The volume. Hi, everybody, welcome in. Jason McIntyre. J Mack part of the Herd Ensemble, also part of the volume. He's got his daily morning podcast, will be joining us. He's all fired up for Dalvin Cook to the Jets, and we'll get to that in a second. But you know, I was thinking about something today because Ezekiel Elliott Zeke signed with the Patriots, is that there are things in life that I seek value with. I've got very flat, wide size twelve feet. I'm looking for comfort with shoes.
I'm not going to spend a lot on shoes. I want comfort, and I'm not looking for the ugliest pair available, but comfort Trump's style and fashion. Same with cars, cars demere transportation. I know many of you have that testosterone car gene. Nothing wrong with it. My wife's a Michigan girl. She loves cars. I don't care. So I seek value in cars. I probably own. You know ten cars in my life, eight have been used. And then there are things I just won't go cheap on. I tell my
kids all the time, education and experiences. You know, if we have to pay for an expensive college prep school, we were going to do it. And experiences. If I want to go on two vacations a year. You know what, We're going to stay at a nice hotel by the beach walking distance. So that's important in my life. Education for my kids, and experiences because when Dad's gone, you know,
I want those to be great memories. And I think most of you, you know, there's certain things when I go to the store, I'll do value in paper towels. I'm not going to do value in certain things like coffee. And I think it's interesting that the Patriots sign Ezekiel Elliott again, going for a guy that can get value you with past his prime. He can be a three down back, but he's lost a lot of his horsepower.
And you know, they signed Devonte Parker. There's not a big market for him, signed him to three years, Juju Smith Schuster, not a huge market for him. I just think in twenty twenty three, Kyle Shanahan's not seeking value. He went and he spent a lot of money and to make a move for Christian McCaffrey, and they signed Deebo Samuel and George Kittle and left tackle Trent Williams.
They're not seeking value, They're seeking greatness because the game has changed and I think if you start looking at the teams at the top of the afc Odell Beckham wasn't cheap. Baltimore went and got him. Go look at Cincinnati running backs, wide receivers. Joe Burro's going to cost money. I think if you're going to seek value in the NFL safety, linebacker, interior offensive line, if your quarterback's got a little bit of mobility. But yeah, I think z
is fine, but he's not close to Dalvin Cook. Dalvin Cook is still got I think traces of his prime left. And I don't think Zeke is a bad signing, but I don't think it's a significant move. I think Dalvin Cook's a better player. But we've seen it didn't matter if it was a hunter Henry Nelson agolar at one point, Bill's Oway's seeking value and there's just not a lot of it on the offensive side of the football. The best talent evaluators, you're never going to get Justin Jefferson
or Jamar Chase or Davante Adams. You're never going to get those guys on the cheap, certainly not in their prime. So I don't think it's a bad signing, but I feel once again in New England. I feel like they have most of their offensive weapons, have moved out of their sweet spot athletically. Now Dalvin Cook to the Jets. My gut feeling on this, and he's a guy that can catch, he can run. I think he's just out of his prime but close to it. He can also block,
so he's a three down back. But I think when Aaron Rodgers took some money off the table of his contract, it wasn't just altruism.
You know.
Aaron was like, Okay, I'll give some money back. What are you getting me? Get me another weapon? So you know it's I do think it was a bit of a brand pivot for Aaron Rodgers, who always sort of took the most money in Green Bay. And I do think it shows real growth for Aaron Rodgers and kind of a community team feel. That's cool. But he had to get something back in return, and this is it. Dalvin cooks a one year contract. I think he's a
really good player. I don't think it's their number one need, but it does allow them to bring back Breeze Hall slowly. And listen, we have an extra game. Now they're seventeen games. You know you don't want to give any single running back two hundred and seventy five three hundred carries. They age fast, so I do think over the course of a season, Dalvin Cook allows you to bring Breeze haul back a little more slowly if they could. You know, they both get over one hundred carries, but neither gets
to two. That's probably a very good thing. The Jets now have Aaron Rodgers. I still think the offensive line is the primary issue. I don't think running back's the number one issue. But you got to give Aaron something, a toy, a weapon for him taking a fairly profound one time pay cut. The Cowboys also ended their holdout with elite offensive guard Zach Martin. Kind of surprised that they cave now. They didn't give him top of the league money. Top of the league money's about twenty twenty
one million for a guard. He got about eighteen from thirteen. I thought he'd been very well compensated. You know, the Cowboys get into a space and I think they they know the reality with Dak is the more you ask Dak to do, the more mistakes you have. And last year again, Zeke passed his prime offensive line in a rebuild.
