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All right, John Middlecoff is about to stop by to talk NFL Draft for about an hour. We're going to do about ten minutes NBA in the backside, because we both have some strong thoughts on that and the NBA playffams have been really fun. Before John comes on, grab your phone. I want you to download the game Time app. You've done this before. Great place, the fastest, easiest place.
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Up for an hour. You know, he deserves some time off once in a while.
So the NFL Draft over the course of the weekend. So my one take about the draft, well I got several, but my first one is Dallas didn't draft a running back and didn't draft a receiver until the round. So you know, Jerry hasn't been to a Super Bowl in on almost three decades. So what Jerry doesn't want to do is get trapped with Dak Prescott. And I thought it was strategic. I thought that was Jerry Jones saying, listen, we're gonna rely on you Dak this year. We're not
giving you all this, AMMO. We're going to rebuild the offensive line. You'll get protection, but in a contract year, the last thing I'm gonna do is load you up with weapons. Dak's production's absolutely gonna come down. I mean, they just don't have a running back of note on the roster, and people could say, well, you're tanking the year. They're not tanking the year. They'll be a good football team.
But it felt strategic to me to not address running back and really frankly not address receiver until in the sixth round. That didn't feel like just a bad stroke of luck to me.
I'm torn because it's hard for me to be critical when you ever you go offensive and defensive line early in the which they have, and they're a good drafting team, bad running back draft. But let's face it, Colin, until they give him a contract extension, which they should not. To me, this is him and McCarthy are playing for their jobs. I mean, this guy, let's face it. They paid him a lot of money a couple of years ago off the broken ankle, and he's been really good
in the regular season. In the playoffs, two out of three years he was atrocious I mean, he was really bad three years ago against the Niners in this year, in that first half in the game was over. Wasn't all his fault, but he did not play winning football. The price has gone up dramatically since they gave him forty million dollars a year just because the market right. So can you give Dak Prescott fifty five million dollars a year?
And you can't?
I underno, And he's better than Tua. But I say the same thing about Tua. If you're in that business long term, you're signing up at best to be a one and done playoff team. And the other thing is, let's face it, the Eagles have a lot more talent on their roster, dramatically, more top to bottom. So you look at a team.
I mean AJ Brown, DeVante Smith, Saquon Barkley better at tight end and an athlete in their prime at quarterback. I mean I don't at Lane Johnson at right tackle. I don't think it's necessarily close. I mean, I think you're being kind saying they have more talent. I think it's lobsided in favor of Philly Well.
And if Michael Parson is the best defensive player of the group. It's not like the Eagles haven't invested in that side the last couple of years in the draft with Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis. They just draft. They get the top corner in this draft with Cooper Degen as their second round pick, who a lot of people had and Howie even said we had a first round great on him as well. Darius Slay is an older player,
but he's still a solid starter. They'll get rid of Brad Berry the Eagles, and now you add Fangio and Kellen Moore to the mix because last year their coaches really let him down. Like to me, this is anything less like one takeaway after the draft for the NFC East, I don't think the Giants are very good. Washington's in this rebuild mode. The Eagles have no excuse not to win this division. Fil I mean last year they imploded. Dallas kind of lucked into it at the end, remember,
but they should not like that. There should be a two or three game difference now. I think Dallas is gonna be good. I'm talking, you know, nine ten wins, but the Eagle there should be a gap between the two teams.
I don't think there's any question and listen, there's a line with Dak Prescott. If he does not get one hundred yards run support, dex wins about thirty five percent of his games. So it did feel like to me they got the cap issues, so you had to address running back in the draft. You're not gonna fine running back, well.
They don't really exist. You just got to get lucky with an undrafted free agent. Basically you're keeping your fingers crossed.
I will say this in terms of everybody always wants to know who wins the draft. I've had the same formula as long as I can remember, and I usually do it on the Monday after the draft. I'm not going to project how great your fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh round picks are, but I will judge your off season based on your free agent signings and your first
two or three picks, where I get more certainty. I think the Chicago Bears are a completely different football team with Keenan Allen, DeAndre Swift, Gerald Everett, Caleb Williams and Romadonze. That's a completely different offense. If you're asking me who won the offseason in terms of personnel, might take his Chicago won't even look the same. I thought Green Bay got better, but I don't think Chicago will even look the same.
What do you think?
Yeah, I mean, I listen, it's hard not to like Chicago. I mean, what they've done in the last twelve months. I think that trade that Ryan Poles made it's got to go down as one of the great trades of all time. I mean, it really does. And it's one that Carolina would like, Yeah, and to get rid of. Basically, they traded all that for Bryce Young that if you could do a redo, they would laugh in your face and Carolina would would throw in picks to swap it back.
So yeah, I think. I think the hype on Caleb, which is the nature of this beast, the same thing happened to Trevor Lawrence. He does not need to be immediately a superstar. He just needs to be solid, right, And they should be good because last year they could have been a playoff team if their quarterback could have just functioned from the pocket. Couldn't function from the pocket.
Now you add Keenan Allen and Romaduon say, you know the best part about romadonsay, he doesn't have to do that much like he was the lead dogg at Washington, which had about fifteen guys draft that it felt like and he was a fantastic player, but he gets to ease in a lot of people like Marvin Harrison, we talked about this last on Thursday, has no choice. Anything less than eighty ninety catches. They're not getting enough out
of them given what in his group. So Rome, if he just has forty five to fifty catches, maybe six touchdowns, you're awesome. Even though it's the ninth pick. You'd like a little more. But given this team this year, Keenan probably be only there one year. So next year he takes a bigger jump. But they're not as dependent on their young wide receiver as a lot of teams are when they draft a guy high.
They're also going to have a fourth place schedule, so that helps.
Yeah, And divisions hard. The division's hard. It might be the best division in football.
I think offensively. I've said this. I think last time we were on you could make a Pro Bowl offense out of that division that he's compete with the NFL, I mean, there's just stars everywhere. And I also thought, I'll say this about the NFC and North I thought Green Bay. If you count Josh Jacobs Xavier McKinney in free agency, upgrade it back really good safety along with Morgan, Jordan Morgan the tackle from Arizona, Edrian Cooper the linebacker, and m who I heard the Rams like Bullarded the
safety from Georgia. Like that's five really good players. So Green Bay. You know, it's interesting. If you told me two teams that draft well in the last decade, I would actually say Green Bay in Tampa. But they're so divergent in terms of success because one gets the quarterback right and one hasn't. I always feel with Jason light if you go look at Tampa's first four picks, I loved him. I think he's one of the best drafters
in the league. They can't get quarterback right. The difference is and by the way, classic Michael who fell to the seventh, Green Bay gets him. He won't see the field for.
Three years and you'll look up.
He's a big kid six three, two twenty, not a huge jar, But you look up in three years and be like, what's a functional starter in the NFL? But that division, You know, it's really interesting about Chicago, Green Bay, Detroit, Minnesota, Minnesota, maybe the most talented potential fourth place team that I can remember. I was doing this over the course of the weekend. I was writing down everybody's ten best players in that division. There is not much that separates Detroit Minnesota,
like it's inches not. If Darnald plays well, you could see Minnesota to the last weekend competing well.
