Speaker 1: The volume. Hi everybody, and welcome in to the Friday
Speaker 1: Morning Podcast. By the time you listen to this, I've
Speaker 1: flown overnight and I'm in an undisclosed location with my
Speaker 1: wife at a beach. You know, I was thinking about something.
Speaker 1: I had a conversation recently with a friend and he
Speaker 1: was going through a tough time, and I said, you know,
Speaker 1: there's a old saying about there's always a silver lining.
Speaker 1: And I think about this stuff all the time. Is
Speaker 1: I remember when my daughter was a you know, not great,
Speaker 1: but a pretty good athlete, volleyball player, basketball player, and
Speaker 1: she started playing volleyball and liked it more kind of
Speaker 1: the community feel. She liked the girls better and volleyball
Speaker 1: than basketball. And you know, I had talked to her
Speaker 1: coach one time. She was doing like summer league where
Speaker 1: you you know, you get in the van, travel all
Speaker 1: weekend and play. It was in San Bernardino, and her coach,
Speaker 1: a former college player, said, you know, your daughter's pretty
Speaker 1: good player. She could play. And then about a year later,
Speaker 1: six months later, my daughter comes to me and says,
Speaker 1: I don't want to play sports anymore. And my ex
Speaker 1: wife was a jock, played college sports, and now I'm
Speaker 1: kind of jockey, and I remember there was a day
Speaker 1: or two where you know, I kind of pouted and thought,
Speaker 1: this is no good. I really was looking forward to
Speaker 1: kind of you know, traveling with her and watching her games.
Speaker 1: But what came out of it in that little moment
Speaker 1: of didn't get my way was actually the greatest thing
Speaker 1: that I think that had happened in our relationship is
Speaker 1: that our relationship changed. We got out of the sports
Speaker 1: realm into a more social realm, traveling realm. It was
Speaker 1: like an adult adult It was like an adult to
Speaker 1: adult relationship. She was aging, and I didn't have to
Speaker 1: be a sports parent, right, just a taxi cab driver
Speaker 1: taking your game to game, tournament to tournament. And it
Speaker 1: goes to something that I really believe that the moments
Speaker 1: in my life that and you see it in sports
Speaker 1: all the time that you think are the pits, there's
Speaker 1: always a bright side. I remember when Michigan football was
Speaker 1: struggling with Brady Hoke, and I remember saying this on
Speaker 1: the air, Michigan is never bad. For a long time.
Speaker 1: In between Rich Rodriguez, Rich Rod and bretdy Hoak, I
Speaker 1: said they're going to go spend big Boy money, and
Speaker 1: they did, and they got Hardball. And this is the
Speaker 1: best Michigan roster this year that they maybe have ever had.
Speaker 1: It's loaded potentially fifteen NFL draft picks. So you know,
Speaker 1: the Colts got Andrew Luck, the Calves get Lebron James
Speaker 1: because they're awful, Victor wembin Yama to the Spurs because
Speaker 1: they were awful. There's always some sort of silver lining.
Speaker 1: It's the great duality of life. Life's never as good
Speaker 1: as you think, are as bad as you think. And
Speaker 1: I was thinking about this the other day that in
Speaker 1: what I do for a living, I have a very
Speaker 1: large team of people that support me, assist me, and
Speaker 1: just sort of lubricate either my broadcasting at FS one
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio or the volume. So I'm very thankful for that.
Speaker 1: And we rely to some degree on social media TikTok
Speaker 1: a platform we're growing quickly in Instagram, Twitter, and so
Speaker 1: initially when Elon Musk took over Twitter, my takeaway was
Speaker 1: the media has an agenda. There'll be anti Elon Musk.
Speaker 1: I'm just going to go in and just watch it develop.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to take a side immediately. Too many
Speaker 1: annoying ads. Soon after that too many violent videos, and
Speaker 1: I had filters on, but just too much stuff was
Speaker 1: getting through that was gross and I didn't think it
Speaker 1: just would put you in a good mood watching it.
Speaker 1: So my point is, what's the good news. I am
Speaker 1: never on social media anymore. I have somebody else run
Speaker 1: the accounts. The addictive quality of that account has disappeared,
Speaker 1: and that the truth is I have now worked out
Speaker 1: for thirteen straight days for at least an hour, mostly
Speaker 1: ninety minutes. I've got a little passion project on the side,
Speaker 1: which I won't disclose now, but I probably will soon
Speaker 1: in a few months that I developed just because I
Speaker 1: had more time and have reconnected with a couple of
Speaker 1: people I haven't seen in a while, And I thought
Speaker 1: to myself, Jesus, I was wasting a lot of time
Speaker 1: staring at my phone. And so I guess my point
Speaker 1: being is that we live in this outrage blender. You know,
Speaker 1: everything's the end of the world, and virtually nothing is.
Speaker 1: And if you have a bad day or a bad
Speaker 1: team or a bad moment. I see Yankee fans freaking out. Now,
Speaker 1: It's like, folks, it's your first bad season and forever
Speaker 1: your standards are high, your expectation are through the roof.
Speaker 1: Braves are great Dodgers too. Houston's viable. It's a bad
Speaker 1: year for the Yankees. How'd you like to be the Mets?
Speaker 1: And it's the standard, it's normal. It's consistently bad or underachieving.
Speaker 1: Stuff's never as bad as you think. We're going to
Speaker 1: go into a football season. Everybody's going to overreact on
Speaker 1: Sunday nights and Monday afternoons and Monday nights to the results.
Speaker 1: Take a deep breath, enjoy life. If you're outraged on
Speaker 1: a regular basis, put down the phone. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of good out there.
Speaker 2: It's officially the dog days of NFL training camp. And
Speaker 2: as I was alerted to yesterday, we have a football
Speaker 2: game a week from the day and it includes Colin
Speaker 2: Coward's Trojans, who ironically are playing on the PAC twelve
Speaker 2: network to open up the season.
