The volume. This is Prime Cuts. The best of the Colin Coward Podcast. J Mac, Jason McIntyre, stop by thoughts on the Dalvin Cook Jets deal. John Middlecoff on why the Trey Lance situation Is it a disaster?
Now?
Grand Teriesmo is a new movie. I liked it. The story of a kid who's a gamer becomes a race car driver. It's really interesting. But first my top takes of the week. 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 to mere 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
paper towels. I'm not going to do value in certain things like coffee. And I think it's interesting that the Patriots signed Ezekiel Elliott again, going for a guy they can get value with past his prime. He can be a three down back, but he's lost a lot of his horsepower. And 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 Zeke 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 doesn't matter if it was a hunter Henry Nelson Agolar at one point, Bill's Oways seeking value and there's just not a lot of it on the offensive 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 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 Breecee 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 Breecee
Hall 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 backs 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 can 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, a 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 has 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. You know, I was thinking about something.
I had a conversation recently with a friend and he was going through a tough time, and I said, you know, there's an old saying about there's old as a silver lining, and I think about this stuff all the time. Time is I remember when my my daughter was a you know, not great, but a pretty good athlete, volleyball player, basketball player, and she started playing volleyball and liked it more kind of the community feel. She liked the girls better and
volleyball than basketball. And you know, I had talked to her coach one time. She was doing like summer league where you you know, you get in the van, travel all weekend and play. It was in San Bernardino, and her coach, a former college player, said, you know, your daughter's pretty good player. She could play. And then about a year later, six months later, my daughter comes to me and says, I don't want to play sports anymore. And my ex wife was a jock, played college sports,
and now I'm kind of jockey. And I remember there was a day or two where you know, I kind of pouted and thought, this is no good. I really was looking forward to kind of, you know, traveling with her and watching her games. But what came out of it in that little moment of didn't get my way was actually the greatest thing that I think that had happened in our relationship is that our relationship changed. We got out of the sports realm into a more social realm,
traveling realm. It was like an adult adult. It was like an adult to adult relationship. She was aging, and I didn't have to be a sports parent, right, just a taxi cab driver taking your game to game, tournament to tournament. And it goes to something that I really believe that the moments in my life that and you see it in sports all the time that you think
of the pits, there's always a bright side. I remember when Michigan football was struggling with Brady Hoke, and I remember saying this on the air, Michigan is never bad for a long time in between Rich Rodriguez, Rich Rod and Bretty Hoak. I said they're going to go spend big boy money, and they did, and they got hardball. And this is the best Michigan roster this year that they maybe have ever had. It's loaded potentially fifteen NFL
draft picks. So you know, the Colts God Andrew Luck, the Cavs get Lebron James because they're awful, Victor Webbin Yama to the Spurs because they were awful. There's always some sort of silver lining. It's the great duality of life. Life's never as good as you think or as bad as you think. And I was thinking about this the other day that in what I do for a living, I have a very large team of people that support me, assist me, and just sort of lubricate either my broadcasting
at FS one iHeartRadio or the volume. So I'm very thankful for that. And we rely to some degree on social media TikTok a platform we're growing quickly in Instagram, Twitter, and so initially when Elon Musk took over Twitter, my takeaway was the media has an agenda, they'll be anti Elon Musk. I'm just going to go in and just watch it develop. I'm not going to take aside immediately.
Too many annoying ads. Soon after that, too many violent videos, and I had filters on, but just too much stuff was getting through that was gross and I didn't think it just would put you in a good mood watching it. So my point is, what's the good news. I am never on social media anymore. I have somebody else run the accounts. The addictive quality of that account has disappeared, and that the truth is, I have now worked out for thirteen straight days for at least an hour, mostly
ninety minutes. I've got a little passion project on the side, which I won't disclose now, but I probably will soon in a few months that I developed just because I had more time and have reconnected with a couple of people. I haven't seen it in a while, and I thought to myself, Jesus, I was wasting a lot of time staring at my phone. And so I guess my point being is that we live in this outrage blender. You know, everything's the end of the world, and virtually nothing is.
And if you have a bad day, or a bad team or a bad moment, I see Yankee fans freaking out. Now, It's like, folks, it's your first bad season and forever, your standards are high, your expectations are through the roof. Braves are great, Dodgers too, Houston's viable. It's a bad year for the Yankees. How'd you like to be the Mets? And it's the standard. It's normal. It's consistently bad or underachieving. Stuff's never as bad as you think. We're going to
go into a football season. Everybody's going to overreact on Sunday nights and Monday afternoons and Monday nights to the results. Take a deep breath, enjoy life. If you're outraged on a regular basis, put down the phone. There's a lot of good out there, all right. We bring in jamac 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 is 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 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 Burrows 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 to get it in the red zone. Mikole Hardman a gadget guy who they can do a lot of things with. You let up on the slot outside, like I know, we know Garrett 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 saying, listen, we don't know how Breesce Hall is going to react coming back from injury. And Brece Hall if he can sit out the 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 Collin 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 receiver 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. I 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 he'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 live there for a decade. Sports radio they actually talk sports. I live in Los Angeles. Sports talk radio it 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 import 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 gonna 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 then travel to Dallas and Michael Parsons, who's maybe the defensive player of the year. Colin 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 gonna 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 on 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 painted 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 Prudy. He was actually pretty interesting.
