In this episode, Middlekauff discusses the x-factor of GM's adapting to the using Zoom to conduct the draft, and why draft tech is a natural extension of the evolution of scouting technology. He also explains why Odell Beckham to the Vikings rumors don't make sense, why Dak should hold out, player comp overkill, and answers listener questions in Middlekauff's Mailbag. Follow John on twitter @JohnMiddlekauff and go to theherdnow.com to find the latest content. Subscribe now!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
What is going on? Everybody? John Middlecop Three and Out Podcast,
Thursday afternoon. I'm recording this a little bit before five
o'clock Pacific Standard time, a week from the day the
draft would be an hour away. So we are coming
down the home stretch of the draft, and I can't wait.
(00:31):
I don't know about you. I'm a little drafted out.
And I talked to some of my buddies in the NFL.
I know they feel the same way. Uh it's different
for them. You just read so many mock drafts and
you see so many Twitter experts, and that's all I
am nowadays. They just have my opinions that you know,
not watching the amount of tape that they are, and
you just then your general manager goes, well, did you
(00:52):
read a mock and this guy is now mocked at
the end of the first round and you have a
third round grade on him. It's just the draft can't
get here soon enough for those in the NFL. For
thus for those of us to talk about the NFL.
I know everyone listening to the fans of the NFL
or college football, it really is a great event. And uh,
you know, I I was one to say and I
(01:13):
listen I'll take the l on this one that I
was a little surprised they didn't move free agency back
and the draft, but I'm gonna dive into right now
where you know, it's pretty clear they shouldn't have moved
the draft back. And I think a lot of general managers.
I watched a lot of press quote unquote press conferences
over the last forty eight hours, guys doing zooms, Brett Veach,
(01:34):
Howie Roseman, Thomas to meet Roff, I mean all these
guy Mike Mayock listen to his conference call, and I
think it's gonna be okay. Uh. Around the NFL, We're
gonna shoot into a bunch of different stories that have
come out over the last three or four days. It's
kind of hammering my opinion on each one, from from
the Falcons trading up to the Odell Beckham fake news
(01:56):
to Glazer's report, a bunch of different stuff. Dak Scott
might skip, not Mike is going to skip the virtual
off season. Uh. And then of course Middlecoff mail bag
at John Middlecoff is my Instagram handle, same as my
Twitter handle. Direct messages, wide open, answer your questions here
(02:16):
on the show. Slide up in those d m s.
Leave a question whatever you want and I will answer
it here. Uh. You know we're quarantined, so we got
time fire in there. Uh. And I also want to
thank everyone that have left a review. If you like
the show, go to the three and out Apple, you know,
podcast home and just leave an Apple review. Greatly appreciate it.
(02:40):
I know a lot of you that have I salute you.
I'm giving you a salute right now, virtually kind of
like the GM. So let's dive into the g MS. Listen,
we're all having our ups and downs. I try, I
actively try, and I did this before the Corona ever hit.
I can be naturally, I would say the majority, Like
in my twenties and even in early I'm thirty five now,
(03:01):
the first couple of years of my thirties, my natural
reaction can be a little just to be negative. It
can always be negative, and it's something you get hammered
home when you're a scout, like be a glass half
full guy, not a glass half empty guy. But listen,
you know my dad businessman had said he he would
have skewed on the negative end. And it's just it's
something that just kind of comes naturally to me and
(03:22):
as I've gotten older and wiser, and I think a
lot of people can relate. Uh. I try to actively
be more positive. And I'm not saying I'm just a
negative person even ten years ago, but my first reaction
would tend to be no, or that's not gonna work.
And I've really tried to change that around. It takes
time and listen, in the middle of corona. I've been
(03:43):
one to say keep your spirits up during Corona, be positive,
but it's hard. I I completely understand. I talked to
a good buddy today who runs a small business who
said they just took out a pretty big six figure loan.
And while it's great, you know, playing one percent interest
on you know, hundreds of thousands of dollars, He's like,
we do have to pay that back in a year.
(04:04):
You know, it's it's kind of a scary situation just
to try to stay afloat. He said. Without the loan,
we're done. I'm sure many of you that either that
run these small businesses, that know people in small businesses,
what everyone's feeling all around the country, and we all
ebb and flow. The reality is I don't do that
much anyway. Like I spent a lot of time in
my office. Naturally, I watched games for a living. I
(04:27):
thrive inside. But listen, I have a routine I like doing.
I go to the gym at specific times Monday basically
through Sunday. I definitely in the summer, I like to
play golf. I even like to run outside. I try
to do that. It's a little cold, you know, That's
why this California guys are a little softer. I try
to go for a morning run. It was like fifty
five degrees. I'm like, ship, no wonder, Derek Carr's bad
(04:48):
in the cold. I mean, this is freezing and it's
fifty five degrees. We're just we're spoiled around here. But
I did understand when all the gms when it said listen,
we're gonna do the draft, and it was clear that
no one was gonna be able to use the draft rooms.
Everyone was like, this is bullshit. I was like, I
get that, because my first reaction was that this kind
(05:09):
of bs that this is this is gonna be really difficult.
And then a couple of weeks have gone by and
I've used zoom for interviews. I'm sure many of you
have used Zoom for your conference calls or whatever, and
you realize, you know what, it's actually not that hard.
And then you realize, well, everything is digital now, and
if it's not, you could just order a white board
if you want a couple of white boards off Amazon.
(05:31):
I have a white board standing right next to me
right now. I'm just a nobody or one off Amazon.
I use it all the time. And the access these
guys have. And one thing I consistently saw when I
listened to a podcast the other day with Thomas de
Metrough at his house talking to Peter King, he was
in great spirits. He's like, yeah, we're gonna be We're
gonna be fine. Watching how he rose in today, He's like, yeah,
we figured it out. Things have been going good. Talking
(05:53):
to all my buddies you know that are zooming in
with their whoever general manager that they're scouts or assistant
scouting directors or whatever. They're like, yes, hasn't been that bad.
We figured it out because you know what most high
level people do in any business or in any situation,
they adapt to their surroundings. That's why they're high level.
Now these are way less than ideal for everyone involved,
(06:16):
but we're figuring it out, and the faster you can
get yourself into you know what, this isn't that bad
type mindset, the easier it's gonna be to function. And
I think the majority of the NFL, maybe not Belichick,
isn't pretty good spirits right now and Fields. I listened
to this conference called from Mike Mayock, and he's like,
you know what, I got three white boards with over
a thousand magnets. I feel like I got the draft
(06:39):
room right in my right in my home office. I
feel like I'm ready to go. Sure many of you
saw that Tom to Le's go picture where he had
ten computer screens. I actually thought it was a little
bit of a fraud move. And then I had a
scouting buddy text me. He's like, actually I got secondary
screens and iPads and Microsoft services. That's pretty normal because
I defended. There was a picture of Atleman where Gettleman
(07:01):
had his computer where he was either sending emails or
watching tape, and then he had multiple binders. I know
for me, I I can see right nowt of the
corner of my eye four different binders. I'm a big
binder guy. I write everything down now. I could easily
I got multiple iPads. I could put it in an
iPad situation. I don't. I'm just more comfortable doing that.
(07:22):
Am I a little bit living like it's two thousand two? Maybe?
But I I do understand people being comfortable with taking
notes differently. Now you do have to there's only one
way to watch the tape. You gotta do it through
a computer. You gotta do it through an iPad. You
gotta connect to your television. Like that's but it's like
you want to take notes on a Microsoft surface or
take notes in a binder, like do whatever you want
(07:43):
to do this most comfortable. The reality is who is
you know? It's not gonna limit your ability to be
prepared for the draft. And I I I just not
that I'm impressed because as a couple of gms have said, like, listen,
we're still getting paid. This is our job. Like, we're
not going to complain. We've got twenty two million people
(08:04):
officially unemployed. That number could be you know, let's let's
be honest. If you've got twenty two million people unemployed,
you probably got I mean, I'm just gonna take an
educated guess another five to eight that have not filed
or that don't know how to file that will in
the coming you know, days or weeks. So the numbers
are astronomical. A lot of people and the majority of
(08:26):
those people ain't making nfl GM money. So the NFL
has it pretty good. They're all none of these guys
are getting pay cuts at least of now. Uh. These
guys are able to function in their job now moving forward.
Big question marks this fall. I don't know, Like I
I one thing I try not to do people like,
are you watching the news now? Not really, because I
(08:47):
don't control this situation. I'm just following the rules. I
watched the news. It's just miserable. Everyone's angry. It's like,
I'm not trying to be miserable all day. Like I said,
that can come pretty natural to most people, especially in
this situation. So I've tried to stay positive, not just
you get suffocated if you just flip on the news
all day and watch it, because let's be honest, it's
(09:07):
gonna be really negative. And I'm in the media business.
I have to be interesting. Advertisers pay the bills. Well,
everyone's like, I can't believe what CNN said or Fox
News said or MSNBC. Their their job is to try
to get people to watch. I know media always loves
like it's journalism. Those days ended. Corporate America runs everything.
They're trying to do billions of dollars in ad revenue.
(09:30):
The more people that watch, the more money they make.
It sounds terrible, but it's just the truth. So like,
if it's hard, you gotta I don't really have an
answer for it. But that's just the situation in the
reality that we live in when it comes to news.
I think we all agree it comes with television, right
with sports. You watch First Take or some of these shows,
(09:51):
they're all trying to be provocative. Like we've heard eighteen
million ways to judge Lebron James. I can't take it anymore. Now,
I'm giving you a little bit of a pass and
during mid Corona, you gotta come up with some content.
Trust me. I'm started a YouTube channel trying to come
up just with different ways to talk about stuff. How
we've been lucky on this show that you know, there's
just been a lot of topics. We've had free agency,
(10:12):
we've had the draft. But if this goes all summer,
you know, I'm gonna have to start getting really creative. Luckily,
I can get you know, pop an edible. I can
be creative, but I give the general managers and a
lot of them. And Thomas de Meatrov had a good
point with Peter King. He said, we've got kind of
a younger group. You know, this is an aggressive group.
This is a group that can like it's pretty technologically advanced.