Michael Gallup was slow in the rehab coming back. They asked Dak to do more, and he tied for the NFL leading interceptions, And so I just don't think the offensive line is good enough now to lose their primary offensive guard in Zach Martin's a you know, first ballot Hall of Fame guy. He's arguably the best guard in the NFL. Certainly has been top one or two for the last eight nine years, eight time Pro bowler. So
I'm a little surprised they caved. Jerry has often done that with older players that he or star players that he likes. Jalen Smith, the linebacker. It didn't work. Zeke they paid him two years early, probably shouldn't have. So you know, the Cowboys you got, Brandon Cooks is new, Dalton Schultz is gone, Zeke is gone, Zach Martin out kind of a drip drip drip, leading you to believe
are we putting more on Dak's table than he's comfortable with. Also, Kellen Moore, the offensive coordinator's gone, So there's a lot of things you've taken away from Dak. My guess is they sat down Stephen Jones and Jerry Jones and said, you know, a lot of things have been taken away. Let's insert something back into the mix. The best interior offensive lineman the Cowboys have had since Larry Allen been a long time. This baseball season continues to heat up.
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the summer in style, comedy, baseball concerts. It's the game Time app. Last minute deals, lowest prices, guaranteed twenty dollars off your first purchase twenty bucks. Terms apply all right, we bring in Jmac. So how fitting Dalvin Cook signs with the Jets. He can block, he can catch, he can run. I still feel like he may have one more year of his prime left. Whereas zeke I feel like his three years out of his prime. At least two. I feel like Dalvin Cook, it feels like he's closer
to his prime. Is that fair? Oh?
Certainly. I mean, Colin listen, let's be realistic, okay. And I'm not just saying this as a hyperbolic Jets fan. You know, we had this interview schedule before the Dalvin Cook news. Tell me who has the best skill position players in the AFC East between the Bills, the Dolphins, the Jets, and the Patriots. I've looked at the Cook numbers. There wasn't a drop off last year. The reason the Vikings had to get off of them was because of salary.
They simply cannot afford him. And to build a team when you got to pay Justin Jefferson, the salary of Kirk Cousins the offensive line, like they could not afford Dalvin Cook. I don't think it had anything to do with the numbers and the drop off he instantly makes. The Jets have the best skill position players in the division.
And if you want to zoom out and look at the conference, I mean we're not far I could say we right, We're not far behind the Bengals, who are obviously elite at receiver, and that Joe Burrow's better than Rogers. But you look at that Jets team, Colin, I'm being real here, Dalvin Cook, Garrett Wilson, Aaron Rodgers, that they're stacked.
Okay, who's your number two receiver?
So when you look at the depth of the Jets receivers, I think their depth far surpasses anything Buffalo has. Buffalo's top heavy with Stefan Diggs, Miami's top heavy. The top two guys are great. The Jets depth. Alan Lazard, big six ' five guy can go up and get it in the red zone. Mikole Hardman, a gadget guy who they can do a lot of things with. You line up on the slot outside like I know, we know Garret Wilson's the one after that. There's a lot of threes.
But Colin, like I like the depth idea above. You know you got a one in a two. One of those guys goes down, you don't have depth. The Jets are so stacked at receiver and this Dalvin Cook thing. Listen, we don't know how Breese Hall is going to react coming back from injury, and Breece Hall if he can sit out the first three three four games if he's on the pup list. You know, Michael Carter was good, but let's be realistic, Okay, Dalvin Cook is a massive upgrade.
And I'll challenge you, Colin to find a team that got better at quarterback and running back in the NFL this offseason. It just doesn't exist.
Yeah, I mean Breese Hall, Dalvin Cook, Aaron Rodgers, Garrett Wilson, Corey Davis, Alan Lazard. I don't like it as much as you I. You know, I think depth at receivers sounds good, but I like really great playmakers. My argument for receiving course is when you're one goes down Jamar Chase, can your two be a one? You know, if Mike Williams goes down, Keenan Allen has been a one, Jamar Chase went down, t Higgins looked like a one for Cincinnati. I don't think the Jets have that. I mean, if
Cooper Cup goes down, Rams don't have a two. Van Jefferson's a three. So you know, my takeaway was that Aaron Rodgers took a pay cut. It wasn't all for altruistic reasons. In the end, he made a deal with a team. You got to get me a toy, You got to get me something fun. And this is you know, they could use another tackle, but there's just none on the market, but there are running backs on the market, and Dalvin's the best running back. This feels like one
of those handshake deals, all take less. You gotta get me another playmaker. That's what it feels like to me certainly.
