July 15, 2019 • 49 mins
Doug talks about the running backs Ezekiel Elliott and Melvin Gordon holding out for more money and why they’re not worth a huge investment. He also tells you why Zion Williamson needs to lose weight in order to be effective in the NBA. Plus, 3 time Super Bowl Champion Mark Schlereth joins the show to talk about contract hold outs and if teams should give in to their demands.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of the Doug Gottlip
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
from three to six pm Eastern Time that's twelve to
three Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station
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(00:21):
of the Doug Godleive Show on Fox Sports Radio, Boom
of America. Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio, coming to
you from the sunny, red hot City of Angels, home
of Kauai, home of Paul George, of Anthony Davis, Lebron James,
(00:43):
I don't know Doyers who took two of three? Mike
Child and the Angels. Oh my goodness, did you guys
watch baseball on Friday night? Holy cal That was one
of the most emotional things I've ever seen. We'll get
to that upcoming. The Doug got Show is brought to
you by Farmers. At Farmers, we've seen almost everything, so
(01:03):
we had to cover almost anything. When it's game time,
have an experienced player help you stand at the game,
put their experience into play at Farmers dot Com. By
the way, Mike Trout did apparently feel some tut tightness
totness in his calves, so he's removed from yesterday's game,
but he's got thirty home runs on the year. Uh.
(01:25):
It was supposed to be a slow sports weekend, and
wanted to give us it. Give us the Angels with
a combined no hit on in the first game they played,
the first game they played since the death of their teammate.
I mean that was wow, what a what an emotional thing,
(01:47):
Ryan Music, fellow Angel fan. Did you see that? I
did see it. Pretty amazing. Yeah. Um, kind of one
of those crazy deals that you you have to again
and and granted on this on this show. Most like
most national radio shows, we don't talk a ton about
(02:08):
Major League baseball. It is more provincial. It can be
difficult to but just in the human side to it
and the sports side to it. Oh my goodness. Oh,
I mean Tyler Skaggs, their teammate tragically passes away. They
don't play, They go to the All Star break, they
(02:28):
come back, they throw a combined no hitter. They get
seven runs in the first inning, thirteen runs overall. His
birthday was the next day, seven thirteen, and by the way,
the last combined no hitter was also on the th
of July. And then they all lay their jerseys down
on the mound and Mike Trout hit, who's was close
(02:49):
friends with with Scags, of course, hits a home run
the first pitch he sees like it was. And then yesterday,
I don't know if you watched, but I did the
five center at Wimbledon, which was historic, not just because
it was amazing, and two of the all time greats,
Roger Federer at thirty seven years old still getting it done,
(03:13):
and Novak Djokovic t having the league, coming from behind
winning all three sets that he won. He won on tiebreakers.
But that's the first fifth set tie breaker in the
history of Wimbledon because they made the new rule, whereas
at twelve all, which is essentially after six sets, finally
(03:34):
like all right, let's get this thing over with. So
it was supposed to not be a great sports weekend,
and it gave us one incredibly emotional event, and it
gave us one all time great sports event. But as
we get closer and closer to NFL teams reporting, you're like, what, Yeah,
(03:55):
NFL teams reporting we're gonna to camp. We already have
our camp date, I believe for the Rams. We usually
do Rams, Cowboys Chargers may do another one. I'm pushing
for Raiders as well. But we're right here. We can
get three shooting, you know, fishing a barrel, especially with
the Rams and Chargers, who their camps are ten fifteen
(04:18):
minutes from each other, and then the Cowboys are about
an hour from here. A little bit less. Now we
have news that Ezekiel Elliott reportedly will hold out from
training camp unless he gets a new contract. Now, Ezekiellett
led the NFL in rushing last season, and of course
(04:39):
the Cowboys collapsed the season before when he faced a
six game suspension because of his off field activities, and
the year before he had an incredible first season in
nas Football League. He's been great. Melvin Gordon, of course,
continues to make news. It leaked out last week that
he's had an impass with the Chargers. Gordon is in
(05:02):
the fifth year of the rookie five year contract right
the fifth year option, which actually spikes kind of spikes
in terms of what they're gonna pay you. The secret
to these rookie contracts and and zeke Elliott's because he
was drafted higher. But they're really frontloaded deals, so it
looks like you don't make a lot of money, but
you make a lot of money upfront because they're gonna
(05:23):
it pays you over the life of the contract and
it all is in fact guaranteed. A common misconception is
that NFL contracts are not guaranteed. Rookie contracts for first
round picks are one guaranteed, and that fifth year option
once it's picked up, that is a spike. Case in point,
(05:45):
Melvin Gordon made six million his first year, made less
than a million the next uh three years, and then
is set to make five million in change guaranteed in
the fifth year. He wants a long term extension he
was offered and by the Chargers, but he feels disrespected
because it is not equal to the tops in the league.
(06:06):
Ezekei Elliott is in the fourth year, so he was
paid a bunch of money up front, about a million
a year or a little bit more than I think,
like two million a year. The next couple of like
the next two years. Now he's in the fourth year,
next year would spike up, but of course he would
be offered a long term extension, probably this upcoming off season.
Instead he wants what Todd Gurley got, which is a
(06:28):
long term extension a year before he needs to get it.
Here's the problem, though, a couple of things I said
this last week. Please don't use Todd Gurley a contract
that the Rams would love to get out of as
the Sea. You should do to me what the Rams
did to Todd Gurley. And if you want to use
(06:50):
Levian Bell's contract, understand that one Levyan Bell played a
year under the franchise tag. Two Levian Bell's contract was
so well received that the general manager who offered and
it was signed, was summarily fired afterwards. And look, Zeke
Elliott probably is the best running back in the National
(07:11):
Football League? Probably is, But didn't he just have a
meeting with the commissioner that did just happen right where
he where? The commissioner said, look, you didn't do anything
wrong that I can suspend you for. But really drunk
at a concert kind of big boying a security guard.
This a year and a half removed from having to
(07:31):
sit six games and personally derailing your team's chances of
making into the playoffs, Like are we really having to
have this meeting. This is just like two weeks removed
from Zekei Elliott professing that he's going to be a
changed man and take things more seriously off the football field.
This did happen, the idea that the Cowboys would give
(07:54):
Ezeke Elliott the largest contract in the history of the
NFL to a running back when he's like a week
off of meeting the commissioner after already being suspended once.
By the way, if you get suspended an additional time
for off the field issues, no matter how minor, it
will be more, not less than six games, right, repeat offender.
(08:18):
So do I think he's as bad a human being
as he was painted to be with his toxic relationship
with his college girlfriend. No? Do I think it's as
big a deal that he uh he pulled down the
top of a girl at a St. Patrick's Day party?
Probably not, But there's enough smoke theretory, like, come on, dude,
(08:42):
it is time to grow up, and there's some video
of him not growing up. Wait, so you now want
me to pay you more than anybody else? Oh yeah,
And there's the running back position, which feels like cable
and satellite TV doesn't it now? For the record, I've
had satellite and they call me at least three or
(09:03):
four times a week wooing me, trying to woo me back.
And I have cable now, and there is value to
having cable or satellite. Right. If you have satellite, you
can get the package to watch all the NFL games
as well as red Zone. The only problem with satellite
is he can't get Pack twelve net. My brother is
(09:24):
a coach at a Pack twelve team, and locally you
can't get the Dwyers, can't get the Dodgers, which I
want to watch. The Dodgers play baseball for the best
team in the sport. They're in my town I live,
and I want to watch I want to watch them play,
and so I get cable because of it. I can
watch Lakers, I can watch Dodgers. I can still get
(09:44):
a red zone channel. But I know that cable has
a pitfall and that I can't get the the NFL package.
Of course, I could save money, which is what most
NFL teams are choosing to do now, right, do the
old a la carte thing cutting away from the bundle.
(10:05):
Why would I do that when my favorite shows are
on Hulu and Netflix, etcetera, etcetera. An Amazon Prime, I
already use Amazon Prime. I got those three. Now, I'll
I understand that the cable and satellite bundle people will
sit there and go like, wait a second. You gotta
make sure that you have a really good high speed internet,
(10:25):
and if you do so, you're gonna end up paying
for that internet whatever that fee is along with your
subscriber fee for Netflix, for Hulu, for Amazon Prime. You
end up paying almost as much anyway. But there's a
lot of similarities there because Zeke elliott I would say,
(10:47):
Zeke is just like cable, but just like satellite. All Right,
he's awesome, he can play at all three downs. But
what happens if your satellite goes out? Right? What happens
if your satellite goes out? Your satellite goes out, screwed,
you got a thunderstorm. Sorry, I can't help you. Or
(11:08):
what happens if you want to watch the Dodgers play.
But when you when you're all locked in on one guy,
you know that there is usually one thing that is
a pitfall there. And for satellite it could be whether
it could be the Dodgers or it could be the
highly prohibitive cost. It's expensive, it's not cheap. And that's
(11:31):
what Zekiel it is. He wants to get paid top dollar.
And yet he's one mishap away from being suspended for
half a season. And oh yeah, by the way, what
if he who averaged twenty carries the game last year,
wears down like Todd Gurley or gets hurt like they
all do. Now you're so frontloaded on money that you
(11:53):
spent for him, how do you spend on deck? And
oh yeah, by the way, how do you have other
running backs? Whereas the cord cutters will say, look, if
Netflix isn't working, or if I've seen all the shows
on Netflix, I just go to Hulu or I just
go to Amazon, which is what most of these teams
are doing. You don't have to have just you don't
(12:16):
have to have one back. You have three. And individually.
No one's sang they're as good as as as Ezeki Elliott.
No one's saying they're as good as Melvin Gordon, no
one's saying they're as good as picked stud running back.
But what they're saying is you get better value, you
(12:37):
have more options, and if one goes down or if
one doesn't have the show you want the other one.
May we we act like running backs and this, uh,
this devaluing of star running backs is something which is
(12:59):
separate and unique to any other business in the world.
And it's not Centers are like that. In the NBA.
You have one rim protector, you have one small ball five,
and you have one stretch five and the days of
throwing it into Patrick Ewing are long long gone. Having
(13:20):
one center makes no sense. Having one running back doesn't
generally make you into a great football team. You can
have it, it can work for you, but the second
it breaks down, you might end up being screwed, especially
if you overpay the way the Rams overpaid. They lucked out.
