WEBVTT - Former NFL Head Coach Brian Billick Recaps the Draft 0:00:02.440 --> 0:00:06.760 Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News. 0:00:07.720 --> 0:00:10.280 This is Bloomberg Business of Sports. 0:00:10.440 --> 0:00:13.239 Business of Sports can be intimidating for hard for a 0:00:13.280 --> 0:00:14.240 start to break into. 0:00:14.360 --> 0:00:17.239 We really appreciate what our owners are actually better, you 0:00:17.239 --> 0:00:18.440 know with us through the journey. 0:00:18.520 --> 0:00:22.239 Teams ours especially been very intentional to diversify at all 0:00:22.320 --> 0:00:23.040 levels of the company. 0:00:23.160 --> 0:00:25.560 Maybe we're in the golden gears for the NFL and 0:00:25.680 --> 0:00:29.480 college football. Our demographic reach has continued to explode. 0:00:29.560 --> 0:00:33.199 This is going to be really unlocking the streaming platform 0:00:33.280 --> 0:00:34.240 for sports fans. 0:00:34.320 --> 0:00:35.640 Sports evaluations are rising. 0:00:35.840 --> 0:00:36.800 We'll see when they peak. 0:00:36.840 --> 0:00:39.440 You don't have to be the best in your sports 0:00:39.479 --> 0:00:42.360 to make a whole ton of money. 0:00:42.400 --> 0:00:45.320 Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio. 0:00:47.159 --> 0:00:50.000 This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports show. We explore 0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:51.839 the big money issues in the world of sports. 0:00:52.040 --> 0:00:54.880 Michael Barr and I'm an insas Hour Scarlett. 0:00:54.960 --> 0:00:58.080 We'll be back later on Coming Up, we check in 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:01.200 on the latest episode of the Deal with Alex Rodriguez 0:01:01.240 --> 0:01:04.880 and Jason Kelly. Plus we head to Chicago. The Bears 0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:07.800 have their new QB and now they're hoping to have 0:01:07.840 --> 0:01:11.560 a brand new stadium. All that and more is straight 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:14.520 Ahead on the Bloomberg Business of Sports. But we start 0:01:14.560 --> 0:01:16.520 with the NFL and the draft. 0:01:16.760 --> 0:01:20.440 With the first pick in the twenty twenty four NFL Draft, 0:01:21.440 --> 0:01:26.240 the Chicago Bears select Caleb Williams, quarterback. 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:32.319 Tell the California that's USC quarterback Caleb Williams going number 0:01:32.360 --> 0:01:35.440 one overall. Jump starting this year's draft. To take us 0:01:35.440 --> 0:01:39.240 through everything that happened draft night, where things stand for 0:01:39.280 --> 0:01:43.440 the league, we welcome NFL Network analyst and former NFL 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:48.000 head coach Brian Bellick. Brian, welcome to the Bloomberg Business 0:01:48.000 --> 0:01:48.720 of Sports. 0:01:49.000 --> 0:01:51.360 Thank you for having me. Always an exciting time. We're 0:01:51.400 --> 0:01:53.720 talking about adding talent into the NFL. 0:01:53.960 --> 0:01:56.280 Yeah, well, my first thought, what do you think about 0:01:56.280 --> 0:01:56.720 the draft? 0:01:56.920 --> 0:01:59.560 Well, first you got to you gotta what a spectacular event. 0:01:59.680 --> 0:02:04.240 I mean, over seven hundred people in Detroit. I don't know, broken. 0:02:05.000 --> 0:02:08.520 It's amazing to me that the ratings on particularly that 0:02:08.600 --> 0:02:12.959 first night, they upwards of twelve thirteen million people. That's 0:02:13.000 --> 0:02:16.960 more than the NBA or NHL playoff games. Games. And 0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:19.960 now I sound like Alan Igerson, but we're talking about games, right, 0:02:20.720 --> 0:02:23.520 compared to a show that's nothing more than really making 0:02:23.600 --> 0:02:26.760 a list. So you know, the energy and the interest 0:02:26.800 --> 0:02:29.240 in it is. It's unbelievable, Brian. 0:02:29.280 --> 0:02:32.160 I mean, you are right in Michael Barr's warehouse talking 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:35.720 about Detroit, the city of Detroit. I mean, oh my god, 0:02:35.840 --> 0:02:37.560 I have a tear in my eye thinking about it. 0:02:37.600 --> 0:02:39.600 But you know, let's go through the draft. I mean, 0:02:39.680 --> 0:02:42.280 some winners, some losers. I mean I'm looking at the 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:45.560 Eagles and Chiefs and they look stronger to me on paper. 