(10:33):
Like you don't think John Schneider and Thomas Dematrof and
you know Nick Kissario and John Lynch can figure this
stuff out. This isn't you know, you don't have Bill
Polian walking through those doors. These guys are technologically advanced
human beings. And the NFL is always on the forefront
in terms of right when I was leaving the NFL
(10:54):
in the in like two thousand thirteen, the iPads were
becoming a huge element to watch tape, to share video.
What I've been told the ability now to like you
want to bring up watch Ceedee Lamb. I can watch
every one of his targets. I can watch every one
of his touchdowns, I can watch every one of his drops.
The technology now is incredible, and the general managers and
(11:17):
the teams, for as weird as the situation is, and
again I'm not trying to say that this is ideal
you would want a draft room. The power of a
draft room is having the people that that have done
the work for a year, that you trust, that you
work with on a daily basis together because it's easier
to deal with you get into an argument with your wife,
(11:38):
is it easier to hash it out in person or
your girlfriend or is it easier to do it over
text or the phone or zoom? Of course, you'd rather
be sitting there on the couch and talking it out
than trying to talk over the phone like that's it's
it's always easier to get to the bottom of something,
whether it's an argument, whether it's a disagreement. And that's
something that happens in the draft a lot of disagreements.
(11:58):
We should take this guy, and then you get pushed
back and usually you hash them out, and that's how
decisions are made. Even though you've built up to it,
this whole kind of springtime right arguing and setting the board,
still the heat of the moment, we should do this,
we shouldn't do that. So yeah, it's gonna be a
little difficult, but I think that we have a crew
of guys and ultimately just speaks to the NFL. Uh. Luckily,
(12:21):
general managers are much more adaptable than most coaches, right,
this would be very difficult, even though I maybe I'm
not giving the coaches enough credit. They've adapted with less
practice time that that they adapt pretty well too. But
when you factor in technology and and they're good with
the football team, I think this is a little more
complicated for him though. Every time I hear a general
(12:43):
manager talk, they're given their coaching, not just the head
coaches are very adaptable because they have to, but assistant
coaches sometimes can get very stuck in their ways because
their life is very routine oriented. When you're a scout,
you get thrown all sorts of different ship every day.
When you're a football coach, basically from the start of
trade in camp till the last game, every day is
kind of mapped out. Now, you might have a guy
(13:04):
get hurt or a guy get in trouble or something,
but you know what's coming every day, practice meetings, what
you have to do on Monday and Tuesday getting ready.
When you're a scout, you never knew really know what's coming.
You're going into different schools, you're getting different stuff thrown
at you, it's like whatever. I mean, gms have random
stuff happened to him all the time. And so maybe
(13:25):
the scouting community is a little more equipped for this
than the coaching community. And again I'm not talking the
head coaches. I'm more talking assistant coaches. But I've i
gotta say, I've come around on this and and and
been really impressed with UH, with the with the group
of executives, and really excited for this drift. Okay, let's
dive into just some stories around the league. I just
(13:47):
try to write down seven or eight things that I've
seen either an articles or some headlines, and I just
write it down the headline and then I'll just tell
you what I think about it. One thing I've seen
circuit lading and listen, I've met Demetrof a couple of times,
and he was really cool to me. I actually liked Demitrof.
I know he can look different if you've never met him,
(14:09):
thinks like just he's just a different general manager. But
I met one time. I met him at a Patrol
Championship game, probably in like fourteen, and we'd b asked
something like he couldn't have been any cooler. And I
know people that work for him. He's actually a grinder. Uh.
I know it's kind of gone. It's been a rough
couple of years for him, and I know they're kind
of capped out, but I actually think he's a good GM.
(14:30):
He's made some bold moves. He's made some good moves.
I think for the most part, dan Quinn was a
pretty solid hire. Now they're they're in a big there's
a huge year for him. But one piece of news
that's kind of floating around is a lot of people
feel like the Falcons are going to trade up. And
to me, if I'm Arthur Blank putting myself in Arthur
(14:53):
Blank shoes or or the fans shoes, I'm not big
on going from like sixteen trade in the first round
or to get in the top like eight, to get
a sweet player because there's a chance dan Quinn and
Thomas to meet you off. Are just not there next year,
and I think after last year they went seven and nine,
but they started one and seven. They're not a player away. Now.
I'm not opposed to trading up, but if you're gonna
(15:15):
make a bold move to go get like C. J.
Henderson at eight, you can't part with next year's one
and if I'm Arthur Blank, I just don't allow this
administration to mess with my future. Uh, they're basically I mean,
we thought they were all gonna get fired anyway last
year and now granted Thomas to meet you. If you
(15:36):
could argue, Arthur Blanks one of the more patient owners
in the league. He's been there since oh eight. They've
made it to the NFC Championship one year when the
Niners beat him, and obviously the Super Bowl debacle. So
they had a couple of successful years. They made the
playoffs a bunch of times. But I think when you
look at their division, are they the second best team
in their division? You go the Saints would be the
heavy favorites, as they should be. I think they're over
(15:58):
under like ten and a half. Them in the nine
are the highest in the NFC. You know, if the
Bucks have a good draft and Tom Brady, you can
say that they're the second best team in that division.
I like Bruce Arians a lot more in dan Quinn.
I just again, I'm just hesitant if I'm Arthur Blank,
to give Thomas to meet your off some blank canvas. Now,
I'm not holding his hands behind his back and forcing
(16:21):
him to make picks, because Arthur Blank doesn't care who
you pick, even just not doing a mortgage. The future
move and when he's one first round is not that
big of a deal. But what if we're not good
next year? What if the Falcons win six, they go
six and ten and you fire everybody and you don't
have a first round pick. That's that's not ideal. The
j Glazer News. He teased us. And it turns out
(16:43):
the Center for the l A Rams has the coronavirus,
which twenty four hours later, Von Miller has the coronavirus.
Here here's one thing that's been pretty consistent. Uh, they
say the coronavirus has been in California. Girl I'm dating,
was got really sick and it didn't impact me. Sorry,
I get really sick. I didn't get sick. I was fine.
(17:05):
I've I've heard a lot of people in California that
have had this story. Rumors are it's been out west
since like November, so I think I've heard a lot
of stories. The l A Times wrote a big article
on it. If you're healthy and you're young, it's pretty like.
All the NBA players are fine. All these NFL players
are fine. So I think, Oh, the von Miller has it, yeah,
and he's fine. So I you know, it's like, oh,
(17:26):
the dude on the RAMS has it and he's fine.
You know, I think we kind of it's it's a
big headline and that doesn't actually mean anything. Oh Odell
Beckham Junior fake news trade potential dude from the big
station in uh in New York w f A N.
(17:48):
He tweeted out that he'd heard a rumor that the
Minnesota Vikings we're gonna give a second and a fifth
rounder for Odell Beckham Jr. And then a day later
everyone's coming out as fake news, not true, and it's
been confer room by a lot of people. They're not interested.
Paul de Podesta talk to the media, said it's not true.
Here's what I'd read flag the situation. The Minnesota Vikings
(18:09):
just got rid of Stefon Diggs, who was probably half
the diva of Odell Beckham. Why would they then go
acquire Odell Beckham. Why when they just kept Diggs, who's
already on their team and really productive and good. Why
would you go get another Beckham who's who's probably better
than Diggs, if I mean, is better than Diggs if
he's healthy, but way bigger paint in the ass and
(18:30):
way more of a diva. So that didn't really make sense.
And here's the thing with Cleveland. I've heard some rumors
in the NFL like they can shoot down all they want.
I don't think Odell Beckham is just some made man.
I think he would love to be traded out of Cleveland.
I know Colin has talked a lot about this. He's got,
you know, home Paris l A like he doesn't really
fit in Cleveland, but you did give up the seventeenth
(18:51):
pick for him. I'm just not into the business of
giving him away for a second round pick. Because if
I could, if I was another team, a contender, and
I can have Odell Beckham for a second round pick,
I'd be all over that. I think he would be
traded on Draft night if you can have him for
a second round pick. I saw this. I think Bob McGinn,
who forever wrote for the paper that covers the Packers,
(19:11):
he now writes for The Athletic. He writes great stuff
around the draft. He reaches out to a bunch of scouts,
a bunch of executives and gets raw material and gets
raw quotes and the media always gets up in arms.
I can't believe an anonymous scout would say that about
John Middlecoff. I can't believe that guy said that about
(19:33):
Justin Herbert. Well, do you want the quotes or not?
Because that's what people are saying about him. We don't
have to agree with everything, but sometimes I get tired
of the media getting down on the anonymous scout. Here.
Here's the news flash. Unless you're the general manager, you're
not allowed to put your name on it. So every
quote you have is quote unquote anonymous. Here's what also
a news flash. You know what the media loves doing
(19:55):
is getting those quotes. Why? Because they're great material. It's
fantastic reading. It's by far the best. And sometimes the quotes,
you know what, they're uncomfortable. Do you know what a
draft room conversation is uncomfortable? Can you imagine if the
media actually had access to what was said in draft rooms,
how uncomfortable they would be. And that's just and I'm
(20:16):
not saying every conversation is right, but these are the
conversations you have when you're talking about giving someone, I
don't know, twenty thirty million dollars and investing a very
very important draft pick, which is an asset for any
organization into a player, you better nitpick him. Do you
know why? I don't need a nitpick as much the
(20:36):
dude I'm paying eighty grand out of college. He could
be a little bit of a slappy. But if if
a guy has been arrested a couple of times, or
I don't think loves football, I get to nitpick that
if I'm about to give him twenty million dollars. But
one comparison I saw in Bob McGinn's article was that
someone had compared Rugs, the wide receiver from Alabama, the
speed guy who runs in the four twos who hauls
(20:58):
ass to Tyree Kill and he said Rugs a lot
better than Tyree Hill coming out of college, which I
would tend to agree to. Here's my problem though, with comparisons,
and I think you often hear the comps are whenever
you get a speed guy, his comps are always gonna
be DeShawn Jackson or Tyree Hill, because you would never
comp a guy in the first round to like, yeah,
(21:19):
you know, he reminds me of Mark. He's good, one
of the Niners. Oh you know he reminds me of
uh John Ross of the Bengals, because they'd be like, well,
We're not taking that guy in the first round. You
notice every single player who just Chase Young reminds you
of Von Miller mixed with Bosa. Oh who does Jerry
Judy remind you of Oh Mari who does Ceedee Lamb
remind you of Davante every who does a Couda remind
(21:41):
you of Durelle Revas, every cop of every dude that's
gonna go high is a sweet player. Well, we know
the reality is of the player's draft in the first
round or not even gonna be good. Let alone pro
bowlers and just Davante Adams, DeAndre Hopkins and you know,
uh Carson Wentz. We just and and I'm guilty too,
(22:01):
Like listen, I'm not trying to I'm not trying to
be a hypocrite here. I do those comps too. But
do you understand that Tyreek Hill one he In this article,
they wrote the average the average Wonderlick score for the
wide receiver group in this year's class is actually pretty low.
