In this episode, Middlekauff explains why he agrees with the Packers and Eagles taking Jordan Love and Jalen Hurts as a backups for Aaron Rodgers and Carson Wentz, why the Cowboys should make Dak Prescott prove he can win with a stacked roster - now featuring CeeDee Lamb - this season before giving him a long-term extension, and why the Niners and Kyle Shanahan won big by waiting to replace Joe Staley with Trent Williams instead of using their first round pick. He also gives some draft winners and losers and answers questions in the Middlekauff Mailbag. Follow John on twitter @JohnMiddlekauff and go to theherdnow.com to find the latest content. Subscribe now!
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
What is going on? Everybody? John Middlecoff careeing out podcast,
back at it again Monday after noon. Draft was fun.
It's over and uh, you know NFL. I tipped my
hat to you. Uh. The draft was awesome. Godell crushed,
(00:29):
the GMS, crushed, all their little kids crushed, seeing the kids,
the raw motion. It was a fantastic three day production.
It really was. And we're gonna dive into. You know,
the thing I'm gonna talk about off the top is
the backup quarterbacks. And there are two really polarizing ones
that went high with the Eagles and the Packers. And
I just have some overall thoughts. I've been thinking all
(00:51):
weekend about just people freaking out and uh, it's kind
of crazy. And then the Dallas Cowboys, who still have
this situation asia with Dak Prescott. Does it make more
sense now to just play him on this one year
deal and see how he looks with an absolutely loaded offense,
because I think it might. And then we're gonna dive
into a lot more. You've got James assigning with the Saints.
(01:13):
Some just other thoughts I had on the draft. Some
teams that jumped out dive into the Middlecoff mailbag of
course at John Middlecoff. I'm gonna need you now more
than ever. Is my Instagram handle at John Middlecoff Instagram
and Twitter, but my instagram d MS wide open needs
you to slide up in there and you can ask
any question you want and I will answer it here
(01:35):
on the podcast. Again, this is a community based show.
And in the month of in quarantine, which at least
where I'm from, doesn't look like it's getting lifted uh
anytime soon, we're gonna I'm gonna depend on you. It's
gonna be a team effort. And everyone that has gone
I appreciate everyone that's done this. And if you haven't
done this and you'd like to show iTunes, go to
(01:55):
where you can rate and review and just leave. You know,
I appreciate a five star review, three and out podcast,
and if you if you want to leave a couple
of words, that would also be greatly appreciated. But I
wanted to start with this. I think the two most
polarizing picks of the first two rounds were Jordan's Love
and Jalen Hurts. I think they got the most reaction
on social media. I think they probably got the most
(02:17):
reaction of just the fan base either shaking their head
or just they created emotion and and listen in football circles.
And the one thing I've learned working in the media,
you know, when you're a scout, you take a lot
of pride in talking about a guard or a blindbacker
because you spend a lot of time watching those guys.
And when I go through the programs like I want
to talk about this backup safety, when you get to
(02:38):
the media, you realize, yeah, no one gives a shit.
You know, I can't talk to you. And now I
can talk to you maybe about Trent Williams, but I
can't talk to you about a fourth round offensive lineman.
You just won't care. But we can talk about quarterbacks
till the cows come home. They are like NBA superstars,
they are like rock stars, they are like actors. They're
really really famous, and when you mentioned of their names,
(03:01):
they create an emotion either like the pick or you
don't really more than any other picks. And I think
two teams we talked about my thoughts on Jordan's Love
being picked and Howie Roseman taking Jalen Hurts in the
second round, and I was thinking about this since I've
gone into business for myself, I have to pay insurance, right,
(03:22):
I gotta pay health insurance, I gotta pay now my
car insurance. I pay all these payments and for a
long period of time, Like you can be paying health
insurance and I'd be healthy as a whistle. I guess
it's clean as a whistle. But you can just be
really healthy and never go to the doctor. You're like,
what I'm paying? My health insurance costs are really high?
You know, I mean it's closer to four figures than
it is, you know, two figures. I'll prompt you at
(03:44):
it's an expensive, expensive bill every year or just every month.
And but you get to some of these points and
times where you have a weird feeling in your body
or just something happens and you gotta go check out
that you gotta go to the doctor. Hell, you may
need to get may rip my achilles paying pick up
as ssketball, And that insurance comes in pretty clutch. Right,
I'm a pretty good driver. I've never ever been into
(04:06):
an accident, but it's out of my control of someone
t bones me at a stoplight. Right, And then you
better believe you want to have car insurance. Now I
think legally you have to have car insurance, but still
like you can get away without paying it for a
little while, but you better believe you're gonna need it.
And it's just the backup quarterback is insurance. And we've
seen when Rogers went down and then been in a
(04:26):
position where they weren't equipped to, you know, stay above water.
We've seen Carson Wentz go down multiple times. One time
they had Nick Foles. They ended up winning the Super Bowl.
The following year they won a playoff game. This year
they were in a position with a forty year old
backup and he tore his hamstring early in a playoff game.
They really had no shot. So you can't tell me
(04:47):
that because everyone always says without hesitation, and it's correct,
the quarterback is the most important position in all of sports.
And we all go yep, agree, Well, wouldn't their backup
be really important too? And the thing would alan unlike
Jordan's is Jalen Listen. I'm not a Jalen Hurts truther.
I don't think he throws the ball consistently well enough
(05:07):
to be a good NFL starting quarterback. Now I might
be proven wrong. You know who does believe in the
guy Doug Peterson. You know what, Doug Peterson is one
of the best officer coordinators in the league. On a
Lombardi three years ago, when a playoff game two years ago,
Like he knows what he's doing. Howie Roseman's built a
super Bowl team, Like they got a pretty good idea
what works and what doesn't work. One thing I know
about Jalen is he can do other things. And I
(05:28):
see like he can play a Taysom Hill roll. He's
a much Tasom Hill coming out of college. Couldn't hold
Jalen's jock. This guy ran for over two thousand yards
in the SEC and twenty four touchdowns. Clearly what he
did in the Big twelve. Like he is a instinctive runner.
He's an elite runner of the football. Now the throwing
of the football needs to be worked on. Well, what
is Doug Peterson. He's known as a quarterback guy. He
(05:50):
was a quarterback. And you do have to have some insurance.
You can say, well, you're paying all this money for
you know, Carson Wentz and Aaron Rodgers. Well, Aaron Rodgers
gonna be thirty seven years old in December, and let's
just call us spade a spade. His arrow is pointing
down and there's just a lot of unknown with Carson. Yeah,
the money's paid, it's a sun cot. You're you're in
bed financially with these two guys. That doesn't mean you
(06:10):
should just wave the white flag and be like, you know,
if Aaron Rodgers starts sucking these next couple of years,
we're screwed. No, we're not, actually, because we were equipped.
You know why, because we went through this fifteen years ago.
Well you know this this time around, because we're the Eagles.
We've made the playoffs three straight years. You know, the
first couple of years Carson went down, we were ready.
This year, we were screwed. We're not gonna be in
(06:32):
that position again. We're gonna be in a position if
Carson goes down and wearing a playoff game at home,
we can win it because our backup quarterback is good.
Again in theory, that's what they believe, and I understand it,
and I honestly support it, because like, oh, why don't
we should take a wide receiver there? You know, it's like, well, uh,
(06:52):
backup quarterbacks more important than rotational wide receiver because there's
no guarantee the wide receiver is gonna be good either.
So I'm take a wide receiver. Two years ago in
the second round, J j R. Take a whiteside. I
don't know if the guy is any good. Now I
do know this that Carson Wentz. We can say his
injury prone, we can say he's not injury prone, whatever
element you want to argue. He just goes down. And
(07:14):
when he goes down, you have to be equipped. And
the other thing with the Packers. Aaron Rodgers now old
in his game. Unlike Tom Brady, who is probably the
most fundamentally sound player in the history of the quarterback position,
his game aged well, why because he has perfect feet,
He throws from perfect positions, he gets rid of the
ball very quickly. Aaron Rodgers fundamentally is pretty shitty. He
(07:38):
throws off his back foot all the time. Uh, he
bails on the pocket whenever he wants, and he gets
away with it because his skill set. Forever he hadn't
He had arguably the best arm in the league. He
was like the damn Marino of this era. Well, his
arm do you notice isn't quite as good? And last
year a couple of balls that he's throwing off his
back feet that used to hit wide receivers in their hands,
(08:00):
maybe hit the dB in the helmet, or maybe he
airmailed the guy. And you can say, yes, that's were
pretty good. But the eye test, we all watched him,
he didn't quite look the same. So what's the guy?
You start getting the the you're as a general manager,
as a head coach, you go, well, what if this
guy is start trending the other way? Shouldn't we have
a backup plan. Shouldn't we have a contingency just to
(08:21):
get if we get into a position where if next
year he's dramatically worse than he was this year, our
team isn't just screwed. So in two years, if he's
just you know, quote unquote shot and you go, god,
you're getting a little extreme middle cough. Well, in in
two you were two years away from him being thirty
eight years old. And I know we throw out these
ages like it's no big deal anymore. I don't believe that.
(08:42):
I believe Brady's an outlier, more of just the new norm.
Same with Breeze. Rogers plays a lot different than those guys.
Rogers game is dependent on moving around in any time
you move around one, you're more susceptible to injury into
As your arm strength diminishes a little bit, it's gonna
be harder to make the throws. So you have a
guy that you think can replace him, whether he gets
(09:04):
hurt or whether he just starts sucking. Because hell, Peyton
Manning was kicking everyone's asked for three years until he
wasn't and then it was just over. He couldn't move
or throw. Now, I don't know if Aaron Rodgers going
to have that precipitous of a drop off, but I've
seen crazier. It's like right now, if you've been on quarantine,
just sitting on the couch uh in sweatpants all day,
(09:26):
binging Netflix, and you have a real job, or you
run a small business, your falling behind. Now. There were
limited what we can do at home, But if you're
not working on stuff, being creative, trying to keep the
business alive, you're gonna get laughed whenever this thing ends.
Like everyone worth their salt has been trying to figure
out a plan. Right It's not ideal, it's not great,
(09:49):
it sucks. We all want to get back to normal,
but this is our reality right now. So anyone that
runs a small business. I know they've been trying every
pitch in the book, just see if this works, seeing
if that works, trying different stuff. And I see a
lot of people, you know, on Twitter, they're like, oh,
just just bene another show on Netflix today. So you
just sat on your ass all day and you can't
(10:11):
send a couple of work emails act like you're working.
We know a large percentage of people are not, and
they're gonna get exposed when this thing gets This is
not a vacation. This has just been an interruption, and
I think sometimes teams can get in the just kind
of in the slow lane. We just got our quarterback
after the quarterbacks showed you some signs of you know,
(10:32):
it's one thing if you have Philip Rivers or Eli Manning,
you know, guys that never miss games. You know, I
can understand, like, yeah, do we need a draft backup
quarterback that high. But in the Packers and the Eagles situation,
one guy has showing us. I think Colin said it
on his Monday show. Carson Wentz is thrown four passes
in the playoffs four The Eagles have been to the
(10:54):
playoffs three straight years. Rogers just wasn't the same in
two thousand nineteen. Plus he's old. Now, listen, they are
financially tied to both those two individuals, but the contracts
are signed. Like once you do a business deal, that
deals the deal. Should you just stop worrying about what
the repercussions might be if you don't pivot because you
(11:15):
might have to? So, yeah, it's the milk spilled, like
the contracts and the dead cap and the cop that's set.
Should you just wave the white flag if that player
is either gets old or gets injured? Again, I don't
think you should. And I think the best organizations are
always ready and forever. Ron Wolf and Andy Reid they
always got this credit, like they always drafting quarterbacks like
(11:36):
every other year, and now when teams do it, it's like, oh,
they're just idiots, morons. Well, I thought Jordan's Love was
a top fifteen talent in this draft, and they got
him in the late twenties. Jalen, who I'm not as
high on I do. They are like they believed in them.
So listen, would I have taken him there? No, But
(11:58):
if you believe in the guy and think he can
be a starting quarterback in the NFL. Is it worth
taking him there, especially given your situation with your quarterback
and his durability. Yes, no issue. Like they believe that
I haven't won a super Bowl. They have, so I
My point is, I understand it. Everyone's freaking out like
you're just gonna You're just gonna land Davante Adams or
(12:20):
Bobby Wagner in the second round. It's just not the
way it works for as great as the first round looks,
and basically every player except maybe two or three felt like, damn,
that's a good pick. That's a good pick, that's a
good pick. We know of them are just gonna be
averaged below average players. I would say ten to fifteen
of them or ten to twelve of them won't have
(12:41):
their fifth year option picked up. If you don't have
your fifth year option picked up, you're a miss. That's
what we consider a with. That's a with like Trabsky,
Solomon Thomas, those type guys that one of the fifth
year option, that's a miss. And you know, I I
guess overall, I just sometimes you gotta take a step back,
(13:02):
take a deep breath, and drafting quarterbacks high, even when
you have an established quarterback, when the guy has some
red flags on them that given the quarterback that you have,
regardless how much you're paying them, it's it's not that
not as crazy as everyone acts like it is on
social media. I think the Cowboys have a couple of
things working for him right now. When you have a
(13:23):
bunch of friends who go through divorces or crazy relationships,
even though you're not dating them. If you're if it's
your close friend, especially like in college or fresh out
of college, when he's your roommate, you kind of experience
the relationship. Now, you don't experience all of it right
you're not actually sleeping with her, you're not going on
one on one dinner dates. But you see her a lot,
(13:45):
and you see it and you hear all the stories
from him. So eventually when they get divorced or when
it gets rocky, you understand why. So when you're looking
for a girlfriend or thinking about getting married, you can
balance some of the things you've heard. Now, again, you
don't know everything that's going on, but you kind of
get a front row seat in college and out of
(14:07):
college when you have some roommates of what works and
what does in a relationship and kind of what you
want well, the Cowboys in the NFC have seen multiple
teams pay for quarterbacks. The Rams. If they could do
it over again, you bet your asked, they would not
have given Jared Goff that much money. I like Jared Goff,
but in no world does he ten million dollar guaranteed quarterback.