They found C. J. Anderson and he worked out, and
(13:43):
yet when they got to the biggest game, neither of
them were good enough. They couldn't score against New England Patriots.
But I feel like running backs are looking like Cable
and satellite TV still very valuable, still very important to
to the TV industry, to the company I work for,
(14:03):
because you can get things there that you can't get
anywhere else. You can't get live sports program I know
Hulu has live sports or whatever. I've seen the ads
they have their value, they have their place. Zeke Elliott
is good, but you've got to understand the landscape of
the business, which is the same as the landscape of
(14:23):
the TV business, and if you ask for too much money,
you get cut out of the bundle. Be sure to
catch live editions of The Doug dot Leap Show weekdays
in noon eastern three pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and the I Heart Radio app. Chris Haynes has heard
from so many in the NBA. Chris Haynes joins us
on The Doug got Lip Show on Fox Sports Radio.
(14:45):
Yahoo Sports is his home. He's our senior NBA inside.
Of course, has Um has an outstanding podcast there as well. Chris, Chris,
what what's the league's reaction? All the people you talked
to when you're in Vegas? The Zion barely played, but
there were some there was There was some comments that
I heard from people saying like, he's definitely smaller than
(15:07):
I thought and didn't look like he was in shape.
What did you hear? Well, you you heard, you heard
a bunch of those things um going around throughout Vegas. Um,
I was, I was. I was surprised that that was
my first time seeing him play um in action. You know,
(15:28):
I've got I got a chance to to see him
at them. It was like days before the draft in
New York. But this is the first time I got
to see him in the in the jersey. It was
a tight jersey had on too. It wasn't I don't
think that would be the size jersey he'll be wearing
when the regular season comes around. And I was, you know,
(15:49):
it was surprised to see how to see how big
he was now. I don't know if actually is playing
weight obviously, you know, his size has been talked about,
uh all throughout his college career. But you know, it
was just it was just a little surprised. I think
the jersey didn't help him. And um, I just think
that's going to be a talking point, uh you know,
(16:12):
if he's if he's able to continue playing at that weight,
I think that's just gonna be a talkie point for
a while as far as how durable he's going to
be able to be at that size. Chris ain't joining
us in the Doug Gotlip Show on Fox Sports Radio.
Kind of a bummer of a year, right. R J.
Barrett has played all the way through, but Outside of that,
most of the other young players have not did that
(16:33):
take away at all from Summer League, which has kind
of taken on a season of its own, a following
of its own, it did. Um this is my this
is my opinion, my opinion only. It was probably the
lowest buzz of some league that I've covered. Uh and
I've been covering league since with two thousand and eleven.
(16:54):
Um with Zion Williams and the buzz going in, you know,
tremendous height. You know, he was mashed up against r J.
Barrett the first game, but once Zion went out, the
bus just just yeah, yeah, I got I'll tell you.
I won't I won't name names, but I played an
adult league game against the first round pick last night
(17:17):
and he like he walked in like five minutes in
the game because the game time got switched and I played.
It was with a couple other former NBA players and
we're like, I was like, who is that dude. He's like, oh,
that's so and so, Like he's not playing in Summer League,
but he played in this league. They're like, yeah, they
didn't want him to play in Summer League. It was
(17:38):
It's a weird thing. NBA teams doing because these guys
are still going out playing. They just don't want to
play in summer League. Yeah, I guess, you know, I
don't know why that is, but I guess they don't
want these guys to get injured on their watch. Like
like the teams will probably take criticism for their handling
of it. But we we knew, we knew going in
(17:59):
Zionson was going probably played two games, max Um, but
obviously when he banged Mese that that that ended that.
But once he was out, it's like, you know that
that was it. The buzz was gone. Uh. It was
probably one of the most lack luster of summer leaves
that you know, the out covered Chris Haynes joining us
in the Doug Otlip Show on Fox Sports Radio. UM,
(18:20):
all right, I haven't gotten your thoughts on Russell Westbrook
is now a number of the Houston Rockets. Um seemed
like a surprise, right, Like Russell we thought was gone
as soon as Paul George was moved and Russell was
mentioned in the trade to the potential trade of the
Toronto Raptors. But to Houston, that one seems surprising. What's
your reaction, I was you know, I was obviously surprised. UM,
(18:47):
I think a lot of people, you know, I heard
lots of the centers is a side of desperation. UM,
I could see that. But at the same time, it's like,
I think Chris Paul and James Harden, you know that pairing,
Uh you know, Renniss course, And you know I'm not
I'm not sold at all by any stretch of imagination
(19:07):
that the pairing of Westbrooking Hard is gonna work. But
I mean, Westbrook is just a better player right now
than Chris Paul. So I just I think you have
to give Houston credit for going out there and trying
to make a splash. Uh. You know. So with that
being said, like I don't know what they're gonna get.
I don't know how they're gonna function, you know, I
(19:29):
have my doubts on how they're going to be able
to share the ball and feed off of each other.
But these two players are better players than James Harden
and Chris Paul. So just from that standpoint, I gotta
give you from the edge and I can't. I can't
really criticize the move. I can't either, Um, but I
don't know how it makes them that it makes them
(19:51):
marginally better, but it feels like so many teams in
the West got massively better. I don't think it makes
them a championship team. Am I wrong in that? In
at you know, on paper theory, No, that's what I'm saying.
I don't think. I don't think it. It moves the needle,
uh drastically. I think, um, he's a younger player west
(20:12):
book is in his prime. Uh for most people think
and believe so just from the edge, I think they're
they're a little bit better than they were when they
had Chris Paul. But that doesn't move them ahead of
in my opinion, doesn't move him ahead of Lakers, doesn't
move him ahead of Clippers, doesn't move him ahead of Portland's,
doesn't move him ahead of Utah, probably doesn't move them
(20:33):
ahead of Denver. So they're still probably right where they
would have been if Chris Paul was there. I just
think there's probably a little bit more upside to it.
And I think, you know, for Jerald Boyd, he's always
taking explains bad. He's going to you know, he's going
to make moves that most people were were scratch their
head over. But you know, you have to give him
credit for always not not being complacent, and I think
(20:54):
this is another another one of those situations where he's
doing so not be complacent. Where do you think Chris
Paul plays next year? Yeah, you know, we we here
in Miami. Uh for sure, that's probably the only team
that we're really here and leaked to him that that's serious. Uh.
I think it's a long stretch, deep stretch that Uh okay,
(21:17):
see what waiving him? Stretching waves him because if he waves,
if he would get waive, then I think, you know,
I think he would probably hear till Lakers if that
if that was the case. But it's a hundred and
forty seven million dollars. They're not gonna pay a hundred
I mean, yeah, they're not. They're not. They're not at all.
So that's why I say that the only truly link
is the Miami Heat who have the interests. They're trying
(21:38):
to make moves over there in the East. Uh So
that's why I want to think, Uh, Dicky last, Yeah,
gonna be gonna be interesting to see of all the
guys that have moved that. That's you're just trying to
move a contract in Oklahoma City I guess got one
year less of guaranteed money from Chris Paul to Russell Westbrook,
but four years older or older of a player. I
(21:58):
heard you talking about the Lakers. Anthony Davis had a
press conference yesterday. Now the roster is relatively complete, although
j R. Smith waved today, so maybe maybe ultimately he
gets added. What do you think of what the Lakers
have done after the Anthony Davis trade? So I think
that many solid moves I like, I like the pieces.
(22:19):
Uh you get upside into Marcus Cousins where you don't know, uh,
you don't really know what you're gonna get. Possibly he
can work himself into form and becoming that starton than
he was before his injury. Maybe not, Maybe he could
just give you what he gave you and going to state,
which was which was solid number sixteen and nine there, uh,
(22:39):
JaVale McGee as a backup, or maybe the start siting
and start the season Danny Green, the versat three D
player Troy Daniels, a sharp shooters, so that they got
they got formorable pieces. Man that that can you know,
helped this roster. The only thing is about you know,
staying healthy. Anthony Davis has had his health concerns throughout
his career. But if they can stay healthy, I definitely
(22:59):
like theirs. But you know they're Lakers are going to
be a team all season long, where where if guys
are getting waves bought out that you know there there
will be a place that that's going to be a
target for me, these top players that's going to be
bought out a wave, So there'll there'll be instrigued in
all season long. Um, now that we're a week and
(23:20):
a half removed, how surprised for NBA people at the
at at Kawai Leonard and his ability to recruit off
the court, Like we're hearing about all this stuff that
he was doing and putting basically putting this kind of
deal together before the Clippers were able to make that move.
And a guy who is kind of quietly gone under
the radar. I know sometimes that we in the media
(23:43):
we associate how verbose somebody is with us as what
they're like in real life. But still kind of surprising, right,
a guy who kind of goes about his business his
own way is quietly recruiting first Kevin Durant and then
Paul George. Yeah, no, it was it was very surprising,
just to you know, I mean, everything about his creasy
(24:04):
was surprising. You know, the the leaks were kept relatively quiet. Um,
him picking the clippers in the first place. I remember,
you know, when I broke that story, I had to
check on my sources about asking two more follow up questions.
I'm like, hold on Kauai to the clippers, okay, now
like this is happening now, okay. You know, so that
(24:24):
was surprised there soon after Paul George and then we
heard how instrumental Choir was and accomplishing all this. So yeah,
we do we do associate. Uh you know, you know
how quiet he is and mute he is at times,
and to think that, you know, he's just not doing
anything on his off time. Uh. You know, this guy,
(24:44):
he really Surrebo was a smart, intelligent um figure. Um.
He he had a lot to do with putting that
all together and making it work man. And uh, it's
it's going to be interesting when when things start to
come to light as far as how that process up
by step really really really chained forward. I think we're
gonna here, you know, we're gonna be surprised a lot more.
(25:07):
What all he had to do to make all that happen.
I'm sure you have some good pods in the in
the can from Vegas. You want to tease what your
next step post up Chris Haynes, Uh, podcasters my next
posted the pod. I'll say this, I think, uh we'll
be able to share a lot of light on how
that process was for Kauad Clippers and how all that
(25:30):
all that happened. And so I was, I was giving
a little tease before this, but you team me up properly.
