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hundred and sixty eight hours after issuance. S Sportsbook dot DraftKings dot com, slash Basketball terms for eligibility and deposit restrictions, terms and responsible gaming resources. All right, welcome in everybody. We'll have an hour long podcast tonight. I'll start with about a ten minute thought on the Eagles and Cowboys. Then John Middlecoff stops by. Obviously we're going to talk about the Kansas City game against Buffalo. A lot being
made of that Cadarius Tony offsides ruling. He was off sides, and so they call it a much more now than they've ever called it, And I just think this has been a year where it's been over officiated. Not all was poorly officiated. I do think this year's been over officiated. That play on Tony, that call was the eleventh or twelfth time they've called it this year. According to the analyst on television, it had been called only a couple of times last year, and only a couple of times
the previous year to that. So they're just calling it more often. I don't think anybody watches these games to see flags. In fact, nothing is more infuriating is when a former head of officials, former head of official for a network comes on and says, yeah, there's really not a penalty there, or referees pick up a flag, which you see more and more often. So I've always had this feeling that referees anticipate calls instead of seeing an
infraction and calling an infraction. Now, in this case, Tony the wide receiver, Giants got rid of him very quickly. He was too immature. I think Kansas City will get rid of him very quickly after the season. But it was worthy the officials felt and appeared to be of a flag. You know, I was watching the Cowboys and listen, they've played the kind of schedule where they've had several blowout wins, most at home, and so when you have a blowout win, you know the snap count for some
of your starters is lower. You can rest guys. Whereas Philadelphia just looks tired. I thought Dallas to night looked fast and fresh, and they've had a lot of their players, stars and starters that could rest second half and later in games this year, and there is something to be said about a heavy snap count. So you start looking at Philadelphia. I thought they'd really show up tonight. It'd be a very, very physical kind of a twenty four
to twenty game. But you know, they've played the Cowboys in Kansas City, and then San Francisco and then Buffalo and the Cowboys again, those are tough matchups. Those are grueling, physical matchups. There's no Carolina in there, there's no New York Giants. Your defense doesn't get to face the Jets, whereas the Cowboys have half a dozen games like that this year, and so it does matter, and so I think it's just fatigue. I think tonight Philadelphia looked old, tired,
and Dallas looked young, fast and fresh. And right now at this point in the season, they're a better team than Dallas. But the Eagles schedule lightens up. They get the Seahawks. I think it's next Monday, so they get an extra day off they need it. But you know, I was thinking watching that game. So one of the Cowboy players that had a very good night was Stefan Gilmore, and they only used a fifth round pick to get him, and so you know, it's when they went out and
spent a fifth round pick on Stefan Gilmore. I thought it was a good move. Gilmore's passed his prime, but still, you know, in big spots against big receivers, really smart player been around, knows how to manipulate it, create fumbles. So a fifth round pick has about fifteen percent chance of you know, fifteen eighteen percent chance of even making
the league. And it's interesting. I've always thought if I was a GM and I could go get a really good player on a good team, I wouldn't waste it, or if it was a position of need, I would make a lot of moves like that. So Montes Sweat went to the Chicago Bears for a second round pick. Now you have to pay him, but Montest Sweat's a really, really good defensive lineman, and every good team the Super Bowl champs. Last year, Kansas City paid one defensive lineman,
Chris Jones, the Rams super Bowl team. At that time, they had Von Miller kind of renting him and Aaron Donald. But generally NFL general managers want to pay spend most of their money the good franchises on offense, on a weapon or two quarterback left tackle, you know. I mean, if you look at San Francisco, they paid Kittle and Deebo and McCaffrey and Trent Williams. That's what you want to do. And you want to have your defense to
be pretty inexpensive young. You want a young defense. Young defenses are faster, they're hurt less often, and when they're hurt, they're back on the field more quickly than an older defense. But Stefan Gilmore was a good player for a fifth round pick. Montes Sweat. The Bears needed to an elite defensive lineman anyway, and they give up a second rounder. Well, how many players are going to be as good as Montes Sweat in the second round? Not many? Do you realize?
Only about thirty to thirty two percent of players draft to make the roster. Yes, that's true, Only about thirty to thirty two percent somewhere in that range of NFL players make a roster. Now, it's much higher in the first two rounds, it's not linear. But when you get to the fourth, the fifth, the sixth, the seventh round, those numbers go down to eight percent, ten percent, fifteen percent, seventeen percent. And so I mean, go to last year's draft.
The first player taken, Bryce Young many think looks like a bust. Already the first player another top ten player, Tyree Wilson, defensive lineman for the Raiders, not very effective, could be a bust. Two in the top ten. Thirty percent of the first round is usually ineffective, a suboptimal, or a bust. That's the first round. So Monteste Sweat
has absolutely helped the Chicago Bears defense for a second rounder. Now, they did that for Chase Claypool, but that's a position of need wide receiver, not as crucial as an elite defensive lineman. But college football also gives you, on an annual basis, lots of good receivers, so that's a riskier move. But Montes Sweat has been worth it. Stefan Gilbour fifth round pick been worth it. I mean, Christian McCaffrey went
for a second, third, fourth, and fifth. But San Francisco's second, third, fourth, and fifth round picks are late round picks because they're so good. So the first pick they really gave up would be a late second rounder that's somewhere between like the fifty seventh pick, fifty eighth pick. You're out of guaranteed stars by the fifty eighth pick average. NFL gms believe that most I've talked to that you usually have sixteen to seventeen elite players in any draft after that.
Mid first to late second all about the same. So Christian McCaffrey is a generational player. And I remember when San Francisco made that move. I'm like, this is a home run. You just gave kin O Shanahan, Picasso and open canvas and fresh paint. Its great move. You didn't give up multiple ones. You have a late second, a late third, a late fourth, and a late fifth. Late fifth probably doesn't make the league, or if he does, it's seven eight ten percent chance he makes the league.
So I'm surprised that more teams don't roll the dice on this stuff. Giving up first round picks is tough because, I mean, you take a look at left tackle. Most great left tackles in my lifetime have been first round picks. Very hard to find a great sixth round left tackle. Goes back to what they call the planet theory. Former NFL GM George Young the New York Giants years ago used to have this theory. There's just only so many six foot seven, three hundred and thirty pounds men with
great feet on the planet. So you know, you get these enormous defensive linemen that are gifted Jalen Carter, you get Trent Williams, Jonathan Ogden, these kind of first round left tackles. They're they're usually first round picks. But Dallas looks like a very good football team. They've got several things that super Bowl winning teams have. A good quarterback having a career year, a veteran coach who's been to a Super Bowl certainly knows the playoffs, an elite pass rusher,
a star weapon which Ceedee Lamb has become. And this will be their eighth blowout of the year. That's about the average seven to eight blowouts per year for a Super Bowl champ. So Dallas, and they also have a great kicker, which it matters in close games. You know, we always worry about Mike McCarthy situational football close games.
