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Speaker 2: Fubo TV. All right, John Middlikoff, former NFL scout, you
Speaker 2: know him, you love him the podcast three and out,
Speaker 2: loves his golf as well. As we get ready for
Speaker 2: the Masters that's around the corner. But we've got some
Speaker 2: NFL stuff to talk about. So we got into this
Speaker 2: discussion on the show today and I said you know, obviously,
Speaker 2: when the NFL had to write almost a you know,
Speaker 2: a billion dollar check for CTE, the game got safer
Speaker 2: really fast. And you can't touch quarterbacks. You already can't
Speaker 2: go high or at the wrong angle on anybody but
Speaker 2: a running back going forward. That's why it's really makes
Speaker 2: sense to have two and three running backs in the rotation,
Speaker 2: because it's the last position you can really clobber from
Speaker 2: any angle at any time. And I said, because it's
Speaker 2: become such an offensive league, there's only one way to
Speaker 2: win with exceptional offensive quarterback play. And I said, here's
Speaker 2: the thing about Shnur Sanders. If you're Cleveland, if you
Speaker 2: draft him, he is at best the third best quarterback
Speaker 2: in that division. He'll never be as good as Burrow.
Speaker 2: He's not that kind of prospect. And he's not Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 2: If the Steelers hit on a quarterback in the next
Speaker 2: two years, he could be four. He's not an exceptional athlete,
Speaker 2: not an exceptional arm and if, for instance, the Giants
Speaker 2: wanted him, he's not going to be Jayden Daniels and
Speaker 2: he's not special athletically like Jalen Hurts. He may be
Speaker 2: better than Dak, but again, he would be third best
Speaker 2: quarterback in a division. And so my takeaway and Shaudeur
Speaker 2: Sanders is do teams think like that? It only takes
Speaker 2: one coach to love bow Nicks, right like Sean Payton
Speaker 2: loved him because there's a little bit of a doppelganger
Speaker 2: with Drew Brees. But when I look at Shaduur and
Speaker 2: I like him, I can't argue that Burrow Lamar Chaduur
Speaker 2: is three. I can't argue that Jalen and Jaden Daniels
Speaker 2: Shaduur is three. And those kind of quarterbacks are infrequent
Speaker 2: playoff quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: Do scouts think like that? Yeah? I mean these conversations
Speaker 1: definitely come up, not only right now but throughout the
Speaker 1: fall when your scouts are going in the problem with
Speaker 1: that mindset, you would never draft a quarterback because who
Speaker 1: the hell is ever going to be better than Lamar
Speaker 1: Jackson or Joe Burrow? Right or you know you're never
Speaker 1: gonna how are you ever gonna find like a twenty
Speaker 1: three year old Matt Stafford. More than likely you're not
Speaker 1: gonna draft this high again. And you know two names
Speaker 1: that I hear come up a lot or definitely one,
Speaker 1: and I'll use another name is Andy Dalton, and I
Speaker 1: would throw Derek Carr in there as well. You know,
Speaker 1: I think people that say you know that Kype skill set,
Speaker 1: historically Shador Sanders, those guys went picked thirty five and
Speaker 1: picked thirty six, I think ten years ago. He's going
Speaker 1: in the second round and people are very excited about him.
Speaker 1: Jimmy Garofflow as well. At the end of the second round.
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton has made one hundred and sixty eight starts
Speaker 1: in the NFL, and he was in a division with
Speaker 1: a fantastic Ravens defense and Roethlisberger in his prime and
Speaker 1: they were going to the playoffs all the time. Carr
Speaker 1: took a dysfunctional Raider team twice to the playoffs. So
Speaker 1: if Shador is in that mold, it's really on the organization.
Speaker 1: And if you're the Browns, Andrew Berry's pretty good GM,
Speaker 1: Stefanski's pretty good coach. They got a lot of talent
Speaker 1: on the team. So if he can just become that
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton, Jimmy Garoppolo, Derek Carr, Yeah, you're not gonna
Speaker 1: beat you know, if Lamar Jackson or Joe Burrow are on,
Speaker 1: they're gonna beat you. But you still have a lot
Speaker 1: of other games throughout the season. So it's if you
Speaker 1: can build the team well enough, can't you compete to
Speaker 1: make the playoffs. I mean, they're drafting two over a
Speaker 1: hole right now, right And granted that's because I mean
Speaker 1: Deshaun became one of the worst quarterbacks we've ever seen.
Speaker 1: Their team just fell apart this year. But more than
Speaker 1: likely they're not gonna draft this high again. Now. Is
Speaker 1: it an quote unquote overdraft. Yeah, but the reason Mac
Speaker 1: Jones and Daniel Jones and those type guys became disastrous.
Speaker 1: You couldn't even function with them as your starting quarterback, right,
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton. For seven straight years with the Bengals, they
Speaker 1: did a good job. You could just every year you
Speaker 1: went in like, we're gonna win ten plus games. The
Speaker 1: Browns would die to do that. Their owner, who can
Speaker 1: be a little off the sometimes I give him credit
Speaker 1: for making the comment the other day. You never hear that,
Speaker 1: you know, admitting we still all the guy ninety million dollars.
Speaker 1: It's a disaster. It's like, well, yeah, that's true. Well yeah,
Speaker 1: they never say that he is spending a lot of cash,
Speaker 1: like the salary caps different than cash being spent Jeffrey
Speaker 1: Lury talked about that. I saw today they are spending more.
Speaker 1: I think they've spent more money over the last four
Speaker 1: years in cash than any other team in the league.
Speaker 1: It's like well over a billion dollars. So he is
Speaker 1: not in this to lose. But the betting markets have
Speaker 1: Abdul Carter as the heavy favorite to be the number
Speaker 1: two overall pick, so maybe they're thinking shad or Sanders.
Speaker 1: What the hell's the difference of Shador Sanders. I know,
Speaker 1: you like like Riley Leonard's of the world and those
Speaker 1: type guys. We can get a guy like that in
Speaker 1: the second or third round and maybe he can be
Speaker 1: like our cousins or Dak. They also talk and think
Speaker 1: like that, so maybe they go, I'd rather have Riley
Speaker 1: Leonard or Kyle McCord and Abdul Carter than Shador Sanders
Speaker 1: and whoever else we would get in the second round.
Speaker 1: So I think you're doing a lot of those conversations.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a lot of people saying that Jackson Dart
Speaker 2: has a better arm than shaduor Sanders, so you might
Speaker 2: as well just wait and draft Jackson Dart. Although I
Speaker 2: would say he's not nearly as accurate as Shadur Sanders.
Speaker 2: An accuracy to me is like a real thing, maybe
Speaker 2: the most important thing. Jalen Milrose mechanical. I think he
Speaker 2: has to fold the right hands or he could just
Speaker 2: be Anthony Richards at two point zero.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: You know, I've said Kyle McCord at Syracuse. I take
Speaker 2: him in the second round and feel pretty good. I
Speaker 2: will say this though, that you know, people say it's
Speaker 2: not a very good draft, and I'll tell you I
Speaker 2: look at certain teams that need skill players, like the
Speaker 2: New York Giants. If they got Travis Hunter with their
Speaker 2: first pick and then their second pick, god, is it
Speaker 2: Trayvon Henderson from Ohio State. Yeah, with molite neighbors. I
Speaker 2: look at that and I think myself, Oh, that's a
Speaker 2: great draft for the New York Giants because I like
Speaker 2: their head coach as an offensive coach, and I think
Speaker 2: Russell will actually be a better version of the Pittsburgh
Speaker 2: Russell because I think Mike Tomlins culture is years behind
Speaker 2: Brian Daball offensively. Is there a team in this draft
Speaker 2: that you look at and think, you know, it's not
Speaker 2: a great draft, but what they need running back, tight end,
Speaker 2: defensive tackle, there's a surplus of in this draft.
