Colin is joined by John Middlekauff, host of “3 and Out” to talk all things football.
They start with 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan being in a serious car accident and the controversy surrounding why he wasn’t checked for a DUI (4:30), and then discuss the outlook for the 49ers 2026 season (11:00).
They move to Shedeur Sanders heading into his second season and Colin argues that Deion is getting in the way of Shedeur’s success, but they both believe Shedeur will see significant playing time this year (15:00).
They head to the NFC East and preview the Cowboys and John believes Caleb Downs could transform the defense and picks them to win the division, and they react to Jerry Jones saying he’d be willing to make a splash trade midseason (25:00).
They pivot to Bill Belichick’s “friends and family” staff at North Carolina and Colin argues he’s not even trying to hire the best of the best (36:45).
Finally, they debate the expectations for Indiana football after the departure of #1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza and whether head coach Curt Cignetti can keep the success rolling (49:00).
All lines provided by @hardrockbet
(Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.)
Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates!
#Volume
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume support for today's episode comes from Square, the
system powering like half the places I go. If you've
ever tapped to pay and thought, WHOA, that was fast,
it was probably Square. Whether you're selling lattes, cutting hair,
running a packed game day spot, or managing a design studio,
Square helps you run your business without running yourself into
(00:23):
the ground. Square is the platform behind the scenes of
so many business as you already love. Whether somebody's selling
smoothies or cutting hair, fixing bikes, running a boutique, Square
gives them one connected system to take payments, manage inventory,
run payrolls and invoices, track it all in one place.
Squares in't just fast, it's smart, transparent, built for the
way people actually run their business. No contract, no hidden feno,
(00:45):
complicated installs. If you're starting a business or running one
that deserves better tools, Square helps you sell, manage, and
grow without slowing down. Right now, get up to two
hundred dollars off Square Hardware at Square dot com, slash
go slash hurt that's s q U a e R
dot com slash g O slash hurt. Run your business
(01:05):
sparner with Square. Get started today, right now, two hundred
Bucks off Square Hardware at Square dot com, slash Go
slash Colin s q U a r E dot com
slash go slash Colin. All right, John Middlecoff is gonna
be joining me on the Hurt for the next two
weeks as jmac is on VAK. And this is my
(01:27):
favorite vacation of the year, my two weeks in July
because by the end of it, football camps open up.
Somebody for the Niners is gonna get hurt because it's
the Niners. I mean, it just never fails Baltimore and
the Niners. Somebody will get hurt Before I get into that.
So I watched several movies, some good, some not even
(01:49):
worth mentioning? Have you seen Odyssey yet?
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Uh? With a six month old, I don't have three
and a half hours, Colin, I've got I bear. I'm lucky.
I just got an how we at the gym before
I got to pack up and get out of here.
You know, three that is a that could be a
century city the next couple of weeks. So you know,
I got some you know, afternoons to myself. So I've seen.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
You've seen Disclosure Day by Spielberg.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
I did not, but I saw Obsession last time. I
was down there with you at the Century City Mall,
which I heard your review with Ethan. I. I didn't
get that deep into it. I just kind of enjoyed it.
And I think the story how the guy made it
for under a million dollars in this day and age
pretty incredible, isn't it. I mean, the guy's gonna be
He's gonna have a lot of money behind him moving forward,
that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Yeah, I gotta tell you something I've I've there was
a documentary by Dan Fara that I thought was the
best documentary I've ever seen in Spielberg watched that documentary
and then made Disclosure Day, and I love Spielberg. My
wife really really liked it. It took too long for
me to get going. I just kind of felt like,
let's let's okay, some of this I'm not buying it.
(02:55):
The lead up took forever, aliens took forever to get
to but you know whatever. So I'm not a movie reviewer,
but I just you know, Obsession missed a little bit
for me. And so it's Spielberg and that's rare, Okay.
I want to throw this at you with the forty
nine ers. So I was off and I just let
people have at it. Kyle was, okay, that was good news.
(03:15):
I'll let everybody else chase the story. But I remember
when I moved to California having a discussion with an
attorney and he always said, California privacy laws are the
best in the country and the broadest. And then if
there's like not a firearm in that car wreck, a
discharged firearm, if there's not alcohol, duy, it's hard to
(03:40):
get information. A lot of stuff gets buried for weeks
and weeks or years because California privacy laws are like
next level. And you know, California has always been pretty
pretty tough on corporations, pretty good to the individual. Did
you feel and I also think Kyle Shanahan probably was
embarrassed and felt, you know, like he mostly it was
(04:03):
his blame. He didn't you know, he didn't leave the scene,
there was no alcohol involved. It was just you know,
he's on his phone, something happened. Did you feel like
there was a massive cover up? Part of it's the
privacy laws of California. Where did you land on it?
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Well, my wife's two of her best friends were married
to a cop and a firefighter that are both in
the Bay Area, in prominent areas. And we were with
one guy this summer and he said, it's impossible to
get a DUI in the city of San Francisco. There's
not going to give you one. The paperwork's too hard.
They just don't give DUIs. I said, just because you're
a firefighter. He's like, no, they just it could be you.
(04:39):
But the moment you cross go to Napa, go down
to Berlin, game like where it'lman's from, go to the
East Bay, you're not getting away with anything. And so
to me, when I saw the cover up, this is
not John gott in New York. This is not Big
dom and Philly, the Bay area one the police Okay,
(04:59):
maybe there born and raised in the general area, But
when he goes to the hospital instant, where do you
think all those people they're from all over the place, right,
the notion that they have some they're indebted to the
forty nine ers. And this is listen, I have a
family member that was in business with that, he'd Bartelow
back in the eighties. A little different ballgame back then,
you know. But in twenty twenty six, Colin to think
(05:22):
that it could be possible that he could be on
drugs or drinking. I mean, I've heard pretty definitively one
hundred that was not the issue right now. I understand
when people go twenty miles an hour, he's into Tesla.
Isn't that supposed to not allow you to go in
the other lane? Like, I get it. I've had had
those thoughts. But then as it comes out Kyle Shanahan,
(05:42):
you know, Wickersham writes that big deep article on Sean Payton.
He was he was, you know, basically with them in
the bunker for three weeks or whatever during the playoffs. Yeah,
you couldn't throw Kyle Shanahan. He'd jump off the Golden
gate Bridge before he allowed someone to do that. He's not.
You know, some of these older especially coaches like Sean Payton, Randy,
(06:03):
they've known a lot of people for a long time
and they just have normal human relationships with I think
a lot of people in the media. That's not really
Kyle Shanahan's deal.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Nope.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
You know people at Chris Simps well, Yet they played
college football together at Texas. It's like, how did Jerry
Jones and Jimmy Johnson know each other? They've known each
other since they were at Arkansas in whatever year. So
to think that in the Bay Area with Kyle Shanahan
that he could have got a dui and they could
have covered it up. Now, I do understand like the scene,
but the scene the scene would just be there when
(06:34):
he's in shambles, right and his head split open and
he basically just waits for his wife to show up.
I guess he wouldn't leave for twenty minutes until his
wife showed up. Palawato's pretty far away. Palowalto's north of
Santa Clara where they play, and he lives even south
of that, So it's I just have a hard Stanford
is not covering things up like they're doing in the
(06:55):
SEC when it comes to football players get in trouble.
That's not the way, you know. I'm from an hour
half north of that, but I don't quite under people
don't understand kind of the world, especially pala w Aalto.
I would say as well well.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
And also it's not a Niners beat reporter's job every
morning to wake up and call local police departments like
between the privacy laws. I mean, Shanahan's probably embarrassed. I didn't.
Just I just didn't feel like there was some massive
cover up. I think one of the things I've learned
over the course of my life and a lot of
times in media, is a lot of stuff takes a
(07:31):
while to come out. You know, I had an agent
years ago. Nick Kano has said organizations make a decision
six months before they fire you. Everybody in the building knows.
Everything gets delayed, accidents, corporate decisions, And I just I
just you know, I I don't know. I just I
thought there was a lot of suspicion. I think that
(07:53):
can be healthy by media members. I'm not dogging media members,
but I just know that when I first moved to
LA and I had had this random conversation I think
it was at dinner with a with a you know,
with an attorney talking about the California privacy lawsy like
they're just different level and a lot of stuff doesn't
get out that you would be shocked.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
I want to touch Isn't this really really quick? Back
on this This was not in season and it didn't
come out two weeks later. This is in the middle
of vacation, no one is at the facility. He gets
or what's Kyle Shanahan gonna put out a statement. Now
I get the Niners. I guess could have, but they're
reporting for camp in a week. It's obviously gonna come
out when he can't address the team. The other thing,
(08:33):
he has a major concussion. He can't even think straight.
You think the first thing he's thinking of, like, man,
I got a text Mayoko and Tim Kawakami and make
sure they know, uh, my head was just split open.
So I just and then he has them all in
the room a couple of days later and is in
tears because emotionally, concussions really mess with you. It's not
He's been in a great state over the course of
(08:54):
the month, So I I don't know if there is something,
and it'll it'll eventually get on cut in this day
and age, but I just think that it's borderline impossible
with the setup down there.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
So you know, it's It's interesting with the forty nine
ers is that Kyle is so respected that it sort
of bulldozes any mistakes or missteps in his life. I've
said multiple times on this podcast, my biggest problem with
the Niners is Seattle and the Rams draft better. So
(09:25):
the Rams and the Seahawks are just deeper rosters, and
so when the Niners get their predictable injuries every year,
they get real thin, real fast. They're old, expensive, thin
and kind of brittle. Now, Ricky Pearsall, you know, John,
I didn't love to pick. I think they overdraft receivers.
I think they've coddled them too often. Pearsall's not going
(09:47):
to play debo back for a year. Just give me
your sense on what the season is going to look like.
The Rams have added Myles Garrett, if Trent Williams gets hurt,
watch out Rock Purty. Kind of what do you forget?
You're very close to the Niners. What do you forecast?
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Well, I would say there's probably Kyle Shanahan is the
most important guy in the organization. So if Kyle, who's
literally in the concussion protocol right now, there were question
marks of him during regular season games, his ability to
cognitively put together game plans, call games. They have mikes
and and cameras in every in every meeting room. He
(10:28):
watches everything. He is. Nick Sirianni's not telling Vic Fangio
a damn thing, Right, Andy Reid leaves c Spagnoli alone, Right, Yeah, Uh,
that that is not the case with Kyle Shanahan. You know,
you read that wicker Sham article with Sean Payton on
his defense, that's Kyle. I mean, this is everything that
happens there, so to me more than any they went
(10:49):
to play. They went to Philly last year, won a
playoff game without George Kittle, without Fred Warren, without Nick Bosa.
If they got Kyle Shanahan, they're gonna be okay. Now
in the offseason, you know, Josh and Howie Roseman and
Less Sneak get a lot of you I mean Less
snee clearly convinced Sean McVay to draft his buddy's quarterback
or you know, right, and Ty Simpson was the driver
on that. That's not the case with John. A huge
(11:12):
part of John's job is to manage I do think
there's a chance Kyle's to change person a little bit
after this incident. But Kyle, you know, I think actually
his parallel might be a little. Sean Payton and his
dad they are tough. I mean they are it's and
that's probably his role more than just putting together draft boards,
because at the end of the day, Kyle's gonna run
the draft board. If I the Ricky Piersall thinks specifically,
(11:34):
this is why the drafts so hard. He didn't miss
a game in college, not one. He never missed a
game in college. Now, was he gonna be js and
or Justin Jefferson. No, But when he did play, he
looked like he could be a serviceable, pretty good starting
wide receiver. And I think they've done two things now
over the course of the last five six years. They've overreacted.
(11:55):
In twenty twenty one when Trey Lance, they had a
devastating year with Jimmy Garoppoli wasn't very good, and they
kind of had this moment late in the season against
Josh Allen and they're like, we need one of those.
It's like, well, those don't grow on trees. And then
they tried to draft Trey Lance and blew up in
their face. All these picks they got punked in the
Super Bowl and they couldn't get anyone open manned man.