Chris Collinsworth pointed it out tonight. When you have a great kicker and you kick those fifty seven fifty eight to fifty nine yard field goals and they're good, you look so much smarter as a head coach. So this is the first time I remember really looking at the Dallas Cowboys differently. I thought tonight's game would be close. But Dallas a little bit of a front runner. They're a great home favorite, a fantastic home favorite. They love
playing downhill. But you know it counts now. Philadelphia wins out, they still win the division. Their schedules pretty light. Seattle, I think they faced the New York Giants a couple of times, but Dallas deserves a lot of credit. And I said this last week on FS one. Packers play tomorrow against the New York Giants, favored by about a touchdown. Should win. Christian Watson, I do not believe plays, but
they should win anyway. The green Bay Packers right now, from what I've seen in the last three weeks, are better than the green Bay Packers last year. With Aaron Rodgers Mike McCarthy, Dallas looks like they can play with anybody in the sport. San Francisco forty nine ers, Dallas Cowboys look as good as anybody in the sport. Isn't that interesting? Green Bay has not lost a step with Aaron Rodgers leaving Mike McCarthy's career never been a better
brand than it is right now. Without Aaron Rodgers. Usually the great all time quarterbacks leave a wake. Aaron has left no wake. Green Bay's good, Mike McCarthy's fine. Devonte Adams, by the way, now, Raiders didn't score today, but Devonte Adams last year led the NFL in touchdowns. I think
he had fourteen. So it's it's not that Aaron wasn't talented and isn't talented, but the great quarterbacks Montana, you know, Elway, Brady Mahomes, tend to have these skills beyond talent, like leadership, resilience, toughness. Aaron threw a pretty ball. Aaron Rodgers threw a pretty ball Denver. When Elway left Miami, when Marino left, you know there's a wake. It's like, wow, we take a step back as a franchise. If Green Bay wins tomorrow, and I suspect they will, of the New York Giants,
with or without Christian Watson, they're a better team. One year a move from Aaron Rodgers and Mike McCarthy, and I've been critical of his situational football. This is a really good team with a lot of components and Dak
looks really comfortable, you know. Talking about draft picks. My only criticism of the Cowboys really this year is I thought they should have given up a draft pick and traded for Derreck Henry of the Titans, because I thought to myself, they're gonna have leads in some playoff games and it's and want to burn the clock, and they don't have that got pounded running back. Pollard's kind of a two, not a one. I thought Dallas could have made another move, and boy is Jerry Jones gonna be
obnoxious if this is a super Bowl team. But they look like it. For the first time in a long time, they look like a super Bowl team. Let's talk to John Middleclough. Listen, we've all had fender benders in our life. Sometimes it's even more serious. People between the ages of twenty five and thirty four, in fact, have the highest amount of drivers involved in car crashes. Be careful, but even if it's somebody else's mistake, you can lean on
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Their fee is free unless they win. For more information, go for thepeople dot com slash Colin or dial pound law. That's pound five to nine from your cell phone. That's for the people dot com slash Colin or pound law five to nine from your cell This is a paid advertisement, all right. Welcome in Colin Cowherd alongside John Middlecoff, former NFL scout. He has a podcast for the volume called
three and Out, very popular podcast. We do this YouTube live becomes a podcast for the volume Sports and let's start with the kind of the game of the day, which is in the early windows, which is Buffalo holding on to beat Kansas City. Some coaching malpractice down the stretch by Sean McDermott, who did not have a good week when a story leaked that he did a couple of years ago a pregame speech to incentivize his team with some nine to eleven references without going into detail
that were horrible and embarrassing. And you know, everybody makes mistakes. I get it. But when I watched the end of the game and him throwing the ball and not bleeding the clock out, and maybe that's maybe that's a defensive coach not respecting offense, But to do that in Kansas City against Mahomes was like time out.
Sean.
I know the nine to eleven story was a bad week. I know you're off. I just couldn't believe what I was watching. Now they get away with it, But when you have a coach on the hot seat and you're a GM or a owner, you look for these moments sometimes to go, how do we pull the ripcord on this? Like, how do we get out of it? I honestly thought, if they lost that game, John, maybe this is hyperbolic. You could have made a decision upstairs. End of the year, we're getting rid of him.
I thought the moment that Travis Kelcey threw the ball back and the guy walked into the end zone before the play was called back. That was gonna end Sean mcdermotts Bill's career. You couldn't end on the week that he had like that, especially because when the game started, Bill's came out, they looked like the Super Bowl contender that we all thought they were coming into the season, at least some of us. And then the game just kind of unraveled from there and they were in a
position where it looked like they were gonna lose. So yeah, I mean, listen, I've known Sean since I worked in the NFL. He was in Philadelphia, and I text a bunch of people that worked with him as well. From a character standpoint, I always thought like his character was pristine, high level guy. Now, I think some of the tight defensive stuff, you can't argue that, some of the stuff that you know, at least in my experience and other people that I know, said that wasn't the guy that
they were ever around. I'm not talking about Buffalo. I can't speak to that. I'm just saying in my experience, but today, I mean, he is just so dependent on this quarterback pulling plays out of his ass. I mean that play when he scrambled to his left through it to the Latavious who ended up fumbling. I know they got a little lucky that they recovered the ball because it went out of bounce. But that play sums up the Josh Allen experience like no one else in the
NFL can even do that. And obviously his ability to run, you know with a violent naturist. He's just a unique player.
Listen, we know what coaching does. Look at Denver Nat Hackett to Sean Payton, same exact players, So we know coaching matters. If you put Mahomes in Buffalo and Josh Allen in Kansas City, you know who has the rings. Like we know quarterbacks sixty five percent of it. But we've seen Jeff Fisher and Sean mcvaywood, Jared Goff, We've seen Brian Flores and Mike McDaniel with TUA. We know
quarterbacks can be elevated by coaches. What you're watching is a defensive coach who cannot create a run game today, didn't throw the ball down the field virtually at all. Josh Allen is carrying this franchise. It's a little bit like what's happening to the Chargers. The difference is Josh
Allen's better than than Justin Herbert. Yeah, but I mean I'm to the point now where I feel sorry that the prime year and he's probably got three prime years left because he's getting the hell beat out of him. Josh Allen has about three prime years left and then he's gonna be big Ben and Cam. He's gonna hit about thirty two and start aging.
I would say that. I mean McDermott, I couldn't compare him to stay like he is a playoff level coach. But clearly it feels like a lot of people are gonna act like this team, don't let them get hot. I'm not buying it. I mean that what we just witnessed. I mean, they easily could have lost the game if the guy's cleat is six inches, you know, behind the blue line. So they are fly by to the seat of their pants. Hope Josh makes some plays, they come out strong, and then they just kind of hold on
for dear life. They've played in that same game ten times this year. They've just for the first time lost a lot of them. Obviously, they play Dallas next week, but I'm not buying that because a lot of people are gonna say if they get in watch out Like, I don't know, I do not see it with this
tit on. It too much going on because the just because you win a game like this, which is important for their playoff chances, I don't think it changes kind of the the talk around the coach, the franchise, everything that's going on. Right I mean, he was there was a microscope on him coming into the season, and then obviously they're they're going to struggle to get the nine wins. So I think this franchise, it's just in a very very weird spot right now.