I don't know, but you know, it's funny. There's this old saying in the NFL, or this belief is that when you get a new GM, you know, he's not loyal to the previous GM's mistakes than sometimes in 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 athletic as they thought. And I think 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 Donald looked really good, and I thought they're gonna go with Brock Purdy because he's a more accurate thrower. But when I watched Donald, and you know, I love Donald, I thought there were moments when he was with the Jets, he made some incredible plays. Do you think Sam Donald could start and win games if Rock Purdy'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 this scary thing just listening to you break that down, Colum. 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 pretty and then Sam picked it up and we just lucked into Sam Darnald. 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 guess 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 defer 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 this Viking season unravels from Minnesota stuff I've been reading. Yeah, stuff I've been reading on Minnesota maybe 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 should start to looking 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 a 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. Yeah, let's move on from Krik 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, 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 going to save this for the herd. It's probably too hot for the volume audience, colle but you look at the Chargers and you're one in Brandon Staley. They were in Week seventeen Answer 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 playoff right and Staley messes that up, calls timeout. Raiders kick the field goal. Chargers missed the playoffs, but everything's looking great. We got justin Herbert. Year two, Herbert's injured, Stalley 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 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 d We have no playoff wins, one playoff appearance. Staley, you're out of here. We're gonna make a Runnert a big time coach, and you happen to talk about a coach Monday on the Hurt that you know, it's 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 Harball. 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 going to 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 Harbo's on the market. And Jim Harbaugh 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 out of notorious cheap skates. Maybe one of the kids gets his dad, Hey, dad, open up the book. We got to get Jim Harble in here. And Chargers missed the playoffs. But it's a blessing in disguise. They bring in Jim Harbaugh.
So there's a new movie coming out that I just watched. My producers and I watched it. They send us a link Grand Turismo. It is a hard story to believe is true, but it is actually true. We're a middle class gamer, an optimistic motor sport executive, and a failed race car driver team up in what is one of the more inspiring unique sports stories in one of the most elite sports in the world. The movie August twenty fifth is when it opens up. Get your tickets now.
It's called Grand Turismo. It is a true story. And I was told that I watched the movie. I had to google after. I'm like, give me a break. I
never heard about this story, and it's all true. August twenty fifth, and we bring in the actual gamer who pulled this off, Yan Martin Borough, joining us on the volume When You're a gamer, and there was parts in the movie and I understand it's Hollywood, so not everything in the movie is true about your dad, you know, like all dads is thinking to himself, my son's playing esports, he's an e gamer. I want you to get a real job. And I thought to myself, is this Hollywood?
Or could you tell us? Was their doubts by your family? Your mom supported you, but your dad was like, you know, I understand, like I'm a dad. Was there conflict with your dad or was that a little bit of Hollywood?
Well it wasn't really. Esports wasn't a thing back then in motorsports. Anyway, twelve years ago, twenty eleven, I've had it all my life. I guess any millennial born in the nineties has had the same thing with PlayStation. All the games I've had it in school, coming home from school, you have to do two hours revision before that thing even gets turned on. Whatever, go outside, No, I want
to play PlayStation instead. It's forever been a thing. So when I was talking to the producers and scriptwriters back in wow, this was twenty nineteen.
I mean it was.
I just told my experiences. It's like, yeah, my dad wanted to be to outside and have a childhood like he did, but didn't quite understand that. I'm also socializing online with my friends with my microphone. And it's now it's kind of normalreas back then it's still you have different generation, not really understanding the current generation.
So no, it's not Hollywood. It's that's how it was, you know.
Yeah, And it's interesting you say that, how old are you now? Because you sound like my sixteen year old son who says, Dad, I am socializing. I'm socializing on my computer.
I'm thirty one.
And even now it's it's another level because not only well, twelve years ago, I guess I don't know what if twitch was a thing. Back then, YouTube was barely a thing, but certainly online streaming wasn't a thing, whereas now you can have I don't know, like millions of people, hundreds of thousands of people watch you play a game and also socialize in the chat. That's something which is again for me, I don't do that because I'm in my
thing is in real life. But when I look at these content streamers and it's like, yeah, they're so talking to so many people at the same time.
It's like a social event.
