July 24, 2024 • 59 mins
John dives into the news that Brandon Aiyuk has reported to 49ers training and if he's used all his chips after the 49ers didn't budge when he requested a trade, when will the conversations start on a contract extension for Brock Purdy, and how should the Dolphins proceed with Tua. Later, John talks about the latest issues surrounding the Jets and how they seem to never learn, and what should be expected from Jerod Mayo in his first season with the Patriots.
Later, John answers your questions in this episode's mailbag segment.
8:17 - Brandon Aiyuk reports to 49ers training camp
15:07 - The latest with Brock Purdy
18:45 - What will Tua do
23:28 - Other contract news
25:08 - Is it the same old Jets
29:31 - Mayo on the Patriots
41:22 - Mailbag
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (02:13):
What is going on? Everybody? John Middlecock three and out podcast.
Hopefully everyone's having a great day. I know I did.
Went for a long little hike around Lake Tahoe. Only
here for about forty eight more hours, So tried to
enjoy the sun and had a little lunch. And then
I got back and I saw a bunch of stuff
(02:35):
in the NFL happen. So fired up the old machine
and wanted to dive in. Because obviously Brandon Ayuk showed
up to camp. Some questions with Tua how he will
play this out. We had some raises given out Stafford
Namari Cooper, Christian Darisaw former twenty third overall pick, Viking
(02:56):
Star Tackle, got a lot of money, I mean got
a lot of money. The Jets. We'll dive into the
Jets drive mail had some comments in an eighteen game schedule,
which seems inevitable. So we will dive into some football
as well as a mail bag. So the mail bag.
I'm gonna need some mailbag questions. I mean, I got
some for this podcast. But make sure you fire into
(03:18):
those dms at John Middlecoff as the instagram at John
Middlecoff Instagram. Fire in those dms very very easy to do.
So do that because I'm gonna need a bunch coming
through training camp, and I think this is the plan tomorrow.
It's really my last day in Tahoe. Probably no podcast
unless something you never know in the NFL. We've got
(03:39):
a pretty full day plan. But if saying you have
something breaks, I'll be ready and then we'll have We'll
finish one with Thursday for Friday, and then we'll just
get back to our normal schedule next week. I'll be
back home by the end of the week. And other
than that, I think me and Colin are gonna record
something on Sunday, So a lot of football content obviously
once really August hits. Uh, it'll be NonStop every single
(04:02):
day because that's how we do. And subscribe to the
podcast if you listen on Collins Feed three and out
YouTube channel. We got that covered a lot of you guys,
which I appreciate. Hit me up about the Mike Commodore interview.
Just a beauty. If you haven't got a chance to
listen to that. He's a hockey player, He's it's an
(04:22):
incredible interview. Uh, He's just he's just the least storyteller.
I can't I can't recommend it enough. Uh. I mean
a lot of you guys are like, I'm not even
a hockey guy, and that was all. Yeah, it's just
it's it's elite. Uh, so go check that out from
a couple of weeks ago and have a couple of
ideas on some interviews too that I think would be
pretty cool sometime in August and we'll get rocking and rolling.
(04:43):
But uh, other than that, anymore updates. I think that's it.
So no podcast probably tomorrow, but we will have one
on Friday and uh and yeah, so let's let's dive
right in. But first, I was on a text. I'm
on a group text with a bunch of people that
I worked with at Fresno State, and one of them
now is at Oklahoma. He's essentially the GM True Hill,
(05:07):
and I've been telling him forever I want to go
to the red rival rivalry, the Texas Oklahoma game. And
it's my fortieth birthday this year, and we've been talking,
you know, should we go to an SEC game that
technically is an SEC game now because Texas Oklahoma are joining.
And I was like, maybe, with my close personal friends,
my partners in the official ticketing app of this podcast,
(05:29):
we can figure something out and go to one of
the most historic rivalries in all of sports in this country.
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You want to go to a concert, get outside, have
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(05:51):
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(06:14):
today last minute ticket's lowest prices guaranteed. I got home
and I watched the press conference of John Lynch and
Kyle Shanahan, and anyone that saw Kyle today saw that
he shaved off his mustache. I tried to trim up
and do a mustache, but my mustache just does not
come in full. And as Kyle said, the thing, when
you become a mustache guy, you it just brings you
(06:37):
respect because someone has to have an opinion, whether they
like it or they don't. They look at you weird,
but it creates e motion with people when they see you.
I tried to pull it off good. Not But the
big news out of forty nine ers land today is
that Brandon Ayuk is attending training camp. Now. They've had
this happen before with Deebo Samuel, he did not practice.
(06:58):
And I think it's pretty clear. I've been in enough
negotiations in my life to know the older you get
and all sorts you know with high level billion dollar
companies and startups that you were hoping would be that
turned out not to be and went under. Is that
anytime negotiations get shady, and for most of us, these
(07:18):
aren't public negotiations, but anytime that you feel that shady
stuff is going on, it's harder to get a deal done.
Now in a public forum like the NFL, to me,
that's the equivalent of using the media. And I understand Brandon.
This is his first big contract. He's very emotional and
(07:39):
he used the media up several times and the last
one to request a trade. I've said this all the time,
this is not the NBA. Teams don't capitulate to your
demands immediately. In that the forty nine ers don't give
a shit. No one cares when you scrub your Instagram account,
No one cares when you tell one of the national
reporters you request to trade, it does it, especially in
(08:01):
the middle of the summer, It doesn't actually do anything.
The easiest way to get a deal done, and players
like Brandon Ayuk are players that their team wants to
get a deal done with is to play ball. And
the easiest way to play ball is good faith negotiations.
And the way you do that as a player is
(08:21):
you show up a training camp. Now you don't have
to get on the field. Look at Jordan Love, I'm
not risking getting injured. For Jordan Love, that could be
one hundred and fiftye hundred and eighty two hundred million dollars.
For Brandon Ayuk that could be sixty seventy million dollars guaranteed.
I totally get it. I support guys that want to
hold in, but younger players, I think this is the
(08:42):
way to go, especially when you know the team financially
plans on paying you. These negotiations are tough. We're talking
a lot of money. Most teams just don't hand out
that type money, especially when they have a ton of
other guys under contract, and it's complicated. But I promise
you this, and John Lynch reiterated this, we plan on
this guy being a forty nine er. We want him
(09:03):
on the team. Of course they do. He's a winning player.
They have won a ton the last couple of years
with him being their number one outside option. But once
you get down to in any negotiation, the final hour,
I think Brandon Ayuk and the forty nine ers have
to kind of draw a line in the sand. Are
(09:24):
we gonna let this deal pass over a total of
five million dollars? Right? A million extra a year, to
bump that number from twenty six and a half to
twenty eight right over a four year period or whatever.
Anyone that's ever bought a house or sold a house,
or sold a car, or sold any asset, you get
to a port a certain time in the negotiation where
(09:46):
emotions are high. I don't care if you're selling something
worth a thousand dollars or two million dollars, like you
get emotional over things, and I think you see this
a lot in real estate. Are we gonna let this
deal go over five thousand dollars? Are we gonna let
this deal go over ten thousand dollars? This is a
one point eight million dollar transaction. And that's where I
think the forty nine ers and Brandon Ayuk are kind
(10:08):
of looking at each other, you know, from across the
negotiation table, but we're close, and we got to get
this figured out. Someone's gonna blink. And I think the
reality is is that Brandon Ayuk through his last curve
ball the trade request, and he realized those guys don't
give a shit. They simply do not. That's the National
(10:30):
Football League. If I don't want to trade you, and
I like you, and you're emotionally charged up and you
want to trade, I just yeah, see, it's training camp.
And that's essentially what the forty nine ers said. And
I give him credit. He showed up because the easiest
way to get this deal done is doing exactly what
he did, show up. George Kittle had a great line
(10:51):
today that he said Richard Sherman told him contract negotiations
are a lot like bracist. They suck when they're on,
just like they suck when you're going through a negotiation.
But once they're off, once the deal is signed, you
forget that you even went through it. You have a
big smile on your face. And that's what's happening here.
(11:12):
It happened last year with Nick Bosa, it happened a
couple of years ago with Deebo Samuel the forty nine ers.
To me, the only team that's truly championship or bust
is the Chiefs because they're the only team rattling off championships.
But like the forty nine Ers, anything less than winning
the NFC and being back in the Super Bowl with
a chance to win it is a major, major disappointment.
(11:33):
And I'm on a bunch of text threads with Niner people.
The reality of even the potential trade is any team
trading a first round pick, and let's face the forty
nine is probably gonna want more. I would say at
minimum they'd want like a one and a three and
then giving him one hundred and twenty million dollar contract.
I don't know, I would say probably not. I think
(11:56):
teams would be willing to acquire them. Like the Titans
traded for what's his name snead On the Chiefs, they
trade a third round pick. The New York Giants traded
for Brian Burns and then they both paid those guys
a lot of money. They didn't even give it a
first round pick. So yeah, teams are open to making deals.
For good players, but at what cost? Because I know
(12:19):
I have to pay them, but what type of draft
capital do I have to use? The other thing draft capital?
Right now, as we see here on July twenty third,
with the season upon us and in front of us,
does the forty nine ers no good. It's actually completely irrelevant.
Having that draft capital for a player that you're going
to select in the spring of twenty twenty five does
(12:42):
nothing for you. Trying to win the division, trying to
beat the Rams, the Lions, the Eagles, the Packers in
the playoffs, and then probably the Chiefs in the Super
Bowl does nothing. And that's why they have no intention
of trading him, just trying to get the deal worked out.
And other than that, in forty nine or Land, nothing really.
(13:04):
There was a story going around that Perdy was obviously
he was injured last year in the Eagles game, had
to rehab the entire offseason, and basically that he was
injured early on in the season, like he was not
one hundred percent healthy. And this is a big year
for Perdy, right because if he has another successful season
of throwing thirty plus touchdowns, this team wins twelve plus games,
(13:28):
he's going to get an astronomical amount of money, and
let's face it, the conversation surrounding him all stemmed back
to where he was drafted. Because if Trey Lance had
played like brock Perdy, everyone would be calling him like
John Elway. So when you're not drafted high, people don't
want to think you're good. It's just that simple, right, Listen.
(13:50):
We can nitpick Dak Prescott all we want. He's one
of the greatest fourth round picks in the history league.
Same with Kirk Cousins. I guess Dak might have been
a third round pick. Tom Brady. People forget now because
it was twenty five years but for those first three
or four or five seasons, a lot of people thought
Tom Brady wasn't that good, and it was the defense
(14:10):
carrying him and Peyton Manning was the best quarterback even
though he was rattling off Super bowls. When you're drafted
high and you play well, saying oh look at this guy,
Holy shit, this guy's good, that's just not what happens
when you're drafted late. Because fans, media, people within the
league have a hard time going, yeah, I didn't see
(14:32):
this coming either, which no one did. And that's Okay,
he's good. I think one thing that's interesting, and we'll
find out more in the next couple of days with
the Dolphins, is if Tua takes the tactic of not
(14:54):
practicing right like a lot of these other guys. I'm
waiting to get my contract done. What if the Dolphins
don't plan on throwing him the contract that he thinks
he's gonna get. I never understand this in the NBA.
The majority of these contracts that you see signed over
the last several years one hundred and fifty million dollars,
one hundred and eighty million dollars, two hundred million dollars.
(15:16):
It's like you have no shot on God's green Earth
to win a championship. Paying that guy that money you
don't And it's always, well, we gotta do it, you
gotta do it. Well, yeah, you gotta pay Steph Curry,
you gotta pay Lebron, you gotta pay Yannis, you gotta
pay Jason Tatum. But like, do you gotta pay Bradley Beal?
