February 22, 2025 • 33 mins
John's weekend best-of is back! This week John talked about the Jets decision to move on from Aaron Rodgers and where he thinks would be a good landing spot for Rodgers. He discussed the top prospects in the upcoming NFL draft, and finally, he dove into the NFL telling teams that the salary cap will be going up this season.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
What is happening my people? How's everyone doing well? You
can't really answer because it's a podcast and I'm talking
to myself, but hopefully you're doing well. And what we
put together this weekend is a little best of We
took some of our favorite segments from the week, our
favorite takes, favorite thoughts, and put them together in a
(00:36):
little weekend edition. So that will be the plan today.
And what I need you to do is subscribe to
the podcast. If you listen on Collins Feed. We have
our own three and out feed, make sure you hammer
that subscribe button, Spotify, Apple, wherever you may listen. I
actually a lot of people listen on Spotify business booming
there and YouTube because all of our content is up
(01:00):
on there as well, so from mail bags to obviously podcasts,
so you name it. So we put all our content
up on the YouTube page, so make sure you go
subscribe to that page to get the latest and greatest.
And other than that, let's let's dive into the to
the week that was. They'll start with Aaron Rodgers, who
(01:24):
was officially cut, I guess unofficially because the waiver wire's
dead for I think another week or so. But the
Jets put out a statement and basically I love it.
You know, in sports, I guess I follow it so closely.
Maybe it happens in other industries, but it's just a
it's a go to football thing when a player or
(01:47):
a coach is fired, like we wish him the best
in his future endeavors and whatever he pursues in the future. Like,
I love that being the final statement. It's like, no,
you can't get this guy out of your building quick enough.
This isn't just on Aaron Rodgers. This on anytime a
coach is fired. Jerry said it with Mike McCarthy. It
happens with every person. It's like I wish you the best. No,
(02:08):
you want this guy gone, and you hope whoever you
bring in to replace him is way better than this guy,
so you're actually not wishing him the best. But the
Aaron Rodgers situation was it's funny, you know, they went
all in. I don't blame them for doing it, and
it didn't just backfire in their face. It was a disaster.
(02:30):
It was like an epic, all time disaster. It was
one of those situations that's going to be talked about
the rest of my life. I mean, there were some
historic ones when I was young that I didn't witness, like, hey,
remember Willie Mays on the Mets. It's like, no, I don't,
but clearly that didn't go well, and that feels like
it's going to be one of those situations, especially if
(02:51):
Rogers doesn't play anymore. And I never blame a player
for trying to play till his like essentially athletic dying days,
because the real world sucks compared to getting to play football, basketball, baseball, hockey,
you name it for a living. It doesn't get any
better than that, and mainly it doesn't pay any better
in that and when you play quarterback, even at like
(03:14):
a mediocre level. I mean, Gardner Minshew got fifteen million
dollars last year from the Raiders. There aren't many W
two jobs on the open market that pay fifteen million dollars.
So Aaron Rodgers, who his days of getting forty to
fifty million dollars are over. But when you look at
Gardner Minshew getting fifteen million dollars, it's very conceivable that
someone could pay him one year twenty twenty five million dollars.
(03:38):
So I would not blame him for trying to continue
his career. The problem is his options, and we've talked
about this before, are not gonna be very good. It's
gonna be the Jets, it's gonna be the Raiders, it's
gonna be teams like the Giants. It's gonna be teams
that are all drafting really really high for a reason.
They suck. So if I was giving advice to Aaron,
(04:00):
and if I was giving advice to Amazon, doesn't this
make a lot of sense? Like, listen, Herbstreet and Al
got that thing off the off the mat, got it going,
got it going in the right direction, made it a
valuable property. Right a lot of us watch Thursday Night
Football ten to fifteen million people. But Al feels like
(04:21):
he's and I'm pro al Michaels but a couple steps
away from retirement. And the Herb Street thing was kind
of filler because they got denied on guys like John
Lynch and Sean McVay. Well, Aaron Rodgers sitting right there
for you, and doesn't it kind of scratch Aaron's itch?
Like part of staying as an NFL quarterback if he
were to sign with a bad team wouldn't just because
(04:43):
of money. It would because of what the NFL brings,
keeps you relevant, keeps you in the public eye, helps you,
you know, be in the mix to your off the
field businesses. Well, isn't that what this modern day television
show does? Because look at Tom Brady, they gave him
three hund fifty three hundred and seventy five million dollars,
he'd never call the game. I would say Aaron Rodgers
(05:05):
has proven to be much more of an outgoing personality
of willing to say whatever. And that's the space he's in. Like, ultimately,
the space of calling a football game is entertainment, right,
It's not like you gotta just color with the lines. No, like,
be yourself, do whatever you want to do. And I
do think Aaron Rodgers to Amazon like listen makes a
(05:26):
lot of sense. And if I was Amazon, I would
be all over him. And the money that they were
willing to pay a couple of years ago to guys
like McVeigh and John Lynch were eye opening. Why wouldn't
they be willing to do that with Aaron Rodgers? Why
wouldn't they be willing to Like, Okay, it's like Fox
made a big splash obviously a couple of years ago
ESPN made a big splash hiring Joe Buck and Troy
(05:48):
Aikman away from Fox. Maybe this Amazon's time, and listen,
I'm not saying he would take it. Maybe he wants
no part of this. Aaron Rodgers doesn't seem like he's
destined to be like a coach or a GM but
this it feels like kind of a cushy gig. You
can make fifteen twenty million dollars a year, do it
for a couple of years, ease into retirement, still get
paid a premium, get to be around football, and, let's
(06:11):
face it, kind of keep yourself relevant. I actually think
like this is the perfect gig for him. If he
asked me for advice, not saying he would and he won't.
It's like should I go to the Titans, or should
I go to the Raiders, or should I be interested
in Amazon? And Amazon like I'm sorry, Like it's time
to get a new booth, It's time to blow that
(06:33):
thing up, and I think Rogers is the perfect individual
for that spot. I think when you look at the Jets,
and I think the Falcons fall under this too. Sometimes
in life you have to be desperate, like part of
the reason I'm a podcaster is because probably about a
decade ago, there were some desperate times and it kind
(06:54):
of led me into this profession and it's worked out
pretty well. Right, there are times in your life and
probably personally well, where you have to do desperate things.
Because the old adage is never make a business decision
out of desperation. I think that's a little bullshit. I
would the way I would phrase it would be never
(07:18):
make a big business decision out of desperation. And I
think anytime that you trade or pay a quarterback a
lot of money when you're in a situation like the
Falcons were, when you're in a situation like the Jets were,
it's not an ideal operation because you go, well, why
are the Packers trading me this guy? Why doesn't Kevin
(07:39):
O'Connell and the Minnesota Vikings want this player back? And
currently the name that's floating around is Matt Stafford, and
it's you know, the Rams. I don't know hiving Matt Stafford,
and we've heard it now for a couple of years.
