3 and Out - Adams Trade: Respect Seattle's All-In Approach, Jets Kinda Overhyped Haul; Gase is Toast; Top Headlines; Mailbag

In this episode, John breaks down both sides of the Jamal Adams trade, why he respects the Seahawks' all-in approach by making the deal, and why he thinks the Jets' haul sounds better than it actually is, why Adam Gase is dead man walking in New York, and why veteran locker room leadership will be more crucial than ever to control COVID. He also looks at some of the top headlines from around the league and answers listener questions in the Middlekauff Mailbag. Follow John on twitter @JohnMiddlekauff and go to theherdnow.com to find the latest content. Subscribe now!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
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hundred flowers dot com. Slash tune in. What is going on? Everybody?

(00:42):
John Middlecop Podcast, Thanks for coming, Thanks for listening. Uh,
I think football is now officially back. July twenty eight
report date for all the veterans. All the quarterbacks have
been tested and uh set up so they've already and
all the rookies and now we have all the veterans.

(01:04):
If you're listening to this on the twenty eighth, that
was the official report date. Again, it's a little complicated.
You gotta get tested and then go away. Not quite exactly.
I mean I've read all the stories and I quite
exactly sure how this works. Never unprecedented territory. But I
think it's safe to say football's back. I have a
baseball game on in the background. We got sports Basketball

(01:27):
is coming back this week Football the NFL, you know
it was gonna do everything possible. We had big, big
trade news this weekend. I'll give you my opinion on
the Seattle side, give you my opinion on the New
York Jet side. Jamal Adams clearly traded some thoughts on
the impact of your veteran players with the coronavirus this

(01:50):
year and their importance as leaders and teams with strong
veteran presences on their team. I think are gonna benefit
a lot. Coaches can only do so much. Just some
other you know, newsy things that have happened. And then,
like always, Middlecoff mail back at John Middlecoff is the
Instagram DMS wide open. Leave a question there, you get

(02:10):
an answered here on the show. Also, for all of
you guys that have subscribed to the Three and Out
podcast on Apple, I appreciate it. I'm know some of
you listen on Collins Feed subscribe to that as well.
Greatly appreciate it. Leave a review if you would be
so kind, leave a review when you subscribe tip my
hat Derek Jeter style. I guess his nephew respect the Jeff.

(02:34):
But let's get into the big news of the weekend,
which was, you know, one of the bigger trades in
recent memory, Jamal Adams to the Seattle Seahawks for two ones,
a three and a player. So let's start with it
from Seattle side. And I've been thinking about this actually

(02:56):
over the last year, but definitely since the virus it
and when the virus hit with the stock market, I've
actually been very, very aggressive. I've been a lot of
money in the market, and not in the short term.
I'm not trying to day trade, but just big picture.
I bought in with a lot of cash that I
had in savings, a lot of cash that I've made since,

(03:19):
and I've been very, very aggressive. And I've kind of
been like that in my life professionally. Like I moved
to Philadelphia when I was in my early twenties. It
didn't matter, no family just picked up in the league left,
you know. I started my own podcast company with my
partner on on the Haberman Middlecoff Show. We had a

(03:40):
radio show. We just run our own podcast business ourselves,
and I didn't even Flinch didn't hesitate. But it's easy
for me to be able to do that. I'm a
single guy. I don't have a family. I don't have
a wife or kids who depend on me. And sometimes
I think, and I've thought about this a lot over
the last couple months, would I be that aggressive if

(04:00):
I had kids? And will I be able to keep
that aggression as I age and I have more response
and I have other humans depending on me, my children,
my unborn children. And I admire people in this world
that have a lot to lose and keep their foot
on the pedal. I really do. It's easy to put

(04:21):
all your chips in the middle of the table when
it's just you. And if you lose, so what I
can make more money. If all my money disappears in
the stock market, it won't really change my life that much.
But if you bet the mortgage when you have two
children or their college fund, it's a problem. It's broken
up some marriages. It's why I appreciate and admire people

(04:43):
in business like It's why I have a lot of
respect for Jerry Jones, a businessman. He has stayed aggressive
as he's had a lot to lose. We all know
those people in our local communities that are just known
as kind of mavericks and have huge balls. And again,
it's it's easy to do when you're a twenties or thirties.
It's another thing when you're fifty five and have a
business and have a family that if it goes under,

(05:06):
you got problems. And I'll say one thing for John
Schneider and Pete Carroll, they did not have to do this.
They go to the playoffs every year. They've missed the
playoffs one time over the last decade, and that year
they went nine and seven. They have a Hall of
Fame quarterback. They're going to be a double digit win
team for the foreseeable future. Like it was not gonna
stop whether Jamal Adams was on the team or whether

(05:29):
they use their late first round picks on crappy players
because they don't draft that well in the first round. Now, listen,
we can debate all day long how much they paid,
and we'll get into that in a little bit, but
I will tip my hat to them for this. They
put all their chips in the middle of the table
because they know, well, we'll make the playoffs next year,
how we might beat the Niners. But you know, it's

(05:51):
a crapshoot once we get there. But they didn't think
like that. They go, this player who we've had a
lot of success with before, exact type player, little crazy,
really physical, big personality, Cam Chancellor, Michael Bennett, Richard Sherman.
Those guys thrived under Pete Carroll. Think of Pete Carroll's

(06:11):
USC teams basically a pro team with a bunch of
big personalities. Kicked everyone's ass and when you look at
it internally, you go, yeah, we gave up two first
rounders and a third rounder, and everyone's like, we overpaid. Well,
we go, we have these late first rounders. I don't know,
because we win every year, and for the most part,
that pick in the late twenties is not like a

(06:32):
pick number eight or ten. We never draft there. We're
not giving the you know, pick nine and twelve the
next two years. You know why, I know that because
their last couple picks have been picked twenty seven and
their worst pick of like the last six or seven
years was twenty one two years ago. They're typically picking
between twenty five and thirty two. So they go, you know,

(06:56):
we're not gonna be bad. Why because we have the
second best quarterback in the league. We have one of
the best coach in the league, and we have one
of the better cultures in the league. We win and
we compete with And they had a weird team, right
because they had a seven point differential at the end
of the year. I think the Niners was like one
hundred and fifty. And the Seattle they can play the

(07:18):
Patriots or the Niners or the Saints or whoever is
a good team, and they can beat them. They can
play right with them. But they also you can turn
on their games on like a Sunday morning when they're
playing the Redskins or the Panthers, and they can be
down fourteen points in the second half. They're a weird
team that way. Now they end up winning a lot
of those games, but it's a weird deal. And maybe

(07:39):
Pete Carroll would tell you, we need Jamal Adams to
give us a little juice, to give us a little umph.
We don't have Richard Truman walking through that door anymore.
We don't have Cam Chancer walking through that door anymore.
We don't have Michael Bennett and Cliff Averril walking through
the door. We've lost some of our identity on defense
and some of our vocal leaders. Bobby Wagner, great player,

(08:00):
but he can't do it all by himself. Russell Wilson
somehow can defensively. Takes a little bit more than just
one guy. You can have JJ Watt or you can
have Kalil Mack. If you don't have help around those guys,
you're limited. The reason LLB was so good is they
had like eight of their eleven guys were studs. Hell,
it might have been like ten of eleven if we
really look back. Their one question was like who was

(08:21):
their opposite corner? Every other position stacked, and I think
they go listen. The NFL is not a plug and
play league, but one thing it is when when a
certain player fits your scheme, it can be and we've
learned that the last several years. When a guy fits
the scheme, you plug it in and he kicks ass Immediately.
Vic Fangio goes, yeah, I can handle Khalil Mack boom

