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May 1, 2021 • 43 mins

On this episode of The Colin Cowherd Podcast, Colin breaks down the best of NFL Draft rounds 2 and 3 with former NFL Scout John Middlekauff. They discuss the pressure on Tua Tagovailoa after the Dolphins solid selections (1:00), if the Jets should have picked up a running back to help Zach Wilson (4:00), Urban Meyer's early draft grade (6:00), if the Browns have upgraded their defense enough through the draft and free agency to seriously contend (8:00), which teams' draft they didn't like (9:00), the difference between how the Seahawks and Packers have attempted to pacify their disgruntled star QB's (10:00), and which team would make the most sense if Green Bay decides to move Aaron Rodgers (19:00).

Also, Action Network Chief Content Officer Chad Millman stops by to look at Bill Belichick's recent questionable draft record (25:00), how he got he inside scoop that the Niners were passing on Mac Jones (27:00), why he loves the Bears snagging Justin Fields (31:00), if Urban Meyer can surprise compete in the AFC South in his first year with the Jags (34:00), and which way to bet the Jags over/under (34:00).

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume the Colin Cowherd Podcast, brought to you by
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Duel more ways to win? All right, second third round

(00:33):
of the NFL Draft or wrapping up, I bring on
John Middlecoff. Former NFL pro scout Chad Millman will join
us in about thirty minutes. He will as always be
an absolute riot. All right, John, My takeaway early the
Miami Dolphins through their first four picks, got four starters.
Now Javon Holland not necessarily a big, physical safety. I mean, listen,

(00:56):
he's a good player. He'll start for them. He was
the second safety on the board. They passed on the
TCU safety. But I thought Liam Eichenberg starts for them
now at left or right tackle. Jalen Waddle is going
to get a lot of playing time. Jaalen Phillips. I
think Greer is doing a nice job. Miami to me,
looks like they got four starters with their first four picks.

(01:18):
That was my takeaway. You know, after that, once you
get to fifth and six, picks a lot of shoulders
shrugs for me because I just I just don't know.
But that's kind of my takeaway. I thought Miami found
four starters. Your thoughts, Yeah, I mean they were. They've
done a good job of acquiring assets and turning them in.
I mean, yesterday Waddles a big time player, and he

(01:39):
obviously has a poor with the quarterback. To me, they
were good last year, right, They won ten games last
year kind of out of nowhere. The coach is good.
I think they have one major question mark. Can the
quarterback play right? You know, you and I have talked
about Robotic obviously physically doesn't look like a lot of
the top guys. So to me that he's one of

(01:59):
the biggest stories in the league. Like this guy went
from tank for Tuah number one overall pick to coming
off a major injury. So I think let's all give
them a little bit of you know, not a pass,
but just you understand it. This year, if it looks bad,
they got a problem because part of they were in
position to take one of these quarterbacks. Right. They could

(02:20):
have taken Trey Lance, could have taken Justic Fields, I
could take Mac Jones, and they went all in on Tua. Right,
move right. They trade back, acquired multiple first round picks
from the Niners, trade back up to six. They'll get
a star wide receiver. Like you said, get a tackle,
so they have multiple tackles the last two years. Take
the kid from USC, the Notre Dame tackle this year.
But all that stuff's great, but if your quarterback play sucks,

(02:40):
you're in trouble. That's what this league is now. So
that to me is the that's their only question mark.
They're good. It's interesting with the Jets. I know Jet
fans are getting fired up, but let me play Devil's advocate,
and I like Joe Douglas. So they probably don't upgrade
at quarterback the first year because Zach Wilson's a rookie
and it's a great defensive head coach to vision, he's

(03:00):
going to be a little over his skis. They do
upgrade on the offensive line with Elijah Vera Tucker, but
their third pick Elijah More, very good player from Mole
miss I watched a lot of secit football. He can play.
But they have Corey Davis. I mean they went and
spent a lot of money at wide receiver. Jamison Crowder's fine.
They have Denzel Mims last year, and I thought to myself,

(03:23):
there's three really good running backs. You didn't get any
of them. Asante Samuel Junior, the corner was there. I
don't know if I love the pick. I mean, is
that a classic? He was the best guy available on
our board. I mean I was told that they were
going to go with the North Carolina guy talking to
people in the league earlier day, that's what they were
gonna do. Yep, so did I. I had a buddy

(03:44):
that said, listen, I watched Elijah Moore during the season.
We had him in the third round. He's like I
asked some of my friends around the league. They had him,
you know, late second, early third. He goes to his
pro day, he ran like a four three five. Naturally,
you just kind of get pumped up when you're that fast,
but he's really that fast. Now I think they're looking
for a speed demon. One thing Zach Wilson did a

