Colin Cowherd Podcast - NFL Top 100, Pay Aiyuk? New Kickoff Rule, Olympics Resurgence - The Colin Cowherd Podcast

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
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Speaker 1 (01:32):
All right, this starts a pretty regular one hour hit
on Sundays between John Middlcoff, a former NFL scout with
Philadelphia who has been obviously a regular on this podcast
network since I think pretty much Day One Go Lows
is golf podcast as well. So you know, I was

(01:53):
thinking about this that when I built a volume, one
of the things I think about all the time is
I think of it a little bit like a swimming area.
Stay in your lane, Like there are things I know
and things I don't. We have a series of people.
You're a football guy and a golf guy, Like everybody
has sort of a lane, and it's worked that way.

(02:13):
And I've seen that most of my life in corporate
America and in corporate America. When you have problems is
when people think you know, a sales guy suddenly comes
up and wants to talk to me about content. ESPN
was famous for that. Here, I've got a segment I
think could work well for a car dealership, and I'm like,
I'll create segments. If you can sell them, you sell them.
But iHeart Fox has never asked me to do a

(02:36):
segment because they found a sponsor. Like, that's not the
way it works. It shouldn't work that way. So Belichick,
prime example, got into trouble. He took over personnel. Pete
Carroll and Seattle got into trouble. He and John Snyder.
Once John Snyder the last couple of years took over personnel.
Seahawks had back to back great drafts. They had several
where Pete had influence where they just kept missing on

(02:58):
first round picks. Rashad Penny, the running back, is a
great example where like everything was a reach. So when
the players vote in the NFL Top one hundred, it's illuminating.
It lets you look into what matters to players. They
love athleticism. Lamar Jackson is the voted the number one

(03:19):
quarterback over Patrick Mahomes because he's viewed as hyper athletic.
This is the NBA players a majority thinking Westbrook's better
than Steph Curry, despite the fact they're both guards. One
can't shoot and has bad hands, like the two most
important things for a guard, like.

Speaker 3 (03:36):
Well, who likes him?

Speaker 1 (03:37):
Now?

Speaker 3 (03:37):
Jokic wants Russell Westbrook on his teams, like what are
we doing?

Speaker 1 (03:40):
What are we doing? So it's interesting. I don't have
a problem. I love Lamar. He's not Patrick Mahomes. But
it's interesting they have Dak Prescott ahead of Matt Stafford
and Joe Burrow. There is not that's not nobody thinks
that like in the league when you talk to personnel people.
I mean, Dak Struggles were the best offensive line for

(04:02):
years in football to win a single playoff game. Burle
got to the Super Bowl with an egregiously bad offensive line.
So in the days that you were working for the Eagles,
I look at the top one hundred. I'm not offended
by it, but it illuminates how players view the world.
Hyper Athleticism is viewed on a grand scale for players.

Speaker 3 (04:25):
I just think the way personnel departments and coaches work
in the NBA. If the Warriors are going to do
something big. They talk with Steph Curry. Obviously, Lebron James
has a huge hand in personnel and sometimes it works,
sometimes it doesn't, but you got to keep him happy.
The most famous dynasty of my life, the Patriots never
asked Tom Brady's opinion one time. Now, it doesn't mean

(04:46):
they shouldn't have it, but they never never even cross
Bill's mind. Andy is not asking Patrick Mahomes, you know
his for his draft board, right or in free agency. Now,
when a player plays somebody, if you play Lamar Jackson
and he kicks your ass and you go, that was
really good? Like that, there's something to be said. But

(05:07):
in the NFL, you don't play every team. So in
the NFC, only four teams in the NFC played the
Ravens last year, right, It rotates every four years, So
half the league is not even playing this player. And
then there are teams in the AFC that aren't playing
them either. Colin this ranking, which I honestly have to
fake even caring about, I do not care about this,

(05:28):
and the Madden rankings which had Lamar and Patrick Mahomes
right here, Josh Allen is a better player than Lamar Jackson.
He's a better player. Yes, the Chiefs feared Josh Allen.
They just played him both back to back playoffs on
the road. They feared Josh Allen. They were excited to
play Lamar. Again, that's not saying that Lamar's not good.
They knew they could handle Lamar. Josh Allen has kind

(05:49):
of owned them. This is in the playoffs. The reason
the Bills haven't won was Sean McDermott the defense, not Josh.
To me, there is a gap again, Lamar's regular season
in the playoffs hasn't been remotely the same. No, no,
and that's a big problem for a team that at
this point in time, Like we're not judging the Ravens
on twelve wins, thirteen wins, like who cares? Like, yeah,

(06:10):
I expect the Ravens to be in the playoffs. He's
getting judged on those couple of games, just like Mahomes.
And that's the thing with Josh. He hasn't won, but
I think we all go not totally his fault, right.
They were Peyton manning games early when I remember being
in like early in college in high school, and I
love Peyton, and I was like, this doesn't look like
the same guy I have just watched for sixteen weeks
and that's how Lamar felt. In the big games were Mahomes.

(06:32):
He's like he's like a chameleon. He's morphed. He was
like one point in time he was throwing like Dan Marino.
Now he's like became a game manager this year because
of his team. It's like he can do it all.

Speaker 1 (06:41):
Do you know the one position that they have asked Mahomes'
opinion in the draft. It's the one position Kansas City
drafts poorly, wide receiver. So they have asked Mahomes from
time to time for an opinion on college receivers. And
I imagine they listened to him if they asked at
Veitch drafts. Everything great except wide receiver. And my take

(07:05):
is he has an influence if you ask, because I
heard they have asked mahomes opinion on wide receivers. Well,
if you ask his opinion, he says, I like this guy,
You're not gonna avoid that guy. If he's available, you're
probably gonna And it's the one position where they've been
really immature. Tony immature, Rashi Rice immature, Xavier Worthy, I
think that's his name out of Texas.

Speaker 3 (07:25):
Yeah, it is.

Speaker 1 (07:26):
I mean he's one hundred and sixty pounds. I mean
you can jam him up on the line. He'll make
spectacular plays.

Speaker 3 (07:31):
But he's pretty he's pretty talented.

Speaker 1 (07:32):
No, no, he is, I'm not disputing that. But there's also
a video all over practice of him getting tossed around
like a crewton and a salad bowl, just getting thrown
all over the field.

Speaker 3 (07:42):
Deshaun Wade a hundred. Now, DeShawn was more talented I
think than this player. He went in the second round
because there were a ton of question marks when you
have the elite speed. Now, Deshaun was a great route runner.
I think a lot of people view Xavier Worthy as
more than just a go route guy if he can
do everything else. Andy has a soft spot for guys
with a little trouble, Like Andy's not afraid of those.

(08:03):
Bill just wants wants to avoid that at all costs.
For the most part, Andy kind of embraces it. And
I'm not saying like, and that's the Tonys even Tyreek
early on, Kelsey was a character guy coming out of
high school. So I think Andy feels pretty comfortable that
he can mold that. But overall, the quarterback ranking. You
can not have an NFL quarterback ranking and not have
Josh Allen second. And I take you seriously, you can't

(08:25):
do it. I think he's the second best quarterback and honestly,
like I have more faith in him winning. It's on
the organization. But because I've seen him be awesome in
the playoffs. I mean, say what you want about you
know the Bengals, who the owner's been cheap, they have
proven over the last twenty years. They've had moments with

(08:45):
Marvin Lewis and Carson Amerson, really good teams with Marvin
Lewis and the Andy Dalton teams, like they can build
a team. Joe Burrow benefited two years ago. Their team
was talented.