(08:42):
bang kicking everyone's butt. I think the Indianapolis Colts view
the same thing with the Forrest Buckner one gap up
the field scheme, let's get them. And I admire teams
and Belichick's been doing this forever, Like it's easy to
kind of just stay in the middle lane, know when
you're gonna have a chance. Every year, it's another thing
to get up to your at bat and go, you
know what, I'm not trying to walk. I'm trying to

(09:05):
hit this ball out of the stands. And John Schneider
and Pete Carroll since they've taken over, they've traded how
many first round picks for players? Now they haven't all worked.
But when you look at what and I hear this
all the time, will they missed on Percy Harvard and
they missed on Jimmy Graham. Yeah, I mean Percy couldn't
stay healthy. Jimmy Graham was kind of screwed before he
showed up because the entire defensive unit thought he was

(09:26):
a whoos. I mean, they hated the guy and he
got injured and it wasn't the same. But I admired
that they tried to get their star quarterback help. And
once their quarterback, you realize, like weekend this draft, DK
Metcalfs and Chris Carsons and will kick your butt. We
need to be more aggressive on defense because one thing
we know, top defensive players Khalil Mack, Jalen Ramsey, Aaron Donald,

(09:49):
like you just look around the NFL, Miles Garrett, Nick Bosa,
Joey Bosa. What are those guys all have in common?
They never last to the twenties? And what is John
Schneider And what does he consistently said the last three
or four years he says this on record, He goes,
why do you always trade back? John? Why do you
always trade back? Because every year we have sixteen to

(10:09):
twenty first round players graded on our board and we're
never drafted in there or so we don't want to
take a player at the end of the first round
and pay him first round money who we view as
a second rounder. It's why we trade back all the time.
Or it's why we trade you know, that pick for players,
and we understand it's a crapshoot. When you're drafting twenty five,

(10:29):
you know it's it's it's not the same as drafting
a top ten player. So we get Jamal Adams, who's
our type culture guy, who Pete Carroll knows is gonna
thrive in this defense and who helps our defense, who
we when we had a chance to win Super Bowls,
our defense was good. Our quarterback now is dramatically better
than he was back then, but our defense is dramatically worse.

(10:51):
So if maybe we can meet in the middle, we'll
have a chance. And you go, well, you know, look
at San Francisco last year. They went thirteen and three.
They kicked the crap out of the Vikings and the
Packers to get to the Super Bowl, and Seattle went
without a guy like Jamal Adams. It was a coin
flip game. We beat him once in overtime and they
beat us once in Seattle when we came away six

(11:14):
inches away from winning that game and sweeping them, and
we would have been had a home field by So yeah,
we got up take a swing. Our coaches in this
Lake sixties, John Snyder makes a ton of money that
they're trying to win, and I admire that. And listen,
I said the same thing last year when I got
on the Pittsburgh Steelers for Minka Fitzpatrick, and I thought

(11:34):
it was reckless and I was wrong. Why Because Minka
Fitzpatrick helped change their team because their offense stunk, their
quarterback and passing game was atrocious, their defense was elite
and he dominated and I didn't think about this. This
wasn't my idea or thought. Bucky Brooks tweeted out that

(11:57):
people have told him in the league, and it makes
so much sense that these playmaking safeties as the game
is spread out, as these quarterbacks have become more athletic,
unique guys that can make plays in space. It's why
linebackers now the two down middle linebacker stuff in the run.
Those days are dead. I need guys that can run.

(12:19):
Look at the linebackers who were drafted the last couple
of years early in the draft. They all can cover
and play sideline to sideline. Well, what does Jamal Adams
and Minka Fitzpatrick do. They're borderline linebackers and they can
play against tight ends and they can cover in the slot.
Now do I love giving up two first rounders and
the third rounder? No, I don't. But unlike the Rams

(12:39):
who did it for Jalen Ramsey and listen, Jalen Ramsey
plays a more important position than Jamal Adams. The Rams
have made the playoffs like two times in the last
two decades. Seattle literally goes in the playoffs every year
and this is what they know. Pete Carroll is a
saft spot for premium players, because say what you want
about Jimmy Graham and say what you wanted about Percy
harv and they didn't work out. Those guys were blue

(13:00):
chip talents, and they did it again here for a
blue chip talent. And I admire that because they didn't
have to do it. They easily could have just just
win your ten games, take your chances, maybe win around,
get knocked out in the second round. They ain't thinking
like that, And it's easy most people just job security.
Just you know, if I'm John Schneider, make my three

(13:21):
million dollars, if I'm Pete Carroll, just just crews keep
racking up some wins. It's you know, it's easy to
have balls when your team sucks and just trading guys
like you're the Jaguars, nobody cares. Or even when John
Gruden traded Khalil Max, it's like your team's terrible, who cares? Whatever,
You know, it wasn't gonna have that much impact either way,
regardless of we think about the deal. It's much much

(13:44):
more difficult to make these crazy trades when you're one
of the top teams in the league and listen, whether
it works out or not. It takes a couple of
years to know. Nobody knows right now. We can give
our opinions. That's all I'm doing, given my opinion what
it thinks gonna happen. I think Jamal Adams is going
to be a really good player for the Seattle Seahawks,
just like I think the Jets. Easy deal for them

(14:05):
to make for a guy that didn't want to be there,
but first and foremost, I can't say it enough, and
I tweeted it this weekend. I admire the mindset of Seattle,
of John Schneider, of Pete Carroll, of the front office,
and the way they run their franchise. Funderstruck adjective Shocked
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brought to you by the United States Forest Service and
the ad Council. Okay, let's get into the Jets point
of view. I'm going to start off by saying this,
if you told me five or six days ago before
this trade happened, you said, John, they're gonna find a
way to trade or not, they're gonna find a way.
Jamal desperately wanted out, and I kept saying, well, this

(16:11):
isn't the NBA. It's hard to force you know, a
team's hand. Now, when you just talk mad shit about
a coach and you blast him in the papers like
Jamal did, it worked. Now. Jamal is requested before he
got traded about six trades. So it finally worked. And
Joe Douglas, who I've never met personally, I emailed once.

(16:33):
I was trying to have him actually on this show
during the coronavirus. Maybe be able to get him now
over the next month. We'll see. But I've had friends
that work with him obviously in Philadelphia, and they love
the guy. They think very very highly of the guy.
You said, John, what would you imagine they pull off
a trade for Jamal Adams he gets a lot? What

(16:54):
would you think he would get I'd say a first
in a second. So when you say two ones, a three,
anap that's a whole for a player that does not
want to be there. You get rid of them. You
didn't draft him, you didn't you didn't hire this coach,
this whole debacle. The Jets had an article coming came
out last week on their owner, who's actually like owns

(17:16):
the team, but he's not the active owner because the
brothers in control. He's, you know, like in politics, now
represents America in some other country. I'm not smart enough
to even figure out what the hell he's doing, but
he had some like racist comments the Jets are a disaster.
As the West Coast guy, I get tired of hearing
about the Jets. Like it's one thing when you got

(17:36):
Rex Ryan, You're going to AFC Championship games, you got
Ribs and Sanschise. It's another thing when you just suck.
And yet Northeast bias, the Northeast elites that they love
the mark big markets, which trust me, I'm a big
market guy, but it's just like when your team sucks,
I just I got nothing to say about you. Joe
Douglas did a really good job. Let me started by