The average Wonderlicks score for a Pro Bowl wide receiver
(22:23):
the last five years has been twenty one. The average
Wonderlick score for wide receivers in this draft is like seventeen.
And I know Coach Reid has told me this multiple times.
And Hill's Wonderlick score was twenty seven. But Andy would
tell you Tyreek is really football smart. You don't you
tell him something once and he's got it. And that's
(22:46):
that's ideal what you want in a football player. You
want your got to be really good like Tyreek, and
then you wanted to be smart. So when they're good
and smart, the sky's the limit. And Tyreek Hill also
went to coach read who's offensive innovation genius. He went
to Patrick Mahomes, who looks like one of the best
quarterbacks we've ever seen. He went to a team that
(23:06):
has I don't know, one of the best tight ends
in the league in Kelsey. He went to a team
that has had countless other wide receivers haul and ass
around him and a good offensive line. Like he went
to a great situation. There's a chance that if Ruggs
goes through the wrong team, it doesn't look the same. Now,
if you tell me Ruggs went to Kyle Shanahan or
Doug Peterson, I go yeah, it probably works. But if
(23:27):
you tell me Ruggs goes to like, I don't know
the Panthers or I'm just throwing out the Jaguars, it
might not look good. You are the wide receiver position,
and just like any position is very dependent on who's
scheming you open and who's throwing in the football. So
I just think sometimes when you read these comps, you
(23:48):
gotta take them all with a grain of salt, because
you'll never read a comp you know who. This guy
reminds me of that dude on the Cowboys practice squad. Yeah,
he reminds me. What what pick can you take? Oh?
Top ten? Yeah, it reminds me of that guy. Everything.
It's like, yeah, I think this guy's like Brett Farfe.
You know this. You know he he's got a little
Tourell Owens in him. I mean, because that's what's fun
(24:09):
the NBA drafts. Worse every you could do in the
NBA drafts, Like if he just dribbles a little better,
you know, be Klay Thompson. You know, he's got a
little James Harden to his game. You know, I'm not
saying he's Lebron, but he's like Lebron. No he's not
a no. You know, the percentage of wide receivers, let's say,
of the top ten wide receivers drafted in this draft
(24:29):
in the first couple of rounds, So like the ten
first wide receivers that are taken from c d and
Judy all the way down to whoever the tenth guy is.
I think there's a chance that five of them bust,
I want to say bust, just aren't good, you know,
and probably two or three of them, probably two of
them are Pro Bowlers, and maybe the next two are
just like solid starters. That's just it's the nature of
(24:51):
the beast. I saw Dak He is not gonna do
any of the virtual offseason program. Do you know? The
way you get something in NFL, truly get something in
the NFL. And it sucks. It shouldn't be like this,
but it's just it's the way the economic you know,
set up for these players is with the franchise tach,
(25:12):
you gotta hold out. You have to hold out. Now,
holding out virtually will be a lot different than if
they were just having normal O t s, because obviously
the media would be a practice and it would be
a really big deal. I actually don't think it'll be
a big story on Twitter and stuff, but it won't
be as feel as big of a story if actually
people were practicing. But if training camp start and I
(25:34):
think they're going to UM, I hope they're going to.
The move for Doc will be if he does not
have a new contract, is not to show up under
no circumstances can you show up? Because the guys in
recent memory that have drawn a hard line non running
backs have worked Khalil, Aaron Donald, Julio Jones. Does Julio
(25:55):
hold out? I can't even remember. But I actually the
same thing about George Kittle, George kid because of tight ends,
the comps are pretty crappy. Like if he wants legit money,
he's got to hold out. Like Christian McCaffrey just signed
a team friendly deal. My recommendation that Christian McCaffrey would
have been hold out, do not show up. They'll pay you. Uh,
(26:15):
Because again it's unfair. You gotta be a little selfish.
You know, it's a team oriented game, but to get
your money, you have to hold out. So unless they
give Dak whatever the hell he's looking for. And again
I'm on team cowboy Jerry here, I'm not giving him
thirty five million dollars. I think thirty millions more than fair.
It's like, Dak, we're giving you add ten million dollars guaranteed.
I think you've won one playoff game. Can you you're
(26:36):
not gonna sign that? Like, what do you think you're worth?
Who do you think you are? But if you do
want to get that money and at least force their hand,
maybe get an extra couple of million dollars, hold out.
Uh Oh Pelasarow. Tom Pellasarow writes for h OR. I
guess he's a TV guy. Used to write for USA today.
I guess he still writes a little for NFL dot com. Uh.
He I saw you had. He compared a bunch of stuff.
(26:59):
He pulled twelve general managers. I think eight of the
twelve said that they have to excuse me, they have
Herbert as their second quarterback on their board, so that
means over to uh. He said one thing though that
made me laugh. He said a lot of coaches are
comparing Jake from with the quarterback from Georgia to Chase Daniel,
(27:19):
and I'm like, that's one of those things. Back to
the comps, that's a red flag. I googled it. Chase
Daniels has seven touchdowns and five interceptions in his career.
When Chase Daniels, he's a cool backup until he has
to play. I like Chase Daniels at Missouri, not a
good pro. Now he's a high character guy. People like
having him around. He's smart, but he can't play. So
(27:42):
I think sometimes when you get in bed as a
coach with those type players because you love them. I
bet if if I knew Chase, he'd be my friend.
I'd like to drink beer with him, talk sports, play golf, hangout.
Seems like a great guy. I know people that have
had them on their teams. They love him. He's just
not very good. And the problem is when your backup
quarterback is that guy, you're like, god, I love this guy, man.
(28:04):
We love having him in the building, and then he
has to play and he stinks or screwed. You know
who the best are like Nick Foles. We're like, you know,
nick Foles are back up. This guy is a high
character guy. We love having sun in the building, and
then he has to play, and you're like, okay, you
can function not bad. It works like okay, this cool.
Ideally you'd want like Jimmy Garoppolo when you had Tom
Brady as your starter. But most teams, you know, you
gotta settle. Like Teddy Bridgewater the Saints the last couple
(28:27):
of years. They probably think we love Teddy God. This
guy who's high character, he's always smiling, he works his
ass off, he's always prepared. Boom, Drew Brees breaks his thumb.
Then it goes from like, okay, can this guy play?
And then Teddy can't? You're like, Okay, that's cool. I
need my backup quarterback to be able to play. I
I can't get into a situation where he's just a
good guy, because being a good guy can't overweigh your
(28:51):
talent as a backup quarterback. Because I'm one broken foot,
I'm one broken finger, I'm one broken clavical from that
guy having to start, and depending on how bad the
injury is, he might have to start eight games. Worst case,
you're gonna start the rest of the season. But even
if it's a month, can I can I win? Can
I go five hundred with them? Can I win three
or four games with them? Because Chase Handels, you can't.
(29:12):
So if Jake from has Chase daniels I. I can't
put it. I can't draft him, I can't do it. Okay,
let's get into the Middlecoff mail bag at John Middlecoffs
the Instagram handle give me a follow slide up into
those d ms. Also my Twitter handle. Uh, try to
spend a little less time on Twitter during quarantine. It's God,
(29:32):
it's a negative environment. But Instagram is fun. Instagram is
a is a fun place and it's where I interact
with you guys. Love the podcast was curious if you
could give your picks on the teams that are going
to make the biggest jumps this upcoming season, in which
teams you think are gonna go fall back. Well, to me,
that topic and that question, I like it that that
(29:54):
has Corona mid May written all over it. So I'll
get to that once we know the draft picks. I
would say one team off top of my head that
I would expect to be a playoff team with Tampa Bay.
Tampa hasn't made the playoffs in twelve years. You signed
Bruce Arians, you have a quarterback that throws an unlimited interceptions.
We've talked about this a lot, but I think Tampa,
(30:14):
if Tom Brady can stay healthy, which historically, I mean,
he doesn't miss any games beside when he gets to
flake Gate and Griggson turns him in. But that Tom Brady,
they're a playoff team. But other than that, I actually
think the Cardinals, I don't know how much better, but
I think they're gonna be sneaky. But well, this this
will be a good offseason. Again, the off season mid
(30:35):
Corona might be. It might be a different offseason. Aspiring
scout here. During your time as a scout, what would
you say was the best and worst parts of your job?
Also would you recommend it as a career? And what
is the best way to go about getting started in
the profession? Why? I tell everyone that asked, the best
(30:56):
way to get into player personnel and football is to
start in college. So if you if you're DM and
me from you're at school, start working for your school's
football program. If you're in Division one, I mean, you
can't ask for anything better. I was at cal Poly.
I got involved that way and one thing led to
another and I got a g a job at Fresno State.
The best part of my job is, you know, I'd
(31:20):
say being part of something bigger than yourself. You know,
being part of a team, working with a bunch of
high level people. I was lucky enough to be a
part of a high level organization. You know, being around
players every day. You know, when you're an evaluating your
when you're when you're an evaluate, right. I do think
it helps to work in the office. I mean that's
(31:42):
a really cool experience. It led me moving across the country,
which I never would have moved to Philly in a
million years. Uh winning, I mean game days are cool
as a college scout going into all these universities. I
mean from s C too. You dubbed Oregon. I only
did the West Coast, so I mean a lot of
these schools I never you know, going to all their
(32:03):
going to games and that that stuff was cool. The
worst part we're just I mean it was a grind
you drive, you know, if you have the sec everything
is pretty close together. If you have the West Coast,
I mean Salt Lake City to l A to Oregon
to Washington to Montana to the Arizona schools. I even
had you tep went right by Warez. Actually had a
(32:26):
good night out in El Paso. Was sweet. It was
there a couple of nights spent a lot of time
in Vegas. It's just you spend so much time driving. Uh,
it's and I hate that to this day. I hate
wasting time driving. Now. We all know sometimes in traffic,
but god, I mean, there's a difference between being in
traffic for forty five minutes and going on a four
(32:47):
hour drive at four o'clock to get somewhere at eight
o'clock and then having to do work and then. I mean,
one thing that I like a lot more in my
own job is I control a lot. And I think
I was destined to, like I have to be able
to control probably why I'm destined I have to own
my own business. I have to be an entrepreneur because
I always kind of pushed back, you know, I always,
(33:08):
whether this is a character flow or whatever, think that,
like I kind of I have a good feel for things.