Speaker 1 (08:54):
No, I mean Cincinnati is like the Chargers. They've gotten
quarterback right a lot. The Chargers have gone fouts, Breeze, rivers, Herbert.
I mean, go back to boom Kenny Anderson. Yeah he
was Cincinnati Kenny Anderson, boomera in the playoffs. Yeah, Kenny Anderson,

(09:15):
Boomerasias and Carson Palmer, Andy Dalton, Joe Burrow.

Speaker 3 (09:20):
They've they've and.

Speaker 1 (09:21):
Those two franchises will drive you nuts, but they've gotten
quarterback right, more than they've missed.

Speaker 3 (09:26):
How about even last year when Burrow goes down, what's
Jake Browning quarterback? All of a sudden, Jake Browning, who
I watched in college. I said, this guy couldn't plan,
and you're watching him last year. God, this guy's not bad. Yeah,
so they develop.

Speaker 1 (09:39):
Yeah, so I'll throw this out to you. So I
didn't make a big deal out of it. I went
to Twitter. So I was doing a show last week
and I got a call from a very through the years,
an exceptional source like ten for ten, a former player
in the NFL, and he said, next forty eight hours,

(10:00):
seventy two hours, keep your eye on Brandon Ayuk. He's
going to sign a deal. So I just, you know,
I just put it on Twitter. I said, hey, keep
your eyes out for Brandon Ayu. Not in the moment,
but next two to three days. Well, nothing has transpired.
So and it's funny because I've said this before. I
didn't second source it. That's why I didn't make it
into a big topic. I put it on Twitter. I

(10:20):
had one source. I tried to get a second but
it was somebody that through the years has been just
tremendously accurate for me, and I don't hear from often,
but he's led me in the right direction virtually every time.
So I haven't talked to him yet, so I'm kind
of waiting for it. But give me an update. Because
they do have cap space. It's fascinating for all the

(10:42):
stars they have because they're paying pretty You know what
a cashier makes at costco. I mean he makes nothing
by NFL relevant relative to NFL standards. Where are you
on IU? Their cap space and the rumors you hear.

Speaker 3 (10:56):
Well, first and foremost, Trent Williams is more pressing than me,
Like you had to choose one one guy, No, not there.
He not only is he not there, He's thirty five
years old, He's made a ton of money in his career.
In the back of your mind, what if he just
called and said, you know, actually I've done enough. We've
had enough success. I know I never won a super Bowl,
but my body, I'm just kind of already. That has

(11:17):
to terrify them. So to me, that is priority. Like
the moment Trent Williams did not show up, it went
Brandon Ayuk, You're no longer priority number one, and he
already was really emotional like, I don't think Trent's that
emotional about this. It's like, hey, guys, we all agree
I'm the best left tackle. All these guys are now
getting twenty eight twenty nine million dollars, that's what I need.
It was kind of like what McCaffrey did right this offseason, Like, listen,

(11:39):
I'm not going to make a big stink of this,
but I'm no longer playing for ten to eleven million dollars.
I'm not asking for forty a year, but we better
get this number round twenty thing without you guy. I
just think it's really complicated because he won. He's very emotional.
I give him credit for showing up. Yeah, Kyle's good
at this. Kyle often goes like, listen, there's a lot
of stuff flying around on the outside. I know these
guys really well. Actually, my offensive guys, I'm very close

(12:01):
with them. I played wide receivers. They know how much
passionate I am about that position. I've been around these
guys from day one. I'm the only coach they've ever
had here, so I in a weird way, the Niners
got more shit going on than like the Cowboys. Yeah,
and they're just kind of numb to it, and I
think this speaks to you know, John Lynch, he's a
pretty rare operator and one he's not your typical GM.

(12:24):
He was already rich when he took the job, and
he's a natural leader. But these are not easy situations.
And this goes back to you know, Jerry rides it
out and then ultimately I'll just pay my own guy
the most. Whatever. R the Niners in Parrague, Jed's money
guy who has led them. They bought a team over
in Europe and soccer they have been I mean, the

(12:46):
Levice Stadium changed the wealth of that family. Like Eddie
de Bartolow was rich and his family was, but the
Yorks were not on the same level and they were
not going to be able to sustain in Candlestick and
that thing changed everything. But they don't just hand you
this is George Steinbrenner, here's three hundred million dollars for
you know, some star player. That's not the way. Look

(13:07):
at last year with Nick Bosa.

Speaker 1 (13:09):
That's right.

Speaker 3 (13:10):
They just don't operate that way. And listen, they take
some shit, and rightfully so, because it goes I understand
if you're willing to, like, okay, do you have a
number where you're like, Okay, we're just not going to
get a deal done, which I don't think they do.
So are you just listen? I've been to going to
these practice for years. Trent Williams is on a pretty
cruise control training camp, like this ain't Junction Boys Alabama

(13:33):
nineteen fifty for him. But do you want him showing
up week you know, ten days before week one that
has pulling a hammy or something written all over. I
don't care what he's doing. He's still in pads out
there moving around and the ayuk thing, like how does
he he can work out all he wants with the
trainers and stuff in the weight room. It's just not

(13:53):
the same and you need I mean, these are two
of their high like they're probably the Chiefs to me,
are the only team that can really go Super Bowl
or bus. It was a disappointment, But I do think
there's a group of three or four teams, obviously the
Bills and the Ravens with Lamar and Josh, and probably
the forty nine Ers that anything less than a Super
Bowl berth feels like a devastating blow. And so to me,
if you're the forty nine Ers, like the number is

(14:15):
not going to come back to you. He's not just
all of a sudden go like, hey, I turned twenty
six million dollars what three months ago? But now more
guys have gotten paid. Now I'm good with it, but
I also get the Niner spot, like we don't think
you're as good as DJ Moore. We just don't think
you're that good. That's right, And that's where I have
a hard time with NFL markets and stuff like whatever
happened to this is what we think you're worth. And

(14:37):
you're still under contract. This is not like you're just
some free agent out there. So do you want to
play on fourteen million or do you want to take
our seventy five million dollars guaranteed? Historically the guy usually cracks,
but it does feel And I had Jake Rosenberg, who
was a longtime contract negotiator for the Eagles, on the
pod last week and he said, like, let's face it,
these player empowerment in the NFL. It's not the NBA,

(15:00):
but it's definitely amped up a little bit. Yeah, and
you see it all around the league. These guys are like,
I'm not doing well shit.

