In this episode, John discusses the fallout from Russell Wilson's emerging power struggle with Pete Carroll over the direction of the franchise, why the price for the NFL TV deal is going to keep getting crazier as Amazon enters the picture, and why the NFLPA should pony up for better representation. John also offers some somber thoughts on how much Tiger Woods has impacted his life as a sports fan, and looks at the latest on the JJ Watt watch and other top headlines from around the league. Follow John on Twitter and SUBSCRIBE now to get all the latest content!!
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Get right to the romance and find the way to
wow this Valentine's with one hundred flowers dot com. From
classic roses and bouquets to decadent chocolate covered berries, gourmet
treats and more. Surprise your Valentine with one eight hundred
flowers dot com right now. Get the eighteen stem enchanted
rose metally for thirty nine ninety nine or upgrade to
(00:21):
twenty four red roses for ten dollars more. Go to
one hundred flowers dot com slash tune in. That's one
eight hundred flowers dot com. Slash tune in. What is
going on? Everybody? John Little Coop three and Album Podcast,
(00:45):
February twenty fifth, Rock and Roll. Big news of the day,
which we will dive into off the top is our
star quarterback in Seattle, Well not hours, but just thus
star quarterback in seat, Russell Wilson, Pete Carroll. Articles coming out.
We got some stuff going on. I'll give you the
thoughts there. There was a good article. I actually saw
(01:10):
a couple interesting articles. I thought this week Wickersham had
a big article on the NFLPA and the NFL, and
a couple of things jumped out to me there another
article on the negotiations, how they're in the two minute
warning for the new TV deal. A couple of things
jumped out to me there on some of these networks
(01:30):
and where football is kind of headed, some Tiger Woods related.
I have a thought on maybe why I was such
a big fan and how there are a lot of
parallels with the NFL. Some other just little news going around.
Let's start with the drama going on right now in Seattle,
and let's face it is big as the Deshaun Watson's
(01:52):
story is this one feels bigger. Russell Wilson's won a
Super Bowl, He's been to another. Seattle is become one
of the stalwarts, the powerhouses, the major franchises in the
You know, this country's number one sport and that's football.
Seattle Seahawks in the last decade have probably been a
top three or four franchise. You know, you'd say New
(02:15):
England of the last decade was number one. I think
you could make a sound argument Seattle was number two.
We could nitpick that all day long, but you get
the point. It's a big fucking deal. Bottom line, it's
the Hall of Fame quarterback that listen, We've all seen
countless documentaries on bands, on major companies, on basically major breakups,
(02:40):
famous people that have these huge public lives, and I
was just thinking, like, what do they all have in common?
It does feel like most of them go their separate
ways or have issues because of ego and what usually
encompasses that, right, money or power. And you can argue
(03:02):
with power comes money. Well, I think when you look
at this situation, like we've all fought in our normal
lives and our normal jobs and our normal relationships, Like
you have disagreements. Welcome to the real world. People disagree
every day. I mean I could drive down to McDonald's
right now to grab a burger and I would not
(03:23):
be happy with someone that didn't pull, you know, getting
a lane fast enough. We have disagreements with people we're
not even talking to, let alone, people were talking to
our wife, our business partner or boss, an employee whatever.
That is human nature and not out of the realm possibility.
And then when you factor in competitive jobs right Wall Street,
(03:44):
any sales job, the NFL, a lot of alpha's, a
lot of contention, people butt heads again, not abnormal. If
you're not having that, I think you're either you're in
denial or you're not successful. Now there is a point
where you you do, you draw a line in the sand,
(04:06):
and the two people look at each other, whether it's
a football team, whether it's a marriage, whether whether it's
a business partnership, and say, do we have to go
our separate ways? Because in this situation you'd go, well,
it's not money. Money is not the reason. And I
think if you read that athletic article, Schefter tweeted that
(04:27):
he gave his four teams or the four teams are
out there, and not that Seattle is looking to trade him.
But let's let's call it what it is. Let's call
a spade a spade. There is enough smoke to know,
you know what, there's a fire in the fucking building. Now,
is it a fire that's they're not it's not capable
to put out by the firefighters. It doesn't feel like that.
(04:49):
Is it a fire that's feels to be growing relatively
rapidly and if the firemen don't get there quick, it's
it's gonna burn down this quote unquote relationship. That's where
it feels like it's going. And it's all because of ego, Right,
Pete Carroll, who the last twenty years. What I love
about social media. Everyone acts like Pete's the village idiot.
(05:10):
I watch him go to USC and kick the shit
out of everyone, absolutely dominate. Sorry for all the kids
in the cars excited about this topping. Don't mean to swear,
but as I told my mom, I talk like I talk.
You know. It's just I'm not a Harvard grad. I
just speak like I speak. And clearly Pete Carroll is
viewed like an average coach. He's well above average. He
(05:31):
wins and dominates for these last two decades in college
and in the pros. Now, if you want to say
a large percentage of his successes died to Russell Wilson,
I'd say, well, when they really won, and they've been
winning for the last five or six years, right, they
go to the playoffs every year they win the division,
they win a playoff game or two. But when they
(05:51):
were going to the super Bowl and came within a
play off the Super Bowl, Pete Carroll won his way
defense run game hits you directly square in the teeth
as Russell got paid, and they had to skimp at
other places. And they've played quote unquote a more offensive
brand of football right, their defense just hasn't been as good.
They had to let guys go. Guys got old, they
(06:13):
have not been as dominant, and so Pete goes, well,
when you've listened to me, check out USC I dominated.
Check out when you first showed up, and I built
the team the way I wanted to build it. We dominated. Remember,
we had the number one scoring defense for four straight years,
and we were one of the best rushing teams in
the league with Marshall Lynch in the last three or
(06:35):
four years. Every Booker reader on Twitter is like, let
Ross cook and listen. I am not a Russell Wilson
hater in my lifetime. He's as just a consumer of football.
He is one of my favorite players to watch. Though
I think the way some fans social media talk about
him might be a little much right. They act like
(06:58):
he's as they said in the article, people think he's
Dan Marino. He ain't Dan Marino. Well, who knows that.
I don't know a guy who's seventy years old and
been coaching football for forty five years. Pete Carroll now
is Russell Wilson the best quarterback Pete Carroll has probably
ever had as a head coach. Of course. So then
(07:19):
there's Russell where he goes, well, I'm a star, I
get paid like a star, I produced like a star.
I've helped carry this team, not partly because of my
contract or whatever. He ain't thinking like that, so I
think I should have more juice. And clearly they're butting heads,
and they're at a point right now of can we
fix this? Well, typically in a situation, who is going
(07:43):
to fix this problem? And you'd say, in most NFL situations,
the Brady Belichick situation, there was a guy named Robert Kraft,
and he could be an intermediary. He could talk to
both because he realized the value of both. And I'm
not saying Pete's Belichick and I'm just Tom, but Paul
Allen is no longer around, and there is not anyone
(08:06):
necessarily to fix this problem unless these two men. Russell's
made hundreds of millions of dollars, Pete probably made a
hundred plus million dollars in the last decade, have a
lot of money, have enormous egos. So can one of
these two men put there and really both of them
(08:29):
eventually put their ego to the side and have productive conversations.
Now you could argue John could John Schneider baby possibly,
but he's also in a tough position because he naturally
is gonna lean at this point in time. Probably Pete
a little bit because he's an administrator, He's an executive,
like he's closer to a coach than he is a player.
(08:50):
Even though Russell, as everything we've ever learned about his
playing in Seattle was strictly because John was pounding the table.
He told Pete, who check his teams at USC check
his teams what he built in Seattle. He does not
like small players, including the quarterback. And remember when he
(09:10):
was first introduced to Russell, he was not into it
because he was so small. John talked him into it.
They drafted the third round. The rest is history. But
there peach type players, Marshawn Lynch, Jamal Adams, Cam Chancellor,
Richard Sherman, fuck DK Metcalf again. Excuse my language, kids excited.
He likes enormous blue chip guys, and Russell is a
(09:35):
better talent than he is, like his physical attributes, which
our special right is keeping plays alive. But he's tiny,
And I wonder if there's part of Pete that has
never quite got over it. Has never really just enabled
him to be Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen, and maybe
because deep down he doesn't believe he can or at
least sustain it. He did this year up until the
(09:57):
second half of the season when their offense was trip.
But I don't see how this situation gets solved. How
many seventy year old men. I'm pretty sure Pete's like
sixty nine, so it'll be seventy like at that age,
with an unlimited amount of money, with countless pelts on
the wall, go you know what. And I'd give Pete
a lot of credit if he can do this, But
(10:19):
I don't think we can't expect it. Older successful people
do not just I'll swallow my ego. I'll take it.
I can't see that happening. You know. The other person
that rarely swallows his ego, the young in his prime artist,
whether it's a lead singer, whether it's an actor storming
off a movie, whether it's a star quarterback or a
(10:41):
star shooting guard. Usually those guys, once they get in
this I don't even want to say diva mindset. But
just in this tunnel of I am the best, and
I don't even blame Russell for thinking that I am untouchable.
I am greatness. He ain't swallowed his ego and the
owner around. So who is fixing this problem? I don't
(11:04):
think the problem is fixable. Now. Do I think that
Seattle wants to trade Russell Wilson? Of course not do.
I think though the more this goes, the more Russell
kind of puts this pr campaign out there of you know,
I don't want to go, but I'm kind of open
to it. I respect to Shawn Watson. He just said
I don't want to play here. Russell doesn't want to
(11:27):
do that. Why because he has this image where he
doesn't want to be viewed as the bad guy go Hawks, right,
so he honestly, I'd respect more of Russell if he
just said I want out, people be like, okay, he
just wants out, even though I'd say, hey, listen, I
think a lot of times with deals, we always think
one side always wins. I think both sides won on this.
(11:49):
Russ is very, very lucky to be drafted to the
Seattle Seahawks, a team when he showed up, had a
great defense in a run game, and gave him a
landing spot to become a blossom into the star player,
just like I think Pete as a coach was very,
very lucky to have drafted Russell Wilson and let him
become the quarterback right away and then blossom into the star.
(12:12):
But to act like one side of the ledger here
is taking advantage of the other side is just wrong.
So I think you have these two hard headed people
staring at each other. Big egos. Money ain't an issue.
They're both have unlimited amounts. Russell has more, but pizza
coach coaches don't. What does he even need to buy?
Pete's been making huge money forever, right coach multiple NFL teams,
(12:36):
USC for a decade, now Seattle for a decade, big
time coin. I don't see how this is fixed. I
don't see how Russell Wilson if truly he wants out,
and I don't even think it's arguable that he wouldn't
mind leaving. He's ready for a change. That Russell Wilson
will be traded in the next couple of months, which
(12:57):
would have sounded insane if I would have said that
month ago. But you can see the way Russell is
kind of scalpting this pr campaign to try to get out,
but under no circumstances, look like a James Harden, look
like a Deshaun Watson. And if I was Russell's, you
know pr guy, I'd say, listen, people are numb to
(13:18):
this Russell who even cares. Just go where you want
to go, make it known, and let's just move on. Society.
We don't remember two weeks ago. No one remember. You'll
move on now. What sucks is being a Seattle fan.
So I put myself in the situation of a fan
of this team. I don't care how many first round
picks we get. I don't care Derek Carr, Dak Prescott,
(13:38):
whoever's coming back. I'm not trading the best player in
the history of my franchise. I would be furious there is.
You could give me the next four Raiders drafts. I
do not care. I would not I would. I understand
where the fans are coming from. We cannot trade this guy.
(13:59):
But I just wonder what the owner gone, Pete Carroll
having all this juice Like I'm just honestly where I'm
sitting right now, I don't know who where he goes.
I could see the list expanding. I expect might be strong,
but I will not be shocked in the least. So
(14:21):
I guess I'm just awaiting a tweet that you know,
there have been legitimate talks of Russell Wilson and these
three teams about a potential deal. A couple weeks ago,
it was like, you know, I don't know, it's up
to Seattle. A couple of weeks later, it's now like, yeah,
you know, he'd be open to moving, and Seattle be
(14:42):
open to listening, and these are the teams. So it
just the snowball is coming down the mountain and it's growing,
and I think it all gets back to because neither
one of these guys are gonna flinch. You know why,
because big ego guys with big bank accounts typically don't do.
They don't flinch, they don't change, and they definitely don't
(15:02):
give in. Think you got a stalemate? Clear where this
is headed? Now? Just where does he end up going?
Foxsports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.
Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio dot com
and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to listen live,
Get right to the romance, and find the way to
(15:24):
wow this Valentine's with one hundred flowers dot com from
classic roses and bouquets to decadent chocolate covered berries, gourmet
treats and more. Surprise your valentine with one eight hundred
flowers dot com right now. Get the eighteen stem enchanted
rose metalley for thirty nine ninety nine or upgrade to
twenty four red roses for ten dollars more. Go to
(15:45):
one hundred flowers dot com slash tune in. That's one
eight hundred flowers dot com slash tune in. 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.
Welc a mile in my shoes shoes. We've all felt
(16:06):
left out, and for some that feeling lasts more than
a moment. We can change that. Learn how it belonging
begins with us dot org. Brought to you by the
AD Council. Welcome out in the machine. Look through your
children's eyes to see the true magic of a forest.
It's a storybook world for them. You look and see
(16:29):
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 there. Fearless guide. Is this fascinating world.
Find a forest near you and start exploring at Discover
the Forest dot org, brought to you by the United
(16:50):
States Forest Service and the AD Council. Okay, let's dive
into something that I saw. I think Front Office Sports
is a website, and they're good on the business of
sports and specifically the business of the NFL. And there
have been information and I think someone reported to them that.