Let's talk Kansas City. So when you pay your quarterback a lot of money, you have to get cheaper, and to get cheaper, you have to get younger. Tony by the way, the Giants let him go. He was inconsistent, he was immature. Kansas City picks up Tony ft offside or they win the football game. And so what I watch with Kansas City are some coverage breakdowns with young defensive players and drops and mistakes by young receivers. So what I think Kansas City is suffering from is just youth.
And this is the reality is when you pay your quarterback, what you pay him. You just got to get John. You got to get younger. And you know there's that fine line where the Rams go all in with old guys win a super Bowl. Now the Rams have a bunch of kids. By the way. Young teams, green Bay, Houston Rams, You've seen the Rams get better as the season's gone on. Houston was bad today, but they've gotten better.
Green Bay's gotten better. So young teams generally, over the course of a season, they have these milestone games, these big jumps like an old team kind of you know what you get San Francisco, I kind of know what I get. I saw it against Dallas. I saw it, you know again, But I do think you know the Rams Green Bay, You're like, oh, these are these teams are making big leaps. And I feel with Kansas City today they lost because of Tony. They lost because of youth. A dumb play.
Well, Andy and Bret Veach have a little Al Davis to him, like they will look past some stuff. I mean, Tony was a walking red flag that there was a reason he was available and they got him, I think for a third round pick, and he's let him down multiple times this season, right with inconsistencies because he's not a reliable player. But they had to do it because they're somewhat desperate offensively. Right, they've lost to Green Bay Philly in Buffalo over about the last month, Right, they
scored seventeen nineteen seventeen points. Now, I think if you're a big picture, if you're a Chiefs fan, you got Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes over the years, you're gonna be okay. Kind of feels like this ain't their year, Colin. I mean, they cannot generate anything offensively with the wide receiver. Rice is a good young player, Yes, but they're gonna need more to go. I think this offseason they'll be talked about with the Mike Evans and the older guys
who were available. I think you got to ask yourself also a big picture with Travis Kelce, he's no longer just in the prime of his career, and I think when you look, it's so easy to game plan it. Like with the Niners, it's like we're gonna take away Devo, You're gonna take away kitt You're gonna take away McCaffrey. He's like, we're just gonna take away Kelsey, who else is gonna beat us, Right, We'll live with giving Rice
a touchdown every once in a while. Whatever that there's not kind of that dual, you know, opportunity to hit you from every angle with him and Tyreek Hill. It was like that last year they were able to just squeak by and figure it out. Remember they barely beat the Bengals in the AFC Championship game, they barely won the Super Bowl. And this year it's kind of coming back to, you know, kind of the mean a little bit. Offensively, they're just not very good right now.
Yeah, I one thing to support Kansas City. They're not very good right now. But boy, you look around Jacksonville's reeling, Joe Flacco and Cleveland, there's limitations. Yeah, Baltimore's leaking a little bit. They won today, but there's some leaks with that team. Jake Browning is a nice story. He's not a great quarterback. Miami is a team that Buffalo has always matched up well with, and I think Kansas City actually matches up well with. So sure say this. We
viewed the AFC as superior year to the NFC. But between San Francisco, Dallas, and Philadelphia, the top of the NFC. To me, John is better than the top of the AFC. So I think Kansas City's got a shot just on Mahomes and coaching.
Well, they're just gonna have to win these games like today right in the in the playoffs, they're gonna have to win a game twenty to seventeen. But for the first time, and honestly, it was like a lot like this last year, they could easily lose that game too, Like, is anyone gonna be surprised if they lose a game nineteen to fourteen in the playoffs like that? That's what it's gonna look like to the Baltimore Ravens to you know, I would say that they're not gonna lose the Cleveland Browns.
But if that defense is on and Mahomes and they're struggling to score points, it's not inconceivable you lose seventeen to fourteen. I mean, this Chiefs team is probably not having back to back playoff games of twenty eight and thirty five points right right now. They know how to play this way because their defense is pretty solid. Their guys have been through the wars and they'll just need you know, if Kelsey's gets six catches for you, two of those might have to be touchdowns.
All right, let's segue because I want to talk Niner Seattle, but not yet, Let's talk Denver Los Angeles Chargers. So this is one of my bets of the week. I had a winning week on Blazing five and one of my bets was this was a coaching mismatch. And I figured, if you take away the Denver game against Houston where they had a lot of turnovers for six of the seven weeks or five of the six weeks, Denver just plays good defense, doesn't turn it over, and Russell picks
up first downs on third and four running around. They did it again today. They had one big play over the top Russe to Cortland Sutton who made a hell of a one handed catch. It was a great one of the plays today. But so Pete Carroll, defensive coach. One of my knocks on defensive coaches. They don't understand the urgency and importance of quarterback. They say they do, but they don't. Sort Of like guys who Sam Will Hey, I work hard for a living. They work forty two
hours a week. Now fifty five to sixty is working hard for a living. So defensive coaches tend to say, hey, I take quarterback. Seriously, you don't really if you think Gino, you can leave Russ and go to Gino and Drew Locke, and Pete has trumpeted both. Right, So right now, Seattle six and seven and they're done. I mean they're basically their offense is praying that no offense DK Metcalf or one of their backs make a big player. There's no creativity to it. But so Denver's interesting. Go look at
their schedule. They have Reeling Detroit, next the Chargers New England, which is like a soft tank Denver. John. I think Denver's gonna make the playoffs with ten wins. And it shows you the value if if the Denver Broncos higher Peyton immediately, Seattle never won this trade. It was always a bad idea. Couldn't I argue that?
Yeah, I mean, I do think it was time to pivot if you're going to keep Pete like they had run their course those two Pete and Russ, and I think watching this game today and I'm sure we'll get in some of these defensive coaches. You know, we've been talking about it forever. With Bill, You're seeing it with Tomlin. Isn't it just kind of time? Isn't it just kind of time? Like listen, I have nothing to say about Brandon Staley. It's been said over and over like that's done.
My whole take on the Chargers is it doesn't work in La. It just doesn't. It really does not. I mean, it's just and I know they're not gonna move, they just built, but it is. It's a disaster. They're never gonna have fans that their ownership. They're always gonna be second fiddle just to the other NFL team, let alone the Dodgers and the Lakers, dramatically bigger. If USC ever has a pulse in the Big ten, they'll be bigger.
It's just never gonna work. I don't care if Justin Herbert has ten straight years that don't quite look like this year that he gets back on track and is awesome, even if they were to hire Jim Harbaugh, the Steve Balmer Clippers, Like, you know what I was thinking about this during the game. You know Balmber's mistake. He should have just gone to Vegas or Seattle with the team and ben the big fish in that pond, or been
the only basketball team. It's never gonna work with the Clippers, but he has more of a fighting chance in the NBA. It's a little different. In the NBA football, they have no chance. They're never gonna have fans. It doesn't work. It's a freaking disaster. And today, like you said, I mean Sean Payton and that team is just more buttoned up. I don't think Denver's that great though, he gets a lot of credit for just figuring out what they do well.
