Colin Cowherd Podcast - March Madness, Fields To Steelers, Donald Retires, Rodgers Making Headlines, Cowboys Quiet Free Agency

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let's welcome in. It's our usual close to an hour long chat with John Middlecoff, former NFL Scout three and out at the volume his podcast before we start on this years and years ago. You know, twenty years ago, when twenty five years ago and you didn't have the one and done culture, the transfer portal, you know, college basketball, you would have teams with four to five NBA players on it and they would come back for their junior

or senior year in college basketball. So like boxing, no sports eroded quite like college basketball over the last twenty five years. I was watching Today in the selection show and people were lamenting that Saint John's was left out, and I went and looked because twice this year Patino said his team lacked athletes, so that's his own coach.

At one point, they lost eight of ten games, they didn't have a big out of conference win, and they played Yukon close, and I'm like, if that's the snub, the tournament officially not as great as it used to be. Like I will have a blast watch that this weekend. But I don't know about you, but you know, I mean that last year the top four picks in the

NBA draft were from four different leagues. So when you watch the games like this year, there's not a dominant player, the kid from Purdue, and people don't even know if they'll make the NBA because he can't guard anybody, the seven foot four guy. What do you make of selection Sunday? Do you watch it?

career got derailed when he got in the accident. But how many players like Bobby Hurley existed? And you know you were around tark I got a bunch of Fresno or family in Fresno. When he went to Fresno State.

These college coaches in the eighties and nineties, I mean, there are still some of them hanging on, but the fame of college basketball in the eighties and nineties to what it is now of just I'm gonna watch the I won't know one player, it won't necessarily matter, but it definitely hurts the sport from what it used to be. In it's heyday.

quality now the best players in college basketball. And again, I'll watch the tournament like you, But the quality of boxing's gone into the tank because there's so much money in other sports that are great athletes. We don't have a Muhammad Ali anymore in boxing, Like you know, our

great athletes have so many other options. So you know, I sit there and I watch this and I listen to people complain and listen to Mountain West got like six teams in Well, you know, I actually watched a couple of Mountain West games this year for a while, but that sport is it's hard for me to lose sleep when none of these teams. I watched the Yukon twice this year, and I thought they're pretty good. I

never thought they were great. Iowa State I saw play and I thought, oh, that's a good college basketball team. But be that as it may, let's segue to some of the biggest stuff I Over the weekend, I was hanging out for three four days in Mexico and my wife and I decided to go there very rarely, but I have good friends. And the Justin Field's story broke, so apparently two or three teams were interested. He one of the Pittsburgh Steelers, which is interesting because he has

Russell Wilson in front of him. One thing I want to say, John, obviously the Bears. This would have been really interesting. So let's say because I think the Bears desperately wanted this to work with Justin because they could have moved off Caleb Williams and gotten two first two seconds on a fourth, you'd have been set for five years.

So they were big. They dine for justin fields to work, and I think had he caught fire at Thanksgiving like Jordan Love did in mid October and gone on like an eight game heater with eleven touchdowns, two picks, sixty four percent completions. They didn't win all the games, but they were really You watched them like Jordan Love, and

you thought, Okay, there it is. There's that two month stretch against multiple teams AFC, NFC Division games, sellout on the road, and you watch Jordan Love at the end and you're like, all right, dude can play. I'd like

to see a few more, but dude can play. I think they kept waiting John and they just kept waiting for this six game heater when I think they kind of did give it to like December, and then they just went And then they watch him against Jordan Love and you're like, Okay, Jordan Love's done more than three months than this guy's done in three years. Do you believe they waited to the end or do you think they knew it Thanksgiving it was over.

with Bryce Young. You are you're very invested, right, You put all the work in to draft them, You got to know him, and then you've gone all in to use your draft capital. Ryan Pols did not do that. He's not the GM that drafted him. So anytime that happens. Hell, you and I have been talking about this. Do you know what was on the forefront this weekend and you've been hammering this home year two Thanksgiving? As a player Canny pick two years they sift him.

something there, but a lot of interceptions doesn't move. I think it's Thanksgiving second year and everybody's like raise your hand in the room, and they were kind of never done with them.

