May 31, 2024 • 42 mins
John discusses the Bears being named to Hard Knocks for this upcoming season and why it shouldn't be a bad thing and is something that teams should start embracing. Next, John dives into the Jaylen Waddle contract extension and what if anything that contract means for some of the top WR's that have contracts ending in the next couple of seasons. Lastly, John reacts to the news that the SEC is going to start having injury reports during the season and why this is a good thing for college football.
Lastly, John gets into his biggest issues during this episode's Fugazi Friday segment.
7:47 - Bears on Hard Knocks
18:08 - Waddle gets a contract extension
29:25 - Chris Foerster on the OL position
32:49 - SEC is doing injury reports
38:15 - Fugazi Friday
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (01:53):
What is going on, everybody? How are we doing? My
people on this beautiful fugazi Friday. Yeah, I'm just gonna
do a podcast right now and talk a little football
because the Chicago Bears have been tabbed to do hard
Knocks this fall, and I was thinking about it. I
(02:16):
think hard knocks is pretty overrated, to be like a
detriment on your ability to focus and stuff. And I
want to dive into why in twenty twenty four, I'm
in agreement that once upon a time, for sure, it
was a lot for a team. I'm just not sure
if it is anymore. Jalen Waddle, the former Alabama star
(02:39):
wide receiver now Miami Dolphin's young stud, got a big
contract extension and why I think this is now the
blueprint for Brandon Ayuk. Justin Jefferson obviously wants a lot
of money, and there were some rumors about could Minnesota
have traded him. It's like, how do you trade Justin
Jefferson's It's like, part of resetting a franchise is being
(03:03):
open to everything. It's part of a GM's job to
take these conversations. Chris Forrester, the forty nine ers O
line coach, had some interesting comments yesterday about team building.
The SEC is gonna do injury reports, which I think
is very smart, and the Big Ten started doing them
last year, and just time to get with the times
(03:25):
because I think we all know we're headed to basically
a two conference AFC NFC version of college football one
day sooner than later, and a Fugazi Friday when it
comes to NFL contracts. That's just been driving me nuts.
But other than that, I think I'm gonna hold off
on the mail bag and maybe I'll do a mail
(03:46):
bag for Monday morning, or maybe I'll do it for Tuesday.
We'll see how I'm feeling on Sunday. Sometimes it's like
I get that anxiety and guilt. It's like I gotta
do a podcast. So it might do one Sunday, might not.
We'll see. We'll see how the weekend goes. But so
no mail back day. Just a pretty meaty football podcast
as well as subscribe to three and out. Everything's up
(04:08):
on YouTube and uh yeah, we'll just we'll have a
full podcast next week. The US opens only a couple
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to win the Stanley Cup. I'm rooting for the Mavericks.
I'm rooting for Scotty Scheffer at Pinehurst. So at your
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(04:49):
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(05:12):
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prices guaranteed. I think it's pretty funny that once something
(06:21):
gets established like this is difficult, it's difficult forever. It's like, yeah,
things kind of change. Like back in the day twenty
twenty five years ago, whenever Hard Knocks first started, it
was probably very intrusive to have multiple cameras following you
everywhere around when I was a kid, my mom to
(06:44):
get the pictures, I don't even know the right adjective
to describe it published. You would have to go to
Long's Drugs in the middle of Davis and wait a
couple days, and then they would have your photos. Remember
those things, if you're my age year older. Those three
ring binders that you'd all have whenever you go to
families houses, they'd all have all your friends just full
(07:05):
of photos. Now that's called the iPhone. And I had
some friends that had personal recorders, some like legit cameras.
They were pretty big handheld cameras. Again, all on the iPhone.
Press conferences and media and all that stuff used to
be a really really big deal. Now I think all
(07:27):
these guys are really numb to it because one think
how many teams. I'm pretty sure every single one puts
out like in depth videos leading up through free agency,
the draft, and then on draft night with their own
camera crew, camera boom mic. I watched the Jags in
Trimbalk last night. There's a fucking boom mic in the
(07:49):
draft room. I haven't been in the draft room for
a while, but it wasn't in nineteen ninety seven. In
the twenty twelve, twenty thirteen, and the Eagles were on
the fourth front of this with cameras, with in house production,
none of that existed. We I'd say for the last
several years, all the teams in the league are all
(08:10):
doing it, so the coaches are kind of numb to
being miked up and having a camera around them in
their own building. Most of you, I would imagine listening,
haven't been to like an NFL press conference. But if
you go to one with a coach and definitely a
player in a locker room, every single person interviewing them
(08:30):
basically has their camera up in the light on and
these players are so numb to it. Everything they do
on record is on camera, so forever. This notion was like, oh,
the intrusive nature of hard knocks, the cameras mics. That
probably was true in two thousand and six. It was
(08:51):
a lot because you weren't used to seeing people walk
around with cameras beside on game day. Well in twenty
twenty four, I go to the local deli and three
people are filming themselves eating a roast beef sandwich. Times
have changed, and no one knows that more than players
and coaches. So hard knocks probably used to be a
(09:12):
major pain in the ass. Obviously it's not ideal, but
I think it's never been less of a hindrance on
the operation of training camp. And here's the other thing,
and I've been saying this for a while. He listen,
I hard knocks is not for me. It is no
longer for me. It doesn't mean because of this job.
(09:34):
Definitely last year with Aaron Rodgers and the Jets and
this year with Caleb Williams. I'm gonna watch because that's
kind of what I do for a living, though I
don't really like it, because the hard Knocks I grew
up on, like most people in the two thousands, was
so raw, real and authentic. You got inside the coaches
in front office, the roundtable of the meetings about personnel,
(09:59):
and then the SENTI talking shit about guys who to
cut what was gonna go on, because that's really what happens.
You no longer get any of that. Watching the turk
go get guys. You barely see that anymore. You get
a little taste of it, but I would say relative
to what it used to be, it's been cut by
(10:19):
like ninety percent. So to me who's also worked in
it and seen what really gets said and the way
people really talk, it doesn't do much for me. But
maybe I'm not the audience anymore, and that's okay. But
I understand the power of the NFL, the popularity of
the NFL. It used to just be training camp, hard
(10:41):
Knocks four or five episodes. Now they're literally having an
off season Hard Knocks with the New York Giants and
then they're gonna have an in season Hard Knocks with
some team, so basically going year round while all these
teams are doing in house production that is kind of similar.
So we are inundated with content, which is cool. I'm
(11:02):
not pushing back against that, but Hard Knocks to me,
used to be something very different than it is now.
Obviously the power of social media seeing guys cut teams
are very sensitive to that, and I understand from their end,
like I don't want you in when the GM and
the coach are talking about who's being shitty and who's
not going to make the team. But we did used
(11:24):
to get that twenty years ago. At least it felt
like we got a lot more because we did. Now
we don't, and I don't expect that this fall. But
it's also why these player excuse me. The players they
don't really care, but the coaches in GM, especially Ryan Poles,
who's not some big like talking to the media all
(11:45):
the time. Guy is surely not gonna like this, but
he has full editorial control, Like they're not going to
post anything he doesn't want them to post in the show.
So I'm sure the reaction inside hallis Hall today is
like this sucks eber Flu's polls Ian Cunningham, his assistant GM.
But at the end of the day, I actually think
(12:05):
it could be pretty good in the sense of, like,
you got a lot of buzz on your team. People
want to see Caleb Williams. This franchise has been down
at what feels like for a long time, and now
a lot of people are very interested in your operation.
The other thing is like Hard Knocks was always a
death sentence, like if you went on Hard Knocks, you
(12:26):
were gonna suck. Well, two years ago the Lions went
on Hard Knocks. It was good, mainly because Dan Campbell
and I usually think the strength of a Hard Knocks
is the head coach. If the head coach is a
big personality, it can carry the show. Remember Bill O'Brien,
Rex Ryan. Obviously, Dan Campbell, to me it was more
enjoyable than the Jets last year with the Solids. He's
(12:49):
just not as entertaining that way. And I don't expect
eber Fleus to you know, be Leo DiCaprio behind the camera,
but the thing with hard knocks the last couple of years.