(17:11):
And let's get something. We talk about a lot here,
but let's just hammer it home. The major difference between
the NFL and baseball and basketball, the team sports their
business models is the NFL is all in on television, right,
That's where they get the majority of their money. Now,
obviously the other sports make money on television. But when
(17:34):
you have eighty one home games, as we saw last year,
if you followed baseball the Corona issue, when they only
played sixteen games depending on what Jeff passon Hayman, those
guys that like forty to fifty percent of their revenue
came from the gate, and the NBA is forty one
home games. Ask Joe Lacob of the Warriors and Vvec
(17:57):
of the Kings who just got new arenas. They make
a large percentage of their revenue from the gate the NFL,
I think last year. I guess we'll find out by
the new league year, because like three hundred million dollars
might have been slightly less from the media rights every
single team. Thing about that, every single team gets a check. Well,
(18:19):
it's paid I think over the season for accounting for
about three hundred, two hundred and eighty five three hundred
million dollars. Well, we know what the salary cap is
in the NFL. Last year it was like one hundred
and ninety eight million dollars, so they're over that by
one hundred. Literally, all your players are paid for by
the television money than what's your coaching staff cost fifteen
million dollars a year? Also all paid for what's your
(18:42):
staff cost of your organization? The media pays for everything.
That's why the NFL is such a cash count right now,
Everything that Jerry you name it, whatever owner you want
to pick, Jeffrey Lury, Kraft, your cronky, what they make
from you know, the stadium, the weets, the tickets, the
concessions is gravy. The NFL is printing money, but it
(19:07):
starts with the television product. Because the television product right
now now it's different because the NFL doesn't have the
inventory as the other sports. But one thing we know
when we put a game on, when we put an
NFL game on television, it dwarfs the other two. You know, uh,
team sports, right the NBA, the NBA Finals last year. Now,
(19:31):
granted it was in a bubble, but it'd been trending
down for a couple of years. That the number they
do is like putting the Jags and the Titans on
a Thursday night. Thursday Night football does huge ratings. Sunday
Night Football, which I'm going to talk about right now,
is the number one television show in America. Think about that.
(19:51):
The number one television show in America is an NFL
football game for me at five twenty on Sunday night
if you live in New York, kicks off at eight
twenty whatever. That is the number one show in America.
When I was growing up, whether it was Seinfeld, my
dad was a huge fan of Mash. The major television
(20:12):
shows did like fifty to sixty to seventy million people
watched an episode. Well in twenty twenty one. Those days
are over, Those days are done. I just got a
new smart TV. I'll talk about this actually in a minute.
But Monday Night Football for the last decade, ESPN, Disney, ABC, whatever,
(20:34):
however you want to consider it paid two billion dollars
for the rights for Monday Night Football, and for the
first half of that decade, right, they were getting crappy games.
The second half and definitely the last couple of years
they've been getting better inventory. You know, the best deal
you could argue, the best business deal for any media
company in America over this last decade was NBC's deal
(20:57):
with the NFL. NBC for Sunday Night Football for the
last decade paid less than half of what Disney paid
for Monday Night Football. They paid two billion. NBC paid
nine hundred and fifty million dollars for the number one
television show in America. Now, while the NFL, as they
(21:19):
wrote in this article, it's not like the NFL got screwed.
While clearly it was worth more than that. It's good
to have the exposure you want people watching like it
was a fruitful, you know deal, But it's a deal.
That at the end of it, you go, if you're
the NFL, we're gonna double that thing. And as they
wrote in the article, expect that number to double. And
(21:40):
really NBC has no choice because, like I talked about,
mash or Seinfeld or whatever the show is, there are
not hit television shows anymore on TV that draw millions
upon millions upon millions of people. What was like probably
the biggest show of the last six months, the Queen's Gambit?
(22:01):
Where was that? Netflix? And back to my smart TV forever?
And maybe I'm a little weird. I did not put
a television in my room, and girls I dated will
always get mad or whatever, and I'd be like, you know,
I had multiple televisions in my living room. I got
TV in my office. If I needed to watch something
(22:21):
in my room, I'd bring an iPad. My thought process
and in theory it made a lot of sense to me.
I was going to use my room to sleep, to read,
and obviously to do the other thing, But mainly I
didn't want a television in there because I wanted to read. Now,
I didn't do much reading in there, like I thought,
so I finally just I had it installed. I put
(22:42):
it up there hung it the other day with a
buddy the other day, and I had called Comcast because
I'm one of these crazy millennials that still has the
cable box and I got listen to I didn't need
to get another cable box, and they said, actually, if
you have a newer TV, you're gonna have apps. I'm
sure many people listening know this. You can just download
the Comcast Streaming app and just watch your normal cable box.
(23:03):
All you have to do is plug the television in
and connected to Wi Fi. So Ever, I turn on
this new Samsung TV, which is crazy how cheap televisions are,
or a fifty five in Samsung TV off Amazon for
like four hundred bucks, maybe it's four fifty with the
soundbar came out to like less than six hundred dollars.
And it's just what have I been waiting for? And
(23:23):
I just go to my apps, Netflix, Amazon Prime Streaming,
I can watch whatever I want. And part of this
article said also that Fox no longer wants Thursday night football, Well,
who do they want involved in the NFL? A fellow
balled guy named Jeff Bezos, so expect Thursday night football,
And they kind of hinted this to be on Amazon,
(23:46):
which I think forever, it's like, we can't be on
one of these apps. In five years from now, it's
going to be more likely that everything is watched through
apps than it ever will be basic cable. It's clear
basic cable is kind like newspapers were a decade ago,
not quite dead yet but gonna die fast, right. Radio
(24:07):
still kind of hanging on, doesn't have that much longer
of a shelf life. It's clear where we're going. So
the NFL is smart one. It's an easy one for them.
But it's also like even Jerry Jones or Jeffrey Lewie
or any of these old guys that go, I don't
want let's just keep it on these main channels. Well,
it's like, if I'm Steven, I go, hey Dad, you
(24:27):
just press the home button, you click Amazon Prime, and
boom you're there. And they did it this year I
think with a forty nine er game. You press two
buttons in the game comes up. It's actually really really
user friendly. And what's the other thing forever it's like, well,
I don't want to deal with one of these tech companies.
Let's go with the blue bloods. They got all the cash.
Amazons got more cash than all these companies combined. So
(24:51):
Thursday Night Football it looks like it's gonna be on Amazon.
NBC is gonna have to double their investment. But it's
an easy investment for them to make because they have
no choice because the masses do not watch their other
content beside live sports and some news. So the NFL
is in complete control. It's always my issue when I
hear these NBA guys talk about, well, live rights are
(25:13):
so powerful the NBA, even as the consumer dips, it's
gonna be okay. I kind of call bullshit because of
the amounts of money these leagues are asking for, and
like the last NBA deal for example, they got a
ton of cash from TNT, from ESPN, the ratings are plummeting.
Now I'm not saying they're gonna go away, but I'm
(25:34):
saying they're gonna come back to earth. The NFL is
the opposite. They're gonna be about to double down. And
we'll talk about this article on the NFLPA and what
they fought for. But the big cash is coming. And
as a player who was involved in negotiations last year said,
why the owners were so willing to negotiate early, be
(25:56):
open minded, and even give a little. It's because they
wanted labor p and labor harmony when they were at
the negotiating table for this. Why because this to them
is all that matters. This is their number one thing
in their business model, the television rights or the streaming
rights or whatever you want to consider it. Right, the
(26:16):
verbiage is changing as our world changes. But the money
for them comes from us watching it. The NFL is
consumed by us sitting in our couches and watching football.
It's the number one television show in America. And it's
clear they're about to double down on all these investments.
They're gonna involve Amazon and they're gonna print more money. Now,
(26:39):
one thing, I'll be there. I'm not going to be
arrogant or be naive enough to know this is only
in ten years. They're gonna double down. Who knows, things
in society have never changed faster. And I'm not gonna
just sit up here and say football is gonna dominate forever.
But right now they're kicking everyone's ass with As Gary
(27:01):
V would say, attention and attention is the most important thing.
Because for the NFL, they don't actually need you to
hand them the cash. They just need you indirectly to
get Amazon Prime, to get your cable subscriptions, and give
them your time, which indirectly is giving them your cash.
It's like I always say, the reason these leagues Basketball
(27:24):
included Baseball, the PGA Tour whoever can have money, and
the players get paid, the coaches get paid. The people
involved get paid are the fans. The fans are the consumer.
And even if you never attend an NFL game the
rest of your life, if you consistently watch football every Sunday,
(27:44):
you're more important to them. They would rather have you
do that than show up in the second deck one
million percent. And as long as you keep doing that.
But honestly, once the deal is signed, this is where
the NBA. The NBA signed their big deal, so their
ratings are down, it really doesn't matter. Now it screws
their partners, it does not screw them. Luckily for the NFL,
(28:06):
the partners know currently their product is important and people
do watch now. Could that change over the next decade,
you never know. But right now, once this deal is signed,
the NFL is going to have a lot more money
coming in and they already had a boatload to begin with. Okay,
let's get into one other kind of business ee topic,
(28:29):
and it's somewhat rehashing old stuff. Seth Wickersham, who's an
excellent journalist, wrote a long article about Demorris Smith, the
NFLPA union lead lawyer. I guess he's the just league guy,
and the negotiations stemming back from twenty eleven to where
(28:50):
they're at now. They just obviously completed it before the
season as new CBA, and just some of the inner
workings of their business. And on the most basic level,
if one of you listening right now was negotiating against me,
and you're negotiating against me and only me, yet you
have ten partners, so it's one verse ten. I have
(29:13):
an advantage because the only person I have to answer
to and the only vision I have for whatever we're
negotiating right is mine, and I know what I want
and don't want. At least at the time of the negotiation.
Were you speaking for nine people, including yourself, makes it ten.
(29:35):
Could be a lot of visions. Maybe three guys think alike,
but then everyone else is fractured. It's difficult. It is
always easier to negotiate with less amount of people. So
I'll never hold it against the players that they just
have a shitload of them. Can excuse my language to
the kids. I'm in an excited mood today, and there
(30:00):
are a lot of players. There are dramatically more NFL
players than even baseball twenty five man roster. Well, there's
more than double the amount of NFL players on an
actual roster in season, and then you talk about offseason
fringe guys, practice squad guys. It's more than that. You
have a ton of players, and like in all sports,
(30:20):
but the NFL, you have a large percentage of the
workforce that does not make that much money. In the NBA,
for example, the average salaries seven and a half million dollars.
Most NFL players are making closer to the minimum. I
think the average salaries a couple of million bucks. But
like in the NBA, like in the NFL, the power
(30:41):
for rich players have the most juice. Right, So, just
on the most basic level, you get and you don't
have thirty two owners negotiating against the players. Let's face it,
you got two or three that speak for them all,
Jerry Kraft, maybe Ziggy Wolf. Right there, there's a group
of them and They're not going back and forth, right,
(31:03):
Mark Davis, Jed Yorke, whoever. Some of the guys that
they're just like Jerry and you. We trust you keep
the money flowing. We'll keep cashing them checks with the players.
If I'm a fringe backup linebacker, my views for what
I want in the CBA are probably a lot different
than Aaron Rodgers, who remember, I think it was last
(31:24):
year in the off season when they were negotiating the
CBA and was getting kind of ugly over the off
season notoriously said he wanted to cancel the off season. Well,
of course, one of the greatest players of all time
wouldn't need the off season. Do you know who needs
the off season? The majority of the league. Why they
need that to impress coaches, to try to learn the scheme,
(31:44):
to try to make the team. So everyone is gonna
come at it from different angles, you know who. I
don't blame for thinking that. I don't necessarily blame Aaron
because if I was in Aaron shoes, I wouldn't really
want to practice. And you know, April either, like, are
I really getting out of it now? There's a team
aspect to it. I get it, But if you've got
(32:06):
a big ass house in Malibu, do you think I
want to be in Wisconsin in early June? No? I don't.
But so it's complicated, it's not an easy job, and
you always got to be at least cognitive or you know,
in wonder where and what angle this article? Why it
was written? And I honestly don't know. Because there are
(32:28):
parts that made d Smith look good, they're part that
made them look bad. They're parts that made the owners
look bad. Regardless, one thing that really jumped out to me,
I think the players did themselves as disservice. One element
of this article is the players argued that d Smith's
compensation was too much. They are arguing over billions of dollars.
(32:50):
And if you're going to sign a CBA, let's say
for a decade. If the NFL right now is a
ten to twelve to fifteen billion dollars a year business,
if you're talking about a decade, you're not even factoring
in it going up every year. If let's just say
we'll just pick a number ten, ten billion dollars a year.
If I'm signing a ten year deal, and let's just
say in this world where it stays, you know it
(33:12):
does not go up, which is not the case. But
just for mass sake, that's a hundred billion dollar deal.
Demorris Smith was paid one point I think a little
over one point six million dollars, and some of the
people in the executive committee did not want to give
him a million dollar bonus to take his compensation up
to two point six million dollars a year. I read
(33:34):
flag the players. My take, you guys are morons. If
I am going into a ten billion dollars a year negotiation,
and like I said, one hundred plus billion dollars deal,
my lawyer better be making ten to fifteen million dollars.