0:02:45.600 --> 0:02:47.240 And then you've got some of the other teams out there, 0:02:47.240 --> 0:02:49.359 the Falcons, the Raiders, the Vikings, all of them are 0:02:49.360 --> 0:02:52.240 taking quarterback. But you know, I look back at what 0:02:52.240 --> 0:02:54.919 they've done and I'm like, what is going on here, Brian, 0:02:55.000 --> 0:02:55.600 help us out. 0:02:56.080 --> 0:02:58.640 Well, any time you bring that many quarterbacks and this 0:02:58.760 --> 0:03:01.000 was a record number of quarter taken in the first 0:03:01.080 --> 0:03:04.200 twelve picks. The thing that I always look at and 0:03:04.200 --> 0:03:06.480 beyond whether it's the right pick or none, and whether 0:03:06.480 --> 0:03:08.520 it's going to be good or not. I mean, tradition 0:03:08.720 --> 0:03:11.720 tells us that fifty percent of these guys are going 0:03:11.800 --> 0:03:13.959 to fail. And that's just the way it is in 0:03:14.000 --> 0:03:16.560 the NFL, which is amazing. You think of the analytics 0:03:16.600 --> 0:03:19.600 and the experience we have, but it's such unique position 0:03:19.680 --> 0:03:23.880 and when you're taking six guys in the first twelve picks. Yeah, 0:03:23.919 --> 0:03:26.600 it increases the numbers. And what it does is it 0:03:26.720 --> 0:03:30.440 pushed a lot of really good football players down to 0:03:30.520 --> 0:03:33.160 the draft, down further than the draft guys that you 0:03:33.200 --> 0:03:35.760 would nowhere in a million years. You're a Jet fan. 0:03:36.040 --> 0:03:39.160 They got that good tackle from Penn State. There's no 0:03:39.240 --> 0:03:42.280 way he's outside of a top ten pick on a 0:03:42.320 --> 0:03:45.000 normal year. But because of the quarterbacks and the receivers 0:03:45.000 --> 0:03:47.520 that were taken, you had guys like that push down. 0:03:47.560 --> 0:03:50.760 Brock Bauers from Georgia gets pushed down to the Raiders. 0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:55.040 The big rush edge guy Dallas Turner gets pushed to 0:03:55.080 --> 0:03:57.600 the Vikings at number seventeen. I mean, there's no way 0:03:57.640 --> 0:04:00.680 in a normal draft that a talent like Dallas Turner 0:04:00.760 --> 0:04:02.720 is going to get pushed down to the seventeenth pick. 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:05.840 So this was a really good, solid draft for a 0:04:05.840 --> 0:04:08.160 lot of teams, not the least of which is the 0:04:08.200 --> 0:04:11.880 fact is that quarterbacks receivers push so many good players 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:12.920 down the draft board. 0:04:13.640 --> 0:04:17.479 Let's go back to nineteen seventy seven and you were 0:04:17.520 --> 0:04:21.800 selected eleventh in the eleventh round by the San Francisco 0:04:21.960 --> 0:04:23.680 forty nine ers. My wife would love that. By the 0:04:23.720 --> 0:04:29.160 way that's her team. But my goodness, from nineteen seventy 0:04:29.200 --> 0:04:33.520 seven until today, I can't eat. This is going to 0:04:33.600 --> 0:04:36.640 sound like a simple thing question, But how much has 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:38.440 it changed the NFL Draft? 0:04:38.839 --> 0:04:42.640 You know, it's interesting, certainly obviously, and there's there weren't 0:04:42.680 --> 0:04:45.159 even eleven round you know, back then. Now I would 0:04:45.240 --> 0:04:48.120 be an undrafted free agent right because it only goes 0:04:48.560 --> 0:04:51.080 through the top seven rounds and then and then you 0:04:51.160 --> 0:04:54.719 get into a whole nother layer of it. I think 0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:58.839 the biggest change the game itself the evaluation of talent. Certainly, 0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:01.880 like everything, it's be become more mechanized, it's become more 0:05:01.960 --> 0:05:04.600 data driven. But at the end of the day, it 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:09.680 still is that combination