So uh well, well, I think we'll have a little
bit more insight on my pod sometime later next week.
Post up how all this is gonna come about? Post
up Chris Haynes is the podcast. Go to Y'aho sports
pomb on Twitter if you want any of the insight
that he only he can provide. He's a senior NBA
insider for y'all who sports Chris, great stuff, Thanks for
(25:52):
joining us, man, take care of be sure to catch
live editions. So the Douggut Leap Show weekdays at noon
Eastern three pm Pacific. It's kind of been a bummer
of a summer league year, right. There's usually a guy
or two which are hyped and the to most hype
were John Morant at a Murray State and Zion Williamson
(26:14):
and there once upon a time AU teammates in South Carolina.
John didn't play a moment and Zion played all of
eleven moments eleven minutes, and then they he was promptly
shut down after banging knees with somebody else. And maybe
it was that, uh Seth Greenberg, who called the game,
(26:35):
said he looked out of shape. Maybe it's the it's
the under the breath kinda looks like a linebacker's kind
of kind of thick. Maybe it's that, as I've told people,
you haven't actually seen him. Like I went and watched
I gotta call a game on radio Duke Louisville where
Louisville Duke had a come back from the twenty two
point deficit, and I remember watching him in warmups and
(26:55):
going like, he looks like a football player who just
came out of paths. Can high school football when the
football player comes out of pads, you know, it's like
it's like December, Like, yeah, well they just won the
state championship and that's our star defensive end. And he
happens to play power forward that's what he looks like.
And as big and profound as he looks on TV
(27:17):
and an NBA court at six five and a half
in bare feet six seven I guess or six six
and three quarters and speakers, that's not big. He looks small.
He looked thick, doesn't look like it was in great shape,
and he still did some unbelievable things. Is ripped the
ball out of somebody else's hands. Mike Chewski said this
(27:40):
to Adams Sagoria. Zach says as Zag's blog, he's a
he's a basketball whoopoholic. He does a great job. Coach
K said this at the Peach Jam, which is one
of the big high school a U festivals are not
the biggest the culmination of the E Y b L,
which is the Nike circuit. Know, I never thought he
(28:00):
should have played, just because he's been on the circuit
of awards, the SPS and everything. That's what Coach K
told Adam Seguria. I don't think he's in playing shape
or in mental shape to play. Now. I understand this.
I understand the idea that you you play in March
(28:22):
or maybe till April, then you you prepare for the draft.
Then you're drafted, and then and meanwhile leading up to
the draft, even you have the awards circuit, then you
have the SPS. You got other things you gotta do.
After you get drafted, you get the press conference. It's
not the end all be all. Let's not go crazy
about summer league. Blake Griffin's gotten hurt in summer league.
(28:43):
That cost him a season. Greg Oden got hurt in
summer league. It cost him well, it began the process
of his career got of evaporating. And nobody wants somebody
to get hurt on their own watch. And I actually
understand Zion specifically, like, you know, do you want to
play him the whole time? But I do find it
(29:04):
odd about basketball players who could fall out of shape
that quickly, because even though Zion may not have worked
out for anybody outside of the Pelicans, he was supposed
to be training for basketball and all of a sudden,
like a week out, two weeks out, he falls that.
But three weeks out, you fall that out of shaping
(29:25):
your eight nineteen years old. Here's the thing about Zion Williamson.
I think he'll develop a better perimeter jump shot. He's
going to have to and generally guys has have as
they've gone along. And even if he doesn't, Heck, Ben
Simmons can't shoot and hasn't shot well or shot almost
(29:48):
at all, and he just signed a deal today five years,
hundred seventy million dollars because he does so many other
things well. And I would say Zion is already a
better shooter than n Simmons. He's not gonna be over
to overcome his height, but he is going to have
to continue to be as good or a better athlete.
(30:08):
And it's not just about the jumping, it's about the landing.
But a good portion of his success is going to
be based upon his body. You just can't get to
where you're out of shape. I have a working kind
of philosophy for ex basketball players, ex athletes. So many
(30:31):
guys I know like, yeah, well I used to play
and then I popped my killes Tennant, I used to
play and then I I blew out my knee. And
I do think that some of that is genetic, But
some of the genetics, some of the genetics are because frankly,
(30:52):
you may have a weakness that gets exposed because you're
carrying too much weight. That's really what it comes down to,
you're carrying too much weight. So I played in college
at one eighty four was what I played for the
most part, So occasionally by the end of the season,
(31:13):
I was usually under one eighty. Early in the season,
I could be a little over one eighty, but I
feel like that's my that's actually probably a little heavy.
But I was really solidly built. So you know, I'm
six ft tall. I've gotten up close to two hundred pounds.
I don't think I'm somebody who I would say is fat,
but you know, you get older, it's harder to be
(31:36):
have three four percent body fat like when you're a kid.
I won't play basketball run up and down if I'm
over a pounds, just because my body is not built
for that. It's really not built for a hundred eighty
four pounds because of how in proportioned. Now, I'd love
to play in the in the one seventies, because what
happens was all that force of jumping, of planting, of cutting.
(32:00):
Your body has grown comfortable with a certain weight, and
when you add to that, it stresses parts of your
body that aren't used to that certain way. So I
think you're more likely for a for an injury. You're
more likely to have a soft tissue injury or to
(32:21):
hurt your back or to hurt your hip or whatever
if you're playing with a little bit too much weight.
And it's why, by the way, coach k is right,
shouldn't put him out in the court. But you know,
the hard thing is, when you're a guy that is
quote unquote big boned, it's a it's a vicious cycle.
(32:45):
In order to keep your way down, you've got to
play all the time. In order to play all the time,
you gotta keep your way down. You I we should
we only want him to play at to less than
two and sixty pounds. Well, the only way to get
there is to play a lot of basketball. Yeah, you
can do yoga hot yoga, and you can work him
out and he can run, he can jog, but the
(33:06):
best thing to do is to play basketball to develop
all of those basketball muscles, ligaments, tendons. Obviously help it
out with some some stretching, some strength works, some elastic
elastic works from all the different stuff and your diet,
and the diet's a good portion of it, maybe more
than but I and I've said this on my podcast.
(33:32):
The all Ball podcast that when I was playing in
the usb LS, the old it's the now defunct United
States Basketball League, which was like a summer c b A,
and it was an unbelievable league. We had, you know,
on on one team. We had Willie Burton, who was
the ninth pick of the draft. We had Gailing Young
who was the second round pick of the Charlotte Hornets.
(33:55):
We had Bubba Wells who was a second round pick
of the Dallas Mavericks. I Renewable played in the NBA
for the Spurs, played mind of Ohio. We had like
six NBA players on our team. And I remember calling
my late father and I was like, Dad, I can't
believe how good some of these guys are. What are
they doing the usb L And he said, there's always
(34:17):
a reason. What do you mean. Some guys as women,
some guys that smoke, some guys drink, some guys as drugs.
Some guys, you know, they they they're not smart enough.
They can't they can't manage their money. So maybe they gamble,
or maybe they're just not smart enough. They can't run plays.
(34:39):
Some guys eat themselves out of the NBA. And I'm
not saying that's gonna be Zion. But if you're ever
going to invest on somebody to take care of your
body and to keep you constantly, perfectly fed and in shape,
it's Scion Williamson, because I totally understand that if you're
not playing and you're America's guest, and you go from
(35:01):
party to party and celebration of greatness to celebration of greatness,
and you do all the things you're supposed to do.
When you have a chance to have a profound impact
on the NBA, you can get a little out of shape,
But at eighteen nineteen years old, that's when you got
that fat gene. You've gotta be careful to keep under wraps,
otherwise it can derail what could be an amazing career.
(35:24):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox Sports
Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app
search f s R to listen live. He's a three
times Super Bowl champion, naval and Fox analyst and all
around good guy Mark Schlayer, who joints us stink. I
was just I'm actually telling stories more off air on
(35:47):
text to some of my friends. I was um I
played in the league called the U S b L,
which was like, uh, when I came out of college,
the C b A was was going through a rough patch,
was right before I think it had gone bankrupt, was
going bankrupt. The G League was in, the D League
was just starting. There was a bunch of but the
USB I been around a while and actually was just
(36:08):
May and June league played a play and a ton
of NBA players and my late father when I told
him how good everybody was, He's like, look, there's always
a reason, right, Like, you're in that league because you
have no jump shot. Everybody's got a reason they don't
make it. Sometimes it's women, sometimes as food, sometimes as drugs.
Sometimes it's drinking. Sometimes it's gambling. Um, I would bet.
(36:31):
I would bet that during your time with the Redskins
and the Broncos, there are plenty of talented guys that
fell out of favor and fail the league for roughly
the same reasons. Is that fair? Oh yeah, Yeah. There's
always guys that are incredibly gifted, like hand of God
gifted that whatever reason, there's something that they don't possess.
(36:52):
You know. One of the things that I always think
about it at the next level from kind of good
to grade or great to you know, hauld of same
type of levels is something that don't test fork combine,
something they don't look for. You know, we always test athleticism,
right we look at a guy and say, well, he's
an elite level athlete. He can run, he can jump,
and can do all these things. Um In the game
(37:12):
of football, sometimes it just becomes how quickly you process information.
And that has nothing to do with intelligence. Like there's
a lot of people that are super intelligent, uper intelligent
that don't process quickly enough. And the elite level processors,
the guys that can take the information in their eyes
and they don't think about it. It just automatically triggers
what to do. Those are the guys to me that
(37:33):
are on film. They may not run the elite level
four and you have the level of vertical jump, but
those are guys that are always around the ball, that
always make plays, and that to me derails more guys
than anything up or anything else. I always tell people
it's it really becomes because everybody's gifted athletically in football
becomes a neck up league. It's the guys from the
(37:54):
neck up that have that ability. Those are the guys
that can play for a very long time, and the
guys that don't. Frankly, they just never will player, never
reached their potential, even if they're just hand of God
gifted athletically. It's a great points. You know, the Patriots
a lot for a long time have gone after guys
at college degrees and other others have fallen in place
(38:14):
with doesn't necessarily mean just because you've got a college degree,
or or because you know you you score higher on
said Wonderlick test, that you're a smarter football player, but
it can be a marker for some form of intelligence
that you know, intelligence does in fact win because you
can figure out how to deal with any of your
own inadequacies. Doug Gotli Show, Fox Sports Radio, Mark Slayer
(38:35):
is our guest. Um. Running backs are are interesting, and
you've seen so many of them, you blocked for so
many of them. I mean, the story in Denver when
you were there was, you know, your offensive line was
so good, your quarterback play was so good that it's
it felt like even when Terrell Davis went down, there
was somebody else that was able to have a profound impact.