justin fields, because they don't control draft. But once you get that number one overall pick and he's so clearly such a talented player, right, the other thing is that resets the contract. The other thing that was on it's crazy. I just I like, you just try to get away this weekend into the quarterback action was insane. The dominoes

hit and they all started going. Contracts matter and the reason Sam Howell and Kenny Pickett went for more than Justin Fields and Mac Jones, those guys have one year left on their contract. Neither of them are gonna get their fifth year option, meaning they're a free agent at the end of the year. The Philadelphia Eagles did a pick swap from the third and fourth round because they get a guy on a two year contract, yeah, making seven million dollars. Even Jerry Jones, well Trey Lance went

for more than these guys. Yeah, because Jerry got him for two seasons. A little bit of an overpay, But the contracts and the money that this is not fantasy football in a vacuum. There are actual contracts. There's a salary cap, and that was a problem. Once Mac Jones went for the sixth round pick. He has shown to play at a higher level than Justin Fields. Now, if I had to work with one today, I would rather

take a chance on Justin Fields. Yeah, but that was the comp for him, like they were never getting like some third round pick. That was the going rate. And I don't quite believe there are a lot of teams beating down the door. It's they were interested at this number, but look at all these quarterbacks. All the action happened Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, everyone was just patient. Let's see, we're not going to overpay.

If anything, in our minds, we're gonna underpay a six round pick call on that's nothing.

offensive coach, Mac Jones, say what you want. He played high school in Jacksonville. He'll be close to family, you know, he can kind of reboot the emotional part of the sport. I got mom and dad around. And also it's an offensive coach. They've spent a shit ton of money in Jacksonville on offense. The last several years. It may not work, but it's a better environment for him than defensive driven

Belichick in New England. If Justin Field really chose Pittsburgh, you got Russell Wilson, who you know and I know is gonna get you know, quarterback one snaps first day of practice. And the second thing is it's a defensive culture that once against overspends for a linebacker. So I didn't that part of it. I'm thinking when I read that Justin Fields had options, I'm like, I'd like to know the other options because if one of them was an offensive coach, I take it.

Russell Wilson, I'm with you everything OTA's training camp. He's the number one quarterback, not even debatable, but the fan base and his equity in that operation. He's making a lot of money for himself, but the Steelers are in for one point two million dollars and if you're a fan, that that division's really hard. He's dinking and duncan early listen. It's not like Justin Fields has been awesome when he's played.

But at least hey young, there's some hope. Arthur Smith, I think his leash with just people that are and the Steelers have one of the biggest fan base. I've seen this Russell Wilson situation in the last couple of years. If it's going well, great, but if it's not, it's not like we're in for him for a lot of money. Let's let's see what we got in the young kid. We brought over Arthur Smith, who resurrected Tannehill's career, and let's face it, Tannehill good athlete, not near the athlete.

Justin Fields is decent arm not near that arm. And sometimes you can't resurrect you can't make a guy a really good player. But at least there's hope that maybe there's something there. And they have both these guys on one year contracts. So the Fields thing is if this isn't going well early, like they can't afford in that conference to start one to three or two and four. So I wonder the Russell thing, he better start fast, Well, you better start fast?

twenty three points in Pittsburgh and win nine games. That defense is going to hold a lot of teams in regular season. They should be good, Ondy, they'd be very good. They went and paid for Queen, another top linebacker, so they've got elements here. And by the way, they've always played Burrow close and in that division, those games are low scoring and tight, so you don't have to get in shootouts. So Justin fields and Russell should I mean again, you get to twenty six points, you win games in

that division. But it is a defensive culture.