Speaker 1: Yeah. The You know, that's been such an interesting topic
Speaker 1: because you and I grew up. I think we spent
Speaker 1: a lot of our formative years as PAC twelve fans.
Speaker 1: And you know what's really happened with all this realignment
Speaker 1: is that if you were precious, or idealistic or snooty,
Speaker 1: you got kicked in the head. Stanford has tried to
Speaker 1: win it football. They've spent money, cal never really has.
Speaker 1: They did the basics. They got better facilities and with
Speaker 1: that they've still put a lot of good NFL players
Speaker 1: quarterbacks in the league. But the programs out west that
Speaker 1: said and they're good academic schools, USC Washington, you know
Speaker 1: those are real schools. Texas, the schools that have said, wow,
Speaker 1: there is one athletic program that makes a lot of
Speaker 1: money and we're going to commit to it if you
Speaker 1: have a good football program, you had multiple suitors. Like
Speaker 1: it's hard for me to feel bad for the PAC
Speaker 1: twelve when in a world where pillow fighting is on
Speaker 1: the air and slap fighting is a business that you,
Speaker 1: as a college football conference could not get a television deal.
Speaker 1: I work at a TV network. We're dying for content.
Speaker 1: But arrogance too precious. I mean, when you hire somebody
Speaker 1: from a tennis channel to run your conference and they
Speaker 1: consider the Seers Cup as viable as the Rose Bowl,
Speaker 1: you get what you deserve. And so you either commit
Speaker 1: to football as an athletic department or you're lost. You
Speaker 1: just don't understand the way the entire pyramid of college
Speaker 1: sports works.
Speaker 2: The most embarrassing part of this whole deal is that
Speaker 2: I think the Big Ten and definitely the SEC, understood
Speaker 2: that football not only pays for everything, but the more
Speaker 2: success it has, everyone benefits. Yes, why in the SEC
Speaker 2: they're basketball programs now pay coaches elite money. I was
Speaker 2: watching the USAM golf tournament. It's full of SEC kids
Speaker 2: from all over the They're great at the college baseball tournament.
Speaker 2: And Larry Scott viewed this as as some equitable endeavor
Speaker 2: And that's not the way college sports has built football.
Speaker 2: Pace for everything and then everyone benefits. And what I
Speaker 2: wonder though, is how do they ever get to the
Speaker 2: point when the top fifty. However, many programs under the
Speaker 2: umbrella fighting to get to the twelve team playoff, all
Speaker 2: abide by the same rules, same amount of conference games,
Speaker 2: no more playing Weber State and UC Davis those days.
Speaker 2: How do they ever get there? Because essentially you're going
Speaker 2: to need a commissioner or a governing body that mandates
Speaker 2: basically universal rules. At Alabama, that Ohio State, right, Oklahoma State,
Speaker 2: and it feels like we're still a little bit far
Speaker 2: away from that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've always felt you need a scheduling czar in
Speaker 1: college football. I mean, why did the UFC and Mixed
Speaker 1: Martial arts but UFC overtake boxing because they had a
Speaker 1: commissioner strong willed, a definitive Dana White. I'm gonna lease
Speaker 1: an island and boxing continually ripped off fans. Once a month,
Speaker 1: you get a UFC card. Even my wife enjoys going.
Speaker 1: You always get quality entertainment and your money's worth. Where
Speaker 1: college football has struggled to me, John in my life
Speaker 1: is not passion, is not branding. It's too few great games.
Speaker 1: Everybody's avoiding an out of conference loss. So to me,
Speaker 1: the bigger the tournament becomes twelve to sixteen teams, the
Speaker 1: more willing Texas and Alabama are this year to play
Speaker 1: each other, USC Michigan. Now they will play each other.
Speaker 1: But those are the games I mean go to starting
Speaker 1: next week until the first Thursday of the NFL. There's
Speaker 1: about fifteen twenty days there and there's like three good
Speaker 1: college football games. So the sport's going to change the tournament,
Speaker 1: like college basketball is going to become the focal point.
Speaker 1: It's not going to erode sport. What's eroded college basketball
Speaker 1: is in the tournament. What's eroded it is the one
Speaker 1: and done culture. The teams aren't very good, the players
Speaker 1: aren't very good. So college football still has the three
Speaker 1: year minimum rule, but the sport's gonna shift, and it's
Speaker 1: gonna shift to a The tournament is the centerpiece of it.
Speaker 1: More teams will be allowed in a little bit of
Speaker 1: an arms race. But I do believe more than a commissioner,
Speaker 1: because I'm not sure if you'll ever get that, I
Speaker 1: think we need a scheduling zar. Everybody plays minimum ten
Speaker 1: conference games, one out of conference game to help Like
Speaker 1: Ohio State can help out Youngstown State, Washington could help
Speaker 1: out Eastern Washington, Bama could help out Troy. If there's
Speaker 1: a regional team, you can help out. But but I
Speaker 1: think I think the sports changing and pivoting. I'm here
Speaker 1: for it because I believe it will deliver more really
Speaker 1: big games.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean one percent.
Speaker 1: That's the best part of that. The NFL.
Speaker 2: Right Week one, you get Steelers forty nine ers. That's
Speaker 2: like the equivalent of Georgia USC Let's rock and roll baby.
Speaker 1: Jets, Yeah, Giants, Cowboys, you know that's that's really that
Speaker 1: one o'clock window, that red zone window, there's always four
Speaker 1: to five games and the one o'clock window are down
Speaker 1: to the final possession. Then you get the Fox window.
Speaker 1: Then you get Sunday night and Monday night. Now Thursday
Speaker 1: was you know, it was awful, But by and large
Speaker 1: the NFL's quality. Every window you get great games. We
Speaker 1: may go through Labor Day window. I think LSU plays
Speaker 1: Florida State. It's like I can live without seeing any
Speaker 1: other game. You have this huge three day weekend to
Speaker 1: just own the world, and it's a bunch of teams
Speaker 1: afraid to play each other.