It's like something's just a little off. And I think
usually this stuff comes back to money, and I don't
(08:01):
blame the Rams like, yeah, we're not really into giving
you like one hundred million dollars guaranteed right now at
thirty seven, thirty eight years old. We're not into getting
into a position where, if this does go off the rails,
we feel like we're the Atlanta Falcons or the New
York Jets. We're going to take a huge, huge cap
hit for a guy that you know, we feel is
(08:21):
on the wrong side, probably on whole seventeen eighteen, who
were proven we can still win with and we like
playing with. But this is a business and we're a
little uncomfortable with where we're at in this cycle now.
We don't have many better options. We actually don't have
any other options, but we don't plan on giving you
a big contract extension. So if you want that contract extension,
(08:44):
you're gonna have to get it from someone else. And
when I see that, teams like, oh, the Giants could
be really interested in Matt Stafford, Like that's got disaster
written all over it. It really does, Like, Okay, the
New York Giants, who have been one of the worst
operations for a decade plus, would be interested in trading
for Matt Stafford. And obviously, if you're gonna trade for him.
(09:06):
You're gonna give him a lot more money on his
contract because Sean McVay and the La Rams, who have
established themselves as clearly one of the best operations in
the league, are over it. I would not be doing that.
I would not be getting into business with situations that
well run franchises want out of, especially even with you know,
(09:30):
we saw last year with Kirk Cousins, who is going
to be released in the next couple weeks. He was
available for a reason. He was old, he was injured,
and he was going to be really, really expensive, and
the Falcons are like, yeah, we'll give you a ninety
million dollars guaranteed. And it was clear by halfway through
the season, like this is an epic disaster. And part
(09:51):
of the reason it was a disaster is like your
coaching staff do they know what they're doing? Like Matt
Stafford used to be way better. Why he was younger,
he was in the prime of his career, and he
was around people that were over their head and they
did not win. Like part of being a good player
in the NFL is you also need good coaches in
(10:11):
a good operation in the NFL. Like it's pretty clear
looking back when Tom Brady chose the Bucks, like, yeah,
they had Bruce Arians, Jason light who's one of the
best gms, and a lot of good players around him.
They were actually pretty well built to handle that situation.
If you would have put Tom Brady on a team
that was not, it would have blown up in his face.
(10:35):
So when I see desperation when it comes to older quarterbacks,
I see a massive, massive red flag, and I see
something as an owner, like I understand why a general manager,
why a coach, People in the hot seat and people
that are desperate to keep their jobs would want to
make a decision like that. But and I'm not pro meddling.
(10:56):
And you hear this a lot, like you know, the
owner can't just stay out of the way. Well, sometimes
you have to get involved because you're like, this is
a moronic idea. I don't need to know our entire
playbook in the entire draft board to know I don't
like the way this looks, the way this smells, or
where this has a potential to go. There's way more
(11:18):
negative outcomes than it comes to positive outcomes when it
comes to this transaction. So I would just the Stafford business.
If LA wants out. I'm sorry, I don't want in. Okay,
let's go to a little draft conversation, because there was
a big story at the end of last week that
(11:38):
Travis Hunter. It gave the list of guys going to
the combine and Travis Hunter was listed as a corner.
And I say this all the time during the draft,
and I will continue to beat this drum. Where you
are drafted and how you are discussed as a draft
prospect has nothing to do with how you're going to
(11:59):
be as an NFL player. So your draft value that
this is an economic exercise. Right, So if I view
you as a second round pick, that has nothing to
do with what you're going to be once you get
to the NFL. But based on whether it be size
and measurables, speed, production, just overall talent, I don't view
(12:23):
you as I need to take you in the top
twenty picks to acquire your services. Right that there are
a lot of homes that go for seven hundred thousand
dollars that would be a great place to lay your
head down every night. But there's a reason that house
costs seven hundred thousand dollars. If you put it into
a different market, that house might be two point two
million dollars. And sometimes guys and players coming out of college,
(12:47):
based on a bunch of different circumstances, some of them
out of their own control, their draft value is different
from what it would be if I took this guy
from Texas Tech and I put him at Ohio State.
That's part of the business. Warrant no diff front with positions.
We say this all the time, right, It's its obvious.
Quarterback is the number one position in the NFL. And
(13:09):
if you need a quarterback and you're drafting a quarterback
and the guy is viewed as an NFL starter, you
draft him number one. You don't even hesitate. And then
offensive and defensive linemen when it comes to tackles and
pass rushers, are both of you right behind him. You
could make the argument that the third most valuable position.
So if you go quarterback, offensive, a defensive lineman, tackles
(13:32):
and ends, I would say corner would have to be
pretty high up there. And if you could tell me, hey,
you think both these guys are going to be an
all pro, would you take a wide receiver or would
you take a cornerback? I would one thousand percent take
a corner because it is typically easier to find good
wide receivers later in the draft than it is corners,
(13:53):
especially if I view the guy as a lockdown player.
And I think Travis Hunter, whether he made the decision,
whether Dion helped him make the decision, whether whoever in
his life helped him make this decision, it was the
correct decision because when you look at the wide receiver class,
it's easy to get lost in the shuffle. It's all size,
(14:13):
you know, different size requirements. Some teams need this, some
teams need that, and they're just not viewed as highly
in the sense of I could find guys later in
the draft. That is just not true for corners. And
at the end of the day, Travis Hunter as a
wide receiver prospect, he's really good, Like he is a
first round wide receiver prospect, But I don't view him
(14:35):
like Jamar Chase or you know, last year, I thought
Maliku Neighbors was a better prospect than Marvin Harrison, like
just some can't miss, no doubt about it, guy you
would take in the top five. But at corner, looking
back last year, how many teams regret passing on guys
like Jared Verse and Quinnion Mitchell for the Eagles. Obviously,
(14:57):
looking back, the defensive lineman should have gone higher. But
if you could do it over, there's no way on
God's green Earth that Mitchell ends up to the Eagles
in the early twenties. He probably ends up going in
the top ten because getting a lockdown corner makes your
defense that much easier to run when a guy takes
away half the field, especially a player who can chase
(15:19):
around number one wide receivers. And then the discussion of
can he play both ways like that, that's a bigger
picture discussion that will have to play out over time.
I don't think it's physically possible to play corner and
wide receiver as full time starters in the NFL. There
are seventeen games playing corner. Just think about the wide
(15:40):
receivers you have to go against in the NFL on
a weekly basis, especially if you are immediately the number
one you know, like the number one guy as a corner,
Like if you're the top guy, you're chasing around their
best guy. It's just extremely taxing. But like, this is
the easiest way to not even make a team hesitate
to take you in the top two or three. Picks
(16:01):
because if it's like I want to play wide receiver,
I also plan on doubling up as a corner. But
I'm a wide receiver first. I don't think he goes aside.