Speaker 1 (15:05):
And it's also a lot with Parcels. No, it's a
lot of wide receivers who have always been the NBA players.
They're the most talented athletes. It's sort of an independent position.
You break the huddle first, you go up the sideline,
Throw me the ball when I'm not open. And you know,
I've argued this, Tyreek Hill just got a new three
year deal. No new year's outed, just pay raise. And

(15:26):
I've argued this, and this is like matter of fact.
Take your feelings out of it. The Chiefs have won
back to back Super Bowls without Tyreek Hill. Fact, and
I've said this about Tyreek Hill. I'm not a believer
at all in dominant number one receivers, especially with a
Brock Purty, because Brock Purdy is not getting paid. If

(15:49):
you have a star receiver getting paid a lot, you
do have there's sort of a psychology like I got
to feed this guy. This guy's got to eat. I
remember Dak broke into the league with Dez Bryant left,
and you lose that nine touchdowns a year, but Dak spread.
Dak to grow, had to spread the ball around and
see the entire field. And I do think with Mahomes
and Tyreek it became sort of a he's always open

(16:14):
and it's forced over the last few years, Yes, but
it has forced Mahomes to throw underneath, to take what
the defense gives you. I think Mahomes has actually all argued,
has grown as a quarterback without Tyreek Hill. Tyreek Hill

(16:34):
made his job much easier and he's obviously naturally gifted.
So if you want a young quarterback to grow, everybody's
fearful of Stefan Diggs and Josh Allen, he's still a
little bit in the growing curve where he's got to
take more of what the defense gives him. So that's
my knock on Tyreek Hill. Yes, he's fast, but he's

(16:58):
a deep threat with a quarterback with a big deep
threat arm, So he's flashy, he's exciting. I could think
of ten quarterbacks in the league where Tyreek Hill would
be a better fit than Tua and I don't. And
I again, I think he's a terrific player. I don't
think he's the most the best player number one like
the players do in the league, but I think he's very,

(17:18):
very valuable. But I am not a believer in this.
If you're asking me the Niners, I think their DNA
is Shanahan, Trent Williams, Deebo and McCaffrey and Kittle somewhat.
I think Ayuk's just really talented. I think there's this
bubble now with wide receivers. Where show me all the

(17:39):
playoff wins for Tyreek and Justin Jefferson and Devonte Adams.

Speaker 3 (17:43):
Where are they well with Tyreek? I do think the
Dolphins he kind of had him by the balls because,
like you said, he would be better off with a
bigger arm quarterback. We've seen him, yes, no question that
they can't even dream of functioning without him and Waddle.
I mean when those guys go down, they look differently,
and that the whole Once you doubled down on Tua,
you can't get rid of him or it will look

(18:04):
really bad. You want to make it look good. I
do think the forty nine ers already kind of showed
their hands. It was like, ah, they got some needs.
You know, Trent Williams getting older, you know, you can
always go defense. And they took a wide receiver at
the end of the first round. And now big picture,
maybe they already thought that, hey we get Auk. That's
Debo because he's more of an over the middle, he

(18:25):
could break tackles. He's what Kyle likes. And ultimately, you
can't have like this is not sustainable for the forty
nine ers. Now. Part of it is that guys are
older too. But in the next two years, all these
guys are not going to be on the team. And
this is what the Chiefs did. Listen Beach, It's an
all time move trading him. What were the chief last

(18:45):
year a defensive team? How are they a defensive team? Well,
Trent McDuffie became a superstar. Karloscis, they were able to
invest in Chris Jones. Now they had less on offense,
but their quarterback had become like Tom Brady in terms
of game management, and their defense was so great they
felt comfortable winning twenty to seventeen or seventeen to thirteen.
And the forty nine ers are going to have to
pivot off Kittle, Deebo. One of these guys is not

(19:08):
going to be there. I trust thirty five, thirty six
years old.

Speaker 1 (19:11):
I said this before. I have the Rams running the division.
I thought they peaked last year. I think they're going through.
I think it's noise.

Speaker 3 (19:16):
Those those guys are still on the team though, That's
what I would say, though those guys are still now
the Rams are still dependent on young players. Kyle's dominated him.
To me, there's questions. I know Perdy got hurt in
the playoff game, but for the most part, like Stafford's health,
given the way he plays, given his fearlessness and his
age when he's I was thinking about this the other
day because I want to do something I haven't quite

(19:38):
figured out what to call it, but some ranking of
the quarterbacks, and I got to like five and six,
and I'm like, I haven't even thought about Stafford, and
he's better than everyone I'm about to name, Like his
high end it is through the room. Deniable's Josh Allen. Yeah,
Patrick Mahomes, and he played like that down the stretch.
It's why he took a team full of kids, with
Cooper Cupp being a shell of himself, toe to toe

(20:00):
with the Lions who had the Niners on the ropes.
So yeah, I think both those teams are locked playoff teams.
But the Rams had to pivot and the Niners are
going to have to pivot over the next eighteen months
with younger players a lot like the Chiefs did, especially
once you pay the quarterback.

Speaker 1 (20:17):
Yeah, so I was thinking about you know, I've I've
learned something through the years with men, and it's a
big chunk of men. Forty percent of men. Forty percent
of people never leave the area code they grow up in.
I mean, you just made a pivot a couple of
years ago. You're like, I'm going to Arizona. I can't
the San Francisco's outrageous, and you're I think you're a

(20:39):
happier guy. Congratulations. Now as your fiance, Uh, when is
the date?

Speaker 3 (20:45):
I think it was easier to move. I had lived
in Philly, I had lived in Kisas City for six months.
So it's you know, you experience whether you're not as
is fearful of anything. The date March eight. Keep an
eye on your your mailbox.

Speaker 1 (20:57):
I will be available.

Speaker 4 (21:00):
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Speaker 1 (21:48):
So I was thinking like, and I'm not. It's just
people are different and I'm not traditional. So I can
move my wife's the same way we can move on
a dime. And the kickoff rules. It's quirky looking, but
just the new kickoff rules. Think about it in terms
of when they changed the pat it became a real play,

(22:09):
one of those your kicker misses one about every third
week unless you have the Unless you have the Bravence kicker.
So seven of eight kicks were returned in the Hall
of Fame game. Seventy three percent of kicks last year
went through the m zone or touchbacks. You get an
extra play about six to seven times a game. There
were only like four balls kickoffs taken for touchdowns last year.

(22:33):
It almost never happens, don't Yeah, I mean like it
may happen. It basically in the NFL happens every six weeks.
It happens once. You don't even get that many. I mean,
if a guy gets a midfield or the other team's forty,
it's considered a huge return. So the NFL basically said,
we just want more plays. So I said this on
the air, is that the NFL constantly adjusts Baseball did

(22:57):
when it had to. I mean, Fox basically went to
Baseball and said, we're not really interested in signing you
to another deal. Speed the game up. So Fox literally
told him how to tweak their schedule, speed the game up. ESPN,
by the way, has no interest from what I've heard
in resigning baseball Lachlan Murdoch, it's pretty clear in our building,

(23:19):
it's not like baseball's a priority. Baseball has changed when
it's fundamentally had to, or networks just don't want to
do business with them, and they have sped the game up.
But it's a different time, and it does still feel
like it lacks juice and energy and pacing. So but
the NFL in a leadership role. I always said this

(23:39):
about Tiger Woods, number one golfer in the world, number
one and change clubs. Oprah Winfrey had the number one
ratings and she literally changed her show to more of
an ethereal, you know, quality of life, elevation of life show.
She was number one. Tiger and Oprah changed. NFL does
this number one pulling a way and makes changes. That's

(24:01):
different from somebody going, John, if you don't quit smoking,
you die. I'm not going to give you a ton
of credit for quitting when the option is you're dead
if you don't start exercising and stop smoking. So baseball
is a little bit like change or we're just not
interested in re signing you to long term deals. So
I guess my point is on the preseason thing. People
can fight it. But John, I watched it, and I'm like,

(24:23):
it's I It was the first time I can remember
watching every kickoff.

Speaker 3 (24:29):
It was fascinating. I'm totally behind doing out with the
old because it was not working, but I watched. You know,
I'm kind of sick. I probably watch a coach press
conference a day different. You know. Throughout the league, I
ran into Sean Payton's yesterday. Because you get the right coaches,
they're giving you nuggets left and.

Speaker 1 (24:48):
Right, all sorts of nuggets.