Do you know who listen? I don't claim to be
like super successful in business, doing pretty well. Know some
(33:56):
people that are multimillionaires crushing it. The first thing they
all always tell you, don't skip on accountant, skimp, and
don't skimp on a lawyer, because those guys can do
things for you that you can't do for yourself. And
there's a reason that the big time lawyers and the
big time accountants, when you roll into the nice neighborhoods
and the country clubs, they tend to have some of
(34:18):
the big houses in those neighborhoods because they're worth their
weight in gold. And the players were arguing over a
million dollars to a lawyer. To me, Gene Upshaw, who
obviously was a former player, made six for me to
feel comfortable. How did none of these players that make
(34:38):
a ton of money, that have a ton of powerful
people around them, I'm sure have some powerful lawyers not
realize you know, what we need is a like a
ten million dollars lawyer to go into war with these
men that have unlimited resources and money. So the players
did themselves a disservice by not getting the best of
the best. And d Smith might be good, I mean,
(34:59):
the owners aim to love him, which is not an
ideal thing. But to me, when I read their union
chief makes under two million dollars, I'm sorry I read
flag that thing because, like I talked about earlier this week,
money's all relative. And if we're talking billions of dollars
and basically well over one hundred billion dollars that we're
going to sign a deal, I better have an elite lawyer.
(35:20):
And guess what elite lawyers do. They cost a lot
of money and their guy doesn't cost enough for my liking.
Would you like, what if I told you this, What
if I told you know, Aaron Rodgers, this your best
wide receiver, he's a million dollar player, your best safety,
million dollar player. They'd be like, what, we can't get
a blue chipper Davantae Adams underpaid like fifteen million dollars,
(35:40):
Like your money in your industry does represent how good
you are eventually Now, obviously guys on rookie contracts, but
there are no rookie contracts when you're hiring a lawyer.
You guys have big cash hire the best of the best.
So they did themselves a disservice there. The other thing
I'll never forget, I think players because the only thing
the owners have ever thought of out is the money.
(36:02):
They do not care about practices, They do not care
about preparation time, They do not care about the off season.
Like we had just discussed with the business of the NFL,
is predicated off television product. As long as they play games.
No matter how you get to that game, you can
practice once, you can practice ten times. They just need
the game to happen because they know right now is
(36:23):
nothing lasts forever. As NBC would know, they just had
one of the greatest deals in American history. We just
need the game to happen, so however you get there,
we don't care if you take no snaps during the
week or take whatever. And the players were adamant too
many double days, too many practices during the season, making
us where pads during the seasons. The owners were like,
have added d tell them all, no more pads during
(36:44):
the season, no more double days. I'll never forget. In
twenty ten when I was hired, my first year was
before the lockout, and that first year we had double days,
we had physical practices, and I vividly remember Deuce Staley.
Love Deuce, you know, being an older guy, right, and
he was a young coach. It was his first year
as like an intern coach. He's like, when I first
(37:05):
got here, our practices were way more physical, and I
remember people telling me coaches on the staff and scouts
on the staff, we have one of the more physical
practices in the league with coach read I mean running
goal line drills. And I had come from Pat Hill,
where pads were always on, so it just felt like
a real physical practice, right. It was legit. But I
think for NFL standards. It was headed toward a you
know nowhere what it was, and like the nineties, right,
(37:28):
the following year is when the lockout happened, and when
finally the go ahead and the lockouts lifted and everyone
comes back. Double days were no longer allowed. And I
remember as my second year with the team, and usually
as a scout you go to all the practices training camp. Well,
with no more double days, the afternoon was a walkthrough.
We didn't even go because there was pointless, right, We
(37:50):
just stay in our room and work. And I just remember,
honestly didn't. I couldn't even fathom what was going on.
I was like, oh, this is way easier for the
players than the last year I saw, And all the
players are really happy. You know who were the happiest though,
were the owners because they got way more money in
the deal. They traded money for that. And part of
the reason is that the players had a union chief
(38:13):
and a lead lawyer that just not highly paid enough. Like,
you get what you pay for in life at the
highest level, and you could argue even at the lower levels.
My dad always taught me this, when you go when
you're buying something nice, I'll just use a golf analogy,
like if you buy some used cheap golf club for
one hundred dollars instead of buying a nice, brand new
(38:33):
golf club for four hundred dollars, you can't get mad
when that golf club snaps the cheap one in a month.
You can use the car analogy, which more expensive when
you buy a used clunker because you're trying to, you know,
keep some cash. When that car breaks down in six months,
when you could have spent five thousand more ten thousand
more got a newer car, they would have had a warranty.
(38:55):
You can't complain when you end up spending more money
for that. And now the players are planning they're not
getting their fair share. Well, you guys traded the wrong things.
And the one thing the owners always have is they
only care about one thing. They don't even care necessarily
about the product, because they are arrogant enough to think
that fans and listen, all you guys listening are clearly
(39:17):
big football fans are never gonna stop watching. And I
know this like it pays my bills. I haven't worked
in the NFL since twenty thirteen, and I've made money
for seven straight years because of the power, you know,
predicated on talking about the sport because the sport's so popular.
If I had worked in baseball instead of football and
been out of you know, baseball, I would not have
(39:40):
been able to do this. That the interest just would
not have been there. I'm lucky, and a lot of
people profit off the sport just because it's so big,
and no one profits born in these owners and they
know it. Hey, pet parents, have you heard of Just
Food for Dogs? Since twenty ten, we've been helping dogs
everywhere live healthier, longer through the power of fresh, whole
(40:01):
food nutrition. Our meals are formulated by an in house
team of veterinarians and we only use human grade meats
and veggies with zero preservatives. After transitioning to Just Food
for Dogs, pet parents report seeing more energy, firmer stools,
improved health, and even longer lives. Give us two weeks
and we'll change your dog's life forever. Visit Just Food
for Dogs dot com slash mobile and save ten percent
(40:22):
on your first purchase. Adoption of teams from Foster Care
is a topic not enough people know about, and we're
here to change that. I'm April Dinuity, host of the
new podcast Navigating Adoption, presented by adopt us Kids. Each
episode brings you compelling, real life adoption stories told by
the families that live them, with commentary from experts. Visit
adopt us Kids dot org, slash podcast, or subscribe to
(40:45):
Navigating Adoption presented by adopt us Kids, brought to you
by the US Department of Health and Human Services, Administration
for Children and Families, and the ACT Council. What grows
in the forest trees, Sure no one else grows in
the forest, Our imagination, a sense of wonder, and our
family bonds grow too, because when we disconnect from this
(41:08):
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. Okay, I want to talk about Tiger
for a second. He obviously got in the terrible crash,
and I think it's fair to say his legs are
(41:30):
pretty screwed up. He's in pretty bad shape. And one thing,
I'm very jealous of a lot of you guys that
listen and shoot me dms something that I can't relate
to anymore. Growing up, I was a massive forty nine
er fan. I'm saying, just like any one of you,
whoever your team is, they were my squad. And then
(41:51):
as I worked in football and even through college, they
started sucking and I became probably more of just a
fan of the league and Peyton, Manning and Brady. But
once I worked in football and ultimately got to the league,
it kind of left me. My days of being a fan.
I'm numb to it and for the last you know,
five six years. But ever since i've been in the
(42:12):
podcast space with my other podcasts with Guy, we talk
a lot about the forty nine ers and doing this
like I'm very numb to who wins and loses, even
the Niners. Now I make I care about the Niners.
I just need them to be interesting so I can profit. Ideally,
I love it when they make Super Bowl runs because
I can make more money. But it's become it's all
money related. My days of being tied as a fan
(42:35):
are dyed with football, I mean are absolutely dead. And
part of it is I know people in the league,
so you just root for them. And I'm like that
in life now when I meet someone and I become
friends with them or even acquaintances, or hell, we might
follow each other on Twitter, Instagram. If we go back
and forth, I'm just gonna root for you. Lucky enough
in my position, I get to know meet some of
these people. It's fucking cool. I'm still a fan of that,
(42:59):
but my fan of the sport died. I don't really
deep inside even any of the sports, like the San
Francico Giants, probably the last team I was a fan of,
and I really don't care anymore, partly because I just
hate Gabe Kapler and I miss Bruce Bocci like. I
can't even take the franchise that seriously anymore. Like I
like them. I guess I would consider myself a Warriors fan,
(43:19):
but I'm only there because I'm a Steph Curry guy.
If you remove Steph Curry and you brought in James Harden,
I wouldn't care. I am jealous of any fan out
there now. All my friends are fans, like I still
relate very well the fan. I still like going to
games and sitting in the stands. At least I gained
a love of that the last couple of years because
I hated sitting with the media so stiff, and honestly,
(43:42):
when when anyone says like middle if youre's a member
of the media, honestly, it makes me cringe, like I
maybe I once was, but I pay for tickets now,
you know, I guess the only thing I would get
a credential now is go to like a training camp
the Niners and the Raiders, and the Raiders eventually stopped
letting me show up to theirs, so I can only
go to the Niners. And I obviously I could travel
around if I want to do and go see other teams,
(44:03):
which is cool, so I guess still have some media there,
but that if I go to a game, I'm not
sitting with the media. I'm gonna pay for a ticket.
So I'm jealous of anyone who's a fan, and I
think I understood. In high school, I played football and
I played golf. I was not a good football player.
I was a right guard who played, you know, started
(44:25):
a little bit of senior year and played a little
bit on JV in and out of the lineup. It
was one ninety five ten. Not a great athlete, not strong.
We ran the wink tea. But I loved playing football,
loved it all my friends played football, and it was
it's still it's us. It was some of my best
memories as a kid playing high school football, which I
(44:45):
can imagine many people listening that never made it past
high school football. It's a fucking blast, right, especially if
your friends are on the team. Even I think my
senior year were like five and five, it doesn't even matter.
At least it didn't for us. I mean, I like
Dayla sal down the street from my the house right now,
it does. But I was way better at golf, and
I've always loved the sport of golf, and if you
(45:05):
follow me on social media, you know I like golf
a lot. I'm a huge Tiger Woods fan. And I
was thinking, he's probably the last person before I became
numb to everything over the last decade that like still competed,
that I still have that high school, junior high version
of me that's still a fan of And when I
got the tweet and looked at the TV that I mean,
(45:27):
when I just saw the picture, I was hoping he
didn't die. And the information coming out that his legs
are shattered, I think it's fair to take an educated
guest that we might never see Tiger Woods competitively again,
which sucks, and honestly, I was I was pretty rattled
when he got into the car. And it's like, I
don't know the guy, right, I mean, we would probably
(45:48):
never be friends. I hope, I hope if we met,
we'd be cool. I mean, I know he's a big
Raider fan. I definitely could talk Raiders with him, but
never met the guy stood next to him in a
bathroom once, partly because I was at for the Pebble
Beach pro am he was putting at Monterey Peninsula Country Club.
He went in to take a leak and like me
and my cousin waited like five seconds and a couple
(46:09):
other guys and like follow them into the bathroom. No
eye contact, but we're about five feet away. That was cool.
But I understand, and I think the media consistently shits
on fans because you become numb to it, you lose
that and luckily, like I'm not friends with media people.
My friends are normal people. My friends are season ticket
(46:30):
holders with the Raiders when they were here, definitely with
the forty nine ers now. And I understand it because
it feels like Tiger's over and it sucks, like it's
pretty devastating, and I also think he has a lot
of parallels, even though he's a golfer and obviously it's
not a physical sport. Before the car crash, he had
(46:52):
like football level injuries. Right in two thousand and eight,
I remember I was just about to move because the
US opens in June, and my mom and my brother
and my dad were coming with a trailer and we're
going to pack all my stuff and San Louis Obispo
and take it to Fresno, where I was about to
become a graduate assistant. And clearly he is about to
change my life. I didn't know it. I mean, I
(47:14):
had a decent idea it was going to be a
pretty impactful time, but I didn't know what was coming.
But I had a couple of days to wait, and
I remember he was it was the US Open, and
it was the US opening one with a torn acl
basically a crack knee, like just stuff that when you
hear Emma Smith played an NFC Championship game with a
separated shoulder, like it's just it's legendary shit. It's why
(47:37):
when you saw Tiger Woods play the match with Peyton
Manning and Tom Brady. Those guys act like Tiger is.
They're equal because they think as just in terms of greatness,
in terms of mental toughness, because he was and I listen,
I don't know if you're listening to this. You're not
a big golf guy. I think we all respect the
shit out of this human being and the thing I
(47:58):
admire most, and definitely Brady has this. And it's actually
different because Brady's never had He had the one injury
three or four years ago before Tiger just won that Masters.
I think it was what's his name, right, Thompson of
ESPN had wrote that long article about Tiger Woods and
(48:19):
he's in his backyards when he's having all the back
problems and he'd hit the ground and he couldn't walk,
and he'd have to call for his daughter to call
for help to maybe like get no Toba Gae to
come over and pick him up. I mean, these are
stories you read about guys that played in like the
seventies for the Steelers or the Dolphins or the Raiders.
(48:39):
Not a golfer in his early forties couldn't walk. Here's
the other thing, and this is where it parallels Tom.
If you go to Tiger's bank account five years ago,
ten years ago, when he's having all these health problems,
he has more money than God. He does not need
to do it anymore. But his drive Tiger woods like
Tom Brady. Tiger got into golf, Tom got into football.