Viking because I think Kevin O'Connell's really smart, really sharp guy. Vikings. Yeah, So people ask me, who who do you think is going to make it and not make it? And I say, I think Kayleb Williams is kind of in the Andrew lock. It'll work to some degree because he's just so damn good. Plus they bring Keenan Allen over Dj Moore. Those are two big time receivers they've got. They've Gerald Everett and Cole Kment. Those are very above average tight ends. They

have a left tackle. They like offensive line is not chaos. It's okay. They'll probably put some draft capital into it. Montes' sweat, Jalen Johnson, There's some dudes there, and it's not a great defensive division, so Caleb should be able to move the change. It's not the AFC North, it's the NFC North, which is offense packers. You know. In fact, you could argue Chicago's got the best defensive personnel now with Montes'

sweat deal and how he played. So my takeaway is when people ask me who's going to be the second quarterback, that the second best quarterback in this draft is whoever Minnesota gets Jesus John Elie running back, Aaron Jones, left tackle, star receiver, tight end, offensive coach who won a game with Josh Dobbs without a practice. I kind of feel I've come to the conclusion over all these years about every fifth year we get a quarterback. You know again,

I think Caleb is Andrew Luck. They're just gonna win some games. They're just different. And then it's basically who lands in mud and who lands, you know, on a clean surface. I tend to think if JJ McCarthy falls to like ten eleven, twelve and Minnesota's around there, and I don't love JJ McCarthy.

a lot of positive things. I think, you know, I saw Lanceerline tweeting about this. The more in depth you study him, there's stuff to like. Big picture like that, there's a lot of room to grow. But Colin, I don't think he wouldn't even start right away.

to be a pro. And that's where Minnesota, like Caleb is not gonna get that. He's gonna get thrown into the action. But you could argue, and I wrote this down, usually when you're the number one overall pick, I would say the last if we just went over the last twenty years, you go to an awful team. Peyton Manning, Matt Stafford, Trevor Lawrence, Andrew Luck went to a team that did have like Reggie Wayne was on at Robert Mathis. They had been winning, but they weren't great. It was

more his greatness. You could argue this Bears team is one of the best rosters the number one pick has been to in decades.

have an infrastructure for a young quarterback. Right like you said with Minnesota a couple of years ago, they were a legitimate playoff team, a lot of talent on the team. That's a fantastic spot for a young quarterback to go. So not all teams are created equal. When they draft Zach Wilson, he was probably gonna be bad no matter what. But he had no shot, e really none.

that you pointed out. Now they have the eleven and the twenty three pick in the first round, and so I think what they're doing is they there's a guy they like. They're not gonna get Caleb, and they probably know they're not gonna get Drake May. But what they're think, I think to me, in your point, if you have the eleven and twenty three and you give up both to get to the seven, then all of a sudden that you can get to seven, you're not getting to one.

You can get to seven and not have to give up more picks, then all of a sudden, that's probably in the JJ. I mean, you're gonna tell me the Chargers wouldn't go down from like a five to an eleven for the eleventh and twenty three because the Chargers have about four to five crucial needs they need another first round pick.

force the quarterback. Now Minnesota would be doing that with JJ McCarthy, but I think they saw if you truly like your guy and you have the conviction, what does it matter. I'll never forget. I've said this countless times of the Jets. Example, the Jets hit on a ton of players, but they whiffed on the quarterback. Yeah, you can hit on a million players if you whiff on the quarterback. But if you get the right guy and they are already lucky enough to have they already have pieces.

They have a good left tackle, they have excellent wide receivers, they have a good coaching staff. I mean flores is their defensive coordinator. Yeah, right with go with Kevin O'Connell. So they're in a little like the Chiefs. When's the last time they had a homegrown quarterback? Most of my life, it's been patchwork, right, trading for Brett Favre, signing Kirk Cousins from another team. The value of finding your own guy and having him forever will always work in sports.

That's ultimately what fans want, and that's what gms and team builders want. So I would expect them to make a huge trade right around the draft, that's not on Draft night.

That's that is McVeigh level stuff. And McVeigh, by the way, has told people, you know, they called him the tall McVeigh when he went to Minnesota.

be pretty good. Does it feel like them hiring Mike Vrabel to be a consultant is more of an owner move. Now, Listen, I like Mike Vrabel. I would have hire him to be my head coach. But that's having that guy around. When you got Stefanski, who I haven't read, he's got a contract extension anywhere. That's classic owner just doing a little too much.