Speaker 3 (24:50):
And I saw this a couple of weeks ago aheadline
that the Packers special teams coach Rich Pasacia, probably the
number one heralded special teams coach in the league, said
the league might change things throughout the preseason. Sean Payton
doubled down on that. So I think they've told everyone
and this is where they deserve credit. We did this,
but we are not afraid to tweak it before week

(25:10):
one if we see different things. Because Sean Payton mentioned this,
and I do agree, there's a lot of moving parts
with where the ball could end up. And he's like,
it's hard to follow. It's hard for us the coaches.
It took us a while. The fans cannot follow this,
like if one goes out of bounds, if one goes
through the end zone, and obviously if you don't get
it to the front square. There are different yard lines.
I think one's twenty five, one's thirty, and one's forty

(25:32):
might be thirty five. He's like, it's too confusing. His
Sean Payton's pushback was I'm totally cool with this change
of the formation, but just have one or the other right.
If you kick it out of the end zone or
kick it out of bounds, it starts at the forty
and if you kick it, if you don't kick it
to the square, started at the twenty. But you can't
have too many complications, and I agreed with that. The

(25:55):
one thing I think again, it was preseason game, the
Hall of Fame game. You could even have that in
his own category, like there's preseason, then there's whatever the
hell that is. I know it's rained out or whatever,
but I meet the people playing. I thought there would
be more just open lanes and I'm not trying to
take too much away. It felt like the offensive players

(26:18):
because this guy gets a running start five yards, I
do have to back up immediately, and I in the
old rule I had more space so I could back
up and then attack. There's not really that much space,
and there were a couple of times when everyone just
went by him and the offensive guy was swallowed. So
and I assume the opposite. I was like, you're only
gonna have to make a guy or two miss. It's

(26:39):
why like Deebo Samuel's like I want in because in
theory you think it's gonna be easy, but then you
watch it in practice, you're like, maybe it's not gonna
be as I would say offensive as you it's gonna
be harder than and who knows, maybe we'll see all
sorts of stuff. But Sean Payton said this, He's like,
if the average if you're kicking in the square and

(27:00):
the average where they end up with the ball is
at the thirty eight yard line, over like a two
or three week period, every coach is going to kick
it in the end zone, start at the thirty. Right,
we'll just play the numbers, which would be bad, which
would negate everything they're trying to do. And the league
obviously understands this, so they're trying to They want it
to be a play, right, they want it to be

(27:21):
a you know what I think?

Speaker 1 (27:23):
Yeah, you know what I think is the disadvantage for
the return team. So in the old kickoff, you know
you've got rookies on that kickoff team, you got third
string guys, undisciplined get out of their lane. So you
would see guys get out of their lane over the course.
This is too short of a run up. So nobody

(27:43):
gets out of their lane. It's a much more disciplined
kickoff team. So when I watch that, I'm like, there
are no openings you have to make it like, like, no,
you don't have enough time to screw it up. You
really don't have enough time to Some of these rookies
are running full speed, they get out of their lane,
and you'll and whenever you see a kickoff return for
a touchdown, you look at the replayer, like Jesus, you

(28:03):
had two guys that were twelve yards out of their lane.

Speaker 3 (28:06):
It's like the dB that dies for a pick or
the basketball player that dies for the steel. You're like,
you didn't need to do that now. Now you don't
even have time to do that, like you say, because
you're only taking six seven steps.

Speaker 1 (28:14):
Yeah, so everybody stays in their lane. So my take
is it's you can play younger players and not really
worry about it. They get onya. Everybody's where they're supposed
to be. And but it is. This is something I've
said for years. There's an old saying basketball thinks about
when it comes to change, Basketball thinks about it first.

(28:36):
The NFL gets it right, and baseball makes the most
money off it, and so baseball's always been money obsessed,
like that's all they care about, the ownership, just making money.
So for them, you know, any change is something that
they don't want to, you know. I mean, obviously baseball
with the iPhone should take off forty games per team,
one hundred and twenty games, end the season in seriously

(29:00):
last week of July and be done by September. Twentieth.
Season over before the NFL gets rolling. It's over now
between college the Big Ten explosion in the SEC, adding
Texas Oklahoma with the NFL. If you don't have the
right October matchup, that shit's over. Like a usc is
opening with LSU and Michigan, I'm in. I'm out of baseball,

(29:22):
unless it's the Phillies, Dodgers, Yankees, I'm done. So baseball
has always been one of those sports where they will
vary slowly make change. And I think what's happened in
the last several years the networks like Fox in the
FPN have come up and said, guys, you know these games.
They're creating, these all Star games, the Game in the Cornfield.
They're fascinating games. They're events which you know, Philadelphia Phillies

(29:46):
going to London. Baseball would have never done that on
their own. They were basically told, guys, you got to
get some ratings here in the regular season. So when
people confuse the two football in a power position, and
I love this is just rolling the dice constantly and
I love it well.

Speaker 3 (30:03):
And when they screw up, they'll change. Like they remember
a couple of years ago, Belichick's whole thing was we
should be able to challenge every play. They didn't quite
give them that, but they challenge past interference. Clearly it
wasn't working well, and they say we're canceling this. So like,
if this kickoff rule is just an utter disaster, which
I don't think it will be, but just in the
hypothetical world it was, they would pivot to do something

(30:24):
else and that could be like Week three. I mean,
they are not afraid to make hardcore changes, but I
was pretty adamant in my mind, like I think we're
gonna see a ton of touchdowns, and then watching it,
I understand it's Houston and the Bears four string players,
but like, maybe it's actually going to be more difficult
and maybe you will be less inclined if the defenders

(30:46):
are able to break free pretty consistently to put a
Saquon Barkley Christian mcaffick, because my thought was, like, put
one of those guys back there. It's much more like
a normal play. It'll just speak like a one on one.
You'll get tackled. But I wonder if it actually might
be more violent, so you're more likely to put your
backup running back or backup safety that has some moves
like if this guy gets hurt, whatever, I am not

(31:06):
risking Deebo Samuel back there on a four on one
in the corner and have him get destroyed.

Speaker 1 (31:12):
So a former NFL quarterback texted me after the draft
and I wrote this note down and I was, I
have notepads all over my house and I found this
the other day and I didn't bring it up, and
it's really interesting.

Speaker 3 (31:29):
Tom Brady has some draft takes.

Speaker 1 (31:32):
I'm not going to go there, but he said, this
is not a small thing. Caleb Williams defensive coach, Jaden
Daniels defensive coach, Drake May defensive coach, rookie, he said,
and Michael Pennix in Atlanta backup defensive coach. He said,

(31:53):
don't be surprised if Bo Nix and JJ McCarthy with
really really bright offensive coaches in one year. If we
don't look up and go, those are the best two quarterbacks.
And this quarterback said, man, when you come into this league,
and this quarterback spoke from experience, he goes, I had

(32:13):
a defensive coach first, it's a different language. He said,
bow Knicks and JJ McCarthy are getting a master class
level coaching experience that Pennix isn't getting with a coordinator
Caleb's not getting, he said. This guy said, it's just

(32:34):
he goes, and he said this, he goes. People bang
on Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson for not winning playoff games.
He said, if you gave Josh Allen to Andy Reid,
do you think he'd have a super Bowl? And his
thing was, of course he would. So it's just interesting
is that we every year in this draft, John, there's
a quarterback drafted below the star. Very rarely is the

(32:57):
first quarterback taken the guy c J. Stroud two Bryce YOUMP.
So I'm not just saying now, c J. Stroud got
a great coach, a great coordinator, Tank Dell Nico Collins.
They hit on draft picks. But your take on because
Kevin o' connell is highly respected. I mean, the tall
Sean McVay. Sean Payton, I spent a lot of time
with Sean. Shawn is way too smart to be broadcasting.