Isn't it a good example? He used Jason light They had no quarterback. They insert Brady at forty two years old and just start dominating. Right. So if they would have the same roster, you would have put Aaron Rodgers, the same thing would have happened. Look at last year, Baker had what seventy five percent of the season, was pretty solid, and they were a playoff team and they kicked the Eagles ass and they were right. They're in
the second playoff game with the Lions. So the quarterback position, which I'm sure we'll talk about, is so important. But I'm with you, like I think Green Bay is going to be very, very dependent on this. Jeff Haffley, the guy that they hired from Boston College, who was very well thought of. Kyle Shanahan really liked them the Ohio State When Ryan Day first got the job, made him
a code defensive coordinator. But he's got to be good because that's really been the downfall of their operation right just and really goes back to McCarthy with some of their great teams with Aaron Rodgers and listen, Mickveigh, what do they do defense? Right away? Kyle Shanahan, what's he always doing defense? They're all the top teams, even Dan Campbell their first two picks corners, and they've invested heavily
in the defensive line. So you're playing a lot of teams in your conference, Howie Roseman over the last couple of years, Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis Cooper, Dejen Mitchell, the tale. It's just defense. They just invest in that side of the ball. We know Green Bay and now LA Floor is well established. They're going to score a lot of points and they have explosive players. Jacobs. I think Josh Jacobs better player. Saquon Barkley. I mean that guy is when he's healthy, he's a top two or three running
back in the NFL. But it's gonna come down to defense, And like you said, in that division, Listen, I don't know how good Sam Darnold's going to be But if you catch them on the right day with those offensive weapons, they could score thirty five points. So it's just you better a lot of pressures on that higher. You know, he got rid of Joe Berry, who was his buddy. It wasn't going as well. Not all his fault. Sometimes
it's the players too, but they've invested. They have invested a lot of picks, right, The Packers have on that side of the ball over the last half decade, a ton of high round picks on defense.
Yeah, And it's funny because the Bears won seven games last year and they may not win more than eight this year. That's why I feel like, don't judge the Bears and Caleb on wins. The division is I think it is the best division in football. It's certainly the best division in terms of skill people. I mean that the receiving talent and the tight end talent and that division is insane. Yeah, it's like seven really in the in the division, there's seven good tight ends.
Gerald Effert's a good, solid being tied end in the NFL.
I do want to I do want to get into the quarterback thing because I was I've said this for several years. I think the Writers have a good roster, they just don't have the tight end.
Right.
They're a little bit like Tampa. So back to back they go get Brock Bauers, mayor the Notre Dame kid. Last year they've.
Got they drafted the center from Oregon, right.
Yep, yep.
So and I was texting with Tom te LESCo. Without divulging too much, I said, what you should be rooting for is Bryce Young and Will Levis to hit, I said, because then next year the number of teams that need a quarterback, Giants will probably take a swing. Jets will, but I'm not sure it's in the first round. You'll want to get airon some help. But I said, you know, if you look at last year's quarterback class and this year's quarterback class, and there's not a lot of teams, Okay,
Will Levis my guess they'll move off him. Maybe Bryce Young has to buy Thanksgiving and they got him some more pieces, has to do something. I think the Giants will eventually draft somebody. But John I went through it this morning. Also on the on the free agent market, you could have Tua and Dak.
Yeah, there's no.
Question now I think I think Jerry will re sign him. But it's interesting with the Raiders, were you know, I was going back and forth and I said, what you want to do if you're the Raiders next year? If you're and they'll probably finish fourth in division based on quarterback and you know, a defensive coach facing offensive coaches. I was like, you could win seven games, finished fourth,
have an eight pick. Just cross your fingers. There may not be more than three teams in the league next year along with the Raiders that need a quarterback.
I think it hit me on Friday because obviously we were all and I heard your take on the Cousin's Penick situation with you know, kind of being an insurance policy. I think if everyone got to redo this offseason, because when March fifteenth hits, you know, teams like the Raiders and the Falcons, they didn't make the playoffs, so they have had two and a half months to kind of prepare it. Now. The Raiders were hiring. Some people say with the Falcons too, so there were some moving parts.
It wasn't like a seamless transition. I think if you can get a redo, you would do something pretty simple. Christian Wilkins the Atlanta Falcons. The Raiders wouldn't sign him. They would have signed Kirk Cousins to one hundred million dollar deal instead of the defensive lineman. Because they have a team full of high end guy they have no quarterback.
And the Falcons would have signed Gardner Minshew or Sam Darnold for ten million dollars and drafted the twenty four year old quarterback who's going to be ready to go, and sign the defensive lineman and listen, I don't blame the Raiders. They kind of got stuck. When you're drafting not in the top ten, you don't control everything. Once Penix goes, that's the guy I think that they like. Maybe they got stuck, But when you're in this no man position, what do you do? You know, Gardner Minshew's
not fixing your problems. Gardner Minshew and Sam Darnold fix your problems when you can invest in a young quarterback and give you a little breathing room. But to me, the Raiders they drafted players that everyone loved. I bet the entire league you're not going to meet one coach or GM that didn't like Brock Bowers as a high
end player. Right, But what does he do for you when your two quarterbacks are Gardner Minshew and O'Connell from Purdue and it's no one's fault, Like this is kind of who they had the cousins thinks maybe he wouldn't have been that interested. Arthur Blank has more cash, so the way he can structure a deal. But going back to Atlanta, you only get so many resources. I remember how he said this in a couple of years ago in a press conference. Every team in the league. What
makes the NFL different than all these other leagues. Everyone has the same resources. We all have the same amount of money and the same around amount of draft picks. You just choose how you use them. Right. The reason the Browns have no first round picks they traded for to Shawn Watson and they allocate a lot of money
to him. Well, once you allocate all this money to Cousins like the Atlanta Falcons did, when you draft a quarterback high, one of his great attributes is the contract, right, So using that money to sign Christian Wilkins, Well, the quarterback position only one guy can be on the field. And this guy is not McCarthy or a Drake May who is a you know, a project, the guy that you want to not force on the field. He is.
He was probably the most beside Caleb, like you just want to see him play right away, right, And I think this goes back to they fell in love with him over the last month. Well, what the hell were you doing six months ago? What were you doing? You would have known at the combine this is just bad. Like part of the draft, the planning goes if you find Howie Roseman or Veitch, they've been planning the shit for six months, building out strategies. It feels like these
guys are flying by the seat of their pants. No one would argue, and I'm with you, you're better off having more invested in the quarterback position doubling down. But the resources here are a little funky. And Chris Sim's had a good tweet. He's like, well, Cousins, not gonna be ready at OTA's. Who's gonna be out there slinging? It's all these young guys. It's gonna be Pennix. So is there gonna be a natural gravitation? You know, there's an age gap all of a sudden, like why are
we playing this old guy? If this young guy it could get weird, and it could get weird fast.
Yeah, listen, it's it's it was odd and it's not what I would have done. But my takeaway is Arthur BLANKSKT is in the eighties.
He's getting old.
Yeah, And his takeaway is We've got some really good young pieces and a great old line. And my take is you have to be careful about having a strident opinion when there are realistic scenarios that could ensue. Cousins could come back and he wasn't mobilele for this, and you could have a guy that's just a ham and egger.
Secondly sick, which is very likely when you say it was fifty to fifty chance probably.
I mean Aaron Rodgers stopped moving about two years ago. What is he now?
He's gonna be a pocket quarterback. And the other scenario is sixty six quarterbacks played last year. Cousins may get hurt. So I almost feel like Ridder was so bad, Desmond Ridder was so bad. There's a sense in the building like, listen, we're not paying any of these young guys yet.
We're really not.