So I had never heard of this story, and as I watched the movie, it's very compelling. I literally had Google, Okay, is this real? So you're basically a gamer, you get invited to the GT Academy, you win it, and because of an aspirational you know, motorsport executive and a driver who has real doubts about you, did you have? You come across as very confident. But I mean, let's be honest, this story there's a reason Hollywood wanted to make this story.
It doesn't even sound true. Did you ever have a doubt gamer to getting in a car before that first race starts? Were you anxious? Were you nervous or did you have this sort of inner scoreboard and believe not there's advantages that I have over these drivers.
Never thought of that.
But I'm someone who's very headstrong, and I'm somebody who I think he has.
A good.
Building block psyche from my father telling me to a young age, and you would do something in life which brinsy purpose and that you're passionate about, and that for me is cars. So I'm a headstrong person, So that is all I wanted to do. So when the opportunity presented itself or this is a chance of becoming a race and driver, I was all in and that I didn't think I could win. I didn't think I could lose.
It was this weird frame of mind during the whole process of entering entering it at home on my PlayStation and also get into the finals of the academy, where I was like a blinked race horse, where I didn't want to think about winning or losing it. It was just like, Okay, what's next, Let's do the best I can learn from, learn from my mistakes in the previous instructors' comments, and the next time in the car, don't make that mistake again, or let's improve.
It was this weird mindset.
I never thought that I had an advantage over anybody else, because I went in there with the understanding that I'm to be a sponge.
That was my another thing.
I remember thinking like, it's like all the information that's that it's going to be taught at me during this academy process at GT academy is going to be good information because all the drivers, all the instructors are currently current racing drivers or the ex professionals, So whatever they're telling me, it's going to be correct. I have no preconceived ideas of how to race at racing right, so I was just absorbing all of it, and I never
thought that I had an advantage over anybody else. Really it's not. I was very much aware that I'm the first step of a ladder. Because there's people that were there at the academy who had had drifting experience of then track days, of then cart in I was the least experienced person of everybody there. And it was the same thing in entering motorsport. After the academy, I'm very much aware that I'm here to All I cared about is my progression.
I didn't care about anything else.
I want to make sure that my progression is exponential for as long as possible, so I never I was all I am is very headstrong. He was like, Okay, that's what I want to do, and I'll do it. I don't think if I'm no confidence in showing it egotistically, it's not really my scene. Even now, it's like, I don't say what I've done. It's like the people that put I guess you know, the school accomplishments MBAs and stuff in their bios is I'm just not that I
have receipts of what I've done in the past. And the movie thing is fantastic. I never thought it'd be a thing because it's so random. So when it first got told to me, I didn't believe them and I thought, why me, I'm just racing my racing, That's what I've been doing.
So it's interesting. And you're a gamer and then you're a driver. Once you'd succeeded it driving, did you go back to gaming sometimes and think, actually, it helped you as a driver, so you transition from gamer to driver when you went back to gaming. Are there things gaming in gaming that actually are advantages that drivers probably could use?
Well.
The main reason why drivers and I still use SIMS is because of the limited time you have on circuits. So in the off season, right from I don't know novemb till March, you there's no real drive and it's called here in the UK during those months, so you the next beastitting is being in a simulator. So yeah, it's just lapse, it's it's time in the seat. Yeah, it's that. That's what it's currently useful. That's what I still use the SIMP for.
So yeah, I've been in a race car twice now more of a stock car American version, which is not as slick as what you drove. My takeaway is, Wow, it's really hot in here and you better be in shape. So in the movie, the first time you were in that car, take me to the physical I mean, I mean, did you come out of that thing and wake up the next morning and you were a wreck?
You were?
Was it physically more daunting than you thought it would be.
It was an accluminative.
It was an accluminative like sensation really, because during those academy days day one, day two, day three, you know, kind of feel fine. But then in the later days I was aware that my hands were starting to get quite sore, my forearms, my even my neck to a little bit to a point. And then certainly when I transitioned to really quick racing cars after the academy, we're actually racing.
Then it's it became a thing. It became a real thing.
Like there's muscles behind your ears, which you don't really work in normal day today life. But when you've done two days testing in a Formula three car at a track where seven to five of the corners out of seven a full throttle, and you wake up the next morning, you get lift your head up the pillow and your neck is just it's in bits, and you've got another day test and it's yeah, it's a thing. It's really gt cars. They get very hot, it's quite tot in.
You have to be lean, you have to be aerobically fit. I train it every day, and not only because of my job, because I actually enjoyed training. It's it's part of my lifestyle. But yeah, you know, i've recently.
I never did it.
Before because I never would technology. But I had a recent name at Fuji in Japan. It's a twenty four hour race and I have this finished tracker my wrist and I left it on during the race and over two hours. I think I burnt eight hundred and seventy calories. It was average one hundred and fifty deep some minutes got the peaked at a one hundred and seventy five.
