, But when you
have been deprived of football for when was the last game?
I mean, if you count the I don't count the
a f so the Super Bowl up until basically last
(00:55):
week the Hall of Fame game, which I don't count.
At least my homes and the Cowboys were playing their
first team defense. I saw Vander Esh crushing people. Jalen
Smith looks like Patrick Willis, So you know it's it's
back kinda. But you know the NFL, there are there's
a lot going on today. I am so fired up
to do to do this show right now. Dak Prescott
(01:19):
asking for forty million dollars, then Mortenson says it's not
quite forty million dollars. It's more like thirty four. A
lot of a lot of opinions on on our boy,
dac Here and the money. Antonio Brown. Since I last
talked to everyone, he had had the foot issues, he
had disappeared. Turns out it was all really over a
(01:39):
helmet that the league ruled that he wasn't able to wear.
So he instagram that he's coming back. I guess he's
gonna wear the new helmet. But that's just some thoughts
on Antonio Brown. Uh, big hits. Something I noticed this weekend.
I think hits and the violence, which I know that
(02:00):
I love as part of football, is making its way
back to the NFL, Thank you Jesus. And then just
some thoughts on the preseason. I mean, there's different coaches
that are really successful approach it so many different ways,
and I'm just fascinated by what the right or wrong
way is to do it. I don't I don't even
know if there is an answer, but I kind of
(02:21):
want to dive into just, you know, the way that
Belichick does it, the way that Andy does it, the
way that May they all kind of have different styles
the way they attack the preseason. And then of course
the Middlecoff mailbag, slide up into my d M s
on Instagram. I'm active on Instagram doing a couple of
videos a day right now, just any topic, anything that
comes up, post a video. But I always check your
(02:43):
d M s or I mean I check my dms.
Interact with you there, and then I'll answer your questions
here on the podcast. But I want to open up
and start with the the Dallas Cowboys. How about them Cowboys,
Dak Prescott, Zeke Elliott, and Mark Cooper. I talked about
it on the last POT cast. That was a little unlucky.
They have three players to happen to be a free agent,
(03:06):
one day go at the end of this year. One
day acquired in the middle of the season last year
in Amari Cooper, and then as the season went on
his value grew exponentially. The other one, they're running back,
which is holding out in Cabo Saint Lucas, is under
contract for two more seasons. Like it's not like Zeke was.
(03:29):
They had three guys who were gonna be a free agent,
and then their quarterback, who clearly they are making substantial
offers to, is offended. And I think there's so many
different elements with that, so I kind of want to
hit them all on the most basic level. Someone posed
this question to me today and it got me thinking,
what do players owe the team? And I started thinking, like,
(03:50):
what does anyone owe anyone in business beside what you're
contractually obligated to do for someone. I heard a great
quote today. I'm reading Shoe Dog reading would be strong.
I'm listening, and that's how I consume my books. I'm
a millennial consume my books audio, audio book, the philm
Night Book. And he had a good quote in there
(04:11):
that business is war without bullets. And most of you
listening are in some form of fashion, in some different
line of business, and I think that resonates with many people. Obviously,
people do not die in business, but it ruins people's lives.
People get laid off, people get fired, Companies get overtaken,
(04:31):
companies get wiped out by the competition. Our capitalistic society
is very aggressive and you can benefit greatly from it,
and you can also get destroyed from it. And so
when I hear what do players ow the team? What
does the team ow the players? What does anyone owe
anything besides like your wife, your parents, your kids, personally
(04:56):
separate personal relationships, just strictly professional relations ships, and the
answer is nothing beside what you're contractually obligated to do
for that person on whatever agreement you're in. And football,
Dak Prescott's in a four year contract at whatever the
number was, being a fourth round pick, and it wasn't much.
Now the going rate for his position is really high,
(05:19):
and he's a good player. I've defended Dak, but he's
not that good. And then you go to the element,
am I paying for what you've done or what I
think you can do? Because when you look at let's
say Russell Wilson, it's a combination of both. I'm paying
him for what he's done and I'm paying him for
what I still think he can do. Saying with Andrew Lock,
(05:41):
saying with Aaron Rodgers, Carson Wentz who I would imagine
an NFL contracts are all about comes, unlike I think
in the real world, contracts aren't necessarily public besides like
CEOs and stuff. But I'm just saying, like, if you're
a sales guy and you're working at a company, you
don't I'm there's word of mouth and you know what
(06:01):
the going raid is. But in football, the union All
the contracts are public for the players and their agents
and the teams. Dak Prescott has word for word the
actual contract if he wants it. Of Carson Wentz, So
when he's going well, Carson Wentz, who has yet to
(06:22):
play in a playoff game, I've been to the playoffs
three different times in my career, or excuse me, two
different times in my career. In my three years, Carson's
yet to go, and the one he's been injured twice.
I've been more successful just because I've played more. He
would be right, but the man on the moon knows
that Carson Wentz is potential. His ceiling is vast, superior.
(06:47):
It's probably not even a conversation. And DA's what. Part
of Dak's big arguments are intangibles, leadership, how cool he
is under pressure, stuff that you can't really measure because
you go, Dak, he struggle hitting just basic routes. You're
not a consistent player in in just games now you
make clutz plays. I think look back on Russell Wilson
(07:11):
several years ago, not this contract, but his first one.
It was a complicated deal because you went, how good
could Russell really be? Well? At the time, I know
I was much more bullish on Russell's ceiling than I
am Dak. I think Dak can get, you know, incrementally better,
but he kind of is what he is, and what
(07:33):
he is is a good player. If you're on a
loaded team, you can win games with him. I actually
think the right comparison for Dak is probably like Jim
Harbaugh level Alex Smith. Alex got better as years went on.
I don't know if Dac could be as good as
Alex was his last couple of years in Kansas City,
but he clearly if he's your starting quarterback and your
(07:54):
team's loaded, you're gonna be in the playoffs, and you
can give you a shot. Now, maybe in the playoffs,
Doc would be a little better than uh than Alex,
a little more physical as a runner, if you could
ever figure out the deep ball. But that that's what
we're dealing with here. So when I see the numbers
he's asking for forty, that to me means nothing. But
when I just see that he turned down thirty and
(08:17):
and if I would imagine the guarantees, you know, I
don't know, I I would struggle guaranteeing him over eight
eight five million dollars. I've said all along. I think
a very very fair deal for Dak Prescott would be
four years, eighty five million dollars and guarantee every penny.
Now I get his agent wants that number to be
(08:37):
in the nine figures because they want to get their
grabby little hands on the points. I understand that, But
I go, Dak a couple of things. One, your your
owner is your general manager. He wants to pay everyone.
And this notion of like get the bag. I saw
Trey Wingo today like, why are people counting people's money? Well,
I don't know, Trey. This is a salary capitally, and
(09:00):
what guys make kind of impact the team. If you're
not talking about people's money in the NFL, go sit
at the little kid's table and talk about players, because
at the big kids table, money is a huge factor
when you're building. You know this thing we call a
team because there is a there, there's a set number.
I think the number this year's one eight. And unlike basketball,
(09:24):
where they have this thing called a soft cap, in
the NFL, it's hard and you can't go over it.
So when you have a team like the Cowboys with
a lot of as sending players that are gonna demand
a lot of money, it's hard to keep them all.
So anyone that's saying why are recounting people's pennies, one
you're an idiot, and two you just can't have the
(09:44):
conversation without talking about contracts. So what I and the
thing that makes is very complicated is he has two
teammates that he's very dependent on, one handing them all
off to the running back who is damn good. Dac
needs that guy, and the receiver. We saw what he
looked like before a Mari showed up, and it wasn't
very good. I promise you one thing. I had Gruden
(10:07):
liked Mari and not traded him the Cowboys, I'll promise
you we're not talking about Dak Prescott and anywhere in
the world of thirty million dollars a year. I also
think there's an element to the Cowboys and people of
DM me this and tweeted at me. He when uh,
I forget who whoever was the uh? The old was
(10:28):
a cam was the yogurt spokesman whatever the yogurt company is.
If Dak Prescott was the quarterback of the Arizona Cardinals
or the Jacksonville Jaguars, he would not have that spot.
Being the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys generates you exponentially
more money off the field. And when you're the when
(10:51):
you're the starting quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys and they
are good cha ching cha ching, unlike those other guys
like Zeke, He's probably this next contract is his final contract.
A Maori receivers can play a little longer, but you
just never know. For Dak, let's say he signed a
(11:13):
four year, ninety million dollars every penny guaranteed if he
was just solid. He's getting another big contract one million percent.
So he's gonna be able to make the most amount
of money off the field. He'll make a lot of
money on the field, and he'll have success because his
teammates will be around him. Like you're taking and just
asking for thirty two, thirty four or thirty five million dollars,
(11:36):
you're hurting yourself. And in an area like Dallas where
there's no state income tax, or twenty two million is
actually like relative to where I live, would probably be
the equivalent of nine to Your team's good and you
need the teammates and your owner is trustworthy, you know
he's gonna pay these other guys he wants to. So
(11:56):
you're basically saying, by demanding thirty five million dollars, you
don't give a shit if your team is good. So
I'm not gonna feel bad for in a couple of
years when you're on a six and ten team because
you're not good enough to carry that. You're not Russell Wilson.
Russell Wilson can take an average roster and take them
to the playoffs. Dak Prescott's not doing that. Hell, we
saw it last year before Mary showed up. They were
heading towards the lottery. They would have been a team
(12:18):
drafting in the top ten. That's what was so crazy
about the Mari trade. It's like, hey, guys, you're three
and five. You're trading the first round pick for Mari Cooper.
Now it ended up saving the season. Maybe they were
three and four, but it was they were headed towards
six and ten year. We all saw it coming. So
and here's the curve ball. Let's say this because I
I think this is an element. If I was Jerry
(12:40):
and Stephen, I go, you know what, Dac, the offer
is not on the table anymore. Let's play this season out,
and I would then have to actively make an aggressive
offer get a Mari to sign a contract, so I
don't have to worry because I can't franchise them both.
Or let's just sail Mari one time. I'll franchise a Mari.
Where is Dak Prescott finding a big deal this offseason?
(13:06):
I looked through all the teams. Half the league has
a quarterback under twenty five, They ain't budget off that guy.
Then a large majority of the quarterback has established older
guys like even like a Roethlisberger who makes thirty million dollars, Well,
they can't pay Deak uh Rogers, Lock Russell Wilson, the
Jimmy Garoppolos, Derek carrs. Where where is Dak finding thirty
(13:30):
million dollars a year? So worst case scenario, I have
the franchise tag a MARII Cooper, I left Dak Okay Dak.
Let's well, let's openly negotiate against the market. Part of
the reason kirk Cousins market was so big. He had
three teams in a line offering just stupid money. He
(13:51):
had the New York Jets offering more money than Minnesota,
who would even come close to offering Dak this offseason
Jimmy Garoppolo money seventy million dollars a year. I'd argue,
you know what, the smart business would be yanked the offer,
make him play it out if he's being just over
the top, I think thirty million dollars is ridiculous for
(14:14):
him to meet. Makes me hesitate. Where is he finding
this money on the open market. I just do not
see the team. The Houston Texans, the Arizona Cardinals, the
forts in, the Seattle Seahawks just go. I mean even Tampa.
You think Bruce Arians wants a guy that struggles with
a deep ball. Have you followed Bruce arians career? No chance,
(14:36):
even like the Jaguars, they gave fulls fifty million dollars
there in bed with him for at least a couple
of years. I just do not see the Dak Prescott market. So, yeah,
Dak doesn't know the Cowboys anything, and I'd argue the
Cowboys don't know him much either. They put his ass
on the map, they made Dak Prescott in there, and
they're actively trying to pay him, probably over pay him.