But when he says I'm going to play corner, that's
what I want to play. We will. I want to
play offense as well, but I'm a corner. That's how
you go in the top two or three. So smart
move by him. Ashton Genty. I saw a headline today
(16:22):
A dude that writes for The Athletic wrote that the
Cowboys should take him at number twelve of roll. Taking
Ashton Genty at twelve overall would be insane. And this
gets back to that conversation. I love Ashton Genty as
a running back. I think he is going to be
a high end starter in the NFL. But you can
find running backs, especially in this draft, that are going
(16:44):
to start between pick forty and eighty. There are going
to be a ton of future NFL starters that are
drafted on the second day. And if I'm the Dallas
Cowboys and I have a lot of needs on my team,
I am not taking a running back at number twelve.
That is insane. And listen. Like Ashual gen Z's five eight,
(17:05):
if he was six feet you might be able to
convince me, Hey, it could be Adrian Peterson. He's five
foot eight, But I couldn't take him at number twelve overall,
especially when I go, well, why can't I just get
my starter in the second or third round? Who do
you take high overall? Take a offensive or defensive lineman?
How did the Cowboys get good there for a while?
(17:25):
They drafted a bunch of offensive linemen? What happened the
last couple of years? Like where's their defensive Like where's
their depth upfront? You got Michah Parsons, who you know
you've kind of contemplated trading. But this is a deep
draft at defensive lineman. Well, you're gonna have the opportunity
to pick one of the better ones at twelve. So
how many teams last year? Go god, I could have
(17:46):
used Jared Verst. Don't overthink this. Take a defense. Look
at the Eagles? How did they just win the Super Bowl?
Offensive and defensive line?
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Speaker 2 (19:36):
I've thought about this for a while.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
And listen it's It could be factually incorrect, but I
can't imagine a business has made more millionaires than the
NFL over the last thirty forty years.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Now. Maybe there are companies that are invested in you know,
like Apple, you know some of the major companies in
America that a bunch of pensions are involved with, but
just in terms of people actually working for that company.
W two's the thirty two NFL teams, and I'd probably
include the league office. The NFL business is pretty insane
(20:14):
right now. Obviously, the players have never been richer and
they've never made more money. Same thing goes for coaches.
You know. Jerry Jones when he stole the show at
the Brian Schottenheimer press conference, he said that the reason
he didn't get into coaching because remember, you know, a
lot of especially younger listeners and viewers, don't realize Jerry
(20:37):
Jones once upon a time was on the Arkansas team
that won the National Championship in college. Like, Jerry Jones
has a national Championship ring as a player in college,
so he wasn't just some Joe Schmoe businessman. Like this
guy played college football at a really, really high level.
Granted times were a little different. Offensive lineman might have
(20:58):
weigh two hundred and forty pounds, but still at the time,
it's all relative. He was on an Arkansas team that
wasn't that won the Natty. And Jerry said that like
a lot of my friends went into coaching, but I
always aspired to live in bigger houses and drive nicer cars.
And essentially, if I would have known what these guys
are making now, I might have got into coaching because
I see what we're paying them. And it's not just
head coaches making eight, ten, fifteen to twenty million dollars.
(21:21):
I would imagine it changes per team, but two to
four coaches a staff non head coach are making seven figs. Obviously,
general managers make a lot of money, and the amount
of people making millions of dollars associated with the NFL,
it's pretty nuts. Listen, indirectly. I didn't make very much
when I worked in the NFL, but I've made a
(21:42):
lot of money, a lot more money, you know, being
in this business just talking about football, and you know,
the biggest sports podcast, I mean the biggest sports podcast
right now, pardon my take, is an NFL football show,
you know, Pat McAfee. It's a football driven show, like
football is the cash cow. And I think speaks more
of that than the news that came out yesterday that
(22:05):
the NFL salary cap will be somewhere between two hundred
and seventy five and two hundred and eighty two million dollars.
And that number one just sounds massive, But when you
put it into context ten years ago twenty fifteen, so
not that long ago, NFL was doing well then, the
salary cap was one hundred and forty million dollars. Hell,
(22:28):
three years ago, the salary cap was barely over two
hundred million dollars. It has risen over seventy million dollars
in the last three years, and honestly, if you look
at the last five years, it would have gone a
lot higher if it wouldn't have been for twenty twenty
and twenty twenty one where the salary cap actually went
the wrong way for a year in twenty twenty one
(22:50):
because of the diminished revenues because of the RONA. So
football right now, like you know these players, it is
not just the super high end guys, the Justin Jeffersons,
the Micah Parsons, the Miles Garretts. Obviously, relatively speaking, Reggie White,
(23:10):
Troy Akeman, Steve Young, Brett Fahr, Peyton Banning whoever at
the time was always making a lot of money, right,
But it's the mid tier guy. I remember last year
when guards, when good starting guards were getting eighteen million dollars.
It's like, holy shit. You know, the NBA, the average
salary is twelve million dollars, And clearly there are a
lot of guys making thirty forty fifty million dollars. It's
(23:30):
only twelve guys on a team, right, there were only
seven eight guys that actually play. So given the size
of the roster of fifty three guys, I mean the
veteran minimum when you're like a seventh round pick. Even
brock Purty, who was the last pick in the draft,
by his like third year, he was making a million dollars.
And everyone's like laughing. He makes nothing in relative to
his position, he does not, But relative to being the
(23:54):
last pick in the draft, even if you hadn't become
a starting quarterback, if you had just made the team,
you've been making a million dollars, you know. So it's
it is a great time to be involved in football
and the good thing. And this is why the other
story I saw is that Jed York And he's not alone,
but we'll just use him as example. The NFL passed
(24:14):
the rule recently that you could sell pieces of your
team to private investors. Right, private equity, venture capitalism. Right,
you could get Hey, you don't actually get anything. You
don't get to decide when I hire a fire coach.
You have no say in free agency or the NFL draft,
but you get to say like you're part owner. Brady's
(24:37):
somewhat unique is that Mark Davis actively wants him to
be involved. But most of these guys that are just
money dudes cutting checks have no juice. I mean none.
When I was at the Super Bowl, it was with
somebodies from the Eagles, Like I remember, we had minority
owners and they're still involved in the same guys are
still around and it has been very lucrative for them
(24:58):
to be involved with the philadel Eagles for the last
twenty twenty five years as minority owners for Jeffrey Leary.
