3 & Out - Falcons bench Cousins, Is Penix the answer, Coach vs. Ownership - The Herd with Colin Cowherd

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. What is going on everybody? How are we doing?
Probably better than the Atlanta Falcons who just benched their

(00:25):
ninety million dollar quarterback Kirk Cousins and are going to
the lefty Michael Pennix. So the story broke on Tuesday night.
We had already recorded all the stuff with Jackson for
cough on campus, so I thought, you know, it's not
say the Cowboys or the Packers. We can wait a
day and I'll give some thoughts on this situation. We

(00:46):
have a Charger Denver game on Thursday Night football, one
of the last Thursday night football games of the year.
A lot of buzz on the big guy Mike Vrabel,
who is a hot commodity there according to the Internet,
which makes sense, right Belichick off the market. Mike were
able the number one coaching Canada, him and Ben Johnson,

(01:09):
would he choose what rookie quarterback if he could choose
what he want? Not on this upcoming class. But you know,
between Drake May and Caleb Williams, assuming New England comes open,
which looks more and more possible, and we will do
a little Middlecoff mail bag at John Middlecoff. At John
Middlecoff is the Instagram, fire in those dms. If you

(01:31):
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is guaranteed. Well, Kirk Cousins has been benched, and according

(02:34):
to Rahye Morris, he was very classy about taking the news. Well,
I'm sure hope so for ninety million dollars that he
knows has coming to him after thirty six coming off
of torn achilles, you could tell him he's gonna run
scout team the rest of his life. It's I looked yesterday.
When he gets paid for twenty twenty five, which is
guaranteed twenty seven point five million dollars, he will have

(02:56):
made over three hundred million dollars playing football. And you
know sometimes media younger players get very angry at the
older generation for being critical. It happens a lot in basketball.
I do understand if I was an elite guy that
played in the eighties or the nineties, especially in football,

(03:18):
which was much harder on my body, we didn't play
as long. And I see some of the money that's
getting tossed around. Kirk Cousin's going to make over three
hundred million dollars. I don't care. I support other people
having success. Good job, Kirk, great job by his agent
Mike McCartney, who's really good agent. They've done a good job,
but I do get the bitterness. I think you just
have to ask one question, what took so long? Why

(03:42):
did they wait till three games left? When he had
been playing like shit for I don't know, forty or
fifty days now. He had been objectively atrocious for the
last month. If you watched him on Monday night, he
looked like a shot fighter, and it looked like it
had previously, looked like it's over. And sometimes that happens.

(04:03):
A thirty six, thirty seven year old player, who's, you know,
for NFL standards, a below average athlete, has now he's
never had a great arm. His arm strength looks extremely poor.
And I don't know if there's some connections there in
the biomechanics of the achilles up through the body, up
through the shoulder. However it's happening. He's not throwing the
ball very well, and it shows he's a bad player

(04:25):
right now. But why did this take so long? And
I thought about it and I went, well, these guys
that run this franchise just convinced their owner to give
this player ninety million dollars. The best I mean, all
the best players in free agency, most of them. Now,
I get it, quarterbacks make more. We all understand that,

(04:48):
we all acknowledge it. But it's also easy to pay
quote unquote overpay your own guy. Right. There are points
and times where it's like, how good is Mattie Ice?
But he was the Falcons guy? How good is Dak Well,
he's Jerry's guy, right, party's gonna go through that, Well,
he's the Niners guy. When you hire outside and the
guy has no equity, sweat equity, blood equity, no production

(05:13):
equity with your franchise, like, it can get weird, and
it can get weird fast. And when a guy just stinks,
and that's Kirk Cousins right now. Is just not a
very good football player. I mean he's a bottom five quarterback.
And it's not like character issues. He's not creating a
problem like all that stuff's great. It's just like simply play.
That can get weird, and that can get weird fast.

(05:34):
But when I saw this news, I went, could these
guys all be one and done? Could these guys jobs
be in jeopardy? Because never forget When Raheem Morris was
asked about why his coaching staff was so big. He said, well,
we're gonna win here, and when you win here, what
happens You lose coaches and you have to retrain guys.

(05:56):
What we're already gonna have guys on the staff or
when our guys get hired. That's a pretty cocky thing
to say. Also, why'd you draft a quarterback eight after
you had just given a four year, one hundred and
eighty million dollar contract and almost one hundred million dollars
guaranteed to Kirk Cousins Because we don't ever plan on
drafting this high again, and we thought that this was
the right move because we won't ever draft in the

(06:17):
top ten again. It's like, you were pretty cocky for
a guy that had one head coaching stint and is
now working for a GM who just led a squad
that average seven wins the season for three straight years,
can't draft a quarterback? Drafts all these skilled guys, and
beside be John Robinson, Drake London, like I think Kyle
Pitts won, they would like to have a do over
on that one. So it's like, do you guys know

(06:38):
what you're doing? Because I think at this point in time,
it's why I just simply bet against the Atlanta Falcons.
Now I picked the wrong team. I picked the Saints.
Turns out it was the Bucks. But I bet against
the Atlanta Falcons. When the season began, I said, no way,
it's going to be this easy. This team has no winning.
You know, I would say history these last couple of years,

(07:00):
it just thinks one thing's gonna switch. And this is
not signing Peyton Manning or Tom Brady. This is signing
a guy coming off of Achilles who, even on his
best days, has been an extremely polarizing player. And what happened.
I would say they have been one of the biggest
underachievers this year and a team that you know, as
looking forward and projecting, is not going to win the division.

(07:23):
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are well, of course they are.
They're a better run organization, and this was a team
that now is stuck with Kirk Cousins, who this notion
of like. Part of the reason I thought it was
so insane to make the pick at eight is listen.
Sometimes you get new information. Obviously some things changed between

(07:45):
March fifteenth and the draft in late April. You talk
to more people. As a general manager, you're able to
get on the phone more and really focus on that.
But in my experience, during the season, you know, starting
in the summer through the end of basically the new year. Right,
so like December thirty first, all gms worth their salt

(08:08):
are evaluating all the top free agents and all the
top draft picks. Now, they're not grinding on fifth and
six rounders, but any guy with a legitimate draft grade,
probably you know, in the top one hundred dish is
getting evaluated by the GM during the season. And a
team like the Falcons, who have an atrocious quarterback situation

(08:30):
the last couple of years, would be evaluating their general
manager would be evaluating all the quarterbacks thoroughly. Right, And
Michael Pennix is a guy that I really like. I
would have drafted Michael Pennix, But he was a very
polarizing guy in NFL circles, depending on who you spoke to.
Some people thought he wasn't even a first round pick. Obviously.
The Falcons viewed him as the eighth overall pick, which

(08:52):
was extremely polarizing at the time, not just because they
had just signed Kirk Cousins, but because like, is that
a major overdraft? I don't necessarily think of us. But
I thought, like in football, everyone gets the same amount
of resources. Everyone has the same amount of money to
spend under whatever the cap is, two hundred million, two
undred fifty million. Every team gets the same amount of
draft picks, you just obviously they're not all the same slot.

(09:15):
But every team gets a first round pick every single year.
You get to pick and choose how you want to
use that. Do you want to trade up the next
couple first rounders the next you know, the following years
and make a huge trade. Do you want to trade
back and accumulate more picks. Do you want to allocate
your resources? Do you want to pay Brandon I use
seventy five million dollars for seventy five catches, or do

(09:35):
you want to trade them and use that cap space
on something else. My favorite part about the NFL. This
is not Baseball, where some teams spend more money. Every
team's spending money, and every team's using their draft picks.
You just get to pick and choose how you want
to do it. And use the Minnesota Vikings as an example.
Who if I was around Ziggy Wolf after the other night,
and really after Cousins last month, I'd go the people

(09:57):
that you empowered to run this team, your general man,
your head coach. They fucking know what they're doing. They're
not only winning, but they are saving you a lot
of money. They chose ten million dollars because you know
what they knew at the end of the year, we
want to draft a quarterback. We are going to draft
a quarterback. We were saying that about the Atlanta Falcons
during the season. We're gonna draft a quarterback. And they

(10:19):
spent ten million dollars on Sam Darnold, which is an
incredible contingency plan. If it works out, we get one
of the best assets in the league. It clearly is,
and they are bang for their buck. It doesn't get
any better than a quarterback who's gonna throw thirty five
plus touchdowns lead you to thirteen, fourteen to fifteen wins
for ten million dollars. Who was a free agent. That's