(15:40):
You gotta do that. I see all these teams around
the league paying all these young players, the Raptors. I
saw yesterday the Calvs played Evan Mobley, two hundred and
fifty million dollars, Like, yeah, that's pretty risky. And then
the NFL's always like, well, the next quarterback he's gonna
get more money? Is he? Is he? Because if you
(16:02):
sign Tua to just oh, he just gets two hundred
and five million dollars guaranteed. I feel no sympathy for
you when you have no chance to win a Super Bowl. None,
because right now you have no chance to win a
Super Bowl, absolutely none. It's not even debatable. The Dolphins
cannot win a Super Bowl with Tua Tongo by Low
as their quarterback, but they can be really competitive, and
there's something to be said for that, because for a
(16:23):
lot of my life, that franchise they've sucked. Why can't
they just give him like one hundred million dollars? Why
can't that exist be Like, listen, we know we got
no shot to take down guys like Josh Allen, Joe Burrow,
Lamar Jackson, and obviously Patrick Mahomes, but this guy can
keep us competitive in the regular season. When it gets
late in the year, obviously we're gonna come crashing down.
(16:44):
But listen, we're gonna win ten eleven games and be
relevant in the league, and there's something to be said
for that. This is the business, and we're gonna make money,
and we're gonna be a playoff team or at least
be a competitive team every year for the chance to
go to the playoffs. That's not two hundred million dollars
right to me? That It's like, couldn't you give him
Daniel Jones contract? Why can't you do that? Like to me,
(17:05):
that would be the offer. Hey man, we'll give you
like three years, one hundred and ten million dollars, will
guarantee eighty of it. Can't do that? Well, how about
no money? How about we don't give you a contract extension?
Who we bidding against? Like, who are we bidding against?
That's my question. That was the question when Daniel Jones
last year? Who are you bidding against? That's what businesses
(17:30):
like The Minnesota Vikings just paid their star tackle a
ton of money one hundred and thirteen million dollars. They
gave him seventy seven guaranteed. He got a ton He's
a high end player. If that guy hit free agency
and he's still got a couple of years on his contract,
he would get so much money it would feel like
another quarterback he would probably eclipse like Nick Bosa because
(17:53):
high end left tackles never make it. They know his value.
It's really freaking high value. That high it obviously isn't nothing.
He's a starting quarterback who can produce in the NFL,
so immediately there's a minimum value on that. But what
is it? A couple of years ago Derek Carr signed
that deal with the New Orleans Saints. Why couldn't the
(18:15):
Dolphins offer him that plus a couple of year inflation
or whatever. Why does it always have to be, Oh,
this next deal is going to be two hundred and
ten million dollars? Why does it have to be that
when you know I can't beat the top five guys
in my conference, no freaking shot. I don't get it.
I really don't, and I will stand by that forever.
(18:37):
I don't get in the NBA. But not shocked. And
it's why the majority of NBA teams don't have a
snowball shot in hell to get past like the first
round in the playoffs for their entire franchise history. Like
you're just always irrelevant, right, but your payrolls really high
and your expenses are high, and it's like good luck buddy. Like,
when you give these huge contracts to quarterbacks that don't
(18:59):
deserve it and then you lose, no one should ever
have sympathy for you. Doesn't mean the guy shouldn't get
any money, doesn't mean you shouldn't give him a contract
extension if you feel comfortable with him as your quarterback.
But like, there's a difference between beachfront property and something
in the valley, right, So if Mahomes and Josh Allen
and Lamar a beachfront property, who ain't so Like, I'm
(19:22):
not paying the same price for a house forty five
minutes Inland. Sorry. A couple other guys that got contract
changes to their contract raises, Matt Stafford and Amari Cooper,
and I think both these guys are good examples of
With the Rams and the Browns in twenty twenty four,
(19:43):
anything less than being in the playoffs is a disaster.
Anytime you have Sean McVay and Matt Stafford as who's healthy,
you should win ten eleven games and then you're a
threat immediately in the playoffs. The Cleveland Browns paid a
quarterback two hundred and thirty million dollars. Any Browns fan
listening your rosters really good. Anything less than being back
(20:07):
in the playoffs is a major major problem. So Amari
Cooper very very productive. It feels like Amari is one
of those guys you're like kind of underachiever, like would
have expected more, and in a weird way, you kind
of would have when he was drafted in those first
couple of years when he was on the Raiders. But
google Amari statue. He has been extremely productive in his career.
(20:32):
Never gonna go to the Hall of Fame or anything, but
he's going to have a fantastic NFL career and he's
very very important to them because, like I said, he produces,
and Matt Stafford, as we've seen when he's not in,
is the engine that drives McVeigh in that offense. So
giving these guys raises, making them happy. Anytime you have
(20:54):
super important employees, you want to take care of him. Now,
we're not giving you a huge contract extension, but listen,
we're heading into training camp. Your key pieces to what
we're doing. We want to take care of you, and
that's what we did. It's funny. I've seen a lot
of takes with the Jets and everything's like, ah, same
(21:14):
old Jets. It's always something. This is not a new story.
If you buy a car and the AC doesn't work,
and then you're driving around in the summer and you
don't get the air conditioning fixed and you start complaining
because it's super hot in your car, that's not the
person who sold you the car's problem. That's on you
(21:35):
go fix the air conditioning. The Jets acquired a player
who was outspokenly talking about needing more money. It was
well documented. This was not something that came out of
left field. This was something that was publicly known. So
even when people say how he fleece them, like, how
(21:58):
would Joe Douglas not know that doesn't want a contract,
when literally NFL fans know because they just go on
the internet and they see it out there in the open.
So you traded for a player, listen, been a very
productive pass rusher in the NFL. He's a good player.
Got no problem trading for But you know this was
a guy who wanted more money. Happens all the time
(22:19):
in the NFL. Back to Brandon Ayuk. If you trade
for Brandon Ayuk, you can't be shocked with the moment
he gets there. He wants a new contract. Right, This
is this is well established established that a son Reddick
wanted more money. So when I see all these people
like same old Jesse, this goes back to three months
ago when they traded for the fucking guy. So to me,
(22:42):
this is one hundred percent on Joe Douglass. Like, you
traded for a guy that wanted money. Did you think
like you could just talk him off the ledge, like, hey, man,
if you produce this year, we'll take care of you
next year. Like this ain't Darryl Morey and James Harden here.
So unless you plan on giving this guy a new contract,
this was going to be your problem. And it's like, well,
eventually it we'll find him, we'll show up. So you're
(23:03):
trading for a player that you've never had, that you
do not know, and you're just going to take on
this problem and hope it works itself out without paying him.
So to me, this is one hundred percent on Joe
Douglas in the front office. Can't happen. I'm all for
trading for a guy that wants more money, taking care
of him and then getting him like that's part of
(23:24):
why you don't have to pay as much in draft capital.
But he's not a training camp today. Of course, he's
not a training camp today, just like he wasn't at OTA's.
He wants more money. It's why the Eagles didn't want
him anymore. Now you could argue maybe they thought they
get upgrade they signed the dude from the Jets, but
(23:44):
the reason they did that they got the guy in
a cost controlled contract and they got rid of their
older quote unquote headache. I like Reddick. He's a good
pass rusher, but this goes back to like the Miami
Dolphins thing. I feel no sympathy for this situation. You
inherit did the problem, so you don't get to complain
about the problem when you inherit it and you're clearly
doing nothing to fix it. I just like to me
(24:10):
how he's obviously fleeced people before, but in this situation,
it's like, hey, you want Reddick. It's not like he
didn't know the contract situation. I just now, if you
want to say it's always something with the Jets, I agree,
there's a lot of noise there. And this is not
Belichick or Tomlin or Pete Carroll or Andy Reid, one
(24:30):
of these older veteran coaches that have seen it all.
This is a bald guy who dies as Beard, who's
literally fighting for his head coaching life, who has proven
to get a little over his head with some of
these situations. We've seen it with Zach Wilson. We saw
it this offseason when Aaron wanted to go to the Pyramids.
It's like he doesn't always say the right things and
(24:52):
things get weird, which is natural for young coaches who've
accomplished nothing. So throwing this on your coach without handling
this from the front office ownership level, it is. You know,
I saw Colin call the New York Giants and Mickey
Mouse like, this is Mickey Mouse. This is Mickey Mouse
trading for a guy that wants a new contract and
(25:14):
not giving a new contract, Like what what the fuck
you think is gonna happen? Uh? Drod Mail I saw
this headline on Pro Football Talk. He must have talked
either today or yesterday. Called this a foundation year, like
laying the foundation, and which is right? Right? They chang
Hi from Belichick, got a lot of young players. Obviously,
(25:36):
draft a quarterback really high that's probably gonna red shirt
probably a minimum half the season. He's not wrong. They
are not going to be any good, which he's essentially saying,
here's the problem is, they haven't been good for a while.
So this fans who listen obviously very spoiled. They had
one of the greatest twenty year runs in like the
(25:59):
history of sports. I mean you have to go back
to like the Bill Russell Celtics or something, or John
Wood in UCLA Bruins or Alabama fans. These last fifteen years,
it's we're never seeing it again. But like it's football,
and while you don't have to win the Super Bowl
every year, it is fun to root for. And this
is my thing with Tua, Like, I got no problem.
(26:19):
It's giving him extension, got like thirty five million dollars
a year, thirty two million dollars a year. That's what
I think your value is. I like winning. It's fun
to win nine to ten games and be in the mix,
Like there's value in that. The problem for Mao is
gonna be is like if he has a couple losing seasons,
which is very possible, and this year they win four games,
next year they win five or six, that's a lot
(26:41):
of losing for the fan base. And this is not
like Los Angeles. People care there and it gets ugly
and it gets angry, and Robert Kraft's gonna take a
lot of shit. He's going to take a ton. And
you have to wonder when the arrows come out, because
forever win or lose. Bill and Tom took every bullet.
(27:04):
And then when Bill shorted Tom and he went to
the bucks, it was all Bill. No one said anything
about anyone else beside Bill Belichick, and rightfully so, he
was the grand pooba. He called the place. He was
in charge of the coaching staff, whether he individually called
the plays, you know what I mean. He obviously picked
all the players. He was in complete control. He had
(27:26):
more control over football than probably anyone will ever see
ever again. But now it's like Drod Mail. Let's see, really, Dylan,
is he like even calling the defense? He definitely not.
Has nothing to do with the offense. It's gonna be
on the crafts. And when you start going after the owner,
the easiest way to get them off them being the fans.
(27:49):
And I got news for you. The fans in football
have a lot of juice because there's a lot of
time between games, so you end up reading a lot
of articles, you listen to a lot of talk radio,
you get a sense for it if that place is empty,
which obviously the Crafts have invested a lot into. Like
is this guy getting three years to just suck? You
see it with the Mars, right, people are gonna go
(28:10):
after John Marra constantly, constantly. So if this year they
suck and the Giants win five games, six games, Like,
John Mara doesn't want people just talking shit about him constantly.
So the easiest thing to do, fire GM, fire the coach,
and just give people hope, because that's what hiring new
people does. It just give people hope. And I have
to wonder how long this leash is going to be.
(28:33):
And listen, I'm not acting like Gerrod Mayo, you know,
doesn't deserve a long leash, but it's going to be
very difficult. And his quarterback's a pretty major prospect or project,
and who knows, maybe just like year two he becomes
a top ten player and you're you're off and running.
But if there's a lot of growing pains and maybe
(28:55):
the offensive coordinators not right, all of a sudden, you go,
is this guy in trup That's how fast it happens,
not for long. That's what the NFL stands for for
coaches and executives, because you gotta win, you gotta win fast.
