Speaker 1: The volume.
Speaker 2: This is Prime Cuts, the best of the Colin Coward
Speaker 2: podcasts loaded last couple of weeks, Nick Wright and I
Speaker 2: discuss Stefan Diggs and the Bills, Powder Keg and the
Speaker 2: frustrations Nick has with Twitter under Elon Musk. Jason McIntyre
Speaker 2: tries to sell me on a couple of NFL bets. Oops. Tonight,
Speaker 2: host Jason timp and I talked about the wild overreaction
Speaker 2: to Victor wembin Yama's Summer League debut, and the Three
Speaker 2: and Out Host John Middlecoff and I discuss lots of
Speaker 2: NFL topics, but first my top takes of the week.
Speaker 2: So one of the reasons you should be a nice
Speaker 2: guy or a nice woman is because if you work
Speaker 2: at a company long enough, mini the people you work
Speaker 2: with will splinter off. They'll leave, they'll move to another department,
Speaker 2: they'll move to a rival, they'll move cross town, they'll leave.
Speaker 2: And so companies more than ever are fluid. Employees more
Speaker 2: than ever are mobile, and so your reputation will travel.
Speaker 2: My dad used to say all the time, be nice
Speaker 2: to people. Lubricate society, because at some point your career
Speaker 2: will be decided by rooms. You're not in you know people,
Speaker 2: management will vote on you, owners will discuss you. And
Speaker 2: so Kyler Murray is viewed recently as being dysfunctional. But
Speaker 2: Cliff Kingsbury, he was his coach. Cliff Left has all
Speaker 2: sorts of info on Kyler Murray. Steve Kime GM left
Speaker 2: has all sorts of info. Kim also had a staff.
Speaker 2: Kingsbury had a staff. Look at the people over the
Speaker 2: last three years that have been with the card executives, coaches, players,
Speaker 2: Larry Fitzgerald that are now gone, and when people ask
Speaker 2: all those people about the Cardinals, they ask about one
Speaker 2: person in particular, Kyler Murray. So I defended Kyler Murray
Speaker 2: pretty righteously. For his first three years, he kept getting better.
Speaker 2: He threw a beautiful football. He reminded me of a
Speaker 2: smaller Russell Wilson, who I think is a Hall of Famer.
Speaker 2: And it's a dysfunctional organization starting with ownership, so tough division,
Speaker 2: weird ownership. I kind of defended him. I said, I'd
Speaker 2: sign him. You're trapped. You got to have a guy.
Speaker 2: But what's interesting this offseason, as the Cardinals once again
Speaker 2: have blown up their coaching staff and made changes in
Speaker 2: the front office, It's amazing when I went to UFC,
Speaker 2: or when I go out, or when I'm at any
Speaker 2: sports function that involved anybody in the NFL, how many
Speaker 2: people are talking about Kyler Murray and it's not good.
Speaker 2: So I always say, new information equals new opinion. If
Speaker 2: you were on a flight and you got new information
Speaker 2: from the radar, would you want the pilot to avoid
Speaker 2: a lightning storm or fly through it? If your doctor
Speaker 2: takes an X ray, your son, your daughter gets new information,
Speaker 2: would you want to stick with what they thought the
Speaker 2: problem was or would you want them to function based
Speaker 2: on the new X ray? Fans Earl is so beholden
Speaker 2: to you said this a year ago. Yeah, no, shit,
Speaker 2: information changes. So my feeling on Kyler Murray today is
Speaker 2: different than a year ago. There is so much information
Speaker 2: now that has left that building that it's just incredible. Scouts, coaches, executives,
Speaker 2: people in this sport talk and they talk about Kyler
Speaker 2: Murray and I have a hard time with indifference. It's
Speaker 2: Ben Simmons. It doesn't matter how good you are if
Speaker 2: you don't love it, if you have to be prodded
Speaker 2: into prepping, prodded into playing, you don't want to run
Speaker 2: because you don't want to get hit. I struggle with it.
Speaker 2: You can have so many flaws. I can't live with indifference.
Speaker 2: I can deal with ego, I can deal with soft.
Speaker 2: I can deal with emotional to some level. I can't
Speaker 2: deal with indifference. Like when I hire people at the volume,
Speaker 2: are you ready to compete? Do you love your job?
Speaker 2: There's nothing you can do with indifference. So Kyler Murray,
Speaker 2: there's all sorts of comments he made in the last
Speaker 2: couple of days about last year. It was a negative vibe.
Speaker 2: It was this. It was that I don't have Kyler
Speaker 2: Murray as one of the top ten quarterbacks in the league.
Speaker 2: And I was jotting down a list yesterday morning, just
Speaker 2: kind of going to the season. And you can say
Speaker 2: what you want about Kirk Cousins and Dak and Derek Carr.
Speaker 2: They're not his talent. I would sign them before Kyler Murray.
Speaker 2: That's how far my opinion has fallen. And it's all
Speaker 2: based on new information. So I was looking at the
Speaker 2: NFL standings before I came on today, and when you
Speaker 2: look at the quarterback position in the NFL, we don't
Speaker 2: have unrealistic expectations for rookie quarterbacks. I think all fans
Speaker 2: are reasonable that it's hard and you're going to be overwhelmed.
Speaker 2: Even Joe Burrow overwhelmed early. And there's not a ton
Speaker 2: of pressure on the people that are at the top
Speaker 2: of the food chain. Josh Allen, we know what he is.
Speaker 2: Lamar Jackson just got paid, Jalen Hurtz did. I don't
Speaker 2: think they're in pressurized situations. And I also don't believe
Speaker 2: Dak and Kirk Cousins. Again, most people see them as
Speaker 2: good B plus quarterbacks. I don't think they face like
Speaker 2: more than just week to week Sunday to Sunday pressure.
Speaker 2: And as I looked over perused the standings in the NFL,
Speaker 2: I thought there was really only two quarterbacks that I
Speaker 2: felt like there was a lot of pressure on them,
Speaker 2: and pressure I would define as they are viewed by
Speaker 2: a certain group, perhaps small, as much more talented than
Speaker 2: their current production is exhibiting. And let me give you an example,
Speaker 2: justin Fields. I think he faces real pressure because I
Speaker 2: think people in Chicago and a lot of people in
Speaker 2: the media think, based on highlights, not overall beginning to
Speaker 2: end game production, that he's a massive talent. And I
Speaker 2: just think he's talented, but at this point, I think
Speaker 2: he's a sixty to forty hit and a forty sixty
Speaker 2: failure slightly more than fifty to fifty. I think it works,
Speaker 2: and I think it mostly works because I think he
Speaker 2: now has two productive receivers, perhaps three with Claypool cross
Speaker 2: your fingers. Two productive tight ends. A middle of the
Speaker 2: pack but better than people think O Line and Luke gets.
Speaker 2: He's an excellent oc young, smart guy from Green Bay.
Speaker 2: But I think of all the quarterbacks in the league,
Speaker 2: people would say, what about Aaron Rodgers takeaway was they're
Speaker 2: gonna win somewhere between nine and twelve games. Playoffs are not,
Speaker 2: He's a Hall of Famer. They'll be better. Everybody gets it.
Speaker 2: Will they be great? Probably not, But somewhere between nine
Speaker 2: and eleven twelve games is where Aaron's gonna land. He
Speaker 2: knows it, the Jets know it, and we all know it.
Speaker 2: That's not pressure. Justin Fields is different because he shows
Speaker 2: flashes of brilliance. This is the year that bears ownership
Speaker 2: and front office and probably coaches make a decision on
Speaker 2: by Thanksgiving, he's the guy or not. So I feel
Speaker 2: like Justin Fields faces the most pressure in the NFL
Speaker 2: as a quarterback, you could name anybody. Jared Goff, He's
Speaker 2: been to a Super Bowl, he's been paid. We know
Speaker 2: what he is. A B plus quarterback. Trevor Lawrence, He's excellent.
Speaker 2: There's no pressure in Jacksonville. He got to the playoffs
Speaker 2: last year. But Justin Fields, there is a group of
Speaker 2: people that think he's a tremendous talent. And where where
Speaker 2: as Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts and Lamar Jackson went from
Speaker 2: just talented pivoting to also very good pocket quarterbacks, Justin
Speaker 2: Fields has not exhibited that yet. And this is the year,
Speaker 2: and I would say by Thanksgiving, people upstairs will make
Speaker 2: a decision. The only other quarterback I feel like there's
Speaker 2: real pressure on is in the same division, Jordan Love. Listen,
Speaker 2: you replace Aaron Rodgers. There's pressure. This is also a
Speaker 2: winning organization pressure. This is also probably the second best
Speaker 2: after Detroit roster in the division.