The Lion started I think one in five, but by
the end of the season, when they beat the Packers
in Aaron Rodgers last game, they clearly were one of
(13:11):
the better teams in the league that second half. And
if you take the second half of last season and
then this season, you could make the argument that only
the Chiefs and Niners have been better during that time. Obviously,
last year, the moment Aaron Rodgers Achilles rips in half
their season was over. It had nothing to do with
the cameras or the microphones. Now were they going to
(13:32):
be as good as people like me thought? Who knows?
It could have been a major struggle with their offensive line,
and maybe they wouldn't have been as good. They clearly
would not as been as bad as they were with
Zach Wilson right, But would they have been a legitimate
playoff contender? No one will ever know. We'll get to
potentially see this year if he can stay healthy. But
(13:55):
I don't think hard knocks has any impact on your
success or failure once the season starts, because I think
looking back, the distraction was probably a big deal. Guys,
weren't his focus. Guys were screwing around, Guys were trying
to be actors for the camera. Like I said, I
think most of these guys, I mean think how Caleb
Williams has been in the spotlight for probably like five years.
(14:18):
He was one of the biggest recruits in the country.
He then went to Oklahoma where he was trying to
beat out Spencer Rattler, who's now an NFL player, and
then he transferred to USC probably at least so far
an unprecedented ANIL deal. What Jayden Rashotta thought he was
getting from Florida, Caleb actually got that in southern California.
So these used to the camera being around, all these
(14:39):
guys are numb to it. Hell, Keenan Allen's bet on
this before the Chargers when they had the dual hard
knocks with the Rams. So I think this is really overblown. Now,
Like I said, I understand being a team, you'd rather
not have it than have it, But I don't think
it's anywhere near what it once was. You know, like
when I was in college in two thousand and five,
(15:08):
contracts are all about comps. They're all about comps. It's
why consistently we see the next player at a position,
you know, get a percent or two more than the
previous guy when they've put up similar numbers. Right, So
when you see Jalen Waddle get a seventy six million
dollar guaranteed extension, and then you look at his stats,
(15:31):
he's been in the low seventies the last couple of
years in catches over a thousand yards both years. Because
whenever I hear you know, Brandon Ayuk, it's only going up. Well,
Brandon Ayuk has nothing in common with Jamar Chase or
Justin Jefferson. Those guys are in a different universe than him.
They are absolute number one wide receivers who can carry
(15:53):
your team and produce at the highest level possible. That's
well known where we've seen two other guys in the
same draft class, Jalen Wattle Devonte Smith be number two
wide receivers on their team, and they're both really good,
just like Brandon Ayuk, and they both get a contract
in a ballpark that is right at the same level.
(16:17):
So when I see Jalen Wattle get this contract, I go,
that's Brandon Aiggs's contract. And now the only question is
are the forty nine ers willing to give him that
because if Brandon thinks he's getting something in some different
stratosphere than that number, then his agent is living on
Mars because that's the number. Like that, That's what we're
talking about. Where I think it gets complicated is for
(16:39):
the Minnesota Vikings, Justin Jefferson is like, hey, guys, I
mean I got nothing in common with these number two
wide receivers. You're looking at it arguably the best wide
receiver in the league, hoss. So that's seventy six million dollars,
I'm gonna need one hundred and to me, that's probably
the starting point of the conversation with Justin Jefferson and
(17:02):
the number he's looking to get. And I bet Minnesota
would like that number, probably in the eighties and maybe
they end up at like ninety six ninety five million dollars,
but his numbers in a different world, just like Jamar Chasis.
But this is Brandon Ayuk's contract. Now, the question is
with the forty nine ers are they willing to give
him this money? Now? What makes it a little more complicated,
(17:25):
and this is no one's fault because draft spots are slotted.
Is when you are drafted really high, like Jayalen Wattle.
He was the sixth pick in the draft when he
signed his rookie contract, whether he was good or the
worst player in NFL history, four years, twenty seven million
dollars guaranteed, no matter what, whether he caught one ball
(17:49):
or seven thousand balls, it didn't matter. Same thing with
Brandon Ayuk, but he was drafted way later, picked twenty seven.
He got a four year, twelve million dollar contract. So
Jalen Wattle already has may double what Brandon aucass. So
sometimes you get some of these guys that haven't made
(18:10):
as much money because they weren't, as you know, drafted
as high, that they can draw a harder line, and
sometimes it works the other way. They haven't made as
much money and you just throw a little cash in
front of them and they sign, like Nico Collins, one
of the best deals potentially in the league, because if
he just maintains his level of play, he's every bit
(18:31):
the player of Jalen Waddle or Brandon Ayuk. Yet from
a guaranteed dollars perspective, he's way cheaper. Now, his resume
is shorter. He hasn't been doing it at the same length,
you know, or the same uh you know, year in,
year out, but I think he would say, look at
the fuck I was playing with a quarterback I got
C J. Stroud, Look at my numbers. So these are
(18:51):
complicated conversations. It's why when I see this story break
with over the last week that Minnesota was open to
trading Jish Jefferson, Well, of course they were, because they
let Kirk Cousins walk. They were gonna go all in
on a rookie quarterback who was a red shirt. Isn't
that the time to reset everything when your team might
(19:14):
not be good for a couple of years. That is
not the time to pay one hundred million dollars to
a wide receiver. This is We talk about this a
lot with DeVante, and I understand DeVante is very prideful
in the Raiders. It means a lot because it was
his family's team. He has some family that couldn't travel
to Green Bay that's been able to see him play.
I understand all that. And you know, Davonte got to
(19:36):
not he didn't win a Super Bowl, but played in
a ton of playoff games, saw the highest level of
football when he was in Green Bay. But you put
him on a bad team. I don't care how many
numbers he puts up a couple of years ago. I mean,
he was awesome. The team didn't sniff the playoffs, so
you gotta be careful like how you're allocating your resources
now if you also go, well, I'm not paying my
(19:58):
quarterback anything, shouldn't I be investing in these other players?
Totally hear that too. It's all a preference how you
want a team build. But part of being a GM
and part of being in a front office is kind
of being open to everything. So if they would have
gotten two ones and two twos during the draft for
justin Jefferson, probably made some sense. Here's the one problem, though,
(20:21):
The teams that might be kind of interested in doing
something like that would probably be the good teams. So
the teams with established quarterbacks that would trade you a
ton and probably going to be drafting in the mid
twenties for a couple of years, that's not ideal. Now
things can change. Look at the Lions with d La
rams and that pick, like you never know, but like,
(20:45):
and I'm not Buffalo's cap space. But let's say the
Bills or a team like that, the Chiefs, Hey, we'll
give you two ones and two twos for this player.
And again, obviously I'm not factoring in the cap. I'm
just saying if that's on the table or the Baltimore
Ravens or whatever, more likely that pick, worst case is
going to be like twenty six. So it's like, should
we just keep them? And then the teams that are
(21:05):
drafting really high, why wouldn't they just take a wide
receiver that might turn into eighty five ninety percent of
Justin Jefferson for a quarter of the price. It's where
these deals can be pretty complicated. It's why a lot
of these times guys don't get traded. And we've seen
guys get traded. You know that we're already established. You know,
(21:25):
Tyreek Hill went for a one in a two, same
thing with Devonte Adams or maybe a one and a three.
I have to look back up, and those guys were
established like Hall of Fame level talents at the time
of the trade, and Justin is, you know, definitely trending
that way. A couple more years, it will be undeniable.
But these situations are complicated because this is not baseball
(21:47):
where it's an uncapped league, and I know there are
tax ramifications if you get to a certain level, but
you have to factor in big picture how you're building
your team. Now, i'd argue, when this guy's on the
f he's worth keeping on your team, especially for a
young project quarterback. But I do think it's fair to say,
and I know they've pushed back about this, but it's
(22:11):
been pretty well documented now several times that like they
were open to it doesn't mean that they got close
to doing it. It doesn't mean there was an offer
that got to that point. But most teams are this way.
Most teams are this way. And we've talked about this before, like,
there are certain players that there's no offer that I'm
(22:33):
going to trade you for. You can call me about
Josh Allen all day long. I'm never trading you Josh
Allen or Patrick Mahomes. But there are other players like
Trent Williams. The Niners are very beholden the Trent Williams.
They have four average offensive linemen in him, an all
time great Hall of Famer. But if someone called Kyle
Shanahan right now and John Lynch and said hey, we'll
(22:56):
give you two to ones, two to two's and a player,
you have to have the conversation. Even though it's like, hey,
who's gonna play left tackle for us? Be a big loss?
