April 27, 2024 • 47 mins
John reacts to day 2 of the NFL Draft and dives into which teams he thinks did a really good job and who may have reached and could regret their picks. He also talks about Dave Teppers response to the local restaurant that had a sign that said "Let the GM and coach pick the players."
5:11 - Second Round reactions
22:55 - David Tepper makes headlines again
21:36 - First Round thoughts
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (01:29):
What is going on everybody? John Middlecock three and now podcast.
Here's what I wanted to do. I just recorded a
little something after the second round of the NFL Draft,
add some takes from some picks, some big picture thoughts,
had to react to the David Temper video as well.
I also made a YouTube video earlier on Friday, and
(01:52):
I will add the audio as well, basically talking about
some of the stuff that happened after me and Colin
got done, I think after pick twenty four, so the
Bills trade with the Chiefs, some of the later picks
in the first round, as well as just some overall
thoughts in terms of the top ten that obviously the
Falcons and Cousins. I had twenty four hours to think
(02:15):
about it, as well as I think Jim Harbaugh. So
that'll be on the back half of this podcast. But
we'll open up with some second round thoughts and the
day of Temper thing man, which is just just classic
rich guy who's just not used to people talking smack
about him. Yeah, other than that you guys know the drill.
A lot of content up on the YouTube page. Me
(02:37):
and Colin went for two hours. You can check out
that podcast. And yeah, so I don't know when the
next podcast will be. Probably won't do one for Sunday,
but definitely something on Monday. I think I might even
do another one with Colin on Sunday. So well, if
something Monday, for sure. Reacting once the draft is completely finished,
but hopefully everyone's enjoying it. And let's talk some football
(03:00):
before we dive into some overall thoughts on the second round.
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Save twenty dollars game time. Okay, the second round, let's
(03:43):
just start with how it started. The Bills took a
lot of shit last night, and I kind of agreed,
not that they should have taken Xavier Worthy, though Xavier
Worthy works with powerful arm quarterbacks. The Bills have one
of those. So if the Thiefs like you, they're a
cold weather team, you should like that player. Kind of.
(04:04):
They know what they're doing. But I listen, I wouldn't
have traded with them, understand it. If they weren't gonna
take the guy. They move back. The Chiefs are gonna
take him anyway. Get the picks. Then they trade out
of thirty two and go to thirty three. I love
their pick. Keon Coleman, I'm very close with Derek Ray,
who is the general manager of Florida State, and he
(04:27):
was telling me last year, well before the season, like,
you don't understand how good this guy is, and then
immediately scores three touchdowns in their first game against LSU.
The knock on him is speed, but that's kind of
the knock on Romadonsay as well. Ball skills, elite physicality,
elite size. I just think the guy's a really, really
good player. I like that pick a lot gives you
(04:49):
some identity, some toughness. Now, like, there's gonna be a
lot of pressure on him, there's no way around it.
He's not essentially like their number one wide receiver right away.
But anytime you draft a guy high, you get rid
of your number one wide receiver. I would say anything
less than I don't know, sixty five catches immediately is
(05:11):
kind of a problem. Here's the good thing. They got
some tight ends, they have a good running back, and
they have a superstar quarterback. So if you're a wide receiver,
where do you want to go? Not where Malik Neighbors
went and he's running wide open and no one can
throw him the ball. It's the one position doesn't matter
how good you are. Larry Fitzgerald's one of the best
wide receivers we've ever seen. For half of his career,
(05:33):
he played with nobody's it's hard to function. So he
gets to go to a place with a superstar in
his prime. It doesn't get any better, it really doesn't,
so it worked out pretty well for him. I think
he's an impact player. I think he's going to be
I don't know, like all pro level, but I think
He's going to be really good in the NFL. I
think his skills translate now getting open consistently part of
(05:58):
on the offensive coordinator scheme him open, Josh Allen, throw
the fifty to fifty balls and let this dude go
make plays, especially down in the red zone. You know,
Jim Harbaugh said it perfectly. That's why he kept beating
the drum. They're not taking a wide receiver. They're not
taking a wide receiver. And then what Jim Harbaugh say
on Thursday Night, we view the offensive line as weapons,
(06:19):
but they do need wide receivers. And he took Lad McConkie.
Who is to me immediately their slot receiver, who's a
really good player and who's gonna be good. Jim Harbaugh
would much rather have what he views as the best
offensive lineman in the draft and a wide receiver in
the second round. Then it flipped around a top wide
(06:39):
receiver at pick five and then the eighth best offensive lineman.
If you haven't followed Jim Harbaugh's career like this is it.
He is not dependent on Randy Moss and Calvin Johnson.
He has won for a decade and a half now
without those type guys. When you look back at his
forty nine ers teams, like if you just want to
(06:59):
look at the NFL, they did not have very good wife.
Their best receiver by a mile was Crabtree and one
year he Torey's achilles. They had like a thirty eight
year old Randy Moss. They drafted some wide receivers that
couldn't play, and he ran the ball, he threw the
ball to the tight end, and he played defense. That's
what Jim Harbaugh wants to do. He just won the
(07:19):
national title, dominated the season. How many of his wide
receivers have gone in the top sixty five picks. I've
seen a bunch of Michigan guys fly off the board.
That's not how he builds his team. So he likes
guys like Lad mcconkeye. He's not Andy Reid. That's not
how he views football. So the least shocking thing of
all is that he didn't take a wide receiver high.
(07:41):
Now that doesn't mean you still don't need them on
your team. They value them. They get a guy from
Georgia who's just really good. So I like the pick
the Patriots. I was on with the Fantasy pros guys
when they drafted Polk from Washington, and my guy Thor
who's come on this podcast before and who's like their
draft analysts, had a really good point. This guy wasn't
(08:02):
even the second best wide receiver on his own team. Obviously,
Romadonda was their number one, and when McMillan was healthy,
he was their number two guy. This is their third
best wide receiver. So you come out of the draft
with Drake May who I like a lot, though I
don't like him on the Patriots because their team's awful.
(08:23):
He's developmental guy, and their coaching staff to me, is
more than a question mark. And then you get a
guy that a lot of people didn't even have as
a top ten wide receiver, and again wasn't a top
three wide receiver on his own team. So I don't know, man.
I you know, Elliott Wolf came up in the UH
in the Packer organization. His father's obviously Ron hightweight speed.
(08:46):
This guy's not really a burner, He's not that big.
I don't know. I just I don't like anything about
the Patriots. I like Drake may I theory, but I'm
betting against that operation. There is not a team like
I'm betting against the Jet But there is a scenario
where the Jets are good. I see no scenario where
the Pats have any shot any and it's already ugly.
(09:08):
The Titans, this one was a head scratcher. Like their
first round pick, they take Latham, I think they would
have taken Neighbors, but obviously he goes off the board
at six. You get a physical offensive lineman, which they
were in desperate need of. They have Callahan as the
head coach and his dad is their offensive line coach,
and he's one of the best offensive line coaches in
(09:28):
the league. Here's the thing that doesn't make that much sense, though.
You take DeVante Sweat, who is a beast. He's like
six ' five, seven hundred pounds. I mean, he is
an enormous human. You are not gonna be able to
run the ball out him. No problem with the player.
He got a duy less than a month ago Sunday
(09:48):
in the middle of the day. His character right up
talking to teams is a little bit of a question mark.
So to draft a guy who just got a dewey
who's offen the field is a little bit of a
question mark. Just where he was supposed to go in
a place that I've been in Nashville twice for a
total of probably close to two weeks, maybe eleven twelve days.
(10:14):
I was drunk every day. It is one of the
major party cities in America. So you get a guy
that likes to party who it's not like he fell
in the draft. You're like, Wow, it's value. We couldn't
pass him up. You took him right where he was
gonna go. I don't get that one. To me, that's
pretty fucking risky. It really is. It's one thing, and
(10:34):
I'm all for taking guys that have some off the
field issues when they fall. That's called value. But to overpay,
because that's what you're doing for a guy that has
question marks at his where he was supposed to go
or maybe even a little higher. To me, he's pretty crazy,
especially for a first time head coach. The other thing
(10:57):
is if you are going to take some characteristics the
Mike Tomlins, the Pete Carroll's, the Andes, like, Okay, those
guys have seen the thing or two. They've been around
the block. The Hardbob Brothers been coaching a long time,
got a lot of gray hairs on their head. First
time head coach that to me's borderline nuts. That to
(11:18):
me is inviting a problem into your building when you're
trying to set the tone kind of start from scratch.
I don't get that one. Not opposed to the player,
but I don't like the risk there. Everything in life
is risk first reward, and I just I don't see
it here. I really don't because he's not a pass rusher,
(11:38):
he's a run stuffer. So I don't know, man, I
don't get it. Howie, who just is having a really
good draft obviously takes the top corner on the board yesterday.
He benefited from all the offensive players going, and then
he gets Cooper Dejen the white corner. I mean, I
don't think there's been a white corner since Jason Seahorn,
who is an elite athlete and who has return value.
(12:01):
He can play outside, he can play the slot. The
Eagles are desperate for a good nickel corner. It was
their downfall last year obviously, and he can play outside
as well. But Bradbury's done. I know he's technically still
on the team, he's not going to be he cannot
play anymore. Slagh is pretty risky because he's getting up
there in age and he's having knee problems. Though when
(12:22):
he's been healthy, he's been solid. They're gonna be you know,
the kid from Toledo, Mitchell, immediate starter, and I think
this guy has a chance to immediately start at Nickel.
Here's the other thing. This guy was a dynamic return
man as well. This new kickoff return setup brings in
to play guys like this because you're not gonna put
(12:45):
Saquon back there. Their two wide receivers aren't really players
like that, right, Like if you think about some wide
receivers that could do it, like Deebo Samuel could one
and he will, I'm sure be a kickoff return guy.
I think Degene immediately becomes like this modern day kickoff return.
You put him in that spot or at least can
(13:07):
try it out, so he brings value at multiple spots.