(12:16):
So they're like, Ricky Piersoll is the best runner in
the draft. It's like, well, if you just draft Brayden
Fisk or Lasted or Lad Maconkey, you know. But they
try to force something and they're very, very fortunate that
you know, Kyle to me's the equivalent of like an
NBA star. He's that important, Like if you got Jokic,
(12:36):
your floor still pretty high, might not win the super
Bowl or or Lebron in his prime or Curry. That's
what Kyle is. It's pretty rare. It doesn't really exist
in the NFL, right, And that's truly is Kyle. So
I think if they just had a notch below him,
it could have unraveled multiple times. But to me, my
only question with the Niners. I mean, on paper, they're
probably not as good as the Rams clearly or Seattle,
(12:59):
but to me, they're still You look at the rest
of the NFC like they can make the playoffs, but
it's him. He's got to be. That's a the way
it's been reported. A lot of people talk to him
now like it was a pretty traumatic you know, he
got hit by this Mercedes, hit his face and the
the uh, the dad or the the overhead mirror you know,
came right into his eye, almost took out his eye.
It was it was really bad. So to me, it
(13:21):
comes down to him, and obviously they're guy's healthy, which
you never know.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Hey, I want to talk about Shadeur Sanders. So when
when players drop in the draft, there's usually either they're
just you know, they've got behavioral issues. I mean, Aaron
Hernandez was wildly talented, there were some questions about him
at at Florida, or you get into a situation like
(13:50):
Schadeur Sanders where dad, you know, the media tour during
the Super Bowl, were not playing for bad teams. And
I don't think there's I don't think any reason person
could deny what I'm about to say. Dion Sanders hurt
his son's Shadur in the draft profit process. I was
told that by people that I've been talking to for
twenty years in the NFL, like it didn't know that position,
(14:14):
that behavior kind of arrogantly dismissing certain organizations, you know,
the ones who are bad that wanted to draft you.
So the other day I saw Dion on the practice
field and I thought, God, Dion, you have no self awareness.
Like it's not going to affect him now, because I
really do think Shadure was significantly underdrafted. At worst, he
(14:36):
was late second to me, maybe very top of the third.
But I watched like ten of his college games. He
holds the ball too long, He did that in college.
He does it in the pros and that may be
the deal breaker. But he's accurate, he moves okay, he's
a risk taker. I don't think he's a great franchise guy.
And he may never get out of hold in the ball.
I mean Caleb Williams first year, you know it, it's
(15:00):
a problem. But when I saw Dion on the field,
I don't think Peyton Manning is going to be on
the field or Eli when Arch gets drafted next year,
I just thought, God, Dion, go coach Colorado like it.
I don't know why you've worked for an NFL team.
I just thought, get out of this kid's way, like
(15:21):
like like, yeah, Lebron Broun, Lebron James likes to play
with Brownie, but he's not getting in the way of him,
like he's he's separated. The JJ is going to play
him Reddick when he wants to play him. How did
when you saw Dion, how did it land for you?
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Why? I actually read the article. Yes, I think Jason Lloyd,
who covers the Cleveland area, I read it to Yeah,
and you know last year they wouldn't bend the knee.
They wouldn't and this year. I think Monkin's in a
weird spot. A little older, no one was going to
give him a head coaching job. Also for an old
he's pretty secure, like Todd Bunk is a good offensive coordinator,
like Tom Monkin knows what he's doing. What's Deon going
(15:57):
to tell him that offense? When Tom Monk has been
coaching the league for a long time. But when you
see the picture, the first thing I thought was that'd
be like Signetti calling up Kubiak, be like, I'm showing
up to camp. I'll give you two days, I'll tell
you everything you need to know about Fernando Mendoza. And exactly,
it's like, well, we've already done that work, We've already
talked to you, we already scouted the guy. And Dion's
(16:18):
one of the greatest players I've ever seen. I just
no one, no one would dispute that. And it's admirable
how much he loves his family clearly always. I do
think there's got to be a line though. This is
the big leagues. You know, Deon knows as well as anybody.
Look at the players he played with. I mean, can
you imagine Jimmy Johnson or George Seafert allowing opening the doors,
(16:38):
you know, in their facility. In a similar this is
a fifth round pick, Like you said, he his talent
will let him swim in the second round. Like Shador
easily most drafts could have gone in the second or
third round. But he was a fifth round pick. The
third round. Just got to be looking around, like, can
my dad come out in here and hang out and
go to the meetings. You know, I get he's Dion,
he's football royalty, but but a year in and now
(17:00):
they're giving him a chance to start. Dion, just let
it just just show up. Yes, it just kind of
lands not just enjoy it.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
And I'm and I'm telling you I have watched I
would I think Shador's I said it last year. There's
something there. His teammates like playing with him. I think
the receivers like him because he'll throw the ball down
the field. He will not dink and dunk. He'll let
it go. And I always thought the knock that he
wasn't athletic. He got his mom's DNA. It's like I
watched every Colorado game of note. He moved fine, he moves.
(17:29):
I mean Jared Goff's a statue Stafford doesn't move. He
moves fine. This idea that he's unathletic, but I watched
that stuff and I'm like, Dion, you screwed up the
draft thing. Because I do think he's a lot. I
think he's a little bit immature, but I think he's
a good kid. I don't think he's a back. He's
just immature.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
But here's the other thing. If you remember when the
story came out about Shador, one of the problems was
Dion had convinced him, or maybe he had convinced himself,
they would not talk to any teams with quarterbacks. So
the Eagles and the Ravens like were interested. They're like,
we are talking to you. It's like crazy. I mean
it's like, uh, now that Steve young'sat behind Joe Montana
for a while, you'll be you know, Aaron Rodgers, Brett Farvey.
(18:07):
It can't work out. Uh. The Ravens were one of
the teams that was very, very interested. I've read that,
and well, who was their offensive coordinator. The dude is
now as head coach, so I you know Todd if
you ever just watch his press conference in some of
the clips, like he's pretty he's got a little fangio
to him. Older guy at this point in time, made
a bunch of money, kind of got his shot. Now
(18:28):
is getting this shot like this is gonna be it.
He kind of he tells it like it is. And
he's been saying like these both these guys are gonna
get their shot. Chador's playing one way, whether he wins
the job week one, which anytime you're paying a guy
what forty five fifty million dollars like and you've already
paid Deshaun's gonna, if he's healthy, gonna start week one.
But this team is not good. You know, they actually
(18:49):
got some young pieces. But uh, i'd put the over
under six seven games in range for Schador to be
in maybe before that. I mean, Deshaun hasn't even proven
that he can stay healthy. So Deshaun at any moment
can go down. And yeah, I mean I think Chador
is gonna get his ample opportunity. They year to play
(19:10):
a bunch of games, and last year was a tough spot.
Last thrown in you know the Dylan Gabriel who seems
like a nice kid. I mean, I don't know many
people that had draftable grades on that guy. I mean, uh,
and it, which is clear now he's behind schaduor with
the guy that just independently came in from the outside,
was like, Shoudour's better. So I think it's gonna work out.
But I'm with you on Deon, just Dan Mikes, Deean.
(19:33):
You know, there's there's a reason Jerry Rice, you know,
used to like they used to go at it before
he got to the Niners, when he got to the Knighters,
Like Deon, can you just be serious here for a second.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Today's show brought to you by hard Rock Bet sportsbook.
Some sports fans call this the slow time of the year,
but on hard Rock Bet, we call it baseball season
the summer. Hard Rock Bet has the hottest betting odds
in Flora, introducing the ten cent summer sale, vague juice fee,
whatever you call it. Cutting are cut on winners, spreads
and over under pregame Baseball bet, same BET's better odds.
(20:05):
If you're ready to step into the batter's box, sign
up today hard Rock Bet five dollars bet. If it wins,
you get one hundred and fifty bucks in bonus bets
on top of your winnings. That's right, an extra buck
fifty in your account, and sure, hard Rock Bet is
Florida's only legal sportsbook, but you don't have to be
in Florida to join the party. Arizona, Ohio, New Jersey, Tennessee, Indiana, Virginia, Colorado, Illinois,
and Michigan. More states on the way. So grab your
(20:27):
bat and swing for the fences all August long during
hard Rock Bets ten cents Summer sale. Download the hard
Rock Bet app today. Roll with Us offered by the
Seminole Tribe of Florida, offered by Seminal hard Rock Digital, LLC.
And all other states. Must be twenty one plus and
physically president in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee,
or Virginia. Play terms and conditions apply. Concern about gambling
(20:49):
in Florida, call one eight three three play wise. In Indiana,
if you are somebody you know as a gambling problem
wants help, call what eight hundred and nine with it.
In Arizona, Ohio, Virginia, call one eight hundred My reset
gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler. You know it's
really I've always thought I'm pretty good on quarterback evaluation
(21:13):
I had. I stuck with Darnold. You know, I didn't
like a lot of the draft picks in recent years.
I'm a big Mendoza believer, but there was a lot
of guys that everybody fell into during the COVID times.
You know, I miss on some like everybody else, But
I always think I have a pretty good beat on it.
Jackson darts a little better than I thought, But I
do think Lane Kiffen to his first NFL coach, the
(21:37):
guy now at Tennessee, Brian Dabole, like I think that's
a that's pretty good coach in for a four year stretch.
But I was thinking about this when I was flying
back today. Nick Sirianni had the worst press conference I've
ever seen in my life, worst opening press conference. And
(21:58):
it works. You can say it's good ownership. It's Jalen Hurts.
He's got a lot of maturity around him, Howie Roseman.
But I never thought it would work. I had somebody
who I trust implicitly in the NFL say he's not
ready yet, he needs two to three more years. It's worked.
Brian Schottenheimer. I'm looking at it thinking he wasn't even
interviewing for top oc jobs. For that he he wasn't
(22:22):
sniffing head jobs last year. It worked, and so you know,
I look at those two guys, same division. Liam Cohen
I thought would work. Like I had heard everybody kept
saying Liam Cohen, who went from Tampa to the Jags.
Everybody's like, no, he's He's played the position in college.
He's really sharp. So that didn't surprise me. We all
(22:44):
knew Shanahan was going to be great, you know, from
Atlanta to the Niners. Kevin O'Connell was called the tall McVeigh.
But I watch Sirianni and then I watch Schottenheimer, and
I look at Dallas this year, and I'm like, I
like their personnel. I can go twelve deep on players,
(23:05):
I like you can. Everybody lamented the Micah trade, shit
their rosters better today a year later. How do you
explain Schottenheimer.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
I'm picking the Cowboys to win the division. Now, obviously
the Eagles offense is like it was a couple of
years ago. That would be a problem for my pick.
But there are a lot of question marks new coordinator.
I think the Cowboys when we went to the Super
Bowl and had the Super Bowl party, I went the
day before, and I went to this forty nine er
thing and it was like Montana, Roger Craig, Harris Barton,
(23:40):
and Ronnie Lott, and I remember leaving. I don't remember
those guys really planning. I was born in the mid eighties,
but when I left, I've always heard stories I kind
of grew up more on. Steve Young was like, you know,
Ronnie Lott was kind of the alpha, and you know,
Joe is not exactly Brady or Manning, like, that's not
the way he comes off. Now, he was very cool
under pressure. Well, the forty nine ers turned into adynasty
(24:00):
when they drafted Ronnie Lott in nineteen eighty one. And
when you hear those guys Roger Craig's about to go
to the Hall of Fame, Joe Harris Bardon, the way
they talk about Ronnie Lott, You're like, damn that guy.
I it's almost he was underappreciated in the history of
sports for how important he was to that organization.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
So there's an argument he and Ed Reid are the
best safeties in the history of the sport.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Yeah, and you'd say him, those two and Dion are
the three greatest dbs. Maybe a couple other guys you
can find the seventies. Caleb Downs. I don't know if
he's quite. I'm not gonna say he's going to be
quite Ronnie Lott, but he goes to Saban immediately starts
as an eighteen year old, and he goes to Ohio
State and for two years they clearly last year he
fits right in on a defense full of seniors, right boom,
(24:42):
doesn't even skip a beat, and it's like they're their
kind of heartbeat. Last year they get all these young
guys and by the end they're raising their floor. And
every time I hear Patricia, who's only been around genius
football players, and Brady McCarty, all the guys for twenty years,
it's like, this guy's brilliant, and clearly he's an elite
blue chip player. But he plays a position that isn't
past rusher, isn't left tackle as a wide receiver. What
(25:04):
if he changes their defense immediately? I remember on draft night,
I'm a sick. I watch a lot of those first
round press conferences like that night because I can't sleep.