We're not paying any of them. They're all just kids.
Let's just let's just go get Cousins to ensure because I don't know if they thought when they were doing when they signed Cousins, Pennix was It's funny.
Pennis had a rollercoaster.
Everybody was red hot on him, then everybody bailed on him. And then we find out after the draft that four teams, including Atlanta, were interested in the first round. So he went from hot to second round prospect to apparently red hot during the draft. So my take is, you know, I could see Atlanta being like, Okay, let's let's let's just sign him. We could get him later and all of a sudden, because I do know the Seahawks, the Raiders like teams were interested in them, Like.
For sure, I got no issue taking them eight, zero issue taking aim Et. I just think when you plan an organization, that's the GM's job is to think big picture. And I understand at the time signing Minshew or signing Darnold, people would have been like, what the hell are you doing? But you should have had a pretty good idea because you've been picking eight for four months now, Like this, the spot didn't change. You were gonna get that guy.
You have the juice to get that guy at eight and I just think using that amount of money, because when you give that amount of guaranteed, and we saw it with Russell who was bigger, it does stick on your cap for several years, and that's a position where you can't use them both. Like sometimes if you miss on O lineman or a D lineman, you can rotate
guys or wide receivers. I just think you're so dependent and Cousins, what happens immediately his agents and I like Mike McCartney, but he immediately comes out like we're blown away. I saw Colt McCoy say, you know Cousins in pretty sense. So you get in the when you get in the sensitive business. And it's not like he doesn't have the equity of the in the league, like a Brady or a Rogers, where it's like whatever, we're getting this all time great player. There are a lot of people are like, hey,
he's good, but how good? I just think the locker room dynamics and Belichick was always great at this. It's already weird. It's already going to be weird, especially when you factor in OTA's are going to start in the next month and Pennix is going to be out there because the other guys in the training room getting getting ready hopefully for training camp. So I mean fundamentally, I get like investing in the quarterback position goes back to
Bill Walsh and Ron Wolf totally. But when you factor in the amount of money, it does just limit your ability. And this is not the other thing with Pennix is even maybe more than Caleb, Like he's just a plug and plagu he's twenty five, You're twenty four to twenty five years old, Like what the hell? Like this is not a Jordan Love situation. And I think that's where a lot of people the media can say whatever, but like the league's pushing back because it's just like a
it's a very bizarre situation. I think it does reflect the organization who's like, oh, yeah, Belichick, we're too good for Belichick. It's Frank, who the fuck are you guys?
Now, I listen.
I mean at times I called it illogical and on its surface, you know, my take was Friday is listen is.
I think it's financially illogical more than football illogical, right.
Like I'm just this is the worst division in football. I think they have the best quarterback and maybe the best backup in the league. I'm like, it make mistakes at that position, just go for it. I'm okay with it, but it but it And it Also what's interesting, I would have much more of a problem because I think they paid what did they paid Cousins one for Was it like one hundred and forty?
Yeah? I think I think the fake number was closer to one to eighty. But they gave him one hundred true guaranteed money and like basically seventy million dollars over the next eighteen months, right, Yeah.
So it's very front loaded. What worries me is that Dak and Tua, with their current teams, will want double that. So I always feel like with Cousins might take it's all front loaded. If Thanksgiving of the second year you're done with him, you're fine. Dak wants a five year deal, and it's like pan three point fifty for Dak is.
Literally a I'm with you there. I'd rather give Cousins one hundred than Dak to fifty. Yeah.
Yeah, So if all the bad things you can do, I can live with a year and a half of Cousins on the field competing.
I can live with them.
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dot net or download the Panini Direct app today. It's the official trading cards and NFTs of the Colin Cowherd draft coverage. You're into it, They're into you and they deliver Prism, Don Russ Select got them all all the top cards and more. You know, I thought Harball was going to have U there were going to be more fireworks with the chargers. I did think they got a couple of really interesting pieces, a couple of small school guys. But I think by and large, the Joe allpick was
interesting because they have a left tackle. Though Slater had an injury and all, it's kind of an He's an athlete, he was a high school basketball player. He's he's moved around, he's been a he's a very good apple.
You see the pictures after we got off of him sitting with his family. How massive that human being is.
So it's one of those things where I never bought into them taking a wide receiver.
I just didn't buy And everybody's mock draft have them at receiver, and I'm thinking.
That's just not what They're not going to get. Some skinny kid from LSU who's so I mean to me, the pick made sense. But I didn't think the Chargers had that many fireworks. I thought they did this basic stuff, played in the gym. You know, I think they got a linebacker, if I recall from the Michigan Yeah, but I didn't. I didn't think there was a ton of fireworks with the Chargers.
You know what's funny is most people, up until the last couple of weeks when I think a lot of people around the NFL like Gym's not taking a wide receiver, guys, So we can stop talking about that. But even the second pick in Lad McConkie, you know a lot of people have been like, go get Herbert, go trade up and get a Savior worthy or you know, get Keon Coleman, the guy that Bills took, and he took Lad McConkey.
You know who's gonna end up to me being more Edelman Wes Welker can play right in the slot receiver. Jim's not into this sexy football. He's not trying to be you know, Lane Kiffin or Lincoln Riley. That's not the way he coaches. He coaches like he's prepared to pay play Mike Ditka and Joe Gibbs back in nineteen eighty eight. And that's the way that's been successful up
into him three months ago when he won the national championship. Fundamentally, that's and I think when he said we view offensive lineman as weapons, he's not making a joke. He's being serious as a hard attack because he truly believes that. So justin Herbert, like they are, I'm actually a little
shocked that they didn't get Blake Korum. I'm pissed the Rams and I love that pick, but that it's just he's going to the football is going to look no different than if you pull up Stanford year one in eight. It's going to look the exact same. And it looked the same into the forty nine ers. Early on in Michigan he changed for a minute. Remember when he hired Gaddis, spread guy from alb and he hated it and he hated it. And then who became his right hand man,
Sharon Moore? What's the an O line coach? And that guy became the head. Those are the people he likes. You see these videos coming out of him at the at the trailer park. It was not the trailer park, but you know where he lived right with Greg Roman. What do they talk about running game? Offensive linemen, they're all that hybrid of the ravens of him. They're all interconnected.
And I'm just honestly, if you would have told me he would have drafted all offensive and defensive linemen, those were the only picks, no wide receivers two weeks ago, I would have believed you. I mean, that's not how it played out. But he thinks he can win. If he's winning at that group, he can figure the rest out through I would say psychological and physical warfare because
he wants to shove you around. And let's face it, most teams in the NFL, you know, when you look at like once we get to the final four of the final eight, it's a lot of physical teams and the soft team. Some teams that can score, they got no shot. They got no shot. And you look at the final four, who wasn't It was the Niners, it was the Ravens, it was the Chiefs. What have the lions become under Dan Campbell? Dan Campbell's got a little Jim Harbaugh in him. Yeah right, And I would say
they throw it a little more than Jim. But that's part of It's their weapons. Saint Brown's a fantastic player, but it starts with the offensive and defensive lines with them, and that's where they've invested the last couple years. Even Saint Brown, Jim would love Saint Brown. So with Kyle Shanahan, he's their type, breaks tackles, He's not some sexy outside wide receiver despite his stats.
Well, this is what the Rams have done the last two years o line. They paid two guards. I mean the Rams said, we're gonna pay guards and their receivers. Pooka breaks tackles, Cooper Cup breaks tackles.