Versatile player. That's a big thing that the Eagles are
big on versatility now their success on defense. Obviously their
corner play needs to improve, but it's gonna come down
to the d lineman. You know, they drafted Jordan Davis
and Jalen Carter really really high, and Jalen had flashes
(13:27):
last year of just elite play they're gonna need the
guy to be a pro bowler and ideally become like
an all pro it hinges on him, and then Jordan
Davis just has to be solid. If those guys are good,
we know they got enough edge rushers. The corners will
look a lot better, especially these young corners because a
lot of every team he played now in the NFL.
Who's the team they play first Week one in Brazil?
(13:50):
The Packers? What do they have about eight million young
wide receivers? A couple of them can fly, So they're
gonna need that defensive line to step up a lot.
It's going to be talked about the corners and how
that's why, how he's drafting these guys. But to me,
their success of turning around this thing. Obviously you ad
Vict Fangio, the d lineman. You invest in two top
fifteen picks. Jordan Davis has battled with weight issues. I
(14:14):
got news for you. Big kind of chubby, fat guys
in the NFL deal with weight issues. It's hard, it
is difficult. It's gonna be an issue for Sweat with
the Titans when you weigh three hundred and forty three
hundred fifty pounds. Conditioning is an issue. It's hard. Big
people struggle with their weight. Welcome to society. You know
what's happened forever with centers in the NBA. It's no
(14:34):
different than certain defensive tackles or offensive linemen. It's hard
because you're naturally eating a lot to just maintain your weight.
So that's something they got to stay on that guy.
And they just got to stay on Jalen to stay
on the straight and narrow, focused and kick ass and
take names. One thing I always respect about offensive coaches
is when they value defense. It's one thing I've said
(14:57):
about Kyle Shanahan for a long time. He values physicality
and defense. He will invest his resources on that side
of the ball. Well, Sean McVay lose Aaron Donald, who
I don't know besides like Marshall fall because one of
the greatest players in the history of the franchise. There
is no replacing that. There's nothing you can do when
like Tom Brady retires or Aaron Donald retires, right, or
(15:20):
if Travis Kelce retires, you just I'm not saying he's
not he's retiring, or Jason Kelsey is a better example
like that, you can't replace him. There's gonna be a
drop off, right, but you do need to attempt with
multiple bodies. What did they do last night? Verse, power rusher,
edge guy? What do they do today? Defensive tackle? Florida State.
(15:41):
So they've doubled down on the defensive line position after
losing Aaron Donald. One thing we don't talk enough about
with Aaron Donald is the versatility he had, especially in
his younger years. You could kind of move him around,
glide him up over the center. I've seen him countless
times against the forty nine ers line him up over
the tackle. He had some JJ Watt characteristics there. So
you keep doubling down on this position, and if they
(16:04):
hit on these guys, the Rams are gonna be good.
I mean, we saw how good they were playing at
the end of the year. If Stafford is healthy, I mean,
this is a team I think we compete in the
NFC to win the entire thing. I'm not saying the
Super Bowl, beat the Chiefs. I'm just saying to compete
with the forty nine Ers, the Lions, the Packers, you know,
to win the NFC. Hell, they went toe to toe
(16:24):
with the Lions on the road this year. So really
like just the way the rams think about football because
it'd be easy to like offense. Offense, sexy offense. That's
what a lot of coaches do. They like calling plays.
It's Lincoln Riley's downfall. He's obsessed with offense. It's kind
of just the way he coaches say this. For Sean McVay,
his teams are tough and he just added two tough,
(16:46):
physical guys at the point of attack because it's the
one place in football that is still somewhat played like
nineteen seventies and eighties. It is a violent game there,
and he's added two violent players. The Colts, you know,
there's a lot of talk last night if they would
take a wide receiver. They ended up going with lat Too.
I watched them of Chris Ballard's press conference. He said
(17:07):
lat Too was their number one defensive player on the board.
And he's excellent. I mean, he's he's the best pure
pass rusher in the in this draft for sure. The
only question is the neck. And then they got a
guy that you know fell in the draft in Mitchell
from Texas who is a freak athlete and he's big.
He's six to two, he ran a four to three five.
He vertical jumped almost forty inches. He had eleven touchdowns
(17:30):
this year. I mean, this guy is a very, very
talented player, rap Sheet said after they drafted him. The
reason he was there, I think pick forty four to
forty five. His visits have been an abomination. Rap Sheet said.
Some of his visits, he like wasn't even paying attention
or listening and seemed disinterested, which is weird. And I
(17:51):
get it, young, immature, We've all been there, but you
would think, on like a job interview, especially with head
coaches and coordinators, even if you're not the most focused guy,
you'd fake it. You'd kind of you know, when I
worked with the Eagles, we'd call them a con but
you'd at least try. And there's a reason the guy
with this talent playing at that program. I mean, Hello's
(18:12):
teammate got a fucking DUI fifteen twenty days ago. It
got drafted ahead of him. He weigh three hundred and
seventy pounds. You get a guy that sixty two runs
a four to three five was that productive, goes gets
at that position, gets drafted after him, and tells you
like these visits. The NFL is a lot like high
school rumors. Just fly. Everyone knows each other, everyone talks
(18:37):
the negativity, can snowball down a hill like an avalanche.
And what's weird about the Colts They value character a lot.
I mean that they don't mess around with weird dudes, right,
think about the core of their team. Who have they
traded for a couple of years, Matt Ryan, Philip Rivers,
(18:57):
DeForest Buckner's like a man of the year. Michael Pittman.
I think he was married, like either in college or
right when he got out of college. Very serious cat.
Even Anthony Richardson's like people love the character. Quentin Nelson,
like Chris Ballard has not been fishing at the pier
of these character guys. And this is a little bit
(19:19):
off the beaten path. But here's the thing. I had
a radio show a long time ago now and we
interviewed Moose Johnson and he said something that I'll never forget.
He said, and he played on those great Cowboys teams
that won three Super Bowls in four years. He said,
to build a great team, and most of the great
teams in the history of the league have had this.
You need a team, how do you say it? I'm
(19:41):
gonna screw it up. Now you need a team full
of character. I'm blanking out now, I got so many
names running through me. But basically, of like, you need
the majority of your guys to be That was a
complete butcher job. On my fault, My bad, my bad,
I set that up very very poorly. But basically like,
(20:03):
you're inevitably gonna get some character guys, and your character
guys are gonna have to play well. And when you
hit on the character guys that play well, you're in
good shape. When your character guys aren't playing as well,
you got a major problem. And think about some of
those Cowboys teams. They had some wild shouts. They were
Hall of famers. So this is the first time he's
kind of gone out. God, I put you that. That's
(20:25):
I should I should have wrote it down before I
hopped on. We had a lot going on, but uh,
there's a little this is a little shocked. Not gonna
lie Other than that, Chiefs took a project at offensive tackle,
really talented guy from BYU. Ravens took the other tackle
from Washington like that guy. Niners took a corner from
(20:45):
Florida State. Little undersize but good athlete played well against
LSU it's hard. You know. The hard part about especially
once we get in the third and fourth round, and
I've gone to camps for so many years, is that
you get so excited for all the draft picks and
then all of a sudden, like undrafted free agents will
be making more place in them. So it's the hard
(21:06):
part about the drafts. It's hard not to get excited
when guys are picked, but we know with every round
that happens, the percentage chance goes lower and lower in
terms of, you know, the chances of these guys becoming
impact players, hell starters, hell making the team. I want
to end on this really quick. The Tepper video is
(21:26):
going viral of the local restaurant putting a sign out
in front that said basically, let the GM and coach
pick the players, which essentially shot at David Tepper like
stay out of the way, so stop getting so involved.
He walked in, which looked like his right hand man,
and talked to the people at the front desk that
I assumed one of the guys owns the restaurant, and
(21:49):
he took the guy's hat off and they had him
on the camera essentially saying like, did you guys put
that out there and everyone's you know, making fun of
him and talking about him like, bro, you're a clown.
Here's the thing about David Tepper. For however many decades
now he has been insanely rich, people didn't talk shit
about him, at least publicly, because if you did and
(22:10):
you were in his industry, he would crush you. And
that's what you know, tycoons do in business. There's no
physical violence in business. Right at his level, there's just
like I'm going to take you out, I'm gonna ruin you,
I'm gonna put you on the street. I'm gonna make
your kids beg me to give your father a job.
(22:30):
It's the cut throat nature of capitalism. I love elements
of it. And at the highest level in which Temper's at,
he destroys people in his way. People aren't outspokenly at
his level. Before he owned this team, he's not used
to this. Here's the problem. Fans don't give a shit
(22:51):
how much money you have or how successful you've been.
They don't care. His ability to trade stocks and run
hedge funds and do everything he can do to make
all this money means nothing to them. All they want
to do is turn on their television on Sunday and
see a good team and see functional players. They've seen
them before. They went to a Super Bowl seven eight
(23:12):
years ago. They've had an MVP, they've had a high
end Pro Bowl players at all sorts of positions. If
you're like thirty five years old as a Panther fan
or forty years old, you've seen a lot of good players.
You know what good teams look like, and you know
what bad teams look like. And here's what you know.
Since David Temper has taken over, they've been a fucking disaster.
The trade for Bryce Young, even if Caleb is a bust,
is one of the worst trades of all time, is
(23:34):
one of the worst trades of all time. If Caleb
is good, it is easily you could argue the worst
trade of all time. He's gotten rid of Christian McCaffrey,
who the forty nine ers just went to overtime in
the Super Bowl. He's arguably their best player. I mean,
he just gets rid of it. He doesn't feel like
he knows what he's doing, and it'd be one thing,
it's like, well he hired the wrong guys. There are
(23:54):
all these articles coming out and everyone's confirming it that
he's the one doing it. So it's like, hey, Dave,
we know you're super successful and used to destroying people
in your way, which is what big time business people do,
but no one cares about that anymore. Just stay out
of the fucking way and let people you hire attempt
to build a football team. You need to stop telling
your offensive coordinator what plays he should run. So I
(24:16):
think he's all thrown up. He's never had this happen
to him, at least for a long long time. But
this is justified because the fans like, don't care how
many billions you have in your pocket. They just want
a team that can compete to win the goddamn division.