(49:02):
And I think Belichick and I know Coach Read is
like this. And this is why I admire the hell
out of Coach Read. They didn't get into it for
the money. The money impacts them, it changes like the
way where they live and what car they drive. It
does not change their love and their drive in their
addiction of the sport and the thing I admire most
I saw with Coach Read. By the time I started
working for the Eagles, he was rich. He was making
(49:23):
a ton of money. Now, he hadn't never won a
Super Bowl, but I'll never forget his work ethic was
unlike anything I'd ever seen. And then when I'd go
to the combine these last couple of years and be
you know, Coach Read, he's still just working away. His
work ethic is incredible. And Tiger and Brady, these guys
dedication to their craft is just unparalleled. At the highest
(49:43):
level where the competition is the highest, they are the
one percent of the one percenters, and this guy's drive
to come back and ultimately win that Masters after all
the injuries and all the shit he'd been through. Some
of it self inflicted, definitely, but the injuries to a
golfer more like a middle linebacker, it's insane. We'll never
see anything like it again. And unlike Brady, I don't
(50:06):
think his fame will ever be matched, because this guy's
a world famous. This guy's fame is like and I
say the same thing about Michael Jordan. If you became
super famous before the Internet, you are stupid famous. Remember
growing up, Like how famous like Michael Jackson was, or
Mike Tyson or some of these people that were just
like God the Beatles, like fame now like Lebron's really famous.
(50:28):
But he said the Internet and social media, like obviously
Tigers had that too, But we all know Tiger was
famous like ninety seven when he went Hello World and
Nike signed him. And back to what I was saying
about being a fan, I think he's one of the
last guys I'm like a true fan of. This might
sound corny, but I kind of got emotional when he
won the Masters. I really did because he kind of
(50:49):
like connects me to my childhood. It's and that is
dead for me, And I think if you listen to
me long enough, it's why I think I'm pretty good
at talking about football because I'm not I'm biased. Maybe
do a couple of guys I know, but just with
the players and the teams, I don't care. It takes
me to gamble on sports now to get the juice
that I used to have when I was fourteen and
(51:11):
I could watch sports twenty four, seven, three sixty five.
I can't really anymore. And I still watch a ton,
but I profit off of of it. If I wasn't
making money off it, I would not watch nearly as
much as I do. And I just this week was
it sucks because I think we saw I just don't
(51:34):
see how this guy ever comes back from this, and
if I had to google some of the words and
his statements about his bones being shattered. But I'm just
glad as a big sports fan at my heart and
who I was growing up. Like the last three years,
we got some badass moments with the guy. I remember
when he was making his comeback twenty eighteen almost won
(51:55):
the British that he won the Tour Championship. Who my
guy Haven, who I do the other podcast with, was
there calling it for Virtual reality, called it for virtual
He was in the ability. He said it was incredible.
Remember there's that visual of all the fans fallen Tiger.
Then six months later or less than that, he wins
the Masters, and then just this year in Corona, my
(52:18):
least favorite time in the history of my life, beside
like you know, non deaths in my family or something.
I mean, it was the most miserable year ever. I
think we'd all tend to agree there is him, Him,
Peyton Manning, and Tom Brady like that. That event was
made for me. I don't know what you thought of
that event. That's that's one of my favorite viewing experiences
(52:42):
of my lifetime. Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Tiger was Phil Mickelson. Oh. So,
you know, I just think we're addicted to athletes that
are addicted to their craft. And I think you hear
so often guys talk about like I want to be
a brand, I want to do this. I maybe I
grew up on guys that became a brand because they dominated.
(53:06):
Michael Jordan. Brand happened because Michael Jordan wons six championships,
the tw hats and the Nike polos got you know,
Phil Knight was slinging those things like they were drugs
because Tiger was dominating. Now everyone has a logo before
they win a game or like, oh we're starting to business,
(53:28):
like what have you done? Like I grew up on Tiger,
Tiger and Michael and I, you know, I remember my dad.
We'd always argue about great Joe Montana was. When you
grow up on someone, I do understand. I will go
to my grave arguing the Tiger, Michael and probably now
Tom Brady, like I don't see how they're being topped
when I'm seventy years old arguing with my hopefully like
(53:51):
my grandkids about you know, they're up and coming. Whoever,
none of these guys are getting knocked off my perch. Hey,
let's bang out a couple quick, just stories that are
kind of going around, and I think what we'll do
because we're almost at or getting close to an hour plus.
Once they put in ads here, I'll put the Middlecoff mailbag.
(54:14):
I'm just gonna put it on YouTube. I think I
did that last week. I'll record that either than I
or first thing in the morning and put it on
my YouTube page. John Middlecoff have a YouTube page, John Middlecoff,
Go check that out. Have just different content up there, football,
little golf, mainly just football and golf. I'm a football
golf guy. A Brady extension, do you know crazy this? Like, listen,
(54:39):
you might be as big of a Tiger or I
mean Tom Brady homer as like I as a Tiger
Woods Homer. It's pretty nuts that we're talking Tom Brady
extension going into the year that he's gonna be forty four.
And it's really not even that weird, right. They gave
him two years fifty million dollars. He's got twenty five
million dollars guaranteed this year. Uh, and is it crazy
(55:01):
just give him like a twenty five million dollar extension
and basically just kind of kicked the can down the road.
I mean, what's is this ever gonna stop? Do you
guys ever just think about that, like, is this ever
gonna stop? Because I think at this point in time
you'd be saying, well, maybe not. Eventually it will and
it will probably take an injury because his arm looks
(55:23):
normal and he moves like he's always moved It's not
like he moves great anyway. It's just it's basically, I
think at this point in time, is gonna take an
injury to end his career because that happened to Peyton
right was his shoulder or his arm? Remember, is just
it fell off. He couldn't throw. We think Drew Brees
arms struggled this year, that Peyton year. I attended a
(55:44):
mid season game against the Raiders. It was it was
embarrassingly bad. I remember going to that game. The irony
actually is because they both go into the Hall of
Fame this year because they retired the same year as
Charles Woodson had never picked off Peyton Manning. He got
him twice in that game. The all just floated in
the air. He had no zip. That's not the case
with Tom. I just where's Tom going? I would just
(56:07):
keep paying him twenty five thirty million dollars a year,
keep having to be the quarterback until he can't keep
him on like one year deals, keep building a team
around him, Let him live in Florida, no state income
taxes hang out of Jeter's pad, get wasted in the offseason,
TB twelve in the regular season, and keep kicking ass
and taking names jj Watt, Diana Russini, she used to
(56:30):
be NBC Diana and now she works ESPN wrote that
he has an offer between like fifteen and sixteen million dollars.
That's crazy. Now, I don't blame him. If someone's gonna
give him like two years thirty million dollars and guarantee
twenty million of it, he has to take. That's he
doesn't have to take the deal, but that's a massive
deal for him. Like to me, I view him as
(56:52):
like six seven million dollars player, unreal locker room guy, great,
like rotational defensive end deally just kicks ass on third down.
He's like a team captain and just big part of
my squad. Right. But I don't want to depend on
him every snap like I would Aaron Donald or JJ
Watt five years ago, partly because he gets hurt, hurt
(57:13):
a lot, Like I don't know. I won't be able
to blame him if he goes to Browns or something
for like two years thirty five million dollars and they
guarantee twenty five of it, Like that's a lot of
money to turn down, or the Raiders or whatever. If
I was him, it's easy for me to say, but
he's got He's made a one hundred million dollars on
(57:33):
the field. He was one of the most marketed athletes
of the last seven eight years. I'd imagine he's made
millions off the field. Can you imagine we've talked about
this before. If when I introduced JJ Watt in ten years,
I'm running an Oracle or whatever company and I'm bringing
JJ Watt to talk to my employees and I go,
(57:53):
I'd like to welcome Super Bowl champion. JJ Watt changes
your career man, So I mean Tampa Kansas City. Now,
obviously those type teams is gonna be way less money. Buffalo.
They make a lot of sense, but it's still pretty risky.
Like they got as far as they've been in basically
thirty years this year to the NFC Championship and they
(58:15):
get their ass kicked by the Chiefs. If I was
I'd probably go to the Chiefs for a million bucks
or whatever. His minimum is easy for me to say.
If he's turning down twenty million dollars, that's a lot
of money. I'm not and I'm as pro money as anybody,
But when you already have a lot of money, you
can operate from a position to strength. Now there are
(58:38):
other variable This is the last contract he'll probably ever have.
If he has a major injury, like his career would
be over. So I get it. But like he's gonna
go to the Hall of Fame, so it's gonna be
a Hall of Famer. Can he get the super Bowl?
Like that would change his career? Super Bowl Champion because
then you make money the rest of your life in
whatever town. And just I just think he's way more markable.
(58:59):
That would be my recommend. Assuming he saved well, which
he seems like a smart guy. I think he's gonna
be fine. Financially, he's got generational wealth. I would prioritize
winning one, two, and three, and then money. I'd be
thinking Chiefs, I'd be thinking Bucks. I'd be thinking Packers,
Ben Big Ben. I think the Steelers are kind of stuck.
(59:21):
You know, I do not think they want Ben Roethlisberger back.
I just don't think they really have a choice. You know,
they're drafting in the twenties because they made the playoffs.
He makes huge money. I think in a perfect world
that there was no dead cap space, they'd cut him.
I even bet they've probably contemplated cutting him, but he's
probably agreed to maybe give some money back or something
(59:43):
to facilitate him staying on the team. But to me,
you just short Ben Roethlisberger like a stock just because
he saw him last year. He just kind of fell apart,
and that's normal. He's thirty nine years old, he was
coming off a terrible elbow injury. I don't think he's
just gonna get better with age as this. As it
gets cold, they play in a cold weather city, they
(01:00:05):
play cold weather teams in their division. It's it's hard
for him to avoid that. They've got really good defenses
in their division in Cleveland and Baltimore. It's gonna be
it's gonna be difficult for an old guy that can't
move anymore and just kind of breaking down, you know.
And his people have alluded to on different shows. He's
not mister, He ain't Tiger Tom Brady. In the off season.
(01:00:29):
He's not doing TB twelve. There's not much pliability. He's
doing twelve bounced curls, which listen, I like twelve bounced
curls as much as the next guy, you know, And
I don't mind my quarterback drinking like I'm pro drinking.
But Roethlisberger, like you know, he's he's aged hard. He
really has. kJ Wright, who's been just an ass kicker
(01:00:53):
for Seattle, and I don't blame him. I don't blame
any of these players for saying this. I'm not taking
a hometown discount because you have a position of power
when you've won before, like kJ White's a winner. Pretty sure,
kJ Wright won a super Bowl. To me, once you've
won a super Bowl, like the Dominican sue, to me,
(01:01:13):
he loves money. He finally won, like it's to me
if I'm the Dominican sue, I'm trying to get paid again,
trying to get some cash flow. I've already I got
my ring. kJ Right super Bowl champion. Of course, he's
not taking a hometown discount. Time to get paid when
you've won and you've made money, like kJ Wrights in
the ultimate position. Right, he's won, he's won the he's
(01:01:37):
got a ring, he's been a part of awesome teams.
He's been. He just wins all every year. Like you
could argue, just whoever offers you the most bread, just
take it. He's thirty one years old. He'll probably get
like a two or three year deal. Try to get
as much money as you can, and if that means
going to the Jags, you go to the Jags. You
just can't. And sometimes remember Klais Campbell is like god,
(01:01:57):
Clais Campbell going to the Jags. What He's kind of crazy?
What happened? The Jacks were sweet, say Malik Jackson, Like
Malik Jackson just all that money, yeah, because he had
won and then all of a sudden they're good. So
you never know. You take the money when you've won big.
That's back to JJ Watt. When you haven't won and
you're already really rich. Like once you're really rich in business,
you don't just take every business deal, or especially every
(01:02:19):
business deal just because it's the most money. You can
kind of pick and choose. You have different priorities. Now
it's hard, like most in the business world. You know,
I'm thirty six. I hopefully I lived till a long time.
I got time on my side. JJ's career, you know,
it's coming down the home stretcher. But I would love
to see a player of his caliber. You know, I
(01:02:41):
think the Patriots if Belichick was still in New you know,
I'm excuse me if Brady was still in New England
and they had just won the Super Bowl. We would
all be saying, JJ go to New England, right, I
think I think JJ Watt would have been the biggest
lock Patriot of the last two decades. He's gonna be
a Patriot. Take a little less money to go there
win a championship. Now it's like a little more open
(01:03:02):
ended packers, a little risky, you know that. That makes
a lot of sense. From there, They're good. They've only
been in one super Bowl in a decade. At least
she's been back back Tampa. Feels like they're gonna be
right in the mix. I'm a JJ Watt fan. I'll
never forget seeing him live at the Colisee, him in
the in the peak of his powers. It was stupid
(01:03:22):
how good he was stupid. You know how we talk
about Aaron Donald, That was JJ. They were equals, unblockable, unstoppable,
made every play. I mean it was. I think both
those two guys best two players a last decade on defense,
Like even Khalil Mack wasn't quite that good. What Aaron
Donald's become these last couple of years and what JJ
(01:03:44):
Watt was for like two or three years in his peak.
It was it was it was awesome to watch live,
unless that day you were a Raider fan. I remember
he scored a touchdown that day, not by like a fumble,
because they threw him a touchdown. He was a tight end.
It was sweet. He was in a peak and he's
still damn good. He's a bawler. Okay, I'm gonna put
(01:04:04):
a middlecop mail bag on. I put up on the
YouTube page John middlecof check it out and have a
great weekend. Peace. Hi, I'm fall from Progressive. Being a
(01:04:32):
baseball fanatic like me can be stressful. It's not all
sports points and touchdowns. So Progressive is going to help
you take your mind off your team for a moment.
Instead of thinking about how they missed that goal points score,
think about the name your price tool from Progressive, letting
you choose coverage options based on your budget, unlike your
team that missed the end zone net area. Well anyway,
both this distraction about Progressive's name your Price tool is helpful.
(01:04:53):
It sure kept me from thinking about all those penalty balls.
