Browns Should Start Shedeur, From The NFL Back To…College? JJ McCarthy Is A Bust, Seahawks Underrated?

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Very excited to say that bud Light is the title
sponsor of the Colin Coward Podcast this NFL season. This podcast,
presented by bud Light, Easy to Drink, Easy to Enjoy.
Former NFL scout John middlecoff Our Sundays for the next
twenty plus weeks. We started last week, so I think

(00:28):
we should start. I mean, generally we want to start
with more interesting teams. But the situation in Cleveland where
Deshaun was awful Shadur was better, was only part of
the story. Shadur had a five and a half six
minute interview on the sidelines during the game which he
was incredibly like, thoughtful and likable and relatable. I like

(00:51):
him as a kid. I thought he was immature when
he came out got the speeding tickets. But I like him.
You know, I don't think I think he's bad. Guys,
just he's just young. Right, you go up your dad's
you know, famous.

Speaker 1 (01:04):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Deshaun, after a horrible outing basically in the press conference,
said the booing from the fans is disrespectful. It's personal,
like you know with DeShawn. I you know, you can
go back several years on this. I don't think he
has a ton of self awareness, which I think being

(01:24):
a quarterback in pro football is really really important. I
mean I would have a hard time not starting Shador Sanders.
And for the record, the win loss record really isn't
the issue here. Because it's not a great team, why
not just go generally? This isn't why I would make
a decision. But if you're not going to be good,

(01:47):
why not just go with a popular kid, the younger
kid who I think in the room, the locker room
is kind of well liked. Why not just go with
the younger kid? Should Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:59):
I mean I think yesterday was a tipping point on Saturday.
You can't have a guy that your entire fan base
just despises personally and professionally. It's like DeShawn, Yeah, they
can't stand you personally, you know, everything that happened off
the field, Like, we're not idiots. We've all lived long
enough now. And most importantly, they might have been able
to forget it if you could play and you are

(02:19):
objectively awful, I mean terrible, and if you didn't have
an albatross of a contract, they would cut you like
an undrafted free agent. I mean they really would. And
then when you have this lack of self awareness, and
you can tell me the locker room doesn't have an issue.
That's fine, but you can't roll out a guy because
I thought the whole time they're just gonna start to Sean.
He's making a bunch of money. And Shan comes in

(02:41):
four or five weeks in when people are listening to this,
I guess this comes out Sunday night. But on Monday,
my kid said he's gonna name a starter. So my
guess is Shador is named, and I don't know what
they do. The other thing is if financially they could
release them, I don't think another team would touch them.

Speaker 2 (02:59):
Oh no.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
And I would never say never because his agent's Mulgeta
and that guy's got a lot of Jews. Sometimes you
do favors. It's business. But I think he's as untouchable
as any player in the league. I mean, you see
Terry on Arnold, he gets in this. I mean, did
you read the Athletic article a month ago or three
weeks ago on that situation. I was like, geez, Louise,

(03:22):
he gets released ten teemsle. You know, it's like not
even and even John Schneider. If you watch hard knocks like, yeah,
if he had been our draft pick, we would have
had to cut him. But he's not. Now We're not
that invested. That's the way the business words this guy's is.
I would say it's toxic of anyone in any business
right now in America. I've done serious. I mean I

(03:42):
think yesterday, I don't blame the fans like now booing
him for Terran's achilles. But I don't think they were
booing that he was hurt. They were just booing the situation.
I mean, it's this fan base. Remember the jersey with
all the quarterbacks on the back. There's been like seven
hundreds as they restarted. It's just I mean, now, Shadoor

(04:04):
actually have not a bad spot because the bar is
so low. This guy. It's not exactly like he's taking
over the truck elway you know me well.

Speaker 2 (04:11):
And the other thing is they have drafted well the
last couple of years, and they've drafted a lot of
offensive players. Boston and Concepcion will step right in and play.

Speaker 1 (04:21):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (04:22):
They have their right tackle situation with Fanno taken care of. Yeah,
they've got real talent in Cleveland. And listen, they they
beat last year they beat Green Bay, so I know
I'm not gonna think. I don't think they're a playoff team,
but if they they got kind of a sneaky six wins.

(04:43):
They were kind of good at home. And listen, I
every time I watch Shador, my take is he just
needs reps like Colorado. Since Dion Sanders has taken over,
he Deon's the opposite of Kurt Signetti. Signetti comes in immediately.
Indiana can run the ball and protect the quarterback. Since

(05:07):
Dion has arrived in Colorado, they have the worst rushing
attack in college football, dead last of like one hundred
and thirty D one teams, and they have the worst
pass blocking offensive line. So let's be honest. Dion was
hired not because he was going to be a great coach.
I mean I never thought that. I don't think anybody
thought that, but he does. He did make Colorado interesting,

(05:28):
and I think there's value in that when you're Colorado
like recruiting, and I think they were well I just
saw a stat last week They've lost like sixty seven
percent of their TV audience. So now Colorado is not
even interesting. But Signetti is all product, no pomp and circumstance.
Deon's the opposite. So Shador played with no run game
and an atrocious offensive line, and he was productive, he

(05:52):
was accurate. And my take is, well, Cleveland's got I
think Cleveland's got an offensive coach, a legitimate coach, a
better offensive line. I think they have real skill people,
and Judkins could give you a running attack. So my
take is, when you judged Shadure, did people consider how
mediocre first of all, how bad the offensive talent was, line,

(06:16):
running back, tight end, and how mediocre to below average
the coaching was. So I think there's something there in Cleveland.

Speaker 1 (06:23):
Was yesterday doing a little daddy daycare. I had on
a NFL network because these games on Saturday and Sundays
started at like ten am. Well, they had the Cleveland
lightning delay, so they had to stop the Bills Browns game,
and they just started going to other games. They went
to the Minnesota so I'm expecting to get Shador Sanders
and boom, JJ McCarthy comes on my screen. So I'm

(06:45):
watching JJ McCarthy air, no touch. He throws one fastball,
sometimes he hits it, and a lot of times he's
it's going all over the map. Well, then the lightning
delay ends, Shadoor comes on, so you're kind of just
watching them. They're not playing each other, but they're on TV,
you know, simultaneous and should and this goes back to colorad.

(07:06):
Chadur does not have I would say JJ's got a
better arm. Schaudur has way more touches. Just from a
natural touchstandpoint. He can throw. I mean he's more like
a low nineties pitcher, but he can locate. Now he
can't really move, so I mean blocking for him is important,
but he's definitely a I would call him a touch thrower.
He is an anticipation touch thrower. J is as of

(07:29):
this point, a complete disaster. I would not make him
the second string cour he has no touch and you
cannot play, just like you can't pitch the big leagues.
If you can't locate, you could not play quarterback, whether
you have a big arm, small arm, if you cannot
have touch on passes, that's short, intermediate, deep. So I
watch Chador and go, Yeah, Deshawn's got nothing. Can't move.

(07:50):
I mean, no playmaking, no accuracy, no arm strength. He's
never had a big arm. You know, his cop early
was like, oh, he kind of plays like Russell Wilson.
He kind of did run around freelance, but he's always
had a weak arm relative to like what you would
think of like Russell Wilson had. I remember when he
did not.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
I remember when Deshaun came out. I remember, you know,
I read these NFL dot Com and Lances are Line.
I read all these draft previews. I mean I read
virtually the top two hundred players. I love reading that stuff.
And DeShawn you know, uh Gabbo called him Michael Jordan,
But the truth was he was a very average prospect.
He was a B prospect. Despite his great college success.