(17:59):
saying that. But here's one thing that kind of doesn't
bother me. But no one ever brings up people like, oh,
you got two ones, All ones are not equal. Two
picks in the twenties are not the same as like
pick five. There was an article after the NFL draft

(18:20):
that said, when you went to the value chart, Actually,
someone with the forty nine ers sent me this too.
The value chart of what the Raiders, the trade they
made for Khalil Mack and just pick thirteen and what
the forty nine Ers ultimately did with it trade and
back and then using that pick to get back in
the first round was almost equal. Because for Khalil Mack,

(18:42):
when they got two ones, and remember they swapped the two,
it was one thing. You know, the Bears might have
been bad if those two picks had been pick eight
and pick ten. I'm in a hole. Do you know what?
Do you know what it actually turned out to me?
Pick twenty four and nineteen, and then the Bears got
picked forty five. Jalen Ramsey, the Jacksonville Jaguars just draft

(19:05):
use the Rams pick It was picked twenty. Now the
Rams actually might not be as good this year. We're
gonna find out. But let's say the Rams go nine
and seven again, So pick twenty and pick twenty for
Jalen Ramsey. You drafted the guy five overall, Khalil Mack
five overall, Jamal Adams six overall. You draft, you use
a high, high pick on these guys, and then the

(19:26):
guy becomes good and then you give them away for
two ones, which on paper and I'm not blaming Joe
Douglas for this because there's not another team in the
league offering multiple ones, so he's got to take the deal.
But more than like, these picks are gonna be in
the twenties and the pressure on him now he can
use those picks to trade for players, like Minnesota just
you know, got picked whatever twenty two for Dicks, So

(19:49):
you can use that capital to trade for players. It
doesn't limit you just to the draft, but we just
act like, oh, you didn't just get picked five and
pick seven, right, So I think sometimes Laramie Tunzil everyone
crushes Bill O'Brien. I can't believe you traded multiple ones
and a two for Laramie tunzel Well, one he got

(20:09):
back Kenny Stills and two. Bill O'Brien makes some playoffs
every year. Last year he won a playoff game. What
was that pick twenty five? Twenty six to get a
starting left tackle. Now, if they suck, which they're not
going to, and you get pick seven, it's one thing.
But you traded Laramie Tunzil, You're starting left tackle who

(20:29):
you actually got lucky to get because he put on
the weed mask and fell in the draft, was supposed
to go number one overall, and he traded him for
two picks probably in the twenties. So when sometimes when
you make one of these crazy trades and that team
ends up sucking. Remember the Rams when they traded for
Jared Goff. They had a shitty first season, and the
Titans like ended up with pick three and pick five.

(20:50):
That works out. But when you just get two picks
in the twenties, I think we act like on paper
it's some great haul when we don't actually know what
it is. And let's face it, as I said earlier,
it's hard to judge these trades immediately beside like, yeah,
it looks good on paper, but let's see where the
picks end up. Because when the Raiders gave Khalil Mack
to Chicago Bears, they thought the Bears were gonna be

(21:10):
a five or six win team first year. They went
twelve and four. Last year was a disaster. They went
eight and eight and the pick was nineteen. So we'll
have to see where this. Here's what I know, Seattle's
gonna be in the playoffs next year. Lock one hundred percent, period,
point blank. There's only one The only chance the Seattle
Seahawks draft pick is not in the twenties if Russell

(21:33):
Wilson has a major injury. Last time I checked, Russell
Wilson has never missed a game in the NFL, as
durable of a player as there is currently in the
National Football League. So I think he just based on
his resume, he got yeah, Russell's not gonna miss a game. Well,
if Russell Wilson plays sixteen games, they're winning ten plus,
especially now you factor in Jamal, So then the pressure

(21:54):
goes on Joe Douglas again. This was he inherited this mess,
this Woody Johnson, Adam Gaze, Jamal Adams mess. He had
nothing to do with it. He inherited it. And I
don't blame him for not wanting to extend the player.
When you're not winning with the player, it makes sense
to get rid of him when you can get this hall,
especially with an opinionated guy. Given the type and style

(22:17):
in which he plays, no problem. But here's another thing
that this is brought into the light. And Phil Savage,
who ironically now works with the Jets, told me this
a while ago. He did Alabama radio in the SEC,
and I think the NFL is a lot like this.
Certain divisions are like this in the NFL, but certain
cities are like this in the NFL, and New York, Philly,

(22:39):
Boston are definitely like this. In the SEC. Every you
know team operates like this. When a snowball of negativity
starts happening and the avalanche comes down on your coach,
there is no stopping it. And I think at the
time we were talking, we had a mutual flint friend,
Jim mclwaine, who was at floor to remember the picture

(23:01):
of him naked on the shark now wasn't even him.
And remember the first two years of Jim mcwaine. He
went to the SEC title game. But everyone's like, well,
the SEC sucks, and then it's like they were looking
for a reason. And when they look for a reason
the SEC, you're you're dead man walking. You cannot avoid
getting got right. It happened to uh it happened to

(23:24):
a lot of coaches in the SEC. Once you're in
their crosshairs of your administration of the fan base, and
Paul Finebaum's talking about you, it's over and same thing
in New York. It happened with Todd Bowles. It's happened
with McAdoo. It happened last year with Pat Schermer. It
happened with Chip Kelly. It obviously doesn't happen with Belichick,
but it happens, you know, with baseball with some of

(23:47):
their manager It happened with Tito Francona. And right now
it's on Adam Gaze. And I think if you look
at Adam Gaze and listen, he was Sean mcvagh, He
was Kyle Shanahan, he was Kingsbury and Lafloora before all
these guys, the young hot shot. Clearly something was off.
And while Peyton Manning signed off on him, John Elway
would not. And I think John Elway the forty nine ers,

(24:09):
when they fired Jim Harbaugh, they were gonna hire Adam
Gaz trem Balky was gonna hire him. Something happened last minute.
I think a lot of people think it was John Elway.
Bad mouth them. It didn't happen. They went with Tom Seuwa,
and a couple of years later, Adam Gaze becomes the
head coach in Miami. That first year they made the
playoffs and it was like God, and remember Tanny Hill
got hurt. They still made the playoffs. Now they got
blown out in a game against the Steelers, but still

(24:32):
made the playoffs in Miami a joke franchise. That's impressive.
And ever since then it's been a disaster and him
getting this job, and even last year though with a mono,
they somehow still went seven to nine. It was weird.
You had multiple players bad mouthing him. You had when
Sam got Mono. Remember they started a quarterback who didn't
take any reps during the regular season. And it's just

(24:54):
one thing after another, one thing after another. Is opening
press conference with the eyes going all over the place.
He can't avoid this negative avalanche that's coming. And I
think there is not a coach right now. And then
I include Dan Quinn, who I'd say probably who seats
the hottest, but not hotter than Adam Gaze because people
want this guy gone, and Joe Douglas didn't hire him

(25:16):
though I guess from what I've heard their friends, they
knew each other from Chicago. It's just the Jets who
invested all this. Remember they went from six to three,
gave up pick six and three second rounders to get Sam,
and I think Sam's gonna be good. But if Sam,
let's say, has a good year and wants Adam gone,
he's gone. If they don't probably go five hundred or above.

(25:38):
When I say five hundred, they gotta go nine and
seven and probably make the playoffs. Adam Gas has done.
He's dead man walking right now, and it's all kind
of pointed to him. They can say whatever they want.
I know, Joe Douglas on Monday said he's the right
coach for this job. Everyone's after him. It just it
just happened two years ago with Todd Bohls. We saw
it happen across the street. Technically, they play in the
same spot with Pat in Macadoo, in that city with

(26:03):
that edgy fan base and the type people in the
Northeast when they watch you gun that, there is no
surviving it. And I Jamal Adams, listen, he crushed the guy,
and I mean absolutely eviscerated him. Now you could say
he was doing everything possible to get out. If he
was the only guy saying something negative about Adam Gase,
I'd say, listen, maybe they just didn't see ied eye.