(04:04):
lot last year was hit big place down the field.
So you just try to get them with a player
they can hit the ball down the field. Like you said,
they have a little bit of an offensive line. Now
you protect them, but that you know, those speed receivers
For every DeShawn Jackson, some guys are terrible, right, they're
very hit or miss john super fast guys. I can
argue they have the worst running back unit in the

(04:25):
league still. Well, Frank Goros our starter at seventy years
old last year, I mean, what were they doing. I mean,
that's a crazy Colin, and it's really to me, it's
really a three running back draft. I just it was
a two corner draft. Everything after that you're talking about injuries,
length issues. I don't know. I do think sometimes, Colin,
you can have a philosophy internally that you just believe

(04:48):
we don't draft running backs this high, and you just
kind of stick to it. But I do think you
got to be open minded sometimes with stuff like that.
But again, I heard from people that know Joe Douglas
that Nott coming into today, clearly the Jags weren't going
to take a running back, right, they just took etn
that He's like, they're just gonna land North Carolina. Kid's
gonna land right in their lap. And they passed on him,

(05:09):
and did Broncos train it up to get him? That
Broncos having a good Broncos are good, they're talented team.
They just don't have a quarterback. What do you make
of Urban Meyer? So he got a quarterback. I don't
have a problem with etn And my theory is this
whole bell cow running back thing is mostly nonsense because
you know Christian McCaffrey, the bell cow now is all
banged up. Sae Quon Barkley's hurt. Zekiel Elliott's yards per

(05:31):
carry have gone down every year. I like two backs.
I don't have a problem with it. Then they go
out and they get the best Georgia corner Green Bay
in the first round, got the second best, and then
they take Walker a little who David Shaw told me
years ago he started as a true freshman at left
tackle for Stanford, and I remember talking, Oh yeah, David

(05:53):
told me, he goes Colin. I've never started a left
tackle as a freshman. He goes. This kid is a
top first round pick. It's interesting. I almost wonder if
Urban really trusts David Shaw, because you got a trust
him a little, but he was an opt out and
he got hurt. Your thoughts on Urban's last couple of days, Well,
I think I think he's a good example. I mean obviously,
I think Trevor's just an excellent player in ETN. Who's

(06:16):
you know who doesn't like Travis Etn. The thing with
Little once you get to the second round, you get
a guy that has first round talent, and there's a
lot of guys that just they're there for a reason.
Right back injuries, knees. I look up the highlights Bryce
Love and j j Artega Whiteside because the last time
he played was guys that have been the league now
for three years. Right, yeah, he opts out he's been injured.

(06:36):
I think in twenty nineteen his injury was the week one,
so he missed the entire season. But what teams love
in a draft room, Colin, is when you go, this
guy's a five star recruit. This guy when he's played,
he's blocked X, Y and Z that are now pros
in the league. Now. It could be three and four
years removed, but you go, he's healthy now, he worked
well at his pro day. A guy like that, even

(06:59):
if he's got injury concerns, isn't last into the fourth round.
Landon Dickerson's a guy like that too, right, He's a
big time five star baller at Alabama, but he's gotten
multiple knee injuries. But you're looking at him in the
second round. You're going, how do I pass on guys
like this? That to me is a lot in corners.
Asante Samuel the back injury. The safety from TCU had

(07:21):
a back like that. That's just where these first round
talents get pushed down. And I never have a problem
taking offensive lineman early in drafts. I mean, that's just
the way you build the team. I gotta be honest
with you. I may be critical of Cleveland from time
to time, but if you go between free agency and
the draft, they've totally rebuilt the back end of their defense.

(07:41):
John totally rebuilt it. I remember watching kind of crushing
Justin Fields. I sent out a tweet and that in
the Big Ten championship game, and a buddy that does
the area immediately texts me. He's like, you know, he's
thrown at a first round corner, And I think, well,
a lot of times we don't look at Northwestern like
we would most blue chip programs that they have a

(08:03):
guy and he's like that guy's good that he's throwing
at and he was given, you know, breaking up balls,
and then yeah, I mean they were good already, right.
Their roster at the end of last season was a
top six seven roster in the league. Now think of
all the guys they've added, and Baker's just a little
more comfortable in this offense. The offense we've seen it
with Shanahan, We've seen it with Leaflour, We've seen it

(08:23):
with McVeigh, is just very quarterback friendly. If their defense
is good, are they the favorite to win the division?
You know? I mean the Steelers have quarterback issues. The
Ravens just lose a lot of players every year in
free agency. I don't think it's crazy to say that,
is this a twelve thirteen win team if Baker just manages,
you know, it doesn't kind of try to play out

(08:45):
over a skis because the talent is there. If they
have immense talent at basically every position. I mean the
Raiders they went and got a safety second pick, which
is you know, they got about six positions of need
on the defensive side. Some didn't love the Niners second pick,