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singularly blocked him, he was a problem. He was disruptive, So I thought he had a really good year last year, and then I think Lawrence Taylor is the third that again, on the defensive front, there's been a lot of great pass rushers, but just to me lt Reggie Aaron Donald.

But it's interesting I was thinking about this, John, is that one of the advantages and disadvantages to the NFL now as the money's incredible, The Rams are paying guards what people played quarterbacks, people paid quarterbacks ten years ago. They're paying Dotson and the other guy, I forget his name off the top of my head. The Rams. They're paying two guards huge money. And so the world's changed.

The good news about this in the NFL is that it used to be that Aaron Donald ten years ago would have to play another contract to have kind of generational money, and he doesn't need to anymore. Ten years you're out. And what that means is, and I've said this before, I wouldn't allow hitting until the eighth grade. Eighth then high school you can hit. So you want to shrink the window. And then if guy, if interior linemen, and that's a lot of the concussions tight ends if

those guys can retire without a fourth contract. Third, what it does, John, it shrinks the hit window, you know, from like seventeen years to fourteen or nineteen years to thirteen. And when I looked at Aaron Donald, I thought, he just you and I know he has two years minimum. It's like Jay Wright retiring from Villanova. He's got like three final fours left and he's like, I'm out. I'm

not into this transfer stuff. I looked at Aaron donaland retiring, and it's sort of a sign of the times that those interior linemen now are like, listen, man, I'm gonna golf. I'm gonna leave with all my faculties. I've got my hips, my legs. That's what it kind of. It wasn't anything anti Rams, anti McVeigh, because they loved him, and I really think he had a great year and I think he liked playing with all their young guys. What it felt like to me is this is the new league.

You don't need a fourth or a fifth contract, and you leave the sport healthier.

seventeen eighteen, nineteen million dollars years crazy, that's nuts. Though you could argue with the amount of elite defensive tackles their value has gone up. True, and you get overpaid in free agency. But I think Kelsey and Donald fall under the umbrella. This isn't a random emotional decision because they had thought about it before, and I think now we look back at Aaron Donald. Obviously he got a huge raise last year and got some guaranteed money. But

I think this was really I can't even imagine. I've heard Jason Kelsey talk about like the pain he feels on Monday and Tuesday getting out of bed. Hell, I've heard George Kittle talk about he really valued, like most elite players really value practice because that's how they keep dialed in for Sunday, and sometimes it can be very difficult to feel good by Wednesday. Yes, right, you're done. If you play a you know, a cross country game,

you're done at one o'clock in the afternoon. I mean that is that is several days and these guys are still and these guys are the cold tubs, the sawn as,

they're doing everything humanly possible. The game has definitely, you know, softens the wrong way because big hits still happen in terms of the speed in which people are running, but the violence on the defense of an offensive line has not changed, and the strength and the speed of these individuals have never been right the size of Trent Williams and Tyron Smith and these guys. I mean, look at Jalen Carter last year. You got a guy six five three and ten pounds who can run like a linebacker.

And more and more of these guys are coming into the league. So Aaron Donald, I do think picture it's a blow to the Rams. I mean, this is one of their better players. No one could have been more happy than Kyle Shanahan because they don't have very good guards and they can't block that guy. So's I still like the Rams, But anytime we talked about this with Fletcher Cox and Kelsey, it is hard to replace stalwart players. I think Aaron's a little quieter, but just have a

guy the lead by example, that's hard to replace. It really is.

and now they need another defensive tackle. So I watched the final episode of the Dynasty and listen, I have Jeff Benedict on my show That Heard Tomorrow inn FS one. So everybody knows that the Crafts gave really good access and so it was a pro craft documentary, but we also know that Michael Jordan and Michael Jordan's documentary, it was a pro mj documentary, right, Like, you to get access,

you're going to lean some way. And I mean you could tell in The Three Ring Circus by Jeff Pearlman, the book you know, so, I mean, and he did exhaustive research, but it wasn't the most Kobe friendly book, right, Like you understand where access is denied and where it comes from and that's not a criticism on Jeff or anybody that does it. You got to you can have five hundred sources. You need talkers, you need storytellers. You're getting information that nobody has and that can be damaging