And you know, at least with Chip Kelly, before Chip
got there, it was pretty open, you could talk about whatever.
But I saw with Chip, and I think a lot
of teams are like this. You know, it's just like
it's the end all be all with the coach and
it's like this is especially now. I mean a lot
(33:29):
of coaches run personnel from Bill O'Brien. Obviously it works
with Belichick, but it just can be very very hit
or miss, you know, when when it's like that and pay,
I mean, the pay was not good. I think you know,
I made dollars those couple of years on the road,
but again, I was twenty five twenty six. Money didn't
(33:49):
matter as much as it definitely does to me now.
And it's still I'm not a big money guy. But
it was like, you know that that was you don't
make much starting out. If you become a general manager,
you know, you can make millions of dollars. I guess
if you become a scouting director you can make six figures. Obviously,
coaches make a lot. You know, the coaches make a
(34:11):
lot more than you know executives, non gms. You know,
your player personnel, you're scouting director, your sec scout is
not make I mean your your quarterback coach in the
NFL might make seven hundred thousand dollars. You're tight end
coach in the NFL might make three dollars. Think about that.
How does your college scouting director not make five thousand
(34:31):
dollars every single team? That's just not the case. So
that the money was tough. I also think, like any job,
when you spend that much time doing it, you know
just I like other sports a lot. I'm a big golfer,
I love watching I'm a big basketball baseball. I like
watching other sports. You're you're pretty locked into football a
(34:54):
large percentage of the year. Obviously during the season during
the fall, which is easy, but even during the draft
process you spend so I'd say, here's the other worst part.
That's what I don't have to do now. And I
don't miss it at all. As a scout, you spend
so much time watching crappy players relative to the NFL.
So you're watching fifth round through like undrafted free agents,
(35:17):
because I mean, you still watch obviously the top guys,
but you're not who you're gonna take in the first
round is somewhat at it. You don't have anything to
do with it. They're coming to you in the mid
rounds and and the undrafted free agents. And I got
board watching those guys. And I heard Mayock say the
other day he likes watching the late round guys and
thinks it's more important than the early round guys. And
(35:38):
that's probably true, but and that's why Mayok was meant
to be a GM. I'm meant to be in the media.
I can talk about first rounders all day long, or
even now. If you're an undrafted free agent you get
to the league and you're good, I'll talk about you.
Or you're a fifth or sixth rounder, you become Tom Brady,
Richard Truman, George Kittle. I got no problem, you know,
but I I can't pretend to get super fired up
(35:59):
on some seventh round pick the day of the draft
because the majority of those guys are going to be
out of the league in a couple of years. So
I get I like talking about the sweet players listen
to podcast all the time while I do my homework.
I appreciate that. I wish I had a podcast to
listen to back when I had homework. As a Chiefs fan,
I've been begging for a corner for a while, but
(36:19):
now we need a linebacker. Should the chief stay at
thirty two and get a linebacker or a corner or
trade back to the second round. Well, if you can
trade back to the second round and let's say move
back three or four spots and get an extra third
round pick, here's where the Chiefs are at they have
a quarterback that's about to make thirty five plus million dollars,
and Chris Jones. I think Veach said today that their
(36:40):
plan is to sign him long term. So I think
the key is going to be to have cheap labor. Well,
like I said, it's really hard to hit on fifth, six,
seventh round picks, but second and third rounders you should
be able to get starters there. So if you're the
Chiefs and you already have a second round pick and
you've got a third, if you can trade back and
get another second or third round pick and then all
(37:02):
of a sudden you have two twos and the three,
or or two twos and two threes, you might be
able to get three cheap starters, which is gonna be
key for the not big picture. I mean, I think
they're returning twenty two starters. I think the Chiefs have
a chance. If you remember, in two thousand ten, the
Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl. In two thousand eleven,
(37:23):
they went fifteen and one. That was the year the Giants,
I think confluence face froze off and they beat him
in the NFC Championship game, or maybe they beat him
in the second round Yeah, they beat him in the
second round because they beat the Niners in the conference championship,
so that wasn't the face freeze game. I think that
was two seven. My point is I think the Chiefs
could come back and be by far the best team
(37:44):
in the league. Now, the Ravens record might be really good,
but as we've seen, they don't do much in the playoffs.
Like the Chiefs go fifteen and one, they might be
the heavy favorites. So I wouldn't be shocked to see
them trade back. Hey John, but us to the three
and outpot. Since day one, favorite Podulo listen to appreciate
that I'm a big Bears fan and was wondering if
(38:05):
you have any thoughts to what they might be able
to do in the draft. They have two picks in
the top fifty, and I've seen them taking corners of
alignment in a few mocks. Clearly they still think Mitch
is a big part of the plans. So do you
think the most sense to try and surround him with
its many solid weapons and try to upgrade the line play.
With Kyle Long retiring and losing Prince and ha Hunt
free agency, what do you think they should do and
(38:28):
would be able to do in the draft. Well, their
defense is loaded, right, they have a great defensive front.
Traviathan's coming back. Ro Kawan got hurt, but he'll be back.
They still have Eddie Jackson, they still have Fuller. So
you could add a corner a little later in the draft.
And I think they got some guys on the roster
that I've been told that they like they need a
(38:48):
tight end. Now this is a bad tight end draft.
Would you trade one of those second rounders for O. J. Howard?
I would think about it, and I think Mike Lombardi
said on his podcast OJ Howards on the Trading Block,
I would think about trading one of those second rounders
for O. J. Howard. I would probably use the other
one in offensive lineman. But I also not of the
school thought that like Mitch is some sacred cow here.
(39:10):
I would imagine in the next I don't know month
or whenever the fifth year option deadline is, which is
usually either June fift or July, Mr Biskuy is not
gonna have his fifth year option picked up. Nick Foles
is probably gonna be the starter. Well likely never happened,
but thought how cool it would be to if the
NFL delayed the draft for another month and allowed their
(39:32):
next crop of college recruits, Trevor Lawrence Fields to declare
for this year's in case college season was canceled. Love
the Show, that would be pretty nuts. I also think
that would be really really unfair, Like the teams don't
have any information on those guys. I mean, those quarterbacks
will get drafted high. But yeah, that'd that would be
(39:53):
a complicated situation. One of these quarterbacks, who is better
Jeff Garcia, Alex Smith, or Jimmy g Well. I would
say Alex is the most consistent. Garcia when he was
on was a stud. I think he went to four
Pro Bowlers for Pro Bowls. Jimmy is the unknown. So
(40:15):
if I had to rank them, if I just had
to win one game, I'd probably go Garcia, Jimmy Alex.
Don't don't sleep on Garcia. That dude could play question
for the Middlecoff mail Bag. A lot of mock drafts
(40:35):
and analysts have talked about the Lions moving out of
the three spot so the Dolphins are Chargers can move
up and get their quarterback, ignoring Joe Burrow, of course,
does the fact that the Lions seem to be dead
set on Acuda hurt their value at number three pick.
If they trade down, they're still likely to be playing,
They're still likely to get the play they want, the
(40:55):
player they want fifth or six pick. Would the Chargers
or Dolphins be aware of that and then off or
less capital in the trade as that of that result?
Kind of greedy. I've got a second question. I would say, yeah,
if those teams know for a fact who you want
and know you can still get them there, then you
can't rank him over the coals. But I also think
what you read in you know, mock drafts and stuff,
(41:17):
does not mean that's what the actual team knows. So
I would say I wouldn't put that much stock and
who mocked drafts having the Lions take. But if they
do know who you're gonna take, yes, that limits your ability.
Kind of greedy. I've got a second question, Well, mid Corona,
why not If you're the Chargers and you're set on
two as your franchise guy, but he has already taken,
(41:38):
are you comfortable taking your second choice quarterback on the
board and pretending he was your choice all along? Or
would you rather go for the best player available at
another position and wait for another go at the draft
next time around. That's a good question. I would not
take a player I don't like at five. So if
(41:58):
if you want to uh and you get just and
Herbert and you don't think Justin Herbert's the top five pick,
I can't take him there, or vice versa. If Herbert
goes and I'm not thinking two is good enough, i
can't take him. That's the whole point of the draft process.
You set your board, you value where guys go. If
you don't think the guys a franchise quarterback, you can't
take him in five. End of story. I I think
(42:20):
it's really that simple. Despite how important quarterbacks are, I'd
rather Hell, I'd go sign Jamis, go sign Cam. That's
the other thing. Jamis and Cam are still out there,
hew Andy Dalton's out there. Like I'm just not taking
a quarterback. I'm not saying I believe in those two guys.
I definitely I believe more in Herbert probably than to
it just because to an injury. But I'm just not
(42:41):
taking one of those guys. Hey, John, big fan of
the pod, enjoyed the comparison to the Draft in the
stock Market last episode I'm a recent college grad working
in finance, but my dream job would be working in
salary cap department or just a finance department for a team.
I was wondering if you had any insight on what
a salary cap finance department looks like for a team
and what be the best way to get into one. Well,
(43:04):
I think a lot of salary cap guys they went
to law school, right, so they went undergrad did whatever,
and then they get a lot degree and that helps
them write contracts. Now the finance department, to me, there's
a difference with the finance department that are involved in
ticket sales that are involved in signage. That's I mean,
if you've got a good degree and you've been working
(43:24):
for whatever finance company you you can obtain that job.