(10:39):
an incredible March you know, mid March free agency signing.
And then there's Kirk Cousins who were gonna guarantee multiple years,
give ninety million dollars, which all has to go into
escrow every penny you don't pay them, and he almost
has a one to one touchdown interception ratio, and we
also gave him a no trade claw us, so like

(11:01):
we can't just cut them or trade them, like he
actually controls a lot. Now, it makes sense for him
to waive that to go to a new team. But
what team worth their salt is trading anything of value
for a twenty seven point five million dollar backup quarterback. Hell,
even if you consider him a bridge starter, the bridge
starter we just saw Sam Darnold. That mark is like

(11:21):
ten to twelve to fifteen million dollars max. What Gardner
Minch you got, So his market values all out of whack.
But the difference with most bridge quarterbacks ideally they can
move because a lot of times the team's probably not
going to be in a great position, questionable offensive line,
and they're gonna have to have some mobility. Cousins has
none of that. He's a sitting duck. So to me,
this situation, you could say it's cavalier. They just kind

(11:44):
of went into a blind I think it's a major
major indictment on everyone running the Falcons the way this
process played out, and these transactions are independent of each other,
because if you knew you really like Michael Pennix, which
you should know. In the middle of March when free
agency starts, wouldn't you be in the mix to sign
a Gardner Minshew with Sam Darnold because you would want

(12:06):
to transition to a guy who is twenty four years
old who had been in college six seasons. Say what
you want about JJ McCarthy. He was more of a project, right,
Drake May more of a project. Michael Penix is not
a project. He's a pro, ready player to plug and
play and let's roll. But you signed Kirk Cousins, which
in a perfect world he would have been your starter

(12:27):
for multiple years. This is one of the worst transactions
we've ever seen. Is completely blown up in their face.
And I think the reason they waited so long because
they wanted to avoid the wrath of their eighty two
year old owner. They just had to cut him a
check for a guy who did not make it till
Christmas and now will not be on their team in
year two. And now the pressure put on this young player,

(12:50):
the what if two of these three games go poorly
and everyone turns on him and goes, God, this guy sucks.
What's going on. It's a crazy amount of pressure and
I'm a Michael PENNOCKX fan. I'm rooting for him to
play well, but what if it goes bad? The Bucks meanwhile,
just in the playoffs again for what the fifth straight year,
three with Brady, this is second with Baker Mayfield, and
just feel like they know what they're doing, and the

(13:12):
Atlanta Falcons feel like they have absolutely no clue what
they're doing. From the general manager to the front office
to now the coaching staff. They just kind of feel
lost at see. And I also think the Cousins thing
shows and then the Penix is like they're just kind
of doing whatever the coaching staff wants. And I just

(13:32):
in terms of the transactions when they were made, obviously,
if you're Zach Robinson Ronnie Morris, you'd want a veteran quarterback.
Let's get the best one ninety million dollars and it's like, God,
we love this Michael Pennix guy. Well let's draft him
at eighth. And now it's like you've allocated all these
resources in these two guys, and if Pennick struggles these
next couple weeks and all of a sudden you have
nothing to show for it, it is an epic disaster.

(13:54):
And I think it's one that like, would all these
guys get shit canned after one year? Because what's worse
being just a complete embarrassment on a bad team, Like
you know the Patriots who might fire Gerrod Mayo or
the Raiders. Well it's like, well, the Raiders, the quarterback
situation's awful, right, the Patriots, it's like, well, like, how's

(14:14):
your defense? Way worse? Same players, This situation is like, well,
you got legitimate players, and then he signed Kirk Cousins
and then as the season goes on, it gets worse.
It is just Zack Robinson's fault is just the GM's
fault is raheem over his head. I don't know, but
if I was the only ri Ide want fucking answers,
I just got a ninety million dollar check and this
guy's on the bench now, and now we have a
rookie quarterback, like, you better start slinging touchdowns here cause

(14:34):
if he doesn't, and we're missing the playoffs again. To
the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, we've had a million injuries, I
mean guys getting injured left and right, star players and
it's like they got a quarterback that they also gave
a hundred million dollars and we all acknowledge like really good.
And last year they got him for nothing. They paid
four million dollars, So if you aggregate that year on
top of his new contract, it actually lowers the value

(14:56):
of the overall time that he spent on the team.
And it's like they're just kind of seems like he's
got ahold of everything and our guys are just kind
of swimming upstream without a paddle. What the hell is
going on? So I bet against the Atlanta Falcons simply
because I didn't think they know what they were doing.
And I think as of this week and really over
the last month, anyone with that thought was kind of

(15:18):
proven right, and it helped Cousins. Just I didn't expect
him to just fall off a cliff this hard, but
he obviously has a couple other things on coaching. You know,
we got a big Thursday night game. Two teams are
going to be in the playoffs, the Chargers and the
Denver Broncos. And you know, I would have told you
three or four weeks ago that the Chargers probably win

(15:39):
a playoff game. Then you watch him, it's like, guy
with their offense is once all banged up, turns out JK.
Dobbins is like La Danian Tomlinson. You remove him, It's
like they struggle to get fifty yards on the ground,
you know, Herbert just limping around out there. They got
no passing game. A lot of people think Greg Roman
is the village idiot. I often go like, well, how
about the talent on this roster is not great? But
they are very defensive, relying, and when their defense is

(16:00):
given up thirty plus points, like they're gonna be in
some trouble. They're not really built to win shootouts. I
also think you could have a really good defense and
there gets to a point in time in a season
when your offense is just struggling that they kind of break.
It's almost like the damn breaks. It's like, you know,
we just can't hold the forward anymore. We need a
little help, and it's like the perfect combination, everything kind

(16:22):
of falls apart, and it kind of feels like that's
what's happening with the Chargers. But even if the Chargers
lose this game to Denver, they're currently eight and six.
They finish with New England in Vegas, so I think
they're getting a nine, no problem, And I would bet
on them getting too ten. Obviously with the Colts and
the Miami Dolphins who are in shambles, that yeah, I

(16:42):
think the Chargers end up with that seventh spot, and
if Denver were to win this Thursday night game, they
should finish the sixth spot. I actually think they would
be a feisty first round team. One of these two teams,
whether they win the game or not, is going to
be in the mix when it comes to wild Card weekend.
These games going to be tied in the second half
because if their defense is play well, things get weird. Obviously,

(17:05):
Herbert who can get hot and bo knicks, you know,
he's definitely a wild card because he can throw a
couple of picks and you're like, what the hell is
going on? But he also has proven to like with
some schemed up plays with Sean Payton, like he hit
some big plays. So I enjoy watching Denver. Now they
finish after this Charger game at Cincinnati and then Kansas City.
Now that Kansas City game, depending on how these next

(17:26):
two weeks could go, could be nothing is on the line.
So if Kansas City were to win these next two weeks,
then that game would be meaningless and I would imagine
that they would rest everyone, which would be an easy
win for Denver and basically be a lock even if
they lost these two games to get them to ten wins.
But if I was a betting man right now, I'd
say Broncos worst case ten and five, I'd say eleven

(17:46):
and six on the table. And that's just an incredible accomplishment.
I mean, two years after taking over that Nathaniel Hacket
Russell Wilson experiment to have this team in the playoffs.
Same thing with Jim Harbaught last year, that Brandon Staley
experiment where they won five games and now you're in
the playoffs. It just shows you. I mean, this is
why you pay big time coaches because unlike the Falcons,

(18:08):
like who's actually in charge? Like remove Arthur Blank? Like
who's actually what's going on here? Right? Is the gym
doing anything? I say, the same thing with New England,
Like is Jonathan crafton charge? Is Elliott Wolf the guy
pulling the trigger? Does gerd Mayho have any juice? What's
going on with the Raiders? Like who does tolesco? Is
he the bosses? Brady get to tell Mark Davis what
to do? Like what's going on. When you say the
Denver Broncos, who's in charge, you say Sean Payton. When

(18:30):
you say the Los Angeles Chargers, who's in charge, you
say Jim Harbaugh. And I think that like makes everything
a little bit easier and in the day and age
when everyone wants their hand in the cookie jar in
the NFL, because even if you're a team president like
Kevin Warren, the only way no one cares how many
season tickets you sell, even once you build a stadium
like that goes away really quick. That fades into obscurity

(18:54):
really fast, like what's going on with the team, what's
going on with the team? And the way to get
headlines and the way to get discussed on you know
Collins Show on ESPN, on podcasts, on local radio is
to be involved in football and have your hand in
that and be standing there in the locker room at
the end of the game. And it's why everyone's drawn

