Shedeur Sanders is STARTING, Michael Penix is OUT, Lane Kiffin LEAVING?

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. What is going on, everybody? How are we doing?
John Middlecock Three and Out podcast brought to you by
my friends at Zone Pouches. Big show today, a lot

(00:23):
of quarterback talk, Shador Sanders making his starting debut, Michael Pennix,
Torn acl, JJ McCarthy, Patrick Mahomes. We'll dive into some
different quarterbacks as well as Lane Kiffen because that thing
has turned into a circus. But I do think if
you look at it from an NFL perspective, it really

(00:45):
kind of sheds a light what pro football does really well.
And I think it's one thing that college could attempt
as we move forward to somewhat copy and just avoid
the you know what show that is this anytime a
coach just leaves a job for another job, which obviously
doesn't happen in the NFL now when they're currently employed,

(01:06):
they can't. You can't just leave the forty nine ers
to take the giant's job. So we'll dive into that
as well as a mail bag at John Middlecoff. At
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(01:27):
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(02:12):
Shador Sanders is making his NFL starting debut against Daradas
in Las Vegas, and a couple different things on this one, Like,
let's just put this out there. The majority of NFL players,
or let's just say rookies are not high draft picks. Obviously,

(02:34):
high draft picks, if you're a first or second round player,
you get preferential treatment. You get treated different than all
the other players in your class. Why because of money. Obviously,
if you're a first round pick, you get four years guaranteed,
and depending on how high you were drafted, you get
a lot of money relative to the rest of the class.
So there aren't necessarily scholarships with young players in the NFL.

(02:59):
But as we see, like JJ McCarthy, if he was
a fourth round pick, would not be starting this week
for the Minnesota Vikings, but they drafted him high, you
get more leeway. Welcome to life. That's how most of
us that go into situation. The overwhelming majority of us,
let's say, coming out of college going into the workforce,
are not summa cum laude, coming from an Ivy League

(03:20):
school or the University of Michigan or UCLA. Most of
us are just trying to get our foot in the
door somewhere, hopefully to get around the right people and
do whatever we have to do to work our way
on up. And let's face it, for most of us,
a lot of stuff is out of our control. We
need some good fortune. We need maybe some people that
we're trying to get above, not to show up or

(03:41):
to leave for another job, and most importantly, someone powerful
in that company whatever we're doing when we're young in
our early twenties, to believe in us. No different in
the NFL when you are a third day pick or
an undrafted free agent, which again is the overwhelming majority
of rookies this year. In the NFL, guys drafted the

(04:01):
fourth through seventh round and undrafted free agents. I remember
when I was my second year in Philly, we drafted
a center I think his name was Jason Kelce and
he ended up starting Week one, and I think he
would be the first to tell you his biggest supporter
in the building was a guy that had a lot
of juice and his name was Howard Mudd. Andy just

(04:24):
hired him. He had been with the Colts forever. He
rip passed away in the last couple of years in
a bad motorcycle accident, but just an old school badass,
I mean, throwback human being and was a huge part
of those Tony Dungee teams in Indianapolis with Peyton Manning
and Peyton and those guys loved him, and he loved

(04:46):
Jason Kelcey because he didn't mind smaller, quicker offensive lineman,
and Jason Kelcey ended up starting Week one. I think
an older veteran player was cut, and obviously the rest
is history and now he's on Hall of Famer. But
early on in your career, it's impossible or at least
very very difficult, to prove yourself without two things. One certain,

(05:10):
a lot of times things are out of your control.
You need someone to get injured to propel you either
in a backup role to where you're at least dressing
on game day to play special teams, or into a
starting role right And usually to get in that spot
you need someone, ideally the head coach or a coordinator,
but it can be a position coach with a lot

(05:30):
of juice to be pound in the table. And it
doesn't feel like Shador Sanders has had any of that.
But at the end of the day, who cares because
it's November nineteenth and he's a starting quarterback in the
NFL as a fifth round pick. I typed in to
Google AI, I say, can I get a list over
the last five years? Fifth round quarterbacks or guys that

(05:52):
were drafted at quarterback in the fifth round, and it's
spit me out a list. You know, the guy over
the last five years who's played actually the most is
Spencer Ratler, who is now benched and Tyler Shuck is
now the starting quarterback for the New Orleans Saints. He's
one in thirteen. Now. I do believe I kind of
like him, might go on to have a decent career,

(06:12):
you know, fringe backup, may get some starting opportunities. But
I'd be a little stunned if we don't look up
in Spencer Ratler. I would guess over under his career
seven eight years. Jordan Travis retired. He never worked. Jaren
Hall at a kid. I think out of BYU to
Minnesota a couple starts. Don't think he's in the NFL

(06:33):
right now. Dorian Thompson Robinson one in four as a rookie,
is now currently the backup for the Philadelphia Eagles. Sam Howell,
he's five and thirteen in his career, and uh, pretty
sure he's not in the NFL either. Ian Book started
one game in twenty twenty one, googled it doesn't look
like he's in the league, Jake fromm who a lot

(06:55):
of you know because you sent me the visual is
literally selling insurance right now in the state of Georgia,
where I can't imagine he's having a lot of success.
But did you just hear the names I listed Jake
from Ian book, Jaren Hall, Jordan, Travis, Sam Howe. Like
that's the group of fifth round picks. The odds are
against this working, right, because typically if you have to

(07:19):
start as a rookie and you were drafted on the
third day, you're on a god awful team. You're in
a bad situation. Now, I'd also say this, who cares
how your opportunity comes, and like most of us in life,
when you get it, you gotta take advantage of it.
And I would say for Shador Sanders, who clearly is

(07:39):
a polarizing player, I had to almost check out of
the internet earlier this week, I'm like, these takes are
just ridiculous. Can we just see him play an actual game?
And he's going to get to against the Raiders, who
are god awful and have two good players total. Now
the Browns aren't any good either. It's going to be difficult,

(08:00):
but like part of once you get your opportunity to play,
and I having worked in the business, if he goes
on to have four or five starts like that is
very very important as a resume to the rest of
the league. Cause you know what doesn't matter when once
you start playing games in the NFL, like what people
thought of you two years ago at the University of Colorado,

(08:22):
Because clearly the NFL was extremely lukewarm on him, on
him the player, uh, clearly the way that the draft
process was handled. But if you go over the next
couple of weeks and show signs of progress, throw some touchdowns,
make some plays hell, just run efficient drives. Guess what's
hard to find in the NFL quarterbacks. So yeah, he

(08:45):
may not be a fifteen year starter, but you could
go play a long time in the NFL. And you're
giving your opportunity right now as a rookie coming from
the fifth round, which clearly you just heard the names
I listed doesn't produce many good players. So I'm fascinated
to watch. This is a classic example of a game
I probably wouldn't have watched a snap of to be
completely honest. It might not even have gotten a television

(09:07):
or a little box. It would have been a waste
of space. Now it's something that like for a job,
I mean I literally have to watch because it's going
to be a major story. And then just as a
human being, like I'm kind of interested to see what
he looks like. So I my only overall take is
like the opportunity came, now is time to run with it.

(09:28):
Because Dylan Gabriel got his opportunity when they got rid
of Flacco, and let's face it, everyone in the NFL
that went, wait, you guys took him in the third
round thinks even more strongly on that, like, you guys
are idiots. We never would have drafted this guy. And
like at the end of the day, Shador Sanders I
would say, didn't have that many fans in the NFL.