(26:25):
That happens. It's football. It's a contentious environment. Bill Belichick's
famous line is there's no growth at a little confrontation.
A lot of coaches like confrontation because you grow from it.
And in football, unlike normal society, like you get yelled at.
I got yelled at as a staff member, Players get
yelled at as players. Other coaches get yelled at by

(26:45):
head coaches like it's people get yelled at. It's it's
an edgy environment that this is not your local restaurant.
People are on egg shows. I mean, the best franchise
in the league last twenty years. No franchise has more
egg shows now listen like Pete Carroll, Andy Reid. They're
not always like that, but it's intense. You're planning to
win a lot of money in line billion dollars franchises,

(27:08):
and everyone's looking at this guy right now. Because it
wasn't just Jamal Adams. It's been countless players. When he
showed up. It was guys in Miami. People just think
the guy's a weirdo and the one thing he always
hung his hat on, well he's an offensive genius. Well
it's kind of time to get something done this year.
You've added some offensive lineman. You got a star we
think young quarterback. You've got a good running back. You

(27:30):
just they're gonna have to be successful. The division's wide open,
because if they're not, Adam Gase is going to get fired.
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Look to your children's eyes to see the true magic
of a forest. It's a storybook world for them. You

(28:14):
look and see a tree, they see the wrinkled face
of a wizard. With arms outstretched to the sky. They
see treasure in pebbles, they see a windy path that
could lead to adventure, and they see you. They're fearless. Guide.
Is this fascinating world? Find a forest near you and
start exploring at Discover the Forest dot org, brought to

(28:35):
you by the United States Forest Service and the AD Council.
If I could be you and you could be me
for just one hour, if you could find a way
to get inside each other's mind, walk a mile in
my shoes, Walk a mile in my shoes shoes. We've
all felt left out, and for some that feeling lasts

(28:55):
more than a moment. We can change that. Learn how
it belonging to begin with us. Dot org brought to
you by the AD Council. Welcome out in Machines. Okay,
let's I'm sure many people saw this. I guess it
was on Monday. It happened Sunday night, and Monday became

(29:17):
a big story. The Miami Marlins, who had a bunch
of players and coaches get the virus. I think nine
people in total, and they had, you know, forfeit, canceled games.
They didn't leave Philly. They were headed to Baltimore, I think,
and it was kind of a disaster. And then Philly
I had the Yankees coming in they had to postpone

(29:39):
the game. Not ideal situation for baseball, And you know,
a couple of things came to mind. One the overreaction
on social media, like, I'm sorry, but if you think
baseball cares about the Miami Marlins, you're out of your mind. Now.
If this has been the Yankees or the Dodgers, we'd
have a problem. But the Miami Arlands, the biggest joke

(30:00):
franchise probably in all professional sports. Like to even think that,
are we sure that Derek Jeter and these guys are
even following the protocols? I don't know, but I'm not
giving them the benefit of doubt. Joke franchise. But it
did make me think because unlike basketball, who was in
this bubble? Unless you have an excused absence like Lou
Williams and you want to get some chicken wings from

(30:21):
your favorite restaurant or a strip club, you can't really
lead the bubble. In football and baseball, that's not the case. Now.
A major difference I saw Coward pointed this out on Twitter,
is that, unlike baseball where you play every day, and
you're traveling to these different cities. Even though kudos to
baseball they attempt it, they just kept everything regionally. You're
only playing your division and only playing the opposite. Like

(30:46):
if you're in the AL, you play the Animal teams
from that same division two, So like the Giants, they
also play the Angels, or the A's play the Giants,
right the Yankees play the Mets. You're not going cross country,
so they're trying to limit the travel, but you're still traveling.
In football, you travel eight days a year for one
night and then you're leaving. You leave immediately after the game.
You do not stay less the Super Bowl. So it's

(31:07):
it's not apples to apples at all. But here's what
I do know. Football, like baseball, every day, you guys
are gonna go home, and because of the CBA rules
you get a day off a week, and older players,
guys in their thirties with families, no big deal. You'd
naturally go home and hang out with your family anyway,

(31:29):
for younger players or any single guys. Because I've said
over and over, most humans, definitely, most humans I know
who are not professional athletes, are not scared as virus
and they're just living their life, not breaking the rules.
At least in my state, you got to wear a
mask place. We haven't changed that at all. We've always
had to wear mass places. I guess there have been

(31:50):
some areas in California, but at least in the Bay Area,
in LA it's been it's been mandated that you wear
a mask. But the reality is is if I told
old you, or if you told me, do you have
a lot of money on the line, you have to
follow these protocols for this six month span, I would
follow it. I'm also thirty five years old, and I'm

(32:12):
a lot more mature than I was at twenty seven
years old. Now, if I was twenty six twenty seven
years old, Let's say I was twenty three years old
and you told me those same things, I might not
listen to you. Whether I'm ignorant, whether I think I'm indestructible,
whether I just don't have that much life experience. And
reality is, most guys in their early twenties we do

(32:35):
dumb shit. We don't always make the best decisions that.
There's a reason women and females even going back to
high school, let alone our early twenties mid twenties are
much more mature than us. Now, I'm not saying they're
all mature, but from in my experience, they're a lot
more mature than us when you talk about football players,
especially highly drafted ones, because those are the guys they're

(32:57):
gonna make teams first and second rounders. They're gonna have
a lot of disposable income, and they're gonna have a
lot of time on their hands, and it's gonna be
now luckily because of not luckily. It's not ideal. I
don't want any business shutdown, but a lot of these
businesses are limited to what you can do and limited
to places you can go. Now, again, it depends state
to state. I would imagine many people are you listening
that are in the Southern States. A lot of stuff's open.

(33:20):
I can't relate to that. I know the Niners are
going to have less to do than let's say, the Saints.
But the more I've thought about this, listen, coaches are
always on guys. Some guys are more verbal and aggressive
than others. But the reality is of a coach, they are,
you know, quote unquote, the father figure, the boss, and

(33:43):
the relationship. They're the guy pushing the player. Every coach has.
You know, most coaches have different styles, but they're all
trying to accomplish the same goal. Stay on the player,
get the most out of them, Especially younger players. J. G. Watt,
Richard Sherman, you probably don't need to approach the same though.
Most great players will tell you they want to be

(34:04):
coached and pushed, But definitely the younger players. After a
certain point in time, like when you're young with your parents,
you kind of tune them out, not everything, I mean,
you're listening to them schematic stuff, but just about life
advice coming at you every day. You eventually go, can
you just lay off me a little bit? I know
I was like that, so I understand why other guys
are like that. But when you have a peer, and

(34:25):
when I say a peer, like a teammate. So if
I'm on the team with JJ Watt or Richard Sherman,
or you know, Cam Hayward or Fletcher Cox or one
of these guys that are in their thirties and have
accomplished a lot in the league, when those guys tell me,
hey man, we need to be smart about this. We
can't be going out this year. Once this is over.