(14:29):
Zero Again, I'm a fan, could not give him that
much money. Carson Wentz, who while I do believe he
is a quote unquote max level quarterback, the Eagles are
showed they had to take a quarterback in the second round, which,
as I said earlier, I understand, but ideally, if you're
giving a guy in his mid seven year old quarterback
(14:51):
a hundred plus million dollars, you'd like to be said
at quarterback forever. But some of the injuries. Now, I
don't think DAC has much in common with Carson Wents
because Carson Wentz, as you saw last year, can just
carry a team of scrubs. That's just that they have
nothing in common. Actually. But I think when you look
at Jared Goff and you look at the Rams, you go,
(15:11):
I don't want to do that. Well now this year
with the Cowboys, and I give Jerry Jones credit, he
drafted Ceedee Lamb in the first round. He easily could
have taken a defensive player, but he went with the
best player on his board. And I think for me,
Ceedee Lamb is probably a top ten player in this draft.
I actually see zero chance that he fails. I think
he's gonna be a really good player. I think when
(15:32):
the dust settles in three or four years. Ceede Lamb
is the number one wide receiver for the Cowboys and
A Mari's, you know, a quote unquote overpaid number two,
but I like him Mari too or overpaid, yeah, over
You wouldn't pay a number two that much money. But
if a Mars you're number two, you're in really good shape.
But here's the thing. I don't want to dive deep,
deep in with with Dac when I already have some questions,
(15:55):
because if I didn't, I'd already be married to him.
I'd already given him the money. Clearly, the Cowboys have
second thoughts about how much Dak Prescott's worth. Now they're
in a position where they have another sweet wide receiver,
a Mari's under contract. Zeke's under contract, got a bunch
of defensive players under contract, have a new coach, what's
the rush to pay Doc? Why not just let this
(16:17):
thing play out, play him on the franchise tag and
if he gets it done, if you win the division,
if you win some playoff games, then you know, maybe
you got to overpam. What if you go eight and
eight again? What if you missed the playoffs? What if
he can't beat Carson Wentz? What if he can't beat
the good teams in the NFC, What's let's pump the brakes.
Like to me, this draft pick now allows you, Let's
(16:38):
just see this thing out. What is the rush You've
seen other teams? You just saw the Ramps gave a
guy all that money and he can't carry the franchise.
And I like Dak. If you had to say, would
you either have Dak Prescott or Jared Goff? I might
lean Jared Goff and it would be tight. I'd probably
(16:59):
have to study it. But to me, they're kind of
in the same realm. I I am not into giving
and I am not into paying premiums for people that
for players that aren't premium picks. It's just like I'm
not into getting married to someone I don't want to
get married to. We all know a ton of people
who have gotten married to people they don't even like
and they're miserable. I know a lot of people get
married to the right person are really happy. But the
(17:21):
great part about life, like in a relationship, like with
a quarterback, no one's putting a gun in your head
this America. You can do whatever you want. No one
says that you have to pay the quarterback. And when
you think about it, whatever Dack's gonna get this year
twenty seven, I think million if you factor it over
a five year period, because the first four years were nothing,
and this year it's really not even that much money.
(17:42):
So when you when you factor in, you know, spreading
that cost out technically over five years the way you
look at it, because you haven't paid him anything. He
was a fourth round picks, still a steal and if
it turns out this year he's just not good enough,
and McCarthy goes, yeah, just I think we can do better.
Your team's equipped to go find a guy either draft
a guy, a plug and play quarterback. Every year, especially now,
(18:02):
they're more good quarterbacks in the league that their spots.
You know, this year Jamis was available. Next year, maybe
Derek carr is available. Maybe you can trade up mortgage
a bunch to go get a sweet rookie. You have options.
There are a lot of functional quarterbacks in the NFL
right now, and I don't think we have any evidence
the Doc is some star. Now. He's not a bad player.
He I would say he's above average, but we've seen
(18:25):
like Kirk Cousins is above average. They gave him eighty
six million dollars and then they gave him sixty more.
They're never gonna do anything in the playoffs ever, Hell,
he won a playoff game. We're still like, Yeah, I
just don't see it. Yeah, And I like that probably
a little more in Kirk Cousins, but still, if you're
in that conversation, I struggle with it. I I really
(18:47):
do like the one. I wouldn't like Jimmy Garoppolo as
much if they were paying him a hundred and twenty
million dollars guaranteed. They paid him seventy, so it's like
his contracts not bad. He makes twenty three million dollars
next year. If Jimmy was making thirty five and the
forty Niners couldn't resigned, you know, Jimmy Ward, I'd have
some issues with the contract. But right now, Jimmy, you
(19:09):
know what, Jimmy Garoppol is properly paid. That's that's really
what he is. Jared Goff not properly paid. And right
now the Rams are in a pinch. Now you think
the Cowboys, you'd be like, well, they already got a
bunch of players under contract. You paid well. The problem
is once you pay Doak in next year and in
years coming, you gotta cut some of the good players
you have on your team because the way the cap
and he'll take his number would take up so much
(19:30):
of the cap space. So I'm all four seedee lamb
props to you, Jerry, great pick from your two or
fifty million dollar yacht. I'm rooting for you to to
make a playoff run. But I I just I I
would not be in the quote unquote overpaying dock business.
Right now, let's just play this year out. What's that
gonna do? Not show up? I mean, twenty eight million
(19:53):
dollars is dramatically more money than he's ever seen in
his life as an NFL quarterback. He'll be there, and
it's it actually behooves him. He's a weird spot, like
does he hold out? Well? So did he hold out
and then come in Week one, not knowing the offense.
He's the quarterback. Well, if he looks like crap, no
one's gonna pay him. And I've had a lot of
people d m me and asked me why didn't they
let him hit the free agent market. Well, I think
(20:16):
they were a little nervous because anytime you let a
guy hit free agency might not come back, and then
what would they do? But that might have been the
prudent move. Who was gonna pay Dack a hundred million dollars?
Maybe Gruden, but probably not. I don't really see where
were he gone? Now? The Cowboys not to me, they
got some leverage. Now our team stacked play on the
(20:36):
franchise tag and will will reconvene after the season when
when we figure out how well we do. One thing
that happened over the weekend that as someone that covers
the Niners very closely, for someone that knows a bunch
of people in that organization, uh, for someone that just
I just talk about that team more than any other team.
(20:59):
I I didn't see Trent Williams ended up on the team.
I mean that that that was wild. I sat down
on my couch I slept in on Saturday, and I
got up probably like eight the draft started. I think
for me. Was it at ten am? Yeah, I think
it was at ten am. Maybe it was at nine am,
maybe it was at nine am. Whatever the time it started.
(21:21):
In the morning, I had a cup of coffee. I
just sat down on my couch. I was gonna I
was gonna watch just the fourth round, you know, just
for a couple of hours casually before I went on
a walk or something. And I looked down at my
phone and rap sheet tweets that the forty Niners have
acquired Trent Williams, and I swear to god, I thought that, like,
(21:41):
I'm not even awake yet, I'm not reading this right,
and I kind of like I flipped my phone Twitter
off and I loaded back up and I go to
his Twitter account and it was real, and I think
it was one of the more shocking things of the weekend. Now,
I had heard last week that Joe Staley had been
content lating retirement and anyone that has hasn't done it.
(22:03):
He put out a retirement letter that was about his
well thought out and powerful of a retirement letter, as
you're gonna see, and Joe Staleley to me is everything
you want in a franchise. Cornerstone. Was he ever the
best player on the field, No, but what he was
is he was one of the more reliable players always
(22:24):
on the field. And that guy really the four hard
By years probably are the equivalent to like six or
seven years just from factoring in violence and the way
that hardball played well this season with Kyle Shanahan turned
into that how violent, Uh, just the forty Niners are
and what they asked of all their players, like the
(22:46):
games are just kind of a war zone. I mean
they're trying to not just beat, they're trying to kick
your ass. And Joe's body kind of broke down. His
legs snapped, his fingers were shattering turns out here, his
neck was hurting. I mean he's thirty six years old.
He's a weathered, weathered NFL player, thirteen years in the
trenches going up against the best players and for a
(23:08):
long period of time every day in practice. Alton Smith,
Justin Smith, Ray McDonald and then all the guys always
in the division with Seattle, Chandler Jones has been the
division for a while. The Rams have guys. It's just
a physical position. So I I thought the reason I
thought he would come back was simply because you know,
the Niners are gonna have a chance to win the
(23:28):
Super Bowl this year, and he's been to two and
he's lost both. But clearly his body doesn't can't take
it anymore, and I think that he did not want
to end his career. And he's gonna be whoever your
favorite team is. You know, he's just one of He's
that guy that's gonna be part of the organization, like
the media team, maybe become like the assistant GM. I
(23:48):
don't know what he's gonna be, but he's gonna be
a huge part of the Niners moving forward. I just
don't think he wanted to end his career, either in
an air cast or a cart because that's why I
think what he was thinking. Might it might end that way,
but something one of the best players the Niners have
had in the last two decades. They upgraded the position,
and I know Colin last year thought the next Bill
Belichick was gonna be Kyle Shanahan, and you know, it
(24:11):
turns out he's kind of right. But one area which
they are dramatically different is in a weird way, Kyle's
a player's coach. He's a little bit more modern. I
actually think he's more like Bill Walsh than Bill Belichick.
Like players rave about Belichick how smart he is, but
they all kind of fear him. They all know that
he's gonna get rid of him. I think players really
(24:33):
respect Kyle and don't fear him that way. Now, as
Kyle would show, he traded the Forrest Buckner, he cut
Navarro Bowman, but a huge reason that Trent Williams is
on this team. Minnesota had a better offer. They were
also going to give Trent Williams a race. He said, no,
I'm not gonna do it. My theory was he was not.
(24:57):
I think Kirk Cousins played a part in that He's
already been in a to with that guy. He knows
you can't win a super Bowl, er win big with
that guy and the money. You don't hold out for
a year when you're already super rich just because of money.
It's on principle, it's on I can't stand the Redskins.
I'm taking control of my life a little like Gronk
(25:18):
did a couple of years ago. Now, you've gotta be
a really good player to be able to pull this off.
You also in a league where it's hard to become
financially secure, I have to have made some money. And
like Gronk when Belichick was like, you know what, I'm
trading you to one of the joke franchise in the
league with my clown former defensive coordinator and Bob Quinn
that doesn't know what's going on. And Gronk says, you
know what, Belichick, kick rocks. I'll retire before I play
(25:41):
for them. And Belichick couldn't do anything, and twent Trent
Williams last year was like listen, I'm I'm out, guys,
I'm out. And they I don't know the team, but
you know, there were a bunch of rumors they clearly
could have got more form last year. First round picks
were being thrown around, definitely multiple two's. Now again, we
don't know if Trent Williams would have been willing to
be like, yeah, all go play for the Houston Texans
(26:03):
or all go play for the Cleveland Brows, because I
would say based on his actions when he told Minnesota,
it's not like Minnesota's the fight. You know, the Lions
they've made the playoffs. What four the last five years
might be five and the last six. They've been one
of the more consistent winning teams in the league for
the last half decade. They got a you know, really
good coach, they have good players on offense, they have
(26:25):
they have had pretty consistent players on defense. They've had
one of the better defense in the league. There's a
well run operation. He said, no, you know, it was basically,
I'm playing for Kyler. I ain't playing because you don't
have to give up much and the Niners aren't even
giving him a race, So it clearly wasn't about the money.
It was about principal. And somehow, when the dust settles,
the Niners end up they got rid of Buckner and
(26:46):
they end up with kin Law, second best deep interior
defensive lineman in this draft. They end up with Brandon Aiyuk,
who to me is a top thirty player in this
draft and a guy that can be really really good,
and they an upgrade their left tackle position. Now, the
guy hadn't played any year, but texting around uh the
(27:07):
league that everyone said that evaluated him. My buddies that
are pro scouts used the word yeah. He was still
arguably the best left tackle in the league in two
thousand and eighteen. Now you never know. But sometimes for
a guy he's thirty one, thirty two, he's not thirty
six thirty seven. You know, he still should have a
couple of years left. And I think the Niners are
gonna have options. If he plays great, you extend him.
(27:29):
If he shows he shot, you didn't give up that much.
It was a well worth risk taking. Also a very
very ballsy move because back to Kyle Shanahan, Joe Staley
told him I was gonna retire. That was the crazy
part about what the forty Niners did. They knew Staley
was not gonna show back up, so with the thirteen pick,
(27:50):
they traded back a spot to give the Tampa Bay
Buccaneers potential tackle. Now there's some arguments with worf is
he is he a tackle or is he a guard? Still,
the Niners could have traded back and taken another tackle.