Speaker 3: Pressure.
Speaker 2: Jordan Love's been given a contract that's very team friendly.
Speaker 2: So again, because he's been in the building for so
Speaker 2: many years, I think they'll know by Thanksgiving. In the building,
Speaker 2: I had an agent that once said this, Nick con
Speaker 2: your bosses will make a decision on your career nine
Speaker 2: months before they tell you. I think by Thanksgiving, Justin
Speaker 2: Field and Jordan Love, both teams upstairs, will have made
Speaker 2: a decision. That's real pressure because in both cases, especially Fields,
Speaker 2: they're viewed by a small number of fans as being
Speaker 2: really special talents. And I'm not sure either is, but
Speaker 2: both will feel that pressure this season. So, you know,
Speaker 2: I asked Jimmy Johnson years ago about leadership and what
Speaker 2: is leadership and he didn't have an answer for it,
Speaker 2: but he said Troy Aikman was a leader, but he
Speaker 2: couldn't pinpoint what it was. And you know, one of
Speaker 2: the first times I was really impressed with Dak Prescott
Speaker 2: and I wasn't blown away with him. I watched him
Speaker 2: play at Mississippi State. I thought he was a better
Speaker 2: thrower than t Bow. But I'm like this guy, I
Speaker 2: you know, there was a reason he got picked in
Speaker 2: the fourth round. Dan Mullen once told me, the former
Speaker 2: Mississippi State coach, they never thought he was, you know,
Speaker 2: an NFL quarterback. But one of the things that impressed
Speaker 2: me very early on with him is Dak Prescott's in
Speaker 2: tangibles and Dez Bryant who Basically, the Cowboys had to
Speaker 2: babysit out of college. They had to have a security team,
Speaker 2: which I'm not sure if Dez has ever acknowledged that
Speaker 2: or admitted, you know, that's just a lot for a
Speaker 2: team to have to worry about that after college. You're
Speaker 2: not prepared to like stay out of trouble. It was
Speaker 2: hard for the Cowboys security detail around the clock. And
Speaker 2: Dak Prescott had to deal with that right out of
Speaker 2: the gate, goes thirteen and three as a rookie and
Speaker 2: had that poppy hovering over him, and it was That's
Speaker 2: the kind of thing that explains Dak Prescott's mental toughness.
Speaker 2: He's dealt with injuries, He's dealt with criticism, he dealt
Speaker 2: with the COVID season, He's dealt with some controversy, and
Speaker 2: Dak Prescott has always been his very strongest in those moments.
Speaker 2: He's not an elite arm talent.
Speaker 3: He's not.
Speaker 2: He's athletic, but not super. His arm's fine, it's not special.
Speaker 2: He's accurate enough, but not elite. He's a BB plus quarterback.
Speaker 2: But he dealt with des Bryant and the neediness and
Speaker 2: the high maintenance and it didn't get in the way
Speaker 2: of wins before the Cowboys finally just said enough is enough,
Speaker 2: as they should have. It's going to be interesting to
Speaker 2: watch Josh Allen with Stefan Diggs. Now, Stephan Diggs, in
Speaker 2: my opinion, is a better player than Dez Bryant and
Speaker 2: is not nearly that difficult. But with both Kirk Cousins
Speaker 2: and with Josh Allen after a couple of years, you
Speaker 2: see the theatrics and you hear the concerns, and Buffalo
Speaker 2: is clearly if you watch the draft or receiver a
Speaker 2: tight end free agency, they went out and got another
Speaker 2: running back. They're trying to be less reliant on Stefan Diggs.
Speaker 2: This is where leadership will come in with Josh Allen. No,
Speaker 2: Josh is a better athlete than Dak Prescott, bigger arm,
Speaker 2: more mobile, better athlete up and down on the board
Speaker 2: aaaa plus AA. But leadership is Deck's strength. And when
Speaker 2: you can be a great player and a great talent
Speaker 2: and a great leader Mahomes or Burrow, that's when you separate.
Speaker 2: To this point, we know Josh Allen is a great athlete.
Speaker 2: This will be the leadership year. Dealing with Stefan Diggs
Speaker 2: in this drama and at some point Tom Brady went
Speaker 2: to Bill Belichick when they got rid of Randy Moss.
Speaker 2: Tom Brady was not shocked by it. Obviously, Brady had
Speaker 2: discussions with Josh McDaniels Bill Belichick. Right, those don't go public.
Speaker 2: But they didn't just walk in and say Randy's gone.
Speaker 2: It's not the way it works. Tom was too powerful.
Speaker 2: Even though he and Belichick weren't close, you know they
Speaker 2: would come to him. Sometimes you have to take a
Speaker 2: step back in talent. The best Patriot teams were not
Speaker 2: the ones with Moss. It was the teams where you
Speaker 2: had liable wide receiver, tight end targets, reliable, choreographed you
Speaker 2: knew where they would be talents. So the NFL, the
Speaker 2: margins are too tight for drama. The noisiest team every
Speaker 2: off season is one of the more disappointing teams every
Speaker 2: off season. So I'm really interested to watch Josh Allen
Speaker 2: this year. First time real drama, A real talented but
Speaker 2: at times difficult teammate that is crucial to the offense.
Speaker 2: I've seen Dak deal with stuff like this a plus.
Speaker 2: Best part about Dak are these moments. Josh is the
Speaker 2: better talent. How will he react to it. All right,
Speaker 2: I bring in my buddy co host First Things First,
Speaker 2: also host of What's Right with Nick Wright, and we
Speaker 2: do this about every six weeks. We do about forty
Speaker 2: to forty five minutes, and this is kind of the
Speaker 2: slowest time of the year. It was always in our
Speaker 2: industry that after football there was about a month and
Speaker 2: then you'd kind of move into March madness, NFL draft,
Speaker 2: NBA stuff. But it used to be that I look
Speaker 2: forward to August. But Sean McVay screwed that up by
Speaker 2: not playing any starters in the NFL and going eight
Speaker 2: and h so they're really the preseason now is reduced
Speaker 2: to talking about CJ. Stroud and Bryce Young. I mean,
Speaker 2: it is amazing that August used to be a time
Speaker 2: that I really looked forward. You know, it was post
Speaker 2: NBA trade deadline, and it was like, you know, you
Speaker 2: go take a ten day vacation and then you're like,
Speaker 2: all right, some of this stuff last year, Kenny Pickett
Speaker 2: was my primary topic in August.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's not great.
Speaker 4: I mean, I'm not saying you weren't great, but it's
Speaker 4: just August because of NBA movement and because every summer
Speaker 4: there's a KD trade demand or a Dame trade demand,
Speaker 4: and these things that seemed to drag on. I think
Speaker 4: August has replaced July as the dead is time on
Speaker 4: our calendar. And I am like, very excited to be
Speaker 4: talking football again, because you've been talking a lot of
Speaker 4: football throughout we have. We haven't been talking so much.
Speaker 4: And now I'm kind of over the Dame thing. I
Speaker 4: know he's going to go to Miami. It's all posturing.
Speaker 4: There's a really interesting part of the Dame story, which
Speaker 4: is the assistant GM in Portland does a great job,
Speaker 4: I'm sure, but his name is Mike Schmiz. He worked
Speaker 4: at ESPN from twenty seventeen until nine months ago. And
Speaker 4: now seemingly all of the reporting coming out of you
Speaker 4: know that network is along the lines of, oh, you know,
Speaker 4: Portland has the leverage, Portland's got you know, Miami's got
Speaker 4: up the offer, And I do wonder how much of
Speaker 4: this is you know that Mike Schmiz was there and
Speaker 4: now they're trying to get the best deal possible, but
Speaker 4: he's going to end up in Miami. I'm kind of
Speaker 4: over that story and that there's really not much left
Speaker 4: in the NBA offseason.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I stumbled. It was the last thing I talked
Speaker 2: about today for only three minutes. Is that there's two
Speaker 2: sorts of like what we would call classic Diva wide receivers.
Speaker 2: There's the guy that is constantly difficult but productive Des Bryant.