(08:33):
He had an average arm. I've never thought he was
terribly accurate, although you could probably show me some you know,
some stats at Houston, but I just never they were
winning a bad division a couple of times. He was athletic,
he had he could make this spectacular play, but I
never really trusted him in terms of, you know, the

(08:53):
next level quarterback stuff. I listen, I take pride in
my quarterback opinions, and I think Shadour was at worst
a low second round pick. It was a week draft. Now,
it was a week maybe in a great draft. He's
a late third. But I always said you could argue,
and I got this from two executives who have drafted

(09:14):
star quarterbacks in the NFL. I asked him and they said,
you can make an argument. He's a first round quarterback
in this draft. Nobody. Nobody felt that about Kenny Pickett.
I was told by a GM that did not need
a quarterback, who currently has a star quarterback. He's like,
we have him as a mid to late third round pick.
People the people I trust like Shador, and again, Colorado

(09:36):
had no run game. Colorado had no offensive line, and
the coaching was below average, and he was pretty damn
productive in comor I don't think.

Speaker 1 (09:44):
Chador has is like in all athletes whose parents were
pro athletes in general, but his you know, Steph Curry's
dad was Del Curry. This guy's dad was Dion Sanderson,
who was equally as famous once he retired. I mean,
his star is never really dimmed, like he's been rich
and famous and been around in his whole life. You

(10:04):
saw it to Seawan, Yeah, you know, used to talk
about this in college football right when Clemson and Alabama
were playing. By then, it's not nearly as big as
what it is now. Saban was, but the sport was
just so located in the South, no one else had
a chance. Yeah, he gets to Houston and he became
a star, and they weren't paying players back then. He

(10:27):
got out of Houston, not because it was like his
rookie contract, they'd already given him a big contract. It's
like he couldn't handle the fame, the money, like bro
get a girlfriend, Like you can't be I can't have
my quarterback not being able to handle what comes along
with it. And clearly he failed every single test, but
he got bailed out. So when people like I can't
believe how the lack of account of it, you can't.

(10:50):
He had thirty pending lawsuits and he ran away and
someone had traded three first round picks for a guy
that had just gone four and twelve who then the
league socipend it and they gave two hundred and thirty
million dollars to and not a fake contract like a
real NBA one. So yeah, I mean, how can the
guy be out of touch? Well, I mean it's it's
pretty clear two people benefited from this transaction. Well three

(11:13):
the Texans, David will get Intoshan Watson, everyone else. The Browns.
I mean, it's it's gonna go down as the worst
transaction in the history league.

Speaker 2 (11:22):
It, in my opinion, I've never seen. I mean again,
when Russell went to Denver, people go, oh, look what
they gave up. But Russell was a one hundred passer rating,
ninety passer rating guy. He did fall off a cliff.
He just did and without an injury, which is fairly inexplicable.
But I understood Denver rolling the dice on Russell because

(11:43):
I was in the camp of maybe Pete Carroll's not
the coach we think. I mean, he is pretty damn
good on the deep ball. He doesn't get in trouble,
you know, He's just a kind of a guy that
you you know, he's obsessed with football. And he fell
off a cliff. But the Deshaun Watson warning signs on
and off the field were a major flashing red light

(12:06):
in Cleveland. Jimmy Haslam acknowledges it now. It was just
an egregiously bat between Deshaun's judgment and Jimmy Haslam's judgment
with the contract. I don't have any pity for Cleveland,
but I do think the fans are right that booing
was more than just performance based. It's just like we
just think it, you know.

Speaker 1 (12:28):
We just want you out it. Yes, we don't care
financially totally money, just make this end and look at
look at the three teams, you know, Russell Wilson or
Aaron Rodgers, when these guys, all these if Joe Burrow
became available, you just you just go run the league
when players become available. It was Carolina in Atlanta, in

(12:48):
the Cleveland Browns, Like that's what it came down to, exactly.
John Schneider, Howie Roseman Unlessni beating down the door for
this guy. So I think that this experiment, who knows,
maybe they end up it's got so ugly they eat
it and they just cut them and they just figured
it out.

Speaker 2 (13:05):
Yeah, okay, I do want to pivot to JJ McCarthy,
who was you know, five for ten. There was a
play in the end zone that was basically a touchdown,
just a quick, easy layup for any quarterback, starter, backup
Stetson Bennett. It doesn't matter if you're a third or second.
It's just a two step pop it over there to

(13:27):
the right touchdown. Sailed it. And one of the things
that's really obvious and I feel bad for JJ McCarthy.
I mean, I've said it, he was the one quarterback
in that draft I just did not buy. He didn't
initiate Michigan's offense. So then you ask him to go
to the NFL and it's like, well he hasn't. This

(13:47):
is a huge It's hard enough to go college to
pro if you're Fernando Mendoza and did initiate a lot
of your team's offense or Jared Goff, it's hard enough
to do that. But when I think there's a rule,
when Kyle Shanahan can't figure you out, Cowboys don't trade
a fourth round pick for Trey Lance. And when Kevin

(14:08):
O'Connell can't figure out JJ McCarthy, right, we know there's
We know there are a lot of defensive coaches who
just don't have the sensibility for quarterback. But if a McVeigh,
a Shanahan, a Kevin O'Connell, I mean, Liam Cohen looks
like he loo look at Baker's numbers. With Liam Cohen,
he looked like a top ten quarterback. He leaves and

(14:29):
he's just not the same quarterback. Trevor Lawrence. I loved
him out of college I think you did too. I
mean he was really I mean, John, you got to
a point with Trevor You're like, oh, this just doesn't
work at all, and then you watched last year are like, oh, finally,
so obviously coaching matters. But I think with JJ, a
lot of it, a lot of the indictment is not

(14:49):
just what you see but who he's failing with. And
you know, I think I don't know what you do.
I wouldn't. Again, the Vikings are are not Cleveland. They
could be a playoff team. They could actually woul Kyler
be a ten to eleven win team. It wouldn't shock anybody.
They They've got maybe the best defensive coordinator in the league.

(15:10):
They've got some nice offensive pieces of my opinion, But
what do you do with JJ mccarson.

Speaker 1 (15:15):
Well, what my guess is here on August twenty third,
he's not even gonna be the backup quarterback because you
see that pass that that sails over and again a
guy wide open, that's not that far away. You don't
need to throw it as hard as humanly possible. I mean,
that ball got on that guy so fat, there was
no one around, he was white. He could have just
thrown a lollie. That's the pass. Like the second tier guys.

(15:38):
I saw Jordan Love had a touchdown pass last night,
But you just watch like the guy was right in
front of him. The receiver or running back did most
of the work. But sometimes you just throw a little lollipop.
You know, you watch Baker Mayfield or Jared Goff or
Brock Purty, the Dacks, the second tier guys, lolli they
would hit that. What do you think ninety five percent
of the time.

Speaker 2 (15:59):
I mean, oh god, higher those guys.