I mean, they knew they need a left tackle. Talking
to some people around the Niners, they were hoping the
Williams thing was going down. They were working on it,
but there was no guaranteed. They kind of just rolled
(28:11):
the dice. And I know this if the Trent Williams
deal had fallen through and Staley had retired, and they
had taken kin Law and Ayuke and not landed a tackle,
they would have been in some trouble because you cannot
win a Super Bowl with a crappy left tackle. They
couldn't have done it, and it would have been basically
impossible to land one unless they were gonna trade some
(28:33):
a lot of you know, high round picks for some
sweet player. But who's the sweet player that would be available.
They'd be impossible to find. Now, Kyle did a good
job last year with backup tackles when McGlinchey and Staley
were hurt, but it's another thing playing an entire season.
I mean, Joe Staley still started all the playoff games
still started Week seventeen in Seattle, like you need Joe Staley,
(28:54):
So that that was to me the most shocking thing
that happened on Saturday A is somehow the forty nine
ers lost Joe Staley, one of the most consistent guys
you know, enfranchise history, who's not gonna be like I
don't think Joe Staley is a Hall of Famer and
ended up with potentially a Hall of Famer for a
(29:15):
third round pick next year, third round pick. All they
had to give up this year was a fifth round pick.
And the way that I've been it's been described to me,
when you give a future pick, you usually divide, like
take a discount. So a third round pick this year
is actually worth a third round pick the following year
is worth less depending on the team uh next year.
(29:40):
So pick, if if I'm giving you pick forty five
this year, right going into the draft, that pick is
just worth forty five whatever it is on the value chart. Well,
if I'm giving you a third round next year, you
don't know the exact pick, right, because you don't know
what my record is gonna be. And that's why most
teams somewhere between twenty and so if the pick is
worth on the value chart, let's just I'm just gonna
(30:01):
use an even number, a hundred points that what you're
giving them is actually only worth seventy eight points when
it's a future pick. Same with first rounders. So that
that's the way I've been told. Teams you know, dictate
or value you know when you're when you're dictating these
these terms for a deal, the future picks are are
(30:23):
never as worth as much as the present picks, and
I think sometimes we get confused on that. I know
I have in the past, But yeah, the forty Niners
have Trent Williams are starting left tackle. Okay, before we
dive into the Middlecoff mail bag, I want to do
a couple of things. One, I guess the big news
of was it Sunday that Jamis Winston signed with the Saints.
(30:47):
I give James a lot of credit because there are
countless like is Jamis Winston better player than Kirk Cousins?
Is Jamis Winston a better player than Derek Carr? I mean,
I think these are fair questions to ask. Uh. Now,
you could counter and say, no, they're not. That he
throws way more picks than them, and maybe he's just
(31:08):
gonna be a lifetime interception guy. But I know he's
a more explosive passer in both those two guys. So
if I could ever get the picks down, he's just
a more explosive player. I mean, he was a number
one overall picked for a reason, won a national championship
for a reason. He's a very, very talented individual. And
I think the most head scratching part about Jamis's career,
Remember David Shot told me once they had some questions,
(31:31):
like about his maturity, but he's like, yeah, he was
an academic qualifier to Stanford. Like Stanford Stanford d in Alabama,
in Ohio state, like they can't get anyone into school.
They have minimums for academics. When it comes to g
P A and s A T scores and Jamis hit
him easily. Jamis is really smart, He's just reckless, and
(31:53):
you know, going to the Saints does a couple of things.
Want It gives him the chance to resurrect his career,
take a step back, take a deep breath, get around
Sean Payton, get around Drew Brees, and just kind of
see things from a different view. It also puts them
in a position that if things go well, Drew Brees,
for who knows why, already has a contract with NBC,
(32:14):
he is more than likely going to retire at the
end of the season, go work in television. Well, then
what are the Saints gonna need. They're gonna need a
quarterback because do you know what the Saints have told
you now back to back years, Taysom Hill is not
our backup quarterback. He's our role player. Does a little
bit of everything. Our backup quarterback with Teddy Bridgewater and
now is Jamis Winston. And here's what I know we
(32:35):
can do if Drew Brees goes down. I know we
can win with Teddy and we should be able to
win some games with Jamis. And I think James is
gonna be in a good position if Drew and Sean
Payton are signing off on him. Can you imagine if
Drew goes God, I'm telling you, Sean, this guy. I
like this guy, like he's gonna be able to put
in the good words. Shawn's gonna be working with him
every day. Who's to say that Jamis Winston won't He's
(32:57):
only twenty six years old, won't be the saint starting
quarterback for the next half decade. Sean Payton just told
you what he thought. He thought he had the chance
to take Jordan love at and he chose Jamis Winston.
That's what he did. It's just I mean to me,
it's that simple because a couple of years ago he
was gonna take my homes. This year Jordan's love fell
(33:18):
right to him. He said, yeah, I don't think he's
that good. The Packers do, and we'll see. I actually
kind of like Jordan Love, but he'd rather have Jameis Winston.
And I don't totally blame him. I don't totally blame
him at all. I texted around on some good and
bad drafts. The one name that stood out to me
was the Falcons, and I think it starts with that
(33:40):
first pick. Now, I have talked with people that said
that they thought A J. Terrell like they liked them.
They just thought he was a second round player. Uh,
but they passed on Ceedee Lamp and the Cowboys, who
were in a very very similar position about right, they
needed other things. They did not force a knee. They
(34:00):
just picked what they thought was the best player on
their board, a k a. Seedee Lamp. Why didn't the
Falcons take Ceedee Lamp? Like I said over the weekend,
I wasn't a fan of the Arizona Cardinals taking uh
Isaiah sevens now in fairness, like they got Eno Benjamin,
a little wide receiver or excuse me, the little running
(34:22):
back from Arizona State in the seventh round. I like,
you know, Benjamin, that's a pretty good seventh round pick.
But I just I can't get behind not that I
understand the pick because those pitch picks have worked for
Arizona in the past. Just Vance Joseph Cliff Kingsbury. Everyone
keeps saying, this the card You gotta watch out for
the Cardinals. You gotta watch out for the Cardinals. Can
(34:43):
we pump the brakes? Cliff Kingsbury couldn't win squat in
the Big Twelve, which basically beside Oklahoma and like Iowa
State and a little bit of Oklahoma's that conference has
been trash. Couldn't win more than seven games. He had
pas Trick Mahomes and now his defensive coordinator is terrible.
(35:04):
How's he gonna win in the NFC West with Pete
Kyle and even Sean McVeigh. I don't love the Rams though.
What I was told is like people that I know
in the league, like Cam Akers, the running back from
Florida State. But I think the problem is the dude
they drafted last year. I think in the third round
of running back they don't even like. Is less Need
a good general manager? Because I don't think he is.
(35:25):
Is there a chance I got a hot take? Sean
Sean McVeigh will have a new general manager next year.
At this time, Less Sneed will not be the GM
because I think the Rams they've lost a lot of players.
As a buddy of mine in the league, text me,
their offensive line stinks, I mean stinks. They lost Corey Littleton,
(35:46):
who was a big time cover guy who's now on
the Raiders. Who there, who's gonna play middle linebacker for him? Uh?
The problem with having a bad offensive line for the Rams.
Their quarterback can't move. He's not an athletic guy. He
can't get away. Now that one thing one positive I
heard was I got this from multiple people. Everyone was
impressed with the Browns draft. So you know, now the Browns,
(36:08):
they've had a good offseason last year, they had a
good draft this year. To me, the Browns problem has
not been talent over the years. It's been coaching has
been underwhelming. It's been their players. Like the talent hasn't
matched up what we've seen on the games. Like is
Baker Mayfield what's he gonna do over quarantine? Is he
eating cheeseburgers or is he drinking protein shakes, getting lifts
(36:31):
in and studying the film? You know, to me, it's
gonna come down to Baker Mayfield's maturity. But their team
is very, very talented. The Chiefs had a really good draft.
I mean that the little running back, the linebackers good.
But most part actually, I think most of the teams
in the first round, I like most of their picks.
I would say the one glaring. You know what's gonna
(36:52):
be interesting is Raider fans think that they've equipped this
good team. I just don't know if they have enough
blue chip players. There's gonna be a lot of pressure
on Eric Card to play well. He's gonna have to
look like the two thousand sixteen version because if you
just can't, I mean, Gruden ain't gonna go another year
without making the playoffs and not have a quarterback change.
Now he drafted all these weapons. Some guys that I've heard,
(37:14):
you know, I've gotten a couple like I don't know
if I love that guy in Vegas. So it's gonna
be interesting. Gruden's got a while. Davis to him takes uh,
you know, guys on on the fringe. Character wise. We'll
see you know, our Neett, the dude Bowden from Kentucky.
Not bad guys, but you know what I'm dude, it's
just a little uh, you know, not perfect pass. Uh.
We'll see you know Vegas, it's gonna it's gonna test
(37:36):
the franchise. You know it really is, but it's gonna
be fun. Uh So let's dive in the middleuff mail back. Okay,
what round did Shaye Patterson go in? Last I saw
today on Twitter? Is it Shaye Patterson didn't even sign
as an undrafted free agent with anyone? Think about this,
(37:57):
Michigan had I think ten players drafted only l s
U had more. I think how embarrassing that is. Listen,
I'm a hard, bad guy. But talent ain't their problem
right now. They have to win more games. Jim, you
have to get a quarterback. You can't be playing with
(38:17):
Shay Patterson, who wouldn't even start in the a F.
The XFL would have laughed at him. You need to
get a legitimate NFL type player because you have talent
everywhere else. You're not gonna win anything in that conference
is too good Ohio State Wisconsin, James Franklin at Penn State,
hell Iowa. It's a big boy conference, second best conference
(38:39):
in the country by a mile. It's the SEC and
the Big Ten. Then the other conferences all kind of
just stink that God Big twelve has Oklahoma, and the
PAC twelve has the Ducks and the a SEC has
Clemson because the three conferences are struggling right now. But god,
Shaye Patterson, what a scrub? What happens with can? I'm
(39:00):
Jamison Dalton? Now, well, Jamis is on the Saints. Do
they all become backups? Or does Cam get a one
year prove it deal? Where is Cam's one year proven deal?
Dalton to me, you know a team will take him
as a backup. I could see if he takes a
pay cut, you know, Gruden take him as a backup.
Jacksonville take him as a backup, you know, Cowboys. See
(39:24):
who knows someone will take Andy Dalton Cam? I I
don't know. I can't even give you a prediction. I
have no clue because I can't see Cam Newton being
a backup, and I don't totally blame him. The Palace
at Auburn Hills has to be a top five all
time name for a pro sports arena. What do you
think some others are the Palace at Auburn Hills. I
(39:46):
would say the Rose Bowl would be one. I'd say Lambo,
I'd say Wrigley Field, I'd say Fenway. Uh I'd say
it's probably some cool hockey arenas. Uh, the Big House
pretty sweet, Cameron Indoor. You know. Now everything's so corporate,
(40:11):
so it's like they're all named by different things. Middlecoff
mail back. Can you go into depth about what the
draft means to Derek? Clearly make or break year, but
also Gruden has three off seasons to replace him and
never has well. I think there's a pretty good chance
that they couldn't, you know, upgrade the position. They didn't
like Jordan Love more than Car very understandable. Derek car
(40:34):
is better. Uh, they needed to get them wide receivers.
They drafted Rugs in the first round. Then they draft
the kid from Kentucky and the kid from South Carolina.
I think Edwards and Bowden Jr. Bowden Junior. I like
that guy from Kentucky Edwards. I don't know that much
about those highlight tape looked pretty good. Uh. And you
get to Terrell Williams, you get Darren Waller, you have
Josh Jacobs, you have a good offensive line like that.
(40:54):
The Raiders should be a top ten offense next year.
And that's just not on Derek, that's on Gruden. Like
to me, Grew I expected to some dynamic guy, kind
of like an Andy Reid Sean Payton to meet. Gruden's
kind of boring as a coach. He wants to just
like pound the rock and be conservative. Now maybe that's
because of Derek, but you get Henry Ruggs, like Nick
(41:14):
Saban once was boring in conservative. Well what do you
do the last couple of years with all those cats?
Henry Ruggs, Jerry Judy, Davante Smith, and Waddle threw the
ball all over the place. So part of signing sweet
wide receivers, you guys start throwing the ball. It's not
it's not two thousand two anymore. Michael Pittman and Mike
Alstott ain't walking through that door. And you can run
(41:34):
the ball. I like Josh Jacobs, but they tried last
year and he got hurt. You gotta throw the football.
Look at the Chiefs. Look at what Elway did. Drafted Judy,
then drafted Handler last year, drafted Fant and Lock. They
got Melvin Gordon and Philip Lindsay like they're gonna try
to score points, score points. Hey, John watching the Jordan
(41:58):
dock and I was observing how much more athletic can skill.
The league is now compared to the nineties, feels like
mostly everyone can shoot and dribble. That being said, the
two thousand seventeen Warriors have to be the best team
of all time. Closing line up Steph Clay, Kevin Durant,
Draymond and Iggy. Any other teams come close? Yeah, I
don't think they will just be some lock to beat
the ninety six Bulls. I think anytime you've got Michael Jordan's,
(42:20):
Scottie Pippen and the Worm, you'd have a pretty good chance.