that art, science of experience, intuition 0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:14.160 along with the data in choosing these players. The difference 0:05:14.279 --> 0:05:16.880 is the attention. We just talked about the draft. There 0:05:16.880 --> 0:05:20.799 are so many people focused into draft, better than sixty 0:05:20.839 --> 0:05:23.720 million people over the three days, and they're all fantasy 0:05:23.800 --> 0:05:26.160 league driven guys. My eight year old grandson can sit 0:05:26.200 --> 0:05:30.719 here and tell you every team, every quarterback, receiver, running 0:05:30.720 --> 0:05:34.279 back what he did. And so everybody is so focused 0:05:34.360 --> 0:05:37.880 on these players coming in because they're getting cranked up 0:05:37.880 --> 0:05:40.560 for the fantasy league. That interest and the level of 0:05:40.600 --> 0:05:44.520 interest is it's why the NFL just blows the doors 0:05:44.520 --> 0:05:45.560 off any other league. 0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:48.160 So, Brian, fast forward. My son is nineteen years old, 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:50.840 and believe me, he was playing fantasy since he can crawl. 0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:54.040 And he is the one who brought it to my attention. Right, 0:05:54.040 --> 0:05:56.760 are you ready for this? Joe Burrow's record setting deal 0:05:56.760 --> 0:05:58.760 with the Bengals pays him fifty five million a year 0:05:58.760 --> 0:06:00.960 in Cincinnati to be their quarterback. And then you've got 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:03.320 Caleb Williams, who's going to be the highest paid rookie 0:06:03.320 --> 0:06:07.279 out of this year's class, obviously quarterback USC He's going 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:09.919 to be making eight million a season. So here's the 0:06:09.960 --> 0:06:13.320 deal that differential. I mean, my son's explained it. He's 0:06:13.360 --> 0:06:15.200 like Dad, the Texans have CJ. 0:06:15.360 --> 0:06:15.720 Stroud. 0:06:15.760 --> 0:06:17.479 You don't understand they can shoot for the moon. 0:06:17.600 --> 0:06:19.760 And so explain to me and our audience a little 0:06:19.760 --> 0:06:23.200 bit about that concept of these teams like the Jets 0:06:23.240 --> 0:06:26.560 a few years back spent breaking the bank for a quarterback, 0:06:26.680 --> 0:06:29.159 only to release him a few years later for pennies 0:06:29.160 --> 0:06:31.240 on the dollar. I mean, talk to us a little 0:06:31.240 --> 0:06:34.960 bit about how this impacts general managers Joe Douglas, Eric 0:06:35.000 --> 0:06:38.440 Deacosta in Baltimore, your old shop, talk to us about 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:39.960 what they're thinking inside the war room. 0:06:40.200 --> 0:06:42.880 Well, it's a lot because when you're talking about taking quarterback, 0:06:42.880 --> 0:06:45.039 and there were six taken in the first round. The 0:06:45.160 --> 0:06:49.599 difference being in the old day, these rookie contracts were huge, 0:06:49.680 --> 0:06:52.640 huge contracts. They've gotten that under control now. That's why 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:56.320 there's a differentiation between guys that have been in the 0:06:56.400 --> 0:06:59.640 league that are waiting for that second contract and the rookies. 0:06:59.640 --> 0:07:01.960 That's what makes them so attractive that you can be 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:04.800 particularly if you hit it and if a Caleb Williams 0:07:04.839 --> 0:07:07.320 or a Jayden Daniels or Drake may hit it with 0:07:07.440 --> 0:07:10.120 Chicago or Washington, New England or any of these quarterbacks, 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:14.320 that's a huge plus because you're playing on their rookie money, which, 0:07:14.400 --> 0:07:16.640 like you said, you know, eight million dollars a year 0:07:16.720 --> 0:07:18.520 is It's not like we've got to go start a 0:07:18.560 --> 0:07:21.920 go Fundme page for these guys. They're doing okay, but 0:07:22.200 --> 0:07:25.760 they're really waiting obviously for that next contract. Now you're 0:07:25.800 --> 0:07:29.080 talking about that