(14:57):
So if anything, I think the cow Boys are not
for even offering him a contract sniffing thirty million dollars
a year unless that guaranteed money's like fifty million. And
I call him geniuses, but I think the whole curveball
on this, you gotta try to actively sign a mari
Zeke doesn't really have that much leverage because we're just
gonna go he's under contract. But Dak Prescott, I would
(15:18):
not be afraid. Just look at the landscape of the league,
especially with some of these young quarterbacks coming out this year,
like to a Herbert and and from him, and there's
always a guy or two that kind of comes out
of nowhere, a Daniel Jones type of midst ROBISKI who
who's paying Dak, I'll tell you nobody beside the Cowboys. Okay,
(15:42):
let's let's dive into Antonio Brown. I don't know if
you had a chance to see Once upon a Time
in Hollywood with Pitt and Leo, it's really good. And
you know, in the history of Hollywood, just like in
the history of musicians rock star ours, there's a percentage
of them that are divas that are big pains in
(16:05):
the asses, right. Same with TV stars, same with movie stars, musicians,
just anyone who is uniquely talented. Not every one of
those people are normal. Some of them can be a
royal pain in the butt. But if they are really good,
and we're talking about we're talking about the Brad Pitts,
the Taylor Swift's, whoever. Occasionally you get a massive diva
(16:29):
and a massive pain in the butt. But you know
what they also are. They are cash cows, and they
are not replaceable and typically in the peak of their powers.
Whether you're a team, whether you're that person's manager or agent,
whatever it is, right, whether it's movies, whether it's sports,
whether it's music, you deal with them. Why because they produce,
(16:52):
because they dominate, because they make everyone around them a
lot of money, a lot of money. And listen, Antonio,
the Raiders, I don't think quite knew what they were
signing up for, but they had a decent idea. You
don't find elite talents like this available for a third
round pick randomly. It was the baggage, it was all
(17:14):
the craziness, and no one could have predicted that he'd
burn his feet off. Now knock on what he's gonna be? Okay,
I I'm not a doctor. I didn't go to medical school.
I don't have any clue about frostbite. Besides, like when
people go to Mount Everest or the Donner Party or
coming to over the Oregon Trail, I don't even know
how long you're out what I've read some doctors on
(17:37):
Twitter that think he's gonna be okay, So assuming his
feet are gonna be you know whatever. The helmet story
is very diva ish, it's very Terrell Owens. It's very
I don't even know a musician that was a royal diva.
We've all seen the movies of screwing up hotel rooms
and just being a pain. That's what Antonio is. He
is a pain. But you know what he also is,
(17:58):
he's one of the best wider's we've ever seen. He
said six or eight years of over a hunter catches
in a thousand yards. I think he's one year away
from tying Jerry Rice's or maybe that did tie Jerry
Rice's record if he does it again this year with
the Raiders, which probably be a little difficult. He told
the record by himself. He's an elite player. He's a
dominant player. He is a royal pain. And when you
(18:19):
sign up for a guy like this, it puts your
organization somewhat in a tough spot because Gruden went out
of his way after the preseason game on Saturday complimenting him,
thanking him, basically speaking to him like you would a
little child. And then the team posted it, and then
they linked his Twitter account to the post, and you
(18:41):
know what, I gave them credit. I'm like, that's smart.
He is sensitive. You need to speak to him through
social media. It's where the guy lifts on social media.
I get it. I would have done the same thing
the moment they acquired him, though. They're all in on
Antonio Brown. They're building their offense around him. They're gonna
acquiesce to his demands. They're gonna let his trainer on
a practice field, which is not normal. They're gonna let
(19:03):
him do whatever he wants, and as long as he
produces at the highest level, you'll deal with it. The moment,
and he's already started to become a problem, But you
give him a guy like a year. If he can dominate,
you just deal with his problems the moment this site
starts becoming like a seventy catch guy in an eight
yard a season guy. It doesn't give you ten touchdowns
(19:24):
a year. When that ten or when that hundred one
thousand and ten, just put it in the bank, locking
in in in in sharpie pen on the wall that
goes to you know, seventy seven, eight, seventy five and
four touchdowns his actors tool. It's over because in this
entire league, and none of us do anything about these
(19:46):
helmets unless you probably work in the league. I didn't.
I had no clue they were implementing these new helmets.
Why because no one talked about him. Everyone just ye,
I'll wear him. Brady talked about it. I think yesterday.
A lot of players don't like them, but you know
what they are. They're safe. You do agree to it.
The players union and the league like they're not doing
(20:07):
it to try to make players look stupid or not
be comfortable. It's all about safety, something that we heard
over and over and over forever. Safety. Safety, safety. So
the league is giving it. And they said, Antonio, you
can't wear you're skinning a little ten year old helmet anymore.
What did Antonio do? How You've found a guy at
either like a body shop or some paid or to
(20:27):
paint over and he got caught because as you read
in some of those silver tweets that the league says, listen,
if you do not follow the rules, you will be
in trouble. So what do the teams do. They put
all the pressure on the equipment guy. So what does
the equipment guy when he sees this guy wearing the
wrong helmet? He freaks out, tells on him, tells him
you can't do this, and then it creates a freak out. Well,
guess what Antonio Brown does. A lot freaks out over
(20:51):
just innocuous crap, over stuff that even a player that's
uncomfortably like, okay, I get it, like I oh, everyone
in the league is doing this. Oh yeah, okay, I understand,
like we all are sensitive to certain things in life,
but a lot of us can just kind of understand
like yeah, that's easier, and some of us can't. And
Antonio is in the small, smaller percentage of everything is
(21:13):
a problem with him. It's always something. But for these
last six or seven years, he's been so freaking good.
They're just like, okay, whatever, I mean. The Steelers just
came to came to the end of the line after
he threw the ball in Ben's face, and he's bitching him,
moaning he wants more money, and they just say and
then he freaks out. He said that wants to trade,
and there's like, okay, go away, just we'll just rid
(21:35):
our hands of you. But and more than likely they
got the best six years that Antonio Brown will ever
have out of them. In a perfect world, though they
would have liked him for a couple more years because
he's so good now they can probably replace him. They
look James Washington, some of the guys they had looked
like they have a chance. But you know that there's
a narcissistic, just something about a diva that is hard
(21:59):
to handle, and it's really hard to hand them. For coaches,
you know, it's one thing if you're an agent and
the dudes a rock star or a movie star. It's
another thing if the dude is playing a team game
and it's like, bro, you do have a meeting room
with other teammates, with guys at your position, with guys
on the side of the ball. You answer to a coach,
You answer to a position coach. The problem once you
(22:21):
get Antonio Brown, like who does he really answer to?
As he's shown only the league can get him to
say yes, because doesn't really listen to Gruden's not really
listening to anyone else on the team. It just kind
of it just kind of is what it is. And
as long as he's healthy, he's gonna be a really
good player. Now that puts a lot of pressure on
the quarterback and Derek Carr to play well because if
(22:42):
Antonio Brown is healthy and he puts on the right helmet,
it's a make or break here for Derek. Like this
guy is a massive, massive curveball for the Raiders, especially
their head coach. Like one of the things with their
head coach, he's not just a head coach, he's the
offensive coordinator. He's an offensive guy. Do you think he's
been doing since he acquired Antonio Brown? When he's up
(23:03):
at four in the morning and he's going to bed
at midnight, he's drawing place all the time for eight four,
Like they really need this guy now, the curveball on
this Is he a lock to play? We want? Is
he gonna be healthy again? We've never really seen, to
my knowledge before Antonio Brown frostbite in the NFL. Usually
(23:23):
guys were shoes, guys were socks. Guys just protect their feet.
So I'm not sure. I don't know, But if he
is healthy, he's gonna be good because I've seen the
practice that he did have and you guys have seen
it too. On hard knocks. The Raiders defensive backs are
not bad, while their defense their front seven is horrendous.
(23:45):
They have the worst defensive line in the NFL on paper,
not close linebackers below average. Their dvs are good. And
he showed up with with frost bitten feet and ran
circles around them all like he's a dominant player. But
he's got to somewhat get his head right. Now. He's
proven that he can play with not his head right,
but he has to get his feet right. So now
(24:07):
that helmet gate is behind him, he's given in, though
he's not happy. He'll wear the new helmet or trying
to find an older helmet that fits under the new regulations.
They have to find a way to get his feet right.
That's really the only thing matters. And this this diva
that you've acquired, like, that's not gonna change. It will
be something in week seven, it will be something week ten.
It's always gonna be something. But as long as he
(24:29):
plays at the level in which were now accustomed to
him playing, you deal with it. I noticed something this
weekend combine with what a b in his helmet gate
brought to light, and it kind of made a light
go off for me. And if this potentially happens, I
will be very happy. In a couple of games on
(24:51):
Friday and Saturday, I noticed big hits, big legal hits,
safeties and linebackers leading with shoulder pads but elevating, you know,
launching themselves in the air, but hitting below the you know,
below the below the neck area and doing it cleanly,
and no flags were thrown. And then with Antonio Brown
(25:14):
and helmet gate, you realize the big push they're they're
moving into the league. Are these bigger, safer helmets And
clearly you know, five or six years ago and CT
was taken off, and the media just it felt like
wanting football the crumble, which is weird because so many
people in the media makes so much money because of football.
But you know, I I get it. I mean, I
(25:37):
don't necessarily relate to the hate and wanting to see
football go away. But I'm not a journalist either. I'm
a businessman. So I like the league doing well. Uh
It's it's good for anyone involved in the football business.
Though CT very bad thing. I'm not a pro CT
guy and I'm not some CT truther acting like it
doesn't exist. It clearly was an issue the league needed
(26:00):
to adapt. They have been over aggressive, you know, over
the last three or four years. If anything, they went
too far the other way. And I do think with
these bigger helmets that violence might come back to the sport.
And I think at the end of the day, I
know Twitter will tell you peace, love and happiness. We
just live in utopia. Look at the progressive NBA. You
(26:21):
know what people like with their football violence And I
have numbers to back me up to this day seven
years later, or maybe a little less than that six
years later, but in the history of the league, the
Seahawks versus forty Niners was as violent of a football game.
In two thousand fourteen, the NFC Championship game I've ever
I've ever witnessed. Thirty four years old, been watching football
(26:43):
pretty consistently that I can remember now, you know, for
I don't know, twenty five years, that's as good as
it gets top to bottom, just vicious violence. And these
last couple of years they went over the top the
other way. You couldn't touch, a soul or a flag
got thrown out. Well, now that they've kind of neutralize
the CT problem, there even studies coming out that you
(27:03):
can get CT and other walks of life. I think
the media jumped the shark a little bit. We just
the information is not out clearly. Football is violent, not
good for your long term health. There's some things that
the league needs to work on for healthcare for its
foreigner players. That's a conversation for another place. But I
think they had to bring in the big hits back.
And I'm not talking big hits where you're head hunting
and leaving guys injured on the field, but where guys
(27:26):
get lit up across the middle, where the wide receiver
fears going over the middle that he may be tackled,
where the vernacular ends that he's a defenseless player. It's
impossible to be a defenseless player if you're a wide
receiver because you're running over the middle where you know
defensive backs are. Now, if you want to convince me
you're a defenseless apartment return standing there waiting for the
(27:47):
punt to come down because you're looking at high at
the air, I'll hear you there. But to me, a
wide receiver is not defenseless. And I noticed some big
time hits this weekend, no flags throwne and then obviously
these bigger helmets. I think violence is coming back, and
I know this. Every human and definitely every male, likes violence.