(19:15):
that way. But it's also why football guys like to
separate church and state, Like I don't need to answer
to a non football guy if he's not the owner
of the team. And both these two franchises, the Spanos
family said, Jim, you take it obviously the Walton family
said Sean, you take it, and for Sean Baydon two
years later to pay dividends. They're in the playoffs, and honestly,
I think they could win a game. Chargers might not

(19:36):
win a game because injuries and just their lack of
offensive talent. But if I would have told year one
Harbaugh in the playoffs, which I knew what happened, but oh,
you guys talked me out of because you're like, our
team sucks so much. Of course you know why, because
Jim Harball wins. Speaking of coaches, Mike Brabel, it's funny,

(19:56):
like I mentioned this earlier, but when you have a
hot coaching candidate, it's just got to be an incredible
feeling of knowing you could leak things, and it just
gets everyone talking and freaks out the people negotiating. I
was hoping that sax State would hire Michael Vick. I
think that would have been so bad ass. But it's

(20:17):
pretty clear that Michael Vick's representation put it out that
sax State was talking to him to get a little
bit more money out of Norfolk State, which you should do,
like you got to use leverage to your advantage. I
saw with Marcus Freeman, who was like, the Chicago Bears
are interested and You're like, oh, of course they are.
You know, he played in the NFL. He went to
Ohio State coaching Notre Dame. Like probably be you know,

(20:38):
should be talking to him. Well, then a couple like
less than a week later, he sends a six year extension.
Well do you think that it came out that his
name was in that mix randomly? No, he wanted to
get more money, as he should. That's what an agent
gets paid to do. Every time I look, it's Mike Vrabel,
the Bear's number one target. Mike Vrabel, he'd be interested
in the in the Patriot job it became available. Mike Vrabel,

(21:01):
would he listen for one hundred million dollars in Ohio State?
And you just throw this in enough kind of at
the wall. Eventually it's gonna freak people out that actually
are interested in him. And in fairness, all these people
should be interested in him. But if you're Mike Vrabel
right now, and let's just say you do have your
pick of the litter, and let's just say Robert Kraft
will fire Drod Mail after this season because of just

(21:22):
how poorly it's going and he can't risk ruining his
young quarterback a lot, like you know what's going on
in Chicago. Would you rather coach Caleb Williams or Drake
May Who would ever thought that that would be a conversation,
But it's a legit conversation because one, if you did
a redraft today, Caleb Williams would not go number one,

(21:43):
Jade Daniels would, and I think the question is who
would go number two? And let's face it, the guy
Mike Vrabel played, or you know when he was a
coach who used to play a quarterback, was Ryan Tannehill,
who's like a game manager. He comes from the Bill Belichick,
you know, kind of school thought. As a player, the
Tom Brady that was the quarterback for the Patriots when

(22:05):
he was a player was not the Tom Brady that
we saw six oh seven moving forward. It was much
more in the game manager played defense. Now, you could
argue that's an archaic way of thinking, you can't really
operate that way, and I would tend to agree, but
your football philosophy is kind of your football philosophy most
of the way that I look at this world. I'm

(22:25):
open to new ideas, but like, my core values I
don't think have really changed in twenty plus years, just
like most football coaches I know. Doesn't mean they don't
implement new things, but their core belief on how to
play ball doesn't really change as they go from forty
years old to fifty years old to six years old.
They might implement some more things, but they still have
a core philosophy of how to play Dan Campbell, he

(22:48):
goes for it more than you know some of these
guys would have done twenty years ago. But like the
way he built his team. It's not paying off right
now because they're all injured, but like defensive line, physicality
up front, and fucking run the ball down your throat
with a big ass offensive line in multiple running backs,
like he built his team a lot like a team
that would have played in the nineties. And I just

(23:11):
wonder if Mike Rabol, like, would he even be interested
in the project that is Caleb Williams, because that's a
pretty big undertaking. I mean, the guy we saw the
other night, and really most of this year has been atrocious.
I mean I thought it was crazy that everyone just
anointed him so quickly before the season. I'm like the

(23:31):
NFL is really hard, and listen, I thought he would
be a lot better given the wide receivers he's throwing to.
But you talk about a guy seeing ghosts, I mean
Sam Darnold four years ago, got no clue what he's
doing and he just freezes. So, based on the information
we have right now, like I think you could make
the argument I'd rather coach Drake May and obviously he
has the connection with Robert crafton. Here's the reality. I

(23:53):
think you learned this the older you get in life
is whether it's the Bears and you got to deal
with Kevin Warren, whether it's the Patriot and you got
to deal with Robert's son Jonathan. Most of our jobs,
you know, if you do not are the boss or
the owner, like even Belichick. One thing I think he
miscalculated is like Bill, you're not an entrepreneur. You can't

(24:16):
just start a football team. Like eventually, he kind of
got to play nice. So when some of these stories
were coming out, they're like, God, you know, it's gonna
be tough for Bill to work with people like he
needs someone to buy into him because they're only thirty
two NFL teams and he doesn't have the money or
have the capacity to buy one. So he's gonna need
one of these owners and team presidents to hire him. Like,

(24:36):
that's just a reality. This is not like my job tomorrow.
If I was like, yeah, kind of, I just want
to do something different, Well I can just do something
different whatever I want to do. I could start the company.
Doesn't mean it's gonna work or not, but I could
do Like if you're a football coach, there's no just
starting a football team like you need and as Bill
finally did, he had an eight athletic director and a
chancellor buy into him. But he couldn't just start like

(24:59):
a copllege football team or an NFL team. So you
do have to learn to work with others. It's a
little corporate structure that way. Even Sean Payton and Jim Harbaugh,
Like Jim Harbaugh still answers to the Spanos family. Sean
Payton still answers to the Walmart family. Now, ideally you
just answer the owner best case scenario, right, But when
you got to answer to some of like the owner's kids,

(25:21):
I totally understand how that would be tough, right, And
it's one thing the owner's kid like Al Davis is dead,
so it is Mark's team, right, Lamar Hunt is no
longer with us, That is Clark Hunt's team. It's another
thing like when the dad's still there and the kids
in your ass, and it's like, well, do I go
through you or you still got to go through pops?
Are you just like a fifty eight year old rich

(25:43):
kid that still has to ask your dad for permission
on this where I just might as well call him.
But I can't totally dick you over because if your
JAD drops dead in a year, then you are actually
the boss and I do have to deal with you.
So all these situations are a little complicated. So you
just got to look at it from the best case
in area from the football team and probably the easiest
case scenario with who you have to deal with with

(26:05):
your personality. But I think most of these jobs, whether
it's the Patriots, whether it's the Raiders, whether it's the Jets,
whether it's whatever becomes open the Cowboys were to fire
Mic or not renew as contract, they all have severe
complications of you have to run the team, manage your
coaching staff and your players, and also deal with whoever

(26:27):
is above you. And some of those might be owners
and team presidents. Some might be owners and their children,
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Speaker 1 (28:19):
Kay, let's do a little Midlecoff mailbag at John Middlecoff Instagram.
Fire in those dms. Get your question answered here on
a little thing called the podcast. Mailback Aaron Love the Pod.
Question around the Chiefs looking forward to upcoming seasons? What
do you think the strategy is around some key players

(28:39):
that come at a price. We look at some of
these guys coming up on their final years of their
first contracts. Who do you retain versus who do you draft?
Players like Bolton Karlovskis McDuffie, Trey Smith, Pachaco. Not all
these guys are going to be top of the market.
Some probably are, but they aren't going to be cheap.