Yeah, I think you know it's funny. People tend to.
Think offensive coaches are clever and they want finesse. But McVeigh changed his offense to more power running. That's why Korum was so valuable. They needed Kyra and Williams, they needed a backup. They invested an interior line. Shanahan likes physical football. Harball likes physical football. Andy Reid is a little.
He's he's unique around.
He's a little bit. I almost put him in just a different class. It's like there are certain people in every sport that just don't.
Like But think about when that when they picked, when they pivot, when they pivoted off Tyreek Hill, what did they do. They've drafted uh McDuffie and Karlovskis with their two picks right away. So he's invested heavily on that side of the ball this year. Xavier Worthy, he was too hard for them to pass up with the speed. But I'm with you.
So I went and it was interesting. I went and I went and looked at all my divisions. So we're basically through it now. We have new coaches, we have free agency staffs are all for that.
We have the draft, and.
I'll just do the first and last place teams and stop me, this is.
What this is what you think coming up or this was based on last year?
This this season? I have Buffalo first, New England last, Yes, Baltimore first, Cleveland last. Cleveland had a weird.
Draft since he since he could be a wild card there, Burrows healthy.
Yeah, I put them second, Kansas City first, Raiders last, tough division, Houston first, Tennessee's an easy last, Philly first, I have Giants last. I'm with it, Detroit first, Minnesota last, though it's close, Atlanta first, New Orleans last, or Carolina kind of question mark. I have the Rams first, and I have Seattle last. I think the Rams are I
thought they really nailed their first four picks. I thought they really Yeah, is anything so we can argue about the second and third teams, but any of those first and last you would push back on.
Yeah, let's talk about McVeigh because I thought he's a good example what Kyle and Andy and these offensive coaches have invested in physical players because they know that they can scheme guys open. And he invests his first pick in Verse, who's been a few as a first rounder this whole year. They heard him, they loved him, this second round pick. One of the guy. When I started at Fresno State, we had a student assistant who has worked his way up and he's been with Oregon State.
He's been the GM for Florida State for like the last three years. And he's Derek Ray. He's you know, if we talked about college gms like we do NFL GMC, I mean, look at his draft. I mean how many guys at Florida State were has picked. He's done a great job working hand in hand with Norvel. I said, what this Brandon Fisk guy, Brandon Fisk tell me about him? He said, think Max Crosby. But inside, so their first two picks, you know, we know that's how Verse kind
of plays power, That's what this guy plays. So you're never going to replace Aaron Donald. But they go back to back picks basically in what fifteen to twenty pick, because they traded up, they got they got Fisk in the top forty, so they invest immediately and they get Blake korm who if he's healthy. We've seen how this guy was a heartbeat of one of the better college football programs we've seen over the last twenty years. I mean, it's like Jim Harbaugh's favorite player since Frank Gore. So
I think the gap shrunk a little bit. And I think Kyle Shanahan showed you something drafting that wide receiver in the first round. Deebo Samuel could not get open to Super Bowl. He can't run routes. And I'm not trying to talk about dede Ball. I love him. He's a lot of stuff he does in football. I admire a lot the physicality, the ability to make plays, but
he is limited as a wide receiver. He can't get open, and I think Kyle was tired of him, and it's not at this point in time, it's not going to change. He kind of is what it is. So maybe Deebo, moving forward, you're gonna be on this new kickoff return guy and you'll kind of come in with McCaffrey in the backfield. But we need to run. We need to have wide receivers like a yuk who can run routes and because like look at the Rams. They got a bunch of guys that can run routes. I can't scheme
up every single play. We got guys on defense, we got guys on offense. But that they drafted Piersoll like that clearly was something that rattle Shanahan, just like McVeigh, like, we need to be even more physic if we're going to get over that hump against all these great offenses. And they double down. So I think I think those two teams right there with the Lions, right there with
the Packers, right there with the Eagles. I gu it's pretty clear with the NFC who's who the cream of the crop is, right.
Yeah, And I think I also think you have to take this into consideration. Is Debo McCaffrey's had injuries in his career, Trent Kittle, you can't have your four top guys all feel like they're older than their age. Like if you have Ayyuk is a kid, right, he's.
Just moving into his prime.
Doesn't get hurt off if you're going to move off and next year they have to address left tackle because Trent is a wall.
But I'm with you.
I look at the NFC and I think it's I mean, the Rams were so much better than everybody thought. I knew going into the weekend. They felt Brock Bauers could start for him. Two of the defensive ends they thought were really good, the Ucla kid and Jared Verse.
They love those two.
And then I knew they loved a couple different defensive linemen and the Florida State guy Fisk is one of them. And then I felt Blake Cole.
I mean, I.
Knew they loved Korum, but I mean they when people got on them for giving up a second round pick and a fifth to move up, they really felt like they needed two starters in the defensive line, a great backup running back for Kien Williams, and a playmaking guy in the back the Miami kid. Like they didn't have a lot of needs, a lot of their stuff after those picks. Interior lineman Kicker, the Texas receivers were the a special teams guy, otherwise they would have taken Taj
Washington from USC. They who they liked a lot, but they needed a special teams guy. So I mean, I think a lot of these teams come into the weekend, the NFC teams, and the Rams are one of them. I think people forget this for the elite teams, and I consider the Rams in a group of about seven or eight, they come in kind of thinking we need two starters and like two really crucial productive backups.
But I've never had a.
Problem John with giving away picks to go get up and get a guy. Now, when you were with the Eagles, what was the theory on that, because I think all the all the draft picks. Here's my point, Rams had eleven picks. There's not eleven guys that can make the team in this draft.
Well, how he's going to be there forever? So he balanced his short and long term better than anybody. It's why they're always going up to get guys and then may they made. They led the league in trades this year, and they acquired a third, a fourth, and a fifth. Sean McVay almost went to Amazon a year ago. You're living in the present with this guy. You are doing everything possible in twenty four to twenty five, hopefully twenty six. Is Sean McVeigh gonna be there in five years. I'm
with you. A lot of teams give away a second round pick, little this is this is about the present to me. They clearly the Niners the last couple of years have been twelve thirteen, and there was a gap, you know, even between them last year. To me that they're both eleven twelve win teams in the NFC, I have no problem with trading up. One thing how he did is acquiring the third, fourth, and fifth. He thought because of this weird kind of couple of years, Fan
we've been on. With these extra years, a lot of these guys, did you know to some of these guys getting drafted started playing in twenty eighteen. I mean there were guys. There was a Jayden Daniels video that went viral of him throwing the ball to Brandon Ayuk against Justin Herbert. You know, with Leonor playing corner for Oregon. He's been on the Niners for like four years. So
it's all out of whack. Well, a lot of the underclassmen this year who teams thought were gonna be from anywhere from forty to like one hundred guys that would have been drafted on the second day went back to school for an nil. So the drafts viewed as a little deeper next year, and I think some teams kind of factored that in Sean McVay doesn't give a crap about anything, a lot like Sean Payton. It's very much these next couple of years and then we'll figure it
out that the aftermath. The one thing with the Rams have going for him, and you hit on their team's pretty young now, right, A lot like the Packers. I don't view it now. They're quarterbacks aging, which is a unique situation for them, and he's there's a lot of wear and tear on those tires. But as we saw, when Matt Stafford is upright and healthy, easy a top five quarterback in the NFL.
Yeah, the you know, it was funny. I felt.