(38:56):
If anything, I almost feel like you're Denver bron goes
um where the real were the beginning of the end
of the dynamic individual high paid running back? Is that
is that? Is that a crazy statement to make? Well?
And now I don't I don't think so. I mean,
I think you look at it, and you know, I've
always said this year Terrell Davis goes down with a
knee injury. N I think week four Atlantis Garry comes in,
(39:21):
starts with twelve games and ends up having twelve hundred yards.
And then the next year it's Mike Anderson is a
twenty six year old marine who we we sign and
he ends up having fourteen hundred yards, you know, the
next year, and then you know, it's Ruben Drones, and
then it's Clinton Portis, and then it's like anybody you
put back there ended up having twelve fourteen hundred yards.
(39:43):
But I always said the year that Atlantis Gary had,
you know, twelve hundred yards, TV would have had seventeen hundred.
The year that Mike Anderson had fourteen hundred, TV probably
would have one. I mean, he made up from multituo
descinds that way. But I do think I do think
the running back position, um, you know, it's it's changed
that it's been devalued. It's like a fullback position in
(40:04):
this league. Um, and it's it's by committee, and guys
have certain skill sets and there's not many guys that
are complete you know, that are that big, bruising running
back that can run between the tackles. It still has
a speed to get to the edge, but is good
in the backfield as far as blitz pick up and
catching the ball and so much of the game. You
look at the game today, um, you know, you're defending
(40:27):
third down plays what used to be third down plays
when I was playing on first down. That's that's you know,
the majority of the game is played out of sub
now where everything is kind of quote unquote nickel package,
three wide package, you know, spread baggages. So there's not
a lot of backs that have that complete ability to
kind of morph into whatever you need them to morph into. Okay,
(40:48):
so the best back in the league, Yeah, you know,
I do think he is. I think he is one
of those unique guys. I said this coming out of college.
The thing that impressed me more anything about him college
was his ability to just absolutely stone defenders that that
were blitz. His blitz pick up ability was phenomenal, catches
(41:08):
the ball well on the back, but we know how
dynamic he is. So yeah, I would say that he's
on a shortlist of the best in the league. Probably
off the top of my head, I would I would
rank him right up there, probably number one. Okay, So
apparently he's told people close to him that he wants
to sit out training camp to get a new contract.
He's under contract for two more years. That fifth year
(41:28):
extension would be the fifth year option would be next
year where you do make more money. But usually before
that last year is when, uh, when the new contract comes.
That's what Melvin Gordon, you know, wants a new contract
before this is like he wants Todd Gurley's deal. Todd
got paid, you know in what would be this, you know,
right before this training camp, what do you think the
(41:49):
Cowboys should do well? Again? The devalue the devalued position.
You know, Todd Gurley got that contract and was phenomenal
for twelve games and then just the wear and tear
and the beating you know that he took on his body.
I mean it showed up at the end and really
hurt them coming down their playoff stretch and they got
(42:09):
to the Super Bowl. But it really hurt them in
the Super Bowl. Um, I'm all for guys getting paid.
That position is an interesting position simply because, um, simply
because of you know, of the longevity or the lack thereof.
But I look at how special he is and the
difference he makes to your young quarterback. And let's let's
(42:30):
face it, this is, you know, a league in which
the quarterbacks are coveted. The game's um is very surrounded
about your quarterback having UM success. And Dak Prescott is
a much better player when Zeke Elliott is healthy and
and doing his thing. Now, I understand he wants to
get paid, but there's a guy that makes him. It
(42:52):
makes it tough, like he's his own worst enemy. He
just went with the commissioner. He like he justis like you,
you know, I want to want a new contract. Like look, dude,
you're lucky the commissioner didn't ding you a game or
two right exactly. And that's and that's the fear. Like
if you had a complete and total UM, you know
you your your record was cleaning, you didn't have any issues,
(43:13):
and we didn't have to worry about every time you
go out that you may get in a fight, or
you may do something stupid, then it'd be a lot
easier to pay you. So like I understand, guys wanted
to get paid, but I also understand that playing in
this league is a privilege and it's one that you
have to take very seriously. And they've got you on
a contract, sit out, get fined. We don't have to
(43:36):
pay you, Jack because you won't make any money. So
there's a there's a very fine line. He's he's walking
on and um his off the field, his off the field,
like the lack of integrity that he's shown off the
field at times would if if I'm running the Cowboys,
would make it very hard for me to give him
a long term deal with a bunch of up front money.
(43:58):
All right, Melvin Gordon another guy who can do it all,
but they have other backs to help him. Um. He
has one thousand yards season. Part of the reason he
has only one thousand yard season is he's been dinged
up uh the other three seasons. Slow rookie year, but
after that dynamic last year over five yards that carry
can also catch the ball out of the backfield. He
(44:18):
too wants a new deal. He feels disrespected by what
I'm told is somewhere in the ten million a year neighborhood. Uh.
Five or so in the first three years kind of guaranteed. Um,
they have him under contract for one more year and
that fifth year option, and then they could franchise tag him.
He don't want to play unless he gets Todd Gurley money,
(44:38):
unless he gets Levy on Bell money. What would you
do if you're the l A Chargers. Uh, that's the
guy that I wouldn't sign to a long term deal.
He's had one year where he's played sixteen games. Last year,
I think he started fourteen games or twelve games at
eight hundred yards rushing. Uh. He's last year was the
first year that the average over four year ords of
(45:00):
caring um he has had. He's come out with a
balky knee from day one. UM. Something that's that's been
troublesome for him over the course of his career. And
and frankly, you know, he'll catch fifty balls a year,
and so he is a dynamic player in that regard.
But I I just look at the injury risk with him,
(45:20):
and I look at the lack of production, the lack
of games played, and the lack of like I said
before last year, I think he averaged about three nine
and carry. Um, I just I haven't seen enough to
make me feel like it warrants paying that guy, and
so he would be one like I would. I would
(45:40):
pay Zeke if it wasn't for the office off field
stuff like he would like if you combine the two
and had the great off the field character with what
Zeke could do, that's the guy I want to pay.
But Gordon, like I even looking around the league and say,
I don't know what I Gordon the top ten backs,
(46:01):
and if I was going, hey man, I want the
top ten backs, just pure dynamics nature. Now he scores
a lot of touchdowns and stuff and off as a
fantasy owner, you know, maybe that would be that would
be really key for me. But like what I put
him in my top ten backs, I don't I don't
know that he would fit in there. Yeah, it's really
I feel like he's getting some bad advice from people
(46:21):
going like, look they gotta pay you, they want to win.
Now look what everybody else is getting. And you know,
I mean he came out and don't for he even
came out and said how difficult it is. Replaced star
running backs and there were four and oh without him, right,
So don't don't forget this either. Anthony Lynn was my
teammate here when we ran through running backs. He was
(46:43):
he was a running back, he was a full back.
He was a special teams player when every every running
back we put in got a thousand yards. So he
comes from that world, um, where you know where you
can you can run multiple guys and and have guys
for situations. So he understands that world. Yeah, fast things,
(47:04):
last things. Devion Clowney. See, I think one of the
reasons you need a general manager UM in the NFL,
it's much the same reason that you know, players need
an agent because there are things that can be said
between agents and gms that there's filters and so they
can be softened. So when the news comes out that
(47:25):
because there's no GM, it's actually the head coach, Bill
O'Brien who doesn't want to sign to Devon Clowny to
a long term deal that seems to do what I
would think would be major damage to their relationship. Does
that matter from your perspective, Yeah, no, it definitely matters.
I think it's hard, you know, when you're a head
(47:45):
coach like I think we've seen the trend kind of
switch back. Like there was a while with my home
Grin and then Mike Shanahan and a couple of the
coaches that wanted to be the grand pooball of all things.
Bill Parcelves maybe started the whole thing off. But you
get into a position, or you put yourself into a
position where you have to be hardline negotiation and and
(48:09):
guys get their feelings or I mean, you know, we
always want we always want our guys to be emotional
and to play with emotion and play with great passion
and go out and represent you know, our organization well.
But when it comes to the business aspect, we want
them to be non human. Right, Oh, it's a business.
You's got to handle it. And and like I don't know,
(48:29):
it doesn't life doesn't work that way. I mean, I'm
a human. You know. If if something's going on in
my family or with my household that bothers me, man,
it's it's hard for me to let that go. Like
they always talk about the field being a sanctuary. Man,
I had to have my stuff right at home otherwise,
like I can carry that stuff with me and so yeah,
they're there sometimes you get in a situation where there's animosity,
(48:52):
there's you know, I mean, look at what's happened in Pittsburgh.
You know you don't think there's animosity between Levian Bell
and and Tom and the rest of that organization. Of
course there is and and so yeah, that that is
a that's a real thing. And UM, I'm a hundred
percent with you, because then you get put in a
in a really bad position. You want kind of that
good cop bad cops scenario for a lot of different reasons.