And Jerry, you can make fun of a lot of
things he says, but he will give you some pretty
good insights, Like we couldn't even get lined up last year.
No one could talk this guy just immediately we know
week one we can get lined up. So their defensive
(25:26):
line is gonna be better. Listen, their offense is good.
Brian Schottenheimer is life's funny. I mean, at one point
in time, he was talked about fifteen years ago. Like
Kyle Shanahan, absolutely comes from a coaching background. Yeah, his
dad was like the tragic version of Mike Shanahan, could
never get over the hump. But no one that ever
knew Marty Schottenheimer played against Marty Schottenheimer didn't hold him
(25:49):
to the highest regard. So this guy comes from football. Like,
this guy's lived football his whole life and kind of
unlike Kyle and guys like McVeigh that they got their
chance and they never look back. This guy got close
and then it kind of got derailed. He's clearly a
really good offensive coordinator and defensively they're banking on this
(26:10):
young guy they hired from Philadelphia. But what if Caleb
Downs changes all that and they got a little lucky
because of the if he played Colin if the equivalent
of that player was like five other positions, he would
have gone like third or fourth. Max right, if he
was the defensive end version of what he was in safety,
he would have been the number two pick after random
(26:30):
and knows, he would have gone above Daily Bailey. But
he played safety, so it's like, ah, he's a little smaller,
he's not fast. It's like, I don't know, remember Ed
Reid didn't go and Troy paulam maull. All of a sudden,
you look a couple of years later, you're like, what
the hell is going on? Because they can impact like
Ronnie Lott, they are they're the voice of the defense.
And then now in a passing league, you're, you know,
(26:51):
the middle linebacker. If you can cover a Keekley Fred
is really important. But that guy is essentially kind of
that version two. Now with all these teams running four
and five guys on route. So I like the Cowboys
a lot this year. They've always played the Eagles well
over the course the last three or four years. Well,
it's just it's just defensively, they were the worst pass
defense I think statistically, like in the history of the
(27:12):
league last year. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Well, and I also think I mean Dak it's Jason
Garrett it's Mike McCarthy, it's it's it's now Brian Schottenheimer.
All offensive coaches different ideology and language. But I think
Dak is so high functioning. I think he's just one
of the smarter guys in the league that Dak now
(27:35):
is the kind of guy that, like coaching has become
less and less relevant, if you give him ample protection,
Dak is wildly productive iq EQ leadership toughness. So Dak's
the kind of guy that, let's say Schottenheimer's a B coach,
I think Dak can elevate a coach. I mean, we
always think of coach as elevating players. Well, players can
elevate coaches. I don't think there's any question with that.
(27:57):
And I think I think I just look at Dallas's
talent and I'm like, you know, I missed on Sirianni.
I maybe I just I think I probably missed on Schottenheimer.
I mean, we all knew that Sean Payton was going
to work in Denver, or Harball was going to make
the Chargers better. Some of that rabel in New England,
some of this stuff's easy. Ben Johnson was going to
be better than the Eberfus mess. But Shottenheimer, it's like
(28:20):
I look up and I'm like, yeah, it's a swing
and a miss. I think he something's working. They were
pretty consistent last year, and for a young offensive line
and a bad secondary, I kind of knew what I got.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Well, I know you were jogging around the coastline, But
did you see Jerry his comments saying that we had
no the right deal comes along, we will throw draft
picks on the table. So if they are competitive, the Raiders,
they've done a really good job and they're trending in
the right direction. But given the division, given the schedule,
(28:54):
they could go seven and ten or six and eleven
and be dramatically better. But if you're way out of
the playoff run come early mid October, like we're not
make do you entertain, Like, hey, hey, Jerry, would you
give us a one? You're never getting that offer you
once had. But what if Max looks fantastic, he looks
like he's gonna be a fifteen SAT guy. You wouldn't
take Jerry's first and second round pick. Well, also, jo
(29:16):
to me, they will be sniffing around that. Jerry already
said we didn't turn them down. They turned us down.
We wanted them.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
Listen, remember when Rudy Gobert got traded for like nine
draft picks, because that was kind of pre nil. The
draft was horrible, everybody was one and done. Well, now
post nil, you're like, you don't give up nine draft
pick because guys come out now and they're twenty three
and it's their third year in COP. So the NBA
(29:43):
draft is just better now. Well, the NFL draft, I
could argue, is a little weaker now because the back
at fifth, sixth, seventh round guys they're staying in college. So,
I mean, I watched this year's draft, and after the
Bob about the mid fifth round, I'm I watched a
lot of college football. There's a lot of these guys
(30:03):
are not NFL players. So my take is giving draft
picks up was always pretty precious. Last couple of years
on IL. After like the fifth round, John mid fifth,
teams just move off picks much more freely.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
Well, and he's even this, think about the first round. Now,
some of these guys, if you're gonna be Dante Moore
went back to school, Dante Moore would have been a
top five pick. Well, why do you go back to school?
Because he's got organ. How much do you think he's making,
I mean a decent amount. So you have the first
round last year, they said that was one of the
worst first rounds they've ever seen. Well, that could continue
(30:40):
because you're like, you know, I might go twentieth or
I could just stay at this college with my beautiful
girlfriend and all my friends. I don't have to go
to class anymore and make six million dollars. Everything's free.
I'm living like a king these games. It's not like
no one's We got twenty million people watch some of
these college football games, so the atmosphere is incredible. That
(31:01):
if you're drafting in the twenties, Denver traded right, the
Rams traded, yeah, the Bills, if the right opportunity, should
be all over because you're not guaranteed you're gonna keep
having these waves of guys. Guys, if you don't know
for sure, you're like top twelve, top fifteen, Like I'm
a fringe first rounder. That means you're very valuable in
the open market in college and you could easily stay.
(31:23):
So I I've had a general manager tell me last
year after the draft it was the worth fifth plus
rounds he's ever you know, fifth sixth seventh he's ever seen.
He started getting undrafted free agents. He's like, it's hard
for me to be critical after like pick one hundred
on anyone you drafted, like it's it, that's to each
his own. Everybody like, it's just this is a weird one,
(31:44):
you know his what I fifteen years ago, you'd be like, god,
we had like a second round grade and the guy'd
be like a fifth round maybe character, maybe a little small.
But I think these drafts now with people going back
and it's it's only unless they change the rules of nil.
I don't think that's slow down, do you?
Speaker 1 (32:01):
I don't. I don't. So I had Bill Belichick on
before I went on vacation.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
I was with you.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
Oh that's right, you were with it. And Bill was
in just a good mood, right, And you know, I've
been critical of Bill. I basically like everybody else, always
thought he was at least fifty percent of Brady's success,
although I thought Brady was great, but I thought Bill
was brilliant. Then at the end of New England they
couldn't draft, right. I was pretty critical of Bill, so
I didn't know how he would be. I told my staff,
(32:31):
I may ask twenty questions to get forty two words back.
He was just telling story after story, and it's interesting.
So the Mike Lombardi situation, he hired him as his GM,
and one of the criticisms I've had of Belichick at Carolina,
it's a friends and family staff, Like, I don't think
he hired the best of the best. It's a lot
of allies, friends, connections. I don't feel like it's an
(32:53):
elite staff. What's interesting is Lombardi worked at Fox when
I first got there. He was one of the first
NFL analysts we had that would come in studio because
he lived in La Santa Monica. I think I loved
him as a guest. I mean for twelve to fifteen minutes,
he had big opinions. He had a good sense of personnel.
You know, just some guys are just really good on TV.
I always said, Mike Tomlin at the podium, it's just
(33:14):
freaking magic. Like twelve verd answers, they sound like they're
from Plato. They're like these perfectly sculptured, sculptured soundbites. Lombardi
is a great SoundBite and he's got kind of that
Charlie Wise, New Jersey tough, gruff, bottom line feel. But
it's interesting because I look at this situation in Carolina
(33:37):
and it's obviously got some hr entanglements here. And it's
funny with Bill. Bill is every coach has, every broadcaster,
everybody's got a hole. And I think Bill's hole is
(33:58):
he has such confidence in his intelligence that he tends
to think, I just want to hire somebody I know.
I don't want to teach him how to do things.
If they know how I do business, my kids, Lombardi,
I'm good with it. And I think Bill has so
much confidence with his football knowledge scouting. He's just an intellect.
(34:20):
He's a football intellect that I think it actually hurts
him in the hiring process where he's like, I'm not
going to do a deep dive. He knows me. He
won't get in the way. I don't have to teach
him football. I don't have to teach him my personality.
He won't get offended when I choose. But I just
I look at his Carolina staff and his late New
England staff, and I'm like, it kind of feels like
(34:40):
he's just not pursuing the best of the best.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Yeah, you know, when he got hired maybe I was like,
a maybe it will work now looking back, and it
never had a chance. I mean, how's he going to
compete against the Mario Crysto Bowls and the Kirby Smarts.
My thought was less about like bringing in his son Steve,
who was with Jed at Washington, or Mike who has
(35:06):
hadn't had college experience in forty years in the NFL.
If Bill wanted to do something, he really had a
meeting with one person, and it was Robert, and maybe
as time went on, Jonathan snuck in there as well.
He was notorious for like not telling Cassario or Bioli
or Josh McDaniels. Sometimes those guys are like, oh, we
had no freaking clue. And I always heard like they
(35:29):
had strict rules in the building, like they didn't. He
did not have a woman assistant like a lot of
coaches that there, they're personal assistant. They usually have like
a young up and coming coach who does that version,
but they have like a woman answering the phone. Andy
always did. Bill wouldn't even allow it in the football
because he's like, we're not players coaches around. I don't
want any problems. You can't avoid that in college, you
(35:50):
share you share weight rooms with other coaches, with other
female women. You have. It's probably much more like a
corporate fortune five hundred. You have a regions, a president
of ad AD has a million people you're dealing with,
Like what's an who if I had an HR complaint
when I worked for Howie Roseman, where would I even go?
(36:12):
Not that I ever did, But it's you just keep
your head down. It's tough. That's kind of that's the NFL.
Not that college isn't, but there are a lot of
other people you can walk into athletic department. I just
think these guys operate like they always have operated, and
they realize like North Carolina. To me, when I think
about it's like a Stanford, like a Northwestern, like a Vanderbilt. Academically,
(36:34):
it means a lot the prestige of the university. You know,
it's always been a basketball school, right And you think
Dean Smith, even Hubert Davis has got run out. Wasn't
Hubert Davis known as like super high character, great human,
treated everyone really well? That is not Bill, you know,
that is like we want to Yeah, Josh McDaniels, his
(36:55):
old crew, Brian Flores, there that's that's the crew he
surrounds himself with. Look at Andy's they're just happier. You know.
You gravitate toward people you can kind of relate to.
And there's a reason Bill and the Bardi have been
friends for whatever thirty plus years. So I listen, I'll
give North Carolina credit. Nothing's really leaked about the details
(37:16):
in this, but clearly there's something and it might come
out as something that if this happened with the Denver
Broncos or Seattle Seahawks, no one. It's like what but
in college it's just a little different. And these guys
went in there kind of pumping their chest thirty thirteen.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
Yea.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
It was like, Bill, you're just coming from New England.
