Speaker 1: Now, let's welcome in Shawn Merriman, uh, the former All
Speaker 1: Pro linebacker and host of the Lights Out podcast, and
Speaker 1: you can reach him on Twitter at Shawn Merriman Sean.
Speaker 1: What's up, buddy, How you doing Welcome to the odd couple.
Speaker 1: What's up, fellas? Are you doing doing good? Hey? Me
Speaker 1: and Jonas have gotten into it because Tom Brady should
Speaker 1: be as concerned about cheating in football as he is
Speaker 1: about what uniform number players are wearing. What he's making
Speaker 1: a big stink about the new rule players can wear
Speaker 1: any number. Basically, where are you on this? Is this
Speaker 1: that big of a deal? And if you could have
Speaker 1: wore any other number, would you have changed to a
Speaker 1: lower number or a different number? You know what? Um?
Speaker 1: I don't totally disagree with him on one part, right,
Speaker 1: I think that people making it such a big deal, Right,
Speaker 1: You've seeing people going back to the college numbers, um
Speaker 1: in the single digits. I'm like, okay, cool, it's a
Speaker 1: number you still gotta go and perform, right, Uh So
Speaker 1: on that part of I do agree with. You know,
Speaker 1: I don't agree much with what Tom Brady got to
Speaker 1: say anything he does, but on that part I do,
Speaker 1: I do. I do think they're just making it too
Speaker 1: big of a deal. It's it's a jersey number. It's fun,
Speaker 1: you know. It sounds like they're trying to put some
Speaker 1: kind of fun back in the football, which is always
Speaker 1: a good thing because they've taken a lot of it
Speaker 1: out of it over the years. Um, but yeah, it's
Speaker 1: it's a big deal, guys. It's not a you know, nothing,
Speaker 1: nothing serious to be talked about and then getting as
Speaker 1: much as much media attention as it has for the
Speaker 1: past week or so. Yeah, it's just slow news. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean to teither that or baseball games. So you know,
Speaker 1: we had we had, you gotta But now, in all seriousness, Sean,
Speaker 1: every single year, it seems the NFL comes out and
Speaker 1: there's different rule changes, things that they do differently, whether
Speaker 1: it's the on site kick or moving the extra point back, etcetera, etcetera.
Speaker 1: You being a former player, you being a guy who
Speaker 1: played at the highest level, if you could change one
Speaker 1: thing in the NFL, if you could make one rule
Speaker 1: change right now, the NFL came to you and said
Speaker 1: dealer's choice, make the call. I'm sorry that you know.
Speaker 1: It's hard to say and I and I don't want
Speaker 1: to sound um you know, Bob Barry called, you know
Speaker 1: like I'm going back in old times. But I just
Speaker 1: feel that um, you know, the hits to the head
Speaker 1: or the timing and the guy gets hit, you know,
Speaker 1: after he has two feet on the ground or whatever.
Speaker 1: It's almost just as an assent. They're just protecting the
Speaker 1: offense side of the ball just so much. Um so
Speaker 1: so that or you know, the quarterback hits around the neck,
Speaker 1: you know, those like teddy things like that. I wish
Speaker 1: they could take away because you gotta you got point
Speaker 1: five seconds man, and make a decision like that, and
Speaker 1: then you can cast your team severely, um just by
Speaker 1: you know, slapping down top of the shoulder patch right,
Speaker 1: you know, as a pass rusher, you're just going buy
Speaker 1: and you just get him around the neck, not even
Speaker 1: tackle him. If you touch him around the neck, it's
Speaker 1: automatic flag. So that part of it. I just think
Speaker 1: that garden the offensive guys just way too much and
Speaker 1: you're taking a lot of the fun um and instincts
Speaker 1: out of the game before ball Sean, do you feel
Speaker 1: just a quick follow up, do you feel like the
Speaker 1: NFL has made it Obviously they've made it more difficult
Speaker 1: on the defensive side of it. But do you talk
Speaker 1: to other defensive players and say, man, it's so obvious
Speaker 1: there's a bias towards the offense in this league. It's
Speaker 1: so obvious that everything is slanted towards them. And if
Speaker 1: that like the NBA where you can't touch anybody defensive
Speaker 1: exactly exactly, Like, if that's the case, what are you
Speaker 1: supposed to do? How are you supposed to coach these
Speaker 1: guys up? When you when when, like you said, you
Speaker 1: come anywhere near the head and you're gonna get flagged
Speaker 1: and your team's out fifteen yards. Well, I can tell
Speaker 1: you that it's just all depending on who you ask, right,
Speaker 1: Because I had Roy Williams, who you know, the safety
Speaker 1: for the Dallas Cowboys, on my podcast about a month ago,
Speaker 1: and you know that conversation was deep, right because now
Speaker 1: you have a guy who played the game four speed.