(09:49):
You can change that immediately. It happens all the time,
Like these guys are not in the business of not
changing their opinion. A lot of people thought Sam Donold
and Baker Mayfield three or four years ago couldn't play.
Guess what if you got them on the phone right now,
they would all say they were wrong. They can play.
That's how fast it happens once you start making plays.
This is a production based business. All the other stuff

(10:11):
is fluff, and I'm excited to pay attention to a
game that most of us. You'd have to paid us
literally to sit down and spend some time to watch it.
A couple other quarterback things. A couple of years ago,
when all those guys were drafted in the twenty twenty
four draft, everyone was bullish on all the picks. It's like,

(10:31):
all these guys are gonna be good, and I was like,
that's just not the way it works. Historically, half the
draft picks in the first round work out, and historically
when it comes to quarterbacks less than that. So just statistically,
the numbers are not on your side. Right even though
the moment you draft Michael Pennix or bow Nick or
JJ McCarthy, you truly believe on that day we got something.

(10:55):
We love this guy, especially if you're taking him seventh
or eighth or twelfth or whatever you're taking guy high,
you really believe in him. Hell, Sean Payton took bow Nicks.
He's like, this is my favorite quarterback in the draft,
my favorite quarterback coming out since Patrick Mahomes. Like he's
saying all this, Who knows, maybe there's a little hyperbolic
nature to his comments, but he drafted the guy, and honestly,

(11:15):
he hasn't you know, pulled off any of those comments
since he's been his starting quarterback in the NFL. So
the news came out today that it's official that Michael
Pennix towards ACL, which you know, from a big picture standpoint,
sucks like you feel bad for the guy. Uh and
obviously it derails. I would say his hopes, the Atlanta

(11:36):
Falcons hopes of being any good, right, because if they
were going to be good, we saw last year Kirk
Cousins is not the answer. They were gonna need this
guy to be a good player. Clearly, he was up
and down this season, battled some injuries, and now not
only is the season's over, he's had a bunch of
knee injuries. Who knows about his career. I think it's
fair to go. I don't care. Raheem Moore says, we

(11:58):
still believe in this guy and he's gonna come back.
Never know, this guy's a lot of wear and tear
on the body. Anyone who's got new tires in the
last six months, No, sometimes you go in there and
the tire guy goes, man, these were these were on
their last legs, and I believe that sometimes is no
different with joints and acls. And you see some of

(12:18):
these guys like their bodies just aren't built for the
NFL for whatever reason, and some guys are completely You
look at him, you're like what, And they never have injuries,
so you just never know. It's kind of random, but
clearly Michael Pennix in his body when it comes to football,
struggles to not have major injuries happen. And I think

(12:41):
when you look at the class, things change so fast,
and I'm guilty as anybody. I mean, after Jade and
Daniels season last year, you're like, God, this is pretty incredible.
Is this guy gonna save this downtrodden franchise. It's like
they get rid of Daniel Snyder, then they get Jayden
Daniels in there, and all of a sudden they're just
some powerhouse. And then what happens this year. I don't

(13:01):
know if it was some training camp injury, but he
never looked the same. The whole team was off and
obviously now he's got a major injury. Who knows if
he's able to come back this season. And even when
he was playing, it did not look right. So we
saw that with CJ. Stroud has this historic rookie year
in the next couple of years, like offensive coordinator gets fired,

(13:21):
personnel starts sucking. It's like something's off and you just
never know. And I think we just we got to
be very careful because Caleb's a good example. And I've
been right, I've been wrong. I mean, he's a roller
coaster player. So it's like you can come on here
and be like, God, what an incredible clutch fourth quarter.

(13:43):
And I saw Chris Carter getting it into it with
JJ McCarthy's personal coach, right or like a off season coach.
He called Chris Carter because he said something like he's
got the clutch sheet and Carter like quoted some tweets said,
did you see the other fifty nine minutes? Then he
called him a fucking clown, and the guy apologized for
calling him a clown. It's like, Bro, it's not that

(14:04):
big a deal. We don't need to apologize. You can
call someone a fucking clown, be like, yeah, I regret
saying that, but deleting tweets like what are we doing? Like,
clearly JJ McCarthy really struggles and history would say it's
gonna be really, really hard for him to dig himself
out of this because he's not gonna get the leash
in this modern day NFL. You're not getting like seven years.

(14:25):
That's not really the way it works, you know. Caleb Williams, listen.
I think Ben Johnson is right there with Mike Vrabel
as coach of the Year. I think he's doing a
fantastic job. What does he really benefit from this year?
They have one of the best rushing attacks in the NFL.
News flash kind of helps young quarterbacks, right Drake may
has looked fantastic. Also helps when you're just playing not

(14:45):
very good teams the majority of the time, like strength
of schedule. There are a ton of variables that go
into this. Bo Nicks, a lot of these games is
look horrendous. He's looked like JJ McCarthy, but then he
slipped a switch and then finally he pays Patrick Mahomes
and he outplays them. So I love when I hear this.
It's like, this is such an inexact science. We are
fifty years in and we still can't evaluate the quarterbacks. Well,

(15:08):
no shit, that this isn't some Excel spreadsheet. These are
human beings. This is a very difficult thing to do.
The mental toughness, physical toughness, physical skills, variables that are
out of your control, who's calling the plays, who's running
the routes, who's blocking for you. I mean, how good
your defense s bo Nicks kind of helps. I mean

(15:28):
there are things you can't factor it all in, so
we're never gonna figure it out, you know why, Because
we can't control all the variables around it. There are
always gonna be outliers like Andrew Luck would have succeeded
with anyone he played with, just like Peyton Manning. Tom
Brady might not have the older version of Tom Brady
would have, but the guy coming out of Michigan really
benefited from going to that Patriot team and then created

(15:51):
By the time he got, you know, twenty eight, twenty
nine years old, he was an elite player. But it
took some time, which is fine. But times have changed,
like we've seen over and over. If JJ continues to struggle,
I saw a headline today like Mac Jones, they should
trade for Mac Jones if they are this offseason trading
for Mac Jones. J J. McCarthy's career in Minnesota is over.

(16:12):
I promise you that, just like the moment they named
Daniel Jones the starter, which obviously they knew he was
going to start well before they named him. Anthea Richardson's
career with them was over. He's still technically on the team,
but we all acknowledge big picture like this thing's over,
and I just think it's fascinating. It's one of the
things that makes the NFL so interesting is these quarterbacks.

(16:33):
We can never figure it out because we have no clue.
What if Jane and Daniels a good example, like, what
if he just starts getting hurt a lot. Now It's
not like his game is conducive to just to avoid injuries.
He runs around a lot. So anytime you run around
a lot, you're putting yourself at risk, especially more risk
of running around downfield. You can slide all you want,

(16:54):
but these defenders we've seen over and over are coming
for you because it's the only time one day a
week if they were allowed to touch you. The other
days you're wearing a red jersey practice, and obviously you're
their teammates, so it wouldn't hit you anyway. Today's show
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(18:46):
New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia. I saw the stat Someone
send it to me. From twenty eighteen to twenty twenty two,
Patrick mahomes on deep balls through fifty one touchdowns and
averaged over fifteen yards a target. Yet over the last

(19:09):
three years he's thrown five touchdowns and average under ten
yards of target. And I've seen a lot of people
discussing that that game against the Denver Broncos. I do
think it kind of brings into light how hard it is.
And I was guilty of this, and a lot of

(19:29):
us were of like starting Comparing him to Tom. To
maintain a level of play for multiple decades is extremely
difficult to do, right, and it's one thing that why
Tom is probably going to be unassailable for all these guys,
like you're just gonna have some weird years and like,

(19:50):
let's face it, part of the reason they're five and
five is like Patrick, and I'm a Patrick Mahomes. I'm
a big fan, you know. I root for the Chiefs.
Watching the Chiefs, I've enjoyed them, honestly over these last
couple of years. When they're not scoring fifty points a game.
I like that solid football. I like games in the