Speaker 2: I mean they had to hire a security team, pretty
Speaker 2: babysited in as a rookie. And then the first year
Speaker 2: with Dak he was still highly productive but got needy
Speaker 2: and they just decided, much to the chagrin of Jason Garrett.
Speaker 2: He told me that he said, I was fighting for him.
Speaker 2: He gives me eight ten touchdowns of the year. How
Speaker 2: do I replace that? And then there's the Stefan Diggs
Speaker 2: Randy Moss model, where they're not trouble, they're highly productive
Speaker 2: and at some point, at like year three, year four,
Speaker 2: they flex and right. And I said, okay, that's different. Right,
Speaker 2: there's a lot of companies at the volume. If I
Speaker 2: knew somebody for three years, I'm getting somebody that's highly productive,
Speaker 2: then maybe they flame out or that's somebody that's very hirable, right,
Speaker 2: not somebody that's high maintenance.
Speaker 3: Day one.
Speaker 2: So I said this, the bills are telling you they're
Speaker 2: going to get out of the Steffon Diggs market.
Speaker 3: Very quickly.
Speaker 2: They go and get a tight end in round one two.
Speaker 2: NFL gms told me easily the best tight end. So
Speaker 2: now they have Kincaid and Dawson Knox, they upgrade running back,
Speaker 2: they immediately sign more, they double down on their defensive front.
Speaker 2: And what it tells me is they're trying to become
Speaker 2: more run oriented, better up front, ground control, and get
Speaker 2: out of the Steffan Diggs. And I'll argue this just
Speaker 2: like New England did with Moss after two three very
Speaker 2: productive years, you could get out today and he's got
Speaker 2: value if he blows up again. Half this league, three
Speaker 2: quarters of this league, nick gms are like, no, thank you.
Speaker 4: They're gonna be afraid of it. The only I listen,
Speaker 4: here's the the Digs thing is such a problem for
Speaker 4: Buffalo for a number of reasons.
Speaker 3: The typical easy fixes for the wide receiver.
Speaker 4: Clearly will not fix this because they're not the problem.
Speaker 4: And by that I mean sometimes it's I want more money.
Speaker 4: He got the contract a year ago, like they you
Speaker 4: know what I mean. The money has been paid. It
Speaker 4: is not a money thing. The other one, if it's
Speaker 4: not money, is usually I want more targets. Over the
Speaker 4: last couple of years, he's one of the two or three,
Speaker 4: maybe number one, but most targeted guys in the whole league.
Speaker 4: So it's like, uh, oh, it's not money, it's not targets.
Speaker 4: How do we fix this? And I have been kind
Speaker 4: of I don't know what the right word is. I
Speaker 4: have found it unbelievable that Sean McDermott and the Buffalo
Speaker 4: Bills set this fire publicly and then are looking around
Speaker 4: angry at everyone for watching the flames. That the timeline
Speaker 4: of this is day one of Bill's mini camp. Evidently
Speaker 4: Stefon Diggs is there, then leaves before practice. Sean McDermott
Speaker 4: goes to the media, is asked about Diggs not being
Speaker 4: there and says, oh, I'm very concerned, takes a long
Speaker 4: pause and goes very concerned. Well maybe you shouldn't have
Speaker 4: said that, buddy. Then the next day he's there and
Speaker 4: McDermott goes to the media is like, I don't know
Speaker 4: what everyone's making such a big deal about this. I
Speaker 4: excused him, It's like, what you fucking.
Speaker 3: Told us you were concerned? And then they canceled.
Speaker 4: Practice the next day, and then Josh Allen was on
Speaker 4: a podcast, yeah, a couple of days ago. I forget
Speaker 4: who it was. But when a player runs it and
Speaker 4: they asked him, it was, you know, one of the
Speaker 4: It wasn't one of yours, but it was similar to
Speaker 4: Richard Sherman's podcast. So I'm like that, I forget who
Speaker 4: it was on I apologize and he was like, yeah,
Speaker 4: the media won't stop talking about this, and it's like, man,
Speaker 4: we wouldn't have even known about it, but your coach
Speaker 4: screwed up there. And then when you add to it
Speaker 4: that the last image we have of Diggs is him
Speaker 4: yelling at Josh Allen.
Speaker 3: On the sideline. That seems to be a problem.
Speaker 4: The only question I would have there is Colin, why
Speaker 4: haven't they just signed DeAndre Hopkins to kind of regain
Speaker 4: control of the situation, because I do think Gabe Davis
Speaker 4: might not be a number two. He's certainly not a
Speaker 4: number one. I do think they need a receiver there.
Speaker 4: If they're worried about Digs, maybe they just think, you know,
Speaker 4: he's under contract, we're gonna be fine. But that to
Speaker 4: me is a if you had to right now, And
Speaker 4: this is something I mentioned to you on TV you
Speaker 4: can only choose one of these two doors. The Bills
Speaker 4: make the super Bowl or the Bills miss the playoffs.
Speaker 4: I am definitely choosing to miss the play I'm not
Speaker 4: picking them to miss the playoffs. But I think they're
Speaker 4: more likely to miss the playoffs than have an awesome
Speaker 4: year and make the super Bowl. I think that's for
Speaker 4: damn sure.
Speaker 2: A social media question good. The user experience at Twitter
Speaker 2: has gone in to the tank. I said, when Elon
Speaker 2: must took it over, I said, I'm not gonna I'm
Speaker 2: just gonna watch it and see what happens. Very quickly,
Speaker 2: it got annoying, then violent, violent videos. Now I'm constantly
Speaker 2: muting them ads. I'm constantly muting them. The user experience
Speaker 2: is more toxic than it's ever been. And I don't think.
Speaker 2: I don't think Elon he's obviously a bright guy, he's creative,
Speaker 2: but I also think he's distracted. Threads now gets unveiled
Speaker 2: and I went on it, my staff put me on it.
Speaker 2: I find it irritating when you look as a young
Speaker 2: broadcaster coming up, you've been very I think you've used
Speaker 2: been very dynamic on your Twitter spaces to you know,
Speaker 2: engage with people. I find the Elon Musk Twitter experience,
Speaker 2: and I try to be fair about it, just increasingly
Speaker 2: a poor experience. So I'm not on it at all.
Speaker 2: Where are you where? Where? Where are you as a
Speaker 2: younger person on social media today?
Speaker 4: So there's a bunch of social media stuff I'd actually
Speaker 4: like to talk to you about. So for me, I
Speaker 4: and it was one of it was kind of a
Speaker 4: sad choice I made, but that I felt I needed
Speaker 4: to do it, or it was good for me to
Speaker 4: do it, because I do miss out on some inner
Speaker 4: I miss out on maybe some ideas I wouldn't otherwise
Speaker 4: have thought of. But I four years ago, five years ago,
Speaker 4: around the time I started to have a real national profile,
Speaker 4: just said I am never I shouldn't say never. I
Speaker 4: am almost never looking at my mentions. I am not
Speaker 4: engaging in it whatsoever, except for if people don't know
Speaker 4: when the back when Twitter was, you know, pre Musk,
Speaker 4: if you were verified, you had a separate mentions tab
Speaker 4: that would only show you tweets from other verified people.
Speaker 4: And so what that would mean is I would if
Speaker 4: any athletes, if any other journalists, if any other broadcasters
Speaker 4: were engaging with what I was saying, positively or negatively,
Speaker 4: I would see it.
Speaker 3: But and that maybe.
Speaker 4: People going to say that's elitist. I'm not listening, but
Speaker 4: it was, it was, it would It was too toxic
Speaker 4: of just you. I don't care how kind of you
Speaker 4: know what I mean above it you claim to be.
Speaker 4: If if you have thousands of strangers saying basically you suck,
Speaker 4: it's going to get in your head somehow. And the
Speaker 4: flip side is if you have thousands of strangers saying
Speaker 4: you're the greatest, it's going to get in your head somehow.
Speaker 4: And the things that and that you talked to Ethan
Speaker 4: Strauss about this, the things that get the most applause
Speaker 4: on social media are not necessarily representative of the things
Speaker 4: that are what I what I use social media for,
Speaker 4: which is a professional vehicle, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4: And so I stopped looking at my mention, so like
Speaker 4: I to this day. I just yesterday at the Yankee game,
Speaker 4: some guy came up to me was like, and I
Speaker 4: don't know why so many people e f and hate you.