Speaker 1: He was gonna lay you out no matter what. He
Speaker 1: wasn't going for interception um. And so you know, it's
Speaker 1: just depending on what era guys you talked to, because
Speaker 1: you know, you might have some guys to say, hey, man,
Speaker 1: you know, obviously there's a bunch of head traumu and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, legal hits and we're trying to protect guys.
Speaker 1: Then you got some guys saying like that's that's b s. Right,
Speaker 1: I'm going in to make a hit. I'm going to
Speaker 1: make a play. I should have an equal opportunity to
Speaker 1: gonna make a play on the ball, and and and
Speaker 1: and and have, um you know, some some leadway to
Speaker 1: go out and make a big play. So it's just
Speaker 1: a matter of what you talked to. And I just
Speaker 1: hate sounding like the old I mean, I know I've
Speaker 1: been retires some years now, man, but I hate sounding
Speaker 1: like the old guy because when I was playing, you
Speaker 1: have you got the guys to play in the ages
Speaker 1: and nineties and like, oh you know they're that football
Speaker 1: that they're soft. Now, we were leather hell mints and
Speaker 1: we you know, didn't play with any teeth, right, I mean,
Speaker 1: these guys just just like you know, I don't want
Speaker 1: to come across as the old hater to the younger generations,
Speaker 1: but there there are us. There's just some rules, man.
Speaker 1: It just it takes the fun out of the game
Speaker 1: because you can't control it. If if offensive linement is
Speaker 1: blocking you, you're being held, you're reaching, you're scratching and
Speaker 1: sprouting just to get the quarterback showed the path and
Speaker 1: just throw him off a little bit. And if you
Speaker 1: just grace his upper half, you know you're going to
Speaker 1: get a flag. And that's just told. It's just it's
Speaker 1: pointless to me. Hey, Sean, you said you don't want
Speaker 1: to sound like that old guy, but we just took
Speaker 1: your comments. We put him through our translator, and this
Speaker 1: is what you sound like, all right, Sean Mary and
Speaker 1: of course the former All Pro linebacker host of the
Speaker 1: Lights Out podcast, joining us here on the odd couple.
Speaker 1: Uh So, I why do you make up the Trevor Lawrence?
Speaker 1: You know, the quotes came out like it's not the
Speaker 1: end of the world. I'm not obsessed with football. I
Speaker 1: do my job, I study, I do everything I'm supposed to.
Speaker 1: The guy lost two games in college, looks like he
Speaker 1: cares about winning, but a lot of people made a
Speaker 1: big deal about it. Would you rather a guy say
Speaker 1: the standard quotes that people want to hear and lie
Speaker 1: or or be honest and just you know, tell people
Speaker 1: who he really is. Which one which one do you want? No?
Speaker 1: I love it because when I saw that, the first
Speaker 1: thing that came to my mind is, Hey, I'm number one,
Speaker 1: and it doesn't matter whether I love football like it,
Speaker 1: Hey there's or anything in different. I'm going to but
Speaker 1: one no matter what. Right, And that's that's just the truth.