to people. So but as I watched the Dynasty, my take my whole takeaway was Okay, Kobe Shack, dynasty ugly ending, MJ Bulls ugly ending, Brady Belichick ugly ending. You know who didn't Duncan and Popovich, and nobody's making a documentary out of it. The truth is is that almost all die, even the Heatles. Lebron just leaves d Wade, Jimmy Johnson at the end with Jerry Jones, is that there's two absolute truisms with dynasties. Hard work builds it, resilience maintains it,

and eventually credit ruins it all of them. You know, Jimmy wants more credit than Jerry and deserved it. Kobe wanted more than Shack, whether he deserved it or not. The Lakers, I mean, at one point, O'Reilly, Phil Jackson, Jerry west All in the building. It was a battle for credit. All of them brilliant. But as I watched the dynasty. I thought to myself, everybody wants their narrative. But Bill didn't do himself a favor when he still wouldn't be open and clean on the Malcolm Butler thing.

So Bill won them the Super Bowl against the Rams. He literally shut mcpagh down. It was a coaching this match. He lost it against the Eagles when he wouldn't play Butler, and I really thought there was a moment I thought Bill that this is not the time to be stubborn, and he just wouldn't talk about it, and none of the players knew. Had Bill given an answer for that, I think I would have looked at it and thought,

you know, I get it. If you said the guy had five dog days of practice totally distracted, wasn't coaching, I'd buy into it. But to a player in that thing, everyone was like, yeah, we got screwed by our coach. And that was and they had to say that on camera, all of them. And they'll see Belichick again down the road. So that was my takeaway is I know where it's leaning on this. I get it. But Bill in the last three years needs a new pr agent. He's terrible. He really just can't get out of his way.

we probably shouldn't have done that. He was never going to give that up because ultimately the logic behind that, because the whole part, like this documentary, is ultimately really able to cap off that Tom ultimately leaves, goes has success and they fall.

year or two early. He wasn't. Historically, Tom's just an all time outlier. He shorted his career even way than they ended up, Like when they signed Jimmy Garoppolo or you know, yah elevated or drafted him in the second round. It just backfired every time, like John Elway did that the Peyton Manning, remember when he made him get a pay cut that last year and it was kind of

football is that there's a lot of just animosity. There's a lot of tension a whole to me a huge theme and that whole documentary and this anyone that's followed the Patriots. Everyone kind of on their toes, including Tom. And when Tom suspended and Jimmy has a little success in that first game against Arizona. Tom's no dummy. He's seen every guy he's ever played with get wally, pipped, replaced, cut, traded, right, And that is the environment that Belichick. Most guys don't

really harbor that environment anymore in the NFL. It doesn't. It exists because it's the nature of the business. But if you walk in the Rams or the Niners, and you're like Fred Warner is not constantly looking over his shoulder, but every guy with the Patriots, Edelman still talks about this day. We were always just you had to stay dialed in, you had to stay focused. You knew Bill at any moment. And the only reason it worked is because they had Tom and he was the first in

line and followed the rules and set the tone. It doesn't really work, so you could argue their whole thing was kind of somewhat of an outlier situation that we'll never see again. I mean, he's constantly screaming at Tom in meetings. Now Andy coaches mahomes heart. He's not really yell or in a screamer, So it's hard to like

comp those two. But I just don't think you're gonna see You're never gonna see a team win six Super Bowls over twenty years, Like that's probably not gonna happen again with the same quarter.

give me the ingredients. I love the art and the challenge of making something amazing with what I walk into a kitchen and inherit. And I think one of the reasons I do think Kansas City can sustain this beyond Mahomes's talent, I don't feel there's good I was even sitting down in Mexico with the President of the Chiefs. Happened to be Unmar Dominic. Yeah, just again, guys will have to edit this tall, dark haired Yeah.

but they don't meddle. They really have a connectivity to the league and Goodell and Craft and other owners, but they kind of let us run the business. You don't get the ego in Kansas City, which you know, Dallas had some and New England developed some. So that's why I think Kansas City is unique is that Andy's just like, Hey, this is what I'm inheriting. I love the art of the play design and the play calling, and I don't I think that's rare. In my opinion.