Speaker 1: Well, I think if you look at the Giants, if
Speaker 1: you're Brian day Ball, people go, why would they sign
Speaker 1: both those two guys? Because Brian Dayball's coaching for his job,
Speaker 1: Shador Sanders does not help him at all in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five. So he can take two quarterbacks, let the
Speaker 1: cream rise out of the two and go back and forth.
Speaker 1: He would go all in on Travis Hunter. He would
Speaker 1: want players that help him win immediately. So if you
Speaker 1: tell me they get Travis Hunter and they're starting running
Speaker 1: back or starting tight end or just another more explosive player, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I think the Giants are just much more feasib.
Speaker 1: You watch him at the end of the year last
Speaker 1: year when they had some injuries. It's like that this
Speaker 1: team has a lot of parallels with the Patriots, right,
Speaker 1: just no talent. What's going on here? But all of
Speaker 1: a sudden you get Molik Neighbors, which he has concussion issues.
Speaker 1: You know, you get another concussion. That's a little scary,
Speaker 1: But there is no disputing his physical gifts. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's a freak. I mean that's one you look back
Speaker 1: and this is the hard part about the draft. There
Speaker 1: is no such thing as a high floor because any
Speaker 1: player might not work out. It doesn't matter how your
Speaker 1: floor is determined once you get in the NFL. All
Speaker 1: I heard last year is like Marvin Harrison's floor is
Speaker 1: so Highlik's Malik could be boom or bust. And then
Speaker 1: you watch You're like, you don't think the Arizona Cardinals
Speaker 1: regret not going Moleak Neighbors over Marvin Harrison Junior, because
Speaker 1: they do, and the Giants benefited from them making that choice.
Speaker 1: And I think we use that term a lot. Ceilings
Speaker 1: are real, like certain guys have higher ceilings. Cam Ward's
Speaker 1: ceiling is obviously higher than Shad or Sanders, but a
Speaker 1: floor like we've seen all sorts of players not work
Speaker 1: out in the end. Ever know, and we always played
Speaker 1: this game a couple of years later, should have taken him?
Speaker 1: Should have taken him? No one knew that information. As
Speaker 1: we sit here a month away from the draft. If
Speaker 1: we would have known Richard Sherman and George Kittle and
Speaker 1: these guys exist in the fifth round, they would have
Speaker 1: been top twenty picks. So it is a little bit
Speaker 1: of a crapshooting. I think it gets more difficult in
Speaker 1: a class like this, which obviously there are gonna be
Speaker 1: a lot of really good players that come out of
Speaker 1: this draft, but no one feels that confident on a
Speaker 1: lot of these guys. You know, it's like, well, how
Speaker 1: high is Mason Graham's ceiling? Or it's like what's his name?
Speaker 1: The LSU tackle, It's like, well, yeah, arm length kind
Speaker 1: of matters at left tackle, but what if in five
Speaker 1: years he just becomes an All Pro guard? But you
Speaker 1: don't take an all Pro guard probably at five overall, right,
Speaker 1: you'd rather have a tackle. So there's just a lot
Speaker 1: of unknown, which I think a lot of these the
Speaker 1: scouting community is just there's like, yeah, it's kind of
Speaker 1: coin flip year. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean in your years of being a scout, I mean,
Speaker 2: you have your top one hundred and fifty players, like
Speaker 2: and you also have the red players that you won't
Speaker 2: draft either personnel, personality problems, character issues or injuries. Are
Speaker 2: there any dramatic moves with two to three weeks to
Speaker 2: go in the draft process when in your experience.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would say you know the information most of
Speaker 1: these teams, you know with the owners meetings, so all
Speaker 1: the gms and coaches are flying home, if not last
Speaker 1: night today and by either the end of the week
Speaker 1: or first thing next week, all your scouts come in
Speaker 1: and the scouts and your you know, your personnel people,
Speaker 1: some of your other executives have been on campuses over
Speaker 1: the last month, right meeting with coaches other personnel at
Speaker 1: those schools. Certain guys you don't have to worry about
Speaker 1: anything off the field, like they're just it's just perfect,
Speaker 1: you know Andrew lux Or, But there are a ton
Speaker 1: of those guys in the draft where it's like, you
Speaker 1: don't even But there are some guys maybe not legalot
Speaker 1: like they've been arrested or you know, crazy bad things,
Speaker 1: but they're just like how much does he really like football?
Speaker 1: Which might be a non negotiable in the organization, like
Speaker 1: the Ravens don't draft many people that aren't addicted to
Speaker 1: football watch them play over the last twenty years. So
Speaker 1: you're just like, maybe you've heard some stuff and you
Speaker 1: bring that information back to your GM, to your head coach,
Speaker 1: and that can sway stuff. So it's not like a
Speaker 1: dramatic unless someone gets in trouble and that becomes public knowledge.
Speaker 1: But it's basic things like yeah, I've heard some things
Speaker 1: that this guy might not be quite what we thought
Speaker 1: as a person, because I think when you know a
Speaker 1: lot of these people, when you talk to coaches and executives,
Speaker 1: most people fail, especially draft in the first couple of rounds,
Speaker 1: like they're meeting a lot of the requirements of height, weight, speed,
Speaker 1: played a sweet schools. It's usually the person that fails focus,
Speaker 1: screw around, not dialed in, doesn't really like football. Football
Speaker 1: is not like baseball where you just get to play
Speaker 1: every day, or basketball where you play three times a week.
Speaker 1: You practice basically five days a week and you play
Speaker 1: once and you only hit seventeen of the those games.
Speaker 1: For the majority of the league. You don't go to
Speaker 1: the playoffs, and then you get OTAs you get training camp.
Speaker 1: It's a lot of sitting in a room watching tape,
Speaker 1: getting yelled at, getting up early, going to you know,
Speaker 1: going to bed soar. It's not you know, Ray Lewis,
Speaker 1: you pay me Monday through Saturday. Sundays are for free.
Speaker 1: There's a lot to that. It's why the best players
Speaker 1: typically are football addicts at all the positions, right the
Speaker 1: JJ Watts, the Trent Williams that you just go around,
Speaker 1: George Kittle, you know at every Travis Kelcey forever, all
Speaker 1: the patriot type guys, the human being, but you got
Speaker 1: to be careful with overvaluing that because you do need
Speaker 1: to be able to play, and that's I think Belichick
Speaker 1: got in trouble at the end of his career. So
Speaker 1: it's it's hard. I mean, you run a company hiring people.
Speaker 1: You've had a lot of people on your show for
Speaker 1: years before even the volume. It's you're dealing with human
Speaker 1: beings with a lot of pressure, with a very public job.
Speaker 1: It's we all shit on it when guys miss, and
Speaker 1: it's fair sometimes, but it's also like, this is really
Speaker 1: really difficult to, you know, pick a guy. I hear
Speaker 1: this a lot. Why can't the Chiefs find a tackle? Well,
Speaker 1: it's like, guys, they've draft thirty one or thirty second
Speaker 1: every single year. They don't have that much cap space.
Speaker 1: And I don't know if you've checked free agency. Usually
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame tackles don't hit free agency. It's like,
Speaker 1: what do you want him to do? Like Lane Johnson
Speaker 1: isn't usually sitting there at pick thirty two, And when
Speaker 1: you're drafting at pick thirty two, you're also drafting at
Speaker 1: the end of the second round and the third round.
Speaker 1: It's it's much easier to draft when you're the Titans
Speaker 1: and you dictate every round than it is when you're
Speaker 1: the Bills or the Ravens or the Chiefs. How do you.