Phil Jackson's dramatically better coach than Steve curt too. I
actually think that the people act like the league is
that much better now, better athletes. Maybe the league's pretty
athletic back then too, you know. I mean Michael is
a better athlete than anyone in the league now. So
(42:40):
good question. I was listening to you and guy on
the other podcast and you mentioned ALL twenty two. What
is the ALL twenty two? It's basically just the It's
just the tape that the coaches watch so you can
see every player. Any time you hear a media guy
talk about a owner, a wide receiver or or a safety.
(43:02):
If they don't have the All twenty two tape their
full ship because you can't evaluate a corner, a wide receiver,
or safety without the ALL twenty two. Even sometimes a
linebacker leaves the tape. Now I can evaluate running back
off TV copy. I could evaluate you know, probably a
center off TV copy. It's tight end and lineman maybe,
(43:24):
but it gets tough to to do a true evaluation.
You Uh, you need to have a TV You need
to have the All twenty two. What do you think
the Cardinals drafting Simmons over a top tackle with the
eighth pick. I have a feeling a major reason for
that is to have a man to stop Russell Wilson
from doing his late game heroics. For example. Yeah, I
(43:46):
think it's a guy to spy Russell Wilson, a guy
to chase George Kittle when those are four games right there,
and last year the Niners beat him twice. Actually, I
think Arizona beats Seattle one game, right Uh? I mean again,
I like the guy in theory that he is a
versatile chess piece, but you have to have a defensive
(44:06):
coordinator to use them. Brett Venables, the defensive coordinator for Clemson,
makes two point two million dollars. He's the best defensive
coordinator all college football. He's probably a top five or
six defensive coordinator in the country. You'd go Zimmer Belichick,
no order, Fangio. I mean it's a short list venables.
(44:27):
I mean, I might be missing someone, but he's he's
He's probably a top five defensive coordinator in America. And
that's the guy that used him. If a Rod demanded
a trade, what would be the minimum that the Packers
would have to get back for them to do it.
Maybe not this year because everyone is set, but next offseason.
You know, with his age and his money, it's I
(44:48):
don't even think it's possible. With the amount of dead cap. Now,
i'd have to ask a cap guy, can you move
money around? I don't know exactly how it worked to
facilitate it, but let's say he demanded a trade. Did
he take a pay cut to make the dead cap
less and then they could trade him? I think they'd
give him around for for give him away for a
first round Pick's thirty seven years old. I'd give him
(45:11):
away for first round pick if you wanted out and
I was ready to move on. I hope you enjoyed
the draft as much as we all did. I got
a question for you. Since the Raiders came into two
thousand nineteen season with hopes of forming their playbook around
a B, would it be fair that since they drafted Rugs,
they could blow the dust off that playbook and just
plug and play. Another small question to add, who was
your what the fuck pick of the draft? And why? Uh?
(45:35):
I would say the Rugs thing. He's a little I
mean a B was you know, had sixth straight of
the best years we've seen in NFL history at wide receiver.
But I do think some of their concepts, I'm sure
that they wanted to use what a B. Yes, they
can use with the Rugs, some of the deep breaking
routes I mean rugs to compare to a B is
(45:57):
not fair to Rugs. He a B was just in
the peak of his powers. But I'm with you, yes
they could add some of that. My WTF pick of
the first round probably was the Raiders. That corner, just
because I hadn't talked to one person thought that I
was gonna go in the first round. It's one thing
to go like when no one had been talking about you.
It's not think to go to nineteen I would say
(46:19):
the Raiders, you know, it might be Jordan's love, but
just because the Packers took him, but we expected Jordan's
love to get I expect him go in the top twenty. Honestly,
kind of fell I. I think the Raiders have had
kind of two of the WTF picks in the last
two years, Cleveland Farrell and then David Arnette. Now I
think they'd argue, well, if we're taking the WTF picks,
(46:40):
we're taking them from Ohio State in Clemson. And that
is the one thing the Raiders have done under this
administration with Gruden and Mayock is they only draft guys
from like Wow State, Bama, and Clemson. I think they
have eight Clemson players on their team from the last
two years. Think about that. Thoughts on the Bears draft,
where do you put them in the division? I read
(47:00):
a good article by Dan POMPEII on the tight end
that they took from Notre Dame. I didn't I'll be
completely honest, I didn't know that much about him. Uh
everything I had read as it was a shitty tight
end draft. I talked to my buddy that works for
the Bear staff. He's like, we like this guy. A lot.
Clearly they liked the guy a lot. Take him in
the second round. Dan Pompeii, uh he, I think talked
(47:23):
to twenty league executives, so twenty different teams and only
one team didn't have the guy in the top three rounds.
The majority of teams said that they would have taken
him in the second round. So if that guy is good,
that they desperately need a tight end. Trying to think, oh,
then they took the corner from Utah. Like the guy
a lot, tall, long, physical corner, press corner. I like
(47:44):
Jalen Johnson a lot. So I didn't know much about
the tight end reading the article. People like him. I
know the Bears like him. Jalen Johnson good player. Don't
know anything about the other guys. And once you, I
mean their next pick was the fifth round. God, the
Bears had a crazy draft. Did not have a fifth
round pick, had two second round picks, then did not
(48:06):
have a third round pick or a fourth round pick.
That's what happens when you got a double down. To me,
the key with the Bears is gonna be simple. Can
can the quarterback play improof? Like last year at a
Trabisky You're just if you're screwed. If that's the level
of quarterback player you're gonna get. What do you think
(48:27):
of the Jordan Brooks pick As a Seattle fan, I
felt it was a bit of a reach and an overdraft,
and it's not even a position to need. Taking a
run stopping linebacker in the first round doesn't make sense
for them. What do you think, Well, ah, I'm a
big believer if the guy can be a two or
excuse me, a three down linebacker, I'm not drafting a
(48:49):
guy in the first round that can't be a three
down linebacker. Now, I'd be lying to if I studied
the guy from Texas Tech. I did not. I knew
about the two guys that we felt like first round layers,
which were Kenneth Murray and Patrick Queen. I would have
taken both those guys in the first round. Now they
took Jordan Brooks over Patrick Queen. But this guy ran
(49:09):
a four or five four, so this guy can move
and he's a good athlete. Now you say it's not
a need, well, you need multiple linebackers. Look at the
forty niners. They have multiple good linebackers. Look at last
year the Rams had a couple of linebackers. Like good
teams typically have multiple speed linebackers. Chiefs are somewhat of
an outlier. But they passed on Patrick Queen for this guy,
(49:30):
which will be you know, a pretty dissected you know pick.
Just given who they passed on, they took a linebacker
and they passed on what I think many thought was
the better, better linebacker. Here's the thing. Look at their division. Uh,
the forty Niners want to run the football. The Rams
want to run the football and to beat those two teams.
Like that's like their main competition. Now I'm with you,
(49:53):
I don't I'd have to do some recon on this guy.
I was not as familiar with him as the other
who linebackers have taken the first round. Now, if you
look at John Snyder's career started scolding hot when he drafted. Uh,
when he drafted the first couple of years, he was
(50:13):
in Seattle with Pete. You know, from o'coon's to Bobby Wagner's,
the Russell's to Richards, the cam Chancellors, Earl thomas Is,
the Irvans, the Byron Maxwells to the Jeremy Lanes. Like
he couldn't miss I mean just sweezies. The he was
just hitting on him all trading a fourth round pick
for Mars Shawn Doug Baldwin. I mean, he was just
(50:35):
he was hot. He's been a little bit or miss
lately and I'm a big John Schnyder guy. But it's
gonna be tough. This guy's gotta be good because last
year that the guy they drafted the first round, the
pass rusher. I think he's from TCU. He was a
healthy scratch all season long. And what what position were
they in desperate need of pass rusher? Now? I would
(50:55):
assume that they bring back Clowney, but they need that
guy they drafted last ye in the first round to
not suck. Teams have drafted and then also signed free
agent players who didn't get drafted. Two questions, is the
strategy for these signings to see if they might get
lucky with a free agent? Too many say these players
care practice? These players are practice wall players. How many
(51:16):
practice wall players because the team have Oh, is there
a signing a strategy assigning the free agent players? Uh,
you can have ten practice squad players, but you can
have a ninety man roster. Right now, I think the
key with undrafted free agency is like, um, if you're
an undrafted free agent wide receiver, you're not gonna go
(51:38):
to a team that just drafted to wide receivers because
those guys aren't gonna get cut over you. Now, if
you're a free agent running back and you look at
a team's depth chart and you go, well, they got
an old running back and one other guy they drafted
last year and they didn't draft a running back this year,
that's a good spot. So to me, as an undrafted
free agent, you want to go to a spot where
you have a chance to make the team, or a
spot where you might have a relationship with a coach
(52:00):
coordinator that's gonna coach you. Uh, it's it's it's I mean,
you get pretty lucky, you know. There. If you thought
the guy was good, you would have drafted him. So
whenever you see a team that hits on an undrafted
free agent, they like the guy, but to think that
they knew that guy was gonna be good. And every
(52:22):
year you see I think, on average, you know, two
plus undrafted free agents make every team. You know, some
teams have like three or four, some teams have none,
But I think the average is it's definitely close. I
think it's two. Uh, it's just you just find out
some guys, you know, for whatever reasons, they just fit.
With several teams rolling with a nickel corner in their
(52:43):
base coverage lately, how might it effect the way scout
evaluates a dB or even a linebacker. Many teams have
to be cycling middle of the field coverage to allow
shade on receiver one without abandoning the two deep shell
look or given up a cushion. Love to hear your thoughts.
It's a pretty nerdy football pick. When I was in
(53:04):
the NFL, it was much more of a base defense,
so your third corner was a bench player. I think
nowadays you look at it like you see these guys
in college because so many corners. You know, if you're
an outside corner, maybe you carry the guy inside. If
that if that team has, you know in your conference
that you're playing in college, has a number one wide
(53:25):
receiver and you follow him, so you have a bunch
of tape of seeing that guy play inside. I actually
think playing inside is a skill. Sometimes an outside corner
is not comfortable inside because everything happens quicker, especially when
you're playing a true slot wide receiver. That guy does
like an Edelman does most of his work in like
a five yard radius. He's going running a quick end,
(53:47):
running a quick out. Now, if you're talking about like
covering a tight end, you know, if you feel comfortable
with your nickel to be able to do a lot
of different things like maybe Isaiah Simmons, can you just
leave him out there and if he needs a lock
up against the little wide receiver or he locks up
against the tight end. I also think it depends on
what coverage you play as a defense. Like you said,
if you play a zone coverage, then it's more pressure
(54:09):
on your linebackers. But I think all these linebackers are
getting drafted now you're not seeing any of these two
down mics. Every guy can move. You've got to be
able to cover ground. So I always thought that you
know a nickel is signed us, you either can do
it or not. As a corner. Linebackers now are covering
so much more in college just because the game spread out.
(54:29):
You see him move around that those guys. If you're
just dropping in a zone coverage, those guys, you do
have to have some instincts to be a good zone coverage.
The zone dropper, whether it's whether it's a corner rural linebacker.
To me, it is an instinctive position because you're kind
of in no man's land, and you hear coaches talk
about this like if you want to get really geeky,
(54:50):
like don't just kill grass, don't just be a robot,
like three three back pedals back five yards to the right,
Like no, you'll be a player, you know, And it's
it's a challenging position to evaluate. I think it's why
you see so many linebackers and so many defensive backs
not be good pros because there's a huge projection element
to it. Last episode, you said that Jalen Hurts could
(55:13):
be a starting running back on a lot of teams.
I brought that opinion to a group and backed it
up with facts like his forty times good size for
running back and how his TD and rushing totals were
more than Swift Acres and Clyde. Where do you think
Hurts would have been ranked as a running back prospect
and would he been been drafted? Uh? Like if he
had just changed his position to running back, I think
(55:35):
he would have been in the second or third round
because I think he could now probably not in the
second round. I mean his value for the Eagles still quarterback,
but I would have taken him in the third round.
Is just an athlete. Remember we used to see a
lot more quote unquote athletes picked back in the day.
Back when guys like you knew the guy like Antoine
Randall l couldn't play quarterback, You'd be like, yeah, would
(55:56):
just draft from the third round, just be an athlete.
It doesn't happen as much now because you like these
hybrid positions and you're like, wow, we can put him
in wildcat and he can still throw a little bit.
He was an elite production guy in the SEC as
a runner, and just his size, like you say, his physicality,
he ain't scared like he ain'ts not a woofs. So
(56:16):
I've had I had a friend probably in about October.
I remember, like Oklahoma was on and he was he
was just texting me about He's like, God, I think
this guy could be a starting running back. Now he
got better as a thrower, but yeah, I mean, I
think Jalen Hurts is a very very dynamic runner like
Lamar's a dynamic runner because his he's like the fastest
guy in the field. I mean he has elite speed.
(56:37):
When you watch Jalen run, it's like he's got like
a little levy On bell to him, Like you know,
he waits for angles and then he hits a corner
like he's a natural with a ball in his hands.
I mean a natural. I'm I'm a big fan of
the of the athlete and the prospect. Now it's risky,
like I said, but I understand the risk from the Eagles.