of anyone more than ever with the transfer portal. It's harder even for the scouts now because of the movement of all the prospects before you, like this guy transferred, probably something off now just normal elite players, constant movement, keeping track, And I think more and more the league is turning that way of coaches realizing I don't have the bandwidth, and the coaches the attempt to run it over the next really starting at the combine till the

draft end up failing and get mad a couple of years later. Well, I made an emotional decision because I knew the head coach and he told me something about this guy, and I overvalued him. When my scout that had watched him for two years and my GM who had been on for a year and have been through these schools, we're telling me, yeah, that's probably not the best idea. But this always gets back to the highest guy in the ORG chart is always going to be

the coach. He makes them motion, so ultimately when he gets emotional about it, he always wins out. And he's got to the point, I mean he's now in the Bill waltsh category three super Bowls, an all time legend, go into the Hall of Fame. He doesn't need to like have his ego stroke the I pick this guy or you picked it. It's a we operation, which honestly is polar opposite of the way the Spurs did it forever.

It was always Popovich's way. Belichick did it forever. Some of those old school baseball coaches, Tommy Lasorda, Bochi's somewhat of an outlier. He still pre hands on when it matters, but it's much more. And listen, I think collaborative nature and football can be a little overrated. Not everyone has to be happy, go lucky. This isn't your run of the mill insurance company where people get screamed at. That's part of the business. But you do look at the volume.

You're not texting Hey John, I think you should hit on these three things today, or hey Shannon, you should have this guy on.

give you. You're not going to give you seventeen games. He's not. He's going to give you thirteen. He may leave one early. But I thought it was really smart with the Jets, because first, it's a very good tackle draft. But generally it feels like to me, there are certain positions corner running back that can come in and play immediately if you can lock on a guy. I've seen a lot of corners walk into this league Witherspoon Seattle. He could play Week one. You see running backs, it

didn't take it. It doesn't take long for a running back hit. The whole gets through. McCaffrey just walks in and can play. Adrian Peterson walks in. But we see this every year. But mid round guys, mid round running backs Isaiah Pacheco seventh round can play tackle. Tight End and tackle are two positions that in college. You know, Iowa makes their tight ends block. That's why Iowa has so many damn tight ends in the NFL. They force you.

Utah forces their tight ends to block. That's when when Dalton Kincaid was coming out, I talked to Jude Gms and they're like, you know a lot of these back twelve schools there, they're not asking guys to block Utah receivers. They're wider. Utah makes their tight ends block, well, so does Iowa. So tight ends one of those positions that even the great ones it takes a year to figure out. Oh crap, I'm getting thrown around. But left tackle, there's

just not many great outside of the SEC. There's not many great edge rushers. I mean Pac twelve this year had maybe one or two and so I think Tyron Smith this year starts and by Thanksgiving the Jets still go draft to tackle with the first pick the tenth pick. But with Aaron's injury, you can't start a rookie left tackle in the NFL in that AFC. It would Buffalo's

pass rush. So I actually thought the Jets this is one of those probably you know you're not gonna make money on this deal, right, but considering the injury Tyron, They're still going to draft the left tackle. I thought it was kind of a smart move by New York.

you're in trouble. I also think it allows them if they like another player a lot more early in the draft, they could take a tackle in the second or third round, yeah, and ease him in with I mean Tyrone Is if he would have been healthy. I think we'd be talking about him right with like Trent Williams as one of the better players the last twenty years at the position.

He's just hurt a lot. But I think anytime, let's face it, Aaron win now mode two, right, these guys will get fired if this thing fails, no question, and that they could do all the right personnel moves and if aarons a show of themselves, they might be screwed no matter what. But you cannot. You just couldn't roll into the season with a shitty offensive.

days there someone else to put with Garrett Wilson. Then all of a sudden, Okay, now you've got a running back, two wide receivers, brock Bowers, you know, more of an offensive weapon, and you feel comfortable having two veteran tackles and hopefully you know you can keep your interior offensive line play a little better.