He also thirty five. He could retire after this year,
Like this is a this is what happens in the
NFL now when the dust settles, I expect him to
(23:18):
be a Minnesota Viking. But they're also run by an
analytically driven GM and typically guys from a finance background
are always balancing ROI, what type of ROI we're gonna
get out of this player in the near future as
we're working through a quarterback. I could just see it
being all on the table now. It doesn't make sense
to trade him now right. You would have traded during
(23:40):
the draft, but I bet their offers for the draft
weren't that great. And I think sometimes with a defensive
lineman Khalil Mack, it's easy to give the form, but
you've seen other positions. It's like, was that really worth it?
Like if the Raiders could do it again? And this
is DeVante is one of my favorite players in the EN.
I'm pro DeVante Adams. They would not do that deal,
(24:05):
not because he's not a really good player, not because
he's not a really good leader and just a guy
you want your young players to emulate because it doesn't
make football sense. It doesn't make football sense, Tyreek. It
turns out that team was a little closer. You put
him with Jayalen Waddell and you have one of the
best duos in the league and it helps your quarterback
(24:26):
that you just drafted number five overall. Like that deal
makes a lot of sense. The DeVante Adams deal looking
back does not. And look at the guys that did
that deal, both fired either have a job in the NFL.
So these situations when you the money now and I
know the CAP's going up every single year, it's still
very complicated. Nico Collins deal, that's easy to do. Casirio
(24:50):
probably wouldn't admit this probably one of the easier deal
he's ever done. It's like, listen, I guess he could
get injured or whatever, but we feel pretty good, especially
where the market is we're getting. We're we're paying whatever
less thirty forty percent less than some of these guys
on guaranteed money. We love this player now with this
young quarterback, no brainer. Juwan Jennings type deals are the
(25:12):
easiest deals in the league. It's like, wait, this guy's
on our team. We guarantee him ten million dollars. Once
you get above you know, the old fifty is probably
the new seventy seventy five. If you have a star
defensive player, it's one hundred plus million dollars. And think
about all the guys that have signed for one hundred
plus million dollars. Bosa, both Bosa brothers, Miles Garrett. You
(25:33):
know how good those guys are, Like, there's no disputing it.
But when you allocate that much money, look at Joey.
Joey gets hurt a lot. Now you could argue he
got hurt, you know, a lot before that, but in general,
when he's been on the field, he's been a high
end player. But the moment that guy starts getting banged
up and you're allocating that many resources from a financial
standpoint on your cap and your true cash, it's a problem.
(25:55):
Obviously with the quarterback when that doesn't work out, Holy Canoli.
Look at Sean Watson. It's been a disaster. Russell Wilson
one of the worst contracts in sports history, really so far.
Less than two years later he was benched and cut,
Like why look at his numbers? Don't hear that many
people crying for him, wasn't that good, But be interesting
(26:20):
to see when this justin Jefferson, the dust settles could
be a while. Same thing with Jamar Chase Chris Forrester,
the forty nine Ers offensive line coach. I think it's
fair to say he's one of the better coaches in
the league for sure, most famously known for doing a
little booger sugar on his desk in Miami with his
(26:41):
stripper girlfriend. But that's a long time ago, going through
a rough time, think rough divorce. I watched some of
his press conference. I've always been pretty impressed and I've
seen him win. You subtract Trent Williams, who I could
coach the other four guys over the course of the
last three or four years, I would get exposed on
other teams. This is where scheme really matters in football.
(27:06):
The zone running scheme is something where you can get
away with a lot of average players if they have
good foot to quickness. And he basically admitted as such.
He said, We've won a lot of games with a
lot of guys who are right there at the line,
and he basically described the line of if you can
(27:28):
just block someone and just function as an average starter
we can win with you here now there. If you're
below that line and you can't block people, I don't
care what plays, what scheme you're running, we're in trouble.
But we don't need Trent Williams. I mean, we need
Trent Williams at every position to win. And he essentially
(27:49):
said in the draft that if all things are equal,
I will promote as the offensive line coach and as
clear as this organization, we want guys that touch the
ball over the guys the block because if you can
just give me someone that I can work with, he's like,
my right tackle could be average. And if he has
a great block on a quick screen to a wide
(28:10):
receiver and that guy gets tackled three yards past the
line of scrimmage, nobody cares. But if that guy whiffs
on that quick screen and the quarterback gets it to
Debo and Deebo takes it sixty yards, no one ever
notices that whiff. And I think the power of having
(28:33):
I saw this in the NFL when I was there,
not too often because most of the coaches were on
the same page for Andy, but I hear stories about
it all over since I've been out. Is how many
assistant coaches are given players that they do not want,
and then, let's face it, we're all human beings. You
don't give the same effort. And when everyone's not on
(28:54):
the same page in these drafts, the assistant coaches, the coordinators,
the head coach, and the front office, you got problems.
So typically, if you told me an offensive line coach
who would he want during the draft, I'd say offensive
linemen all the time. And he even said, like, I
got no problem with it. I would have taken a
wide receiver too, because those guys in this game were
(29:15):
playing given how good I am as an offensive line coach,
and this is the power of good position coaches, because
I can give you less of a talent and I
can win with them. The amount of games the forty
nine ers won with Mike McGlinchey is insanity to me. Really,
you can't pass block. And then he leaves for fifty
(29:38):
five million dollars of Sean Payton, which is still one
of the crazier contracts I've ever seen, because you don't
get paid to run block in the NFL. You get
paid to protect a quarterback. And then they went to
Colton mckivitz and there was no drop off because of
this guy. Anyone that falls football. You hear about Jeff
Stoutlin all the time in Philadelphia. Whatever he's making, he's underpaid.
(30:00):
I've seen him. The forty nine Ers defensive line coach
Chris Caseric. He takes random players arden Key, Cleveland, Ferrell,
guys who have failed other places. Nick Bosa is gonna
be successful with whoever he plays for. Anyone in the
NFL can coach Nick Bosa, Nick Bosa, Miles Garrett, right,
Tyreek Hill. These guys are gonna be stars no matter
(30:21):
where they go. But what about all the other players.
Because you're investing all your financial resources into that guy,
you're gonna have less resource than some other guys, and
you're gonna need them to produce. So when my position
coach can get the most out of hey, I can
take a fifth rounder and he can be our starting
right guard. I can take a seventh rounder and he
can be my starting right tackle. And it's one thing
(30:43):
to be like, yeah, some guys start in the NFL
in three win teams. No, we're gonna win twelve thirteen
games and we're gonna be competing for the Super Bowl.
That's why you pay certain position coaches premiums because they're
worth their weight in gold. And it's hard to quantify.
But in the NFL, and it's clear if you're a
fan of a team, like you know the good position coaches,
(31:04):
you know the bad position coach, just watch their unit.
That's a thing with football, like in basketball, I got
no clue if you're a good coach or a bad coach.
Like Jason Kidd. I've been following his career since he
was a player. Is he a good coach? Is he
a bad coach? I know, clearly he's probably good communicating
basketball and leading men right as a point guard, But
(31:24):
like what's he actually doing with Luke and Cara? I
don't know. But you know in football like yeah, this works,
this is gonna play, or this is not gonna play,
especially at the highest level. And that's always the uncertainty
for the shitty teams, like how many good players do
you actually have? How many players do you have that
you can win with? Because you might have half your
(31:46):
team could be average players. If it's balanced out with
high end players, those guys, those average players can become
winning players, and they become winning players because of the
scheme and because of the coaching and because everyone's on
the same page, there's not one guy. It's like, ah,
I should have got an extra player in the third round.
(32:08):
We were gonna draft a wide receiver and we never did.
And that's not to say like I saw a clip
when the Colts drafted what's his name, the wide receiver
from Texas in the second round and they went to
Reggie Reggie Wayne, who's their wide receiver coach, and he
was going nut Like, obviously, you get excited when you
(32:29):
draft players that you like as a position coach, but
are you on the same page with the vision of
the operation and know that, hey, not every guy is
gonna be Reggie Wayne. You're gonna have to coach some
John Middlecoffs and you're gonna be depending on that guy
some games. So he'd better be able to know what
he's doing and produce. The SEC is going to start
(32:53):
doing injury reports. I guess the Big Ten last year,
two hours before game time did these here's a reality,
the SEC in the Big Ten. This thing is gonna
morph into NFL light eventually. I don't know if it's
in five years, ten years, twelve years. They're gonna be
two big conference and they're all gonna play each other.