Speaker 2: You know, one theory I have going back to the
Speaker 2: twenty twenty college football season, that was all out of whack,
Speaker 2: you know, from a training regiment, from a scheduling regiment.
Speaker 2: Beside Trevor Lawrence, who had a long resume and was
Speaker 2: destined to be a good NFL player, the other four
Speaker 2: quarterbacks we got two in limbo right now in Fields
Speaker 2: and Mac Jones.
Speaker 1: We'll see.
Speaker 2: I mean, by the end of the season, they could
Speaker 2: be not viable for their team anymore. And then you
Speaker 2: got Zach Wilson and Trey Lance not even close to
Speaker 2: seeing the field. I think we look back and that's
Speaker 2: an outlier for quarterbacks because it was build. This is
Speaker 2: a great quarterback draft. But Zach Wilson played nobody and
Speaker 2: BYU typically does right on a normal season. But remember
Speaker 2: the Pac twelve didn't play any out of conference games.
Speaker 2: I think the Big Ten did too, they play all
Speaker 2: those teams they did in that season. Obviously, Trey Lance
Speaker 2: didn't even have a season, right, So and Mac Jones.
Speaker 2: One thing in the scouting circle is I always heard is,
Speaker 2: you know Alabama didn't exactly tap out and go home
Speaker 2: for the summer in twenty twenty. They were lifting, they
Speaker 2: were ready to roll. They obviously are already talented, and
Speaker 2: they had a huge advantage that season, and you clearly
Speaker 2: see it when you get to the pro some guys.
Speaker 2: Another theory is some of these quarterbacks like a Brock
Speaker 2: Purty or you know Mahomes that don't play on the
Speaker 2: most talented teams in college are used to figuring out
Speaker 2: ways to win. Or some of the Ohio State and
Speaker 2: Alabama guys have they're rolling in with like Kevin Durant
Speaker 2: Steph Curry on their right left shoulders and it's just
Speaker 2: not even fair, right, they have a stacked team. So
Speaker 2: I think you see twenty twenty. That college season all
Speaker 2: out of whack for the quarterbacks. And then I do
Speaker 2: think you see with the quarterbacks, you don't have to
Speaker 2: go to the elite school. Sometimes you learn going to
Speaker 2: the second tier power five school, you kind of learn
Speaker 2: how to play, learn how to win.
Speaker 1: No, this has been something I think I wrote about
Speaker 1: this in my first book, is that it's amazing that
Speaker 1: the greatest quarterback there's a quarterback from Miami of Ohio,
Speaker 1: better than any Ohio State quarterback ever, Big Ben. At
Speaker 1: one point in North Carolina State had Philip Rivers, Russell Wilson,
Speaker 1: and Mike Glennon in the league and USC had like nobody.
Speaker 1: If you really look, I believe this, you should go
Speaker 1: to the college and not just sports. You should go
Speaker 1: to the college that best prepares you for your first
Speaker 1: job out of college, what prepares you for the NFL.
Speaker 1: Never getting touched as a Buckeye quarterback, throwing drag routes
Speaker 1: that go for seventy yards to wide open five star
Speaker 1: receivers with perfect protection, or playing at Purdue or NC
Speaker 1: State or Boston College or Miami of Ohio or cal
Speaker 1: where Jared Goff got that, you know what kicked out
Speaker 1: of him for three or four years. So if you
Speaker 1: look at where quarterbacks come from, you know, Lamar Jackson,
Speaker 1: Louisville's a basketball school. You go up and down. If
Speaker 1: you go up and down the league, like Josh Allen Wyoming,
Speaker 1: like Mahomes Nonpower, it's almost universal if you go up
Speaker 1: and down. And even the guys that went to the
Speaker 1: big schools, Jalen Hurts got kicked around, had to transfer,
Speaker 1: Joe Burshall, Joe Burrow had to transfer. So getting pushed around, roadblocks, duress,
Speaker 1: not getting your way is a huge component what job
Speaker 1: prepares you for the NFL quarterback one throwing into small windows,
Speaker 1: running for your life. Often the second best coaching staff
Speaker 1: on the field. Drew Brees Purdue. You know, Tom Brady
Speaker 1: goes to Michigan, but was battling for snaps at Michigan.
Speaker 1: So I think that Peyton Manning for a long time
Speaker 1: was the only quarterback for a long time. Number one
Speaker 1: high school, number one college, number one pick great. I
Speaker 1: mean he was for it for a long time. That
Speaker 1: Lway was that way high school college, you know, pro
Speaker 1: and he delivered. But it's usually I mean, even Justin
Speaker 1: Herbert goes to Oregon, good school, totally doubted. You know,
Speaker 1: three star recruit grew up right next to Oregon.
Speaker 2: They were not loaded with skilled guys on offense, which
Speaker 2: historically they usually are.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he had good oldlignment, but not good receivers.