Speaker 1 (16:02):
Obviously, the elite guys always hit him. The high end guys.
To me, you can't make him your backup quarterback because
Kyler's question marks with injuries. He'd go down. Like you
go to him, you're gonna lose. You couldn't. You couldn't
win regular season games against decent teams with this guy,
Carson wentz. You at least have a chance. Uh, it's
just a disaster. And this gets back to like this

(16:24):
is they just picked the wrong guy. You know that
they and listen, they were picking the fifth guy of
the class, but the sixth guy turned out to be
bon Nicks. Who I know this. They wouldn't trade Bonnicks
traight up for J. J. McCarthy and Bo Nicks if
he doesn't break his ankles, probably in the Super Bowl,
and obviously Seattle's really good, but that would have been
a game. I mean that they you know, New England

(16:47):
had no chance, like Denver was equipped to physically have
a game with them, and bo Nix is dramatically better.
And if you just look back, you're like, well, he
was way more productive in college, right, especially he had
to bounce around like JJ. You just go back to
the college profile and you go m Anthony Richson the
college profile, Trey Lance the college Like we have specific

(17:09):
examples now of these profiles that were dramatic red flags
and all of them blew up. You know.

Speaker 2 (17:16):
One of the things I remember this year so ago,
remember Danny Whirfule at Florida who I was down in
Tampa when Werfel was down there in Gainesville.

Speaker 1 (17:25):
He was a.

Speaker 2 (17:26):
Profound, prodigious college guy with Steve Spurrier. But I remember
talking to rich McKay was the GM of Tampa, and
I said, what do you do with Werfel? And he said, listen,
he's a local kid. We you know, we want the
local kids to succeed. And I think I can say
this now, but Rich just said, we just doesn't for us.

(17:48):
He doesn't feel like he has the arm strain through
the athleticism. And I don't remember exactly what Rich told me,
but he said basically, listen, great kid, great family, local kid,
were rooting for him, but you know, I just we
don't see him quite. And then Mike Ditka, remember Mike
Ditka said, hey, he's a winner. Mike was down with

(18:08):
the Saints. I think, hey, he's a winner. I always
push back. I heard this about JJ McCarthy, he's a winner. Well,
under Harbaugh or Steve Spurrier. You know, the truth is
with Kurt Signetti, they're all going to be winners. Nick
Saban's quarterbacks, they're all winners. So that's that's another red flag.

(18:28):
Whenever I hear that, when you say, well, how's the arm,
how's this, how's the pacing, how's the touch, how's it?
He is a winner? That is a massive red flag.
And I kept hearing that over and over and over,
and it's like, that's that doesn't mean anything to me.
I could. I can give you so many college quarterbacks

(18:50):
who went to who are in great programs who win nine,
ten eleven games because they have you know, those Alabama
guys under Saban. I mean, look, think about the offense.
Some coordinators it was kiffing, it was sark like you
the best offensive coordinator for about an eight year stretch.
It's like they make everybody look great. So yeah, I

(19:11):
just I don't think it works. I wish I'm the best.
I think I don't know what they do.

Speaker 1 (19:16):
How often do you think? Do you see guys didn't
need a dramatic mechanic change at quarterback, which they spent
last year working on as mechanics, and this year clearly
you've lose your confidence because when you're thinking about mechanics,
you can't just go out and play. You're thinking you
could see it. He's just robotic. He doesn't have any feel.
It feels like it just feels like he's pushing it

(19:36):
toward instead of just led it rip. And I just
think it's a the evaluation. They bet on the guy.
But remember, like he's I don't remember he was doing
like the meditations before games in college. It's like, bro,
you hand it off eighty percent of the time. You
know this isn't this isn't asking Mahomes to throw it

(19:57):
seventy five times in Texas Tech. So yeah, I I
think it's over, you know, I.

Speaker 2 (20:02):
Think it's I mean the air thing, the air thing,
John I did it this week on FS one. I
went and looked. I didn't count this draft, but I
went back to the previous five drafts. Fifty seven quarterbacks drafted.
Six are what I would call franchise quarterbacks where I'm
not making a call, and two of those, Bo Nix
and C. J. Stroud. There's a lot of doubters. I

(20:24):
didn't count Jayden Daniels I one another year because last
year was so bad and he was hurt and he
has a little bit of an injury bug. First year
he played, but he was dinged up all the time.
Six of fifty seven. So I'm not saying it's easy.
It's one of the hardest. I mean, think about this.
The average Major league baseball player bats, you know, two
forty five maybe okay, but when your hit rate is

(20:45):
ten percent ten and a half percent in the NFL
hitting on quarterbacks in any round. For the record, though
I didn't count this past draft, Fernando Mendoza was one
of ten quarterbacks drafted and he's the only one I
like in this draft. So the number, the hit rate
I think will be about I mean, Drew Aller to

(21:05):
me is probably a backup. I don't take you know
he is, but so I just look, JJ McCarthy should
not get too dejected. It's hard in this league to
do it. And when all the other quarterbacks hit in
a round, you're not going to go six for six.
So I think he's a I think he's a backup quarterback.
I think hopefully he finds a spot. And I do

(21:28):
think you mentioned this, I mean Kyler, there's a chance
he's going to get dinged up. So I mean that
it's a real serious position for Minnesota backup quarterbacks very
likely going to play two to four games. So it's
not just a hey, we put him here.

Speaker 1 (21:41):
You know.

Speaker 2 (21:42):
It's like even the Rams, they'll probably carry Ty Simpsons
stetson because you know, I mean, Stafford is one of
the last guys at his age that just sits in
the pocket and gets drilled. I mean, he'll take shots.
So I do think it's a real position for the paint.

Speaker 1 (21:56):
I think how many quarterbacks have gone down in the
last handful of years. I mean Joe Burrow missed the
majority of.

Speaker 2 (22:00):
The season fifty five to sixty quarterbacks.

Speaker 1 (22:04):
Me, the only reason Brock Purdy got created is because
they lost two quarterbacks in front of them. So you
just you know. Dak Prescott the reason he started as
a rookie is because Tony Romo's back got shattered and
Kellen Moore I think broke his wrists. So these things
can change the blink of a nine. I think I
think Minnesota played like four quarterbacks last season.

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Today's colin Classes segment sponsored by Chat GPT. The NFL

(23:33):
season is approaching, and this is how I would class
the top teams in the league. Let's start with the Valedictorians,
the most complete teams. The Rams coach quarterback, defensive front weapons.
I think it's the best roster in the league. Seattle
only has to replace three starters. Sam Darnold just rated
the fifth best quarterback in the NFL by players in

(23:55):
the top one hundred. Sam Darnald back to back fourteen wins.
You know I love him. Second group is the Dean's
List legitimate contenders. One or two things keeping them from
the top Lions really. I love their GM, their coach
and their quarterback Jared Goff. Has some limitations if the
pocket breaks down, but they may have the best skill

(24:16):
players in the league. The Buffalo Bills Josh Allen has
a lot of weapons offensively, rookie head coach, and you
know they've drafted a lot of defensive guys last couple
of years. Now it's time to see if they can
play The Chargers Mike McDaniel. Justin Herbert has his best coordinator.
Back to back eleven wins seasons for Harbaugh and Herbert,

(24:37):
and now they have the offensive line that's healthy. The Texans,
I know, I know you're bored with them. Best defense
in the league easily, Their coach Demiko Ryans wins divisions,
canc j Stroud and the Houston offense, bounce back Bears
Caleb Williams My bold prediction for MVP he and Ben
Johnson and those weapons near the top of the class.