And I think he's really thrown off. He's really rattled,
and he's not handling it well. And I think the NFL, like,
(24:38):
you know, there was the visual last year of him
throwing the cocktail or the water or whatever he was
drinking all over the guy's face, and then you have
this in the restaurant, like you know, the media might
tell you Roger is an idiot. Rogers running the biggest
league in America by a country mile, running circles around everyone.
Last night, the NBA had two of the marquee franchises,
the Knicks and the Lakers, on and not a soul
(25:00):
watch them. Roger is dominating right now, and I'll promise
you this Roger can't be happy. Here's the other thing.
Roger's technically not the boss. The owners are. It's kind
of embarrassing for the other owners. What do they talk
about a lot in football? The shield, the shield, the shield,
the brand, the brand, the brand, the league, the league,
the league. And this guy isn't a league full of
other rich guys. Like everyone talks shit about owners. Welcome
(25:24):
to the business, Like this is part of the deal.
You gotta take it. You can talk shit, you know,
behind closed doors, but you can't be doing this. You
are currently an embarrassment to our operation. It was thriving
before you got here, and if you disappeared tomorrow, no
one would notice. Someone like has to be Like if
I was Roger, I'd find him, and finding him money
(25:46):
doesn't do anything I'd take away, like next year second
round pick, Like this is not okay. You can't act
like this to the consumer. The reason the NFL has
lapped everybody is because of us, you and me, Because
we watch at a large, large quantity. Last night shattered
records for the NFL Draft in terms of ratings and
(26:07):
the amount of people that watched. Hundreds of thousands of
people showed up to Cold Detroit. That is the base
of the league, that is where the money comes from.
And he's treating these people on camera awful. It just
can't fly. And to me, there's no fine. Fine five
million dollars, that's like me handing over a twenty. You
(26:32):
gotta hit him where it's hurt. Hit him where it hurts,
and that's the team. I don't know what you do,
but finding him money is not doing anything to this
guy because he's embarrassing the league. I understand why he's
acting like this, he's not used to it, but it's
an awful look and someone has to get controlled. But
here's the problem. Who in his life can be like
you know, Dave, I don't know if you should do that.
(26:55):
That's not a good idea. There's not a soul. The
only people the other owners in Roger. But man, if
I was a Panther fan, keep talking that, you know what,
because this guy I had a lot of respect for
him as just you know a little stock trader made
a little money, lost a little money. This guy that
was before we owned the team. This has been a
(27:17):
clown show and we've seen a lot of owners get
made fun of at really really high levels. Hell, when
I was around the Bay Area a lot, we destroyed
Jed York when he fired hardball. Mark Davis got crushed
for years. It's part of the business you're in, man.
That's what happens when you lose and do dumb things.
When you win, everyone loves you like it's very fickle.
(27:39):
And right now, your team, your team was unwatchable last year.
I mean your team was so bad it was unwatchable.
I can watch any football game when the Panthers were on,
I would change the channel or flip it to another game.
They were that bad. And anyone listening, if you're a
fan of the NFC South or a Panther fan, you
know I'm right. And it starts with this guy. I've
known coaches that have been part of his opera. It's
(28:00):
insanity what's going on there. So these fans aren't just
making this up, Like this isn't just pulled out of there,
you know what, Like this is justified and he's handling
it like a ten year old, you know, when he's
sixty years old, because he's not used to being told this.
And this is why owning a team, while it's very
glamorous and very profitable, if you have thin skin, man,
(28:23):
it's gonna be a long, long career if your team sucks. Okay,
let's dive into some of my quick thoughts that I
did earlier on Friday of the latter part of the
(28:44):
first round, and a couple just overarching takes from the
top ten as well. Okay, last night, the me and
Colin ended, I think it picked twenty four and it
was like eight to fifteen where I was. So I
went out, had dinner with my beautiful lady and we
(29:06):
have the draft on and all of a sudden it
gets crazy. Now. The draft, unlike the season, is you
would never trade, like in the middle of the season,
the Ravens and the Chiefs would never trade player players
to each other. Right, you would never trade teams players
in your division. That just doesn't really happen. The draft's
(29:28):
a little unique. Andy Reid when he was a coach
of the Chiefs and Belichick when he was a coach
of the Patriots traded every single year. The Eagles several
years ago when they got Davonte Smith, remember jumped if
I remember correctly, The Giants traded with the Cowboys. I
mean the Eagles and the Cowboys are I mean one
of the biggest rivalries in the league. So the drafts
a little unique. I do think the Bills when you
(29:51):
have not got over the hump, not because your quarterback
has n't been a star. He has played the Chiefs
as well as anybody in the playoffs. I don't know,
if you can do business with them and they make
the trade. You don't need to be mel kiper Junior
or Mike Mayock to know they're getting Xavier Worthy, who
I'm texting the Chiefs war room. They're like speed Kills,
(30:14):
got a little DeShawn Jackson. I mean they're really really
excited something they specifically needed. Now, when you look at
the draft picks, I don't know if Xavier Worthy was
gonna be picked. The Ravens weren't gonna pick them. They
just picked Za Flowers last year, the forty nine ers.
He doesn't really fit their style. They would have taken
Ricky Piersoll over Xavier Worthy. Even if Worthy is a
(30:34):
better prospect just because of the team fit. I guess
the Cowboys in theory, but the Cowboys like taking lignment
and they did, and that's a I like that pick.
Cowboys built the trenches Parsons last year, Tyler Smith this
year guiding like that's I have never had any issues
with anyone taking offensive or defensive alignment. I just think
(30:56):
if you're the Bills, like the Chiefs might have got
him anyway, if they just said it, he might have
just fallen into their lap. I just have a hard
time now. Maybe you can go. If you're Sean McDermott
and Brandon Bean, we think when we were looking at
how the draft was gonna fall, that they would have
got him no matter what, so we might as well
accumulate more picks. I just that one's hard to stomach. Now.
(31:17):
The reactions of craziness, like the reaction on Draft Dyke,
does not indicate what's gonna happen in the season. I've
said over and over, I'm picking the Bills to win
that division. They keep winning it. I don't give a
shit who's on their roster as long as they have
that quarterback. I'm surely not betting on to to win
the division and Aaron Rodgers is forty years old coming
off an Achilles on a team full of guys with
(31:38):
bad hamstrings and bad ankles. But that one's tough. I
understand if I'm a Bills fan or even just people
reacting like, I don't think you can do that. I
don't think you can do deal with that team who
constantly beat you in the playoffs. They took care of
you forever at Arrowhead, then you finally get them at
home and they fucking break your hearts. That one's tough.
(31:59):
And like I said, the Chiefs might have got him
anyway if they had just sat there, But now we
know they got him. And I just think I was
texting with a wide receiver coach, a good buddy who
knows that team well, and he's like, if Marquis Brown
can just give him something with this guy, watch out.
We don't how to get their defenses this thing. The
(32:19):
Chiefs are a defensive team. Now they are a defensive
team that has the best coach and has the best
quarterback who's fucking beating these guys. They feel a little
bit like just it just rolling like the Patriots in
the middle of the dynasty. But good luck, guys, godspeed.
Now it's football. You playing a lot of tight games.
(32:40):
They're not always gonna win all these playoff games and
win the Super Bowl. They're gonna get knocked out like
they did a couple of years ago against Burrow. But
if you're them and the night ended that you landed
Xavier Worthy and the reason you did is because the
Buffalo Bills traded you the pick. Holy I bet that
one was. That one was shocking, It really was. What
(33:02):
was not shocking is this And by the time you're
watching this, maybe we'll have a trade. You know, Deebo, Samuel,
Brandon Ayuk, both of them are on the trade block.
If you could choose for the next five years, which
guy would you keep, even factoring in the money. And
I don't love paying Brandon Ayuke thirty million, but part
of it is because I'm paying Debo over twenty now
(33:23):
if you trade Debo, which I think if they had
a do over on that one, they were tough. They
were in a tough spot. They had to pay him.
But Deebo got throttled, and I mean throttled, and I
love him. I have a ton of respect for the
way he plays Deebo. Samuel plays football that would have
(33:44):
translated in the sixties, the seventies, in the eighties. He
is a throwback. He's not a great route runner, and
if you have good DBS, he struggles to get open.
He's he really thrives behind the line of scrimmage. So
these rumors that they might trade him to Night actually
makes some sense. And when they took the wide receiver
(34:05):
Ricky Piersoll, who I immediately texts around him like he's
a first round pick. A couple people text me back
like he's a top fifty pick. Little rich, but totally
get it. And he's a great scheme fit. They have
specific type players, Andy Reid Xavier Worthy makes sense. Kyle
Shanahan likes tough guys. He's not as obsessed with speed demons.
(34:26):
He wants you to block, he wants you to break tackles.
He wants you to go over the middle and run
crossing routes, and that's what this guy does. But the
moment you draft that guy, you're like, someone's in trouble.
We know this IU contract negotiation is up in the air.
And to me, debo, you know, if you could trade
him right now for a pick somewhere between thirty five
(34:47):
and forty, like, he's probably gone. He's probably gone. And
that's what you got to do. In the NFL. You
gotta make tough decisions. The Chiefs did it a couple
of years ago with Tyreek Hill, who's one of the
greatest wide receivers of all time. Belichick did it with
like ten guys. This is not fantasy football. You can't
just keep everybody. You gotta make tough decisions. And as
you start factoring in, they got a lot of high
(35:07):
priced players, so you gotta figure out big picture how
to build this thing. I would imagine they would have
liked to trade them before tonight, but that was It
wasn't a shocking pick. But once you make this election,
it's pretty clear what they're gonna do. Someone's in trouble.
There is an odd man out. They can say whatever
(35:30):
they want, and their whole press conference is it wasn't
even really about the player. It was like, well, what
are you doing? Brandon Ayuk is gonna get traded? Can
you guys guarantee Debo's not gonna get traded? You got
John Lynch reading off text messages from Brandon Aiyuk on
a group text with him and Kyle, who basically said,
not gonna lie fire pick. So you know the Cowboys
took an offensive line. Yeah, it makes sense right that
(35:53):
the Ravens take a hard hitting corner, makes sense fits them.