Appreciate everyone listening. Uh, keep entertained during quarantine. We'll just
(57:01):
keep on swinging. Uh, the stories might slope down a
little bit, so I got some offseason projects. Keep sliding
up in those d m s at John Middlecoff is
my Instagram handle. You're welcome to come on in and
ask me anything you want. Audios, have a good week,
See you later. Pos
What is going on? Everybody? John Middlecoff careeing out podcast,
back at it again Monday after noon. Draft was fun.
It's over and uh, you know NFL. I tipped my
hat to you. Uh. The draft was awesome. Godell crushed,
(00:29):
the GMS, crushed, all their little kids crushed, seeing the kids,
the raw motion. It was a fantastic three day production.
It really was. And we're gonna dive into. You know,
the thing I'm gonna talk about off the top is
the backup quarterbacks. And there are two really polarizing ones
that went high with the Eagles and the Packers. And
I just have some overall thoughts. I've been thinking all
(00:51):
weekend about just people freaking out and uh, it's kind
of crazy. And then the Dallas Cowboys, who still have
this situation asia with Dak Prescott. Does it make more
sense now to just play him on this one year
deal and see how he looks with an absolutely loaded offense,
because I think it might. And then we're gonna dive
into a lot more. You've got James assigning with the Saints.
(01:13):
Some just other thoughts I had on the draft. Some
teams that jumped out dive into the Middlecoff mailbag of
course at John Middlecoff. I'm gonna need you now more
than ever. Is my Instagram handle at John Middlecoff Instagram
and Twitter, but my instagram d MS wide open needs
you to slide up in there and you can ask
any question you want and I will answer it here
(01:35):
on the podcast. Again, this is a community based show.
And in the month of in quarantine, which at least
where I'm from, doesn't look like it's getting lifted uh
anytime soon, we're gonna I'm gonna depend on you. It's
gonna be a team effort. And everyone that has gone
I appreciate everyone that's done this. And if you haven't
done this and you'd like to show iTunes, go to
(01:55):
where you can rate and review and just leave. You know,
I appreciate a five star review, three and out podcast,
and if you if you want to leave a couple
of words, that would also be greatly appreciated. But I
wanted to start with this. I think the two most
polarizing picks of the first two rounds were Jordan's Love
and Jalen Hurts. I think they got the most reaction
on social media. I think they probably got the most
(02:17):
reaction of just the fan base either shaking their head
or just they created emotion and and listen in football circles.
And the one thing I've learned working in the media,
you know, when you're a scout, you take a lot
of pride in talking about a guard or a blindbacker
because you spend a lot of time watching those guys.
And when I go through the programs like I want
to talk about this backup safety, when you get to
(02:38):
the media, you realize, yeah, no one gives a shit.
You know, I can't talk to you. And now I
can talk to you maybe about Trent Williams, but I
can't talk to you about a fourth round offensive lineman.
You just won't care. But we can talk about quarterbacks
till the cows come home. They are like NBA superstars,
they are like rock stars, they are like actors. They're
really really famous, and when you mentioned of their names,
(03:01):
they create an emotion either like the pick or you
don't really more than any other picks. And I think
two teams we talked about my thoughts on Jordan's Love
being picked and Howie Roseman taking Jalen Hurts in the
second round, and I was thinking about this since I've
gone into business for myself, I have to pay insurance, right,
(03:22):
I gotta pay health insurance, I gotta pay now my
car insurance. I pay all these payments and for a
long period of time, Like you can be paying health
insurance and I'd be healthy as a whistle. I guess
it's clean as a whistle. But you can just be
really healthy and never go to the doctor. You're like,
what I'm paying? My health insurance costs are really high?
You know, I mean it's closer to four figures than
it is, you know, two figures. I'll prompt you at
(03:44):
it's an expensive, expensive bill every year or just every month.
And but you get to some of these points and
times where you have a weird feeling in your body
or just something happens and you gotta go check out
that you gotta go to the doctor. Hell, you may
need to get may rip my achilles paying pick up
as ssketball, And that insurance comes in pretty clutch. Right,
I'm a pretty good driver. I've never ever been into
(04:06):
an accident, but it's out of my control of someone
t bones me at a stoplight. Right, And then you
better believe you want to have car insurance. Now I
think legally you have to have car insurance, but still
like you can get away without paying it for a
little while, but you better believe you're gonna need it.
And it's just the backup quarterback is insurance. And we've
seen when Rogers went down and then been in a
(04:26):
position where they weren't equipped to, you know, stay above water.
We've seen Carson Wentz go down multiple times. One time
they had Nick Foles. They ended up winning the Super Bowl.
The following year they won a playoff game. This year
they were in a position with a forty year old
backup and he tore his hamstring early in a playoff game.
They really had no shot. So you can't tell me
(04:47):
that because everyone always says without hesitation, and it's correct,
the quarterback is the most important position in all of sports.
And we all go yep, agree, Well, wouldn't their backup
be really important too? And the thing would alan unlike
Jordan's is Jalen Listen. I'm not a Jalen Hurts truther.
I don't think he throws the ball consistently well enough
(05:07):
to be a good NFL starting quarterback. Now I might
be proven wrong. You know who does believe in the
guy Doug Peterson. You know what, Doug Peterson is one
of the best officer coordinators in the league. On a
Lombardi three years ago, when a playoff game two years ago,
Like he knows what he's doing. Howie Roseman's built a
super Bowl team, Like they got a pretty good idea
what works and what doesn't work. One thing I know
about Jalen is he can do other things. And I
(05:28):
see like he can play a Taysom Hill roll. He's
a much Tasom Hill coming out of college. Couldn't hold
Jalen's jock. This guy ran for over two thousand yards
in the SEC and twenty four touchdowns. Clearly what he
did in the Big twelve. Like he is a instinctive runner.
He's an elite runner of the football. Now the throwing
of the football needs to be worked on. Well, what
is Doug Peterson. He's known as a quarterback guy. He
(05:50):
was a quarterback. And you do have to have some insurance.
You can say, well, you're paying all this money for
you know, Carson Wentz and Aaron Rodgers. Well, Aaron Rodgers
gonna be thirty seven years old in December, and let's
just call us spade a spade. His arrow is pointing
down and there's just a lot of unknown with Carson. Yeah,
the money's paid, it's a sun cot. You're you're in
bed financially with these two guys. That doesn't mean you
(06:10):
should just wave the white flag and be like, you know,
if Aaron Rodgers starts sucking these next couple of years,
we're screwed. No, we're not, actually, because we were equipped.
You know why, because we went through this fifteen years ago.
Well you know this this time around, because we're the Eagles.
We've made the playoffs three straight years. You know, the
first couple of years Carson went down, we were ready.
This year, we were screwed. We're not gonna be in
(06:32):
that position again. We're gonna be in a position if
Carson goes down and wearing a playoff game at home,
we can win it because our backup quarterback is good.
Again in theory, that's what they believe, and I understand it,
and I honestly support it, because like, oh, why don't
we should take a wide receiver there? You know, it's like, well, uh,
(06:52):
backup quarterbacks more important than rotational wide receiver because there's
no guarantee the wide receiver is gonna be good either.
So I'm take a wide receiver. Two years ago in
the second round, J j R. Take a whiteside. I
don't know if the guy is any good. Now I
do know this that Carson Wentz. We can say his
injury prone, we can say he's not injury prone, whatever
element you want to argue. He just goes down. And
(07:14):
when he goes down, you have to be equipped. And
the other thing with the Packers. Aaron Rodgers now old
in his game. Unlike Tom Brady, who is probably the
most fundamentally sound player in the history of the quarterback position,
his game aged well, why because he has perfect feet,
He throws from perfect positions, he gets rid of the
ball very quickly. Aaron Rodgers fundamentally is pretty shitty. He
(07:38):
throws off his back foot all the time. Uh, he
bails on the pocket whenever he wants, and he gets
away with it because his skill set. Forever he hadn't
He had arguably the best arm in the league. He
was like the damn Marino of this era. Well, his
arm do you notice isn't quite as good? And last
year a couple of balls that he's throwing off his
back feet that used to hit wide receivers in their hands,
(08:00):
maybe hit the dB in the helmet, or maybe he
airmailed the guy. And you can say, yes, that's were
pretty good. But the eye test, we all watched him,
he didn't quite look the same. So what's the guy?
You start getting the the you're as a general manager,
as a head coach, you go, well, what if this
guy is start trending the other way? Shouldn't we have
a backup plan. Shouldn't we have a contingency just to
(08:21):
get if we get into a position where if next
year he's dramatically worse than he was this year, our
team isn't just screwed. So in two years, if he's
just you know, quote unquote shot and you go, god,
you're getting a little extreme middle cough. Well, in in
two you were two years away from him being thirty
eight years old. And I know we throw out these
ages like it's no big deal anymore. I don't believe that.
(08:42):
I believe Brady's an outlier, more of just the new norm.
Same with Breeze. Rogers plays a lot different than those guys.
Rogers game is dependent on moving around in any time
you move around one, you're more susceptible to injury into
As your arm strength diminishes a little bit, it's gonna
be harder to make the throws. So you have a
guy that you think can replace him, whether he gets
(09:04):
hurt or whether he just starts sucking. Because hell, Peyton
Manning was kicking everyone's asked for three years until he
wasn't and then it was just over. He couldn't move
or throw. Now, I don't know if Aaron Rodgers going
to have that precipitous of a drop off, but I've
seen crazier. It's like right now, if you've been on quarantine,
just sitting on the couch uh in sweatpants all day,
(09:26):
binging Netflix, and you have a real job, or you
run a small business, your falling behind. Now. There were
limited what we can do at home, But if you're
not working on stuff, being creative, trying to keep the
business alive, you're gonna get laughed whenever this thing ends.
Like everyone worth their salt has been trying to figure
out a plan. Right It's not ideal, it's not great,
(09:49):
it sucks. We all want to get back to normal,
but this is our reality right now. So anyone that
runs a small business. I know they've been trying every
pitch in the book, just see if this works, seeing
if that works, trying different stuff. And I see a
lot of people, you know, on Twitter, they're like, oh,
just just bene another show on Netflix today. So you
just sat on your ass all day and you can't
(10:11):
send a couple of work emails act like you're working.
We know a large percentage of people are not, and
they're gonna get exposed when this thing gets This is
not a vacation. This has just been an interruption, and
I think sometimes teams can get in the just kind
of in the slow lane. We just got our quarterback
after the quarterbacks showed you some signs of you know,
(10:32):
it's one thing if you have Philip Rivers or Eli Manning,
you know, guys that never miss games. You know, I
can understand, like, yeah, do we need a draft backup
quarterback that high. But in the Packers and the Eagles situation,
one guy has showing us. I think Colin said it
on his Monday show. Carson Wentz is thrown four passes
in the playoffs four The Eagles have been to the
(10:54):
playoffs three straight years. Rogers just wasn't the same in
two thousand nineteen. Plus he's old. Now, listen, they are
financially tied to both those two individuals, but the contracts
are signed. Like once you do a business deal, that
deals the deal. Should you just stop worrying about what
the repercussions might be if you don't pivot because you
(11:15):
might have to? So, yeah, it's the milk spilled, like
the contracts and the dead cap and the cop that's set.
Should you just wave the white flag if that player
is either gets old or gets injured? Again, I don't
think you should. And I think the best organizations are
always ready and forever. Ron Wolf and Andy Reid they
always got this credit, like they always drafting quarterbacks like
(11:36):
every other year, and now when teams do it, it's like, oh,
they're just idiots, morons. Well, I thought Jordan's Love was
a top fifteen talent in this draft, and they got
him in the late twenties. Jalen, who I'm not as
high on I do. They are like they believed in them.
So listen, would I have taken him there? No, But
(11:58):
if you believe in the guy and think he can
be a starting quarterback in the NFL. Is it worth
taking him there, especially given your situation with your quarterback
and his durability. Yes, no issue. Like they believe that
I haven't won a super Bowl. They have, so I
My point is, I understand it. Everyone's freaking out like
you're just gonna You're just gonna land Davante Adams or
(12:20):
Bobby Wagner in the second round. It's just not the
way it works for as great as the first round looks,
and basically every player except maybe two or three felt like, damn,
that's a good pick. That's a good pick, that's a
good pick. We know of them are just gonna be
averaged below average players. I would say ten to fifteen
of them or ten to twelve of them won't have
(12:41):
their fifth year option picked up. If you don't have
your fifth year option picked up, you're a miss. That's
what we consider a with. That's a with like Trabsky,
Solomon Thomas, those type guys that one of the fifth
year option, that's a miss. And you know, I I
guess overall, I just sometimes you gotta take a step back,
(13:02):
take a deep breath, and drafting quarterbacks high, even when
you have an established quarterback, when the guy has some
red flags on them that given the quarterback that you have,
regardless how much you're paying them, it's it's not that
not as crazy as everyone acts like it is on
social media. I think the Cowboys have a couple of
things working for him right now. When you have a
(13:23):
bunch of friends who go through divorces or crazy relationships,
even though you're not dating them. If you're if it's
your close friend, especially like in college or fresh out
of college, when he's your roommate, you kind of experience
the relationship. Now, you don't experience all of it right
you're not actually sleeping with her, you're not going on
one on one dinner dates. But you see her a lot,
(13:45):
and you see it and you hear all the stories
from him. So eventually when they get divorced or when
it gets rocky, you understand why. So when you're looking
for a girlfriend or thinking about getting married, you can
balance some of the things you've heard. Now, again, you
don't know everything that's going on, but you kind of
get a front row seat in college and out of
(14:07):
college when you have some roommates of what works and
what does in a relationship and kind of what you
want well, the Cowboys in the NFC have seen multiple
teams pay for quarterbacks. The Rams. If they could do
it over again, you bet your asked, they would not
have given Jared Goff that much money. I like Jared Goff,
but in no world does he ten million dollar guaranteed quarterback.