Were drawn to it. Think of when you're young and
(28:09):
like junior high in high school, when there's a fight
on campus or on school or at a party, everyone
runs to watch. It's our natural inclination. I'm someone like
I like my violence kind of regulated, like I like boxing.
I've always been a little comfortable watching mm A. Now
I have I admire how tough those guys are. I
(28:31):
went to college with Chad Mendez, who was the baddest
forty pounder I've ever seen. He used to beat up
dudes on the football team. He he couldn't be stopped.
It wasn't shocking that he went to the m m
A and was successful. You know, when I was at
cal Poly, Chuck le A Dale, who also had gone
to cal Poly, was in his prime in m m A.
(28:52):
But I get a little uncomfortable sometimes, like I'm watching it.
These guys just beat each other to a pulp, Like
I'm not looking for that. I am. I do like
a good Bye Xing match where dudes are getting blasted,
but I love a good football hit. I've always been
more of an offensive guy, but I appreciate the Ronny Lots,
the Brian Dawkins like. I like that type player, the
Ray Lewis. I want to see guys get blasted legally.
(29:14):
And I think the league realizes that the that the
whatsification of football is not a positive big picture, and
I'm separating two things here, Protecting the quarterback is a must.
The league is only as strong as its quarterbacks. The
league is now loaded with good quarterbacks. You gotta take
care of him. So I I am okay with overregulating
(29:36):
sacks and not throwing the flag. I can live with that.
I really can't. He's gonna piss whoever off, you know,
a fan of a team on a given play. Every
once in a while, we just gotta deal with it.
Where I can't deal though, is when a guy's going
over the middle and a safety destroys him and he
hits him, you know, in the chest or the stomach,
and the dude throws a flag like what's he supposed
(29:57):
to do to hand touch him? Like that. That's where
the league became embarrassing. I thought these last couple of years,
that's where I thought the league was play kating to
what they thought Twitter wants. And when you play kate
to what you think Twitter wants, you get the NBA
and you get historically low ratings for a season. Play
kate to what the fans want, the consumer want, what
we're used to seeing. What helped make the NFL such
(30:19):
a big product was the ultimate combination of intellectual coaches
and quarterbacks playing mind games against defensive coordinators against this
just violent action of these defenders trying to take out
the guy with the ball in his hands, but you
can outthink them the scheme do it. That the ultimate
combination of team games. But there's a toughness element of
(30:40):
football that's blended into the team element. That and the
smart element that makes it such a special game. It's
why to go along with the urgency of the sport
you only play once a week. It's the ultimate combination,
perfect for gambling, on for perfect for watching. It's a
great television product. The talents still really high, the coaching
(31:01):
level still really high. It's got it all. But when
you take away one of the elements, which is a
huge fundamental part of the sport, the violent tackling, which
is legal, that has been happening forever. It hurts the sport.
And I thought it's really hurt the sport the last
couple of years, and I thought they overreacted to things.
But I understand why they overreact. I am, at least
(31:23):
my theory that it kind of feels like it's coming
back makes me happy, and I'm gonna keep my fingers
crossed that the big hits come back, because I think
that's what the people want, that's what the consumer wants.
And you're only as strong as a league and as
powerful as the league as you are the fans, because
the fans essentially pay for everything. The coaches don't mind
the big hits. The hell, the defensive coaches and defensive
(31:44):
players would pay to get them back. It would give
them a fighting chance in a league that leans the
offensive ways. So if you're gonna give all these advantages
to the to the offense, you can't mug him more
than five yards down the field right most of the quarterback.
You can't really touch your made more, which I think
even the defensive guys at this point in time, would understand,
(32:05):
you gotta be able to at least mess with the
wide receiver, at least have it in the back of
his mind. You know what might happen. You might get
laid out. And in the history of this great game,
a lot of guys have gotten laid out and they
get back up because when you're hit cleanly, you get
your win knocked out of you, you shake it off,
you get back up, and you keep playing. That That's
that's the reality. And now with these bigger helmets, maybe
(32:27):
one of as many head injuries, that's you know, that's
behind it all, right, So I think we got big
hits coming back. I think we're gonna have that. That
would lead to a much more fun NFL season. We're
clearly down the home stretch of the preseason. The four
preseason games, like it's been openly talked about, right with
(32:47):
this new c b A, four preseason games are gonna
be a thing of the past more than likely, my guests,
It's not like I don't know anyone in the league office,
but just reading the tea leaves of what the people
in the know are saying, it kind of feels like
we're headed to two I know Kyle Shanahan said last
week he wouldn't mind seeing zero. Now they're a little
biased that. I think they the Niners literally right now
(33:10):
lead the league in injuries. They have third team, uh
and many of those are starters, so that they can't
figure out training camp. I mean they don't, They don't
know what to do. Hell, they can't figure out the season.
They just lose a lot of players. But I was
fascinated on what night would that have been? Saturday night?
I had the Chiefs game on NFL Network and I
(33:31):
had the forty Niners game on my local television. And
the forty Niners, I mean the guys who didn't play
was more than half the team. They didn't play any starters.
Somehow they still managed to lose multiple players. I mean
they lost their backup swing tackle, their debacle. They didn't
play anyone, and they still had major injuries. Like they
(33:53):
lost a guy that's gonna be on their their fifty
three man roster for the season more than likely. So
they at they don't even know. They're kind of at
a loss. But I'm I look up to my top TV. Yeah,
I got two TVs. You know you can't you can't
follow sports for a living and have one TV. Now
I'm lucky that in my condo, I can put it
(34:14):
in my living room one day, get a family or whatever.
The hard part is real estate in the Bay Area
so expensive. I'm gonna need a man cave and I'm
gonna get like I already have it kind of mapped
out in my mind. It's gonna be glorious. But that's
a little ways away. So I'm looking up at the
top TV and I see Patrick Mahomes and I'm like, oh,
Momes is in and he's lead them down the field,
(34:36):
lead him down the field, and they're they're on like
the fifteen yard line, and all of a sudden, my
Homes takes off outside of the pocket, makes a guy miss,
kind of cuts back, and he's running at the goal line.
It turns out there about two defenders at the goal
line waiting to just kill him. And I even like
kind of gas, like, oh my god, and my Homes
(34:56):
slides kind of like falls, hits the ground. They don't
hit him, and then he looks over at Andy and
he smiles. I would imagine Coatrie didn't smile back because
anyone watching kind of gas. But then I'm looking at
the other TV and the Cowboys Jason Garrett, besides Zeke
who's incabo and Amar who's Dingdapi as a bad heel,
(35:17):
he's playing all of his starters. So and he's playing
all his starters. I'm watching the Cowboys play all their starters,
and I'm watching the Niners play nobody, and I go,
what is the right thing to do? You know, if
Mahomes is playing, why can't Jimmy play? If if all
the Cowboys guys are playing? And then I and then
I got the Raiders game on on another TV and
(35:39):
we actually I had to flip them on for the
Chiefs game, and all of a sudden, I realized nobody's
playing in that game. Because Sean McVeigh the Forts have
kind of copied him. He plays nobody. Gruden, for whatever reason,
didn't really play anyone either, And I started thinking, like,
what what is the right or wrong way to do this?
How is the right way to approach this? Because you
(36:02):
look at Belichick, he doesn't really play anyone, but he
does he averages two joint practices a year, so he
gets all this extra work out of these joint practices.
And I think joint practice are a smart thing to
do if you're comfortable with him. But if you're not
comfortable with people seeing in your plays or even seeing
your roster, I'm not opposed to doing things like Jason
(36:23):
Garrett Nandy and just playing your players in the preseason
game and getting them live reps. Now, obviously Belichick can
do these joint practices because he's gaining a huge advantage
from the other team. I don't think the other team
is smart and letting him joint practice with them, because
he's stealing shipped from you. He's stealing stuff on your players,
He's stealing stuff on your schemes. I would not do
(36:44):
a joint practice of Bill Belichick. It's like I would
not do a trade with Billy Bean, Like, I don't
know if that's a great idea. And I get he's
got raybel and Patricia and all of his little minions
out there he's taking advantage of. He used to do
a chip He's killing them. I mean, he really is.
I would not do a joint practice, but I understand
why he does the joint practice because then he doesn't
(37:04):
have to do as much in the preseason game. He
gets really good work for all of his guys, he
gets in a competitive environment and it doesn't have to
show anything in the preseason game. But like last year
for the Rams, I would always said, playing No. One
in the preseason is pretty risky because your guys do
need some live reps against other teams just to feel
the speed of the game, even if it's just a
(37:25):
couple of series in the second and third preseason game,
even if you're not gonna play him a half, I
would have said, that's crazy. You gotta play him a
little bit. And then Sean McVeigh didn't play a soul
all preseason and he ended up in the Super Bowl.
So I think there are a lot of coaches. You
can do a lot of different studies, see how all
these different teams are doing it, Like eight teams are
doing it eight different ways, and there's not necessarily a
(37:45):
right or wrong way to do it. And I think
that's why at the end of the day, these coaches
are gonna come together and the preseason is gonna be gone.
And what I think is gonna be fascinating a couple
of years. If there are only two preseason games, our
teams more inclined to let your starting quarterback, and you're
starting offense and you're starting defense playing these preseason games
because really the only reason you're not doing it is
(38:08):
just risk injury. That's the only reason. Because there are
a lot of positives. Get some live reps, get a
feel for it, get the preparation of a game day.
Because I'm watching the Niner game and I'm like, holy hell,
vanderash and Jalen Smith are kicking ass and taking names.
Jalen Smith looks fantastic. He looks awesome. I mean just
killing people, just destroying folks. And look at mahomes is
(38:32):
flying around and there are first team offense Travis Kelsey.
First play the game, I think cats a sweet pass
down the sideline. It's like whoa, you know that? Get
that live rep, get that feel, and then you take
off your paths at halftime and you're good to go.
But I'm fascinating to know once they do go to
two preseason games, are we gonna see a lot more
joint practices? Are we gonna see less joint practices? Are
(38:52):
we ever gonna see anyone playing the preseason? Because if
they do go to two preseason games and teams no
teams are playing anyone. Why don't we even have any
preseason games? Why don't we just kind of like college?
What do they do well? For three and three and
a half weeks leading up to Week one? They practice
against themselves, They do live scrimmages, they do you know,
they do practice with themselves. It's a little different because
(39:14):
the roster is bigger, but I guess not that much bigger.
I mean, an NFL roster nowadays is ninety people. So
maybe the more I think about it, maybe there's a
chance they just get rid of preseason games all to
begin with. Now, I do think the NFL likes having inventory,
television inventory. They need some games, but the preseason is
(39:35):
a disaster right now. It's besides, like the series Mahomes
plays or a couple of plays of Jalen Smith. It's
really hard to watch. And I'm a junkie, I know
all the rookies and stuff. I'm watching a little different
than casual fan. And even I get bored in the
second half. I get I get really bored in the
second half. So the NFL has a problem. I don't
necessarily have an answer. Uh And clearly the coaches don't
(39:58):
necessarily either, because they're all doing different things. Okay, let's
get into the middle Cough mail bag at John middle Cooff.
My Instagram handle d M is always wide open slide
in answer your questions here, like this one from Ryan.
Why is there no hype for Jacoby Brissette. He's a
Belichick product like Garoppolo, although not as good and hasn't
(40:19):
really had a chance to play and has a way
brighter future than fits Magic. Why hasn't a team gone
after him? He's got a brighter future than fits Magic.
Well they have, uh, you know the Colts trade for
when Luck was out, and right now Luck's out again
and he's playing so and I've just seen some highlights
from practice now, granted they're just clipped from like Colts
(40:42):
Twitter account, he looks pretty good. I like Jacoby Brissette.