Speaker 1: And no one not one of the thirty two teams
Speaker 1: and sitting back and saying, uh, you know, Trevor Launch
Speaker 1: uh is not committed to football. Let's you know, let's
Speaker 1: think about passing on them, right, Um, not one. And
Speaker 1: I don't either if he came into they you know,
Speaker 1: football is not a big deal to me, and I
Speaker 1: just playing because I can and I like to make
Speaker 1: a lot of money. He's still going number one no
Speaker 1: matter what. Uh. And that was point. That was point proven.
Speaker 1: I think that a lot of a lot of people
Speaker 1: need to understand this too. This is the drive, you know,
Speaker 1: from the combine to the drive that this is the process, right,
Speaker 1: this is the same thing while we're seeing uh, you
Speaker 1: know all the things that about justice, about fields and
Speaker 1: everything else. That's the point where people start to nippick.
Speaker 1: They started nippick on your character, They start a nippick
Speaker 1: on every quote or everything you still work at. You know,
Speaker 1: they're epic. This is the time to do it. So
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna I'm not. It wasn't. I wasn't shocked
Speaker 1: when he came out and made a big deal about
Speaker 1: what he said, because they want him to say, Hey,
Speaker 1: I love football, I eat, sleep and breathing. I go
Speaker 1: home and I think about my playbook, that that's doing
Speaker 1: this process. That's what a lot of gms and and
Speaker 1: coaches in front office, that's what they're looking for you
Speaker 1: to say. But he know in his heart of hearts
Speaker 1: he's going number one no matter what, so he can
Speaker 1: say that, Sean Merriman the last one for me before
Speaker 1: we let you go. What's it gonna take? All right,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna slide a blank contract across the table. How
Speaker 1: much is it gonna take for you to get in
Speaker 1: the ring with Jake Paul and and do what many
Speaker 1: people have been wanting to do for a long time
Speaker 1: and shut that guy up? How much is it gonna take?
Speaker 1: You know what? To be honest, man, I've trained with
Speaker 1: Jake and uh and I like the kid a lot.
Speaker 1: I just think he's he's bringing so much attention to himself,
Speaker 1: and it's a good thing him because attention in this
Speaker 1: game means you're gonna get big pay checks, right, People
Speaker 1: pay for attention. Um, and he's always gonna have that
Speaker 1: until he goes out and fight the guy that uh
Speaker 1: that's been doing it for a long time. But if
Speaker 1: I'm Jake Paul, I'll be doing just exactly what I'm doing.
Speaker 1: Pick and choose in my battles until I'm ready. You know,
Speaker 1: I don't know what he made maybe five plus millions
Speaker 1: last fight, Go and make another five and two million,
Speaker 1: and then fight somebody when you're ready. Until then, um,
Speaker 1: you know, just sit back and watch me and keep
Speaker 1: getting attention. Yeah, good for him, man, good for him.
Speaker 1: I just don't drink any water around the cooler around him.
Speaker 1: I'm just people are going down left and right, all
Speaker 1: right there? What is Sean Merrivin? I appreciate it. We
Speaker 1: appreciate you stopping by giving us some knowledge you're under couple.
Speaker 1: Thanks buddy, you got it. Man, appreciate it. Thanks Sean.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. It might be a little
Speaker 1: sleepy juice in there. No, maybe, Oh is this the uh,
Speaker 1: it's just like when they used to spike drinks back
Speaker 1: and then what I'm saying, what was what was the
Speaker 1: guy's name? Was it Aaron? Remember? Aaron Pry remember the
Speaker 1: boxer Aaron Dryer, who, by the way, was a savage,
Speaker 1: a great boxer. Remember Panama Lewis was his trainer, and
Speaker 1: I think Panama Lewis there was reports that he had
Speaker 1: put something in his drink like that was that was
Speaker 1: one of the reports out there that it has always
Speaker 1: been about that in boxing, back in the old days,
Speaker 1: when you know a cooler was just sitting there, you know,
Speaker 1: easily exactly. Yeah,