(25:00):
Third group upperclassmen, proven experienced teams with question The Eagles
still don't love the coach. They've made changes at offensive coordinator.
I think they'll be fine to very good. I think
Jalen Hirsch should be better without aj Brown Chiefs. Mahomes
is healthy, they got left tackle in the running back

(25:21):
situation sorted out. Now Travis Kelsey's getting old Mahomes off
a knee injury, but they're still very dangerous. And the
Ravens listen. I love their owner, I love their roster,
but I got a rookie head coach Jesse Minter, who
I think will be good, and a first time play
caller who I think will be good. Out of respect,
they would be one of my top teams. This was

(25:42):
Colin's classes sponsored by chat GPT. Put chat GPT to
work on your most ambitious ideas and projects. Get started
at chatgpt dot com, available on Plus and pro plans.
I like the NIL and the transfer portal. I like

(26:03):
conference consolidation. I like the four PAC twelve teams going
to the Big Ten. I like Texas Oklahoma going to
the SEC. I am for it. I did my essay
this week, my Sunday essay this week on that that
I want. There's always been in college football, this charming, cute,
sort of regional aspect, and my take is, I want
Texas Plan Oklahoma. I want Texas Plan LSU. You know,

(26:26):
I want Texas playing Bama Texas playing Georgia, and the
numbers bear it out that's what the audience wants. But
the people who love the regionalism are loud and they're
on platforms and they say it's great. But the numbers
bear out that people aren't that interested in Bowl games
unless there's two big brands there or regular season games.
So but there is one thing, and this probably illustrates

(26:49):
the weakness of the NCAA now where there's a guy
that's going to get cut in the NFL and reportedly
he's going to Lane Kiffin and LSU to play, and
I'm like, okay, what are we doing here? I just
I mean that to me, there are certain things that
happen in sports and you're like, wow, that doesn't work right,

(27:12):
Like we all know that you watch certain you watch
certain sports, and something happens and it's allowed and then
very quickly, like leagues tend to at least in a year,
like put a stop to it. There's all sorts of
rule chair. I mean, the defensive shift in baseball shockingly
lasted years and years and we're all like, I don't
want my second basement in right field. This is stupid.
I mean, I appreciate Joe Madden's creativity, but it's like

(27:36):
it's bad for baseball, Like I want guys to get
on base if they had a line drive to write,
I don't want I want to see a base hit.
I don't know. What do you make of what's happening now.

Speaker 1 (27:47):
There's a lot to unpack here. I would say, on
its surface of saying that you can go to a
training camp and then return to college feels like we're
crossing the line here that most people are going to
agree upon, like this is insane. The problem is every
time these guys sue, they win, Yeah, and it just
becomes less and less, like deterioration of any sort of

(28:10):
structure around that doesn't exist. I will defend Lane Kiffen
here for doing this because I would imagine over the
next week he's an easy Target's gonna take a lot
of shit for doing this, because there's another guy currently
on Tampa that's a pass rusher that's also in this lawsuit,
potentially gonna come back to LSU if he doesn't make

(28:31):
the team. In the first preseason game, this guy had
two sacks, was a starter there last year. Lane Kiffin's
just these are the rules that he's handed. It's not
like he's doing this when everyone's saying, this is not
a rule, you're gonna get in trouble. This has been
adjudicated or whatever above in the court of Louisiana. I

(28:51):
had a scout tell me maybe two weeks ago that
he was in a Big ten program. First he had
ever heard of this. And we had a top twenty
five program, and they said, we're leaving a couple of spots
open because we got a couple guys that we don't
think are going to make teams. And we see this
coming down the pike here that these guys are going
to be available at the end of August and they
bound our team and we're going to bring them back.

(29:12):
And even he thought, like this is crazy. And then
they he went to another place and they were all
talking about it. It was it had been since training
camp started in college football. This was a hot button
issue with all these big programs, but Lane or any
other program that does it. Remember there was a famous
clip of like Trump and Clinton in a debate and

(29:33):
she's like, did you take a billion dollar rite off
or whatever? And he's like, you know what I did?
And the reason I did is because those are the
rules that you made for your friend. You guys want
these rules there because all the people that fund politics
love these rules. I'm just following the rules that you've created.
And all these coaches now are just like the transfer portal.

(29:55):
It's like Pete Golding, they gave him shit about, you know,
tampering with that kid at Clemson. He's like, what is
everyone's doing it? What am I supposed to do? Not
do it and get lapped? So I just you can't
have this. But these courts are given these guys the
ability to come back. And this kid that went back,

(30:18):
the Eagles cut him I think two weeks ago, and
then he went to Cleveland. So this guy is not
the next tramps Kelsey here, and I think he would
tell you, well, I wouldn't have come out if I
knew I would have been eligible. I would have stayed
in college for the nil. But I saw Dan Lanning
went on a rant because his colin his resume goes Virginia, Tech, Ole,

(30:41):
miss Cleveland, Philadelphia, Eagles, Cleveland, Browns, LSU. What are we doing?
But again, I'm gonna defend Lane here, but this is
not wait. Lane's just he's pillaging, training camps. No, this
this happened in these courts, all these other programs. He
is not going to be the only program. He's just

(31:02):
following these crazy rules like, yeah, there should be some
write offs, you shouldn't be able to have. Well, but
if you ask your accountant he says, this is the rules,
you'd be like, well, then write it off.

Speaker 2 (31:10):
Well, also, this is the unintended and you get these
you know, you get unintended benefits. You know, you buy
a company and they're like, oh my god, this company
helps this other business I'm in, and that this happens
all the time, and then there's unintended failures and liabilities
where you create some Hey, we're going to pay the players.
You know, California was the first to kind of broker

(31:33):
this and passed it. We're going to pay the players.
Everybody's like, this is great. Well, here's the unintended negative
aspect of that. These NFL guys get cut and they
can go back to college and make a million dollars. So,
I mean, you know, the players like, I'm a football player.
I've never really played in the NFL. I've you know,

(31:53):
so I've been in camps and you know, I think
I'm going to go back, and that's the downside to
make king college football now for elite players, all college
sports very lucrative. So it's really the responsibilities on the NCAA,
which never wins a lawsuit ever. So this is the
responsibility of others. You know, it's like a tax loop

(32:15):
pole or if it's legal. I'm not blaming anybody, but
it feels wrong and it feels gross.

Speaker 1 (32:22):
This guy is an easy example that is currently doing
it to back to LSU because he's you know, this
guy's probably not going to be an NFL player, But
what about the guys that The guy at Tampa is
a good example. I forget his name, but he started
at LSU last year. He Todd Bowles after the first
preseason game, was like, this guy's been making plays in
practice and he just had two snaps. What it's like, Hey,

(32:43):
you're not going to make the roster. We want you
on the on the practice squad. You could make a
little bit more at LSU. But I ai'ed it the
other day, like about forty percent of guys that start
the year on a practice squad as a rookie end
up playing in NFL games. You can just think about it.
How many guys by the time you're in November and
seven rosters are churning like this, or get hurt, get cut,

(33:05):
get benched. You know, there's constant move Half the teams
in the league are out of it, so they're just
kind of, you know, throwing guys in, pulling guys out.
I think you do have to think a little Oh yeah,
you can go back to college and make a little
bit more money, or you're one ripped hamstring away from
all of a sudden playing on Monday Night football the
next week, making a name for yourself and your clock
starts faster for your next contract. Think how many undrafted

(33:28):
free agents or late round picks go on to make
big money. I do think there's a little bit of
a risk. And the other thing is, I guess if
you had played for the program, you know everybody, but
you know there's a huge turnover. I think LSU is
forty guys.

