Colin Cowherd Podcast - Michigan Overpowers Washington, Penix & McCarthy Draft Stock, NFL Landing Spots For Harbaugh, NFL Playoffs

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terms and responsible gaming resources. Welcome in live on YouTube part of the volume. John Middlecoff, former NFL scout with the Philadelphia Eagles. He does the Three and Out podcast team joins me every Sunday night for an hour, and we just watched Michigan throttle Washington thirty four to thirteen. I was pulling, you know, for Washington for reasons because John had a lot of money on it and I am from the Pacific Northwest. But I had said with John and on FS one and Fox Sports Radio, I

thought Michigan really matched up with Washington. Well, I thought their secondary would clamp down, they'd get a pass rush. You saw it tonight. Recruiting does matter, and Michigan recruits at a higher level.

because of Phil Knight and his backing. But my takeaway to start this game was that listen, Michigan felt they could Obviously they're going to pound them a little bit on the run. Washington was aggressive defensively got burned, but I think in the end, Washington averaged four yards of play Michigan average seven point eight, and they just negated Washington's firepower. Washington has thrown the ball on everybody for two years, and Michigan's corners pass rush just took it away.

And then you had a very limited Michael Pennix who doesn't move particularly well, and a run game that was never great all season. I just I kind of felt like I knew who was gonna win this thing. About eight minutes into it. I had like a feeling like, yeah, they're just gonna lean on Washington. That was my takeaway.

was twenty to ten going into the fourth quarter. But you know, Michigan is about to set the record many people believe for players drafted, and it's not super high in talent. It's fifteen to seventeen guys. They're gonna get drafted. You know, a lot of guys, third, fourth, fifth round. It showed the night right Washington's talent NFL wise, is all the skill guys on offense, the receivers a dudesay, the other two guys in the quarterback. Well, if I tell you the quarterback, I would say has one of

the worst games you've ever seen him play. It mattered, you know, not some of the Stanford or the random games against Oregon, against the big time teams they've played Texas he had, I'd give him like a C minus. Today they have no chance. And then the other thing that really stood out is Washington's offensive line, you know, won the Joe More Award, was the best they got worked. I mean, that guard center combination was getting shoved around.

The physicality you saw. Harbaugh's team look like the good NFL teams. They're just good at every position. They tackle well. And to me that the player of the game is Harbaugh's defensive coordinator Jesse Minner, which I'm sure would go with him. He's a raven guy to the NFL. What a performance by him, I mean, shutting down one of the more explosive offenses we've seen in recent memory.

That matches up Texas week in the secondary. Michigan's got NFL guys in the secondary, so everywhere Pennick, you know, Pennix was just throwing that ball. It was sort of jump ball situations. And I mean, Michael Penix is still going to get drafted very high. But you can see the concerns about him. He is sort of a statuesque thrower. He kind of lets it fly. Say he didn't like to get hit. You saw a couple of times when he had pressure. He he didn't want to get popped.

And in the NFL, if you go to a bad team, you're gonna get popped. So you watch a Josh Allen on Sunday or Lamar and they can throw, they can pass. Michael's gonna sit in the pocket in the NFL like Tua, and he's gonna throw the football. I think he's a bigger, stronger to it, throws it up the sideline better than Tua. But that's sort of his comp he he's kind of a state thrower when he has time to throw. Does

it hurt his draft stock? Certainly didn't help it. You're a former scout, I mean, you know, people are saying he'll drop out of the first round. I just I think there's so much desperation for a cornerback. He may go down to twenty twenty five. But it doesn't feel like he go mid second, does it.

scouting directors had second round grades on the guy. And you know a lot of people were pushing back against this top ten talk after the Texas game because they go, he's an older player, he's been banged up. Look at tonight it looked a lot like some of those Oregon games where he's getting peppered and you go, God, is he gonna be able to get up? Well, what happens when that's TJ. Watt right or Fletcher Cox or Aaron Donald, those guys leaning on them all game long. So I

understand the concerns. I'm bullish on him. I like him. Tonight is rough because the way you evaluate a player is against the best competition. He plays right, so Oregon

Texas defensively is not right. So tonight would be the game that if you were feeling pretty good about your second round grade, which I understand, Like, I understand the concerns, but I don't think you gotta be careful in scouting about overreacting to a performance like tonight because to me, he was really amped up early, he could never get into a rhythm and he was bad. I mean, guys have bad games, right, So I wouldn't write the guy off. But tonight is definitely gonna be of concern in these

draft meetings for these teams. Like you said, I would be like, I don't see him falling out of the first round. All the character stuff, the medical is going to be a concern, and when he goes to the combine, if anything red flags with the knees, you know, just to wear and tear on the body. Because you draft a guy in the first round, it is about the second contract, Like can the guy be an eight to

nine year player? Do we feel comfortable about giving the guy a second contract, and I do think tonight brought up some fair questions. I still like the player, but tonight was a rough performance.