(29:01):
Curious your thoughts on those discussions with Veitch and the
team having around this topic. Well, I would say McDuffie
is a lock keeper. I would say Karlovskis is going
to be kept as well. Nick Bolton's obviously really good player.
It just becomes a little complicated with linebackers and prices,

(29:22):
how much you're willing to pay him, how much you're
going to allocate, Like McDuffie's not going to be cheap,
Like that's a really really expensive player. You know, George
is not Bosa like the high high end pass rushers.
But even if you get those guys at a discount,
it's still you know, what is it eighteen nineteen million
dollars a year? I would say Isaiah Pachaco, he is

(29:47):
not a second contract guy, despite him being a really
good player. My guess is that they will just play
out his rookie contract. When it comes to Trey Smith,
I thought they extended Tray Smith. Maybe they didn't, so
Tray Smith's contract. I mean, he's a really good player. God,

(30:08):
he's a great deal right now. Tray Smith currently costs
them ninety grand, so yeah, I don't know, you're gonna
have to pay some of these guys. Now, Karlovska's McDuffie
are both going into their second this is their third year,
so I think they would play it out again with
both those guys. Usually ideally with you know, guys you've

(30:32):
signed after four years, so you could keep them under
contract for another year? Am I nuts? Or? Is the
Donald versus McCarthy talk complete nonsense? How in God name
God's name are the Vikings going to even consider letting
Donald walk because they love JJ based off of what

(30:56):
on what planet doesn't unproven injury prone J Jim McCarthy
put you in a better position to win than Sam Donald.
I totally agree, But I think that they you know,
there's a moneyball element to them. They just did it
with Cousins. I think they believe they can do it
again with Donald. To JJ McCarthy, I think one thing

(31:17):
when you watch Donald compared to Cousins, that element of
movement is something that Cousins did not have, and he
has a much bigger arm and being twenty seven years old,
When you just build around him and keep JJ let
him prove that he's healthy as like a contingency plan, right,
Like if you knew if Cousins was a pro bowler

(31:38):
this year, no one would have any issue and they'd
be in first place. But he's a disaster, right, So
like once you sign the Bridge quarterback and then he's incredible,
and he's also twenty seven twenty eight years old with
a pedigree being a high pick, you go, are we
sure we didn't just strike oil here? I would keep mind.
I would offer him the Baker Mayfield deal yesterday. The

(32:01):
Packers have a ton of offensive talent, Watson, Dobbs, read
Wis and Tucker Craft. Who are they going to pay?
The Packers make quick, smart decisions, so I assume they
already made up their mind. What do you think The
Packers paid Love a ton of money, so that is
going to hurt them moving forward. They cannot afford to

(32:22):
pay everybody, especially with young emerging talent. Well, a tight
end is one of the best deals in the league
because the highest paid tight end makes less than half
of what the top wide receiver makes, So you can
get that guy at a very very cheap number. To me,
they are a great, great deal. So I would say

(32:43):
that Tucker Craft is a lock, and listen, how much
is he actually going to cost? He's having a breakout
year this year. He has forty one catches and seven
touchdowns and he's only in a second year, so like,
you still got another year under him on a very
cheap deal. You know, Christian Watson is what year is

(33:04):
this for him? Four? Or is this year three? Some
of these guys aren't I think you got some time
with some of these guys. Christian Watson was twenty two,
so twenty two, twenty three, twenty four. He's a second
round pick, so he would be going into his contract
year next year. He's kind of polarizing because he's been injured. Honestly,

(33:26):
he hasn't really been that productive. God, he's been way
less productive than I realized. I guess last year he
was injured. This year he's got twenty nine catches only
two touchdowns. What the fuck's that gonna cost you? I
think Jayden Reid's a stud. But how many you got
time on these guys? And when I say time, like

(33:46):
plus they all kind of take away from each other.
None of them, Like Jayden Reid is a second year
player and he's got forty four catches. Last year he
had sixty four, so he'll be back to back sixty
four sixty catches, seven eight nine touchdowns. I think you're
in a good position. None of these has to be paid.
What the fuck is this for the mailbag? This is crazy.

(34:10):
You can talk to your players as the head coach?
Are you the boss of all bosses? Like? What is
this guy thinking? It was the video of the Eagles
defensive line coach screaming at Sirianni to get away from
Jalen Carter. I think Jalen Carter is a pretty big
wild card. And the way I heard it describe when

(34:32):
he was coming out of college like he's a little
bit of an emotional rollercoaster, so you gotta be careful
with them. And after he hit the dude on the
Steelers and took the fifteen yard penalty, any coach worth
their salt would go over and talk to the guy,
every single one. But I wonder if the d line
coach knows that like this could this could unravel fast.
And Jalen has been playing at like a pro bowl level,

(34:55):
so it's like we got Sirianni who can be a hothead.
We're just trying to simmer everything down. But can you
imagine an assistant coach telling Mike Tomlin telling Jim or
John Harbaugh telling Andy Reid, telling Kyle Shanahan, Er McVeigh
or Lafleur to back the fuck up. I don't know
that's not exactly what he told him, but like, you're
not talking to this guy right now. Think about that.

(35:19):
That was pretty nuts, Like, hey, bro, you work for me,
and I want to talk to my guy, even if
it's not a great idea. Now that position coach might
have been doing, Sirianni you favor because there might been
nothing productive that would have been a result of their
conversation because everyone's emotions were high. You're winning the game.

(35:40):
But that seems crazy to me, Like, get I'm the
boss and it's like, well are you. I don't know.
Those are a weird thing. It's like they're a dysfunctional
high end operation. It feels like they're a little like
they got a lot going on, but they got so
much talent it works. It's like sometimes you hear about

(36:00):
a buddy who like works for a guy. Sometimes you'll
just meet someone and you'll be like, this guy's nuts.
It happens a lot when I'm playing golf that you know,
you play with other friends and they bring people, and
then all of a sudden you'll realize, like on the
seventh toll, You'll be like, yeah, that company's talking about
he owns and it's worth like three hundred million dollars

(36:21):
something like that guy's yeah, he's just a dysfunctional, functional
individual and it works. And that kind of feels like
what the Eagles are. They got a lot of shit
going on at all times, but they got so much
talent and it all comes together and it just works.
Question for the bag. We know that the quarterback is
the most important position in sports, but I can't help

(36:43):
but think that having an elite coach and a good
quarterback is better than an elite quarterback and a good
mediocre coach. Look at Burrow versus the Broncos and Bonnicks,
for example. I genuinely think that I would much rather
have Andy Reid and a quarterback like Dak than Josh
and Zach Taylor. Curious your thoughts, I would agree like

(37:06):
I would rather have Mike. If I was a fan,
my team would make the playoffs more often and more consistently.
With Andy Reid and Dak Prescott than Josh Allen and
just pick some terrible coach. The problem is is we've
seen like Andy with Josh Allen, how we saw Bill

(37:28):
the one good year he has with Mac Jones. Your
ceiling in the playoffs is pretty limited, so it's like, yeah,
your team can win nine to twelve games. We saw
with Andy for a long time with Alex Smith. Same
thing with Jim Harbaugh with Alex Smith. But you if
you get the real coach like Andy Reid Alex Smith
are making the playoffs every year. These weren't going far.

(37:49):
But if I gave Josh Allen, Josh Allen's in a
pretty good organization, like Sean mcdermot's a good coach. The
Bills are just a well run organization. If you put
them on like the Jags, you just might not look
the same, even if he was a great player. I
agree with you football more than these other sports like baseball.
My manager, how much does it really matter if my

(38:10):
team stacked right a little bit in the playoffs, But
during the regular season, if my team is loaded, I
can win one hundred games. In basketball, you would one
hundred percent pick one of the top players over a
top coach without hesitating football, Like, what's the number one
overall draft pick? If you were a team, could you
argue that you would pick Andy Reid before you picked Mahomes?

(38:34):
Because if you had pick number thirty three, you know,
think of all the coaches and quarterbacks that would be
off the board. Couldn't you just draft like Dak Prescott right,
or just some solid quarterback? So would you rather have
Josh Allen or Mahomes or Lamar One? And if I
got to pick a below average coach, that'd be pretty risky.

(38:58):
Football is the one sport where you could just if
I taken it, if everyone was available, taking the coach first.
I'm not saying that's the right move, Like I probably
would just take Josh Allen, but if you took Andy Reid,
I couldn't argue with you. Question for the bag longtime
nin Er fan. With Lynch willing to take swings, would

(39:20):
it be a fantasy world if him and Kyle would
be willing to trade Joe Burrow With reports coming out
between the disconnect and the Bengals and their history of frugality,
it would be a long shot, but the combo of
Burrow and Shanahan is a mouth watering prospect. I think
about this sometimes. I'd be lying if I said I didn't.