onion one hundred and fifty two hundred 0:07:29.160 --> 0:07:32.640 million guaranteed money, that next level of contract that we 0:07:32.720 --> 0:07:35.640 just saw Lamar Jackson get from last year. So the 0:07:36.080 --> 0:07:39.360 rookie cap, which is a good thing because before the 0:07:39.480 --> 0:07:41.960 rookie cap came in, you were you having to do 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:44.680 a lot, huge, huge amounts of moneys to the rookies 0:07:44.760 --> 0:07:47.240 who hadn't played it down in the NFL. Now that 0:07:47.320 --> 0:07:49.920 money gets pushed to the veterans, those that have already 0:07:49.920 --> 0:07:53.080 played and shown in the league. The rookie contracts typically 0:07:53.120 --> 0:07:55.560 will go forward maybe five years if they have an 0:07:55.560 --> 0:07:59.040 option year, good solid payday, but it's not the payday 0:07:59.080 --> 0:08:01.520 that's going to be they get to that second contract. 0:08:01.600 --> 0:08:04.680 So that's why the differentiation the number right now, and 0:08:04.720 --> 0:08:07.800 why you know the rookies that are so valued because 0:08:07.840 --> 0:08:09.960 they get to play on that rookie number compared to 0:08:09.960 --> 0:08:11.920 what you got to play the veteran. I think the 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:15.360 cap this year is going to be maybe off a 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:18.120 little bit, two hundred and seventy million. You would think 0:08:18.120 --> 0:08:20.440 that would be enough to pay your fifty three players, 0:08:20.440 --> 0:08:23.960 but I mean, now it's amazing. It's amazing how because 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:27.960 on typically typically eight, nine, ten players will gobble up 0:08:27.960 --> 0:08:30.600 seventy percent of that cap number. So it really is 0:08:30.640 --> 0:08:33.320 a money game in terms of how you're doueling out 0:08:33.320 --> 0:08:35.920 this money, and you can see by those numbers that 0:08:35.960 --> 0:08:38.079 when you've got your quarterback, particularly if he's a good 0:08:38.080 --> 0:08:40.520 one and he's playing on his rookie numbers, he's not 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:43.080 one of that that that eight, nine, ten guys that 0:08:43.120 --> 0:08:45.200 are taking up seventy percent of the cap. It's a 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:47.480 real asset because now you have those other moneies to 0:08:47.520 --> 0:08:48.880 go give to other athletes. 0:08:49.240 --> 0:08:52.880 Well, speaking of college athletes, let's talk about something that 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:58.959 has just reverberated through the entire collegiate world of sports, 0:08:58.960 --> 0:09:02.319 and that's NIL, which we all know stands for needs 0:09:02.520 --> 0:09:09.480 infinite loop. And I'm just amazed it has changed everything. 0:09:09.559 --> 0:09:12.559 In fact, it's supposed to be a factor why Nick 0:09:12.600 --> 0:09:15.600 Saban decided, now am I going to come back as 0:09:15.679 --> 0:09:19.640 Alabama coach? That's the story your thoughts about NIL. 0:09:20.679 --> 0:09:24.640 The NIL combined with the portal is a travesty right now. 0:09:24.679 --> 0:09:29.000 It's a cesspool. And I appreciate the Nick Sabans and 0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:31.240 the Mike Krzyzewski's of the world when they were retired, 0:09:31.320 --> 0:09:33.839 said guys, we got to get this under control because 0:09:33.920 --> 0:09:36.120 right now this is not good. It's not good for 0:09:36.200 --> 0:09:39.320 college football. It's really not good for the athletes, because 0:09:39.320 --> 0:09:41.719 at the end of the day, this nil money that's 0:09:41.800 --> 0:09:44.800 going to get so focused on the front end, it's 0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:48.640 going to cost lesser programs to fold up on the 0:09:48.679 --> 0:09:52.079 back end, and that's not good. They've got to get 0:09:52.080 --> 0:09:55.560 it under control. The portal compounds it. It's got to 0:09:55.559 --> 0:09:57.680 get some kind of structure to it. They want to 0:09:57.679 --> 0:10:00.400 be like the NFL model than be like the NFL model. 