Speaker 2: How do you think the entire league accept San Francisco
Speaker 2: missed on brock Prudy. I mean, listen, I don't think
Speaker 2: I understand that he's not big, strong, But when he
Speaker 2: left Iowa State with a good coach, Matt Campbell, that
Speaker 2: program was a mess the next year, like they were
Speaker 2: a mess? Did they overthink the room? I mean again,
Speaker 2: I understand it. In Brady's generation, dude, all of his
Speaker 2: games are on TV, They're on some network somewhere. There
Speaker 2: are bigger scouting departments than ever. Why do you think
Speaker 2: people missed on brock Purdy who this week Jed York said, yeah,
Speaker 2: we're gonna sign him to he's a top ten quarterback
Speaker 2: in the league.
Speaker 1: Well, I think we naturally discriminate against shorter quarterbacks. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, you got to be pretty pretty special to
Speaker 1: be a short quarterback like Kyler Murray. You know, Baker
Speaker 1: Mayfield's winning the Heisman. He's at a smaller you know,
Speaker 1: non traditional power. I heard Daniel Jeremiah say something a
Speaker 1: couple of days ago to our buddy Yogi Roth, and
Speaker 1: I guess he did a photo shoot with Brock or
Speaker 1: did something through Toyota and spent some time with him
Speaker 1: and asked DJ asked Purdy, like, what do you think
Speaker 1: we miss people did evaluate on your position that you
Speaker 1: never hear anyone talk about. And Brock respond He's like,
Speaker 1: I don't ever hear anyone say like does this guy
Speaker 1: inspire his teammates? And DJ was like, I've never heard
Speaker 1: anyone talk like that, and then he started thinking the
Speaker 1: best quarterbacks Brady, you know, Breeze, Farv Manning. It's like, oh,
Speaker 1: they kind of were just like Mel Gibson leading the
Speaker 1: troops here, right. And I'll never forget when perty when
Speaker 1: Jimmy Garoppolo Garoppolo broke his foot, and remember the Niners
Speaker 1: were rolling with him. I was like, they're screwed the
Speaker 1: seventh rounder. And I'll never forget that. Next week leading
Speaker 1: into the game, guys like Fred Warner and people on
Speaker 1: defense and Nick Bosa saying because they had been practicing
Speaker 1: against him because he was the scout team quarterback, talk
Speaker 1: about him like he had been like a five year
Speaker 1: NFL pro and it's like, I don't think Fred Warner
Speaker 1: and Nick Bosa. I've watched these guys careers. They don't
Speaker 1: just throw around this. He is really good in the
Speaker 1: locker room with his guys. And that goes from Trent
Speaker 1: Williams to I was on a plane flight going to
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl with Deebo Samuel who at the times
Speaker 1: asking for a trade and the way he spoke. He
Speaker 1: loves Brock And obviously Brock is an accurate player, He's smart,
Speaker 1: he can process stuff, He's good in Kyle's scheme. He's
Speaker 1: an underrated athlete. But like you know, Brady's the greatest
Speaker 1: teammate of all time, right, Peyton Manning clearly just resonates
Speaker 1: with the guys. It's kind of been a knock on Rogers,
Speaker 1: but you look at Mahomes, team loves him. Josh Allen
Speaker 1: loved Lamar, loved Burrow. These guys love Burrow. That kind
Speaker 1: of matters. And I think Perty just there's something about
Speaker 1: him that he just gets guys. Because at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, from a player standpoint, he's kind of
Speaker 1: this as the quarterback, you're the CEO of the team,
Speaker 1: and he's kind of good at that. I remember hearing
Speaker 1: that in Philly when remember when Jalen technically wasn't a
Speaker 1: Wally pipp because Carson wasn't injured, he just got benched.
Speaker 1: It's like, yeah, the guys just like Jalen more. They
Speaker 1: just like they don't really get Carson. They just like Jalen,
Speaker 1: and it's like, we don't really discuss that, and sometimes
Speaker 1: you see it's like, yeah, I don't think the team
Speaker 1: really likes well, I mean kind of been a thing
Speaker 1: with Russell.
Speaker 2: Oh yes, I mean Russell. The minute he got out
Speaker 2: of his athletic prime, he couldn't do it. He couldn't
Speaker 2: do it on motivation and inspiration. He did it on elusiveness.
Speaker 2: And the minute that was gone, he aged very very quickly.
Speaker 2: And I think there's something too that I think Cam
Speaker 2: Newton had a little bit of that where Cam was
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Speaker 2: I wanted to so the you know the overs and
Speaker 2: unders are coming out, so I want us to give
Speaker 2: the audience have some fun here. Two overs and two
Speaker 2: unders and all start this. All the odds are provided
Speaker 2: by DraftKings sportsbook. So I'm going to give you an under,
Speaker 2: then you give me an under, and I'll give you
Speaker 2: another under, and then we'll do two overs. So my
Speaker 2: first under is the Chiefs at eleven and a half. Okay,
Speaker 2: Joe Tooney was by far and away the most had
Speaker 2: the most dexterity of any of their offensive linemen.
Speaker 1: He's gone.
Speaker 2: They are now crossing their fingers on a backup left
Speaker 2: tackle from San Francisco. They were eleven and oh in
Speaker 2: one possession games, right, and now the division is much better.
Speaker 2: The coaching and the quarterback play Bo Nixon year two
Speaker 2: Geno Smith if they get a running back in the
Speaker 2: first round. Geno Smith has a one zero six passer
Speaker 2: rating in Seattle on play action passing like if you
Speaker 2: give him a run game. Gino's very good on third
Speaker 2: and two, right, He's very good with play action passing,
Speaker 2: second in five, third and two, third and three. So
Speaker 2: I don't think I would take the under. Now, maybe
Speaker 2: they just go eleven and six. But I think the
Speaker 2: division is going to be improved, the quarterback play between
Speaker 2: Gino second year bo Again. I thought last year there
Speaker 2: were offensive line injuries with the Chargers. My guess is
Speaker 2: they'll be healthier. Okay, what say you give me an
Speaker 2: Give me an under?
Speaker 1: Do you say ten and a half? On that number, it's.
Speaker 2: Eleven and a half. DraftKings has the Chiefs at eleven
Speaker 2: and a half. I would bet the.
Speaker 1: Under got you. They've won over twelve games. I think
Speaker 1: every year Mahomes has started beside one. Yeah, but I
Speaker 1: hear you. It's you can have a good year. I
Speaker 1: mean they won a super Bowl, winning eleven. I would
Speaker 1: say an under. I like I do think the forty
Speaker 1: nine ers who are to the Rams won that division
Speaker 1: and were really good and honestly, I mean a couple
Speaker 1: of plays away from potentially beating the Eagles, and who knows,
Speaker 1: they might end up in the Super Bowl and win it.
Speaker 1: They wanted a ten and seven, right, so, and they're
Speaker 1: a team going through a lot of transition. So the
Speaker 1: forty nine ers won six games, though they were in
Speaker 1: a lot of them. They kind of melted at the
Speaker 1: end in a lot of them. So I actually think
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people are gonna think they're
Speaker 1: gonna win like six or seven games. I think they're
Speaker 1: gonna be better than people think. But once you start
Speaker 1: getting over ten, like ten and a half, like you
Speaker 1: could win nine or ten games, be that seven seed, hell,
Speaker 1: compete to win the division and have a good season.