(20:10):
teams that are defensive battles, like the other thirty million
people that watched Denver play Kansas City, Like I like
that type game. I would rather watch that game than
the famous game against Goff and Mahomes back in the
day in Mexico City or I guess they moved to
La at the Rose or the Coliseum when it was
like sixty to fifty five. I don't like that type

(20:31):
football if you root for the Big twelve, like that's
never really been like what I gravitate toward. I enjoy
defensive battles. I enjoy every yard on the field hotly contested,
and it'd be very difficult to get first downs. So
that type football was awesome to watch, but like they're

(20:51):
gonna need him to be better in these moments. And
here's the other thing. This is not to diminish what
Tom and Bill accomplished. It speaks for itself. They did
really benefit from a joke division. I mean a serious, serious,
laughingstock of a division. Josh Allen didn't exist that the
Bills team that they played sucked, The Jets team beside

(21:12):
a couple Rex Ryan years, was god awful. And obviously
the Dolphins, beside the one Wildcats season with Tony Sprano,
has been one of the laughing stock organizations in the
league for a long time post Dan Marino, and they
got to beat the crap out of them all the time.
Well that's not the case for Patrick anymore. Denver currently

(21:34):
has the best defense in the league. They also have
a head coach that makes eighteen million dollars a year
kind of knows what he's doing. Denver's going nowhere, Jim Harboff.
He wins a Super Bowl, which I do think, if
somehow the Chargers can just stay somewhat healthy, will go
down as one of the most accomplished coaches in NFL history.
He'd be on obviously the short list of guys that

(21:54):
have won a Super Bowl and succeeded in college, but
like he didn't just succeed in college. He dominated in college.
He resurrected Stamford. He turned Michigan into a powerhouse after
them being really really bad for a long time. And
what he did with the Niners, and obviously if he
wins Super Bowl with the Chargers would speak for itself.
That's who he has to deal with, and eventually you

(22:16):
would just the love averages. The Raiders are going to
get something right, right John Spytech is as good as
I think he is. I think over the course of
the next five years they will have some good teams.
But this is not the Jets and the Dolphins. This
is Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos and Jim Harbaugh
and the Los Angeles Chargers. It's going to be hard.

(22:37):
I mean, look at this year lost to them both
Tom Brady, I mean when he would lose a divisional game,
him and Bill it would be like, what, how did that?
Didn't happen very often? I think they went a stretch,
was it like seven or eight years where obviously you
played them twice a year, they did not lose a
game to the Jets. I mean, Belichick had this weird

(22:59):
fascinating with hating the Jets. It's like, bro, you did
sign to be their coach. You know you did that,
you know I and eventually they did let you out.
But hell, no one's hold grudges quite like a like
Bill which that that that picture going viral of him
at Jordan's cheerleading thing. It's it's it's kind of sad.

(23:21):
I mean, it's no way around it. And honestly it's
more of indictment on her than it is him. There's
a long list of guys in their seventies dating some
young girl that do stupid things Welcome to life. What's
her deal? Like? What are you doing? There is not
there's no one listening to this, your wife or your

(23:43):
girlfriend that saw that picture. That isn't like she's a loser,
Like what is up with this clown? And I don't
fault Bill as much though I can imagine some people
in North Carolina of like, Bill, can you just kick
this girl with the curb? I mean, she's just I
need some more details on what's going on behind the

(24:04):
in the sheets with that one, because that is Belichick
must be in some crazy stuff. Okay, let's end on this.
The I was thinking about this because of the Lane
Kiff and Saga, and obviously Lane, it does feel like
at this point he is not going to be coaching
coaching Ole Miss next year. And by you know, people

(24:24):
that in the loop that talk about this, most people
feel it would be a little surprising now if and
when he leaves that he's not at the University of Florida.
And I was thinking about this. One thing the NFL
does really really well is they kind of arm in
arm as a business. Like the Steelers and the Ravens.

(24:45):
On the field, it's one of the best rivalries, at
least of my lifetime hate each other. It's a really
really big deal with when they play right the Bears
and the Packers, which obviously hasn't been much of a
rivalry with Rogers, but a it means lot to the
two fan bases, which are massive, the Niners in the Rams,
the Niners in Seattle, like these rivalries the Cowboys and

(25:07):
the Eagles. Yet when they go to these owners meetings
that literally is a meeting of the owners to figure
out how to keep paying and making everyone a boatload
of money. Everyone's friends, and everyone has a vision to
step within the right direction. Even if in these meetings
some people don't agree, some people disagree, we're not on

(25:29):
the same page. We eventually figure it out and we
all move together forward. Because why, unlike some of these
other professional sports baseball, basketball, there are no local television deals.
The only local deal you have is with a radio station.
And the majority of these markets they ain't worth to
these NFL teams. Fucking pennies in the couch, irrelevant, tiny

(25:51):
little money. It's all about the television money, which they
all fall under the same umbrella. The Jags make the
same amount as the Cowboys, make the same amount as
the Cardinals, make the same amount as the Packers, and
that's how you pay for all the players and profit
for your for your team. Now, obviously you can make
more with revenue inside your stadium, so it can differentiate

(26:12):
a little team to team, But in terms of the
four hundred and fifty million dollars check that gets distributed
per team, everyone gets the same amount, even though clearly
some teams the Chiefs, the Bills, now the Broncos, the Packers,
the Eagles, the Cowboys, whoever generate more television ratings than
some of the other markets. But it doesn't matter because
we're all business partners. Yeah, when you look at college,

(26:35):
think how crazy it would be if like the New
York Giants right now, we're like, who are you going
to hire to be your next head coach? And all
the rumors and even they were kind of leaking like
we want Kyle Shanahan, Like, well, Kyle Shannon has the
coach of the forty nine ers. Well, you know he
makes fourteen million dollars, We're prepared to pay him twenty

(26:56):
five million dollars and give him power that he does
not have in the organization. Like imagine if that story broke,
everyone be like, well, you can't do that. That's not
how it works, because it's not how it works yet.
Lane Kiffen just had sent his family to go tour
LSU and tour Florida. They're literally SEC teams. You could

(27:16):
argue LSU and Old Miss. Since Lane's been there, it's
kind of had a little rivalry, especially once they got
Brian Kelly was a really one of the bigger, better,
more entertaining games in the conference. But it's like it
doesn't even feel that abnormal because it never has a
couple of years ago, Anthony Lynn son Danton Lynn, who
is now the coordinator at USC, was Chip Kelly's coordinator

(27:38):
at UCLA. He did such a good job. USC was
desperate to improve their defense. They just hired him because
they could pay him more. I have friends in the
NFL who work for teams, and then a guy with
that team who is like a number two goes on
to be a GM wants to hire that guy with them,
whether it be a coach or a scout, and that
team denies him access Like nope, and those guys would

(28:01):
have been able to get a raise. No. I'd argue,
that's pretty fucked up. But it happens all the time
because all the owners look at each other and be like, hey,
we're all in this together, right yet in college even
though in the SEC they all signed these television deals,
they left CBS, they go to ABC and ESPN and
sign this new lucrative deal. They're all in it together kinda,

(28:22):
but they would fuck their partner in a New York
minute were in. The NFL doesn't even allow that. Like
when Tampa Bay wanted John Gruden, guess what they had
to send two first round picks and at the time,
I think it was like seven million dollars, which might
have been a lot back then, and Al Davis needed it.
Sean Payton, who just went to Denver literally quit, said listen,
I'm done coaching. A year later, he's like, I want
to coach the Denver Broncos and the Saints were like,

(28:44):
not so fast, HOLI, We're gonna need some trade compensation.
He's like, well he'd been out of Leak. He's like, yeah,
but he's still under contract with us. And I think
the unity of the NFL is something that college eventually
needs to mirror because that way they can get on
the same page of everyone has the same resources, everyone

(29:05):
has the same access. Like if you get the right quarterback,
it doesn't matter whether you're coaching the Colts, whether you're
coaching the Chiefs, or whether you're coaching the Giants. Right,
It's proven over and over, yet in college it does matter. Historically, Bama, Georgia,
Ohio State, Texas, USC some of these jobs now Oregon

(29:25):
in this since Nike, you know, came to prominence, just
a more powerful job. Texas Tech has this guy giving
you millions upon millions of dollars. Tex Texas a way
better job than Iowa. Right, It just is because of
the backing, and part of that is coaching searches in general.