(49:15):
Hey man, if it's if it's a coach that's benching
you and saying I don't think you're playing well enough,
the general managem gonna walk up beside you say, man,
I still believe it. You've got great talent. You've got
to work through a couple of things, right. And if
it's the coach going, hey man, that's not me. You
deserve to get paid. I want you to get everything
you can. But hey, that's not my job. That's the
GM's job. So you know, he's the jerk. And I
think that's I think it's an important part of you know,
(49:37):
organizational structure, and when you don't have it, um, it
can it can reak havoc on your organization. It's a
great way to put it. Good cop, bad cop. That's
awesome stuff. Stink. Uh miss seeing you in person. I'm
sure we'll see you soon. In the meantime, thanks so
much for dropping knowledge. Appreciates being our guest. You got
my buddy. I'll see you soon. It's Mark Laire, three
times Super Bowl Champion NFL on Fox and Less
Thanks for listening to the best of the Doug Gottlip
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
from three to six pm Eastern Time that's twelve to
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(00:21):
of the Doug Godleive Show on Fox Sports Radio, Boom
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you from the sunny, red hot City of Angels, home
of Kauai, home of Paul George, of Anthony Davis, Lebron James,
(00:43):
I don't know Doyers who took two of three? Mike
Child and the Angels. Oh my goodness, did you guys
watch baseball on Friday night? Holy cal That was one
of the most emotional things I've ever seen. We'll get
to that upcoming. The Doug got Show is brought to
you by Farmers. At Farmers, we've seen almost everything, so
(01:03):
we had to cover almost anything. When it's game time,
have an experienced player help you stand at the game,
put their experience into play at Farmers dot Com. By
the way, Mike Trout did apparently feel some tut tightness
totness in his calves, so he's removed from yesterday's game,
but he's got thirty home runs on the year. Uh.
(01:25):
It was supposed to be a slow sports weekend, and
wanted to give us it. Give us the Angels with
a combined no hit on in the first game they played,
the first game they played since the death of their teammate.
I mean that was wow, what a what an emotional thing,
(01:47):
Ryan Music, fellow Angel fan. Did you see that? I
did see it. Pretty amazing. Yeah. Um, kind of one
of those crazy deals that you you have to again
and and granted on this on this show. Most like
most national radio shows, we don't talk a ton about
(02:08):
Major League baseball. It is more provincial. It can be
difficult to but just in the human side to it
and the sports side to it. Oh my goodness. Oh,
I mean Tyler Skaggs, their teammate tragically passes away. They
don't play, They go to the All Star break, they
(02:28):
come back, they throw a combined no hitter. They get
seven runs in the first inning, thirteen runs overall. His
birthday was the next day, seven thirteen, and by the way,
the last combined no hitter was also on the th
of July. And then they all lay their jerseys down
on the mound and Mike Trout hit, who's was close
(02:49):
friends with with Scags, of course, hits a home run
the first pitch he sees like it was. And then yesterday,
I don't know if you watched, but I did the
five center at Wimbledon, which was historic, not just because
it was amazing, and two of the all time greats,
Roger Federer at thirty seven years old still getting it done,
(03:13):
and Novak Djokovic t having the league, coming from behind
winning all three sets that he won. He won on tiebreakers.
But that's the first fifth set tie breaker in the
history of Wimbledon because they made the new rule, whereas
at twelve all, which is essentially after six sets, finally
(03:34):
like all right, let's get this thing over with. So
it was supposed to not be a great sports weekend,
and it gave us one incredibly emotional event, and it
gave us one all time great sports event. But as
we get closer and closer to NFL teams reporting, you're like, what, Yeah,
(03:55):
NFL teams reporting we're gonna to camp. We already have
our camp date, I believe for the Rams. We usually
do Rams, Cowboys Chargers may do another one. I'm pushing
for Raiders as well. But we're right here. We can
get three shooting, you know, fishing a barrel, especially with
the Rams and Chargers, who their camps are ten fifteen
(04:18):
minutes from each other, and then the Cowboys are about
an hour from here. A little bit less. Now we
have news that Ezekiel Elliott reportedly will hold out from
training camp unless he gets a new contract. Now, Ezekiellett
led the NFL in rushing last season, and of course
(04:39):
the Cowboys collapsed the season before when he faced a
six game suspension because of his off field activities, and
the year before he had an incredible first season in
nas Football League. He's been great. Melvin Gordon, of course,
continues to make news. It leaked out last week that
he's had an impass with the Chargers. Gordon is in
(05:02):
the fifth year of the rookie five year contract right
the fifth year option, which actually spikes kind of spikes
in terms of what they're gonna pay you. The secret
to these rookie contracts and and zeke Elliott's because he
was drafted higher. But they're really frontloaded deals, so it
looks like you don't make a lot of money, but
you make a lot of money upfront because they're gonna
(05:23):
it pays you over the life of the contract and
it all is in fact guaranteed. A common misconception is
that NFL contracts are not guaranteed. Rookie contracts for first
round picks are one guaranteed, and that fifth year option
once it's picked up, that is a spike. Case in point,
(05:45):
Melvin Gordon made six million his first year, made less
than a million the next uh three years, and then
is set to make five million in change guaranteed in
the fifth year. He wants a long term extension he
was offered and by the Chargers, but he feels disrespected
because it is not equal to the tops in the league.
(06:06):
Ezekei Elliott is in the fourth year, so he was
paid a bunch of money up front, about a million
a year or a little bit more than I think,
like two million a year. The next couple of like
the next two years. Now he's in the fourth year,
next year would spike up, but of course he would
be offered a long term extension, probably this upcoming off season.
Instead he wants what Todd Gurley got, which is a
(06:28):
long term extension a year before he needs to get it.
Here's the problem, though, a couple of things I said
this last week. Please don't use Todd Gurley a contract
that the Rams would love to get out of as
the Sea. You should do to me what the Rams
did to Todd Gurley. And if you want to use
(06:50):
Levian Bell's contract, understand that one Levyan Bell played a
year under the franchise tag. Two Levian Bell's contract was
so well received that the general manager who offered and
it was signed, was summarily fired afterwards. And look, Zeke
Elliott probably is the best running back in the National
(07:11):
Football League? Probably is, But didn't he just have a
meeting with the commissioner that did just happen right where
he where? The commissioner said, look, you didn't do anything
wrong that I can suspend you for. But really drunk
at a concert kind of big boying a security guard.
This a year and a half removed from having to
(07:31):
sit six games and personally derailing your team's chances of
making into the playoffs, Like are we really having to
have this meeting. This is just like two weeks removed
from Zekei Elliott professing that he's going to be a
changed man and take things more seriously off the football field.
This did happen, the idea that the Cowboys would give
(07:54):
Ezeke Elliott the largest contract in the history of the
NFL to a running back when he's like a week
off of meeting the commissioner after already being suspended once.
By the way, if you get suspended an additional time
for off the field issues, no matter how minor, it
will be more, not less than six games, right, repeat offender.
(08:18):
So do I think he's as bad a human being
as he was painted to be with his toxic relationship
with his college girlfriend. No? Do I think it's as
big a deal that he uh he pulled down the
top of a girl at a St. Patrick's Day party?
Probably not, But there's enough smoke theretory, like, come on, dude,
(08:42):
it is time to grow up, and there's some video
of him not growing up. Wait, so you now want
me to pay you more than anybody else? Oh yeah,
And there's the running back position, which feels like cable
and satellite TV doesn't it now? For the record, I've
had satellite and they call me at least three or
(09:03):
four times a week wooing me, trying to woo me back.
And I have cable now, and there is value to
having cable or satellite. Right. If you have satellite, you
can get the package to watch all the NFL games
as well as red Zone. The only problem with satellite
is he can't get Pack twelve net. My brother is
(09:24):
a coach at a Pack twelve team, and locally you
can't get the Dwyers, can't get the Dodgers, which I
want to watch. The Dodgers play baseball for the best
team in the sport. They're in my town I live,
and I want to watch I want to watch them play,
and so I get cable because of it. I can
watch Lakers, I can watch Dodgers. I can still get
(09:44):
a red zone channel. But I know that cable has
a pitfall and that I can't get the the NFL package.
Of course, I could save money, which is what most
NFL teams are choosing to do now, right, do the
old a la carte thing cutting away from the bundle.
(10:05):
Why would I do that when my favorite shows are
on Hulu and Netflix, etcetera, etcetera. An Amazon Prime, I
already use Amazon Prime. I got those three. Now, I'll
I understand that the cable and satellite bundle people will
sit there and go like, wait a second. You gotta
make sure that you have a really good high speed internet,
(10:25):
and if you do so, you're gonna end up paying
for that internet whatever that fee is along with your
subscriber fee for Netflix, for Hulu, for Amazon Prime. You
end up paying almost as much anyway. But there's a
lot of similarities there because Zeke elliott I would say,
(10:47):
Zeke is just like cable, but just like satellite. All Right,
he's awesome, he can play at all three downs. But
what happens if your satellite goes out? Right? What happens
if your satellite goes out? Your satellite goes out, screwed,
you got a thunderstorm. Sorry, I can't help you. Or
(11:08):
what happens if you want to watch the Dodgers play.
But when you when you're all locked in on one guy,
you know that there is usually one thing that is
a pitfall there. And for satellite it could be whether
it could be the Dodgers or it could be the
highly prohibitive cost. It's expensive, it's not cheap. And that's
(11:31):
what Zekiel it is. He wants to get paid top dollar.
And yet he's one mishap away from being suspended for
half a season. And oh yeah, by the way, what
if he who averaged twenty carries the game last year,
wears down like Todd Gurley or gets hurt like they
all do. Now you're so frontloaded on money that you
(11:53):
spent for him, how do you spend on deck? And
oh yeah, by the way, how do you have other
running backs? Whereas the cord cutters will say, look, if
Netflix isn't working, or if I've seen all the shows
on Netflix, I just go to Hulu or I just
go to Amazon, which is what most of these teams
are doing. You don't have to have just you don't
(12:16):
have to have one back. You have three. And individually.
No one's sang they're as good as as as Ezeki Elliott.
No one's saying they're as good as Melvin Gordon, no
one's saying they're as good as picked stud running back.
But what they're saying is you get better value, you
(12:37):
have more options, and if one goes down or if
one doesn't have the show you want the other one.
May we we act like running backs and this, uh,
this devaluing of star running backs is something which is
(12:59):
separate and unique to any other business in the world.
And it's not Centers are like that. In the NBA.
You have one rim protector, you have one small ball five,
and you have one stretch five and the days of
throwing it into Patrick Ewing are long long gone. Having
(13:20):
one center makes no sense. Having one running back doesn't
generally make you into a great football team. You can
have it, it can work for you, but the second
it breaks down, you might end up being screwed, especially
if you overpay the way the Rams overpaid. They lucked out.