Michigan's like, Okay, this is what we do. This is sort of what the kind of brand of football. I mean, Michigan doesn't have an elite receiver, their tight ends one of their more consistent pass catchers. So I thought Michigan made it look like a big ten game. And you know, the other thing that jumped out to me and Michigan, for the record, is a very good tackling team. You pointed that out. You know, sometimes you have to watch

the moment. You know, you can speculate and then you watch a moment and I was like, I don't I don't know. I think Harball's gonna come back to Michigan. As I watched that game and I watched the way Michigan played, I'm like, yeah, this would be the perfect time to leave. Like it was. I sat there and I'm like, he beat Washington, Alabama, Ohio State, Iowa, Penn State in a row. It's your last five games at Michigan. And you see his brother and you see the family,

and I thought he's gonna take his DC. All these kids are leaving. And as I watched it, it's weird, but it felt like his last game at Michigan. Does that sound crazy?

his brother's defensive coordinator. The Harbass skills of accumulating excellent assistance is an elite skill because Jim is a CEO head coach. He's not calling the plays. He's a motivator, he's a program guy. That that team felt like an NFL team today, the way they tackle, their physicality, their relentlessness and listen, Washington's like a really good college team that felt like, we're good at everywhere. Are really our only flaws are quarterback? How much can we rely on him?

But he's clearly has NFL potential. We could talk about him from an NFL standpoint, But you know, Harbaugh's built teams like this when he's been at his best where he over he's a heavyweight fighter and he comes in. I mean when they have almost one hundred and eight yards rushing in the first quarter, they hit him like Mike Tyson right in the in the face and it felt like it really wobbled Washington and they were never the same after that. They were just holding on by

a thread. And because Harbass teams, typically unless they're playing crappy opponents aren't gonna score sixty points, you're always going to be in the game. Especially they were bad on third down but the game was never close. The score was close, the game wasn't close.

Washington Atlanta? Maybe take Tepper's call seriously to just avoid his brother because that family is a very tight knit group. It felt like a Harbo family reunion there tonight.

in the Los Angeles market. McVeigh once again over delivers. Lincoln Riley is a name, Lebron. I mean the Clippers have four stars. Look at where the Dodgers are bringing in. It's a really distracted market. And if you're not you can't go with another coordinator. Dan Quinn's not going to move the interest meter in this town. Mike Rabel a little, Jim Harbaugh a lot so. But you have new owners in Washington, and they're wealthier than the Spanos family, who

I don't think. I don't even think they're middle of the pack in NFL owner wealth. I think they're you know, as Mark Cubans has poor billionaire, poor billionaire's club in pro sports. So yeah, I mean the Washington one's very, very interesting. I like Washington's talent. I think Sam How's a backup, but you could certainly, you know, that's an advantage. Jim Harbaugh may see that as a Hey, I don't

have an incumbent. Sam How can start, and by November first, we're bringing the kid in Drake May So I think it has to be considered. But I'll say it again, I really did feel watching this game in the second half, I'm like, yeah, this is this is it. This feels like it's it. I Jim has coached on the West Coast and likes it, but the hardballs they kind of feel Midwest. They kind of, you know, it kind of

feels like they're part of the country. So we know he's probably not going to Chicago because of the President, and he don't get along and by the way, Kaylin de Boor for Washington will be at the top of Michigan's list. I mean that's the story that will develop three or four days from now. Michigan is going to go after Washington's coach.

be a GM. What is he like? Physical football? Mike zimmer right, the way they played in Minnesota all those years, seems like Jim Harbaughs his type guy. So I think you start connecting the dots. I didn't even think about that. Right down the road from each other in Baltimore. He can bring his parents, You get to be around both families. Makes a lot of sense. But there was a lot of reporting today Arthur Blank's eighty one years old, He's got a ton of money. He's gonna go big game hunting.