(09:08):
you know, the Bay Area, Well, is there a the
Giants draft has been a little odd to me? Is
there a draft you don't love so far? Yesterday the
pick with Tennessee. We talked a little bit about them
taking the corner. Talking to someone today was like, he's
one We thought he was one back injury away from

(09:28):
career being over. And that's where I think the risk
is in drafts with the injury guys. I mean, we
just talked about, you know, the tackle from Stanford. Dickerson's
one of those guys, Like it's easy to justify taking
the injury red flags, and then they get hurt at
training camp and then they get hurt, you know, in
the game, and then you start going, God, there's a
reason that guy was there when he was. But you're

(09:50):
able to, you know, talk yourself into it because you go,
the value is too good. I'm getting a discount, but
the guy's on the discount rack for a reason. And
in football, more than any other sport, these injuries, especially
these back injuries, knee injuries, they usually don't go away.
And I think it's it's easy to justify because the
film is outstanding for some of these guys, but you go,

(10:11):
our medical doctor is telling us, well, I don't know,
and GM's usually they just they end up taking those
guys because you're just a sucker for the talent, and
a lot of times you just get burnt. I mean
Trent Balky, remember had a stretch where he just took
all these ACL guys just because oh everyone bounces back
from an ACL. Not really, I mean it's actually less

(10:32):
guys come back as consistently as good as they once
were than you think. But you would just assume it's
one hundred percent. It's probably more like fifty. By the way,
Aaron Rodgers, they have not addressed his needs. They took
a quarterback and a running back first two picks. This
year they go cornerback first pick. Russell Wilson complained, and
they addressed it. They went and got Gerald Everon at

(10:54):
tight end, gave Jackson offensive line. They resigned Chris Carson
the running back and they're fullback. And then they get
Dwayne Eskridge, a very interesting receiver from Western Michigan who
t J. Hushman Zatta told me a week ago, and
he's good on this stuff people. So I will say this,
you know, squeaky squeaky wheel gets the oil or whatever

(11:16):
they say. Russell complained. They have absolutely addressed his needs.
John to me, they totally you know, Aaron's complain it's
almost like they're working against him, they're over him. I
think Seattle's offense is better. New coordinator throw that in.
I told you yesterday. I really think they get nitpicked

(11:39):
because they've been so good. But they have been consistently
aggressive since he's got there, something that they haven't all worked.
And then, like you said, this is a pretty good example,
they go get a scheme that is working everywhere with
the Rams, it's going to work well with him. They
bring back Carson, they add player Gabe Jackson's a good
immediate starter. Yes, an immediate starter, so they are. But
I also think Pete and gets back to what you

(12:00):
always say about the organization. There's no owner, there's a
There is a hierarchy in every other organization behind beside
green Bay, so it flows normally right that the hierarchy
of power. And Pete's no dummy, Right, Pete played on
teams without a quarterback. He understands what he has, the
Green Bay thing. What has changed over the last twenty
four hours. What are they really going to do? Like

(12:22):
to me, if he's adamant that he's not coming back,
this is where I get to yesterday. Now, the timing.
If I was Rogers. I would have given him three
or four days. So maybe help you know them, think
about it, make a real trade. You're always better trading
a player before a given draft because they get an
actual pick and then an actual player. No Packer fan
wants to go, well, the Raiders just gave us three

(12:44):
first rounders and Derek Carr, Well, we don't have Aaron
Rodgers anymore, and we don't have any of those picks
till the future. Right, So I think they're in a
tough spot because under no circumstance can you trade him
enroll with Jordan Love. Because if Jordan Love is bad,
and we saw last year he couldn't win the backup job.
Those guys will, I mean their careers would be over
in two or three years, right, I mean Goodikins would

(13:05):
never be a GM again, and obviously the four's career
would be done. So I think the risk of if
you're gonna replace Aaron Rodgers, you either have to do
it with a guy like Derek Carr who could at
least play and your team would could compete to go
to the playoffs. Or yesterday when the Niners like, here's
pick three, you guys want Trey Lance they could. They
had that opportunity, and they said no. Now I think
they're kind of like, what's Denver gonna offer them? They

(13:26):
don't have a quarterback to trade them. I think they're
in a tough spot. And Rogers put him in. Did
it on purpose? Right? Well? I talked to Thomas Dimitrov today.
This will air Saturday morning because we're watching rounds two
and three. He said he would talk to Aaron, he
would call today. He's communicative, he said, I would address
it immediately. But you know, I go back to something

(13:50):
we talked about yesterday. He felt humiliated a year ago.
But the Packers, he's gonna humiliate them. But I think
it's interesting. First round they make a reach in a corner.
It's almost like now it's personal, Like it's personal. Now
you call us out, we call you out. You know again,
Seattle at least sometimes you know, Kevin Durant's a little needy,

(14:13):
Errands a little prickly. From time to time, you have
to massage the top player in your organization a little.
So the last if you if you take a look
at their last three top picks, it's a quarterback, a
running back, a position they had two very good backs
in a corner. Like at some point I kind of

(14:35):
get Errand's pissed off. I get this frustration. I really
do well, I gotta move for you. Do you know
what I'd do by the end of the weekend, I'd
have Julio Jones on my team and give him my
second round pick for next year or whatever. You know,
how about do something like that. You would agree that's
something Seattle would do. You know, if they were in
a position where the guy was going to leave, they've
they've historically done that, traded high picks for established players.