(39:43):
I think if you'd even entertain the call, even if
they say, hey, we'll offer you whatever you want, you
tell us what you want and we will we will
accommodate your wishes. Just fold the franchise. If the Bengals
right now would entertain trading Joe Burrow, they should fold
the franchise or sell the franchise immediately. So I tried

(40:04):
to put myself in their shoes. And I think because
the NFL, if this was baseball, you'd be like, yeah,
Joe Burrow's on the market, you could go get him.
But I think because it's football, they have the money.
I just don't think he'd be available in twenty twenty five. Now.
Maybe in a couple more years. If they keep losing,
maybe they try to pivot. But I see under zero

(40:26):
circumstances now would the forty nine ers do it? In
a New York second, I'm with you, I mean Joe Burrow.
I mean we've seen Joe Burrow and Brock Purty on
the same field at the same time. Last year. One
guy looked like Joe Montana and listen, it feels like
I'm shitting on Brock Purty. I'm really not. I like
him a lot as a player, but like Joe Burrows
would an elite blue chip championship level player looks like

(40:50):
Purty is like, I don't know. I mean, we're still
kind of figuring that out. I mean, hell, he makes
a million dollars. What happens when he makes fifty? But
obviously you would rather have Joe Burrow than Brock Purty.
I just think it's very rare in the NFL. You know,
it takes a lot. Carson Palmer basically quit had to
retire for them to get rid of him. Berry Native

(41:14):
living near your hometown, living in Vacaville, No, I know Vacaville. Well,
they used to have a mall back when mals mattered.
I guess you guys still have outlets. When I lived
in Walnut Creek, I used to stop at They had
a Nike outlet there. They had a Chipotle there. Every
once in a while when I was feeling like a
fat ass that you had a Crispy Kreme there that
I hit up. They had an in and out, so

(41:36):
I was a frequent Vacaville Stopper really my adult life
and when I was a kid and my mom we
used to go there all the time. I am a
diehard Niner fan and a pretty believer, but I do
think he's anywhere. I don't think he's anywhere near the
elite quarterbacks and certainly doesn't deserve to be paid like
a top guy. If you were the Niner GM, what

(41:59):
would you do with brock In? What would his contract
look like? Second, looking down the road, after I retire
from my current career, I would like to get a
job in football, assistant strength coach or even a scout.
I've been an assistant football coach at my old high
school for twenty years and plan on continuing. I'll be
fifty and twelve years when I retire. God, you're retiring young.
Life is good. So would I be too old to

(42:22):
get a job like a scout or an assistant coach
at like a sack State. I don't think he'd be
too old to get a job like a sax State
or UC Davis. I think it would be very difficult
for you to get a scouting job at that point
in time in your life with no history of It's
not like you could just even if you know football well,

(42:46):
it would be difficult obviously too. I don't know if
you don't know anyone and be near impossible. Sax State
or UC Davis is much more, I would say, of
an attainable goal. You know, I was trying to my fiance,
Maria is a huge forty nine Ers fan, So we
were talking last night because she sees all these memes
and things and she's trying to figure out, like why

(43:07):
it's everyone talking about party in his contract. And she
saw Richard Sherman go on this rant like the price
is the price, and it's like, yeah, the price the price.
If you're bad at business. It's like, yeah, this house,
because of the market, is worth five million dollars. But
I also think if you're willing to pay five million
dollars for this house, I think you're an idiot. You know,
Like two things can be true, Like that's kind of

(43:28):
the going rate because of the market to conditions, and
it's like this house is in terrible shape and you'd
have to put in another three or four million dollars
just to make it livable. Right, But because of the
location where it is, I mean, we could argue market
conditions till we're blue in the face, and she's in
real estate. So I use the example of like, well,

(43:48):
he's technically going to make more than Patrick Mahomes because
Patrick mahomes side is contract years ago and a lot
like real estate, Well, if you bought the house in
twenty twenty one, now the next door neighbor's house, even
if it's not near, is nice, is worth more than
that four years later. It's kind of this scenario. But again,
like if you want to pay him that, I don't
know what I think you're I think it's bad business, Like, well,

(44:10):
the market's the market, that's well, yeah, the market is
the market, Trevor Lawrence. That's fucking terrible business, Tua is
those type contracts derailed their franchise, derailed the franchise. If
you would look at the Jags and go, they still
owe him. His contract hasn't even started. It's like, I'm
shorting your franchise, Tua. His contract hasn't even started. I'm out,

(44:34):
like I'm gone. So it's like, well, the market was
the market, Well, yeah, some things you pay market prices.
For other things you go all pass. That's not a
good idea. And I saw. One thing Richard said is like, well,
do you have a replacement? It's like, do you need
a replacement right now? He's still in your contract for
a year. Why can't we play it? What's he gonna do?
Hold out? Okay, good luck, I don't think you will.

(44:58):
Whatever happened to play hard I I what happened to that?
I think we need a little more hardball. Right the
NBA stopped playing hardball. We see how that's going not
well because they just acquiesced to every demand and now
they're starting to not but it's almost too late. Everyone
checked out. The NFL just kind of gave in to
a lot of this stuff. It's like, yeah, we're just

(45:20):
gonna let it. We're just gonna let it ride. It's
one thing. It's like Joe Burrow, Okay, generational player, we
get it. Like we've had we know what it looks like,
and this is fucking good. You know, we've had solid
average and Andy Dalton before that, we had high end
Carson Palmer, Like, Okay, we have a pretty good idea.
This is pretty special. This is what it costs. I'm sorry.

(45:43):
It's just just because other people got paid something doesn't
mean it's a good idea, It honestly makes no sense
to me, and I get the caps going up. And
I'm not saying you pay him nothing, but like if
you use the Trevor Lawrence deal as a cop, I go, yeah,
we're not Theaguars. We don't ever plan on running a
business like the Jaguars, and we think signing a contract

(46:04):
like that is the immediate death of everything we got
going on here. So again we pass. It's like, well,
who's your replacement, Well, we don't have one. You're sure
the quarterback? This is a National Football leage'ar under contract
and all that money you're making off the field is
because you're the starting quarterback for our franchise. And I'm
not trying to be a tough guy or whatever, Like
he's a very respectable, good guy and it's not like

(46:25):
he's even saying any of this. But this conversation I
feel like has jumped the shark. And maybe it's some
of the reporting Pealsarro said, I'm not gonna take a
hometown discount. Well who are you gonna play for? Then?
Like what's your market? That's where I still don't understand,
Like what's the market part of like when a guy's
holding out, like TJ. Watt, it's like, well, he'd have

(46:46):
a massive market, even IUK Last year, the whole den
like other teams wanted him. The Patriots willing to give
him thirty two million dollars a year, The Browns were
willing to give him thirty million dollars a year, Steelers
were willing to give him twenty eight million dollars a year.
Like that, that was fat actual? Is that the case
with perty, Like, Hey, we're offering you one hundred and
ten million dollars guaranteed. Do you have other offers out there?

(47:09):
We'll let you sniff around. We need your replacement, and
we obviously let us know what the contract is and
we will see if we'll match or whatever. Like you
got one hundred and fifty million dollars on the open
market just because previous deals are bad, like the Deshaun
Watson deals. In embarrassment for the NFL, no one else
is getting fully guaranteed contracts. Is the mainstream sports media

(47:34):
propaganding us to believe Josh Allen is the MVP, Lamar
Jackson is leading him in every statistical category outside of
rushing ts. Is this sort of like Lebron fatigue. Why
do you think Lamar isn't getting any more love this year? Well,
he's the defending champion, you know, with the award, defending
award winner. He's he's actually having a way better statistical

(47:57):
season than he did last year. Remember last year he
threw twenty five touchdowns. This year he's got thirty four.
He's got multiple, like four or five touchdown games. Part
of it, too, is Josh's team has a better record,
and his team cut all these people in the offseason, right,
most of Lamar's teammates came back and they added a

(48:18):
very similar roster to last season. For Lamar Jackson, defense
has fallen off a cliff, but it's same players. So
I think there's some fatigue. I think if Lamar hadn't
won it last year, I think there would be more
of momentum for him in the mix. And I think
fatigue is fair. Like, is Lamar Jackson a three time

(48:40):
MVP at twenty eight years old or whatever he is,
Like that seems twenty seven years old. Like I got
no problem with people not giving him the award this year.
It's like, well, Okay, he's had a better season this
year than last year, but he still got the award
one of the two years. That's finaling me. I love

(49:01):
the content. I'm a diehard Chiefs fan and have been
one since I was little. We constantly get a lot
of hate from the rest of the league and fans
around the refs and dark Magic. I personally feel it's unjustified.
I was wondering your take on this and possibly what
you think about them completing the three peat and what
it would mean for them in the league. Well, you

(49:23):
know what's funny is historically the big brands used to
get this the Lakers. When I was a kid, I
hated the Lakers, right, I was a big Kings fan
as a kid, and the Lakers lost that series when
Vladie tipped it out to Robert Rory. And then it
turns out Tim Donage was throwing the game, like I mean,
he admitted to like, you know, cooking the books. And

(49:46):
obviously David Stern, which I don't blame him if I
was in his shoes, one of the bigger brands for
television ratings. But in the NFL, it doesn't matter whether
the Chiefs are in the Super Bowl, whether the Bills
are in the Super Bowl, whether it's the Lions, whether
it's the Eagles, whether it's the Packers. It's been proven
now these last four or five years, these playoff games.
I just saw the Bills and the Allions outdrew the Steelers

(50:07):
and the Eagles. Twenty three million people watched the Bills
and the Lions. Buffalo and Detroit over the Steelers are
a top five brain in the NFL, and the Eagles
are clearly one of the biggest marcus in the league,
and they out drew them by a lot. Honestly, I
had both games on, obviously, so did most people, but

(50:28):
I had the Eagles audio on up until the second
half when the game kind of got out of control.
Then I flipped. I felt like, and maybe it's I
don't know. I don't know why I was inclined to
be drawn to the Eagles Steelers over Bills Lions, but
as a consumer, that's what I leaned toward. Like, if
you told me I could only watch one game at
the beginning of the day, I would have chose that game.