(33:20):
He has to be coaching. I think the best over
bet in the league is Bnecks at five and a half.
Like the old line's pretty good. If the Franklin kid
from Oregon works with Mims and Courtland Sutton, they have
workable tight ends two backs. I think they're capable. What
do you make of that that the first year rookie quarterback,
the two with offensive coaches who are deeper in the

(33:42):
draft could be the hits.

Speaker 3 (33:44):
Well, as I'm watching the Sean Payton prescoonference on my
iPhone at ten thirty at night in my bed next
to my future wife, she's probably thinking I'm a nut.
He mentioned the name multiple times in Drew Brees and
obviously getting rid of the football is a big deal.
And the other thing he hammered home is like people
act like I just want to dink and dunk, like
that's the offense. No, we want to push the ball
down the field and that is the game plan. So

(34:06):
I think the way that he talked about this guy
in the press conference was a lot of love. I
think he is really really high well. I think he
liked his like his rookie class. The way he was talking,
I think he's pretty excited about his team. This did
not feel like, you know, I think a younger Sean
Bill Parcells guy. If he's not happy, you can feel it.
He looked pretty excited with the group he has. Doesn't

(34:27):
mean they're gonna win eleven games. I'm kind of out
on Washington this year. Not because I don't think Jayden
Daniels isn't really talented, but they're not that good. They
haven't been. They got rid of multiple d linemen. Now
you could say Chase Young's a little overrated, Monte Sweat
is not. So they lose talent there. They just are

(34:48):
not as talented as obviously the Eagles are the Cowboys.
That division's hard. The Giants have some players, and day
Ball you have like he has been coaching. Now he's
calling the offense. I could see the Washingt just having
a rough season, and that's where you know big. Of
course they should they've been bad. They're resetting. But when

(35:08):
you're a quarterback and you don't have your play caller
and then all of a sudden, there's are offensive play
caller good enough, Cliff Kingsbury. You see a lot with
defensive guys they start getting pressure. Well who they point
the finger at the offensive play caller when shit goes wrong,
it goes to Kyle Shanahan or Andy Reid or Sean
Payton or Kyle Shanahan and they go, we'll fix it,
and you go, yeah, they will, They'll figure it out.

(35:29):
And that's where it gets difficult. I mean New England
they feel a little bit like a shit show right now. Yeah,
you know, no team in the league has spend less cash.
I've read this and heard people say this over the
last decade than them. I mean that's that speaks one
to the brilliance of Tom Brady and Belichick building a team.
But also I think there's a knock on the craft
can be a little cheap. They like to do the

(35:50):
most with the least amount, where I think a lot
of teams, like the Niners of the cowb they'll spend
whatever it takes to try to win. Like he's always
it wasn't just Belichick being cheap, you know, it felt
like could kind of a mandate you have this rookie
head coach who's not that far removed from being a player.
You got this defensive star player who's underpaid that they
had a kick out of practice. It's getting weird. Diana

(36:11):
Russini says, you know they've made an offer to Matt
Judon that he's saying bullshit. It's just there's a lot
going on the quarterback situation. They have this major project.
We've seen a million times what history doesn't repeat itself,
but it often rhymes. I've seen Jacoby Brissett in a
scenario on a bad team thirty times in my life.
We know exactly how this goes. The record's terrible before

(36:34):
Halloween right around there, it's like, we can't take this anymore.
Throw the kid in. The team's awful, and it can
Jared Goff go the wrong way and they got lucky.
McVeigh came in the next year and saved everything. But
it goes the wrong way with a situation like that,
like Dared Mayo ain't calling the offensive place, you can
just see how it gets ugly. Even again, Dan Quinn,

(36:55):
he did inherit Matt Ryan. It's a little harder with
a young quarterback who Let's face it, Malik Naghbors looks
like a bigger thicker Odell Beckham from eight years ago,
and the other wide receiver went in the top twenty five,
and Brian Kelly got a pretty good history of developing
offensive players at Notre Dame, at Cincinnati and now here.

(37:16):
So I don't know. I mean dan Quinn and I
like dan Quinn. He did get a job with Matt
Ryan and Julio Jones on the roster, so it's just
they were kind of a little more. They were already good.
Matt Ryan had already been in the playoffs, it was
a star. It's a lot more difficult. And I was

(37:37):
thinking about this today. If you know in that Giants
dock when they tried to trade up from three to
six and Elliott Woolf essentially at the end of the
day said no unless you give me some godfather offer,
not going to entertain it. If I told you Drake
may was with Da Ball, who spent the four years
you know, with Josh Allen, you would like that scenario.

Speaker 1 (37:56):
A lot more.

Speaker 3 (37:57):
Yes, when you put a project on just a god
awful team whose coach. I mean, there's doesn't mean he
doesn't know football, but he's never been remotely close to
a position like this, and now the fans are already
turning on the owner because of everything that went on
with the Apple documentary and the treatment of Belichi. It's
just weird. It's hard to overcome that. I saw it

(38:19):
when I was in college with Alex Smith. The Niners
were just a joke that we used to joke in college.
Could Pete Carroll's team beat the Niners? And it was like, yeah,
I mean a lot of people would argue, I don't know.
They got about fifteen first rounders and this Niner team
struggled to win like four games, and Alex went there
and it was his career was an embarrassment. And then

(38:40):
he got real coaches and what happened. You're like, alexm
it's pretty good. Yeah, And he's as mature and smart
of a quarterback that is coming to the league last
twenty five years. It is really really hard to overcome
negativity losing a coach who's not really comfortable. So I
guess that's a long winded way of saying, like, I
think it's so much easier when you're when you're head coach,

(39:02):
is the guy pulling the trigger on the play call.
He impacts the game. I'd never quite understand, like Sirianni,
like what really is he doing on games? Yeah, not
calling a play, you know, toughness, Like is he say
this about Dan Campbell, Like obviously he's adding an element
of toughness that. Yeah, they're they're in a different category.

(39:27):
But there are some guys, you know, is Dan Quinn
calling the defense? Is Drive Mail calling the defense? So
if they if they take that part away. So it's
why when Robert Sala gets the Jets job, he immediately goes,
I'm not gonna be the coordinator. It's like, well, what
the fucking I hire you for? Just to give raw
Ross peaches. I mean, you've had two good years as
a coordinator and now you're giving up the asset in
which I hired you for. Part of being the head

(39:48):
coach is you gotta lead, you gotta you gotta motivate,
you gotta run practice and ideally call one side of
the ball. That's what all these coaches do. There's a
rare group of people. Harbaugh is a great example, who
can dominate Bill Parcels. Most guys have to be pretty
hands on in this modern day of football, right, the games.
This is not nineteen eighty seven. Well, I can win

(40:10):
most of my games seventeen to thirteen. If I got
the toughest guys, I can beat the shit out of you. Yeah, well,
you know it.

Speaker 1 (40:16):
One of the things I do think fans don't think
about a lot. People tend to think there's a salary cap,
so all the teams have the same money, and I
was like, no, they don't. The Bidwells and stan Kronky
in the same division. Stan Kronky is the largest holder
of residential real estate in America. You got homes in

(40:37):
every city in the country, every place in the world
you could think of. It didn't matter if it's Monaco,
San Trope, Paris. You know Stan Steve Kaime's a buddy
of mine and worked for Michael Bidwell, and he won't
bad mouth him publicly, but you know, we've had a
few cocktails and the stories are I don't It's not
a work environment I could. I couldn't handle. I wouldn't

(40:58):
have the ability to handle it. I just don't have
the emotional DNA to deal with a lot of people don't.