I'm pretty sure he's scheduled to be a free agent
at the end of this year. You know, Luck still
hasn't practiced. They're at a pretty good spot where they
can just play out this season. You just never know
with Andrew Luck. Now when this season ends, he's gonna
get a job, whether that Cincinnati, I don't know. Actually,
(41:05):
you start thinking about it, where are the quarterback openings.
If Josh Rosen is just solid, he's gonna keep a job.
Who needs a quarterback? Even teams with terrible starters like
Eli Manning, they just drafted a guy. You just go
around the league. All these teams have young quarterbacks or
an established guy, even like the Steelers, Like, would they
(41:26):
signed you Kobe Rosette? Well, they're paying Ben a lot
right now, so I don't know. I like ja Kobe Brissette.
Obviously Belichick liked to be drafted him. I think what
was that the third or fourth round? Uh, I'm I'm
a fan. Can you give us a list of players
that are still playing that if they retired now, they
would be a first ballot Hall of Famer with little
in the no discussion because it's so clear that their
(41:48):
Hall of famers. Well, I think it's the quarterbacks. You know,
Peyton Manning just retired. He's a no brainer. Tom Brady
no brainer, Drew Brees no brainer, Aaron Rodgers no brainer.
I think Russell Wilson is going to continue to work
himself to a no brainer. I think if Andrew Luck
can stay healthy, he's a no brainer. Anyone under thirty.
(42:09):
I mean, I love my homes as much as anybody,
but it's a little early. When you think position players,
you'd go, it's a tough one with some of the
older guys. I might be forgetting. This is kind of
off the top of my head. I think J. J.
Watt is probably another good year away from being a
pretty big no brainer in my opinion, Like the Richard
(42:32):
Sherman Earl Thomas, I don't know if they've quite done it.
Long ago they were on that trajectory. Larry Fitzgerald to me,
first ballot no brainer. Julio Jones, first ballot no brainer.
I mean he's nuts, but Antonio Brown's bad health of
an argument. Uh, you know, Khalil Mack and Aaron Donald
are on that trajectory. They have two or three more
(42:54):
seasons like they had, they're no brainers. Jason P. Yeters
to me, he's pretty damn close to being a no brainer. Again,
this is off the top of my head. So if
I left your favorite player, your your favorite team out,
I apologize. Trying to think of some older guys that
are still really good. I'm probably missing some offensive lineman.
(43:17):
I mean, I think Luke Kickley at the end of
the day is gonna be a first ballot Hall of
Famer middlecof. Do you think any of this a B
stuff is overblown or blown out of proportion, or at
least it seems like once Pittsburgh radio show mentioned him
not talking to the Raiders, the story started coming out
of nowhere. Well, I think it's twofold. Is it overblown? No,
(43:37):
Because he's a superstar, he's a pain in the ass,
he does crazy stuff, so it becomes a big story.
I have heard that one element that he went radio
silent is not totally true because a camera crew, because
of hard Knocks, has been with him every day since
the off season, like since the summer, and they went
with him. Again, this is a this is a source
(44:00):
who talked to a source. So, but it makes sense
that the camera crew when he left to go see
a specialist, a camera crew went with him. So if
the camera crews going with him, what does that mean
the Raiders are gonna know where the camera crew is.
They knew where he was. I don't think they didn't
quite know when he was or like he went radio silent.
I do think the element of not knowing when he
(44:22):
was gonna come back, I mean he left. It's Monday,
August twelve. He left like last Wednesday. He's been gone
a long time. This this is training camp. This isn't
O T A S. This isn't you know, phase one
of working out in March. This is middle of August,
So just leaving for a while is a little weird, though.
(44:44):
I do think they had people with him and they
knew the helmet thing was a big issue. He was
freaking out about the helmet. He was making it really
hard on their equipment manager. I think he made it
hard on Gruden. They didn't know what to do. They
kind of felt for him, but he was being such
a diva. So yeah, I don't think it's necessarily overblown.
I do think it just takes a life of its own.
(45:06):
So what happens when you acquire a superstar? I mean,
Antonio Brown is a brand name superstar from one of
the biggest teams in the league, the Steelers. You know
who had one of the craziest offseasons we've ever seen.
Diet his mustache, blonde, went on Lebron Show, was talking
about everybody and it was awesome to follow. Not great,
(45:26):
you know if your teammate or thinking about acquiring him,
because it's such a wild card in life. If Trent
Williams is serious that he won't play due to the
Redskins medical staff, when does the team take a long,
hard look at all the injuries over the past two
or three years and start making some serious changes. Also,
I doubt grew in his back next year because it
seems highly unlikely that they make the postseason. Do you
(45:47):
think Snyder will ever wake up and fire Bruce Allen
as well? It's a loaded question here. Uh. Trent Williams
is fantastic when he's healthy on the field. He's clearly
one of the best left tackles in the league, of
the best athletes in the league, just an elite player. Clearly,
the Redskins have piste off a lot of people, including
Trent Williams, over the years. Do you know what's crazy
(46:09):
for the Redskins? Daniel Snyder didn't inherit the franchise. Someone
didn't hand him billions of dollars. He is a self
made man, isn't it wild? Bitten in America? Probably works
this way in any parts of the world, but in America,
where you can become and most of our billionaires, most
of our richest people in this country start with nothing,
(46:29):
so that that that's a fact, that's not an opinion.
You can google it. Definitely. The majority of billionaires are
self made, and it makes sense that there's a drive
when you grow up with nothing. And Daniel Snyder Snyder
comes from nothing, creates this billion dollar marketing empire. Yet
he is so terrible at running a franchise, and a
big portion of it is he hires bad people. Actually
(46:52):
don't think Gruden is bad. I think Gruden's solid. Bruce
Down clearly not a good GM. Then the other element
is because he's kind of a marketer, he gets involved
in acquisitions and it often bites them in the ass.
Like Josh Norman when he came available, he's I mean,
they've been doing it historically forever. I don't know. I mean,
I don't know how you fix. You can't fix an
(47:14):
organization until you get rid of the owner. It's really
that simple. I saw it forever down the street from
where I'm living right now, where the Warriors used to play,
about fifteen minutes away Oracle Arena. The Warriors were historically
terrible for like thirty years. Why because they had some
of the worst ownership in all of professional sports. In
two thousand eleven or twelve or whatever the official date was,
(47:37):
Joe Lacob buys the Warriors. Everything changed everything. You notice
the Clippers with Steve Balmber, how much more legitimate they
are as a franchise. You know, it's a little different
in the NFL. We have a short period of time
to judge some of these new owners. But I'll tell
you this, I believe David Tepper will be better than
Richardson at this current time. Like Richardson had lost it,
(47:59):
it was time for a change. Jimmy haslum flying Jay
will reserve judgment on that one. That that one still
still up for debate. But I I think it. I
think it all starts with ownership. And there's no chance
that Daniel Snyder is selling the Washington Redskins because when
(48:20):
you own a team, like if I owned a two
billion dollar business, let's just say I owned a business
that produced, like a construct, you know, some business that
produced I had an exclusivity on the ability to prove,
you know, provide the the shell that Apple makes their
computers with. So when Apple makes their computers, they buy
(48:43):
the shell of the laptop for me, And that just
created a billion dollar business for me. You know what,
Absolutely nobody would know who I was. You know, I'd
be able to get a date because I'm super rich,
maybe see me every once a while, like CNBC, but
no one would really know besides like Apple, who I
am or care what I do. Just like when when
(49:04):
Daniel Snyder was marketing, I don't know much about him.
I mean, I've read about him a lot in the past,
but you know he was a marketing guy. People that
live on that side of the country you know much better. Obviously,
if you're a Redskins fan, you know about his history
better than I do. But when you just run a
successful company, unless it's a really really cool company like
Apple or Nike or something, you can There are a
(49:26):
lot of really rich people in this world that no
one knows about and no one cares about and for
their ego. When they get involved with something as famous
and as popular as like an NFL team, you get
a level of popularity that you didn't have as a normal,
super rich business guy. So there isn't much incentive beside
(49:46):
like Daniel Snyder, when did he buy the team? I
mean twenty years ago. He'd make a lot of money,
but what does all that money do for him? No
one talks about him anymore. He kind of is irrelevant.
He's just another guy with not another guy, because they're
not that many of them. A human with a billion
and a half or two billion or whatever you get
after taxes in the bank account and no one gives
a ship what he's doing or what he says anymore.
(50:08):
Now I don't even know if he talks that much.
But the point is, people, he's in the vernacular of
everyone that lives in the d C. Area. Everyone you know,
if you just went to Dallas, or you went to
San Francisco, or you went to Seattle and you ran
into the casual football fan and you said the word
Dan Snyder, everyone knows who that is. If again, he
had just ran his normal company, not that many peop
(50:28):
wouldn't know what he does. So I think you're I
think this is a roundabout way of saying, you're probably screwed.
As long as Dan Snyder owns a team, your team's
gonna suck. Here was this is not even a question,
But Jonathan Abram is looking like an epic douche on
hard Knocks. I agree, Hard Knocks wasn't the best look
for him. Uh, let's see if I can Keith clear Wagner.
(50:56):
What do you think the l ob would have been
with Luke in that? I think think they win one
more chip. It's a good question. Bobby is a fantastic player.
He's another guy that has a case if he can
keep going. He's right now four time first team All Pro.
If he can end that his career at probably seven,
definitely six, he's gonna have a chance for first ballot,
(51:16):
probably a Hall of Famer, but it might not be
a first ballot. I think Luke Kickley is just a
better player. I think Luke Kickley has been the best
player on the Carolina Panthers since he showed up. He's
just just no way around it. He's just an elite player.
I would take Luke Kickley every day of the week
over Bobby Wagner. And that's not a slide on Bobby Wagner.
If anything, it's just a compliment to Kickley. Purely speculation.
(51:40):
Call me a Raider homer. Any chance that the Raiders
organization reached out to the Steelers organization about his old
helmet during that transaction, a Steelers beat reporter got word
did his homework and took it to the wood shed.
It just seems bizarre that nothing was made of this
month old story until HBO got winned. I like to
(52:01):
you know, I like a good conspiracy. I think it's
just I think people are starting to get rumors of it. Yeah,
I don't know. That's that actually makes some sense. That's
not That's not a crazy theory. I'll give you. I'll
give you that one. Hey, John, what was your favorite
position to scout? Probably running back or wide receiver. I mean,
I like offense more than defense. I'm a sucker for
(52:23):
talented offensive players. You know. I even like a good tackle,
like tight ends. Probably any position on offense, quarterback, wide receiver,
tight end, running back. You know, centers and guards aren't
as fun though a good center is fun to watch,
like Roddy Hudson, Rodney Hudson's Jason Kelsey like that they
are entertained to watch. But I'd say any skill position,
(52:44):
including quarterback. But probably at the end of the day,
I really like running back, wide receiver, and I think
you can factor in tight end now that they are
basically receivers, So it would be one of those guys. Yeah,
you can judge me. I'm a little softer, you know
I'm not. I'm not claiming to be ed reda Scouts here.
You think Philip Rivers is trying to single handedly fix
the charger at tennis problems with his kids. It's as
(53:05):
Bill Simmons would say, these are my listeners. That's a
that's a hell of a question. We'll enjoy your week.
I'll see you a little later this week. We'll probably
discuss hard knocks on the next one and whatever else
crazy happens in this crazy league throughout this week. And uh,
football is almost back. Regular season isn't too far away,
and I will talk to you guys soon.
What is going on? My people? Football is back three
and out pod. That's this with John Middlecoff. That's me.
I consume football from basically Thursday night or just start
for a lot of Friday, multiple games Friday, and then
a lot Saturday. And it was glorious, It really was.