I felt the Bears and the Packers came out of off season real winners. I thought the Rams came out of this draft as real winners. Atlanta's his quirky and time will tell I actually the pick I hated. I thought they reached by almost a round on the defensive lineman, which was a weird pick for them. That was the one I'm like, oh yeah, I went to all I went to all the draft profiles, I went to all the mock drafts like that.
Well, the Illinois defensive tackle goes a couple of picks later, he was widely viewed as a top thirty player that the Washington got.
Yeah, I thought that was just a miss. I mean, if if Pennix ends up being great, we're gonna forget about the Kirk Cousins deal very quickly. We're just not even gonna We're not even gonna care about it. That was just a bad pick. I thought Atlanta had a weird last week. I I and I know people to talk a lot about the Dallas Cowboys to the point of exhaustion. I I thought Dallas had a weird draft, and I thought Tennessee taking alignment. The Titans are a
mystery to me. So they take this Devonte sweat guy from Texas. So when I went to the Chargers war room years ago, they had a list of like eight guys that were off the board. There was a drug issue. There were no gohoses, Like, I don't know what the hell Tennessee is doing like that. I mean to me, that team needs players that will produce with no questions. That may have been the weirdest pick of the weekend.
Well, to me, you have when you get a new young head coach, you're in a position where you want to be very a smooth transition. Look at Washington, a lot of high character team captains, not screwing around. You can eventually, I'm sure we'll get into Ballard. Take a guy I think that had some question marks in the second round when your team is full of team captain, high character guys. The Titans a couple of years ago drafted a Georgia offensive lineman who is one of the
biggest busts in recent memory. I think he's out of the league, Wilson. And then to get a guy and listen, I'm not some moral high horse. That's not my style. Drinking whatever. We've all made mistakes when we were young. But there were a lot of question marks with this guy's drinking, and he admitted to it with teams, and then three weeks before the draft, he gets a DUI
on Sunday afternoon. Sunday afternoon, he weighs three hundred and seventy pounds, So to get a dui over point one, the amount of alcohol he has to take is a lot different than me or you under two hundred pounds, so you just start factoring that in. He was off draft boards, not even a question off several draft boards, just because like not even worth it. I've been to Nashville twice, probably been a total of twelve or thirteen days. I drank every single day I was there. It is
a party town. No, there is a lot going on. It is much closer for people that haven't been there to New Orleans or Vegas. Then most people realize there was at and they play in their stadium is right in the mix. So to have a guy it's one thing if you're like, well, he fell to the fifth round. This guy was a second round talent. Okay, they drafted him right where his value. Who's going to go early
second round? Best case if everything off the field was clear, because he's a run stop, you know, stopping defensive tackle, not a pass rusher. I don't get it. When you just had a character issue a couple of years ago and this guy literally got a duy a month ago and you already knew those were question marks, and you have a brand new head coach.
Why would you screw with this?
Why would you mess with it? I don't get it.
Yeah, no, I thought that was the worst pick of the weekend. And I also think you're right. Nash Vegas is what they call it. And I also think that I was told years ago. It may have been my Mike Lombardi when he was at FS one. Briefly he said, listen, if you're in a port city, New York, you know, Los Angeles, Miami, it's Miami. Like those are livelier city. There's more restaurants, there's more alcohol. Those are those are port city is a fun Yeah, And he's like, you know,
Green Bay is different. If Sweat goes fourth round to the Packers and you're like, well, he could be at the Marriott Bar.
That's about it.
It does feel different than going second round of the Titans. All stuff is circumstantial in this league, and so to me, I think I've just gotten to the point with Tennessee. I always thought they were well run. I think they're a bit of a bit of an S show. I really do. The last couple of years letting go of Rabel and I know Mike. I've talked to Mike on the phone, I've texted him. I don't think they know what they're doing. I just do not think they know what they're doing.
I like the new coach he brings his dad. I mean, I was pretty bullish on what they're gonna do. But this general manager, Ran Karthin. You know, he came out and said a couple of weeks ago in his press conference, this is my first draft, taking a shot at Mike, like, no one let me do anything before. Like good luck, buddy. I mean, this is not He comes the forty nine ers where they were not messing with this type stuff.
So to do it if it is your first quote unquote draft, I just I can't get over It's one thing like Dak Remember he got a Dewey or whatever got in trouble, but everyone knew the character was not a question. It's like, listen, he made a bad mistake, stupid whatever, a guy with consistent character marks. When you get in trouble for the draft, it's like absolutely no chance I can trust you. Zero with a high pick because I'm investing taking a guy in the top forty.
That's a valuable, valuable pick. I mean, some of those guys in the from thirty two to thirty eight are going to turn out to be some of the best players in the draft. That happens every single year. So to invest in that player after you got in trouble in your city is like It's like the opposite of what the Rams are doing, getting super right character. You know, got guys that everyone swears my Like, what are we talking about?
Then?
This is why I saw it at the combine. It's so enlightening. You walk by and you just see like, yeah, this team's got no shot. This team's got no shot. This team from the circles around you, it's it's not a fair fight.
Yeah I was. I spent the weekend.
I spent Saturday eight hours eating smoking cigars and cocktails with Steve Kime. We had like one of the great days of our lives. We found a cigar bar and we just talked NFL, watched the draft and talk stories and some of the stuff Steve Khime had to deal with in Arizona. He was with him like twenty four years. I mean, he got like the first scouting job up. I don't think fans. I don't think fans realized two things. One half of these owners are impossible to work with.
Just I mean, listen, Ballard is dealing with the most impulsive guy in the league, bid Well, Woody Johnson. Woody Johnson like beyond it would be like having the worst boss of your life. Not really beholden to any corporate struck.
Who owns the company, has the unlimited money, and who's nuts.
Kime had to deal with stuff here on game day and after games, parking space issues, when you got a right tackle that his season ended. It's insane. And the other thing is fans tend to think everybody's equally competent, and it's like, I mean, there are people in every industry, including the NFL, that just they just.
Don't know what they're doing. And I think, I mean.
I there are power struggles going on with coaches. I mean Bill Belichick his last five years when he controlled the draft. I mean I talked to a GM over the weekend who said, you wanted to do business with them? Like Bill didn't really quite know what he was doing in the personnel. He didn't really know exactly what he was doing. He was a great coach, but you could
work him a little bit in personnel. So I think you look at Tennessee right now and it just doesn't look organized, you know, And I think this is I think it's a I think it's a problem throughout the league. I think I think some I mean, let's be honest, the Raiders don't feel as buttoned up as Kansas City. I think everybody can see it.
Yeah, and the Chargers immediately get two guys one from Baltimore and Jim Harbaugh and feel like they know what they're doing right now. I always thought Tom's a good GM, but the Brandon's Day element, it's hard because you have to You can't just draft players you like that your coaching staff doesn't like. So there's always a give and take.
But when you have I watched a lot of press conferences after the draft on all the days, and McVeigh had a really good take where he's like the symmetry seven eight years into this make's doing business a lot easier with the two of us and our scouts and our coaches, like, we kind of know what we're doing now, right. John Lynch and Kyle shanahan have been in a draft room and Sean mcvahan, let's need for eight years together.
That's longer than Howie and Sirianni and a lot of Brett Veach and Andy Reid have been together.
Now.
Javitch hasn't always been his GM for twenty plus years. Right when the Ravens come on, you know, Ozzie knwsom restired like five years ago. He still sits at the head of the table. He sits at the head of the table like where your dad or grandfather would sit. Eric the Costa sits next to him. So it shows their power dynamic. John Harbaugh has been the coach there since what six o seven, Like they're just on the same page.