(50:50):
But so maybe I'm out of touch with what the
consumer is. The Lions are incredible story, great part about technology.
You can watch them both dark magic like no one
gives a fuck, like the Raider fans have been saying
it for years, like they still got it out for us. Like, guys,
Al Davis has been dead for fifteen years, your franchise

(51:12):
hasn't been good in twenty, it doesn't matter. You're not
getting called for a lot of penalties because you're the Raiders.
Maybe that was true in the seventies and eighties, and
I'm sure there was some validity behind it. That's not
true anymore. Just like the chiefs are not getting bailed out.
Referees are a lot like government officials. They're incompetent. Honestly,
nobody roots for referees. If it wasn't for social media,

(51:35):
I wouldn't have realized they're you know, obviously the political
media and the sports media root for these politicians. It's
really weird, Like these people are lifetime politicians. Guys, they
wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire in
their front yard. And it's like you guys are their
biggest cheerleaders. Like it's kind of weird. They're both incompetent,
Like these guys couldn't fucking operate in the private sector,

(51:58):
like this is their only Jobicians like referees, Like what
are we doing here now? Being a referee is difficult,
like you're talking real time. You know, human beings, basketball, baseball,
football for sure, But in football, if you play bad,
you get caught or fired. You know, if you coach bad,
you get fired GM if you pick the wrong player,

(52:21):
you get fired. These referees make bad calls and they're
on the game the next week. I just don't get it.
But it's the way it is. So I've just I
don't get caught up in anymore. But I don't some
stories I just don't pay that much attention to, Like
it's like I just I don't care. It's like Travis
Hunter and his girlfriend, Like I do not give a shit,

(52:42):
Like you have to pay me to care to have
an opinion. It's like, guys, he's twenty one years old.
How are people so invested in this? Maybe there are
certain parts of sports that like I'm detached from, but
that's one area. And maybe there's a personal thing with me,
like a big believer in I don't really have opinions

(53:03):
on my friends or my family, like who they're sleeping with,
whether it's girlfriends, wives, Like you choose to do that
you can do whatever you want to do. I don't care.
Like we're all adults. That's on you, you know, just
do whatever you want to do. I'm not gonna get
caught up in it. The Travis Hunter things like, guys,
what are we even talking about? I think the same

(53:27):
thing about refereeing. It's like, are we serious? I also
think that's such an online thing. A question for the
bag I like when you shout out to other bald men.
I'm not bald myself, but I support the bald community.
Give me your mount rushmore of bald guys, one for
sports and one for general population culture. Also, how do

(53:51):
you feel about bald men like Larry David who don't
shave their heads instead maintain the cul de sac? Well,
I think the older generation the coldest at being cleanly shaven,
like with a bick razor back in the day, and
now the you know four you know three heads, five heads,
the mock three's, mock five's is much more in vogue.

(54:14):
I would say I got no issue with Larry and
kind of that generation rocking that. My father, who was bald,
rocked to coul de Sac when he was my age.
If I rock to cul de Sac. I uh, I
just I think people would think I was the ugliest
human alive, so it's things have changed. I would say
Mount Rushmore for the culture or pop mainstream non athlete.

(54:39):
You would go when I was a kid, Bruce Willis,
who's battling. I think dementia right now is not going good.
But Bruce has got to be near the top. You know,
this guy's technically an athlete, but at the last twenty years,
you know, he played college football with the Rock. Would
have to be extremely high. I would go Bruce Willis

(55:01):
the Rock. This is tough. Sports are easy, right, Michael Jordan,
Kobe Bryant, Tiger Woods. We got any bald baseball? Jay Buner.
Love Jay Buner and he rocked the cleanly shaven head
in the nineties before it was cool. I'm trying to

(55:24):
think of other really famous actors or people in pop culture.
It's a good question. You know, the actors, it's hard
for them to get jobs. So many people do fake care.
So many people would be bald, but bald culture actors,

(55:51):
you know, like I wouldn't see honestly, I did most
famous bald actors, and my two were near the top.
Dwayne Johnson and Bruce Willis. I guess you'd go Jason Stadium.
I don't know Ed Harris, Samuel L. Jackson. I think
Samuel L. Would be up there. You know, Vin Diesel,
I don't know Terry Crews, JK. Simmons, big fan of JK. Simmons.

(56:15):
Travolta's one guy that clearly fought it for a long
time and has now just completely embraced it. When you
see Travolta now, he used to like he clearly had
a wig for a long time. Bald singers, Kenny Chesney,
it's a pretty good one. Billy corgan Is smashing pumpkins.

(56:40):
Not bad to me. It's it's hard to it's hard
to get stronger than Willis in the rock. Everyone else
is fighting and in sports. I mean, I would say
the most iconic one by A Miles. Michael Jordan. I
consider Tiger Woods bald as well. Eagles fan here. I

(57:10):
know you have mentioned on several occasions the Big Dom
is an important message to the Eagles. I think it
was you that referred to him as the guy who
knows where the bodies are buried. My friends and I,
in our group chat have been discussing that he's become famous.
It almost comes across as a joke. Every time his
name is mentioned in his story about the team. I
tend to agree that he is important to the team

(57:32):
and their culture, but always get pushback. My question is this,
Can you put into words what exactly Big Dom does
and why he's so important to the team. No, I can't.
I think he does a little bit everything. It's like
there are humans in companies that work for the bosses

(57:53):
that it's hard to describe their roles, but that boss
and that human knows that they bring to the table
that no one else can quite figure out. Right, in
a lot of no on' like fortune five hundred companies,
and like a smaller business, that guy exists sometimes and ultimately,
while the football team is worth billions of dollars, they're

(58:15):
not a huge operation in terms of employees. And obviously
the most important employees are your players and your coaches.
Like I would say, he assists them. He just makes
sure things happen. You know, Philly's a town where you know,
shit happens, and it's a small town despite it being
a big city. So I think you know, when people

(58:38):
have described like Ernie Adams with Belichick. They're like, yeah, well,
I'm not really sure what he did, but I know
what he did was important. Well Bill kind of knew
what he did, and Ernie kind of knew what he did,
and it both it just worked. It's kind of dumb,
except it's not like on the field scheme stuff, which
Ernie kind of did. It's more like lifestyle stuff. So

(59:00):
whether it's helping guys out, whether it's a situation, it's
a lot of personal stuff. It's just making things happen
or go away. It's really hard to describe. I mean,
I can't give you, like I could give you a
couple examples way back in the day, probably statue of limitations.

(59:21):
It wouldn't matter. It's not like I know like incidents
that are going on right now. You know specific things,
but I just know the general. It's why when people
describe him, everyone talks about him kind of like a
mythological figure because you can't exactly say what he's doing,
even though half of it's not even bad. But every

(59:41):
team's like that. I used to hear stories about Eddie
de Bartlow when he owned the Niners in the eighties,
like you think, I mean, same thing with like al
Davis in the seventies, like all these guys had dudes
that just took care of stuff. I like to get
your take on just how close teams with no realistic
chance of winning a championship or to the cream of
the crop in both the NFL and college. Here's the scenario.