(14:58):
Green Bay never does that, and they be like, oh,
he makes too much money, the twenty one million dollars, right,
they would They would find a way to just we
can't get Julio. Just go get Julio Jones. They want
to unload them, find a way, make a little cap room,
get them on your team, and go Aaron. Now you
got Julio, Now you got Davante. We brought back Aaron Jones.
Let's just let's have a year and just try to,
you know, suck it up for a little while. Steelers

(15:21):
draft is interesting. Running back tight end first two picks.
This was the thirty first ranked according to PFF, I
believe thirty first ranked offensive line. So the top two
guards are gone, the top two tackles are gone. You
tell me you've been a scout. Can you upgrade your
old line third, fourth and fifth round. I mean, I

(15:44):
think you could hope to land a guard or center.
I mean, if you drafted fourth, fifth, and sixth round
guards and centers every year, probably every other year, you're
gonna find a starter. To me, the problem was, and
we all saw it as Ben looked old as the
season went on. Yeah, you know why, Colin. He is old.
He's old, he's weathered, and he hasn't taken care of

(16:05):
his body. No, and he just he's not exactly He's
not a grinder slash. He got the crap beat out
of him for many years and he played like Cam Newton,
running around shed and tackles, taking a lot for I
remember early in the decade he led the league in
sacks for a couple straight years. He just got sacked
a lot. Remember, Bruce arians ended up getting fired because
they wanted to run the ball more and they're throwing

(16:25):
the ball too much. Now their offense is pretty loaded.
I mean skill wise, they have a lot of talent
around him, But if he's not good enough and he
can't move around, like I remember the end of December
and definitely the playoff game, he was a statue. He
looked like Eli Manning he could not move or Philip Rivers,
and he used to give you He never ran like
a Michael Vick or Lamar Jackson, but he gave you mobility.

(16:48):
That mobility's gone. He's just he's a true pocket quarterback,
which was never in the peak of his powers when
he was a Pro Bowl. Yes, oh, so you're asking
him to play something away in which he never excelled
at and clearly is not as comfortable doing. And like
you said, the offensive lines on any good. So even
if you guys got flying down down the sideline, well,

(17:10):
if he has no time, I think it's gonna be
hard for them. I mean, their their culture, their talent,
their coach there, they'll be competitive, but I'd say they're
pretty clearly the third team in that hierarchy in that
division right now. Yeah, it's um now the Browns they
got to do it over and over, But I do
think Stefanski's pretty high level guy that Jim, like you said,
it's good dear people like Stefanski. They love him. I mean,

(17:33):
they think he is so sharp. They're a big fan.
You know, he's like a less When I worked with
the Eagles, his dad was the president of the Sixers
and Pete. The family was just well respected. I didn't
know that much about him till probably the last four
or five years. But I have a couple of buddies
that have known him for a while and they loved him.
Now I didn't. They didn't think necessarily he's gonna be

(17:53):
some starry head coach. But they're like, he's a good coach.
He's really smart, and clearly he just I think the
key with any young coach, in my experience, is just
being comfortable in your own skin. If you're an asshole,
being an asshole, if you're a nice guy like Matt
and Aggie he's an uplifter, being uplifter, be who you are,
Kyle Shanahan, little edgy, Sean McVay, more happy. Just just
be true to yourself and guys will respect it. And

(18:14):
I think he, you know, for an Ivy League guy,
that kind of took time. I think he's just very
comfortable in his own skin. And I think part of
that Colin is recently, we're so quick to like make
a guy a head coach. This guy was an assistant
coach for a long period of time. So you just
get comfortable in your own skin. You get to learn
your strengths, your weakness is Arthur Smith's a good example,
long time assistant coach, really get to develop your football philosophy.