Speaker 2: One thing I thought when Trey Lance was drafted by
Speaker 2: the forty nine ers, and I have one hundred percent
Speaker 2: changed my thinking, and I've seen it with James Wiseman
Speaker 2: and the Warriors, is you get this raw product on
Speaker 2: a great team and it's actually easier. I actually think
Speaker 2: it's the opposite. And you look this year with the
Speaker 2: rookie quarterbacks Anthony Richardson, C J. Stroud and Bryce Young. Right,
Speaker 2: I'm a little different than you on Carolina. I think
Speaker 2: it could be a little bit of a rough year
Speaker 2: the other two teams for sure, but it doesn't matter,
Speaker 2: like if all three of them are drafting in the
Speaker 2: top five next year. It's a big picture play. Where
Speaker 2: Trey Lance came into a spot where it was like,
Speaker 2: we're competing to be playing late in January. Anything less
Speaker 2: is unacceptable, and the core guys on the team like
Speaker 2: they're not into losing, They're not into you figuring it out,
Speaker 2: Like who on the Colts is really gonna get super
Speaker 2: mad if he's struggling, right, I mean, they're going through
Speaker 2: a transitional period right now. So I think when you
Speaker 2: are a young quarterback who's raw and the expectations are
Speaker 2: super low for your team, it's actually way easier. You
Speaker 2: get to figure it out. And that doesn't mean you're
Speaker 2: going to become a good player, but you know, it's
Speaker 2: very rare, like look at what Kansas City did. They
Speaker 2: gave him some breathing room and he's turns out Mahomes
Speaker 2: a multime outlier. Like, well, Mahomes is not someone to
Speaker 2: be used as an example. Even Josh Allen, they had
Speaker 2: blown the place up. They ended up making the playoffs
Speaker 2: that year, but it was a little lucky. Remember, I
Speaker 2: think there was like an Andy Dalton thing that got
Speaker 2: him in beat the Ravens or something. They were a
Speaker 2: wild card, but the expectations were low and he got
Speaker 2: an easy transition into the pros that if a top
Speaker 2: team drafts you and the expectations were high, if you're
Speaker 2: not ready, especially clearly Trey Lance wasn't, it can be
Speaker 2: overwhelming and probably derail your career.
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Speaker 1: you know, I was thinking about this with Trey Lance.
Speaker 1: A four year jet scout came out and just said, like,
Speaker 1: this doesn't work. He doesn't. He looks overwhelmed. And it
Speaker 1: just goes to show you how hard drafting a quarterback is.
Speaker 1: And I'll give an example. So Mac Jones came in
Speaker 1: with several red flags, not athletic, had a temper one
Speaker 1: year starter, surrounded by great players, then lands in New
Speaker 1: England with a defensive culture, yet he had an excellent
Speaker 1: rookie season. Trey Lance comes in, winning culture, big kid mobile,
Speaker 1: Kyle Shanahan, It's bad. Like one of the reasons I
Speaker 1: bought into Trey Lance was Kyle Shanahan will figure it out.
Speaker 1: So I was like, oh, this will work. So does
Speaker 1: it show you that if Kyle can't make it work,
Speaker 1: it was just a whiff. I mean part of me
Speaker 1: is like like, like I understand James Wiseman for the
Speaker 1: Warriors not winning, and it's not because Wiseman can't play.
Speaker 1: He doesn't. He's not synced up to Steph Curry's timeline, right, Like,
Speaker 1: like I get them just saying, hey, we got to
Speaker 1: get guys who can win. Now, NFL is different, Like
Speaker 1: if Trey could play, they would just figure it out.
Speaker 1: And I watched Sam Darnold with the same personnel play
Speaker 1: and Trey Lance. Sam looked like Sam looked excellent, And
Speaker 1: I'm like, we all talk about Lance pretty has not
Speaker 1: a great camp. Is it possible you live and you
Speaker 1: live and spend time in the area. Is Sam Darnold
Speaker 1: potentially the starter?
Speaker 2: Well, I've heard that Kyle's had a long love affair
Speaker 2: would be strong, but he's always liked the player, and
Speaker 2: he saw what his strengths are in his offense, and
Speaker 2: let's face it, he views the quarterback position. If you
Speaker 2: remove Trey Lance, I would say a little different than
Speaker 2: most like what the Andy Reids of the world and
Speaker 2: some of these you know coaches in the league want
Speaker 2: a little different than what Kyle Shanahan wants and some
Speaker 2: of his stuff, you know he's never had in all
Speaker 2: of his successful years. You know, they had success with
Speaker 2: Matt Job in Houston, obviously, Matt Ryan, Jimmy Garoppolo. Sam
Speaker 2: is the best arm of any of those guys. Yes,
Speaker 2: and I think Sam fair or not. Was it shitty
Speaker 2: situations that if you put let's just say a tray
Speaker 2: or guy, it would have been worse. I mean, no
Speaker 2: one was winning in the situations he was in with
Speaker 2: Adam Gase and even in Carolina. And I do think
Speaker 2: that Brock Purdy is not going to get treated like
Speaker 2: some top ten quarterback and if things are rocky and
Speaker 2: don't look like last season, he won't go to the bullpen.
Speaker 2: It was no different than last year. If Trey Lance
Speaker 2: hadn't broken his ankle and gone four or five, six games,
Speaker 2: I don't know the exact number, and then up and down,
Speaker 2: he would have gone to Jimmy Garoppolo. He was not
Speaker 2: given him seventeen games because that's not how this team
Speaker 2: is built. So I think there is tangible pressure on Purdy, who,
Speaker 2: as he stated over and over, is gonna be as
Speaker 2: lock starter. For Pittsburgh. But he doesn't get to just
Speaker 2: go like zero to three if they lose Week one,
Speaker 2: which is a very losable game on the road. They're
Speaker 2: a favorite, So that means Tomlin's an underdog. It's just
Speaker 2: gonna be a tough environment against a really good defense.
Speaker 2: I just he will go to the bullpen. Now, I
Speaker 2: don't know if that's two week four, but party doesn't
Speaker 2: just get the leash of most of these blue chip,
Speaker 2: highly paid quarterbacks. And that's you know, part of this conversation.
Speaker 2: Have you ever seen anything like a conversation over these
Speaker 2: backup quarterbacks for an elite team. It's it's they're an
Speaker 2: outlier situation, right, a Super Bowl contender who does not
Speaker 2: have a forty fifty million dollar quarterback. All the other teams,
Speaker 2: even in the NFC, Dak and Jalen, and then the
Speaker 2: top teams in the AFC Mahomes obviously Josh Allen and Burrow, Right,
Speaker 2: I mean, these are the premium players in the league.
Speaker 2: And then you got the forty nine ers. It's like
Speaker 2: Perty and Sam Darnold. So it just but we all
Speaker 2: kind of believe in them because we saw.
Speaker 1: What they could.