And listen, I'll just remind you the Jets went in a last season with Hey, our guy Zach Wilson and our running back is Michael Carter. Like they just did not have a lot last year offensively and still managed to win seven games. Like you've got to feel like the arrow's pointing up with the Jets. There's the only way it could be pointing is up. And I just
cannot stress enough. You're going from literally bottom three quarterback situation in the league, arguably thirty second to instantly one of the best with Aaron Rodgers and I know he wasn't amazing last year, but it's very good and Wilson and Cook. This is the most exciting time for any Jets fan since Rex Ryan was dropping f bombs on hard knocks over a decade ago.
You know, I talked about this on FS one today about I couldn't tell you the last New York team that overachieved, like I mean, I guess the Giants last year making the playoffs, but I mean the NFC was so weak. I don't feel like it was a triumph of any you know, great historic standard. But the Yankees and the Mets not good, Brooklyn Nets, kd Mess Jets underachieving.
And I said, maybe it's just coincidence, but I tend to believe that as the media has gotten bigger and louder, is that a lot of the front offices in New York are weaker and a lot of the ownership groups are weaker. And the Yankees farm system now is you know, nobody has the patience for it, and that I do think there is a unique volume and pressure in New York, and I do think it makes it harder on athletes. That it's just I mean, you and I are not
people that hang out in social media. I've worked with people who hang out on social media, and so they hear the noise and they react to it. You and I don't more more into our families, but I do think young athletes average GMS. I think I don't think I'm unfair when I say this. You lived out East, I lived there for a decade. Sports radio they actually talk sports. I live in Los Angeles. Sports talk radio doesn't even talk sports. It's all guide talk. You can't
do that out East. People care more. It's louder, it's more intense. They call you out by names. I mean, like wfan is calling out people by names, and those guys hear it. So like my thing with the Jets is they've got to start three and three. They go two and four. It's ugly. Am I wrong? I think it affects teams.
Yeah, you never want to go overboard. But that Buffalo season opener is extremely important, and we touched on this on the show Colin. Jets offensive line is the biggest weakness. Buffalo. Bills have a top five defense in the league. If Von Miller plays, we don't know if he's going to be back. And they obliterate the Jets offensive line the way they did the Rams last year. In the opener, you saw the Rams season just snowball and kareem into
a disaster. Well, in week two, the Jets and travel to Dallas and Michael Parsons, who's maybe the defensive player of the year. Colin, this is just setting up as first two weeks. You have to get a win. There's no zero and two. That Buffalo game under the spotlight of the New York media at night, Monday night football. I believe Colin, that game is going to be enormous. Now, Luckily Aaron Rodgers, he's not the kind of guy who gets worried, right, He's used to the spotlight in the primetime.
But I cannot stress enough how excited I am for that game is still what doubt. But Colin, you know, if the Jets lose and Rogers Stings throws a pick six, it's gonna be the media is just gonna kill him. That's just what's gonna happen.
I was watching the Raiders Niners, and I was really paying attention to the Niners. Although it was interesting to watch this young Purdue quarterback for the Raiders. It's like, is he this year's Brock Purty. He was actually pretty interesting. I don't know, but you know, it's funny. There's this old saying in the NFL or the belief is that when you get a new GM, you know he's not loyal to the previous GM's mistakes than sometimes a GM to preserve his picks, Like less Need whiffed on two
two at Well. If they had a new GM tomorrow, he'd bail on two two at Well, right, But you know, less Need's going to be more loyal to him. Logan Bruss looks like he can't play guard. They drafted him be a guard in the third round. Now they've moved into tackle. So you know, there's this sense is you're more loyal to your picks to preserve your reputation. And you know, when I watched Trey Lance, it just doesn't work. Like he's just overwhelmed. He's not accurate, he's not as
twitchy or asthletic as they thought. And I think Kyle Shanahan is ready to just completely move off him because he didn't want him anyway, whereas John Lynch as John Lynch. But it was funny watching that game. Sam Darnold looked really good, and I thought they're going to go with Brock Purdy because he's a more accurate thrower. But when I watched Donald, and you know, I love Darnald, I thought he there were moments when he was with the Jets,
he made some incredible plays. Do you think Sam Darnald could start and win games if Brock Purty's elbow didn't recover. Do you think Donald, like Baker, we kind of believe it's over. Nobody's gonna Do you think Donald as a Jets fan? Do you think he has anything left in the tank if he was a starter.