0:10:00.440 --> 0:10:01.960 You got to put a cap on it. You got 0:10:02.000 --> 0:10:04.640 to put a specific time on the portal. Right now, 0:10:04.640 --> 0:10:07.080 it's the wild wild West. I don't know who's in 0:10:07.200 --> 0:10:10.319 charge of it, but it's embarrassing and it's a cesspool 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:11.280 for college football. 0:10:11.640 --> 0:10:14.520 Coach Billick, when you won your first championship in Baltimore 0:10:14.840 --> 0:10:17.640 back I believe in two thousand over the New York Giants, 0:10:19.240 --> 0:10:22.559 you know, you were known as an offensive mastermind. Yet 0:10:22.559 --> 0:10:24.360 we all know it was that defense. I mean, I 0:10:24.360 --> 0:10:26.520 mean wow, I mean ray Lewis and the whole smash. 0:10:26.600 --> 0:10:30.760 But you had six coaches on your staff that went 0:10:30.840 --> 0:10:32.880 to coach other teams, and you know, I just want 0:10:32.920 --> 0:10:35.040 to go back to that concept of the quarterback and 0:10:35.640 --> 0:10:38.440 shooting for the moon, taking these rookies. Hopefully it's the 0:10:38.440 --> 0:10:41.880 next CJ. Stroud, or having a real coaching staff in 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:46.000 place to develop the quarterback over a period of time 0:10:46.040 --> 0:10:48.200 to give them a year. I mean, are we beyond 0:10:48.240 --> 0:10:50.240 that now? I mean, is that even? I mean, when 0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:52.960 you hire a coaching staff your quarterbacks coach your offense. 0:10:53.040 --> 0:10:56.000 I mean, I mean does that even matter in today's 0:10:56.040 --> 0:10:58.120 day and age where it's win now? Show me now? 0:10:58.200 --> 0:11:01.000 I mean, do we even have time with these contracts 0:11:01.000 --> 0:11:02.800 in the way the NFL is set up to coach 0:11:02.880 --> 0:11:05.200 up these young quarterbacks and make them starters in the NFL. 0:11:05.679 --> 0:11:08.600 It's tougher and tougher, but certainly that element. I wrote 0:11:08.600 --> 0:11:10.680 a book called the Q Factor, which looked at the 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:15.040 twenty eighteen draft where we had five quarterbacks and typical 0:11:15.320 --> 0:11:18.280 to chalk, you know, two of the five turned out 0:11:18.280 --> 0:11:20.080 to be okay. You know, that was the year that 0:11:20.120 --> 0:11:26.760 we had Sam Darnold and Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson, 0:11:27.160 --> 0:11:32.679 Josh Rosen and again same thing. It's a fifty to 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:35.880 fifty crap shoot. When we looked at that draft and 0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:39.439 subsequent drafts, the biggest challenge in taking the quarterback one 0:11:39.559 --> 0:11:44.240 is okay, can the the ability to translate from college 0:11:44.240 --> 0:11:47.319 to the NFL. That's always the toughest question, but also 0:11:47.640 --> 0:11:50.080 one of the misses happened is where you misalign with 0:11:50.160 --> 0:11:53.200 the style of play, or maybe you get on a 0:11:53.200 --> 0:11:55.559 cycle where you go through a number of different coaches. 0:11:56.880 --> 0:11:59.240 That's going to be a factor as well. So if 0:11:59.240 --> 0:12:02.160 you can get to build at the coaching position, stability 0:12:02.200 --> 0:12:04.320 in the system and now have a very clear vision 0:12:04.360 --> 0:12:07.679 of what you want at the core. At the core 0:12:08.000 --> 0:12:11.040 abilities of quarterback. Baker Mayfield is one that was spake 0:12:11.240 --> 0:12:13.480 escaping my mind. Who is the number one pick overall 0:12:13.480 --> 0:12:15.520 in twenty eighteen and you have I don't want to 0:12:15.520 --> 0:12:18.640 say he's a bust, but obviously obviously did not perform 0:12:18.760 --> 0:12:21.400 at the number one overall pick level, but he went 0:12:21.440 --> 0:12:23.800 through He's been through like six and seven different coordinators. 