Speaker 4: I think you're great, And it was like nice of him,
Speaker 4: but I also, like I was thinking, I was like, honestly,
Speaker 4: I'm I'm blissfully unaware these days of how many people
Speaker 4: hate me because you gotta find you. You better see
Speaker 4: me in person and tell me, and I have seen.
Speaker 4: So that's a very long even and it's not even
Speaker 4: a full answer. The reason I mentioned it, musk ripping
Speaker 4: off that verified tab to mean anything was to me
Speaker 4: very damaging on my ability to engage with anything on Twitter,
Speaker 4: very damaging. Uh.
Speaker 3: And so that to me was that's a shame.
Speaker 4: Now then you have like, hey, sign up for blue
Speaker 4: Sky and I got an invite code, and then it's
Speaker 4: like sign up for spill and then yesterday it was
Speaker 4: Threads and I'm all probably be a begrudging late adopter,
Speaker 4: but I I don't know, man, I got six hundred
Speaker 4: thousand followers on Twitter. I also am blessed to have
Speaker 4: a platform outside of social media where you want to
Speaker 4: see what I have to say. Like I'm on television
Speaker 4: every day, I do a podcast. It's not my only outlet.
Speaker 2: So I remember I lived in Connecticut nine years ago,
Speaker 2: and I remember exactly where I was. I was in
Speaker 2: my driveway, I was on my cell phone, and you
Speaker 2: and I would talk about once a month about business
Speaker 2: and stuff. And I said to you, I said, just
Speaker 2: be patient. We'll work together. I said, I respect you.
Speaker 2: You like the right stuff. You're not overly dramatic, you
Speaker 2: have a sense of humor. I'm like, you probably don't
Speaker 2: remember this call, but I do. I remember we had
Speaker 2: a gravel driveway, and so it was probably ten years
Speaker 2: because it took us a year to fix it and
Speaker 2: all the gravel would get stuck in our time. So
Speaker 2: we made it, you know, Cement. And I said to you,
Speaker 2: I said, you're gonna this thing's gonna work. Like all
Speaker 2: these bloggers most full of shit, they don't break any stories.
Speaker 2: And I had gone to my ESPN bosses and I said,
Speaker 2: whoever runs the big lead, he's actually breaking stories. He's
Speaker 2: not just aggregating stuff like he breaks stories. Do you
Speaker 2: remember me telling you, and this is probably ten or
Speaker 2: eleven years ago, that we were going to work together.
Speaker 3: I can, I say, I vaguely recall that, Colin. I
Speaker 3: know we would have conversations from time to time about
Speaker 3: the industry, the business, which way it was headed. Could
Speaker 3: you could already see kind of the tea leaves were shifting.
Speaker 3: Things were moving kind of quickly but also slowly, the
Speaker 3: same way cables erosion is happening now. You could kind
Speaker 3: of see how blogs, which had kind of disrupted newspapers
Speaker 3: and sports, all of a sudden, blogs start to get
Speaker 3: phased out as social media pops up. And I could
Speaker 3: kind of see like, Okay, we're making money on the
Speaker 3: big lead. Things are going well, but yeah, I need
Speaker 3: to start thinking about what's next for me, what's next
Speaker 3: in my career? And when you mentioned TV, I was like, well, geez,
Speaker 3: I didn't go to college for that. You know, Am
Speaker 3: I going to be prepared? And I think you. I
Speaker 3: recall you telling me, hey man, you've got nothing to
Speaker 3: worry about. Just be yourself. And that's kind of been
Speaker 3: a lot of the advice you've given me. Just be yourself.
Speaker 3: You do your homework, you're well researched, be ready when
Speaker 3: your numbers called. You know, I feel like that pinch
Speaker 3: hitter in the dugout, waiting for that opportunity and then
Speaker 3: the coach says, all right, get on deck, you're up
Speaker 3: to bet. And you always got to be ready.
Speaker 2: So the New York Times disbanded their sports department. You
Speaker 2: and I talk a lot off the air. It's probably
Speaker 2: our primary discussion off the air is either rumors in
Speaker 2: sports or rumors in our industry. So when they bought
Speaker 2: the Athletic, it was, you know, it was they showed
Speaker 2: their hand. It wasn't going to be the New York
Speaker 2: Times Sports department. The Athletic was going to become the
Speaker 2: sports department. I think everybody in the industry sort of
Speaker 2: knew that. I always looked at The New York Times
Speaker 2: Sports as sort of people a little precious. If you
Speaker 2: cover bad minton, I'm not going to take you seriously.
Speaker 2: They did didn't really like appear to like sports, So
Speaker 2: you know, for a global newspaper, maybe that works.
Speaker 3: But again, I.
Speaker 2: Think I can think Tyler Kepner did great work with baseball.
Speaker 2: I read a lot of him. But I could also
Speaker 2: think you could see this coming from one hundred miles away.
Speaker 2: They they have sports writers that like write once a month.
Speaker 2: It's a grinder's world. There's lots of people in our
Speaker 2: business who are good, they're just infrequent contributors. And as
Speaker 2: somebody that now owns a company, I need daily or
Speaker 2: bi weekly work. Were you shocked by the Times move, No,
Speaker 2: not at all.
Speaker 3: Like you said, there's these feature writers that was like
Speaker 3: the golden position in newspapers. Right, like how you would
Speaker 3: write for Sports Illustrated. You'd like one piece, it would
Speaker 3: take you a month to write it. That would be
Speaker 3: your story. And it was like, that's a plumb job.
Speaker 3: Who would Who wouldn't want to work like that? But
Speaker 3: you could see The New York Times was kind of
Speaker 3: trying to zig when the industry's zagging, like, hey, you
Speaker 3: want to read about the NBA, that's all over the internet, radio, TV.
Speaker 3: We're going to give you all the tennis you can handle.
Speaker 3: We're going to back up the brinkstruck and unload on
Speaker 3: golf and like you said, badminton, and we're going to
Speaker 3: go for kind of these peculiar stories maybe about table
Speaker 3: tennis or what have you. And yeah, they would do
Speaker 3: great investigative work. But again, it's not the kind of
Speaker 3: thing Colin where it's just sustainable where you write one
Speaker 3: story even a week like that just doesn't work. I mean,
Speaker 3: think about it. You when you do the Herd, you've
Speaker 3: got to lead every hour with heavy, strong takes to
Speaker 3: keep the sports fans coming, and you got to do
Speaker 3: that five days a week. Like this idea that writers
Speaker 3: and journalists could work once a week, once a month,
Speaker 3: that's just that's archaic. That stuff does not exist anymore.
Speaker 3: And you know, you see where this is headed, like
Speaker 3: this is the New York Times, you know, the one
Speaker 3: newspaper subscription that's worked. They just said no to their
Speaker 3: sports section. It's over. So you got to start thinking
Speaker 3: about where this goes in five years and ten years,
Speaker 3: and it's not a pretty place. Obviously.
Speaker 2: It's almost like a liberal idealistic tunnel on Skipper figure
Speaker 2: this out at dizone. There's plenty of quotes on the
Speaker 2: internet where John made some you know, some purchases when
Speaker 2: he was at his zone and he figured out touching
Speaker 2: all the bases is irrelevant. You got to go after
Speaker 2: the big stories. It's all anybody talks about, and John Skipper,
Speaker 2: I don't have them in front of me acknowledge that
Speaker 2: is sometimes you know, I think sometimes left leaning journalists
Speaker 2: feel like they want to touch all the bases and
Speaker 2: cover the people that don't get love. It's over. Like
Speaker 2: the athletic. I go for NFL, NBA playoff takes UFC.
Speaker 2: You know, there's very few things. In fact, I don't
Speaker 2: even go to the athletic for UFC. I go to
Speaker 2: him for NFL, college football, NBA sometimes, you know, I
Speaker 2: have places I go for UFC. I mean, I basically
Speaker 2: have four sports. I love NFL, NBA, college football, and UFC.
Speaker 2: I'll pay whatever it takes to get it. And then
Speaker 2: I don't really count the United States men's national team.
Speaker 2: That's like, you know, that's sort of a that's our team.
Speaker 2: And then I like college basketball and I like baseball,
Speaker 2: but I'm not going to pay big money for him.
Speaker 2: If they're there all watch I'll discussed infrequently, but I
Speaker 2: do think there's sometimes in the journalism world there's this
Speaker 2: sense we're going to cover all the bases and it
Speaker 2: doesn't matter. You've got to cover. You were at the
Speaker 2: big lead. You didn't I remember this. You didn't waste
Speaker 2: a lot of time trying to appease everybody. Take me
Speaker 2: to your thought process on creating a blog that you
Speaker 2: sold for seven figures.