(33:16):
And I know Coward right now is trying to defend
the Trojans. The Trojans are an embarrassment right now backing
out of the LSU game. There is no defending this.
This is not your one on Lincoln Riley, this is
your three. I'm paying them one hundred and twenty million
dollars to win national championships. We shouldn't be dodging anybody,
is my guy? Pat Hill used to say, the USC
Trojans by this point should want to play anybody, anytime, anywhere,
(33:41):
because ultimately Georgia, Bama, whatever, woul they would feel good
about winning that game. We all don't feel good about
USC winning that game. But that's we talked about that yesterday.
It's just it's an awful look, it really is. You
should have injury reports now, do they need to be
(34:02):
three days a week like the NFL? If you just
did a universal injury report on Friday after Friday practice
of basically who's up and who's down and who's questionable,
that to me is more than enough. But like we're
talking big business now, we're talking billions of dollars. Everyone's
getting paid. Players, coaches, networks are all involved. Obviously we're
(34:26):
balls deep with the gambling company. Let's all get on
the same page and let's all do this. It actually
makes it easier on the coaches. You don't need to
hide from any of this stuff, kind of play that
cloak and dagger game. I'm like, eh, you know, he's
kind of practiced. He's you know, no, he's up. He's
we plan on him playing. I don't know how well,
but we plan on him playing. No, he's a no goat.
(34:49):
That's where we're at today with football, and I think
the SEC and the Big ten. Uh, it's inevitable where
we're headed. But this is a good first start. Not
that it has a huge impact on gambling from the
sense of like they can still fudge it a little bit,
but like you want to be real, you want to
(35:10):
be what this is becoming, Like, this is this is
a smart step. Okay, Fougazi Friday. It's got to be
NFL contracts, It's got to be NFL contracts. All I
hear Christian McCaffrey's contract that he signed years ago, sixteen
million dollars a year. He's the highest paid running back
(35:33):
in NFL history, and no one has eclipsed them since.
And I looked at his contract and I go, well,
he's not making sixteen million dollars. He's got two years left.
He's making under twelve million dollars these next two years.
So all I see on the internet is you make
sixteen million dollars a year, and agents love to say
(35:54):
that Jalen Waddle twenty eight point three million dollars a year.
I've always said nothing is more overrated than average per
year salary in the NFL. In the NBA, it's usually
like he makes thirty this year, thirty one next year,
thirty two the next year. All guarantee signed a ninety
(36:15):
three million dollar contract. That is not the way these
NFL contracts work. So currently voluntary McCaffrey hasn't been around
for a couple weeks. People like guys he's getting married
to Olivia, former Miss USA practice three days. It's pretty clear.
I've done my digging. I got a few sources on
(36:36):
the places around that have heard some things, heard some things.
Pretty clear. The guy wants a race. Don't blame him.
Scored twenty one touchdowns last year, carried the Niners at
certain times on offense. We all agreed one of the
best players in the league. And if I was him
and I saw, well he makes sixteen million dollars a year,
I say, bullshit, I make eleven eight And for me,
(36:58):
for you, for most people, take a lot seven point eight
million dollars. You want to pay me eleven point eight
million dollars tomorrow, I'm there. But if you're Christian mccaffre,
you go listen, this ain't enough money. And this is
where these NFL contracts kind of get, you know, in
this weird space of well, he was paid a signing
(37:19):
bonus four years ago, and then that money gets on
the books spread out over time, so you can say
it's that much money, but that money was paid a
long time ago. He's probably bought a house or two
cents with that money. That money's gone. We're in savings
or in the market or whatever. The money the forty
nine ers owe me, which they didn't pay me that
(37:41):
signing bonus another team did. So what you're paying me
the contract you inherited, ain't sniffing the top is paid
running back in the NFL. And we all know that
I am so I fully supportive. I'm Christian McCaffrey. Like
he listen, Kyle, I'm not gonna make a big snink,
not gonna make a big you know, dog and pony
show around on this. But I'm not playing for this number.
(38:04):
I'm not asking for thirty million dollars a year. I
get it. I played running back even though I catch
about seventy balls a year and scort seven touchdowns receiving,
and I'm probably right there with like Marshall Fulk and Ladanian.
Tomlinson is one of the great pass catching running backs
in the history league. But this number ain't working. And
this fugazi of my contract. You guys don't get credit
(38:27):
for the signing bonus you traded. You inherited a contract
with no guaranteed money left essentially after that first year.
So I'm gonna need a race and we're gonna need
to get this from eleven point eight. If I was McCaffrey,
I'd want about twenty million dollars. I don't think I
could play for less than nineteen. It's like, wait, you're
(38:47):
prepared to pay Brandon Ayuk twenty eight twenty nine million
dollars a year. I almost caught as many balls as him. Oh,
I happen to lead the league in rushing and have
fourteen touchdowns on the ground. So like, listen, I always
push back. Most of these running backs pretty replaceable. This
guy when he's health he's not now. I also understand
(39:08):
from the forty nineer standpoint, you play running back. This
is the market. I know this. Like Christian McCaffrey is
beloved by the head coach. I'm like, hey, listen, I
ain't bleeding again till we update this thing, because this
ain't working for me. And if I read one more
fucking person in the media say I make a number
(39:29):
that I do not make, I'm gonna puke in my
mouth because it's just and this happens constantly. This guy
makes so and so, and then all of a sudden
he's cut and he's like, well, he would have made this,
and he had three years left on his contract. They
were unguaranteed. It's all just these contracts are a giant fuguzzi.
It's why the quarterback contracts are the one with the
giant amount of guaranteed money that you are kind of stuck.
(39:53):
The Broncos were shit out of luck. It's like, what
are you gonna do? Well? I'll just cut them and
eat it. But no one does that with other positions.
It's why you got to be very hesitant about signing
these players now. I mean, these guards are signing sixty
seventy million dollar contracts, wide receiver a signing seventy eighty
million dollar contracts. Obviously high end defensive linemen. Where you
do feel good about signing Miles Garrett or Nick Bosa.
(40:15):
You're just terrified if they ever get injured, you're you're screwed.
But that's part of football. But man, I just I
see constantly he makes sixteen million dollars a year and
he just doesn't like the forty nine ers do not
have to pay him sixteen million dollars a year. These
next two years, they're way short of that. It's in
the elevens. So I just that's something that's been driving
(40:37):
me wild. And other than that, I don't really have
any other fugazis beside, Like listen, all I've ever heard
is Arizona being the hottest place ever. And don't get
me wrong, it's really hot. Last year had thirty straight
days over one hundred and fifteen degrees. Even though I
was talking today with a guy from Montana, guy named Lenny,
(40:58):
and he was telling me, like cold he's ever felt
is like minus forty five fifty degrees and he's like,
you know, consistently gets well below zero where he's from,
and it's just freezing cold. And I said, what would
you take? He said, I'll take heat every day of
the week. I'm like, that's why the snowbirds exist. But
I'll be the first to admit, once you get over
one ten, it is extremely hot, Like you're moving to Arizona.
(41:21):
It's so hot. It's like it was one hundred and
six degrees when I lived in Walnut Creek. It was
one hundred and twelve degrees when I lived in Fresno.
It's hot in California too. But I drove three hours
up to the mountains, place called Pine Top, Little Lake,
a couple of lakes. It's like seventy five degrees. It
was beautiful, and it is crazy how many places that
(41:44):
you would never go to that if you just didn't
move there, And like, I probably never ever if I
had never moved to Arizona, would it ended up there?
And then I started driving around. They had three golf courses.