You're not getting some long landing strip. You see this
in college football all the time. You're not allowed in
(29:16):
the Power five to go like three years and not
show some serious signs. By your third year, you better
be competitive, like eight or nine wins if you know no.
I'm obviously like Alabama, LSU, Georgia, USC the standards are
really high. But even like the random programs at Wisconsin,
you'll see it with rule at Nebraska, like by your
(29:37):
third year, we better be competing like nine if we ain't.
Cyon are the amount of money in the NFL, in
the Power five, especially in the Big Ten in the SEC,
it's not hard for me to fire you. When I
was a kid, a lot of coaches got longer leashes.
A huge reason was because these owners weren't flushed with
(29:59):
the cash and didn't want to pay them to go away.
It's pretty clear now they have no hesitation because it
doesn't impact their pocketbook. Paying a coach twenty thirty million
dollars to go away for an SEC school, for a
Big Ten school, for an NFL team is a line item.
(30:19):
It'd be like me making a thousand dollars payment, it
means nothing. And when money becomes nothing, it happens in
all of our lives at different rates. At one point
in time, ten dollars or twenty dollars or one hundred
dollars a lot to you, then maybe one thousand dollars
a lot to you, Then maybe one hundred thousand dollars
a lot to you, then maybe a million dollars a
lot to you. Goes for businesses, right, most startup businesses,
(30:43):
like all the expenses matter, and then as you grow
and grow, like Amazon, Apple, Walmart, the way they look
at ten fifteen fifty million dollars is a lot different
than they did depending early on in their maturation as
a company. No different with football, and I think a
lot of these coaches are gonna find out, like no
(31:04):
one wants to watch bad football cause it's fucking awful,
Baseball whatever, no one watches every night, it's on. If
your team sucks, it's kind of irrelevant in football that
one week a year is a big deal. And when
you suck for consistently, it's impossible to survive. Now and
I just wonder, like, is this guy getting three years
(31:26):
this guy getting three years, I would like. I think
he would have to show some serious life by year
three to survive. I think it's gonna be difficult. Belichick
handed him a shitty roster, he's got a project quarterback,
he's a young coach, and shit, he's only been coaching
for you know, four or five years as an assistant,
maybe even less than that was like eighteen. Clearly an
(31:47):
impressive guy. But the other thing is the ghost of
Bill Man. It's no different with Debor and Saban. It's
just a lot easier to inherit Alabama than it is
a bad NFL roster. Last, but not least, the eighteen
game schedule, The Washington Post reported that it's pretty clear,
(32:08):
like why are we even doing these reports, Like we
don't need these reports. Eighteen games is coming to me.
The report is the NFL plans to do eighteen games
in twenty twenty six or twenty twenty five or twenty
twenty eight. That's the only report we need moving forward.
It's inevitable. It's not like might happen. It's happening. It
(32:29):
is one hundred percent happening. Why because that means more
money for the players, and you know who never turns
down more money. Employees like it's it happened with a
seventeen game, it happened with Thursday night football. It will happen.
And a huge reason is the preseason now is completely irrelevant.
It does not matter. Those games are terrible now obviously
(32:51):
the big question mark is there a line of diminishing
returns you get to a point where you ever dilute football.
I've said it forever. Football is so far past you
could combine baseball and basketball in this country. It does
not equal to the NFL. But like I've lived long enough.
(33:12):
When I was a kid, other sports were on top.
Football will not be on top for whatever. Do I
know what's gonna take it down? Who knows. Maybe just
younger generations won't even like sports. I don't know. Maybe
television dynamics change, maybe our consumer habit chain, who knows.
But for the foreseeable future, I don't think there's anything
(33:32):
that can slow down this freight chain. And I don't
think eighteen games impacts any of us, partly because like
we sit there in August and check out a preseason game.
So now that these preseason games, these starters are not
playing the majority of the league plays nobody. It's unwatchable,
it really is. And I love football. I love college football.
(33:54):
So watching some of these guys that got drafted, it's
just bad. Like it's bad, right, and there's there's a
reason it's bad. It's just hard to get young players.
I'm not saying it's not important for those guys, but
that's not what the league office looks at this for
the importance of young player. They care about the money,
they care about the regular season games, and so do
the veteran players. So I would guess this thing happens
(34:16):
sooner than later next year, two years. Obviously, it has
to be agreed to with the union. You do what
the union usually doesn't do in any industry. Turn down raises,
turn down more money. It's not usually the way it happens.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
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Speaker 1 (35:22):
Okay, let's dive into a little thing we call the
middle Cooff Mailbag. Very very easy to get involved. You
just fire into my DMS, You fire into my dms
at John middlecoff Is the Instagram and get a question
answered here on the show. So yeah, doesn't get any easier.
I don't think there could be any easier way to
communicate unless you don't have Instagram. You try to send
(35:44):
me an email and then it kind of gets lost
in the shuffle. Question for the bag I heard you
say on today's podcast you were in on love. Who
do you have more faith in? Or who are you
ready to pay love? Or party? Well, I don't have
to pay party for a year because I wouldn't be
that comfortable. I'm not comfortable paying either. I like paying
(36:08):
guys after a longer sample size. And Jordan Loves doesn't
get any smaller. Right half the year, he wasn't even
any good After the bye week last year, Gudakin said, yeah,
these eleven games are gonna define our situation moving forward,
and the kid answered the bell. He was freaking awesome.
(36:29):
This is not a cop out because Love is more
gifted than Perdy. I think Purdy has proven to be
the ultimate Kyle Shanahan player. I feel great about both.
You know why, infrastructure, the team, the coach. Think about
Kyle Shanahan, you could argue is for me, he's the
(36:52):
second best coach in the league. But if he's in
everybody's top five, their defense is awesome. The infrastructure is there.
So how would you feel bad about party with Kyle Shanahan,
just like how can you feel bad about Jordan Love
with Lafleur. Lafleur resurrected Rogers's career, then they got rid
(37:13):
of him after drafting this guy like he was part
of it, and then proved that he could coach him.
How are either guy gonna fail. There's more question marks
with Love. He's just played less games. Perty's played more,
not by that much. I mean Purdy played what six
to seven games his first year including the playoffs, and
(37:35):
obviously this last year full time starter and three playoff games,
So that's seventeen twenty games. I don't know the exact
number is his rookie season because he got thrust into
it when Jimmy broke his foot against the Dolphins. But
Party's game translates like it because he's a good decision maker.
(37:59):
See him handle adversity. He's accurate, he's mobile, he can
play with guys who can't run routes. You know, he's
got like one legit receiver. Debo is much more of
a behind the line of scrimmage. His coach is always
going to have a really good run game, where Love
is much more of like an explosive playmaker. I think
(38:20):
they're both going to be really good players for a
long time. I would bet on them partly because ones
with the Packers and one with Kyle Shanahan and the Niners.
And for the last thirty plus years, quarterbacks have dominated
with the Packers, and as we learned last year, it
doesn't look like it's gonna slow down. And Kyle Shanahan
now has a long history of quarterbacks do well for him,
(38:41):
specifically this guy who is excelling with training camp starting.
I can't think of the mood within the Cowboy I
can't help but think of the mood within the Cowboys
locker room. I've been watching a receiver and the Giant's
hard knocks, and you get a sense that juice or
good vibes contributes a lot to the level of success
(39:04):
in the NFL. I just don't see any juice being
stirred up in the Cowboys locker room with a coach
and a quarterback with expiring contracts. In your opinion, is
there a connection there? If things were to go south,
it would be a disaster. If they were to get
off to a bad start, it would snowball. To me,
(39:25):
there would be no overcoming it because of the contract situations.
But if they're good, you know, if they're doing what
they've done in the last three years, I don't think
it matters with at all at all. And to me,
the good vibes, like you get good vibes when you win,
no one has good vibes when you lose. The NFL
(39:47):
sucks when you lose. In baseball, you can be a
shitty team, like every day of going to the yard
having a good time, not a great time, but it's like,
dam I'm trying to get mine. It's not how it
works in football. Coaches are miserable, miserable players are miserable
getting your ass kicked every Sunday. If the Cowboys are competitive,
it won't matter one iota. Now it will at the
end of the season when it's like, do you lose
(40:10):
in the first round of the playoffs, do you miss
the playoffs by game, then yeah, that would factor in.
But I would say until the end of September, unless
you're losing that they're gonna be fine. Question for the mailbag,
what are some of your favorite bets for the season
to gamble on? For example, Super Bowl winner, MVP, Defensive
(40:33):
Player of the Year. By the way, Aaron Rodgers comeback
Player of the Year is going to print money. That
will be a project probably for the middle of August.
So I have not even looked at the odds for
any of that stuff. I haven't even thought about it,
to be completely honest with you. To me, MVP Joe
(40:55):
Burrow would be in the mix for Comeback Player of
the Year two, so I'd be a little risky on
I think Josh Allen's bound to win an MVP, and
if he puts up great stats, I think he's going
to be right in the mix. But I haven't will
do that. We will hammer hammer that in mid to
(41:19):
late August. Question for the Bag as a Bears fan
early in this offseason, I questioned the decision to keep Eberflus. Obviously,
Caleb's development is really the only thing that matters moving forward.
So my question to you is who is more important
this season to the bears potential success. Eberflus or Shane Waldron. Well,
(41:47):
I think they go hand in hand because if Shane
Waldron is good, your offense is going to be good.
You're loaded, right, I mean, we've got some questions with
the offensive line, but the quarterback, the three receivers signed,
a running back, you have a young tight end under contract.
If your offense is good, we know eber Flus in
(42:09):
the defense has been much more competitive, you know last
year for sure, then you're gonna be in close games.
In close games that like, that's the difference of winning
ten games or seven, how does he No one has
judged ebra flus or at least from a national level.
Maybe locally you have, but when you haven't been that competitive,
(42:31):
no one cares when you scrip timeouts. No one cares
when you scrip up situations, you know, to get yourself
in field goal range or punt or you know, go
for it. Those situations, as we saw with Braindon Staley
the last couple of years, get put under a microscope.
So if the offense is good, obviously there's a ton
(42:52):
of pressure on Waldron to get the offense in a
different universe than it has been with fields. But if
that works, that means the nieber flose. His game management
is under a microscope because the difference of a couple
wins in the NFL, if you're like a seven eight
win team, could just be a time out here, a
(43:14):
decision to go for it there. You know, the difference
when an eight win team and an eleven win team.
I don't think the gap is that wide now, the
gap between a ten to eleven win team and like
a fourteen win team, I think the GAP's pretty wide.
But you see a lot of games that are one
score with five minutes left, and that's where the head coach,
(43:35):
who essentially is in charge of all the game management stuff,
obviously as people helping him out, but like it's on
him to call the time out, it's on him to
give the offensive coordinator the thumbs up to go for
it or to punt, And that could be the difference
of nine and eight might not make the playoffs, and
(43:55):
if he would have made a more aggressive decision, could
have been ten wins. And that's where he Fluse would
come under. Like I said, I think they are equally.
They go hand in hand. I don't think you can
separate the two question for the summer mail bag, is
it easier for dbs to convert to wide receiver or
(44:17):
vice versa who has the advantage in prep and film study?