(00:32):
Did I watched something? Was there game on Thursday? I
don't even know now when I say glorious. First half
of preseason games are watchable the second The second half
can be a challenging watch for sure, But when you
have been deprived of football for when was the last game?
I mean, if you count the I don't count the
a f so the Super Bowl up until basically last
(00:55):
week the Hall of Fame game, which I don't count.
At least my homes and the Cowboys were playing their
first team defense. I saw Vander Esh crushing people. Jalen
Smith looks like Patrick Willis, So you know it's it's
back kinda. But you know the NFL, there are there's
a lot going on today. I am so fired up
to do to do this show right now. Dak Prescott
(01:19):
asking for forty million dollars, then Mortenson says it's not
quite forty million dollars. It's more like thirty four. A
lot of a lot of opinions on on our boy,
dac Here and the money. Antonio Brown. Since I last
talked to everyone, he had had the foot issues, he
had disappeared. Turns out it was all really over a
(01:39):
helmet that the league ruled that he wasn't able to wear.
So he instagram that he's coming back. I guess he's
gonna wear the new helmet. But that's just some thoughts
on Antonio Brown. Uh, big hits. Something I noticed this weekend.
I think hits and the violence, which I know that
(02:00):
I love as part of football, is making its way
back to the NFL, Thank you Jesus. And then just
some thoughts on the preseason. I mean, there's different coaches
that are really successful approach it so many different ways,
and I'm just fascinated by what the right or wrong
way is to do it. I don't I don't even
know if there is an answer, but I kind of
(02:21):
want to dive into just, you know, the way that
Belichick does it, the way that Andy does it, the
way that May they all kind of have different styles
the way they attack the preseason. And then of course
the Middlecoff mailbag, slide up into my d M s
on Instagram. I'm active on Instagram doing a couple of
videos a day right now, just any topic, anything that
comes up, post a video. But I always check your
(02:43):
d M s or I mean I check my dms.
Interact with you there, and then I'll answer your questions
here on the podcast. But I want to open up
and start with the the Dallas Cowboys. How about them Cowboys,
Dak Prescott, Zeke Elliott, and Mark Cooper. I talked about
it on the last POT cast. That was a little unlucky.
They have three players to happen to be a free agent,
(03:06):
one day go at the end of this year. One
day acquired in the middle of the season last year
in Amari Cooper, and then as the season went on
his value grew exponentially. The other one, they're running back,
which is holding out in Cabo Saint Lucas, is under
contract for two more seasons. Like it's not like Zeke was.
(03:29):
They had three guys who were gonna be a free agent,
and then their quarterback, who clearly they are making substantial
offers to, is offended. And I think there's so many
different elements with that, so I kind of want to
hit them all on the most basic level. Someone posed
this question to me today and it got me thinking,
what do players owe the team? And I started thinking, like,
(03:50):
what does anyone owe anyone in business beside what you're
contractually obligated to do for someone. I heard a great
quote today. I'm reading Shoe Dog reading would be strong.
I'm listening, and that's how I consume my books. I'm
a millennial consume my books audio, audio book, the philm
Night Book. And he had a good quote in there
(04:11):
that business is war without bullets. And most of you
listening are in some form of fashion, in some different
line of business, and I think that resonates with many people. Obviously,
people do not die in business, but it ruins people's lives.
People get laid off, people get fired, Companies get overtaken,
(04:31):
companies get wiped out by the competition. Our capitalistic society
is very aggressive and you can benefit greatly from it,
and you can also get destroyed from it. And so
when I hear what do players ow the team? What
does the team ow the players? What does anyone owe
anything besides like your wife, your parents, your kids, personally
(04:56):
separate personal relationships, just strictly professional relations ships, and the
answer is nothing beside what you're contractually obligated to do
for that person on whatever agreement you're in. And football,
Dak Prescott's in a four year contract at whatever the
number was, being a fourth round pick, and it wasn't much.
Now the going rate for his position is really high,
(05:19):
and he's a good player. I've defended Dak, but he's
not that good. And then you go to the element,
am I paying for what you've done or what I
think you can do? Because when you look at let's
say Russell Wilson, it's a combination of both. I'm paying
him for what he's done and I'm paying him for
what I still think he can do. Saying with Andrew Lock,
(05:41):
saying with Aaron Rodgers, Carson Wentz who I would imagine
an NFL contracts are all about comes, unlike I think
in the real world, contracts aren't necessarily public besides like
CEOs and stuff. But I'm just saying, like, if you're
a sales guy and you're working at a company, you
don't I'm there's word of mouth and you know what
(06:01):
the going raid is. But in football, the union All
the contracts are public for the players and their agents
and the teams. Dak Prescott has word for word the
actual contract if he wants it. Of Carson Wentz, So
when he's going well, Carson Wentz, who has yet to
(06:22):
play in a playoff game, I've been to the playoffs
three different times in my career, or excuse me, two
different times in my career. In my three years, Carson's
yet to go, and the one he's been injured twice.
I've been more successful just because I've played more. He
would be right, but the man on the moon knows
that Carson Wentz is potential. His ceiling is vast, superior.
(06:47):
It's probably not even a conversation. And DA's what. Part
of Dak's big arguments are intangibles, leadership, how cool he
is under pressure, stuff that you can't really measure because
you go, Dak, he struggle hitting just basic routes. You're
not a consistent player in in just games now you
make clutz plays. I think look back on Russell Wilson
(07:11):
several years ago, not this contract, but his first one.
It was a complicated deal because you went, how good
could Russell really be? Well? At the time, I know
I was much more bullish on Russell's ceiling than I
am Dak. I think Dak can get, you know, incrementally better,
but he kind of is what he is, and what
(07:33):
he is is a good player. If you're on a
loaded team, you can win games with him. I actually
think the right comparison for Dak is probably like Jim
Harbaugh level Alex Smith. Alex got better as years went on.
I don't know if Dac could be as good as
Alex was his last couple of years in Kansas City,
but he clearly if he's your starting quarterback and your
(07:54):
team's loaded, you're gonna be in the playoffs, and you
can give you a shot. Now, maybe in the playoffs,
Doc would be a little better than uh than Alex,
a little more physical as a runner, if you could
ever figure out the deep ball. But that that's what
we're dealing with here. So when I see the numbers
he's asking for forty, that to me means nothing. But
when I just see that he turned down thirty and
(08:17):
and if I would imagine the guarantees, you know, I
don't know, I I would struggle guaranteeing him over eight
eight five million dollars. I've said all along. I think
a very very fair deal for Dak Prescott would be
four years, eighty five million dollars and guarantee every penny.
Now I get his agent wants that number to be
(08:37):
in the nine figures because they want to get their
grabby little hands on the points. I understand that, But
I go, Dak a couple of things. One, your your
owner is your general manager. He wants to pay everyone.
And this notion of like get the bag. I saw
Trey Wingo today like, why are people counting people's money? Well,
I don't know, Trey. This is a salary capitally, and
(09:00):
what guys make kind of impact the team. If you're
not talking about people's money in the NFL, go sit
at the little kid's table and talk about players, because
at the big kids table, money is a huge factor
when you're building. You know this thing we call a
team because there is a there, there's a set number.
I think the number this year's one eight. And unlike basketball,
(09:24):
where they have this thing called a soft cap, in
the NFL, it's hard and you can't go over it.
So when you have a team like the Cowboys with
a lot of as sending players that are gonna demand
a lot of money, it's hard to keep them all.
So anyone that's saying why are recounting people's pennies, one
you're an idiot, and two you just can't have the
(09:44):
conversation without talking about contracts. So what I and the
thing that makes is very complicated is he has two
teammates that he's very dependent on, one handing them all
off to the running back who is damn good. Dac
needs that guy, and the receiver. We saw what he
looked like before a Mari showed up, and it wasn't
very good. I promise you one thing. I had Gruden
(10:07):
liked Mari and not traded him the Cowboys, I'll promise
you we're not talking about Dak Prescott and anywhere in
the world of thirty million dollars a year. I also
think there's an element to the Cowboys and people of
DM me this and tweeted at me. He when uh,
I forget who whoever was the uh? The old was
(10:28):
a cam was the yogurt spokesman whatever the yogurt company is.
If Dak Prescott was the quarterback of the Arizona Cardinals
or the Jacksonville Jaguars, he would not have that spot.
Being the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys generates you exponentially
more money off the field. And when you're the when
(10:51):
you're the starting quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys and they
are good cha ching cha ching, unlike those other guys
like Zeke, He's probably this next contract is his final contract.
A Maori receivers can play a little longer, but you
just never know. For Dak, let's say he signed a
(11:13):
four year, ninety million dollars every penny guaranteed if he
was just solid. He's getting another big contract one million percent.
So he's gonna be able to make the most amount
of money off the field. He'll make a lot of
money on the field, and he'll have success because his
teammates will be around him. Like you're taking and just
asking for thirty two, thirty four or thirty five million dollars,
(11:36):
you're hurting yourself. And in an area like Dallas where
there's no state income tax, or twenty two million is
actually like relative to where I live, would probably be
the equivalent of nine to Your team's good and you
need the teammates and your owner is trustworthy, you know
he's gonna pay these other guys he wants to. So
(11:56):
you're basically saying, by demanding thirty five million dollars, you
don't give a shit if your team is good. So
I'm not gonna feel bad for in a couple of
years when you're on a six and ten team because
you're not good enough to carry that. You're not Russell Wilson.
Russell Wilson can take an average roster and take them
to the playoffs. Dak Prescott's not doing that. Hell, we
saw it last year before Mary showed up. They were
heading towards the lottery. They would have been a team
(12:18):
drafting in the top ten. That's what was so crazy
about the Mari trade. It's like, hey, guys, you're three
and five. You're trading the first round pick for Mari Cooper.
Now it ended up saving the season. Maybe they were
three and four, but it was they were headed towards
six and ten year. We all saw it coming. So
and here's the curve ball. Let's say this because I
I think this is an element. If I was Jerry
(12:40):
and Stephen, I go, you know what, Dac, the offer
is not on the table anymore. Let's play this season out,
and I would then have to actively make an aggressive
offer get a Mari to sign a contract, so I
don't have to worry because I can't franchise them both.
Or let's just sail Mari one time. I'll franchise a Mari.
Where is Dak Prescott finding a big deal this offseason?
(13:06):
I looked through all the teams. Half the league has
a quarterback under twenty five, They ain't budget off that guy.
Then a large majority of the quarterback has established older
guys like even like a Roethlisberger who makes thirty million dollars, Well,
they can't pay Deak uh Rogers, Lock Russell Wilson, the
Jimmy Garoppolos, Derek carrs. Where where is Dak finding thirty
(13:30):
million dollars a year? So worst case scenario, I have
the franchise tag a MARII Cooper, I left Dak Okay Dak.
Let's well, let's openly negotiate against the market. Part of
the reason kirk Cousins market was so big. He had
three teams in a line offering just stupid money. He
(13:51):
had the New York Jets offering more money than Minnesota,
who would even come close to offering Dak this offseason
Jimmy Garoppolo money seventy million dollars a year. I'd argue,
you know what, the smart business would be yanked the offer,
make him play it out if he's being just over
the top, I think thirty million dollars is ridiculous for
(14:14):
him to meet. Makes me hesitate. Where is he finding
this money on the open market. I just do not
see the team. The Houston Texans, the Arizona Cardinals, the
forts in, the Seattle Seahawks just go. I mean even Tampa.