Speaker 3: Well, when you try to please everybody, you please nobody,
Speaker 3: because nobody's going to be happy with your work. I'll
Speaker 3: never forget Colin. I would wake up before school every
Speaker 3: morning in around six o'clock on the East Coast. My
Speaker 3: dad would be leaving for work. He'd pick up the
Speaker 3: Washington Post from the driveway and I'd say, Dad, you know,
Speaker 3: peel me out the sports section, and I would look
Speaker 3: at the sports section and read about what happened in
Speaker 3: sports the night before, Like that's how we used to
Speaker 3: get news. Okay, Now you wake up, your alarm to
Speaker 3: wake up is probably on your phone, and instantly you've
Speaker 3: got a run down of what happened that matters. And
Speaker 3: I know there's NHL purists who believe, like, oh man,
Speaker 3: the NHL draft was crazy. I'm sure it was, but
Speaker 3: the number of people who care about that does not
Speaker 3: matter to me. Running a website, people want to know
Speaker 3: what's going on in the NBA, NFL, college football, and
Speaker 3: then they want the other stuff like Britney Spears versus
Speaker 3: Victor Wambinyama, wackiness like that. They love those wacky stories
Speaker 3: that anyone can relate to. Listen, I played tennis myself.
Speaker 3: I entering a tournament later this month. I can't tell
Speaker 3: you the last story I read about tennis. Okay. I
Speaker 3: don't play a lot of golf. I know a lot
Speaker 3: of friends who play golf. They don't read golf, Like,
Speaker 3: there is not really a lot of compelling stories in
Speaker 3: those granular sports. You've really got it as you told
Speaker 3: me once when I got a radio show on Fox
Speaker 3: Sports Radio, play the hits. That was like your number
Speaker 3: one thing. Play the hits. You could lead with Aaron
Speaker 3: Rodgers one day, Cowboys the next day. Play the big stories.
Speaker 3: People care about that deeply. As much as I I
Speaker 3: want to bag on the Houston Texans, you know I
Speaker 3: can't open a show with that here. You know on
Speaker 3: my podcast, I wasn't blogging much about the inferior teams
Speaker 3: in the NFL. You got to give the people what
Speaker 3: they want.
Speaker 2: You've also always had an eye and I've always loved it,
Speaker 2: but you've had an eye for gambling. You're very good
Speaker 2: at it. And you know, again, I try not to
Speaker 2: be precious the there's a you know, a sense that
Speaker 2: you know gambling. Be very careful about gambling. People can
Speaker 2: get hooked. The average bet when I worked with FanDuel,
Speaker 2: the average bet was four dollars. Ninety nine percent of
Speaker 2: the people are not betting what they can't handle. Are
Speaker 2: there people that can't handle that responsibility? Yes, thirty million
Speaker 2: Americans are obese. There are people that can't handle bagels.
Speaker 2: There are people that can't handle alcohol. The disturbance rate
Speaker 2: or distortion rate for gambling is one percent. It's six
Speaker 2: percent for alcohol. Lots of people can struggle with alcohol,
Speaker 2: not that many people, you know, the stories are anecdotal.
Speaker 2: There are people to get lost in it. Overwhelmingly people
Speaker 2: at four or five bucks. That's what they gamble. So
Speaker 2: I want to go to your over unders in the
Speaker 2: NFL because you and I are aligned on almost everything.
Speaker 2: The one thing or not you hate the Rams, now
Speaker 2: I worry about because I have friends that work with
Speaker 2: them about being a Homer. But I've got friends all
Speaker 2: over the Chargers, and I'm always reluctant to embrace the Chargers.
Speaker 2: But I do think it's a head coach quarterback league,
Speaker 2: and I think there's four positions you got to get right,
Speaker 2: head coach, quarterback, somebody in your front five defensively, and
Speaker 2: a big time weapon, and I think the Rams have
Speaker 2: all of that. I also think they're incredibly young on defense,
Speaker 2: but that's about Kansas City last year was young on defense.
Speaker 2: If you have an elite defender up front, you can
Speaker 2: be really young in your back seven. Because we talked
Speaker 2: about this with Webbin Yama. Offense is refinement. Defense is
Speaker 2: blowing shit up. Defense is about fast speed, can you
Speaker 2: disturb the offense, young defenses. The Jets have all sorts
Speaker 2: of young players. They're fast. If they get injured, they
Speaker 2: get healthier faster. So I think the Rams tend to
Speaker 2: be better than people think. What is your and again, coach, quarterback, weapon,
Speaker 2: defensive linemen like you get those four right? You can
Speaker 2: have flaws everywhere. What is your primary concern with the Rams? Well,
Speaker 2: they're clearly top heavy.
Speaker 3: But I do want to let me prefaces by saying
Speaker 3: I'm a big Rams fan now that I move to
Speaker 3: LA Like, Yeah, I like them, I root for them.
Speaker 3: I go to some Rams games. I know people who
Speaker 3: are friends with Stafford in vacation with him. I listen.
Speaker 3: I like the Rams. I've rooted for Stafford. I like
Speaker 3: Cooper cup Colin. This team is Honestly, the Rams are
Speaker 3: closer to being in the Caleb Williams Sweepstakes than the playoffs.
Speaker 3: That's the reality. I had someone how I've been saying
Speaker 3: on your show, give me their defensive depth chart. I
Speaker 3: don't know anybody other than Aaron Donald. They have. They
Speaker 3: drafted I believe fourteen rookies and they signed twenty four
Speaker 3: undrafted players thirty eight. I don't know how many are
Speaker 3: going to make the roster. But Colin, you look at
Speaker 3: that to depth chart, too deep chart on the defense,
Speaker 3: and it is one of the worst in the league.
Speaker 3: They are super top heavy with Stafford, who, by the way,
Speaker 3: had a major elbow thing. And I'm just saying, like
Speaker 3: I said on your show, that there's a world where
Speaker 3: Aaron Donald maybe gets traded. Like if I'm McVeigh and
Speaker 3: I was close to retirement, what would you want to do?
Speaker 3: Keep going with this old crew, or all of a
Speaker 3: sudden you start out, you know, two and five, one
Speaker 3: and four. It's like, ooh, I don't know what we
Speaker 3: have here. And when I'm looking at over unders, I
Speaker 3: bet the schedule. I think that under on the Rams
Speaker 3: is one of the best bets on the board currently.
Speaker 3: I see it at six and a half. Colin, I
Speaker 3: know you like the Rams. You know lesson you need
Speaker 3: all these guys like you are way off market. Now, listen,
Speaker 3: that's not the worst thing in the world. Last year
Speaker 3: at this time, nobody had the Eagles winning the Super
Speaker 3: Bowl or going to the Super Bowl, you know, so
Speaker 3: you know, maybe the Rams exceed expectations. But at six
Speaker 3: and a half, it just tells me man that schedule,
Speaker 3: the age on this team, you know they could be
Speaker 3: in a lot of shootouts and being on the wrong
Speaker 3: end of a lot of them.
Speaker 2: Okay, you're most interesting over You have the Ravens over
Speaker 2: nine and a half. My concern is of their top
Speaker 2: nine players, eight have an injury history. Of the Steelers
Speaker 2: top nine players, none do.
Speaker 3: TJ.
Speaker 2: Watt was banged up last year. But when TJ Watt's healthy,
Speaker 2: the Steelers win seventy five percent of their games. But
Speaker 2: you have them as an over Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Deshaun
Speaker 2: Watson should be better. There will be an argument by Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2: It may be one of the best divisions, if not
Speaker 2: the best division in football. So where do you get
Speaker 2: ten plus wins for the Ravens. So I look at
Speaker 2: this usually, you know macro sense, it's NFC overs AFC unders.
Speaker 2: That's pretty much how I would lean because the AFC
Speaker 2: is so incredibly stacked. Why I look at the Ravens, Colin,
Speaker 2: You know, I know we've made fun of not Deshaun Watson,
Speaker 2: Lamar Jackson, right, Lamar Jackson last few years has been hurt.