Yeah, what is he like twenty six? I don't even know. He's in his mid twenties. He's got plenty left. I think the scary thing just listening to you break that down, Colin, it's like, wait a minute, Party got hurt in January. Okay, even if it's a seven month injury, the season was still nine months away. You're telling me that they had to go pick up Sam Darnald. It's almost as if, hey, hey, what if we got Sam Donald and this trade thing
doesn't work out? Oh? No, Sam was just insurance for Party, and then Sam picked it up and we just lucked out into Sam Darnold. And that's an easier way to kind of write off Trey Lance. Like Trey Lance and his agent should have put his foot down. Why are you bringing another quarterback? I'm ready. I'm back from injury. It's my job. You guys drafted me. Why would Trey Lance put his foot down? And I think it's because
he's like a young guy. You know this guy. I think somebody, somebody put up the stat I don't know on social media if you saw this that Trey Lance when you look at his college and NFL has like fewer pass attempts than Geno Smith had in like the last two years. Something obscure, like he just hasn't played a lot of football and Colin now opening his third on the depth chart. Yeah, I don't think loyalty exists in sports. I know you and I kind of differ
on this. What's the saying you're you're only loyal as loyal as your options.
Yeah.
I don't know that Trey Lance has many options right now. And I think the headline that I did was Trey Lance to the Vikings. Let's just keep an eye on that as his Viking season unravels.
From Minnesota stuff I've been.
Reading, Yeah, stuff I've been reading on Minnesota may not looking as great as we thought, Like thirteen wins, Okay, they'll go down to nine or ten, will they? I don't know, you just start to look at like Dalvin Cook, I get to the Jets, start looking at his numbers. You think Alex Madison can really replace those numbers from Dalvin Cook in the past and run game. I don't know. Madison's a good I play fantasy football. He's a good
handcuff guy. He's not a great starter, Like I don't know, there's a world where the Vikings are like, oh, eight to nine. You know, let's move on from krit Cousins. Who can we put in here on the cheap and then rebuild and fortify around him the way the Niners have really built what is kind of a blueprint for the NFL Right now.
I feel like I've got most of my divisions down and in most instances, I'm just taking the best quarterback. And I think you've talked me into taking the Saints, although they're going to be thin at running back. Probably take the Saints to win that division. I'll take Carolina as a wild card team. Is there a team to you that won't make the playoffs? And it will shock people because we generally, you and I are both sort
of more optimistic early in the season. Nobody wants to be a downer after watching the Broncos, I don't know if it would be a shock, but watching them struggle in the first three series against Arizona, I'm like, man, this is not plug and play, like this is really choppy. But that wouldn't be a surprise because I think we all understand the Chargers and the Chiefs are really stacked rosters. Do you have a oh crap, they didn't make the playoffs team.
I was gonna save this for the herd. It's probably too hot for the volume audience, Colin, but you look at the Chargers and you're one in Brandon Staley. They were in Week seventeen. It's a Raiders national television game. All they needed was the tie to get to overtime. Game ends in a tie and they both teams go to the playoffs, right and Staley messes that up, calls timeout. Raiders kicked the field goal, Chargers missed the playoffs. But
everything's looking great, got justin Herbert. Year two, Herbert's injured, Staley gets less aggressive. This is kind of an underplayed story. He started to get more cautious. Remember first year he was the head coach led the NFL in fourth down conversions, one of the most aggressive coaches. Was very good, but the media got on his case. He started to dial it back last year, started to coach, maybe a little scared they make the playoffs. He blows a huge lead.