You just won four games, so I mean, and you
haven't been exactly capital allocator. You got lucky for a
long time. People would take financial breaks to come play
for you. It wasn't like they were wheeling and dealing
like Sam Presty or whatever. Not that he didn't make
great personnel moves, but a lot of times financially in
terms of allocating his resources in the cap was a
(37:54):
lot of like, yeah, I'll stay with you to win
and take it like, Okay, you're signing guys at below
market rates, Like every team in the league would have
done that, but most players would tell the GM or
coach FU, I'm not signing that contract. But they had
the Brady who set the tone kind of a unique
financial model that wasn't really replicable, I would say anywhere
else in like the history of sports, because they did
(38:15):
it forever. They did it forever, getting guys to take less,
taking reclamation projects. Not every team has it happened every
once in a while, but they did it for basically
almost two decades. And then he goes and you're allocating
funds toward high school kids, like Bill, whence the last
time you watched high school football? You don't know all
these high school coaches too? Like how many high school
(38:36):
coaches does Ryan Day, Kirby Smart, Lane Kiff and Dan
Landing know on a first name basis around the country? Hundreds? Yeah, hundreds,
Well on a first name basis.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
Yeah, And I do think one of the difficult parts
is that Charlie Weiss was schematically excellent, so is Bill.
But you get kids for seventeen hours a week. You know,
this is not the NFL where you can just guys
just live in the facility. You have NCAA guidelines on
how how much you can do. So it's it's I
always think if you're a football academic, college isn't for you.
(39:11):
The guys that I thought would have done well in
college are Rex Ryan and John Gruden. Kind of handsome
or big personality. They walk into a room and Rex
Ryan's like, funny, confident, Rex Ryan. Tennessee had an opening
years ago. I had dinner with Rex and a bunch
of people. I'm like, bro, you could crush in college.
John Gruden to me, his name was up for Tennessee
(39:33):
for years, and I'm like, John Gruden would crush in
college guys that are like I mean, there's just certain guys.
Shanahan's kind of an academic, Bellichick's an academic. Those guys
just don't have your your brilliance is minimized based on
time limitations and and so I And that doesn't mean
(39:54):
like there's a certain reality with Nick Saban Nicks the
rare coach that was good with ski teams and had
a personality, But that's that's usually a guy's one or
the other, like they're big personality, light on schemes or
they're all scheme guy, but they're gruff Jersey vibe. They
don't work. So you know, I don't think Bill's brilliant.
(40:15):
Mario Cristibal is not the coach Bill is. But boy
crystal Ball walks into a room. That bro's got a presence,
like I want to play for Mario crystal.
Speaker 2 (40:24):
Ball totally, I think. I mean, I got no clue
what Bill's roster looks like in terms of the actual players.
But another huge year, bunch of turnover. Now you got Look,
they just added what's his name the new Virginia Tech
coach from Penn State. Like when I think college football,
I think James Franklin, Mario Christibaal Dabo's had some weird years,
(40:44):
but like Dabo is a college coach through and through.
Like this could get hard fast. The wake Forest. They
hired a Dickert from Washington State. He went eight I
think eight and four, nine and three, Like he's a
he's a college coach, So yeah, bel chick and look up,
I everyone bangs on the acc It clearly is nowhere
what it used to be. He could be getting his
teeth kicked in by some of these us. You know,
(41:05):
I mean I think they open. Do they open like
week zero in Ireland? Or I think they have an
international game. It happened last year. Remember they drive that
first that first they get the they get the kickoff
and they go and they score the touchdown like oh,
Bill Belichick's gonna'll be and then they lost like forty
nine to seven. So people are paying attention, and I'd
(41:25):
be stunned if this is' Bill's last year in North Carolina.
Win you.
Speaker 1 (41:30):
I think he's got one year left. Yeah, Hunger strikes
and you're exhausted. What to do well with Factor? It's
never a problem. Factor is fully prepared meals designed by
dietitians and crafted by chefs. They're great delivered right to
your door. Factor has meals built around your goals, whether
that's weight loss, overall nutrition, more protein, or GLP one
(41:52):
support for strength and workout recovery. You check out Factors
Muscle Pro Collection, Fresh Never Frozen, over one hundred rotating weekly,
including globally inspired flavors like Mediterranean and Asian, so there's
always something to look forward to. Ready in a couple
of minutes, that's it. Two minutes. Factor shops preps, cooks,
and delivers straight to your door. You have more time
for everything else you love in your life, so we
(42:12):
use Factor. You should too, head to Factor meals dot
com slash colin fifty. That's Factor meals dot com slash
colin fifty and use that code callin fifty to get
half off and free daily Greens per box with new
subscription only while supplies last until nine twenty seven, twenty
twenty six. I want to close it on this. So
(42:40):
I never knew because Indiana basketball has been down for
a long time, I never knew there were this many
Indiana graduates until they won a national championship in football.
And now I see Indiana hats. If I go down
in Naples, where my wife and I occasionally go, I
see Indiana shirts everywhere. And a guy came up to
me the other day, and they're always nice. They were
(43:01):
a lot of the guys went to the business school there,
which is like top seven or eight in the country.
Bloomington is supposed to be one of the great college towns,
so I'm happy for him and Mark Cuban went there.
And but I think this is a legitimate debate, and
I don't know the answer. So when Kurt Signetti first
gets there, he does a great job to clean him up.
(43:23):
But they played, they went to the playoff, they played
Notre Dame. That was brutal. I mean, they're they're punting
late in the game at like midfield. You're like, this
is bad, uncreative offense. Then they get Mendoza and suddenly
every article is Kurt Signetti is the smartest man in
the history of football. However, my take is, men, they
(43:43):
could have lost four games. I watched every big Indiana game.
That Penn State game. Penn State's backup quarterback was up
and down the field on the Hoosiers. Mendoza won the game,
he won the Oregon game, he won the Miami game.
And so now we go into another year without Mendoza.
And I do think, and again, Signetti is gruff. He's
(44:08):
very quotable, and I think he's a really good coach.
And it is bizarre. I mean, they just don't have
holding penalties none. They just don't have motion penalies. Some
of that. As Mendoza was, he not only played at Cal,
he got into Yale. Men, those are just it was
a very clean, very efficient, areadye offense. And so it's
(44:28):
Like when people ask me, what do you buy Signetti,
I'm like, I know he's a good coach, but we've
almost his first year that lost the Notre Dame disappeared
in the ether, and we're not giving Mendoza enough credit,
who I think was an all time college quarterback. So
your take on Signette is he as brilliant as some
(44:50):
of the analytics say or do we just don't understand
how good Mendoza was late in games last year.
Speaker 2 (44:58):
I think Signetti has been fantastic. I think one thing
we've lost, you know, I sometimes I get nostalgic about
the nineties in sports, coaches, baseball, manager, big personalities. You
see some of these clips from the Loop, Panela's the
Hal mccraz I mean, Mike Dick, Oh yeah, you would
(45:19):
just Don Nelson. Everyone's so rich now it's we didn't
talk about Baker Mayfield. But the one thing, whether wherever
you stand, whatever Baker deserves I respect. He'll just say
what he actually thinks. Like none of these quarterbacks they
speak like coaches now, Like you just listen to Stafford
given interview, it's like just he's staying with in the lanes,
(45:40):
you know, And I think college sports basketball, the all
the guard that I grew up on is basically done
and retired. You know, Coach k And is probably the
last one holding on. But the Beaheims, the Calhouns, those
guys would talk. I mean, he goes and takes that
shot essentially. At the I find it refreshing. You know,
(46:03):
everything's become like how many more billions can we make?
How many more teams can we bring in? Consolidate? Like
I get where the Pac twelve we're never going back,
and the ACC will probably disappear here soon. I appreciate
a guy that will just ruffle some feathers, and when
he's winning, he can't really say anything. I pull out
their schedule. Their first three games are North Texas, Howard,
(46:24):
and Western Kentucky, so I would imagine they're gonna start fast.
Then they get Northwestern, who I can't imagine is gonna
be that good. At Rutgers at Nebraska struggles to win
more than six games, So going into Ohio State, they're
probably gonna be six to oh Michigan, who's gonna be better.
I don't know if their quarterback can play, by all accounts.
So they get USC at home. I mean Colin. They're
(46:44):
probably looking if they just kind of do what they
did two years ago with Curtis Rourke, who's currently on
the Niners, who's probably a fringe NFL guy, maybe more UFL.
Hoover probably won't live up to be in Mendoza, but
it'll be better than Rourke. We know Signety's an offensive guy.
His defensive coordinator is really good. They're gonna be good again.
And I was just before we went on, I was
(47:05):
eating break like a late breakfast, and I was reading
this athletic article about the top high school quarterback and
he's going to Houston next year. And the other guy
was supposed to go to Georgia but ended up he's
a Nashville kid staying at Vanderbilt. You've been hammering this
home forever. I think we have to look at it
a little differently of like, well, if you're just one
of the best players, you're going to Alabama Georgia. You know,
(47:27):
why is the top guy going to Houston. They probably
probably got a huge amount of money from a booster
with a lot of money who's in the oil world.
You know, That's why it's the huge advantage that and
you would even put Houston on the tier of Texas
and Texas A and M. But I was just played
golf a couple of days ago with a big TCU fan.
The money that TCU, He's like, yeah, SMU down the
(47:47):
road has even more. I mean these Texas schools, the
smure gonna lose a player to Alabama if they want
to cut a Check's no.
Speaker 1 (47:55):
And Indiana's got a top eight business school. So Indiana's
got money such a Mark Cuban. They've got two big
donor families that write eight figure checks. So Indiana's humman.
Speaker 2 (48:06):
Yeah, could he talk like this if he was at
you know, Ole miss Or a school that's not a tradition,
you know, a school that's not going to have financial
means in this modern day anio. But he knows he's
got the backing. So and he's been doing this a
while now. The one thing you got to give him
is leaving leaving Saban his experience running the show. He's
(48:29):
pretty cocky and confident because he's this isn't some guy
that just showed up. It is, you know, two years
into being a head coach. In his mind, all those
years behind him matter. He's pretty good evaluator. Because he's
taken that Pond's kid he got from transfer from JMU
Goes I think in the third round. Yeah, that was
one of the best corners I saw last year played
college football. But I know he's five to nine. But
(48:52):
Signetty knows what football players look like now to main like,
if they played that Ohio State game last year ten times,
Ohio State probably wins.
Speaker 1 (49:01):
Well, that's got better personal no question.
Speaker 2 (49:04):
And that they're probably I know they don't win it
every year. Would you call them currently the number one
program in America?
Speaker 1 (49:09):
I think Ohio State coach momentum nil recruiting play, Yeah,
I think Ohio one.
Speaker 2 (49:18):
I probably would give them the number.
Speaker 1 (49:19):
I'll tell you Miami if they do it again. Miami
is way up there now.
Speaker 2 (49:24):
Can catch them fast. But Signetti is going to have
to play Ohio State every year. And Kyle Whittingham's been
winning with a lot of you know, mid tier recruits,
so you would imagine if he's got some fire, kind
of pissed off the way he left Utah, I could
see Michigan being way better immediately. We know they're gonna
be tough and physical. Honestly, doesn't chant Wittingham's team always
(49:47):
kind of looks like Signette's. I would say, physical coach, well,
not screw up smart kids. Washington, Oregon and USC all
be better than last year, and in Washington's case much better.
So like this is, you know, the days of the SEC.
I mean, I said it last year, top of the
(50:11):
SEC is not the big ten, and I'm not sure
this year the middle of the SEC is going to
be the big ten because I'm telling you Washington has
got some dudes. They return their quarterback, Oregon returns their quarterback.
USC returns to their quarterbacks, and those quarterbacks were all
good last year. And all those schools, especially USC and
Oregon have nil money to burn. So, by the way,
(50:33):
I think one thing college football needs to get when
we talk about the NFL, it's just like, is Tampa
gonna be any good this year? Regardless whether Tampa plays
the NFC West or the NFC East, what's college football?
The season starts, it becomes pure football. But I feel
like everything surrounding it is like nil schedule. Yeah, they
(50:54):
have to find a way to get some sort of
just unity, like you know, and I feel so much
of the conversation feels a little reality TV. You know,
you got the commissioners going back and forth, which I
understand where they're all coming from, but it just it's
it feels like it's becoming a little exhausting. Once the
(51:15):
season starts, it no longer does. But the off season
for that, like the off season for the NFL is fun.
Right for college it's like, oh, Ole Miss is now
suing these LSU players, Like what.
Speaker 1 (51:25):
Are we doing?