Speaker 1: So I think the days, you know, definitely this season
Speaker 1: that's gonna be very dependent on young rookie players.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they have twelve draft picks.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean that's we've seen the Rams the last
Speaker 1: couple of years. I don't know exactly, they've been a
Speaker 1: fantastic team at the end of the year, that they're
Speaker 1: not winning twelve games. So I think the Niners probably
Speaker 1: more likely to win nine or ten games. I don't
Speaker 1: think that division is just going to be you know,
Speaker 1: the Cardinals are just a tough game every time you
Speaker 1: play them. Obviously, the Rams are good in Seattle going
Speaker 1: through a little bit of a transitional period, but they're
Speaker 1: head coach. I think they're pretty well run operation.
Speaker 2: Yeah, listen, they're one of my unders too at ten
Speaker 2: and a half. Yeah, they tried to get green Law
Speaker 2: back from Denver. They did not want to lose Hufunga. Okay,
Speaker 2: those were two big defensive losses. And let's be honest, John,
Speaker 2: the Bosas get hurt when Bosa was off the field.
Speaker 2: Last year. They were not a very good defense. They
Speaker 2: were really inconsistent. So now Whufungus gone, green Law's gone,
Speaker 2: Bosa will miss a stretch and it's not a great draft.
Speaker 2: So I don't think there's an impact player defensively. Maybe
Speaker 2: if they got like Will Johnson at corner from Michigan,
Speaker 2: I think that would be a really really you'd have
Speaker 2: to be happy with that. But yeah, I think I
Speaker 2: have San Francisco as an under. So I have Kansas City,
Speaker 2: you have San Francisco, I have San Francisco. Give me
Speaker 2: another under.
Speaker 1: I would say, I think there's a chance Miami is
Speaker 1: like the one of the worst teams in the NFL. Like,
Speaker 1: it would not shock me if you tell me. As
Speaker 1: you and I are sitting here doing a pre draft.
Speaker 1: A couple of weeks. Miami's in the mix. Maybe they
Speaker 1: don't have the number one overall pick, but I could
Speaker 1: see him being like the giants of the Patriots draft
Speaker 1: in three or four. It would not shock me to
Speaker 1: see them struggle to win four or five games. I
Speaker 1: think they're going to be terrible. I thought that last year,
Speaker 1: and they just obviously when two was on the field,
Speaker 1: they're more functional. It would not surprise me at all
Speaker 1: if this Tyreek situation doesn't go away and he ends
Speaker 1: up playing for another team this year. I don't know
Speaker 1: if that trade would happen during the draft. I know
Speaker 1: they've pushed back against that, maybe at the end of
Speaker 1: training camp. But I just expect Miami to implode. I
Speaker 1: really do. I mean, I don't really like the Jets
Speaker 1: that much either, but like even last year, the Jets
Speaker 1: do have a lot of good Oh absolutely, I just
Speaker 1: don't think Miami has that many good players, and they
Speaker 1: are one concussion away from all of a sudden, Zach
Speaker 1: Wilson's are starting quarterback.
Speaker 2: Yes, okay, I'll give you an over. I think Brian
Speaker 2: Callahan's a good coach. I think Will Levis is a
Speaker 2: really really bad NFL quarterback. I don't think he was
Speaker 2: a great college quarterback. And so I look at the
Speaker 2: over under on Tennessee and you know it's five and
Speaker 2: a half. Some have had it at six and a half.
Speaker 2: I think they clear that bar easily. First of all,
Speaker 2: cam Ward's a playmaker, and nobody's got real film on him.
Speaker 2: He didn't do a lot of straight pocket stuff in college.
Speaker 2: It was a lot of backyard stuff. And I think
Speaker 2: the league will take a while. And they did this
Speaker 2: with Jayden Daniels. It took a while to decode him.
Speaker 2: People were bo Nicks. You'd not quite sure what he is.
Speaker 2: It's a weak division. The Jags could be bad, the
Speaker 2: Colts would be bad. Houston should be pretty good, but
Speaker 2: not great. I think I'm gonna take the Titans over.
Speaker 2: I think it's a pretty week schedule. I think cam
Speaker 2: Ward is one of the only players in the draft
Speaker 2: that can equal wins. I think people think Callahan's a
Speaker 2: pretty good coach. And Callahan didn't just lack trust in
Speaker 2: will Levis. If you listened to his postgame comments after losses,
Speaker 2: he lost them three games straight out, and you watched
Speaker 2: his body language, he almost resented that will Levis was
Speaker 2: getting in the way of wins, and so I Titans
Speaker 2: to me earn over.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't think people. You know, we talk a
Speaker 1: lot about the Browns because of Watson, because Deshaun Watson's
Speaker 1: quarterback play by the month and no one was watching
Speaker 1: the Titans. Their quarterback play was like historically poor. I mean,
Speaker 1: the turnovers, the sacks he was taking. It was. Their
Speaker 1: defense was actually pretty good. Yes, And like any team
Speaker 1: with a pretty good defense, when your offense is that
Speaker 1: crappy by the time you get to like mid November,
Speaker 1: they can't maintain that level of play because they're on
Speaker 1: the field so much. So if their offense is just solid,
Speaker 1: I'm with you. I mean, he's got his dad there
Speaker 1: coaching offensive line. Massive upgrade just based on talent alone.
Speaker 1: I would say this, if you look at Vrabel, like
Speaker 1: the linebacker version of Harbaugh, you know, wants to play defense,
Speaker 1: wants to run the ball. Former players, just guys that
Speaker 1: just win. I think the Patriots we're right up there
Speaker 1: with the Bears as one of the worst coach teams
Speaker 1: you will ever see. Last season. Why couldn't they go
Speaker 1: nine to eight this year? So go the Jets. The
Speaker 1: Jets are gonna be awful. I think the Dolphins are
Speaker 1: gonna be worse. Yep, listen to the Bills. Who cares
Speaker 1: that even if they sweep you. I could see the
Speaker 1: Patriots winning eight or nine games.
Speaker 2: Listen, they were seven and a half DraftKings. They are
Speaker 2: now up to eight and a half. So the Sharks,
Speaker 2: it looks like we're all over the Patriots. So New
Speaker 2: England was one of my overs. And I said the
Speaker 2: other day on the air, I said, I think Vrabel
Speaker 2: from girod Mayo is worth three points. I think Drake
Speaker 2: May is worth another point based on sophomore season. And
Speaker 2: I think it's reasonable assume one hundred and ninety million
Speaker 2: in free agency and eight to nine draft picks is
Speaker 2: worth one and a half to two points. So if
Speaker 2: they're just five and a half points to six points better.
Speaker 2: And again you're talking about between the draft and free agency,
Speaker 2: like eight to nine new starters and a couple of
Speaker 2: high end starters. You're talking about Drake May potentially with
Speaker 2: a Travis Hunter. You're talking about the worst coach team
Speaker 2: to probably one of the seven to eight to nine
Speaker 2: best coach teams. That's five and a half to six points.
Speaker 2: They were three and six in one possession games with
Speaker 2: a rookie quarterback. If that's just six and three, you
Speaker 2: don't have to go nine to zero. This is an
Speaker 2: eight to nine win team. And again the Jets are
Speaker 2: a bit lost. I agree with you, Miami's a mess.
Speaker 2: So I think New England's in play.
Speaker 1: I would say the other team would be speaking of
Speaker 1: Harbaugh the Chargers. You know, last year, I just didn't
Speaker 1: pull the trigger and he did exactly what he yes did.