He enters year three and they drafted a receiver who you seem to like, the kid Johnson TCU Quinton Job. Yeah. We like the offensive coordinator in Kellen Moore. But as you said, the division is loaded, the schedule is not easy, and the AFC is a gauntlet. If I'm picking a team to miss the playoffs, here's a crazy scenario. Chargers missed the playoffs. Decide man, we ruined Justin Herbert's rookie deal. We have no playoff wins, one playoff appearance. Staley, you're
out of here. We're gonna make a runner a big time coach, and you happen to talk about a coach Monday on the Herd that you know is facing some battles with the NCAA and had dabbled in the NFL last summer. I think it last February he interviewed with the Vikings and he was, you know, I guess chatting with the Chargers. The Carolina Panthers owner. His name is Jim Harbaugh. Jim Harball obviously a loves California. It's time with San Francisco.
What if the.
Chargers missed the playoffs seven and ten, eight and nine, that's not gonna get it. And you're not.
Getting nine and eight is probably going to miss the playoffs in the AFC.
So they missed the playoffs, Chargers do they say, you know what, Sorry, Staley, the ship has sailed. Oh, Jim Harball's on the market, and Jim Harball sees I can get Justin Herbert. You're telling me that's not getting Jim Harbaugh to the NFL. And a heartbeat. Now the only hiccup here. And you know, the owners of the Chargers have been kind of notorious cheap skates. Maybe one of the kids gets his dad, Hey, dad, open up the book. We gotta get Jim Harball in here. And Chargers missed
the playoffs, but it's a blessing in disguise. They bring in Jim Harball to work with Justin Herbert. Well, we talked about this today. Harbaugh's never failed. That doesn't mean he won a national title at Stanford or a super Bowl, but he's never failed. And I mean Saban Spurrier, great coaches, Urban Meyer, great coaches, struggled in the NFL. You would leave Michigan and it would be deemed to success if
you finished with three straight wins over the Buckeyes. I don't even remember the last time Michigan did that against Ohio State and you got to the playoff and even won a playoff game. And so if Jim Harbaugh, let's say they lose to LSU or George in the final, Harbaugh could say I took over for Brady Hoke, it was a mess, won ten games the first year, ended up in the last three years getting to the playoff twice, three straight Ohio State wins and losing to an SEC
power in the final. That's absolutely a success story for Michigan. Absolutely, Jim Harbaugh can leave with his head high because what forced like Jimmy Johnson, Pete Carroll out And I think I think this has happened to a lot of coaches. They get worn out from kind of the hipocrisy, the NC doublea where they sort of pick and choose who they punish. I think Jim Horr, Jim Harbaugh would look at it and say enough, I mean guys, we're doing
cheeseburgers here. You've got SEC schools paying players through the churches for a thousand years. I could see Harriba if they beat the bucket.
It's one of those things where Ohio State fans would privately have to admit Harbaugh beating is for the third time in a row is a good thing because he leaves and then who's on the market. So kind of my takeaway is it would be the time NC doblea breathing down your neck playoffs, second year in a row, Buckeye win. I can see it happening.
And the good think about the options that Harba was thinking about the Carolina Panthers who had the number one pick. They got Bryce Young, Like you like Bryce Young than I do. He's probably going to be a fine quarterback under no circumstances. Is he ever going to be as good at in the NFL as Justin Herbert, Let's just be obvious. And then he talked to the Vikings Kirk Cousins.
Very good quarterback won a lot of games. I don't I think if you and I and like thirty two NFL gms were pulled, they'd rather have Justin Herbert than Kirk Cousins. So this is one of those jobs where it's going to be a feeding friends. We had Sean Payton ticketed for this job, and then Staley makes the playoffs and it looked like that, you know, up was it twenty seven to three or whatever in the playoffs, like it looked like Staley was fine. Then he blows
the game. He thought, oh, he's going to get fired, and they kept him and replace his offensive coordinator. So we'll see. But Jim Harmar or the Chargers would sure spice things up. Especially Chargers, right, you know, dealing with the Rams out here, and the Rams are like the big deal. They win the Super Bowl, we got we got to do something right.
Well, he'd have his left tackle and Rashawn Slater, he'd have a star young receiver. He'd have his center and Cole Linsley, Corey Linsley, he'd have his quarterback. The Spanhouses are not big metal er. They're really not. You can say they go cheap. They're not medalers. And Tom Telesco is considered a very solid top ten twelve general manager. That's about as well as you can do. I mean, if you go look at most job openings in the NFL. Washington could have one. You've got Sam Howe. Dallas could
potentially have one. You've got the meddling of Jerry Jones. I mean you start looking around and you're like, who else. Well, the Raiders can't have one. You don't have a quarterback. Tampa could have one. I like the GM, but right now you don't have a quarterback. The Chargers, I get a left tackle, star receiver, quarterback, center, excellent GM quality of life. Harbaugh's gonna have choices. And my takeaway is
with the Spanoshos, open up the checkbook. Their history is no on coaches, but Marty Schottenneimer wasn't cheap, so they deserve credit there. Marty Schottenneimer wasn't cheap. I think I don't think that's a crazy I mean one of the things you and I like to do is theorize, you know, make predictions, and I don't think that's a crazy one. Yeah.