But they have absolutely no say. They get a little
seat in the draft room. They show up to some games,
but in terms of like Nick Sirianni status, no one
cares what they think. And that goes for all these
teams and Jed York who think about this. Eddie de Bartelow,
(25:22):
who got the money from his father might had some
mob dives in Youngstown, Ohio, bought the forty nine ers
in nineteen seventy seven for thirteen million dollars, which I
wasn't alive in nineteen seventy seven. I would imagine thirteen
million dollars was a lot of money, and obviously the
power of TV the revenue like it wasn't It's so
(25:42):
easy to look back and go no brainer at the time,
it's I can't imagine the NFL with some full proof
business that was like recession proof and like a great
viewed as a great investment. But thirteen million dollars thirteen
million dollars, and that's what he paid for it. And
on the current valuation it is a potential to be
almost nine billion dollars. So Jed Yorke, who is thinking
(26:04):
about selling ten percent of the team, is in play
to get between you know, we'll see where the valuation falls,
but between eight and nine hundred million dollars of a
cash infusion to his business, and he can obviously do
whatever he wants with that money. And I think Jeffrey
Lourry's gonna do the same. John mar is gonna do
the same. The advantage of being able to do that
(26:25):
is and we had Jake Rosenberg on the podcast, who
was Howie Roseman's like right hand man and salary cap
negotiator for a long long time, is you can get
around salary cap situations when you're willing to sign enormous
signing bonuses and what do you need to sign, you know,
a signing bonus cash. So some teams and Jed and
(26:49):
Jerry Jones and even Robert Kraft have taken a lot
of shit up, like they actually don't spend as much
cash as the wealth of their franchise. Where Jeffrey Lourry's
running circles around them. He puts a lot of cash
into his contracts and that's how they're able to sign
all these good players because you can manipulate it. And
I would imagine Jed Yorke is going to do the same. Now,
(27:10):
it doesn't mean you can't buy one hundred million dollar
yacht or whatever. But where you can really take advantage
of the value of your franchise is reinvested into the
business and sign players to contracts because of signing bonuses
that gets them on your team even though you might
not have quote unquote the salary cap space. But think
(27:32):
about where we're at in the business of the NFL
that you can sell a percentage five to ten percent
and get an infusion of five hundred six hundred eight
hundred million dollars and give up absolutely nothing. I've never
been the biggest Shark tank watcher, but it's just on
so often. I just found myself over the years watching
(27:54):
some episodes, and as I got older, I appreciated partnerships
and business and who owns the revenue a lot more
from thirty five to forty than I did when I
was twenty eight. So you know, I could relate a
little bit more at least to the conversations. And usually
when it's like, hey, my business is worth a million dollars.
If you want twenty percent, it's going to cost you
(28:16):
two hundred grand. And then they would negotiate back, and
usually it's like, yeah, i'll give you two hundred and
fifty thousand dollars, but I want you know, say I
want board seats and I want a lot of juice.
You get none of that with this NFL investment. You
basically just get to say I own a piece of TMX.
It's why the League made such a big deal of
(28:37):
the Raiders and Tom Brady when they felt like Mark
Davis was giving Tom Brady a deal just because he
wanted him as part of his operation. It's like, Mark,
you can't sell him a lower percentage of the actual
valuation and give him a higher percentage of the buy
And the League pushed back on it and they had
(28:58):
to like redo the deal. And I think part of
it is Tom Brady. Listen, I don't know how much
actual tangible cash he gave through, but he clearly came
in with other investors that have a lot more money
than him. Because the price of admission to get five
or ten percent, you're talking half a billion dollars minimum,
a lot of these franchise, even the shitty ones. Right,
(29:20):
the forty nine Ers are obviously one of the more
valuable franchises in the NFL, given the market size, given
the fan base, given just the financial backing that they
have in the region. With Silicon Valley literally right in there,
I mean, that's where they are. I don't love the
location of the stadium, but that's because I'm born and
(29:41):
raised way farther up north. Right, there's a big difference,
even if it's only forty five to fifty miles from
where I live. For a decade, I fucking hated driving
down there, but that is where most of the money is.
And Jed York was no dummy when he moved it
down and I think it's led to a franchise being
worth eight nine billion dollars. A lot of these franchises
are giants, probably similar seven to eight. You know, the
(30:03):
Cowboys obviously we were nine ten. Helped the Raiders, who
haven't won a playoff game in multiple decades. Given Vegas,
given the stadium, given the no state income tax. If
Mark Davis put the Vegas Raiders up for sale, I
think at minimum he would get eight billion dollars. So
then listen, can this maintain forever? I've often thought, like
(30:28):
I've lived long enough to know the NFL probably the
next forty years of my life. Knock on woods, I
go that far, like when I'm eighty years old, Are
they still the dominant property? You'd be crazy just to
feel confident saying that, but right now they feel pretty untouchable.
And listen, we can go back and forth, and we
will during free agency. This guy's getting screwed. This guy's
(30:50):
getting screwed. Like T Higgins, he's really getting screwed. Well,
even if they franchise him again, which listen, I think
franchising a guy back to back years is more business
like that. You're bad at the business of the NFL
if you franchise a guy back to back years, mainly
because you clearly want him on your team. And if
you franchise te Higgins back to back years, you're basically
(31:12):
paying him forty eight million dollars and both the lump
sums of twenty one and now twenty six million dollars
hits all of your cap. Meanwhile, you got like the
AJ Browns and these other guys making big money in
their cap hit is way lower. T Higgins total, Like,
if you would as signed him last year, you probably
could have got him for seventy five million dollars guaranteed.
(31:33):
Instead you're paying him on a yearly basis. That's impacting
your Like, it's just stupid. It's to me, it's just
low level business. But like listen, like T Higgins won't
love getting franchised, and I'm sure like go back and
forth in you know, publicly like, oh this bullshit, we're
getting screwed. He will have just made almost fifty million
(31:53):
dollars in guaranteed, cold hard cash in his bank account
after taxes, whatever that comes out to. But still like
he will have made a boatload of money. I bet
there are great wide receivers in the two thousands and
definitely in the nineties that never sniffed making fifty million dollars. Like,
let's just let's just look up Jerry Rice's career earnings.
(32:17):
My guess would be, all, go, forty eight million dollars.
I was high. It was forty three point five million dollars.
And Jerry Rice obviously was drafted in eighty four, but
he played at a Pro Bowl level up till the
early two thousands. Now, forty five million dollars back in
(32:37):
the nineties was a lot of money, but relative to
what these guys are making, it's it's a completely different world.
And like I said, franchise stagging a guy back to
back years, to me is just is poor management. It's
poor ownership, poor GMing. Like I don't put that on
T Higgins, and I don't know even if they had
an offer, you never know quite know what to believe.
(32:59):
But if you're willing to franchise him a second time,
and I would say this for any player, wide, receiver, tackle, quarterback,
you name it, you might as well have just signed
him to the long term deal because you pay a
little bit more total in the guarantee, but you're able
to manipulate the cap and have a better football team.