Yeah he sports Progressivecialty in Terns Company and affiliates Prison
Coverage Match Limited Divice state law,
Get right to the romance and find the way to
wow this Valentine's with one hundred flowers dot com. From
classic roses and bouquets to decadent chocolate covered berries, gourmet
treats and more. Surprise your Valentine with one eight hundred
flowers dot com right now. Get the eighteen stem enchanted
rose metally for thirty nine ninety nine or upgrade to
(00:21):
twenty four red roses for ten dollars more. Go to
one hundred flowers dot com slash tune in. That's one
eight hundred flowers dot com. Slash tune in. What is
going on? Everybody? John Little Coop three and Album Podcast,
(00:45):
February twenty fifth, Rock and Roll. Big news of the day,
which we will dive into off the top is our
star quarterback in Seattle, Well not hours, but just thus
star quarterback in seat, Russell Wilson, Pete Carroll. Articles coming out.
We got some stuff going on. I'll give you the
thoughts there. There was a good article. I actually saw
(01:10):
a couple interesting articles. I thought this week Wickersham had
a big article on the NFLPA and the NFL, and
a couple of things jumped out to me there another
article on the negotiations, how they're in the two minute
warning for the new TV deal. A couple of things
jumped out to me there on some of these networks
(01:30):
and where football is kind of headed, some Tiger Woods related.
I have a thought on maybe why I was such
a big fan and how there are a lot of
parallels with the NFL. Some other just little news going around.
Let's start with the drama going on right now in Seattle,
and let's face it is big as the Deshaun Watson's
(01:52):
story is this one feels bigger. Russell Wilson's won a
Super Bowl, He's been to another. Seattle is become one
of the stalwarts, the powerhouses, the major franchises in the
You know, this country's number one sport and that's football.
Seattle Seahawks in the last decade have probably been a
top three or four franchise. You know, you'd say New
(02:15):
England of the last decade was number one. I think
you could make a sound argument Seattle was number two.
We could nitpick that all day long, but you get
the point. It's a big fucking deal. Bottom line, it's
the Hall of Fame quarterback that listen, We've all seen
countless documentaries on bands, on major companies, on basically major breakups,
(02:40):
famous people that have these huge public lives, and I
was just thinking, like, what do they all have in common?
It does feel like most of them go their separate
ways or have issues because of ego and what usually
encompasses that, right, money or power. And you can argue
(03:02):
with power comes money. Well, I think when you look
at this situation, like we've all fought in our normal
lives and our normal jobs and our normal relationships, Like
you have disagreements. Welcome to the real world. People disagree
every day. I mean I could drive down to McDonald's
right now to grab a burger and I would not
(03:23):
be happy with someone that didn't pull, you know, getting
a lane fast enough. We have disagreements with people we're
not even talking to, let alone, people were talking to
our wife, our business partner or boss, an employee whatever.
That is human nature and not out of the realm possibility.
And then when you factor in competitive jobs right Wall Street,
(03:44):
any sales job, the NFL, a lot of alpha's, a
lot of contention, people butt heads again, not abnormal. If
you're not having that, I think you're either you're in
denial or you're not successful. Now there is a point
where you you do, you draw a line in the sand,
(04:06):
and the two people look at each other, whether it's
a football team, whether it's a marriage, whether whether it's
a business partnership, and say, do we have to go
our separate ways? Because in this situation you'd go, well,
it's not money. Money is not the reason. And I
think if you read that athletic article, Schefter tweeted that
(04:27):
he gave his four teams or the four teams are
out there, and not that Seattle is looking to trade him.
But let's let's call it what it is. Let's call
a spade a spade. There is enough smoke to know,
you know what, there's a fire in the fucking building. Now,
is it a fire that's they're not it's not capable
to put out by the firefighters. It doesn't feel like that.
(04:49):
Is it a fire that's feels to be growing relatively
rapidly and if the firemen don't get there quick, it's
it's gonna burn down this quote unquote relationship. That's where
it feels like it's going. And it's all because of ego, Right,
Pete Carroll, who the last twenty years. What I love
about social media. Everyone acts like Pete's the village idiot.
(05:10):
I watch him go to USC and kick the shit
out of everyone, absolutely dominate. Sorry for all the kids
in the cars excited about this topping. Don't mean to swear,
but as I told my mom, I talk like I talk.
You know. It's just I'm not a Harvard grad. I
just speak like I speak. And clearly Pete Carroll is
viewed like an average coach. He's well above average. He
(05:31):
wins and dominates for these last two decades in college
and in the pros. Now, if you want to say
a large percentage of his successes died to Russell Wilson,
I'd say, well, when they really won, and they've been
winning for the last five or six years, right, they
go to the playoffs every year they win the division,
they win a playoff game or two. But when they
(05:51):
were going to the super Bowl and came within a
play off the Super Bowl, Pete Carroll won his way
defense run game hits you directly square in the teeth
as Russell got paid, and they had to skimp at
other places. And they've played quote unquote a more offensive
brand of football right, their defense just hasn't been as good.
They had to let guys go. Guys got old, they
(06:13):
have not been as dominant, and so Pete goes, well,
when you've listened to me, check out USC I dominated.
Check out when you first showed up, and I built
the team the way I wanted to build it. We dominated. Remember,
we had the number one scoring defense for four straight years,
and we were one of the best rushing teams in
the league with Marshall Lynch in the last three or
(06:35):
four years. Every Booker reader on Twitter is like, let
Ross cook and listen. I am not a Russell Wilson
hater in my lifetime. He's as just a consumer of football.
He is one of my favorite players to watch. Though
I think the way some fans social media talk about
him might be a little much right. They act like
(06:58):
he's as they said in the article, people think he's
Dan Marino. He ain't Dan Marino. Well, who knows that.
I don't know a guy who's seventy years old and
been coaching football for forty five years. Pete Carroll now
is Russell Wilson the best quarterback Pete Carroll has probably
ever had as a head coach. Of course. So then
(07:19):
there's Russell where he goes, well, I'm a star, I
get paid like a star, I produced like a star.
I've helped carry this team, not partly because of my
contract or whatever. He ain't thinking like that, so I
think I should have more juice. And clearly they're butting heads,
and they're at a point right now of can we
fix this? Well, typically in a situation, who is going
(07:43):
to fix this problem? And you'd say, in most NFL situations,
the Brady Belichick situation, there was a guy named Robert Kraft,
and he could be an intermediary. He could talk to
both because he realized the value of both. And I'm
not saying Pete's Belichick and I'm just Tom, but Paul
Allen is no longer around, and there is not anyone
(08:06):
necessarily to fix this problem unless these two men. Russell's
made hundreds of millions of dollars, Pete probably made a
hundred plus million dollars in the last decade, have a
lot of money, have enormous egos. So can one of
these two men put there and really both of them
(08:29):
eventually put their ego to the side and have productive conversations.
Now you could argue John could John Schneider baby possibly,
but he's also in a tough position because he naturally
is gonna lean at this point in time. Probably Pete
a little bit because he's an administrator, He's an executive,
like he's closer to a coach than he is a player.
(08:50):
Even though Russell, as everything we've ever learned about his
playing in Seattle was strictly because John was pounding the table.
He told Pete, who check his teams at USC check
his teams what he built in Seattle. He does not
like small players, including the quarterback. And remember when he
(09:10):
was first introduced to Russell, he was not into it
because he was so small. John talked him into it.
They drafted the third round. The rest is history. But
there peach type players, Marshawn Lynch, Jamal Adams, Cam Chancellor,
Richard Sherman, fuck DK Metcalf again. Excuse my language, kids excited.
He likes enormous blue chip guys, and Russell is a
(09:35):
better talent than he is, like his physical attributes, which
our special right is keeping plays alive. But he's tiny,
And I wonder if there's part of Pete that has
never quite got over it. Has never really just enabled
him to be Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen, and maybe
because deep down he doesn't believe he can or at
least sustain it. He did this year up until the
(09:57):
second half of the season when their offense was trip.
But I don't see how this situation gets solved. How
many seventy year old men. I'm pretty sure Pete's like
sixty nine, so it'll be seventy like at that age,
with an unlimited amount of money, with countless pelts on
the wall, go you know what. And I'd give Pete
a lot of credit if he can do this, But
(10:19):
I don't think we can't expect it. Older successful people
do not just I'll swallow my ego. I'll take it.
I can't see that happening. You know. The other person
that rarely swallows his ego, the young in his prime artist,
whether it's a lead singer, whether it's an actor storming
off a movie, whether it's a star quarterback or a
(10:41):
star shooting guard. Usually those guys, once they get in
this I don't even want to say diva mindset. But
just in this tunnel of I am the best, and
I don't even blame Russell for thinking that I am untouchable.
I am greatness. He ain't swallowed his ego and the
owner around. So who is fixing this problem? I don't
(11:04):
think the problem is fixable. Now. Do I think that
Seattle wants to trade Russell Wilson? Of course not do.
I think though the more this goes, the more Russell
kind of puts this pr campaign out there of you know,
I don't want to go, but I'm kind of open
to it. I respect to Shawn Watson. He just said
I don't want to play here. Russell doesn't want to
(11:27):
do that. Why because he has this image where he
doesn't want to be viewed as the bad guy go Hawks, right,
so he honestly, I'd respect more of Russell if he
just said I want out, people be like, okay, he
just wants out, even though I'd say, hey, listen, I
think a lot of times with deals, we always think
one side always wins. I think both sides won on this.
(11:49):
Russ is very, very lucky to be drafted to the
Seattle Seahawks, a team when he showed up, had a
great defense in a run game, and gave him a
landing spot to become a blossom into the star player,
just like I think Pete as a coach was very,
very lucky to have drafted Russell Wilson and let him
become the quarterback right away and then blossom into the star.
(12:12):
But to act like one side of the ledger here
is taking advantage of the other side is just wrong.
So I think you have these two hard headed people
staring at each other. Big egos. Money ain't an issue.
They're both have unlimited amounts. Russell has more, but pizza
coach coaches don't. What does he even need to buy?
Pete's been making huge money forever, right coach multiple NFL teams,
(12:36):
USC for a decade, now Seattle for a decade, big
time coin. I don't see how this is fixed. I
don't see how Russell Wilson if truly he wants out,
and I don't even think it's arguable that he wouldn't
mind leaving. He's ready for a change. That Russell Wilson
will be traded in the next couple of months, which
(12:57):
would have sounded insane if I would have said that
month ago. But you can see the way Russell is
kind of scalpting this pr campaign to try to get out,
but under no circumstances, look like a James Harden, look
like a Deshaun Watson. And if I was Russell's, you
know pr guy, I'd say, listen, people are numb to
(13:18):
this Russell who even cares. Just go where you want
to go, make it known, and let's just move on. Society.
We don't remember two weeks ago. No one remember. You'll
move on now. What sucks is being a Seattle fan.
So I put myself in the situation of a fan
of this team. I don't care how many first round
picks we get. I don't care Derek Carr, Dak Prescott,
(13:38):
whoever's coming back. I'm not trading the best player in
the history of my franchise. I would be furious there is.
You could give me the next four Raiders drafts. I
do not care. I would not I would. I understand
where the fans are coming from. We cannot trade this guy.
(13:59):
But I just wonder what the owner gone, Pete Carroll
having all this juice Like I'm just honestly where I'm
sitting right now, I don't know who where he goes.
I could see the list expanding. I expect might be strong,
but I will not be shocked in the least. So
(14:21):
I guess I'm just awaiting a tweet that you know,
there have been legitimate talks of Russell Wilson and these
three teams about a potential deal. A couple weeks ago,
it was like, you know, I don't know, it's up
to Seattle. A couple of weeks later, it's now like, yeah,
you know, he'd be open to moving, and Seattle be
(14:42):
open to listening, and these are the teams. So it
just the snowball is coming down the mountain and it's growing,
and I think it all gets back to because neither
one of these guys are gonna flinch. You know why,
because big ego guys with big bank accounts typically don't do.
They don't flinch, they don't change, and they definitely don't
(15:02):
give in. Think you got a stalemate? Clear where this
is headed? Now? Just where does he end up going?
Foxsports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.
Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio dot com
and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to listen live,
Get right to the romance, and find the way to
(15:24):
wow this Valentine's with one hundred flowers dot com from
classic roses and bouquets to decadent chocolate covered berries, gourmet
treats and more. Surprise your valentine with one eight hundred
flowers dot com right now. Get the eighteen stem enchanted
rose metalley for thirty nine ninety nine or upgrade to
twenty four red roses for ten dollars more. Go to
(15:45):
one hundred flowers dot com slash tune in. That's one
eight hundred flowers dot com slash tune in. 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.
Welc a mile in my shoes shoes. We've all felt
(16:06):
left out, and for some that feeling lasts more than
a moment. We can change that. Learn how it belonging
begins with us dot org. Brought to you by the
AD Council. Welcome out in the machine. Look through your
children's eyes to see the true magic of a forest.
It's a storybook world for them. You look and see
(16:29):
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 there. Fearless guide. Is this fascinating world.
Find a forest near you and start exploring at Discover
the Forest dot org, brought to you by the United
(16:50):
States Forest Service and the AD Council. Okay, let's dive
into something that I saw. I think Front Office Sports
is a website, and they're good on the business of
sports and specifically the business of the NFL. And there
have been information and I think someone reported to them that.