Curious From a former scouts perspective, I think it would
be easier to take a raw athlete if he has
decent hands, because you can't play wide receiver if you
can't catch. And the old adage is a lot of
dbs are just failed wide receivers. Look at Richard Truman. Now,
(44:40):
Richard Truman has pretty good hands and has good ball skills,
But why Richard Truman was a great defensive back. Honestly,
we're two things. One, his instincts were elite, and you
can't teach instincts. I don't believe like instincts as a
defensive back. For good defensive backs are something you have
(45:03):
or you don't have. And the other thing, like, do
a lot of wide receivers could they make the transition
and be great tacklers? You know, Richard made the transition
in Stanford and it became you could argue the greatest tackling,
the most physical corner or one of them in the
history of the league. So can you tackle? You have
to be able to tackle because the run game, you
(45:27):
have to be able to tackle. You don't need to
be Ray Lewis, but you have to be able to tackle.
But number one is you have to be able to
play the ball in the air because you are not
looking at the ball the wide receiver is and your
instincts when the ball is in the air. So I
think it is much more difficult to go from wide
receiver to defensive back because if you have no instincts,
(45:49):
you can't play the position where if your hands are
just decent and you can run, you're an elite athlete.
Like I can teach you to run routes and then
we can work on your hands. Obviously, if you have
a stone hands, you got no shot. Someone asked me
once on the on a DM. I don't think I
ever responded to it, like how did how did non
Diassim Wah fall off so badly? And I said one
(46:13):
When we signed him, it was clear right away his
athleticism was not what it used to be, so he
was a diminishing athlete. He had some of the worst
hands I've ever seen. I mean, there are there were
dudes on our sideline that were scouts that had better hands.
Non Diasimwah had stone hands. But you don't need good
(46:36):
hands to play dB. If you're long and you can
deflect the ball, obviously you would like them, like pick
guys off like Revius or Deon Sanders or whatever, champ Bailey.
You don't need them, though, Like teams will live with
PBUs all day long. I don't care if you drop
every interception you've ever had, as long as the ball
does not get completed. But you have to play the
ball in the air, and one thing with you can
(47:00):
get by at wide receiver without being an elite athlete.
If you're a great right runner and you can get open.
It is very, very difficult in especially if the scheme
is going to ask you to play man demand defense
to get by without being a high end athlete, because
you're just going to be on an island. And look
at all the wide receivers in the NFL. Most of
(47:22):
them are really good athletes. So you have to be
able to run, you have to be able to mirror
the guy. You have to be able to change direction,
you have to be able to turn, and you don't
know what's coming. The receiver knows what's happening. You don't.
You may have a good educated guest based on film, study,
based on the defensive call, based on your preparation, but
(47:43):
you still don't actually know. It's easier for a wide.
It's easier for a dB to convert to wide receiver
than it is for a wide receiver to convert to dB.
Would be would be my professional opinion. It's hard to
do either, I mean both. At the NFL level, it's hard.
(48:06):
Can you weigh in on this? I'm a Titans fan
and it was just reported that we turned down a
fourth round pick at the deadline from the Ravens for
King Henry. I go on Twitter and fans are outraged.
I completely understand that you knew you were going to
lose him for nothing, so get anything you can. However,
(48:26):
in my opinion, you don't trade legends for fourth round picks.
I hate the double standard of how fans want every
picker in the draft and trade all your picks during
the season. What's your opinion? Yeah, I mean I I
think because he signed a pretty good deal, they're gonna
(48:47):
end up getting a comp pick that might be a
fifth or sixth round pick. What the hell's the difference? Right,
the Ravens were in the AFC Championship game, so that
picks at the end of the fourth round, it's essentially
a fifth round pick. I don't think it's that big
a deal. If you didn't want to trade him to
me once you get in the second day, I'd say
(49:09):
that's kind of gross negligence. But when you're talking a
fourth round pick from the Ravens, what pick is that,
like one hundred and forty, one hundred and thirty something
in that range. I don't think. I don't think it's
that relevant. I don't think it matters that much either. Way,
(49:29):
and like you said, Rabel will still get there. That
was his guy. I'm fine with not trading him. Hey John,
congrats and the engagement. Appreciate it. Question for the mailbank.
I'm thinking of getting into sports betting. Any suggestions where
to start, what type of bets, who to follow, listen
(49:51):
to for advice bet sizing. Any info would help, obviously
gambling at any level. I went to Harvey's the other
night because we went to Lisa vander Pump's restaurant. It's
called Wolf. It's actually elite. I've watched a little vander
Pump last year. By no means do I really care
(50:12):
that much. It's kind of entertaining. Then it got really
drama filled and I'm like, I can't even follow this.
I will say this about a restaurant in Harvey's A
state Line in Lake Tahoe restaurant is really really good.
Well it's in the casino, so it's like, well, I've
just been the last three or four times. I actually
gamble a lot on golf during the football season, and
(50:34):
I used to gamble a ton on blackjack, and the
older I've gotten I like playing a roulette a little bit,
but blackjack I have just lost so like Vegas for
the for the Super Bowl, I lost like five grand
before he could even blink. So it's like, you know,
it would have been impossible in my younger days to
go through a casino and play blackjack without taking out
(50:57):
I don't know, four figures and just getting aggressive. But
I was like, you know what, I'll take out a
couple hundred bucks. I'll play. If I actually got up
immediately doubled and I couldn't walk away. She was looking
at me like, why don't you walk away? I'm like, eh,
I don't really walk away. It's why the casino usually
takes my money. But it didn't even matter. I just
I took out two hundred and fifty bucks, gambled. It
was up a little bit, down a little bit. It
(51:18):
was just kind of enjoyable thirty minutes. And I think
you have to have when you're gonna gamble. I don't.
It's relative to how much money you have. To some people,
one hundred dollars bet is a lot. To some people,
one hundred dollars bet is nothing, and five thousand dollars
bet is a lot. So you have to pick them
ount you're comfortable with losing, and when you do that,
(51:40):
just start off with not that much take you know,
if you can't afford it, a couple hundred bucks and
bet like twenty five dollars on a couple of games,
and if you win it, keep letting a ride, and
if you lose it, bet the next week, right, But
just pick a number that you can afford, put a
little action on it, see how you feel. And if
you like I feel it'll be a feeling that you'll
(52:02):
keep chasing the rest of your life. If you don't
like it, then don't do it. But you know, if
you're I don't know how old you are. I do
my gambling obviously on DraftKings. I to do it online.
It's really easy. But I would say bet something that
you're comfortable with doing early on. Don't try to get
crazy aggressive. And I would just when football season starts,
(52:25):
bet a couple games, but twenty five bucks, but fifty
bucks on a game or two. Say how you like it.
If you hate it, stop, if you like it, do
it more. Football's pretty easy. You just bet the point spread.
That's what I would do. So minus three plus three
plus six plus whatever big the team you like, bet
the point spread bet a little bit of money. Question
(52:47):
for the mailbag, what should the Vikings do about Jordan Addison.
He's clearly valuable, but reportedly the teams the team is
very frustrated with him after his incident. Wasn't really an incident?
Wasn't he asleep at the wheel? Wasted? I would say
that's a little more than an incident. There's this is
(53:10):
like parents, when a young player or a young kid
gets in trouble, who you value a lot. Obviously, when
you're a parently you can't trade your kid. But in
the Viking situation, he's drafted in the first round and
you watch him last year, he's pretty freaking good. He
had an incident a dui. It's more than embarrassing. It's
(53:31):
just an awful look and he's gonna get suspended more
than likely. So when the team is frustrated or disappointed,
like of course they are, but like they're not trading
him because Jordan Addison, when you're a really good wide
receiver and you were drafted in the twenties, you're one
of the best values in the league. So listen, I
(53:53):
think you just let him know this is unacceptable, Like
this can't happen. You're rich now, bro, if you're super
waight said, get an uber, get a car like you
don't need to be. You don't need to be cruising.
Do you think the Jets front office is low key?
Kind of glad Rogers is stirring up controversy and skipping
(54:13):
Mini camp and the DeVante Adams teaser. Take some of
the spotlight off that clown fiesta of a front office,
and how truly moronic it was to trade for a player.
You don't want to pay what he's asking, which is
why how he and the Eagles let him go in
the first place. Yeah, man, I they can't be not
(54:36):
thrilled if this if the Cowboys, you know, the Jets
are so chaotic that their headlines people are so numb to. Now,
that's why I don't even think it's a story. I mean,
it's obviously a story, but we've had this information for
a while. I don't know what anyone expected to change
if they are not gonna pay him. But if Jerry
(54:58):
had done this, if Kyle shit Anahan had done this,
think of some of the teams, if they had done this,
if Howie had been on the other side, they would
get crushed. If Belichick when he was around, had done this,
he'd be like, what are you fucking doing? I can't
fathom you don't get sympathy or anyone that doesn't call
(55:18):
you a moron for buying something or acquiring something that
you know needs to be fixed when you have no
intention on fixing it, which it clearly feels like. The
Jets like just thought that he would eventually be like, Yeah,
I'm cool with playing on my contract, even though all
I keep saying is I'm not man circus part of it.
(55:40):
They need him, you know, they just lost one of
their better pass rushers last year. The Eagles like he's
kind of important. It's why they trade it for him.
I'm curious if big contracts ever become the elephant in
the room when teams are having a bad season and
high paid players underperform. Do players call each other out
in the locker room? Well, coaches make comments in meetings
(56:02):
or just take taboo topic. I can't you know. I'd
never played in the NFL, so I can't pretend to
know the locker room dynamics. But these are humans. So
the amount of effort and time that guys put in
that to me It's one thing if you're just playing
(56:22):
bad because you're banged up, totally understand. But if you're
a high priced player and you're playing bad and it's like, yeah,
I don't think he's working that hard. I think he
got fat this offseason, he wasn't ready at the start
of the season, then yeah, I would imagine that's when
fight happens. Fights happen, And this is not the uh
these other leagues, man, These coaches, the position coaches talk
(56:45):
shit NonStop. Twenty four to seven, three sixty five. So
if you're a high priced player and you're underperforming as
an NO lineman, as a D lineman, as a wide receiver, coach,
as a running back. Obviously depends who your position. Some
position coaches are less confrontational than others. But if you
have a confrontational position coaches, that guy's gonna light you
(57:06):
up like a Christmas tree. Your coordinator, if he's confrontational,
and obviously the head coach, they're going to be in you.
Twenty four seven three sixty five. This is not the
NBA or coaches just everything's just rainbows and lollipops. You know.
It's like, I'm not allowed to yell at you You
get yelled at constantly, starting in high school football, through
(57:29):
college football, through the NFL, and the moment you get paid,
which is an awesome accomplishment, the expectations rise and when
you don't perform, especially if your team's losing, it gets
ugly and it gets ugly fast. And depending on who
your coach is, like I said, the hierarchy, the head coach,
the coordinator, the position coach, those are long days, man,
(57:52):
and you better start performing. And part of it gets
back to are you not performing because you have a
high ankle spray and you're battling through it, like totally understandable,
But are you not performing because you don't know the
playbook or you're out of shape, or you just don't
care that much. That's where when you cross that line,
(58:14):
it's a war zone and you deserve it, because I
don't care what industry you're you know you work in.
When you get paid a lot of money, expectations are
high and it's on you to give everything you have.
And that's all any of us can ever do is
give one effort. Right. If you're not good enough, you're
not good enough. It's pro sport. Sometimes you get beat
(58:34):
tip your hat, right, but are you giving max effort?
If you are, I think they understand that doesn't mean
they still push you. But when you start checking some
of those other boxes, then you've got serious problems on
your hands. And that's why you have so much turnover
in the NFL because you don't have much time. There
are there just aren't really scholarships in the NFL, clearly.
(58:56):
I mean, look at some of these massive contracts in
recent years that have been traded Russell Wilson, Matt Ryan,
and those are quarterback contracts which are way bigger than
all these other positions. So yeah, man, I just it's tough.