I think Harbaugh, you said it yesterday when we were talking that he's not gonna interview with ten jobs, but they are gonna be some of these owners. They're gonna be aggressive for him, are gonna be very aggressive, and the money is not going to be an issue for them. So these numbers are gonna be really high. They're gonna have no problem cutting an enormous check to just get the sit down. Like Jim, we're prepared. We just we

just want to get a yes from you. So Arthur Blank, Josh Harris, I think these people, so when we talk about the spanos is for the first time, you know, really in the modern eight, they're gonna have to if they want to match these guys, because they do have the money if they want to match them, but their mentality is going to have to be aggression, which we

could argue is not really ever been their thing. Where Josh Harris is used to that, right, He's been in the NBA a lot where you gotta go big game hunting clearly gets rid of Ron Rivera a lot brings in Bob Myers like, this guy's very forward thinking. Twenty twenty four can Dean And again, Mark Davis already has a relationship with Jim, and we talked about this. He's cut one hundred million dollar check six years ago to

John Gruden. So they're gonna be four or five teams willing to cut enormous amounts of money towards Jim just gonna be his preference. And I think Washington definitely has a lot to offer when you factor in the draft capital.

the kids special, some of these guys should work. So you know, I could The Washington one's really interesting. And you know, right now, Jim lives in an arbor and his you know, mom and dad live right next door. So I think that's bigger than people think. I think the ability to have the hardballs in d C And Baltimore, I think that's a real thing. I could see that family saying, we don't want to make mom and dad fly out west, get on a plane fly They can

just drive back and forth. Get him a driver. They don't have to do all the DC driving. That's a real discussion. I could think that see that family having it again. I Washington has the most cap space, the number two pick a serviceable quarterback in Samuel. He's serviceable, no pressure to play him. And again I think their roster is pretty solid.

to win. That's not the way he's wired. The way he coaches football because his mentality is we're gonna build a dominant defense. Washington has some players on defense, and he knows, like you said, recruit all these guys. They're gonna have money to buy the guys and offensively, it's in modern times, a little bit of an archaic style, but it always works for Jim Right, It's worked for him for now fifteen years.

where he's just not thick through the hips. It's like he looks slight, like he's gonna have to really to get to two oh two you know, you start watching Josh Allen on Sunday night, and you start watching these star quarterbacks like they carry two thirty, two thirty five, Manning Brady, even Aaron Rodgers is like two twenty seven, and he looks slender. So if you're if you're battling to stay above two hundred, and he's athletic, but he's

not hyper athletic. He's not Kyler Murray. He's not making people miss I don't think McCarthy to me, is like a third round quarterback. I don't really get.

make the argument, well that's how they play. I think they're a little uncomfortable with having to lean on him, where Washington's the opposite. They have to lean on their quarterback and as he's off, they're screwed where they don't have to. But I'm with you. He obviously has a live arm and he's a good athlete. But to me, the frame very thin and under no circumstance is going to take him in the first round. Over what he's

done in college doesn't mean he can't develop overtime. Ideally, to me, he's drafted on the second day, gets to kind of sit get bigger and kind of progress. You know, Jimmy Garoppa, A lot of players they get drafted on the second day don't have to play right away. Maybe you go to a better situation and you get behind, you know, a guy that's already a starter, and you

kind of work your way in. But this talk about him being a high first round pick, I think that's a little bit of the media, you know, college football hype machine.

you know, in that division. It's interesting too. So in that division, I mean you got to think about everything. Although Harball wouldn't probably spend much time on this. Mike McCarthy, Nick Sirianni.

you know. So the day Ball situation, let's face it, offensively, they haven't really been explosive. Their tied to Daniel Jones, and now they lose their defensive coordinator. They've been excellent on defense. I mean last year they made the playoffs because it's not like they were scoring a lot of points. So I would say the Giants are very, very influx. The Eagles know, we've never seen a ten to one

team leak oil like them and the Cowboys. You can feel the pressure building right every playoff game if something gets weird. Jerry's getting older, is liable to do something crazy, even he didn't really give him the ringing endorsement going into the playoffs, right, We'll see what happens. So I yeah, I think Washington. I still think the Raiders are You know, the history of football means something to Jim. You know, you get a a blank slate, like you said, the

Chargers isn't necessarily a blank slate. You get Herbert, But there is a lot of other stuff going on.