Speaker 1: They were the five seed. Well this year it's nine
Speaker 1: and a half, and everyone always gets off the scent
Speaker 1: with them. During like free agency, Jim is not going
Speaker 1: to trade for DK Metcalf and give one hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty million dollars. He didn't do it last year. He's
Speaker 1: not gonna do it this year. He won't do it
Speaker 1: next year. You know what he will do though, in
Speaker 1: like the second round, all of a sudden, he will
Speaker 1: draft his starting tight end for the next seven years
Speaker 1: and in the third round find a defensive tackle that
Speaker 1: everyone's going, this guy's not that sexy who will just
Speaker 1: be a starter for him for a long time. Then
Speaker 1: you watch the season and you just go, God, their
Speaker 1: team is just physical and good. He has a really
Speaker 1: talented quarterback. Why couldn't they win twelve games? I mean,
Speaker 1: they're over under right now is nine and a half.
Speaker 1: I think they are a lock. I mean, Jim Harbaugh
Speaker 1: is now coach in the NFL five years and made
Speaker 1: the playoffs and four of them. So I don't know
Speaker 1: if they can overtake the Chiefs, but it wouldn't shock
Speaker 1: me if it gets a little closer. And don't let
Speaker 1: free agency fool you. He's never gonna play in swimming
Speaker 1: that into the pool. They are never gonna do that.
Speaker 1: But you know, you've talked about this huge advantage for Jim.
Speaker 1: All these kids coming in the draft. He's recruited them all,
Speaker 1: especially the good ones, so he's gonna know these guys.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be a huge point of difference for him.
Speaker 1: I would expect them to have a good draft. His
Speaker 1: GM I think is pretty good. I mean, look at
Speaker 1: last year, It's like, how did they pass on Malak Davers?
Speaker 1: I don't know, they just got their starting tackle for
Speaker 1: the next decade. So I think the Chargers they fooled
Speaker 1: me is the wrong word. I just didn't have the
Speaker 1: kahonas just because I was like, I don't know if
Speaker 1: their roster is quite good enough, they are not gonna
Speaker 1: have great ride receivers. He typically never does, and he
Speaker 1: always wins. He won a national championship, he went to
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl, like he's not exactly gonna have Jerry
Speaker 1: Rice in his prime, and it's gonna work out just fine.
Speaker 2: Yeah, speaking of college football, so I mean, and the
Speaker 2: draft is obviously a convergence of pro and college football.
Speaker 2: I love this whole and luck GM of Stanford, and
Speaker 2: like now college football has an NFL field where teams
Speaker 2: are paying players and there's a general manager. You know.
Speaker 2: I got into this conversation the other day with somebody about,
Speaker 2: you know, the NFL Draft and Dion Sanders, and Dion
Speaker 2: looks like he is all in on Colorado, and he
Speaker 2: looks like he is stepping back on you know, helicoptering
Speaker 2: as a dad, which I understand on his sun should
Speaker 2: or Sanders.
Speaker 1: Are you surprised.
Speaker 2: That Dion Sanders appears to be all in on college
Speaker 2: football and all in in the most unlikely place that
Speaker 2: Dion Sanders, a Christian man, would land Boulder, Colorado, which
Speaker 2: is you can smell the cannabis from Denver. It is
Speaker 2: a quirky anti establishment. I mean, it's it's thank you
Speaker 2: Gene Oregon, which I love, but it's I would have
Speaker 2: never guessed that Dion Sanders would have picked Colorado, And
Speaker 2: when he signed that extension, I thought, Jesus, he's really
Speaker 2: all in on this thing. Are you surprised?
Speaker 1: A little? And I always give a guy a lot
Speaker 1: of credit. And I don't have Dion's financials in front
Speaker 1: of me, but I think it's safe to say he
Speaker 1: did not need to go into college football for money.
Speaker 1: Like he was already pretty well off and done pretty
Speaker 1: well financially and one thing wants his children leave right
Speaker 1: to go to the NFL. He easily could have been
Speaker 1: like it's been a good run. Yeah, maybe I'll do
Speaker 1: it for a cople more. Yes, this feels like Deon
Speaker 1: Sanders more than likely is going to be coaching four
Speaker 1: years to come, and eventually I expect him one day
Speaker 1: to be in the SEC or some big program. Right.
Speaker 1: John Lytz did the same thing. It's like John Lynch
Speaker 1: really gonna be the GM nine years later. The guy's
Speaker 1: all in. He's going through like transitional periods. He's like,
Speaker 1: let's do it. It's like these guys love football. I
Speaker 1: mean to not having been around coaches and these players
Speaker 1: that get into coaching. You gotta be a football addict,
Speaker 1: and I think people underestimate, especially Dion. I'll never forget.
Speaker 1: I've told this story before. Bobby April, who is a
Speaker 1: special teams coach in Atlanta. He's like, you know, everyone
Speaker 1: got it wrong with Deon because at the time he's
Speaker 1: in these music videos and the chains and kind of
Speaker 1: just the way he carried himself. This guy sat in
Speaker 1: the front of my meetings, no one practiced harder, and
Speaker 1: like he was just a special guy to coach. He's
Speaker 1: like I, no one I would rather coach than a
Speaker 1: guy like Deon Sanders. And I think if you had
Speaker 1: asked me at fifteen years old in the mid nineties
Speaker 1: like Dion would have felt like a pain in the butt,
Speaker 1: like a too. He was the opposite. I think as
Speaker 1: a player, people loved coaching him. Here's the other thing
Speaker 1: he's got going on now. His buddies are with him,
Speaker 1: Warren Sapps's defensive line coach, Marshall Fawkes's running back coach.
Speaker 1: I bet he's just pretty cool place to work. Plus,
Speaker 1: here's the thing with Colorado, they kind of needed him
Speaker 1: more than he needed them, and now they've paid him
Speaker 1: a lot of money. Like and the other thing with
Speaker 1: the transfer portal. If you're willing to cut checks, I
Speaker 1: think obviously you're going to have advantages at Texas or
Speaker 1: Ohio State, but at Colorado in his the other thing,
Speaker 1: look a look at his conference? Why why can't he compete?
Speaker 1: You know, Oklahoma State's kind of falling apart, and t
Speaker 1: Boone Pickens is no longer around. Why couldn't he make serious?
Speaker 1: Arizona State was just in the playoffs. Yon's got to
Speaker 1: be thinking, if we can recruit pretty well the next
Speaker 1: couple of years, why couldn't we win ten eleven games
Speaker 1: and win this conference to get a bid? And he's
Speaker 1: not wrong. And then eventually, if Florida or one of
Speaker 1: those schools calls, I think he would eventually take it.
Speaker 1: But I don't think he's just leaving for a quote
Speaker 1: unquote like lateral job anymore. It would have to be
Speaker 1: a cream of the crop gig like he's they're paying
Speaker 1: him what basically ten eleven twelve million dollars a year
Speaker 1: for the next five years.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's I've got to be I've got to be
Speaker 2: upfront here. I always thought Dion was a little inauthentic.
Speaker 2: I mean, I know he had a belief, you know,
Speaker 2: religious conviction, but he was always a little showy for me.
Speaker 2: The Tim McCarver baseball stuff.
Speaker 1: You know, that's what Bobby, That's what Bobby April used
Speaker 1: to say. Don't let that fool you, because at his
Speaker 1: core he loves When they were for his first year
Speaker 1: during spring practice, they were tackling to the ground and
Speaker 1: I went, you know where Deon gets mistaken by a
Speaker 1: lot of people. This guy is an eighties nineties football guy.
Speaker 1: This guy grew up around George Seaffert with those cowboy teams.
Speaker 1: Even the Atlanta teams when he first got there weren't terrible.
Speaker 1: Like this guy was used to a culture in football
Speaker 1: that is not the culture now right. That's why when
Speaker 1: that the story came out about Troy Taylor, who Andrew
Speaker 1: luck has fired and Stanford fired, I was like, there's
Speaker 1: not enough detail, like is this guy just an asshole
Speaker 1: or is he is he legitimately crossing the line because
Speaker 1: there football culture is not like a pretty place. You're
Speaker 1: getting yelled at a lot a lot of swear worlds.