They kind of decon dunk though, like you said, the Sutton's a really good player defensively, the way he stood by Vance, Joseph Weather the Storm. They've played really good. They're only one game back right now the Chiefs now. I wouldn't bet on them to win the division. The
Chiefs got the Patriots coming up right. But it's if I would have told you that five six weeks ago, that come right around a couple weeks before Christmas, it's going to be a one game separator, you would never No one would have believed you.
Well, I mean Simmons on defense, Singleton, DJ Jones, Sertan, there's some real players. Bowles is a very good left tackle. I like both p Ryan and Williams.
Delonte Williams is good.
Yeah, Cortland Sutton's a really good player. Their tight ends are capable. I think Jerry Judy's a bit of a miss, but he's he's enough of a speed threat that you have to defend him. And Russ is about eighty percent of what he didn't Seattle. You get one big play a game, tear drop throw a game, and about six scrambles for first downs, and it's a lot of dink and dunk. But what I will tell you this is that I don't think Sean Payton loves Russell. I don't
think they fit. He's like not as athletic as Taysom Hill and not as accurate as Drew Brees. He's like seventy percent of both. So you get a little bit of both, and I think Sean would rather have the great athlete and the great thrower. He's got like a B plus at both B to a B plus. But I will say I looked at Denver's schedule. Here it is John Lions, New England Chargers, Raiders. John. They're gonna they're gonna win eleven games. They just wanted to thin
get their seven and six. I think Denver's gonna make the playoffs.
Yeah, he would. He would definitely throw his hat in the ring if they went out and win eleven games for Coach of the Year. After the way it started, you could not deny it, not in a million years what I thought. Obviously today they I thought they were gonna win. But just the way this is gone crazy, it's pretty crazy. I also think, and You've been on this side forever, and I thought it was on full display today offensive coaches and really started on Thursday night.
You know, Mike Tomlin, he just lost to two teams with the combined coming into their games four and twenty records. That's embarrassing. It's over Pete Carroll today, his offensive player DK Metcalf's out of control, always causing fights. He can't do the offense. He has no impact over Obviously we've
seen it with Bill You look Shane Steiken. I know they lost today, but having his team seven and six with Gardner minshew, what Kevin Stefanski's doing with the group of quarterbacks he's had rolling into Joe Flacco, Zach Taylor, was Jake Browning, I mean, all these offensive coaches, a lot of these guys are dealing with backup quarterbacks, yes, and are being very functional. Yet these defensive guys, Harbaugh got a little lucky today. I mean, Lamar pulled some
crazy plays out. McVeigh screwed up the timeouts. But listen, they have a high level organization. He's part of that. But most of these defensive coaches, especially the older guys, like it just feels kind of over. I mean, we saw it with McDermott with the article, and then you see it all over the league. It's it's very, very difficult when your offense sucks and you can't do anything.
John in the AFC, these are playoff teams Miami, Kansas City, Jags, Cleveland, Sincy all offensive coaches five o seven on the bubble, the Colts, Denver, and Buffalo. Now Buffalo won so they may be in. But Colts and Denver on the bubble. Offensive coaches in the NFC Philadelphia, San Francisco, Detroit despite their loss, Dallas, Minnesota, Green Bay six of seven offensive coaches, by the way, on the bubble, Rams Atlanta, both offensive coaches.
Like I've been on this for years and I know it's probably tedious to my followers, but it's like a tidal wave now, and the only reason Buffalo is going to get in if they do, is because Josh Allen's a freak. I mean he's literally physically he's cam Ben, but more talented than Big Ben and Camp that's what he is.
Yeah, I mean, I think we're gonna see I think Schefters a couple weeks ago said potentially ten openings. You know, we'll see how it all breaks. Obviously, the AFC and NFC souths depending on who you know gets in and doesn't who they fire. But how could you hire anyone but an offensive coach, right because obviously the most important guy in your organization, whether you draft him high or whether he's already on your team and you're gonna pay a lot of money, is the quarterback. So wouldn't you
want the coach? And most of these guys that you listed are all the play callers as well, so they're not only the head coach half the game, they're on the sideline impacting the game, like, let's face it, Tomlin, Pete, all these guys, even Vrabel, who I like, but he's having some offensive issues lately, just kind of call timeouts
and give some raw ross speeches. Yet you watch Mike or I mean, Kyle McVeigh Stike and all these guys, they're impacting half the game at minimum, just with the and a lot of these guys they got backup quarterbacks obviously during the week they're in them with the meeting rooms.
The impact they have on a weekly basis, even separate from Sunday, it's hard to even quantify, especially the way the sports played now right, the rules are on the side of that guy dramatically, I mean, and it's only shifting. It's not like we're ever going back to the barbaric hits that we all grew up on, though those days
are just over so. The offensive side of the ball, the offensive play callers, even these backup quarterbacks are proven, like you can function you with Jake brown Jake Browning is one of the crazy stories I've ever seen. Colin. I thought he was a mediocre college player at best. He looks really solid and it shows you high level guys in probably any industry. Football is no different than
anyone listening to this. Whatever you do in the private sector, you can improve, and high level people constantly work at it, especially when they'reassionate about what they do and He's a great example. Chris Peterson, smart guy. He has gotten dramatically better than when he was the quarterback for a college football playoff team.
Yeah, all right, let's go to the Seahawks losing in the Bay Area to San Francisco. The Niners average nine point nine yards per play. So I have said before and people see it as a critician with Brock Purtty, and I'm like, I think he's good. Which, by the way, if you told somebody my kids are good students, that would be like, oh bb plus if I said my kids are great students, those are a students. But in no industry is good. He's a good pilot. That means
he's never crashed. Is he top of his class. He's a great pilot. That's Sully Sullenberger landing on the Hudson. But good in every industry is a nice thing to say. So I've always said Brock Purtty is good. But he made about three throws today and I'm like, okay, do I gotta go to very good? So now Debo's a matchup nightmare for Seattle's young corners. It was just a problem. But he made throws today and these were you know John so much of this league. You see it all
the time. Even with San Francisco's clever offense, you get about three throws a game or kittles behind the corner. Yeah, that doesn't happen that often. You get about three a game, maybe two, and pretty makes those every time. He doesn't miss much on that stuff. So, as somebody who knows the Niners has been around the Niners, I wonder, I really do. They're not going to pay him now, but if he stays healthy, I don't know if you can move off him. With Kyle's offense.
Yeah, God, he's going nowhere. He's turning into the mobile Drew Brees. You know, I've been saying this now for a couple of weeks. He's everything that I think the Browns and John Dorsey thought they were getting when they drafted Baker Mayfield number one overall. The accurate, explosive arm, but kind of the you know, he's not as outspoken, but he's got a little cockiness in the way he plays.
