3 & Out - Sirianni's relationship with Hurts, Bears Hard Knocks Debut, 49ers work out Chosen - The Herd with Colin Cowherd

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
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Speaker 1 (01:59):
What is happening my people?

Speaker 2 (02:00):
How are we doing? Good to be here, good to
be heard, good to be seen.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
I guess you're listening, But regardless, hopefully everyone's having a
good day.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
A lot going on in the.

Speaker 1 (02:14):
National Football League. We've had my guy from Fantasy Pros
on a couple of days ago. We dove into a
lot of things, all things fantasy. We had a podcast
yesterday that kind of broke down the different teams when
it came to Brandon Ayuk. Since that podcast came out,
I basically declined the Patriots offer slash They realized and

(02:35):
pulled out, so by the time you're listening to this,
who knows, maybe he's been traded. If he gets traded
sometime on Thursday, I will if I'm around, I'll surely
put up a instant reaction video on the YouTube channel.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
But who knows.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
I mean, this feels like it could just go on forever.
One of those things. Other than that, there was an
article today that came out about Nick Sirianni and Jalen
Hurts and their fractured, nonhealthy relationship in twenty twenty three.
So I read it and won't want to talk about it.

(03:14):
I watched Hard Knocks on Tuesday night. I might be
pulling a one eight on the series, and I've been
its biggest critic, but I've kind of changed my mindset
and I enjoyed it. So we'll talk a little bit
about that, and just ultimately, I think you just have
to look at it differently if you're a football junkie

(03:35):
and embrace what it's become, kind of like real Housewives
of the NFL A lot of I just kind of
want to dive into some the wayfront offices work during
training camp, when it comes to working veteran players out
that are available that are unemployed, in the mindset that

(03:55):
goes on behind that, and then just some some news
and notes around the league. You know, some guys are starting,
some star players are starting, and some star players are
not gonna play. So if you tell me Patrick Mahomes
and Joe Burrow are starting the game, I'm at least gonna.

Speaker 2 (04:10):
Watch the first couple series.

Speaker 1 (04:11):
I'll promise you that much, especially if Mahomes plays a
series where Burrow plays or excuse me, a quarter, so
you never know, because both those guys are starting their
preseason games, I'm in. Other than that, we'll have a
mail bag as well at John Middlecoff. At John Middlecoff
is the Instagram, So fire in those dms a lot
of you had, and keep firing in there. We got

(04:32):
Fugazi Friday. I think I'm gonna save Jim Harbaugh getting
basically if you're suspended for a year and show cause
can't recruit or anything for basically half a decade for
Fugazi Friday because I just that seems like a gigantic
Fugazzi going on. But other than that, any other housekeeping,

(04:56):
Like I said, we've had podcasts all week. Colin and
I did something earlier this week I'm sure we'll have
another one for Monday. So we'll just keep pumping them out,
keep swinging our pick, keep podcasting because that's what we do.
You can you can also find it all if you
like the video version. Everything's on YouTube as well, so
go check that out. If you listen on Collins Feed,
make sure you subscribe to three and out feed. Thank

(05:17):
you for everyone that has Appreciate everyone that listens. Keep
telling your friends. We're big word of mouth, grassroots organic
operation here, so spread the word, baby and uh and yeah.
Before we dive into football, though, I got to tell
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(05:39):
here's the thing with game time. What do you want
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promo code John if you want to go to a
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(06:21):
John for twenty dollars off. Down the game Time app
today last minute ticket's lowest prices guaranteed. Well, it was
flying around on social media today. I was scrolling Pro
Football Talk and I said, you know what, I'm gonna
read this article. It was on ESPN dot com and
it was about Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts. And obviously

(06:44):
the big story of the article was that they had
a fractured and unhealthy relationship in twenty twenty three, as
well as Jalen didn't respect him from an x's AND's standpoint.
At least, that was my biggest takeaway, and I would
say the most salacious part of the article by a

(07:06):
wide by a pretty wide margin, because let's face it,
the most important people. Once the season starts, the GM
doesn't have as much control. The owner can't do anything.
It's your head coach and your quarterback, and then falls
in line to your coordinators. Right, And Siriani's.

Speaker 2 (07:27):
Lucky to have a job. We all know that. I
thought he was gonna get fired after the.

Speaker 1 (07:31):
Season, so did most people, so did some people in
the Philadelphia Eagles building. But he survived. I don't think
it's possible. And I've been in these positions where you
work for somebody and you don't respect them. Football, like
a lot of jobs in this country, can be pretty aggressive,

(07:53):
can be contentious, can be uncomfortable like that's part of
any high level industry, especially ones like this where there's
a ton of money on the line. People have big
egos people. I guess football, more than most industries, a
lot of screaming back and forth. It's a violent sport.

(08:14):
It's full of aggressive people. So to me, people screaming
at each other. It's why when Aaron Rodgers and Garrett
Wilson or coaches screaming means nothing to me. Welcome even
the article with some of the Dion Sanders stories, Like
I don't care.

Speaker 2 (08:33):
This is not.

Speaker 1 (08:34):
Your normal workplace environment when it comes to interactions between
two people, whether it be two players, whether it be
a coaching player, whether it be a coaching coach. I'm
pretty numb to that means nothing to me. So there
have been clips over the years of like Jalen and
Sirianna yelling each other. I don't care, honestly, that's that's

(08:56):
what I expect, same with any team. It doesn't do
much fun for me. But when you lose respect for
a coach or for any person that's in a superior
position to you, whether you're making fifty million dollars like
Jalen hurts, or whether you're me and you and you
don't respect your boss. You don't have to agree with

(09:18):
someone above you all the time.

Speaker 2 (09:21):
But when I lose respect, like it's hard for.

Speaker 1 (09:23):
Me to listen to anything he says. And I think
the crutch of this whole thing was it all revolved
around x's and o's. Can you imagine, like I bet
Matt Stafford and Sean McVeigh always haven't had the greatest days.
Jimmy Garoppolo and Kyle Shanahan were at each other's next
non stop Patrick Mahomes Andy Reid feel like they have

(09:46):
the perfect marriage, but I bet there are some tense days.
Do you think those quarterbacks and I just use those
as examples. Ever once questioned those coaches ability to scheme offense,
those coaches intellectual capacity for football obviously not. And listen,

(10:09):
Sirianni is not like those guys. He can't call place.
We've seen him attempt to and it was a disaster.
Last season ended, you know, with the basically the building
on fire, and he hired a new offensive coordinator. He said,
I'm gonna be completely hands off. Even Mike McCarthy, who
has much maligned Cowboys coach last year of his contract,

(10:33):
people love and part of it is the brand all
over him twenty four to seven, three sixty five. Here's
what you cannot argue about Mike. He can call an offense,
just did last year. They were pretty good, and he
did for Green Bay many times. I know Mike McCarthy
can be an offensive coordinator. Nick Sirianni cannot. And part

(10:56):
of this article was about like people's start freelancing, people
start doing their own thing. No one was listening to
anyone because listen, there are a ton of coaches that
are successful in this league that don't call blaves John Harbaugh,
Jim Harbaugh, Dan Campbell. But one thing they are great
Mike Tomlin is controlling the room, keeping the chaos to

(11:21):
a minimum, holding a standard, driving people. There was a
comment in The Hard Knocks from Sabin, which we'll get
into in a minute, but Saban basically said people aren't
born to be champions, whether it be in football, whether
it be in life. People are born to be average,
get by, just survive. If you want them to be great,

(11:45):
you have to do it, meaning you have to coach it. So, Sirianni,
my question has always been, what does he do? Seriously,
he's some great motivator where you wouldn't put him in
the hardball Mike Tomlin, Dan Cambole category. He's definitely not
a scheme guy for an offense one thing. And Jim

(12:06):
Harbaugh is a former quarterback, but really he's like a hybrid.