(18:38):
You get to work for a lot of different head coaches.
Now we love like the guy's been a coordinator for
a year, make up a head coach. It's like, well,
that's gonna fail more often than not. Back in the day,
Bill Walsh didn't become a head coach, so he was
like six, you know, fifty five years old, forty eight.
You know. Now it's like every guy in the thirties
they gotta be a head coach. That's not the way
the world works, no wonder a lot of these guys fail. Well,

(18:59):
it's really interest. So the Packers could have gone yesterday
for an edge rusher, Joe tryon, Greg Russo from Miami.
They didn't. They went and got a corner. So the
Bills and Tampa Bay got edge rushers. So in the
second round, you're like, well, Green Bay go get an
edge rusher or like another receiver. And so the first

(19:22):
picks a corner, second best corner on Georgia, and then
their second picks a center from Ohio State where they
just let their Pro Bowl center go. So again, if
I'm Aaron Rodgers and I'm looking at that, You're not
elevating me. Will be worse at center. You took a
reach at corner. Again, I just look at the Green

(19:44):
Bay situation as not fixable. I think at some point,
I don't know if you can trade You know, if
you trade him, is it after June first, you can
split the cap up. Yes, you save seventeen million dollars.
I read. Let's be honest to me, The Raiders make
the most sense because they have a quarterback to give them.
They could be they could be competitive with Okay, and

(20:07):
Van and Davantae Adams and Derek are good friends and
played together in college, so they're pour there immediately. Okay,
So okay, that's interesting. So we get Derek Carr. What
else do we get for that? Well, I think you
just go, well, Derek's worth the first round pick, because
if we just would have put Derek on the market
in March the Bears would have given us pick twenty.
The Washington football team would have given us there. You

(20:29):
gotta get something else. You gotta get something else. Yeah,
to me, Derek Carr in two first rounders, I mean
that's essentially three, but one of them as a quarterback
is that. Let's be honest, the Raiders can't get the
first round picks right anyway. Give them away. No. I mean,
let's face it, everyone's laughing at their first round pick
this year. I mean it's kind of universally people think
they screwed that one up. One thing I think the

(20:51):
problem with the Raiders is and it's I mean, it's
it Gruden run operation. It's not hard to trade up.
If you have picked ten and I'm at a teen
or fifteen, I can offer you get to a number
where you're always going to trade back. Anyone can trade up.
It's harder to trade back. That takes some wheeling and dealon.
That takes some foresight. That takes coming into the draft

(21:11):
knowing that you might want to trade back. The Raiders
are always just content with not understanding the value and
just be like, oh, well take them here. Well, you
could have got that guy twenty picks later. So even
if you could trade back ten spots and take the
same guy, you can acquire an extra pick. They never
do that because Gruden's just like, oh, get my guy.
Well that's the there's two separate parts of the draft.

(21:34):
There's obviously acquiring the players, but there's what you pay
for the players. It's it's a marketplace, and you want
to pay the right price for every guy, and that's
they really struggle with that. They really don't. I don't
know if it's Gruden, if it's Mayock, it's just it's
it's been bizarre for a couple of years now. And

(21:56):
they do have some talent on their roster. I mean
they have give grud credit. He's made car much more functional.
I mean they have stuff there. But they're drafting is
just little head scratching because they can't, like yesterday, Howie
wants Davante Smith immediately does the deal with Jerry skips
the Giants like people can wheel and deal. They just
they always get stuck. It's like they never whether they

(22:17):
don't communicate well with other teams, whether they stay in
their bubble. I can't quite explain it, but it's pretty
clear that they have issues with moving around, all right, folks,
Chad Millman's around the corner, John Middlecoff, we just give
you a taste thirty minutes. That's it, these little instant
reaction things. The second that we're into the third round. Now, John,

(22:38):
it's great seeing you. Always appreciate it. Buddy good inside
a Zula's have a great weekend. Con you too, all right,
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(23:44):
Action Network. It is Friday night. The draft is going
on as we speak, almost wrapping up second and third rounds. Okay,
let me start with this, Chad. There's been criticism about
New England that they don't do their homework necessarily. This
is what I've been told by people through the years.
And the more Super Bowls Belichick one, the more power
he has in the organization. And about mid to late

(24:05):
January he tells the scouts, I've got it from here,
and Bill's not thought of his lazy. But I don't
think they always do their homework with their draft. Here's
a prime example. He relies on people he knows, herm Edwards.
He went and got Nikil Harry and story broke. Albert
Brewer broke the story that the scouting department did not

(24:26):
want Nikil Harry and Belichick blew him off. So they
go out and draft Christian Barmore, defensive tackle Alabama. I
have two different people who I trust who took him
off their board because of some personal stuff they'd heard.
I mean, even Nick Saban had to defend him during

(24:47):
the year. That's classic he was a red flag guy
for just two of the teams, two for two. I
talk to so your thoughts, I mean, I just I
think Belichick he has struggled in this draft, and Christian
Barmore Nick Saban had to defend him multiple times this year,

(25:09):
like I don't like the move. Well, look I can't.
I can't speak to anything about Barmore, But I do
think it's interesting that there is always, in very specific instances,
year after year, Belichick trusting Nick Saban, right, who's the