Speaker 2 (51:26):
You know, it's like how do we I understand there's
a lot of moving parts. You got a lot of
people involved, but it just feels like they got a
long way to go before they figured this out, and
it's all inevitable, you know, North versus the South in
some form of fashion, big ten sec. But like in
the NFL, it's just like are the Saints going to
(51:47):
be any good? You know, it's just we just can
talk about football. In college, there's so much other stuff.
Speaker 1 (51:52):
It's very administrative, exhaust Yeah, it really is. All right.
We'll see you tomorrow in FS one next two weeks.
John Middlecoff, former NFL scout, is going to be joining
me on the show. See you soon gonna be back.
He
The volume support for today's episode comes from Square, the
system powering like half the places I go. If you've
ever tapped to pay and thought, WHOA, that was fast,
it was probably Square. Whether you're selling lattes, cutting hair,
running a packed game day spot, or managing a design studio,
Square helps you run your business without running yourself into
(00:23):
the ground. Square is the platform behind the scenes of
so many business as you already love. Whether somebody's selling
smoothies or cutting hair, fixing bikes, running a boutique, Square
gives them one connected system to take payments, manage inventory,
run payrolls and invoices, track it all in one place.
Squares in't just fast, it's smart, transparent, built for the
way people actually run their business. No contract, no hidden feno,
(00:45):
complicated installs. If you're starting a business or running one
that deserves better tools, Square helps you sell, manage, and
grow without slowing down. Right now, get up to two
hundred dollars off Square Hardware at Square dot com, slash
go slash hurt that's s q U a e R
dot com slash g O slash hurt. Run your business
(01:05):
sparner with Square. Get started today, right now, two hundred
Bucks off Square Hardware at Square dot com, slash Go
slash Colin s q U a r E dot com
slash go slash Colin. All right, John Middlecoff is gonna
be joining me on the Hurt for the next two
weeks as jmac is on VAK. And this is my
(01:27):
favorite vacation of the year, my two weeks in July
because by the end of it, football camps open up.
Somebody for the Niners is gonna get hurt because it's
the Niners. I mean, it just never fails Baltimore and
the Niners. Somebody will get hurt Before I get into that.
So I watched several movies, some good, some not even
(01:49):
worth mentioning? Have you seen Odyssey yet?
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Uh? With a six month old, I don't have three
and a half hours, Colin, I've got I bear. I'm lucky.
I just got an how we at the gym before
I got to pack up and get out of here.
You know, three that is a that could be a
century city the next couple of weeks. So you know,
I got some you know, afternoons to myself. So I've seen.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
You've seen Disclosure Day by Spielberg.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
I did not, but I saw Obsession last time. I
was down there with you at the Century City Mall,
which I heard your review with Ethan. I. I didn't
get that deep into it. I just kind of enjoyed it.
And I think the story how the guy made it
for under a million dollars in this day and age
pretty incredible, isn't it. I mean, the guy's gonna be
He's gonna have a lot of money behind him moving forward,
that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Yeah, I gotta tell you something I've I've there was
a documentary by Dan Fara that I thought was the
best documentary I've ever seen in Spielberg watched that documentary
and then made Disclosure Day, and I love Spielberg. My
wife really really liked it. It took too long for
me to get going. I just kind of felt like,
let's let's okay, some of this I'm not buying it.
(02:55):
The lead up took forever, aliens took forever to get
to but you know whatever. So I'm not a movie reviewer,
but I just you know, Obsession missed a little bit
for me. And so it's Spielberg and that's rare, Okay.
I want to throw this at you with the forty
nine ers. So I was off and I just let
people have at it. Kyle was, okay, that was good news.
(03:15):
I'll let everybody else chase the story. But I remember
when I moved to California having a discussion with an
attorney and he always said, California privacy laws are the
best in the country and the broadest. And then if
there's like not a firearm in that car wreck, a
discharged firearm, if there's not alcohol, duy, it's hard to
(03:40):
get information. A lot of stuff gets buried for weeks
and weeks or years because California privacy laws are like
next level. And you know, California has always been pretty
pretty tough on corporations, pretty good to the individual. Did
you feel and I also think Kyle Shanahan probably was
embarrassed and felt, you know, like he mostly it was
(04:03):
his blame. He didn't you know, he didn't leave the scene,
there was no alcohol involved. It was just you know,
he's on his phone, something happened. Did you feel like
there was a massive cover up? Part of it's the
privacy laws of California. Where did you land on it?
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Well, my wife's two of her best friends were married
to a cop and a firefighter that are both in
the Bay Area, in prominent areas. And we were with
one guy this summer and he said, it's impossible to
get a DUI in the city of San Francisco. There's
not going to give you one. The paperwork's too hard.
They just don't give DUIs. I said, just because you're
a firefighter. He's like, no, they just it could be you.
(04:39):
But the moment you cross go to Napa, go down
to Berlin, game like where it'lman's from, go to the
East Bay, you're not getting away with anything. And so
to me, when I saw the cover up, this is
not John gott in New York. This is not Big
dom and Philly, the Bay area one the police Okay,
(04:59):
maybe there born and raised in the general area, But
when he goes to the hospital instant, where do you
think all those people they're from all over the place, right,
the notion that they have some they're indebted to the
forty nine ers. And this is listen, I have a
family member that was in business with that, he'd Bartelow
back in the eighties. A little different ballgame back then,
you know. But in twenty twenty six, Colin to think
(05:22):
that it could be possible that he could be on
drugs or drinking. I mean, I've heard pretty definitively one
hundred that was not the issue right now. I understand
when people go twenty miles an hour, he's into Tesla.
Isn't that supposed to not allow you to go in
the other lane? Like, I get it. I've had had
those thoughts. But then as it comes out Kyle Shanahan,
(05:42):
you know, Wickersham writes that big deep article on Sean Payton.
He was he was, you know, basically with them in
the bunker for three weeks or whatever during the playoffs. Yeah,
you couldn't throw Kyle Shanahan. He'd jump off the Golden
gate Bridge before he allowed someone to do that. He's not.
You know, some of these older especially coaches like Sean Payton, Randy,
(06:03):
they've known a lot of people for a long time
and they just have normal human relationships with I think
a lot of people in the media. That's not really
Kyle Shanahan's deal.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Nope.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
You know people at Chris Simps well, Yet they played
college football together at Texas. It's like, how did Jerry
Jones and Jimmy Johnson know each other? They've known each
other since they were at Arkansas in whatever year. So
to think that in the Bay Area with Kyle Shanahan
that he could have got a dui and they could
have covered it up. Now, I do understand like the scene,
but the scene the scene would just be there when
(06:34):
he's in shambles, right and his head split open and
he basically just waits for his wife to show up.
I guess he wouldn't leave for twenty minutes until his
wife showed up. Palawato's pretty far away. Palowalto's north of
Santa Clara where they play, and he lives even south
of that, So it's I just have a hard Stanford
is not covering things up like they're doing in the
(06:55):
SEC when it comes to football players get in trouble.
That's not the way, you know. I'm from an hour
half north of that, but I don't quite under people
don't understand kind of the world, especially pala w Aalto.
I would say as well well.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
And also it's not a Niners beat reporter's job every
morning to wake up and call local police departments like
between the privacy laws. I mean, Shanahan's probably embarrassed. I didn't.
Just I just didn't feel like there was some massive
cover up. I think one of the things I've learned
over the course of my life and a lot of
times in media, is a lot of stuff takes a
(07:31):
while to come out. You know, I had an agent
years ago. Nick Kano has said organizations make a decision
six months before they fire you. Everybody in the building knows.
Everything gets delayed, accidents, corporate decisions, And I just I
just you know, I I don't know. I just I
thought there was a lot of suspicion. I think that
(07:53):
can be healthy by media members. I'm not dogging media members,
but I just know that when I first moved to
LA and I had had this random conversation I think
it was at dinner with a with a you know,
with an attorney talking about the California privacy lawsy like
they're just different level and a lot of stuff doesn't
get out that you would be shocked.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
I want to touch Isn't this really really quick? Back
on this This was not in season and it didn't
come out two weeks later. This is in the middle
of vacation, no one is at the facility. He gets
or what's Kyle Shanahan gonna put out a statement. Now
I get the Niners. I guess could have, but they're
reporting for camp in a week. It's obviously gonna come
out when he can't address the team. The other thing,
(08:33):
he has a major concussion. He can't even think straight.
You think the first thing he's thinking of, like, man,
I got a text Mayoko and Tim Kawakami and make
sure they know, uh, my head was just split open.
So I just and then he has them all in
the room a couple of days later and is in
tears because emotionally, concussions really mess with you. It's not
He's been in a great state over the course of
(08:54):
the month, So I I don't know if there is something,
and it'll it'll eventually get on cut in this day
and age, but I just think that it's borderline impossible
with the setup down there.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
So you know, it's It's interesting with the forty nine
ers is that Kyle is so respected that it sort
of bulldozes any mistakes or missteps in his life. I've
said multiple times on this podcast, my biggest problem with
the Niners is Seattle and the Rams draft better. So
(09:25):
the Rams and the Seahawks are just deeper rosters, and
so when the Niners get their predictable injuries every year,
they get real thin, real fast. They're old, expensive, thin
and kind of brittle. Now, Ricky Pearsall, you know, John,
I didn't love to pick. I think they overdraft receivers.
I think they've coddled them too often. Pearsall's not going
(09:47):
to play debo back for a year. Just give me
your sense on what the season is going to look like.
The Rams have added Myles Garrett, if Trent Williams gets hurt,
watch out Rock Purty. Kind of what do you forget?
You're very close to the Niners. What do you forecast?
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Well, I would say there's probably Kyle Shanahan is the
most important guy in the organization. So if Kyle, who's
literally in the concussion protocol right now, there were question
marks of him during regular season games, his ability to
cognitively put together game plans, call games. They have mikes
and and cameras in every in every meeting room. He
(10:28):
watches everything. He is. Nick Sirianni's not telling Vic Fangio
a damn thing, Right, Andy Reid leaves c Spagnoli alone, Right, Yeah, Uh,
that that is not the case with Kyle Shanahan. You know,
you read that wicker Sham article with Sean Payton on
his defense, that's Kyle. I mean, this is everything that
happens there, so to me more than any they went
(10:49):
to play. They went to Philly last year, won a
playoff game without George Kittle, without Fred Warren, without Nick Bosa.
If they got Kyle Shanahan, they're gonna be okay. Now
in the offseason, you know, Josh and Howie Roseman and
Less Sneak get a lot of you I mean Less
snee clearly convinced Sean McVay to draft his buddy's quarterback
or you know, right, and Ty Simpson was the driver
on that. That's not the case with John. A huge
(11:12):
part of John's job is to manage I do think
there's a chance Kyle's to change person a little bit
after this incident. But Kyle, you know, I think actually
his parallel might be a little. Sean Payton and his
dad they are tough. I mean they are it's and
that's probably his role more than just putting together draft boards,
because at the end of the day, Kyle's gonna run
the draft board. If I the Ricky Piersall thinks specifically,
(11:34):
this is why the drafts so hard. He didn't miss
a game in college, not one. He never missed a
game in college. Now, was he gonna be js and
or Justin Jefferson. No, But when he did play, he
looked like he could be a serviceable, pretty good starting
wide receiver. And I think they've done two things now
over the course of the last five six years. They've overreacted.
(11:55):
In twenty twenty one when Trey Lance, they had a
devastating year with Jimmy Garoppoli wasn't very good, and they
kind of had this moment late in the season against
Josh Allen and they're like, we need one of those.
It's like, well, those don't grow on trees. And then
they tried to draft Trey Lance and blew up in
their face. All these picks they got punked in the
Super Bowl and they couldn't get anyone open manned man.
(12:16):
So they're like, Ricky Piersoll is the best runner in
the draft. It's like, well, if you just draft Brayden
Fisk or Lasted or Lad Maconkey, you know. But they
try to force something and they're very, very fortunate that
you know, Kyle to me's the equivalent of like an
NBA star. He's that important, Like if you got Jokic,
(12:36):
your floor still pretty high, might not win the super
Bowl or or Lebron in his prime or Curry. That's
what Kyle is. It's pretty rare. It doesn't really exist
in the NFL, right, And that's truly is Kyle. So
I think if they just had a notch below him,
it could have unraveled multiple times. But to me, my
only question with the Niners. I mean, on paper, they're
probably not as good as the Rams clearly or Seattle,
(12:59):
but to me, they're still You look at the rest
of the NFC like they can make the playoffs, but
it's him. He's got to be. That's a the way
it's been reported. A lot of people talk to him
now like it was a pretty traumatic you know, he
got hit by this Mercedes, hit his face and the
the uh, the dad or the the overhead mirror you know,
came right into his eye, almost took out his eye.