Speaker 2 (12:10):
He feels more like a defensive lineman.

Speaker 1 (12:12):
Same with Dan Campbell former tight end. But if you
just saw him, he'd be like, oh yeah, I bet
he played d tackle back in his prime. John Harbaugh
and Mike Tomlin are defensive guys, but how often do
offensive head coaches are not super dialed in on the
scheme historically? Think about historically Mike Holmgren, Mike Shanahan, like

(12:35):
all the best offensive coaches, even if they take a
year off or whatever, can always call the offense. Even
this year, Brian Daball is like, I'm taking it back,
I'm calling the offense. Why He's done it countless times
in his past college ampro If my offensive head coach
isn't some elite leader, which let's face it, he's not,

(12:57):
can't dominate when it comes to schematics problems. So and
I'm not acting like Jalen's perfect takes two to tango.
They probably are both responsible.

Speaker 2 (13:09):
That's the way any situation usually goes.

Speaker 1 (13:14):
But how do you blame him? Like Jalen's had a
front row seat of elite schematics at Alabama where the
best of the best we're coaching him on the offensive
side of the ball, and he knew his head coach,
while a defensive guy, is arguably one of the greatest
defensive schematic guys in the history of the sport, especially

(13:34):
when it comes to the secondary in Nick Saban and
then he played for you know, a year and a
half with Shane Stiken calling the offensive plays, so he
knows what an elite play caller looks like. I just
think this thing now. I'm still high on the Eagles
because I think they have a lot of talent, but
one thing they hit on in this article, because everyone's
in good spirit right now, clearly the roster is really good.

(13:56):
What happens when they hit adversity, and it's the one
thing that gets me pause that will they turn on
this guy? I think most guys on the team like
Nick sit around it clearly personally, but like when you're
in the trenches and you're in the fire and you've
lost a couple of games, what could he bring to
the table besides some rudy Rudiger speech beside some crazy

(14:19):
analogy in front of the team on a Wednesday, I'm
talking about a game plan to give you an advantage.
That's what the great coaches on Sundays do. Urban Meyer
in college was an incredible recruiter and a great motivator,
but then he came to Sunday and none of that
shit really mattered because Monday through Saturday is a chess

(14:42):
game against your opponent. It's a thinking man sport. Of course,
you have to push guys and make sure you're practicing hard,
but you win and lose on Sunday by play calls
offensively and defensively. That's why I think it's such a
fascinating sport. It's why even beside the head coach, we

(15:03):
talk about the.

Speaker 2 (15:04):
Coordinators non stop.

Speaker 1 (15:06):
God, that was a dumb blitz. Why can't they cover
this guy? God, why are they running the ball so much?
Cause you know, I talked to someone the other day.
In baseball we argue so much, actually, Adam the producer
of this podcast, that you know, everyone's so critical always
of baseball managers in the playoffs. I can't believe Aaron

(15:29):
Boone or Dave Roberts pulled that guy from the game.

Speaker 2 (15:32):
You can't. It's not his choice.

Speaker 1 (15:35):
It's being run by the front office. Yet no one
in football, when the Niners grew up or the Chiefs
screw up, or the Broncos screw up on offense, ever
go like God, the GM You know for a fact
who called that play, and whether it worked or whether
it didn't, and whether that led to a winner, whether

(15:56):
that led to a loss. It's a huge part of this.
Once the game start. We talk a lot about individual
play calls. Individual play calls obviously, how a team starts,
how ready they are for a game, and then, like
most games in the NFL, they're relatively close, and a
play here or a play there are the difference in

(16:17):
the game, and Sirianni has nothing to do with that.
Jalen Hurts think about this, Like Tom Brady is a
good example.

Speaker 2 (16:27):
Him and Bill buttedheads.

Speaker 1 (16:29):
For a long time, but one thing that was never argued.
He never lost respect for him when it came to
x's and o's. That's insane.

Speaker 2 (16:41):
I mean, that's that's crazy.

Speaker 1 (16:44):
It'd be like working for you know, Warren Buffin and
like he does something to pish you off, Like yeah,
just I question his ability in the market.

Speaker 2 (16:52):
That's literally the.

Speaker 1 (16:53):
Job of a coach. That's why it always drives me
nuts when a head coach gets hired from a coordinator
position and then they no longer do that. Robert Salah
is a great example. He was literally hired because of
how good the defense was in San Francisco. Then he
gets the Jets, He's like, I'm just gonna be a CEO,
Like we didn't hire you to be a CEO.

Speaker 2 (17:14):
I want you to run the defense and do that.
You're the head coach.

Speaker 1 (17:19):
But the reason you're a head coach is because you
have an expertise doing one individual thing, and then they
stop doing it.

Speaker 2 (17:26):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (17:27):
I just articles like this don't necessarily make me nervous
because I'm not picking the Eagles to win the Super Bowl.
And last year was a joke with their coaching staff
and they still won eleven games. Now, obviously they started well,
but I still.

Speaker 2 (17:41):
Believe they're gonna be good.

Speaker 1 (17:43):
But this is something that doesn't just go away usually
when you I've been in position now, I'm never had
a guy of Nick Sirianni's like fame that I lost
respect for. But when you lose respect for someone above you,
you usually don't gain it batter. You usually don't gain
it back because deep down you know he just doesn't know.

(18:06):
This guy's not good enough. This guy can't help me.
Why because there's a part of you that thinks he's clueless.
Think about that. That's usually what it.

Speaker 2 (18:16):
Is, at least in my experience. Jalen Hurst won.

Speaker 1 (18:19):
One part of this article, which I actually thought was
kind of cool, is he called wink Martindale after the
season before the Tampa Bay playoff game and ask them
for advice, essentially like what do you see when you
coach against me? Obviously, Wink for two years was the
Giants defensive coordinator and they played him in a playoff game,

(18:41):
so he had game plan for him countless times. And
Wink said, in my forty years of coaching, I've never
had a player reach out. Well, you wouldn't have to
reach out if you could lean on your head coach,
Brock Purdy, Patrick Mahomes, all these all these got Matt
Stafford wouldn't have to reach out. They would just reach

(19:02):
out to their boss, to the guy that they lean on,
what do we need to do and they would have
the answers.

Speaker 2 (19:09):
That's literally their job.

Speaker 1 (19:11):
Now, I'm not saying it was wrong for Jalen to
do that. I think that's gives a lot of insight
into him as a guy, as a person driven to
be the best he can. I also think it gives
a lot of insight is he doesn't think anyone in
the building has the answers for him to help him ount,
which is pretty scary. And this is a very slippery

(19:32):
slope this year, like I said I thought he was
fired at the end of the season. I thought Bill
Belichick was gonna be their head coach And that is
definitely still on the table this year, and making the
playoffs will not be good enough if they're one and
done in the playoffs, and the same questions kind of
come back, what is Sirianni doing? I don't see, because

(19:54):
you're gonna get to the point like, is Jeffrey Learry
gonna give him an extension? And here's the other problem
for Sirianni. Now it's pretty well established if Kellen Moore
has success and their offense is awesome again like it
was under Shane Steiken. Because let's face it, if they
had a redo, which would have been crazy at the time,
but if they had a redo today, they would do it.