They found C. J. Anderson and he worked out, and
(13:43):
yet when they got to the biggest game, neither of
them were good enough. They couldn't score against New England Patriots.
But I feel like running backs are looking like Cable
and satellite TV still very valuable, still very important to
to the TV industry, to the company I work for,
(14:03):
because you can get things there that you can't get
anywhere else. You can't get live sports program I know
Hulu has live sports or whatever. I've seen the ads
they have their value, they have their place. Zeke Elliott
is good, but you've got to understand the landscape of
the business, which is the same as the landscape of
(14:23):
the TV business, and if you ask for too much money,
you get cut out of the bundle. Be sure to
catch live editions of The Doug dot Leap Show weekdays
in noon eastern three pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and the I Heart Radio app. Chris Haynes has heard
from so many in the NBA. Chris Haynes joins us
on The Doug got Lip Show on Fox Sports Radio.
(14:45):
Yahoo Sports is his home. He's our senior NBA inside.
Of course, has Um has an outstanding podcast there as well. Chris, Chris,
what what's the league's reaction? All the people you talked
to when you're in Vegas? The Zion barely played, but
there were some there was There was some comments that
I heard from people saying like, he's definitely smaller than
(15:07):
I thought and didn't look like he was in shape.
What did you hear? Well, you you heard, you heard
a bunch of those things um going around throughout Vegas. Um,
I was, I was. I was surprised that that was
my first time seeing him play um in action. You know,
(15:28):
I've got I got a chance to to see him
at them. It was like days before the draft in
New York. But this is the first time I got
to see him in the in the jersey. It was
a tight jersey had on too. It wasn't I don't
think that would be the size jersey he'll be wearing
when the regular season comes around. And I was, you know,
(15:49):
it was surprised to see how to see how big
he was now. I don't know if actually is playing
weight obviously, you know, his size has been talked about,
uh all throughout his college career. But you know, it
was just it was just a little surprised. I think
the jersey didn't help him. And um, I just think
that's going to be a talking point, uh you know,
(16:12):
if he's if he's able to continue playing at that weight,
I think that's just gonna be a talkie point for
a while as far as how durable he's going to
be able to be at that size. Chris ain't joining
us in the Doug Gotlip Show on Fox Sports Radio.
Kind of a bummer of a year, right. R J.
Barrett has played all the way through, but Outside of that,
most of the other young players have not did that
(16:33):
take away at all from Summer League, which has kind
of taken on a season of its own, a following
of its own, it did. Um this is my this
is my opinion, my opinion only. It was probably the
lowest buzz of some league that I've covered. Uh and
I've been covering league since with two thousand and eleven.
(16:54):
Um with Zion Williams and the buzz going in, you know,
tremendous height. You know, he was mashed up against r J.
Barrett the first game, but once Zion went out, the
bus just just yeah, yeah, I got I'll tell you.
I won't I won't name names, but I played an
adult league game against the first round pick last night
(17:17):
and he like he walked in like five minutes in
the game because the game time got switched and I played.
It was with a couple other former NBA players and
we're like, I was like, who is that dude. He's like, oh,
that's so and so, Like he's not playing in Summer League,
but he played in this league. They're like, yeah, they
didn't want him to play in Summer League. It was
(17:38):
It's a weird thing. NBA teams doing because these guys
are still going out playing. They just don't want to
play in summer League. Yeah, I guess, you know, I
don't know why that is, but I guess they don't
want these guys to get injured on their watch. Like
like the teams will probably take criticism for their handling
of it. But we we knew, we knew going in
(17:59):
Zionson was going probably played two games, max Um, but
obviously when he banged Mese that that that ended that.
But once he was out, it's like, you know that
that was it. The buzz was gone. Uh. It was
probably one of the most lack luster of summer leaves
that you know, the out covered Chris Haynes joining us
in the Doug Otlip Show on Fox Sports Radio. UM,
(18:20):
all right, I haven't gotten your thoughts on Russell Westbrook
is now a number of the Houston Rockets. Um seemed
like a surprise, right, Like Russell we thought was gone
as soon as Paul George was moved and Russell was
mentioned in the trade to the potential trade of the
Toronto Raptors. But to Houston, that one seems surprising. What's
your reaction, I was you know, I was obviously surprised. UM,
(18:47):
I think a lot of people, you know, I heard
lots of the centers is a side of desperation. UM,
I could see that. But at the same time, it's like,
I think Chris Paul and James Harden, you know that pairing,
Uh you know, Renniss course, And you know I'm not
I'm not sold at all by any stretch of imagination
(19:07):
that the pairing of Westbrooking Hard is gonna work. But
I mean, Westbrook is just a better player right now
than Chris Paul. So I just I think you have
to give Houston credit for going out there and trying
to make a splash. Uh. You know. So with that
being said, like I don't know what they're gonna get.
I don't know how they're gonna function, you know, I
(19:29):
have my doubts on how they're going to be able
to share the ball and feed off of each other.
But these two players are better players than James Harden
and Chris Paul. So just from that standpoint, I gotta
give you from the edge and I can't. I can't
really criticize the move. I can't either, Um, but I
don't know how it makes them that it makes them
(19:51):
marginally better, but it feels like so many teams in
the West got massively better. I don't think it makes
them a championship team. Am I wrong in that? In
at you know, on paper theory, No, that's what I'm saying.
I don't think. I don't think it. It moves the needle,
uh drastically. I think, um, he's a younger player west
(20:12):
book is in his prime. Uh for most people think
and believe so just from the edge, I think they're
they're a little bit better than they were when they
had Chris Paul. But that doesn't move them ahead of
in my opinion, doesn't move him ahead of Lakers, doesn't
move him ahead of Clippers, doesn't move him ahead of Portland's,
doesn't move him ahead of Utah, probably doesn't move them
(20:33):
ahead of Denver. So they're still probably right where they
would have been if Chris Paul was there. I just
think there's probably a little bit more upside to it.
And I think, you know, for Jerald Boyd, he's always
taking explains bad. He's going to you know, he's going
to make moves that most people were were scratch their
head over. But you know, you have to give him
credit for always not not being complacent, and I think
(20:54):
this is another another one of those situations where he's
doing so not be complacent. Where do you think Chris
Paul plays next year? Yeah, you know, we we here
in Miami. Uh for sure, that's probably the only team
that we're really here and leaked to him that that's serious. Uh.
I think it's a long stretch, deep stretch that Uh okay,
(21:17):
see what waiving him? Stretching waves him because if he waves,
if he would get waive, then I think, you know,
I think he would probably hear till Lakers if that
if that was the case. But it's a hundred and
forty seven million dollars. They're not gonna pay a hundred
I mean, yeah, they're not. They're not. They're not at all.
So that's why I say that the only truly link
is the Miami Heat who have the interests. They're trying
(21:38):
to make moves over there in the East. Uh So
that's why I want to think, Uh, Dicky last, Yeah,
gonna be gonna be interesting to see of all the
guys that have moved that. That's you're just trying to
move a contract in Oklahoma City I guess got one
year less of guaranteed money from Chris Paul to Russell Westbrook,
but four years older or older of a player. I
(21:58):
heard you talking about the Lakers. Anthony Davis had a
press conference yesterday. Now the roster is relatively complete, although
j R. Smith waved today, so maybe maybe ultimately he
gets added. What do you think of what the Lakers
have done after the Anthony Davis trade? So I think
that many solid moves I like, I like the pieces.
(22:19):
Uh you get upside into Marcus Cousins where you don't know, uh,
you don't really know what you're gonna get. Possibly he
can work himself into form and becoming that starton than
he was before his injury. Maybe not, Maybe he could
just give you what he gave you and going to state,
which was which was solid number sixteen and nine there, uh,
(22:39):
JaVale McGee as a backup, or maybe the start siting
and start the season Danny Green, the versat three D
player Troy Daniels, a sharp shooters, so that they got
they got formorable pieces. Man that that can you know,
helped this roster. The only thing is about you know,
staying healthy. Anthony Davis has had his health concerns throughout
his career. But if they can stay healthy, I definitely
(22:59):
like theirs. But you know they're Lakers are going to
be a team all season long, where where if guys
are getting waves bought out that you know there there
will be a place that that's going to be a
target for me, these top players that's going to be
bought out a wave, So there'll there'll be instrigued in
all season long. Um, now that we're a week and
(23:20):
a half removed, how surprised for NBA people at the
at at Kawai Leonard and his ability to recruit off
the court, Like we're hearing about all this stuff that
he was doing and putting basically putting this kind of
deal together before the Clippers were able to make that move.
And a guy who is kind of quietly gone under
the radar. I know sometimes that we in the media
(23:43):
we associate how verbose somebody is with us as what
they're like in real life. But still kind of surprising, right,
a guy who kind of goes about his business his
own way is quietly recruiting first Kevin Durant and then
Paul George. Yeah, no, it was it was very surprising,
just to you know, I mean, everything about his creasy
(24:04):
was surprising. You know, the the leaks were kept relatively quiet. Um,
him picking the clippers in the first place. I remember,
you know, when I broke that story, I had to
check on my sources about asking two more follow up questions.
I'm like, hold on Kauai to the clippers, okay, now
like this is happening now, okay. You know, so that
(24:24):
was surprised there soon after Paul George and then we
heard how instrumental Choir was and accomplishing all this. So yeah,
we do we do associate. Uh you know, you know
how quiet he is and mute he is at times,
and to think that, you know, he's just not doing
anything on his off time. Uh. You know, this guy,
(24:44):
he really Surrebo was a smart, intelligent um figure. Um.
He he had a lot to do with putting that
all together and making it work man. And uh, it's
it's going to be interesting when when things start to
come to light as far as how that process up
by step really really really chained forward. I think we're
gonna here, you know, we're gonna be surprised a lot more.
(25:07):
What all he had to do to make all that happen.
I'm sure you have some good pods in the in
the can from Vegas. You want to tease what your
next step post up Chris Haynes, Uh, podcasters my next
posted the pod. I'll say this, I think, uh we'll
be able to share a lot of light on how
that process was for Kauad Clippers and how all that
(25:30):
all that happened. And so I was, I was giving
a little tease before this, but you team me up properly.
So uh well, well, I think we'll have a little
bit more insight on my pod sometime later next week.