Speaker 1: It's it's just an edgy environment offseason and in season,
Speaker 1: and I think Deon's just Deon's very comfortable in football.
Speaker 1: You know certain people you're comfortable behind the mike. Deon's
Speaker 1: just comfortable around football players running football practice. Now he's
Speaker 1: clearly you know. I was impressed Warren Sapp's hiring to
Speaker 1: be the d line coach, and by the mid season
Speaker 1: that I was gambling on Colorado a lot. I was like,
Speaker 1: got their defensive line is really improved.
Speaker 2: And now for our next segment, Whiskey Business, brought to
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Speaker 2: into every bottle. Hop on over to Green Riverwhiskey dot
Speaker 2: com and discover a legend in a bottle. Today, Sports
Speaker 2: right now is in an interesting place. Baseball's on fire.
Speaker 2: I mean the torpedo bats, I mean there's just it's great.
Speaker 2: And I mean women's basketball. Caitlin Clark is a real
Speaker 2: she's a real sensation. I mean the Jimmy Butler moved
Speaker 2: to the Warriors, and Luca Lebroun is absolutely infused the league,
Speaker 2: there's no question. And the College Football Playoff. I told
Speaker 2: J Mack and I talked about this last this week,
Speaker 2: and I said, when I got into this business, like
Speaker 2: when football ended, you had like a month of it
Speaker 2: was dead. And I'm like, well, now football has been
Speaker 2: extended two weeks and they're going to add an eighteenth
Speaker 2: game and they're going to give us another buy so
Speaker 2: that will extend it two more weeks. And I'm like,
Speaker 2: football now is Labor Day to March. First, you get
Speaker 2: a week on vacation, you come back, it's free agency
Speaker 2: and the tournament. And I really like what college football
Speaker 2: is doing. I'm not a traditionalist, and I do think
Speaker 2: the NIL bringing in general managers now is necessary. I
Speaker 2: don't want, you know, I don't want Lincoln Riley and
Speaker 2: Ryan Day being capologists, Like let's get somebody in the
Speaker 2: building that knows what the hell they're doing.
Speaker 1: But I.
Speaker 2: You know, the only fear I have about football this
Speaker 2: is weird. But you know, remember a few years ago
Speaker 2: in the NFL really made a point of targeting women
Speaker 2: and moms because you were having in certain states the
Speaker 2: turnout level dropped precipitously with concussion fears, And I was
Speaker 2: thinking about this the other day, John, I don't remember
Speaker 2: a draft with less hyperbole this. People are saying, this
Speaker 2: is as bad a draft as we've had. Like outside
Speaker 2: a running back and maybe defensive tackle, there's just not
Speaker 2: a ton of talent. And I do wonder if this
Speaker 2: is the first draft and this now the NBA two
Speaker 2: out of three drafts don't give us much. I mean,
Speaker 2: Cooper Flag is a domestic product. This good is so rare.
Speaker 2: You can't even name the last domestic product that was
Speaker 2: looked this good. Zion was fantastic, but he didn't have
Speaker 2: the dimensions and the dexterity and the overall game of
Speaker 2: Cooper Flag. He was he was a torque machine. He
Speaker 2: wasn't this. He wasn't close to this. His game didn't
Speaker 2: look like this. Is that in college football. I'm wondering
Speaker 2: if about every third or fourth draft this point forward,
Speaker 2: because turnout levels of drop, because there's a fear of
Speaker 2: concussions with kids. I wonder if we're going to become
Speaker 2: the NFL. It's got a little NBA feel to it.
Speaker 2: Last year, John, you had ten virtually unwatchable teams double
Speaker 2: the number of teams that were non competitive by early December.
Speaker 2: Do you think it's possible with lower turnouts and that
Speaker 2: the game will start to be a little more NBA,
Speaker 2: which there is eight great, eight okay, and twelve unwatchables.
Speaker 1: I do think the NFL drafts have always been like
Speaker 1: you have some bad drafts, they don't happen as frequently,
Speaker 1: I would say, as the NBA. But last year looks
Speaker 1: like it has a chance to be like a historically
Speaker 1: great quarterback drafts. This is pretty crazy. I mean, obviously
Speaker 1: they had twelve guys in the top or six guys
Speaker 1: in the top twelve, but three of them are already
Speaker 1: pretty good. I would say that one concerning part in
Speaker 1: football is Brady's big thing. It's never been easier to
Speaker 1: play quarterback. And he's not wrong because you don't get
Speaker 1: penalized throwing over the middle. They can't hit you. But
Speaker 1: the quarterback play can be pretty bad. I mean, I
Speaker 1: feel like guys like fifteen through thirty two are really
Speaker 1: hit or miss and their backups. It's just it's and
Speaker 1: I think a lot of this is the training in
Speaker 1: college now with guys transferring the training in the pros,
Speaker 1: you don't have as much I mean training camp, I feel,
Speaker 1: and again, the salary cap has changed things. But I
Speaker 1: remember growing up, a lot of teams went too deep
Speaker 1: with starters. Yes right, their backup was like the burg
Speaker 1: or whoever, and it was like that guy could be
Speaker 1: a starter somewhere else. And that really isn't the case anymore.
Speaker 1: It feels like a lot of teams like if their
Speaker 1: starter gets hurt, they will lose every single week. And
Speaker 1: so I think the importance on the quarterback is awesome
Speaker 1: when it works, when you nail it, but if you
Speaker 1: miss or that guy gets injured, the falloff is precipitous
Speaker 1: and it's a problem. But I do think that if
Speaker 1: you just look over the next couple of years, I
Speaker 1: think the talent in college football feels pretty high now.
Speaker 1: The difference, though, is, you know, I if I was
Speaker 1: an offensive lineman and I went to Iowa or Wisconsin
Speaker 1: or just some of these schools, like I was going
Speaker 1: to get developed, and more likely I was going to
Speaker 1: get drafted if I was a good player. Even if
Speaker 1: I wasn't a first round pick, second third, fourth round,
Speaker 1: I'd play in the NFL A long time. Well, now
Speaker 1: if I'm starting in Iowa and like, god, this guy's
Speaker 1: an all conference guy, Ohio State, Georgia and Texas call
Speaker 1: you so you start moving around in your development, maybe
Speaker 1: pain scheme. Good point, and I do wonder in football?
Speaker 1: Good point, you know in the NFL. Like part of
Speaker 1: the reason I saw Kyle Shanahan, He's like, I didn't
Speaker 1: expect our backup tackle to get fifteen million dollars a year. Well,
Speaker 1: I was texting with Andy. They love the guy because
Speaker 1: they think, you know, the only reason he didn't start
Speaker 1: is because what Hall of Fame tackle and that guy
Speaker 1: has played before. They like what they saw and they
Speaker 1: know he's a good guy, and they know he's been
Speaker 1: coach well, same place, same coaching staff for four years,
Speaker 1: so that that guy, you don't last that long. They
Speaker 1: depend on you to basically be their swing tackle for
Speaker 1: four straight years. If they don't think really highly of you, now,
Speaker 1: do they overpay a little bit? We can debate that.
Speaker 1: But they know exactly who's been coaching him in college.