You think Bruce Arians wants a guy that struggles with
a deep ball. Have you followed Bruce arians career? No chance,
(14:36):
even like the Jaguars, they gave fulls fifty million dollars
there in bed with him for at least a couple
of years. I just do not see the Dak Prescott market. So, yeah,
Dak doesn't know the Cowboys anything, and I'd argue the
Cowboys don't know him much either. They put his ass
on the map, they made Dak Prescott in there, and
they're actively trying to pay him, probably over pay him.
(14:57):
So if anything, I think the cow Boys are not
for even offering him a contract sniffing thirty million dollars
a year unless that guaranteed money's like fifty million. And
I call him geniuses, but I think the whole curveball
on this, you gotta try to actively sign a mari
Zeke doesn't really have that much leverage because we're just
gonna go he's under contract. But Dak Prescott, I would
(15:18):
not be afraid. Just look at the landscape of the league,
especially with some of these young quarterbacks coming out this year,
like to a Herbert and and from him, and there's
always a guy or two that kind of comes out
of nowhere, a Daniel Jones type of midst ROBISKI who
who's paying Dak, I'll tell you nobody beside the Cowboys. Okay,
(15:42):
let's let's dive into Antonio Brown. I don't know if
you had a chance to see Once upon a Time
in Hollywood with Pitt and Leo, it's really good. And
you know, in the history of Hollywood, just like in
the history of musicians rock star ours, there's a percentage
of them that are divas that are big pains in
(16:05):
the asses, right. Same with TV stars, same with movie stars, musicians,
just anyone who is uniquely talented. Not every one of
those people are normal. Some of them can be a
royal pain in the butt. But if they are really good,
and we're talking about we're talking about the Brad Pitts,
the Taylor Swift's, whoever. Occasionally you get a massive diva
(16:29):
and a massive pain in the butt. But you know
what they also are. They are cash cows, and they
are not replaceable and typically in the peak of their powers.
Whether you're a team, whether you're that person's manager or agent,
whatever it is, right, whether it's movies, whether it's sports,
whether it's music, you deal with them. Why because they produce,
(16:52):
because they dominate, because they make everyone around them a
lot of money, a lot of money. And listen, Antonio,
the Raiders, I don't think quite knew what they were
signing up for, but they had a decent idea. You
don't find elite talents like this available for a third
round pick randomly. It was the baggage, it was all
(17:14):
the craziness, and no one could have predicted that he'd
burn his feet off. Now knock on what he's gonna be? Okay,
I I'm not a doctor. I didn't go to medical school.
I don't have any clue about frostbite. Besides, like when
people go to Mount Everest or the Donner Party or
coming to over the Oregon Trail, I don't even know
how long you're out what I've read some doctors on
(17:37):
Twitter that think he's gonna be okay, So assuming his
feet are gonna be you know whatever. The helmet story
is very diva ish, it's very Terrell Owens. It's very
I don't even know a musician that was a royal diva.
We've all seen the movies of screwing up hotel rooms
and just being a pain. That's what Antonio is. He
is a pain. But you know what he also is,
(17:58):
he's one of the best wider's we've ever seen. He
said six or eight years of over a hunter catches
in a thousand yards. I think he's one year away
from tying Jerry Rice's or maybe that did tie Jerry
Rice's record if he does it again this year with
the Raiders, which probably be a little difficult. He told
the record by himself. He's an elite player. He's a
dominant player. He is a royal pain. And when you
(18:19):
sign up for a guy like this, it puts your
organization somewhat in a tough spot because Gruden went out
of his way after the preseason game on Saturday complimenting him,
thanking him, basically speaking to him like you would a
little child. And then the team posted it, and then
they linked his Twitter account to the post, and you
(18:41):
know what, I gave them credit. I'm like, that's smart.
He is sensitive. You need to speak to him through
social media. It's where the guy lifts on social media.
I get it. I would have done the same thing
the moment they acquired him, though. They're all in on
Antonio Brown. They're building their offense around him. They're gonna
acquiesce to his demands. They're gonna let his trainer on
a practice field, which is not normal. They're gonna let
(19:03):
him do whatever he wants, and as long as he
produces at the highest level, you'll deal with it. The moment,
and he's already started to become a problem, But you
give him a guy like a year. If he can dominate,
you just deal with his problems the moment this site
starts becoming like a seventy catch guy in an eight
yard a season guy. It doesn't give you ten touchdowns
(19:24):
a year. When that ten or when that hundred one
thousand and ten, just put it in the bank, locking
in in in in sharpie pen on the wall that
goes to you know, seventy seven, eight, seventy five and
four touchdowns his actors tool. It's over because in this
entire league, and none of us do anything about these
(19:46):
helmets unless you probably work in the league. I didn't.
I had no clue they were implementing these new helmets.
Why because no one talked about him. Everyone just ye,
I'll wear him. Brady talked about it. I think yesterday.
A lot of players don't like them, but you know
what they are. They're safe. You do agree to it.
The players union and the league like they're not doing
(20:07):
it to try to make players look stupid or not
be comfortable. It's all about safety, something that we heard
over and over and over forever. Safety. Safety, safety. So
the league is giving it. And they said, Antonio, you
can't wear you're skinning a little ten year old helmet anymore.
What did Antonio do? How You've found a guy at
either like a body shop or some paid or to
(20:27):
paint over and he got caught because as you read
in some of those silver tweets that the league says, listen,
if you do not follow the rules, you will be
in trouble. So what do the teams do. They put
all the pressure on the equipment guy. So what does
the equipment guy when he sees this guy wearing the
wrong helmet? He freaks out, tells on him, tells him
you can't do this, and then it creates a freak out. Well,
guess what Antonio Brown does. A lot freaks out over
(20:51):
just innocuous crap, over stuff that even a player that's
uncomfortably like, okay, I get it, like I oh, everyone
in the league is doing this. Oh yeah, okay, I understand,
like we all are sensitive to certain things in life,
but a lot of us can just kind of understand
like yeah, that's easier, and some of us can't. And
Antonio is in the small, smaller percentage of everything is
(21:13):
a problem with him. It's always something. But for these
last six or seven years, he's been so freaking good.
They're just like, okay, whatever, I mean. The Steelers just
came to came to the end of the line after
he threw the ball in Ben's face, and he's bitching him,
moaning he wants more money, and they just say and
then he freaks out. He said that wants to trade,
and there's like, okay, go away, just we'll just rid
(21:35):
our hands of you. But and more than likely they
got the best six years that Antonio Brown will ever
have out of them. In a perfect world, though they
would have liked him for a couple more years because
he's so good now they can probably replace him. They
look James Washington, some of the guys they had looked
like they have a chance. But you know that there's
a narcissistic, just something about a diva that is hard
(21:59):
to handle, and it's really hard to hand them. For coaches,
you know, it's one thing if you're an agent and
the dudes a rock star or a movie star. It's
another thing if the dude is playing a team game
and it's like, bro, you do have a meeting room
with other teammates, with guys at your position, with guys
on the side of the ball. You answer to a coach,
You answer to a position coach. The problem once you
(22:21):
get Antonio Brown, like who does he really answer to?
As he's shown only the league can get him to
say yes, because doesn't really listen to Gruden's not really
listening to anyone else on the team. It just kind
of it just kind of is what it is. And
as long as he's healthy, he's gonna be a really
good player. Now that puts a lot of pressure on
the quarterback and Derek Carr to play well because if
(22:42):
Antonio Brown is healthy and he puts on the right helmet,
it's a make or break here for Derek. Like this
guy is a massive, massive curveball for the Raiders, especially
their head coach. Like one of the things with their
head coach, he's not just a head coach, he's the
offensive coordinator. He's an offensive guy. Do you think he's
been doing since he acquired Antonio Brown? When he's up
(23:03):
at four in the morning and he's going to bed
at midnight, he's drawing place all the time for eight four,
Like they really need this guy now, the curveball on
this Is he a lock to play? We want? Is
he gonna be healthy again? We've never really seen, to
my knowledge before Antonio Brown frostbite in the NFL. Usually
(23:23):
guys were shoes, guys were socks. Guys just protect their feet.
So I'm not sure. I don't know, But if he
is healthy, he's gonna be good because I've seen the
practice that he did have and you guys have seen
it too. On hard knocks. The Raiders defensive backs are
not bad, while their defense their front seven is horrendous.
(23:45):
They have the worst defensive line in the NFL on paper,
not close linebackers below average. Their dvs are good. And
he showed up with with frost bitten feet and ran
circles around them all like he's a dominant player. But
he's got to somewhat get his head right. Now. He's
proven that he can play with not his head right,
but he has to get his feet right. So now
(24:07):
that helmet gate is behind him, he's given in, though
he's not happy. He'll wear the new helmet or trying
to find an older helmet that fits under the new regulations.
They have to find a way to get his feet right.
That's really the only thing matters. And this this diva
that you've acquired, like, that's not gonna change. It will
be something in week seven, it will be something week ten.
It's always gonna be something. But as long as he
(24:29):
plays at the level in which were now accustomed to
him playing, you deal with it. I noticed something this
weekend combine with what a b in his helmet gate
brought to light, and it kind of made a light
go off for me. And if this potentially happens, I
will be very happy. In a couple of games on
(24:51):
Friday and Saturday, I noticed big hits, big legal hits,
safeties and linebackers leading with shoulder pads but elevating, you know,
launching themselves in the air, but hitting below the you know,
below the below the neck area and doing it cleanly,
and no flags were thrown. And then with Antonio Brown
(25:14):
and helmet gate, you realize the big push they're they're
moving into the league. Are these bigger, safer helmets And
clearly you know, five or six years ago and CT
was taken off, and the media just it felt like
wanting football the crumble, which is weird because so many
people in the media makes so much money because of football.
But you know, I I get it. I mean, I
(25:37):
don't necessarily relate to the hate and wanting to see
football go away. But I'm not a journalist either. I'm
a businessman. So I like the league doing well. Uh
It's it's good for anyone involved in the football business.
Though CT very bad thing. I'm not a pro CT
guy and I'm not some CT truther acting like it
doesn't exist. It clearly was an issue the league needed
(26:00):
to adapt. They have been over aggressive, you know, over
the last three or four years. If anything, they went
too far the other way. And I do think with
these bigger helmets that violence might come back to the sport.
And I think at the end of the day, I
know Twitter will tell you peace, love and happiness. We
just live in utopia. Look at the progressive NBA. You
(26:21):
know what people like with their football violence And I
have numbers to back me up to this day seven
years later, or maybe a little less than that six
years later, but in the history of the league, the
Seahawks versus forty Niners was as violent of a football game.
In two thousand fourteen, the NFC Championship game I've ever
I've ever witnessed. Thirty four years old, been watching football
(26:43):
pretty consistently that I can remember now, you know, for
I don't know, twenty five years, that's as good as
it gets top to bottom, just vicious violence. And these
last couple of years they went over the top the
other way. You couldn't touch, a soul or a flag
got thrown out. Well, now that they've kind of neutralize
the CT problem, there even studies coming out that you
(27:03):
can get CT and other walks of life. I think
the media jumped the shark a little bit. We just
the information is not out clearly. Football is violent, not
good for your long term health. There's some things that
the league needs to work on for healthcare for its
foreigner players. That's a conversation for another place. But I
think they had to bring in the big hits back.
And I'm not talking big hits where you're head hunting
and leaving guys injured on the field, but where guys
(27:26):
get lit up across the middle, where the wide receiver
fears going over the middle that he may be tackled,
where the vernacular ends that he's a defenseless player. It's
impossible to be a defenseless player if you're a wide
receiver because you're running over the middle where you know
defensive backs are. Now, if you want to convince me
you're a defenseless apartment return standing there waiting for the
(27:47):
punt to come down because you're looking at high at
the air, I'll hear you there. But to me, a
wide receiver is not defenseless. And I noticed some big
time hits this weekend, no flags throwne and then obviously
these bigger helmets. I think violence is coming back, and
I know this. Every human and definitely every male, likes violence.