(25:31):
quarterback that he wanted? Who's the quarterback that he drafted?
And now last night he's being praised for draft for
staying in one spot and getting Mac Jones, And I,
like I have been suspect of Mac Jones and Zach
Wilson this entire process because I do not understand how

(25:53):
quarterbacks and Trey Lance falls into this too. I do
not understand how quarterbacks who perform for one year with
in Mac Jones case, obviously they are heading shoulders more
talented than everybody, but Zack Wilson, who is playing against
a supreme offensive line against terrible competition. He does it

(26:14):
for one year in a few games, and all of
a sudden, he's a world beater, And it makes no
sense to me. Why any quarterback. And I'm sort of
veered from your question, but to me, it speaks to
a larger issue of the lack of science in scouting
and these coaches, these scouts who fall in love with
what they believe to be talent. It's like that great

(26:36):
scene in Moneyball where they're all sitting around a table.
The ball sounds great. When he comes off his bat,
his girlfriend's ugly. He's got no confidence. Like they're basing
these decisions on things like just look at the film.
Look at the film. Justin Fields played against top level
competition for multiple years and was consistent throughout his career.

(26:59):
Trevor l same thing. Why are you not drafting the
guys who prove it on the field. Don't give me
he doesn't weigh enough. Don't give me his hips aren't good.
It's like they try to outguess themselves so they can
be the smartest guy in the room and make the
pick that is going to make them seem like a genius,
instead of grabbing the gold that is right in front
of them. Well, i mean, Jordan Love had one great ear.

(27:22):
He gets drafted. Zach Wilson had one great ear and
gets drafted. I mean, if you go to high school.
In college, Justin Fields was dominant for like a five
year stretch. So I agree with you. So okay, trail
Ance and I think it was the right pick. Goes
to the San Francisco forty nine ers. You have a story.
I'm told here's a great story. So yesterday, late morning,

(27:45):
it's Thursday, before the draft, I'm getting ready to record
my podcast, The Favorites, which you can listen to on
the Volume network. And my co host on the podcast
is a guy named Simon Hunter, who is a professional
better This is what he does for a living. The
podcast for him is like, you know, a fun little
thing and he gets to tell stories and talk about
games and sound like a genius because he wins us money.

(28:08):
So before we start recording the podcast, he says to
me and our producer Matt Mitchell, you guys, this is
the bad phone, and the bad phone is his phone
where his contacts, his connections, his outs are calling him.
And he says to me, if the bad phone rings,
I'm gonna have to jump off because this is the
one of the three busiest days of my offseason, and

(28:30):
he's got six figures in bets that mac Jones will
not be the third player taken, that he is not
going to go too. And he had been fading mac
Jones for weeks and weeks and weeks. He had been
piling on. Every time like the numbers got higher about
him not being number three, he kept going in, kept

(28:52):
going in. He's like, I'm gonna have to jump off
because it will be information that I need to be
able to act on quickly and so and he's like,
I'm sick to my stomach. I'm so loaded on mac
Jones not going number three. And at this point before,
like heading into yesterday morning, everybody was believing mac Jones
was going number three. Midway through the podcast. Now, right

(29:14):
after the podcast is over, we stopped recording. He's like,
I gotta tell you guys, I gotta jump off. I
got news from one of my sources that the Niners
are definitely off of mac Jones, off of mac Jones.
Entree Lance, I have to get back to the casino
right now and get the rest of my money down.

(29:34):
He races to the casino. I immediately bet on mac
Jones to not be the number three pick. We do
a story about it later that night. Mac Jones not
the number three pick. Simon is swimming in it. Today,
I'm feeling pretty good about it. But it was like
just a great inside betting story about the mechanics of
which you and I we know nothing about. We think

(29:56):
we know. All we can do is connect to the
people that know, and we have better access to making
those connections. But these guys are inside a different game. Listen, Um, yeah,
I mean I have sources, but my sources don't give me.
You know, they don't want to get in trouble, so
they don't give me any gems. And if they do,
it's stuff that I talk about after the draft. Right.

(30:17):
You know we all have people. Listen, we all have
people we protect. You give me good stuff, you know,
I can. I can accumulate more friends with you know,
honey than vinegar. So you know you got to take
care of some of your sources. But that's a great story. Yeah.
By the way, you're a you're a Bears fan, you're
a Chicago guy. Yes, Ryan Pace drives me nuts. They've
been hyper aggressive in this draft. I'll say this, we

(30:40):
don't know Aaron Rodgers may play this year. He's not
going to be their long term. When you humiliate your
franchise publicly, it's over. Get a lawyer. It may not
be over now, but it's over. Justin Fields could be
have the best defense and be the best quarterback in

(31:01):
this division in twelve months, could he not? I love, love,
love this pick. He has been a guy who, in
my very novice study of this process I have loved
and I said it this in the beginning. I have
always believed and the studies bear this out. The more
you play in college, the better you are going to