Speaker 1: It's like, well, he's been two different programs and three
Speaker 1: different coordinators. It's a lot of movement now changing stuff,
Speaker 1: which I think these the front offices are still trying
Speaker 1: to get a feel for this, Yes, because it's it's
Speaker 1: never quite been with quarterbacks. Is a little easier with
Speaker 1: some of these other positions. Is their development? Do they
Speaker 1: actually have room to grow in the pros? You know
Speaker 1: that maybe they would have been maxed out before. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean take Will Howard. I liked him at Kansas
Speaker 2: State and then at Ohio State. Did my perception change
Speaker 2: and my expectations because I didn't like him as much
Speaker 2: because I was like, well, they got better talent. You
Speaker 2: have to be consistently good. Kyle McCord. At Ohio State,
Speaker 2: I was like Ham and Eggar. Then I watched them
Speaker 2: at Syracuse and I'm like, shit, that's a second round pick.
Speaker 1: That guy's good.
Speaker 2: So I'm wondering if scout you're doing that like just
Speaker 2: Ohio State quarterbacks. I'm like Will Howard, I wanted more.
Speaker 2: I saw him at Kansas State. I wanted more. I'm
Speaker 2: disappointed he may not have changed at all. Kyle McCord.
Speaker 2: I'm now on a high because I think he played
Speaker 2: with far less talent and he put up huge numbers.
Speaker 1: Well, we talked about Purty. Perty's a good example. After
Speaker 1: his junior year at Iowa State when he was really
Speaker 1: good and they were competing to be like a top
Speaker 1: fifteen team. You don't think teams, I mean, Oregon's done
Speaker 1: this now like three years in a row. They you know,
Speaker 1: Dylan Gabriel, bo Nicks. Teams like that would have called
Speaker 1: Brock perty and who knows, maybe Brock Purty then goes
Speaker 1: to Oregon. He's playing on national television games and if
Speaker 1: he's good, instead of going the last pick in the
Speaker 1: seventh round, maybe Purdy goes in the fourth or the
Speaker 1: third round. Yeah. So look at these transfer quarterbacks besides
Speaker 1: JJ McCarthy. Last year, all transfer guys Drake may didn't.
Speaker 1: But remember mac Brown came out going into his junior year,
Speaker 1: was like he's offered five million dollars. Luckily he's loyal
Speaker 1: to us, and it was pretty clear like the three
Speaker 1: teams offering him that much money. This year, all the
Speaker 1: quarterbacks are transferred. Cam Ward, this is third school Chador,
Speaker 1: Kyle McCord. You know, it's like camp Ward is a
Speaker 1: great example. He was going to the East West Shrine
Speaker 1: game when he decided to commit to Miami. He probably
Speaker 1: would have gone probably third or fourth round last year.
Speaker 1: Now he's he's been I mean the Titans from what
Speaker 1: I've heard, I was in Nashville month ago, pretty good source.
Speaker 1: They've been dead set on him for like a month.
Speaker 1: This guy's going the number one pick all because he transferred.
Speaker 1: If I were these quarterbacks, it's a no brainer. If
Speaker 1: you get the opportunity to jump up to a top
Speaker 1: twenty team, and even if you're it is not just
Speaker 1: Washington State. What if you're at like Minnesota or some
Speaker 1: of these programs, and you can just take that next step.
Speaker 1: So that's where in the conference the top dogs can
Speaker 1: just they're just feeder systems. All these programs beside the
Speaker 1: top fifteen twenty programs are essentially now the Billy ban
Speaker 1: Oakland A's They're a minor league program that I'm eventually
Speaker 1: going to take your your best players.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the the NIL. One of the things I love
Speaker 2: about sports is innovation because it makes me think, you know,
Speaker 2: I get bored of just watching game after game after game,
Speaker 2: Like I like trades, I like acquisitions, I love free
Speaker 2: agency period and the NIL. It can be tricky because
Speaker 2: there's so much mobility and movement among coaches and players.
Speaker 2: Like in the NFL, the pension is so good for
Speaker 2: a coach. I mean, Dante Scarnekia could have bounced around
Speaker 2: and made more money. He's like, I'm going to stay here.
Speaker 2: Pension's going to be great. I'm going to make twenty
Speaker 2: thousand dollars a month pension once I leave this sport.
Speaker 2: Why bounce around, Ernie Adams? Why bounce around? But in
Speaker 2: college you don't get that pension. So coaches are just
Speaker 2: constantly hopscotching, programmed to program to prom and they all
Speaker 2: seemingly all want to be either coordinators or head coaches.
Speaker 2: And in the NFL, I find there are some position
Speaker 2: coaches that make like between eight hundred thousand and a
Speaker 2: million forward.
Speaker 1: It's like pays a lot.
Speaker 2: And the pensions herm Edwers told me is coaching pensions
Speaker 2: are better than his player pensions. And so there's so
Speaker 2: much more ability at the college level for coaches. And
Speaker 2: now the players are moving, so the chances, I mean
Speaker 2: bo Knicks didn't have like five coordinators.
Speaker 1: Yeah a lot. I actually met a guy that through
Speaker 1: the podcast in Arizona that I played golf with. His
Speaker 1: son was a big Division I football recruit over the
Speaker 1: last couple of years, and he was one of those
Speaker 1: guys that showed up at school early, you know, like
Speaker 1: right after the winner, you know, went the start of
Speaker 1: the technically the winter semester. Within two days of him
Speaker 1: enrolling early, his coach takes another job, and forever the
Speaker 1: media used to freak how unfair it is, how un
Speaker 1: fair it is that kid immediately had the opportunity to
Speaker 1: follow his coach or to go ten other places that
Speaker 1: had been recruiting him. His phone was blowing up. Now
Speaker 1: he chose to stay because he said it was a
Speaker 1: lot going on for an eighteen year old. But like
Speaker 1: that opportunity that you can move when stuff like that
Speaker 1: happens to me has like neutralized the anger or you know,
Speaker 1: the Maryland coach. Everyone's up in arms. It's like, guys,
Speaker 1: the players can all leave now too, So it's like
Speaker 1: everyone is under the same umbrella of And the difference
Speaker 1: is if I steal a coach, typically I have to
Speaker 1: pay a buyout. These the players can just leave it
Speaker 1: free will. But it's like, I mean, who knows some
Speaker 1: of these deals that are getting done. So I'm with you.
Speaker 1: I think the nil which is kind of stupid. I
Speaker 1: heard deonce say this, He's like, how many besides like
Speaker 1: Shador Sanders. I turn on television, I don't see anyone
Speaker 1: in commercials. It's just pay to play, which is fine,
Speaker 1: which is eventually going to change and go to the
Speaker 1: revenue sharing be a salary cap. And that's where to me,
Speaker 1: the general managers, you know, the Lombardes and the Jim
Speaker 1: Naggies and these guys, the GM jobs in college football
Speaker 1: are paying. It's not like they're paying one hundred thousand.
Speaker 1: Some of them are paying seven figures. These guys are
Speaker 1: making or even if you're making seven hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: eight hundred thousand dollars, if you're at an SEC school,
Speaker 1: google how much the homes are in those areas you
Speaker 1: are you're one of the highest paid W two employees
Speaker 1: in the area.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's yeah, there's I look at football today and
Speaker 2: for the first time in my life, I feel that
Speaker 2: college football has been pushed and prodded, but it is
Speaker 2: starting to now look closer to the NFL. And to me,
Speaker 2: that is a great thing because I've always said there's
Speaker 2: one big problem with college football. We have a big
Speaker 2: game problem. I mean, Labor Day weekend, you get one
Speaker 2: or two big games NFL every one o'clock window. That's
Speaker 2: the boring window. The best games are Sunday night Fox
Speaker 2: and CBS late afternoon and Monday night and Thursday night
Speaker 2: now Amazon biyas big games. The one o'clock window has
Speaker 2: at least two big time games every week. I mean,
Speaker 2: there's only like fourteen games in the NFL a weekend
Speaker 2: seven to eight field big. College football's got sixty games
Speaker 2: and four field big. And I think these super conferences
Speaker 2: are creating I mean, I mean, you look at USC
Speaker 2: schedule this year, five six games, It's like, oh, you
Speaker 2: have to watch those. Those are really exciting games. I
Speaker 2: like the pivot, I mean, and a lot of it's
Speaker 2: Fox and the ESPN said, guys, we're getting rid of
Speaker 2: the PAC twelve. We're gonna make these two super conferences.