A couple of them were sweet. A couple country clubs,
I'm like shit, I'd buy a cabin there and join
that club. And don't let people tell you that everywhere
in Arizona is scolding hot, because this place, Pine Top
(42:06):
as well as flag Staff. You go there, it's like
seventy six degrees beautiful. The volume
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Speaker 1 (01:53):
What is going on, everybody? How are we doing? My
people on this beautiful fugazi Friday. Yeah, I'm just gonna
do a podcast right now and talk a little football
because the Chicago Bears have been tabbed to do hard
Knocks this fall, and I was thinking about it. I
(02:16):
think hard knocks is pretty overrated, to be like a
detriment on your ability to focus and stuff. And I
want to dive into why in twenty twenty four, I'm
in agreement that once upon a time, for sure, it
was a lot for a team. I'm just not sure
if it is anymore. Jalen Waddle, the former Alabama star
(02:39):
wide receiver now Miami Dolphin's young stud, got a big
contract extension and why I think this is now the
blueprint for Brandon Ayuk. Justin Jefferson obviously wants a lot
of money, and there were some rumors about could Minnesota
have traded him. It's like, how do you trade Justin
Jefferson's It's like, part of resetting a franchise is being
(03:03):
open to everything. It's part of a GM's job to
take these conversations. Chris Forrester, the forty nine ers O
line coach, had some interesting comments yesterday about team building.
The SEC is gonna do injury reports, which I think
is very smart, and the Big Ten started doing them
last year, and just time to get with the times
(03:25):
because I think we all know we're headed to basically
a two conference AFC NFC version of college football one
day sooner than later, and a Fugazi Friday when it
comes to NFL contracts. That's just been driving me nuts.
But other than that, I think I'm gonna hold off
on the mail bag and maybe I'll do a mail
(03:46):
bag for Monday morning, or maybe I'll do it for Tuesday.
We'll see how I'm feeling on Sunday. Sometimes it's like
I get that anxiety and guilt. It's like I gotta
do a podcast. So it might do one Sunday, might not.
We'll see. We'll see how the weekend goes. But so
no mail back day. Just a pretty meaty football podcast
as well as subscribe to three and out. Everything's up
(04:08):
on YouTube and uh yeah, we'll just we'll have a
full podcast next week. The US opens only a couple
of weeks away. I made a little parlay for my
friends at DraftKings all Dallas. I went Scotti Shcheffler, Dallas Stars,
Dallas Mavericks. They get paid a lout like forty five
to one or something because I did the I did
(04:29):
the same parlay, but instead of the Stars, I did
the Edmonton Oilers, and then I freaked out yesterday when
they were down to nothing. So now I basically got
two parlays. So whoever wins that series, I'm rooting for
to win the Stanley Cup. I'm rooting for the Mavericks.
I'm rooting for Scotty Scheffer at Pinehurst. So at your
gambling minute with Middlecuff. But before we dive in to
(04:49):
some football, where as they say in Mexico Football Americano,
that I plan on getting out of the house Saturday night,
have a little fun, letting the hair that I don't
have down, having a few Bruce Skis, and singing some songs.
Luke Combs is coming to I'd say Scottsdale, but it's
actually Glendale because they built the football stadium out in BFE.
(05:12):
But I'm going, and I'm going for one reason, and
one reason only my friends. At game time, I have
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to an NHL game than I have probably in five
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this podcast began last year January first. I think it
was January first, might have been February. But here's the thing.
(05:35):
Do you want to go to a concert. Do you
want to go to a comedy show? Do you want
to get out this summer? Go to a baseball game,
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Download the game Time app today. Last minute tickets, lowest
prices guaranteed. I think it's pretty funny that once something
(06:21):
gets established like this is difficult, it's difficult forever. It's like, yeah,
things kind of change. Like back in the day twenty
twenty five years ago, whenever Hard Knocks first started, it
was probably very intrusive to have multiple cameras following you
everywhere around when I was a kid, my mom to
(06:44):
get the pictures, I don't even know the right adjective
to describe it published. You would have to go to
Long's Drugs in the middle of Davis and wait a
couple days, and then they would have your photos. Remember
those things, if you're my age year older. Those three
ring binders that you'd all have whenever you go to
families houses, they'd all have all your friends just full
(07:05):
of photos. Now that's called the iPhone. And I had
some friends that had personal recorders, some like legit cameras.
They were pretty big handheld cameras. Again, all on the iPhone.
Press conferences and media and all that stuff used to
be a really really big deal. Now I think all
(07:27):
these guys are really numb to it because one think
how many teams. I'm pretty sure every single one puts
out like in depth videos leading up through free agency,
the draft, and then on draft night with their own
camera crew, camera boom mic. I watched the Jags in
Trimbalk last night. There's a fucking boom mic in the
(07:49):
draft room. I haven't been in the draft room for
a while, but it wasn't in nineteen ninety seven. In
the twenty twelve, twenty thirteen, and the Eagles were on
the fourth front of this with cameras, with in house production,
none of that existed. We I'd say for the last
several years, all the teams in the league are all
(08:10):
doing it, so the coaches are kind of numb to
being miked up and having a camera around them in
their own building. Most of you, I would imagine listening,
haven't been to like an NFL press conference. But if
you go to one with a coach and definitely a
player in a locker room, every single person interviewing them
(08:30):
basically has their camera up in the light on and
these players are so numb to it. Everything they do
on record is on camera, so forever. This notion was like, oh,
the intrusive nature of hard knocks, the cameras mics. That
probably was true in two thousand and six. It was
(08:51):
a lot because you weren't used to seeing people walk
around with cameras beside on game day. Well in twenty
twenty four, I go to the local deli and three
people are filming themselves eating a roast beef sandwich. Times
have changed, and no one knows that more than players
and coaches. So hard knocks probably used to be a
(09:12):
major pain in the ass. Obviously it's not ideal, but
I think it's never been less of a hindrance on
the operation of training camp. And here's the other thing,
and I've been saying this for a while. He listen,
I hard knocks is not for me. It is no
longer for me. It doesn't mean because of this job.
(09:34):
Definitely last year with Aaron Rodgers and the Jets and
this year with Caleb Williams. I'm gonna watch because that's
kind of what I do for a living, though I
don't really like it, because the hard Knocks I grew
up on, like most people in the two thousands, was
so raw, real and authentic. You got inside the coaches
in front office, the roundtable of the meetings about personnel,
(09:59):
and then the SENTI talking shit about guys who to
cut what was gonna go on, because that's really what happens.
You no longer get any of that. Watching the turk
go get guys. You barely see that anymore. You get
a little taste of it, but I would say relative
to what it used to be, it's been cut by
(10:19):
like ninety percent. So to me who's also worked in
it and seen what really gets said and the way
people really talk, it doesn't do much for me. But
maybe I'm not the audience anymore, and that's okay. But
I understand the power of the NFL, the popularity of
the NFL. It used to just be training camp, hard
(10:41):
Knocks four or five episodes. Now they're literally having an
off season Hard Knocks with the New York Giants and
then they're gonna have an in season Hard Knocks with
some team, so basically going year round while all these
teams are doing in house production that is kind of similar.
So we are inundated with content, which is cool. I'm
(11:02):
not pushing back against that, but Hard Knocks to me,
used to be something very different than it is now.
Obviously the power of social media seeing guys cut teams
are very sensitive to that, and I understand from their end,
like I don't want you in when the GM and
the coach are talking about who's being shitty and who's
not going to make the team. But we did used
(11:24):
to get that twenty years ago. At least it felt
like we got a lot more because we did. Now
we don't, and I don't expect that this fall. But
it's also why these player excuse me. The players they
don't really care, but the coaches in GM, especially Ryan Poles,
who's not some big like talking to the media all
(11:45):
the time. Guy is surely not gonna like this, but
he has full editorial control, Like they're not going to
post anything he doesn't want them to post in the show.
So I'm sure the reaction inside hallis Hall today is
like this sucks eber Flu's polls Ian Cunningham, his assistant GM.
But at the end of the day, I actually think
(12:05):
it could be pretty good in the sense of, like,
you got a lot of buzz on your team. People
want to see Caleb Williams. This franchise has been down
at what feels like for a long time, and now
a lot of people are very interested in your operation.
The other thing is like Hard Knocks was always a
death sentence, like if you went on Hard Knocks, you
(12:26):
were gonna suck. Well, two years ago the Lions went
on Hard Knocks. It was good, mainly because Dan Campbell
and I usually think the strength of a Hard Knocks
is the head coach. If the head coach is a
big personality, it can carry the show. Remember Bill O'Brien,
Rex Ryan. Obviously, Dan Campbell, to me it was more
enjoyable than the Jets last year with the Solids. He's
(12:49):
just not as entertaining that way. And I don't expect
eber Fleus to you know, be Leo DiCaprio behind the camera,
but the thing with hard knocks the last couple of years.