It was it was really bad. So to me, it
(13:21):
comes down to him, and obviously they're guy's healthy, which
you never know.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Hey, I want to talk about Shadeur Sanders. So when
when players drop in the draft, there's usually either they're
just you know, they've got behavioral issues. I mean, Aaron
Hernandez was wildly talented, there were some questions about him
at at Florida, or you get into a situation like
(13:50):
Schadeur Sanders where dad, you know, the media tour during
the Super Bowl, were not playing for bad teams. And
I don't think there's I don't think any reason person
could deny what I'm about to say. Dion Sanders hurt
his son's Shadur in the draft profit process. I was
told that by people that I've been talking to for
twenty years in the NFL, like it didn't know that position,
(14:14):
that behavior kind of arrogantly dismissing certain organizations, you know,
the ones who are bad that wanted to draft you.
So the other day I saw Dion on the practice
field and I thought, God, Dion, you have no self awareness.
Like it's not going to affect him now, because I
really do think Shadure was significantly underdrafted. At worst, he
(14:36):
was late second to me, maybe very top of the third.
But I watched like ten of his college games. He
holds the ball too long, He did that in college.
He does it in the pros and that may be
the deal breaker. But he's accurate, he moves okay, he's
a risk taker. I don't think he's a great franchise guy.
And he may never get out of hold in the ball.
I mean Caleb Williams first year, you know it, it's
(15:00):
a problem. But when I saw Dion on the field,
I don't think Peyton Manning is going to be on
the field or Eli when Arch gets drafted next year,
I just thought, God, Dion, go coach Colorado like it.
I don't know why you've worked for an NFL team.
I just thought, get out of this kid's way, like
(15:21):
like like, yeah, Lebron Broun, Lebron James likes to play
with Brownie, but he's not getting in the way of him,
like he's he's separated. The JJ is going to play
him Reddick when he wants to play him. How did
when you saw Dion, how did it land for you?
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Why? I actually read the article. Yes, I think Jason Lloyd,
who covers the Cleveland area, I read it to Yeah,
and you know last year they wouldn't bend the knee.
They wouldn't and this year. I think Monkin's in a
weird spot. A little older, no one was going to
give him a head coaching job. Also for an old
he's pretty secure, like Todd Bunk is a good offensive coordinator,
like Tom Monkin knows what he's doing. What's Deon going
(15:57):
to tell him that offense? When Tom Monk has been
coaching the league for a long time. But when you
see the picture, the first thing I thought was that'd
be like Signetti calling up Kubiak, be like, I'm showing
up to camp. I'll give you two days, I'll tell
you everything you need to know about Fernando Mendoza. And exactly,
it's like, well, we've already done that work, We've already
talked to you, we already scouted the guy. And Dion's
(16:18):
one of the greatest players I've ever seen. I just
no one, no one would dispute that. And it's admirable
how much he loves his family clearly always. I do
think there's got to be a line though. This is
the big leagues. You know, Deon knows as well as anybody.
Look at the players he played with. I mean, can
you imagine Jimmy Johnson or George Seafert allowing opening the doors,
(16:38):
you know, in their facility. In a similar this is
a fifth round pick, Like you said, he his talent
will let him swim in the second round. Like Shador
easily most drafts could have gone in the second or
third round. But he was a fifth round pick. The
third round. Just got to be looking around, like, can
my dad come out in here and hang out and
go to the meetings. You know, I get he's Dion,
he's football royalty, but but a year in and now
(17:00):
they're giving him a chance to start. Dion, just let
it just just show up. Yes, it just kind of
lands not just enjoy it.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
And I'm and I'm telling you I have watched I
would I think Shador's I said it last year. There's
something there. His teammates like playing with him. I think
the receivers like him because he'll throw the ball down
the field. He will not dink and dunk. He'll let
it go. And I always thought the knock that he
wasn't athletic. He got his mom's DNA. It's like I
watched every Colorado game of note. He moved fine, he moves.
(17:29):
I mean Jared Goff's a statue Stafford doesn't move. He
moves fine. This idea that he's unathletic, but I watched
that stuff and I'm like, Dion, you screwed up the
draft thing. Because I do think he's a lot. I
think he's a little bit immature, but I think he's
a good kid. I don't think he's a back. He's
just immature.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
But here's the other thing. If you remember when the
story came out about Shador, one of the problems was
Dion had convinced him, or maybe he had convinced himself,
they would not talk to any teams with quarterbacks. So
the Eagles and the Ravens like were interested. They're like,
we are talking to you. It's like crazy. I mean
it's like, uh, now that Steve young'sat behind Joe Montana
for a while, you'll be you know, Aaron Rodgers, Brett Farvey.
(18:07):
It can't work out. Uh. The Ravens were one of
the teams that was very, very interested. I've read that,
and well, who was their offensive coordinator. The dude is
now as head coach, so I you know Todd if
you ever just watch his press conference in some of
the clips, like he's pretty he's got a little fangio
to him. Older guy at this point in time, made
a bunch of money, kind of got his shot. Now
(18:28):
is getting this shot like this is gonna be it.
He kind of he tells it like it is. And
he's been saying like these both these guys are gonna
get their shot. Chador's playing one way, whether he wins
the job week one, which anytime you're paying a guy
what forty five fifty million dollars like and you've already
paid Deshaun's gonna, if he's healthy, gonna start week one.
But this team is not good. You know, they actually
(18:49):
got some young pieces. But uh, i'd put the over
under six seven games in range for Schador to be
in maybe before that. I mean, Deshaun hasn't even proven
that he can stay healthy. So Deshaun at any moment
can go down. And yeah, I mean I think Chador
is gonna get his ample opportunity. They year to play
(19:10):
a bunch of games, and last year was a tough spot.
Last thrown in you know the Dylan Gabriel who seems
like a nice kid. I mean, I don't know many
people that had draftable grades on that guy. I mean, uh,
and it, which is clear now he's behind schaduor with
the guy that just independently came in from the outside,
was like, Shoudour's better. So I think it's gonna work out.
But I'm with you on Deon, just Dan Mikes, Deean.
(19:33):
You know, there's there's a reason Jerry Rice, you know,
used to like they used to go at it before
he got to the Niners, when he got to the Knighters,
Like Deon, can you just be serious here for a second.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Today's show brought to you by hard Rock Bet sportsbook.
Some sports fans call this the slow time of the year,
but on hard Rock Bet, we call it baseball season
the summer. Hard Rock Bet has the hottest betting odds
in Flora, introducing the ten cent summer sale, vague juice fee,
whatever you call it. Cutting are cut on winners, spreads
and over under pregame Baseball bet, same BET's better odds.
(20:05):
If you're ready to step into the batter's box, sign
up today hard Rock Bet five dollars bet. If it wins,
you get one hundred and fifty bucks in bonus bets
on top of your winnings. That's right, an extra buck
fifty in your account, and sure, hard Rock Bet is
Florida's only legal sportsbook, but you don't have to be
in Florida to join the party. Arizona, Ohio, New Jersey, Tennessee, Indiana, Virginia, Colorado, Illinois,
and Michigan. More states on the way. So grab your
(20:27):
bat and swing for the fences all August long during
hard Rock Bets ten cents Summer sale. Download the hard
Rock Bet app today. Roll with Us offered by the
Seminole Tribe of Florida, offered by Seminal hard Rock Digital, LLC.
And all other states. Must be twenty one plus and
physically president in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee,
or Virginia. Play terms and conditions apply. Concern about gambling
(20:49):
in Florida, call one eight three three play wise. In Indiana,
if you are somebody you know as a gambling problem
wants help, call what eight hundred and nine with it.
In Arizona, Ohio, Virginia, call one eight hundred My reset
gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler. You know it's
really I've always thought I'm pretty good on quarterback evaluation
(21:13):
I had. I stuck with Darnold. You know, I didn't
like a lot of the draft picks in recent years.
I'm a big Mendoza believer, but there was a lot
of guys that everybody fell into during the COVID times.
You know, I miss on some like everybody else, But
I always think I have a pretty good beat on it.
Jackson darts a little better than I thought, But I
do think Lane Kiffen to his first NFL coach, the
(21:37):
guy now at Tennessee, Brian Dabole, like I think that's
a that's pretty good coach in for a four year stretch.
But I was thinking about this when I was flying
back today. Nick Sirianni had the worst press conference I've
ever seen in my life, worst opening press conference. And
(21:58):
it works. You can say it's good ownership. It's Jalen Hurts.
He's got a lot of maturity around him, Howie Roseman.
But I never thought it would work. I had somebody
who I trust implicitly in the NFL say he's not
ready yet, he needs two to three more years. It's worked.
Brian Schottenheimer. I'm looking at it thinking he wasn't even
interviewing for top oc jobs. For that he he wasn't
(22:22):
sniffing head jobs last year. It worked, and so you know,
I look at those two guys, same division. Liam Cohen
I thought would work. Like I had heard everybody kept
saying Liam Cohen, who went from Tampa to the Jags.
Everybody's like, no, he's He's played the position in college.
He's really sharp. So that didn't surprise me. We all
(22:44):
knew Shanahan was going to be great, you know, from
Atlanta to the Niners. Kevin O'Connell was called the tall McVeigh.
But I watch Sirianni and then I watch Schottenheimer, and
I look at Dallas this year, and I'm like, I
like their personnel. I can go twelve deep on players,
(23:05):
I like you can. Everybody lamented the Micah trade, shit
their rosters better today a year later. How do you
explain Schottenheimer.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
I'm picking the Cowboys to win the division. Now, obviously
the Eagles offense is like it was a couple of
years ago. That would be a problem for my pick.
But there are a lot of question marks new coordinator.
I think the Cowboys when we went to the Super
Bowl and had the Super Bowl party, I went the
day before, and I went to this forty nine er
thing and it was like Montana, Roger Craig, Harris Barton,
(23:40):
and Ronnie Lott, and I remember leaving. I don't remember
those guys really planning. I was born in the mid eighties,
but when I left, I've always heard stories I kind
of grew up more on. Steve Young was like, you know,
Ronnie Lott was kind of the alpha, and you know,
Joe is not exactly Brady or Manning, like, that's not
the way he comes off. Now, he was very cool
under pressure. Well, the forty nine ers turned into adynasty
(24:00):
when they drafted Ronnie Lott in nineteen eighty one. And
when you hear those guys Roger Craig's about to go
to the Hall of Fame, Joe Harris Bardon, the way
they talk about Ronnie Lott, You're like, damn that guy.
I it's almost he was underappreciated in the history of
sports for how important he was to that organization.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
So there's an argument he and Ed Reid are the
best safeties in the history of the sport.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Yeah, and you'd say him, those two and Dion are
the three greatest dbs. Maybe a couple other guys you
can find the seventies. Caleb Downs. I don't know if
he's quite. I'm not gonna say he's going to be
quite Ronnie Lott, but he goes to Saban immediately starts
as an eighteen year old, and he goes to Ohio
State and for two years they clearly last year he
fits right in on a defense full of seniors, right boom,
(24:42):
doesn't even skip a beat, and it's like they're their
kind of heartbeat. Last year they get all these young
guys and by the end they're raising their floor. And
every time I hear Patricia, who's only been around genius
football players, and Brady McCarty, all the guys for twenty years,
it's like, this guy's brilliant, and clearly he's an elite
blue chip player. But he plays a position that isn't
past rusher, isn't left tackle as a wide receiver. What
(25:04):
if he changes their defense immediately? I remember on draft night,
I'm a sick. I watch a lot of those first
round press conferences like that night because I can't sleep.
And Jerry, you can make fun of a lot of
things he says, but he will give you some pretty
good insights, Like we couldn't even get lined up last year.