(14:29):
Zero Again, I'm a fan, could not give him that
much money. Carson Wentz, who while I do believe he
is a quote unquote max level quarterback, the Eagles are
showed they had to take a quarterback in the second round, which,
as I said earlier, I understand, but ideally, if you're
giving a guy in his mid seven year old quarterback
(14:51):
a hundred plus million dollars, you'd like to be said
at quarterback forever. But some of the injuries. Now, I
don't think DAC has much in common with Carson Wents
because Carson Wentz, as you saw last year, can just
carry a team of scrubs. That's just that they have
nothing in common. Actually. But I think when you look
at Jared Goff and you look at the Rams, you go,
(15:11):
I don't want to do that. Well now this year
with the Cowboys, and I give Jerry Jones credit, he
drafted Ceedee Lamb in the first round. He easily could
have taken a defensive player, but he went with the
best player on his board. And I think for me,
Ceedee Lamb is probably a top ten player in this draft.
I actually see zero chance that he fails. I think
he's gonna be a really good player. I think when
(15:32):
the dust settles in three or four years. Ceede Lamb
is the number one wide receiver for the Cowboys and
A Mari's, you know, a quote unquote overpaid number two,
but I like him Mari too or overpaid, yeah, over
You wouldn't pay a number two that much money. But
if a Mars you're number two, you're in really good shape.
But here's the thing. I don't want to dive deep,
deep in with with Dac when I already have some questions,
(15:55):
because if I didn't, I'd already be married to him.
I'd already given him the money. Clearly, the Cowboys have
second thoughts about how much Dak Prescott's worth. Now they're
in a position where they have another sweet wide receiver,
a Mari's under contract. Zeke's under contract, got a bunch
of defensive players under contract, have a new coach, what's
the rush to pay Doc? Why not just let this
(16:17):
thing play out, play him on the franchise tag and
if he gets it done, if you win the division,
if you win some playoff games, then you know, maybe
you got to overpam. What if you go eight and
eight again? What if you missed the playoffs? What if
he can't beat Carson Wentz? What if he can't beat
the good teams in the NFC, What's let's pump the brakes.
Like to me, this draft pick now allows you, Let's
(16:38):
just see this thing out. What is the rush You've
seen other teams? You just saw the Ramps gave a
guy all that money and he can't carry the franchise.
And I like Dak. If you had to say, would
you either have Dak Prescott or Jared Goff? I might
lean Jared Goff and it would be tight. I'd probably
(16:59):
have to study it. But to me, they're kind of
in the same realm. I I am not into giving
and I am not into paying premiums for people that
for players that aren't premium picks. It's just like I'm
not into getting married to someone I don't want to
get married to. We all know a ton of people
who have gotten married to people they don't even like
and they're miserable. I know a lot of people get
married to the right person are really happy. But the
(17:21):
great part about life, like in a relationship, like with
a quarterback, no one's putting a gun in your head
this America. You can do whatever you want. No one
says that you have to pay the quarterback. And when
you think about it, whatever Dack's gonna get this year
twenty seven, I think million if you factor it over
a five year period, because the first four years were nothing,
and this year it's really not even that much money.
(17:42):
So when you when you factor in, you know, spreading
that cost out technically over five years the way you
look at it, because you haven't paid him anything. He
was a fourth round picks, still a steal and if
it turns out this year he's just not good enough,
and McCarthy goes, yeah, just I think we can do better.
Your team's equipped to go find a guy either draft
a guy, a plug and play quarterback. Every year, especially now,
(18:02):
they're more good quarterbacks in the league that their spots.
You know, this year Jamis was available. Next year, maybe
Derek carr is available. Maybe you can trade up mortgage
a bunch to go get a sweet rookie. You have options.
There are a lot of functional quarterbacks in the NFL
right now, and I don't think we have any evidence
the Doc is some star. Now. He's not a bad player.
He I would say he's above average, but we've seen
(18:25):
like Kirk Cousins is above average. They gave him eighty
six million dollars and then they gave him sixty more.
They're never gonna do anything in the playoffs ever, Hell,
he won a playoff game. We're still like, Yeah, I
just don't see it. Yeah, And I like that probably
a little more in Kirk Cousins, but still, if you're
in that conversation, I struggle with it. I I really
(18:47):
do like the one. I wouldn't like Jimmy Garoppolo as
much if they were paying him a hundred and twenty
million dollars guaranteed. They paid him seventy, so it's like
his contracts not bad. He makes twenty three million dollars
next year. If Jimmy was making thirty five and the
forty Niners couldn't resigned, you know, Jimmy Ward, I'd have
some issues with the contract. But right now, Jimmy, you
(19:09):
know what, Jimmy Garoppol is properly paid. That's that's really
what he is. Jared Goff not properly paid. And right
now the Rams are in a pinch. Now you think
the Cowboys, you'd be like, well, they already got a
bunch of players under contract. You paid well. The problem
is once you pay Doak in next year and in
years coming, you gotta cut some of the good players
you have on your team because the way the cap
and he'll take his number would take up so much
(19:30):
of the cap space. So I'm all four seedee lamb
props to you, Jerry, great pick from your two or
fifty million dollar yacht. I'm rooting for you to to
make a playoff run. But I I just I I
would not be in the quote unquote overpaying dock business.
Right now, let's just play this year out. What's that
gonna do? Not show up? I mean, twenty eight million
(19:53):
dollars is dramatically more money than he's ever seen in
his life as an NFL quarterback. He'll be there, and
it's it actually behooves him. He's a weird spot, like
does he hold out? Well? So did he hold out
and then come in Week one, not knowing the offense.
He's the quarterback. Well, if he looks like crap, no
one's gonna pay him. And I've had a lot of
people d m me and asked me why didn't they
let him hit the free agent market. Well, I think
(20:16):
they were a little nervous because anytime you let a
guy hit free agency might not come back, and then
what would they do? But that might have been the
prudent move. Who was gonna pay Dack a hundred million dollars?
Maybe Gruden, but probably not. I don't really see where
were he gone? Now? The Cowboys not to me, they
got some leverage. Now our team stacked play on the
(20:36):
franchise tag and will will reconvene after the season when
when we figure out how well we do. One thing
that happened over the weekend that as someone that covers
the Niners very closely, for someone that knows a bunch
of people in that organization, uh, for someone that just
I just talk about that team more than any other team.
(20:59):
I I didn't see Trent Williams ended up on the team.
I mean that that that was wild. I sat down
on my couch I slept in on Saturday, and I
got up probably like eight the draft started. I think
for me. Was it at ten am? Yeah, I think
it was at ten am. Maybe it was at nine am,
maybe it was at nine am. Whatever the time it started.
(21:21):
In the morning, I had a cup of coffee. I
just sat down on my couch. I was gonna I
was gonna watch just the fourth round, you know, just
for a couple of hours casually before I went on
a walk or something. And I looked down at my
phone and rap sheet tweets that the forty Niners have
acquired Trent Williams, and I swear to god, I thought that, like,
(21:41):
I'm not even awake yet, I'm not reading this right,
and I kind of like I flipped my phone Twitter
off and I loaded back up and I go to
his Twitter account and it was real, and I think
it was one of the more shocking things of the weekend. Now,
I had heard last week that Joe Staley had been
content lating retirement and anyone that has hasn't done it.
(22:03):
He put out a retirement letter that was about his
well thought out and powerful of a retirement letter, as
you're gonna see, and Joe Staleley to me is everything
you want in a franchise. Cornerstone. Was he ever the
best player on the field, No, but what he was
is he was one of the more reliable players always
(22:24):
on the field. And that guy really the four hard
By years probably are the equivalent to like six or
seven years just from factoring in violence and the way
that hardball played well this season with Kyle Shanahan turned
into that how violent, Uh, just the forty Niners are
and what they asked of all their players, like the
(22:46):
games are just kind of a war zone. I mean
they're trying to not just beat, they're trying to kick
your ass. And Joe's body kind of broke down. His
legs snapped, his fingers were shattering turns out here, his
neck was hurting. I mean he's thirty six years old.
He's a weathered, weathered NFL player, thirteen years in the
trenches going up against the best players and for a
(23:08):
long period of time every day in practice. Alton Smith,
Justin Smith, Ray McDonald and then all the guys always
in the division with Seattle, Chandler Jones has been the
division for a while. The Rams have guys. It's just
a physical position. So I I thought the reason I
thought he would come back was simply because you know,
the Niners are gonna have a chance to win the
(23:28):
Super Bowl this year, and he's been to two and
he's lost both. But clearly his body doesn't can't take
it anymore, and I think that he did not want
to end his career. And he's gonna be whoever your
favorite team is. You know, he's just one of He's
that guy that's gonna be part of the organization, like
the media team, maybe become like the assistant GM. I
(23:48):
don't know what he's gonna be, but he's gonna be
a huge part of the Niners moving forward. I just
don't think he wanted to end his career, either in
an air cast or a cart because that's why I
think what he was thinking. Might it might end that way,
but something one of the best players the Niners have
had in the last two decades. They upgraded the position,
and I know Colin last year thought the next Bill
Belichick was gonna be Kyle Shanahan, and you know, it
(24:11):
turns out he's kind of right. But one area which
they are dramatically different is in a weird way, Kyle's
a player's coach. He's a little bit more modern. I
actually think he's more like Bill Walsh than Bill Belichick.
Like players rave about Belichick how smart he is, but
they all kind of fear him. They all know that
he's gonna get rid of him. I think players really
(24:33):
respect Kyle and don't fear him that way. Now, as
Kyle would show, he traded the Forrest Buckner, he cut
Navarro Bowman, but a huge reason that Trent Williams is
on this team. Minnesota had a better offer. They were
also going to give Trent Williams a race. He said, no,
I'm not gonna do it. My theory was he was not.
(24:57):
I think Kirk Cousins played a part in that He's
already been in a to with that guy. He knows
you can't win a super Bowl, er win big with
that guy and the money. You don't hold out for
a year when you're already super rich just because of money.
It's on principle, it's on I can't stand the Redskins.
I'm taking control of my life a little like Gronk
(25:18):
did a couple of years ago. Now, you've gotta be
a really good player to be able to pull this off.
You also in a league where it's hard to become
financially secure, I have to have made some money. And
like Gronk when Belichick was like, you know what, I'm
trading you to one of the joke franchise in the
league with my clown former defensive coordinator and Bob Quinn
that doesn't know what's going on. And Gronk says, you
know what, Belichick, kick rocks. I'll retire before I play
(25:41):
for them. And Belichick couldn't do anything, and twent Trent
Williams last year was like listen, I'm I'm out, guys,
I'm out. And they I don't know the team, but
you know, there were a bunch of rumors they clearly
could have got more form last year. First round picks
were being thrown around, definitely multiple two's. Now again, we
don't know if Trent Williams would have been willing to
be like, yeah, all go play for the Houston Texans
(26:03):
or all go play for the Cleveland Brows, because I
would say based on his actions when he told Minnesota,
it's not like Minnesota's the fight. You know, the Lions
they've made the playoffs. What four the last five years
might be five and the last six. They've been one
of the more consistent winning teams in the league for
the last half decade. They got a you know, really
good coach, they have good players on offense, they have
(26:25):
they have had pretty consistent players on defense. They've had
one of the better defense in the league. There's a
well run operation. He said, no, you know, it was basically,
I'm playing for Kyler. I ain't playing because you don't
have to give up much and the Niners aren't even
giving him a race, So it clearly wasn't about the money.
It was about principal. And somehow, when the dust settles,
the Niners end up they got rid of Buckner and
(26:46):
they end up with kin Law, second best deep interior
defensive lineman in this draft. They end up with Brandon Aiyuk,
who to me is a top thirty player in this
draft and a guy that can be really really good,
and they an upgrade their left tackle position. Now, the
guy hadn't played any year, but texting around uh the
(27:07):
league that everyone said that evaluated him. My buddies that
are pro scouts used the word yeah. He was still
arguably the best left tackle in the league in two
thousand and eighteen. Now you never know. But sometimes for
a guy he's thirty one, thirty two, he's not thirty
six thirty seven. You know, he still should have a
couple of years left. And I think the Niners are
gonna have options. If he plays great, you extend him.
(27:29):
If he shows he shot, you didn't give up that much.
It was a well worth risk taking. Also a very
very ballsy move because back to Kyle Shanahan, Joe Staley
told him I was gonna retire. That was the crazy
part about what the forty Niners did. They knew Staley
was not gonna show back up, so with the thirteen pick,
(27:50):
they traded back a spot to give the Tampa Bay
Buccaneers potential tackle. Now there's some arguments with worf is
he is he a tackle or is he a guard? Still,
the Niners could have traded back and taken another tackle.