The Lion started I think one in five, but by
the end of the season, when they beat the Packers
in Aaron Rodgers last game, they clearly were one of
(13:11):
the better teams in the league that second half. And
if you take the second half of last season and
then this season, you could make the argument that only
the Chiefs and Niners have been better during that time. Obviously,
last year, the moment Aaron Rodgers Achilles rips in half
their season was over. It had nothing to do with
the cameras or the microphones. Now were they going to
(13:32):
be as good as people like me thought? Who knows?
It could have been a major struggle with their offensive line,
and maybe they wouldn't have been as good. They clearly
would not as been as bad as they were with
Zach Wilson right, But would they have been a legitimate
playoff contender? No one will ever know. We'll get to
potentially see this year if he can stay healthy. But
(13:55):
I don't think hard knocks has any impact on your
success or failure once the season starts, because I think
looking back, the distraction was probably a big deal. Guys,
weren't his focus. Guys were screwing around, Guys were trying
to be actors for the camera. Like I said, I
think most of these guys, I mean think how Caleb
Williams has been in the spotlight for probably like five years.
(14:18):
He was one of the biggest recruits in the country.
He then went to Oklahoma where he was trying to
beat out Spencer Rattler, who's now an NFL player, and
then he transferred to USC probably at least so far
an unprecedented ANIL deal. What Jayden Rashotta thought he was
getting from Florida, Caleb actually got that in southern California.
So these used to the camera being around, all these
(14:39):
guys are numb to it. Hell, Keenan Allen's bet on
this before the Chargers when they had the dual hard
knocks with the Rams. So I think this is really overblown. Now,
Like I said, I understand being a team, you'd rather
not have it than have it, But I don't think
it's anywhere near what it once was. You know, like
when I was in college in two thousand and five,
(15:08):
contracts are all about comps. They're all about comps. It's
why consistently we see the next player at a position,
you know, get a percent or two more than the
previous guy when they've put up similar numbers. Right, So
when you see Jalen Waddle get a seventy six million
dollar guaranteed extension, and then you look at his stats,
(15:31):
he's been in the low seventies the last couple of
years in catches over a thousand yards both years. Because
whenever I hear you know, Brandon Ayuk, it's only going up. Well,
Brandon Ayuk has nothing in common with Jamar Chase or
Justin Jefferson. Those guys are in a different universe than him.
They are absolute number one wide receivers who can carry
(15:53):
your team and produce at the highest level possible. That's
well known where we've seen two other guys in the
same draft class, Jalen Wattle Devonte Smith be number two
wide receivers on their team, and they're both really good,
just like Brandon Ayuk, and they both get a contract
in a ballpark that is right at the same level.
(16:17):
So when I see Jalen Wattle get this contract, I go,
that's Brandon Aiggs's contract. And now the only question is
are the forty nine ers willing to give him that
because if Brandon thinks he's getting something in some different
stratosphere than that number, then his agent is living on
Mars because that's the number. Like that, That's what we're
talking about. Where I think it gets complicated is for
(16:39):
the Minnesota Vikings, Justin Jefferson is like, hey, guys, I
mean I got nothing in common with these number two
wide receivers. You're looking at it arguably the best wide
receiver in the league, hoss. So that's seventy six million dollars,
I'm gonna need one hundred and to me, that's probably
the starting point of the conversation with Justin Jefferson and
(17:02):
the number he's looking to get. And I bet Minnesota
would like that number, probably in the eighties and maybe
they end up at like ninety six ninety five million dollars,
but his numbers in a different world, just like Jamar Chasis.
But this is Brandon Ayuk's contract. Now, the question is
with the forty nine ers are they willing to give
him this money? Now? What makes it a little more complicated,
(17:25):
and this is no one's fault because draft spots are slotted.
Is when you are drafted really high, like Jayalen Wattle.
He was the sixth pick in the draft when he
signed his rookie contract, whether he was good or the
worst player in NFL history, four years, twenty seven million
dollars guaranteed, no matter what, whether he caught one ball
(17:49):
or seven thousand balls, it didn't matter. Same thing with
Brandon Ayuk, but he was drafted way later, picked twenty seven.
He got a four year, twelve million dollar contract. So
Jalen Wattle already has may double what Brandon aucass. So
sometimes you get some of these guys that haven't made
(18:10):
as much money because they weren't, as you know, drafted
as high, that they can draw a harder line, and
sometimes it works the other way. They haven't made as
much money and you just throw a little cash in
front of them and they sign, like Nico Collins, one
of the best deals potentially in the league, because if
he just maintains his level of play, he's every bit
(18:31):
the player of Jalen Waddle or Brandon Ayuk. Yet from
a guaranteed dollars perspective, he's way cheaper. Now, his resume
is shorter. He hasn't been doing it at the same length,
you know, or the same uh you know, year in,
year out, but I think he would say, look at
the fuck I was playing with a quarterback I got
C J. Stroud, Look at my numbers. So these are
(18:51):
complicated conversations. It's why when I see this story break
with over the last week that Minnesota was open to
trading Jish Jefferson, Well, of course they were, because they
let Kirk Cousins walk. They were gonna go all in
on a rookie quarterback who was a red shirt. Isn't
that the time to reset everything when your team might
(19:14):
not be good for a couple of years. That is
not the time to pay one hundred million dollars to
a wide receiver. This is We talk about this a
lot with DeVante, and I understand DeVante is very prideful
in the Raiders. It means a lot because it was
his family's team. He has some family that couldn't travel
to Green Bay that's been able to see him play.
I understand all that. And you know, Davonte got to
(19:36):
not he didn't win a Super Bowl, but played in
a ton of playoff games, saw the highest level of
football when he was in Green Bay. But you put
him on a bad team. I don't care how many
numbers he puts up a couple of years ago. I mean,
he was awesome. The team didn't sniff the playoffs, so
you gotta be careful like how you're allocating your resources
now if you also go, well, I'm not paying my
(19:58):
quarterback anything, shouldn't I be investing in these other players?
Totally hear that too. It's all a preference how you
want a team build. But part of being a GM
and part of being in a front office is kind
of being open to everything. So if they would have
gotten two ones and two twos during the draft for
justin Jefferson, probably made some sense. Here's the one problem, though,
(20:21):
The teams that might be kind of interested in doing
something like that would probably be the good teams. So
the teams with established quarterbacks that would trade you a
ton and probably going to be drafting in the mid
twenties for a couple of years, that's not ideal. Now
things can change. Look at the Lions with d La
rams and that pick, like you never know, but like,
(20:45):
and I'm not Buffalo's cap space. But let's say the
Bills or a team like that, the Chiefs, Hey, we'll
give you two ones and two twos for this player.
And again, obviously I'm not factoring in the cap. I'm
just saying if that's on the table or the Baltimore
Ravens or whatever, more likely that pick, worst case is
going to be like twenty six. So it's like, should
we just keep them? And then the teams that are
(21:05):
drafting really high, why wouldn't they just take a wide
receiver that might turn into eighty five ninety percent of
Justin Jefferson for a quarter of the price. It's where
these deals can be pretty complicated. It's why a lot
of these times guys don't get traded. And we've seen
guys get traded. You know that we're already established. You know,
(21:25):
Tyreek Hill went for a one in a two, same
thing with Devonte Adams or maybe a one and a three.
I have to look back up, and those guys were
established like Hall of Fame level talents at the time
of the trade, and Justin is, you know, definitely trending
that way. A couple more years, it will be undeniable.
But these situations are complicated because this is not baseball
(21:47):
where it's an uncapped league, and I know there are
tax ramifications if you get to a certain level, but
you have to factor in big picture how you're building
your team. Now, i'd argue, when this guy's on the
f he's worth keeping on your team, especially for a
young project quarterback. But I do think it's fair to say,
and I know they've pushed back about this, but it's
(22:11):
been pretty well documented now several times that like they
were open to it doesn't mean that they got close
to doing it. It doesn't mean there was an offer
that got to that point. But most teams are this way.
Most teams are this way. And we've talked about this before, like,
there are certain players that there's no offer that I'm
(22:33):
going to trade you for. You can call me about
Josh Allen all day long. I'm never trading you Josh
Allen or Patrick Mahomes. But there are other players like
Trent Williams. The Niners are very beholden the Trent Williams.