No one could talk this guy just immediately we know
week one we can get lined up. So their defensive
(25:26):
line is gonna be better. Listen, their offense is good.
Brian Schottenheimer is life's funny. I mean, at one point
in time, he was talked about fifteen years ago. Like
Kyle Shanahan, absolutely comes from a coaching background. Yeah, his
dad was like the tragic version of Mike Shanahan, could
never get over the hump. But no one that ever
knew Marty Schottenheimer played against Marty Schottenheimer didn't hold him
(25:49):
to the highest regard. So this guy comes from football. Like,
this guy's lived football his whole life and kind of
unlike Kyle and guys like McVeigh that they got their
chance and they never look back. This guy got close
and then it kind of got derailed. He's clearly a
really good offensive coordinator and defensively they're banking on this
(26:10):
young guy they hired from Philadelphia. But what if Caleb
Downs changes all that and they got a little lucky
because of the if he played Colin if the equivalent
of that player was like five other positions, he would
have gone like third or fourth. Max right, if he
was the defensive end version of what he was in safety,
he would have been the number two pick after random
(26:30):
and knows, he would have gone above Daily Bailey. But
he played safety, so it's like, ah, he's a little smaller,
he's not fast. It's like, I don't know, remember Ed
Reid didn't go and Troy paulam maull. All of a sudden,
you look a couple of years later, you're like, what
the hell is going on? Because they can impact like
Ronnie Lott, they are they're the voice of the defense.
And then now in a passing league, you're, you know,
(26:51):
the middle linebacker. If you can cover a Keekley Fred
is really important. But that guy is essentially kind of
that version two. Now with all these teams running four
and five guys on route. So I like the Cowboys
a lot this year. They've always played the Eagles well
over the course the last three or four years. Well,
it's just it's just defensively, they were the worst pass
defense I think statistically, like in the history of the
(27:12):
league last year. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Well, and I also think I mean Dak it's Jason
Garrett it's Mike McCarthy, it's it's it's now Brian Schottenheimer.
All offensive coaches different ideology and language. But I think
Dak is so high functioning. I think he's just one
of the smarter guys in the league that Dak now
(27:35):
is the kind of guy that, like coaching has become
less and less relevant, if you give him ample protection,
Dak is wildly productive iq EQ leadership toughness. So Dak's
the kind of guy that, let's say Schottenheimer's a B coach,
I think Dak can elevate a coach. I mean, we
always think of coach as elevating players. Well, players can
elevate coaches. I don't think there's any question with that.
(27:57):
And I think I think I just look at Dallas's
talent and I'm like, you know, I missed on Sirianni.
I maybe I just I think I probably missed on Schottenheimer.
I mean, we all knew that Sean Payton was going
to work in Denver, or Harball was going to make
the Chargers better. Some of that rabel in New England,
some of this stuff's easy. Ben Johnson was going to
be better than the Eberfus mess. But Shottenheimer, it's like
(28:20):
I look up and I'm like, yeah, it's a swing
and a miss. I think he something's working. They were
pretty consistent last year, and for a young offensive line
and a bad secondary, I kind of knew what I got.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Well, I know you were jogging around the coastline, But
did you see Jerry his comments saying that we had
no the right deal comes along, we will throw draft
picks on the table. So if they are competitive, the Raiders,
they've done a really good job and they're trending in
the right direction. But given the division, given the schedule,
(28:54):
they could go seven and ten or six and eleven
and be dramatically better. But if you're way out of
the playoff run come early mid October, like we're not
make do you entertain, Like, hey, hey, Jerry, would you
give us a one? You're never getting that offer you
once had. But what if Max looks fantastic, he looks
like he's gonna be a fifteen SAT guy. You wouldn't
take Jerry's first and second round pick. Well, also, jo
(29:16):
to me, they will be sniffing around that. Jerry already
said we didn't turn them down. They turned us down.
We wanted them.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
Listen, remember when Rudy Gobert got traded for like nine
draft picks, because that was kind of pre nil. The
draft was horrible, everybody was one and done. Well, now
post nil, you're like, you don't give up nine draft
pick because guys come out now and they're twenty three
and it's their third year in COP. So the NBA
(29:43):
draft is just better now. Well, the NFL draft, I
could argue, is a little weaker now because the back
at fifth, sixth, seventh round guys they're staying in college. So,
I mean, I watched this year's draft, and after the
Bob about the mid fifth round, I'm I watched a
lot of college football. There's a lot of these guys
(30:03):
are not NFL players. So my take is giving draft
picks up was always pretty precious. Last couple of years
on IL. After like the fifth round, John mid fifth,
teams just move off picks much more freely.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
Well, and he's even this, think about the first round. Now,
some of these guys, if you're gonna be Dante Moore
went back to school, Dante Moore would have been a
top five pick. Well, why do you go back to school?
Because he's got organ. How much do you think he's making,
I mean a decent amount. So you have the first
round last year, they said that was one of the
worst first rounds they've ever seen. Well, that could continue
(30:40):
because you're like, you know, I might go twentieth or
I could just stay at this college with my beautiful
girlfriend and all my friends. I don't have to go
to class anymore and make six million dollars. Everything's free.
I'm living like a king these games. It's not like
no one's We got twenty million people watch some of
these college football games, so the atmosphere is incredible. That
(31:01):
if you're drafting in the twenties, Denver traded right, the
Rams traded, yeah, the Bills, if the right opportunity, should
be all over because you're not guaranteed you're gonna keep
having these waves of guys. Guys, if you don't know
for sure, you're like top twelve, top fifteen, Like I'm
a fringe first rounder. That means you're very valuable in
the open market in college and you could easily stay.
(31:23):
So I I've had a general manager tell me last
year after the draft it was the worth fifth plus
rounds he's ever you know, fifth sixth seventh he's ever seen.
He started getting undrafted free agents. He's like, it's hard
for me to be critical after like pick one hundred
on anyone you drafted, like it's it, that's to each
his own. Everybody like, it's just this is a weird one,
(31:44):
you know his what I fifteen years ago, you'd be like, god,
we had like a second round grade and the guy'd
be like a fifth round maybe character, maybe a little small.
But I think these drafts now with people going back
and it's it's only unless they change the rules of nil.
I don't think that's slow down, do you?
Speaker 1 (32:01):
I don't. I don't. So I had Bill Belichick on
before I went on vacation.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
I was with you.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
Oh that's right, you were with it. And Bill was
in just a good mood, right, And you know, I've
been critical of Bill. I basically like everybody else, always
thought he was at least fifty percent of Brady's success,
although I thought Brady was great, but I thought Bill
was brilliant. Then at the end of New England they
couldn't draft, right. I was pretty critical of Bill, so
I didn't know how he would be. I told my staff,
(32:31):
I may ask twenty questions to get forty two words back.
He was just telling story after story, and it's interesting.
So the Mike Lombardi situation, he hired him as his GM,
and one of the criticisms I've had of Belichick at Carolina,
it's a friends and family staff, Like, I don't think
he hired the best of the best. It's a lot
of allies, friends, connections. I don't feel like it's an
(32:53):
elite staff. What's interesting is Lombardi worked at Fox when
I first got there. He was one of the first
NFL analysts we had that would come in studio because
he lived in La Santa Monica. I think I loved
him as a guest. I mean for twelve to fifteen minutes,
he had big opinions. He had a good sense of personnel.
You know, just some guys are just really good on TV.
I always said, Mike Tomlin at the podium, it's just
(33:14):
freaking magic. Like twelve verd answers, they sound like they're
from Plato. They're like these perfectly sculptured, sculptured soundbites. Lombardi
is a great SoundBite and he's got kind of that
Charlie Wise, New Jersey tough, gruff, bottom line feel. But
it's interesting because I look at this situation in Carolina
(33:37):
and it's obviously got some hr entanglements here. And it's
funny with Bill. Bill is every coach has, every broadcaster,
everybody's got a hole. And I think Bill's hole is
(33:58):
he has such confidence in his intelligence that he tends
to think, I just want to hire somebody I know.
I don't want to teach him how to do things.
If they know how I do business, my kids, Lombardi,
I'm good with it. And I think Bill has so
much confidence with his football knowledge scouting. He's just an intellect.
(34:20):
He's a football intellect that I think it actually hurts
him in the hiring process where he's like, I'm not
going to do a deep dive. He knows me. He
won't get in the way. I don't have to teach
him football. I don't have to teach him my personality.
He won't get offended when I choose. But I just
I look at his Carolina staff and his late New
England staff, and I'm like, it kind of feels like
(34:40):
he's just not pursuing the best of the best.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Yeah, you know, when he got hired maybe I was like,
a maybe it will work now looking back, and it
never had a chance. I mean, how's he going to
compete against the Mario Crysto Bowls and the Kirby Smarts.
My thought was less about like bringing in his son Steve,
who was with Jed at Washington, or Mike who has
(35:06):
hadn't had college experience in forty years in the NFL.
If Bill wanted to do something, he really had a
meeting with one person, and it was Robert, and maybe
as time went on, Jonathan snuck in there as well.
He was notorious for like not telling Cassario or Bioli
or Josh McDaniels. Sometimes those guys are like, oh, we
had no freaking clue. And I always heard like they
(35:29):
had strict rules in the building, like they didn't. He
did not have a woman assistant like a lot of
coaches that there, they're personal assistant. They usually have like
a young up and coming coach who does that version,
but they have like a woman answering the phone. Andy
always did. Bill wouldn't even allow it in the football
because he's like, we're not players coaches around. I don't
want any problems. You can't avoid that in college, you
(35:50):
share you share weight rooms with other coaches, with other
female women. You have. It's probably much more like a
corporate fortune five hundred. You have a regions, a president
of ad AD has a million people you're dealing with,
Like what's an who if I had an HR complaint
when I worked for Howie Roseman, where would I even go?
(36:12):
Not that I ever did, But it's you just keep
your head down. It's tough. That's kind of that's the NFL.
Not that college isn't, but there are a lot of
other people you can walk into athletic department. I just
think these guys operate like they always have operated, and
they realize like North Carolina. To me, when I think
about it's like a Stanford, like a Northwestern, like a Vanderbilt. Academically,
(36:34):
it means a lot the prestige of the university. You know,
it's always been a basketball school, right And you think
Dean Smith, even Hubert Davis has got run out. Wasn't
Hubert Davis known as like super high character, great human,
treated everyone really well? That is not Bill, you know,
that is like we want to Yeah, Josh McDaniels, his
(36:55):
old crew, Brian Flores, there that's that's the crew he
surrounds himself with. Look at Andy's they're just happier. You know.
You gravitate toward people you can kind of relate to.
And there's a reason Bill and the Bardi have been
friends for whatever thirty plus years. So I listen, I'll
give North Carolina credit. Nothing's really leaked about the details
(37:16):
in this, but clearly there's something and it might come
out as something that if this happened with the Denver
Broncos or Seattle Seahawks, no one. It's like what but
in college it's just a little different. And these guys
went in there kind of pumping their chest thirty thirteen.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
Yea.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
It was like, Bill, you're just coming from New England.
You just won four games, so I mean, and you
haven't been exactly capital allocator. You got lucky for a
long time. People would take financial breaks to come play
for you. It wasn't like they were wheeling and dealing
like Sam Presty or whatever. Not that he didn't make
great personnel moves, but a lot of times financially in
terms of allocating his resources in the cap was a
(37:54):
lot of like, yeah, I'll stay with you to win
and take it like, Okay, you're signing guys at below
market rates, Like every team in the league would have
done that, but most players would tell the GM or
coach FU, I'm not signing that contract. But they had
the Brady who set the tone kind of a unique
financial model that wasn't really replicable, I would say anywhere
else in like the history of sports, because they did
(38:15):
it forever. They did it forever, getting guys to take less,
taking reclamation projects. Not every team has it happened every
once in a while, but they did it for basically
almost two decades. And then he goes and you're allocating
funds toward high school kids, like Bill, whence the last
time you watched high school football? You don't know all
these high school coaches too? Like how many high school
(38:36):
coaches does Ryan Day, Kirby Smart, Lane Kiff and Dan
Landing know on a first name basis around the country? Hundreds? Yeah, hundreds,
Well on a first name basis.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
Yeah, And I do think one of the difficult parts
is that Charlie Weiss was schematically excellent, so is Bill.