(20:15):
They would have fired Nick Sirianni for Shane Steiken. Obviously
that would have been unprecedented. It's they weren't in a
position to do that. But after a year looking back,
what the right move would have been. And if Kellen
Moore succeeds this year, it's him succeeding. Sirianni has nothing
to do with it. It's not like he's picking the players.

(20:36):
We know how he is the Grand Pooh ball when
it comes to personnel. So you just go, we just
paying this guy seven eight million dollars to be the
head coach on our website. So the Eagles are a
team that everyone's going to be watching, another team everyone's watching.
I've talked a lot of shit over the years about
Hard Knocks because I thought how great the show was

(20:57):
early on in the insight, how it motivated me. I
wanted to be part of professional football because really, how
cool it looked, you know, behind the scenes and personnel meetings,
deal with gms and head coaches. And then they just
completely got away from that and it became usually an
episode about some undrafted free agent, an episode about an
assistant coach. You just it became like a reality television

(21:21):
show for demies when it comes to football, and I
think I'm cool with that. Like I watched the first
episode of the Chicago Bears, and I enjoyed it, and
I went in with the mindset of, like, I'm not
looking for much. I'm not expecting much controversy. I'm not
expecting to see guys get cut as the show goes on.

(21:43):
I'm not expecting much definitely not expecting any GM head
coaching meetings about guys, struggling guys pissing them off like
we're not.

Speaker 2 (21:51):
Those days are over.

Speaker 1 (21:52):
But I thought it was an easy watch, and I
think the one thing they've done in the last two years,
it's reality television show, that's what it is, and they've
brought stars. Last year was Aaron Rodgers couldn't miss an episode.
This year it's Caleb Williams.

Speaker 2 (22:10):
And I liked it. I enjoyed it.

Speaker 1 (22:13):
I'm not gonna get too hyped or more bullish or
bearish on the team based on clips. Like Caleb Williams
was up and down in practices.

Speaker 2 (22:23):
He's a rookie. Football's hard. Their defense is good.

Speaker 1 (22:27):
Of course, that's what every quarterback would look like in
his situation. Eberflus his kind of new image, kind of enjoyable,
new beard haircut, in the facility, looking cool. I just
thought it was a really, really easy watch. And this
is the same guy that would have blasted that last year.

(22:49):
I think I've just embraced this is what it is,
and clearly.

Speaker 2 (22:53):
People like it.

Speaker 1 (22:54):
It's not going away. And the key to this show
is you can't have random teams. You have to have
have stars, and it feels like they got some stars.
And I like that first episode a lot. I've seen
just throughout the last couple of days, these teams work
out players, and today I saw a headline the forty

(23:15):
nine ers are working out.

Speaker 2 (23:17):
I don't know what the hell's name is now.

Speaker 1 (23:18):
It used to be Robbie Anderson, the speed stir from Temple,
and I think a lot of people go, oh, does
that mean they're trading brand? And hell, they might by
the time you're listening to this brand, and you could
be on another team.

Speaker 2 (23:30):
But when you work.

Speaker 1 (23:31):
In an NFL front office, the GM, the assistant GM,
and the pro scouts, they have a list and once
everyone gets cut, they will have a list of all
the practice squad guys. And you can always steal a
practice squad guy and put them on your roster. But
right now there's a list of free agents. Basically they're
called guys on the street. They're not technically on the

(23:53):
street like they're homeless. Most of them are veteran players
made some money and let's just the numbers can be
five guys, ten guys, whatever per position. So in training
camp or a preseason game, you lose a starter or
a backup, you might call that guy and want to
sign him. But part of what you do in training

(24:15):
camp you try to do, and you definitely do this
during the season, is you bring in guys at different positions,
especially different positions. If you have some injuries and put
him through a workout, you might not even sign him
that day. You just want to gauge this guy is
one of our top free agents at the wide receiver position,
at the safety position, at the running back position.

Speaker 2 (24:37):
See if he's in shape.

Speaker 1 (24:39):
Now there is a level of guy you know a
couple of years ago, like Odell Beckham on the street.

Speaker 2 (24:44):
He's probably not working out for you.

Speaker 1 (24:47):
But guys like Chosen Roddie Anderson, you put him through
a workout and you go, yeah, he still looks pretty good.

Speaker 2 (24:55):
If we needed, we'd be interested in signing him.

Speaker 1 (24:58):
And maybe you have a need that day, and you say,
but every day you go to practice. You know, now
it's all probably on your phone, but we used to
print out the hard sheet for Howie, and you're just
prepared that if you lose a guy, you immediately call
two or three of those guys and try to set
up a workout. And if the guy is at a
level in which he's not going to work out, you

(25:20):
might just sign him. But you have to be prepared
because one thing I learned when I was in the NFL,
and you see it every single year as just a
fan or someone that watches a lot of football, a
position of strength.

Speaker 2 (25:32):
Can go to a position of weakness.

Speaker 1 (25:35):
Like that within a couple snaps, one broken leg, one
ACL and then the backup gets dinged up. All of
a sudden, You're like, God, we loved our offensive line.
Now we were down two starters. So things can snowball fast.
You have to be able to pivot now. Clearly, within
a couple of weeks, things dramatically change the big cut down,
and there are a lot of names available. A lot

(25:56):
of guys go to practice squad. To take a guy
from a practice squad and put him on your active
you have to put him on your active roster if
he's not on your team. So once the season starts,
in the practice squads are created. If I want to
steal the number one practice squad guy at my board
on my board because I need a guard and I
am the Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers have

(26:19):
my favorite guard and he's on the practice squad. For
me to sign that guy, I have to put him
on my active roster. Now he can do two things.
Green Bay can basically go, we don't have a spot
right now in the active roster, but we drafted you
in the sixth round. You know we like you. We
will bump your salary up. You can bait and make
their salary a regular season salary, and the first time

(26:42):
we have an injury, you'll come right up. And he
can choose to say they also could just if they
have an opening, or you know, put a guy on
IR and elevate him as well. But a lot of
guys change from practice squads to regular rosters because you
get a huge pay race. There's a big difference between
make and whatever they make. I think I look last

(27:02):
year as like one hundred and fifty grand or something,
and the league minimum for a rookie is I think
like eight fifty or not eight hundred and twenty grand,
So you're looking at four xing your money, and obviously
you got to divide that by seventeen, but still it's
a big jump. And that's kind of what is about
to happen when the big cutdowns happen, and you also

(27:23):
see players, random guys get cut throughout the weeks now,
and typically that is you brought in some undrafted free
agents and you can tell pretty quickly that he's not
good enough, and so you just cut him. And you're
also doing him a favor because you allow him maybe
to get on with another team. There's a lot of
time left, Maybe he gets to play in some preseason games,

(27:45):
because once the season starts, if you're a practice squad guy,
your resume has stopped. Because the only way I can
evaluate you now, I can do it off college, right,
whatever my grade was for you in college, Like why
Jerry Jones traded for It wasn't the regular season action
that he played because he wasn't very good. It was
based on that they had a really high grade on him,

(28:06):
and they go, hey, we had a top ten grade
on this guy. We get him for a fourth round
or that seems like a good deal. It was very
transactional that way. But when you evaluate the practice squad guys,
all you have to go off is the preseason film
and now technology. If it's John Middlecoff, the starting linebacker
for the Houston Texans, Number fifty six.