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:26.800 That is a strong factor in terms of developing this 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:27.439 talent in the. 0:12:27.440 --> 0:12:31.240 NFL set tight. We've got more with former NFL head 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:33.640 coach Brian Billick on the way next. 0:12:33.480 --> 0:12:35.560 Both the NFC and the AFC. I think it's going 0:12:35.640 --> 0:12:38.240 to be wide open going into next year. We're so 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:41.400 deep in good quarterback play probably is as good that 0:12:41.600 --> 0:12:44.920 we've ever been in the NFL. You follow that trail, 0:12:45.480 --> 0:12:48.920 I think we've had more teams that are legitimately in 0:12:48.960 --> 0:12:51.200 the Super Bowl mix than we've had at any any 0:12:51.200 --> 0:12:52.520 given time, and that's exciting. 0:12:52.679 --> 0:12:55.960 You're listening to Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio. 0:12:56.080 --> 0:13:03.960 Around the world, you're listening to Bloomberg Business of Sports 0:13:04.160 --> 0:13:08.720 from Bloomberg Radio. This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports show, 0:13:08.760 --> 0:13:10.680 but we explore the big money issues in the world 0:13:10.720 --> 0:13:13.680 of sports. I'm Michael Barr along with Damian Sas. Hour 0:13:14.160 --> 0:13:17.679 Scarlett will be back on later. We're talking with NFL 0:13:17.760 --> 0:13:21.360 analysts and former NFL ahead coach Brian Billick. Let's dive 0:13:21.480 --> 0:13:22.800 back into that conversation. 0:13:23.000 --> 0:13:25.440 Coach Bilk, I have to ask you this. We've moved 0:13:25.480 --> 0:13:27.760 through free agency. There's some guys left out there, but 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:29.559 for the most part, you know, we're through with that. 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:32.760 We've now just completed the draft. You know, I'm looking, 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:35.720 I mean, I know, I know Michael Barr is looking 0:13:35.720 --> 0:13:37.720 at his FanDuel account. He's trying to figure out who's 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:39.920 going to win the Super Bowl next year. I'm looking 0:13:39.960 --> 0:13:42.000 at the odds out there. The Niners, the Chiefs, the 0:13:42.080 --> 0:13:44.720 Ravens are all up there. The Lions too. Michael Barr 0:13:45.240 --> 0:13:47.120 the Lions too. But talk to us a little bit, 0:13:47.160 --> 0:13:50.440 Coach Bilk, which teams have improved their status the most 0:13:50.480 --> 0:13:52.520 of this offseason? Who are you looking for here in 0:13:52.559 --> 0:13:53.280 twenty twenty four? 0:13:53.400 --> 0:13:55.800 Well, right now, they're all excited, they're all good. Everybody 0:13:55.840 --> 0:13:57.440 gets to know, and everybody's going to the super Bowl 0:13:57.559 --> 0:14:01.720 right now. That's the exciting fans and the teams and 0:14:01.960 --> 0:14:05.160 certainly the ones. Buffalo obviously right there on the custom 0:14:05.200 --> 0:14:07.520 of But I think Dallas is flirting with it. They're 0:14:07.520 --> 0:14:10.600 going to make the next move. A team like Green 0:14:10.679 --> 0:14:12.960 Bay is interesting to me to see Jordan Love can 0:14:13.040 --> 0:14:15.520 he indeed, he showed that he could take that next step? 0:14:15.559 --> 0:14:19.680 Can he go even further? In that standpoint? I think 0:14:19.760 --> 0:14:23.040 Cincinnati with a healthy Joe Burrow can get back into 0:14:23.080 --> 0:14:25.880 the mix. So yeah, I think that that's the exciting thing. 0:14:25.920 --> 0:14:28.520 I think we're as deep in good quarterback play. And 0:14:28.520 --> 0:14:31.360 then let me back up too, CJ. Stroud in Houston 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:34.920 and Houston Texans, they you know, they they that is 0:14:34.960 --> 0:14:37.479 the real deal and they showed that they can be competitive. 0:14:37.720 --> 0:14:40.320 So yeah, on both the NFC and the AFC, I 0:14:40.320 --> 0:14:42.720 think it's going to be wide open going into next year. 0:14:43.160 --> 0:14:45.800 We're so deep in good quarterback play probably is as 0:14:45.840 --> 0:14:49.560 good that we've ever been in the NFL. You follow 0:14:49.640 --> 0:14:53.040 that trail, I think we've had more teams that are 0:14:53.280 --> 0:14:55.840 legitimately in the Super Bowl mix than we've had at 0:14:55.840 --> 0:14:57.800 any any given time, and that's exciting. 