From Madrid to NFL Midseason

The NFL is going to Madrid, and everything from the field dimensions to the quarterback storylines makes this matchup way bigger than the records on paper.

In From Madrid to NFL Midseason, the guys break down the league’s historic first game in Spain and then zoom out to the chaos, contracts, and quarterback questions shaping the entire midseason picture.

They start at the Santiago Bernabéu, where Washington and Miami are about to play on one of the most iconic pitches in world sport. You’ll hear how a soccer cathedral had to be physically reshaped into an NFL-ready venue: rows of premium seats ripped out to make room for full end zones and safety margins, locker rooms expanded deep into VIP areas, and two 150-person travel parties squeezed into a stadium built for a very different kind of game. The hosts explain why Madrid wraps up a record slate of international games and why Spain is such a high-value, soccer-mad target for the league’s long-term expansion.

From there, they dig into the human and cultural story that makes this “just” a 3–7 vs 3–7 matchup feel massive: two Polynesian quarterbacks, Tua Tagovailoa and Marcus Mariota, facing each other on a global stage after coming out of the same Honolulu high school and the same mentorship pipeline. You’ll hear how that relationship was built at camps years ago, why this game matters to kids watching in Hawaii, Samoa, New Zealand, Australia and beyond, and why this visibility hits so much deeper than wins and losses.

On the field, the episode breaks down the tactical stakes in Madrid. Washington is drowning defensively, giving up explosive plays through the air and gashed on the ground. Dan Quinn has stripped play-calling duties from his coordinator and taken over himself, and his first test is brutal: stopping Devon Achane, maybe the exact type of back this defense cannot handle. On the other side, the Dolphins’ defense has quietly flipped from early-season disaster to elite run-stopping unit thanks to a wave of young talent in the front seven. The hosts explain how that turnaround happened and what it means for this matchup and Miami’s fragile season.

Then the show widens out from Madrid to the broader midseason landscape. You’ll revisit Jacksonville’s stunning collapse against Houston and what Trevor Lawrence’s frustration reveals about pressure, leadership, and looming contract negotiations. In Green Bay, the conversation shifts to Jordan Love and whether cautious playcalling is capping his ceiling and the franchise’s future. In New York, the fallout from Brian Daboll’s firing and John Mara’s coaching carousel leads straight into rumors about Bill Belichick, younger candidates, and what instability has done to the Giants over the past decade.

From there, the episode dives headfirst into money and scarcity. You’ll hear how Tua’s massive, nearly untradeable contract has helped freeze Miami’s ability to reset, why a weak 2026 quarterback class is terrifying front offices, and how that context suddenly makes Daniel Jones a nine-figure man in Indianapolis. The guys connect quarterback scarcity to the exploding edge rusher market, spotlighting Trey Hendrickson’s projected mega-deal and the cap gymnastics it forces on the Bengals.

Deadline moves and roster construction get their own segment: the Colts going all-in by trading a haul for Sauce Gardner and riding Alec Pierce’s emergence into a monster second contract; the Bears swinging for pass rush help and finding out what they can’t pry loose; and the Cowboys trying to salvage a bottom-tier defense with big additions up front.