Speaker 2 (33:42):
Forty guys.

Speaker 1 (33:43):
Yeah, so okay, you go back. Well, it's not like
all this. This isn't Matt Lioner, Reggie Bush, the team.
We all knew these guys' name. It's hard to keep up.
They're all looking at who's this guy? So it's this
isn't as normal. I do think if you're a fringe, like, hey,
I didn't make the but I'm clearly these guys like
me not everything has to be Yeah, he could make

(34:04):
a couple hundred grand more, but in the big picture,
look what the NFL pays compared to some of these
that IL deals. So it's like, hey, I think there's
gonna be a balance for some of these guys. Yeah,
the guys that are just good college players totally get it.
But I I bet we see a story where a
guy turns down the opportunity to return to Iowa, LSU,

(34:25):
you Navid Ohio State, one of the big programs, and go,
you know what, I think, I'm just the coaches told
me I'm a couple of plays away, and he's gonna
know he's spent the last six months with these guys.
I like. The other thing is that let's say you're
in Tampa and Jason like goes, listen, I've been here
a decade. I'm probably gonna be here a decade longer.
I'm telling you, we like you. I'm not making this
shit up. The Browns I get maybe jump ship, but

(34:47):
if you're some of these programs, if Howie Roseman goes, listen,
we want you here. You got to pick and choose
to go back, because it could also go the other
What if you go to LSU and get hurt against
Texas State in week two or exactly, it's pretty risky
at least if you get hurt on the NFL's dime.
You've been there with that GM and that coach and
they're kind of invested in you. So I think there

(35:09):
are going to be some individual I guarantee we hear
a story of a guy goes. I could have made
a little bit more to go back, but it's like,
I don't want to go back to campus. I'm all
about football. I want the opportunity to play in the NFL.
I'm already here right.

Speaker 2 (35:23):
So it's interesting of the top one hundred players in
the NFL, the Seattle Seahawks only have three players in
the top one hundred, JSN Darnold and Witherspoon in the corner,
who is just a tremendous player. And it was funny
this week. So obviously Seattle is more of a collective

(35:49):
than like the Rams, who have dominant Puka, dominant Stafford,
you know now dominant, Miles Garrett like like really high
end players. But it was funny this week because there
The Athletic had a story. I thought it was crazy
of the top twenty five players under twenty five. Jared

(36:09):
Verse came out. He and I were laughing. We thought
it was so bad, but it was fascinating because JSN
was like fifteen and Witherspoon, I think was sixteen. And
I'm like, okay, I'm not saying I'm smarter than GMS,
but and I like Trent McDuffie, but Witherspoon and maybe

(36:30):
the best corner against the run in the league. And
he's also now Stingley may be better again whatever the
data says, Stingley may be better in man coverage. He's
Stingley so long, but I saw that lift. I mean,
Jamiir Gibbs fourteen, and I like Will Anderson, who to
me is probably in my opinion, the best player under

(36:53):
twenty five. I think I would put like Pinay Stools dominant,
but he's moving right tackle to left. Pooka and Jalen
Carter I would put a little lower just because of
the red flags and both have been injured. Who could
get hurt a lot because he's such a great blocker,
he's so physical. But I guess the overarching the macro
question for me is there does it does feel like.

Speaker 1 (37:18):
I'm looking out the list because I I remember looking
at it and thinking I think McDuffie was ahead of
Will Anderson. I could be getting that wrong. He was.
He was against the chief The Chiefs love Trent McDuffie
the human. They love him as a slot corner. But
they didn't think this guy's not stinglier those guys outside.
He's good, but he's so It's like, hey, they gave

(37:40):
him a hundred million dollars again, they value him, but
they did. It's not sting. It's not a no brainer.
You can't let him walk out the door. Will Anderson,
to me, you could justify having Will Anderson at number
one if you told me Will the defensive player of
the year. Do you know how good will? That was? Insane?
And listen if you want to have him one Will

(38:01):
Anderson too, I'm not gonna argue with you. I thought
they had Caleb Williams a little. I thought they had
a couple. They were just like, what are we who.

Speaker 2 (38:08):
Heard we make this list, Well, yeah, they had. I
just I thought it was such a bad list, and
like generally, you know, I know what I am, I
know what I'm not. But I said on the air,
I'm like, it made me feel like, could I be
a GM? I mean, if you can't identify guys already
in the league, I thought it was so bad. But

(38:32):
I guess my point is when you after a team
wins the Super Bowl Philadelphia, Kansas City in recent years,
there's almost an understanding there's a likelihood they could get
back to the super Bowl. That's kind of an understanding.
When you suggest, and I think the fans are like

(38:53):
this outside of the Northwest, when you suggest I think
the Seahawks could win back to back Super Bowls, there
is a real pushback. And it's like, guys, one team
matched up with them all year, the Rams, right, and
they weren't as good on special teams, and they weren't
as good at a corner. And of the three Seahawks
losses in the offseason, they replaced all of them with

(39:13):
their top three picks with the best GM, the best
college drafting GM over the last five years in the
National Football League. So my takeaway is it is interesting.
I mean, I went to the last twenty years and say, Okay,
the Patriots will win another Super Bowl. The Eagles went
back to back, the Chiefs went back to back. You
wouldn't get a ton of pushback. If the Rams won
this year, you'd be like, they may win again. But

(39:36):
the idea that Seattle could win again, you get tremendous pushback.
And I wonder if it's a darn Old factor. Well,
I didn't have a turnover in the postseason. We know
the coach is great, Like we know. I mean, it's
just fascinating to me that like GMS look at JSN
and Witherspoon and figure that's about the fifteenth and sixteenth

(39:59):
best player twenty five and under. Well, if you think
that twenty five and under, then where do you put
him in the league? Are you saying JSN is not
a top five receiver in the.

Speaker 1 (40:08):
League they had? Uh, I just pulled it up Tyler
Smith above JSN, Jamier Gibbs, Devin Witherspoon, and Quinnon Mitchell.
I like, uh, you know, I like Tyler Smith of
the Cowboys. But there you go. Get you're talking about
something that I mean.

Speaker 2 (40:23):
Well, Trup McDuffie on the one, Trent McDuffie was the one.
I'm like, I like Trent a lot, but Stingley's a
better pure cover corner. He's a better athlete, and you
could put Stingley anywhere on the field. And Devin Witherspoon,
I mean, Seattle, lets guys go, I mean they signed
him up like js Sen and Witherspoon. John Snyder did
not wait, it's like you're I mean, I don't know.

(40:46):
I just I looked at that list and I like McDuffie,
but I don't think he's in Witherspoon's league.

Speaker 1 (40:51):
He's a little high. He's a little high. I mean,
b John Robinson is I would say, if you just
pulled GMS, one of the most talented players in the league. Yeah,
he's gonna waste. I mean this the Atlanta Falcons, I know,
you like Stefanski, They're gonna be terrible. They've already los
they've already lost players or quarterback situation. Listen, I think

(41:11):
that Seattle. You know you've been beating this Sam Donald
drum for a long time. But once you become like
JJ McCarthy's a good example, he's gonna get multiple other
opportunities sure, because he's a highly drafted guy. If JJ
McCarthy played like he did and he was a seventh
round pick, it would not be the same. And I
think sometimes when you're like, once the Chiefs started winning,

(41:34):
Patrick mahonmes became facing the league, they just got the
Warriors and Steph Curry or Lebron, I think it's hard
to battle the perception. I mean, Sam Donald's gone back
to back years fourteen wins, which they were really sixty
minutes of.