(01:00:05):
I'm a thirty six year old, six feet tall, two
hundred thirty pounds out of shape, get to play as
a twelve man on every snap of offense, defense, and
special teams for the Jacksonville Jags or the West Virginia Mountaineers,
my favorite team. Injury sliders are turned off for me,
and opponents only get to play with eleven. I recognize

(01:00:28):
that my forty times probably starts with a six and
I can probably only bench two hundred pounds. Nevertheless, I
am able to body adult males that would need to
at least be accounted for schematically, and I suspect my
presence would immediately catapult the team to contender status. I

(01:00:48):
would be a little utility in open space. I would
be of little utility in open space, but sure my
use as an extra blocker inside rusher for every snap
would post timing and assignment issues or you get to
play as a twelfth man, It's a good question. I
think you would probably impact more on defense, Like, for example,

(01:01:09):
in the run game, if I just place you between
the slot and whoever my rusher is, and you just
ran up field, you would be like a forced defender
to win the run game. Anything outside would force the
guy in. Or if the guy was busting a run
like you know, as an inside run, and he tried
to break it out, you would be there even if

(01:01:31):
you couldn't catch him and tackle him, which would be
difficult in the big twelve level, I mean, you would
be the worst athlete on the field every game you
played the NFL, you'd have no shot. You'd have a
better shot in college because the guys aren't in the NFL.
You get hurt, that'd be another thing. You would get
injured like, you would get hurt, and you would get
hurt fast. So as a twelfth defender, even if you

(01:01:55):
played for the Jags, like someone on the Titans would
injure you. Who the Jacks just played the Jets like,
they would fuck you up. I mean, and honestly it
would happen in college too, depending on the team. I mean,
you get hit hard in college, but you know there's
a big difference getting hit by a guy at Alabama
and get hit by a guy at Texas Tech. But

(01:02:19):
in the NFL, you would not last a game. I
think you would. You would get injured quick. You would
get tossed around like a rag doll. If you weren't touched,
I guess you could impact plays on defense. Offensively, I
do not know what you would do, because I would
not put you at the line of scrimmage. You would

(01:02:40):
get tossed if I moved you as a slot or
a wide receiver. A dB could break it off and
come catch you. I think you would have little to
no role as a bad athlete and out of shape.
Listen to your answer about paying Brock. If we agree
that Brock is easily a top fifteen quarterback, most people

(01:03:00):
have him in the top ten, and you're wanting to
pay him twenty five million dollars a year, do you
think there could be a market reset for quarterback payouts,
Because if the Jags are paying Trevor that much, he's garbage.
Why wouldn't the team pay Brock twice as much as Trevor. Also,
the rise of backup quarterbacks like Donald and Sam or
Donald and Gino could mess with the market. Is he

(01:03:23):
a top ten quarterback? He was last year when everyone
was healthy. Is he this year? We know he's not.
You know, Mahomes gonna have the worst year of his
career and he's infinitely better. Burrow obviously much better, Lamar
obviously much better, Josh Allen obviously much better. Justin Herbert's
a better player. Matt Stafford is a better player. I think.

(01:03:46):
Then we start arguing about the group that he's in,
like the Dak You know, Kirk Cousins isn't good anymore.
Jared Goff is a better player this year. Now he's
not a better team Jalen Hurts is currently playing better
or just more functional. Yeah, I think it just becomes
complicated again. I understand that, like he's not going to

(01:04:07):
sign for twenty five million dollars a year. My point is,
like I just have a hard time giving him two
hundred million dollars guaranteed. I can't do it, especially not
with a year remaining on his contract. My guess is
they give him like one hundred and fifty million dollars
guaranteed if they give him two hundred, Like I just

(01:04:30):
maybe I don't even know what I'm talking about, or
maybe the forty nine ers are just like the Jags
and the and the Dolphins. Maybe they don't know quarterback
that well the quarterback market, and they traded everything for
for Trey Lance and now they're giving him. I wasn't
have to see how it plays out. But can you
explain more about how teams deal with injuries like we

(01:04:53):
have this alliance fan as far as once a player
goes on I are and we sign a new player
or an entire defense, Detroit has to is the player
and I are counted against the cap. How do you
balance the cap and money if you're having to sign
so many additional players to fill in for these injuries.
At a certain point you hit the salary cap. How

(01:05:13):
do you sign additional players? Well, when a guy goes
on injured, reserve his cap money, like the money you're
actually paying him changes for a lot of these players.
This is a good question for like Joshua or Jake
Rosenberg specifically on the cap. But basically, when I put
a guy on an IR he no longer takes one

(01:05:34):
of the fifty three man roster spots. And then when
I sign one of these guys, I'm obviously paying him
the minimum salary. So if I'm up against the salary
cap and I have an injury, how can I pay
a guy when I'm up against the salary cap. I'll
be honest, I don't exactly know how to explain that
because I don't know the exact logistics of it. Clearly,

(01:05:57):
it makes sense once it's explained by a cap guy,
But I know that, like when your roster opens up,
you know a guy's salary if he's playing. You're paid
to play games. So Cousins is getting sixty million dollars
whether he plays, whether he doesn't, whether he goes injury reserve.
But a lot of guys salaries it depends whether are

(01:06:17):
you active on game day? Are you dressed on game day?
Are you on injured reserve? A lot of these salaries
get cut in half, like we're not just paying you
to be on even though it's not your fault you
got injured, but you get paid less, like ultimately you're
compensated to play these games. Now. Ray Lewis once famously said,

(01:06:38):
you pay me Monday through Saturday. Sundays are for free.
But that's a better question for a cap guy. I
don't know the exact answer to that one, or like
how to describe it properly. I've been a Titans fan
my entire life. I feel like we are such a
weird spot with quarterback being the mad question mark. It

(01:06:59):
had me thinking what can we realistically do? I don't
think we get ahead of the Raiders of the Giants
for Sanders reward. I also don't think Donald would be
playing at the same level he is. He would be
in Tennessee without Kevin O'Connell. I also don't see at
a Ran Carthon could risk his job with another year
of Levis. If you were the GM of the Titans,

(01:07:22):
what would you do. I do think you'd have to
entertain Sam Donald. I do think Sam Donald in your division,
you would have to think long and hard about Will
Levis is never going to be your quarterback again after
this year. Like I don't even think he's on the team.
I think he's a he'd probably get cut. Like the
Will Levis experiment ends right now, you know? Or yeah

(01:07:46):
I don't, we'll see it. You know how many games
does he plays? He benched? You know what his situation
is these last three games. But there will never be
Will Levis anymore in a Titans uniform. So you go.
You know, the draft is after a free agency. So
in free agency, if Sam Darnold is available, like, would
you be willing to give him a Baker Mayfield contract?

(01:08:09):
We saw Callahan, you know with Joe Burrow, we know
how he wants to play on offense. Your officers are
kind of limited, Like, this is not going to be
some loaded situation. The draft is terrible. We'll see if
m quinn Ewers might not come out. He's not even

(01:08:30):
a good player. Carson Beck who knows? You know? Is
cam Ward a top ten draft pick? That seems kind
of bold? Dion not Deon Shadour. I mean, all signs
point to him being the number one pick. Would Dion
even allows Shador to go to you? I don't know.

(01:08:54):
I don't know, man. I mean, I'm not saying you're screwed,
but I think you're in a little trouble. Do you
think Kyle Shanaan is unfairly escaping criticism this season? He
has been brilliant for years, but much like Belichick, he
is very slow to adapt or adjust. A lot of
the struggles this year are on injuries. Playing simple. But
Kyle had a funky year where he refused to adjust

(01:09:16):
even though he had gotten predictable. Teams know exactly what
he's gonna run. Every time Deebo was in the backfield,
they kept force feeding players like CMC and Deebo even
when it was clear it wasn't effective. He has never
been good halftime adjuster. His teams just tend to have
the lead, so it doesn't matter. I wonder if his
commitment to the game plan is hampering his quarterbacks development

(01:09:39):
and ability to make decisions, for example, calling audibles or
even using his legs. I don't think he scrambled at
all that Rams game. You would think he would dial
up a play using Brock's legs. I always thought the
might of the forty nine ers weapons were a bit overstated.
Outside of McCaffrey, who's a monster, they are average at

(01:09:59):
receiving and have a very good tight end. You could
probably name eight nine teams with a better overall core weapons.
I think the receivers you know Ayuk's heard, but when
Ayuk's there Juwan Jennings Kittle, I mean, ultimately, if your
tight ends a grid pass catcher, he's a receiving option.
That's that's pretty good. I wonder if this is being
slowed by the lack of weapons or is the play color.

(01:10:22):
He needs that physicality and ability to separate for his
schemes to run the way he wants them. They went
from the best Yack team to one of the worst.
Is this true? How do they fix? I think he's very,
very reluctant, and this is the way he builds his
team like. He doesn't want to play like you know,
old school Andy Reid. I don't want to throw the

(01:10:43):
ball forty times a game. I want to play where
the running game dictates the passing game. It's a very
old school way of thinking. Even if the running back
is coming back, that's just because our run game is effective.
You know, a lot of teams like oh run games
working today. We will keep running the ball. Kyle is

(01:11:04):
dead set on making sure the run game works, and
a lot of his pass plays are dependent on those
run plays working. And if those pass plays are not
gonna get used, if the run game gets stuffed, and
then a lot of his passing game is tied to,
like the boosts and the waggles off the running game, well,
it feels like a lot of times this year when

(01:11:26):
you're playing Brock Purty, you know that, like, hey, do
not bite on play action fakes because he's gonna roll
right to you. And how many times they have tried
to run like an outside zone that's a fake run
the play action play with Brock then turning around and
running the other way and the defenders right in his face.
It's like, Kyle, that you've been running this play and

(01:11:48):
again I'm not saying scrap the play, but it is
not as effective after four fucking years of using the play.
And I just think that a lot of times, like
they can't just drop back and throw so well, I
don't have a great answer. Obviously, Kyle knows what he's
doing and knows his offense really well. He's clearly just
been out of sync this year, and I think losing

(01:12:09):
McCaffrey early on in the season really throw him off.
And I don't know, I don't have a great answer
for you. I do think it gets back to though
personnel and their offensive line sucks. So beside Trent Williams
just to be like we're gonna drop back forty times
a game, Kyle will be like, oh, guy's gonna get killed.
And I'd be like, well, start drafting some more offensive linemen.