And you know the big difference this Niner team under Perdy and what they were when they were successful and won a lot of games with Jimmy Garoppolo, Well, a lot of those games were like twenty three to twenty one because Jimmy never hit that guy wide open. Yes he never never did. He could hit the slant route, he could hit the quick screen, but he never made
the explosive play. The other thing that Perdy brings to the table that I don't think a lot of people want to give him credit because he's a little white guy. He's a really good athlete. He is quick, he can move, and he is very he's a very accurate playmaker when he scrambles. So part of it is like, and this is what Andy Reeves always had, great scabatic guy, but he likes his quarterback from Farv to Donovan to Michael
Vick to now Patrick Mahomes. Sometimes you have to make a play outside of what I call, and that leads to greatness. Like Josh Allen is what he does is insane. But Kyle like, not every play call he's gonna call is gonna work perfectly on time. Sometimes shit hits the fan, a guy slips, a defensive lineman gets through. I need the quarterback to bail me out, and Jimmy could not, and Purty really can't. Like I don't even see how anyone could argue, like bruck Perty's physically never gonna be
Josh Allen. He's never gonna run down the field like Lamar Jackson. But if we all watch football, depending on how old you are most of your adult life, and you watch that guy play and go, that's a really good quarterback. I don't know what to say. Is he headed the Hall of Fame? We got a long way to go. How much they're gonna give him. They can't even pay him after the third year. So they got all this year and all the next year, and they honestly have the fourth year. They want to run it out.
But this version of rock Perty, I mean, he's a lock NFC pro bowler right there. You know him and Dak Prescott are the only the clear guys in the NFC now that golf's kind of falling off and Jalen's banged up, Probably be Jalen, But like he's no doubt about it. And you could argue, I mean, you look around the NFL, we'll see how it like. Is he one of is? Was he a top five guy this year?
This year? In a vacuum? I think you could make the argument when it's all said and done if he keeps going like this, because like you said, he's not some Alex Smith thinking dunk guy. This guy is pushing the ball down the.
Feat, down the field. No, I mean debo. Today they had five hundred and twenty seven yards, so I mean this is and again when you watch my takeaway on this game, and they're just such a well, well run operation. The difference between a defensive coach Pete Carroll and an offensive coach. San Francisco has players wide open, is constantly fooling Seattle's defense. Seattle's big plays are Drew Locke, hits DK metcalf who just is so physically big. But Pete
didn't get along with Russ. Dk Metcalf is I love him, but he is out of control. I start looking at Seattle John they're going to draft about fifteenth. That does give them a shot for quarterbacks. And at the very end of this, we're going to talk about Jayden Daniels, the kid from LSU who won the Heisman, because I want to spend five minutes on that. I have a theory on that. But I look at Seattle and my
question to you is, what are they now? They're not clever, They don't have a quarterback, they had no real legitimate No offensive coach would have moved off Russell for Gino. That's not what an offensive coach would do. You'd have to have a better game plan. No coach I know that I respect offensively, and I've talked to a couple is a Drew Locke fan, So like, what is Seattle?
Now?
They're six and seven? And I look around the NFC and I'm like, Green Bay looks like a playoff team to me, with an offensive coach and some twitchy athletes. What is Seattle?
The Rams, I mean, the Ramps, tr really look like a playoff team as well.
By week we could talk about that. But that first half that Sean McVay put up today, John, it was one of the best first halves by anybody. Like, I watched Seattle and I'm like, what the hell are they?
Well, I look at Seattle the same way to the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Mike's you know, a lot younger than Pete. So if he, you know, is looking for a job, it'd be much easier for people be lined up to hire him. I just think it's over both places. It's just over. It doesn't mean they're bad. I don't think they forgot football overnight. But don't things run their course? But Andy Reid once got fired in Philadelphia. Right, things just end? And I watched Pete Carroll to day, like
he has no answers. He's done. He's had an incredible run. I think Greg Olsen, who was just awesome by the way. I mean, what an easy guy to listen to on the broadcast. Yeah, you know, his resume in Seattle speaks for itself. He resurrected the franchise. He's gave them a competitiveness that they did not have. But it's over, I think, and now obviously financially he makes a lot of money.
Tomlin never had the losing season. Like, if I'm both those two teams and I'm Seattle, and I look at Sean mcvahan Kyle shanahan, like, how are we beating those guys? We're not because we've invested a ton of defense. It's not like they have a bunch of seventh rounders making no money on defense. I mean, Jamal Adams has to play and he gets cook and well, why do they want Jamal Adams? Because Pee Caroll, you know, thinking like nineteen ninety. A guy like that, you can't play, can't
cover a soul, and you gotta can't cover anybody. You gotta be careful when you're tweeting about Jamal Adams. He gets he gets very edgy. He goes after yeah, significant others. But and I look the same thing with with Mike Tomlin and the Pittsburgh Steelers, like it's just it's just run its course. It truly, even if the both of them squeak into the playoffs, I don't think that changes at all. You wouldn't bet on them to go anywhere. They'd be a one and done. They struggle to score,
even the Gino Smith. It's it was an incredible story, but that had a shelf life to me. They got moving up in this draft, being aggressive draft, and you know, not one of the top two quarterbacks, but whoever they like as the third guy. They got that written all over. I just wonder, you know, just get rid of Pete and let John, you know, hire a young offensive coach.
All right, let's talk Lions going to Chicago. Bears should have beaten him twice. They hammered him today. So it's interesting four or five weeks ago, both you and I would have said eber Flus gone, Justin Fields, move on. But what's interesting, and you and I both talk about this as a coach like USC's Lincoln Riley. The offense is fine, so I know I have a coach, right, it's the defense. If you watch the Bear's defense now,
can't run on it. Number one in the league against the rush was going into today, excellent on third down, only allowed thirteen first downs with Jared Goff, that old line, those that tight end Laporta and Amoran Saint Brown. They had two picks, so you can say what you want. But this year when they got a Montes Sweat who had like four quarterback hurries today, now he's got some interesting defensive personnel. Well, now the defense is pretty good.
Justin Fields nineteen to thirty three, a touchdown, sixty yards rushing, a touchdown, eight different targets. So now I don't think I think Klob Williams is too good to pass on. But what I do believe that Justin Fields has played well enough. Now, John, you could move him to an Atlanta and get a first round pick easily.
I don't think you get a first round pick.
What do you think?
Still there's still some inaccuracy there to invest a first round pick into a quarterback. I couldn't trade a first round pick for Justin Fields second ago. I definitely could because I'm desperate. But he's going into his fourth year. The contract matters in football, right, so he's already used up three years of the chief contract. Fourth year. If you trade for him, the fifth year options on you. So let's say you picked that up. I mean, we saw what Green Bay did, right, they gave kind of
that fake extension. Do you really the part of the fifth year option. I don't know what the number would be in a couple of years, but the reason it's big. You know, it's not ten million dollars. It's thirty five, forty million dollars or thirty two, and it's all guaranteed. It's a little like the poor man's franchise tag with a quarterback. So he's a little complicated that way. To me, I still see more of an athlete who and I'm a big fan of him coming out now. He hit
the DJ Moore in a nice touchdown pass. Ideally with the Bears, like could I just turn Eberflus because he took over once that defensive coordinator got fired, and that we're just into the defensive coordinator and just hire like a Shane Steichen level guy to be my head coach. That's the idea, because eberflu is a pretty solid defensive coordinator. Yes, clearly, but we've just been talking about this. How could you
let him make that decision. I'm out on it, and I'm still like to me, if I get the number one pick, I'm moving on because one, Caleb's just a better player than Fields. And the contract is such a game changer, right, and you get to recoup your second round pick that you gave up when you made a trade this year for Montes Sweat justin Fields and you kind of rehash I mean, if you get a good offensive coach there, they definitely have some pieces. Like you said, defensively,
I didn't love the trade for Montes Sweat. Now it happened. Whatever they paid him, he's not going anywhere. Jalen Johnson has turned into an all pro level corner. He's making plays NonStop. Yes, DJ Moore is an excellent player. I mean, what the Carolina Panthers would do to probably redo that trade and trade one of the defensive linemen he kept him with the quarterback. But I'm still to me, Fields is still gone and the coach is still gone. Now I have a lot of respect for him. Neither of
the guys went in the tank. It would have been really easy, right because it was. It was fucking ugly, and especially justin Fields, shows showed a lot of mental fortitude this year. I actually think he's earned a lot of respect around the NFL. Like Zach Wilson had a good game, like Fields just kind of you know, he got injured, he battled back and came back better, didn't complain. That's kind of just acted like a acted like a grown up. So I think I don't even just think Atlanta,
I mean there would be several teams I'm sure sniffing around. Yeah, quarterback desperation, the Raiders, I mean, Minnesota's quarterback situations. Kind of who knows who's running the Patriots next year? So maybe you know all takes this two people bidding to drive up the price, right, So yeah, maybe you can never discount a quarterback, especially these next three weeks. He continues to just put up good numbers. They keep winning.