Forty nine ers take a wide receiver who fits. But
you're like, you already got Debo and Ayuk? Who if
you sign Ayuk twenty eight million dollars, which I don't
think they want to do, but it's kind of the
going rate, and they like Ayuk moving forward more than
Deebo Samuel. The problem with Deebo Samuel, he's under contract,
(36:15):
so it's like, can they get rid of them? The
cap implications that this stuff, there's a lot of moving parts,
So I just that one was like, damn these guys,
and they've done it before. They traded to Forrest Buckner,
who was the team captain and one of the best
players on the team. Now they got the thirteenth overall pick,
(36:35):
but it was a pretty cutthroat move, even though it
was the right move. But that's the hard part about
this game. This is not the NBA. It's like, woll
we just got to max everybody keep the ball. This
is like fuck. You gotta make tough decisions with guys
that you've won big with, guys that you know you
can go to war with, not in some random game
(36:56):
in September. A lot of guys play well in that.
I'm talking in mid January on the road in Green
Bay when it's freezing fucking cold. I've seen it. You
hand the ball to Deebo Samuel and he slams it
down their throat. And that's what makes him kind of
a unique player. But the problem is he's not a
great route runner, and they've been able to get around it.
(37:16):
But now that they got McCaffrey, they don't need him
as much, so he's he's really more the odd man
out than Ayuk. The problem with Ayuk is paying twenty
eight twenty nine million dollars and he's a fantastic player
for a guy that's probably gonna catch eighty balls, that's
a tough return on investment, right. I got no problem
paying Saint Brown thirty million dollars a year. He catches
(37:38):
me one hundred and ten balls, one hundred and fifteen balls,
one hundred and twenty passes. I have a hard time
giving someone twenty eight twenty nine million dollars when they
only catch I mean, brand A Yuck's never broke eighty catches.
It's not his fault. But that's the way the forty
nine ers play. And you're not gonna change all of
a sudden. You're not gonna look down and Kyle's gonna
play like Mike Leach. It's not really his style. I
(37:58):
would say the least shocking thing of the first round.
I've said it forever, and I missed on a lot
of my mock draft picks, but the one thing I
knew from the jump was Jim Harbaugh. He was never, ever,
ever taking a wide receiver at pick five. I don't
give a shit if his wide receiver room was me, you,
and three other random guys off the street. He's one
(38:21):
with that type room before. He wants to play physical football, defense,
running game, offensive line. I saw his press conference last night.
He's like, we need Everyone kept saying we need offensive weapons.
I view o lineman as weapons. I view them as
the tip of the spear. That's the way fundamentally he
(38:41):
views football. He is a throwback. Jim Harbaugh was born
to actually coach in the eighties against Buddy Ryan, against
Mike Ditka against Bill Walsh, against Buddy Ryan, he would
have Joe Gibbs. He would have thrived in that era,
but he plays in this era. So a lot of
people think wide receivers just draft wide receivers. And I
(39:02):
like wide receivers as much as the next guy, but
I've seen it forever. So we all have the Cowboys.
Dak Prescott's average, but he, for the most part, had
a really good offensive line. Jim Harbaugh has won a
ton of games with guys name not named Andrew Locke.
Why because of the front five guys. He just had
(39:25):
the best offensive line in the country for two years
running and dominated Ryan Day. Honestly, Ryan, the best thing
that ever happened to Ryan Day is Jim Harbaugh went
to the Chargers because he would have ended his Ohio
State career. Ryan Day was never ever, ever beating Jim
Harbaugh again. It was never gonna happen because on his
best day, He's not as good as Jim Harbaugh on
(39:48):
an average day. It's why Jim said that you're born
on third base, You're not as good as me, and
I know it because fundamentally, the way I play football,
you can't hang with me. And Jim Harbaugh is different
than a lot of these NFL teams that are like
spread it out, throw it around. It's not the way
he plays. It's just not. Now it's a little complicated.
(40:11):
He takes a guy that's only played left tackle. He
already has a left tackle. Now you move Slater to
right tackle? Do you try to move of? There are
some moving parts there, But philosophically, he was always gonna
do this. Even if Marvin Harrison had been there, he
would not have taken Marvin Harrison over his top graded
offensive lineman. He didn't do that at Stanford. He didn't
(40:34):
do that when he played with the forty nine ers.
He never did that at Michigan. It doesn't mean he
doesn't value wide receivers, but he does not value them
more than offensive linemen. And that shit translates over the
long haul, the big story of the night, and me
and Colin reacted to it, and I've had a little
while to let it sink in. I listened to Collins
(40:55):
take this morning, which I knew he would go against
the grain and his ultimate and it thought was like,
why would you not want to have insurance on a
thirty six year old guy? With a bat achilles. You're
crushing them for having too much talent at the quarterback position.
And I understand that. I will. I will never have
(41:17):
an issue with a team being aggressive at the quarterback position.
My issue is with this setup. If you had told
me Drake may had been there and they had taken him,
I'd be like that. I get it, this guy needs
a little time sit behind Cousins. But Michael Pennix is
not a developmental player. He is a plug and play player.
He's twenty four years old, he's been starting for half
(41:39):
a decade. He is ready to roll. And the only
way you improve at anything I come from cal Paly.
We learn by doing, and I think that's the way
most people improve at their craft. Whether you sell cars,
whether you're a doctor, whether you're a podcaster, or whether
you're a quarterback. There is, you know, something to be
(41:59):
said about mental reps. I agree with that. There is
nothing like experience and the like. There's a big jump
between college and the NFL. And now Michael Pennix is
not gonna play in theory for a couple of years.
Here's the problem and here's the risk. Because I don't
think they really had a plan. They just over the
course of the last month, once Cousins was on the team,
(42:21):
they fell in love with this guy. I understand it.
That's part of the draft, you part of football, and
this is what Belichick was so good at for twenty years,
locker room dynamics. You pay Cousins all this money because
you're desperate for a quarterback, totally understand. Then you parade
him around the city. He's going to Falcons game or
he's going to Braves games. He's all I've seen a
(42:42):
NonStop on my social media feed at different events. Kirk
Cousins has turned into kind of a money mercenary. He'll
just go whoever pays him the most. That's what he
did with Minnesota. That's why he's in Atlanta. Whoever's offering him.
He's kind of got Kevin Durant. Well, you're equity as
you start bouncing around, diminishes over time. Not with the
(43:04):
amount of money I'm paying you, but what I think
about you. You're just here to do a job, and
if you struggle with that job, audios see you cyon R.
So now you got Kirk Cousins, who the Atlanta Falcons
fan base has zero equity with if he's good, great,
but if he's not put in Michael Pennix, you'd be like, well,
(43:25):
the fans aren't in control. Well, I think you underestimate
the power of the consumer slash the fan base, cause
you know, the guy who listens to the fans, I e.
Listens to the radio, listens to the podcast, reads all
of the articles. Coaches can easily say not reading it,
not consuming it. Half of them, ninety percent of them
are lying. But still gms love to say it. You
(43:48):
never really says that and definitely is doing it the owner.
So if you're the owner and you're watching this guy struggle,
I'm just laying out the scenario in which starts slow.
I don't want to fucking watch Michael Pennix or excuse me.
Kirk Cousins said the same thing about Russell Wilson. Now,
the difference is they're paying Russell Wilson a million dollars
in Pittsburgh. So if he sucks, let's see what Justin
(44:10):
Fields has. Well, what if you start two and four,
you lose a couple of tight games and he looks
a little rusty the fan base who kind of represents
the owner, like, let's see what this twenty four year old,
ready made prospect can do. Then you got problems because
financially you're so indebted to cousins on your salary cap,
(44:31):
given how much guaranteed money you got, it could just
get weird. Nicka could just get weird fast. I understand
you would rather have more talent in your quarterback room
than not. And he's coming off a torn Achilles and
he's thirty six years old. He's never moved great, and
I get it, but things can get weird. Things can
get weird fast when you're in these scenarios. Jordan Love
(44:53):
was a developmental quarterback. There wasn't a soul who said, yeah,
maybe Jordan Love's better than Aaron Rodgers three years ago.
We all knew that was impossible. It was not possible.
Jordan Love maybe better than him now five years later,
like there's a chance within six months. Like Michael Pennox
and her cousins are very similar. So the rope on
(45:18):
this for cousins to me is very small, very small,
and things get weird fast. If it was Mike Tomlin
or John Harbod like, you know, they can handle this situation.
Renny Morris is essentially a first time head coach Terry Fautino,
who knows that that fucking guy knows what he's doing,
and the organization's kind of out of whack. It just
(45:38):
is so I just think I understand why they did it.
I get wanted to have a good quarterback room, but
that dynamics of your team start with that position. Why
did the forty nine ers get rid of Trey Lance immediately?
Once Perty kind of establish himself. I can't have you
around messing with my locker room dynamics. Peace see you.
(45:59):
Once they drafted Mac Jones, they cut Cam Newton. Like
Michael Pennix is a really really famous established college player,
not like Drake Bay needs you need to work on it,
like ready to go. Michael Pennix was a guy you
draft to start immediately. He was not some project. And
(46:21):
I hear a lot of people, well if you had
drafted him at pick twenty eight, I would understand stood it. Yeah,
same scenario is gonna happen. This guy was not some
work in progress. He was ready to roll. Now, the
Kirk Cousins we saw before he got hurt was a
top seven to eight quarterback in the NFL. The problem
is he had a major injury. So I just I
(46:44):
think this guy, this thing could get weird, and it
could get weird fast. Same thing could happen in Pittsburgh.
But financially, you're not obligated to anybody. This one, you
kind of are. He's got a no trade clause. His agent,
who I know, clearly put out a statement he wasn't
super happy, like, what are we doing? Why aren't we
improving the team? Which, listen, when you go full mercenary,
(47:06):
you don't get to dictate the terms. You ain't, Tom Brady.