Now you usually have to start in at more of
a sales position, right, cold calling, maintaining relationships. But the
salary cap position, I would say most guys in the league,
the salary cap negotiators have a lot degree. Uh. That
sounds about it. So we got all the questions, So
(43:46):
keep firing questions. Uh, shorter pod today, enjoy the weekend,
enjoy the quarantine. Try to stay positive. Joy, some good food,
have a couple of cocktails and uh a week away
baby draft time. Let's do godspeed, stay safe,
What is going on? Everybody? John Middlecop Three and Out Podcast,
Thursday afternoon. I'm recording this a little bit before five
o'clock Pacific Standard time, a week from the day the
draft would be an hour away. So we are coming
down the home stretch of the draft, and I can't wait.
(00:31):
I don't know about you. I'm a little drafted out.
And I talked to some of my buddies in the NFL.
I know they feel the same way. Uh it's different
for them. You just read so many mock drafts and
you see so many Twitter experts, and that's all I
am nowadays. They just have my opinions that you know,
not watching the amount of tape that they are, and
you just then your general manager goes, well, did you
(00:52):
read a mock and this guy is now mocked at
the end of the first round and you have a
third round grade on him. It's just the draft can't
get here soon enough for those in the NFL. For
thus for those of us to talk about the NFL.
I know everyone listening to the fans of the NFL
or college football, it really is a great event. And uh,
you know, I I was one to say and I
(01:13):
listen I'll take the l on this one that I
was a little surprised they didn't move free agency back
and the draft, but I'm gonna dive into right now
where you know, it's pretty clear they shouldn't have moved
the draft back. And I think a lot of general managers.
I watched a lot of press quote unquote press conferences
over the last forty eight hours, guys doing zooms, Brett Veach,
(01:34):
Howie Roseman, Thomas to meet Roff, I mean all these
guy Mike Mayock listen to his conference call, and I
think it's gonna be okay. Uh. Around the NFL, We're
gonna shoot into a bunch of different stories that have
come out over the last three or four days. It's
kind of hammering my opinion on each one, from from
the Falcons trading up to the Odell Beckham fake news
(01:56):
to Glazer's report, a bunch of different stuff. Dak Scott
might skip, not Mike is going to skip the virtual
off season. Uh. And then of course Middlecoff mail bag
at John Middlecoff is my Instagram handle, same as my
Twitter handle. Direct messages, wide open, answer your questions here
(02:16):
on the show. Slide up in those d m s.
Leave a question whatever you want and I will answer
it here. Uh. You know we're quarantined, so we got
time fire in there. Uh. And I also want to
thank everyone that have left a review. If you like
the show, go to the three and out Apple, you know,
podcast home and just leave an Apple review. Greatly appreciate it.
(02:40):
I know a lot of you that have I salute you.
I'm giving you a salute right now, virtually kind of
like the GM. So let's dive into the g MS. Listen,
we're all having our ups and downs. I try, I
actively try, and I did this before the Corona ever hit.
I can be naturally, I would say the majority, Like
in my twenties and even in early I'm thirty five now,
(03:01):
the first couple of years of my thirties, my natural
reaction can be a little just to be negative. It
can always be negative, and it's something you get hammered
home when you're a scout, like be a glass half
full guy, not a glass half empty guy. But listen,
you know my dad businessman had said he he would
have skewed on the negative end. And it's just it's
something that just kind of comes naturally to me and
(03:22):
as I've gotten older and wiser, and I think a
lot of people can relate. Uh. I try to actively
be more positive. And I'm not saying I'm just a
negative person even ten years ago, but my first reaction
would tend to be no, or that's not gonna work.
And I've really tried to change that around. It takes
time and listen, in the middle of corona. I've been
(03:43):
one to say keep your spirits up during Corona, be positive,
but it's hard. I I completely understand. I talked to
a good buddy today who runs a small business who
said they just took out a pretty big six figure loan.
And while it's great, you know, playing one percent interest
on you know, hundreds of thousands of dollars, He's like,
we do have to pay that back in a year.
(04:04):
You know, it's it's kind of a scary situation just
to try to stay afloat. He said. Without the loan,
we're done. I'm sure many of you that either that
run these small businesses, that know people in small businesses,
what everyone's feeling all around the country, and we all
ebb and flow. The reality is I don't do that
much anyway. Like I spent a lot of time in
my office. Naturally, I watched games for a living. I
(04:27):
thrive inside. But listen, I have a routine I like doing.
I go to the gym at specific times Monday basically
through Sunday. I definitely in the summer, I like to
play golf. I even like to run outside. I try
to do that. It's a little cold, you know, That's
why this California guys are a little softer. I try
to go for a morning run. It was like fifty
five degrees. I'm like, ship, no wonder, Derek Carr's bad
(04:48):
in the cold. I mean, this is freezing and it's
fifty five degrees. We're just we're spoiled around here. But
I did understand when all the gms when it said listen,
we're gonna do the draft, and it was clear that
no one was gonna be able to use the draft rooms.
Everyone was like, this is bullshit. I was like, I
get that, because my first reaction was that this kind
(05:09):
of bs that this is this is gonna be really difficult.
And then a couple of weeks have gone by and
I've used zoom for interviews. I'm sure many of you
have used Zoom for your conference calls or whatever, and
you realize, you know what, it's actually not that hard.
And then you realize, well, everything is digital now, and
if it's not, you could just order a white board
if you want a couple of white boards off Amazon.
(05:31):
I have a white board standing right next to me
right now. I'm just a nobody or one off Amazon.
I use it all the time. And the access these
guys have. And one thing I consistently saw when I
listened to a podcast the other day with Thomas de
Metrough at his house talking to Peter King, he was
in great spirits. He's like, yeah, we're gonna be We're
gonna be fine. Watching how he rose in today, He's like, yeah,
we figured it out. Things have been going good. Talking
(05:53):
to all my buddies you know that are zooming in
with their whoever general manager that they're scouts or assistant
scouting directors or whatever. They're like, yes, hasn't been that bad.
We figured it out because you know what most high
level people do in any business or in any situation,
they adapt to their surroundings. That's why they're high level.
Now these are way less than ideal for everyone involved,
(06:16):
but we're figuring it out, and the faster you can
get yourself into you know what, this isn't that bad
type mindset, the easier it's gonna be to function. And
I think the majority of the NFL, maybe not Belichick,
isn't pretty good spirits right now and Fields. I listened
to this conference called from Mike Mayock, and he's like,
you know what, I got three white boards with over
a thousand magnets. I feel like I got the draft
(06:39):
room right in my right in my home office. I
feel like I'm ready to go. Sure many of you
saw that Tom to Le's go picture where he had
ten computer screens. I actually thought it was a little
bit of a fraud move. And then I had a
scouting buddy text me. He's like, actually I got secondary
screens and iPads and Microsoft services. That's pretty normal because
I defended. There was a picture of Atleman where Gettleman
(07:01):
had his computer where he was either sending emails or
watching tape, and then he had multiple binders. I know
for me, I I can see right nowt of the
corner of my eye four different binders. I'm a big
binder guy. I write everything down now. I could easily
I got multiple iPads. I could put it in an
iPad situation. I don't. I'm just more comfortable doing that.
(07:22):
Am I a little bit living like it's two thousand two? Maybe?
But I I do understand people being comfortable with taking
notes differently. Now you do have to there's only one
way to watch the tape. You gotta do it through
a computer. You gotta do it through an iPad. You
gotta connect to your television. Like that's but it's like
you want to take notes on a Microsoft surface or
take notes in a binder, like do whatever you want
(07:43):
to do this most comfortable. The reality is who is
you know? It's not gonna limit your ability to be
prepared for the draft. And I I I just not
that I'm impressed because as a couple of gms have said, like, listen,
we're still getting paid. This is our job. Like, we're
not going to complain. We've got twenty two million people
(08:04):
officially unemployed. That number could be you know, let's let's
be honest. If you've got twenty two million people unemployed,
you probably got I mean, I'm just gonna take an
educated guess another five to eight that have not filed
or that don't know how to file that will in
the coming you know, days or weeks. So the numbers
are astronomical. A lot of people and the majority of
(08:26):
those people ain't making nfl GM money. So the NFL
has it pretty good. They're all none of these guys
are getting pay cuts at least of now. Uh. These
guys are able to function in their job now moving forward.
Big question marks this fall. I don't know, Like I
I one thing I try not to do people like,
are you watching the news now? Not really, because I
(08:47):
don't control this situation. I'm just following the rules. I
watched the news. It's just miserable. Everyone's angry. It's like,
I'm not trying to be miserable all day. Like I said,
that can come pretty natural to most people, especially in
this situation. So I've tried to stay positive, not just
you get suffocated if you just flip on the news
all day and watch it, because let's be honest, it's
(09:07):
gonna be really negative. And I'm in the media business.
I have to be interesting. Advertisers pay the bills. Well,
everyone's like, I can't believe what CNN said or Fox
News said or MSNBC. Their their job is to try
to get people to watch. I know media always loves
like it's journalism. Those days ended. Corporate America runs everything.
They're trying to do billions of dollars in ad revenue.
(09:30):
The more people that watch, the more money they make.
It sounds terrible, but it's just the truth. So like,
if it's hard, you gotta I don't really have an
answer for it. But that's just the situation in the
reality that we live in when it comes to news.
I think we all agree it comes with television, right
with sports. You watch First Take or some of these shows,
(09:51):
they're all trying to be provocative. Like we've heard eighteen
million ways to judge Lebron James. I can't take it anymore. Now,
I'm giving you a little bit of a pass and
during mid Corona, you gotta come up with some content.
Trust me. I'm started a YouTube channel trying to come
up just with different ways to talk about stuff. How
we've been lucky on this show that you know, there's
just been a lot of topics. We've had free agency,
(10:12):
we've had the draft. But if this goes all summer,
you know, I'm gonna have to start getting really creative. Luckily,
I can get you know, pop an edible. I can
be creative, but I give the general managers and a
lot of them. And Thomas de Meatrov had a good
point with Peter King. He said, we've got kind of
a younger group. You know, this is an aggressive group.
This is a group that can like it's pretty technologically advanced.
(10:33):
Like you don't think John Schneider and Thomas Dematrof and
you know Nick Kissario and John Lynch can figure this
stuff out. This isn't you know, you don't have Bill
Polian walking through those doors. These guys are technologically advanced
human beings. And the NFL is always on the forefront
in terms of right when I was leaving the NFL
(10:54):
in the in like two thousand thirteen, the iPads were
becoming a huge element to watch tape, to share video.