(17:11):
And let's get something. We talk about a lot here,
but let's just hammer it home. The major difference between
the NFL and baseball and basketball, the team sports their
business models is the NFL is all in on television, right,
That's where they get the majority of their money. Now,
obviously the other sports make money on television. But when
(17:34):
you have eighty one home games, as we saw last year,
if you followed baseball the Corona issue, when they only
played sixteen games depending on what Jeff passon Hayman, those
guys that like forty to fifty percent of their revenue
came from the gate, and the NBA is forty one
home games. Ask Joe Lacob of the Warriors and Vvec
(17:57):
of the Kings who just got new arenas. They make
a large percentage of their revenue from the gate the NFL,
I think last year. I guess we'll find out by
the new league year, because like three hundred million dollars
might have been slightly less from the media rights every
single team. Thing about that, every single team gets a check. Well,
(18:19):
it's paid I think over the season for accounting for
about three hundred, two hundred and eighty five three hundred
million dollars. Well, we know what the salary cap is
in the NFL. Last year it was like one hundred
and ninety eight million dollars, so they're over that by
one hundred. Literally, all your players are paid for by
the television money than what's your coaching staff cost fifteen
million dollars a year? Also all paid for what's your
(18:42):
staff cost of your organization? The media pays for everything.
That's why the NFL is such a cash count right now,
Everything that Jerry you name it, whatever owner you want
to pick, Jeffrey Lury, Kraft, your cronky, what they make
from you know, the stadium, the weets, the tickets, the
concessions is gravy. The NFL is printing money, but it
(19:07):
starts with the television product. Because the television product right
now now it's different because the NFL doesn't have the
inventory as the other sports. But one thing we know
when we put a game on, when we put an
NFL game on television, it dwarfs the other two. You know, uh,
team sports, right the NBA, the NBA Finals last year. Now,
(19:31):
granted it was in a bubble, but it'd been trending
down for a couple of years. That the number they
do is like putting the Jags and the Titans on
a Thursday night. Thursday Night football does huge ratings. Sunday
Night Football, which I'm going to talk about right now,
is the number one television show in America. Think about that.
(19:51):
The number one television show in America is an NFL
football game for me at five twenty on Sunday night
if you live in New York, kicks off at eight
twenty whatever. That is the number one show in America.
When I was growing up, whether it was Seinfeld, my
dad was a huge fan of Mash. The major television
(20:12):
shows did like fifty to sixty to seventy million people
watched an episode. Well in twenty twenty one. Those days
are over, Those days are done. I just got a
new smart TV. I'll talk about this actually in a minute.
But Monday Night Football for the last decade, ESPN, Disney, ABC, whatever,
(20:34):
however you want to consider it paid two billion dollars
for the rights for Monday Night Football, and for the
first half of that decade, right, they were getting crappy games.
The second half and definitely the last couple of years
they've been getting better inventory. You know, the best deal
you could argue, the best business deal for any media
company in America over this last decade was NBC's deal
(20:57):
with the NFL. NBC for Sunday Night Football for the
last decade paid less than half of what Disney paid
for Monday Night Football. They paid two billion. NBC paid
nine hundred and fifty million dollars for the number one
television show in America. Now, while the NFL, as they
(21:19):
wrote in this article, it's not like the NFL got screwed.
While clearly it was worth more than that. It's good
to have the exposure you want people watching like it
was a fruitful, you know deal, But it's a deal.
That at the end of it, you go, if you're
the NFL, we're gonna double that thing. And as they
wrote in the article, expect that number to double. And
(21:40):
really NBC has no choice because, like I talked about,
mash or Seinfeld or whatever the show is, there are
not hit television shows anymore on TV that draw millions
upon millions upon millions of people. What was like probably
the biggest show of the last six months, the Queen's Gambit?
(22:01):
Where was that? Netflix? And back to my smart TV forever?
And maybe I'm a little weird. I did not put
a television in my room, and girls I dated will
always get mad or whatever, and I'd be like, you know,
I had multiple televisions in my living room. I got
TV in my office. If I needed to watch something
(22:21):
in my room, I'd bring an iPad. My thought process
and in theory it made a lot of sense to me.
I was going to use my room to sleep, to read,
and obviously to do the other thing, But mainly I
didn't want a television in there because I wanted to read. Now,
I didn't do much reading in there, like I thought,
so I finally just I had it installed. I put
(22:42):
it up there hung it the other day with a
buddy the other day, and I had called Comcast because
I'm one of these crazy millennials that still has the
cable box and I got listen to I didn't need
to get another cable box, and they said, actually, if
you have a newer TV, you're gonna have apps. I'm
sure many people listening know this. You can just download
the Comcast Streaming app and just watch your normal cable box.
(23:03):
All you have to do is plug the television in
and connected to Wi Fi. So Ever, I turn on
this new Samsung TV, which is crazy how cheap televisions are,
or a fifty five in Samsung TV off Amazon for
like four hundred bucks, maybe it's four fifty with the
soundbar came out to like less than six hundred dollars.
And it's just what have I been waiting for? And
(23:23):
I just go to my apps, Netflix, Amazon Prime Streaming,
I can watch whatever I want. And part of this
article said also that Fox no longer wants Thursday night football, Well,
who do they want involved in the NFL? A fellow
balled guy named Jeff Bezos, so expect Thursday night football,
And they kind of hinted this to be on Amazon,
(23:46):
which I think forever, it's like, we can't be on
one of these apps. In five years from now, it's
going to be more likely that everything is watched through
apps than it ever will be basic cable. It's clear
basic cable is kind like newspapers were a decade ago,
not quite dead yet but gonna die fast, right. Radio
(24:07):
still kind of hanging on, doesn't have that much longer
of a shelf life. It's clear where we're going. So
the NFL is smart one. It's an easy one for them.
But it's also like even Jerry Jones or Jeffrey Lewie
or any of these old guys that go, I don't
want let's just keep it on these main channels. Well,
it's like, if I'm Steven, I go, hey Dad, you
(24:27):
just press the home button, you click Amazon Prime, and
boom you're there. And they did it this year I
think with a forty nine er game. You press two
buttons in the game comes up. It's actually really really
user friendly. And what's the other thing forever it's like, well,
I don't want to deal with one of these tech companies.
Let's go with the blue bloods. They got all the cash.
Amazons got more cash than all these companies combined. So
(24:51):
Thursday Night Football it looks like it's gonna be on Amazon.
NBC is gonna have to double their investment. But it's
an easy investment for them to make because they have
no choice because the masses do not watch their other
content beside live sports and some news. So the NFL
is in complete control. It's always my issue when I
hear these NBA guys talk about, well, live rights are
(25:13):
so powerful the NBA, even as the consumer dips, it's
gonna be okay. I kind of call bullshit because of
the amounts of money these leagues are asking for, and
like the last NBA deal for example, they got a
ton of cash from TNT, from ESPN, the ratings are plummeting.
Now I'm not saying they're gonna go away, but I'm
(25:34):
saying they're gonna come back to earth. The NFL is
the opposite. They're gonna be about to double down. And
we'll talk about this article on the NFLPA and what
they fought for. But the big cash is coming. And
as a player who was involved in negotiations last year said,
why the owners were so willing to negotiate early, be
(25:56):
open minded, and even give a little. It's because they
wanted labor p and labor harmony when they were at
the negotiating table for this. Why because this to them
is all that matters. This is their number one thing
in their business model, the television rights or the streaming
rights or whatever you want to consider it. Right, the
(26:16):
verbiage is changing as our world changes. But the money
for them comes from us watching it. The NFL is
consumed by us sitting in our couches and watching football.
It's the number one television show in America. And it's
clear they're about to double down on all these investments.
They're gonna involve Amazon and they're gonna print more money. Now,
(26:39):
one thing, I'll be there. I'm not going to be
arrogant or be naive enough to know this is only
in ten years. They're gonna double down. Who knows, things
in society have never changed faster. And I'm not gonna
just sit up here and say football is gonna dominate forever.
But right now they're kicking everyone's ass with As Gary
(27:01):
V would say, attention and attention is the most important thing.
Because for the NFL, they don't actually need you to
hand them the cash. They just need you indirectly to
get Amazon Prime, to get your cable subscriptions, and give
them your time, which indirectly is giving them your cash.
It's like I always say, the reason these leagues Basketball
(27:24):
included Baseball, the PGA Tour whoever can have money, and
the players get paid, the coaches get paid. The people
involved get paid are the fans. The fans are the consumer.
And even if you never attend an NFL game the
rest of your life, if you consistently watch football every Sunday,
(27:44):
you're more important to them. They would rather have you
do that than show up in the second deck one
million percent. And as long as you keep doing that.
But honestly, once the deal is signed, this is where
the NBA. The NBA signed their big deal, so their
ratings are down, it really doesn't matter. Now it screws
their partners, it does not screw them. Luckily for the NFL,
(28:06):
the partners know currently their product is important and people
do watch now. Could that change over the next decade,
you never know. But right now, once this deal is signed,
the NFL is going to have a lot more money
coming in and they already had a boatload to begin with. Okay,
let's get into one other kind of business ee topic,
(28:29):
and it's somewhat rehashing old stuff. Seth Wickersham, who's an
excellent journalist, wrote a long article about Demorris Smith, the
NFLPA union lead lawyer. I guess he's the just league guy,
and the negotiations stemming back from twenty eleven to where
(28:50):
they're at now. They just obviously completed it before the
season as new CBA, and just some of the inner
workings of their business. And on the most basic level,
if one of you listening right now was negotiating against me,
and you're negotiating against me and only me, yet you
have ten partners, so it's one verse ten. I have
(29:13):
an advantage because the only person I have to answer
to and the only vision I have for whatever we're
negotiating right is mine, and I know what I want
and don't want. At least at the time of the negotiation.
Were you speaking for nine people, including yourself, makes it ten.
(29:35):
Could be a lot of visions. Maybe three guys think alike,
but then everyone else is fractured. It's difficult. It is
always easier to negotiate with less amount of people. So
I'll never hold it against the players that they just
have a shitload of them. Can excuse my language to
the kids. I'm in an excited mood today, and there
(30:00):
are a lot of players. There are dramatically more NFL
players than even baseball twenty five man roster. Well, there's
more than double the amount of NFL players on an
actual roster in season, and then you talk about offseason
fringe guys, practice squad guys. It's more than that. You
have a ton of players, and like in all sports,
(30:20):
but the NFL, you have a large percentage of the
workforce that does not make that much money. In the NBA,
for example, the average salaries seven and a half million dollars.
Most NFL players are making closer to the minimum. I
think the average salaries a couple of million bucks. But
like in the NBA, like in the NFL, the power
(30:41):
for rich players have the most juice. Right, So, just
on the most basic level, you get and you don't
have thirty two owners negotiating against the players. Let's face it,
you got two or three that speak for them all,
Jerry Kraft, maybe Ziggy Wolf. Right there, there's a group
of them and They're not going back and forth, right,
(31:03):
Mark Davis, Jed Yorke, whoever. Some of the guys that
they're just like Jerry and you. We trust you keep
the money flowing. We'll keep cashing them checks with the players.
If I'm a fringe backup linebacker, my views for what
I want in the CBA are probably a lot different
than Aaron Rodgers, who remember, I think it was last
(31:24):
year in the off season when they were negotiating the
CBA and was getting kind of ugly over the off
season notoriously said he wanted to cancel the off season. Well,
of course, one of the greatest players of all time
wouldn't need the off season. Do you know who needs
the off season? The majority of the league. Why they
need that to impress coaches, to try to learn the scheme,
(31:44):
to try to make the team. So everyone is gonna
come at it from different angles, you know who. I
don't blame for thinking that. I don't necessarily blame Aaron
because if I was in Aaron shoes, I wouldn't really
want to practice. And you know, April either, like, are
I really getting out of it now? There's a team
aspect to it. I get it, But if you've got
(32:06):
a big ass house in Malibu, do you think I
want to be in Wisconsin in early June? No? I don't.
But so it's complicated, it's not an easy job, and
you always got to be at least cognitive or you know,
in wonder where and what angle this article? Why it
was written? And I honestly don't know. Because there are
(32:28):
parts that made d Smith look good, they're part that
made them look bad. They're parts that made the owners
look bad. Regardless, one thing that really jumped out to me,
I think the players did themselves as disservice. One element
of this article is the players argued that d Smith's
compensation was too much. They are arguing over billions of dollars.
(32:50):
And if you're going to sign a CBA, let's say
for a decade. If the NFL right now is a
ten to twelve to fifteen billion dollars a year business,
if you're talking about a decade, you're not even factoring
in it going up every year. If let's just say
we'll just pick a number ten, ten billion dollars a year.
If I'm signing a ten year deal, and let's just
say in this world where it stays, you know it
(33:12):
does not go up, which is not the case. But
just for mass sake, that's a hundred billion dollar deal.
Demorris Smith was paid one point I think a little
over one point six million dollars, and some of the
people in the executive committee did not want to give
him a million dollar bonus to take his compensation up
to two point six million dollars a year. I read
(33:34):
flag the players. My take, you guys are morons. If
I am going into a ten billion dollars a year negotiation,
and like I said, one hundred plus billion dollars deal,
my lawyer better be making ten to fifteen million dollars.