Post up how all this is gonna come about? Post
up Chris Haynes is the podcast. Go to Y'aho sports
pomb on Twitter if you want any of the insight
that he only he can provide. He's a senior NBA
insider for y'all who sports Chris, great stuff, Thanks for
(25:52):
joining us, man, take care of be sure to catch
live editions. So the Douggut Leap Show weekdays at noon
Eastern three pm Pacific. It's kind of been a bummer
of a summer league year, right. There's usually a guy
or two which are hyped and the to most hype
were John Morant at a Murray State and Zion Williamson
(26:14):
and there once upon a time AU teammates in South Carolina.
John didn't play a moment and Zion played all of
eleven moments eleven minutes, and then they he was promptly
shut down after banging knees with somebody else. And maybe
it was that, uh Seth Greenberg, who called the game,
(26:35):
said he looked out of shape. Maybe it's the it's
the under the breath kinda looks like a linebacker's kind
of kind of thick. Maybe it's that, as I've told people,
you haven't actually seen him. Like I went and watched
I gotta call a game on radio Duke Louisville where
Louisville Duke had a come back from the twenty two
point deficit, and I remember watching him in warmups and
(26:55):
going like, he looks like a football player who just
came out of paths. Can high school football when the
football player comes out of pads, you know, it's like
it's like December, Like, yeah, well they just won the
state championship and that's our star defensive end. And he
happens to play power forward that's what he looks like.
And as big and profound as he looks on TV
(27:17):
and an NBA court at six five and a half
in bare feet six seven I guess or six six
and three quarters and speakers, that's not big. He looks small.
He looked thick, doesn't look like it was in great shape,
and he still did some unbelievable things. Is ripped the
ball out of somebody else's hands. Mike Chewski said this
(27:40):
to Adams Sagoria. Zach says as Zag's blog, he's a
he's a basketball whoopoholic. He does a great job. Coach
K said this at the Peach Jam, which is one
of the big high school a U festivals are not
the biggest the culmination of the E Y b L,
which is the Nike circuit. Know, I never thought he
(28:00):
should have played, just because he's been on the circuit
of awards, the SPS and everything. That's what Coach K
told Adam Seguria. I don't think he's in playing shape
or in mental shape to play. Now. I understand this.
I understand the idea that you you play in March
(28:22):
or maybe till April, then you you prepare for the draft.
Then you're drafted, and then and meanwhile leading up to
the draft, even you have the awards circuit, then you
have the SPS. You got other things you gotta do.
After you get drafted, you get the press conference. It's
not the end all be all. Let's not go crazy
about summer league. Blake Griffin's gotten hurt in summer league.
(28:43):
That cost him a season. Greg Oden got hurt in
summer league. It cost him well, it began the process
of his career got of evaporating. And nobody wants somebody
to get hurt on their own watch. And I actually
understand Zion specifically, like, you know, do you want to
play him the whole time? But I do find it
(29:04):
odd about basketball players who could fall out of shape
that quickly, because even though Zion may not have worked
out for anybody outside of the Pelicans, he was supposed
to be training for basketball and all of a sudden,
like a week out, two weeks out, he falls that.
But three weeks out, you fall that out of shaping
(29:25):
your eight nineteen years old. Here's the thing about Zion Williamson.
I think he'll develop a better perimeter jump shot. He's
going to have to and generally guys has have as
they've gone along. And even if he doesn't, Heck, Ben
Simmons can't shoot and hasn't shot well or shot almost
(29:48):
at all, and he just signed a deal today five years,
hundred seventy million dollars because he does so many other
things well. And I would say Zion is already a
better shooter than n Simmons. He's not gonna be over
to overcome his height, but he is going to have
to continue to be as good or a better athlete.
(30:08):
And it's not just about the jumping, it's about the landing.
But a good portion of his success is going to
be based upon his body. You just can't get to
where you're out of shape. I have a working kind
of philosophy for ex basketball players, ex athletes. So many
(30:31):
guys I know like, yeah, well I used to play
and then I popped my killes Tennant, I used to
play and then I I blew out my knee. And
I do think that some of that is genetic, But
some of the genetics, some of the genetics are because frankly,
(30:52):
you may have a weakness that gets exposed because you're
carrying too much weight. That's really what it comes down to,
you're carrying too much weight. So I played in college
at one eighty four was what I played for the
most part, So occasionally by the end of the season,
(31:13):
I was usually under one eighty. Early in the season,
I could be a little over one eighty, but I
feel like that's my that's actually probably a little heavy.
But I was really solidly built. So you know, I'm
six ft tall. I've gotten up close to two hundred pounds.
I don't think I'm somebody who I would say is fat,
but you know, you get older, it's harder to be
(31:36):
have three four percent body fat like when you're a kid.
I won't play basketball run up and down if I'm
over a pounds, just because my body is not built
for that. It's really not built for a hundred eighty
four pounds because of how in proportioned. Now, I'd love
to play in the in the one seventies, because what
happens was all that force of jumping, of planting, of cutting.
(32:00):
Your body has grown comfortable with a certain weight, and
when you add to that, it stresses parts of your
body that aren't used to that certain way. So I
think you're more likely for a for an injury. You're
more likely to have a soft tissue injury or to
(32:21):
hurt your back or to hurt your hip or whatever
if you're playing with a little bit too much weight.
And it's why, by the way, coach k is right,
shouldn't put him out in the court. But you know,
the hard thing is, when you're a guy that is
quote unquote big boned, it's a it's a vicious cycle.
(32:45):
In order to keep your way down, you've got to
play all the time. In order to play all the time,
you gotta keep your way down. You I we should
we only want him to play at to less than
two and sixty pounds. Well, the only way to get
there is to play a lot of basketball. Yeah, you
can do yoga hot yoga, and you can work him
out and he can run, he can jog, but the
(33:06):
best thing to do is to play basketball to develop
all of those basketball muscles, ligaments, tendons. Obviously help it
out with some some stretching, some strength works, some elastic
elastic works from all the different stuff and your diet,
and the diet's a good portion of it, maybe more
than but I and I've said this on my podcast.
(33:32):
The all Ball podcast that when I was playing in
the usb LS, the old it's the now defunct United
States Basketball League, which was like a summer c b A,
and it was an unbelievable league. We had, you know,
on on one team. We had Willie Burton, who was
the ninth pick of the draft. We had Gailing Young
who was the second round pick of the Charlotte Hornets.
(33:55):
We had Bubba Wells who was a second round pick
of the Dallas Mavericks. I Renewable played in the NBA
for the Spurs, played mind of Ohio. We had like
six NBA players on our team. And I remember calling
my late father and I was like, Dad, I can't
believe how good some of these guys are. What are
they doing the usb L And he said, there's always
(34:17):
a reason. What do you mean. Some guys as women,
some guys that smoke, some guys drink, some guys as drugs.
Some guys, you know, they they they're not smart enough.
They can't they can't manage their money. So maybe they gamble,
or maybe they're just not smart enough. They can't run plays.
(34:39):
Some guys eat themselves out of the NBA. And I'm
not saying that's gonna be Zion. But if you're ever
going to invest on somebody to take care of your
body and to keep you constantly, perfectly fed and in shape,
it's Scion Williamson, because I totally understand that if you're
not playing and you're America's guest, and you go from
(35:01):
party to party and celebration of greatness to celebration of greatness,
and you do all the things you're supposed to do.
When you have a chance to have a profound impact
on the NBA, you can get a little out of shape,
But at eighteen nineteen years old, that's when you got
that fat gene. You've gotta be careful to keep under wraps,
otherwise it can derail what could be an amazing career.
(35:24):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox Sports
Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app
search f s R to listen live. He's a three
times Super Bowl champion, naval and Fox analyst and all
around good guy Mark Schlayer, who joints us stink. I
was just I'm actually telling stories more off air on
(35:47):
text to some of my friends. I was um I
played in the league called the U S b L,
which was like, uh, when I came out of college,
the C b A was was going through a rough patch,
was right before I think it had gone bankrupt, was
going bankrupt. The G League was in, the D League
was just starting. There was a bunch of but the
USB I been around a while and actually was just
(36:08):
May and June league played a play and a ton
of NBA players and my late father when I told
him how good everybody was, He's like, look, there's always
a reason, right, Like, you're in that league because you
have no jump shot. Everybody's got a reason they don't
make it. Sometimes it's women, sometimes as food, sometimes as drugs.
Sometimes it's drinking. Sometimes it's gambling. Um, I would bet.
(36:31):
I would bet that during your time with the Redskins
and the Broncos, there are plenty of talented guys that
fell out of favor and fail the league for roughly
the same reasons. Is that fair? Oh yeah, Yeah. There's
always guys that are incredibly gifted, like hand of God
gifted that whatever reason, there's something that they don't possess.
(36:52):
You know. One of the things that I always think
about it at the next level from kind of good
to grade or great to you know, hauld of same
type of levels is something that don't test fork combine,
something they don't look for. You know, we always test athleticism,
right we look at a guy and say, well, he's
an elite level athlete. He can run, he can jump,
and can do all these things. Um In the game
(37:12):
of football, sometimes it just becomes how quickly you process information.
And that has nothing to do with intelligence. Like there's
a lot of people that are super intelligent, uper intelligent
that don't process quickly enough. And the elite level processors,
the guys that can take the information in their eyes
and they don't think about it. It just automatically triggers
what to do. Those are the guys to me that
(37:33):
are on film. They may not run the elite level
four and you have the level of vertical jump, but
those are guys that are always around the ball, that
always make plays, and that to me derails more guys
than anything up or anything else. I always tell people
it's it really becomes because everybody's gifted athletically in football
becomes a neck up league. It's the guys from the
(37:54):
neck up that have that ability. Those are the guys
that can play for a very long time, and the
guys that don't. Frankly, they just never will player, never
reached their potential, even if they're just hand of God
gifted athletically. It's a great points. You know, the Patriots
a lot for a long time have gone after guys
at college degrees and other others have fallen in place
(38:14):
with doesn't necessarily mean just because you've got a college degree,
or or because you know you you score higher on
said Wonderlick test, that you're a smarter football player, but
it can be a marker for some form of intelligence
that you know, intelligence does in fact win because you
can figure out how to deal with any of your
own inadequacies. Doug Gotli Show, Fox Sports Radio, Mark Slayer
(38:35):
is our guest. Um. Running backs are are interesting, and
you've seen so many of them, you blocked for so
many of them. I mean, the story in Denver when
you were there was, you know, your offensive line was
so good, your quarterback play was so good that it's
it felt like even when Terrell Davis went down, there
was somebody else that was able to have a profound impact.