No one gives a fuck about what you think. Seriously,
I mean, they just prove they do not care. So
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Speaker 1 (01:29):
What is going on everybody? John Middlecock three and now podcast.
Here's what I wanted to do. I just recorded a
little something after the second round of the NFL Draft,
add some takes from some picks, some big picture thoughts,
had to react to the David Temper video as well.
I also made a YouTube video earlier on Friday, and
(01:52):
I will add the audio as well, basically talking about
some of the stuff that happened after me and Colin
got done, I think after pick twenty four, so the
Bills trade with the Chiefs, some of the later picks
in the first round, as well as just some overall
thoughts in terms of the top ten that obviously the
Falcons and Cousins. I had twenty four hours to think
(02:15):
about it, as well as I think Jim Harbaugh. So
that'll be on the back half of this podcast. But
we'll open up with some second round thoughts and the
day of Temper thing man, which is just just classic
rich guy who's just not used to people talking smack
about him. Yeah, other than that you guys know the drill.
A lot of content up on the YouTube page. Me
(02:37):
and Colin went for two hours. You can check out
that podcast. And yeah, so I don't know when the
next podcast will be. Probably won't do one for Sunday,
but definitely something on Monday. I think I might even
do another one with Colin on Sunday. So well, if
something Monday, for sure. Reacting once the draft is completely finished,
but hopefully everyone's enjoying it. And let's talk some football
(03:00):
before we dive into some overall thoughts on the second round.
My friends, my partners in the official ticketing app of
this podcast, Game Time. Go to your smartphone right now,
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Save twenty dollars game time. Okay, the second round, let's
(03:43):
just start with how it started. The Bills took a
lot of shit last night, and I kind of agreed,
not that they should have taken Xavier Worthy, though Xavier
Worthy works with powerful arm quarterbacks. The Bills have one
of those. So if the Thiefs like you, they're a
cold weather team, you should like that player. Kind of.
(04:04):
They know what they're doing. But I listen, I wouldn't
have traded with them, understand it. If they weren't gonna
take the guy. They move back. The Chiefs are gonna
take him anyway. Get the picks. Then they trade out
of thirty two and go to thirty three. I love
their pick. Keon Coleman, I'm very close with Derek Ray,
who is the general manager of Florida State, and he
(04:27):
was telling me last year, well before the season, like,
you don't understand how good this guy is, and then
immediately scores three touchdowns in their first game against LSU.
The knock on him is speed, but that's kind of
the knock on Romadonsay as well. Ball skills, elite physicality,
elite size. I just think the guy's a really, really
good player. I like that pick a lot gives you
(04:49):
some identity, some toughness. Now, like, there's gonna be a
lot of pressure on him, there's no way around it.
He's not essentially like their number one wide receiver right away.
But anytime you draft a guy high, you get rid
of your number one wide receiver. I would say anything
less than I don't know, sixty five catches immediately is
(05:11):
kind of a problem. Here's the good thing. They got
some tight ends, they have a good running back, and
they have a superstar quarterback. So if you're a wide receiver,
where do you want to go? Not where Malik Neighbors
went and he's running wide open and no one can
throw him the ball. It's the one position doesn't matter
how good you are. Larry Fitzgerald's one of the best
wide receivers we've ever seen. For half of his career,
(05:33):
he played with nobody's it's hard to function. So he
gets to go to a place with a superstar in
his prime. It doesn't get any better, it really doesn't,
so it worked out pretty well for him. I think
he's an impact player. I think he's going to be
I don't know, like all pro level, but I think
He's going to be really good in the NFL. I
think his skills translate now getting open consistently part of
(05:58):
on the offensive coordinator scheme him open, Josh Allen, throw
the fifty to fifty balls and let this dude go
make plays, especially down in the red zone. You know,
Jim Harbaugh said it perfectly. That's why he kept beating
the drum. They're not taking a wide receiver. They're not
taking a wide receiver. And then what Jim Harbaugh say
on Thursday Night, we view the offensive line as weapons,
(06:19):
but they do need wide receivers. And he took Lad McConkie.
Who is to me immediately their slot receiver, who's a
really good player and who's gonna be good. Jim Harbaugh
would much rather have what he views as the best
offensive lineman in the draft and a wide receiver in
the second round. Then it flipped around a top wide
(06:39):
receiver at pick five and then the eighth best offensive lineman.
If you haven't followed Jim Harbaugh's career like this is it.
He is not dependent on Randy Moss and Calvin Johnson.
He has won for a decade and a half now
without those type guys. When you look back at his
forty nine ers teams, like if you just want to
(06:59):
look at the NFL, they did not have very good wife.
Their best receiver by a mile was Crabtree and one
year he Torey's achilles. They had like a thirty eight
year old Randy Moss. They drafted some wide receivers that
couldn't play, and he ran the ball, he threw the
ball to the tight end, and he played defense. That's
what Jim Harbaugh wants to do. He just won the
(07:19):
national title, dominated the season. How many of his wide
receivers have gone in the top sixty five picks. I've
seen a bunch of Michigan guys fly off the board.
That's not how he builds his team. So he likes
guys like Lad mcconkeye. He's not Andy Reid. That's not
how he views football. So the least shocking thing of
all is that he didn't take a wide receiver high.
(07:41):
Now that doesn't mean you still don't need them on
your team. They value them. They get a guy from
Georgia who's just really good. So I like the pick
the Patriots. I was on with the Fantasy pros guys
when they drafted Polk from Washington, and my guy Thor
who's come on this podcast before and who's like their
draft analysts, had a really good point. This guy wasn't
(08:02):
even the second best wide receiver on his own team. Obviously,
Romadonda was their number one, and when McMillan was healthy,
he was their number two guy. This is their third
best wide receiver. So you come out of the draft
with Drake May who I like a lot, though I
don't like him on the Patriots because their team's awful.
(08:23):
He's developmental guy, and their coaching staff to me, is
more than a question mark. And then you get a
guy that a lot of people didn't even have as
a top ten wide receiver, and again wasn't a top
three wide receiver on his own team. So I don't know, man.
I you know, Elliott Wolf came up in the UH
in the Packer organization. His father's obviously Ron hightweight speed.
(08:46):
This guy's not really a burner, He's not that big.
I don't know. I just I don't like anything about
the Patriots. I like Drake may I theory, but I'm
betting against that operation. There is not a team like
I'm betting against the Jet But there is a scenario
where the Jets are good. I see no scenario where
the Pats have any shot any and it's already ugly.
(09:08):
The Titans, this one was a head scratcher. Like their
first round pick, they take Latham, I think they would
have taken Neighbors, but obviously he goes off the board
at six. You get a physical offensive lineman, which they
were in desperate need of. They have Callahan as the
head coach and his dad is their offensive line coach,
and he's one of the best offensive line coaches in
(09:28):
the league. Here's the thing that doesn't make that much sense, though.
You take DeVante Sweat, who is a beast. He's like
six ' five, seven hundred pounds. I mean, he is
an enormous human. You are not gonna be able to
run the ball out him. No problem with the player.
He got a duy less than a month ago Sunday
(09:48):
in the middle of the day. His character right up
talking to teams is a little bit of a question mark.
So to draft a guy who just got a dewey
who's offen the field is a little bit of a
question mark. Just where he was supposed to go in
a place that I've been in Nashville twice for a
total of probably close to two weeks, maybe eleven twelve days.
(10:14):
I was drunk every day. It is one of the
major party cities in America. So you get a guy
that likes to party who it's not like he fell
in the draft. You're like, Wow, it's value. We couldn't
pass him up. You took him right where he was
gonna go. I don't get that one. To me, that's
pretty fucking risky. It really is. It's one thing, and
(10:34):
I'm all for taking guys that have some off the
field issues when they fall. That's called value. But to overpay,
because that's what you're doing for a guy that has
question marks at his where he was supposed to go
or maybe even a little higher. To me, he's pretty crazy,
especially for a first time head coach. The other thing
(10:57):
is if you are going to take some characteristics the
Mike Tomlins, the Pete Carroll's, the Andes, like, Okay, those
guys have seen the thing or two. They've been around
the block. The Hardbob Brothers been coaching a long time,
got a lot of gray hairs on their head. First
time head coach that to me's borderline nuts. That to
(11:18):
me is inviting a problem into your building when you're
trying to set the tone kind of start from scratch.
I don't get that one. Not opposed to the player,
but I don't like the risk there. Everything in life
is risk first reward, and I just I don't see
it here. I really don't because he's not a pass rusher,
(11:38):
he's a run stuffer. So I don't know, man, I
don't get it. Howie, who just is having a really
good draft obviously takes the top corner on the board yesterday.
He benefited from all the offensive players going, and then
he gets Cooper Dejen the white corner. I mean, I
don't think there's been a white corner since Jason Seahorn,
who is an elite athlete and who has return value.
(12:01):
He can play outside, he can play the slot. The
Eagles are desperate for a good nickel corner. It was
their downfall last year obviously, and he can play outside
as well. But Bradbury's done. I know he's technically still
on the team, he's not going to be he cannot
play anymore. Slagh is pretty risky because he's getting up
there in age and he's having knee problems. Though when
(12:22):
he's been healthy, he's been solid. They're gonna be you know,
the kid from Toledo, Mitchell, immediate starter, and I think
this guy has a chance to immediately start at Nickel.
Here's the other thing. This guy was a dynamic return
man as well. This new kickoff return setup brings in
to play guys like this because you're not gonna put
(12:45):
Saquon back there. Their two wide receivers aren't really players
like that, right, Like if you think about some wide
receivers that could do it, like Deebo Samuel could one
and he will, I'm sure be a kickoff return guy.
I think Degene immediately becomes like this modern day kickoff return.
You put him in that spot or at least can
(13:07):
try it out, so he brings value at multiple spots.