When one of the things that I watched this weekend, and I think it's really changed in football is you know, like if you go if you have a real stable life, you have really good parents, and you go to a prep school and you go to a college, then I'm going to expect you, at twenty three years old to kind of have your act together out of college. If you're a child of divorce, went to a junior college, have no money, chaotic family, you know, I'm going to
view you differently. So your journey is going to basically change my expectations of what you should do as a young quarterback. Like I watched Jordan Love sale the ball over Musgrave, I watched a less than five yards and attempt offensive game plan by the Packers. Seriously, Jason, I think the Packers know he can't play. I think they know it, and I think they're just trying to have him manage. I sat and watched that game. I'm like,
this feels like Kenny Pickett averaged double per attempt. Kenny Pickett with that offensive line, you can't trust more than double Jordan Love's passing attempt yards. I mean, I just watched it. I watched more preseason than you, and I'm like, this ain't it, man, this is not gonna work.
I'm mostly with you. The only thing giving me pause is that Packer schedule and just how soft and easy it is. Could they gum it up with defense? And running and win some seventeen thirteen slugfests against CJ. Stroud and the you know young quarterbacks. Sure they could. Like overall, the Packers have talent, I mean Colin, That defense has a lot of names, a lot of first round picks. Offensive line will see. We know they have two good
running backs. Like even if Jordan Love's not that dude, and I think you and I probably both, I think I'm on board with you. He ain't the guy. But there's a world where they say, hey, let's rate it in, do a lot of play action, a lot of bootleg and nothing. You talk about thirty throws with Dak let's kind of limit Jordan Love to like twenty passes. We'll come out early, be aggressive on first down, throwing to make manageable second and third downs, and let's get a
ten nothing lead win with defense. I don't think this is going to be anything long term. With Jordan Love in the package. It just doesn't feel like a marriage made in heaven.
So when I first met you, I knew you were a huge NFL guy and a huge college basketball guy. I don't remember. I've always been a college football guy, NFL, college football, NBA, and I have an emerging love for UFC, which I find it wildly entertaining. So I love college football. One of the things that's not good for our business is regionalism, which is why baseball is a hard topic
for us. People say sometimes not very often, but somebody will come up and say, you guys don't talk a lot of baseball, And I always say it's regional, Like nobody in Minnesota is going to watch the Mariners, and nobody in Seattle is going to watch UH Tampa Bay. Like people watch their team and that's it. They don't watch now in the NFL or the NBA, you'll watch
other stars and other teams. And so I think this is the best college football year potentially that I remember, USC, Texas, Clemson, Michigan, Ohio State, LSU, Georgia, Bama. I think all are fairly similar. Bama and Georgia have better rosters, don't have the quarterback Texas, USC don't quite have the rosters, but have great quarterbacks. Are you a huge college football fan because we've.
Are you love college football? So you know that you talked about having when you had kids. So we had kids when we were in Pennsylvania, and I would I would like wake up Saturday, you know the usual, Hey got to watch the college football pregame shows that I'm sitting around watching the games. Well you get the you got a wife and then you get kids and you got to make decisions. I'm like, hey, I'm going to do this all day Sunday. Can I still do it
all day Saturday? And that doesn't totally work. And so I didn't abandon college football, but I stopped watching the pregame shows. This is like, you know, ten, twelve years ago. And then once you stop like getting into the pregame shows, then you're okay, well I can miss the kickoff, you know, the early games, and then it's like, oh, they're putting all the good games at night. I'll I'll just punt until the night games. And then it's like, wait a minute,
Saturday night, I kind of want to go out. So, yes, college football has gone taken a backseat to me. But Colin, what I'll say is interesting is this when I got to Fox, you know, my history as like a worker in media, I'm like finding any angle I can succeed in collecting whatever domain expertise I can and then just going full home. So college football season starts. I think this was twenty eighteen, and I went to our digital team and I was like, Hey, why are we not
doing any college football gambling? Guys, I'm watching the games, I'm betting on the games. Let's do some videos. So I started doing videos on college football. We do like a pick six and Texas Oklahoma, who you got? And I break it down for like thirty seconds. And we start to post these videos online for Fox Sports and they're like, holy cow, we got to do this big. So we're doing all these gambling videos and that fed my college football even more to gambling, and then I
started to do draft stuff. So in a weird way, I don't watch as much, but I'm definitely reading as much because I've got to pay attention to injuries and the coaching moves. And I have some friends who are in the let's just say executive search firm world, and they like to feed me who's hot, who people are coveting, and so I'm definitely paying attention. But I'm not watching as much because you know, time is tough when you got two young kids.