(38:56):
If anything, I almost feel like you're Denver bron goes
um where the real were the beginning of the end
of the dynamic individual high paid running back? Is that
is that? Is that a crazy statement to make? Well?
And now I don't I don't think so. I mean,
I think you look at it, and you know, I've
always said this year Terrell Davis goes down with a
knee injury. N I think week four Atlantis Garry comes in,
(39:21):
starts with twelve games and ends up having twelve hundred yards.
And then the next year it's Mike Anderson is a
twenty six year old marine who we we sign and
he ends up having fourteen hundred yards, you know, the
next year, and then you know, it's Ruben Drones, and
then it's Clinton Portis, and then it's like anybody you
put back there ended up having twelve fourteen hundred yards.
(39:43):
But I always said the year that Atlantis Gary had,
you know, twelve hundred yards, TV would have had seventeen hundred.
The year that Mike Anderson had fourteen hundred, TV probably
would have one. I mean, he made up from multituo
descinds that way. But I do think I do think
the running back position, um, you know, it's it's changed
that it's been devalued. It's like a fullback position in
(40:04):
this league. Um, and it's it's by committee, and guys
have certain skill sets and there's not many guys that
are complete you know, that are that big, bruising running
back that can run between the tackles. It still has
a speed to get to the edge, but is good
in the backfield as far as blitz pick up and
catching the ball and so much of the game. You
look at the game today, um, you know, you're defending
(40:27):
third down plays what used to be third down plays
when I was playing on first down. That's that's you know,
the majority of the game is played out of sub
now where everything is kind of quote unquote nickel package,
three wide package, you know, spread baggages. So there's not
a lot of backs that have that complete ability to
kind of morph into whatever you need them to morph into. Okay,
(40:48):
so the best back in the league, Yeah, you know,
I do think he is. I think he is one
of those unique guys. I said this coming out of college.
The thing that impressed me more anything about him college
was his ability to just absolutely stone defenders that that
were blitz. His blitz pick up ability was phenomenal, catches
(41:08):
the ball well on the back, but we know how
dynamic he is. So yeah, I would say that he's
on a shortlist of the best in the league. Probably
off the top of my head, I would I would
rank him right up there, probably number one. Okay, So
apparently he's told people close to him that he wants
to sit out training camp to get a new contract.
He's under contract for two more years. That fifth year
(41:28):
extension would be the fifth year option would be next
year where you do make more money. But usually before
that last year is when, uh, when the new contract comes.
That's what Melvin Gordon, you know, wants a new contract
before this is like he wants Todd Gurley's deal. Todd
got paid, you know in what would be this, you know,
right before this training camp, what do you think the
(41:49):
Cowboys should do well? Again? The devalue the devalued position.
You know, Todd Gurley got that contract and was phenomenal
for twelve games and then just the wear and tear
and the beating you know that he took on his body.
I mean it showed up at the end and really
hurt them coming down their playoff stretch and they got
(42:09):
to the Super Bowl. But it really hurt them in
the Super Bowl. Um, I'm all for guys getting paid.
That position is an interesting position simply because, um, simply
because of you know, of the longevity or the lack thereof.
But I look at how special he is and the
difference he makes to your young quarterback. And let's let's
(42:30):
face it, this is, you know, a league in which
the quarterbacks are coveted. The game's um is very surrounded
about your quarterback having UM success. And Dak Prescott is
a much better player when Zeke Elliott is healthy and
and doing his thing. Now, I understand he wants to
get paid, but there's a guy that makes him. It
(42:52):
makes it tough, like he's his own worst enemy. He
just went with the commissioner. He like he justis like you,
you know, I want to want a new contract. Like look, dude,
you're lucky the commissioner didn't ding you a game or
two right exactly. And that's and that's the fear. Like
if you had a complete and total UM, you know
you your your record was cleaning, you didn't have any issues,
(43:13):
and we didn't have to worry about every time you
go out that you may get in a fight, or
you may do something stupid, then it'd be a lot
easier to pay you. So like I understand, guys wanted
to get paid, but I also understand that playing in
this league is a privilege and it's one that you
have to take very seriously. And they've got you on
a contract, sit out, get fined. We don't have to
(43:36):
pay you, Jack because you won't make any money. So
there's a there's a very fine line. He's he's walking
on and um his off the field, his off the field,
like the lack of integrity that he's shown off the
field at times would if if I'm running the Cowboys,
would make it very hard for me to give him
a long term deal with a bunch of up front money.
(43:58):
All right, Melvin Gordon another guy who can do it all,
but they have other backs to help him. Um. He
has one thousand yards season. Part of the reason he
has only one thousand yard season is he's been dinged
up uh the other three seasons. Slow rookie year, but
after that dynamic last year over five yards that carry
can also catch the ball out of the backfield. He
(44:18):
too wants a new deal. He feels disrespected by what
I'm told is somewhere in the ten million a year neighborhood. Uh.
Five or so in the first three years kind of guaranteed. Um,
they have him under contract for one more year and
that fifth year option, and then they could franchise tag him.
He don't want to play unless he gets Todd Gurley money,
(44:38):
unless he gets Levy on Bell money. What would you
do if you're the l A Chargers. Uh, that's the
guy that I wouldn't sign to a long term deal.
He's had one year where he's played sixteen games. Last year,
I think he started fourteen games or twelve games at
eight hundred yards rushing. Uh. He's last year was the
first year that the average over four year ords of
(45:00):
caring um he has had. He's come out with a
balky knee from day one. UM. Something that's that's been
troublesome for him over the course of his career. And
and frankly, you know, he'll catch fifty balls a year,
and so he is a dynamic player in that regard.
But I I just look at the injury risk with him,
(45:20):
and I look at the lack of production, the lack
of games played, and the lack of like I said
before last year, I think he averaged about three nine
and carry. Um, I just I haven't seen enough to
make me feel like it warrants paying that guy, and
so he would be one like I would. I would
(45:40):
pay Zeke if it wasn't for the office off field
stuff like he would like if you combine the two
and had the great off the field character with what
Zeke could do, that's the guy I want to pay.
But Gordon, like I even looking around the league and say,
I don't know what I Gordon the top ten backs,
(46:01):
and if I was going, hey man, I want the
top ten backs, just pure dynamics nature. Now he scores
a lot of touchdowns and stuff and off as a
fantasy owner, you know, maybe that would be that would
be really key for me. But like what I put
him in my top ten backs, I don't I don't
know that he would fit in there. Yeah, it's really
I feel like he's getting some bad advice from people
(46:21):
going like, look they gotta pay you, they want to win.
Now look what everybody else is getting. And you know,
I mean he came out and don't for he even
came out and said how difficult it is. Replaced star
running backs and there were four and oh without him, right,
So don't don't forget this either. Anthony Lynn was my
teammate here when we ran through running backs. He was
(46:43):
he was a running back, he was a full back.
He was a special teams player when every every running
back we put in got a thousand yards. So he
comes from that world, um, where you know where you
can you can run multiple guys and and have guys
for situations. So he understands that world. Yeah, fast things,
(47:04):
last things. Devion Clowney. See, I think one of the
reasons you need a general manager UM in the NFL,
it's much the same reason that you know, players need
an agent because there are things that can be said
between agents and gms that there's filters and so they
can be softened. So when the news comes out that
(47:25):
because there's no GM, it's actually the head coach, Bill
O'Brien who doesn't want to sign to Devon Clowny to
a long term deal that seems to do what I
would think would be major damage to their relationship. Does
that matter from your perspective, Yeah, no, it definitely matters.
I think it's hard, you know, when you're a head
(47:45):
coach like I think we've seen the trend kind of
switch back. Like there was a while with my home
Grin and then Mike Shanahan and a couple of the
coaches that wanted to be the grand pooball of all things.
Bill Parcelves maybe started the whole thing off. But you
get into a position, or you put yourself into a
position where you have to be hardline negotiation and and
(48:09):
guys get their feelings or I mean, you know, we
always want we always want our guys to be emotional
and to play with emotion and play with great passion
and go out and represent you know, our organization well.
But when it comes to the business aspect, we want
them to be non human. Right, Oh, it's a business.
You's got to handle it. And and like I don't know,
(48:29):
it doesn't life doesn't work that way. I mean, I'm
a human. You know. If if something's going on in
my family or with my household that bothers me, man,
it's it's hard for me to let that go. Like
they always talk about the field being a sanctuary. Man,
I had to have my stuff right at home otherwise,
like I can carry that stuff with me and so yeah,
they're there sometimes you get in a situation where there's animosity,
(48:52):
there's you know, I mean, look at what's happened in Pittsburgh.
You know you don't think there's animosity between Levian Bell
and and Tom and the rest of that organization. Of
course there is and and so yeah, that that is
a that's a real thing. And UM, I'm a hundred
percent with you, because then you get put in a
in a really bad position. You want kind of that
good cop bad cops scenario for a lot of different reasons.
(49:15):
Hey man, if it's if it's a coach that's benching
you and saying I don't think you're playing well enough,
the general managem gonna walk up beside you say, man,
I still believe it. You've got great talent. You've got
to work through a couple of things, right. And if
it's the coach going, hey man, that's not me. You
deserve to get paid. I want you to get everything
you can. But hey, that's not my job. That's the
GM's job. So you know, he's the jerk. And I
think that's I think it's an important part of you know,
(49:37):
organizational structure, and when you don't have it, um, it
can it can reak havoc on your organization. It's a
great way to put it. Good cop, bad cop. That's
awesome stuff. Stink. Uh miss seeing you in person. I'm
sure we'll see you soon. In the meantime, thanks so
much for dropping knowledge. Appreciates being our guest. You got
my buddy. I'll see you soon. It's Mark Laire, three
times Super Bowl Champion NFL on Fox and Less
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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