Versatile player. That's a big thing that the Eagles are
big on versatility now their success on defense. Obviously their
corner play needs to improve, but it's gonna come down
to the d lineman. You know, they drafted Jordan Davis
and Jalen Carter really really high, and Jalen had flashes
(13:27):
last year of just elite play they're gonna need the
guy to be a pro bowler and ideally become like
an all pro it hinges on him, and then Jordan
Davis just has to be solid. If those guys are good,
we know they got enough edge rushers. The corners will
look a lot better, especially these young corners because a
lot of every team he played now in the NFL.
Who's the team they play first Week one in Brazil?
(13:50):
The Packers? What do they have about eight million young
wide receivers? A couple of them can fly, So they're
gonna need that defensive line to step up a lot.
It's going to be talked about the corners and how
that's why, how he's drafting these guys. But to me,
their success of turning around this thing. Obviously you ad
Vict Fangio, the d lineman. You invest in two top
fifteen picks. Jordan Davis has battled with weight issues. I
(14:14):
got news for you. Big kind of chubby, fat guys
in the NFL deal with weight issues. It's hard, it
is difficult. It's gonna be an issue for Sweat with
the Titans when you weigh three hundred and forty three
hundred fifty pounds. Conditioning is an issue. It's hard. Big
people struggle with their weight. Welcome to society. You know
what's happened forever with centers in the NBA. It's no
(14:34):
different than certain defensive tackles or offensive linemen. It's hard
because you're naturally eating a lot to just maintain your weight.
So that's something they got to stay on that guy.
And they just got to stay on Jalen to stay
on the straight and narrow, focused and kick ass and
take names. One thing I always respect about offensive coaches
is when they value defense. It's one thing I've said
(14:57):
about Kyle Shanahan for a long time. He values physicality
and defense. He will invest his resources on that side
of the ball. Well, Sean McVay lose Aaron Donald, who
I don't know besides like Marshall fall because one of
the greatest players in the history of the franchise. There
is no replacing that. There's nothing you can do when
like Tom Brady retires or Aaron Donald retires, right, or
(15:20):
if Travis Kelce retires, you just I'm not saying he's
not he's retiring, or Jason Kelsey is a better example
like that, you can't replace him. There's gonna be a
drop off, right, but you do need to attempt with
multiple bodies. What did they do last night? Verse, power rusher,
edge guy? What do they do today? Defensive tackle? Florida State.
(15:41):
So they've doubled down on the defensive line position after
losing Aaron Donald. One thing we don't talk enough about
with Aaron Donald is the versatility he had, especially in
his younger years. You could kind of move him around,
glide him up over the center. I've seen him countless
times against the forty nine ers line him up over
the tackle. He had some JJ Watt characteristics there. So
you keep doubling down on this position, and if they
(16:04):
hit on these guys, the Rams are gonna be good.
I mean, we saw how good they were playing at
the end of the year. If Stafford is healthy, I mean,
this is a team I think we compete in the
NFC to win the entire thing. I'm not saying the
Super Bowl, beat the Chiefs. I'm just saying to compete
with the forty nine Ers, the Lions, the Packers, you know,
to win the NFC. Hell, they went toe to toe
(16:24):
with the Lions on the road this year. So really
like just the way the rams think about football because
it'd be easy to like offense. Offense, sexy offense. That's
what a lot of coaches do. They like calling plays.
It's Lincoln Riley's downfall. He's obsessed with offense. It's kind
of just the way he coaches say this. For Sean McVay,
his teams are tough and he just added two tough,
(16:46):
physical guys at the point of attack because it's the
one place in football that is still somewhat played like
nineteen seventies and eighties. It is a violent game there,
and he's added two violent players. The Colts, you know,
there's a lot of talk last night if they would
take a wide receiver. They ended up going with lat Too.
I watched them of Chris Ballard's press conference. He said
(17:07):
lat Too was their number one defensive player on the board.
And he's excellent. I mean, he's he's the best pure
pass rusher in the in this draft for sure. The
only question is the neck. And then they got a
guy that you know fell in the draft in Mitchell
from Texas who is a freak athlete and he's big.
He's six to two, he ran a four to three five.
He vertical jumped almost forty inches. He had eleven touchdowns
(17:30):
this year. I mean, this guy is a very, very
talented player, rap Sheet said after they drafted him. The
reason he was there, I think pick forty four to
forty five. His visits have been an abomination. Rap Sheet said.
Some of his visits, he like wasn't even paying attention
or listening and seemed disinterested, which is weird. And I
(17:51):
get it, young, immature, We've all been there, but you
would think, on like a job interview, especially with head
coaches and coordinators, even if you're not the most focused guy,
you'd fake it. You'd kind of you know, when I
worked with the Eagles, we'd call them a con but
you'd at least try. And there's a reason the guy
with this talent playing at that program. I mean, Hello's
(18:12):
teammate got a fucking DUI fifteen twenty days ago. It
got drafted ahead of him. He weigh three hundred and
seventy pounds. You get a guy that sixty two runs
a four to three five was that productive, goes gets
at that position, gets drafted after him, and tells you
like these visits. The NFL is a lot like high
school rumors. Just fly. Everyone knows each other, everyone talks
(18:37):
the negativity, can snowball down a hill like an avalanche.
And what's weird about the Colts They value character a lot.
I mean that they don't mess around with weird dudes, right,
think about the core of their team. Who have they
traded for a couple of years, Matt Ryan, Philip Rivers,
(18:57):
DeForest Buckner's like a man of the year. Michael Pittman.
I think he was married, like either in college or
right when he got out of college. Very serious cat.
Even Anthony Richardson's like people love the character. Quentin Nelson,
like Chris Ballard has not been fishing at the pier
of these character guys. And this is a little bit
(19:19):
off the beaten path. But here's the thing. I had
a radio show a long time ago now and we
interviewed Moose Johnson and he said something that I'll never forget.
He said, and he played on those great Cowboys teams
that won three Super Bowls in four years. He said,
to build a great team, and most of the great
teams in the history of the league have had this.
You need a team, how do you say it? I'm
(19:41):
gonna screw it up. Now you need a team full
of character. I'm blanking out now, I got so many
names running through me. But basically, of like, you need
the majority of your guys to be That was a
complete butcher job. On my fault, My bad, my bad,
I set that up very very poorly. But basically like,
(20:03):
you're inevitably gonna get some character guys, and your character
guys are gonna have to play well. And when you
hit on the character guys that play well, you're in
good shape. When your character guys aren't playing as well,
you got a major problem. And think about some of
those Cowboys teams. They had some wild shouts. They were
Hall of famers. So this is the first time he's
kind of gone out. God, I put you that. That's
(20:25):
I should I should have wrote it down before I
hopped on. We had a lot going on, but uh,
there's a little this is a little shocked. Not gonna
lie Other than that, Chiefs took a project at offensive tackle,
really talented guy from BYU. Ravens took the other tackle
from Washington like that guy. Niners took a corner from
(20:45):
Florida State. Little undersize but good athlete played well against
LSU it's hard. You know. The hard part about especially
once we get in the third and fourth round, and
I've gone to camps for so many years, is that
you get so excited for all the draft picks and
then all of a sudden, like undrafted free agents will
be making more place in them. So it's the hard
(21:06):
part about the drafts. It's hard not to get excited
when guys are picked, but we know with every round
that happens, the percentage chance goes lower and lower in
terms of, you know, the chances of these guys becoming
impact players, hell starters, hell making the team. I want
to end on this really quick. The Tepper video is
(21:26):
going viral of the local restaurant putting a sign out
in front that said basically, let the GM and coach
pick the players, which essentially shot at David Tepper like
stay out of the way, so stop getting so involved.
He walked in, which looked like his right hand man,
and talked to the people at the front desk that
I assumed one of the guys owns the restaurant, and
(21:49):
he took the guy's hat off and they had him
on the camera essentially saying like, did you guys put
that out there and everyone's you know, making fun of
him and talking about him like, bro, you're a clown.
Here's the thing about David Tepper. For however many decades
now he has been insanely rich, people didn't talk shit
about him, at least publicly, because if you did and
(22:10):
you were in his industry, he would crush you. And
that's what you know, tycoons do in business. There's no
physical violence in business. Right at his level, there's just
like I'm going to take you out, I'm gonna ruin you,
I'm gonna put you on the street. I'm gonna make
your kids beg me to give your father a job.
(22:30):
It's the cut throat nature of capitalism. I love elements
of it. And at the highest level in which Temper's at,
he destroys people in his way. People aren't outspokenly at
his level. Before he owned this team, he's not used
to this. Here's the problem. Fans don't give a shit
(22:51):
how much money you have or how successful you've been.
They don't care. His ability to trade stocks and run
hedge funds and do everything he can do to make
all this money means nothing to them. All they want
to do is turn on their television on Sunday and
see a good team and see functional players. They've seen
them before. They went to a Super Bowl seven eight
(23:12):
years ago. They've had an MVP, they've had a high
end Pro Bowl players at all sorts of positions. If
you're like thirty five years old as a Panther fan
or forty years old, you've seen a lot of good players.
You know what good teams look like, and you know
what bad teams look like. And here's what you know.
Since David Temper has taken over, they've been a fucking disaster.
The trade for Bryce Young, even if Caleb is a bust,
is one of the worst trades of all time, is
(23:34):
one of the worst trades of all time. If Caleb
is good, it is easily you could argue the worst
trade of all time. He's gotten rid of Christian McCaffrey,
who the forty nine ers just went to overtime in
the Super Bowl. He's arguably their best player. I mean,
he just gets rid of it. He doesn't feel like
he knows what he's doing, and it'd be one thing,
it's like, well he hired the wrong guys. There are
(23:54):
all these articles coming out and everyone's confirming it that
he's the one doing it. So it's like, hey, Dave,
we know you're super successful and used to destroying people
in your way, which is what big time business people do,
but no one cares about that anymore. Just stay out
of the fucking way and let people you hire attempt
to build a football team. You need to stop telling
your offensive coordinator what plays he should run. So I
(24:16):
think he's all thrown up. He's never had this happen
to him, at least for a long long time. But
this is justified because the fans like, don't care how
many billions you have in your pocket. They just want
a team that can compete to win the goddamn division.