0:14:58.200 --> 0:15:00.760 I mean, we're talking about the quarterbacks a lot, but 0:15:00.800 --> 0:15:03.960 there are some other positions. The running back position, for example, 0:15:03.960 --> 0:15:06.040 I don't think any running backs are taken in the 0:15:06.080 --> 0:15:08.400 first round this year. You know, others that kind of 0:15:08.400 --> 0:15:11.600 stand out, safety, linebacker. I mean, a lot of these positions, 0:15:11.800 --> 0:15:13.400 which you know you see a few of them now 0:15:13.520 --> 0:15:15.560 come into the first round. It's just been a really 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:16.760 really it's really been light. 0:15:16.800 --> 0:15:17.640 I'm curious to hear. 0:15:17.560 --> 0:15:19.440 Your thoughts in the future of some of those positions. 0:15:19.840 --> 0:15:21.560 Specifically the running back position. 0:15:21.800 --> 0:15:23.480 Well, that's always been one that I don't want to 0:15:23.520 --> 0:15:26.920 say was devalued. Jonathan Brooks was the first running back 0:15:26.960 --> 0:15:29.680 taken from Texas with a forty sixth pick. That's the 0:15:29.720 --> 0:15:32.560 second round. But what we've seen over the last few 0:15:32.640 --> 0:15:35.600 years is that the second and third round seems to 0:15:35.640 --> 0:15:38.120 be a fertile ground to get good, solid running backs, 0:15:38.400 --> 0:15:41.600 and you tend to have a running game by committee, 0:15:41.880 --> 0:15:44.320 and so there's good value in taking that. People are 0:15:44.360 --> 0:15:48.680 hesitant to expend a first round pick on the running 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:51.760 back position when you can get good value further down. 0:15:51.840 --> 0:15:53.640 That's not to say that they're not worthy of that. 0:15:53.720 --> 0:15:55.760 You got the Dereck Henrys in the world that obviously 0:15:55.840 --> 0:15:59.040 are spectacular, and taking a guy on the first round 0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:03.040 is not bad. But the position has kind of been 0:16:03.120 --> 0:16:05.760 devalued per se. And the fact that you know, we 0:16:05.840 --> 0:16:08.240 had one guy taken in the second round and then 0:16:08.320 --> 0:16:10.840 not again, we had three guys taken in the third round. 0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:14.480 So that seems to be the mode going forward in 0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:16.960 terms of what people looking at, simply because you can 0:16:17.000 --> 0:16:22.440 get value at other positions in the first round and 0:16:22.480 --> 0:16:24.920 the running back position. The other one to me, interesting 0:16:24.960 --> 0:16:27.480 to me is the tight end position because that's one 0:16:27.520 --> 0:16:30.200 that as we see really good tight ends in the league. 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:33.760 Obviously like a Travis Kelcey liking Mark Andrews in Baltimore. 0:16:35.120 --> 0:16:37.520 There's a couple of really good tight ends around the league. 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:40.920 You saw Las Vegas Raiders had to brock Bowers fall 0:16:40.960 --> 0:16:43.760 to them at number thirteen. That's a spectacular pick for them. 0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:46.320 There wasn't another tight end taken until the second and 0:16:46.360 --> 0:16:49.920 then the third round, so even though they're coveted, you 0:16:49.960 --> 0:16:53.520 can usually get some good value. The Commanders took in 0:16:53.600 --> 0:16:56.040 the second round the kid out of Kent State Senate, 0:16:56.280 --> 0:17:00.000 their Sonata, I think, and then rioting from Illinois to Arizona, 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:03.800 so you can get like the running back. It's a 0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:05.919 high priority, you really want to have one, but you 0:17:05.960 --> 0:17:08.320 seem to get good value in the second and third round. 