Do you know who listen? I don't claim to be
like super successful in business, doing pretty well. Know some
(33:56):
people that are multimillionaires crushing it. The first thing they
all always tell you, don't skip on accountant, skimp, and
don't skimp on a lawyer, because those guys can do
things for you that you can't do for yourself. And
there's a reason that the big time lawyers and the
big time accountants, when you roll into the nice neighborhoods
and the country clubs, they tend to have some of
(34:18):
the big houses in those neighborhoods because they're worth their
weight in gold. And the players were arguing over a
million dollars to a lawyer. To me, Gene Upshaw, who
obviously was a former player, made six for me to
feel comfortable. How did none of these players that make
(34:38):
a ton of money, that have a ton of powerful
people around them, I'm sure have some powerful lawyers not
realize you know, what we need is a like a
ten million dollars lawyer to go into war with these
men that have unlimited resources and money. So the players
did themselves a disservice by not getting the best of
the best. And d Smith might be good, I mean,
(34:59):
the owners aim to love him, which is not an
ideal thing. But to me, when I read their union
chief makes under two million dollars, I'm sorry I read
flag that thing because, like I talked about earlier this week,
money's all relative. And if we're talking billions of dollars
and basically well over one hundred billion dollars that we're
going to sign a deal, I better have an elite lawyer.
(35:20):
And guess what elite lawyers do. They cost a lot
of money and their guy doesn't cost enough for my liking.
Would you like, what if I told you this, What
if I told you know, Aaron Rodgers, this your best
wide receiver, he's a million dollar player, your best safety,
million dollar player. They'd be like, what, we can't get
a blue chipper Davantae Adams underpaid like fifteen million dollars,
(35:40):
Like your money in your industry does represent how good
you are eventually Now, obviously guys on rookie contracts, but
there are no rookie contracts when you're hiring a lawyer.
You guys have big cash hire the best of the best.
So they did themselves a disservice there. The other thing
I'll never forget, I think players because the only thing
the owners have ever thought of out is the money.
(36:02):
They do not care about practices, They do not care
about preparation time, They do not care about the off season.
Like we had just discussed with the business of the NFL,
is predicated off television product. As long as they play games.
No matter how you get to that game, you can
practice once, you can practice ten times. They just need
the game to happen because they know right now is
(36:23):
nothing lasts forever. As NBC would know, they just had
one of the greatest deals in American history. We just
need the game to happen, so however you get there,
we don't care if you take no snaps during the
week or take whatever. And the players were adamant too
many double days, too many practices during the season, making
us where pads during the seasons. The owners were like,
have added d tell them all, no more pads during
(36:44):
the season, no more double days. I'll never forget. In
twenty ten when I was hired, my first year was
before the lockout, and that first year we had double days,
we had physical practices, and I vividly remember Deuce Staley.
Love Deuce, you know, being an older guy, right, and
he was a young coach. It was his first year
as like an intern coach. He's like, when I first
(37:05):
got here, our practices were way more physical, and I
remember people telling me coaches on the staff and scouts
on the staff, we have one of the more physical
practices in the league with coach read I mean running
goal line drills. And I had come from Pat Hill,
where pads were always on, so it just felt like
a real physical practice, right. It was legit. But I
think for NFL standards. It was headed toward a you
know nowhere what it was, and like the nineties, right,
(37:28):
the following year is when the lockout happened, and when
finally the go ahead and the lockouts lifted and everyone
comes back. Double days were no longer allowed. And I
remember as my second year with the team, and usually
as a scout you go to all the practices training camp. Well,
with no more double days, the afternoon was a walkthrough.
We didn't even go because there was pointless, right, We
(37:50):
just stay in our room and work. And I just remember,
honestly didn't. I couldn't even fathom what was going on.
I was like, oh, this is way easier for the
players than the last year I saw, And all the
players are really happy. You know who were the happiest though,
were the owners because they got way more money in
the deal. They traded money for that. And part of
the reason is that the players had a union chief
(38:13):
and a lead lawyer that just not highly paid enough. Like,
you get what you pay for in life at the
highest level, and you could argue even at the lower levels.
My dad always taught me this, when you go when
you're buying something nice, I'll just use a golf analogy,
like if you buy some used cheap golf club for
one hundred dollars instead of buying a nice, brand new
(38:33):
golf club for four hundred dollars, you can't get mad
when that golf club snaps the cheap one in a month.
You can use the car analogy, which more expensive when
you buy a used clunker because you're trying to, you know,
keep some cash. When that car breaks down in six months,
when you could have spent five thousand more ten thousand
more got a newer car, they would have had a warranty.
(38:55):
You can't complain when you end up spending more money
for that. And now the players are planning they're not
getting their fair share. Well, you guys traded the wrong things.
And the one thing the owners always have is they
only care about one thing. They don't even care necessarily
about the product, because they are arrogant enough to think
that fans and listen, all you guys listening are clearly
(39:17):
big football fans are never gonna stop watching. And I
know this like it pays my bills. I haven't worked
in the NFL since twenty thirteen, and I've made money
for seven straight years because of the power, you know,
predicated on talking about the sport because the sport's so popular.
If I had worked in baseball instead of football and
been out of you know, baseball, I would not have
(39:40):
been able to do this. That the interest just would
not have been there. I'm lucky, and a lot of
people profit off the sport just because it's so big,
and no one profits born in these owners and they
know it. Hey, pet parents, have you heard of Just
Food for Dogs? Since twenty ten, we've been helping dogs
everywhere live healthier, longer through the power of fresh, whole
(40:01):
food nutrition. Our meals are formulated by an in house
team of veterinarians and we only use human grade meats
and veggies with zero preservatives. After transitioning to Just Food
for Dogs, pet parents report seeing more energy, firmer stools,
improved health, and even longer lives. Give us two weeks
and we'll change your dog's life forever. Visit Just Food
for Dogs dot com slash mobile and save ten percent
(40:22):
on your first purchase. Adoption of teams from Foster Care
is a topic not enough people know about, and we're
here to change that. I'm April Dinuity, host of the
new podcast Navigating Adoption, presented by adopt us Kids. Each
episode brings you compelling, real life adoption stories told by
the families that live them, with commentary from experts. Visit
adopt us Kids dot org, slash podcast, or subscribe to
(40:45):
Navigating Adoption presented by adopt us Kids, brought to you
by the US Department of Health and Human Services, Administration
for Children and Families, and the ACT Council. What grows
in the forest trees, Sure no one else grows in
the forest, Our imagination, a sense of wonder, and our
family bonds grow too, because when we disconnect from this
(41:08):
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. Okay, I want to talk about Tiger
for a second. He obviously got in the terrible crash,
and I think it's fair to say his legs are
(41:30):
pretty screwed up. He's in pretty bad shape. And one thing,
I'm very jealous of a lot of you guys that
listen and shoot me dms something that I can't relate
to anymore. Growing up, I was a massive forty nine
er fan. I'm saying, just like any one of you,
whoever your team is, they were my squad. And then
(41:51):
as I worked in football and even through college, they
started sucking and I became probably more of just a
fan of the league and Peyton, Manning and Brady. But
once I worked in football and ultimately got to the league,
it kind of left me. My days of being a fan.
I'm numb to it and for the last you know,
five six years. But ever since i've been in the
(42:12):
podcast space with my other podcasts with Guy, we talk
a lot about the forty nine ers and doing this
like I'm very numb to who wins and loses, even
the Niners. Now I make I care about the Niners.
I just need them to be interesting so I can profit. Ideally,
I love it when they make Super Bowl runs because
I can make more money. But it's become it's all
money related. My days of being tied as a fan
(42:35):
are dyed with football, I mean are absolutely dead. And
part of it is I know people in the league,
so you just root for them. And I'm like that
in life now when I meet someone and I become
friends with them or even acquaintances, or hell, we might
follow each other on Twitter, Instagram. If we go back
and forth, I'm just gonna root for you. Lucky enough
in my position, I get to know meet some of
these people. It's fucking cool. I'm still a fan of that,
(42:59):
but my fan of the sport died. I don't really
deep inside even any of the sports, like the San
Francico Giants, probably the last team I was a fan of,
and I really don't care anymore, partly because I just
hate Gabe Kapler and I miss Bruce Bocci like. I
can't even take the franchise that seriously anymore. Like I
like them. I guess I would consider myself a Warriors fan,
(43:19):
but I'm only there because I'm a Steph Curry guy.
If you remove Steph Curry and you brought in James Harden,
I wouldn't care. I am jealous of any fan out
there now. All my friends are fans, like I still
relate very well the fan. I still like going to
games and sitting in the stands. At least I gained
a love of that the last couple of years because
I hated sitting with the media so stiff, and honestly,
(43:42):
when when anyone says like middle if youre's a member
of the media, honestly, it makes me cringe, like I
maybe I once was, but I pay for tickets now,
you know, I guess the only thing I would get
a credential now is go to like a training camp
the Niners and the Raiders, and the Raiders eventually stopped
letting me show up to theirs, so I can only
go to the Niners. And I obviously I could travel
around if I want to do and go see other teams,
(44:03):
which is cool, so I guess still have some media there,
but that if I go to a game, I'm not
sitting with the media. I'm gonna pay for a ticket.
So I'm jealous of anyone who's a fan, and I
think I understood. In high school, I played football and
I played golf. I was not a good football player.
I was a right guard who played, you know, started
(44:25):
a little bit of senior year and played a little
bit on JV in and out of the lineup. It
was one ninety five ten. Not a great athlete, not strong.
We ran the wink tea. But I loved playing football,
loved it all my friends played football, and it was
it's still it's us. It was some of my best
memories as a kid playing high school football, which I
(44:45):
can imagine many people listening that never made it past
high school football. It's a fucking blast, right, especially if
your friends are on the team. Even I think my
senior year were like five and five, it doesn't even matter.
At least it didn't for us. I mean, I like
Dayla sal down the street from my the house right now,
it does. But I was way better at golf, and
I've always loved the sport of golf, and if you
(45:05):
follow me on social media, you know I like golf
a lot. I'm a huge Tiger Woods fan. And I
was thinking, he's probably the last person before I became
numb to everything over the last decade that like still competed,
that I still have that high school, junior high version
of me that's still a fan of And when I
got the tweet and looked at the TV that I mean,
(45:27):
when I just saw the picture, I was hoping he
didn't die. And the information coming out that his legs
are shattered, I think it's fair to take an educated
guest that we might never see Tiger Woods competitively again,
which sucks, and honestly, I was I was pretty rattled
when he got into the car. And it's like, I
don't know the guy, right, I mean, we would probably
(45:48):
never be friends. I hope, I hope if we met,
we'd be cool. I mean, I know he's a big
Raider fan. I definitely could talk Raiders with him, but
never met the guy stood next to him in a
bathroom once, partly because I was at for the Pebble
Beach pro am he was putting at Monterey Peninsula Country Club.
He went in to take a leak and like me
and my cousin waited like five seconds and a couple
(46:09):
other guys and like follow them into the bathroom. No
eye contact, but we're about five feet away. That was cool.
But I understand, and I think the media consistently shits
on fans because you become numb to it, you lose
that and luckily, like I'm not friends with media people.
My friends are normal people. My friends are season ticket
(46:30):
holders with the Raiders when they were here, definitely with
the forty nine ers now. And I understand it because
it feels like Tiger's over and it sucks, like it's
pretty devastating, and I also think he has a lot
of parallels, even though he's a golfer and obviously it's
not a physical sport. Before the car crash, he had
(46:52):
like football level injuries. Right in two thousand and eight,
I remember I was just about to move because the
US opens in June, and my mom and my brother
and my dad were coming with a trailer and we're
going to pack all my stuff and San Louis Obispo
and take it to Fresno, where I was about to
become a graduate assistant. And clearly he is about to
change my life. I didn't know it. I mean, I
(47:14):
had a decent idea it was going to be a
pretty impactful time, but I didn't know what was coming.
But I had a couple of days to wait, and
I remember he was it was the US Open, and
it was the US opening one with a torn acl
basically a crack knee, like just stuff that when you
hear Emma Smith played an NFC Championship game with a
separated shoulder, like it's just it's legendary shit. It's why
(47:37):
when you saw Tiger Woods play the match with Peyton
Manning and Tom Brady. Those guys act like Tiger is.
They're equal because they think as just in terms of greatness,
in terms of mental toughness, because he was and I listen,
I don't know if you're listening to this. You're not
a big golf guy. I think we all respect the
shit out of this human being and the thing I
(47:58):
admire most, and definitely Brady has this. And it's actually
different because Brady's never had He had the one injury
three or four years ago before Tiger just won that Masters.
I think it was what's his name, right, Thompson of
ESPN had wrote that long article about Tiger Woods and
(48:19):
he's in his backyards when he's having all the back
problems and he'd hit the ground and he couldn't walk,
and he'd have to call for his daughter to call
for help to maybe like get no Toba Gae to
come over and pick him up. I mean, these are
stories you read about guys that played in like the
seventies for the Steelers or the Dolphins or the Raiders.
(48:39):
Not a golfer in his early forties couldn't walk. Here's
the other thing, and this is where it parallels Tom.
If you go to Tiger's bank account five years ago,
ten years ago, when he's having all these health problems,
he has more money than God. He does not need
to do it anymore. But his drive Tiger woods like
Tom Brady. Tiger got into golf, Tom got into football.
(49:02):
And I think Belichick and I know Coach Read is
like this. And this is why I admire the hell
out of Coach Read. They didn't get into it for
the money. The money impacts them, it changes like the
way where they live and what car they drive. It
does not change their love and their drive in their
addiction of the sport and the thing I admire most
I saw with Coach Read. By the time I started
working for the Eagles, he was rich. He was making
(49:23):
a ton of money. Now, he hadn't never won a
Super Bowl, but I'll never forget his work ethic was
unlike anything I'd ever seen. And then when I'd go
to the combine these last couple of years and be
you know, Coach Read, he's still just working away. His
work ethic is incredible. And Tiger and Brady, these guys
dedication to their craft is just unparalleled. At the highest
(49:43):
level where the competition is the highest, they are the
one percent of the one percenters, and this guy's drive
to come back and ultimately win that Masters after all
the injuries and all the shit he'd been through. Some
of it self inflicted, definitely, but the injuries to a
golfer more like a middle linebacker, it's insane. We'll never
see anything like it again. And unlike Brady, I don't
(50:06):
think his fame will ever be matched, because this guy's
a world famous. This guy's fame is like and I
say the same thing about Michael Jordan. If you became
super famous before the Internet, you are stupid famous. Remember
growing up, Like how famous like Michael Jackson was, or
Mike Tyson or some of these people that were just
like God the Beatles, like fame now like Lebron's really famous.