And look back in the day with Dan Snyder in
the Redskins with Kirk Cousins like that was stupid to
(33:22):
franchise them twice. You should have just extended him. And
clearly that would have been the right move at the time.
Speaker 3 (33:30):
The volume
The volume.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
What is happening my people? How's everyone doing well? You
can't really answer because it's a podcast and I'm talking
to myself, but hopefully you're doing well. And what we
put together this weekend is a little best of We
took some of our favorite segments from the week, our
favorite takes, favorite thoughts, and put them together in a
(00:36):
little weekend edition. So that will be the plan today.
And what I need you to do is subscribe to
the podcast. If you listen on Collins Feed. We have
our own three and out feed, make sure you hammer
that subscribe button, Spotify, Apple, wherever you may listen. I
actually a lot of people listen on Spotify business booming
there and YouTube because all of our content is up
(01:00):
on there as well, so from mail bags to obviously podcasts,
so you name it. So we put all our content
up on the YouTube page, so make sure you go
subscribe to that page to get the latest and greatest.
And other than that, let's let's dive into the to
the week that was. They'll start with Aaron Rodgers, who
(01:24):
was officially cut, I guess unofficially because the waiver wire's
dead for I think another week or so. But the
Jets put out a statement and basically I love it.
You know, in sports, I guess I follow it so closely.
Maybe it happens in other industries, but it's just a
it's a go to football thing when a player or
(01:47):
a coach is fired, like we wish him the best
in his future endeavors and whatever he pursues in the future. Like,
I love that being the final statement. It's like, no,
you can't get this guy out of your building quick enough.
This isn't just on Aaron Rodgers. This on anytime a
coach is fired. Jerry said it with Mike McCarthy. It
happens with every person. It's like I wish you the best. No,
(02:08):
you want this guy gone, and you hope whoever you
bring in to replace him is way better than this guy,
so you're actually not wishing him the best. But the
Aaron Rodgers situation was it's funny, you know, they went
all in. I don't blame them for doing it, and
it didn't just backfire in their face. It was a disaster.
(02:30):
It was like an epic, all time disaster. It was
one of those situations that's going to be talked about
the rest of my life. I mean, there were some
historic ones when I was young that I didn't witness, like, hey,
remember Willie Mays on the Mets. It's like, no, I don't,
but clearly that didn't go well, and that feels like
it's going to be one of those situations, especially if
(02:51):
Rogers doesn't play anymore. And I never blame a player
for trying to play till his like essentially athletic dying days,
because the real world sucks compared to getting to play football, basketball, baseball, hockey,
you name it for a living. It doesn't get any
better than that, and mainly it doesn't pay any better
in that and when you play quarterback, even at like
(03:14):
a mediocre level. I mean, Gardner Minshew got fifteen million
dollars last year from the Raiders. There aren't many W
two jobs on the open market that pay fifteen million dollars.
So Aaron Rodgers, who his days of getting forty to
fifty million dollars are over. But when you look at
Gardner Minshew getting fifteen million dollars, it's very conceivable that
someone could pay him one year twenty twenty five million dollars.
(03:38):
So I would not blame him for trying to continue
his career. The problem is his options, and we've talked
about this before, are not gonna be very good. It's
gonna be the Jets, it's gonna be the Raiders, it's
gonna be teams like the Giants. It's gonna be teams
that are all drafting really really high for a reason.
They suck. So if I was giving advice to Aaron,
(04:00):
and if I was giving advice to Amazon, doesn't this
make a lot of sense? Like, listen, Herbstreet and Al
got that thing off the off the mat, got it going,
got it going in the right direction, made it a
valuable property. Right a lot of us watch Thursday Night
Football ten to fifteen million people. But Al feels like
(04:21):
he's and I'm pro al Michaels but a couple steps
away from retirement. And the Herb Street thing was kind
of filler because they got denied on guys like John
Lynch and Sean McVay. Well, Aaron Rodgers sitting right there
for you, and doesn't it kind of scratch Aaron's itch?
Like part of staying as an NFL quarterback if he
were to sign with a bad team wouldn't just because
(04:43):
of money. It would because of what the NFL brings,
keeps you relevant, keeps you in the public eye, helps you,
you know, be in the mix to your off the
field businesses. Well, isn't that what this modern day television
show does? Because look at Tom Brady, they gave him
three hund fifty three hundred and seventy five million dollars,
he'd never call the game. I would say Aaron Rodgers
(05:05):
has proven to be much more of an outgoing personality
of willing to say whatever. And that's the space he's in. Like, ultimately,
the space of calling a football game is entertainment, right,
It's not like you gotta just color with the lines. No, like,
be yourself, do whatever you want to do. And I
do think Aaron Rodgers to Amazon like listen makes a
(05:26):
lot of sense. And if I was Amazon, I would
be all over him. And the money that they were
willing to pay a couple of years ago to guys
like McVeigh and John Lynch were eye opening. Why wouldn't
they be willing to do that with Aaron Rodgers? Why
wouldn't they be willing to Like, Okay, it's like Fox
made a big splash obviously a couple of years ago
ESPN made a big splash hiring Joe Buck and Troy
(05:48):
Aikman away from Fox. Maybe this Amazon's time, and listen,
I'm not saying he would take it. Maybe he wants
no part of this. Aaron Rodgers doesn't seem like he's
destined to be like a coach or a GM but
this it feels like kind of a cushy gig. You
can make fifteen twenty million dollars a year, do it
for a couple of years, ease into retirement, still get
paid a premium, get to be around football, and, let's
(06:11):
face it, kind of keep yourself relevant. I actually think
like this is the perfect gig for him. If he
asked me for advice, not saying he would and he won't.
It's like should I go to the Titans, or should
I go to the Raiders, or should I be interested
in Amazon? And Amazon like I'm sorry, Like it's time
to get a new booth, It's time to blow that
(06:33):
thing up, and I think Rogers is the perfect individual
for that spot. I think when you look at the Jets,
and I think the Falcons fall under this too. Sometimes
in life you have to be desperate, like part of
the reason I'm a podcaster is because probably about a
decade ago, there were some desperate times and it kind
(06:54):
of led me into this profession and it's worked out
pretty well. Right, there are times in your life and
probably personally well, where you have to do desperate things.
Because the old adage is never make a business decision
out of desperation. I think that's a little bullshit. I
would the way I would phrase it would be never
(07:18):
make a big business decision out of desperation. And I
think anytime that you trade or pay a quarterback a
lot of money when you're in a situation like the
Falcons were, when you're in a situation like the Jets were,
it's not an ideal operation because you go, well, why
are the Packers trading me this guy? Why doesn't Kevin
(07:39):
O'Connell and the Minnesota Vikings want this player back? And
currently the name that's floating around is Matt Stafford, and
it's you know, the Rams. I don't know hiving Matt Stafford,
and we've heard it now for a couple of years.