What I've been told the ability now to like you
want to bring up watch Ceedee Lamb. I can watch
every one of his targets. I can watch every one
of his touchdowns, I can watch every one of his drops.
The technology now is incredible, and the general managers and
(11:17):
the teams, for as weird as the situation is, and
again I'm not trying to say that this is ideal
you would want a draft room. The power of a
draft room is having the people that that have done
the work for a year, that you trust, that you
work with on a daily basis together because it's easier
to deal with you get into an argument with your wife,
(11:38):
is it easier to hash it out in person or
your girlfriend or is it easier to do it over
text or the phone or zoom? Of course, you'd rather
be sitting there on the couch and talking it out
than trying to talk over the phone like that's it's
it's always easier to get to the bottom of something,
whether it's an argument, whether it's a disagreement. And that's
something that happens in the draft a lot of disagreements.
(11:58):
We should take this guy, and then you get pushed
back and usually you hash them out, and that's how
decisions are made. Even though you've built up to it,
this whole kind of springtime right arguing and setting the board,
still the heat of the moment, we should do this,
we shouldn't do that. So yeah, it's gonna be a
little difficult, but I think that we have a crew
of guys and ultimately just speaks to the NFL. Uh. Luckily,
(12:21):
general managers are much more adaptable than most coaches, right,
this would be very difficult, even though I maybe I'm
not giving the coaches enough credit. They've adapted with less
practice time that that they adapt pretty well too. But
when you factor in technology and and they're good with
the football team, I think this is a little more
complicated for him though. Every time I hear a general
(12:43):
manager talk, they're given their coaching, not just the head
coaches are very adaptable because they have to, but assistant
coaches sometimes can get very stuck in their ways because
their life is very routine oriented. When you're a scout,
you get thrown all sorts of different ship every day.
When you're a football coach, basically from the start of
trade in camp till the last game, every day is
kind of mapped out. Now, you might have a guy
(13:04):
get hurt or a guy get in trouble or something,
but you know what's coming every day, practice meetings, what
you have to do on Monday and Tuesday getting ready.
When you're a scout, you never knew really know what's coming.
You're going into different schools, you're getting different stuff thrown
at you, it's like whatever. I mean, gms have random
stuff happened to him all the time. And so maybe
(13:25):
the scouting community is a little more equipped for this
than the coaching community. And again I'm not talking the
head coaches. I'm more talking assistant coaches. But I've i
gotta say, I've come around on this and and and
been really impressed with UH, with the with the group
of executives, and really excited for this drift. Okay, let's
dive into just some stories around the league. I just
(13:47):
try to write down seven or eight things that I've
seen either an articles or some headlines, and I just
write it down the headline and then I'll just tell
you what I think about it. One thing I've seen
circuit lading and listen, I've met Demetrof a couple of times,
and he was really cool to me. I actually liked Demitrof.
I know he can look different if you've never met him,
(14:09):
thinks like just he's just a different general manager. But
I met one time. I met him at a Patrol
Championship game, probably in like fourteen, and we'd b asked
something like he couldn't have been any cooler. And I
know people that work for him. He's actually a grinder. Uh.
I know it's kind of gone. It's been a rough
couple of years for him, and I know they're kind
of capped out, but I actually think he's a good GM.
(14:30):
He's made some bold moves. He's made some good moves.
I think for the most part, dan Quinn was a
pretty solid hire. Now they're they're in a big there's
a huge year for him. But one piece of news
that's kind of floating around is a lot of people
feel like the Falcons are going to trade up. And
to me, if I'm Arthur Blank putting myself in Arthur
(14:53):
Blank shoes or or the fans shoes, I'm not big
on going from like sixteen trade in the first round
or to get in the top like eight, to get
a sweet player because there's a chance dan Quinn and
Thomas to meet you off. Are just not there next year,
and I think after last year they went seven and nine,
but they started one and seven. They're not a player away. Now.
I'm not opposed to trading up, but if you're gonna
(15:15):
make a bold move to go get like C. J.
Henderson at eight, you can't part with next year's one
and if I'm Arthur Blank, I just don't allow this
administration to mess with my future. Uh, they're basically I mean,
we thought they were all gonna get fired anyway last
year and now granted Thomas to meet you. If you
(15:36):
could argue, Arthur Blanks one of the more patient owners
in the league. He's been there since oh eight. They've
made it to the NFC Championship one year when the
Niners beat him, and obviously the Super Bowl debacle. So
they had a couple of successful years. They made the
playoffs a bunch of times. But I think when you
look at their division, are they the second best team
in their division? You go the Saints would be the
heavy favorites, as they should be. I think they're over
(15:58):
under like ten and a half. Them in the nine
are the highest in the NFC. You know, if the
Bucks have a good draft and Tom Brady, you can
say that they're the second best team in that division.
I like Bruce Arians a lot more in dan Quinn.
I just again, I'm just hesitant if I'm Arthur Blank,
to give Thomas to meet your off some blank canvas. Now,
I'm not holding his hands behind his back and forcing
(16:21):
him to make picks, because Arthur Blank doesn't care who
you pick, even just not doing a mortgage. The future
move and when he's one first round is not that
big of a deal. But what if we're not good
next year? What if the Falcons win six, they go
six and ten and you fire everybody and you don't
have a first round pick. That's that's not ideal. The
j Glazer News. He teased us. And it turns out
(16:43):
the Center for the l A Rams has the coronavirus,
which twenty four hours later, Von Miller has the coronavirus.
Here here's one thing that's been pretty consistent. Uh, they
say the coronavirus has been in California. Girl I'm dating,
was got really sick and it didn't impact me. Sorry,
I get really sick. I didn't get sick. I was fine.
(17:05):
I've I've heard a lot of people in California that
have had this story. Rumors are it's been out west
since like November, so I think I've heard a lot
of stories. The l A Times wrote a big article
on it. If you're healthy and you're young, it's pretty like.
All the NBA players are fine. All these NFL players
are fine. So I think, Oh, the von Miller has it, yeah,
and he's fine. So I you know, it's like, oh,
(17:26):
the dude on the RAMS has it and he's fine.
You know, I think we kind of it's it's a
big headline and that doesn't actually mean anything. Oh Odell
Beckham Junior fake news trade potential dude from the big
station in uh in New York w f A N.
(17:48):
He tweeted out that he'd heard a rumor that the
Minnesota Vikings we're gonna give a second and a fifth
rounder for Odell Beckham Jr. And then a day later
everyone's coming out as fake news, not true, and it's
been confer room by a lot of people. They're not interested.
Paul de Podesta talk to the media, said it's not true.
Here's what I'd read flag the situation. The Minnesota Vikings
(18:09):
just got rid of Stefon Diggs, who was probably half
the diva of Odell Beckham. Why would they then go
acquire Odell Beckham. Why when they just kept Diggs, who's
already on their team and really productive and good. Why
would you go get another Beckham who's who's probably better
than Diggs, if I mean, is better than Diggs if
he's healthy, but way bigger paint in the ass and
(18:30):
way more of a diva. So that didn't really make sense.
And here's the thing with Cleveland. I've heard some rumors
in the NFL like they can shoot down all they want.
I don't think Odell Beckham is just some made man.
I think he would love to be traded out of Cleveland.
I know Colin has talked a lot about this. He's got,
you know, home Paris l A like he doesn't really
fit in Cleveland, but you did give up the seventeenth
(18:51):
pick for him. I'm just not into the business of
giving him away for a second round pick. Because if
I could, if I was another team, a contender, and
I can have Odell Beckham for a second round pick,
I'd be all over that. I think he would be
traded on Draft night if you can have him for
a second round pick. I saw this. I think Bob McGinn,
who forever wrote for the paper that covers the Packers,
(19:11):
he now writes for The Athletic. He writes great stuff
around the draft. He reaches out to a bunch of scouts,
a bunch of executives and gets raw material and gets
raw quotes and the media always gets up in arms.
I can't believe an anonymous scout would say that about
John Middlecoff. I can't believe that guy said that about
(19:33):
Justin Herbert. Well, do you want the quotes or not?
Because that's what people are saying about him. We don't
have to agree with everything, but sometimes I get tired
of the media getting down on the anonymous scout. Here.
Here's the news flash. Unless you're the general manager, you're
not allowed to put your name on it. So every
quote you have is quote unquote anonymous. Here's what also
a news flash. You know what the media loves doing
(19:55):
is getting those quotes. Why? Because they're great material. It's
fantastic reading. It's by far the best. And sometimes the quotes,
you know what, they're uncomfortable. Do you know what a
draft room conversation is uncomfortable? Can you imagine if the
media actually had access to what was said in draft rooms,
how uncomfortable they would be. And that's just and I'm
(20:16):
not saying every conversation is right, but these are the
conversations you have when you're talking about giving someone, I
don't know, twenty thirty million dollars and investing a very
very important draft pick, which is an asset for any
organization into a player, you better nitpick him. Do you
know why? I don't need a nitpick as much the
(20:36):
dude I'm paying eighty grand out of college. He could
be a little bit of a slappy. But if if
a guy has been arrested a couple of times, or
I don't think loves football, I get to nitpick that
if I'm about to give him twenty million dollars. But
one comparison I saw in Bob McGinn's article was that
someone had compared Rugs, the wide receiver from Alabama, the
speed guy who runs in the four twos who hauls
(20:58):
ass to Tyree Kill and he said Rugs a lot
better than Tyree Hill coming out of college, which I
would tend to agree to. Here's my problem though, with comparisons,
and I think you often hear the comps are whenever
you get a speed guy, his comps are always gonna
be DeShawn Jackson or Tyree Hill, because you would never
comp a guy in the first round to like, yeah,
(21:19):
you know, he reminds me of Mark. He's good, one
of the Niners. Oh you know he reminds me of
uh John Ross of the Bengals, because they'd be like, well,
We're not taking that guy in the first round. You
notice every single player who just Chase Young reminds you
of Von Miller mixed with Bosa. Oh who does Jerry
Judy remind you of Oh Mari who does Ceedee Lamb
remind you of Davante every who does a Couda remind
(21:41):
you of Durelle Revas, every cop of every dude that's
gonna go high is a sweet player. Well, we know
the reality is of the player's draft in the first
round or not even gonna be good. Let alone pro
bowlers and just Davante Adams, DeAndre Hopkins and you know,
uh Carson Wentz. We just and and I'm guilty too,
(22:01):
Like listen, I'm not trying to I'm not trying to
be a hypocrite here. I do those comps too. But
do you understand that Tyreek Hill one he In this article,
they wrote the average the average Wonderlick score for the
wide receiver group in this year's class is actually pretty low.