They have four average offensive linemen in him, an all
time great Hall of Famer. But if someone called Kyle
Shanahan right now and John Lynch and said hey, we'll
(22:56):
give you two to ones, two to two's and a player,
you have to have the conversation. Even though it's like, hey,
who's gonna play left tackle for us? Be a big loss?
He also thirty five. He could retire after this year,
Like this is a this is what happens in the
NFL now when the dust settles, I expect him to
(23:18):
be a Minnesota Viking. But they're also run by an
analytically driven GM and typically guys from a finance background
are always balancing ROI, what type of ROI we're gonna
get out of this player in the near future as
we're working through a quarterback. I could just see it
being all on the table now. It doesn't make sense
to trade him now right. You would have traded during
(23:40):
the draft, but I bet their offers for the draft
weren't that great. And I think sometimes with a defensive
lineman Khalil Mack, it's easy to give the form, but
you've seen other positions. It's like, was that really worth it?
Like if the Raiders could do it again? And this
is DeVante is one of my favorite players in the EN.
I'm pro DeVante Adams. They would not do that deal,
(24:05):
not because he's not a really good player, not because
he's not a really good leader and just a guy
you want your young players to emulate because it doesn't
make football sense. It doesn't make football sense, Tyreek. It
turns out that team was a little closer. You put
him with Jayalen Waddell and you have one of the
best duos in the league and it helps your quarterback
(24:26):
that you just drafted number five overall. Like that deal
makes a lot of sense. The DeVante Adams deal looking
back does not. And look at the guys that did
that deal, both fired either have a job in the NFL.
So these situations when you the money now and I
know the CAP's going up every single year, it's still
very complicated. Nico Collins deal, that's easy to do. Casirio
(24:50):
probably wouldn't admit this probably one of the easier deal
he's ever done. It's like, listen, I guess he could
get injured or whatever, but we feel pretty good, especially
where the market is we're getting. We're we're paying whatever
less thirty forty percent less than some of these guys
on guaranteed money. We love this player now with this
young quarterback, no brainer. Juwan Jennings type deals are the
(25:12):
easiest deals in the league. It's like, wait, this guy's
on our team. We guarantee him ten million dollars. Once
you get above you know, the old fifty is probably
the new seventy seventy five. If you have a star
defensive player, it's one hundred plus million dollars. And think
about all the guys that have signed for one hundred
plus million dollars. Bosa, both Bosa brothers, Miles Garrett. You
(25:33):
know how good those guys are, Like, there's no disputing it.
But when you allocate that much money, look at Joey.
Joey gets hurt a lot. Now you could argue he
got hurt, you know, a lot before that, but in general,
when he's been on the field, he's been a high
end player. But the moment that guy starts getting banged
up and you're allocating that many resources from a financial
standpoint on your cap and your true cash, it's a problem.
(25:55):
Obviously with the quarterback when that doesn't work out, Holy Canoli.
Look at Sean Watson. It's been a disaster. Russell Wilson
one of the worst contracts in sports history, really so far.
Less than two years later he was benched and cut,
Like why look at his numbers? Don't hear that many
people crying for him, wasn't that good, But be interesting
(26:20):
to see when this justin Jefferson, the dust settles could
be a while. Same thing with Jamar Chase Chris Forrester,
the forty nine Ers offensive line coach. I think it's
fair to say he's one of the better coaches in
the league for sure, most famously known for doing a
little booger sugar on his desk in Miami with his
(26:41):
stripper girlfriend. But that's a long time ago, going through
a rough time, think rough divorce. I watched some of
his press conference. I've always been pretty impressed and I've
seen him win. You subtract Trent Williams, who I could
coach the other four guys over the course of the
last three or four years, I would get exposed on
other teams. This is where scheme really matters in football.
(27:06):
The zone running scheme is something where you can get
away with a lot of average players if they have
good foot to quickness. And he basically admitted as such.
He said, We've won a lot of games with a
lot of guys who are right there at the line,
and he basically described the line of if you can
(27:28):
just block someone and just function as an average starter
we can win with you here now there. If you're
below that line and you can't block people, I don't
care what plays, what scheme you're running, we're in trouble.
But we don't need Trent Williams. I mean, we need
Trent Williams at every position to win. And he essentially
(27:49):
said in the draft that if all things are equal,
I will promote as the offensive line coach and as
clear as this organization, we want guys that touch the
ball over the guys the block because if you can
just give me someone that I can work with, he's like,
my right tackle could be average. And if he has
a great block on a quick screen to a wide
(28:10):
receiver and that guy gets tackled three yards past the
line of scrimmage, nobody cares. But if that guy whiffs
on that quick screen and the quarterback gets it to
Debo and Deebo takes it sixty yards, no one ever
notices that whiff. And I think the power of having
(28:33):
I saw this in the NFL when I was there,
not too often because most of the coaches were on
the same page for Andy, but I hear stories about
it all over since I've been out. Is how many
assistant coaches are given players that they do not want,
and then, let's face it, we're all human beings. You
don't give the same effort. And when everyone's not on
(28:54):
the same page in these drafts, the assistant coaches, the coordinators,
the head coach, and the front office, you got problems.
So typically, if you told me an offensive line coach
who would he want during the draft, I'd say offensive
linemen all the time. And he even said, like, I
got no problem with it. I would have taken a
wide receiver too, because those guys in this game were
(29:15):
playing given how good I am as an offensive line coach,
and this is the power of good position coaches, because
I can give you less of a talent and I
can win with them. The amount of games the forty
nine ers won with Mike McGlinchey is insanity to me. Really,
you can't pass block. And then he leaves for fifty
(29:38):
five million dollars of Sean Payton, which is still one
of the crazier contracts I've ever seen, because you don't
get paid to run block in the NFL. You get
paid to protect a quarterback. And then they went to
Colton mckivitz and there was no drop off because of
this guy. Anyone that falls football. You hear about Jeff
Stoutlin all the time in Philadelphia. Whatever he's making, he's underpaid.
(30:00):
I've seen him. The forty nine Ers defensive line coach
Chris Caseric. He takes random players arden Key, Cleveland, Ferrell,
guys who have failed other places. Nick Bosa is gonna
be successful with whoever he plays for. Anyone in the
NFL can coach Nick Bosa, Nick Bosa, Miles Garrett, right,
Tyreek Hill. These guys are gonna be stars no matter
(30:21):
where they go. But what about all the other players.
Because you're investing all your financial resources into that guy,
you're gonna have less resource than some other guys, and
you're gonna need them to produce. So when my position
coach can get the most out of hey, I can
take a fifth rounder and he can be our starting
right guard. I can take a seventh rounder and he
can be my starting right tackle. And it's one thing
(30:43):
to be like, yeah, some guys start in the NFL
in three win teams. No, we're gonna win twelve thirteen
games and we're gonna be competing for the Super Bowl.
That's why you pay certain position coaches premiums because they're
worth their weight in gold. And it's hard to quantify.
But in the NFL, and it's clear if you're a
fan of a team, like you know the good position coaches,
(31:04):
you know the bad position coach, just watch their unit.
That's a thing with football, like in basketball, I got
no clue if you're a good coach or a bad coach.
Like Jason Kidd. I've been following his career since he
was a player. Is he a good coach? Is he
a bad coach? I know, clearly he's probably good communicating
basketball and leading men right as a point guard, But
(31:24):
like what's he actually doing with Luke and Cara? I
don't know. But you know in football like yeah, this works,
this is gonna play, or this is not gonna play,
especially at the highest level. And that's always the uncertainty
for the shitty teams, like how many good players do
you actually have? How many players do you have that
you can win with? Because you might have half your
(31:46):
team could be average players. If it's balanced out with
high end players, those guys, those average players can become
winning players, and they become winning players because of the
scheme and because of the coaching and because everyone's on
the same page, there's not one guy. It's like, ah,
I should have got an extra player in the third round.
(32:08):
We were gonna draft a wide receiver and we never did.