If you're playing well, you're gonna get yelled at in
football no matter what. I get yelled at constantly as
(59:18):
a scouts. It's a high contentious, lot of testosterone, a
lot of ego, a lot of money. Everyone's fucking on edge.
And that's if you're doing well. Start doing poorly, buckle
up because it is a long season for everyone involved.
(59:38):
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Speaker 1 (02:13):
What is going on? Everybody? John Middlecock three and out podcast.
Hopefully everyone's having a great day. I know I did.
Went for a long little hike around Lake Tahoe. Only
here for about forty eight more hours, So tried to
enjoy the sun and had a little lunch. And then
I got back and I saw a bunch of stuff
(02:35):
in the NFL happen. So fired up the old machine
and wanted to dive in. Because obviously Brandon Ayuk showed
up to camp. Some questions with Tua how he will
play this out. We had some raises given out Stafford
Namari Cooper, Christian Darisaw former twenty third overall pick, Viking
(02:56):
Star Tackle, got a lot of money, I mean got
a lot of money. The Jets. We'll dive into the
Jets drive mail had some comments in an eighteen game schedule,
which seems inevitable. So we will dive into some football
as well as a mail bag. So the mail bag.
I'm gonna need some mailbag questions. I mean, I got
some for this podcast. But make sure you fire into
(03:18):
those dms at John Middlecoff as the instagram at John
Middlecoff Instagram. Fire in those dms very very easy to do.
So do that because I'm gonna need a bunch coming
through training camp, and I think this is the plan tomorrow.
It's really my last day in Tahoe. Probably no podcast
unless something you never know in the NFL. We've got
(03:39):
a pretty full day plan. But if saying you have
something breaks, I'll be ready and then we'll have We'll
finish one with Thursday for Friday, and then we'll just
get back to our normal schedule next week. I'll be
back home by the end of the week. And other
than that, I think me and Colin are gonna record
something on Sunday, So a lot of football content obviously
once really August hits. Uh, it'll be NonStop every single
(04:02):
day because that's how we do. And subscribe to the
podcast if you listen on Collins Feed three and out
YouTube channel. We got that covered a lot of you guys,
which I appreciate. Hit me up about the Mike Commodore interview.
Just a beauty. If you haven't got a chance to
listen to that. He's a hockey player, He's it's an
(04:22):
incredible interview. Uh, He's just he's just the least storyteller.
I can't I can't recommend it enough. Uh. I mean
a lot of you guys are like, I'm not even
a hockey guy, and that was all. Yeah, it's just
it's it's elite. Uh, so go check that out from
a couple of weeks ago and have a couple of
ideas on some interviews too that I think would be
pretty cool sometime in August and we'll get rocking and rolling.
(04:43):
But uh, other than that, anymore updates. I think that's it.
So no podcast probably tomorrow, but we will have one
on Friday and uh and yeah, so let's let's dive
right in. But first, I was on a text. I'm
on a group text with a bunch of people that
I worked with at Fresno State, and one of them
now is at Oklahoma. He's essentially the GM True Hill,
(05:07):
and I've been telling him forever I want to go
to the red rival rivalry, the Texas Oklahoma game. And
it's my fortieth birthday this year, and we've been talking,
you know, should we go to an SEC game that
technically is an SEC game now because Texas Oklahoma are joining.
And I was like, maybe, with my close personal friends,
my partners in the official ticketing app of this podcast,
(05:29):
we can figure something out and go to one of
the most historic rivalries in all of sports in this country.
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(05:51):
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(06:14):
today last minute ticket's lowest prices guaranteed. I got home
and I watched the press conference of John Lynch and
Kyle Shanahan, and anyone that saw Kyle today saw that
he shaved off his mustache. I tried to trim up
and do a mustache, but my mustache just does not
come in full. And as Kyle said, the thing, when
you become a mustache guy, you it just brings you
(06:37):
respect because someone has to have an opinion, whether they
like it or they don't. They look at you weird,
but it creates e motion with people when they see you.
I tried to pull it off good. Not But the
big news out of forty nine ers land today is
that Brandon Ayuk is attending training camp. Now. They've had
this happen before with Deebo Samuel, he did not practice.
(06:58):
And I think it's pretty clear. I've been in enough
negotiations in my life to know the older you get
and all sorts you know with high level billion dollar
companies and startups that you were hoping would be that
turned out not to be and went under. Is that
anytime negotiations get shady, and for most of us, these
(07:18):
aren't public negotiations, but anytime that you feel that shady
stuff is going on, it's harder to get a deal done.
Now in a public forum like the NFL, to me,
that's the equivalent of using the media. And I understand Brandon.
This is his first big contract. He's very emotional and
(07:39):
he used the media up several times and the last
one to request a trade. I've said this all the time,
this is not the NBA. Teams don't capitulate to your
demands immediately. In that the forty nine ers don't give
a shit. No one cares when you scrub your Instagram account,
No one cares when you tell one of the national
reporters you request to trade, it does it, especially in
(08:01):
the middle of the summer, It doesn't actually do anything.
The easiest way to get a deal done, and players
like Brandon Ayuk are players that their team wants to
get a deal done with is to play ball. And
the easiest way to play ball is good faith negotiations.
And the way you do that as a player is
(08:21):
you show up a training camp. Now you don't have
to get on the field. Look at Jordan Love, I'm
not risking getting injured. For Jordan Love, that could be
one hundred and fiftye hundred and eighty two hundred million dollars.
For Brandon Ayuk that could be sixty seventy million dollars guaranteed.
I totally get it. I support guys that want to
hold in, but younger players, I think this is the
(08:42):
way to go, especially when you know the team financially
plans on paying you. These negotiations are tough. We're talking
a lot of money. Most teams just don't hand out
that type money, especially when they have a ton of
other guys under contract, and it's complicated. But I promise
you this, and John Lynch reiterated this, we plan on
this guy being a forty nine er. We want him
(09:03):
on the team. Of course they do. He's a winning player.
They have won a ton the last couple of years
with him being their number one outside option. But once
you get down to in any negotiation, the final hour,
I think Brandon Ayuk and the forty nine ers have
to kind of draw a line in the sand. Are
(09:24):
we gonna let this deal pass over a total of
five million dollars? Right? A million extra a year, to
bump that number from twenty six and a half to
twenty eight right over a four year period or whatever.
Anyone that's ever bought a house or sold a house,
or sold a car, or sold any asset, you get
to a port a certain time in the negotiation where
(09:46):
emotions are high. I don't care if you're selling something
worth a thousand dollars or two million dollars, like you
get emotional over things, and I think you see this
a lot in real estate. Are we gonna let this
deal go over five thousand dollars? Are we gonna let
this deal go over ten thousand dollars? This is a
one point eight million dollar transaction. And that's where I
think the forty nine ers and Brandon Ayuk are kind
(10:08):
of looking at each other, you know, from across the
negotiation table, but we're close, and we got to get
this figured out. Someone's gonna blink. And I think the
reality is is that Brandon Ayuk through his last curve
ball the trade request, and he realized those guys don't
give a shit. They simply do not. That's the National
(10:30):
Football League. If I don't want to trade you, and
I like you, and you're emotionally charged up and you
want to trade, I just yeah, see, it's training camp.
And that's essentially what the forty nine ers said. And
I give him credit. He showed up because the easiest
way to get this deal done is doing exactly what
he did, show up. George Kittle had a great line
(10:51):
today that he said Richard Sherman told him contract negotiations
are a lot like bracist. They suck when they're on,
just like they suck when you're going through a negotiation.
But once they're off, once the deal is signed, you
forget that you even went through it. You have a
big smile on your face. And that's what's happening here.
(11:12):
It happened last year with Nick Bosa, it happened a
couple of years ago with Deebo Samuel the forty nine ers.
To me, the only team that's truly championship or bust
is the Chiefs because they're the only team rattling off championships.
But like the forty nine Ers, anything less than winning
the NFC and being back in the Super Bowl with
a chance to win it is a major, major disappointment.
(11:33):
And I'm on a bunch of text threads with Niner people.
The reality of even the potential trade is any team
trading a first round pick, and let's face the forty
nine is probably gonna want more. I would say at
minimum they'd want like a one and a three and
then giving him one hundred and twenty million dollar contract.
I don't know, I would say probably not. I think
(11:56):
teams would be willing to acquire them. Like the Titans
traded for what's his name snead On the Chiefs, they
trade a third round pick. The New York Giants traded
for Brian Burns and then they both paid those guys
a lot of money. They didn't even give it a
first round pick. So yeah, teams are open to making deals.
For good players, but at what cost? Because I know
(12:19):
I have to pay them, but what type of draft
capital do I have to use? The other thing draft capital?
Right now, as we see here on July twenty third,
with the season upon us and in front of us,
does the forty nine ers no good. It's actually completely irrelevant.
Having that draft capital for a player that you're going
to select in the spring of twenty twenty five does
(12:42):
nothing for you. Trying to win the division, trying to
beat the Rams, the Lions, the Eagles, the Packers in
the playoffs, and then probably the Chiefs in the Super
Bowl does nothing. And that's why they have no intention
of trading him, just trying to get the deal worked out.
And other than that, in forty nine or Land, nothing really.
(13:04):
There was a story going around that Perdy was obviously
he was injured last year in the Eagles game, had
to rehab the entire offseason, and basically that he was
injured early on in the season, like he was not
one hundred percent healthy. And this is a big year
for Perdy, right because if he has another successful season
of throwing thirty plus touchdowns, this team wins twelve plus games,
(13:28):
he's going to get an astronomical amount of money, and
let's face it, the conversation surrounding him all stemmed back
to where he was drafted. Because if Trey Lance had
played like brock Perdy, everyone would be calling him like
John Elway. So when you're not drafted high, people don't
want to think you're good. It's just that simple, right, Listen.
(13:50):
We can nitpick Dak Prescott all we want. He's one
of the greatest fourth round picks in the history league.
Same with Kirk Cousins. I guess Dak might have been
a third round pick. Tom Brady. People forget now because
it was twenty five years but for those first three
or four or five seasons, a lot of people thought
Tom Brady wasn't that good, and it was the defense
(14:10):
carrying him and Peyton Manning was the best quarterback even
though he was rattling off Super bowls. When you're drafted
high and you play well, saying oh look at this guy,
Holy shit, this guy's good, that's just not what happens
when you're drafted late. Because fans, media, people within the
league have a hard time going, yeah, I didn't see
(14:32):
this coming either, which no one did. And that's Okay,
he's good. I think one thing that's interesting, and we'll
find out more in the next couple of days with
the Dolphins, is if Tua takes the tactic of not
(14:54):
practicing right like a lot of these other guys. I'm
waiting to get my contract done. What if the Dolphins
don't plan on throwing him the contract that he thinks
he's gonna get. I never understand this in the NBA.
The majority of these contracts that you see signed over
the last several years one hundred and fifty million dollars,
one hundred and eighty million dollars, two hundred million dollars.
(15:16):
It's like you have no shot on God's green Earth
to win a championship. Paying that guy that money you
don't And it's always, well, we gotta do it, you
gotta do it. Well, yeah, you gotta pay Steph Curry,
you gotta pay Lebron, you gotta pay Yannis, you gotta
pay Jason Tatum. But like, do you gotta pay Bradley Beal?