Speaker 2 (28:26):
I type in all his.

Speaker 1 (28:27):
Plays and I watch him and if it gets to
the offseason and he gets cut and he hasn't played
a regular season game, that's the only thing.

Speaker 2 (28:35):
I have to go off of.

Speaker 1 (28:36):
So that's what all these teams are going to be doing,
is basically evaluating every player once the preseason starts, that
is a potential cut. So basically every guy that's drafted
from the fourth through the seventh round, any undrafted free
agent that got a signing bonus, and then any kind
of veteran player who is on the bubble to.

Speaker 2 (28:59):
Make the team.

Speaker 1 (29:00):
So when the cuts happened, if you go, god, we
really like this guy in the preseason and he got
cut and we need that position, we can acquire him.
So that it's a very very busy time watching preseason
film for the scouting community these.

Speaker 2 (29:15):
Next three weeks.

Speaker 1 (29:16):
It's actually gotten a lot easier with less preseason games
and that last week of preseason. You get a couple
of days in the last week of August, which when
I was there, you didn't have as much time because
you had four preseason games. And then after that fourth
preseason game that I think everyone played on Thursday, the
cuts happened within the next couple of days, and it's kind.

Speaker 2 (29:37):
Of a free for all. So you're just you're you are.

Speaker 1 (29:40):
Watching a ton of guys. Now technology has made it
easier with the ability to kind of, you know, just
pick targets or pick you know, times a corner was
thrown at, or pick tackles or whatever. But still, I mean,
you got to do a lot of work. And this
when you find some diamonds, maybe guy gets cut. You

(30:01):
getting the you know that was drafted in the fifth
round and they wanted to put in the practice squad,
and you go, I think this guy could be a
backup force right now. And it happens all the time.
And then we look back on six years, you're like, God,
that so and so cut them.

Speaker 2 (30:14):
It happens.

Speaker 1 (30:15):
I remember at the Super Bowl, I was hanging out
with Buddy from the Chiefs and we were talking about
Tarvarius Ward. He's like, yeah, the way we got him
was his rookie season. We traded the Cowboys for him.
And then obviously he went on to be a several
year starter for the Chiefs and he got paid a
lot of money by the forty nine ers.

Speaker 2 (30:31):
And again, it's not even it could happened to any team.

Speaker 1 (30:35):
A lot of teams cut guys that go on to
have careers other places.

Speaker 2 (30:38):
It's not like Jerry Jones' fault, but it just happens.
You never know.

Speaker 1 (30:43):
A couple other NFL news and notes, Andy Reid, the
Chiefs are pretty enjoyable preseason watch for as long as
the starters are playing, because you know they're gonna play,
he claims.

Speaker 2 (30:54):
And this can always change.

Speaker 1 (30:57):
Right if Patrick Mahomes they get they get the ball first,
he leads him on a touchdown drive.

Speaker 2 (31:02):
Andy could pull him, but.

Speaker 1 (31:03):
He did say they'll play a quarter. And I saw
a floor had a quote because I think Jordan love
Jordan love playing the preseason.

Speaker 2 (31:09):
I think he might.

Speaker 1 (31:10):
He said there's value, and I do agree with him.
There is value of preparing to play a game mentally,
of just getting in the mindset the two days before
a day before, the way you prepare in terms of
your food, your sleep, and just kind of having the
juices flowing, even if you only play a series that

(31:31):
lead up, so you don't just start the regular season
just zero to sixty. So Andy's playing his guys at quarter.
Joe Burrow is going to.

Speaker 2 (31:40):
Play so this is listen.

Speaker 1 (31:42):
I don't know how long and you never know. But
like if Joe Burrow plays three series, even if I
don't watch the game live, like I'll go YouTube it
or go to my NFL app and watch those three series.
It's fun Kyler Murray will not play. Don't totally blame
him last year coming off an injury justin fields because
and the calf is kind.

Speaker 2 (32:01):
Of being weird, is going to start the game for
the Steelers.

Speaker 1 (32:05):
And one story, it's really crazy that the Patriots during
the dynasty, and this happens during any dynasty. The Warriors
had the same thing with Curry, Klay and once Durant came.
When you are a great team, you can get guys
to take a little less to try to win. When

(32:29):
you suck, you have to overpay. And even then guys
aren't that interested. The Patriots chefter tweeted out that they
pulled out. I got news for you, Brandon, I you
didn't want to play there and wasn't going to accept
their contract. And Matt Mayoko, who is all over this story,

(32:50):
no team and again he might be traded by the
time you listen to this, offered him more than the
Patriots did the Niners obviously offering the least. The Steelers' number, actually,
I've heard was closer to the Niners. The Browns more
than the Steelers, and the Patriots offered the most.

Speaker 2 (33:08):
And you didn't want to go there.

Speaker 1 (33:09):
Don't totally blame them, right, The team's awful. Why would
you want to go from a great team to a
bad team. And it's not like it's some no tax state.
It's expensive to live there.

Speaker 2 (33:20):
But he said no.

Speaker 1 (33:22):
And then obviously once the Patriots find that out, they're like, yeah,
we're out, and listen, it's not the Patriots are going
through a rebuild. To me, they got very very lucky
that Brandon Ayuk had no interest. I thought the same
thing about Washington.

Speaker 2 (33:37):
You are in no business to make deals like this.

Speaker 1 (33:41):
You do not need to trade for players and then
pay them in year one of a rookie quarterback who
is not even gonna start. Just take a deep breath,
reset your team, and figure out what you have. You
need those assets. And it wasn't gonna cost the Patriots
a first round pick. But still, even if you had

(34:01):
to give like Matthew Judon in a second right, whatever
the trade would be I don't know.

Speaker 2 (34:06):
I'm just a hypothetical.

Speaker 1 (34:07):
Why would you give anything You're not in the position
if you can ever sign this guy and he's available
in the free agent market, then dramatically overpay. But when
you're awful and your roster isn't good and you're staring
down the barrel of being a team drafting in the
top five again, to do moves like this make no sense. Hell,

(34:28):
looking back, it didn't make sense for the for the
Raiders to trade for DeVante and they had Derek carr
It some pieces that the Patriots have no business even
sniffing around this one. And listen, you could argue sniffing
around that's part of these guys' jobs, Okay, but that
would have been that they got lucky to me that
IUK had no interest in going there, because is there

(34:50):
a team in the league that's more players away than
the Patriots? So to give up any draft capital Now
you could say, hey, they're getting rid of Kendrick Bourne. Now,
if the deal would have been Kendrick Bourne, Matthew Judon
and like a fourth man, they're like, we're not even
giving up that much. We're giving up a player that's
not gonna be on the team next year. Judon Kendrick Bourne. Whatever,
We're just replacing him with Ayuk and a mid round pick.

(35:13):
But I don't know if the Niners are accepting anything
less even with players than you got to include a
second day pick. And I think the Patriots got lucky
when it comes to this transaction. Okay, mail back time

(35:34):
at John middlecoff Instagram. You guys fire in the DMS.
You know the drill wide open baby. To answer your questions,
start with lon MVP mailback question. Should we just call
the MVP Award the quarterback Award at this point?

Speaker 2 (35:51):
Yes, I get it.