I mean, they knew they need a left tackle. Talking
to some people around the Niners, they were hoping the
Williams thing was going down. They were working on it,
but there was no guaranteed. They kind of just rolled
(28:11):
the dice. And I know this if the Trent Williams
deal had fallen through and Staley had retired, and they
had taken kin Law and Ayuke and not landed a tackle,
they would have been in some trouble because you cannot
win a Super Bowl with a crappy left tackle. They
couldn't have done it, and it would have been basically
impossible to land one unless they were gonna trade some
(28:33):
a lot of you know, high round picks for some
sweet player. But who's the sweet player that would be available.
They'd be impossible to find. Now, Kyle did a good
job last year with backup tackles when McGlinchey and Staley
were hurt, but it's another thing playing an entire season.
I mean, Joe Staley still started all the playoff games
still started Week seventeen in Seattle, like you need Joe Staley,
(28:54):
So that that was to me the most shocking thing
that happened on Saturday A is somehow the forty nine
ers lost Joe Staley, one of the most consistent guys
you know, enfranchise history, who's not gonna be like I
don't think Joe Staley is a Hall of Famer and
ended up with potentially a Hall of Famer for a
(29:15):
third round pick next year, third round pick. All they
had to give up this year was a fifth round pick.
And the way that I've been it's been described to me,
when you give a future pick, you usually divide, like
take a discount. So a third round pick this year
is actually worth a third round pick the following year
is worth less depending on the team uh next year.
(29:40):
So pick, if if I'm giving you pick forty five
this year, right going into the draft, that pick is
just worth forty five whatever it is on the value chart. Well,
if I'm giving you a third round next year, you
don't know the exact pick, right, because you don't know
what my record is gonna be. And that's why most
teams somewhere between twenty and so if the pick is
worth on the value chart, let's just I'm just gonna
(30:01):
use an even number, a hundred points that what you're
giving them is actually only worth seventy eight points when
it's a future pick. Same with first rounders. So that
that's the way I've been told. Teams you know, dictate
or value you know when you're when you're dictating these
these terms for a deal, the future picks are are
(30:23):
never as worth as much as the present picks, and
I think sometimes we get confused on that. I know
I have in the past, But yeah, the forty Niners
have Trent Williams are starting left tackle. Okay, before we
dive into the Middlecoff mail bag, I want to do
a couple of things. One, I guess the big news
of was it Sunday that Jamis Winston signed with the Saints.
(30:47):
I give James a lot of credit because there are
countless like is Jamis Winston better player than Kirk Cousins?
Is Jamis Winston a better player than Derek Carr? I mean,
I think these are fair questions to ask. Uh. Now,
you could counter and say, no, they're not. That he
throws way more picks than them, and maybe he's just
(31:08):
gonna be a lifetime interception guy. But I know he's
a more explosive passer in both those two guys. So
if I could ever get the picks down, he's just
a more explosive player. I mean, he was a number
one overall picked for a reason, won a national championship
for a reason. He's a very, very talented individual. And
I think the most head scratching part about Jamis's career,
Remember David Shot told me once they had some questions,
(31:31):
like about his maturity, but he's like, yeah, he was
an academic qualifier to Stanford. Like Stanford Stanford d in Alabama,
in Ohio state, like they can't get anyone into school.
They have minimums for academics. When it comes to g
P A and s A T scores and Jamis hit
him easily. Jamis is really smart, He's just reckless, and
(31:53):
you know, going to the Saints does a couple of things.
Want It gives him the chance to resurrect his career,
take a step back, take a deep breath, get around
Sean Payton, get around Drew Brees, and just kind of
see things from a different view. It also puts them
in a position that if things go well, Drew Brees,
for who knows why, already has a contract with NBC,
(32:14):
he is more than likely going to retire at the
end of the season, go work in television. Well, then
what are the Saints gonna need. They're gonna need a
quarterback because do you know what the Saints have told
you now back to back years, Taysom Hill is not
our backup quarterback. He's our role player. Does a little
bit of everything. Our backup quarterback with Teddy Bridgewater and
now is Jamis Winston. And here's what I know we
(32:35):
can do if Drew Brees goes down. I know we
can win with Teddy and we should be able to
win some games with Jamis. And I think James is
gonna be in a good position if Drew and Sean
Payton are signing off on him. Can you imagine if
Drew goes God, I'm telling you, Sean, this guy. I
like this guy, like he's gonna be able to put
in the good words. Shawn's gonna be working with him
every day. Who's to say that Jamis Winston won't He's
(32:57):
only twenty six years old, won't be the saint starting
quarterback for the next half decade. Sean Payton just told
you what he thought. He thought he had the chance
to take Jordan love at and he chose Jamis Winston.
That's what he did. It's just I mean to me,
it's that simple because a couple of years ago he
was gonna take my homes. This year Jordan's love fell
(33:18):
right to him. He said, yeah, I don't think he's
that good. The Packers do, and we'll see. I actually
kind of like Jordan Love, but he'd rather have Jameis Winston.
And I don't totally blame him. I don't totally blame
him at all. I texted around on some good and
bad drafts. The one name that stood out to me
was the Falcons, and I think it starts with that
(33:40):
first pick. Now, I have talked with people that said
that they thought A J. Terrell like they liked them.
They just thought he was a second round player. Uh,
but they passed on Ceedee Lamp and the Cowboys, who
were in a very very similar position about right, they
needed other things. They did not force a knee. They
(34:00):
just picked what they thought was the best player on
their board, a k a. Seedee Lamp. Why didn't the
Falcons take Ceedee Lamp? Like I said over the weekend,
I wasn't a fan of the Arizona Cardinals taking uh
Isaiah sevens now in fairness, like they got Eno Benjamin,
a little wide receiver or excuse me, the little running
(34:22):
back from Arizona State in the seventh round. I like,
you know, Benjamin, that's a pretty good seventh round pick.
But I just I can't get behind not that I
understand the pick because those pitch picks have worked for
Arizona in the past. Just Vance Joseph Cliff Kingsbury. Everyone
keeps saying, this the card You gotta watch out for
the Cardinals. You gotta watch out for the Cardinals. Can
(34:43):
we pump the brakes? Cliff Kingsbury couldn't win squat in
the Big Twelve, which basically beside Oklahoma and like Iowa
State and a little bit of Oklahoma's that conference has
been trash. Couldn't win more than seven games. He had
pas Trick Mahomes and now his defensive coordinator is terrible.
(35:04):
How's he gonna win in the NFC West with Pete
Kyle and even Sean McVeigh. I don't love the Rams though.
What I was told is like people that I know
in the league, like Cam Akers, the running back from
Florida State. But I think the problem is the dude
they drafted last year. I think in the third round
of running back they don't even like. Is less Need
a good general manager? Because I don't think he is.
(35:25):
Is there a chance I got a hot take? Sean
Sean McVeigh will have a new general manager next year.
At this time, Less Sneed will not be the GM
because I think the Rams they've lost a lot of players.
As a buddy of mine in the league, text me,
their offensive line stinks, I mean stinks. They lost Corey Littleton,
(35:46):
who was a big time cover guy who's now on
the Raiders. Who there, who's gonna play middle linebacker for him? Uh?
The problem with having a bad offensive line for the Rams.
Their quarterback can't move. He's not an athletic guy. He
can't get away. Now that one thing one positive I
heard was I got this from multiple people. Everyone was
impressed with the Browns draft. So you know, now the Browns,
(36:08):
they've had a good offseason last year, they had a
good draft this year. To me, the Browns problem has
not been talent over the years. It's been coaching has
been underwhelming. It's been their players. Like the talent hasn't
matched up what we've seen on the games. Like is
Baker Mayfield what's he gonna do over quarantine? Is he
eating cheeseburgers or is he drinking protein shakes, getting lifts
(36:31):
in and studying the film? You know, to me, it's
gonna come down to Baker Mayfield's maturity. But their team
is very, very talented. The Chiefs had a really good draft.
I mean that the little running back, the linebackers good.
But most part actually, I think most of the teams
in the first round, I like most of their picks.
I would say the one glaring. You know what's gonna
(36:52):
be interesting is Raider fans think that they've equipped this
good team. I just don't know if they have enough
blue chip players. There's gonna be a lot of pressure
on Eric Card to play well. He's gonna have to
look like the two thousand sixteen version because if you
just can't, I mean, Gruden ain't gonna go another year
without making the playoffs and not have a quarterback change.
Now he drafted all these weapons. Some guys that I've heard,
(37:14):
you know, I've gotten a couple like I don't know
if I love that guy in Vegas. So it's gonna
be interesting. Gruden's got a while. Davis to him takes uh,
you know, guys on on the fringe. Character wise. We'll
see you know, our Neett, the dude Bowden from Kentucky.
Not bad guys, but you know what I'm dude, it's
just a little uh, you know, not perfect pass. Uh.
We'll see you know Vegas, it's gonna it's gonna test
(37:36):
the franchise. You know it really is, but it's gonna
be fun. Uh So let's dive in the middleuff mail back. Okay,
what round did Shaye Patterson go in? Last I saw
today on Twitter? Is it Shaye Patterson didn't even sign
as an undrafted free agent with anyone? Think about this,
(37:57):
Michigan had I think ten players drafted only l s
U had more. I think how embarrassing that is. Listen,
I'm a hard, bad guy. But talent ain't their problem
right now. They have to win more games. Jim, you
have to get a quarterback. You can't be playing with
(38:17):
Shay Patterson, who wouldn't even start in the a F.
The XFL would have laughed at him. You need to
get a legitimate NFL type player because you have talent
everywhere else. You're not gonna win anything in that conference
is too good Ohio State Wisconsin, James Franklin at Penn State,
hell Iowa. It's a big boy conference, second best conference
(38:39):
in the country by a mile. It's the SEC and
the Big Ten. Then the other conferences all kind of
just stink that God Big twelve has Oklahoma, and the
PAC twelve has the Ducks and the a SEC has
Clemson because the three conferences are struggling right now. But god,
Shaye Patterson, what a scrub? What happens with can? I'm
(39:00):
Jamison Dalton? Now, well, Jamis is on the Saints. Do
they all become backups? Or does Cam get a one
year prove it deal? Where is Cam's one year proven deal?
Dalton to me, you know a team will take him
as a backup. I could see if he takes a
pay cut, you know, Gruden take him as a backup.
Jacksonville take him as a backup, you know, Cowboys. See
(39:24):
who knows someone will take Andy Dalton Cam? I I
don't know. I can't even give you a prediction. I
have no clue because I can't see Cam Newton being
a backup, and I don't totally blame him. The Palace
at Auburn Hills has to be a top five all
time name for a pro sports arena. What do you
think some others are the Palace at Auburn Hills. I
(39:46):
would say the Rose Bowl would be one. I'd say Lambo,
I'd say Wrigley Field, I'd say Fenway. Uh I'd say
it's probably some cool hockey arenas. Uh, the Big House
pretty sweet, Cameron Indoor. You know. Now everything's so corporate,
(40:11):
so it's like they're all named by different things. Middlecoff
mail back. Can you go into depth about what the
draft means to Derek? Clearly make or break year, but
also Gruden has three off seasons to replace him and
never has well. I think there's a pretty good chance
that they couldn't, you know, upgrade the position. They didn't
like Jordan Love more than Car very understandable. Derek car
(40:34):
is better. Uh, they needed to get them wide receivers.
They drafted Rugs in the first round. Then they draft
the kid from Kentucky and the kid from South Carolina.
I think Edwards and Bowden Jr. Bowden Junior. I like
that guy from Kentucky Edwards. I don't know that much
about those highlight tape looked pretty good. Uh. And you
get to Terrell Williams, you get Darren Waller, you have
Josh Jacobs, you have a good offensive line like that.
(40:54):
The Raiders should be a top ten offense next year.
And that's just not on Derek, that's on Gruden. Like
to me, Grew I expected to some dynamic guy, kind
of like an Andy Reid Sean Payton to meet. Gruden's
kind of boring as a coach. He wants to just
like pound the rock and be conservative. Now maybe that's
because of Derek, but you get Henry Ruggs, like Nick
(41:14):
Saban once was boring in conservative. Well what do you
do the last couple of years with all those cats?
Henry Ruggs, Jerry Judy, Davante Smith, and Waddle threw the
ball all over the place. So part of signing sweet
wide receivers, you guys start throwing the ball. It's not
it's not two thousand two anymore. Michael Pittman and Mike
Alstott ain't walking through that door. And you can run
(41:34):
the ball. I like Josh Jacobs, but they tried last
year and he got hurt. You gotta throw the football.
Look at the Chiefs. Look at what Elway did. Drafted Judy,
then drafted Handler last year, drafted Fant and Lock. They
got Melvin Gordon and Philip Lindsay like they're gonna try
to score points, score points. Hey, John watching the Jordan
(41:58):
dock and I was observing how much more athletic can skill.
The league is now compared to the nineties, feels like
mostly everyone can shoot and dribble. That being said, the
two thousand seventeen Warriors have to be the best team
of all time. Closing line up Steph Clay, Kevin Durant,
Draymond and Iggy. Any other teams come close? Yeah, I
don't think they will just be some lock to beat
the ninety six Bulls. I think anytime you've got Michael Jordan's,
(42:20):
Scottie Pippen and the Worm, you'd have a pretty good chance.