(29:46):
And this is where, like listen, I talked about this
stuff for a living. I am grateful that so many
people care about this stuff. And it happens in the NFL.
You know when who's going to hire who, and then
once they're hired, who their coordinators are going to be.
Fa Ans are pretty dialed in and this is all
reality television show. And luckily the coaches and even the
coordinators are main players and famous, you know, additions to

(30:12):
the television show when it comes down to you know,
in the NBA, like coaches used to be way more
important than they are now. In baseball when I was
a kid, managers were really really famous for the most part.
They're kind of irrelevant now and we all acknowledge. Yeah,
the front office, that's the lineup. The managers don't even
have the juice to do much. Hell forever Dave Roberts,

(30:34):
who's now won back to back World Series with the Dodgers,
I remember years ago he was getting crushed and everyone
was like, guys, he does not set the lineup. It's
not his call. When the Yankee guy out of a
perfect game in like the seventh inning, which I'm pretty
sure a couple of years ago happened with the Dodgers,
it might have been a no hitter, Like, that's not
his call. They know what ninety three pitches, that's his

(30:56):
max and he's coming out where in the NFL, these
coaches have a lot of Jews. They make a lot
of money where humans are fascinated by that. But in
the NFL, everyone's kind of rowing in the same direction.
Even if you're my bitter rivalry, even if I hate you,
when we end up playing off the field, we're all
on the same page. And that's one thing College I
think Big Picture is gonna have to figure out now

(31:17):
on this Lane Kiff and Saga and the circus which
I've been I've been consuming a lot of Lane Kivin
content every couple hours. I just typed into you two.
I've been watching like local Ole Miss podcasts. I eat
this stuff up. This is something that still makes me feel,
you know, like I'm eighteen years old, well before I
ever worked in this business. I can't get enough. Just

(31:38):
just feed me the content. Big Picture, one piece of advice.
I've only met Jimmy Sexton once. Ed Banowitz, who is
now Jimmy Sexton's right hand man, introduced me to him
at the combine, and I know Ed pretty well. I
haven't talked to him a little while. Yeah, if they
asked me for advice, they wouldn't. I would just say

(31:58):
this because clearly Lane has some comments today, He's had
some comments recently, and obviously Lane's his own guy. Like,
the agent can't tell you what to do, the agent
works for you. I would just say this, it's twenty
twenty five. We live in a world where authenticity really sells.
My parents grew up in an era where people thought,
like Russia, Miight, Nucas or some of these other countries,

(32:21):
we might have a world war at any moment. Because
we had just had two that they said, if a
nuclear bomb comes, get under the tables, and everyone listened.
They did those drills all the time, and people just like, yeah,
good idea. I think how stupid that is. But they
grew up in an era where everyone just did kind
of what you told them. Everything that was on the news,
the local news. You just kind of believed that's not
the way we operate. Anymore because we know a lot

(32:43):
of it is bullshit, and I think we can sense
BS from really far away. Why we've been around at
most of our lives and we've come to a point
on the BS Highway where if that's what you sell,
it's going to be very hard to operate because being's
live in reality. And I think Lane Kiffen is doing

(33:05):
what you would have done ten twenty thirty years ago.
You just avoid I don't know, man, I'm not talking
about this lane. Your family just flew on a PGA
to Gainesville and Baton Rouge. Everyone knows what's happened. You
don't need to say I'm leaving. No one needs you
to say that. But I do think it's not crazy

(33:25):
to be like, listen, there's a lot going on. Obviously,
we are having some conversations. I've loved my time at all.
Miss In a perfect world, I plan on staying here.
But like we're talking to him, I'm doing my due diligence.
Nothing has been decided. I will do everything in my
power to make sure that we try to win a

(33:46):
national championship because it's all in front of us. Even
though I keep hearing people be like they can win
a national championship. Newsflash, they cannot win a national championship.
You know why, because no one in the NFL or
college football wins a national championship with a terrible defense.
Now they can go to the playoffs. They could win
a playoff game, who knows, depending on the matchups, maybe

(34:07):
they could win two. I promise you this. I bet
someone fifty thousand dollars right now. They have no chance
to win a national championship with that defense. But that's
not the point. Going to the playoffs for ole Miss
is a really big deal. And I see a lot
of people saying this, Like over the last five years,
since Lane Kiffin took this thing over and got him
roll in post twenty twenty, only two other teams in

(34:30):
the sec of one more games. That's Alabama and that's
the University of George. I also think that, like Lane
Kiffin is a nomadic individual, Google is history. You can't
get mad at her if she's cheating on you, if
you started dating when she was cheating on someone else
with you, It's like dating a stripper and then getting

(34:53):
mad that she's doing something shady when you're not around.
This is kind of what you sign up with with Lane,
even if he's changed his life and he's sober and
he's reading motivational books and he's tweeting memes, which clearly
is driving some people crazy. When you get into business
with a guy like this, like you can't be surprised
when he starts kind of sniffing around, especially in jobs

(35:16):
that historically way better. Now, we can argue if that
is the case moving forward, and no one knows, there
is a chance that Florida, given the current climate, is
no longer as good of a job at or way
better than Ole Miss has it been historically, right, I
think you could also make the argument it's college football,
just like college basketball hasn't always been about the jobs,

(35:40):
It's been about the coach. If you put Urban Meyer
at Florida, Ohio State, Utah, if you put him at
Oregon State, at UCLA, at Texas Tech, he would have won.
Same thing with Nick Saban lsu Bama. Obviously you're gonna
win there. You could have put Nick Saban at the
University of Washington. He would have kicked everyone's ass. Why

(36:00):
he's an ass kicker, no different than basketball coaches like
Bill self coach k Obviously, once you get to the
premium power that has the most resources, and you have
the best coach, it's gonna be pretty hard not to dominate.
But the cream always rises. And I think you see
this a lot of times in the NFL. You know why,
because there isn't that big of a deal or difference

(36:21):
between the forty nine Ers and the Jacksonville Jaguars, or
the Philadelphia Eagles and the New England Patriots. But you
put Jrod Bao in the job, you're in major trouble.
You put Mike Vrabel in the job, you got a chance.
You put Jim Tomsula in the job, you're screwed. You

(36:42):
give me Jim Harbar or Kyle Shanahan, I'm gonna win.
And only Lane Kiffen knows what he's looking for money.
When he does say is not gonna be the driving force,
I believe him. You know why. He's already rich, like
his decision. He's just gonna be richer if Kevin wants
to take a private jet anywhere he can. And hell,

(37:03):
in college jobs, the school gives you a certain amount
of hours anyway. So this is all about like sometimes
people just need a new challenge. Some people are wired
like that clearly Lane is if you google his history.
So I the only thing that I would do differently
if I was laying, I would be honest. I haven't
made my decision, obviously, you guys have seen the stories.

(37:24):
I'm not gonna sit here and deny it. I love
these guys I plan on coaching. What makes it complicated
is if he's not gonna be their coach. And I
think he knows this, and this is where it's gonna
get ugly. I doubt Ole Miss is gonna let him
coach the playoffs. And I said this a couple of
days ago. I probably would how often, like, who knows,
maybe you won't make the playoffs for the next five years.