Yeah, I said this about Sam Darnold's or athletic than Sam Donald, but Sam was You could put together a four minute YouTube reel on Sam Donald if you're an agent. And he got a second chance in Carolina. Justin's too talented not to get a second chance. Somebody's gonna go.
There's gonna He's an elite runner. He's an elite runner.
And he has gotten better. He does make plays now. He had about thirty five fumbles and thirty seven starts. So he gives you about a turnover a game, which Andrew Luck gave you a lot of turnovers. So and by the way, Brett Farve did a different era, like, I can live with some of that if you give me something on the other end today, he'd get Detroit also not a very good defense, but I do think
Eberflus would be a great defensive coordinator. But I think I'd go Ben Johnson, Caleb Williams, and then the second pick, I would go get the best they have tackles they like. I'd go get the best defensive player in the draft, like Houston did with C. J. Stroud and Will Anderson. Just go get the best defensive rush end. There's not a great corner this year, but I went up watching it today I looked at it and I thought, here's the good news is that Justin Fields will good another shot.
Good for him, But Chicago's gonna get a real draft pick. He's a real playmaker, no question.
Yeah. I think on the flip side in I think you and I are both pro Jared Goff guys. But he does look dramatically worse when it gets cold and he has to go outside. You know, he just he just you know, listen, I'm from not far away from where he grew up. It's understandable, you don't. He played at cal then he went to the Rams. He now plays in a dome. I think Derek Carr, who he's a better player than, fell under the same thing that you put him outdoors. I don't know what the temperature
was there. It wasn't like crazy frigid, but it definitely wasn't a beautiful day. He's just not gonna be good and he looks dramatically worse. And it's they're a team. I think a lot of people, you know they're gonna end up being the three seed I would imagine, are going to bet against them in that first playoff game. The difference is they're they're way different in a dome. Look at last week against the Saints, they had twenty one points. Like that. They're much faster, they have a
bunch of offensive personnel. Their defense sucks, but they can score so many points in the dome. I actually think the time to bet again then will be the second week on the road, where they probably get demolished. But I think a lot of people are gonna pivot right with they play the Rams. Let's say in the first round, everyone's like the Rams are gonna kill Detroit's a very different team just in a dome in a controlled environment because of their quarterback and their skill. Guys are so fast.
You put them outside. If I said week one they got to go to if they hypothetically they're not going to but like Ackering Bay or at Stanford, so they have no shot none, But they might just win a playoff game based on their quarterback is so good, you know, in a covered stadium.
I do want to talk Rams Ravens because I thought it was a wildly entertaining game.
Might have been a game of the year from an entertainment standpoint.
It was fantastic. And I got to say this about Sean mcvanna loss nobody's healthy. Cooper Cup is limping, Poka Nukua has banged up ribs, Matt Stafford grabbed his chest twice. The offensive line, they're just putting that thing. And we've watched NFC teams go out early window Detroit Seattle get humiliated. They should have won that game. I mean they really should have won that game. They lost on a punt return between Pooka game planning, Stafford, play calling, Cooper Cup,
Williams the running back. They had a backup tight end, the kid their draft pick in the fifth round, fourth or fifth round, Davis Allen from Clemson. I just sat there and I thought, this is one of the best called games of the year by a coach. I thought it was a masterclass. Now McVeigh had some clock issues. This stuff's not easy. Andy Reid had those in Philadelphia. But I'm talking about in terms of execution with an offense where virtually John nobody is healthy. They got eleven
guys out there banged up. Congrats to Baltimore. The Rams feel like a playoff team to me.
Why I clicked on mcveigh's postgame press conference because I wanted to hear about how they guys screw up at the end. He didn't really. I wondered if like their headset went out sometimes on the quarterback as well, when you throw down the field, you don't get back, because that really killed him. It killed him in regulation when he had to burn the time out because then they couldn't throw over the middle of the field to have a chance at a touchdown. They had to just throw
at the end zone right. And then even in the overtime on third and four when they got the delay a game, it set them back. I felt pretty good about them making a run. They had a lot of momentum. They had just stopped at three and out, and you could tell Sean was he did That's It's crazy. Those two guys were so awesome today. I mean, what a year McVeigh was. I wrote down with I thought they were gonna win. What a year for McVeigh turns down Amazon twenty million dollars a year. He comes back, he's
a kid. He leads a terrible roster to the playoffs, like what a superstar, you know. But even in the loss, they feel like one of the hotter teams right now in the NFL. When Stafford is on. There were times today where you're like, that's what a fifty million dollar quarterback looks like. No questions. The toughness, because we know arm strength, we know the dots that he's throwing to Puka, and he threw a played a cup cup made an
incredible catch. But his toughness to me is he's got a farvying quality to him when games like this in the rain, it's wet, ugly on the in Baltimore and they went toe to toe. If they won this game, I thought like, this is gonna be one of the hotter teams going to the playoffs. I still think they're gonna go to the playoffs, right because this was I mean, they were seven and a half point underdog, but those two guys, who wants to see McVeigh and Stafford right in just a big game.
And you know sometimes Sean and I thought when they had that delay a game penalty, he can get too cute. And they had like a jumbo set they were moving into. It was a very complicated play and I'm like, Sean, you're on the road, just get this thing snapped and move the ball down. Stafford's hot and he's getting good protection kill but one of the things we've talked about before.
Defensive coaches struggle with offensive line play. So Andy Reid has rebuilt out O line twice, right Belichick did twice three times with Dante Skarnekia. But offensive coaches are very good at this. This offensive line's not very good. They've got Dotson's a very good guard, haven Stein's a very good right tackle. They got Noteboom playing right guard. They have an undrafted guy at left tackle. They had a
really good protection today. And in this league when everybody's going to backup quarterbacks, a lot of these defensive coaches using backup quarterbacks is because they can't manipulate the offensive line. And did you see Justin Herbert get smoked today? Brandon Staley defensive coach. Brandon Staley is six five, two forty. He got the blank kicked out of him today. And I mean stuff like Ragdall looked like nineteen eighties Joe Montana getting thrown around by like the New York Giants.