(34:47):
You'll be able to go out as much as you want.
This is not going to be indefinite. We will eventually.
We don't know when it's gonna happen, get back to
some normal civilization. But this year and this fall, unless
there's a vaccine that comes out before you know, it
feels like it's not going to come out twenty one,
we gotta be locked in and make good decisions. I

(35:07):
think every team, especially the playoff teams and fringe playoff teams,
are really going to depend on their veteran players to
be like coaches, kind of act like father figures and
kind of you know, being these guys asses of making
good decisions and being smart. Because if I draft you
in the first round and you're a starter on my team,

(35:28):
I'm depending on you. I can't have you if you
get Corona just because guys just get Corona. There's nothing
we can do about it. But if you're gonna get
it because you're gonna go out to a club on
an off day or a bar like, that's on you.
And I know the NFL has put out rules like
they can dock your pay, they can suspend you. The
coaches and the franchises do not want to do that

(35:49):
because they want their young players to play. But like
I said, young players naturally aren't going to listen as much.
Why just because that's what guys normally do. They think
they have it all figured out. And the older you get,
you realize the less and less you actually had figured out.
But it takes you time to realize that. And whoever
your star older player, a guy over thirty, an accomplished player,

(36:11):
whether it's a quarterback with a star, defensive player, star, whatever,
is going to have to be on these guys. And
if I was a head coach, whoever, If I'm Andy
Reid is the honey Badger, If I'm Kyle Shanahani's Richard Sherman,
If I'm Seattle, it's Bobby Wagner and Russell Wilson's. It's
easy to figure out who your guys are with every team.
I'm saying I need you guys more than ever right now,
and I need you to talk to these guys about

(36:33):
the seriousness of being focused and of doing the right
things off and kind of having to suck it up
and be really boring going home just play video games,
and you just you can't have all your family members
flying every year. It sucks. It's not ideal, nobody wants this,
but this is the cards and the situation we're dealt,

(36:53):
and the only way for us to be successful is
not contracting this virus. And it's no different than I
think these older players are gonna need. Or some younger
players are married too, say it to their wife, say
it to their girl friends, like, we got to be
pretty focused here. We are going to have to, you know,
do things and make us uncomfortable, not be able to
see our friends, and it sucks, but we have more

(37:15):
on the line. We can't afford to test positive and
not be able to play for a couple of weeks
because that that is it will take place. We will
be out a couple of weeks. And I think the
pressure on the veteran players is equally as much as
the coaches to stay on these younger players. And you
can only do so much, right, You can only lead

(37:36):
a horse to water. Eventually at the drink, you can
only say so much. Some eventually becomes on the individual.
But if I was a head coach man, I would
be on my older players to be like, we're gonna
need more idea verbally and leadership wise of just kind
of holding these guys hands, not literally because we don't
want to, you know, give Corona everybody, but we gotta

(37:58):
stay focused. It's gonna it's the more mature discipline teams
this season are the ones, in my opinion. Now there, Listen,
you can read ten articles on the coronavirus and come
to ten different solutions. I don't pretend it's crazy how
many people in the media think they know. It's like, listen,
here's what I know about the media that they don't
know anything of the sports media. I don't care about

(38:18):
your opinions on science either way, and we none of
us know anything. And I don't care about your opinions
on business. Like you guys have kind of shown your
true colors and those two realms. Just report on the
players and let's just let's just try to get these
players to stay focused and hopefully, you know, have a season.
But again, it's it's gonna be the more disciplined teams,

(38:39):
the more focused teams, the more mature teams, even they're
younger players, and that we are willing to listen to
the older players and the coaches are gonna have a
chance to be successful. Okay, let's fly around. Just some
stories hit really quick before we get in the Middlecoff mailbag.
The Minnesota Vikings trainer tested positive. That's a pretty big problem.

(39:03):
I'd argue the trainer is as important as like a
coordinator in the NFL. You know, in my experience, I
only was around one trainer, Rick Burkholder. If any of
you guys are chiefs fans listening, you know how visible
he is. I mean, Andy lets him talk to the media.
He plays a vital, vital role. He's Andy. If Brett,

(39:25):
Veach and him are like they're all Crewe, Bret Veach, Andy, Rick,
like they all work hand in hand together, Like you
can't operate without your trainer. So that's a pretty big blow.
Justin Jefferson, the rookie. I don't know if he tested
positive or just because he had been in contact because
the rookies had been there earlier. He's also on the

(39:46):
Corona COVID list. It's kind of complicated, you know. I
can't stress this enough how important in an NFL operation
the trainer is. So I think his title was, like,
you know, basically the guy that runs the Corona operation
and for him to get it. Not ideal start, okay,

(40:10):
the Commissioner's exemplest, which basically you're just suspended until he
takes you off. Quintin Dunbar, Seattle Seahawks starting corner, and
DeAndre Baker, former Giants first rounder who it's hard to
follow the story. All I know is there was gambling
that went bad. Guns were pulled, people were paid off

(40:32):
to shut up. Some shady stuff happened. I don't pretend
to know the details, because I never pretend when these
initial things come out to know. I just know it
was not ideal, and some of the things I've heard
from people around the Giants on DeAndre Baker has not
been good. I don't know anything about Quentin Dunbar. He's
clearly a tall, long corner because Seattle, that's type of

(40:54):
guys they like. But those guys right now are not
available and not an ideal situation. Rahem Mostert the forty
nine ers, he's not even starting running back. He's never
started a game in his career. His agent made this
big stink a couple of weeks ago that he needed
a pay raise, and the forty nine ers, you know,

(41:16):
Adam Schefter reported they basically gave him some incentives kind
of to shut him up. To me, the agents a
little bit of a loose cannon, like, you don't need
to go public. It's one thing if you're Jamal Adams
or Jalen Ramsey, it's like, bro, you'r Raheem Mostert's agent.
The guys never started a game. He had a good
NFC Championship game. Let's just pipe down. Let's let's act
like grown ups and just deal. You don't need to

(41:36):
come out public. Just deal with the Niners. And I
think the Niners attempted to take care of them. They
weren't going to give him a new deal. They literally
just gave him a contract extension last year. Sometimes as
an agent, you just just follow what the big boys do,
you know. Just Doug Peterson the Eagles, i think, officially
reported and said maybe most coaches today had conferences and

(42:00):
said that alshon Jeffrey, it's hard to tell, you know.
The one thing, having been on both sides, now, coaches
are gonna lie to you. They're gonna say guys are healthy,
They're gonna say guys are doing good. I'm not saying
Doug's doing this, but typically he said today, alshon Jeffrey
looks fantastic. He should be ready to go, and it's
gonna it's gonna be said all over the league, this
guy looks good, came back in great jape. The media

(42:21):
is not really allowed to practice and they're not allowed
to tweet what's going on, So I don't know if
we're gonna get to find out who's practicing who's not practicing. Now,
no preseason games as fans, and I'm much closer to
a fan than I am like someone on the inside. Now,
I mean I get inside information. We're gonna have no
clue who's starting, especially high level teams. They're not gonna
want to tell you. But you think Bill Belichick's gonna

(42:43):
tell you who's taking the number one reps, We're not
gonna know. So there was gonna be more unknown this
training camp, which what is actually going on at practice
than ever before because the during training camp is the
one time media is all allowed to stay at the
entire practice into even if they're lying to you at
practice and they're like shuffling things up, so you can't

(43:05):
quite keep track, like who's getting what reps? You get
to tell in the preseason game, like when the starting
unit comes out, is the guy there or not? And
there are no preseason games. Even if it's just a series,
you at least get to see like, oh, yeah, that
guy's a starting right guard, or yo, that's the starting quarterback,
or that's the starting tight end, or that's the starting
defensive end. We'll have no clue, which honestly kind of
makes it cool. A lot of unknown this training camp.