It's like something's just a little off. And I think
usually this stuff comes back to money, and I don't
(08:01):
blame the Rams like, yeah, we're not really into giving
you like one hundred million dollars guaranteed right now at
thirty seven, thirty eight years old. We're not into getting
into a position where, if this does go off the rails,
we feel like we're the Atlanta Falcons or the New
York Jets. We're going to take a huge, huge cap
hit for a guy that you know, we feel is
(08:21):
on the wrong side, probably on whole seventeen eighteen, who
were proven we can still win with and we like
playing with. But this is a business and we're a
little uncomfortable with where we're at in this cycle now.
We don't have many better options. We actually don't have
any other options, but we don't plan on giving you
a big contract extension. So if you want that contract extension,
(08:44):
you're gonna have to get it from someone else. And
when I see that, teams like, oh, the Giants could
be really interested in Matt Stafford, Like that's got disaster
written all over it. It really does, Like, Okay, the
New York Giants, who have been one of the worst
operations for a decade plus, would be interested in trading
for Matt Stafford. And obviously, if you're gonna trade for him.
(09:06):
You're gonna give him a lot more money on his
contract because Sean McVay and the La Rams, who have
established themselves as clearly one of the best operations in
the league, are over it. I would not be doing that.
I would not be getting into business with situations that
well run franchises want out of, especially even with you know,
(09:30):
we saw last year with Kirk Cousins, who is going
to be released in the next couple weeks. He was
available for a reason. He was old, he was injured,
and he was going to be really, really expensive, and
the Falcons are like, yeah, we'll give you a ninety
million dollars guaranteed. And it was clear by halfway through
the season, like this is an epic disaster. And part
(09:51):
of the reason it was a disaster is like your
coaching staff do they know what they're doing? Like Matt
Stafford used to be way better. Why he was younger,
he was in the prime of his career, and he
was around people that were over their head and they
did not win. Like part of being a good player
in the NFL is you also need good coaches in
(10:11):
a good operation in the NFL. Like it's pretty clear
looking back when Tom Brady chose the Bucks, like, yeah,
they had Bruce Arians, Jason light who's one of the
best gms, and a lot of good players around him.
They were actually pretty well built to handle that situation.
If you would have put Tom Brady on a team
that was not, it would have blown up in his face.
(10:35):
So when I see desperation when it comes to older quarterbacks,
I see a massive, massive red flag, and I see
something as an owner, like I understand why a general manager,
why a coach, People in the hot seat and people
that are desperate to keep their jobs would want to
make a decision like that. But and I'm not pro meddling.
(10:56):
And you hear this a lot, like you know, the
owner can't just stay out of the way. Well, sometimes
you have to get involved because you're like, this is
a moronic idea. I don't need to know our entire
playbook in the entire draft board to know I don't
like the way this looks, the way this smells, or
where this has a potential to go. There's way more
(11:18):
negative outcomes than it comes to positive outcomes when it
comes to this transaction. So I would just the Stafford business.
If LA wants out. I'm sorry, I don't want in. Okay,
let's go to a little draft conversation, because there was
a big story at the end of last week that
(11:38):
Travis Hunter. It gave the list of guys going to
the combine and Travis Hunter was listed as a corner.
And I say this all the time during the draft,
and I will continue to beat this drum. Where you
are drafted and how you are discussed as a draft
prospect has nothing to do with how you're going to
(11:59):
be as an NFL player. So your draft value that
this is an economic exercise. Right, So if I view
you as a second round pick, that has nothing to
do with what you're going to be once you get
to the NFL. But based on whether it be size
and measurables, speed, production, just overall talent, I don't view
(12:23):
you as I need to take you in the top
twenty picks to acquire your services. Right that there are
a lot of homes that go for seven hundred thousand
dollars that would be a great place to lay your
head down every night. But there's a reason that house
costs seven hundred thousand dollars. If you put it into
a different market, that house might be two point two
million dollars. And sometimes guys and players coming out of college,
(12:47):
based on a bunch of different circumstances, some of them
out of their own control, their draft value is different
from what it would be if I took this guy
from Texas Tech and I put him at Ohio State.
That's part of the business. Warrant no diff front with positions.
We say this all the time, right, It's its obvious.
Quarterback is the number one position in the NFL. And
(13:09):
if you need a quarterback and you're drafting a quarterback
and the guy is viewed as an NFL starter, you
draft him number one. You don't even hesitate. And then
offensive and defensive linemen when it comes to tackles and
pass rushers, are both of you right behind him. You
could make the argument that the third most valuable position.
So if you go quarterback, offensive, a defensive lineman, tackles
(13:32):
and ends, I would say corner would have to be
pretty high up there. And if you could tell me, hey,
you think both these guys are going to be an
all pro, would you take a wide receiver or would
you take a cornerback? I would one thousand percent take
a corner because it is typically easier to find good
wide receivers later in the draft than it is corners,
(13:53):
especially if I view the guy as a lockdown player.
And I think Travis Hunter, whether he made the decision,
whether Dion helped him make the decision, whether whoever in
his life helped him make this decision, it was the
correct decision because when you look at the wide receiver class,
it's easy to get lost in the shuffle. It's all size,
(14:13):
you know, different size requirements. Some teams need this, some
teams need that, and they're just not viewed as highly
in the sense of I could find guys later in
the draft. That is just not true for corners. And
at the end of the day, Travis Hunter as a
wide receiver prospect, he's really good, Like he is a
first round wide receiver prospect, But I don't view him
(14:35):
like Jamar Chase or you know, last year, I thought
Maliku Neighbors was a better prospect than Marvin Harrison, like
just some can't miss, no doubt about it, guy you
would take in the top five. But at corner, looking
back last year, how many teams regret passing on guys
like Jared Verse and Quinnion Mitchell for the Eagles. Obviously,
(14:57):
looking back, the defensive lineman should have gone higher. But
if you could do it over, there's no way on
God's green Earth that Mitchell ends up to the Eagles
in the early twenties. He probably ends up going in
the top ten because getting a lockdown corner makes your
defense that much easier to run when a guy takes
away half the field, especially a player who can chase
(15:19):
around number one wide receivers. And then the discussion of
can he play both ways like that, that's a bigger
picture discussion that will have to play out over time.
I don't think it's physically possible to play corner and
wide receiver as full time starters in the NFL. There
are seventeen games playing corner. Just think about the wide
(15:40):
receivers you have to go against in the NFL on
a weekly basis, especially if you are immediately the number
one you know, like the number one guy as a corner,
Like if you're the top guy, you're chasing around their
best guy. It's just extremely taxing. But like, this is
the easiest way to not even make a team hesitate
to take you in the top two or three. Picks
(16:01):
because if it's like I want to play wide receiver,
I also plan on doubling up as a corner. But
I'm a wide receiver first. I don't think he goes aside.