Were drawn to it. Think of when you're young and
(28:09):
like junior high in high school, when there's a fight
on campus or on school or at a party, everyone
runs to watch. It's our natural inclination. I'm someone like
I like my violence kind of regulated, like I like boxing.
I've always been a little comfortable watching mm A. Now
I have I admire how tough those guys are. I
(28:31):
went to college with Chad Mendez, who was the baddest
forty pounder I've ever seen. He used to beat up
dudes on the football team. He he couldn't be stopped.
It wasn't shocking that he went to the m m
A and was successful. You know, when I was at
cal Poly, Chuck le A Dale, who also had gone
to cal Poly, was in his prime in m m A.
(28:52):
But I get a little uncomfortable sometimes, like I'm watching it.
These guys just beat each other to a pulp, Like
I'm not looking for that. I am. I do like
a good Bye Xing match where dudes are getting blasted,
but I love a good football hit. I've always been
more of an offensive guy, but I appreciate the Ronny Lots,
the Brian Dawkins like. I like that type player, the
Ray Lewis. I want to see guys get blasted legally.
(29:14):
And I think the league realizes that the that the
whatsification of football is not a positive big picture, and
I'm separating two things here, Protecting the quarterback is a must.
The league is only as strong as its quarterbacks. The
league is now loaded with good quarterbacks. You gotta take
care of him. So I I am okay with overregulating
(29:36):
sacks and not throwing the flag. I can live with that.
I really can't. He's gonna piss whoever off, you know,
a fan of a team on a given play. Every
once in a while, we just gotta deal with it.
Where I can't deal though, is when a guy's going
over the middle and a safety destroys him and he
hits him, you know, in the chest or the stomach,
and the dude throws a flag like what's he supposed
(29:57):
to do to hand touch him? Like that. That's where
the league became embarrassing. I thought these last couple of years,
that's where I thought the league was play kating to
what they thought Twitter wants. And when you play kate
to what you think Twitter wants, you get the NBA
and you get historically low ratings for a season. Play
kate to what the fans want, the consumer want, what
we're used to seeing. What helped make the NFL such
(30:19):
a big product was the ultimate combination of intellectual coaches
and quarterbacks playing mind games against defensive coordinators against this
just violent action of these defenders trying to take out
the guy with the ball in his hands, but you
can outthink them the scheme do it. That the ultimate
combination of team games. But there's a toughness element of
(30:40):
football that's blended into the team element. That and the
smart element that makes it such a special game. It's
why to go along with the urgency of the sport
you only play once a week. It's the ultimate combination,
perfect for gambling, on for perfect for watching. It's a
great television product. The talents still really high, the coaching
(31:01):
level still really high. It's got it all. But when
you take away one of the elements, which is a
huge fundamental part of the sport, the violent tackling, which
is legal, that has been happening forever. It hurts the sport.
And I thought it's really hurt the sport the last
couple of years, and I thought they overreacted to things.
But I understand why they overreact. I am, at least
(31:23):
my theory that it kind of feels like it's coming
back makes me happy, and I'm gonna keep my fingers
crossed that the big hits come back, because I think
that's what the people want, that's what the consumer wants.
And you're only as strong as a league and as
powerful as the league as you are the fans, because
the fans essentially pay for everything. The coaches don't mind
the big hits. The hell, the defensive coaches and defensive
(31:44):
players would pay to get them back. It would give
them a fighting chance in a league that leans the
offensive ways. So if you're gonna give all these advantages
to the to the offense, you can't mug him more
than five yards down the field right most of the quarterback.
You can't really touch your made more, which I think
even the defensive guys at this point in time, would understand,
(32:05):
you gotta be able to at least mess with the
wide receiver, at least have it in the back of
his mind. You know what might happen. You might get
laid out. And in the history of this great game,
a lot of guys have gotten laid out and they
get back up because when you're hit cleanly, you get
your win knocked out of you, you shake it off,
you get back up, and you keep playing. That That's
that's the reality. And now with these bigger helmets, maybe
(32:27):
one of as many head injuries, that's you know, that's
behind it all, right, So I think we got big
hits coming back. I think we're gonna have that. That
would lead to a much more fun NFL season. We're
clearly down the home stretch of the preseason. The four
preseason games, like it's been openly talked about, right with
(32:47):
this new c b A, four preseason games are gonna
be a thing of the past more than likely, my guests,
It's not like I don't know anyone in the league office,
but just reading the tea leaves of what the people
in the know are saying, it kind of feels like
we're headed to two I know Kyle Shanahan said last
week he wouldn't mind seeing zero. Now they're a little
biased that. I think they the Niners literally right now
(33:10):
lead the league in injuries. They have third team, uh
and many of those are starters, so that they can't
figure out training camp. I mean they don't, They don't
know what to do. Hell, they can't figure out the season.
They just lose a lot of players. But I was
fascinated on what night would that have been? Saturday night?
I had the Chiefs game on NFL Network and I
(33:31):
had the forty Niners game on my local television. And
the forty Niners, I mean the guys who didn't play
was more than half the team. They didn't play any starters.
Somehow they still managed to lose multiple players. I mean
they lost their backup swing tackle, their debacle. They didn't
play anyone, and they still had major injuries. Like they
(33:53):
lost a guy that's gonna be on their their fifty
three man roster for the season more than likely. So
they at they don't even know. They're kind of at
a loss. But I'm I look up to my top TV. Yeah,
I got two TVs. You know you can't you can't
follow sports for a living and have one TV. Now
I'm lucky that in my condo, I can put it
(34:14):
in my living room one day, get a family or whatever.
The hard part is real estate in the Bay Area
so expensive. I'm gonna need a man cave and I'm
gonna get like I already have it kind of mapped
out in my mind. It's gonna be glorious. But that's
a little ways away. So I'm looking up at the
top TV and I see Patrick Mahomes and I'm like, oh,
Momes is in and he's lead them down the field,
(34:36):
lead him down the field, and they're they're on like
the fifteen yard line, and all of a sudden, my
Homes takes off outside of the pocket, makes a guy miss,
kind of cuts back, and he's running at the goal line.
It turns out there about two defenders at the goal
line waiting to just kill him. And I even like
kind of gas, like, oh my god, and my Homes
(34:56):
slides kind of like falls, hits the ground. They don't
hit him, and then he looks over at Andy and
he smiles. I would imagine Coatrie didn't smile back because
anyone watching kind of gas. But then I'm looking at
the other TV and the Cowboys Jason Garrett, besides Zeke
who's incabo and Amar who's Dingdapi as a bad heel,
(35:17):
he's playing all of his starters. So and he's playing
all his starters. I'm watching the Cowboys play all their starters,
and I'm watching the Niners play nobody, and I go,
what is the right thing to do? You know, if
Mahomes is playing, why can't Jimmy play? If if all
the Cowboys guys are playing? And then I and then
I got the Raiders game on on another TV and
(35:39):
we actually I had to flip them on for the
Chiefs game, and all of a sudden, I realized nobody's
playing in that game. Because Sean McVeigh the Forts have
kind of copied him. He plays nobody. Gruden, for whatever reason,
didn't really play anyone either, And I started thinking, like,
what what is the right or wrong way to do this?
How is the right way to approach this? Because you
(36:02):
look at Belichick, he doesn't really play anyone, but he
does he averages two joint practices a year, so he
gets all this extra work out of these joint practices.
And I think joint practice are a smart thing to
do if you're comfortable with him. But if you're not
comfortable with people seeing in your plays or even seeing
your roster, I'm not opposed to doing things like Jason
(36:23):
Garrett Nandy and just playing your players in the preseason
game and getting them live reps. Now, obviously Belichick can
do these joint practices because he's gaining a huge advantage
from the other team. I don't think the other team
is smart and letting him joint practice with them, because
he's stealing shipped from you. He's stealing stuff on your players,
He's stealing stuff on your schemes. I would not do
(36:44):
a joint practice of Bill Belichick. It's like I would
not do a trade with Billy Bean, Like, I don't
know if that's a great idea. And I get he's
got raybel and Patricia and all of his little minions
out there he's taking advantage of. He used to do
a chip He's killing them. I mean, he really is.
I would not do a joint practice, but I understand
why he does the joint practice because then he doesn't
(37:04):
have to do as much in the preseason game. He
gets really good work for all of his guys, he
gets in a competitive environment and it doesn't have to
show anything in the preseason game. But like last year
for the Rams, I would always said, playing No. One
in the preseason is pretty risky because your guys do
need some live reps against other teams just to feel
the speed of the game, even if it's just a
(37:25):
couple of series in the second and third preseason game,
even if you're not gonna play him a half, I
would have said, that's crazy. You gotta play him a
little bit. And then Sean McVeigh didn't play a soul
all preseason and he ended up in the Super Bowl.
So I think there are a lot of coaches. You
can do a lot of different studies, see how all
these different teams are doing it, Like eight teams are
doing it eight different ways, and there's not necessarily a
(37:45):
right or wrong way to do it. And I think
that's why at the end of the day, these coaches
are gonna come together and the preseason is gonna be gone.
And what I think is gonna be fascinating a couple
of years. If there are only two preseason games, our
teams more inclined to let your starting quarterback, and you're
starting offense and you're starting defense playing these preseason games
because really the only reason you're not doing it is
(38:08):
just risk injury. That's the only reason. Because there are
a lot of positives. Get some live reps, get a
feel for it, get the preparation of a game day.
Because I'm watching the Niner game and I'm like, holy hell,
vanderash and Jalen Smith are kicking ass and taking names.
Jalen Smith looks fantastic. He looks awesome. I mean just
killing people, just destroying folks. And look at mahomes is
(38:32):
flying around and there are first team offense Travis Kelsey.
First play the game, I think cats a sweet pass
down the sideline. It's like whoa, you know that? Get
that live rep, get that feel, and then you take
off your paths at halftime and you're good to go.
But I'm fascinating to know once they do go to
two preseason games, are we gonna see a lot more
joint practices? Are we gonna see less joint practices? Are
(38:52):
we ever gonna see anyone playing the preseason? Because if
they do go to two preseason games and teams no
teams are playing anyone. Why don't we even have any
preseason games? Why don't we just kind of like college?
What do they do well? For three and three and
a half weeks leading up to Week one? They practice
against themselves, They do live scrimmages, they do you know,
they do practice with themselves. It's a little different because
(39:14):
the roster is bigger, but I guess not that much bigger.
I mean, an NFL roster nowadays is ninety people. So
maybe the more I think about it, maybe there's a
chance they just get rid of preseason games all to
begin with. Now, I do think the NFL likes having inventory,
television inventory. They need some games, but the preseason is
(39:35):
a disaster right now. It's besides, like the series Mahomes
plays or a couple of plays of Jalen Smith. It's
really hard to watch. And I'm a junkie, I know
all the rookies and stuff. I'm watching a little different
than casual fan. And even I get bored in the
second half. I get I get really bored in the
second half. So the NFL has a problem. I don't
necessarily have an answer. Uh And clearly the coaches don't
(39:58):
necessarily either, because they're all doing different things. Okay, let's
get into the middle Cough mail bag at John middle Cooff.
My Instagram handle d M is always wide open slide
in answer your questions here, like this one from Ryan.
Why is there no hype for Jacoby Brissette. He's a
Belichick product like Garoppolo, although not as good and hasn't
(40:19):
really had a chance to play and has a way
brighter future than fits Magic. Why hasn't a team gone
after him? He's got a brighter future than fits Magic.