So McVeigh is really done, and it's under the radar, and you're a former scout, so you know this. They have made that a very good run blocking O line with tackles, planning, guards Dotson was signed if you recall at the very beginning of the season.
Yeah, personnel wise, they deserve a lot of credit obviously with the offensive line. But how good Nakua is. I mean that that kid is a stud. And the Kerwin Williams move, I mean that guy's a really good running back as well. I mean you watch. Part of what makes the Ravens right is they've been and for fifty twenty years under the Aussie run. They beside a couple players like a Lamar Jackson right or when they had Sugs, they kind of cycle everyone out. They love those comp picks.
They let everyone walk, so they always have new players beside the guys they draft right that then stay on that rookie contract and then maybe one of the five guys that you think they should keep, they'll keep and they'll let the other four go. And they've just done an incredible job personnel wise. I think the Rams I bet against them because I was like, who are these random guys? I wouldn't have if you would have said Pooka Nakua' been like who the hell is that? You know?
Seven months ago? But then you watch them personnel wise, obviously from a schematic standpoint of the coach. And I do think this gets back to you. You watch that game, you know, in an NBA game, like when Steph and Lebron are going, it's clear. You watch those two quarterbacks, You're like, yeah, these are two max quarterbacks, and then these are two guys, these guys like you watch Jared Goff.
You know, it's like those guys are in a different planet and Jared Goff is goad player, right, And that's but you watch that game in the environment. Lamar made some plays today that you know part of I think McVeigh was very positive after the loss. There were some plays with the ravens in him that just what are you gonna do? You tip your cap to? I mean he's getting sacked, he's throwing the ball, and he's just like what is going on?
Yeah, and Lamar has done this. John, if you remember in his first two to three years, he would go to his first look and then his second, and then he was off. There were multiple times today John when he moved left and right, he didn't want to run. He was his head was on a swivel. He was on a third guy, a fourth guy. Lamar has gotten much more willing to go to your third, your fourth receiver. Now, he can always run, but his maturity in the pocket. He moved out one time and it was I think
it was the fourth quarter. He moved left and I'm like, run and he was just set on throwing the ball. That's a completely different mindset than three years ago.
Yeah, the touchdown late in regulation is a Flowers. So he was scrambling back and he has him on the move was just his You know, if you were gonna be bullish on Justin Fields, I think if you were another team trading for him, you go. You'd want to find out how they have worked on Lamar's touch over the years. Now, his arm he's not as dependent on, like a power arm. It's never really been his deal. You know, Fields is much more of like a power pitcher.
But Lamar's touch, like that's what his purty hang has had on touch. Touch Lamar. Now, if you can move like that and have the touch, yes, they easily could win the Super Bowl, right, I mean they unched in a couple of weeks. The way they're how good their defense is, how dynamic the quarterback is. Because even say the Niners are Dallas or whoever plays them in the Super Bowl. You can do everything right. I mean absolutely everything.
I mean Aaron Donald today probably is on the flight home as we speak, thinking I could add ten sacks all over them, but he would just maneuver, he would dive, another d lineman would hit him. Lamar's doing three sixties and usually you're like, what is going on? But you have full faith that he's gonna keep it alive, and he often does. Back to the Ravens, how the draft
pick is a Flowers? I mean, is that just we talked forever about like the Patriots and just every time they draft a receiver like this guy's gonna stink the Ravens. Looking back, I should have been immediately this guy's probably gonna be like a Hall of Famer because that guy is just what a perfect fit for him in the court. And those two guys the next five six years watched the hell out because they they have immediate chemistries. They Flowers is a really good player.
Yeah, and it's you know, for some there's some reason I've had them number four in my top ten for weeks and I don't know why I have any misgivings because I love the coach and I love the quarterback. But for years you could argue they they didn't they didn't get receiver right. They'd been great at tight end back and they just couldn't quite They had a couple misses.
Zay's a game changer. And sometimes those small guys they become gadget guys, you know, like Tyler Lockett became a really good receiver, but was viewed kind of into the league as a gadget guy. And then he's more than that. But a lot of times it was at Tevon Austin, the guy that came in.
And they just John Ross.
Yeah, they just can't do much beyond nosey. Flowers can go into traffic, he can make all sorts of catches. So all right, let's close it out. Heisman. So I'm a big fan. I think Michael Pennick throws the best ball. Caleb Williams is the most talented. Drake May's talent had but inconsistent. Bo Nicks feels like more of a system quarterback. So Daniels, the kid that was at Arizona State, didn't Daniels and Lsu. So I remember when Lsu Brian Kelly got him, and I remember going on Twitter and saying
to people, I'm like, Okay, I watched this kid. He may weigh one hundred and sixty pounds, but I'm like, he's really good. And I couldn't believe the pushback I got. Now I'm thinking to myself, well, it's Arizona State. They play night games. You're down there in Scottsdale. People just hadn't seen him play, so he don't bring a lot of games right, so they don't win games. And a Hern's a defensive coach. But I was like, I watched him enough on these late Pac twelve games. I'm like, shit,
this kid's good. He just needs to put weight on. So now he goes and he beats Joe Burrow's numbers and they don't have nerd to the team that Joe Burrow had. My argument is John, is he the second pick? Is he the quarterback? He moves?
I don't.
I don't worry about his weight because he's got hype. Bryce Young is short and small. If he weighs one hundred and ninety five, but he's six ' three, I don't worry as much about it.
I'm with you. I watched him last night on stage. You know, while he is thin. He's not small.
That's true to me.
He looked like a guy that you're never going to be, you know, Josh Allen two hundred forty five pounds, But definitely if I told you by the time he's twenty eight, he's two hundred and fifteen pounds, I bet it's hard for him to keep on weight right now, so as he ages. I also thought about it today or last
night watching those guys on stage. You know what's crazy is all three of those quarterbacks were transferred guys, and we often everyone freaks out whenever something changes in college football. Yet all the good teams always benefit the most from anything that ever changes. Like you just Dylan Gabriel to do the changes transfer from Oklahoma is going to Oregon, right, So the other thing all those big programs have is
the good coaches. So he goes to Brian Kelly. It changed his life, right, I mean it changed the trajectory. If he had stated Arizona State, probably no one's ever talking about him and he just has an up and down career and maybe he's like an undrafted free agent. Instead, I would imagine no player, because let's face it, Bo Nicks and Pennix had really really good seasons last year, so they were high on this guy. Not that he wasn't on people's radar, but no one was discussing him
as a first round player. I think he's gonna end up going in the top ten when we see quarterback inflation. He did it in the SEC. The athleticism, that's the other thing, like part of like brock perty if he's the modern day Drew Brees, you gotta be able to move. I don't want a stagnant quarterback like Matt Stafford's kind of a dying breed. Either way, he plays right and he has a little Jared Goff is a relic. So to me, I need a guy now. I want them
to throw. That's what Lamar's really turned into. Scramble to throw. It's what Russell in his prime was always great at. Moved to throw the ball down field, and that's what this guy became. And he also he had some of those runs at LSU or he's running like eighty yards. No one could catch him. So he has the high end speed, he has good arm strength, he's accurate, he's clearly not intimidated. I remember Phil Savage told me one
time when he was the GM of the Browns. He h had all these guys before the game, all the you know, the rookies. They were all nervous, like sweating, and they're like, like, you just came from Alabama, LSU and Georgia, Like you've played in bigger games than this, but you get used to going in those environments. Right, He's played Alabama against LSU, He's played against Georgia like, he's played against where everyone an entire region cares. So
he knows the pressure is what does bo Nicks really have? Right, he came from Offer, so he goes to Oregon. I mean it's a big deal up there. But he's been playing the SEC for three years. He can handle the pressure, which which I really like. You know, Caleb has been under the microscope. Probably the knock on Drake is how many of his games really mattered that much? And I like the guy, but you know that would be something that some of these other guys are just gonna have.