Speaker 2: They could have beat the Eagles if party doesn't get
Speaker 2: hurt the way they were playing, but there is like
Speaker 2: this kind of elephant in the room weirdness with their quarterback.
Speaker 2: And that's just kind of the way it's been since
Speaker 2: Kyle's been there, because ultimately Trey Lance didn't work out
Speaker 2: because they were hoping that he would become that guy.
Speaker 1: So I think an interesting situation. I had a buddy,
Speaker 1: Steve Khime used to run Arizona. Yeah, he was at
Speaker 1: the Eagles camp last several days and he texted me
Speaker 1: the other day He's like, they are really good, and
Speaker 1: you know, Shane Steiken is one of these guys. This
Speaker 1: was Brian Dabele. So Brian Dabole was being talked about.
Speaker 1: I was getting comments about him, like three years when
Speaker 1: he got the Buffalo job. I'd get guys or like
Speaker 1: watch this guy. And then then everybody figured out, like
Speaker 1: when Josh Allen exploded, it's like, oh, so I thought
Speaker 1: the Chargers were going to hire Brian Dable because he
Speaker 1: had a relationship day Ball did with Tom Telesco, the GM.
Speaker 1: I think they roomed in college and they knew each
Speaker 1: other somehow, and they didn't The spanosist actually said, hey,
Speaker 1: we want Brandon Staley because he was with a Rams.
Speaker 1: You know, you take somebody that's valuable away from the Rams,
Speaker 1: maybe he'd already been on the West Coast whatever, so
Speaker 1: and you get situations like this. Well, the Chargers also
Speaker 1: told me several years ago Shane Steiken is really good
Speaker 1: and Justin Herbert behind the thirty second ranked offensive line
Speaker 1: with Anthony Lynn literally through thirty one touchdown passes. Then
Speaker 1: he goes and he kind of resurrects, and that's the
Speaker 1: wrong word. He takes Jalen Hurts his talent and essentially
Speaker 1: makes him co MVP of the league. So he leaves
Speaker 1: much like Dable left Josh Allen. Josh Allen's still good,
Speaker 1: but the mistakes go up. There's drama this year and
Speaker 1: you could sense they miss Stable a little. No knock
Speaker 1: on Ken Dorsey. I'm really interested. I think Jalen Hurts
Speaker 1: like Josh Allen. He's a franchise guy, moves throws, great
Speaker 1: leadership qualities, but you work with them and you still
Speaker 1: have contacts. I look at last year's Eagles team. They
Speaker 1: played a bunch of injured quarterbacks, backup quarterbacks and week quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: Schedules much different this year and I am interested. I'm
Speaker 1: really pro Indie because of Steichen. And I remember when
Speaker 1: Sirianni called the plays, it was a bit of an
Speaker 1: s show. He handed it over to Stichen and instantly
Speaker 1: next week they were good. What do you expect from
Speaker 1: the Philadelphia Eagles this year? The offense?
Speaker 2: Well, a lot of players in the history of the
Speaker 2: league have had great seasons, right, But to be a
Speaker 2: great player, it's doing it year in year out, especially
Speaker 2: a quarterback.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: That's what separated Brady Manning, Breeze, whoever, all the top
Speaker 2: guys every year. So there is pressure now on Jalen.
Speaker 2: They didn't have a choice. They had to pay him. Listen.
Speaker 2: One thing I've learned from in the scouting world talking
Speaker 2: about players and seeing guys that you've kind of bet
Speaker 2: against that failed. You bet on the person. And these guys,
Speaker 2: I think they didn't think three years ago he was
Speaker 2: going to be this good. But they hammered home how
Speaker 2: impressive this dude was. Yeah, how coachable he is, Like
Speaker 2: Sirianni can yell at him. He's a coach's kid, doesn't
Speaker 2: mind it, Saban Lincoln Riley, he can handle it. This
Speaker 2: This is a tough mentally driven football is his life.
Speaker 2: Teammates love him. That's why they wally pipped Carson Wentze fast.
Speaker 2: Everyone gravitated to this guy and this is when he
Speaker 2: wasn't even that good. Yeah, and so to me, you
Speaker 2: don't bet against now. Is he going to maintain like
Speaker 2: the Super Bowl game every single game? Of course not,
Speaker 2: but I have I'm betting on him because I think
Speaker 2: he proved last year. He's a much better thrower and
Speaker 2: like com Sexty, their team around him, elite offensive line.
Speaker 2: Him and AJ Brown are perfectly This guy is kind
Speaker 2: of like the younger version of Russell Wilson. Jason Kelsey says,
Speaker 2: he throws like one of the best deep balls he's
Speaker 2: ever seen. So he's a great go ball thrower. Devonte
Speaker 2: Smith's a stud. They have a tight end. They always
Speaker 2: got a million running backs. You're right though, anytime you
Speaker 2: move the coordinator in a psyching to get to him,
Speaker 2: I mean, he could be the next McVeigh Shanahan. You
Speaker 2: take a day ball, you take a quarterback as a coordinator,
Speaker 2: and then you take Anthony Richardson. I mean, this guy
Speaker 2: would be a legend around the league pretty quickly, right,
Speaker 2: But you know, I think the coordinator Ben Johnson. I
Speaker 2: think that's his name, the longtime Utah guy and bounce
Speaker 2: around the league.
Speaker 1: By the way, this is a good point. Stafford was
Speaker 1: at his best with Jim Bob Cooter the coordinator.
Speaker 2: Okay, so they got a lot of guys in Sirianni.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of cohesion there offensively. So I the
Speaker 2: schedule is going to be harder, right. I think the
Speaker 2: NFC East is the Cowboys. Those games are going to
Speaker 2: be more difficult the Giants. The mismatch last year was
Speaker 2: pretty evident when the Eagles played the Giants kicked their ass.
Speaker 2: I think that will get a little more competitive. Washington
Speaker 2: beat him one game last year. They played the Niners
Speaker 2: in the regular season. They play Seattle in the regular season.