Speaker 2: We're gonna even this expansion to fourteen games in the
Speaker 2: playoffs from twelve. This is all about networks. I have
Speaker 2: no problem with it. We gave college football free license
Speaker 2: forever to do what they want, and they avoided big
Speaker 2: games and people the conferences couldn't face the same number
Speaker 2: of conference opponents. It was uneven and finally the network
Speaker 2: stepped in and said, all right, we're gonna take charge,
Speaker 2: and I like it. Last year there were more big
Speaker 2: games than ever before.
Speaker 1: Totally, and I think I'm pretty confident that I don't
Speaker 1: know when this is gonna happen, but it does feel
Speaker 1: inevitable right that all the conferences, especially if we go
Speaker 1: to like an AFC, NFC SEC Big ten where it's
Speaker 1: headed you play the same number of conference games nine
Speaker 1: and then you do some sort of rotating with those
Speaker 1: extra three. Maybe you get your allowed one non power
Speaker 1: for a Fresno State San Diego State type, but no
Speaker 1: more UC Davis playing USC like those days half to end.
Speaker 1: You're not allowed to play a Division one double a team.
Speaker 1: So I still think we can make a couple more
Speaker 1: steps because I looked at because I saw Belichick, Mark Andrews,
Speaker 1: not Mark Andrews, but David Andrews's former center talked to
Speaker 1: the team. So I google their schedule. I mean, they
Speaker 1: got some games on that schedule. It's like, this is
Speaker 1: it's not his fault. I mean he didn't say, but
Speaker 1: some of these teams still, I mean there are weeks
Speaker 1: you know, Saban fought this forever. It's like no one
Speaker 1: wants to watch you play Mercer and luckily in the NFL.
Speaker 1: You know, even if the Eagles are playing the Titans
Speaker 1: on a given week, it could end up being a
Speaker 1: decent game, and every team has pros, like there are
Speaker 1: such a stark difference when Texas is playing McNee state.
Speaker 1: It's like you cannot get mad at all the fraternities
Speaker 1: for not showing up to that game. He's fifty to
Speaker 1: nothing at halftime. So I think we just keep moving
Speaker 1: moving forward, especially now you can lose games like there.
Speaker 1: As we expand the playoffs go to fourteen teams or whatever,
Speaker 1: there is inevitably going to be a three lost team
Speaker 1: getting it. I mean there almost was this year.
Speaker 2: Ohio State was a twenty point favorite and lost at
Speaker 2: home to a bad Michigan team and won the Natty.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I think, yeah, I think again. It's it's
Speaker 2: I never like college football. It really mattered when you lost.
Speaker 2: And I watched Kansas City win a Super Bowl two
Speaker 2: years ago and play poorly in December, like when you know,
Speaker 2: they always say idealism and cynicism kill progress, and they
Speaker 2: were just college football and baseball fans. Too many purists
Speaker 2: and traditionalists for me, like, let's just make it better,
Speaker 2: let's have more big games. Let's not crush a season
Speaker 2: because you lose in October for the second time. Like
Speaker 2: if you reel off seven straight wins, get you in
Speaker 2: the playoff, like this idea of and you know, and
Speaker 2: there's some old things I like, are things in sports
Speaker 2: that I miss the Rose Bowl, like when it really mattered.
Speaker 2: But how many times could I watched you know, Washington
Speaker 2: and Iowa. Like, let's at some point and I think
Speaker 2: what happens, John, And I've over the course of my.
Speaker 1: Life, I've learned this.
Speaker 2: Everybody, certain people seek comfort in tradition, totally get it,
Speaker 2: and not everybody grows. At the same time, it took
Speaker 2: a lot of Americans to get comfortable with gay marriage.
Speaker 2: It took a lot of people. Many still aren't comfortable
Speaker 2: with legal cannabis. And there's a lot of sports fans
Speaker 2: like they are just kicking and screaming. Here's all I
Speaker 2: know about college football. Ohio State can lose as a
Speaker 2: twenty point favorite and still get in. It's like, of
Speaker 2: course they should get in. Of course they're one of
Speaker 2: the twelve best teams. And Ohio State's opening with Texas.
Speaker 2: Texas is opening with Ohio State. It doesn't matter who loses.
Speaker 2: Ohio State lost to Oregon, it doesn't matter in the end.
Speaker 2: If it's a competitive game, they'll both get into the playoff.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm open minded like you, but there are
Speaker 1: parts like I do think watching the NCAA Tournament, it
Speaker 1: was weird seeing Oregon play Arizona and going, this is
Speaker 1: a Big Ten versus Big twelve matchup. That was a
Speaker 1: little bizarre in Sweet sixteen, But like, should Washington State
Speaker 1: be in a power for conference? And I appreciate how
Speaker 1: hard they try and everything, they should probably play Boise
Speaker 1: State Forresne State in San Diego State, that feels right.
Speaker 1: So it's like you could argue you could even trim
Speaker 1: the fat with some of the teams in the Big Ten, right,
Speaker 1: I mean some of these programs like the Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean Maryland. I mean you see that coach, He's like,
Speaker 1: I'm out for Villanova, you know. So it's just like
Speaker 1: I I think it's ultimately going to happen an AFC
Speaker 1: NFC version of college football. And it's clear words, head,
Speaker 1: it's the SEC and the Big Ten. We know Notre
Speaker 1: Dame will they'll gravitate to or Clemson in Florida State,
Speaker 1: Miami will gravitate too. In North Carolina. Maybe you take
Speaker 1: Stamford and some of the academic schools with you to
Speaker 1: the northern one, and that's what's gonna happen. And then
Speaker 1: you only play each other because why the other thing
Speaker 1: is now, with the amount of money that's on the line,
Speaker 1: why would I pay UC Davis or Montana to come
Speaker 1: in for one and a half million dollars? Why wouldn't
Speaker 1: we Just the NFL would never do that. They just
Speaker 1: pull their money and they keep it to spread it
Speaker 1: with their partners' So why the SEC gets so angry.
Speaker 1: They're making so much money and they push back, we
Speaker 1: should get more people into the playoffs. And I don't
Speaker 1: even think they're necessarily wrong, but it's like, how about
Speaker 1: we all get under the same umbrella. Yeah, and then
Speaker 1: those teams all have the opportunity to go. But like
Speaker 1: the NFL, everyone's playing everybody they don't like randomly. The
Speaker 1: Patriots don't get to schedule the UFL the Birmingham Bombers
Speaker 1: right right, because they got the bills coming up next week.
Speaker 1: And that to me is the next step, which it
Speaker 1: feels closer to, like ten years away than two years away.
Speaker 1: But it does feel inevitable at this point in time,
Speaker 1: right with the amount of money and with how much
Speaker 1: they're gonna have to pay these players, because obviously the
Speaker 1: quarterbacks make a lot of money, but you and I
Speaker 1: hear stories about how much some of these other guys
Speaker 1: are making. It's the numbers aren't going to go down,
Speaker 1: They're only going to rise. So let's let's keep all
Speaker 1: a pool, all of our money like the NFL, or
Speaker 1: like the NBA, and just keep everyone in the same pool.
Speaker 1: And it sucks, but Washington States and the Fresno States
Speaker 1: and the you're kind of just shit out of luck.
Speaker 2: John Middlikoff is always buddy. Thanks appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Thanks going the volume.