Speaker 3 (41:04):
That's why they get sued a lot by former employees,
which is I wouldn't say typical in the NFL with
scouts and coaches and stuff like that.

Speaker 1 (41:11):
Yeah, so I think fans sometimes think with salary cap,
everybody's the same. And Stan Cronki can write checks. Like
you said, the Yorks before Levi Stadium, they they didn't
have that kind of money. Mark Davis just can't write.
You know, you have to have money in the bank
to make these big free agent signings. And I think
sometimes the Spanoses have money, but they're closest allies in

(41:33):
the league. Are not the wealthiest owners. They're closer to
Bidwell and Mara than they are Stan Kronk. They're really
really rich guys. And I know Dean a little bit
and that they're not. They're real estate guys. They're not
tech guys or you know Jerry.

Speaker 3 (41:47):
J Arthur think got much money, Arthur Blankass.

Speaker 1 (41:50):
Or Stephen Ross the tycoon down in Miami. And so
the Chargers are a great example. They draft did very well.
They've always done better than average on quarterbacks, like the
like the Bengals, they were always cheap on coaches. They
were just they just didn't spend They just didn't spend

(42:11):
the money on coaches. I mean, go through the it's
college guy, Mike Riley, it's coordinator here, and I think horrbor.
That's why I think Harbaugh and I told Dean this.
I said, Dean, it's like a rubicon. You guys burst
through it. You literally went to a place you've never gone,
where you're gonna have one of the two or three
highest paid coaches. And he told me, he said, it's
changed our building. He just he goes, there's no negative

(42:33):
to so far. He just elevate the optimism, the wisdom.
And it's interesting because I look at the Chargers and
people kind of lament their wide receivers. But John, I
think we talked about this. San Francisco was Crabtree and
a bunch of guys Michigan just want a natty with
Colin Wilson. They didn't throw the ball. If you look

(42:53):
at everywhere Harbaugh has been, I mean you can go
to Stanford, Doug Baldwin. They've never been right on the
perimeter offensively. His teams have always had one shortcoming, not
a great group of wide receivers. I don't think it's
crazy to suggest the Chargers are gonna be a top
three seed in the AFC. I don't think it's crazy.

Speaker 3 (43:15):
It shows you though, I mean the other day. Now.
Granted it's not like him ACL or anything. They are
pretty dependent. If Herbert were to miss a month or
something like I he's great and I am a Jim
Harbaugh loyalist, he would struggle to win games with this
iteration of the roster. Maybe in a couple of years.
He can't win with Easton Stick. You could lose the Raiders,

(43:36):
You could lose to anybody you're playing, let alone the
good teams. If Herbert is healthy, I do think they
can win double digit games. And listen, I think there
are a lot of people with the Chargers. Over the
years we put out clips and podcasts. I've been hard
on them. Yeah, probably don't like me, and I am
not anti Charger, but like you said, you can't be
taken seriously as a real organization and constantly try to

(43:57):
hire the cheapest coach. Yes, and Anthony Anthony Lend's a
nice guy. People love the guy. He should not be
your head coach. Brandon Staley. I mean, I made it
very clear where I stand on that one. And even
before Mike McCoy, who had a little moment but then
it was like, you can't beat Andy Reid and these
guys and Belichick with this guy, you got no shot.
And part of it was they were never fishing on

(44:19):
that part of the pier, right, they were only kind
of messing over there, and whether they got lucky regardless
of how this ended up happening, obviously Jim California guy
had coached in San Diego, it was it worked out.
I give them credit for making this and making him
your head coach because it can change the franchise. But

(44:40):
like part of this now is and I think Andy
has really got Clark Hunt, who obviously Andy and Mahomes,
they've made him a lot of money over the last
six seven years. Right, Historically he was known as a
really cheap guy. And I would say the Hunt family
is not Kronky or Paul Allen or what just unlimit money.

(45:01):
But now they've gotten a lot more aggressive, clearly with
paying Andy and Veach even stuff like that. And to me,
that's the next level of the Chargers of like you
can cut these checks because you can get players, you
can fudge the salary cap however you want. Yeah, And
like you said, I wonder if we did a research
project at Jim Harbaught the player just thinking of thinking
in my mind, I wonder if some of the good

(45:22):
teams he was on as a player, it didn't feel
like they were running out Randy Moss and Jerry Rice
a wide receiver. So philosophically, the way he's played and coached,
we know it works. And now it's on, Like there
really are any excuses with the Chargers now right. The
knock has really been for the last ten years, Like,
look who you're rolling out of, coach, We know you
can get the players, Joe Ortiz from the Ravens. It's

(45:44):
pretty scary, though, Colin, this is something I've never missed.
You know, in the profession you were in law before me,
we have so much more control, Like I control how
successful we are, how many people listen, like by my content,
how consistent I do it? Like I in football, even
as the head coach guy breaks his leg in the
middle of practice and he's a start player, It's like,
I get you get numb to it, but you don't

(46:06):
get numb to certain players getting injured and that's all
of a sudden he's got He's in a boot for
two weeks. That just rattles you. Even if it's like,
oh it's Planni Fasciatis, not the end of the world.
I can't imagine it just sa chills up with everyone
in the Chargers. They're like this, we have pretty high
hopes this season to be competitive and be a wild
card team, and just are we sure? Because part of

(46:27):
it I heard Daniel Jeremiah maybe even run him a
little more, play him a little like Josh Allen. And
you start getting feet injuries just freaks me out. I
was gonna bett a lot of money on them over
under Colin. This is one of those guy misses. You know,
two weeks in a boot for this. What if it
crops up again and all of a sudden you got
to miss three weeks in a stretch where you're playing

(46:48):
the Chiefs, Ravens and the Cowboys or whatever their schedule is.
You know you'd be screwed.

Speaker 1 (47:02):
All right, John, I've been told you have a college
football topic for me.

Speaker 3 (47:05):
I was thinking about this. I was driving around. You know,
I listened to a series when I'm in the car,
I have serious XM and I'll go around some of
like college radio and hear like New Heizel and they'll
just be like really nitty gritty on college football, which
you don't really get that many places. And obviously the
nil and the financial world of the sport has completely
changed and forever. You know, when I was growing up

(47:28):
in the nineties, the main suite teams Miami, Nebraska, whoever
was good in the PAC twelve or Pac ten at
the time, like their television presence. UCLA was really good
when I was a kid. They were on TV all
the time. Yeah, and it was a huge, you know,
kind of game changer. And then as everything kind of
changed in the two thousands and now it's all about money,
and they were taught. They had an ACC guy on

(47:49):
and he was like, you know, SMU and a couple
other teams went into the ACC and they're like, we
don't even need a share, we don't even need money.
And SMU and I saw the Baylor coaches were wearing this,
we pay players some of these programs, you know, like
UCLA in theory, You're like, oh la, a bunch of money.
They couldn't even dream of investing the money SMU or Baylor.

Speaker 1 (48:12):
Chip Kelly told me Ucla was twelve out of twelve
in the Pac twelve for nil twelve.