(37:44):
This is a great opportunity. You got a good team,
and while I don't think you're gonna win the national championship,
I'm sure people around all Miss think they got a chance.
And they definitely have a chance to win a game
or two, which is a huge, huge deal. So it's
gonna be fascinating to watch this. It's an awesome story.
I can't get enough of it. But I would just
say this about these coaches. I think they lie like
it's two thousand and eight. It's the guys twenty twenty five.

(38:07):
You're just gonna get just obliterated publicly when you just
say blatant lies that everyone knows is false. You can't
do that anymore. It's not the way it works if
you want to keep your credibility. And maybe Lane doesn't care.
Historically he hasn't. It does feel like he changed, but
who knows. It's hard for a leopard to change his spots.

(38:33):
I do need to tell you about my friends, my partners,
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(38:55):
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(39:39):
your questions answered here on this little old podcast, we
will start with Blake Love the show question for you.
Can the Bears conversation slow down a little until they
beat someone? They have played one team with the winning
record and one team with a five hundred record lost
them both. The combined records of the teams they've beaten

(40:02):
is twenty fifty one and one. I do think when
you are talking about teams, let's say, let's say a
good team like or a team that has been good
the Lions, the Eagles, the Ravens, the Chiefs, whoever. You

(40:22):
could really dive into the nitty gritty on who they
are beating. It's like, well, they're kind of not playing great.
They've only beaten the bad teams. They haven't beat the
good teams because we view those like Super Bowl the Bills,
super Bowl contenders, the Packers. It's like, how are you
losing to the Browns? Right? But the Bears don't enter
into that conversation because I don't think anyone with the brain,

(40:45):
including the ninety nine percent of Bears fans, go, We're
winning the super Bowl. But making the playoffs if you
are the Bears, is a really big deal, and the
only way to make the playoffs is you gotta win
some games. So in the middle of November, what's there? Record?
Seven and three? Is that the record right now? I
feel like it's better than that? Is it eight and three?

(41:07):
The Chicago Bears are seven and three. Last year at
this time, I think they were in the midst of
like a ten game losing streak. Their coach was fired
on Thanks Well, technically the day after Black Friday, but
all of America witness Matt Eberflus blow one of the
worst games you'll ever see in Detroit. I mean, it

(41:28):
was pretty embarrassing. It was something that's gonna be hard
for him ever to shake. That was Chicago Bears. So
when you've been bad, and I would put the Patriots
in the same category, it's a little different because I
think people actually think they could win the division. One
thing with the Patriots, they really just got to beat
one team. The Bears are gonna have to beat the

(41:49):
Lions and the Packers, or at least fend them off,
which is gonna be extremely difficult. Bears fans will be
the first to tell you that, right. I mean, they
played the Lions once this year they lost like one
hundred to nothing. But seven and three. You apologize nobody,
especially winning games the way they've won it. They're not
a perfect team, but listen, the quarterbacks a polarizing guy.
He's made some huge plays down the stretch with his legs.

(42:11):
Who cares seven and three is a lot better than like, hey,
they look great and they're four and five, so I
guess that wouldn't even add up four and six. I
don't think the Bears have any reason to apologize for
who they've beaten. It's gonna get more difficult. But even
this week, as of recording this on Wednesday, let's say
Rogers doesn't play. I mean, he's got a broken bone,

(42:32):
in his wrist and they beat Mason Rudolf. People beat
Mason Rudolph. I don't give a shit. I could have
beat Billy Rudolph. I mean, we're just playing who we're playing,
not our fault he broke his wrist. I'm a Bears
fan who thinks Jordan Love is one of the most
overrated players in the league. Not saying he's bad, but
don't understand people who say he's a top quarterback. With

(42:53):
that big said, I think the conversation around him and
the floor isn't the right one. Their receivers have more
drops than anyone in the league, yet every time they
lose a game, it's always Lafleur doesn't trust Jordan Love.
But in my opinion, I think it's much more likely
that he doesn't trust the wide receivers against the ball,
especially now with Kraft gone. Why does nobody ever look

(43:13):
at this point, Well, if you're out there on an
NFL field and it's third and eight, like, I gotta
call pass play, and if Josh Jacobs is injured, I
don't have a choice. I have to call passes. So yeah,
like they're dropping more balls than currently anyone else in
the league, right no different than I mean, the Bears
drop a bunch of balls, but eventually you gotta call
some pass plays. Want just the yardage, the down a

(43:36):
distance put you in a position where you don't have
a choice. You're not gonna call a run play and
a tie game on third nine, right, So this is NFL.
You gotta catch the ball. I think it's the frustration
with Lafleur is more compounded from the last couple of
years than it is just this moment. Plus, at the
end of the day, you gotta win against teams when

(43:58):
you're a big favorite at home or the brand, even
if you're playing in Cleveland, you gotta win that game.
So like Matt Lafour has to win those games. It
just has to happen. If it doesn't, like we got
a problem, especially when our defense is elite. You're the court,
you're the offensive guy, so not just the quarterback, but
the receivers, Like this should all be your baby. It's

(44:18):
on you to make that happen. Plus, you don't fire
quarterbacks or you know you're not gonna fire Dobbs, right,
I mean, Jayden Reid, You're not gonna cut the rookie guy.
You just drafted in the first round from Texas. It's
just the way the business works, fair or not, which
there's probably some truth to what you're saying. It's not
totally fair, but it's just the reality of the business

(44:41):
they're in. Ben a Falcons fan my whole life, so
I'm used to the disappointment. I didn't think that we
were that far away. But you can have an incompetent
and experienced coaching staff with an immobile, basically rookie quarterback
and expect to win. I believe in Penix, but another
injury scare. Let's say we are about two years away

(45:03):
from playoff contention. If you were running the Falcons as
a GM, what would your plan be to fix it? Well,
let's just say everyone gets fired and a new GM
comes in. I do think it's fair for that guy
to go. I don't think we have a quarterback. Obviously,
Cousins is going to be on this team next year.
But I think Pennix would more than scare that next guy,

(45:24):
because there would be a decent chance even if that
guy lies to Arthur Blank that he didn't believe in
Penix coming out of the draft, and then you would
have a massive reservation after he's tours ACL and won't
be able to do anything all off season. Who knows
if he'll be ready for Week one. So they have
a lot of good players in a lot of different positions,

(45:46):
but you got to figure out that position, and they
have not figured it out since Matt Ryan fell off
a cliff. And if you do not have that position,
you don't really have a chance. So I just think
that that would be my number one goal is how
do we fix this thing? Can we bring in someone?
Can we bring in a bridge quarterback? Could I trade
for a quarterback? Like would I entertain giving a second

(46:09):
or third round pick for mac Jones? Could I win
ten games next year with Max Jones? Once upon a time,
Belichick did it and mac Jones is better now? So
I mean, but which is not a great option. But
those type options you would have to talk about Gardner
Minshew now. But this is what we're talking about, because

(46:31):
if I get a drafted guy really high, well I
don't even have a first round pick. So I just
think that it's tough. I mean, I don't know, I
don't have an answer. It would just be quarterback, quarterback, quarterback, quarterback,
Because we have a lot of other pieces on the team.
We just drafted multiple guys on the front. We have
Drake London, we have be John Robinson, we have offensive

(46:53):
linemen under contract. Even if I let Kyle Pitts walk.
Skill guys are not our problem. Ag Terrell, like, we
have some defensive weapons. I believe Brian Flores would be
a phenomenal fit with the Bengals. The tough culture would
fit as Joe is much tougher than Tua and Flores

(47:13):
could fix that defense. What do you think would be
hard for Flores? I clearly did not like Tua. Now
you could argue it didn't look great a couple of
years ago. Is I got Flores? You were way too harsh.
It's kind of aged pretty well. The one thing I
will say about Flores because from a defensive coach perspective,

(47:34):
he is an elite candidate. He's been a head coach
where the defense was good. He's a defensive coordinator where
he's one of the best in the league with Belichick,
with Kevin O'Connell. Like, he's an elite X's and No's guy,
and he clearly is a tough guy. You can't you're
either a tough guy, or you're not a tough guy.
He's a tough guy. The stories I heard out of Miami,

(47:55):
even separate from Tua, the way he dealt with offensive
coaches was pretty ugly. So maybe, and ideally, like any
human being, you take it a look back, you do
some introspection, you look in the mirror, you have to.
You can coach guys hard, but like your offensive staff,
because you're the defensive guy, you're not calling the offense.