The average Wonderlicks score for a Pro Bowl wide receiver
(22:23):
the last five years has been twenty one. The average
Wonderlick score for wide receivers in this draft is like seventeen.
And I know Coach Reid has told me this multiple times.
And Hill's Wonderlick score was twenty seven. But Andy would
tell you Tyreek is really football smart. You don't you
tell him something once and he's got it. And that's
(22:46):
that's ideal what you want in a football player. You
want your got to be really good like Tyreek, and
then you wanted to be smart. So when they're good
and smart, the sky's the limit. And Tyreek Hill also
went to coach read who's offensive innovation genius. He went
to Patrick Mahomes, who looks like one of the best
quarterbacks we've ever seen. He went to a team that
(23:06):
has I don't know, one of the best tight ends
in the league in Kelsey. He went to a team
that has had countless other wide receivers haul and ass
around him and a good offensive line. Like he went
to a great situation. There's a chance that if Ruggs
goes through the wrong team, it doesn't look the same. Now,
if you tell me Ruggs went to Kyle Shanahan or
Doug Peterson, I go yeah, it probably works. But if
(23:27):
you tell me Ruggs goes to like, I don't know
the Panthers or I'm just throwing out the Jaguars, it
might not look good. You are the wide receiver position,
and just like any position is very dependent on who's
scheming you open and who's throwing in the football. So
I just think sometimes when you read these comps, you
(23:48):
gotta take them all with a grain of salt, because
you'll never read a comp you know who. This guy
reminds me of that dude on the Cowboys practice squad. Yeah,
he reminds me. What what pick can you take? Oh?
Top ten? Yeah, it reminds me of that guy. Everything.
It's like, yeah, I think this guy's like Brett Farfe.
You know this. You know he he's got a little
Tourell Owens in him. I mean, because that's what's fun
(24:09):
the NBA drafts. Worse every you could do in the
NBA drafts, Like if he just dribbles a little better,
you know, be Klay Thompson. You know, he's got a
little James Harden to his game. You know, I'm not
saying he's Lebron, but he's like Lebron. No he's not
a no. You know, the percentage of wide receivers, let's say,
of the top ten wide receivers drafted in this draft
(24:29):
in the first couple of rounds, So like the ten
first wide receivers that are taken from c d and
Judy all the way down to whoever the tenth guy is.
I think there's a chance that five of them bust,
I want to say bust, just aren't good, you know,
and probably two or three of them, probably two of
them are Pro Bowlers, and maybe the next two are
just like solid starters. That's just it's the nature of
(24:51):
the beast. I saw Dak He is not gonna do
any of the virtual offseason program. Do you know? The
way you get something in NFL, truly get something in
the NFL. And it sucks. It shouldn't be like this,
but it's just it's the way the economic you know,
set up for these players is with the franchise tach,
(25:12):
you gotta hold out. You have to hold out. Now,
holding out virtually will be a lot different than if
they were just having normal O t s, because obviously
the media would be a practice and it would be
a really big deal. I actually don't think it'll be
a big story on Twitter and stuff, but it won't
be as feel as big of a story if actually
people were practicing. But if training camp start and I
(25:34):
think they're going to UM, I hope they're going to.
The move for Doc will be if he does not
have a new contract, is not to show up under
no circumstances can you show up? Because the guys in
recent memory that have drawn a hard line non running
backs have worked Khalil, Aaron Donald, Julio Jones. Does Julio
(25:55):
hold out? I can't even remember. But I actually the
same thing about George Kittle, George kid because of tight ends,
the comps are pretty crappy. Like if he wants legit money,
he's got to hold out. Like Christian McCaffrey just signed
a team friendly deal. My recommendation that Christian McCaffrey would
have been hold out, do not show up. They'll pay you. Uh,
(26:15):
Because again it's unfair. You gotta be a little selfish.
You know, it's a team oriented game, but to get
your money, you have to hold out. So unless they
give Dak whatever the hell he's looking for. And again
I'm on team cowboy Jerry here, I'm not giving him
thirty five million dollars. I think thirty millions more than fair.
It's like, Dak, we're giving you add ten million dollars guaranteed.
I think you've won one playoff game. Can you you're
(26:36):
not gonna sign that? Like, what do you think you're worth?
Who do you think you are? But if you do
want to get that money and at least force their hand,
maybe get an extra couple of million dollars, hold out.
Uh Oh Pelasarow. Tom Pellasarow writes for h OR. I
guess he's a TV guy. Used to write for USA today.
I guess he still writes a little for NFL dot com. Uh.
He I saw you had. He compared a bunch of stuff.
(26:59):
He pulled twelve general managers. I think eight of the
twelve said that they have to excuse me, they have
Herbert as their second quarterback on their board, so that
means over to uh. He said one thing though that
made me laugh. He said a lot of coaches are
comparing Jake from with the quarterback from Georgia to Chase Daniel,
(27:19):
and I'm like, that's one of those things. Back to
the comps, that's a red flag. I googled it. Chase
Daniels has seven touchdowns and five interceptions in his career.
When Chase Daniels, he's a cool backup until he has
to play. I like Chase Daniels at Missouri, not a
good pro. Now he's a high character guy. People like
having him around. He's smart, but he can't play. So
(27:42):
I think sometimes when you get in bed as a
coach with those type players because you love them. I
bet if if I knew Chase, he'd be my friend.
I'd like to drink beer with him, talk sports, play golf, hangout.
Seems like a great guy. I know people that have
had them on their teams. They love him. He's just
not very good. And the problem is when your backup
quarterback is that guy, you're like, god, I love this guy, man.
(28:04):
We love having him in the building, and then he
has to play and he stinks or screwed. You know
who the best are like Nick Foles. We're like, you know,
nick Foles are back up. This guy is a high
character guy. We love having sun in the building, and
then he has to play, and you're like, okay, you
can function not bad. It works like okay, this cool.
Ideally you'd want like Jimmy Garoppolo when you had Tom
Brady as your starter. But most teams, you know, you
gotta settle. Like Teddy Bridgewater the Saints the last couple
(28:27):
of years. They probably think we love Teddy God. This
guy who's high character, he's always smiling, he works his
ass off, he's always prepared. Boom, Drew Brees breaks his thumb.
Then it goes from like, okay, can this guy play?
And then Teddy can't? You're like, Okay, that's cool. I
need my backup quarterback to be able to play. I
I can't get into a situation where he's just a
good guy, because being a good guy can't overweigh your
(28:51):
talent as a backup quarterback. Because I'm one broken foot,
I'm one broken finger, I'm one broken clavical from that
guy having to start, and depending on how bad the
injury is, he might have to start eight games. Worst case,
you're gonna start the rest of the season. But even
if it's a month, can I can I win? Can
I go five hundred with them? Can I win three
or four games with them? Because Chase Handels, you can't.
(29:12):
So if Jake from has Chase daniels I. I can't
put it. I can't draft him, I can't do it. Okay,
let's get into the Middlecoff mail bag at John Middlecoffs
the Instagram handle give me a follow slide up into
those d ms. Also my Twitter handle. Uh, try to
spend a little less time on Twitter during quarantine. It's God,
(29:32):
it's a negative environment. But Instagram is fun. Instagram is
a is a fun place and it's where I interact
with you guys. Love the podcast was curious if you
could give your picks on the teams that are going
to make the biggest jumps this upcoming season, in which
teams you think are gonna go fall back. Well, to me,
that topic and that question, I like it that that
(29:54):
has Corona mid May written all over it. So I'll
get to that once we know the draft picks. I
would say one team off top of my head that
I would expect to be a playoff team with Tampa Bay.
Tampa hasn't made the playoffs in twelve years. You signed
Bruce Arians, you have a quarterback that throws an unlimited interceptions.
We've talked about this a lot, but I think Tampa,
(30:14):
if Tom Brady can stay healthy, which historically, I mean,
he doesn't miss any games beside when he gets to
flake Gate and Griggson turns him in. But that Tom Brady,
they're a playoff team. But other than that, I actually
think the Cardinals, I don't know how much better, but
I think they're gonna be sneaky. But well, this this
will be a good offseason. Again, the off season mid
(30:35):
Corona might be. It might be a different offseason. Aspiring
scout here. During your time as a scout, what would
you say was the best and worst parts of your job?
Also would you recommend it as a career? And what
is the best way to go about getting started in
the profession? Why? I tell everyone that asked, the best
(30:56):
way to get into player personnel and football is to
start in college. So if you if you're DM and
me from you're at school, start working for your school's
football program. If you're in Division one, I mean, you
can't ask for anything better. I was at cal Poly.
I got involved that way and one thing led to
another and I got a g a job at Fresno State.
The best part of my job is, you know, I'd
(31:20):
say being part of something bigger than yourself. You know,
being part of a team, working with a bunch of
high level people. I was lucky enough to be a
part of a high level organization. You know, being around
players every day. You know, when you're an evaluating your
when you're when you're an evaluate, right. I do think
it helps to work in the office. I mean that's
(31:42):
a really cool experience. It led me moving across the country,
which I never would have moved to Philly in a
million years. Uh winning, I mean game days are cool
as a college scout going into all these universities. I
mean from s C too. You dubbed Oregon. I only
did the West Coast, so I mean a lot of
these schools I never you know, going to all their
(32:03):
going to games and that that stuff was cool. The
worst part we're just I mean it was a grind
you drive, you know, if you have the sec everything
is pretty close together. If you have the West Coast,
I mean Salt Lake City to l A to Oregon
to Washington to Montana to the Arizona schools. I even
had you tep went right by Warez. Actually had a
(32:26):
good night out in El Paso. Was sweet. It was
there a couple of nights spent a lot of time
in Vegas. It's just you spend so much time driving. Uh,
it's and I hate that to this day. I hate
wasting time driving. Now. We all know sometimes in traffic,
but god, I mean, there's a difference between being in
traffic for forty five minutes and going on a four
(32:47):
hour drive at four o'clock to get somewhere at eight
o'clock and then having to do work and then. I mean,
one thing that I like a lot more in my
own job is I control a lot. And I think
I was destined to, like I have to be able
to control probably why I'm destined I have to own
my own business. I have to be an entrepreneur because
I always kind of pushed back, you know, I always,
(33:08):
whether this is a character flow or whatever, think that,
like I kind of I have a good feel for things.