Speaker 1 (35:51):
Quarterback is the most important position, but they have to
throw the ball running back, tight end, wide receiver. An
average game manager quarterback will look like God if he
has an amazing wide receiver. Should we just stop wasting
our time having non quarterback candidates when we know the
quarterback will always win the award? I don't think it's

(36:13):
gonna change like I don't think they'll ever change the
name of the award. But if you do like the
gamble and dabble in a little future MVP bet, I
think you'd have to be pretty nuts to better on
anyone but I would say five players this year, right.
Obviously mahomes Lamar Lamar would be pretty difficult given that

(36:34):
he just won and he's already won two. Alan Burrow
I think I haven't even looked at the odds yet.
You know, if Jalen Hurts bounces back, Purty Goff could put.

Speaker 2 (36:44):
Up huge stats.

Speaker 1 (36:46):
So yeah, it just feels like we know the group
six to seven guys c J. Stroud has a big year.
It's like, what would like Miles Garrett, Nick Bosa or
TJ Watt have to do, honestly to win the MVP?
Twenty seven sacks? What would a wide receiver have to do?
One hundred and fifty catches, twenty three hundred yards, thirty touchdowns?

(37:08):
I mean, what, what's even? It's not I hear you, bro,
I it just kind of is what it is now.
We could argue about it all we want, but it's
definitely not going to change, and its kind of the
world we live in. I' let's see you all the time.
Question for the mailbag, where would you rank Calvin Johnson

(37:29):
Megatron on an all time wide receiver list? The reason
for my question is because I see all the time
on social media people talking about all time wide receivers,
more specifically from the twenty tens. More often than not,
I see people talk about Julio Jones, ab Larry and
even Des Bryant, but hardly ever Megatron. He's not even mentioned.

(37:52):
So where would you rank him among all time receivers?
As a Lions fan who grew up watching that era,
He's my Barry Sanders, and I feel like he doesn't
get enough credit. That's a great question. It's hard because
I don't have like a list of every wide receiver.
I mean, the same guy's kind of come to your mind, right,

(38:13):
Jerry Rice, Randy Moss one two. I think a lot
of people go Randy Moss is the most talented wide receiver. Obviously,
Jerry's records speak for themselves. Those guys are just in
a category kind of their own. I think the easier
way for me to do it because I I can't
speak on the seventies or eighties really and in the nineties,

(38:33):
like the best wide receivers, Chris Carter was incredible, Michael
Irvin was dominant. But in my football watching time like
late high school through now, so like late nineties to now,
you know Terrell Owens. I think the problem with him
is he was you know, thing that Megatron or Larry
fitz had is they operated like they were Peyton Manning

(38:55):
or Tom Brady, like the character, the leadership, just how
much everyone loved him. Teo was a pretty big pain.

Speaker 2 (39:02):
Now. He was a dominant player.

Speaker 1 (39:05):
So if we just go the last twenty five years,
you know, Antonio Brown six year stretch, a little like
Terrell Owens, he'd leaves such a negative taste in your
mouth because of how weird it got at the end.
But he was as good as a guy. So I'm
not doing ranking here. I'm just using other names to me.
Megatron obviously as an all time great player. Larry Fitzgerald's

(39:27):
unique right because he clearly, like Megatron, was a dominant player.
But at times when it's quarterback position was like what
is going on here? And that happened to Larry more
than Megatron, because at least he got Stafford. But when
Larry was in the playoffs, the dude turned into like
a jack to Jerry Rice. I mean, he was an
unstoppable force. So I would have Larry right there with Megatron.

(39:52):
Uh Antonio Brown. I think Tyreek Hill is one of
the best players I've ever seen any position in the NFL.
That's why the argument with everyone going Tyreek Hill being
number one. Did you notice no one was really saying that.
It's like, who has Lamar Jackson above Patrick Mahomes when
we just saw the two guys play. One guy put

(40:13):
on a masterclass? Yeah, what's going on?

Speaker 2 (40:15):
But Tyreek Hill?

Speaker 1 (40:16):
I mean there were stretches. There were stretches in twenty
twenty three. It's like, who are the two best players
in the league. You're like Tyreek and Miles Garrett. I
mean there were stretches in that season where like, these
are the two best players in the league. I mean
you can watch a month You're like, is Trent Williams
the best player in the league. So I'd put Megatron

(40:38):
on a very short list of and I'm sure.

Speaker 2 (40:40):
I'm forgetting guys.

Speaker 1 (40:44):
I'm trying to think Manning who he played. You know,
I wouldn't put Reggie Wayne on that category. Marvin Harrison
played in the nineties two. I think he was drafted
in ninety six. Guys, Yeah, I think those are some
names that jump out. I'm sure I'm leaving some out,

(41:05):
but it just gets very very.

Speaker 2 (41:09):
Cluttered quick.

Speaker 1 (41:11):
You know Davante has an incredible five six year stretch.
Then the only reason to slow down is because it's
quarterback play. But that's the thing with the wide receiver,
it's not in your control. Same with a running back
a little bit. The all time greats like Barry Sanders,
Walter Payton like they're flourishing no matter who they're playing with.
But most guys like you put them behind crappy offensive lines,

(41:32):
it ain't gonna be great. You are dependent even a quarterback.
You are dependent on your play color, unless your name's
like Peyton Manning.

Speaker 2 (41:40):
Mail back.

Speaker 1 (41:41):
I'm from Cape Town, South Africa. I'd love to go.
I was thinking a few days ago. You know who
is the best job in the world. Trey Lance. If
he's utter trash, he gets to retire. He made almost
thirty five million dollars. Just think of the life you
could set for yourself with that level of cash. An

(42:03):
absolute best case scenario, he could be a career backup
making two million dollars a year for another ten years. Also,
if he retires, you said he's a high character guy.
He works and has connections as in the industry where
he could one day work himself up to a salary
of a couple hundred thousand dollars. These are the type
of options and privileges I think players disregard when they
complain about the unfair criticisms and the pressures of what

(42:24):
they do. Yeah, I mean, I think you said it
pretty well.

Speaker 2 (42:30):
It's hard.

Speaker 1 (42:31):
I've seen some clips where he's looked terrible, and then
I've seen clips where he looks good. Preseason game is
gonna be pretty big for him. Pretty clear he's still
the number three quarterback. He can't beat out Cooper Rush,
who's actually a pretty good backup quarterback. But is Trey
lance of backup quarterback in the NFL.

Speaker 2 (42:47):
But like you said, he he made it the moment
the Niners.

Speaker 1 (42:49):
Pulled the trigger and drafted a number three overall. Now,
if the Niners hadn't drafted him, he was going in
the top ten. Someone would have drafted him, and someone
would have been pretty disappointed in the draft pick.

Speaker 2 (42:59):
But that's that's the way the draft works.

Speaker 1 (43:01):
If you get drafted in the top ten and there
are players every single year that never become very good
in the top ten, you make a lot of money.
Question for the mailbag, I'm in a family football pool
with my mom, dad, and brother. It's super super simple.
We all take turns snake drafting eight football teams each

(43:24):
for the regular season. Whoever has the most cumulative wins
for the season wins.

Speaker 2 (43:30):
Easy as that.

Speaker 1 (43:32):
This year, I'm drafting first overall, meaning I get picks one, eight, nine, sixteen, seventeen,
twenty four, twenty five, thirty two. I mind Detroit forty nine,
Ers or Chiefs with my first pick. But after that,
what team should I target with each pick? Once again
for overall regular season wins? Yeah, I think if you're

(43:54):
looking for I think Detroit feels like a team that's
gonna win twelve plus. The Niners got a lot going on,
wouldn't totally be scared. I think the Chiefs would scare
you a little bit, just because at this point in time,
what do they have to prove in October and November.
I think they'll try early, try late, and they could

(44:16):
go to cruise control a little in the middle.