But when he says I'm going to play corner, that's
what I want to play. We will. I want to
play offense as well, but I'm a corner. That's how
you go in the top two or three. So smart
move by him. Ashton Genty. I saw a headline today
(16:22):
A dude that writes for The Athletic wrote that the
Cowboys should take him at number twelve of roll. Taking
Ashton Genty at twelve overall would be insane. And this
gets back to that conversation. I love Ashton Genty as
a running back. I think he is going to be
a high end starter in the NFL. But you can
find running backs, especially in this draft, that are going
(16:44):
to start between pick forty and eighty. There are going
to be a ton of future NFL starters that are
drafted on the second day. And if I'm the Dallas
Cowboys and I have a lot of needs on my team,
I am not taking a running back at number twelve.
That is insane. And listen. Like Ashual gen Z's five eight,
(17:05):
if he was six feet you might be able to
convince me, Hey, it could be Adrian Peterson. He's five
foot eight, But I couldn't take him at number twelve overall,
especially when I go, well, why can't I just get
my starter in the second or third round? Who do
you take high overall? Take a offensive or defensive lineman?
How did the Cowboys get good there for a while?
(17:25):
They drafted a bunch of offensive linemen? What happened the
last couple of years? Like where's their defensive Like where's
their depth upfront? You got Michah Parsons, who you know
you've kind of contemplated trading. But this is a deep
draft at defensive lineman. Well, you're gonna have the opportunity
to pick one of the better ones at twelve. So
how many teams last year? Go god, I could have
(17:46):
used Jared Verst. Don't overthink this. Take a defense. Look
at the Eagles? How did they just win the Super Bowl?
Offensive and defensive line?
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Speaker 2 (19:36):
I've thought about this for a while.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
And listen it's It could be factually incorrect, but I
can't imagine a business has made more millionaires than the
NFL over the last thirty forty years.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Now. Maybe there are companies that are invested in you know,
like Apple, you know some of the major companies in
America that a bunch of pensions are involved with, but
just in terms of people actually working for that company.
W two's the thirty two NFL teams, and I'd probably
include the league office. The NFL business is pretty insane
(20:14):
right now. Obviously, the players have never been richer and
they've never made more money. Same thing goes for coaches.
You know. Jerry Jones when he stole the show at
the Brian Schottenheimer press conference, he said that the reason
he didn't get into coaching because remember, you know, a
lot of especially younger listeners and viewers, don't realize Jerry
(20:37):
Jones once upon a time was on the Arkansas team
that won the National Championship in college. Like, Jerry Jones
has a national Championship ring as a player in college,
so he wasn't just some Joe Schmoe businessman. Like this
guy played college football at a really, really high level.
Granted times were a little different. Offensive lineman might have
(20:58):
weigh two hundred and forty pounds, but still at the time,
it's all relative. He was on an Arkansas team that
wasn't that won the Natty. And Jerry said that like
a lot of my friends went into coaching, but I
always aspired to live in bigger houses and drive nicer cars.
And essentially, if I would have known what these guys
are making now, I might have got into coaching because
I see what we're paying them. And it's not just
head coaches making eight, ten, fifteen to twenty million dollars.
(21:21):
I would imagine it changes per team, but two to
four coaches a staff non head coach are making seven figs. Obviously,
general managers make a lot of money, and the amount
of people making millions of dollars associated with the NFL,
it's pretty nuts. Listen, indirectly. I didn't make very much
when I worked in the NFL, but I've made a
(21:42):
lot of money, a lot more money, you know, being
in this business just talking about football, and you know,
the biggest sports podcast, I mean the biggest sports podcast
right now, pardon my take, is an NFL football show,
you know, Pat McAfee. It's a football driven show, like
football is the cash cow. And I think speaks more
of that than the news that came out yesterday that
(22:05):
the NFL salary cap will be somewhere between two hundred
and seventy five and two hundred and eighty two million dollars.
And that number one just sounds massive, But when you
put it into context ten years ago twenty fifteen, so
not that long ago, NFL was doing well then, the
salary cap was one hundred and forty million dollars. Hell,
(22:28):
three years ago, the salary cap was barely over two
hundred million dollars. It has risen over seventy million dollars
in the last three years, and honestly, if you look
at the last five years, it would have gone a
lot higher if it wouldn't have been for twenty twenty
and twenty twenty one where the salary cap actually went
the wrong way for a year in twenty twenty one
(22:50):
because of the diminished revenues because of the RONA. So
football right now, like you know these players, it is
not just the super high end guys, the Justin Jeffersons,
the Micah Parsons, the Miles Garretts. Obviously, relatively speaking, Reggie White,
(23:10):
Troy Akeman, Steve Young, Brett Fahr, Peyton Banning whoever at
the time was always making a lot of money, right,
But it's the mid tier guy. I remember last year
when guards, when good starting guards were getting eighteen million dollars.
It's like, holy shit. You know, the NBA, the average
salary is twelve million dollars, And clearly there are a
lot of guys making thirty forty fifty million dollars. It's
(23:30):
only twelve guys on a team, right, there were only
seven eight guys that actually play. So given the size
of the roster of fifty three guys, I mean the
veteran minimum when you're like a seventh round pick. Even
brock Purty, who was the last pick in the draft,
by his like third year, he was making a million dollars.
And everyone's like laughing. He makes nothing in relative to
his position, he does not, But relative to being the
(23:54):
last pick in the draft, even if you hadn't become
a starting quarterback, if you had just made the team,
you've been making a million dollars, you know. So it's
it is a great time to be involved in football
and the good thing. And this is why the other
story I saw is that Jed York And he's not alone,
but we'll just use him as example. The NFL passed
(24:14):
the rule recently that you could sell pieces of your
team to private investors. Right, private equity, venture capitalism. Right,
you could get Hey, you don't actually get anything. You
don't get to decide when I hire a fire coach.
You have no say in free agency or the NFL draft,
but you get to say like you're part owner. Brady's
(24:37):
somewhat unique is that Mark Davis actively wants him to
be involved. But most of these guys that are just
money dudes cutting checks have no juice. I mean none.
When I was at the Super Bowl, it was with
somebodies from the Eagles, Like I remember, we had minority
owners and they're still involved in the same guys are
still around and it has been very lucrative for them
(24:58):
to be involved with the philadel Eagles for the last
twenty twenty five years as minority owners for Jeffrey Leary.