(50:28):
But he said the Internet and social media, like obviously
Tigers had that too, But we all know Tiger was
famous like ninety seven when he went Hello World and
Nike signed him. And back to what I was saying
about being a fan, I think he's one of the
last guys I'm like a true fan of. This might
sound corny, but I kind of got emotional when he
won the Masters. I really did because he kind of
(50:49):
like connects me to my childhood. It's and that is
dead for me, And I think if you listen to
me long enough, it's why I think I'm pretty good
at talking about football because I'm not I'm biased. Maybe
do a couple of guys I know, but just with
the players and the teams, I don't care. It takes
me to gamble on sports now to get the juice
that I used to have when I was fourteen and
(51:11):
I could watch sports twenty four, seven, three sixty five.
I can't really anymore. And I still watch a ton,
but I profit off of of it. If I wasn't
making money off it, I would not watch nearly as
much as I do. And I just this week was
it sucks because I think we saw I just don't
(51:34):
see how this guy ever comes back from this, and
if I had to google some of the words and
his statements about his bones being shattered. But I'm just
glad as a big sports fan at my heart and
who I was growing up. Like the last three years,
we got some badass moments with the guy. I remember
when he was making his comeback twenty eighteen almost won
(51:55):
the British that he won the Tour Championship. Who my
guy Haven, who I do the other podcast with, was
there calling it for Virtual reality, called it for virtual
He was in the ability. He said it was incredible.
Remember there's that visual of all the fans fallen Tiger.
Then six months later or less than that, he wins
the Masters, and then just this year in Corona, my
(52:18):
least favorite time in the history of my life, beside
like you know, non deaths in my family or something.
I mean, it was the most miserable year ever. I
think we'd all tend to agree there is him, Him,
Peyton Manning, and Tom Brady like that. That event was
made for me. I don't know what you thought of
that event. That's that's one of my favorite viewing experiences
(52:42):
of my lifetime. Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Tiger was Phil Mickelson. Oh. So,
you know, I just think we're addicted to athletes that
are addicted to their craft. And I think you hear
so often guys talk about like I want to be
a brand, I want to do this. I maybe I
grew up on guys that became a brand because they dominated.
(53:06):
Michael Jordan. Brand happened because Michael Jordan wons six championships,
the tw hats and the Nike polos got you know,
Phil Knight was slinging those things like they were drugs
because Tiger was dominating. Now everyone has a logo before
they win a game or like, oh we're starting to business,
(53:28):
like what have you done? Like I grew up on Tiger,
Tiger and Michael and I, you know, I remember my dad.
We'd always argue about great Joe Montana was. When you
grow up on someone, I do understand. I will go
to my grave arguing the Tiger, Michael and probably now
Tom Brady, like I don't see how they're being topped
when I'm seventy years old arguing with my hopefully like
(53:51):
my grandkids about you know, they're up and coming. Whoever,
none of these guys are getting knocked off my perch. Hey,
let's bang out a couple quick, just stories that are
kind of going around, and I think what we'll do
because we're almost at or getting close to an hour plus.
Once they put in ads here, I'll put the Middlecoff mailbag.
(54:14):
I'm just gonna put it on YouTube. I think I
did that last week. I'll record that either than I
or first thing in the morning and put it on
my YouTube page. John Middlecoff have a YouTube page, John Middlecoff,
Go check that out. Have just different content up there, football,
little golf, mainly just football and golf. I'm a football
golf guy. A Brady extension, do you know crazy this? Like, listen,
(54:39):
you might be as big of a Tiger or I
mean Tom Brady homer as like I as a Tiger
Woods Homer. It's pretty nuts that we're talking Tom Brady
extension going into the year that he's gonna be forty four.
And it's really not even that weird, right. They gave
him two years fifty million dollars. He's got twenty five
million dollars guaranteed this year. Uh, and is it crazy
(55:01):
just give him like a twenty five million dollar extension
and basically just kind of kicked the can down the road.
I mean, what's is this ever gonna stop? Do you
guys ever just think about that, like, is this ever
gonna stop? Because I think at this point in time
you'd be saying, well, maybe not. Eventually it will and
it will probably take an injury because his arm looks
(55:23):
normal and he moves like he's always moved It's not
like he moves great anyway. It's just it's basically, I
think at this point in time, is gonna take an
injury to end his career because that happened to Peyton
right was his shoulder or his arm? Remember, is just
it fell off. He couldn't throw. We think Drew Brees
arms struggled this year, that Peyton year. I attended a
(55:44):
mid season game against the Raiders. It was it was
embarrassingly bad. I remember going to that game. The irony
actually is because they both go into the Hall of
Fame this year because they retired the same year as
Charles Woodson had never picked off Peyton Manning. He got
him twice in that game. The all just floated in
the air. He had no zip. That's not the case
with Tom. I just where's Tom going? I would just
(56:07):
keep paying him twenty five thirty million dollars a year,
keep having to be the quarterback until he can't keep
him on like one year deals, keep building a team
around him, Let him live in Florida, no state income
taxes hang out of Jeter's pad, get wasted in the offseason,
TB twelve in the regular season, and keep kicking ass
and taking names jj Watt, Diana Russini, she used to
(56:30):
be NBC Diana and now she works ESPN wrote that
he has an offer between like fifteen and sixteen million dollars.
That's crazy. Now, I don't blame him. If someone's gonna
give him like two years thirty million dollars and guarantee
twenty million of it, he has to take. That's he
doesn't have to take the deal, but that's a massive
deal for him. Like to me, I view him as
(56:52):
like six seven million dollars player, unreal locker room guy, great,
like rotational defensive end deally just kicks ass on third down.
He's like a team captain and just big part of
my squad. Right. But I don't want to depend on
him every snap like I would Aaron Donald or JJ
Watt five years ago, partly because he gets hurt, hurt
(57:13):
a lot, Like I don't know. I won't be able
to blame him if he goes to Browns or something
for like two years thirty five million dollars and they
guarantee twenty five of it, Like that's a lot of
money to turn down, or the Raiders or whatever. If
I was him, it's easy for me to say, but
he's got He's made a one hundred million dollars on
(57:33):
the field. He was one of the most marketed athletes
of the last seven eight years. I'd imagine he's made
millions off the field. Can you imagine we've talked about
this before. If when I introduced JJ Watt in ten years,
I'm running an Oracle or whatever company and I'm bringing
JJ Watt to talk to my employees and I go,
(57:53):
I'd like to welcome Super Bowl champion. JJ Watt changes
your career man, So I mean Tampa Kansas City. Now,
obviously those type teams is gonna be way less money. Buffalo.
They make a lot of sense, but it's still pretty risky.
Like they got as far as they've been in basically
thirty years this year to the NFC Championship and they
(58:15):
get their ass kicked by the Chiefs. If I was
I'd probably go to the Chiefs for a million bucks
or whatever. His minimum is easy for me to say.
If he's turning down twenty million dollars, that's a lot
of money. I'm not and I'm as pro money as anybody,
But when you already have a lot of money, you
can operate from a position to strength. Now there are
(58:38):
other variable This is the last contract he'll probably ever have.
If he has a major injury, like his career would
be over. So I get it. But like he's gonna
go to the Hall of Fame, so it's gonna be
a Hall of Famer. Can he get the super Bowl?
Like that would change his career? Super Bowl Champion because
then you make money the rest of your life in
whatever town. And just I just think he's way more markable.
(58:59):
That would be my recommend. Assuming he saved well, which
he seems like a smart guy. I think he's gonna
be fine. Financially, he's got generational wealth. I would prioritize
winning one, two, and three, and then money. I'd be
thinking Chiefs, I'd be thinking Bucks. I'd be thinking Packers,
Ben Big Ben. I think the Steelers are kind of stuck.
(59:21):
You know, I do not think they want Ben Roethlisberger back.
I just don't think they really have a choice. You know,
they're drafting in the twenties because they made the playoffs.
He makes huge money. I think in a perfect world
that there was no dead cap space, they'd cut him.
I even bet they've probably contemplated cutting him, but he's
probably agreed to maybe give some money back or something
(59:43):
to facilitate him staying on the team. But to me,
you just short Ben Roethlisberger like a stock just because
he saw him last year. He just kind of fell apart,
and that's normal. He's thirty nine years old, he was
coming off a terrible elbow injury. I don't think he's
just gonna get better with age as this. As it
gets cold, they play in a cold weather city, they
(01:00:05):
play cold weather teams in their division. It's it's hard
for him to avoid that. They've got really good defenses
in their division in Cleveland and Baltimore. It's gonna be
it's gonna be difficult for an old guy that can't
move anymore and just kind of breaking down, you know.
And his people have alluded to on different shows. He's
not mister, He ain't Tiger Tom Brady. In the off season.
(01:00:29):
He's not doing TB twelve. There's not much pliability. He's
doing twelve bounced curls, which listen, I like twelve bounced
curls as much as the next guy, you know, And
I don't mind my quarterback drinking like I'm pro drinking.
But Roethlisberger, like you know, he's he's aged hard. He
really has. kJ Wright, who's been just an ass kicker
(01:00:53):
for Seattle, and I don't blame him. I don't blame
any of these players for saying this. I'm not taking
a hometown discount because you have a position of power
when you've won before, like kJ White's a winner. Pretty sure,
kJ Wright won a super Bowl. To me, once you've
won a super Bowl, like the Dominican sue, to me,
(01:01:13):
he loves money. He finally won, like it's to me
if I'm the Dominican sue, I'm trying to get paid again,
trying to get some cash flow. I've already I got
my ring. kJ Right super Bowl champion. Of course, he's
not taking a hometown discount. Time to get paid when
you've won and you've made money, like kJ Wrights in
the ultimate position. Right, he's won, he's won the he's
(01:01:37):
got a ring, he's been a part of awesome teams.
He's been. He just wins all every year. Like you
could argue, just whoever offers you the most bread, just
take it. He's thirty one years old. He'll probably get
like a two or three year deal. Try to get
as much money as you can, and if that means
going to the Jags, you go to the Jags. You
just can't. And sometimes remember Klais Campbell is like god,
(01:01:57):
Clais Campbell going to the Jags. What He's kind of crazy?
What happened? The Jacks were sweet, say Malik Jackson, Like
Malik Jackson just all that money, yeah, because he had
won and then all of a sudden they're good. So
you never know. You take the money when you've won big.
That's back to JJ Watt. When you haven't won and
you're already really rich. Like once you're really rich in business,
you don't just take every business deal, or especially every
(01:02:19):
business deal just because it's the most money. You can
kind of pick and choose. You have different priorities. Now
it's hard, like most in the business world. You know,
I'm thirty six. I hopefully I lived till a long time.
I got time on my side. JJ's career, you know,
it's coming down the home stretcher. But I would love
to see a player of his caliber. You know, I
(01:02:41):
think the Patriots if Belichick was still in New you know,
I'm excuse me if Brady was still in New England
and they had just won the Super Bowl. We would
all be saying, JJ go to New England, right, I
think I think JJ Watt would have been the biggest
lock Patriot of the last two decades. He's gonna be
a Patriot. Take a little less money to go there
win a championship. Now it's like a little more open
(01:03:02):
ended packers, a little risky, you know that. That makes
a lot of sense. From there, They're good. They've only
been in one super Bowl in a decade. At least
she's been back back Tampa. Feels like they're gonna be
right in the mix. I'm a JJ Watt fan. I'll
never forget seeing him live at the Colisee, him in
the in the peak of his powers. It was stupid
(01:03:22):
how good he was stupid. You know how we talk
about Aaron Donald, That was JJ. They were equals, unblockable, unstoppable,
made every play. I mean it was. I think both
those two guys best two players a last decade on defense,
Like even Khalil Mack wasn't quite that good. What Aaron
Donald's become these last couple of years and what JJ
(01:03:44):
Watt was for like two or three years in his peak.
It was it was it was awesome to watch live,
unless that day you were a Raider fan. I remember
he scored a touchdown that day, not by like a fumble,
because they threw him a touchdown. He was a tight end.
It was sweet. He was in a peak and he's
still damn good. He's a bawler. Okay, I'm gonna put
(01:04:04):
a middlecop mail bag on. I put up on the
YouTube page John middlecof check it out and have a
great weekend. Peace. Hi, I'm fall from Progressive. Being a
(01:04:32):
baseball fanatic like me can be stressful. It's not all
sports points and touchdowns. So Progressive is going to help
you take your mind off your team for a moment.
Instead of thinking about how they missed that goal points score,
think about the name your price tool from Progressive, letting
you choose coverage options based on your budget, unlike your
team that missed the end zone net area. Well anyway,
both this distraction about Progressive's name your Price tool is helpful.
(01:04:53):
It sure kept me from thinking about all those penalty balls.
Yeah he sports Progressivecialty in Terns Company and affiliates Prison
Coverage Match Limited Divice state law,
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
Popular Podcasts
United States of Kennedy
United States of Kennedy is a podcast about our cultural fascination with the Kennedy dynasty. Every week, hosts Lyra Smith and George Civeris go into one aspect of the Kennedy story.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com