(15:40):
You gotta do that. I see all these teams around
the league paying all these young players, the Raptors. I
saw yesterday the Calvs played Evan Mobley, two hundred and
fifty million dollars, Like, yeah, that's pretty risky. And then
the NFL's always like, well, the next quarterback he's gonna
get more money? Is he? Is he? Because if you
(16:02):
sign Tua to just oh, he just gets two hundred
and five million dollars guaranteed. I feel no sympathy for
you when you have no chance to win a Super Bowl. None,
because right now you have no chance to win a
Super Bowl, absolutely none. It's not even debatable. The Dolphins
cannot win a Super Bowl with Tua Tongo by Low
as their quarterback, but they can be really competitive, and
there's something to be said for that, because for a
(16:23):
lot of my life, that franchise they've sucked. Why can't
they just give him like one hundred million dollars? Why
can't that exist be Like, listen, we know we got
no shot to take down guys like Josh Allen, Joe Burrow,
Lamar Jackson, and obviously Patrick Mahomes, but this guy can
keep us competitive in the regular season. When it gets
late in the year, obviously we're gonna come crashing down.
(16:44):
But listen, we're gonna win ten eleven games and be
relevant in the league, and there's something to be said
for that. This is the business, and we're gonna make money,
and we're gonna be a playoff team or at least
be a competitive team every year for the chance to
go to the playoffs. That's not two hundred million dollars
right to me? That It's like, couldn't you give him
Daniel Jones contract? Why can't you do that? Like to me,
(17:05):
that would be the offer. Hey man, we'll give you
like three years, one hundred and ten million dollars, will
guarantee eighty of it. Can't do that? Well, how about
no money? How about we don't give you a contract extension?
Who we bidding against? Like, who are we bidding against?
That's my question. That was the question when Daniel Jones
last year? Who are you bidding against? That's what businesses
(17:30):
like The Minnesota Vikings just paid their star tackle a
ton of money one hundred and thirteen million dollars. They
gave him seventy seven guaranteed. He got a ton He's
a high end player. If that guy hit free agency
and he's still got a couple of years on his contract,
he would get so much money it would feel like
another quarterback he would probably eclipse like Nick Bosa because
(17:53):
high end left tackles never make it. They know his value.
It's really freaking high value. That high it obviously isn't nothing.
He's a starting quarterback who can produce in the NFL,
so immediately there's a minimum value on that. But what
is it? A couple of years ago Derek Carr signed
that deal with the New Orleans Saints. Why couldn't the
(18:15):
Dolphins offer him that plus a couple of year inflation
or whatever. Why does it always have to be, Oh,
this next deal is going to be two hundred and
ten million dollars? Why does it have to be that
when you know I can't beat the top five guys
in my conference, no freaking shot. I don't get it.
I really don't, and I will stand by that forever.
(18:37):
I don't get in the NBA. But not shocked. And
it's why the majority of NBA teams don't have a
snowball shot in hell to get past like the first
round in the playoffs for their entire franchise history. Like
you're just always irrelevant, right, but your payrolls really high
and your expenses are high, and it's like good luck buddy. Like,
when you give these huge contracts to quarterbacks that don't
(18:59):
deserve it and then you lose, no one should ever
have sympathy for you. Doesn't mean the guy shouldn't get
any money, doesn't mean you shouldn't give him a contract
extension if you feel comfortable with him as your quarterback.
But like, there's a difference between beachfront property and something
in the valley, right, So if Mahomes and Josh Allen
and Lamar a beachfront property, who ain't so Like, I'm
(19:22):
not paying the same price for a house forty five
minutes Inland. Sorry. A couple other guys that got contract
changes to their contract raises, Matt Stafford and Amari Cooper,
and I think both these guys are good examples of
With the Rams and the Browns in twenty twenty four,
(19:43):
anything less than being in the playoffs is a disaster.
Anytime you have Sean McVay and Matt Stafford as who's healthy,
you should win ten eleven games and then you're a
threat immediately in the playoffs. The Cleveland Browns paid a
quarterback two hundred and thirty million dollars. Any Browns fan
listening your rosters really good. Anything less than being back
(20:07):
in the playoffs is a major major problem. So Amari
Cooper very very productive. It feels like Amari is one
of those guys you're like kind of underachiever, like would
have expected more, and in a weird way, you kind
of would have when he was drafted in those first
couple of years when he was on the Raiders. But
google Amari statue. He has been extremely productive in his career.
(20:32):
Never gonna go to the Hall of Fame or anything, but
he's going to have a fantastic NFL career and he's
very very important to them because, like I said, he produces,
and Matt Stafford, as we've seen when he's not in,
is the engine that drives McVeigh in that offense. So
giving these guys raises, making them happy. Anytime you have
(20:54):
super important employees, you want to take care of him. Now,
we're not giving you a huge contract extension, but listen,
we're heading into training camp. Your key pieces to what
we're doing. We want to take care of you, and
that's what we did. It's funny. I've seen a lot
of takes with the Jets and everything's like, ah, same
(21:14):
old Jets. It's always something. This is not a new story.
If you buy a car and the AC doesn't work,
and then you're driving around in the summer and you
don't get the air conditioning fixed and you start complaining
because it's super hot in your car, that's not the
person who sold you the car's problem. That's on you
(21:35):
go fix the air conditioning. The Jets acquired a player
who was outspokenly talking about needing more money. It was
well documented. This was not something that came out of
left field. This was something that was publicly known. So
even when people say how he fleece them, like, how
(21:58):
would Joe Douglas not know that doesn't want a contract,
when literally NFL fans know because they just go on
the internet and they see it out there in the open.
So you traded for a player, listen, been a very
productive pass rusher in the NFL. He's a good player.
Got no problem trading for But you know this was
a guy who wanted more money. Happens all the time
(22:19):
in the NFL. Back to Brandon Ayuk. If you trade
for Brandon Ayuk, you can't be shocked with the moment
he gets there. He wants a new contract. Right, This
is this is well established established that a son Reddick
wanted more money. So when I see all these people
like same old Jesse, this goes back to three months
ago when they traded for the fucking guy. So to me,
(22:42):
this is one hundred percent on Joe Douglass. Like, you
traded for a guy that wanted money. Did you think
like you could just talk him off the ledge, like, hey, man,
if you produce this year, we'll take care of you
next year. Like this ain't Darryl Morey and James Harden here.
So unless you plan on giving this guy a new contract,
this was going to be your problem. And it's like, well,
eventually it we'll find him, we'll show up. So you're
(23:03):
trading for a player that you've never had, that you
do not know, and you're just going to take on
this problem and hope it works itself out without paying him.
So to me, this is one hundred percent on Joe
Douglas in the front office. Can't happen. I'm all for
trading for a guy that wants more money, taking care
of him and then getting him like that's part of
(23:24):
why you don't have to pay as much in draft capital.
But he's not a training camp today. Of course, he's
not a training camp today, just like he wasn't at OTA's.
He wants more money. It's why the Eagles didn't want
him anymore. Now you could argue maybe they thought they
get upgrade they signed the dude from the Jets, but
(23:44):
the reason they did that they got the guy in
a cost controlled contract and they got rid of their
older quote unquote headache. I like Reddick. He's a good
pass rusher, but this goes back to like the Miami
Dolphins thing. I feel no sympathy for this situation. You
inherit did the problem, so you don't get to complain
about the problem when you inherit it and you're clearly
doing nothing to fix it. I just like to me
(24:10):
how he's obviously fleeced people before, but in this situation,
it's like, hey, you want Reddick. It's not like he
didn't know the contract situation. I just now, if you
want to say it's always something with the Jets, I agree,
there's a lot of noise there. And this is not
Belichick or Tomlin or Pete Carroll or Andy Reid, one
(24:30):
of these older veteran coaches that have seen it all.
This is a bald guy who dies as Beard, who's
literally fighting for his head coaching life, who has proven
to get a little over his head with some of
these situations. We've seen it with Zach Wilson. We saw
it this offseason when Aaron wanted to go to the Pyramids.
It's like he doesn't always say the right things and
(24:52):
things get weird, which is natural for young coaches who've
accomplished nothing. So throwing this on your coach without handling
this from the front office ownership level, it is. You know,
I saw Colin call the New York Giants and Mickey
Mouse like, this is Mickey Mouse. This is Mickey Mouse
trading for a guy that wants a new contract and
(25:14):
not giving a new contract, Like what what the fuck
you think is gonna happen? Uh? Drod Mail I saw
this headline on Pro Football Talk. He must have talked
either today or yesterday. Called this a foundation year, like
laying the foundation, and which is right? Right? They chang
Hi from Belichick, got a lot of young players. Obviously,
(25:36):
draft a quarterback really high that's probably gonna red shirt
probably a minimum half the season. He's not wrong. They
are not going to be any good, which he's essentially saying,
here's the problem is, they haven't been good for a while.
So this fans who listen obviously very spoiled. They had
one of the greatest twenty year runs in like the
(25:59):
history of sports. I mean you have to go back
to like the Bill Russell Celtics or something, or John
Wood in UCLA Bruins or Alabama fans. These last fifteen years,
it's we're never seeing it again. But like it's football,
and while you don't have to win the Super Bowl
every year, it is fun to root for. And this
is my thing with Tua, Like, I got no problem.
(26:19):
It's giving him extension, got like thirty five million dollars
a year, thirty two million dollars a year. That's what
I think your value is. I like winning. It's fun
to win nine to ten games and be in the mix,
Like there's value in that. The problem for Mao is
gonna be is like if he has a couple losing seasons,
which is very possible, and this year they win four games,
next year they win five or six, that's a lot
(26:41):
of losing for the fan base. And this is not
like Los Angeles. People care there and it gets ugly
and it gets angry, and Robert Kraft's gonna take a
lot of shit. He's going to take a ton. And
you have to wonder when the arrows come out, because
forever win or lose. Bill and Tom took every bullet.
(27:04):
And then when Bill shorted Tom and he went to
the bucks, it was all Bill. No one said anything
about anyone else beside Bill Belichick, and rightfully so, he
was the grand pooba. He called the place. He was
in charge of the coaching staff, whether he individually called
the plays, you know what I mean. He obviously picked
all the players. He was in complete control. He had
(27:26):
more control over football than probably anyone will ever see
ever again. But now it's like Drod Mail. Let's see, really, Dylan,
is he like even calling the defense? He definitely not.
Has nothing to do with the offense. It's gonna be
on the crafts. And when you start going after the owner,
the easiest way to get them off them being the fans.
(27:49):
And I got news for you. The fans in football
have a lot of juice because there's a lot of
time between games, so you end up reading a lot
of articles, you listen to a lot of talk radio,
you get a sense for it if that place is empty,
which obviously the Crafts have invested a lot into. Like
is this guy getting three years to just suck? You
see it with the Mars, right, people are gonna go
(28:10):
after John Marra constantly, constantly. So if this year they
suck and the Giants win five games, six games, Like,
John Mara doesn't want people just talking shit about him constantly.
So the easiest thing to do, fire GM, fire the coach,
and just give people hope, because that's what hiring new
people does. It just give people hope. And I have
to wonder how long this leash is going to be.
(28:33):
And listen, I'm not acting like Gerrod Mayo, you know,
doesn't deserve a long leash, but it's going to be
very difficult. And his quarterback's a pretty major prospect or project,
and who knows, maybe just like year two he becomes
a top ten player and you're you're off and running.
But if there's a lot of growing pains and maybe
(28:55):
the offensive coordinators not right, all of a sudden, you go,
is this guy in trup That's how fast it happens,
not for long. That's what the NFL stands for for
coaches and executives, because you gotta win, you gotta win fast.
You're not getting some long landing strip. You see this
in college football all the time. You're not allowed in
(29:16):
the Power five to go like three years and not
show some serious signs. By your third year, you better
be competitive, like eight or nine wins if you know no.