Speaker 2: So it's just going to be a little bit more difficult.
Speaker 2: But I think when you get a guy that's proven
Speaker 2: that he can play in his lineage shows Alabama, Oklahoma
Speaker 2: right from college, blue chip guy, and he's such an
Speaker 2: elite character football intangible stuff, that's who you bet on.
Speaker 2: So is he going to be an MVP every single
Speaker 2: league or year? I don't know, But is he going
Speaker 2: to be a damn good player? I would say, yeah,
Speaker 2: you know what you made.
Speaker 1: Just a great point you said in scouting you bet
Speaker 1: on the guy, and I think with quarterback, especially because
Speaker 1: you ask so much of that position and that guy.
Speaker 1: But I didn't like Will Levis. I didn't like his attitude.
Speaker 1: I didn't like Baker. I didn't like Jay Cutler once
Speaker 1: I learned about it. Nothing against Baker Mayfield, but I
Speaker 1: didn't like the hootspu and the cockiness. Cam rubbed me
Speaker 1: the wrong way. Jamis Winston I thought was silly. I
Speaker 1: liked Bryce Young, I liked Andrew Luck. I like Trevor Lawrence.
Speaker 1: I remember meeting Russell Wilson as a rookie. It's such
Speaker 1: a great point. I ever thought about it that way.
Speaker 1: The guys I have been hyper critical of. I mean,
Speaker 1: I had somebody tell me about Will Levis between the
Speaker 1: girlfriend on Draft night, the gun show at the combine,
Speaker 1: They're like, this guy loves Will Levis, Bryce Young loves football.
Speaker 2: And just because you're a great guy and love football
Speaker 2: doesn't mean I mean, this is pro football.
Speaker 1: It's hard, right.
Speaker 2: The forty nine ers bet a lot on Trey Lance
Speaker 2: part of it. He just doesn't see it when he's playing, right,
Speaker 2: it's a fine line. This is one of the most
Speaker 2: competitive industries, probably in all of America to be a
Speaker 2: high level quarterback. But I do think Jalen proved last
Speaker 2: year of just seeing the field being much better as
Speaker 2: a passing quarterback and clearly benefits. You talk to the
Speaker 2: guys with the Colts. What was a big part of
Speaker 2: betting on Anthony Richardson. They liked the person. My scouting
Speaker 2: buddies were like, he's really impressing these guys. Seems like
Speaker 2: a good guy. So you kind of bet on that
Speaker 2: with the talent, no guarantee because you know you're taking
Speaker 2: a big flyer on the talent, but you kind of
Speaker 2: bet on the guy you feel better about it.
Speaker 1: I mean I've said this before. I You and I.
Speaker 1: If I went to a bar and I sat next
Speaker 1: to you and we were having cocktails and talking, I
Speaker 1: would know within six to eight minutes, Oh, I like
Speaker 1: this guy right like the first time we met. That
Speaker 1: happens to me all the time in Manhattan Beach. I'll
Speaker 1: go out and I'll go to my little private club
Speaker 1: I got buddies at and some people I don't know,
Speaker 1: and I just talk. I'm a talker and I can
Speaker 1: tell instantly it's the same an uber you get in
Speaker 1: an uber. I was in an uber recently, about two
Speaker 1: months ago, and so I met this guy. So just
Speaker 1: immediately I'm like, man, he's articulate. I'm asking him about
Speaker 1: his life and it's about a twenty minute drive. Well
Speaker 1: about halfway through, we start talking about the homeless issue
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles and he was homeless, and we go
Speaker 1: into detail about the situation, and by the end of it,
Speaker 1: I'm like, that was one of the best twenty minute
Speaker 1: rides I've ever had in a car with a stranger.
Speaker 1: And it's one of those things. He told me his
Speaker 1: life story. He was just willing to talk about it.
Speaker 1: He was a roll, a vulnerable guy. When you sit
Speaker 1: and interview these quarterbacks in this room and you get
Speaker 1: twenty minutes, John, you tell me your scout, I think
Speaker 1: you can size a guy up. I heard Levis was
Speaker 1: got very defensive in the scouting rooms when you asked
Speaker 1: him about his habit of eating the whole banana skin
Speaker 1: and all. Well, he's the one that put it on
Speaker 1: social media and scouts would ask him about it, and
Speaker 1: he got defensive with a couple teams, and it's like
Speaker 1: I think you can size people up well.
Speaker 2: Look at the market, look at the market value on him,
Speaker 2: because I thought early on in the season, I guess
Speaker 2: with junior or senior year whatever, that last year was
Speaker 2: equivalent to his years in college. He had a chance
Speaker 2: to be the number one overall pick, and then the
Speaker 2: season kind of derailed for him. And then even by
Speaker 2: draft time, he was viewed as a guy like he
Speaker 2: still could go in the top ten. But sometimes the
Speaker 2: way things you hear, if you only talk to a
Speaker 2: couple guys, you don't actually know. He didn't go in
Speaker 2: the first round. So it a quarterback star of league
Speaker 2: for a guy with his talent, because he two years
Speaker 2: ago he was really good for Kentucky commence. Yeah, and
Speaker 2: that tells you everything you need to know. And I
Speaker 2: do think the team that drafted him little quarterback desperate,
Speaker 2: right Tannehills last year.
Speaker 1: But look what's happening right now.
Speaker 2: Malik Willis clearly a high level guy, has really improved
Speaker 2: and will Levis can't beat him out. So yeah, it's
Speaker 2: it's it's what makes this so difficult is because you know,
Speaker 2: you're involved in so many businesses right, so many of
Speaker 2: it are already black and white on an Excel spreadsheet.
Speaker 2: This is making money. This isn't we acquire this, we
Speaker 2: add this building. It's going to cost us this. It's
Speaker 2: it's just with human beings, which sports is. That's who
Speaker 2: you're acquiring for seven eight figures. You can't. Actually, you
Speaker 2: have ideas, and sometimes you're right and sometimes you're really wrong,
Speaker 2: and you can be fooled too. That's the other thing.