Speaker 3 (48:21):
So do you think moving forward? Obviously the big dogs,
you know, Oregon, Ohio State, Michigan, Bama, LSU. But could
we see a couple teams like an SMU all of
a sudden be like, how are they getting these guys? Well,
their budget is double the size of everyone except Oregon
Ohio State. And I do wonder if over the next
couple of years we would because of the last fifteen years,

(48:43):
put certain teams all the time in the playoffs, and
I wonder if we could see some curveballs, because I
know we can't do pay to play well bullshit that's happening.
And so if SMU has an unlimited checkbook like Dan
Lanning or Ryan Day, they're gonna have a seat at
the table because that's getting you players now. And maybe
one of these SEC programs like does Alabama have the money?

(49:03):
Did some of these other programs Not really they don't,
So it's so it could change. And you know, well,
Nick Saban clearly wasn't losing the step because I didn't
think his team was that talented and almost beat Michigan
at the Rose Bowl. I wonder if he realized I'm
not gonna be we still gonna have the funds. I'm out. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (49:19):
I think two things happened with Nick One he and
he the last two years he started complaining about Nil
a lot. He had lost several players to Texas. Remember
when Texas played Bama, I think it was was it
last year?

Speaker 3 (49:34):
Well, they played him back to back years and they
beat it. They beat the shit out of him last year.

Speaker 1 (49:38):
And when you watched that game, you went, oh, Texas
is much bigger than Alabama. So the first time I
saw that in twenty years, Texas had five star offensive linemen.
They If you'd have switched jerseys eight years ago, it
looked like Bama did when they would face a Pack
twelve school or a Big ten school. They were just bigger, faster,

(49:59):
and stronger, and those were players he was losing. The
number one booster in the state of Alabama is Bear
Bryant's son. There's not this depth of income. There's like
three guys with Arkansas. Actually, Arkansas, the state has more
money than Alabama because of they have three huge huge
Now surprisingly, Walmart like the Waltons don't give to Arkansas.

(50:21):
People think they don't, they really don't.

Speaker 3 (50:24):
Isn't Tyson Food's guy, the Tyson.

Speaker 1 (50:26):
I don't think Tyson gives as much as people think.
There's another group that gives a lot of money. I
talked to Eric Musselman. Some of this stuff is off
the record. USC coach. He used to be Arkansas, so
he said, like, you know, Walmart's not opening things up.
But I always had this theory that because of Silicon Valley,
all those graduates that went to Washington, Stanford, UCLA, Cow,

(50:52):
it takes one guy to just say I'm going to
give I'm going to give twenty eight million dollars a
year to col now Stanford because you have Stanford and
Cal are hard to get into, right like, so I
don't know what you could do. But I've thought about
that before, is that maybe tech guys aren't big football fans.
But I thought when the NIL started, I thought, well,

(51:13):
this is going to help the Pac twelve. It's not
gonna help rural Alabama team. It's gonna help and listen USC.
The biggest collective is Oregon with Phil Knight, which is
basically unlimited. USC's i've been told is thirteen to fifteen,
and I think that they've done. Jen Cohen, the new
Athletic director who I talked to recently. We had to

(51:35):
sit down. They've really done a good job as a university.
The university deserves credit the big boosters. There's two or
three really excellent, smart savvy boosters. Usc collaborative, you know,
don't you don't have this power, need for constant power
and validation. So Jen's really happy with their collective group.

(52:00):
But UCLA they got nothing. They don't have any money.

Speaker 3 (52:04):
I'll give you a program, and again it's small sample size,
but I know a couple people that old old guys
through family friends, through my uncle knew a guy that
was his mentor former players at Notre Dame in the
fifties and sixties. One passed away. Now that were nine
figure guys and they were huge. You could only do
so much in the past, right, give money for weight
rooms now, I mean, isn't Notre Dame a program that

(52:28):
you talk about Silicon Valley like they got a lot
of high level finance guys. I mean you're talking guys
worth hundreds of millions of dollars, And you're right. All
it takes is one individual to go to one of
these programs and just love football to go, hey, I'm
worth a couple of billion. I start the next in
the video or whatever, and I do that. And that's
where the old school oil money in Texas like they

(52:50):
got that built in because those guys love football, they
love being part of the program, they love being talked
about as part of the program, and they got so
much damn money. It's you know, giving them an extra
fifty teen million dollars a year is a line item
that they don't even notice on their tax return. So
I do think get ready for we're going to see
some teams they're like, God, what happened to that? It's
going to change the landscape because recruiting, it's what is

(53:11):
being a good recruiter anymore. I think every college coach
would tell you it come the majority of them come
down to the checkbook and now with a transfer portal,
even if you'll land a guy, you don't land a guy.
It's like, there's just so much craziness that the big
money teams and some of them that haven't been able
to flex their muscle because who cared how much money
SMU had before even Baylor. It's like, well, who's to

(53:32):
say they can't get a seat at the table. Now
all of a sudden, they're getting some five star defensive
lineman because they're willing to pay. You know, SEC's given
them six hundred grand. They're like, hey, we'll double it.
You do that enough times, word gets out, you start
funneling guys to a certain place, word gets out. That's
how it happens.

Speaker 1 (53:50):
I had dinner this week with a big an executive
that negotiates contracts with leagues, and we were talking about this,
and this person was talking about the NFL lawsuit, you
know with direct TV, and you know, the prosecutors are

(54:15):
sort of arguing that, hey, let's do it the way
college football does where there's parody. And the truth is
what the NFL argued is, you know, there's no reason
to change what we do. We actually have parodies. Small
markets when bigger than big markets, bad teams Houston can
turn around with just the right two employees, a quarterback

(54:36):
and a coach. And this executive was saying college football
has always been have and have nots. He said, it's
going to get so much worse, he said college and
I said worse than Clemson, Ohio State, and Bama being
in the National Championship literally every year for a decade.
And he said he thinks what's going to happen. It's

(54:58):
going to be about eight schools and worse being a
feeding frenzy. Oregon's going to remain in there as long
as Phil knights there. I think on the fringes. USC
will be there from the west, but it'll be Texas,
Texas A and M if they can get the right coach.
Ohio State, I think Michigan. I think Notre Dame Georgia

(55:19):
for sure.

Speaker 3 (55:19):
Maybe like Clemson, they're a program. Do they have enough
money supporting them? I mean, I can't speak to knowing
every one of their boosters, but but I will surface
it would go they're a program that could fall fall behind.

Speaker 1 (55:30):
I think people and I was talking about this with
the executive. I said, I think if you look at
all the scholarships, college football has always have this fear
that it's getting top heavy. They used to give out
one hundred and twenty five scholarships and they cut it
down to eighty five. BAMAA put up the biggest dynasty
ever is that the truth is there are just some

(55:53):
brands and schools that care more and there they may
have stretches, but I mean, if I said to you
the eight best college football programs ever, one of them's
sc They have a great collective now and Lincoln Riley
Oregon in the last thirty years because of Phil Knight's
been an excellent program. Ohio State, Michigan just want to
Natty Notre Dame relevant, Georgia, Alabama, LSU had Brian Kelly,

(56:18):
and you know, Clemson, er of Florida State have always
been in the running. Things really haven't changed. I would
argue Oregon is the only new blood that's a blue blood.
Of all the college football powers, Oregon in the last
thirty years is the new blood. And that's they had
their t Boon Pickens except Phil because of sports apparels,

(56:38):
such a die hard sports fan.

Speaker 3 (56:40):
But I and what your Nike incorporate you like early eighties,
you know, right, and really took off early nineties with
Michael Jordan. I guess mid to late eighties, like that's yeah,
all those programs were established before that point. So if
Phil Knight had started that in the fifties, they would
have been right there. It's just because of him.