(48:18):
You're very dependent on those guys, and the offensive group
they're a little more delicate than defensive players. So my
main question would be because to me, Flores is a
big time candidate, but he does have a major red flag,
and that's like, can he deal with offensive people like
he's a coordinator, of course, like he's not the boss,

(48:40):
but when he's been a boss, we have seen one
time he resorted to all, what all the belichicks guys do?
They just are giant, you know what? But like with defense,
he knew what he was talking about at worked, But
the offensive guys, I'm talking about the coaches. The stories
I've heard was like, whatever you've heard, it's even worse.
And clearly you know the to a situation, which listen

(49:02):
to let's just say two is a scrub. You gotta
be careful with the quarterback position. So you know, are
you gonna treat Joe Burrow like it's Tom Brady nineteen
or two thousand and nine like Belichick did. I don't
know if that really works anymore. And even Tom eventually
was like this, I'm tired of this. So that's my
question mark, which I don't even think Brian Flores could

(49:24):
answer it. You would only know once you hired him
how it went. But there's no disputing he's an elite
defensive coordinator, elite scheme guy, a tough guy. Can he
deal with the offense? And I'm not saying like implements plays.
I'm just saying, like, can he deal with those guys?
Offensive guys like aren't always screamers and yellers. It's much

(49:47):
more of a cerebral operation. Defense is like, let's chop
their head off and then shatter their legs. That's the thing.
Like you put Aaron Rodgers out there with the with
the messed up left wrist, what do you think defensive
players are going for? It's like John, you can't say
that's not allowed, No, that's how they talk. They're going
first rist you know this is this is not tittley

(50:10):
winks here. So it's part of football, which works for
Flores on defense offense, Like, that's not really the way
they think. If you were the GM of the Saints
starting this season, what would be some moves you would make?
I personally thought we should have traded away our older
players like Kamara and Cam Jordan and Taysom Hill. It's
a great question. I'd have to look at their roster better.

(50:33):
I mean those guys. I mean, Kamar is definitely he's
still under contract next year. You could trade him this offseason.
I think right now, sitting here, after seeing Tyler shuck
a couple of weeks ago, I think these next two
weeks just evaluating him. Do we got something here? Do
we have enough where we just rock with this next year?
Because we got a lave, We got some offensive linemen

(50:53):
that aren't bad defensively. I mean, you got Brandon Staley's
your defensive coordinator. That'd be first thing I'd say, is
like Kellen, I like you, nuss Meyer's my guy, Doug,
not his son the quarterback coach slash offensive coordinator. One
thing I'd recommend can we get rid of Brandon Staley?
I know he threw you a bone when you were
out of work, but can we just get rid of

(51:14):
this guy? It's hard for me to come into work
and look at this guy. But other than that, what
do we need? We need some pass rushers, we need
some dbs. I feel pretty good on our offense. I've
shown some signs, but yeah, you trade some older players
for sure. I also think like trading Alvin Kamara. It's

(51:34):
not like you're getting the second round pick. It sounds
better like LESE. Trade some guys for what? As my
guy Ricky Water said, for who for what? Been listening
to three and out love the pod? If you were
asked to build an all middle cooff team for the
last twenty five years, much like the all Madden team,
who would be on it? To save some time, you

(51:56):
can use one offensive line until if you don't pick
the whole thing, that would take some time to think about.
I think some players jump to mind really quickly. You know,
Randy Moss, Aaron Donald, Trent Williams, Miles Garrett, like a Ledanian, Tomlinson,

(52:18):
Travis Kelcey. But do I need a blocker? Can I
get to Kelsey Ann Gronk? So if I want to block,
but also like spread you out? Do I want a
deep Thrett Tyreek? You know, I think you gotta go
with Brady, But what if I want a little more
mobile quarterback. It depends how are we basing it on?
Just like who are the most accomplished players? What would
be the players i'd want? Best linebacker the last twenty

(52:43):
five years? Probably Ray Lewis, you could go Erlacker, Keith Lee,
ed Reid would be on the team revs. Sherman. Probably
my corners. I think most of the names kind of
jump out pretty consistently of the of the top guys
who you're running backs? Marshall falk and Ladanian, Thomlinson. Who
are yours? I appreciate your football insight. I was born

(53:07):
to live in the East Bay, and four of my
five kids played rugby. The fifth and youngest will play
when he's six. You talked about rugby's lack of popularity
in America, and I wanted to offer some context. The
governing body of rugby was formed in eighteen seventy one.
The body didn't allow players to be professionally until nineteen

(53:30):
ninety five. The strict adherence to amateurism greatly stunted the
sport over the last one hundred years. That and a
chisholm within the sport about playing paying players greatly stunted
the game's growth. America as an outlier as a former
British colony to have not embraced the sport. But it's

(53:51):
understandable as we've won our independence much earlier than the rest.
I love the sport and I wish it was more
popular here. I think my main theme, piggybacking off what
you said is football is not popular anywhere close right

(54:13):
in England, in Ireland, in obviously Australia or New Zealand
in the Islands where football is king here. So rugby
it's direct competition, like you can like basketball and rugby
if you live in Europe right or Ireland or whatever,

(54:34):
right where football like basically filled that void. So our
physical sport, and most people that I knew that played rugby, right,
if you went to cal and played rugby and they
were winning national championships or BYU or whatever, these schools

(54:55):
probably couldn't make the football team. So I think your
first aspiration as a physical being in America would be like, well,
I want to play football at I'm speaking of the
Northern California schools because that's who who cow or my
friends at cal Poly played, but Utah Arizona. Well, if

(55:15):
you were on the rugby team at Arizona, if you
were the starting whatever for the Arizona rugby team, if
you could be the starting middle linebacker for the football team,
I think it's fair assumption that that individual would quit
rugby and go on full scholarship and nil especially now,
and play middle linebacker for the University of Arizona or

(55:37):
the University of Utah, or BYU or Stanford, Right, I
think we'd all agree with that. So the competition, like
in Ireland, what else you're gonna play cricket? I mean,
if you're a physical specimen, you're going to gravitate toward
rugby or here. I just think you're going to gravitate
toward football first. And I know a lot of people

(55:59):
like in high school at least I could speak for
Northern California. They play football in the fall and they
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(57:29):
small market, unwatchable football, and they have given NFL fans
no reason to care. But Bryce just set a franchise
record in a game and suddenly they're over five hundred
heading in to Monday Night football. From your perspective, do
they have a shot to win the NFC South only
being half a game back of Tampa? And do any
league connections with anyone close to Canals? I actually have

(57:51):
a buddy that works for the for the Panthers. I
don't think the expectations early in the season were that high,
but clearly you're six and five. This is a massive
Monday night game. If they were to beat the forty
nine Ers and be seven and five, the Buccaneers play
the Rams, I mean there's a very very good chance
the Buccaneers do not win this week. Kind of like