Speaker 2: Like some guys, you got to be very careful. We
Speaker 2: used to call them in Philly cons because you could
Speaker 2: just be conned. If a guy ever showed up to
Speaker 2: your Top thirty visit wearing a suit, it's like, yeah,
Speaker 2: he's got something to hide, because you know most bryce
Speaker 2: the average players are showing up in team sweats. He's
Speaker 2: flying city to city. He's not I've already talked to him.
Speaker 2: But anytime that suit, it's like, oh, this guy's got
Speaker 2: some red flag and you already know about him. So
Speaker 2: you're asking questions that you already know the answers to.
Speaker 2: But then where you get burned is if that guy
Speaker 2: goes on to be really good and your owner starts
Speaker 2: looking at your GM coach like you guys didn't like
Speaker 2: this guy, and he's kicking our ass on Sunday. So
Speaker 2: it's it's where some of these people start second guessing themselves,
Speaker 2: and it's the hard you know Belichick, he doesn't really
Speaker 2: like taking a lot of flyers, right, He kind of likes,
Speaker 2: you know, high character, super smart. This guy played seven
Speaker 2: sports and sometimes his ceiling's not as high.
Speaker 1: And it worked with Tom Brady.
Speaker 2: I My thought on like the Zeke thing was Belichick
Speaker 2: forever has been like Warren Buffett. He invests pretty he's
Speaker 2: pretty boring, right, but it's always worked when he had
Speaker 2: Tom Brady. Buffett has so much money. He ain's not
Speaker 2: looking to double his money. He just wants his seven
Speaker 2: eight ten percent returns. Now he's got to be a
Speaker 2: little more aggressive. But he's not comfortable and he's seventy
Speaker 2: one years old, Like he's not going to change his stripe.
Speaker 1: So what does he do?
Speaker 2: He signed Zeke for six hundred thousand dollars signing bonus.
Speaker 2: He's he wasn't gonna get into a bidding war for
Speaker 2: Dalvin Cook or that's not that's not who he is.
Speaker 2: And he he did it one year and it backfired
Speaker 2: on him.
Speaker 1: Well, Also, the world's changed, so like Greg Popovich could
Speaker 1: never embrace the three point shot. All right, Belichick is
Speaker 1: still seeking value with offensive players that ship hit, that's
Speaker 1: it's sailed. You could do that with Brady, and you
Speaker 1: could do that twelve years ago. You have to pay
Speaker 1: for Tyreek Hill, right, you have to pay for Travis Kelcey.
Speaker 1: And I think so. And I think one of the
Speaker 1: things I'll read a business book every year. I'll probably
Speaker 1: grab one, gravitate to onet and read it. And the
Speaker 1: only thing that kills a successful business is there's a
Speaker 1: cultural change and you're too arrogant to embrace it. And
Speaker 1: I feel like Popovich, Now he got rewarded with Victor
Speaker 1: wembin Yama. We'll see, but I think I think Popovich
Speaker 1: and Belichick you kind of fall in love with your
Speaker 1: culture over personnel. If you take Brady and Tim Duncan out,
Speaker 1: we're not talking about Popovitch and Belichick, right, So I
Speaker 1: think my thing with the Zeke signing is they could
Speaker 1: have had Dalvin Cook, but Bill has not. He's toned
Speaker 1: deaf to this. I mean, think about this, Think about
Speaker 1: all these defensive coaches. Ron Rivera won't put his arm
Speaker 1: around Sam Howe, Brian Flores, wouldn't his arms around to
Speaker 1: h Mike Zimmer wouldn't put him around Kirk Cousins, Bill
Speaker 1: Belichick won't put him around Mac Jones McVeigh, even though
Speaker 1: Goff could drive him nuts. I love Jared Dan Campbell.
Speaker 1: Look at the offensive coaches even when the quarterback is flawed.
Speaker 1: Kyle Shanahan, I love my guy, I trust my guy.
Speaker 1: The world's changed quarterbacking now is one hundred million dollar
Speaker 1: a year. These guys are going to sign five hundred
Speaker 1: million dollar contracts. They make seven figures on endorsement, seven
Speaker 1: figures on social gous show him a little love, and
Speaker 1: I just think those defensive coaches struggle with it.
Speaker 2: Well, think about this, if you went into a meeting
Speaker 2: room and he's on the nicest end, right, he's not
Speaker 2: a swear or anything. But even Kyle McVeigh, the offensive coaches,
Speaker 2: when they are acknowledging their team, their unit, their position,
Speaker 2: it would not sound even though he was acknowledging the
Speaker 2: offensive line like Robert Sala. How did Robert Sala come
Speaker 2: off in that clip on Hard Knocks. That's a defensive coach.
Speaker 2: Why everything's aggressive, everything's hitting everything, And he went around
Speaker 2: the offensive guys very carefully, but he attacked that group.
Speaker 2: Now they can handle it. But that showed, like, that's
Speaker 2: how defensive coaches talking. I'm not saying offensive coaches won't
Speaker 2: swear or yell, but that's you can't be like that
Speaker 2: every day with the debos and the aj Browns and
Speaker 2: your quarterbacks and your tight ends, your running backs, they're
Speaker 2: a little closer to like NBA players, right, but your
Speaker 2: aligneman and all your defensive players gloves off. And that's
Speaker 2: why Saula just let into him. Now he's just telling
Speaker 2: what he saw. They're getting worked, which is kind of concerning.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I think that there's just a different communication
Speaker 2: with the defensive side of the ball and the offensive
Speaker 2: side of the ball as a whole. And I think
Speaker 2: it shows consistently when it comes to the coaches messaging
Speaker 2: and anytime we get an inside look behind the curtains.