(43:28):
The Anthony Thomas, the former Oregon Speedster, opted out, and
I think a couple other players opted out. And I
guess if you were you had underlying conditions and were
able to opt out. You can occur as season and
get I think like three hundred thousand dollars. At first
I read one hundred and fifty thousand, and then I

(43:50):
think the team asked to matches, so maybe it's three
hundred thousand. Again, a lot of this stuff is very fluid.
I'm trying to keep up with it all I read
some stuff I find myself confused. I've said all along,
I don't think any prominent players will opt out of
the league because unlike baseball, like, for example, Buster Posey
opted out, he was scheduled to make twenty million dollars

(44:11):
or twenty two. Well, the moment they play sixty games,
he was actually scheduled to make eight. So he's like,
is it worth it? Just adopted some new kids for
eight million dollars now, me, you and everyone listening, unless
there's like some NFL coaches listening, and some of them
do would not have opted out right. Eight million dollars
a lot of money. But in the NFL, these guys
plan on playing sixteen games, so these guys are gonna
want to make all their money. And a lot of

(44:32):
the league are younger players who are still on rookie
deals that are four fifty six round picks that are
making again a lot of money, seven eight, nine hundred
thousand dollars. But with how short careers are, with how
you know quick things change in the NFL, I really
don't think. Maybe I'm naive that that many. I think
the Chiefs had a right guard opt out. They immediately

(44:54):
signed Collechio assembly I'll be shocked if you see some
Pro Bowl name, you know, some prominent all pro level
player opt out. I really I'll be floored. Actually, I'll
be absolutely four because I think when you look at
the Major League Baseball, not a prominent famous people opted out.
But David Price and Buster Posey got news for you.

(45:15):
They're not even good anymore. Buster Posey's terrible. I think
he hit four home runs. I like the guy. He's
one of my favorite players of all time. But he's done.
His career is basically over, probably retire after the end
of the next year. David Price hasn't been good in
like three seasons, so, and it's easier to opt out
when you have, you know, one hundred and fifty million
dollars in the bank. Football players, unless you're like Mahomes,
Russell Wilson or Aaron Rodgers, you don't have that type money.

(45:37):
So every year is a really big deal for you
to play. And I say it all the time. These
leagues are not playing for the fans, they're not doing
it for the media. That they're strictly doing it like
any one of you guys listening. Then have a small business,
a regular size besiness whatever to try to economically survive,
because if you're used to five hundred million dollars in
revenue coming in per team or whatever, and then it

(45:58):
would go from five hundred to zero row that's a problem.
And some teams would not survive. It's why baseball is
playing right now. If they did not play the season,
some teams might go under. It's it's it's crazy as
that sounds. It's really that simple. The bigger your expenses are,
the less ability you have to pivot when revenue stops
coming in. That's all they're doing. That. If if all

(46:20):
these leagues would not lose a penny and you didn't
have to play this year, they wouldn't play. It's trickly
a money grab because that's because they're businesses, and that
is why all these they're not doing it for the fans.
If I hear one more time, you know, the sports
is not essential yet, neither's McDonald's. Neither is best Buy. Hell,

(46:41):
neither is Amazon. That most businesses besides like hospitals, are
essential that they're strictly doing, maybe like the grocery store.
That businesses they're simply trying to survive because that's what
they try to do, make profits. That's that's the point
of this place where we live, called him America in capitalism.

(47:01):
So they're not coming back for the fans. They don't
really give a shit about the fans this year. They're
just trying to make their television money and move on
to next year when there's hopefully a vaccine and they
get back to normal. What grows in the forest trees?
Sure no? What else grows in the forest, Our imagination,
our sense of wonder, and our family bonds grow too,

(47:23):
because when we disconnect from this and connect with this,
we reconnect with each other. The forest is closer than
you think. Find a forest near you and start exploring.
I Discover the Forest dot org, brought to you by
the United States Forest Service and the AD Council. What

(47:44):
grows in the forest trees? Sure no? What else grows
in the forest, Our imagination, our sense of wonder, and
our family bonds grow too, because when we disconnect from
this and connect with this, we reconnect with each other.
The forest is closer than you think. Find a forest

(48:05):
near you and start exploring. I Discover the Forest dot org,
brought to you by the United States Forest Service and
the AD Council. And we're live here outside the Perez
family home, just waiting for them, and there they go,
almost on time. This morning. Mom is coming out the
front door, strong with a double armed kid carry looks
like dad has the bags. Daughter is bringing up the rear. Oh,

(48:28):
but the diaper bag wasn't closed. Diapers and toys are everywhere. Ooh,
but mom has just nailed the perfect car seat buckle
for the toddler. And now the eldest daughter, who looks
to be about nine or ten, has secured herself in
the booster seat. Dad zips the bag clothes and they're off. Ah,
but looks like Mom doesn't realize her coffee cup is

(48:50):
still on the roof of the car and there it goes. Oh,
that's a shame that mug was a fam favorite. Don't
sweat the small stuff, just nail the big stuff, like
making sure your kids are buckled correctly in the right
seat for their aging size. Learn more at NHTSA dot
gov slash the Right Seat visits NHTSA dot gov slash
the Right Seat brought to you by NITZA and the

(49:12):
ad Council. Kay, let's bang out some Middlecoff mail bag
questions because I'm getting really hungry and I need to
go make dinner at John Middlecoff my insta. Give it
a follow fire in those d ms. Also middlecop or
three and Out podcast on Apple Go Subscribe Believe review
with Jamal Adams now a Seahawk. Do the Niners have

(49:32):
to go get another wide receiver such as AJ Green?
I would say no. I also don't know if AJ
Green is even available. If you get AJ Green for nothing,
sure I would take a flyer. But you know, he's
an aging guy that's always hurt. Who how many games
Aj Green played in the last three years. It feels
like he's always on the shelf. You mentioned that John

(49:54):
Lynch isn't the decision maker or personnel guy for the
forty nine ers. Well, he is the personnel guy. He's
not the decision maker as well as a lot of
other gems. If the GM isn't making decisions on the personnel,
what are their main roles then? I always thought picking
the players was mostly the GM's decision with the coaching input.
Thanks it would be running the personnel department, meaning even

(50:16):
making sure all the players in the NFL mean pro
players and all the players in college are evaluated, setting
up the boards, funneling grades to the coaches, running the
advanced scouting department, running the scouts, dealing with your owner,
dealing with contracts, basically making life very easy for the

(50:38):
head coach. Basically being his right hand guy. And you
know it's it's not an ideal job when you don't
get to pick the players, because, like you said, most
of us, when we're growing up, you want to be
a general The general manager picks the players. The coaches
coach the team. But as Bill Parcels once famously said,
and as coaches in football specifically, have much more juice

(51:01):
in baseball, most of these guys make like nine hundred
thousand dollars, but all the new coaches do, and the
GM's run the sport. In basketball, more and more, these
NBA gms are telling the coaches exactly what to do.
In football, the coach he runs the team. So as
like Parcel said, you want me to make dinner, you
gotta let me cook the groceries. And when you pay
a coach eight nine ten million dollars, like Joe Douglas

(51:24):
last year, I heard got a lot of money when
he became the GM of the Jets. It was like
three and a half million dollars, maybe three point seven
million dollars. There's not an NFL coach who doesn't make
over four and a half. Most like Cliff Kingsbury and
Joe Judge make like six, right, and all the top
guys make nine plus, So you just it's why players