And you know, at least with Chip Kelly, before Chip
got there, it was pretty open, you could talk about whatever.
But I saw with Chip, and I think a lot
of teams are like this. You know, it's just like
it's the end all be all with the coach and
it's like this is especially now. I mean a lot
(33:29):
of coaches run personnel from Bill O'Brien. Obviously it works
with Belichick, but it just can be very very hit
or miss, you know, when when it's like that and pay,
I mean, the pay was not good. I think you know,
I made dollars those couple of years on the road,
but again, I was twenty five twenty six. Money didn't
(33:49):
matter as much as it definitely does to me now.
And it's still I'm not a big money guy. But
it was like, you know that that was you don't
make much starting out. If you become a general manager,
you know, you can make millions of dollars. I guess
if you become a scouting director you can make six figures. Obviously,
coaches make a lot. You know, the coaches make a
(34:11):
lot more than you know executives, non gms. You know,
your player personnel, you're scouting director, your sec scout is
not make I mean your your quarterback coach in the
NFL might make seven hundred thousand dollars. You're tight end
coach in the NFL might make three dollars. Think about that.
How does your college scouting director not make five thousand
(34:31):
dollars every single team? That's just not the case. So
that the money was tough. I also think, like any job,
when you spend that much time doing it, you know
just I like other sports a lot. I'm a big golfer,
I love watching I'm a big basketball baseball. I like
watching other sports. You're you're pretty locked into football a
(34:54):
large percentage of the year. Obviously during the season during
the fall, which is easy, but even during the draft
process you spend so I'd say, here's the other worst part.
That's what I don't have to do now. And I
don't miss it at all. As a scout, you spend
so much time watching crappy players relative to the NFL.
So you're watching fifth round through like undrafted free agents,
(35:17):
because I mean, you still watch obviously the top guys,
but you're not who you're gonna take in the first
round is somewhat at it. You don't have anything to
do with it. They're coming to you in the mid
rounds and and the undrafted free agents. And I got
board watching those guys. And I heard Mayock say the
other day he likes watching the late round guys and
thinks it's more important than the early round guys. And
(35:38):
that's probably true, but and that's why Mayok was meant
to be a GM. I'm meant to be in the media.
I can talk about first rounders all day long, or
even now. If you're an undrafted free agent you get
to the league and you're good, I'll talk about you.
Or you're a fifth or sixth rounder, you become Tom Brady,
Richard Truman, George Kittle. I got no problem, you know,
but I I can't pretend to get super fired up
(35:59):
on some seventh round pick the day of the draft
because the majority of those guys are going to be
out of the league in a couple of years. So
I get I like talking about the sweet players listen
to podcast all the time while I do my homework.
I appreciate that. I wish I had a podcast to
listen to back when I had homework. As a Chiefs fan,
I've been begging for a corner for a while, but
(36:19):
now we need a linebacker. Should the chief stay at
thirty two and get a linebacker or a corner or
trade back to the second round. Well, if you can
trade back to the second round and let's say move
back three or four spots and get an extra third
round pick, here's where the Chiefs are at they have
a quarterback that's about to make thirty five plus million dollars,
and Chris Jones. I think Veach said today that their
(36:40):
plan is to sign him long term. So I think
the key is going to be to have cheap labor. Well,
like I said, it's really hard to hit on fifth, six,
seventh round picks, but second and third rounders you should
be able to get starters there. So if you're the
Chiefs and you already have a second round pick and
you've got a third, if you can trade back and
get another second or third round pick and then all
(37:02):
of a sudden you have two twos and the three,
or or two twos and two threes, you might be
able to get three cheap starters, which is gonna be
key for the not big picture. I mean, I think
they're returning twenty two starters. I think the Chiefs have
a chance. If you remember, in two thousand ten, the
Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl. In two thousand eleven,
(37:23):
they went fifteen and one. That was the year the Giants,
I think confluence face froze off and they beat him
in the NFC Championship game, or maybe they beat him
in the second round Yeah, they beat him in the
second round because they beat the Niners in the conference championship,
so that wasn't the face freeze game. I think that
was two seven. My point is I think the Chiefs
could come back and be by far the best team
(37:44):
in the league. Now, the Ravens record might be really good,
but as we've seen, they don't do much in the playoffs.
Like the Chiefs go fifteen and one, they might be
the heavy favorites. So I wouldn't be shocked to see
them trade back. Hey John, but us to the three
and outpot. Since day one, favorite Podulo listen to appreciate
that I'm a big Bears fan and was wondering if
(38:05):
you have any thoughts to what they might be able
to do in the draft. They have two picks in
the top fifty, and I've seen them taking corners of
alignment in a few mocks. Clearly they still think Mitch
is a big part of the plans. So do you
think the most sense to try and surround him with
its many solid weapons and try to upgrade the line play.
With Kyle Long retiring and losing Prince and ha Hunt
free agency, what do you think they should do and
(38:28):
would be able to do in the draft. Well, their
defense is loaded, right, they have a great defensive front.
Traviathan's coming back. Ro Kawan got hurt, but he'll be back.
They still have Eddie Jackson, they still have Fuller. So
you could add a corner a little later in the draft.
And I think they got some guys on the roster
that I've been told that they like they need a
(38:48):
tight end. Now this is a bad tight end draft.
Would you trade one of those second rounders for O. J. Howard?
I would think about it, and I think Mike Lombardi
said on his podcast OJ Howards on the Trading Block,
I would think about trading one of those second rounders
for O. J. Howard. I would probably use the other
one in offensive lineman. But I also not of the
school thought that like Mitch is some sacred cow here.
(39:10):
I would imagine in the next I don't know month
or whenever the fifth year option deadline is, which is
usually either June fift or July, Mr Biskuy is not
gonna have his fifth year option picked up. Nick Foles
is probably gonna be the starter. Well likely never happened,
but thought how cool it would be to if the
NFL delayed the draft for another month and allowed their
(39:32):
next crop of college recruits, Trevor Lawrence Fields to declare
for this year's in case college season was canceled. Love
the Show, that would be pretty nuts. I also think
that would be really really unfair, Like the teams don't
have any information on those guys. I mean, those quarterbacks
will get drafted high. But yeah, that'd that would be
(39:53):
a complicated situation. One of these quarterbacks, who is better
Jeff Garcia, Alex Smith, or Jimmy g Well. I would
say Alex is the most consistent. Garcia when he was
on was a stud. I think he went to four
Pro Bowlers for Pro Bowls. Jimmy is the unknown. So
(40:15):
if I had to rank them, if I just had
to win one game, I'd probably go Garcia, Jimmy Alex.
Don't don't sleep on Garcia. That dude could play question
for the Middlecoff mail Bag. A lot of mock drafts
(40:35):
and analysts have talked about the Lions moving out of
the three spot so the Dolphins are Chargers can move
up and get their quarterback, ignoring Joe Burrow, of course,
does the fact that the Lions seem to be dead
set on Acuda hurt their value at number three pick.
If they trade down, they're still likely to be playing,
They're still likely to get the play they want, the
(40:55):
player they want fifth or six pick. Would the Chargers
or Dolphins be aware of that and then off or
less capital in the trade as that of that result?
Kind of greedy. I've got a second question. I would say, yeah,
if those teams know for a fact who you want
and know you can still get them there, then you
can't rank him over the coals. But I also think
what you read in you know, mock drafts and stuff,
(41:17):
does not mean that's what the actual team knows. So
I would say I wouldn't put that much stock and
who mocked drafts having the Lions take. But if they
do know who you're gonna take, yes, that limits your ability.
Kind of greedy. I've got a second question, Well, mid Corona,
why not If you're the Chargers and you're set on
two as your franchise guy, but he has already taken,
(41:38):
are you comfortable taking your second choice quarterback on the
board and pretending he was your choice all along? Or
would you rather go for the best player available at
another position and wait for another go at the draft
next time around. That's a good question. I would not
take a player I don't like at five. So if
(41:58):
if you want to uh and you get just and
Herbert and you don't think Justin Herbert's the top five pick,
I can't take him there, or vice versa. If Herbert
goes and I'm not thinking two is good enough, i
can't take him. That's the whole point of the draft process.
You set your board, you value where guys go. If
you don't think the guys a franchise quarterback, you can't
take him in five. End of story. I I think
(42:20):
it's really that simple. Despite how important quarterbacks are, I'd
rather Hell, I'd go sign Jamis, go sign Cam. That's
the other thing. Jamis and Cam are still out there,
hew Andy Dalton's out there. Like I'm just not taking
a quarterback. I'm not saying I believe in those two guys.
I definitely I believe more in Herbert probably than to
it just because to an injury. But I'm just not
(42:41):
taking one of those guys. Hey, John, big fan of
the pod, enjoyed the comparison to the Draft in the
stock Market last episode I'm a recent college grad working
in finance, but my dream job would be working in
salary cap department or just a finance department for a team.
I was wondering if you had any insight on what
a salary cap finance department looks like for a team
and what be the best way to get into one. Well,
(43:04):
I think a lot of salary cap guys they went
to law school, right, so they went undergrad did whatever,
and then they get a lot degree and that helps
them write contracts. Now the finance department, to me, there's
a difference with the finance department that are involved in
ticket sales that are involved in signage. That's I mean,
if you've got a good degree and you've been working
(43:24):
for whatever finance company you you can obtain that job.
Now you usually have to start in at more of
a sales position, right, cold calling, maintaining relationships. But the
salary cap position, I would say most guys in the league,
the salary cap negotiators have a lot degree. Uh. That
sounds about it. So we got all the questions, So
(43:46):
keep firing questions. Uh, shorter pod today, enjoy the weekend,
enjoy the quarantine. Try to stay positive. Joy, some good food,
have a couple of cocktails and uh a week away
baby draft time. Let's do godspeed, stay safe,
Host
John Middlekauff
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