quarterback RAMS advantage. I like their wide receivers, Pooka and Cooper. Wide receiver advantage. If Laporta is out, tight end advantage. O line advantage, especially left tackle. It's Detroit, but PFF has the Rams. It's like the tenth best offensive line and they're pretty good left guard over to the right tackle. The Jackson's an undrafted left tackle. He's serviceable, he's not great. They're going to draft to tackle very early. I've been told in the draft. You know, my gut feeling on

that is the Lions should win the game. But you talked about the injury report. Dan Campbell said today there's an outside shot Laporta plays. I know tight ends don't drive lines in Vegas, but I felt like without Laporta, I I mean, here's the thing. The Rams weakness. They leak on the back end of the secondary. Well, nobody leaks like the Lions. So I just I don't know, I just I found myself today the more I looked at that injury report, I'm like, God's that could be a bit of a coaching mismatch.

you know Aaron Donald's gonna be bringing it. The young pass rusher they drafted in the mid rounds from Wake Forest is pretty good, so they can get Raheem Morris is you know a guy that's gonna be interviewing all over the league. He's a really good defensive coordinator. That Laporte injury, He's not Rob Gronkowski or he can play at seventy percent like as an inline blocker. He's an

athletic at He's a Kelsey type. So that that is a devastating injury for them because to me, if they were fully healthy, you go listen, the Rams probably top to bottom have a little or excuse me, the Lions have more talent. Yeah, this guy is an elite player. I mean he is a premium tied end. That's a devastating injury. So I gotta go with McVeigh and the Rams, which is sad because the Lions have had a remarkable Season's only a second time in ninety years, Colin. They've

won twelve games. I mean, Niners won twelve games like five times in the last decade. They've won it twice in ninety years.

them and their leaky special teams lose the game. I watched Baltimore crush the Niners, crush Miami, crush Seattle, crush Detroit, and then I watch the Rams go out there and line up with them physically, and it's like, Okay, that's not an illusion that they're that lost to Baltimore. I remember after that game I'm thinking, oh, this is all real, this is absolutely real. And then you know, a couple

of weeks later, Baltimore hammers the Niners. It happens occasionally where you'll playoff run and you'll go back and go, oh god, yeah, of course. And I look at that Rams lost to Baltimore and I think, just look who Baltimore has man handled in the last two months.

of the better rookie stories in recent memory. I mean, he is a he's an elite player. So if they beat you know, the Lions, then they would play the forty nine Ers, assuming the Packers lose. Now I would take I would pick the forty nine ers going into that game. But the Rams are gonna feel comfortable a team that they've seen a lot, that they've beat before.

In a massive game, there'd be a lot of pressure, you know, the Niners would be favor but they would have a ton of momentum going into that game because they've had to keep playing, right Hell, they just they rolled out Wentz, who the they resurrected from the dead so that they have. It's cool to see that Sean, you know, turned down that money he belongs in coaching. Clearly he's reinvigorated now saying I'm coming back for twenty four.

He's on a year to year basis, but he's got to feel pretty good about his squad headed in the playoffs. And let's face it, if they just win a playoff game on the road, What a remarkable season from Sean McVay. Because we all define guys over their championship years, but really, you build a resume like Andy Reid build a resume for fifteen years every year going to the playoffs, winning games when guys were hurt, when he had to go

with the backup quarterback. What Sean McVay has done this year with random young guys and some of his old core guys. Is one of the better stories of the year.

Kaylin de Boor is considered the best young coach in college football. Jim completely stifled their game plan with an NFL receiver and three NFL NFL quarterback, three NFL receivers. I think Jim looks around college football and thinks, Okay, I've beat Saban this year. I own Ryan Day, Kaylin de Boor whatever. He's a competitive guy. John. I think he wants he wants to go after McVeigh. He proved he can beat Pete Carroll. He wants to go after Andy Reid. McVeigh and I if you're competitive, I think

it's the next logical step. He's proved, I mean, God, and just what fitting way Saban check the rising star, Kailin de Board check, Ryan Day check. Like it's just perfect.