(58:12):
them with the points. I think this is kind of
a kitchen sen game. The forty nine Ers defense is
rolling out a lot of guys from the UFL and
practice squads, Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, those guys are long
gone their first round pick Torn acl. So it's a
very winnable game. And if you're seven and five, like
you're not just you have a chance to win the

(58:33):
division because you still play the Bucks twice. You get
to ten eleven wins and just minimum be a wild card.
So I think the Panthers have a big, big opportunity,
especially because you're playing the forty nine ers too. It'd
be one thing if, like ow, they're playing those Saints
since Monday night, a lot of people watching this thing.
It's a massive moment for a team that, let's face it,

(58:54):
most people don't watch, and like you said, rightfully, so
they've earned that category of you don't mas you can
get at. The Saints were in must watch for fifteen
years with Sean Payton and Drew Brees. He leaves you
don't need to watch him right now unless you want
to watch Tyler shuck throw bombs. In a recent podcast,
you said that most players need to have three years

(59:14):
in college to be ready for the NFL, and most
of them aren't at twenty two years old. I'm a
soccer player and we've seen the past. We've seen in
the past how eighteen year olds can just become world
class and start playing for world class teams. Do you
think there will ever be a time that we see

(59:36):
more young players will start coming out of college after
maybe one or two years. It's a good question, I
would say twofold one. There's a rule you have to
be three years removed out of high school. So the
NFL has a hard and fast rule that you can't
just come one. You know, Jeremiah Smith would have gone
pro last year, so Clowney would. You know, There's been

(59:57):
a handful of guys that would have gone pro earlier
than they did. I think the difference in soccer is
there is a physical contact element to football that not
the soccer. I mean, it's it's not apples to apples,
it's more like apples to hamburgers. Where there are guys
eighteen nineteen years old in college who are as fast

(01:00:19):
as anyone in the NFL, and if there was no contact,
they could immediately fit right in. But I've been going
to NFL practices for fifteen years. The size of these
human beings. You know, you're getting a thirty year old
who has been in a strength and conditioning program since
they were in college. They are just physically superior than

(01:00:41):
a nineteen year old guy. That's why so many young
players come into the NFL are and just overwhelmed, because
there is a physical strength component which just takes time
to figure out. There is outliers who just come in,
hit the ground running like panay seouls, physicality, ready to go.
Oh right, b Jon Robinson, you just Taquon Barkley that

(01:01:05):
there are outliers, But there are a lot of guys
you saw. Look look at Marvin Harrison Junior last year.
It's like, God, this is not going well. What do
you do this offseason? Put him like twelve pounds of muscle.
It's like, I need I need to be more physical.
Now we can argue whether he should have done that
or shouldn't have done that, but like in his mind,
it's like I'm not gonna last. So I just don't

(01:01:28):
think it's really comparable with all the discourse surrounding Shidh
or Sanders after his first team reps in an NFL game,
I feel like I'm going crazy people saying, well, he
hasn't got any of the first team reps in practice.
Is that not a normal type thing for a backup quarterback?

(01:01:49):
What do you think about his first NFL performance? I
think I told Coward this like I have no take,
Like what do you? Of course, he looked terrible. He's
playing the Ravens. He he hasn't got any reps. Now,
I don't expect him to look great this year, this
upcoming week. But my expectations coming in the middle of
the game. What did people think? But I also don't understand,

(01:02:12):
like Josina is she on Dion's payroll? Like, look at
this world class. It's just a throw. It's the NFL.
It's not that serious. What are we talking about? But
you get no reps as a backup quarterback, none, I
mean zero, especially if the starting quarterback is also a rookie.
So to come in that game against the Ravens, he

(01:02:35):
had zero chance. None, I mean. So my expectations were zero,
and that's what he just He didn't exceed them, he
just equaled them. He looked terrible, of course he did.
Most rookies, they were drafted in the fifth or sixth round.
They get thrown in in a divisional game in the
middle of the season with a team like the Ravens,

(01:02:56):
whose back was against the walls, playing like shit. They
started licking their lips because, unlike Dylan Gabriel, they knew
that he would move around a little bit. So you
blitz him, you get him running. He's not that great
of an athlete. He's not gonna run away from anyone,
one thing of Chador's gonna have success. He's got to
get rid of the ball fast, the way that he
played in college holding it on and he made a

(01:03:16):
bunch of plays because he was playing in the Big twelve.
Now the Raiders, he might be, but Max is going
to come after you, and the Browns offensive line is terrible.
If he holds onto the ball, Max y five sacks
got to get rid of the football. It's the only
way you can excel in the NFL unless you are

(01:03:36):
an elite athlete. Caleb can hold onto the ball. He's fast,
Chador is not. I'm a complete delusional Baker Mayfield fan,
so much so that I think he could, at his
best win an MVP. Me too. I put money on
him to win the MVP, and it doesn't look like
he's going to. However, I think he's had a significant crossroads.
He's up for a new contract and could now get

(01:03:58):
significantly more money. I love the guy, but I think
he has his limitations and needs a strong cast around him.
I believe a massive contract for Baker could cause his
career to start regressing. I don't hate any human who
cashes in on their value, but I do think for
his legacy a team friendly deal would help him remain

(01:04:19):
a top end quarterback. Do you agree or disagree? Let's
bring up Baker Mayfield's contract, and I would say this
most guys, the overwhelming majority of players, This includes Tom Brady,
Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers need good teammates. Aaron Rodgers

(01:04:41):
was thrown to Jordy Nelson, DeVante Adams in the peak
of his career. Peyton Manning was thrown to Marvin Harrison,
Reggie Wayne and handing the ball to Edgrin James. So
Tom Brady played with Gronk, Randy Moss, Julian Edelman, Wes Welker.
You do not excel without good teammates. This is not golf.

(01:05:05):
You need help, whether you're Aaron Rodgers or whether you
are JJ McCarthy. Right, But obviously it helps to have
better players, and when they're fully healthy, Mike Evans, Chris
Godwin and obviously Abuka are really good players. Well, these
guys are all banged up now, so it becomes difficult.
Baker Mayfield is not a free agent still twenty twenty six.

(01:05:28):
To me, if I'm Jason Light, I'd probably play it out,
not because I want to move on. But I'm in
no rush, and if i'm because I'm not offering them
sixty million dollars. So Baker Mayfield might just want to
play it out. Baker Mayfield's under contract next year for
he will make forty million dollars. Like, I don't think

(01:05:51):
they're in a huge rush to renegotiate right now. Plus,
you gotta we'll see how the second half of this
year plays out. Is tanking just a fan theory? A
lot of Saints fans and analysts on YouTube argue that
we shouldn't win too many games so we can secure
a higher draft pick. But I wouldn't. I don't think
any player or coach in their right mind would deliberately

(01:06:12):
lose a game for draft position, at least not New Orleans.
In fact, we've seen Tennessee that even having the number
one overall pick doesn't turn around a program overnight. It
might be a stretch, but let's say the Saints finished
nine to eight. Should fans really be mad about the outcome? Well,
you're not gonna finish nine and eight, so you don't
have to worry about that. But no one in football tanks.