(31:23):
be in the NFL if you are at the level
where you have a skill set that translates to the NFL.
Clearly Justin Fields does. It makes no sense to me
that he was not the second player taken in this draft,
given what he had shown in the field, given how
he had matched Trevor throw for throw throughout his entire career,
not just against in that game against Clemson, but since

(31:44):
they were in high school. So it just made no
sense to me that there was a separation of ten
players and multiple quarterbacks. That said. I was so excited.
My kid and I were screaming, were yelling. The dog
is barking, you would have thought we had won the
actual Super Bowl. I don't mind the Bears giving up
the extra first round pick next year. And if i'm Pace,
I'm thinking, why wouldn't I? If this guy doesn't work out,

(32:07):
I'm gone, it's someone else's problem. And so what really
becomes the question is do the Bears put Pace into
I mean to put Fields into the offense right away
and get him playing? Will that be detrimental to his development?
How do you manage this? Because you've got two guys
in Nage and Pace who are playing on one year deals,

(32:27):
and so it's really going to be interesting. Do they
manage to play right away, to get Fields to play
right away? Do they worry about how that's going to
hamper his development? Are they worried about their jobs performance
right away? All that kind of stuff. So there, I
don't think NFL people are rooting for urban Meyer. There's
a lot of you know, there's a lot of pettiness.
Urban Meyer is having a very good draft, so he

(32:49):
goes and gets Travis at In and everybody kind of
freaks out. But this whole Bell cow running back thing
is bullshit. Christian McCaffrey's falling apart and Zeke Every year
his yards per carry go down. You need two running backs.
This is not like, this is not college football. You
need to There's a reason Nick Saban recruits three four

(33:10):
to five star running backs a year. It's like hard.
So he gets Travis at n they have two good
backs he gets. Then he goes and gets Tyson Campbell,
the better corner for Georgia the Packers drafted late in
the first round, the second best corner for Georgia. He
gets the best corner. Then he goes out and gets
and it's a great story. He gets Walker Little, a

(33:33):
left tackle for Stanford. So Walker Little had an injury
early and opted out, so people haven't seen much of him.
So two years ago I talked to David Shaw. I
think it was off the air, it may have been on.
It was off the air, and I said, who's your
favorite recruit, And he goes, we got this kid, Walker
a Little from Houston. He's going to start as a
freshman at Stanford at left tackle. And he's like yeah, yeah,

(33:56):
he goes, this guy is a first round guy. He
got injured and then he opted out. It maybe the
steal of the draft, but he told me at the
time when he saw him, he goes he's a top ten,
top five NFL pick. He told me this like two
years ago. He's like, his kid is so good. So
I don't think anybody's rooting for Urban Meyer. But I'm

(34:18):
gonna throw this at you. Tennessee looks worse. It's a
weird division. Houston's a disaster. We think Carson Wentz works.
If I told you, Jacksonville ends up going like a
nine and eight, ten and six, Chad, this is a weird,
funky division. Fourth becomes first regularly. Tennessee is not as good. Okay,

(34:43):
Houston maybe a bottom three team in the league. How
good are the Colts? They're good. I think Jacksonville's gonna
surprise people. Oh my god, have you already started cocktail hour?
That is I had what it's small? It's tiny that
it's like you are dipping into the Solo Cup so
hard right now? That is insane. But Trevor Lawrence mel

(35:07):
Kiper last night, I love mel Kiper. He is a
gem of a guy. Pointed out that the four quarterbacks
he has rated is like generational talents. It was John Elway,
it was Peyton Manning, it was Andrew Luck, and it
was Trevor Lawrence. Brilliant Peyton manning through twenty eight interceptions

(35:32):
his rookie year and was terrible. Okay, Andrew Luck got
beat up so bad his rookie year that it lingered
for the rest of his career and shortened his career.
Trevor Lawrence is not going to be a winning quarterback
in twenty twenty one. The Colts are likely to be

(35:52):
the best team in that division. Frank Reich is probably
the best coach in that division. I think the Titan
that his Tennessee Titans improved a little bit, but I
don't know that they improved enough in the defensive backfield
to really take over what the Colts can do if
Carson Wentz can be seventy five percent of what he
was with Frank Wright and don't let's let's not be
clouded like Jacksonville is rebuilding their defense. They got to

(36:17):
start over from scratch, all new people. Urban Meyer amazing coach,
but he is not a miracle worker. At the NFL level,
where talent is so much closer together. He is not
going to be able to dominate as he did in
college football. Give him two years I am not seeing
them as a winning team. Okay, what's their record, Milman,

(36:38):
Let's see, it's a seventeen game season. I don't I
don't think they they have more than five wins. Oh,
come on, Stefanski. Stefanski never been more than a coordinator.
Look what he did in one year. Stefanski's special. Everyone
knows that. Everyone special. What very very special talent. Come on,