Speaker 1: Yeah, finally, I'm going to give you a player I
Speaker 1: looked at. I'm gonna throw this out there. So Brock
Speaker 1: pretty is rare, but there's about a quarterback every two
Speaker 1: years we find in a later round, Dak Kirk Cousins
Speaker 1: that Aidan O'Connell Raiders from Purdue that dude can spin it. Now.
Speaker 1: In college it was mostly a shotgun system. You know,
Speaker 1: he got it, got it out. He's not gonna he's
Speaker 1: not gonna move the pocket a ton, right, And maybe
Speaker 1: it's a little old school, but I'm watching him against
Speaker 1: San Francisco John he made two throws in that game,
Speaker 1: like and I'm like, oh shit, those are big boy throws.
Speaker 1: And he was a fourth rounder. So fourth rounder he
Speaker 1: gave his Stetson Bennett, this kid from Purdue And also
Speaker 1: is it Jake Hayner from Fresno State. Yeah, he looked
Speaker 1: pretty good too. Yeah, so three fourth round quarterbacks now
Speaker 1: they may all be able to play. Stetson Bennett's been
Speaker 1: hot and cold in practice all over the map. But my,
Speaker 1: my guy, my quarterback this year, I'm gonna go with
Speaker 1: this Raider kid because Garoppolo has an injury history. I mean,
Speaker 1: if you can get a quarterback that is free for
Speaker 1: four years, it changes your entire franchise.
Speaker 2: I don't know if it was the end of their
Speaker 2: second joint practice or before the preseason game, but I
Speaker 2: know the Niners guys because obviously whenever you joint practice
Speaker 2: with the team, for you just the coaches end up
Speaker 2: bs and and talking, and they basically said that we
Speaker 2: love this kid coming out in the draft too, but
Speaker 2: we just have a pack quarterback room. We weren't going
Speaker 2: to take a quarterback in the draft. And think about this,
Speaker 2: the type guys the Shanahan crew likes Stetson Bennett. The
Speaker 2: Packers took Clifford, who's looked pretty good too. Josh McDaniels
Speaker 2: in the Belichick tree kind of has a similar vibe.
Speaker 2: Jimmy Garoppolo, Mac Jones. They kind of liked the similar
Speaker 2: type quarterbacks. I'm with you now preseason game, We've been
Speaker 2: fooled before. You couldn't watch that half and go one
Speaker 2: If if Kyle shann would have looked a Josh McDaniels
Speaker 2: a halftime, Will you trade me straight up Trey Lance
Speaker 2: for eight o'clock?
Speaker 1: He would have laughed at him, right.
Speaker 2: No chance? And uh yeah, I mean I think anytime
Speaker 2: I would immediately make them the backup because immediately over
Speaker 2: Brian Hoyer. Now if they want to keep him around
Speaker 2: to kind of hang out in the quarterback room. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean it would not shock me. Like you said,
Speaker 2: Jimmy doesn't stay healthy. He gets in even when he's
Speaker 2: playing he's injured. So at any moment, Aidan O'Connell, you
Speaker 2: go to the ball. They gave him Derek Carr's jersey
Speaker 2: number in a New York minute. You'll standed that thing
Speaker 2: out fast.
Speaker 1: I texted a scout and he goes. I talked to
Speaker 1: two NFL execs yesterday, well one exec, one scout, and
Speaker 1: they both said, oh, our guys loved him, we just
Speaker 1: didn't need a quarterback. So you talked to the Niners.
Speaker 1: They loved him and didn't need a quarterback. I think
Speaker 1: the Raiders found themselves a gem.
Speaker 2: He had a lot of buzz and I'm not trying
Speaker 2: to overreact to preseason. They beat the Niners pretty well
Speaker 2: in practice too. They held their own I do think
Speaker 2: you know, I know you're a Sean Payton guy. I'm
Speaker 2: worried about that team, that that team could be. You know,
Speaker 2: they got some figuring stuff out to do. What if
Speaker 2: the Raiders, because they do have a lot of high
Speaker 2: end talent. Their problem was defensive as a unit last
Speaker 2: year was pretty hit or miss, and obviously Carr had
Speaker 2: his worst year as a pro. Once he became an
Speaker 2: established starter. If they can just get solid quarterback play,
Speaker 2: Josh Jacobs, DeVante Adams, Crosby's stud and Josh. Josh was
Speaker 2: much better last year than probably even I said it,
Speaker 2: But they were in games.
Speaker 1: And we're getting their test kick. They could pay Josh Jacobs,
Speaker 1: So then you'd had Devonte Ander, Devanta Adams, Hunter, Renfro,
Speaker 1: Josh Jacobs, Colton Miller, Aidan O'Connell. Right then you can
Speaker 1: go on the market and grab a center, go on
Speaker 1: the market, get a defensive tackle because they have Crosby.
Speaker 1: When you can go free for four years, it allows
Speaker 1: you to basically go get three high end players. That's
Speaker 1: what you're allowed to do.
Speaker 2: And their team was better probably whatever Mac Jones the
Speaker 2: year that the Patriots made the Super Bowl, I guess
Speaker 2: or not super Bowl, the playoffs two years ago as
Speaker 2: a wild card and got their butt kicked by the Bills.
Speaker 2: But I think I wonder if in his mind, you know,
Speaker 2: Jimmy's basically he signed a three year contract money wise,
Speaker 2: just on a one year deal. That if they're not
Speaker 2: thinking like that, because they could go on a two
Speaker 2: year run. That gives them a lot of leeway, buy
Speaker 2: a corner, make a big trade. You got a lot
Speaker 2: of wiggle room with money.
Speaker 1: John Middlecoff, Buddy, I'm heading on a plane tonight. I'll
Speaker 1: be back late Sunday night. Good seeing you. Thanks for
Speaker 1: those who listened on AMP. John Middlecoff hosted three and
Speaker 1: Out and Go Low Great golf podcast. Good seeing you,
Speaker 1: have a good weekend.
Speaker 2: Colin the Volume