Speaker 2: But what's funny is with him healthy despite how bad
Speaker 2: the supporting cast has been They've been a first place
Speaker 2: team in November, and all of a sudden, Lamar Jackson
Speaker 2: goes down and the kind of the bottom falls out,
Speaker 2: injuries to the offensive line, injuries to the defense, defense
Speaker 2: getting old. I like the reinvigoration. Offensive coordinator. Munket comes
Speaker 2: from Georgia, and some people have broke down on YouTube
Speaker 2: some stuff that he used to do spread offense even
Speaker 2: with Stetson Bennett. Okay, I know they had a defense
Speaker 2: that carried him to two Natties, but Stetson Bennet's do
Speaker 2: some interesting things in the pocket, a lot of pre
Speaker 2: snap movement that you know, the analytics guys loves. And
Speaker 2: there's a world where Lamar Jackson is in play if
Speaker 2: he's healthy for an MVP award. He's got the best
Speaker 2: supporting cast and skill position he's ever had. And you know,
Speaker 2: I think this was in a movie or something, but
Speaker 2: you know, always bet on Harball because both Harball brothers
Speaker 2: have done a lot of winning and John Harball is
Speaker 2: just a winning coach man. This guy knows what to do.
Speaker 2: So I would lean on the Ravens nine and a half.
Speaker 2: So one other bet you have that's interesting. You have
Speaker 2: the Texans under six and a half. And so I
Speaker 2: have a friend who kind of deals in the world
Speaker 2: of quarterbacks college and pro and he's not judgmental. He
Speaker 2: travels around, he sees a lot of them, and he
Speaker 2: was recently at an event where C. J. Stroud was
Speaker 2: at the event Texans rookie quarterback, and his takeaway was,
Speaker 2: I don't get it, like I didn't see the juice.
Speaker 2: He's quiet, he doesn't jump out as a leader. He
Speaker 2: throws a nice catchable ball. Ohio State has never had
Speaker 2: a great NFL quarterback. And my argument's always been j
Speaker 2: MA because it's always been is that in the SEC,
Speaker 2: there's six or seven teams with NFL bodies everywhere, but
Speaker 2: in the Big Ten outside of Michigan, every team Ohio
Speaker 2: State plays is significantly less talented. And you're just it's
Speaker 2: an easy college life for quarterbacks. As good as a
Speaker 2: Georgia quarterback is or an LSU quarterback is, they're facing
Speaker 2: NFL defensive bodies every Saturday, big stadiums, loud, lubricated. It
Speaker 2: doesn't matter how good your offensive line is. Two is
Speaker 2: getting banged up. Jalen Hurts at Alabama, You're going to
Speaker 2: get hit in the SEC and Ohio State's offensive lines
Speaker 2: five star. Ohio States receivers five star. It's an easy
Speaker 2: life and it's not a great place to prep for
Speaker 2: the NFL. And so when my friend told me this,
Speaker 2: he said, I just and he's very bright and he
Speaker 2: knows this stuff. He's like, I just don't see it.
Speaker 2: What is your best guess? On CJ. Stroud? We both
Speaker 2: admit Bryce his size is a concern. He's probably the
Speaker 2: number one guy. There's a lot of back and forth
Speaker 2: on Justin Fields. There's a lot of back and forth
Speaker 2: on CJ. Stroud. Generally there'll be a quarterback that we
Speaker 2: all sort of go, yeah, he's the best guy. Caleb Williams.
Speaker 2: Next year, he's the best guy. Luck Trevor Lawrence, right, Like,
Speaker 2: there's a guy Burrow. You thought he was better than
Speaker 2: I did, but he's gonna be fine. CJ. Stroud's in
Speaker 2: that justin Fields category, the Sam Darnold category. Like people
Speaker 2: are taking sides. What side are you on?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm on the side of The Texans are probably
Speaker 3: a four win team. Colin. They were an abject disaster
Speaker 3: last year and now you have a rookie quarterback. As
Speaker 3: you said from Ohio State, which hasn't produced any great ones.
Speaker 3: By the way, two years ago, Stroud, you probably had
Speaker 3: a better receiving cast at Ohio State than he will
Speaker 3: this year. Remember Olave Wilson Harrison like, he doesn't have
Speaker 3: those guys in the NFL. Now, rookie head coach who
Speaker 3: is a defensive head coach, and you go on rants
Speaker 3: probably weekly about how defensive head coaches that's not your
Speaker 3: jam in the NFL. First time play caller, I believe
Speaker 3: that is so much newness. And this is the second
Speaker 3: straight year in free agency where they just go and
Speaker 3: they just get guys. There's no like, ooh, that's a
Speaker 3: great buy, that's a great bargain, what value. You don't
Speaker 3: hear any of that With the Texans free agent moves,
Speaker 3: the GM in trouble. This franchise is just I don't
Speaker 3: see it. This is definitely an under six and a
Speaker 3: half for me. I actually feel they're in the basement
Speaker 3: in the division. It's not that hot of a take,
Speaker 3: but I think the Indianapolis Colts with Shane Steichen, offensive guy,
Speaker 3: will finish ahead of the Texans.
Speaker 1: All Right.
Speaker 2: We sent him to the Summer League, and as usual,
Speaker 2: he crushed it Jason timp coops tonight. I thought Wemby's
Speaker 2: first performance was a lot of jitters. I mean, the
Speaker 2: idea at nineteen of going into a foreign country and
Speaker 2: be the star attraction against you know, guys who are
Speaker 2: literally trying to make the league and are fighting for
Speaker 2: their survival and roster spot. You know, he knows he's
Speaker 2: already gonna make the team, so I thought it was
Speaker 2: kind of predictable that he would struggle. It was choppy,
Speaker 2: I gotta tell you, though, when I watched them today,
Speaker 2: you know, his size is just so impactful. There's just
Speaker 2: there's just no way around it. He's gonna He's gonna
Speaker 2: have twenty five point nights. So let's let's start with
Speaker 2: the difference. You saw Jason game one, Game two. What
Speaker 2: jumped out to you?
Speaker 5: This is so funny To me, that news cycle was
Speaker 5: objectively hilarious. It's like, Okay, here's this guy who already
Speaker 5: has been good against pros in France, who already was
Speaker 5: great against the G League night team, like destroyed them
Speaker 5: in two games in America a few months back, in
Speaker 5: like one game in Summer League, and everyone was rewriting
Speaker 5: whether or not this prospect was worth all of the hype,
Speaker 5: and then big shock he comes out with twenty seven
Speaker 5: and twelve with three blocks. Today, the big thing that
Speaker 5: stood out to me was just process. Like, honestly, I
Speaker 5: would I looked over at Carson and Logan our nerd
Speaker 5: Sash guys right before the game, and I'm like, I
Speaker 5: wonder if they're gonna play basketball or just throw him
Speaker 5: the bat or just throw them the ball, let him
Speaker 5: play ISO pickup ball. And that's what they did in
Speaker 5: that first game. For several possessions, He's just standing on
Speaker 5: the wing dribbling like he's Kevin Durant against Kai Jones.
Speaker 5: And that's literally the hardest way to play basketball. And
Speaker 5: you know, I kind of did a little thing on
Speaker 5: my show today. Every young player has a floor in
Speaker 5: a ceiling, and their floor is mainly based on what
Speaker 5: they're already great at, and then their ceiling is based
Speaker 5: on whether or not they can address their weaknesses. He
Speaker 5: has things that he's great at. He's the greatest combination
Speaker 5: of height and length and coordination of any center that
Speaker 5: we've ever seen. He's already got great defensive instincts and
Speaker 5: a good amount of offensive polish. So if you play
Speaker 5: easy basketball with him, he will excel. There was a
Speaker 5: sequence at the end of this game where he set
Speaker 5: a ball screen, there was a switch, he flashed to
Speaker 5: the middle of the floor. They threw him the ball
Speaker 5: and he just quick shot a little turnaround fade away
Speaker 5: over his right shoulder to make it to get it
Speaker 5: back to four. Very next possession, guy drives along the
Speaker 5: left side, the rim protector gets occupied. He just relocates
Speaker 5: to the left wing and takes a wide open catch
Speaker 5: and shoot three, and he makes it to get it
Speaker 5: back to one. I'm like, this is what it's gonna
Speaker 5: look like in San Antonio real basketball, where he has
Speaker 5: an opportunity to demonstrate what he's great at. And I'm
Speaker 5: not surprised at all that he popped in that setting.
Speaker 5: I thought all of the reaction to Game one was
Speaker 5: really misplays, disrespectful to what he's already accomplished as a pro,
Speaker 5: and just it was predictable.