Phil Jackson's dramatically better coach than Steve curt too. I
actually think that the people act like the league is
that much better now, better athletes. Maybe the league's pretty
athletic back then too, you know. I mean Michael is
a better athlete than anyone in the league now. So
(42:40):
good question. I was listening to you and guy on
the other podcast and you mentioned ALL twenty two. What
is the ALL twenty two? It's basically just the It's
just the tape that the coaches watch so you can
see every player. Any time you hear a media guy
talk about a owner, a wide receiver or or a safety.
(43:02):
If they don't have the All twenty two tape their
full ship because you can't evaluate a corner, a wide receiver,
or safety without the ALL twenty two. Even sometimes a
linebacker leaves the tape. Now I can evaluate running back
off TV copy. I could evaluate you know, probably a
center off TV copy. It's tight end and lineman maybe,
(43:24):
but it gets tough to to do a true evaluation.
You Uh, you need to have a TV You need
to have the All twenty two. What do you think
the Cardinals drafting Simmons over a top tackle with the
eighth pick. I have a feeling a major reason for
that is to have a man to stop Russell Wilson
from doing his late game heroics. For example. Yeah, I
(43:46):
think it's a guy to spy Russell Wilson, a guy
to chase George Kittle when those are four games right there,
and last year the Niners beat him twice. Actually, I
think Arizona beats Seattle one game, right Uh? I mean again,
I like the guy in theory that he is a
versatile chess piece, but you have to have a defensive
(44:06):
coordinator to use them. Brett Venables, the defensive coordinator for Clemson,
makes two point two million dollars. He's the best defensive
coordinator all college football. He's probably a top five or
six defensive coordinator in the country. You'd go Zimmer Belichick,
no order, Fangio. I mean it's a short list venables.
(44:27):
I mean, I might be missing someone, but he's he's
He's probably a top five defensive coordinator in America. And
that's the guy that used him. If a Rod demanded
a trade, what would be the minimum that the Packers
would have to get back for them to do it.
Maybe not this year because everyone is set, but next offseason.
You know, with his age and his money, it's I
(44:48):
don't even think it's possible. With the amount of dead cap. Now,
i'd have to ask a cap guy, can you move
money around? I don't know exactly how it worked to
facilitate it, but let's say he demanded a trade. Did
he take a pay cut to make the dead cap
less and then they could trade him? I think they'd
give him around for for give him away for a
first round Pick's thirty seven years old. I'd give him
(45:11):
away for first round pick if you wanted out and
I was ready to move on. I hope you enjoyed
the draft as much as we all did. I got
a question for you. Since the Raiders came into two
thousand nineteen season with hopes of forming their playbook around
a B, would it be fair that since they drafted Rugs,
they could blow the dust off that playbook and just
plug and play. Another small question to add, who was
your what the fuck pick of the draft? And why? Uh?
(45:35):
I would say the Rugs thing. He's a little I
mean a B was you know, had sixth straight of
the best years we've seen in NFL history at wide receiver.
But I do think some of their concepts, I'm sure
that they wanted to use what a B. Yes, they
can use with the Rugs, some of the deep breaking
routes I mean rugs to compare to a B is
(45:57):
not fair to Rugs. He a B was just in
the peak of his powers. But I'm with you, yes
they could add some of that. My WTF pick of
the first round probably was the Raiders. That corner, just
because I hadn't talked to one person thought that I
was gonna go in the first round. It's one thing
to go like when no one had been talking about you.
It's not think to go to nineteen I would say
(46:19):
the Raiders, you know, it might be Jordan's love, but
just because the Packers took him, but we expected Jordan's
love to get I expect him go in the top twenty. Honestly,
kind of fell I. I think the Raiders have had
kind of two of the WTF picks in the last
two years, Cleveland Farrell and then David Arnette. Now I
think they'd argue, well, if we're taking the WTF picks,
(46:40):
we're taking them from Ohio State in Clemson. And that
is the one thing the Raiders have done under this
administration with Gruden and Mayock is they only draft guys
from like Wow State, Bama, and Clemson. I think they
have eight Clemson players on their team from the last
two years. Think about that. Thoughts on the Bears draft,
where do you put them in the division? I read
(47:00):
a good article by Dan POMPEII on the tight end
that they took from Notre Dame. I didn't I'll be
completely honest, I didn't know that much about him. Uh
everything I had read as it was a shitty tight
end draft. I talked to my buddy that works for
the Bear staff. He's like, we like this guy. A lot.
Clearly they liked the guy a lot. Take him in
the second round. Dan Pompeii, uh he, I think talked
(47:23):
to twenty league executives, so twenty different teams and only
one team didn't have the guy in the top three rounds.
The majority of teams said that they would have taken
him in the second round. So if that guy is good,
that they desperately need a tight end. Trying to think, oh,
then they took the corner from Utah. Like the guy
a lot, tall, long, physical corner, press corner. I like
(47:44):
Jalen Johnson a lot. So I didn't know much about
the tight end reading the article. People like him. I
know the Bears like him. Jalen Johnson good player. Don't
know anything about the other guys. And once you, I
mean their next pick was the fifth round. God, the
Bears had a crazy draft. Did not have a fifth
round pick, had two second round picks, then did not
(48:06):
have a third round pick or a fourth round pick.
That's what happens when you got a double down. To me,
the key with the Bears is gonna be simple. Can
can the quarterback play improof? Like last year at a
Trabisky You're just if you're screwed. If that's the level
of quarterback player you're gonna get. What do you think
(48:27):
of the Jordan Brooks pick As a Seattle fan, I
felt it was a bit of a reach and an overdraft,
and it's not even a position to need. Taking a
run stopping linebacker in the first round doesn't make sense
for them. What do you think, Well, ah, I'm a
big believer if the guy can be a two or
excuse me, a three down linebacker, I'm not drafting a
(48:49):
guy in the first round that can't be a three
down linebacker. Now, I'd be lying to if I studied
the guy from Texas Tech. I did not. I knew
about the two guys that we felt like first round layers,
which were Kenneth Murray and Patrick Queen. I would have
taken both those guys in the first round. Now they
took Jordan Brooks over Patrick Queen. But this guy ran
(49:09):
a four or five four, so this guy can move
and he's a good athlete. Now you say it's not
a need, well, you need multiple linebackers. Look at the
forty niners. They have multiple good linebackers. Look at last
year the Rams had a couple of linebackers. Like good
teams typically have multiple speed linebackers. Chiefs are somewhat of
an outlier. But they passed on Patrick Queen for this guy,
(49:30):
which will be you know, a pretty dissected you know pick.
Just given who they passed on, they took a linebacker
and they passed on what I think many thought was
the better, better linebacker. Here's the thing. Look at their division. Uh,
the forty Niners want to run the football. The Rams
want to run the football and to beat those two teams.
Like that's like their main competition. Now I'm with you,
(49:53):
I don't I'd have to do some recon on this guy.
I was not as familiar with him as the other
who linebackers have taken the first round. Now, if you
look at John Snyder's career started scolding hot when he drafted. Uh,
when he drafted the first couple of years, he was
(50:13):
in Seattle with Pete. You know, from o'coon's to Bobby Wagner's,
the Russell's to Richards, the cam Chancellors, Earl thomas Is,
the Irvans, the Byron Maxwells to the Jeremy Lanes. Like
he couldn't miss I mean just sweezies. The he was
just hitting on him all trading a fourth round pick
for Mars Shawn Doug Baldwin. I mean, he was just
(50:35):
he was hot. He's been a little bit or miss
lately and I'm a big John Schnyder guy. But it's
gonna be tough. This guy's gotta be good because last
year that the guy they drafted the first round, the
pass rusher. I think he's from TCU. He was a
healthy scratch all season long. And what what position were
they in desperate need of pass rusher? Now? I would
(50:55):
assume that they bring back Clowney, but they need that
guy they drafted last ye in the first round to
not suck. Teams have drafted and then also signed free
agent players who didn't get drafted. Two questions, is the
strategy for these signings to see if they might get
lucky with a free agent? Too many say these players
care practice? These players are practice wall players. How many
(51:16):
practice wall players because the team have Oh, is there
a signing a strategy assigning the free agent players? Uh,
you can have ten practice squad players, but you can
have a ninety man roster. Right now, I think the
key with undrafted free agency is like, um, if you're
an undrafted free agent wide receiver, you're not gonna go
(51:38):
to a team that just drafted to wide receivers because
those guys aren't gonna get cut over you. Now, if
you're a free agent running back and you look at
a team's depth chart and you go, well, they got
an old running back and one other guy they drafted
last year and they didn't draft a running back this year,
that's a good spot. So to me, as an undrafted
free agent, you want to go to a spot where
you have a chance to make the team, or a
spot where you might have a relationship with a coach
(52:00):
coordinator that's gonna coach you. Uh, it's it's it's I mean,
you get pretty lucky, you know. There. If you thought
the guy was good, you would have drafted him. So
whenever you see a team that hits on an undrafted
free agent, they like the guy, but to think that
they knew that guy was gonna be good. And every
(52:22):
year you see I think, on average, you know, two
plus undrafted free agents make every team. You know, some
teams have like three or four, some teams have none,
But I think the average is it's definitely close. I
think it's two. Uh, it's just you just find out
some guys, you know, for whatever reasons, they just fit.
With several teams rolling with a nickel corner in their
(52:43):
base coverage lately, how might it effect the way scout
evaluates a dB or even a linebacker. Many teams have
to be cycling middle of the field coverage to allow
shade on receiver one without abandoning the two deep shell
look or given up a cushion. Love to hear your thoughts.
It's a pretty nerdy football pick. When I was in
(53:04):
the NFL, it was much more of a base defense,
so your third corner was a bench player. I think
nowadays you look at it like you see these guys
in college because so many corners. You know, if you're
an outside corner, maybe you carry the guy inside. If
that if that team has, you know in your conference
that you're playing in college, has a number one wide
(53:25):
receiver and you follow him, so you have a bunch
of tape of seeing that guy play inside. I actually
think playing inside is a skill. Sometimes an outside corner
is not comfortable inside because everything happens quicker, especially when
you're playing a true slot wide receiver. That guy does
like an Edelman does most of his work in like
a five yard radius. He's going running a quick end,
(53:47):
running a quick out. Now, if you're talking about like
covering a tight end, you know, if you feel comfortable
with your nickel to be able to do a lot
of different things like maybe Isaiah Simmons, can you just
leave him out there and if he needs a lock
up against the little wide receiver or he locks up
against the tight end. I also think it depends on
what coverage you play as a defense. Like you said,
if you play a zone coverage, then it's more pressure
(54:09):
on your linebackers. But I think all these linebackers are
getting drafted now you're not seeing any of these two
down mics. Every guy can move. You've got to be
able to cover ground. So I always thought that you
know a nickel is signed us, you either can do
it or not. As a corner. Linebackers now are covering
so much more in college just because the game spread out.
(54:29):
You see him move around that those guys. If you're
just dropping in a zone coverage, those guys, you do
have to have some instincts to be a good zone coverage.
The zone dropper, whether it's whether it's a corner rural linebacker.
To me, it is an instinctive position because you're kind
of in no man's land, and you hear coaches talk
about this like if you want to get really geeky,
(54:50):
like don't just kill grass, don't just be a robot,
like three three back pedals back five yards to the right,
Like no, you'll be a player, you know, And it's
it's a challenging position to evaluate. I think it's why
you see so many linebackers and so many defensive backs
not be good pros because there's a huge projection element
to it. Last episode, you said that Jalen Hurts could
(55:13):
be a starting running back on a lot of teams.
I brought that opinion to a group and backed it
up with facts like his forty times good size for
running back and how his TD and rushing totals were
more than Swift Acres and Clyde. Where do you think
Hurts would have been ranked as a running back prospect
and would he been been drafted? Uh? Like if he
had just changed his position to running back, I think
(55:35):
he would have been in the second or third round
because I think he could now probably not in the
second round. I mean his value for the Eagles still quarterback,
but I would have taken him in the third round.
Is just an athlete. Remember we used to see a
lot more quote unquote athletes picked back in the day.
Back when guys like you knew the guy like Antoine
Randall l couldn't play quarterback, You'd be like, yeah, would
(55:56):
just draft from the third round, just be an athlete.
It doesn't happen as much now because you like these
hybrid positions and you're like, wow, we can put him
in wildcat and he can still throw a little bit.
He was an elite production guy in the SEC as
a runner, and just his size, like you say, his physicality,
he ain't scared like he ain'ts not a woofs. So
(56:16):
I've had I had a friend probably in about October.
I remember, like Oklahoma was on and he was he
was just texting me about He's like, God, I think
this guy could be a starting running back. Now he
got better as a thrower, but yeah, I mean, I
think Jalen Hurts is a very very dynamic runner like
Lamar's a dynamic runner because his he's like the fastest
guy in the field. I mean he has elite speed.
(56:37):
When you watch Jalen run, it's like he's got like
a little levy On bell to him, Like you know,
he waits for angles and then he hits a corner
like he's a natural with a ball in his hands.
I mean a natural. I'm I'm a big fan of
the of the athlete and the prospect. Now it's risky,
like I said, but I understand the risk from the Eagles.
Appreciate everyone listening. Uh, keep entertained during quarantine. We'll just
(57:01):
keep on swinging. Uh, the stories might slope down a
little bit, so I got some offseason projects. Keep sliding
up in those d m s at John Middlecoff is
my Instagram handle. You're welcome to come on in and
ask me anything you want. Audios, have a good week,
See you later. Pos
Host
John Middlekauff
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.