(01:06:33):
Maybe the last week, but everyone tries to win. Steven
Ross offered Brian flor As one hundred thousand dollars a game,
and he told him to take his money and shove
it up his ass. This is not basketball or baseball.
It's honestly the reason the NFL's king. In basketball, a
third of the league doesn't try to win all season,
not like the last month, like all season. They're not

(01:06:55):
trying to win. We just had the Chauncey Billups scandal,
like he's telling people like, yeah, we're tanking right now.
It's not how the NFL works, partly because there's not
as much guaranteed money. The majority of players have no
guaranteed money and can be cut at any moment, so
you have to try in two. This part of baseball

(01:07:15):
as you get to play every day, right, even in
basketball you get play whatever three times a week, so
that another game. In football you get one game a week,
and depending on what position you play, like if you're
a rotational defensive lineman, you only only get twenty snaps.
You spend all week rehabbing, training, lifting, meetings, practice, cold tubs, saunas,

(01:07:42):
just doing shit. That isn't that fun, day after day
after day, just for the game. Ray Lewis hit the
nail on the head man, you pay me Monday through Saturday.
Games are free football. I don't care what level football
you've ever played, play a pickup game, let alone high
school football, college football. The games are the only fun part.

(01:08:05):
Most of the other football, unless you're just a nut
job like Peyton Manning, is kind of tedious and hard.
It's a grind where the games you kind of just
get to let loose and play. So it's like these
players are trying to win. You can't really tank a game.
I think football is very lucky that way. They have

(01:08:27):
two things really going for them. One, it's incredible television products.
Once a week, every game matters. Even when they don't matter,
they still kind of matter. In the NFL, it's a
very highly contested league. You could have anyone beat anybody,
so like you get weekly great games. And two, you
don't really have to worry about like no one's throwing games.

(01:08:50):
Like all the stuff that goes on in these other sports,
it is just not happening in the NFL. Questions could
Denver or Indy if Lamar, Josh or Mahomes play them
in the play on the Road do you think either
team has a chance against those clearly superior quarterbacks. I
would say, jaw, I mean, the Chiefs are kind of
in shambles right now. Denver and Indy would host those

(01:09:14):
three teams, So I would say this about Denver and Indy.
Both of them fall under the categories they they are
no shoeings to just win other playoff games. If you
told me, like Josh Allen was the quarterback of Denver,
it'd be like, they're unstoppable, no chance they could lose.
Can you lose a playoff game with bow Knicks one percent?

(01:09:36):
I mean we've seen them have these awful games, and
when you're playing Denver, it's like, right, I mean, when
you're playing the Giants, you're not out of it. You're
playing Lamar Jackson. If you're down ten points, you're probably
not coming back. If bo Nicks having a bad game,
I hope all as well. This question is for the mailback.

(01:09:56):
I would like to understand why the media and sometimes
you as well refuse to talk about certain teams like
the Carolina Panthers if their record In the past few years,
many teams have been worse and get talked about a
lot more Jets, Giants, Browns, and few times the Panthers
are mentioned. The information can be flat out wrong, like,

(01:10:19):
for example, calling calling Bryce Young an injury prone player
when he's missed two games since college. I guess he
got benched. Every time I look at the Panthers, he's
on the ground. I mean, it doesn't look like he's
gonna get up. Maybe he does more. This isn't that complicated,
No different than many of you, whatever your industry is.
We're just in the business of talking about the big stories,

(01:10:43):
and the Panthers are just not a big story. If
they were, they would be discussed more. And when I
say not a big story, a story that people care about. Like,
I'm not in the television business, so I don't talk
about the Cowboys every single day. But there's a reason
that they talk about the Cowboys, the Lakers, and the
Yankees because it works. If it didn't, they wouldn't. This

(01:11:06):
entire thing is a numbers game. I never understand people
in the media that I remember when I used to
work in the Bay Area, if you talked about the
A's consistently, you would go out of business. But some
people couldn't stop talking about the A's because I don't
really know why, Like we're not in the Like I'm
not emotional about any of this stuff, which is sad.

(01:11:28):
I used to love sports, and I still do, Like
I still enjoy watching the games, but I look about
about like all my angles of what I'm going to
talk about ninety nine percent is just how am I
going to talk about something that's interesting with something that
people care about. Where the Panthers, who have been historically

(01:11:49):
terrible over the last however many years, firing coaches left
and right, you're finally six and five, you expect to
get treated like the Eagles or Sean McVay or the Packers.
It's not how this thing works. Now. When you had
Cam Newton and you had some interesting stuff going on,
people talked about you more. But look at the Saints.

(01:12:10):
They had Drew Brees and Sean Payton and they were
a national story. Well those two guys disappear. They no
longer are. There are certain just like there are certain
industries that are recession proof. Not many, but there are some.
There are some teams that are are proof. The justin
the Giants. It's New York City. They have more people

(01:12:32):
that live in that area than any other city in America.
So do the math. They have more fans just based
on in a region than any other area in America.
Why do people talk a lot about the Packers and
the Steelers they have massive fan bases. There's a reason
people don't talk about the Arizona Cardinals often. They don't

(01:12:53):
have as many fans as the forty nine Ers, as
the Packers, as the Philadelphia Eagles. This is all the
numbers game now. Like, as a podcaster, I can talk
about whatever I want, so when things are interesting to me,
I talk about them. I've talked about the Panthers before
with temper some of their trades. But like, just because
you're six and five for the first time in a

(01:13:14):
decade doesn't mean we're gonna get on our knees and
give you a reach round. So just pump the brakes.
You gotta win some games. When you're a smaller market
and you've been really bad, you don't just jump to
the front of the line. It's not how it works.
I don't know what else to tell you. I help
when I I had two NFL teams, when I worked

(01:13:35):
in the Bayry and I did radio, you would been
crazy to not talk forty nine ers seventy five percent
of the time. Why because even in that region they
outnumbered Raider fans. I don't know what the exact number is,
but it was a lot too a little. And then
we're talking the NFL. We're talking to the Raiders who

(01:13:57):
had a historic brand. So it why do we talk
about the Giants more in the a's because all the
numbers game? What is wrong with the Raiders? Why do
coaches who have proven they can't succeed at certain areas
get so many chances Josh as a head coach, Chip
Kelly is a coordinator. Also, why does being the poorest

(01:14:18):
owner matter? Is it less for the assistant or other
owners pay more? We have been rebuilding for so many years. Uh,
I just think being the poorest owner they're not anymore
because Vegas has generated them a lot of money. It
matters because you can give large signing bonuses. So like

(01:14:43):
when Khalil Mack wanted a trade, the Raiders could not
offer the same contract that the Bears offered them. Why
because the Bears had more money. Now in twenty twenty five,
in theory, the Raiders should have a lot more money
they can. Mike Mayock and John Gruden have talk about this.
We could not structure our contracts the same as the
Ramps or the Cowboys or the Eagles or whoever. Now

(01:15:09):
if that changed. So you're going after a free agent
and you both are offering them three year contracts, well,
I'm going to structure one to give you twenty million
dollars up front, and the Raiders do more of a
year by year situation with maybe five million dollars. I'm
just using some hypothetical, but that's where it matters. So

(01:15:29):
it really used to impact them. I mean, I remember
Greg Papa telling me a story the reason JaMarcus Russell
and some of the guys in the two thousands used
to hold out when they were drafted high because Al
didn't have the money to give them their signing bonus.
And back then rookies used to make a ton of money.
He had to wait for the media deals to distribute
the revenue share that that's obviously changed, that they have

(01:15:53):
more money now than they did back then, but it's
a hindrance and it has been on the Raiders historically.
Out the reason they're losing right now. That's why they
got Brady and the money guys involved. They need more cash.
They got it. Now, well do they hire the wrong coach?
The Chip Kelly thing is I mean, he's been horrendous.

(01:16:15):
Now should they be the number one offense in the league,
of course not. Should they be as bad as they've been,
No chance they have to be. The Cowboys defense is awful,
and you watch the Raiders, you're like, what is going on?
So I think the Raiders are at the point now
where it's like, you got to hire the right coaches,

(01:16:36):
you got to find a quarterback, You just got to
get better players. So it's on spy Tech and the
scouting staff now to improve that roster because it's pretty terrible.
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