Speaker 2 (41:47):
Different coordinators, coaches, locker rooms, receivers, staff cities.

Speaker 1 (41:52):
Well, think about this colin his Minnesota team. I remember
texting a buddy who had just played them like week
five or six. He's like, holy shit, they're pretty good.
Because remember a lot of people didn't quite know what
they were getting when Sam Donald, they draft JJ McCarthy.
By like week three or four, they were humming and
he's throwing touchdowns left and right, and a lot of
people like, I don't know, and he has this great season,

(42:13):
and then all people remembered of that season really at
the last one hundred and twenty minutes of the season,
specifically the last game to win the division, to be
the one seed, he doesn't play well. Like I've been
watching football for thirty years. I've seen a lot of
better players than Sam Donald have awful games. Well.

Speaker 2 (42:30):
Remember and remember first of all, the Rams game he
was sacked eight times, he was under complete durest and
the Lions game that was the biggest game in Detroit
maybe in thirty years. I mean, it was one of
those you walk into it and it's like, oh, this
is not gonna be our day.

Speaker 1 (42:47):
I think that it was a double knock. He obviously yeah,
great environment, but their entire team was missing and he
was just getting blitz con. He just played bad. But
it's like that that just erases everything we saw, and
then he comes back. I give you more credit in
like the Rams game last year when he throws all
the touch or all the interceptions and still finds a way, Like,

(43:08):
I'm more impressed when you look like crap. Remember the
game where they beat them. I guess that would have
been Seattle. They're down fourteen points, he's not playing well.
Shaheed returns and then he just plays really well the
rest of the game. It's like mentally he's really yeah,
he's gonna have bad games, he's gonna throw some picks,
but to me when he was whatever, he was on
the on the list of Sando fourteen or fifteen, Like

(43:30):
he's he's just too low the way he's played the
last couple years. I was even Texas. I text Schneider
the other day because I was watching the Hard Knocks.
I said, the team you've built, which if you just
watch Hard Knocks, it's clear they're not only really good.
All these guys like each other, which is what the
Chiefs had going and the Patriots had going, like really
good team chemistry. This is not baseball where it's like

(43:52):
your first baseman doesn't need to like your left field er.
They're all kind of individuals. Football chemistry matters. They got it.
But I was watching San Donald two weeks ago do
this sideline interview, and I just went, this guy is
just a pretty good face of the team. And then
you watch him in the Hard Knock highlights, like this
guy can really sling it. So it's like physically he's
really talented. Teammates really like him. Oh yeah, he's really

(44:15):
grounded and well liked. He's like a way better version
physically of like Alex Smith. Remember whenever you saw Alex
when he was starting to turn You're like, God, this
guy just gets it. He's just really impressive. Everyone likes him.
He plays hard. He just was physically limited. Sam doesn't
really have physical limitations when it comes throwing the ball.
So I just think that their team, they have one

(44:35):
of the best gms in the league who has put together.
I mean, they got some crazy guys, but they're like
crazy and Richard Truman, did you see the clip of
him talking to Mike McDonald. He's like, God, I'm really impressed.
Your guys's kind of like really like each other around here.
And he's like, sometimes you win the Super Bowl, half
a team wants to get paid. I remember John Lynch
doing like an NFL Films interview on this, like after

(44:57):
Tampa won it. He said, we had like three holdout
four other guys showed up to camp and in a
car way nicer than they should have been driving. He's like,
I knew we had some issues because it goes to
your head. And I don't know, maybe all these guys
have been rich for so long. I don't know what
the factors are. Maybe they have some guys like Leonard
Williams who's bounced around. They're head coach, not a big
ego guy. But yeah, I think they're gonna be excellent.

(45:20):
I don't know, win the Super Bowl. You need a
little luck, but there easily if you're just doing like
the equivalent of college. They're a lock top three or
four team going into the The Ravens and the Bills
every single year of the Super Bowl favorites, I mean
the Super Bowl favorites. Again this year, it's like over
these guys who just won the Super Bowl won the

(45:43):
division with two other playoff teams. That's the other Thingion,
It's not like their division's got three Arizona Cardinals, it's
got Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay. They got to play.

Speaker 2 (45:53):
Well, look at what they did the last two times
they played the Niners. I mean that's as badly dominated
as a Kyle Shanahan team has been dominated for years.
I mean San Francisco just didn't have the depth, the players,
the talent. I mean it was really ugly games where
they massacre Massacre just just could not compete. All right.
NFL on Netflix is back. Week one of the upcoming

(46:16):
season features the division rivals Rams against the San Francisco
forty nine or just the great rivalry had to head
first ever regular season game in Australia, airing on Netflix
live from the Melbourne Cricket Ground Thursday September tenth, eight
thirty pm Eastern Time. Heading into the holiday season, Netflix

(46:38):
will add the NFL's first ever Thanksgiving Eve game that's
November twenty fifth, to its play featuring the Packers visiting
the Rams at Sofi Stadium that may be a sixty
seventy thirty Packer crowd. Continuing the Christmas Day tradition, Netflix
again has two games. One on Christmas Day, Green Bay
Packers visit the improved Chicago Bears a Soldier Field one Eastern,

(47:01):
followed by the Buffalo Bills against the Denver Broncos from
Empower Field at Mile High four to thirty pm Eastern. Then,
in Week eighteen, with playoff stakes on the line, catch
the final game of the regular season live on Netflix.
Watch Week one of the NFL on Netflix, starting with
the Rams against the Niners live only on Netflix, Thursday
September tenth, eight thirty five pm Eastern. The Joe Burrow

(47:27):
comments this week this is the third year in a row. Burrow.
He was quoted this week at the microphone saying you know,
I'm just tired of saying next year he's missed the playoffs.
I think three years in a row with Cincinnati, despite
the fact that data tells you he's a top three
quarterback in the NFL. And I've been saying this for

(47:48):
a couple of years. Is that about three years ago
Joe Burrow, And I think it's surprised most of us,
Like when the season ended, like he went to Europe.
He was in fashion shows, like he just removed himself
from Cincinnati and football.

Speaker 1 (48:02):
And my.

Speaker 2 (48:04):
Initial thought the first year, I'm like, oh, okay, well,
it's just interesting, good looking guy goes over there. But
part of it was he was really committing to another industry,
Like he was really into fashion, like really really into
it if you read some of his quotes and you
see a lot of the videos. And I thought it
was a protective mechanism that he just felt like, listen,

(48:27):
I'm knocking my head against the wall. I have bad
offensive lines. It's putting my career in jeopardy and just
for sanity's sake. And I've I know people like this
that I've talked to people where really talented people work
at a company and they're really well compensated, but they
think the CEO's at crook they don't you know, you know,

(48:50):
they don't like the company. They don't agree with it,
and they, you know, all of a sudden, they're like,
you know, I'm going to take up golf or I'm
going to get a really great second hobby because i
just need it for my sanity. I'm totally committed. I'm
great for my company. This company sucks. And then people
get into these traps John where they have a high
profile job, they have income, they got a mortgage, but

(49:12):
they hate the company. They don't like either what it
stands for, the product, and so what do you do, Like,
what do you do when it's like, God, I'm just
beating my head against the wall, I'm better than the company.
And I think a lot of times what people do,
especially competitive people with an entrepreneurial streak, is I'm going
to get a big hobby. I'm going to invest in
my time, my energy and maybe my money and some

(49:34):
other things. I really believe that's Joe Burrow. I'm not saying,
but I mean, I honestly believe if Joe Burrow would
have gone to Sean McVay, I'm not saying he wouldn't
like fashion, but it felt so stark, it felt so obvious,
like I'm just going to shut football down for a while.
And Brady did a lot of this when he retired,

(49:56):
like Brady became much more entrepreneurial when you were tired.
But he was all in. So was Peyton Manning. And
I mean, Mahomes has his family, but you don't see
this big second, like massive second part of his life
that is, you know, pretty clearly of major interest. I

(50:19):
don't know. My take is Joe's doing this to protect Joe.
I totally support it. I feel bad for him. I mean,
I said it last year. I think it's time where
he's got a couple more years of guaranteed money, but
it's time to have strong Like I would not resign
with Cincinnati.