Aaron said something after the year. He says, we got to get this non football stuff, we got to get it out of the locker room. And I'm like, this week, two different stories won by a CNN reporter that Aaron denied. The other one the vice presidential nominee RFK puts Aaron's name out there. And my takeaway was, first of all, you are the company you keep you know, if you're going on Joe Rogan, if you're you know, if you're in discussions on podcasts or broadcasts with people who monitor

ties headlines. That's not a knock on McAfee or Rogan. It's the business. Well, yeah, you're gonna be a topic, You're gonna get a headline. But the other thing is, you know with Aaron is that I kept thinking to myself, green Bay is laughing their ass off. Aaron goes. Usually when the star quarterback goes, it's a turbulent ear. I thought green Bay by the end of the year was better than were last year with Aaron, Jordan loves got

all these young kids. And my take on that presidential nominee thing is, you know, green Bay sitting or thinking we told you like this, You're just gonna get headlines, not all negative. But I don't think you can have a non football locker room with Aaron. I just think this is who he is.

felt like Aaron, like, we're not doing quite enough. Remember when I took the pay cut, Like guy, hey, guys, I just rehabb my ass off, and we feel a little bit like the packers, like where are our moves? That's what that felt like, because I heard someone say this, and they were right. The VP doesn't pay fifty million dollars a year. He ain't gonna be the vice president. Rich people don't go into politics un till they get older and bored. Aaron's still young and rich, and he

ain't leaving the NFL. But that did feel a little bit Green Bay ish, a little different tactic, but like, oh my god, come on, Aaron, that would have been one if you respected your employer, you just would have just tweeted out like this is the stupidest report ever, guys. I can't wait to see it. OTAs because he did it about the Sandy hook, which obviously is a much

more powerful headline than being the VP. A lot of people making fun of them, but it's also like you do like you're making a lot of paid a lot of money. They've gone all in on you. They threw you a lifeline because you wanted out of Green Bay, and then what happened after that report, They've made some moves.

It did feel a little bit I couldn't do that, you know, the source, gymnastics, the reporter if, I don't know, but it did feel like, well, he might have had a little something behind that one.

middle of the O line. Matt can step up and move, but older quarterbacks don't like that interior pressure. And then they went and got a corner and then Garoppolo and they did just a lot of b guys what Houston did last year. I do feel free agency there was a time when when gms love to win it. But a lot of these young gms, I think they're very thoughtful. I think they're a aggressive, but thoughtfully aggressive. I didn't

think anybody. I didn't see a single move. Maybe you did that, I thought, holy shit, that's a Now I did think Gabe Davis to the Jags. It was a little rich. I think it was like thirty three million, thirty nine. I thought that was a little rich.

you initially, but it won't sink your franchise. Yeah. I think the Titans, Calvin Ridley, Tony Paul, Let's see what Will Elevis has. Let's see what he's got right, so we know and we'll pivot off him. I do think the Texans they are pretty well run operation right now. And I think what you know, he traded up last year for will Will Anderson, remember because they took CJ. Stroud and they traded up. Well, he immediately gets more

draft capital making this this trade with Minnesota. Now he's got several second round picks, where a lot of GMS will tell you, obviously, if you hit on an Aaron Donald or a great player in the first round, it's but half the first rounders don't work, and you pay him first round money. The second round is the place where you find elite play all the time and half the league's Pro Bowl or second round, and you pay

him nothing. Those second round picks are very, very valuable to NFL general managers, especially the picks like thirty five to fifty kind of that range, because you're finding the Deebo Samuels like high end players for a four year contract at about five million dollars, it's easily the best deal in the league, non like rookie quarterback contract. So yeah,

I think you have a lot of younger gms. I mean, the day and age of some of these kind of curmudgeon guys that came up in the seventies and eighties.

Once you pay a premium to me for a guard or a linebacker, that guy then has to be a high end player, and if he is, you're fine. If he's at average, then you're kind of wasting money.