(36:59):
he's the gene. He's a boy wonder. He went to
a nice I'm watching this thing because we're taping this
thing as the second round is Oh my god. First
of all, the Miami Dolphins are having a hell of
a draft. See that is a team that I holly.
I mean, by the way, if you're just they got

(37:22):
oh my god, they got four starters in this draft.
Jalen Waddle, Jaalen Phillips. By the way, I watched a
lot of Oregon football because I used to work there.
Javon Holland at safety is a stud. And then they
get Notre Dame's left tackle Liam Eichenberg, So now they
have a left Austin Jackson last year. So far, to me,

(37:44):
the Dolphins are winning the draft. Four clean, no red
flag players, four starters, right, I really like what they're doing.
I agree with you. And let me just say one
more thing about the Jacks. Their season win total right
now is six and a half. I would take the
under time out, well said again, the Jags season win
total is six and a half, and I would take

(38:07):
I'm taking the over all. Right, that's my bet of
the day. Well, you and I got a little wager going.
Is this your bank account? Because I feel bad stealing
money from you, I'm okay with it as long as
it's a little You know, you got a lot more
money than you could take a little bit, a little taste.
Six and a half. It's going to be the Jags under.
I promise you this is seven. I'm oh my god,
I feel honestly, I feel bad to be your friend.

(38:28):
Seven and ten. You will not take that. No, the
Jagson divisions, listen, their defense is dreadful. It doesn't matter
how good Trevor Lawrence is. And I'm not going to
get that excited that they drafted a safety who might
make their defense better, A rookie safety who needs to

(38:48):
do what is he going to a quarterback the back
of the field. Is he going to cover everybody. He's
going to be confused for eight weeks of the season.
He's not a miracle worker Urban Meyer. He's just getting
players that we think we might like. That's it. So,
by the way, So Tom Talsco is my buddy. He's
very patient in the draft. So he gets Rashawn Slater

(39:10):
to fall to him. They wanted a left tackle in
a corner, and now in the second round he gets
a Sante Samuel Junior to fall to him, arguably the
third best corner. They were just patient. They had two
Nique that's a good roster. By the way, that is
a good roster. They got the two players they wanted.

(39:31):
They liked JC Horn a lot. Once they couldn't get him.
Tom was like, I'm gonna be patient. They got the
second best tackle and probably the third best corner, maybe fourth.
Sometimes just being patient in life pays off. I will
tell you I am all in on the Los Angeles Chargers.
I have bought Super Bowl futures on the Chargers. I

(39:52):
like them over nine wins for the year. I felt
like Herbert justin. Herbert last year really just did not
He wasn't rookie great. He was thoughtful, great, and there's
a big difference. There's a big difference between a rookie
getting on a hot streak and a rookie who looks
like he understands the playbook and is making smart throws

(40:15):
and is taking the chances when he needs to and
is getting the ball into tight windows and making NFL throws.
I thought that's what he did. He suffered greatly from horrible,
horrible decision making and the talent that he has around him.
He's got a level talent. And so also, don't forget
thrown James coming back. You want to talk about a

(40:36):
safety who can make a difference and get a team
over the top, get a team over their season. Win
tootle the Chargers at nine. Give me that, don't give
me the Jagger boy, Well, why can't I have both?
I'm gonna take the Jags over and the Chargers over? Fine,
why don't you take everybody over? Why don't you square
this whole thing out? No? No, that's a sucker. Bet.

(40:58):
I am not a soccer exactly, sound like one getting
out excited about urban Meyer drafted a safety in the
second round. That's the game changer. Come on, Milman, it's Friday.
I'm on. It's a small solo cup. There's a tiny cup.
It's like three quarters size. Yeah, Jesus Christ. Okay, let's

(41:20):
get out of here. Action Network. I'm gonna take the
Chargers over, is my bet? Okay, not the Jagat's too
stick with sleep on it. No no, no no, no no,
there's no sleep. There's no sobering up on this bet.
You came hard on the JAG's over. You're sad because
you're taking my money. I'm telling you right now. Okay, okay,

(41:42):
with you have some courage. Okay, JAG's over, Charger's over.
One of those is a good pick. All right, you're
talking to you, abody, Action Network. Chad Milman Man all right,
middle cough. The former Scouts great sol Is chet Millman
Alwa was big laughs. Thanks for listening at the Volume Sports,

(42:03):
Twitter and Instagram, rate review, subscribe, please follow us. We're
having so much fun, really nice NFL draft last couple
of days. Our staff at the Volumes kicking ass. I
love it. I'll see you Monday on TV. I'll see
you Monday on radio, and I'll have a podcast Monday
morning on the entire NFL Draft summing up the weekend.

(42:25):
See you then the volume
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Colin Cowherd

Colin Cowherd

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