And I think he's really thrown off. He's really rattled,
and he's not handling it well. And I think the NFL, like,
(24:38):
you know, there was the visual last year of him
throwing the cocktail or the water or whatever he was
drinking all over the guy's face, and then you have
this in the restaurant, like you know, the media might
tell you Roger is an idiot. Rogers running the biggest
league in America by a country mile, running circles around everyone.
Last night, the NBA had two of the marquee franchises,
the Knicks and the Lakers, on and not a soul
(25:00):
watch them. Roger is dominating right now, and I'll promise
you this Roger can't be happy. Here's the other thing.
Roger's technically not the boss. The owners are. It's kind
of embarrassing for the other owners. What do they talk
about a lot in football? The shield, the shield, the shield,
the brand, the brand, the brand, the league, the league,
the league. And this guy isn't a league full of
other rich guys. Like everyone talks shit about owners. Welcome
(25:24):
to the business, Like this is part of the deal.
You gotta take it. You can talk shit, you know,
behind closed doors, but you can't be doing this. You
are currently an embarrassment to our operation. It was thriving
before you got here, and if you disappeared tomorrow, no
one would notice. Someone like has to be Like if
I was Roger, I'd find him, and finding him money
(25:46):
doesn't do anything I'd take away, like next year second
round pick, Like this is not okay. You can't act
like this to the consumer. The reason the NFL has
lapped everybody is because of us, you and me, Because
we watch at a large, large quantity. Last night shattered
records for the NFL Draft in terms of ratings and
(26:07):
the amount of people that watched. Hundreds of thousands of
people showed up to Cold Detroit. That is the base
of the league, that is where the money comes from.
And he's treating these people on camera awful. It just
can't fly. And to me, there's no fine. Fine five
million dollars, that's like me handing over a twenty. You
(26:32):
gotta hit him where it's hurt. Hit him where it hurts,
and that's the team. I don't know what you do,
but finding him money is not doing anything to this
guy because he's embarrassing the league. I understand why he's
acting like this, he's not used to it, but it's
an awful look and someone has to get controlled. But
here's the problem. Who in his life can be like
you know, Dave, I don't know if you should do that.
(26:55):
That's not a good idea. There's not a soul. The
only people the other owners in Roger. But man, if
I was a Panther fan, keep talking that, you know what,
because this guy I had a lot of respect for
him as just you know a little stock trader made
a little money, lost a little money. This guy that
was before we owned the team. This has been a
(27:17):
clown show and we've seen a lot of owners get
made fun of at really really high levels. Hell, when
I was around the Bay Area a lot, we destroyed
Jed York when he fired hardball. Mark Davis got crushed
for years. It's part of the business you're in, man.
That's what happens when you lose and do dumb things.
When you win, everyone loves you like it's very fickle.
(27:39):
And right now, your team, your team was unwatchable last year.
I mean your team was so bad it was unwatchable.
I can watch any football game when the Panthers were on,
I would change the channel or flip it to another game.
They were that bad. And anyone listening, if you're a
fan of the NFC South or a Panther fan, you
know I'm right. And it starts with this guy. I've
known coaches that have been part of his opera. It's
(28:00):
insanity what's going on there. So these fans aren't just
making this up, Like this isn't just pulled out of there,
you know what, Like this is justified and he's handling
it like a ten year old, you know, when he's
sixty years old, because he's not used to being told this.
And this is why owning a team, while it's very
glamorous and very profitable, if you have thin skin, man,
(28:23):
it's gonna be a long, long career if your team sucks. Okay,
let's dive into some of my quick thoughts that I
did earlier on Friday of the latter part of the
(28:44):
first round, and a couple just overarching takes from the
top ten as well. Okay, last night, the me and
Colin ended, I think it picked twenty four and it
was like eight to fifteen where I was. So I
went out, had dinner with my beautiful lady and we
(29:06):
have the draft on and all of a sudden it
gets crazy. Now. The draft, unlike the season, is you
would never trade, like in the middle of the season,
the Ravens and the Chiefs would never trade player players
to each other. Right, you would never trade teams players
in your division. That just doesn't really happen. The draft's
(29:28):
a little unique. Andy Reid when he was a coach
of the Chiefs and Belichick when he was a coach
of the Patriots traded every single year. The Eagles several
years ago when they got Davonte Smith, remember jumped if
I remember correctly, The Giants traded with the Cowboys. I
mean the Eagles and the Cowboys are I mean one
of the biggest rivalries in the league. So the drafts
a little unique. I do think the Bills when you
(29:51):
have not got over the hump, not because your quarterback
has n't been a star. He has played the Chiefs
as well as anybody in the playoffs. I don't know,
if you can do business with them and they make
the trade. You don't need to be mel kiper Junior
or Mike Mayock to know they're getting Xavier Worthy, who
I'm texting the Chiefs war room. They're like speed Kills,
(30:14):
got a little DeShawn Jackson. I mean they're really really
excited something they specifically needed. Now, when you look at
the draft picks, I don't know if Xavier Worthy was
gonna be picked. The Ravens weren't gonna pick them. They
just picked Za Flowers last year, the forty nine ers.
He doesn't really fit their style. They would have taken
Ricky Piersoll over Xavier Worthy. Even if Worthy is a
(30:34):
better prospect just because of the team fit. I guess
the Cowboys in theory, but the Cowboys like taking lignment
and they did, and that's a I like that pick.
Cowboys built the trenches Parsons last year, Tyler Smith this
year guiding like that's I have never had any issues
with anyone taking offensive or defensive alignment. I just think
(30:56):
if you're the Bills, like the Chiefs might have got
him anyway, if they just said it, he might have
just fallen into their lap. I just have a hard
time now. Maybe you can go. If you're Sean McDermott
and Brandon Bean, we think when we were looking at
how the draft was gonna fall, that they would have
got him no matter what, so we might as well
accumulate more picks. I just that one's hard to stomach. Now.
(31:17):
The reactions of craziness, like the reaction on Draft Dyke,
does not indicate what's gonna happen in the season. I've
said over and over, I'm picking the Bills to win
that division. They keep winning it. I don't give a
shit who's on their roster as long as they have
that quarterback. I'm surely not betting on to to win
the division and Aaron Rodgers is forty years old coming
off an Achilles on a team full of guys with
(31:38):
bad hamstrings and bad ankles. But that one's tough. I
understand if I'm a Bills fan or even just people
reacting like, I don't think you can do that. I
don't think you can do deal with that team who
constantly beat you in the playoffs. They took care of
you forever at Arrowhead, then you finally get them at
home and they fucking break your hearts. That one's tough.
(31:59):
And like I said, the Chiefs might have got him
anyway if they had just sat there, But now we
know they got him. And I just think I was
texting with a wide receiver coach, a good buddy who
knows that team well, and he's like, if Marquis Brown
can just give him something with this guy, watch out.
We don't how to get their defenses this thing. The
(32:19):
Chiefs are a defensive team. Now they are a defensive
team that has the best coach and has the best
quarterback who's fucking beating these guys. They feel a little
bit like just it just rolling like the Patriots in
the middle of the dynasty. But good luck, guys, godspeed.
Now it's football. You playing a lot of tight games.
(32:40):
They're not always gonna win all these playoff games and
win the Super Bowl. They're gonna get knocked out like
they did a couple of years ago against Burrow. But
if you're them and the night ended that you landed
Xavier Worthy and the reason you did is because the
Buffalo Bills traded you the pick. Holy I bet that
one was. That one was shocking, It really was. What
(33:02):
was not shocking is this And by the time you're
watching this, maybe we'll have a trade. You know, Deebo, Samuel,
Brandon Ayuk, both of them are on the trade block.
If you could choose for the next five years, which
guy would you keep, even factoring in the money. And
I don't love paying Brandon Ayuke thirty million, but part
of it is because I'm paying Debo over twenty now
(33:23):
if you trade Debo, which I think if they had
a do over on that one, they were tough. They
were in a tough spot. They had to pay him.
But Deebo got throttled, and I mean throttled, and I
love him. I have a ton of respect for the
way he plays Deebo. Samuel plays football that would have
(33:44):
translated in the sixties, the seventies, in the eighties. He
is a throwback. He's not a great route runner, and
if you have good DBS, he struggles to get open.
He's he really thrives behind the line of scrimmage. So
these rumors that they might trade him to Night actually
makes some sense. And when they took the wide receiver
(34:05):
Ricky Piersoll, who I immediately texts around him like he's
a first round pick. A couple people text me back
like he's a top fifty pick. Little rich, but totally
get it. And he's a great scheme fit. They have
specific type players, Andy Reid Xavier Worthy makes sense. Kyle
Shanahan likes tough guys. He's not as obsessed with speed demons.
(34:26):
He wants you to block, he wants you to break tackles.
He wants you to go over the middle and run
crossing routes, and that's what this guy does. But the
moment you draft that guy, you're like, someone's in trouble.
We know this IU contract negotiation is up in the air.
And to me, debo, you know, if you could trade
him right now for a pick somewhere between thirty five
(34:47):
and forty, like, he's probably gone. He's probably gone. And
that's what you got to do. In the NFL. You
gotta make tough decisions. The Chiefs did it a couple
of years ago with Tyreek Hill, who's one of the
greatest wide receivers of all time. Belichick did it with
like ten guys. This is not fantasy football. You can't
just keep everybody. You gotta make tough decisions. And as
you start factoring in, they got a lot of high
(35:07):
priced players, so you gotta figure out big picture how
to build this thing. I would imagine they would have
liked to trade them before tonight, but that was It
wasn't a shocking pick. But once you make this election,
it's pretty clear what they're gonna do. Someone's in trouble.
There is an odd man out. They can say whatever
(35:30):
they want, and their whole press conference is it wasn't
even really about the player. It was like, well, what
are you doing? Brandon Ayuk is gonna get traded? Can
you guys guarantee Debo's not gonna get traded? You got
John Lynch reading off text messages from Brandon Aiyuk on
a group text with him and Kyle, who basically said,
not gonna lie fire pick. So you know the Cowboys
took an offensive line. Yeah, it makes sense right that
(35:53):
the Ravens take a hard hitting corner, makes sense fits them.