Speaker 2 (44:18):
They're the team you bet on it in the playoffs.

Speaker 1 (44:21):
I would say that the Rams would be a team
that could be pretty interesting. The Rams, the Packers. If
you like the Eagles to win the division, that could
be eleven twelve wins. I would say mid tier teams
that might people might be off. The scent of would be,
you know, the Bears are a team. I think the
Saints are a team. People act like the Saints blow

(44:42):
they went nine to eight last year and their offense
was a joke. Well, I was doing a little research
Texan with some people on the staff said the offense
with Kubiak is a lot. Derek's a lot more comfortable
not acting like they're gonna win the super Bowl. But
I don't think it's crazy the Saints win ten games
because everyone and their mother's picking the Atlanta Falcons. I'm

(45:04):
just supposed to bet that Kirk Cousins and Raheem Morris
are just a lock. I'm not acting like Derek Carr
and Dennis Island a great either, But what the hell's
the difference? What is the difference. Cousins has been a
better player than Derek, but he's coming off in Achilles.
Raheem Morris hasn't been a head coach in fifteen.

Speaker 2 (45:20):
We just don't know.

Speaker 1 (45:22):
So I just I think the Saints are a team.
I would say I don't know if the Bengals were
like off the scent, I would be a little less
bullish on like could the Ravens win ten games this
year instead of like thirteen.

Speaker 2 (45:40):
I don't think the Ravens are the number one seed.

Speaker 1 (45:41):
I mean they lost a lot, they got They're depending
on a lot of new young players. Is is there
a chance that Bengals win that division?

Speaker 2 (45:52):
Now?

Speaker 1 (45:52):
The one thing the Ravens draft really well, so even
when you haven't heard of the guy and then he comes,
he becomes a five year starter.

Speaker 2 (45:59):
Question for the me.

Speaker 1 (46:00):
I went to OU in twenty seventeen to twenty twenty two,
had my fair share of fun during my time. I
saw some of the most dominant individual college talents in
Baker Kyler and Jalen Hurt's Ceedee Lamb and Caleb Williams
was levels above all of them. He's got that situation
magic like Mahomes combined with all the talent in the world.

(46:23):
I would be shocked considering his talent combined with his weapons.
If they aren't competing to win the division, even with
the Lions and the Packers, who are elite teams in
their own right, my question is if I told you
the Bears made the NFC Championship, game in that division,
how would we be talking about Kayleb Williams and his
rise disort um.

Speaker 2 (46:44):
I think he could win the MVP.

Speaker 1 (46:46):
But when you watch hard Knocks, and this is why
I always pumped the brakes and Saban brought this up. Now,
Caleb has an element that Peyton didn't have because he
can scramble.

Speaker 2 (46:57):
Peyton couldn't move.

Speaker 1 (46:58):
Actually, Peyton was a better athlete like ninety eight than
he obviously is became when he was older.

Speaker 2 (47:04):
It's really really difficult for young players.

Speaker 1 (47:07):
The play calls are really intense, a lot of moving parts.
Defenses are way more complex in the NFL. You are
gonna have ups and downs, and you are gonna go
through periods where your confidence just I would say sways.
You might not lose it, but you just it's tough

(47:29):
no matter what you do. The moment you get a
new job, that is hard. It can be intense early on,
and then you might look back a year or two
later you're like, God, this is way easier now, of
course it is. Most humans learn by doing. You get
better with experience. I think expecting the world of this

(47:50):
team as a rookie. It's why I think the hype
on Jayden Daniels, like the NFL is so hard. All
the shitty teams are good. It's like, Okay, they're playing
the second worst team in his division, which in the
equivalent of that in college is like when LSU plays
like Mississippi State, Well, he's playing the Giants and they
got Brian Burns, Dexter, Lawrence dibbideo like, they got some

(48:15):
dudes who can move like you can move and hit
you and hurt you.

Speaker 2 (48:20):
So I just think that it's Saban was right.

Speaker 1 (48:25):
It's it's unfair the expectations that these guys.

Speaker 2 (48:28):
Have to deal with.

Speaker 1 (48:29):
It's it really is. He could have a fantastic rookie
season and they win eight games. Now you would say,
how does that happen? Because they were what seven wins
last year and Justin Fields was a quarterback, So maybe.

Speaker 3 (48:44):
That's not plausible.

Speaker 1 (48:45):
Maybe if he is really good, they win ten, assuming
their defense is really good, which I mean it could be.
They got a lot of talent on defense for sure.
Not a question but more of a statement. I don't
think he should be paid justin Jefferson money. The wide
receiver for Bubble is going to burst eventually, and don't
want to lock up your salary cap right before you

(49:06):
have to sign perty. They have control of him for
the next three years without a long term deal, so
I think they should make you play under the option
and franchise tag him next year.

Speaker 2 (49:16):
He won't retire.

Speaker 1 (49:19):
I think one thing that Jake Rosenberg, when we had
him on, who's been dealing with these contracts for years, he.

Speaker 2 (49:24):
Hit on a pretty good point.

Speaker 1 (49:26):
He said, player empowerment has never been stronger. And it's
not the NBA where you just get your way. Kevin Durant,
I only want to play for the Suns, and he
ends up on the Suns. That's not quite how it works.
But forever teams would just be like you're playing on
the fifty year option, you're playing on the franchise tag.
I don't think coaches and gms want to deal with

(49:48):
that anymore. In terms of a pouty player, and if
the reason you are making him do that, it's because
you're questioning paying him well. If he pouts and then
plays bad, his value goes down, but his price tag
for you doesn't go down because you still have to
franchise him, and that numbers high. So I think a
lot of teams are like, yeah, we're not dealing with this,

(50:10):
so we essentially trade you now for the player. Empowerment
comes in on this and I saw a chefter on.
It was on my social media, it was on Twitter,
but he said it on TV. He said, essentially, a
Yuke has a no trade clause because for you to
execute a trade, like they had a deal in place

(50:32):
with the Patriots, and Iyuke said no, because I'm not
signing the contract. So the Patriots aren't gonna do whatever
that deal was. Let's just let's use hypothetical. Kendrick Bourne
coming off in ACL Matthew Judon who wants a new
contract and a second round pick, and I was like, yeah,
we'll do that deal. And then here's we'll give I
you thirty million dollars a year and I us like, yeah,

(50:52):
I'm not signing it. The Browns. The Niners have a
deal in place with the Browns Amari Cooper in a
third round pick. Let's just again, I don't know what
the deal is. I'm just using hypotheticals. If I you
signed their contract, which they have negotiated with them. He's
a Brown, he clearly is hesitant to do that. So

(51:13):
like he controls some of this. The problem is he's
just kind of sitting there in no man's land. It's like,
I only want to go to the Steelers. And that's
where it's like, well, the Niners aren't comfortable with the
package they're getting back from the Steelers, so nothing's happening.
That's where I think a lot of this kind of
animosity weirdness, because he controls some of it. They don't

(51:37):
want to just I think they'd be more likely. It's like, Okay,
if you're gonna stay, you're making fourteen million dollars this year,
watch you, we'll give you a race. We'll make that
fourteen twenty three because they got like thirty plus million
dollars in cap space and we'll just play out this
season or.