Speaker 1 (50:37):
I uh to me, if you're going to go all
in the fashion thing, I mean, I'd like to you know,
you to be consistently on the field. You know, Brady's
heard dabbling. You know. I think there is a hardcore
as a quarterback. I think there's hardcore pressure on Joe
Burrow this year. I'm going to defend the Bengals a
little bit this time around, because everyone they're an easy

(50:57):
punching bag. I think this individual team, they've done everything
they want or he wanted. You know, he did go
a little lebron on them, right, because I think I
think a lot of the high high level gms would
not have kept Higgins when they already had Chase. They
would have flipped that they would use the money other places.
They would have utilized picks to get sweet wide receivers

(51:18):
in other rounds. But Joe didn't want him to go,
so they kept them. And then this year. Did you
see the quote the other day from the Bengals center.
I guess they joint practiced the Bears and he I
guess Dexter Lawrence was just destroying the dominant and the
Cincinnati Bengals center said something you know, like you know,

(51:42):
it helped validate my concerns. Some of my insecurities have
now left me. I feel a little bit better. I
thought I was gonna get cut or so this guy's
an unblockable player, that move has a chance to be
really really good, and what have they like they'd last
some physicality and but their team they have been really
aggressive Colin so I mean he he he signed the contract.

(52:02):
No one put a gun to his head when he
signed the contract. It's I don't feel the sympathy for
him being stuck there. Yes, he was drafted there, and
then when they put a lot of money, he said, yeah,
I'll take it. So what'd you take the money like?
And then listen, they had a little rocky time, but
they have invested.

Speaker 2 (52:18):
The Chargers are.

Speaker 1 (52:20):
No one's spending less cash this year than the Chargers. Nobody,
I mean nobody. So it's like I I just think
sometimes the Bengals, because of who their owner is, it's
we talk about him because they have it. They have
a past, they have a resume. But I would say
this individual team looks pretty good. I mean I think
they have a chance. Again, some pressures on Burdwell I had.

(52:43):
I had a scouting buddy a year ago. Tell me
he's like the easiest punching bag in the league. For
a unit. Is the Bengals A line of all the
you know good with the top quarterbacks the Bengals. A
line sucks the Bengals. A line sucks the Bengals. This
was the Seattle thing a little bit. Now Russell would
just take off. He said a lot and I think
they would have said, like Seattle's offensive line is not

(53:04):
as bad as the way it gets talked about. It's
hard to play with Russell Joe. While he doesn't take off,
he holds the ball to the last possible second. Sometimes
he holds it too long. Now again it creates greatness,
but he's not last year when he got injured. It's
just he holds the ball, which you respect, you know,
for a guy into fashion, toughness is a huge part

(53:26):
of this, some of these fashion shows. I don't know
if their toughness scale the guys he's sitting next to
her quite Joe Burrows, but I would say that, like
there's pressure on Joe this year to stay on the field.
If he stays on the field does what he did
two years ago and they missed the playoffs, coach will
get fired. Things will change. But like their team on paper,
Colin has no excuse not to win the division.

Speaker 2 (53:47):
Well, Dexter and Allen. They went and got Allen as well.
So their interior d line was an issue because you
could run on them. Therefore, take the ball away from Burrow.
They couldn't stop inside on game much so Dexter Lawrence
I think they traded the number ten pick in a
pretty soft draft, so that was a pretty smart move.

(54:07):
It was like a Dexter did not have a great
year last year, so I think John Harbaugh was like,
it's expensive and I'm going to move off him. But
in the end, it's not a Chris Jones situation where
you kind of think we've seen the best of him.
Dexter Lawrence just had an off year. But this happens
with you know, players, especially like often defensive linemen, like

(54:32):
they can roller coaster a little bit in the middle
of they can get banged up. We don't know if
he's playing hurt. I read the same story as you did.
Like people are saying, like unblockable, he is just something.
And by the way, when you get traded when you're
a dominant player for the New York Giants for years,
you're a dominant collegian, you're a dominant player, and you
get traded, it probably pisses you off and you're like, oh,
you're gonna send me to the Bengals.

Speaker 1 (54:53):
So true, he was created in a lab to play
in Cold Weather Division. You know, he played with the
Giants against the Eagles, against the command outside and these
cold I mean, he is Taylor made. Honestly, when you
look at him, you think he should have been playing
for the Ravens or the Steelers in their heyday. Like
that's he has got a chance to be a I

(55:15):
mean it wouldn't his his sack numbers won't be high
enough to be like Defensive Player of the Year, but
like first team All Pro, wherevery guy that blocks him says,
this guy's the most I mean there's he can't move him,
and the Bengals just they haven't had that in a while.
So I commend him because you talk to a lot
of these gms. Take some stones to trade the tenth
pick for, you know, a d tackle who's not exactly

(55:37):
Aaron Donald as a pass rusher. You know, I'm not cheap. Yeah,
and they gave him an actually he was already under
contractor they gave him twenty He's making twenty five twenty
seven million dollars a year. So then this is where
I defends Mike. That's a you know, Jerry, what do
you say A couple of years ago, we're all in
and everyone's like, Jerry, you're lying, Like these guys truly
have gone all in for Joe Burrow. So he can
you know, power whatever in the fashion square and rants.

(56:00):
But I do think and I'm pro Joe Burrow. He's
a great player. But like last year, he's gone for
three months. You know, it wasn't I don't. I think
it's easy to blame the organization, but it was two
years ago. On their defense, they were losing games. Remember
to the Ravens. I think he threw like nine touchdowns
in the two Ravens games. They lost them, both of them.
I mean that's two years ago. I completely on board.

(56:23):
Last year, I mean, he just he was just gone
and injuries have been kind of a part of his
story a little bit.

Speaker 2 (56:31):
We'll wrap it up with this. So I watched, like you,
I watched a half dozen of you know, preseason games,
and I went to YouTube on the games I didn't
watch and watch highlights. I'm always blown away by how
many good players you see in the preseason that were
not drafted. A kid for the Bears made a catch
up the left sidelight, just a great play. I looked

(56:53):
him up. It's like undrafted. I'm like, good God. When
I went to Bears practice, you know, I had my
like pro they handed me, the GM did and they
Adidas program. Yeah, and so I can just figure out
who these guys are. And I mean, first of all,
the Bears have a six round defensive tackle from Georgia
Tech who's just been so far the practice Iewan he

(57:15):
was good. I've just always kind of blown away. And
maybe it's at skill positions, but there's so much football
talent in America. I remember a few years ago, CTE
was a big discussion, right like eight nine years ago,
and people were saying I can remember like very credible
people in the media saying, you know, football, it's NBA
is going to be far more popular in ten years.