I asked Steve Geim, I said, who's the best run franchise in the league. He said Baltimore. He said Baltimore. He said the owner is down in Florida, never medals and powers his employees. He said Baltimore is.
They're well funded, so they have unlimited money.
Yeap.
Totally supportive of Harbaugh, he said, you know, and Steve, you're not going to throw people under the bus. But he said, colin this a half of the gms in the league are pulling their hair out six times a year. You're just dealing with nonsense. And he said Baltimore. He listed five or six. But he said Baltimore is as well run as any organization. It starts with a very competent owner, whose hands off, who spends the money. And you know, because if you already think about it, John
the best business in America. I'll make an argument is owning an NFL team.
I mean, think about that.
Name another business that gets billions of dollars of free advertising a year. Essentially, you're a TV show. Oracle's not a TV show. Apple's not a.
TV Amazon's not. Well, Amazon kind of got into that business.
Yeah, but it's like it's guarantee. Also, you don't know if there's disruptions in tech and that Apple is late on AI and Tim Cook gets fired, they plummet their stock. You know, Dallas is going to be in Dallas. The Cowboys are going to be in Dallas, and the Rams are going to be in Los Angeles, and the Packers are going to be in Green Bay. These are owning an NFL team. It's the best business. There's thirty two in America. Some are the Jags, some are the Steelers.
But and these owners know it. I mean, they know it it is I mean, and they're old school guys. And I just pitched the show the other day to AMC, A football show with a protagonist being the general manager. And it's without going into too much detail, basically it's juggling. It's a it's a GM juggling a meddaling owner, a high profile coach whose wife's a therapist. The quarterback sort of Aaron Rodgers, prickly who's hitting on the coach his wife's daughter, you know. And it's as I'm doing it.
And this thing has Netflix written all over it.
Well, as I'm doing it and writing these stories, and I gave it to a couple of gms, They're like, oh, you can take bigger swings.
It's crazier than this.
You're not being crazy enough.
No, they were like, well that's a six. Let me tell you a story that's way worse than this. So when you watch the draft and you watch what people do, this is like any other industry. There's really a lot of.
Chaos and nonsense and incompetence.
So, well, look at Ballard, who I think is one of the better gms. Is Ballard, Yeah, because we talked about his draft, but his owner right now is having saying things that I was not under the influence. I did not have an overdose. That's what he's dealing with. Skuy owns the team. We talked about his first round
pick a lot too. His second round pick. He went on that rant about the character stuff I think it was after he drafted Mitchell, the wide receiver from Texas rap Sheet came on NFL Network and basically said his interviews had been terrible. He sounded disinterested and I don't think he's just making that up, and then Ballard got kind of pushed back against it. I do think this. I would say Chris's team, he probably of all the good gms in the league, does not mess with character
at all for the most part. Like that's not really his mo of guys that he's going to invest high end right, most of his top highly paid players, guys he's traded for guys he signed are just I would call like pristine character to Forest Buckner, Quinnin Nelson, Michael Pittman. I mean, these are Kenny Moore, super high character guys. I'm not saying Mitchell's not, but he did have some question marks. Guys with his talent typically aren't there at
forty five. Now. He was with the Chiefs when they took Marcus Peters, like he's been around some of this. That worked out. I think for the first time he realized, like, if we're really going to compete, because look at Cassarri. I would say he's kind of similar. Doesn't really meant well this offseason what he did, he went and got digs too. We don't even need to debate, like there's some issues there. So I think Balar realized, like listen, there was a small gap this year. We didn't have
our starting quarterback. We got to be very careful about getting an influx of talent, and they took a guy who you know is very, very talented. I mean I would say it's immediately.
Just I liked him more than Worthy.
I Xavier Worthy hurt a lot at Texas, a lot of drops. Now it'll probably work with Mahomes. But I said this two weeks ago. He was my bust. He was the guy that I worry about because I watched him at Texas. I like Mitchell Moore. I thought he was more consistently available. He was a better route runner.
He's bigger, I mean just not that's much slower. I mean he's still really fast.
Yeah, here's the thing about taking swings on guy with character issues. So you know mcveigh's got a ring, you can be a little more precious on that stuff. But in Belichick had several rings. I thought the undoing Bill Belichick was on. He told urban Meyer, and urban Meyer told the audience.
Right.
He went on TV and said, Bill said, I just don't want to I'm going to coach the guys. I like New England got really untalented over about a five year period. Bill wanted to coach guys. He you got to have some badass guys and they're not always choir boys, like get over it. Like now, I always think if you have strong leadership. Now when Brady leaves, it may be different, like you lose that, you'll lose that power leadership.
But if you have good leadership, which the Patriots during Brady always had a gronk a Brady an element of defensive guy, you gotta swing. I mean you got to take some. So to me, if you like your coach and you think Toforest Bruckner, if you got a handful Michael Pittman, if your top five or six, Quentin Nelson, if if you got six dudes in the room, I
have no problem taking a swing on guys. And for the record, John, there's a term diva receiver, Like it's not diva safeany like it's a personality position.
I'm okay with it.
You know, Moose Johnson. I butchered this quote the other day when I was recording the podcast after Day two. I was talking to him on a radio show years ago, and he said, all the best teams I was on and played against in the nineties were full of players of character, a lot of and a couple characters that could play. There is no team full of choir boys. You got no shot. Now. You can't have too many
crazy character guys. But sometimes those are your most talented You've said this for in any industry has them, actors, music, you name it, salesman, I don't care where you go. Sometimes the most talented guy in the room is a little fucking nuts. And if you can corral that and get the most out of them. And Belichick did this for a long time. Peyton Manning was able to work with it over the years, you got a shot. But I yeah, I mean, I think I know Ballard really
really values that stuff. So clearly they did a lot of work. And you know this thing about the draft, you kind of got to be prepared for anything. If I would have asked them at the beginning of the draft on Thursday night, and you think that guy's going to be there for you in the second round. He would have laughed, he's had no chance. But this is why when everyone's like, what positions did you scout? I'm like, well you do everyone like you just because you have
a quarterback, you still you just never know. Things get weird. And yeah, I think I think the Colts. I actually think the Colts, if that quarterback is decent, are going to be right there with the Texans. I think they got a chance to be pretty good because because the coach.
Yeah, and I think that division is now like pretty heady. I got Trevor Lawrence. They now with Gabe Davis and getting Brian Thomas from LSU. You're like Evan Ingram, it's like Christian.
Kirk etn Yeah, it's like, oh that's that's that's like the Bears. That's like real players. And I think Shane Steichen's going to elevate everybody. You know, Gardner Minsch is going to go to the Raiders and his numbers are going to come down significantly. Yeah, you didn't have Shane Steiken.
And then all of a.
Sudden, Houston. I think Houston has just done so many smart things. That division now is a real division. And I think I have the Colts finishing third in that division, and I like them, like I like Minnesota, they could finish fourth, like I don't like the New York Giants. They'll finish fourth. There's a big gap, there's some you know what, we are getting to a point and I don't ever remember this. There's so much talent in football
right now and so many good coaches. John They're going to be third and fourth place teams.
I like.