Well they have, uh, you know the Colts trade for
when Luck was out, and right now Luck's out again
and he's playing so and I've just seen some highlights
from practice now, granted they're just clipped from like Colts
(40:42):
Twitter account, he looks pretty good. I like Jacoby Brissette.
I'm pretty sure he's scheduled to be a free agent
at the end of this year. You know, Luck still
hasn't practiced. They're at a pretty good spot where they
can just play out this season. You just never know
with Andrew Luck. Now when this season ends, he's gonna
get a job, whether that Cincinnati, I don't know. Actually,
(41:05):
you start thinking about it, where are the quarterback openings.
If Josh Rosen is just solid, he's gonna keep a job.
Who needs a quarterback? Even teams with terrible starters like
Eli Manning, they just drafted a guy. You just go
around the league. All these teams have young quarterbacks or
an established guy, even like the Steelers, Like, would they
(41:26):
signed you Kobe Rosette? Well, they're paying Ben a lot
right now, so I don't know. I like ja Kobe Brissette.
Obviously Belichick liked to be drafted him. I think what
was that the third or fourth round? Uh, I'm I'm
a fan. Can you give us a list of players
that are still playing that if they retired now, they
would be a first ballot Hall of Famer with little
in the no discussion because it's so clear that their
(41:48):
Hall of famers. Well, I think it's the quarterbacks. You know,
Peyton Manning just retired. He's a no brainer. Tom Brady
no brainer, Drew Brees no brainer, Aaron Rodgers no brainer.
I think Russell Wilson is going to continue to work
himself to a no brainer. I think if Andrew Luck
can stay healthy, he's a no brainer. Anyone under thirty.
(42:09):
I mean, I love my homes as much as anybody,
but it's a little early. When you think position players,
you'd go, it's a tough one with some of the
older guys. I might be forgetting. This is kind of
off the top of my head. I think J. J.
Watt is probably another good year away from being a
pretty big no brainer in my opinion, Like the Richard
(42:32):
Sherman Earl Thomas, I don't know if they've quite done it.
Long ago they were on that trajectory. Larry Fitzgerald to me,
first ballot no brainer. Julio Jones, first ballot no brainer.
I mean he's nuts, but Antonio Brown's bad health of
an argument. Uh, you know, Khalil Mack and Aaron Donald
are on that trajectory. They have two or three more
(42:54):
seasons like they had, they're no brainers. Jason P. Yeters
to me, he's pretty damn close to being a no brainer. Again,
this is off the top of my head. So if
I left your favorite player, your your favorite team out,
I apologize. Trying to think of some older guys that
are still really good. I'm probably missing some offensive lineman.
(43:17):
I mean, I think Luke Kickley at the end of
the day is gonna be a first ballot Hall of
Famer middlecof. Do you think any of this a B
stuff is overblown or blown out of proportion, or at
least it seems like once Pittsburgh radio show mentioned him
not talking to the Raiders, the story started coming out
of nowhere. Well, I think it's twofold. Is it overblown? No,
(43:37):
Because he's a superstar, he's a pain in the ass,
he does crazy stuff, so it becomes a big story.
I have heard that one element that he went radio
silent is not totally true because a camera crew, because
of hard Knocks, has been with him every day since
the off season, like since the summer, and they went
with him. Again, this is a this is a source
(44:00):
who talked to a source. So, but it makes sense
that the camera crew when he left to go see
a specialist, a camera crew went with him. So if
the camera crews going with him, what does that mean
the Raiders are gonna know where the camera crew is.
They knew where he was. I don't think they didn't
quite know when he was or like he went radio silent.
I do think the element of not knowing when he
(44:22):
was gonna come back, I mean he left. It's Monday,
August twelve. He left like last Wednesday. He's been gone
a long time. This this is training camp. This isn't
O T A S. This isn't you know, phase one
of working out in March. This is middle of August,
So just leaving for a while is a little weird, though.
(44:44):
I do think they had people with him and they
knew the helmet thing was a big issue. He was
freaking out about the helmet. He was making it really
hard on their equipment manager. I think he made it
hard on Gruden. They didn't know what to do. They
kind of felt for him, but he was being such
a diva. So yeah, I don't think it's necessarily overblown.
I do think it just takes a life of its own.
(45:06):
So what happens when you acquire a superstar? I mean,
Antonio Brown is a brand name superstar from one of
the biggest teams in the league, the Steelers. You know
who had one of the craziest offseasons we've ever seen.
Diet his mustache, blonde, went on Lebron Show, was talking
about everybody and it was awesome to follow. Not great,
(45:26):
you know if your teammate or thinking about acquiring him,
because it's such a wild card in life. If Trent
Williams is serious that he won't play due to the
Redskins medical staff, when does the team take a long,
hard look at all the injuries over the past two
or three years and start making some serious changes. Also,
I doubt grew in his back next year because it
seems highly unlikely that they make the postseason. Do you
(45:47):
think Snyder will ever wake up and fire Bruce Allen
as well? It's a loaded question here. Uh. Trent Williams
is fantastic when he's healthy on the field. He's clearly
one of the best left tackles in the league, of
the best athletes in the league, just an elite player. Clearly,
the Redskins have piste off a lot of people, including
Trent Williams, over the years. Do you know what's crazy
(46:09):
for the Redskins? Daniel Snyder didn't inherit the franchise. Someone
didn't hand him billions of dollars. He is a self
made man, isn't it wild? Bitten in America? Probably works
this way in any parts of the world, but in America,
where you can become and most of our billionaires, most
of our richest people in this country start with nothing,
(46:29):
so that that that's a fact, that's not an opinion.
You can google it. Definitely. The majority of billionaires are
self made, and it makes sense that there's a drive
when you grow up with nothing. And Daniel Snyder Snyder
comes from nothing, creates this billion dollar marketing empire. Yet
he is so terrible at running a franchise, and a
big portion of it is he hires bad people. Actually
(46:52):
don't think Gruden is bad. I think Gruden's solid. Bruce
Down clearly not a good GM. Then the other element
is because he's kind of a marketer, he gets involved
in acquisitions and it often bites them in the ass.
Like Josh Norman when he came available, he's I mean,
they've been doing it historically forever. I don't know. I mean,
I don't know how you fix. You can't fix an
(47:14):
organization until you get rid of the owner. It's really
that simple. I saw it forever down the street from
where I'm living right now, where the Warriors used to play,
about fifteen minutes away Oracle Arena. The Warriors were historically
terrible for like thirty years. Why because they had some
of the worst ownership in all of professional sports. In
two thousand eleven or twelve or whatever the official date was,
(47:37):
Joe Lacob buys the Warriors. Everything changed everything. You notice
the Clippers with Steve Balmber, how much more legitimate they
are as a franchise. You know, it's a little different
in the NFL. We have a short period of time
to judge some of these new owners. But I'll tell
you this, I believe David Tepper will be better than
Richardson at this current time. Like Richardson had lost it,
(47:59):
it was time for a change. Jimmy haslum flying Jay
will reserve judgment on that one. That that one still
still up for debate. But I I think it. I
think it all starts with ownership. And there's no chance
that Daniel Snyder is selling the Washington Redskins because when
(48:20):
you own a team, like if I owned a two
billion dollar business, let's just say I owned a business
that produced, like a construct, you know, some business that
produced I had an exclusivity on the ability to prove,
you know, provide the the shell that Apple makes their
computers with. So when Apple makes their computers, they buy
(48:43):
the shell of the laptop for me, And that just
created a billion dollar business for me. You know what,
Absolutely nobody would know who I was. You know, I'd
be able to get a date because I'm super rich,
maybe see me every once a while, like CNBC, but
no one would really know besides like Apple, who I
am or care what I do. Just like when when
(49:04):
Daniel Snyder was marketing, I don't know much about him.
I mean, I've read about him a lot in the past,
but you know he was a marketing guy. People that
live on that side of the country you know much better. Obviously,
if you're a Redskins fan, you know about his history
better than I do. But when you just run a
successful company, unless it's a really really cool company like
Apple or Nike or something, you can There are a
(49:26):
lot of really rich people in this world that no
one knows about and no one cares about and for
their ego. When they get involved with something as famous
and as popular as like an NFL team, you get
a level of popularity that you didn't have as a normal,
super rich business guy. So there isn't much incentive beside
(49:46):
like Daniel Snyder, when did he buy the team? I
mean twenty years ago. He'd make a lot of money,
but what does all that money do for him? No
one talks about him anymore. He kind of is irrelevant.
He's just another guy with not another guy, because they're
not that many of them. A human with a billion
and a half or two billion or whatever you get
after taxes in the bank account and no one gives
a ship what he's doing or what he says anymore.
(50:08):
Now I don't even know if he talks that much.
But the point is, people, he's in the vernacular of
everyone that lives in the d C. Area. Everyone you know,
if you just went to Dallas, or you went to
San Francisco, or you went to Seattle and you ran
into the casual football fan and you said the word
Dan Snyder, everyone knows who that is. If again, he
had just ran his normal company, not that many peop
(50:28):
wouldn't know what he does. So I think you're I
think this is a roundabout way of saying, you're probably screwed.
As long as Dan Snyder owns a team, your team's
gonna suck. Here was this is not even a question,
But Jonathan Abram is looking like an epic douche on
hard Knocks. I agree, Hard Knocks wasn't the best look
for him. Uh, let's see if I can Keith clear Wagner.
(50:56):
What do you think the l ob would have been
with Luke in that? I think think they win one
more chip. It's a good question. Bobby is a fantastic player.
He's another guy that has a case if he can
keep going. He's right now four time first team All Pro.
If he can end that his career at probably seven,
definitely six, he's gonna have a chance for first ballot,
(51:16):
probably a Hall of Famer, but it might not be
a first ballot. I think Luke Kickley is just a
better player. I think Luke Kickley has been the best
player on the Carolina Panthers since he showed up. He's
just just no way around it. He's just an elite player.
I would take Luke Kickley every day of the week
over Bobby Wagner. And that's not a slide on Bobby Wagner.
If anything, it's just a compliment to Kickley. Purely speculation.
(51:40):
Call me a Raider homer. Any chance that the Raiders
organization reached out to the Steelers organization about his old
helmet during that transaction, a Steelers beat reporter got word
did his homework and took it to the wood shed.
It just seems bizarre that nothing was made of this
month old story until HBO got winned. I like to
(52:01):
you know, I like a good conspiracy. I think it's
just I think people are starting to get rumors of it. Yeah,
I don't know. That's that actually makes some sense. That's
not That's not a crazy theory. I'll give you. I'll
give you that one. Hey, John, what was your favorite
position to scout? Probably running back or wide receiver. I mean,
I like offense more than defense. I'm a sucker for
(52:23):
talented offensive players. You know. I even like a good tackle,
like tight ends. Probably any position on offense, quarterback, wide receiver,
tight end, running back. You know, centers and guards aren't
as fun though a good center is fun to watch,
like Roddy Hudson, Rodney Hudson's Jason Kelsey like that they
are entertained to watch. But I'd say any skill position,
(52:44):
including quarterback. But probably at the end of the day,
I really like running back, wide receiver, and I think
you can factor in tight end now that they are
basically receivers, So it would be one of those guys. Yeah,
you can judge me. I'm a little softer, you know
I'm not. I'm not claiming to be ed reda Scouts here.
You think Philip Rivers is trying to single handedly fix
the charger at tennis problems with his kids. It's as
(53:05):
Bill Simmons would say, these are my listeners. That's a
that's a hell of a question. We'll enjoy your week.
I'll see you a little later this week. We'll probably
discuss hard knocks on the next one and whatever else
crazy happens in this crazy league throughout this week. And uh,
football is almost back. Regular season isn't too far away,
and I will talk to you guys soon.
Host
John Middlekauff
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