0:17:08.640 --> 0:17:11.640 One day and I see it coming because one we're 0:17:11.640 --> 0:17:16.880 playing more games NFL games overseas in London, Germany, Mexico 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:22.719 City in Brazil is coming there. When will it happen 0:17:23.200 --> 0:17:28.160 when the league expands to more teams and this time 0:17:28.240 --> 0:17:29.719 maybe a team out in London. 0:17:30.359 --> 0:17:33.320 Yeah, that one's above my pay grade because obviously they 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:37.760 are nurturing interests internationally and they're highly successful games. I 0:17:37.760 --> 0:17:40.560 do a radio show in London and those are excited, 0:17:41.320 --> 0:17:45.240 knowledgeable fans when I get on the radio with the 0:17:45.280 --> 0:17:50.560 folks in London, and I can't wrap my head around 0:17:50.640 --> 0:17:53.280 how that's going to work. If you have a franchise 0:17:53.320 --> 0:17:56.760 in one of these international cities, then how they're going 0:17:56.840 --> 0:17:59.960 to be competitive in terms of playing in the state 0:18:00.119 --> 0:18:02.879 and then teams going obviously over there to play, or 0:18:02.920 --> 0:18:06.320 whether you can develop a branch of the NFL in 0:18:06.640 --> 0:18:09.480 the international loop. I don't know. I'm sure they've got 0:18:09.480 --> 0:18:12.639 some plan for it. It may be that they're just 0:18:12.680 --> 0:18:16.440 going to continue these sprinkling of games and expand on that. 0:18:16.840 --> 0:18:19.960 And now you're it's no onerous when a team only 0:18:20.000 --> 0:18:24.320 has to play one international game a year, but complete 0:18:24.400 --> 0:18:28.359 maybe an entire schedule overseas, but with different teams. I 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:31.639 don't know. You know, mine's above mine and you're figuring 0:18:31.840 --> 0:18:34.320 that out. But clearly the money is there and the 0:18:34.320 --> 0:18:35.840 international interest is there. 0:18:36.000 --> 0:18:38.159 I'm just wondering if you're going to have something like, Okay, 0:18:38.320 --> 0:18:40.600 we're going to play three games in London and then 0:18:40.600 --> 0:18:42.680 we're going to be on the road for like a month. 0:18:43.040 --> 0:18:45.119 Then we're going to come back and play three more games. 0:18:45.200 --> 0:18:48.439 And I wonder if some structure like that's going to 0:18:48.440 --> 0:18:48.919 be set up. 0:18:49.400 --> 0:18:51.919 That could be and certainly that would make sense that 0:18:51.960 --> 0:18:54.280 if an international team's going to come to the States, 0:18:54.320 --> 0:18:57.119 that they have a two to three game stretch at 0:18:57.160 --> 0:19:00.399 the minim to minimize the travel back and forth. With 0:19:00.440 --> 0:19:03.159 that the pressure that's a lot. That's a lot to 0:19:03.200 --> 0:19:06.399 deal with being on the road for three straight weeks 0:19:06.400 --> 0:19:09.639 and orchestrating that and where you're going. That's that's a 0:19:09.680 --> 0:19:12.880 tough circumstance for a team to compete and be competitive 0:19:12.920 --> 0:19:14.760 with if that's their routine. 0:19:15.240 --> 0:19:17.199 Well, coach Billak also, I mean, let's go back. You know, 0:19:17.280 --> 0:19:20.280 you coached for San Diego State University, the Aztecs, go 0:19:20.440 --> 0:19:23.560 as techs. My cousin Larry Sassaur shout out. I have 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:26.119 to ask you some of these universities that have filtered 0:19:26.160 --> 0:19:28.800 so many players into the NFL. You mentioned Brock Bauers. 0:19:28.840 --> 0:19:32.360 I'm thinking Georgia obviously Alabama. Talk to me about the 0:19:32.400 --> 0:19:37.720 Michigan Wolverines. Thirteen players in this year's draft selected from 0:19:37.880 --> 0:19:40.480 this year's team. I mean, which if you're a student, 0:19:40.720 --> 0:19:43.800 I mean a scholar athlete and you're looking at you know, 0:19:44.280 --> 0:19:46.320 those you know, institutions that you want to play your 0:19:46.359 --> 0:19:49.880 college ball for. I mean just I mean, like, what's 0:19:49.920 --> 0:19:52.720 out there? What's the available pool today? Given nil, given 0:19:52.720 --> 0:19:55.280 the transfer portal, I mean, are we really limited it 0:19:55.359 --> 0:19:57.600 just a handful of universities Now, if you really have 0:19:57.720 --> 0:20:01.560