Speaker 1 (56:57):
So I think. And I was just talking to this
executive and were just going around. We weren't really debating
we're just and my take is when I drove home
after dinner, my take was, you know, college football, more
than any sport in my lifetime, anyone has always been lobsided,
and I've never loved it more. I don't seek parody.

(57:20):
I don't give a shit. The bottom line, if you
give me the top twelve brands, I don't care what
TCU does. Nothing against them. It's a beautiful little town
Fort Worth. But my take is the nil the transfer portal.
Guess what BAMA, sc Ohio State, Notre Dame, Georgia, LSU,
Oregon now with film that they're all going to be
in that playoff every year.

Speaker 3 (57:40):
Yeah, I think they're still led what college basketball used
to be because so many of their coaches have retired
that they are a star driven. We get to know
their players because they got to say their three years
and their coaches become stars. So the reality television at
college football is a two pronged, you know, lead with
the coaches and the players. In college basketball, all the
great coaches have retired. I mean there's still a couple,

(58:03):
but for the most part, the legendary guys are gone
and we don't get to know the players because I
was thinking about this watching the Olympics. I feel like
the Olympics in the nineties was incredible, like Michael Johnson,
some of the big moments, and then I felt like
it dropped off a little bit. And then I think
the way we consume everything. Obviously, football benefits the most
from this, the scarcity. Every event feels big, college or pro,

(58:24):
every game matters, and they got stars. Is like this
Olympics has a lot of star power. I don't care.
I don't know nothing about gymnastics. I know who Simone Biles,
don't I like swimming a little bit for a workout,
But beside Michae Phelps, I don't care at all. But
Katie Ladecki like, I'm kind of checking out. Scottie Scheffler
wins the Olympic gold Yokovic and it just felt really,
really big. I saw the NBA when they played Yokich's

(58:47):
team did eleven million people? Eleven million people never watched
the NBA finals this year. I think this Olympics. I
think the Olympics is on the comeback trail. At least
this you know, just stars. No, I think easy for
women and men to watch. It's just it's an easy watch.

Speaker 1 (59:03):
Yes, and the other thing. And this should be noted.
I've said this about TikTok. If TikTok because it got
banned because of its connection to China. If America said
we're banning it except for culinary tiktoks, and it lost
eighty percent of its followers. But the only people that

(59:24):
went to TikTok went for culinary. Culinary would own a
singular platform in the country. John Over the last eight years,
television is sports only. Now we'll get some politics this year.
Trump obviously drives numbers. But everybody keeps telling me TV's dying,
and I'm like, yeah, but the industry we're in owns

(59:48):
all of it. So if cable loses, goes from up
FS one, goes from ninety million subs to sixty four,
they're all now true sports fans, or you've gotten rid
of cable. The only reason to keep it now is
calledege football, college basketball. So I look at it. So
when you when I look at the Olympics, if you
have a TV in America, you have it for one

(01:00:11):
reason only sports. That is little you used to have.
People used to pay for cable for thirty years nobody
watched it like it was the biggest con. It was
the biggest grift in TV. ESPN built an empire. Half
the people paying them didn't consume their product. It was
like grift. So, like I think about what's happening with
the Olympics now is television. People have been telling me

(01:00:36):
newspapers were going to go under for thirty years. A
year and a half ago, they sold The Athletic to
the New York Times for four hundred and fifty million dollars.
The New York Times has never made more money. The
Washington Post has never been more relevant. Forbes the summer Olympics, I.

Speaker 3 (01:00:55):
Felt the little guy's been knocked out. Would you agree
the little newsmaer sac menob or something like that.

Speaker 1 (01:01:00):
They're all done. But to your point, you now going
to if you want to watch, if you love big
sporting events. It is still TV runs our world, and
I think I think that's been the benefit, is that
people to have TV. They're Olympic viewers older on average,

(01:01:21):
older viewers women watch the Olympics. And so I felt
like you, I felt the Olympics had really made a
downturn and these are it's on everywhere. I go right now, restaurant, bar, friends, pharmacy.
All I see is the Olympics.

Speaker 3 (01:01:40):
And I think the Summer Olympics is more relatable than
the Winter Olympics. I think the momentum of this Olympics
going into twenty eight in la is gonna feel massive.
I think this is and it's why I defended NBC
for Peacock. Remember they got so much shit for putting
It's like, does everyone understand once my parents' generation is gone,
no one watches NBC beside for the football game on

(01:02:01):
Sunday night. Like for them to survive, they have to
get this streaming service to work. I've spent a lot
of time on Peacock watching. I mean, they give you
every option, you can watch whatever you want, Like I
enjoy Peacock, I think. But again, I think there's Olympics.
Not that I care about any of these sports really
beside golf and basketball, I have been glued. I mean,
I'm watching handball, and I also think that some of

(01:02:24):
these sports that you go this kind of stupid wis
is there? You do need more inventory for an event
everyone's watching. You can't just have one relay race and
everyone goes home. They're only going to add sports right
football going in. That's probably smart business. This is when
everyone's watching. Nothing is going on right now, I.

Speaker 1 (01:02:40):
Mean nothing, no, And what's happened is Sean McVay killed
the NFL preseason when he wouldn't play anybody, and they
went eight to no and everybody just all the young
coaches like, what are we doing here? I remember I
was talking to my bosses at Fox and I said,
you know football now, because college football is so big,

(01:03:01):
I'll work seven days a week now for the next
seven months, starting Labor Day. I'll work Labor Day, weekend
I'll start. I'll work seven months, no days off. I'll
get a couple of Thanksgiving. But I'm glued to the TV.
Those are big football, college and pro games. And I
said to them, I said, after the NBA finals and
we don't have the NBA, I never would it Fox.
I said I could take July and August off and

(01:03:24):
I don't think it would affect anything. And my bosses
said take it, and I said, well, I have radio,
so at this point in my career, I'm not going
to take July and August off. But if I only
signed a TV contract John, I would do TV and
I would do this. And if I just did television
in the volume like I you can take I mean,
Fox would be like take it off. We don't care.

(01:03:47):
And for the record, we have the Olympics, we had COPA,
we had the Euros, and we had the Caitlin Clark story.
Next year three of those four were gone, and we
may not the buzz around Caitlin Clark may not be
as magnificent. So this has been this, This has been
to me like the rare great summer of viewership. I

(01:04:08):
think we're moving into a time that if it's not
an Olympic year or maybe a COPA year, we're a
ten and we are. We are so dynamic as a
country for ten months now, there's so much money in
everything that July and August are take. It's it dies.
This may be one of the last great July August

(01:04:28):
sports of Now again we'll have the Olympics again. LA
Olympics will be big in twenty eight. That'll be a
great year. But you're gonna get every You're gonna get
these two year periods where it's just nothing happening.

Speaker 3 (01:04:40):
Totally agree, I'm on board. Yep.

Speaker 1 (01:04:43):
John Middlecoff could see anybody good.

Speaker 3 (01:04:47):
Scena can take it easy the volume.

Speaker 1 (01:04:54):
Thanks so much for listening. If you've enjoyed the podcast,
take a moment rate and review

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Colin Cowherd Podcast - NFL Top 100, Pay Aiyuk? New Kickoff Rule, Olympics Resurgence

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Colin Cowherd Podcast - NFL Top 100, Pay Aiyuk? New Kickoff Rule, Olympics Resurgence