(57:38):
And the truth is, and I remember saying this on
the air, you just you've never lived in the South
if you think the NBA is going to be bigger
right than the NFL, Like football is so big in
Texas in Southern states. Now in California, I have a
friend whose son played college football. He's like, people look
at me crazy. He's west of the four or five,

(57:59):
and it's, you know, it's pretty liberal part of California
is like, people just look at me crazy when I
say my son plays football, Like why, but I hear.

Speaker 1 (58:06):
You say that, but is it modern day one of
the best programs in fulsome and SAT it's the top
twenty five national program like the best high school programs
are there.

Speaker 2 (58:15):
There's a lot of talent because it's such a you know,
it's thirty eight million people in the state. In la
is a massive, second biggest city in the country. But
in a lot of parts of California, the turnouts lower.
The high end talent's great, but the turnout's lower. And
that's California. But in terms of most Midwest South, I
think in the Northeast and maybe California, the turnout's probably lower.

(58:36):
But I'm always kind of im not just impressed, kind
of it's it's it's a little jaw dropping at times,
the quality of player that you look at and you know,
he played at Texas A and M and wasn't drafted.
I mean, look at Rock pretty the last player in

(58:57):
a draft. I mean, so when anybody questions the future
of football, start looking at what the Rams have been
able to secure and develop in the fifth round and
the sixth or Jordan Whittingham, Puka Nakua, I mean, i'mer
on Saint Brown was a fourth round picket wide receiver.
It's just I just I guess that's my take on

(59:18):
the preseason. One of the things I enjoy is watching
it and then going online and going where this kid
go to college.

Speaker 1 (59:24):
Well, one thing I learned because like like any young fan,
I used to be like draft grades and can't wait
to watch the first or second rounder. And then I
started going to these camps working in it, and then
I started doing this and going to it more from
a content standpoint, And you get there and the second
rounder would just get beat out by the seventh rounder
within like a week, you know, or all of a sudden,

(59:46):
the guy who had draft in the third round, who
had just started at USC for four years is running
behind the undrafted free agent from North Dakota. And I
think the greatest part about football in the draft process
and the team building aspect, is you're dealing with human
beings and you can never quite know what they're gonna
be like once they get there, and the hunger that

(01:00:08):
they have. And the most well documented because he's done
ten million interviews on this because of pick one, was Brady.
But what the way Brady talks about the drive and
want it? A lot of guys have now they're not
as good as Tom. But that guard that makes the
team in play seven years is an undrafted free agent
and year one that a guy right now all around

(01:00:29):
the league, right if you played the last couple of days,
East Coast, maybe they've already done it. But like our
West Coast teams, they're meeting as a staff, the coaching
staff and the GM and a couple of his guys
and maybe the trainers, and they're going position by position,
and they're getting to some guys and it's like, hey,
we got Colin Coward, our starting right guard. He makes
eleven million dollars if he's on the roster week one.

(01:00:52):
If we cut him, where we get out free and
clear this undrafted free agent. I'm not saying he's as good,
but he may one eleventh of what this guy's make.
And the on line coaches goes, I believe by Halloween
he'll be just as good. In four years, he can
be better. So you start thinking and it's like, well
that undrafted free agents from you know, pick a random

(01:01:14):
Kansas state and it's like, yeah, we didn't think it.
And I think sometimes in the draft process, think about
the draft. It happens at the end of April. Well,
most of the I mean half the colleges are done
playing by early to mid December, so you have this
huge gap between and I just think it's easy to
overthink human beings. You can't what brock Turty was the
player of the year in Arizona, and he was the

(01:01:36):
player of the year in a state. You know, in
the player of the year. Buddy's six foot one, so
Nick Saven's.

Speaker 2 (01:01:43):
And he was Yeah, he was in a small school, Harry, remember, Yeah,
he was not at Chaparral or one of these powerhouses. Yeah,
he wasn't throwing to four and five star guys. He
was at an average high school.

Speaker 1 (01:01:55):
And I think if if he had been my age,
you know, back early two thousand's Black Party might end
up at UC Davis. But I do think the Internet age,
those guys get opportunities now because people can find him.
But you're still Alabama's, Georgia's, Ohio states. They're not as
likely to take them. Right.

Speaker 2 (01:02:13):
Listen, Greys Abel went to North Dakota State. Gray's Abel
is better than any offensive lineman USC has had in
over a decade. And I watched him at North Dakota State.
Because they're on TV a couple times a year, and
they were talking about him. And then I watched him
with the Seahawks, you know the team I grew up with. Yeah,
by the first week he was pancaking people. Graysabel out

(01:02:38):
of North Dakota States, and I mean he just think
about all the foreign five star offensive linemen USC just
I'll just take USC for example. They have not had
an offensive lineman as good as grays Abel from North
Dakota State. That is the gift that keeps on giving,
is that you just don't know where the talent's going
to come from.

Speaker 1 (01:02:56):
Well, the Chargers, where's Jake Slater. He went to Florida,
so he's not nobody. But I don't think, yeah, he's
he's the second round picks.

Speaker 2 (01:03:05):
That's okay, he was big sixty, he was okay, it
was not a great interior old line year.

Speaker 1 (01:03:11):
But he's a good example. If he goes on to
be who knows, I mean, who's to say he can't
be a Pro Bowl or you just look around. That's
like this guy goes to make three Pro Bowls. He's
taken at the end of the second round, and half
the guy's taken above him around of the league within
four or five years. So it's just there is no
exact sit there never will be. As someone told me,

(01:03:32):
who's like the number two for a team, He's like,
you know, we bring in a lot of other sports,
specifically like our GM's friends with baseball guys, and he's like,
we talked to him about the wiring of those, Like
they're just fascinated by the wiring of our guys. Like, yeah,
our guys are kind of they kind of got to
shift their mindset into becoming like a barbaric warrior. He's like,
when you play left field for the Yankees, like, can

(01:03:53):
you hit the curve bar? You can't? You know, do
you have enough energy today or do you not? It's
not like, you know, they don't even care if you
run out. You know, you pop, fly, bounce as you
end up at first base. The announcers like, should have hustled,
But what nothing really in football? I mean, if you
don't hustle, everyone's screaming at you when you come off
the field. It's a there's a violence to football that

(01:04:15):
factors into the draft thing. Why it's so difficult.

Speaker 2 (01:04:19):
Yeah, I remember years ago I read somebody told me
this or something about UFC, like every UFC champion had
grown up with brothers, like more brothers than sisters because
and often you know, you get young boys beat up
on each other. Young boys are physical like that gets
you're wiring to be physical and tough, you know, gets

(01:04:43):
that stuff starts really young when you're a young boy.
And I think in the same in football, I just
think there's you know, you see a lot of families,
the Matthews or the Watts, and you know you're just around.
I mean, it's not like it's not like, by the way,
JJ Watt was a five star athlete, he walked on too.
You know he's got a big dad, but you know
he's got a bunch of brothers and all of a sudden,

(01:05:03):
you know you're you look up and you're like, God,
that's what a legacy this family has. And it's I
just think it's just I just watched preseason. I just
I'm blown away by the layers and levels of talent
that goes undrafted or late round guys. So John Middlecoff
is always buddy, great senior, take it easy,

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