Forty nine ers take a wide receiver who fits. But
you're like, you already got Debo and Ayuk? Who if
you sign Ayuk twenty eight million dollars, which I don't
think they want to do, but it's kind of the
going rate, and they like Ayuk moving forward more than
Deebo Samuel. The problem with Deebo Samuel, he's under contract,
(36:15):
so it's like, can they get rid of them? The
cap implications that this stuff, there's a lot of moving parts,
So I just that one was like, damn these guys,
and they've done it before. They traded to Forrest Buckner,
who was the team captain and one of the best
players on the team. Now they got the thirteenth overall pick,
(36:35):
but it was a pretty cutthroat move, even though it
was the right move. But that's the hard part about
this game. This is not the NBA. It's like, woll
we just got to max everybody keep the ball. This
is like fuck. You gotta make tough decisions with guys
that you've won big with, guys that you know you
can go to war with, not in some random game
(36:56):
in September. A lot of guys play well in that.
I'm talking in mid January on the road in Green
Bay when it's freezing fucking cold. I've seen it. You
hand the ball to Deebo Samuel and he slams it
down their throat. And that's what makes him kind of
a unique player. But the problem is he's not a
great route runner, and they've been able to get around it.
(37:16):
But now that they got McCaffrey, they don't need him
as much, so he's he's really more the odd man
out than Ayuk. The problem with Ayuk is paying twenty
eight twenty nine million dollars and he's a fantastic player
for a guy that's probably gonna catch eighty balls, that's
a tough return on investment, right. I got no problem
paying Saint Brown thirty million dollars a year. He catches
(37:38):
me one hundred and ten balls, one hundred and fifteen balls,
one hundred and twenty passes. I have a hard time
giving someone twenty eight twenty nine million dollars when they
only catch I mean, brand A Yuck's never broke eighty catches.
It's not his fault. But that's the way the forty
nine ers play. And you're not gonna change all of
a sudden. You're not gonna look down and Kyle's gonna
play like Mike Leach. It's not really his style. I
(37:58):
would say the least shocking thing of the first round.
I've said it forever, and I missed on a lot
of my mock draft picks, but the one thing I
knew from the jump was Jim Harbaugh. He was never, ever,
ever taking a wide receiver at pick five. I don't
give a shit if his wide receiver room was me, you,
and three other random guys off the street. He's one
(38:21):
with that type room before. He wants to play physical football, defense,
running game, offensive line. I saw his press conference last night.
He's like, we need Everyone kept saying we need offensive weapons.
I view o lineman as weapons. I view them as
the tip of the spear. That's the way fundamentally he
(38:41):
views football. He is a throwback. Jim Harbaugh was born
to actually coach in the eighties against Buddy Ryan, against
Mike Ditka against Bill Walsh, against Buddy Ryan, he would
have Joe Gibbs. He would have thrived in that era,
but he plays in this era. So a lot of
people think wide receivers just draft wide receivers. And I
(39:02):
like wide receivers as much as the next guy, but
I've seen it forever. So we all have the Cowboys.
Dak Prescott's average, but he, for the most part, had
a really good offensive line. Jim Harbaugh has won a
ton of games with guys name not named Andrew Locke.
Why because of the front five guys. He just had
(39:25):
the best offensive line in the country for two years
running and dominated Ryan Day. Honestly, Ryan, the best thing
that ever happened to Ryan Day is Jim Harbaugh went
to the Chargers because he would have ended his Ohio
State career. Ryan Day was never ever, ever beating Jim
Harbaugh again. It was never gonna happen because on his
best day, He's not as good as Jim Harbaugh on
(39:48):
an average day. It's why Jim said that you're born
on third base, You're not as good as me, and
I know it because fundamentally, the way I play football,
you can't hang with me. And Jim Harbaugh is different
than a lot of these NFL teams that are like
spread it out, throw it around. It's not the way
he plays. It's just not. Now it's a little complicated.
(40:11):
He takes a guy that's only played left tackle. He
already has a left tackle. Now you move Slater to
right tackle? Do you try to move of? There are
some moving parts there, But philosophically, he was always gonna
do this. Even if Marvin Harrison had been there, he
would not have taken Marvin Harrison over his top graded
offensive lineman. He didn't do that at Stanford. He didn't
(40:34):
do that when he played with the forty nine ers.
He never did that at Michigan. It doesn't mean he
doesn't value wide receivers, but he does not value them
more than offensive linemen. And that shit translates over the
long haul, the big story of the night, and me
and Colin reacted to it, and I've had a little
while to let it sink in. I listened to Collins
(40:55):
take this morning, which I knew he would go against
the grain and his ultimate and it thought was like,
why would you not want to have insurance on a
thirty six year old guy? With a bat achilles. You're
crushing them for having too much talent at the quarterback position.
And I understand that. I will. I will never have
(41:17):
an issue with a team being aggressive at the quarterback position.
My issue is with this setup. If you had told
me Drake may had been there and they had taken him,
I'd be like that. I get it, this guy needs
a little time sit behind Cousins. But Michael Pennix is
not a developmental player. He is a plug and play player.
He's twenty four years old, he's been starting for half
(41:39):
a decade. He is ready to roll. And the only
way you improve at anything I come from cal Paly.
We learn by doing, and I think that's the way
most people improve at their craft. Whether you sell cars,
whether you're a doctor, whether you're a podcaster, or whether
you're a quarterback. There is, you know, something to be
(41:59):
said about mental reps. I agree with that. There is
nothing like experience and the like. There's a big jump
between college and the NFL. And now Michael Pennix is
not gonna play in theory for a couple of years.
Here's the problem and here's the risk. Because I don't
think they really had a plan. They just over the
course of the last month, once Cousins was on the team,
(42:21):
they fell in love with this guy. I understand it.
That's part of the draft, you part of football, and
this is what Belichick was so good at for twenty years,
locker room dynamics. You pay Cousins all this money because
you're desperate for a quarterback, totally understand. Then you parade
him around the city. He's going to Falcons game or
he's going to Braves games. He's all I've seen a
(42:42):
NonStop on my social media feed at different events. Kirk
Cousins has turned into kind of a money mercenary. He'll
just go whoever pays him the most. That's what he
did with Minnesota. That's why he's in Atlanta. Whoever's offering him.
He's kind of got Kevin Durant. Well, you're equity as
you start bouncing around, diminishes over time. Not with the
(43:04):
amount of money I'm paying you, but what I think
about you. You're just here to do a job, and
if you struggle with that job, audios see you cyon R.
So now you got Kirk Cousins, who the Atlanta Falcons
fan base has zero equity with if he's good, great,
but if he's not put in Michael Pennix, you'd be like, well,
(43:25):
the fans aren't in control. Well, I think you underestimate
the power of the consumer slash the fan base, cause
you know, the guy who listens to the fans, I e.
Listens to the radio, listens to the podcast, reads all
of the articles. Coaches can easily say not reading it,
not consuming it. Half of them, ninety percent of them
are lying. But still gms love to say it. You
(43:48):
never really says that and definitely is doing it the owner.
So if you're the owner and you're watching this guy struggle,
I'm just laying out the scenario in which starts slow.
I don't want to fucking watch Michael Pennix or excuse me.
Kirk Cousins said the same thing about Russell Wilson. Now,
the difference is they're paying Russell Wilson a million dollars
in Pittsburgh. So if he sucks, let's see what Justin
(44:10):
Fields has. Well, what if you start two and four,
you lose a couple of tight games and he looks
a little rusty the fan base who kind of represents
the owner, like, let's see what this twenty four year old,
ready made prospect can do. Then you got problems because
financially you're so indebted to cousins on your salary cap,
(44:31):
given how much guaranteed money you got, it could just
get weird. Nicka could just get weird fast. I understand
you would rather have more talent in your quarterback room
than not. And he's coming off a torn Achilles and
he's thirty six years old. He's never moved great, and
I get it, but things can get weird. Things can
get weird fast when you're in these scenarios. Jordan Love
(44:53):
was a developmental quarterback. There wasn't a soul who said, yeah,
maybe Jordan Love's better than Aaron Rodgers three years ago.
We all knew that was impossible. It was not possible.
Jordan Love maybe better than him now five years later,
like there's a chance within six months. Like Michael Pennox
and her cousins are very similar. So the rope on
(45:18):
this for cousins to me is very small, very small,
and things get weird fast. If it was Mike Tomlin
or John Harbod like, you know, they can handle this situation.
Renny Morris is essentially a first time head coach Terry Fautino,
who knows that that fucking guy knows what he's doing,
and the organization's kind of out of whack. It just
(45:38):
is so I just think I understand why they did it.
I get wanted to have a good quarterback room, but
that dynamics of your team start with that position. Why
did the forty nine ers get rid of Trey Lance immediately?
Once Perty kind of establish himself. I can't have you
around messing with my locker room dynamics. Peace see you.
(45:59):
Once they drafted Mac Jones, they cut Cam Newton. Like
Michael Pennix is a really really famous established college player,
not like Drake Bay needs you need to work on it,
like ready to go. Michael Pennix was a guy you
draft to start immediately. He was not some project. And
(46:21):
I hear a lot of people, well if you had
drafted him at pick twenty eight, I would understand stood it. Yeah,
same scenario is gonna happen. This guy was not some
work in progress. He was ready to roll. Now, the
Kirk Cousins we saw before he got hurt was a
top seven to eight quarterback in the NFL. The problem
is he had a major injury. So I just I
(46:44):
think this guy, this thing could get weird, and it
could get weird fast. Same thing could happen in Pittsburgh.
But financially, you're not obligated to anybody. This one, you
kind of are. He's got a no trade clause. His agent,
who I know, clearly put out a statement he wasn't
super happy, like, what are we doing? Why aren't we
improving the team? Which, listen, when you go full mercenary,
(47:06):
you don't get to dictate the terms. You ain't, Tom Brady.
No one gives a fuck about what you think. Seriously,
I mean, they just prove they do not care. So
buckle up for this one. The volume
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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