I'm obviously like Alabama, LSU, Georgia, USC the standards are
really high. But even like the random programs at Wisconsin,
you'll see it with rule at Nebraska, like by your
(29:37):
third year, we better be competing like nine if we ain't.
Cyon are the amount of money in the NFL, in
the Power five, especially in the Big Ten in the SEC,
it's not hard for me to fire you. When I
was a kid, a lot of coaches got longer leashes.
A huge reason was because these owners weren't flushed with
(29:59):
the cash and didn't want to pay them to go away.
It's pretty clear now they have no hesitation because it
doesn't impact their pocketbook. Paying a coach twenty thirty million
dollars to go away for an SEC school, for a
Big Ten school, for an NFL team is a line item.
(30:19):
It'd be like me making a thousand dollars payment, it
means nothing. And when money becomes nothing, it happens in
all of our lives at different rates. At one point
in time, ten dollars or twenty dollars or one hundred
dollars a lot to you, then maybe one thousand dollars
a lot to you, Then maybe one hundred thousand dollars
a lot to you, then maybe a million dollars a
lot to you. Goes for businesses, right, most startup businesses,
(30:43):
like all the expenses matter, and then as you grow
and grow, like Amazon, Apple, Walmart, the way they look
at ten fifteen fifty million dollars is a lot different
than they did depending early on in their maturation as
a company. No different with football, and I think a
lot of these coaches are gonna find out, like no
(31:04):
one wants to watch bad football cause it's fucking awful,
Baseball whatever, no one watches every night, it's on. If
your team sucks, it's kind of irrelevant in football that
one week a year is a big deal. And when
you suck for consistently, it's impossible to survive. Now and
I just wonder, like, is this guy getting three years
(31:26):
this guy getting three years, I would like. I think
he would have to show some serious life by year
three to survive. I think it's gonna be difficult. Belichick
handed him a shitty roster, he's got a project quarterback,
he's a young coach, and shit, he's only been coaching
for you know, four or five years as an assistant,
maybe even less than that was like eighteen. Clearly an
(31:47):
impressive guy. But the other thing is the ghost of
Bill Man. It's no different with Debor and Saban. It's
just a lot easier to inherit Alabama than it is
a bad NFL roster. Last, but not least, the eighteen
game schedule, The Washington Post reported that it's pretty clear,
(32:08):
like why are we even doing these reports, Like we
don't need these reports. Eighteen games is coming to me.
The report is the NFL plans to do eighteen games
in twenty twenty six or twenty twenty five or twenty
twenty eight. That's the only report we need moving forward.
It's inevitable. It's not like might happen. It's happening. It
(32:29):
is one hundred percent happening. Why because that means more
money for the players, and you know who never turns
down more money. Employees like it's it happened with a
seventeen game, it happened with Thursday night football. It will happen.
And a huge reason is the preseason now is completely irrelevant.
It does not matter. Those games are terrible now obviously
(32:51):
the big question mark is there a line of diminishing
returns you get to a point where you ever dilute football.
I've said it forever. Football is so far past you
could combine baseball and basketball in this country. It does
not equal to the NFL. But like I've lived long enough.
(33:12):
When I was a kid, other sports were on top.
Football will not be on top for whatever. Do I
know what's gonna take it down? Who knows. Maybe just
younger generations won't even like sports. I don't know. Maybe
television dynamics change, maybe our consumer habit chain, who knows.
But for the foreseeable future, I don't think there's anything
(33:32):
that can slow down this freight chain. And I don't
think eighteen games impacts any of us, partly because like
we sit there in August and check out a preseason game.
So now that these preseason games, these starters are not
playing the majority of the league plays nobody. It's unwatchable,
it really is. And I love football. I love college football.
(33:54):
So watching some of these guys that got drafted, it's
just bad. Like it's bad, right, and there's there's a
reason it's bad. It's just hard to get young players.
I'm not saying it's not important for those guys, but
that's not what the league office looks at this for
the importance of young player. They care about the money,
they care about the regular season games, and so do
the veteran players. So I would guess this thing happens
(34:16):
sooner than later next year, two years. Obviously, it has
to be agreed to with the union. You do what
the union usually doesn't do in any industry. Turn down raises,
turn down more money. It's not usually the way it happens.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
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Speaker 1 (35:22):
Okay, let's dive into a little thing we call the
middle Cooff Mailbag. Very very easy to get involved. You
just fire into my DMS, You fire into my dms
at John middlecoff Is the Instagram and get a question
answered here on the show. So yeah, doesn't get any easier.
I don't think there could be any easier way to
communicate unless you don't have Instagram. You try to send
(35:44):
me an email and then it kind of gets lost
in the shuffle. Question for the bag I heard you
say on today's podcast you were in on love. Who
do you have more faith in? Or who are you
ready to pay love? Or party? Well, I don't have
to pay party for a year because I wouldn't be
that comfortable. I'm not comfortable paying either. I like paying
(36:08):
guys after a longer sample size. And Jordan Loves doesn't
get any smaller. Right half the year, he wasn't even
any good After the bye week last year, Gudakin said, yeah,
these eleven games are gonna define our situation moving forward,
and the kid answered the bell. He was freaking awesome.
(36:29):
This is not a cop out because Love is more
gifted than Perdy. I think Purdy has proven to be
the ultimate Kyle Shanahan player. I feel great about both.
You know why, infrastructure, the team, the coach. Think about
Kyle Shanahan, you could argue is for me, he's the
(36:52):
second best coach in the league. But if he's in
everybody's top five, their defense is awesome. The infrastructure is there.
So how would you feel bad about party with Kyle Shanahan,
just like how can you feel bad about Jordan Love
with Lafleur. Lafleur resurrected Rogers's career, then they got rid
(37:13):
of him after drafting this guy like he was part
of it, and then proved that he could coach him.
How are either guy gonna fail. There's more question marks
with Love. He's just played less games. Perty's played more,
not by that much. I mean Purdy played what six
to seven games his first year including the playoffs, and
(37:35):
obviously this last year full time starter and three playoff games,
So that's seventeen twenty games. I don't know the exact
number is his rookie season because he got thrust into
it when Jimmy broke his foot against the Dolphins. But
Party's game translates like it because he's a good decision maker.
(37:59):
See him handle adversity. He's accurate, he's mobile, he can
play with guys who can't run routes. You know, he's
got like one legit receiver. Debo is much more of
a behind the line of scrimmage. His coach is always
going to have a really good run game, where Love
is much more of like an explosive playmaker. I think
(38:20):
they're both going to be really good players for a
long time. I would bet on them partly because ones
with the Packers and one with Kyle Shanahan and the Niners.
And for the last thirty plus years, quarterbacks have dominated
with the Packers, and as we learned last year, it
doesn't look like it's gonna slow down. And Kyle Shanahan
now has a long history of quarterbacks do well for him,
(38:41):
specifically this guy who is excelling with training camp starting.
I can't think of the mood within the Cowboy I
can't help but think of the mood within the Cowboys
locker room. I've been watching a receiver and the Giant's
hard knocks, and you get a sense that juice or
good vibes contributes a lot to the level of success
(39:04):
in the NFL. I just don't see any juice being
stirred up in the Cowboys locker room with a coach
and a quarterback with expiring contracts. In your opinion, is
there a connection there? If things were to go south,
it would be a disaster. If they were to get
off to a bad start, it would snowball. To me,
(39:25):
there would be no overcoming it because of the contract situations.
But if they're good, you know, if they're doing what
they've done in the last three years, I don't think
it matters with at all at all. And to me,
the good vibes, like you get good vibes when you win,
no one has good vibes when you lose. The NFL
(39:47):
sucks when you lose. In baseball, you can be a
shitty team, like every day of going to the yard
having a good time, not a great time, but it's like,
dam I'm trying to get mine. It's not how it
works in football. Coaches are miserable, miserable players are miserable
getting your ass kicked every Sunday. If the Cowboys are competitive,
it won't matter one iota. Now it will at the
end of the season when it's like, do you lose
(40:10):
in the first round of the playoffs, do you miss
the playoffs by game, then yeah, that would factor in.
But I would say until the end of September, unless
you're losing that they're gonna be fine. Question for the mailbag,
what are some of your favorite bets for the season
to gamble on? For example, Super Bowl winner, MVP, Defensive
(40:33):
Player of the Year. By the way, Aaron Rodgers comeback
Player of the Year is going to print money. That
will be a project probably for the middle of August.
So I have not even looked at the odds for
any of that stuff. I haven't even thought about it,
to be completely honest with you. To me, MVP Joe
(40:55):
Burrow would be in the mix for Comeback Player of
the Year two, so I'd be a little risky on
I think Josh Allen's bound to win an MVP, and
if he puts up great stats, I think he's going
to be right in the mix. But I haven't will
do that. We will hammer hammer that in mid to
(41:19):
late August. Question for the Bag as a Bears fan
early in this offseason, I questioned the decision to keep Eberflus. Obviously,
Caleb's development is really the only thing that matters moving forward.
So my question to you is who is more important
this season to the bears potential success. Eberflus or Shane Waldron. Well,
(41:47):
I think they go hand in hand because if Shane
Waldron is good, your offense is going to be good.
You're loaded, right, I mean, we've got some questions with
the offensive line, but the quarterback, the three receivers signed,
a running back, you have a young tight end under contract.
If your offense is good, we know eber Flus in
(42:09):
the defense has been much more competitive, you know last
year for sure, then you're gonna be in close games.
In close games that like, that's the difference of winning
ten games or seven, how does he No one has
judged ebra flus or at least from a national level.
Maybe locally you have, but when you haven't been that competitive,
(42:31):
no one cares when you scrip timeouts. No one cares
when you scrip up situations, you know, to get yourself
in field goal range or punt or you know, go
for it. Those situations, as we saw with Braindon Staley
the last couple of years, get put under a microscope.
So if the offense is good, obviously there's a ton
(42:52):
of pressure on Waldron to get the offense in a
different universe than it has been with fields. But if
that works, that means the nieber flose. His game management
is under a microscope because the difference of a couple
wins in the NFL, if you're like a seven eight
win team, could just be a time out here, a
(43:14):
decision to go for it there. You know, the difference
when an eight win team and an eleven win team.
I don't think the gap is that wide now, the
gap between a ten to eleven win team and like
a fourteen win team, I think the GAP's pretty wide.
But you see a lot of games that are one
score with five minutes left, and that's where the head coach,
(43:35):
who essentially is in charge of all the game management stuff,
obviously as people helping him out, but like it's on
him to call the time out, it's on him to
give the offensive coordinator the thumbs up to go for
it or to punt, And that could be the difference
of nine and eight might not make the playoffs, and
(43:55):
if he would have made a more aggressive decision, could
have been ten wins. And that's where he Fluse would
come under. Like I said, I think they are equally.
They go hand in hand. I don't think you can
separate the two question for the summer mail bag, is
it easier for dbs to convert to wide receiver or
(44:17):
vice versa who has the advantage in prep and film study?
Curious From a former scouts perspective, I think it would
be easier to take a raw athlete if he has
decent hands, because you can't play wide receiver if you
can't catch. And the old adage is a lot of
dbs are just failed wide receivers. Look at Richard Truman. Now,
(44:40):
Richard Truman has pretty good hands and has good ball skills,
But why Richard Truman was a great defensive back. Honestly,
we're two things. One, his instincts were elite, and you
can't teach instincts. I don't believe like instincts as a
defensive back. For good defensive backs are something you have
(45:03):
or you don't have. And the other thing, like, do
a lot of wide receivers could they make the transition
and be great tacklers? You know, Richard made the transition
in Stanford and it became you could argue the greatest tackling,
the most physical corner or one of them in the
history of the league. So can you tackle? You have
to be able to tackle because the run game, you
(45:27):
have to be able to tackle. You don't need to
be Ray Lewis, but you have to be able to tackle.