And that's not to say like I saw a clip
when the Colts drafted what's his name, the wide receiver
from Texas in the second round and they went to
Reggie Reggie Wayne, who's their wide receiver coach, and he
was going nut Like, obviously, you get excited when you
(32:29):
draft players that you like as a position coach, but
are you on the same page with the vision of
the operation and know that, hey, not every guy is
gonna be Reggie Wayne. You're gonna have to coach some
John Middlecoffs and you're gonna be depending on that guy
some games. So he'd better be able to know what
he's doing and produce. The SEC is going to start
(32:53):
doing injury reports. I guess the Big Ten last year,
two hours before game time did these here's a reality,
the SEC in the Big Ten. This thing is gonna
morph into NFL light eventually. I don't know if it's
in five years, ten years, twelve years. They're gonna be
two big conference and they're all gonna play each other.
(33:16):
And I know Coward right now is trying to defend
the Trojans. The Trojans are an embarrassment right now backing
out of the LSU game. There is no defending this.
This is not your one on Lincoln Riley, this is
your three. I'm paying them one hundred and twenty million
dollars to win national championships. We shouldn't be dodging anybody,
is my guy? Pat Hill used to say, the USC
Trojans by this point should want to play anybody, anytime, anywhere,
(33:41):
because ultimately Georgia, Bama, whatever, woul they would feel good
about winning that game. We all don't feel good about
USC winning that game. But that's we talked about that yesterday.
It's just it's an awful look, it really is. You
should have injury reports now, do they need to be
(34:02):
three days a week like the NFL? If you just
did a universal injury report on Friday after Friday practice
of basically who's up and who's down and who's questionable,
that to me is more than enough. But like we're
talking big business now, we're talking billions of dollars. Everyone's
getting paid. Players, coaches, networks are all involved. Obviously we're
(34:26):
balls deep with the gambling company. Let's all get on
the same page and let's all do this. It actually
makes it easier on the coaches. You don't need to
hide from any of this stuff, kind of play that
cloak and dagger game. I'm like, eh, you know, he's
kind of practiced. He's you know, no, he's up. He's
we plan on him playing. I don't know how well,
but we plan on him playing. No, he's a no goat.
(34:49):
That's where we're at today with football, and I think
the SEC and the Big ten. Uh, it's inevitable where
we're headed. But this is a good first start. Not
that it has a huge impact on gambling from the
sense of like they can still fudge it a little bit,
but like you want to be real, you want to
(35:10):
be what this is becoming, Like, this is this is
a smart step. Okay, Fougazi Friday. It's got to be
NFL contracts, It's got to be NFL contracts. All I
hear Christian McCaffrey's contract that he signed years ago, sixteen
million dollars a year. He's the highest paid running back
(35:33):
in NFL history, and no one has eclipsed them since.
And I looked at his contract and I go, well,
he's not making sixteen million dollars. He's got two years left.
He's making under twelve million dollars these next two years.
So all I see on the internet is you make
sixteen million dollars a year, and agents love to say
(35:54):
that Jalen Waddle twenty eight point three million dollars a year.
I've always said nothing is more overrated than average per
year salary in the NFL. In the NBA, it's usually
like he makes thirty this year, thirty one next year,
thirty two the next year. All guarantee signed a ninety
(36:15):
three million dollar contract. That is not the way these
NFL contracts work. So currently voluntary McCaffrey hasn't been around
for a couple weeks. People like guys he's getting married
to Olivia, former Miss USA practice three days. It's pretty clear.
I've done my digging. I got a few sources on
(36:36):
the places around that have heard some things, heard some things.
Pretty clear. The guy wants a race. Don't blame him.
Scored twenty one touchdowns last year, carried the Niners at
certain times on offense. We all agreed one of the
best players in the league. And if I was him
and I saw, well he makes sixteen million dollars a year,
I say, bullshit, I make eleven eight And for me,
(36:58):
for you, for most people, take a lot seven point eight
million dollars. You want to pay me eleven point eight
million dollars tomorrow, I'm there. But if you're Christian mccaffre,
you go listen, this ain't enough money. And this is
where these NFL contracts kind of get, you know, in
this weird space of well, he was paid a signing
(37:19):
bonus four years ago, and then that money gets on
the books spread out over time, so you can say
it's that much money, but that money was paid a
long time ago. He's probably bought a house or two
cents with that money. That money's gone. We're in savings
or in the market or whatever. The money the forty
nine ers owe me, which they didn't pay me that
(37:41):
signing bonus another team did. So what you're paying me
the contract you inherited, ain't sniffing the top is paid
running back in the NFL. And we all know that
I am so I fully supportive. I'm Christian McCaffrey. Like
he listen, Kyle, I'm not gonna make a big snink,
not gonna make a big you know, dog and pony
show around on this. But I'm not playing for this number.
(38:04):
I'm not asking for thirty million dollars a year. I
get it. I played running back even though I catch
about seventy balls a year and scort seven touchdowns receiving,
and I'm probably right there with like Marshall Fulk and Ladanian.
Tomlinson is one of the great pass catching running backs
in the history league. But this number ain't working. And
this fugazi of my contract. You guys don't get credit
(38:27):
for the signing bonus you traded. You inherited a contract
with no guaranteed money left essentially after that first year.
So I'm gonna need a race and we're gonna need
to get this from eleven point eight. If I was McCaffrey,
I'd want about twenty million dollars. I don't think I
could play for less than nineteen. It's like, wait, you're
(38:47):
prepared to pay Brandon Ayuk twenty eight twenty nine million
dollars a year. I almost caught as many balls as him. Oh,
I happen to lead the league in rushing and have
fourteen touchdowns on the ground. So like, listen, I always
push back. Most of these running backs pretty replaceable. This
guy when he's health he's not now. I also understand
(39:08):
from the forty nineer standpoint, you play running back. This
is the market. I know this. Like Christian McCaffrey is
beloved by the head coach. I'm like, hey, listen, I
ain't bleeding again till we update this thing, because this
ain't working for me. And if I read one more
fucking person in the media say I make a number
(39:29):
that I do not make, I'm gonna puke in my
mouth because it's just and this happens constantly. This guy
makes so and so, and then all of a sudden
he's cut and he's like, well, he would have made this,
and he had three years left on his contract. They
were unguaranteed. It's all just these contracts are a giant fuguzzi.
It's why the quarterback contracts are the one with the
giant amount of guaranteed money that you are kind of stuck.
(39:53):
The Broncos were shit out of luck. It's like, what
are you gonna do? Well? I'll just cut them and
eat it. But no one does that with other positions.
It's why you got to be very hesitant about signing
these players now. I mean, these guards are signing sixty
seventy million dollar contracts, wide receiver a signing seventy eighty
million dollar contracts. Obviously high end defensive linemen. Where you
do feel good about signing Miles Garrett or Nick Bosa.
(40:15):
You're just terrified if they ever get injured, you're you're screwed.
But that's part of football. But man, I just I
see constantly he makes sixteen million dollars a year and
he just doesn't like the forty nine ers do not
have to pay him sixteen million dollars a year. These
next two years, they're way short of that. It's in
the elevens. So I just that's something that's been driving
(40:37):
me wild. And other than that, I don't really have
any other fugazis beside, Like listen, all I've ever heard
is Arizona being the hottest place ever. And don't get
me wrong, it's really hot. Last year had thirty straight
days over one hundred and fifteen degrees. Even though I
was talking today with a guy from Montana, guy named Lenny,
(40:58):
and he was telling me, like cold he's ever felt
is like minus forty five fifty degrees and he's like,
you know, consistently gets well below zero where he's from,
and it's just freezing cold. And I said, what would
you take? He said, I'll take heat every day of
the week. I'm like, that's why the snowbirds exist. But
I'll be the first to admit, once you get over
one ten, it is extremely hot, Like you're moving to Arizona.
(41:21):
It's so hot. It's like it was one hundred and
six degrees when I lived in Walnut Creek. It was
one hundred and twelve degrees when I lived in Fresno.
It's hot in California too. But I drove three hours
up to the mountains, place called Pine Top, Little Lake,
a couple of lakes. It's like seventy five degrees. It
was beautiful, and it is crazy how many places that
(41:44):
you would never go to that if you just didn't
move there, And like, I probably never ever if I
had never moved to Arizona, would it ended up there?
And then I started driving around. They had three golf courses.
A couple of them were sweet. A couple country clubs,
I'm like shit, I'd buy a cabin there and join
that club. And don't let people tell you that everywhere
in Arizona is scolding hot, because this place, Pine Top
(42:06):
as well as flag Staff. You go there, it's like
seventy six degrees beautiful. The volume
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Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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