No listen, it's a reality. So my kids are out of the house now, so I have nothing but time to watch sports, so I did go through about it. I would say about an eight year period where college football was harder for me. I had to kind of make a choice, you know, So I would pick like two early games. When I first started watching college football years ago, they'd put the best games of the day on at nine in the morning thirty years ago. But
now there's so much money to be made. Most of the good games outside of Fox's noon game, most of them are three point thirty Pacific on and so you know, I had to watch that early game, but Ann wanted to go out by like seven thirty. And it's like I had to make that choice because Sunday night football, you know, is top of the chart. So I do think you and I both put our family first. But I think college football this year is really going to be. It's going to be, I think, as captivating as college
football's been in probably fifteen years. I think one of the things that's interesting is the NIL is a bit of an s show, and so is the transfer portal. And for a long time, college football coaches would tell me that they preferred college over the NFL because you had more off time. Well, now there's two recruiting periods and now the transfer portal. And the truth is the NFL job is better than the college job and now
pays more with a better pension. So I wonder how long college football can keep Lincoln Riley and Jim Harbaugh and some of these very clever offensive coaches Ryan Day because it was always understood you had control of your personnel in college. You were the richest guy on campus, you didn't have a crazy owner, and you had a really nice offseason. That off season's over. Lincoln Riley may
get six days a year. He's got nil, he's got transfer portal, he's got two recruiting periods, he's got boosters. So I think one of the trends to keep your eye on over the next three years is can usc they can pay Lincoln Riley? Can they keep him? I think it's become a miserable job. Now your plane flights if you're Lincoln Riley, now you've got longer plane flights. Harbor's got longer flights out West. That's less time with the family. You have to leave earlier. We're putting a load.
I know they make a lot of money, but we're putting a load on college coaches. You and I have always known a college basketball coach doesn't translate to the NBA, but college football coach have translated for years to the NFL. I don't know that. That's my kind of yeah, next five years thing to keep your eye on.
It's interesting because I was just thinking like, well, wait a sec. The college football playoff is expanding, so more coaches are going to be able to say I made the playoff. Hey, I'm in the playoff three three of the last five years. Yeah, fire me. So it's almost like coaches will have more security. And though some of those guys, you nam, Brian Day's not going to be missing the playoff when they expanded. He's not the best out.
Lincoln Riley's not going to be missing the playoff, and so they'll have the security, but at the same time, they'll now have a better resume of the NFL. Hey, man, look what I'm doing. Every year. I've got one of the best teams in the country and not just in the rankings, but we're in the playoff, the big money
games at the end of the season. So yeah, I think I would agree with you that they're probably going to be worn down because remember you used to recruit a kid, you sign him, he's yours unless he wants to leave because he has that playing time. Now you got to keep him. I don't even know the pit coach's name. All he does is complain because he finds
these diamonds in the rough. They look awesome. And then the big schools come and are poaching, like Treating Pitt and some of these other schools, like they're like Triple A farm clubs. Hey, hey, you get the guy out of high school and juco pump him up for a year, then we'll take him over here to our big boys school. So like that's gonna get old quick for a lot of those schools. Yeah, that's another wrinkle in college football that's going to get good, and I will think so.
You know, we talked a little bit about the quarterback situation. How good it is this year. If you look at the ages of some of these guys colin because of the COVID year, you've got guys sticking around much longer. Almost all these prospects, even like Hendon Hooker, like twenty two, twenty three, twenty four years old coming into the NFL. Can he pikett I mean, he really only showed for
one year in college, that's it. And now here we are year two in the NFL, and he's like, oh, oh my gosh, this guy's gonna be twenty six in a minute. And it's like, wow, he looks kind of poised and mature. You're not getting these young Johnny Manzel dudes anymore, which is kind of a benefit of COVID quarterbacks sticking around a lot longer.