And Dallas really didn't make a big swing.

over the next two years. But I thought to myself, Dallas, you know this has been my knock on them. They'll be pretty good, But I'm saying this, go look at Philadelphia's skill people. I mean from the tight ends, two backs, two receivers, Jalen Hurts a better offensive line than certainly Giants, So Saquon should succeed just because the Eagles have a better front than the Giants do and a better quarterback and weapons. So safeties can't crowd the box against the

Eagles like they can against the Giants. So Saquon should be a hit. You start listing Dallas to skill people. You have a B plus quarterback. If CD Lamb twists an ankle, you have there is no elite players there like to me, I understand in free agency you overpay, but I look at Dallas as an injury away to see d Lamb as a lot of dependent and see on Dak.

a two hundred million dollar Russell Wilson extension. If he had shown you more the last two years when it mattered, they wouldn't hesitate. He would already have an extension, They would have had more wiggle room, and they would have been able to sign players. I think they're a little terrified to give him a huge extent. They can say whatever they want, and Jerry never stops talking. It's entertaining, but their actions are telling you everything. You know that

they're at least hesitant. They may end up doing it, but they're at least for the first time thinking like this is are they going to play this year out on the sixty million dollar cont and just they can't be a one and done team in the playoffs anymore.

And give this quarterback two hundred and fifty million dollars guaranteed money because ultimately Dak his last contract that he signed, how long ago, he was making forty million dollars and he has statistically played a lot better since what do you think he's asking for at minimum probably four or five years a couple hundred million, two hundred million dollars guaranteed.

like thirty five. And I think it was he only has nine career wins when he has under one hundred yards rushing. I think that's that's the number. He's very dependent. Remember he broke into the league with a great run game, a great online yeah, and he was thirteen and three, and he really shocked the world. But then people get filmed, they see limitations, then he dips, then they get Amari Cooper.

He goes back up. So between the O line, Zeke and Amari Cooper in his prime, Dak so was kind of needed elevation, whereas a Mahomes, we know this Mahomes elevates everybody. I mean, it's Travis Kelcey playing for eighty percent of the quarterbacks in this league, is a really good pro bowler. He's not Travis Kelsey's not this. So I just look at Dallas and I'm like, you have these numbers, they're all telling and it's a bad running back draft. I didn't get it.

better situated. But McCarthy, because all of his success and the way I think he fundamentally views offensive football, spread it out and throw it around and Dak. Like you said, he's not only not Mahomes, he's not Josh Allen. He can't do like physically with Justin Herbert. He is much better to be a balanced quarterback. That's most guys. There's two or three guys. Do you feel good? Even Trevor Lawrence. More likely he's gonna need some help. He's not gonna be able to carry you.

of the best. I mean, if I if we ranked left tackle, star receiver, two receiver, tight end, running back, they'd be up there at top sixty. Sam Darnold's gonna do a Baker. You're gonna look it up and go. Minnesota's in the playoffs. Not because Baker's great, although Bakers always had talent. Sam's had talent, but I think Darnald has a chance to be the Bakers story next year. Is just there's just too many good players here. I look at Dak and I think to myself, this Green

Bay young and good, Detroit young and good. Here comes Minnesota, San Francisco rams I, Saquan Eagles. I my gut is in an offensive league, Dallas doesn't have enough punch. If I told you, ceedee lamb week eight goes down for a month and a half. This is not a playoff team.

Dak takes twenty three percent. They're paying to Marcus Lawrence a time. They gotta pay CD, they gotta pay Micah Parsons. No one takes care of his own guys that he.

you should. And now they lose Dan Quinn. Now they get Mike Zimmer, But I'd say Dan's a little more positive. Mike's a little more old school negative. I get why Jerry likes him because he was there in the heyday with Dion, but that's something to keep an eye on him. And right there are two of I would put them just on a game to game basis defense. No one knows more defensive football now that Belichick's out of the league than those two guys. For this new generation that

they are, they're old school. They they're a lot to handle for the twenty three year old kids. Unless you're coming from Nick Saban or Kirby. Some of these guys are like, what the hell is this? So it's it's a lot.

as always. Buddy, good seeing you see you call the volume. Thanks so much for listening. If you've enjoyed the podcast, take a moment, rate and review.