tough game. So the level of competition is clearly so much higher in the NFL, and the coaching from an intellectual level, it's less about the motivation and more outthinking you, more out scheming, you, more putting players, making personnel moves. And let's face it, Jim thrived at that with the forty nine ers, I mean really did. His disastrous year was eight and eight. You know, people like, oh, you got run out of town. It wasn't that bad. How many coaches this year would have died to go eight

and eight. So Jim's ceiling, or excuse me, his floor is just so high. And I'm telling you his ability to build a coaching staff because he knows he's not mister scheme guy like his brother, and what do they hang their hat on having the best in the brightest and they do a good job. We talked about this with Belichick being so insulated with only the guys he's known from when they were twenty two. They will take young guys who maybe are thirty or thirty that have

been somewhere else and then mold them. He did it with Jed Fish, He's done it with Sharon Moore. He's doing it now with Mentor Harbaugh's the same way, and they develop coaches really, really well. I think how many guys get jobs like this is the difference between like I've always said about Andy Reid, Belichick, all his assistants go on and have some semblance of a success. A lot of them have a lot of success, and it's because he's open minded to bringing guys on. Same thing

with the Harbob brothers. They're willing to talk and meet with anyone, not just because well, you didn't work in this system. Well are you good coach? But do do you have qualities that I like? And I think Jim I would look for his coaching staff. Like if you told me next year, whatever job he has, that team's obviously had a bad year previously, they're immediately competitive. I believe I'd bet on it. I hammered the over of whoever he dakes. I'll tell you that.

of himself. And you know, Jim, I could see him playing him till mid up mid November, around Thanksgiving and say, Okay, we're not gonna win the Super Bowl here, all right, kid, We've shored up the old line. You got some protection. Washington's got receivers, a couple backs.

It's amazing how it just it just erases your flaws. I mean, I still contend after Stefan Diggs, Buffalo's offense is not that talented. No, you watch it with Josh. You watch it with Josh there like, what a big play offense.

forty eight years old, but it happened at sixty. And I'm just glad people don't talk to him about him as a guy. Andy Reid was that way for a long time. It's like, do you watch this guy coach? I mean, he's better than ninety eight percent of coaches. Ever, it's like he's gonna be He's gonna get over the hump. And now Jim has a chance if he goes to the pros to you know, join a small company of

guys that have won on both levels. Right, That's that's a pretty special group to be sitting at the table.

it's absolutely true. We were in his house getting ready to sign the comp We were negotiating the contract for over a year. We were in his house. My staff was when Adam silvercalled and suspended him. We're in his house and we said, hey man, you want us to announce it today that you signed with the Volume. We're not going to we got our shovels here, man, don't worry. We got your back. And I'll get pushed back for that,

which I could couldn't give a rip. But the point being is we live in this world now where if something goes sideway, somebody steps in it, you me, Draymond. And Draymond's the first to admit, I mean, I had to get some help. You know, I was really wrong. I did something really inappropriate that I'm this is a talent first company because I've been on the air for thirty years, and it's like we all step in it. I'm not we all step in it. Draymond's incredibly coachable,

and he also acknowledges I'm made a huge mistake. I apologize. So I love having him. People wouldn't have believed. I'm glad Draymond told the story. People would not have believed that we were in his damn house and Adam calls and says, you're suspended, and he's like, oh brother, and we're like, we got your back, man, don't worry about it, we understand it. Listen. And the other thing I've always said, you know, this is a warrior guy. So in hockey,

if you have a great player. Look at look at Gretzky. You have a you have a protector. You've got somebody that's on the ice. They're somewhere getting his getting on, maybe the beer or the sea line, but somebody around to protect him. Most great teams have a physical presence. The Pistons had several. If you took Draymon out of the Warriors, and Steve Kerr has told a friend of mine who had covered the team, Draymond's so elevated practice, Like this team got you know, baskets came so easy

for the Warriors and the Dynasty. They could get a little, a little sloppy. You know, there's there was sort of a globe trotter element to this team behind the backs. You're like, when points come easy, it's different if you're a team that's built on defense, When you're a team built on threes, points come easy. That Draymond was such a catalystic practice to stay on guys ass that her. You know he was there. He's like I've been with Michael.

Like Michael, when you start winning these titles one after another. Michael held everybody accountable on a Tuesday practice against the bad Denver team, and so you know, it's easy to dump on Draymond, but outside of staff, he's the soul of that franchise.

all out brawls all the time. Just google basket in the nineties, not that long ago, and that was celebrated. You needed those guys. Not everyone could be Michael Jordan. Not everyone can be Barry Sanders. That is part of the deal. I think sometimes a lot of people try to input their own situation in their own life in the sporting world, and it's just completely different. You don't get you don't get mf'd by your boss on a daily basis like you do from a coach in sports.

So it's I like to have some crazy guys on my team, whether it's a podcast network or whether it's on my sport team.

great for college football. John, we'll talk soon.