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