Speaker 2 (51:52):
Twenty five million or whatever.

Speaker 1 (51:54):
I don't see how they give him twenty five million
when Deebo's making twenty That's where it gets kind of weird.

Speaker 2 (51:59):
Whole situation. It's just pretty bizarre.

Speaker 1 (52:11):
I'm glad you haven't answered my question yet. Instead, may
I rephrase, I guess I missed this one. I miss
some of you guys questions. There's a ton of dms
we get. It's hard to just keep track of them all,
so I'm trying I don't pass anyone on purpose. With
the salary cap making things interesting for every team from
year to year, the teams have the choice to spend

(52:31):
on the cap how they see fit. Doesn't that just
render the draft kind of useless? Caleb Williams would not
go to a team that is strong at quarterback with
a monstrous contract, so the team that would have been
drafting him anyway is courting him during a theoretical free
agent signing period along with the veterans of the league,

(52:53):
and now Kleb. Williams would have chosen Cliff in Washington
rather than being forced to Chicago. We have the same
kind of try to pick where we want to work
as long as the feeling is a mutual, don't we?
Why take that away from the players? Do you agree
that the draft has become obsolete with the salary cap? No?
I don't because the draft, this whole thing is a

(53:15):
reality television show. That's how all these guys make their millions.

Speaker 2 (53:18):
Of dollars with us watching.

Speaker 1 (53:20):
Well, the season is only six months long, so how
do you keep everyone engaged? We have the combine, you
have free agency and then the draft. Which is one
of the biggest television shows in America, and that's led
by the NFL. So to me, it serves not only
a purpose from a marketing tool, it also like Caleb Williams,

(53:43):
just as he said on Hard Knock's, got twenty five
point five million dollars and in this specific situation, okay,
he could have gone to Washington because his buddy' cliffs there.
Use the example of, like, we have the opportunity to choose.
Let's just use coming out of college. What's the most
money you've ever heard of of a guy making out
of college in engineering, in sales and whatever. Maybe the

(54:08):
number is way higher now than when I was coming.
I mean I didn't I don't think I knew anyone
that made a hundred grand now that was two thousand
and eight. But I think it's a little different, Like,
I'm sorry, the rules are different when you get twenty
five point five million dollars signing bonus. Sorry, you don't
get to choose where you play, and I'm sorry, Chicago
want the worst place to play. And he looks pretty

(54:28):
happy there, and it's a pretty incredible situation. So yeah,
I'm not one of those anti draft people. I fucking
love the draft. I see its value from the league standpoint,
I see its value from a fan standpoint. It creates
hope for the bad teams. So yeah, I mean, I.

Speaker 2 (54:48):
I don't know what to tell you. I don't.

Speaker 1 (54:50):
I don't look at it that way at all because
I feel I don't feel bad.

Speaker 2 (54:54):
I mean, I just don't.

Speaker 1 (54:57):
I'm not one hundred percent certain you will see this.
But a team and that's not brought up that could
fill the things the Niners want could be the Raiders
Adams for a Yuke. They have picks and players. Adams
would gladly work on a long term deal with the Niners.

Speaker 2 (55:13):
Davante Adams is.

Speaker 1 (55:14):
A Raider fan, born and raised the reason when the
Packers and him were not going to get a deal done,
he said, I want to go to the Raiders, and
the Raiders wanted him, and it worked out. I don't
think Davante now, maybe the first three weeks of practice
he's like, we're not going to win with these two quarterbacks,

(55:34):
so maybe he would change his tune. If the Raiders
offer Davante Adams for Brandon Ayuk, straight up, the Niners
would do that trade. They would fucking Kyle Shanahan would drive.

Speaker 2 (55:47):
Brandon Ayuke to Vegas.

Speaker 1 (55:49):
Davante Adams is in a different level than Brandon Nyuk.
DeVante Adams is one of the best players the last
like twenty plus years. He is a great wide receiver.
So if that was available, which it is not, Like,
what's the difference. Why would the Raiders get rid of
DeVante for a Yuk? So I got a younger player

(56:10):
who's not as good, who's gonna actually cost more per year? Like,
what's I already got a wide receiver. Wide receiver is
not my problem?

Speaker 2 (56:18):
Quarterback?

Speaker 1 (56:19):
Is Niners would do that deal in a New York minute.
I mean think they're cool with getting Amark.

Speaker 2 (56:27):
Cooper Devanta Adams.

Speaker 1 (56:31):
If the forty Niners at DeVante Adams with Deebo and
Kittle and McCaffrey's bad.

Speaker 2 (56:35):
Calf, they've been pretty good shape. But it's not what
it makes no sense.

Speaker 1 (56:39):
I mean that was flying around on the the old
Reddit pages.

Speaker 2 (56:41):
Like last week. It's not gonna happen. Mail back question.

Speaker 1 (56:47):
Is there a world where the Steelers actually start fields
over Wilson if Russell is healthy, because Mike's pretty old school,
you know, Mike's a little bit of a throwback.

Speaker 2 (57:01):
I think, no matter.

Speaker 1 (57:02):
What, he would try at least for a couple games.
Russell Wilson veteran player proven more you just if you
have to just dink and dunk, he can do that.
The wild card that is feels. I think if Russell
is healthy.

Speaker 2 (57:18):
Starts week one.

Speaker 1 (57:19):
Now, I don't know how long that lasts, but I
do think that Tomlin is giving him week one and
probably I mean, give or take the first month, no
matter what. Now they start owing three to zero to four,
quick cook if they're two and two.

Speaker 2 (57:33):
But it looks pretty.

Speaker 1 (57:34):
Terrible quick cook again fields playing this preseason game.

Speaker 2 (57:38):
What does he look like?

Speaker 1 (57:40):
I keep pushing fields, but he can't be throwing balls
into the dirt. He can't be taking sacks left and right.
I mean, he has to function, he has to play well.
He has to kind of work in this offense. I'm
not trying to speak out of both sides of my mouth,
but it's on him to do some stuff too. But
I think, no matter what, if he's healthy, Russell gets
the start. And I'm not saying that's the right move.

(58:03):
It'll play yourself out, but I think Tomlin's gonna do
that old school guy, veteran player, proven.

Speaker 2 (58:10):
A lot star.

Speaker 1 (58:14):
Just finished episode one of Hard Knocks, and from what
I've seen of Caleb so far, I'm worried. He seems
meek and shy, unconfident, and I don't see him being
a vocal leader. Just doesn't seem like the guy to
lead a team. Pretty has a similar vibe, quiet, soft spoken,
but he makes plays, and we've yet to see what
Caleb looks like. I think it is very, very difficult

(58:39):
for any young human being to walk right in to
any situation an office, a sales team, a football team
and be the alpha and point and tell everyone what
to do. I have a hard time judging him for
not like screaming at guys. You don't get to act

(59:00):
like Tom Brady or Peyton Manning day one of training
camp your rookie year, just like the CEO of a
company probably wasn't acting like that if he'd been there
for twenty years his first year.

Speaker 2 (59:14):
There's a hierarchy of life.

Speaker 1 (59:17):
And there was a clip in the Hard Knocks where
I don't know if it was DeAndre Swift, it might
have been the backup running back who's like, hey, get
on these guys, It's not easy being one of the
youngest guys and having all these people looking at you, who,
in that scenario are filthy rich. A lot of them

(59:39):
have had success, gone to Pro Bowls, and then you
have to tell them what to do. Now, as time happens,
you become more comfortable.