Speaker 3: That he would it bounce back the way he did today.
Speaker 2: Yeah, in the game one. In Game two, there was
Speaker 2: a moment where somebody ripped the ball out of his hands,
Speaker 2: and I do think like if somebody said to me, like,
Speaker 2: what's the one glaring weakness, I would say weakness. He's nineteen, Like,
Speaker 2: you know, guys are you know he put the ball
Speaker 2: up a couple times and guys just grab it and
Speaker 2: pulled it out of his hands. And it's like, yeah,
Speaker 2: you can tell he need. You know, when you start
Speaker 2: looking at these veteran NBA guys, they look like they've
Speaker 2: been in a professional weight room for seven years. Like
Speaker 2: it's just a different definition. So if you told me like,
Speaker 2: I could see them building a schedule and saying and
Speaker 2: I thought I said this with Okac, they should do
Speaker 2: it for chet Holmegron fifty eight games. Just take some
Speaker 2: road trips off, stay home, lift weights for four days
Speaker 2: instead of that two team road trip to say, you know, Houston, Orlando,
Speaker 2: stay home, eat, work out, try to make as many
Speaker 2: home games as you can right and have a limited
Speaker 2: road schedule. Not that you don't need to go on
Speaker 2: the road, but there'll be times. I just want him
Speaker 2: to stay home, sleep, eat, lift and play fifty eight games.
Speaker 2: And I feel that way with Wemby. It's like, obviously
Speaker 2: he has his motors running. I mean, when you know,
Speaker 2: when you were nineteen, you could polish off two turkey
Speaker 2: sandwich is glass of milk, two cookies hour later, you're
Speaker 2: starting right like that's who he is. He's nineteen, He's
Speaker 2: going to burn seven calories, and it's like the only
Speaker 2: thing I look at. I think he just needs to
Speaker 2: get stronger. He just needs he needs just nights off,
Speaker 2: because you know, I've talked to NBA guys about this.
Speaker 2: You start burdening calories when you're nineteen, twenty twenty one
Speaker 2: to twenty two. It's hard to keep weight on if
Speaker 2: you're playing forty at night in this because these guys,
Speaker 2: a lot of these guys Jason, especially college guys, didn't
Speaker 2: play any defense in college matchup zones, and you kind
Speaker 2: of regard a space. It's the first time you've had
Speaker 2: to guard a guy, so like it is a whole
Speaker 2: different ballgame. So I just think, I think he's just
Speaker 2: gonna get a little bit stronger. But there were a
Speaker 2: couple when you need those back to back dunks, there
Speaker 2: are these moments of like he's just gonna get some
Speaker 2: Like there's you could you know when a players great
Speaker 2: when you perfectly defend them and they score like length
Speaker 2: is undefeated, like it just wins all the time. If
Speaker 2: Durant's six ' eight he's not the same player. He's
Speaker 2: just really really good. So and I thought, I will
Speaker 2: tell you this, he's a really gracious kid, like I
Speaker 2: think he's really grateful for it, and I think it matters,
Speaker 2: like I don't see any I thin. He's just really,
Speaker 2: you know, very grateful for it. I don't know. I
Speaker 2: think he's got the perfect you know, I'm gonna throw
Speaker 2: a through really quickly. So Popovich got Lucky Robinson Duncan
Speaker 2: like the nicest guys in the world. Right. Then he
Speaker 2: gets Kawhi, who's difficult, right, and he leaves and he
Speaker 2: says to himself, I'm not doing that. Wemby has got
Speaker 2: an old school grateful personality, a little bit the old school, right,
Speaker 2: And the foreign players, as we've discussed, come into the
Speaker 2: country and they're very appreciative. It's new. All visitors are
Speaker 2: more polite, right you go overseas I do or more polite.
Speaker 2: I think he's been waiting for the next you know,
Speaker 2: just happened to be an international player. I think they're
Speaker 2: gonna do really well. I think this is going to
Speaker 2: be Popovich just third run to you.
Speaker 3: Absolutely.
Speaker 5: I mean the beauty of having a personality like that
Speaker 5: at a position like that. If you think about duncan is,
Speaker 5: it makes it really easy to bring different types of
Speaker 5: volatile ball handlers around him, because not only is he unassuming,
Speaker 5: he is your foundational piece. He's the guy that you
Speaker 5: build your entire defense around. On offense, he's the guy
Speaker 5: that's going to pick and pop to the top of
Speaker 5: the to the key, or to beat switches with smaller guys,
Speaker 5: he'll bury him in the post. But he actually needs
Speaker 5: a primary ball handler. And so when you have a
Speaker 5: guy like that who also has a great attitude, it's
Speaker 5: going to make it really easy to find players that
Speaker 5: want to play with him. I really like the point
Speaker 5: you made about putting on weight, because I've never thought
Speaker 5: of it thought about it that way in terms of
Speaker 5: cutting back his playing time as a vehicle with which
Speaker 5: to put on muscle, because it is so difficult to
Speaker 5: maintain weight at alone gain weight during a basketball season.
Speaker 5: Every year I'd play, I'd go into the season at
Speaker 5: like two twenty seven, twenty nine, and I come out
Speaker 5: of the season like two seventeen, two nineteen, because like you,
Speaker 5: just all you're doing is playing and playing and sweating
Speaker 5: and playing and working out and going to class and
Speaker 5: you just don't ever have an opportunity to do what
Speaker 5: it takes to keep the weight on until you get
Speaker 5: to the offseason. So I like that idea of kind
Speaker 5: of like minimizing his workload as an opportunity to put
Speaker 5: on weight and to help avoid injuries. But you know,
Speaker 5: it's funny because the ceiling with him is completely ridiculous, right,
Speaker 5: the crazy high level shot making, the one legged three
Speaker 5: point shot that he takes from the top of the
Speaker 5: key that he actually made quite a bit when he
Speaker 5: was in Europe, all the stuff that he can do defensively.
Speaker 5: But overnight he's going to be really good in ways
Speaker 5: that impact winning. In terms of rim protection. He closed
Speaker 5: out a ton of possessions at the end of that game,
Speaker 5: just snatching defensive rebounds over the top of everybody getting
Speaker 5: to the foul and he shot twelve free throws tonight
Speaker 5: just because when he reaches to shoot over the top
Speaker 5: of people, they go for the ball and they get
Speaker 5: four armed because they're just not close to where he is. Right.
Speaker 5: But here's the thing. He's not gonna win Rookie of
Speaker 5: the Year most likely because it's gonna be someone like
Speaker 5: Scoot Henderson, someone that's gonna put up a ton of
Speaker 5: numbers that's going to pop earlier in their career with
Speaker 5: the way that their skill set goes. He's gonna be
Speaker 5: the kind of guy that all your long people are
Speaker 5: going to be looking for opportunities to minimize what he's doing.
Speaker 5: This is the dude that five to ten years from
Speaker 5: now has the potential to be both the best offensive
Speaker 5: player in the league and the best defensive player in
Speaker 5: the league. That is the ultimate ceiling there, but that
Speaker 5: will take time. He's not someone that's necessarily going to
Speaker 5: pop statistically early on, and so I hope people I
Speaker 5: hope people treat him with that level of fairness. But
Speaker 5: as far as Popovich goes, and I don't know if
Speaker 5: you saw, there's kind of a caveat there where like
Speaker 5: he may not actually stay on and coach that whole
Speaker 5: time because he's also the president of basketball operations. So
Speaker 5: they might work something out where they phase him out,
Speaker 5: but then maybe he can pick the successor at that point.
Speaker 5: But because of his specific personality and his skill set,
Speaker 5: they're going to be able to find pieces to surround
Speaker 5: him with. People are going to want to play with
Speaker 5: this guy. I think the Spurs are going to be
Speaker 5: relevant for the next decade.
Speaker 2: So I mean one of the coaches that's clearly on
Speaker 2: the hot seat is Brandon Staley with the Chargers, no question,
Speaker 2: if they don't make the playoffs, defensive coach, third year
Speaker 2: wasting justin Herbert's career, it'll be the only elite quarterback
Speaker 2: in the league that's not like growing.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 2: So my takeaway is if they don't make the playoffs
Speaker 2: and in the AFC, you got to win those close
Speaker 2: games Chargers, which historically you haven't, right, you just can't
Speaker 2: give away games when you outplay teams. If they fire
Speaker 2: Brandon Staley, I think they'll make the Calder Lincoln Riley.