I could see the Jets finishing if Aaron plays seventeen games, I could see them finishing third and winning nine games. And I could see Minnesota finishing fourth and winning eight, and I like them. It used to be the bottom of the league. It was just crappy. It wasn't the NBA bad, but it was just bad. It was five with teams outside of Carolina and the Giants. I'm not sure there's a day Tennessee. It depends on if Will Levis can play. But I mean Carolina Giants look hopeless.
Tennessee kind of. That's about it for me.
That's why I would say this. I mean the Steelers, Brown's probably gonna finish in fourth, and both those two teams made the playoffs. Steelers just had a good draft, drafted multiple offensive lineman high we know they're you know, the Browns I think are going to be worse than they were last year with Deshaun Watson. But I'm with you. The middle of the league is and this is why
it's going to be. It's hard to win thirteen fourteen games because you're only getting so this is not college football where you get you know, Rutgers, and then you get you know, some Arizona State, like they do not really exist, and if you do, sleep walk on the New York Giants and Daniel Jones has the best game of the season, all of a sudden, you're down going into the fourth quarter. Because college football to me, I did a little math between Michigan, Washington, Bama, and Texas
the final four. Then if you add the other top teams Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Oregon, Ohio State, almost fifty I think officially forty six of the top one hundred draft picks game from those schools. I mean you could argue as time goes on that number could even creep higher. I guess Nick Saban said on Thursday night when he was on TV that the Toledo corner that the Eagles drafted. He's like, yeah, he realized he kind of caught himself.
Tried to get him to go into the portal so then we could sign him, but he wouldn't even go into the portal, like they just wanted him to go in the portal then they could make an offer and get them. But like more and more like that guy at Toledo that we might not see that for a while. It's gonna be all these top programs, mainly in the Big Ten in the SEC, and then Florida State and Clemson and Notre Dame, who's kind of an acc team and might inevitably be one, have all the talent in
the draft. I mean that's where all that's where all the high end guys are coming from those conferences. Yeah.
No, I it's really funny because I Eric Shanks is you know, he runs FS one, and I went to lunch with him and I said, Eric, the Big Ten's gonna start squashing people. I'm like, you know, Lincoln Riley's gonna get it going. Oregon just is a machine.
Nil. They're up there with like Georgia, Ohio State. Nil money.
Yeah, Ucla is kind of mailing in their football program. I think they're going to go back to heavy basketball.
That's my guess.
Where we only need about four million a year in IL to really be an elite bat cheaper, you need about twelve in football, and UCLA just just just can't generate that on an annual basis, or or their donors have it but don't want to give it up. But I look at college football right now, and this is you know, John, We've talked about this big eat, small scale, beats boutique in every business. College football has always been
a bit lobsided. I think we're going into a eight programs will basically eat the sport, and I'm okay with it because my take is I'm not staying home to watch the Holiday Bowl, and I love college football. You start looking at the Big ten in the SEC games from this point forward, now that you've out of Texas Oklahoma, there's no reason really to watch any other conference. I'll
watch Notre Dame, I won't. I mean, now the Pac twelve's gone, there's just no reason to watch the Big twelve or the ACC outside of a Clemson.
I mean, yeah, like Florida State's going to be Boston College by thirty points. It's not even a game.
So it's like I'm i I'm always looking for ways not that make my job easier, but make my job more efficient because I have I'm watching I work seventies a week during the football season, which is fine. I get paid well. But it's like, I'm just going to be watching Big ten SEC football. That's all I'm wanna watch. Thank thank god the PAC twelve disbanded. Like I'm not Big twelve acc or off the TV.
I'm not gonna watch it.
I'm in agreement because it's you know, people have always pushed back. These conferences are overrated, these conferences. No, that's where all the talent is. That's where all the NFL people spend their time, and they do it for a reason.
All right, before we go one, I'm gonna ask you. I'm gonna give you mine and then think of yours. Why I'm saying it. So sometimes you know, I'm in the take business. Podcast business is a little less like that because we have conversations that last an hour. But I was thinking about it this weekend. I thought that James Harden to the Clippers was a disaster, and I'm watching that game today and I'm like, shit, that thing is working. I don't remember the last time I had
an NBA take that was so bad. I thought Westbrook Kawhi's weird, Paul George's excellent, Tylu can deal with dysfunction. But I'm like, this is like an old rock band where they all had issues and you're trying to work them to get along with each other.
Again.
I'm like, this isn't good. It's gonna be terrible.
And I watched them today and I'm like, they get a good shot every time down the floor?
What in the world.
And Lawrence Frank was at a club I go to occasionally, a private club in LA and he was sitting having dinner one night and I sat up next to him, like Lawrence Frank. We talked for an hour about it, and I said, God, I thought it was gonna be a mess. And he said, you know, Harden bought into it. Harden just said, I'm wanna win. I got three hundred million dollars in the bank. I want to win some games. And so I'm watching today and I'm like, God, was
I wrong on that thing? Give me your sports take when you look back and think and mine may be Kirk Cousins, but with James Harden in the last year or two, if you had a huge whiff.
I thought that the Russell Wilson trade from Seattle would go down as the worst trade in like one of the history of the leagues for the Seattle Seahawks, because there's no way you could trade a player of that caliber what he meant for your franchise and how good he would be for them. And it actually went the polar opposite way. Like Deshaun Watson. It was clear, like I don't know if I would be doing this. It was that was weird. Aaron Rodgers was old and it
had gotten weird. But the Russell thing, right, he's thirty two to thirty three years old, Like I get it was weird, but he's going to go to Denver and this was before Sean Payton and he didn't even last two years. I mean he was benched before the second year ended. And it is easily on Denver side. I mean, I thought, in a weird way it kind of ended
Pete the It wasn't because of the trade. It was just they kind of petered out and you saw But it is you could argue from now, I would say the Browns are in the mix, but it's got to be in my lifetime when you factor in the dead money, all the picks you gave up, the situation it created for Sean Payton, I mean, one of the worst trades any sport ever ever. And it's you know, the Aeron
thing when he got old. So all these you Deshaun Watson a bunch of weird shit off the Russell thing, and you've talked never seen because even James Harden I went to a Warrior game in his heyday with the Rockets. I remember in like game one, he scored thirty five. Like he's he can have these moments. He's had a lot of bad moments, but no one's ever disputed like
his talent and his ability. He just doesn't give a shit on defense, and he kind of loafed sometimes when he's not feeling it, but when he tries, like he has a high end player. Russell just went from like James Harden, high end player to just average to not any good. It's crazy with no injury, With no injury I've ever seen in athletics. I mean, it doesn't happen in sports.
No, I was the same way.
I'm like, Pete, you've been fired two times before this in the NFL. You were seven and nine, seven and nine before Russ.
What are you doing?
And Pete was having some issues behind the scenes that I've had validated. He and John Snyder were really at the end where people don't know. You know, John Snyder had Pete's son on the scouting staff and you know, went to Pete and said, we're we're gonna move off him. You know.
The next day, Pete puts him on his coaching staff.
So yeah, that was kind of a facial But like Steve, like, I'm sure Steve told you yesterday, that's happening all over the league, the head coach and the GM's buttonheads about stupid shit, you know, not even big picture stuff.
Yeah, so Seattle had some of that stuff going on behind the scenes. But yeah, in my lifetime, I thought, I don't I've never seen a player in their early thirties who I thought was elite. I mean, Jesus Russell's passer ratings were over one hundred four years in a row. Now you can say, well, the passer rating is a little overvalued, but overall, if he just watched him.
He was good, yeah, and then he was terrible awful.
Yeah, it's but it's one of the things.