Speaker 2 (59:46):
It's easy.

Speaker 1 (59:47):
The Peyton Manning we saw year five was that the
Peyton Manning day two of training camp as a rookie year.
I'm not saying Caleb's going to be Peyton Manning. I
can't judge his personality the first couple of practices.

Speaker 2 (01:00:01):
Of the training camp. That's just not fair and it's
just stupid. Just put yourself in that scenario.

Speaker 1 (01:00:07):
Whatever you do for a job, think about your first
day at the job. Actually, regardless how old you are.
I'm not even talking about right out of college. I'm
talking you could be forty and you just started a
job last year. The first couple months of the job,
are you bosting everyone around? Probably you're kind of easing

(01:00:28):
your way into stuff, and this is the time to
ease your way into stuff. I actually think his personality
I felt a little he felt a little more normal
than I felt when I saw him at USC get
him around the guys he's got, you know, DJ Moore, Keenan,
Cool Cool Cats, Jalen Moore. Ebra Flus I thought was

(01:00:48):
a big winner. I know a lot of people have
DM me about day Ball's performance in The Hard Knocks.
I thought it was very football guy, like a lot
of swear words, a lot of feed up on the desk,
a lot of just being in sweats all the time.
And then you get Ebraflus, who just like, this guy's
pretty impressive. I'm not saying I'm coming around on him
that he's gonna be some star head coach. Pretty likable.

(01:01:12):
I could see why people like Matt Eberflus, Nick Saban
likes him. Players seem to like him, seems.

Speaker 2 (01:01:19):
I thought it was.

Speaker 1 (01:01:19):
A really really good showing for ebra Flus in the
first episode.

Speaker 2 (01:01:23):
I really did.

Speaker 1 (01:01:25):
And I'm not acting like they should give him an
extension yet, but I understand what I like this guy.
And sometimes you watch a show that's part of entertainment
you want and that's what the people that produce the
show want to get. Whatever show. They want you to
like some people and hate other people. It's a natural
reaction for us. Oh, they're probably people listening to this podcast,

(01:01:46):
I can't stand this fucking guy. I don't mind as
long as you're listening so different that you know you
might watch, You're like, I hate this Capleb Williams guy,
he's pretty polarizing. I don't find him as polarizing at
this point, like now the'se with the Bears.

Speaker 2 (01:02:01):
I just want to see how good he is.

Speaker 1 (01:02:02):
I want to see what he looks like as a player,
and you guys know where I stand, Like, I think
my expectations for him aren't as crazy high as some
of these other people. Now, I had Fitz Morris, the
fantasy pros guy who has Jayden Daniels above him, I
would not do that. I don't even think the gap
between those two players. I know Jayden had a great year.
He's throwing to Malik Neighbors, who all reports come out

(01:02:25):
of training camp. This guy looks like fucking Jerry Rice
meets Terrell Owens. I mean, he's incredible. Brian Thomas Junior,
who was awesome. They have the star left tackle that
that team was stacked. Not acting like he's not going
to be any good in the NFL. But I think
sometimes that happens the gap between Caleb Williams and Jayden

(01:02:45):
Daniels their entire lives up until nine games last year
has been really wide and the NFL is really really hard.
So I just I'm not a believer in Cliff Kingsbury's offense.
And I know Shane Waldron and that style of offense,
the play action, the boots, the waggles with a guy

(01:03:07):
like Caleb, some of those they did a little montage
of like five or six of Caleb's throws on the
run and some of these dps are just on the
sideline going what the hell was that? Because his arm strength,
his ability to scramble, and that's a lot of modern
day NFL, and he can be really accurate on the move.
And then you got Keenan, Allen, DJ Moore, guys that

(01:03:28):
get open with these, and you got Roma Doonze who
you can kind of throw it anywhere. He can make
just acrobatic catch it. I guess Keenan can too that.

Speaker 2 (01:03:37):
If Caleb is good this year, they could be a
really really explosive passing game. I think.

Speaker 1 (01:03:41):
As the question would be the offensive line, which I
got news for you, most offensive lines.

Speaker 2 (01:03:48):
Aren't great most teams.

Speaker 1 (01:03:50):
If you got their GM on the horn right now,
and go, how many offensive linemen on your team do
you feel good about? I would say the over under
would be.

Speaker 2 (01:04:00):
Two and a half. I bet most teams.

Speaker 1 (01:04:02):
Like, we really like our left tackle and our right
guard centers solid left guard.

Speaker 2 (01:04:07):
We'd like to replace right tackle pretty ify.

Speaker 1 (01:04:10):
Most teams don't go like, yeah, I got four Hall
of Famers and a really solid starter.

Speaker 2 (01:04:16):
It's not the way it works. So if your thing is.

Speaker 1 (01:04:19):
Don't love our offensive line, as long as they're functional
in your offense and you have a couple like long
term starters, like yeah, it's on your offensive line.

Speaker 2 (01:04:27):
Coach to improve the random guys. But most teams do
not have four Pro bowlers.

Speaker 1 (01:04:33):
It's why whenever people complain about their second corner, it's like, yeah,
welcome to the NFL. Most times your second corner isn't
that great. Like most guys aren't six or five long hair,
jack edabs, super rich, I mean really smart, nice guy,
great businessman, and he can sing like you usually don't

(01:04:54):
get it all. That's not the way it happens. And
I think a lot of people complain with like every
team has a weakness, and unless you're a great team,
you're gonna have several weaknesses, and a weakness is usually
a group, right.

Speaker 2 (01:05:12):
It's like, yeah, we like one of our three.

Speaker 1 (01:05:13):
Linebackers I've worked in these spots. You're constantly looking like, yeah,
I think these three guys are better than the guy
we got. Now, maybe the coach likes him, the position
coach likes him, and he knows the playbook. So it's
not like you cut him and.

Speaker 2 (01:05:25):
Sign that guy.

Speaker 1 (01:05:26):
But that's like you're not thrilled about most players. Let
me rephrase that. I bet the Bears are bullish on
a lot of guys on their team, but they need
to show it when the bats come on. Like the
overwhelming majority of the NFL. Most guys in the NFL

(01:05:46):
are not DJ mooreton In, Keenan, Allen, question marks all.

Speaker 2 (01:05:50):
Over the place. You got to do it all the time.

Speaker 1 (01:05:52):
And even the good players like Keenan's been doing it,
like I know every year if he's healthy, he's gonna
be in the mix for the Pro Bowl and more
likely go. But Jalen Johnson's a good example, like yeah,
he's unreal year. Are you gonna do it the next three?
Are you gonna go to like four straight Pro Bowls.
Where's gonna be up and down career? What are we doing?

Speaker 2 (01:06:11):
You got paid, Let's see what you got. I don't know.
I mean, I hope.

Speaker 1 (01:06:15):
I root for good players, but that's what great players do.
Like every year, TJ. Watt, Miles Garrett, Travis Kelsey. These
guys are healthy, they're kicking ass.

Speaker 2 (01:06:25):
And taking names. And then there are a lot of players.

Speaker 1 (01:06:27):
You go, oh, this guy made a Pro Bowl this year.
Then he didn't make a Pro Bowl for a couple years,
then he made a Pro Bowl.

Speaker 2 (01:06:32):
What makes the NFL so fascinate The great reality television
show on television.

Speaker 1 (01:06:35):
Have a great day, Audios, the volume

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