All right, what side or you on one NBA topic? Are you on the Darryl Moury side, who sometimes can be addicted to stars and personalities, or the James Harden side where promises were probably made financially and Daryl Morey now doesn't want anything to do with him. I think Harden is trying to pressure Darryl Moury to make a deal with the Clippers, and by calling him a liar, it's personal. Darryl Moury will suck it up, lose the
deal to the Clippers, won't demand Terrence Man. I guess that's one of the that's one of the guys that Daryl Moray wants and the Clippers don't want to give up. Hey, he's a rotational player.
Good player. What is your takeaway? Who's at fault here? So I think I'm gonna side with James Harden Collin and I understand his unhappiness. I have like a in Sundi Eary take on Harden. I want to be careful with what I say here. But you know, when you call someone a liar in a public banner like that, like you better have you better have to have to back it up. And apparently Daryl Moury made a bunch
of promises and none of them were delivered. Now, I don't know if that's a result of something that happened during the season after the season, But Chris Paul, if you remember a couple of years ago, Chris Paul came out and said, Yo, Daryl Morey told me I was gonna be with your organization like two days ago. He's like, I'm not trading you, We're keeping and then two days later I read on social media I got traded. So this guy's a liar. So Chris Paul is saying that
Daryl Moray historically has not kept promises. Now James Harden is saying the same thing. And do you know who Colin, who's one of the most popular NBA players in China James Harden. And you know how that is. So when Yao Ming came to the NBA, they started to broad they had been broadcasting games in China. Obviously that everybody in China loves the Houston Rockets. Tracy mcgreat is a huge, huge guy. Yeah, Ming's a huge guy. When they leave,
there's still a billion Rocket fans. James Harden arrives with Dwight Howard. Oh, by the way, you know where Dwight Howard played last year China. I wonder if James hard is seeing the writing on the wall. Man, I don't have a market. These guys want to pay me on the cheap. I know I'm making my money because I opted in, But where's my next deal going to be. I'm not getting three years, sixty mili. I'm not getting one of these Anthony Davis Steele's I'm not getting a
Lebron deal. And I start to wonder. We just saw Leonel Messi turned down a billion dollars in Saudi Arabia. Okay, Lionel Messi said I'll go to the MLS. I'll get a chunk of the team and the Apple profits. What if James Harden said, I'm sick of this. Darryl Morriy Krap no teams want me. That's fine. I'll go where I'm loved. I thought Houston loved me. They went after Fred van Vliet, Fred van Feet that free agency opens up, Let's get Fred van Vliet hard. It had been saying
for months that's where he would love to go. So where does James Harden field the love? And the answer is China. He's one of the most popular NBA players in China. Steph Curry and the Warriors obviously been dominating, so they're number one, but Harden's right up there. And you start to see some of these older NBA players, if they don't have the market that they want, do they explore international options. James Harden could still do really well in China. He averaged a twenty one to ten
this past season in the NBA. He's a good player. But if he feels unhappy and he's getting lied to and nobody wants to pay him, I'm just going to go where they love me. Colin and I think you would agree. Sometimes you got to feel the love. Man.
It's an interesting it really is an interesting take. Saudi Arabia is now a real player. Theymar, Yeah, I mean so, I don't think that's the craziest thing I've heard today. I think that's an interesting take.
And you know who would be right behind him the guy who commented on social media about Adrian Wojanowski, and that's Kyrie Irving. We know Kyrie Irving is as as out there as anybody in the NBA. And you look at Sneaker deal's gone awry and where he would go to middle finger the NBA and get paid and feel the love. Kyrie Irving following James Harden would not shock me in the least. Now he's a little younger than Harden, but I think he only sounded like a two year deal with Dallas.
He's persona on Grada for most NBA gms.
There you go, I mean, you don't want to deal with these guys and you're not going to pay him the thirty million? Well where can you go get the money and hoop where everybody loves you. You think the media is going to crush James Harden in China, No way, They're not going.
To do that.
So it is just keep it in mind a year, eighteen months if you start hearing James Harden China rumors.
Jason McIntyre, Buddy, it was great. We're going to be doing this every week, getting some picks on Thursday. Love having you back from VAK. I know how much your family means to you, and I appreciate it.
Thanks Pal.
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