(51:44):
have more pull than coaches, right, they just make more money.
Is follow the Money podcast question? Do you think Ryan
Tannehill is a top ten quarterback in the AFC? Coward
said he wasn't on his show, and I don't think
he could be anymore wrong. Tanny Hill is a better
career passing passer rating than Andrew Luck. See like when
you give me stats like that, Andrew Luck was a

(52:05):
vastly superior player, had the fourth highest passer rating of
all time last season and had more touchdowns in yards
than Patrick Mahomes in weeks ten through seventeen. I think
he gets blamed too much for his time with Adam
Gas and no help in Miami. I will agree tanny
Hill is a good player. Is he a top ten
player in the a FC? Let's do the exercise. I'd
say right now, he's better than Josh Allen. He's better

(52:27):
than Sam Darnold if Cam Newton's healthy, obviously Cam's better,
but he hasn't been healthy, and TWA and Fitzpatrick. He's
better than those two guys the AFC North. Yeah, he's
better than Baker. He's better than Joe Burrow hasn't played
a snap. I mean, if Roethlisberger is healthy, he's better. Yeah,
he's He's a top ten quarterback in the FC. But

(52:47):
the FC, I mean there's sixteen teams, right so beside
like Mahomes, Roethlisberger, Lamar is Philip Rivers the top ten
player right now, I'd take Tanny Hill. Tanny Hill was
way better than Philip Rivers last year, so yeah, I
mean he's hey, I was a good player. I do
think we need to see a little bit more this

(53:07):
year because there were times when they won games and
he threw fl eighty yards. Now, part of it is
your running backs going for two bills and your defense
is playing well. I don't I don't blame the quarterback
for that. Is he a top ten overall NFL quarterback?
I don't know. Is he a top ten quarterback in
the AFC for sure? I mean, look at Tyrod Taylor

(53:29):
and Herbert Carr Locke. I mean there's a lot of
unknown in the AFC. Deshaun's Watson's better, Minshew's not better. Rivers,
you know, in theory has been a lot better over
his career, But he was Rivers might be shot. Even
though it was weird, The Colts tweeted out a video
of Rivers showing up to work. It was a weird
seeing Philip Rivers and Colts collars. How All, the loss

(53:52):
of Norv Turner impact Christian McCaffrey seemed like NORV scheme
had a lot to do with his success. Most of
McCaffrey's highlights in two thousand nineteen were long runs through
gaping holes in the defense Verst Jacksonville. McCaffrey scores on
an eighty four yard run later in the in the game,
Carolina runs the exact same play and Reggie scores on
a fifty nine yard run. Well, say what you want

(54:14):
about NORV Turner as a head coach. He's a fantastic
coordinator and when you look at his resume over the years,
he's been really good with running backs. I don't know
if you ever heard of this guy. Nam Emmett Smith
coached him in with the Dallas Cowboys back in the day.
Like North, Turner knows what he's doing. Clinton portis right
with the Washington Redskins. He had some of the latter

(54:35):
years with LT and then he got Ryan Matthews. But yeah,
North Turner is just North Turns a good coach when
it comes to calling offense. Joe Brady. My question is
with Joe Brady is what he did with LSU was unreal,
even though the older coach like they were co coordinators.
Though Joe got a lot of credit in the passing game,

(54:58):
you could say Joe Burrow was the you know. I mean,
they got two star wide receivers. They they got a
running back. They went in the first round of the
Super Bowl champs. They had a couple lineman drafted that.
Let's see what you do now, Christian McCaffrey. They got
DJ Moore. Is their offensive line any good? I'd lean know.
They got rid of Greg Olson. I guess they signed

(55:19):
Robbie Anderson from the Jets. I don't know. I mean,
it's gonna be hard for Christian McCaffrey. He was and listen,
I thought he was a top five non quarterback in
the NFL last year. He was a dominant player on
a shitty team too. It's gonna be difficult to match that,
especially when they identify him. They're all coming after him.
There's gonna be a lot of pressure on Teddy Bridgewater,

(55:40):
because if I was playing Carolina and I don't pretend
to be Vic Fangioe here, twenty two is not beating me.
Teddy Bridgewater, You're gonna have to beat me because I
don't think you can. Today, I heard you talk about
your unpaid internship with Kansas City and how beneficial it
was for your career. Have you ever thought about bringing
interns like myself to help with con ten or marketing.

(56:01):
I think this could provide some great insight into the
opinions of someone from a younger demographic. On top of
the feedback you already get from the mail bag, do
you ever decide to open up applications? Please let me know.
Have a great day. Advertising student at the University of
Oklahoma College of Journalism. God, that's pretty sweet. It's gonna
happen one day. This thing is expanding as in the

(56:22):
middle of Corona right now and a lot of moving parts.
Look for twenty twenty one and beyond. But there will
become a time when yeah, we're hiring interns. I'm hiring interns,
so that that's gonna happen one day. I don't know
exactly when, maybe two years down the road, maybe a year. Luckily,
as of right now, I can function. But trust me,

(56:43):
I understand the more people around you, especially younger people,
keep you locked into things. I like surrounding myself with
younger people. I like surrounding myself with people. I see
too many people in the media right now just depend
on social media for their opinions, no diversity of thought.
I like knowing a humans. So I like having my
ears to the street, and because that's what I am,

(57:05):
just a normal I started as a fan, and I
think a lot of people in the media have lost
touch with that. And I think it's why we can
have success on this show, because we speak for the people,
and I think too many people in the media do not.
But yes I will one day. I will have interns
on a specific date when that's happening, No clue, don't

(57:25):
need him right now. And just so much is up
in the air financially with Corona and just when you
in the podcast business, advertising business, there's just a lot
of moving parts right now. If this was you know,
in two or three years, who knows, Maybe we've got
like ten employees here, little middlecoff mailback crew. I'm a
die hard Bears fan, so the bulk of my fandom

(57:46):
has been pretty dark. I keep having this image of
Trubisky getting let go from the Bears and going somewhere
like New England or San Diego and killing it. However,
he seems to lack in deep ball accuracy and decision
making that won't change on another team. My question is
this Trubisky's career doomed if he can't figure it out
this year in Chicago. Here's what I do know. Matt

(58:08):
Naggie was around Michael Vick, Nick Foles, Alex Smith and
Patrick Mahomes, and all those guys had success when he
was around him, either as a quarterback, coach or a coordinator.
And Mitch dramatically got worse he was, you know, Baker Mayfield.
There a small group of players, the Pittsburgh Steeler crew

(58:28):
that were just terrible quarterback last year, and Mitch was atrocious.
And now they went eight and eight, But they went
seven and eight. The last game didn't count because Minnesota
was benching their players. I thought Mitchell was good in college.
I liked them as a college prospect. I thought he
was a guy like you would take in the late twenties.
Now would I have taken him at two overall. No,

(58:50):
but I didn't think he would be this bad. He
is a good athlete. His deep ball accuracy and just
his just his instincts for playing the position are shitty.
So is that something that you can develop? It gets
harder when you're you know, third fourth year in the NFL.
He's now going into his He's been a two year starter,
and because of Corona, I would imagine he's the starter

(59:11):
a week one. You know, it'd be hard for Nick
Foles to beat him out with no preseason games. But
I guess you can never say never. I would say
more likely than not that mister Bisky is just a bust.
He just will never live up to that and it
won't be a starter again. Aaron Rodgers has been my
favorite player in the league for a decade. However, I

(59:32):
can admit to you that he hasn't been the same
player since getting injured in seventeen. His mechanics have gotten
extremely sloppy, throwing off his back foot, consistently holding the
ball too long, etc. What do you think the reason
behind this is? As a big fan of Aaron Rodgers,
it's really frustrating to watch him weekly when I feel
like the issues could be solvable. Also, what's your favorite