But you get kids for seventeen hours a week. You know,
this is not the NFL where you can just guys
just live in the facility. You have NCAA guidelines on
how how much you can do. So it's it's I
always think if you're a football academic, college isn't for you.
(39:11):
The guys that I thought would have done well in
college are Rex Ryan and John Gruden. Kind of handsome
or big personality. They walk into a room and Rex
Ryan's like, funny, confident, Rex Ryan. Tennessee had an opening
years ago. I had dinner with Rex and a bunch
of people. I'm like, bro, you could crush in college.
John Gruden to me, his name was up for Tennessee
(39:33):
for years, and I'm like, John Gruden would crush in
college guys that are like I mean, there's just certain guys.
Shanahan's kind of an academic, Bellichick's an academic. Those guys
just don't have your your brilliance is minimized based on
time limitations and and so I And that doesn't mean
(39:54):
like there's a certain reality with Nick Saban Nicks the
rare coach that was good with ski teams and had
a personality, But that's that's usually a guy's one or
the other, like they're big personality, light on schemes or
they're all scheme guy, but they're gruff Jersey vibe. They
don't work. So you know, I don't think Bill's brilliant.
(40:15):
Mario Cristibal is not the coach Bill is. But boy
crystal Ball walks into a room. That bro's got a presence,
like I want to play for Mario crystal.
Speaker 2 (40:24):
Ball totally, I think. I mean, I got no clue
what Bill's roster looks like in terms of the actual players.
But another huge year, bunch of turnover. Now you got Look,
they just added what's his name the new Virginia Tech
coach from Penn State. Like when I think college football,
I think James Franklin, Mario Christibaal Dabo's had some weird years,
(40:44):
but like Dabo is a college coach through and through.
Like this could get hard fast. The wake Forest. They
hired a Dickert from Washington State. He went eight I
think eight and four, nine and three, Like he's a
he's a college coach, So yeah, bel chick and look up,
I everyone bangs on the acc It clearly is nowhere
what it used to be. He could be getting his
teeth kicked in by some of these us. You know,
(41:05):
I mean I think they open. Do they open like
week zero in Ireland? Or I think they have an
international game. It happened last year. Remember they drive that
first that first they get the they get the kickoff
and they go and they score the touchdown like oh,
Bill Belichick's gonna'll be and then they lost like forty
nine to seven. So people are paying attention, and I'd
(41:25):
be stunned if this is' Bill's last year in North Carolina.
Win you.
Speaker 1 (41:30):
I think he's got one year left. Yeah, Hunger strikes
and you're exhausted. What to do well with Factor? It's
never a problem. Factor is fully prepared meals designed by
dietitians and crafted by chefs. They're great delivered right to
your door. Factor has meals built around your goals, whether
that's weight loss, overall nutrition, more protein, or GLP one
(41:52):
support for strength and workout recovery. You check out Factors
Muscle Pro Collection, Fresh Never Frozen, over one hundred rotating weekly,
including globally inspired flavors like Mediterranean and Asian, so there's
always something to look forward to. Ready in a couple
of minutes, that's it. Two minutes. Factor shops preps, cooks,
and delivers straight to your door. You have more time
for everything else you love in your life, so we
(42:12):
use Factor. You should too, head to Factor meals dot
com slash colin fifty. That's Factor meals dot com slash
colin fifty and use that code callin fifty to get
half off and free daily Greens per box with new
subscription only while supplies last until nine twenty seven, twenty
twenty six. I want to close it on this. So
(42:40):
I never knew because Indiana basketball has been down for
a long time, I never knew there were this many
Indiana graduates until they won a national championship in football.
And now I see Indiana hats. If I go down
in Naples, where my wife and I occasionally go, I
see Indiana shirts everywhere. And a guy came up to
me the other day, and they're always nice. They were
(43:01):
a lot of the guys went to the business school there,
which is like top seven or eight in the country.
Bloomington is supposed to be one of the great college towns,
so I'm happy for him and Mark Cuban went there.
And but I think this is a legitimate debate, and
I don't know the answer. So when Kurt Signetti first
gets there, he does a great job to clean him up.
(43:23):
But they played, they went to the playoff, they played
Notre Dame. That was brutal. I mean, they're they're punting
late in the game at like midfield. You're like, this
is bad, uncreative offense. Then they get Mendoza and suddenly
every article is Kurt Signetti is the smartest man in
the history of football. However, my take is, men, they
(43:43):
could have lost four games. I watched every big Indiana game.
That Penn State game. Penn State's backup quarterback was up
and down the field on the Hoosiers. Mendoza won the game,
he won the Oregon game, he won the Miami game.
And so now we go into another year without Mendoza.
And I do think, and again, Signetti is gruff. He's
(44:08):
very quotable, and I think he's a really good coach.
And it is bizarre. I mean, they just don't have
holding penalties none. They just don't have motion penalies. Some
of that. As Mendoza was, he not only played at Cal,
he got into Yale. Men, those are just it was
a very clean, very efficient, areadye offense. And so it's
(44:28):
Like when people ask me, what do you buy Signetti,
I'm like, I know he's a good coach, but we've
almost his first year that lost the Notre Dame disappeared
in the ether, and we're not giving Mendoza enough credit,
who I think was an all time college quarterback. So
your take on Signette is he as brilliant as some
(44:50):
of the analytics say or do we just don't understand
how good Mendoza was late in games last year.
Speaker 2 (44:58):
I think Signetti has been fantastic. I think one thing
we've lost, you know, I sometimes I get nostalgic about
the nineties in sports, coaches, baseball, manager, big personalities. You
see some of these clips from the Loop, Panela's the
Hal mccraz I mean, Mike Dick, Oh yeah, you would
(45:19):
just Don Nelson. Everyone's so rich now it's we didn't
talk about Baker Mayfield. But the one thing, whether wherever
you stand, whatever Baker deserves I respect. He'll just say
what he actually thinks. Like none of these quarterbacks they
speak like coaches now, Like you just listen to Stafford
given interview, it's like just he's staying with in the lanes,
(45:40):
you know, And I think college sports basketball, the all
the guard that I grew up on is basically done
and retired. You know, Coach k And is probably the
last one holding on. But the Beaheims, the Calhouns, those
guys would talk. I mean, he goes and takes that
shot essentially. At the I find it refreshing. You know,
(46:03):
everything's become like how many more billions can we make?
How many more teams can we bring in? Consolidate? Like
I get where the Pac twelve we're never going back,
and the ACC will probably disappear here soon. I appreciate
a guy that will just ruffle some feathers, and when
he's winning, he can't really say anything. I pull out
their schedule. Their first three games are North Texas, Howard,
(46:24):
and Western Kentucky, so I would imagine they're gonna start fast.
Then they get Northwestern, who I can't imagine is gonna
be that good. At Rutgers at Nebraska struggles to win
more than six games, So going into Ohio State, they're
probably gonna be six to oh Michigan, who's gonna be better.
I don't know if their quarterback can play, by all accounts.
So they get USC at home. I mean Colin. They're
(46:44):
probably looking if they just kind of do what they
did two years ago with Curtis Rourke, who's currently on
the Niners, who's probably a fringe NFL guy, maybe more UFL.
Hoover probably won't live up to be in Mendoza, but
it'll be better than Rourke. We know Signety's an offensive guy.
His defensive coordinator is really good. They're gonna be good again.
And I was just before we went on, I was
(47:05):
eating break like a late breakfast, and I was reading
this athletic article about the top high school quarterback and
he's going to Houston next year. And the other guy
was supposed to go to Georgia but ended up he's
a Nashville kid staying at Vanderbilt. You've been hammering this
home forever. I think we have to look at it
a little differently of like, well, if you're just one
of the best players, you're going to Alabama Georgia. You know,
(47:27):
why is the top guy going to Houston. They probably
probably got a huge amount of money from a booster
with a lot of money who's in the oil world.
You know, That's why it's the huge advantage that and
you would even put Houston on the tier of Texas
and Texas A and M. But I was just played
golf a couple of days ago with a big TCU fan.
The money that TCU, He's like, yeah, SMU down the
(47:47):
road has even more. I mean these Texas schools, the
smure gonna lose a player to Alabama if they want
to cut a Check's no.
Speaker 1 (47:55):
And Indiana's got a top eight business school. So Indiana's
got money such a Mark Cuban. They've got two big
donor families that write eight figure checks. So Indiana's humman.
Speaker 2 (48:06):
Yeah, could he talk like this if he was at
you know, Ole miss Or a school that's not a tradition,
you know, a school that's not going to have financial
means in this modern day anio. But he knows he's
got the backing. So and he's been doing this a
while now. The one thing you got to give him
is leaving leaving Saban his experience running the show. He's
(48:29):
pretty cocky and confident because he's this isn't some guy
that just showed up. It is, you know, two years
into being a head coach. In his mind, all those
years behind him matter. He's pretty good evaluator. Because he's
taken that Pond's kid he got from transfer from JMU
Goes I think in the third round. Yeah, that was
one of the best corners I saw last year played
college football. But I know he's five to nine. But
(48:52):
Signetty knows what football players look like now to main like,
if they played that Ohio State game last year ten times,
Ohio State probably wins.
Speaker 1 (49:01):
Well, that's got better personal no question.
Speaker 2 (49:04):
And that they're probably I know they don't win it
every year. Would you call them currently the number one
program in America?
Speaker 1 (49:09):
I think Ohio State coach momentum nil recruiting play, Yeah,
I think Ohio one.
Speaker 2 (49:18):
I probably would give them the number.
Speaker 1 (49:19):
I'll tell you Miami if they do it again. Miami
is way up there now.
Speaker 2 (49:24):
Can catch them fast. But Signetti is going to have
to play Ohio State every year. And Kyle Whittingham's been
winning with a lot of you know, mid tier recruits,
so you would imagine if he's got some fire, kind
of pissed off the way he left Utah, I could
see Michigan being way better immediately. We know they're gonna
be tough and physical. Honestly, doesn't chant Wittingham's team always
(49:47):
kind of looks like Signette's. I would say, physical coach, well,
not screw up smart kids. Washington, Oregon and USC all
be better than last year, and in Washington's case much better.
So like this is, you know, the days of the SEC.
I mean, I said it last year, top of the
(50:11):
SEC is not the big ten, and I'm not sure
this year the middle of the SEC is going to
be the big ten because I'm telling you Washington has
got some dudes. They return their quarterback, Oregon returns their quarterback.
USC returns to their quarterbacks, and those quarterbacks were all
good last year. And all those schools, especially USC and
Oregon have nil money to burn. So, by the way,
(50:33):
I think one thing college football needs to get when
we talk about the NFL, it's just like, is Tampa
gonna be any good this year? Regardless whether Tampa plays
the NFC West or the NFC East, what's college football?
The season starts, it becomes pure football. But I feel
like everything surrounding it is like nil schedule. Yeah, they
(50:54):
have to find a way to get some sort of
just unity, like you know, and I feel so much
of the conversation feels a little reality TV. You know,
you got the commissioners going back and forth, which I
understand where they're all coming from, but it just it's
it feels like it's becoming a little exhausting. Once the
(51:15):
season starts, it no longer does. But the off season
for that, like the off season for the NFL is fun.
Right for college it's like, oh, Ole Miss is now
suing these LSU players, Like what.
Speaker 1 (51:25):
Are we doing?
Speaker 2 (51:26):
You know, it's like how do we I understand there's
a lot of moving parts. You got a lot of
people involved, but it just feels like they got a
long way to go before they figured this out, and
it's all inevitable, you know, North versus the South in
some form of fashion, big ten sec. But like in
the NFL, it's just like are the Saints going to
(51:47):
be any good? You know, it's just we just can
talk about football. In college, there's so much other stuff.
Speaker 1 (51:52):
It's very administrative, exhaust Yeah, it really is. All right.
We'll see you tomorrow in FS one next two weeks.
John Middlecoff, former NFL scout, is going to be joining
me on the show. See you soon gonna be back.
He
Host
Colin Cowherd
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.