It's a good point. And the other thing about Daniels that I like is that he doesn't have a red flag. So height not a problem. Panix has injuries not a problem. Drake either, Drake may inconsistent, He's not bo Nicks feels a bit like a low ceiling kind of a system quarterback.
He's not so I mean, if you're asking me height, he's taller than Caleb, moves, arms strong enough, played in two schools, one in both, And again I think there's an sec there's something to be said about having to go on the road and face Georgia just there's just more NFL players in that conference, and there's Kirby and Nicker defensive coaches, So you're facing the best two defensive coaches in college football. I think, to me, and I love pan X. I think panicstows the prettiest ball in
the sport. But I got to tell you, I wouldn't be shocked because he's also incredibly gracious. He was so good at the Heisman speech. And all these kids are really good. They're all First of all, you got to be a really mostly you have to be a good kid to go to a major program and deal with a lot of crap. You deal with media. So if you're not a great kid, you're smart enough to know what not to do. You know the temperature in the room.
But I'm gonna tell and Brian Kelly, John it's not easy on quarterback.
So no, he's row. I think that's really gonna benefit a lot. I didn't know that much about him, honestly, beside you know, watching play a little bit at ASU and then last year. But to go and have that toward a type of season, what's their defense was atrocious? I mean if he wasn't good, that they would have been six and six if he wasn't a Heisman level player. And like you said, a lot of NFL guys have had really good careers playing for Brian Kelly. Why it's very,
very difficult. He is on your ass. I mean, he's wired like an old school nineteen eighty Bill Parcells. So you did it at quarterback and had success when things in the program weren't really going well. Here's the other thing, how do you handle adversity? Well, what happens early on Game one against Florida State? They get boat raced. He doesn't play that well, and really the next whatever eleven games, he's just on fire. And he's the only reason. I mean, honestly,
they weren't. They were so bad on defense, which is kind of weird for an LSU team. But yeah, I mean I think he is going to be There's not much to nitpick really, just his history because this season so it's like, why did he transfer to Issue? Well, no one really cares the transfer thing. All these people in the NFL are very numb to it now. Just part of the deal. You know. Back in the day, it was always a little weird, like why do you transfer?
Something go wrong? Right now, it's just kind of the price of admission way to do business, it's right, So I don't even think it really comes up. You wouldn't even talk about. It's kind of irrelevant for all these quarterbacks, right, I mean, they transferred and it changed. Look at the Washington State quarterback, Well, he to me, he's got a chance to be the next I don't know if he's going to have Jaan km Ward. What if he goes
to Ohio State. I mean he's got a chance to everyone watched him all of a sudden become a first rounder.
Well years ago in the NBA, if you left your team you were a sellout. People question your character if you wouldn't stick it out. Now, if you don't at least consider Bradley Beal moving, people are like or Dame We're like, what are you doing? You've got to move.
It's like a character flaw. It's the same thing with transferring, Like if you don't transfer to a better program, there's sort of a you don't want to compete, You're okay being at Arizona State, and so it's like there's been a cultural to your point, a cultural change where I think, forget the stigma. I think transferring is, oh, you want to play with the big boys time, Yeah, you want to go to the The only one that's been strange is the kid from Oklahoma transferring to wash Oregon because
it's two defensive coaches. They're both great programs arguably, I mean, Oklahoma's the bigger national program. To me, it's like why.
It's it's money call, it has to It's just purely you know this. Lane's been complaining about this for a little while because technically you're not supposed to quote unquote bee all the buy players. I mean, it's just that this is going to be, you know, an issue for Lincoln Riley, and I think you knew with the sec their financial just backing is not on the level of Texas. I mean, look at Texas roster. This year's bought and
paid for and rightfully, so it's stacked. I mean, you look at Dylan Gabriel, Oklahoma was like a top five offense in the country this year. Now, his offensive coordinator did leave the Mississippi he did. But I think that when they call you and they go, hey, we got one point five million dollars for you or two million dollars.
And this is where Oregon and this is why if you were betting on them moving forward, their financial ability to take advantage of the Yes, that guy they want is gonna be like, why wouldn't you see a bed all over them? Right, I mean, why wouldn't all these TeVeS a lot? I'm sure they were.
Yeah, Now I heard this is a number that was thrown out that Phil Knight gives about fifteen million to you know. You know, there's there's a number that he gives to the collective, you know, and that's what it. Yeah, now I don't know if that number is right. I mean Phil again it Phil's one of the richest smartest people. It's probably the richest smartest person I've ever met. He and Mark Cuban. But there was a number somebody because Oregon's got the best collective by far in the PAC
twelve by far. Yeah, yeah, it's it's usc.
But most guys aren't. Most guys don't cost that much money, right, No, tied the quarterbacks you might get, I might cost a couple hundred thousand dollars. So if you had, honestly, if you had five million dollars, ye, if you can allocate maybe two to a quarterback and then spread around a couple of line men, maybe a dB, you'd be fine. You don't need some of these. I don't know if you saw that Marvin Harrison Junior, like someone would pay him,
that's that's bullshit. Zero chance. That is not true. That's not the amount of money. Even Caleb, whatever he made this year was not as much as Bryce Young's making with the Caroline Ranthers.
But Oregon, like a year ago, paid for a left tackle up in the Washington state area US. He thought they had him. Oregon came in and I you know, I heard the dollar figure and it was a couple hundred thousand dollars, and I'm like, it's a high schooler. So I have been told that Oregon's collective is more dynamic than others. Not a surprise they they And by that for the record, you know, Phil Knight. If you go look at college football in the last fifty years,
there's only one new power. It's Oregon. It's Phil Knight. And by the way, t Boon, Pickens and Oklahoma State they were a blip on the radar. He was commit well, you know, they were winning eight and nine football games a year. They had a good college basketball program. So there are these rare individual people. Phil Knight totally committed to athletics in Oregon. But I don't digrudge anybody. It's not a criticism. It's all legal. It is what it is,
all right. John Middlecoff, former NFL scout, Free and out at the Volume. We do about fifty to fifty five minutes every Sunday. John Izola's money, great stuff.
See you, Colin, have a good night. The Volume