But number one is you have to be able to
play the ball in the air because you are not
looking at the ball the wide receiver is and your
instincts when the ball is in the air. So I
think it is much more difficult to go from wide
receiver to defensive back because if you have no instincts,
(45:49):
you can't play the position where if your hands are
just decent and you can run, you're an elite athlete.
Like I can teach you to run routes and then
we can work on your hands. Obviously, if you have
a stone hands, you got no shot. Someone asked me
once on the on a DM. I don't think I
ever responded to it, like how did how did non
Diassim Wah fall off so badly? And I said one
(46:13):
When we signed him, it was clear right away his
athleticism was not what it used to be, so he
was a diminishing athlete. He had some of the worst
hands I've ever seen. I mean, there are there were
dudes on our sideline that were scouts that had better hands.
Non Diasimwah had stone hands. But you don't need good
(46:36):
hands to play dB. If you're long and you can
deflect the ball, obviously you would like them, like pick
guys off like Revius or Deon Sanders or whatever, champ Bailey.
You don't need them, though, Like teams will live with
PBUs all day long. I don't care if you drop
every interception you've ever had, as long as the ball
does not get completed. But you have to play the
ball in the air, and one thing with you can
(47:00):
get by at wide receiver without being an elite athlete.
If you're a great right runner and you can get open.
It is very, very difficult in especially if the scheme
is going to ask you to play man demand defense
to get by without being a high end athlete, because
you're just going to be on an island. And look
at all the wide receivers in the NFL. Most of
(47:22):
them are really good athletes. So you have to be
able to run, you have to be able to mirror
the guy. You have to be able to change direction,
you have to be able to turn, and you don't
know what's coming. The receiver knows what's happening. You don't.
You may have a good educated guest based on film, study,
based on the defensive call, based on your preparation, but
(47:43):
you still don't actually know. It's easier for a wide.
It's easier for a dB to convert to wide receiver
than it is for a wide receiver to convert to dB.
Would be would be my professional opinion. It's hard to
do either, I mean both. At the NFL level, it's hard.
(48:06):
Can you weigh in on this? I'm a Titans fan
and it was just reported that we turned down a
fourth round pick at the deadline from the Ravens for
King Henry. I go on Twitter and fans are outraged.
I completely understand that you knew you were going to
lose him for nothing, so get anything you can. However,
(48:26):
in my opinion, you don't trade legends for fourth round picks.
I hate the double standard of how fans want every
picker in the draft and trade all your picks during
the season. What's your opinion? Yeah, I mean I I
think because he signed a pretty good deal, they're gonna
(48:47):
end up getting a comp pick that might be a
fifth or sixth round pick. What the hell's the difference? Right,
the Ravens were in the AFC Championship game, so that
picks at the end of the fourth round, it's essentially
a fifth round pick. I don't think it's that big
a deal. If you didn't want to trade him to
me once you get in the second day, I'd say
(49:09):
that's kind of gross negligence. But when you're talking a
fourth round pick from the Ravens, what pick is that,
like one hundred and forty, one hundred and thirty something
in that range. I don't think. I don't think it's
that relevant. I don't think it matters that much either. Way,
(49:29):
and like you said, Rabel will still get there. That
was his guy. I'm fine with not trading him. Hey John,
congrats and the engagement. Appreciate it. Question for the mailbank.
I'm thinking of getting into sports betting. Any suggestions where
to start, what type of bets, who to follow, listen
(49:51):
to for advice bet sizing. Any info would help, obviously
gambling at any level. I went to Harvey's the other
night because we went to Lisa vander Pump's restaurant. It's
called Wolf. It's actually elite. I've watched a little vander
Pump last year. By no means do I really care
(50:12):
that much. It's kind of entertaining. Then it got really
drama filled and I'm like, I can't even follow this.
I will say this about a restaurant in Harvey's A
state Line in Lake Tahoe restaurant is really really good.
Well it's in the casino, so it's like, well, I've
just been the last three or four times. I actually
gamble a lot on golf during the football season, and
(50:34):
I used to gamble a ton on blackjack, and the
older I've gotten I like playing a roulette a little bit,
but blackjack I have just lost so like Vegas for
the for the Super Bowl, I lost like five grand
before he could even blink. So it's like, you know,
it would have been impossible in my younger days to
go through a casino and play blackjack without taking out
(50:57):
I don't know, four figures and just getting aggressive. But
I was like, you know what, I'll take out a
couple hundred bucks. I'll play. If I actually got up
immediately doubled and I couldn't walk away. She was looking
at me like, why don't you walk away? I'm like, eh,
I don't really walk away. It's why the casino usually
takes my money. But it didn't even matter. I just
I took out two hundred and fifty bucks, gambled. It
was up a little bit, down a little bit. It
(51:18):
was just kind of enjoyable thirty minutes. And I think
you have to have when you're gonna gamble. I don't.
It's relative to how much money you have. To some people,
one hundred dollars bet is a lot. To some people,
one hundred dollars bet is nothing, and five thousand dollars
bet is a lot. So you have to pick them
ount you're comfortable with losing, and when you do that,
(51:40):
just start off with not that much take you know,
if you can't afford it, a couple hundred bucks and
bet like twenty five dollars on a couple of games,
and if you win it, keep letting a ride, and
if you lose it, bet the next week, right, But
just pick a number that you can afford, put a
little action on it, see how you feel. And if
you like I feel it'll be a feeling that you'll
(52:02):
keep chasing the rest of your life. If you don't
like it, then don't do it. But you know, if
you're I don't know how old you are. I do
my gambling obviously on DraftKings. I to do it online.
It's really easy. But I would say bet something that
you're comfortable with doing early on. Don't try to get
crazy aggressive. And I would just when football season starts,
(52:25):
bet a couple games, but twenty five bucks, but fifty
bucks on a game or two. Say how you like it.
If you hate it, stop, if you like it, do
it more. Football's pretty easy. You just bet the point spread.
That's what I would do. So minus three plus three
plus six plus whatever big the team you like, bet
the point spread bet a little bit of money. Question
(52:47):
for the mailbag, what should the Vikings do about Jordan Addison.
He's clearly valuable, but reportedly the teams the team is
very frustrated with him after his incident. Wasn't really an incident?
Wasn't he asleep at the wheel? Wasted? I would say
that's a little more than an incident. There's this is
(53:10):
like parents, when a young player or a young kid
gets in trouble, who you value a lot. Obviously, when
you're a parently you can't trade your kid. But in
the Viking situation, he's drafted in the first round and
you watch him last year, he's pretty freaking good. He
had an incident a dui. It's more than embarrassing. It's
(53:31):
just an awful look and he's gonna get suspended more
than likely. So when the team is frustrated or disappointed,
like of course they are, but like they're not trading
him because Jordan Addison, when you're a really good wide
receiver and you were drafted in the twenties, you're one
of the best values in the league. So listen, I
(53:53):
think you just let him know this is unacceptable, Like
this can't happen. You're rich now, bro, if you're super
waight said, get an uber, get a car like you
don't need to be. You don't need to be cruising.
Do you think the Jets front office is low key?
Kind of glad Rogers is stirring up controversy and skipping
(54:13):
Mini camp and the DeVante Adams teaser. Take some of
the spotlight off that clown fiesta of a front office,
and how truly moronic it was to trade for a player.
You don't want to pay what he's asking, which is
why how he and the Eagles let him go in
the first place. Yeah, man, I they can't be not
(54:36):
thrilled if this if the Cowboys, you know, the Jets
are so chaotic that their headlines people are so numb to. Now,
that's why I don't even think it's a story. I mean,
it's obviously a story, but we've had this information for
a while. I don't know what anyone expected to change
if they are not gonna pay him. But if Jerry
(54:58):
had done this, if Kyle shit Anahan had done this,
think of some of the teams, if they had done this,
if Howie had been on the other side, they would
get crushed. If Belichick when he was around, had done this,
he'd be like, what are you fucking doing? I can't
fathom you don't get sympathy or anyone that doesn't call
(55:18):
you a moron for buying something or acquiring something that
you know needs to be fixed when you have no
intention on fixing it, which it clearly feels like. The
Jets like just thought that he would eventually be like, Yeah,
I'm cool with playing on my contract, even though all
I keep saying is I'm not man circus part of it.
(55:40):
They need him, you know, they just lost one of
their better pass rushers last year. The Eagles like he's
kind of important. It's why they trade it for him.
I'm curious if big contracts ever become the elephant in
the room when teams are having a bad season and
high paid players underperform. Do players call each other out
in the locker room? Well, coaches make comments in meetings
(56:02):
or just take taboo topic. I can't you know. I'd
never played in the NFL, so I can't pretend to
know the locker room dynamics. But these are humans. So
the amount of effort and time that guys put in
that to me It's one thing if you're just playing
(56:22):
bad because you're banged up, totally understand. But if you're
a high priced player and you're playing bad and it's like, yeah,
I don't think he's working that hard. I think he
got fat this offseason, he wasn't ready at the start
of the season, then yeah, I would imagine that's when
fight happens. Fights happen, And this is not the uh
these other leagues, man, These coaches, the position coaches talk
(56:45):
shit NonStop. Twenty four to seven, three sixty five. So
if you're a high priced player and you're underperforming as
an NO lineman, as a D lineman, as a wide receiver, coach,
as a running back. Obviously depends who your position. Some
position coaches are less confrontational than others. But if you
have a confrontational position coaches, that guy's gonna light you
(57:06):
up like a Christmas tree. Your coordinator, if he's confrontational,
and obviously the head coach, they're going to be in you.
Twenty four seven three sixty five. This is not the
NBA or coaches just everything's just rainbows and lollipops. You know.
It's like, I'm not allowed to yell at you You
get yelled at constantly, starting in high school football, through
(57:29):
college football, through the NFL, and the moment you get paid,
which is an awesome accomplishment, the expectations rise and when
you don't perform, especially if your team's losing, it gets
ugly and it gets ugly fast. And depending on who
your coach is, like I said, the hierarchy, the head coach,
the coordinator, the position coach, those are long days, man,
(57:52):
and you better start performing. And part of it gets
back to are you not performing because you have a
high ankle spray and you're battling through it, like totally understandable,
But are you not performing because you don't know the
playbook or you're out of shape, or you just don't
care that much. That's where when you cross that line,
(58:14):
it's a war zone and you deserve it, because I
don't care what industry you're you know you work in.
When you get paid a lot of money, expectations are
high and it's on you to give everything you have.
And that's all any of us can ever do is
give one effort. Right. If you're not good enough, you're
not good enough. It's pro sport. Sometimes you get beat
(58:34):
tip your hat, right, but are you giving max effort?
If you are, I think they understand that doesn't mean
they still push you. But when you start checking some
of those other boxes, then you've got serious problems on
your hands. And that's why you have so much turnover
in the NFL because you don't have much time. There
are there just aren't really scholarships in the NFL, clearly.
(58:56):
I mean, look at some of these massive contracts in
recent years that have been traded Russell Wilson, Matt Ryan,
and those are quarterback contracts which are way bigger than
all these other positions. So yeah, man, I just it's tough.
If you're playing well, you're gonna get yelled at in
football no matter what. I get yelled at constantly as
(59:18):
a scouts. It's a high contentious, lot of testosterone, a
lot of ego, a lot of money. Everyone's fucking on edge.
And that's if you're doing well. Start doing poorly, buckle
up because it is a long season for everyone involved.
(59:38):
Good questions, the volume
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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