This weekend, to me is the best weekend of the year, not counting the NFL season. Now, you you may throw in the Masters because you love golf more than I do. I like it, But I this weekend, I watched I watched Draft the whole damn weekend. I watched you know, I watched the Nick Sixers. Uh, you know, I watched the Lakers now gets a little bit the second half, but I had I had a ball.
Are the Sixers one of the greatest failed experiments in the history of sports? I mean they tank forever and they get and now they're I mean they're gonna lose this series. He's not coming back.
Somebody said this on the internet, and I thought it was really accurate. Embiid maybe seven to two. He plays six ' four a lot threes, NonStop, nonsinse, He's screwing around at the top with a ball. He gets beat rebounding regularly late in games.
Is that, Embiid?
You can't convince me you're a great player if in the weak Eastern Conference you can't win the second playoff series if you watch the Nick Sixers, there's no question Brunson's the better star.
That's not even dispute.
Now, he takes a lot of shots, but there's no question nobody on that team presents him like everybody's in on Brunson. You kind of feel with a sixer sometimes that if you could privately talk to the players, Maxi and Harris, some of these guys, they'd roll their eyes at him. He plays for his size small, Brunson for his size, plays big. And I just come out of this and I'm like, embiid, I know you hated Jokic and you gave him the MVP, and that's always been
a story award more than the truth. Westbrook won an MVP, But we have to file what embiid under. He's been a media darling more than he's been great.
And in another life, Tom Phibodeau is not coaching basketball. He's an NFL coach. Probably started as no line guys. That's the vibe I get from Tom Thibodeaux because the Knicks when I was a kid, they played just like this, ugly. They just it felt like at any moment a brawl could break out. It's enjoyable and clearly their fans like it. I saw Embiid was said after the game, like it was half Knicks fans in there.
Well they're only ninety minutes apart.
Yeah, it's far, it's easy, dry, and the Knicks fans have been starved. I've said this before when I lived on the East Coast, and I really did. I really love the people in the East Coast. Now the winners aren't great, but you know, as you get older, I'm I can wear a coat like I can get older.
Yeah, I love the people. I always said this. People always said.
New York was a baseball town, and I'm like Yankee Stadium was empty in the eighties. The Knicks have been a mess for most of the last twenty years. You can't get a tickets to a Knicks game. There's two baseball teams, right, There's two NFL team, there's one NBA team. And when I was there, everybody I knew love the Knicks. Half the town didn't like the Giants with their Super Bowls. Half the town was a Mets fan. So it's New York is. It's one of those things where you just
forget people did this with the Warriors. You forget what a great basketball city.
It is like when I grow up.
In the seventies, Golden State won a.
Title with Rick Berry, Al Addams, Clifford, Ray Mullins, Jeff Mullins, I think Jamal Wilkes, and they were really good for a stretch. The seventies was weird. Everybody won like one title, the Bullets with Elvin Hayes, the Sonics with DJ Gus, William Jackson, everybody won one.
The Sixers with doctor Jakin, Washington wins title.
Yeah, Kevin Grevy, Elvin Hayes, West Unseld, Bobby Danders. I think Bobby Danders was on that team. That was. That was my indoctrination to sports. I was a huge NBA guy. I collecked at NBA cards in the seventies and the Knicks, by the way, won and I think seventy one or seventy two, Lakers May one in seventy two, Nicks one in seventy one, could be wrong. I'm in the ballpark, Fraser Monroe, Willis Reid, that stuff. But one of the things that you forget, and you forgot it about the Warriors.
It was always a great NBA city, always a great NBA city, just had either bad ownership or bad team for thirty years.
New York.
I think it's a basketball city. I think it's just I think there are no shows all over that town. When teams go sideways. The Knicks have been embarrassing, feudal. Some would argue, you know, Dolan now feels like he got he has Leon Wood, He's kind of got, He's stepped back, he trusts, he trusts his ownership. So James Dolan now is like he's like a normal owner. But when I watch those Nick games, the league has all these small teams, all these okcs and Indianas that are
fascinating right now. They need the Knicks, like the NBA needs the Knicks.
Can I give you a guy that I don't think they need? And I had the game on the other day. I looked up and it was sad. Is the Kevin Durant experience is just an all time these last four or five, I mean, the gutlass performance. They got destroyed and it feels he's kind of gone full mercenary and just kind of goes from team to team and you're just there's no emotion, like Ron's clearly not the same, but you see him trying Korean. Those guys go out swinging.
You just watch Kevin Durant, You're like, what is this? It's pretty sad for a guy at one point in time looked like I remember going to games thinking it's like one of the best players I've ever seen. And it's not like he's forty two years old. I know he's a little older now, but it's it's a tough watch. I mean, I thought it was pretty embarrassing, no question.
I was talking to somebody in my field recently and they were talking about somebody who it's a media person that is struggling, and I said, weird doesn't work. Eventually, Weird doesn't work. People don't like to be around them. They're unpredictable. You know, Aaron Rodgers has gotten a little weird. Kevin Durant's gotten a little weird. Kawhi Leonard a little odd now.
You know when I say weird, I say this for Rogers. He was winning MVPs a couple of years ago. At least he produced later in his career.
Yeah, but Aaron's gotten old, single, rich, no kids, no pets.
Yeah no, mate, It's.
Like seven houses all over the place flying around. Yeah, podcasters.
It just doesn't you know, Kevin and Aaron Rodgers have always been sort of again rich, no wife, no kids, no pets, spend too much time rabbit ears on the internet, and they're both gifted. But those people are hard to build around because you don't like mystery is great for
books and movies, it's not great for sports teams. Like Brady, you knew exactly what you got Kobe, actually, you know Kobe from people that knew him, like he was just a creature of having he ate the same thing every night of the season, fresh salmon, like every night of the season, small glass. I was like, it was just bizarre. He was like this, and it's like, but you know what you get with Kobe. You get some ego, you
get some shots. I think Kevin is kind of just I think mercenary is the right language, the right word. He's just he just wants to shoot, score and do other things.
And it's like it's hard to build around that.
Yeah, to me, he kind of represents, you know, with Lebron, I bet the Laker's probably losing five. Obviously, Curry's gone. He just feels like those guys, if you just ask someone casually about Lebron or Curry. You can have a long conversation. I feel like Kevin duranfu like, yeah, they don't even care. He just kind of lost everybody. It's like, yeah, whatever.
Yeah, he's become, frankly, kind of an irrelevant NBA.
He really has, he really has.
He had the best owner arguably in the league, the best coach, and the best teammate lakeb Kerr and Curry, and he left for Kyrie Irving. And I said, the NBA media supports more than reports. If Mahomes left for the Jets, he said, well, I have a slot receiver. I love him, I'm going to the Jets. He'd be like, the fuck are you doing? He would get crushed doing in the NBA. Kevin leaves the penthouse and goes to a fixer upper and everybody is like, well, he's a unique spirit.
That's a bad business decision.
Yeah, it's and it hasn't worked out, not even close.
Yeah.
If I left Fox and went to Vice or something like that, that's a bad business. Don't do that.
So I think I think Kevin got a little bit of a pass because you know, the NBA is, you know, creative, and these are you know, like international soccer guys, there's egos that are highly compensated there artists.
It is a terrible decision. That's get over it. Deal with Draymond, get therapy, get over it. I'm with you all right, John as oas great chatting and we'll talk soon.
Well, have a good week. See it the volume.
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