(01:12:30):
You draft Ricky Pierce on the first rounding can find
Ricky Pierce on the fourth. So my bigger issue is
not investing an offensive line. In fairness to Kyle, you
watch some of these teams play right, they drop back
and their guy just gets killed, and it's like they
just call pass play after pass play. That's probably what
would happen if they just called pass play after pass

(01:12:52):
play with his offensive line. So some of these, like
some of his minions, like Bobby Slowik is like, Bro,
you keep calling pass play with your offensive line, You're
gonna get fucking CJ. You know they're gonna bury him
in the ground. Look at Gino. I mean, Gino's clearly
run around for his life. My question is kind of twofold.
As a Seattle fan. We used to be one of

(01:13:13):
the best home field advantages in the league. Now we
can't win at home to save our life. So one,
what do you think is to blame for Seattle's home
struggles this year? Also, I don't see Gino or Sam
Howe being the quarterback long term. Well, I think we
agree with Sam Howe. I think there's a chance Geno's
your quarterback for a couple more years. I think sometimes

(01:13:37):
we take for granted of like your team was elite.
So for like four or five years you had Russell
Wilson in this unreal defense. You were winning most of
your games home or away, but at home, like your
fans viewed you as the best team in the league.
So it was a massive deal when that team played right.

(01:14:01):
It's still a big deal when you play a home game,
but most of the people walking into that building don't go,
this is the best team we've ever seen. So I
think sometimes we overthink, like you had the best team
in the history of your franchise for like legitimately a
three or four year run, and this isn't the same
and part of dominating, like your defense was elite. So

(01:14:24):
when your defense is elite, people aren't gonna score on you.
And it's super loud. I can't a good home field.
I'm not gonna be able to hear anything, so it's
kind of a double whimming. Well, your defense hasn't been
as good the last four or five years, so the
home field advantage is neutralized a little bit. I think
it's really just that simple, right I mean, your team

(01:14:47):
was a lot better. Team's not bad. Now. I think
you've what won nine games. If you win nine games
this year, that was like three years in a row.
But there was a stretch there when and this was
pre uh seventeen game season, so basically when you really

(01:15:09):
started kicking everyone's ass was twenty twelve, eleven and five,
twelve and three, twelve and four, So you had a
three year run of just domination. Twenty fifteen, you're pretty good.
Two you went ten and six, then you went ten
and five and one. Then you kind of had the
down year as you started pivoting off some of the
players nine and seven, and then you're really good at

(01:15:30):
the end of the decade ten and six, eleven and five,
twelve and four. Now you were losing earlier in the
playoffs in the previous years, but still like you were
really good. And now these last like the last couple
years of Pete and now Mike, you know, seven and ten,
nine and eight, nine and eight, and now you're probably
at nine and eighteen. So I mean, there's a big
difference between the teams we've seen these last three years.

(01:15:54):
Did are nine and eight in the lob Marshawn Lynch teams,
I goes. I think we all agreed that. If I
take the twenty thirteen Seattle Seahawks and they played the
Mike McDonald Gino Smith Seattle Seahawks, if we're putting a
line on DraftKings on that game, like I like the
lob Earl Thomas, Richard Truman, Marshaun Lynch, Seattle Seahawks buy

(01:16:16):
a touchdown, you know, if not more? And if I
told every fan what team they're ones wearing green and
the others wearing white, you can wear one of the
two jerseys and that shows what team you're rooting for.
What team do you think they'd be rooting for. We're
all human beings, like we know what we're rooting for.
It's like, why are the Chiefs losing? Because their fucking

(01:16:37):
fans never think they're gonna lose when they enter the stadium,
and in fairness to them, they never do. For the
money bag, what's your gym and diet routine? If you
follow any oh, I go to the gym. I try
to go seven days a week. I'd say waits three days,
uh cardio the other four and sometimes with weights we

(01:17:00):
get cardio as well. With the wedding not too far away.
I've kind of upped the intensity of the StairMaster. Usually
do the StairMaster on cardio days for sixty minutes. You know,
weights kind of lighter, higher rep just try to tighten
up the bod. Diet is just very hit or miss.
I have a sweet tooth. It's probably my downfall. Not

(01:17:22):
a huge drinker. I would say I can go on
stretches where I'm pretty good at, like fasting not eating.
Not eating breakfast is pretty easy for me when I'm
when I'm light and losing weight. I mean I was
skinny a couple of years ago. I would supplement lunch
with like chocolate milk to get some protein, and uh,

(01:17:43):
you know, whatever she makes for dinner, we get Hello Fresh.
So we eat Hello Fresh a couple of times a week.
Go to the store and make some food, eat out
maybe once or twice a week. I mean, pretty normal diet.
I would say Carbs and sugars are things that I
when I get bigger, I eat too much of. And
when I slim down, I can avoid sugar is a

(01:18:03):
key thing for me. If I can avoid sugars, I
can drop like ten pounds quick when I'm eating. You know, holidays,
obviously you just eat cakes and pies and fucking candy around. Huh.
So diet is something that is just I could be.
I could be a lot better at I have incredible

(01:18:24):
discipline getting to the gym on a daily basis, even
if at the gym I'm not like, I'm not claiming
to be Arnold Swartznaker, but I can get there and
work out no problem, because I have to do it
for my mentals. I'll lose my mind, Like I get
I don't like the way I feel if I don't
get a sweat every day in some form or fashion,
even if it's just sometimes it's going like an hour
walk around like where I live, but I gotta move

(01:18:46):
or my mind doesn't work. But as you get older,
you realize you can outrun a bad diet. And to me,
that's I even feel it from like thirty six to
forty years old. It's dramatic and there was a big
which for those listening in their twenties, like it starts.
Hitting your late twenties to your early thirties is a
dramatic change. I remember being in the NFL seeing like

(01:19:09):
older guys be very good about their diet and realizing
that they knew that you got to be like you can.
I remember Deshan Jackson could heat fucking French fries, you know,
three meals a day. That'd be his only meal, like
French fry. It wouldn't even matter, right, But some guys
you gotta be careful. And I definitely don't have the
genetics where I can't just eat like shit and at

(01:19:31):
my core kind of like, I don't really like eating
like shit as you get older because I don't feel great,
but I have no problem taking in the food. And
then after you're like, I kind of regret that I'm
loving Bo Nicks and Sean Payton combination. Do you think
his ceiling is higher than the draft analyst thought? I
would say, I think Bo Nick's a good example. And

(01:19:53):
this is like a lot of players. Some guys can transcend,
like Lamar Jackson was going to be a really talented,
explosive NFL player whether he played for the Ravens or
whether he played for the Jacks. But do you know
what turns out about Trevor Lawrence, Like he might have
really needed to go to a stable organization, and I
think party who we talk a lot about here bow knicks.
Some guys are desperate if they're going to succeed, to

(01:20:17):
go to a good coach and go to someone that
knows what they're doing. Like if you put bow knicks
on Jacksonville, or you put bow knicks on like just
put them on some the Giants, it would look awful.
It would not look good, right, Just like if you
gave bow knicks to Andy Reid, he be a good player.
Give bow next to Champayn and he'd be a good player.
If you gave bow nicks to Kyle Shannon, he'd be

(01:20:38):
a good player. If you give Brock Purty to Andy Reid,
he'd be a good player. So I think most guys
that aren't just trying, like Kyler Murray, who's up and
down player, like on any given play, he can look
like the best player in the league. Most guys don't
have that capability. So most guys are very, very dependent
on who's calling the place, who's coaching them up. Appreciate

(01:21:01):
everyone listening, have a great day. Talk to you soon.
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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}3 & Out - Falcons bench Cousins, Is Penix the answer, Coach vs. Ownership