But they have absolutely no say. They get a little
seat in the draft room. They show up to some games,
but in terms of like Nick Sirianni status, no one
cares what they think. And that goes for all these
teams and Jed York who think about this. Eddie de Bartelow,
(25:22):
who got the money from his father might had some
mob dives in Youngstown, Ohio, bought the forty nine ers
in nineteen seventy seven for thirteen million dollars, which I
wasn't alive in nineteen seventy seven. I would imagine thirteen
million dollars was a lot of money, and obviously the
power of TV the revenue like it wasn't It's so
(25:42):
easy to look back and go no brainer at the time,
it's I can't imagine the NFL with some full proof
business that was like recession proof and like a great
viewed as a great investment. But thirteen million dollars thirteen
million dollars, and that's what he paid for it. And
on the current valuation it is a potential to be
almost nine billion dollars. So Jed Yorke, who is thinking
(26:04):
about selling ten percent of the team, is in play
to get between you know, we'll see where the valuation falls,
but between eight and nine hundred million dollars of a
cash infusion to his business, and he can obviously do
whatever he wants with that money. And I think Jeffrey
Lourry's gonna do the same. John mar is gonna do
the same. The advantage of being able to do that
(26:25):
is and we had Jake Rosenberg on the podcast, who
was Howie Roseman's like right hand man and salary cap
negotiator for a long long time, is you can get
around salary cap situations when you're willing to sign enormous
signing bonuses and what do you need to sign, you know,
a signing bonus cash. So some teams and Jed and
(26:49):
Jerry Jones and even Robert Kraft have taken a lot
of shit up, like they actually don't spend as much
cash as the wealth of their franchise. Where Jeffrey Lourry's
running circles around them. He puts a lot of cash
into his contracts and that's how they're able to sign
all these good players because you can manipulate it. And
I would imagine Jed Yorke is going to do the same. Now,
(27:10):
it doesn't mean you can't buy one hundred million dollar
yacht or whatever. But where you can really take advantage
of the value of your franchise is reinvested into the
business and sign players to contracts because of signing bonuses
that gets them on your team even though you might
not have quote unquote the salary cap space. But think
(27:32):
about where we're at in the business of the NFL
that you can sell a percentage five to ten percent
and get an infusion of five hundred six hundred eight
hundred million dollars and give up absolutely nothing. I've never
been the biggest Shark tank watcher, but it's just on
so often. I just found myself over the years watching
(27:54):
some episodes, and as I got older, I appreciated partnerships
and business and who owns the revenue a lot more
from thirty five to forty than I did when I
was twenty eight. So you know, I could relate a
little bit more at least to the conversations. And usually
when it's like, hey, my business is worth a million dollars.
If you want twenty percent, it's going to cost you
(28:16):
two hundred grand. And then they would negotiate back, and
usually it's like, yeah, i'll give you two hundred and
fifty thousand dollars, but I want you know, say I
want board seats and I want a lot of juice.
You get none of that with this NFL investment. You
basically just get to say I own a piece of TMX.
It's why the League made such a big deal of
(28:37):
the Raiders and Tom Brady when they felt like Mark
Davis was giving Tom Brady a deal just because he
wanted him as part of his operation. It's like, Mark,
you can't sell him a lower percentage of the actual
valuation and give him a higher percentage of the buy
And the League pushed back on it and they had
(28:58):
to like redo the deal. And I think part of
it is Tom Brady. Listen, I don't know how much
actual tangible cash he gave through, but he clearly came
in with other investors that have a lot more money
than him. Because the price of admission to get five
or ten percent, you're talking half a billion dollars minimum,
a lot of these franchise, even the shitty ones. Right,
(29:20):
the forty nine Ers are obviously one of the more
valuable franchises in the NFL, given the market size, given
the fan base, given just the financial backing that they
have in the region. With Silicon Valley literally right in there,
I mean, that's where they are. I don't love the
location of the stadium, but that's because I'm born and
(29:41):
raised way farther up north. Right, there's a big difference,
even if it's only forty five to fifty miles from
where I live. For a decade, I fucking hated driving
down there, but that is where most of the money is.
And Jed York was no dummy when he moved it
down and I think it's led to a franchise being
worth eight nine billion dollars. A lot of these franchises
are giants, probably similar seven to eight. You know, the
(30:03):
Cowboys obviously we were nine ten. Helped the Raiders, who
haven't won a playoff game in multiple decades. Given Vegas,
given the stadium, given the no state income tax. If
Mark Davis put the Vegas Raiders up for sale, I
think at minimum he would get eight billion dollars. So
then listen, can this maintain forever? I've often thought, like
(30:28):
I've lived long enough to know the NFL probably the
next forty years of my life. Knock on woods, I
go that far, like when I'm eighty years old, Are
they still the dominant property? You'd be crazy just to
feel confident saying that, but right now they feel pretty untouchable.
And listen, we can go back and forth, and we
will during free agency. This guy's getting screwed. This guy's
(30:50):
getting screwed. Like T Higgins, he's really getting screwed. Well,
even if they franchise him again, which listen, I think
franchising a guy back to back years is more business
like that. You're bad at the business of the NFL
if you franchise a guy back to back years, mainly
because you clearly want him on your team. And if
you franchise te Higgins back to back years, you're basically
(31:12):
paying him forty eight million dollars and both the lump
sums of twenty one and now twenty six million dollars
hits all of your cap. Meanwhile, you got like the
AJ Browns and these other guys making big money in
their cap hit is way lower. T Higgins total, Like,
if you would as signed him last year, you probably
could have got him for seventy five million dollars guaranteed.
(31:33):
Instead you're paying him on a yearly basis. That's impacting
your Like, it's just stupid. It's to me, it's just
low level business. But like listen, like T Higgins won't
love getting franchised, and I'm sure like go back and
forth in you know, publicly like, oh this bullshit, we're
getting screwed. He will have just made almost fifty million
(31:53):
dollars in guaranteed, cold hard cash in his bank account
after taxes, whatever that comes out to. But still like
he will have made a boatload of money. I bet
there are great wide receivers in the two thousands and
definitely in the nineties that never sniffed making fifty million dollars. Like,
let's just let's just look up Jerry Rice's career earnings.
(32:17):
My guess would be, all, go, forty eight million dollars.
I was high. It was forty three point five million dollars.
And Jerry Rice obviously was drafted in eighty four, but
he played at a Pro Bowl level up till the
early two thousands. Now, forty five million dollars back in
(32:37):
the nineties was a lot of money, but relative to
what these guys are making, it's it's a completely different world.
And like I said, franchise stagging a guy back to
back years, to me is just is poor management. It's
poor ownership, poor GMing. Like I don't put that on
T Higgins, and I don't know even if they had
an offer, you never know quite know what to believe.
(32:59):
But if you're willing to franchise him a second time,
and I would say this for any player, wide, receiver, tackle, quarterback,
you name it, you might as well have just signed
him to the long term deal because you pay a
little bit more total in the guarantee, but you're able
to manipulate the cap and have a better football team.
And look back in the day with Dan Snyder in
the Redskins with Kirk Cousins like that was stupid to
(33:22):
franchise them twice. You should have just extended him. And
clearly that would have been the right move at the time.
Speaker 3 (33:30):
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