Speaker 2: But what saves USC is that he makes over ten
Speaker 2: million a year and that he'd want fifteen because he
Speaker 2: can stay at USC as long as he wants. And
Speaker 2: I think Kellen Moore would get the job because the
Speaker 2: spanosy is historically don't spend on coaches. You could give
Speaker 2: Kellen four and a half, you know, four and a half,
Speaker 2: five and a half, six and a half, But I
Speaker 2: think the two coaches because you can't go from defensive
Speaker 2: coach the defensive coach. If no, you'd have to go offense.
Speaker 2: And my guess is the people in LA would say
Speaker 2: take Lincoln Bruin fans will certainly screamed at, but I
Speaker 2: think but I think Kellen Moore would be next in line.
Speaker 2: So to me, Brandon Staley has the most heat on
Speaker 2: him in the league. Is there a second?
Speaker 1: That's a good question, you know, I think Jerry shown
Speaker 1: to be a little more patient in fairness Mike for
Speaker 1: two years that they have been successful and it's not
Speaker 1: like they're going up against the bar where it's NFC
Speaker 1: championship or bust. Right, they haven't been in one in
Speaker 1: two and a half decades. I would say, you know
Speaker 1: that it feels like the Tomlin and the Harbaugh feel
Speaker 1: a little bit untouchable. I saw a story today and
Speaker 1: you and I have talked about this over the last
Speaker 1: several months. It's unique because this guy's and six Super Bowls,
Speaker 1: but there is a weird elephant in the room. Pressure
Speaker 1: on Bill. I think there was tangible pressure of him
Speaker 1: being aggressive and stealing his offensive coordinator from his good
Speaker 1: friend Nick Saban. Obviously they have a relationship, but you
Speaker 1: know Nick doesn't love losing offensive coordinators all the time,
Speaker 1: like he fights to keep those guys. They usually go
Speaker 1: on to be head coaches, not another offensive coordinator. I
Speaker 1: guess Brian dabol did it too, But I think there's
Speaker 1: enough smoke where there is no one's acting like Belichick's
Speaker 1: the village idiot. But isn't there just a time where
Speaker 1: every coach, well, usually it doesn't go like Popovich where
Speaker 1: you just don't win for seven eight years and kind
Speaker 1: of get to survive. Usually during that period it ends,
Speaker 1: I don't care how many championships you have in the
Speaker 1: history of sports, and how are they going to be
Speaker 1: that good relative to the AFC Colin.
Speaker 2: And also, if you read Ian O'Connor's book on Belichick
Speaker 2: or Jeff Benedict's, when you start reading these books, it's
Speaker 2: pretty clear that the Craft family, Robert Steven somebody has
Speaker 2: been at least one of the sources for some of
Speaker 2: the Belichick criticism. So it's they, You know, Bill, My
Speaker 2: wife used to say this, he was an HR for
Speaker 2: a long time. She said nobody, and it's not true,
Speaker 2: but she said, very rarely in her career when she
Speaker 2: fired somebody. Were they surprised? Right now? Now, we just
Speaker 2: had some horrible media layoffs, but very rarely as a
Speaker 2: coach fired and everybody goes, WHOA. When Belichick he's always
Speaker 2: had kind of a you know, he's short with people.
Speaker 2: He can be sort of condescending right media certainly for sure.
Speaker 2: Obviously he didn't get along great with Brady. No dinners
Speaker 2: together in twenty some years, so it wasn't great. But
Speaker 2: for the Crafts or somebody in their circle, there's a
Speaker 2: lot of inside information critical of Bill and those books.
Speaker 2: It had to come somebody in that family or near it.
Speaker 2: I think they would first go to him and talk
Speaker 2: about a consulting, seven figure consulting role. But fourth place
Speaker 2: is fourth place. And I think the minute he went
Speaker 2: defensive coordinator to offensive coordinator, he sort of laid the
Speaker 2: groundwork because what happened is he not only made the
Speaker 2: offense worse. It's a little bit of a speed bump
Speaker 2: for mac Jones, and reportedly Benvollen said this week that
Speaker 2: mac Jones and his family have forged a relationship with
Speaker 2: the Crafts so smart, so they're hearing things, They're hearing
Speaker 2: the frustration. I don't think it's outrageous after the year,
Speaker 2: if Bill steps down and there's a backdoor deal of
Speaker 2: some monetary noteworthy monetary value.
Speaker 1: I just don't see in the AFC. I mean, they
Speaker 1: would have to have the number one defense in the league.
Speaker 1: They would have to just be an incredible special teams team.
Speaker 1: Now granted they've been good in those units, but I'm
Speaker 1: talking the cream of the crop, because just look at
Speaker 1: their offensive personnel.
Speaker 3: It's not explosive enough.
Speaker 1: And you can't just go nineteen eighty seven, you know,
Speaker 1: try to run for twenty eight hundred yards in this
Speaker 1: leak current league, especially in the division there in which
Speaker 1: can all score points, right, have explosive quarterbacks.
Speaker 3: That's the other thing when.
Speaker 1: You're an owner or you know, and the fans, you
Speaker 1: get to see the Miami Dolphins offense and Josh Allen
Speaker 1: and now Aaron Rodgers. That's six games right that your
Speaker 1: watching start to finish and you kind of really know.
Speaker 1: And they've had a front row seat now in Josh
Speaker 1: Allen kicking their ass for a little while, and now
Speaker 1: with Tua being more explosive, or even if Mike White
Speaker 1: has to play the amount of talent they have on offense,
Speaker 1: they're going to score points in Miami. So I'm with you.
Speaker 1: I think he has I think trouble is ahead. You
Speaker 1: know it doesn't make him like he's got stupid overnight
Speaker 1: or now he's an idiot, And I think other teams
Speaker 1: would be very interested. But that also be interesting, right
Speaker 1: a guy over seventy very stuck in his ways. He
Speaker 1: was used to making a lot of coin. I mean
Speaker 1: someone just giving him four years eighty million dollars.
Speaker 2: It used to be that Belichick would work young front
Speaker 2: offices and poorly owned and run franchises like he did
Speaker 2: a lot of deals with Cleveland, you know, Buffalo.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: The fact that he re signed DeVante Parker, who is
Speaker 2: last in the league three years in a row at separation,
Speaker 2: the fact that they signed Juju Smith Schuster. The Chiefs
Speaker 2: worked the Patriots. The Chiefs got the value in the ring,
Speaker 2: didn't have to pay Juju. So the Chiefs now are
Speaker 2: working the Patriots. People are working the Patriots. It used
Speaker 2: to be New England work the other teams. So by
Speaker 2: signing Devonte Parker and not having really a high end
Speaker 2: tight end, what does it do? It makes Mac Jones
Speaker 2: less crucial. This team can win one way. Now, run
Speaker 2: game in defense, that's it. There is no because Ma's
Speaker 2: not an offscript player. So what it does is it
Speaker 2: forces I mean, Devonte Parker can only be schemed open.
Speaker 2: He doesn't get open. So what it does it forces
Speaker 2: mac Jones to be incredibly coachable. I mean, who in
Speaker 2: the world in this league on offensive coach would re
Speaker 2: sign the Vontae Parker for three years none.
Speaker 3: It's insane. It's insane.
Speaker 2: It really forces mac Jones to play Bill's way. That's
Speaker 2: what it feels like to me. I mean, Juju Smith
Speaker 2: Schuster kind of a slot guy, doesn't really separate. DeVante
Speaker 2: doesn't separate. By the way, what do they do in
Speaker 2: the draft? Two kickers, three guards. Again, speed Deficiency's offense
Speaker 2: never addressed them. They went three defensive players first, three guards,
Speaker 2: two kickers, didn't go to receiver until the end. So again,
Speaker 2: he's creating a team that can win in Bill's worldview,
Speaker 2: not Max, not where. Remember when Brady and Randy Moss
Speaker 2: really lit the world up. That's kind of the beginning
Speaker 2: of where Bill lost his leverage. It wasn't in the
Speaker 2: super Bowl. It was like, oh, Tom's the greatest quarterback ever,
Speaker 2: literally shattered records. That's when Tom started doing more commercials,
Speaker 2: was more comfortable speaking out, And I think that's coin
Speaker 2: of the tipping point. Where Bill felt I'm not going
Speaker 2: to do that again. I'm not going to make a
Speaker 2: guy and then lose control
Speaker 1: The volume