(59:53):
bet at the PGA. My favorite bet at the PGA
would probably be John Rahm and Bryce and d Shambo.
So if you bet one hundred dollars, you know, let's
say one hundred dollars in your normal bet, I would
probably put fifty on each of those guys. It's I
played the I played Harding Park multiple times this year.
It's a shorter golf course. The rough is outrageous. So

(01:00:17):
if you can just bomb it, even if you're in
the rough, you're gonna have wedges in your hand, You're
gonna have a chance. Now the rough is like fifteen
feet high. It's I played it like a month and
a half ago. I lost like four balls and I'm
like a single digit handy. It was if I was
playing a real, a real tournament on that day, I
would have struggled to break ninety. And it is the

(01:00:38):
greens were slow at the time. It was the rough,
longest rough I've ever played. I would say this for
Aaron Rodgers beside Brett Farve. In my lifetime, all the
best quarterbacks, the elite guys. I'm talking Steve Young, Aikman
to Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees have all been

(01:00:59):
fun to mentally sound like they're basic fundamentals. Like when
you think Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, like I think fundamentals, footwork, perfect, ballplacement,
perfect eyes perfect, everything is perfect, even like Rivers in
his prime, A lot of the pocket quarterbacks, their fundamentals
are good because to sustain over a period of time,

(01:01:19):
it's hard to get away with bad fundamentals, you know,
even like Lebron James and like great players and Michael Jordan.
Look at Michael Jordan, Like just YouTube Michael Jordan. His footwork,
his just body and balance control was just all stuff
you learn at the most basic levels of the sport,
like tiger Woods. In any sport, the best players always
have the best fundamentals. Aaron Rodgers kind of like a

(01:01:43):
FARV was an all time freak, right. He was a
big time athlete who could had elite arm strength and
could make throws that like that Manning and Brady could
never make on the move. Well, you're not able to
do that. When you can do at twenty nine, thirty
years old, you're probably not gonna be able to do
at thirty eight years old. Just think anyone listening who

(01:02:04):
is now in their thirty five plus, think how your
body feels after like working out, and how it felt
when you were like in your twenties. Just human nature.
It's no different for elite athletes, right, It's just it's
eventually going to come back to the earth a little bit.
And it's pretty clear that his arm strength and I've
equated it to this in Aaron Rodger's peak, he was

(01:02:26):
like Mahomes. He was throwing like one hundred miles an
hour or far and could just and was more accurate
than far. It was just it was stupid. Well, he
doesn't throw that. If he's a pitcher, he's instead of
throwing a hundred, he's probably throwing ninety five. So his
fundamentals and his footwork, if he's throwing everything off his
back foot and sideways, he misses a lot of guys

(01:02:47):
now that he used to just hit. And it's just
because of his fundamentals are shitty. And there's a reason,
Like the ten year old dog, you ain't teaching new
tricks too, but you can influence a one year old,
a two year old, the young dogs. You could influence
young players. Aaron Rodgers at thirty seven years old with
an unlimited bank account and a Hall of Fame career,

(01:03:10):
is not changing his fundamentals. His fundamentals are what they are.
They're bad. They're not good now that he was. It's
actually incredible that he overcame bad fundamentals for a long time.
Like you watch Steph Curry in the peak of his powers,
like he could kind of freelance and do things that
guys could get away with. The older Steph gets he's

(01:03:32):
gonna have to be a little smarter. His athleticism is
gonna diminish. He's not gonna be quite as quick now.
His shooting's not going to diminish, just like Aaron can
still throw the ball, but it's not probably going to
be as potent as it once was. So being smart
with the ball, not trying things that are you know,
unhumanly possible. Something Mahomes like Mahomes can get away with
stuff in his twenties that he's not gonna be able

(01:03:54):
to get away with when he's thirty five. It's why
Andy and when Naggie was there in Beach like they
are gonna hammer Mahomes on the fundamentals now. Part of
when you have a guy in the peak of his powers,
like Rogers seven eight years ago. Sometimes you gotta let
a chef cook, but eventually it's on that guy to
play kind of under control. And I just don't think

(01:04:17):
Aaron can now. He's still a I have buddies in
the league. I think he's still like a top three
or four quarterback. Thought they were only beside Mahomes a
guy better late in games last year, but he also
just put them in positions when he played bad in
games that they he had to pull games out of,
you know, pull a rabbit out of his hat because
he was really bad. I remember that Lions game was

(01:04:37):
a week sixteen or weeks seventeen, just missing guys wide open,
just because like Aaron just step into the throw, but
he can't because he's developed bad habits. Anyone played golf, Like,
once you develop bad habits, it's hard to break it.
Just bad habits and anything. Like if you're not used
to washing dishes, and you know, for forty years of

(01:04:59):
year life, and then you get a girlfriend at year forty,
it's probably not gonna be easy to just start washing dishes. Like,
developing good habits are a big part of successful people,
whether it's in business, whether it's in relationships, whether it's
in football. And Aaron Rodgers, for the most part, some
of his just most basic fundamentals are not great. It

(01:05:21):
actually is a testament to how elite of a talent
he was. Right Cardinal Fan, I felt the only year
the Cardinals had a great opportunity to win the Super
Bowl was when Carson Palmer blew out his knee. I
agree it sucked, but I instinctively thought the cards should
rebuild the window closed. Had too many veterans and decent
up and coming players. Obviously, they kept pushing for the

(01:05:41):
Super Bowl, but felt they did more damage than good
for their players and organizations. Why do teams continue to
push for Super Bowl when it's obviously over? Why do
people in toxic relationships continue to hold on Because you're
holding on to hope for something that like deep down
your gut, you know, but it's really hard to admit

(01:06:01):
it anything's over. I think the hardest thing to do
in life is to admit something's over, especially when you've
had success. So when you've had a good time with her,
when you have a business partnership that's been lucrative, when
you have a football team that's been really close. It's
hard to look in the mirror and say this ain't working.
It's easy for us on the outside to say it

(01:06:23):
and listen, I've made a living off being critical of
teams and coaches. It is difficult, though, And when you
have a window and you think you're close and your coach,
I mean, Bruce Arians was in the sixties. It'd be
one thing if Bruce Arians was forty two in the
sixties and health problems, so you know he ain't get
any younger. It's like, well, why did Pete Carroll? Those

(01:06:44):
guys just trade well, Peake Carroll sixty eight years old.
Do you think Pete Carroll gives a shit about a
first rounder? In two years, By the time that guy's good,
he'll be seventy three years old. It's about here and
now in the NFL, things changed so quickly. You know,
the top guys always believe they can coach a guy up.
I always believe just keep the pedal of the metal
and give themselves a chance, you know, to win a
ring that most of these guys will never win. But

(01:07:07):
I think it helps them sleep at night thinking whether
they're right or wrong. They're doing everything possible to attempt
to win a ring that year, because in the NFL,
you can't waste a year because you'll get fired. Appreciate
everyone listening and enjoyed this podcast. I kin kind of
get my juices back. The NFL's back, was getting just
the monotony of just talking about the same crap over
and over. I feel like we're getting some new stuff

(01:07:29):
and some normal stories. Now. It's gonna be interesting, like
I said, with the stories coming out during training camp.
And I don't think it's gonna be a typical year,
you know, of just who's starting who's not, But it's
gonna be It's gonna be a lot of Corona talk,
which I don't love, but it is what it is
right now. And enjoy the week and I'll see a Friday.

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