I think.
So it's like it's your your stress for a long time. It's maybe the heat in a GT card. The heat really makes your body work.
Yeah, I was going to say a twenty four hour race, like Lemon's how, I'm just a novice. How do you get Obviously they're probably mechanisms to keep you hydrated, but you're burning through eight hundred calories every two hours? How do you eat? I mean, are you do you go into a race?
No?
You you don't want to go into a race like heavy and tired, so you want to go in fairly lean. How do you eat in a twenty four hour race when you're burning those kind of calories?
I think for me, I've always ate at normal times, so I still stick to my during for the race, and during I still stick to my normal plan. I'll eat when I'm hungry. I eat my three meals a day, but it's.
Not so much.
When I get out of the car, you know I need to grab food immediately. It's more when you wake up in the middle of the night and then you know you're in the car, like I don't know, four am. And then it's planning your times of eating in really unusual hours because then you bought your body like I'm hungry for it's four o'clock in the morning.
This isn't normal.
It's an interesting experience because you're hungry at weird times. All I felt, all I've done really is whenever I'm hung just make sure I'm not hungry and I get in the car and then I'm fine.
So you dominate a game like Grand Turismo, right, and that gets you on a track. Are there other games? As a gamer? Are there other games? Does it transition in esports that you're just good on almost any gaming platform you crush?
Well, it's.
I think now I would never putting the hours required to be at a level where I'm the best because I don't find that enjoyable. But also, whatever I do want to same now is for my real life performance in the car, so I never go into that detail anymore. But I can jump on another They all have their nuances, they're all slightly different, but I can jump on another sim whether that be on PC or another title on
PlayStation and be quick excite the racing game. It's what I've been doing since I was eight, so I'm kind of all right at doing them.
You and I grew up. I think we spent a lot of our formative years as PAC twelve fans. And you know what's really happened with all this realignment is that if you were precious or idealistic or snooty, you got kicked in the head. Stanford has tried doing it football. They've spent money, cal never really has. They did the basics. They got better facilities, and with that they've still put a lot of good NFL players quarterbacks in the league.
But the programs out west that said and they're good academic schools, USC Washington, you know those are real schools Texas, the schools that have said, wow, there is one athletic program that makes a lot of money, and we're going to commit to it if you have a good football program. You had multiple suitors, Like it's hard for me to feel bad for the PAC twelve when in a world where pillow fighting is on the air and slap fighting is a business that you as a college football conference
could not get a television deal. I work at a TV network. We're dying for content, but arrogance too precious. I mean, when you hire somebody from a tennis channel to run your conference and they consider the Seers Cup as viable as the Rose Bowl, you get what you deserve. And so you either commit to football as an athletic department or you're lost. You just don't understand the way the entire pyramid of college sports works.
The most embarrassing part of this whole deal is that I think the Big Ten and definitely the SEC, understood that football not only pays for everything, but the more success it has, everyone benefits. Yes, why in the SEC their basketball programs now pay coaches elite money. I was watching the USAM golf tournament. It's full of SEC kids from all over the They're great at the college baseball tournament, and Larry Scott viewed this as as some equitable endeavor.
And that's not the way college sports has built. Football pays for everything and then everyone benefits. And what I wonder though, is how do they ever get to the point when the top fifty. However, many programs under the umbrella, you know, so fighting to get to the twelve team playoff, all abide by the same rules, same amount of conference games, no more playing Weber State and UC Davis those days.
How do they ever get there? Because essentially, you're going to need a commissioner or a governing body that mandates basically universal rules. That Alabama, that Ohio State, Oklahoma State, and it feels like we're still a little bit far away from that.
Yeah, I've always felt you need a scheduling czar in college football. I mean, why did the UFC and mixed martial arts but UFC overtake boxing because they had a commissioner, strong willed, a definitive Dana White. I'm gonna lease an island and boxing continually ripped off fans once a month. You get a UFC card. Even my wife enjoys going. You always get quality entertainment and your money's worth. Where college football has struggled to me, John, in my life
is not passion, is not branding. It's too few great games. Everybody's avoiding an out of conference loss. So to me, the bigger the tournament becomes twelve to sixteen teams, the more willing Texas and Alabama are this year to play each other, USC Michigan. Now they will play each other. But those are the games I mean go to starting next week until the first Thursday of the NFL. There's about fifteen twenty days there and there's like three good
college football games. So the sport's going to change. The tournament like college basketball is going to become the focal point. It's not going to erode the sport. What's eroded college basketball isn't the tournament. What's eroded it is the one and done culture. The teams aren't very good, the players aren't very good. So college football still has the three year minimum rule, but the sport's gonna shift, and it's going to shift to a The tournament is the centerpiece
of it. More teams will be allowed in a little bit of an arms race. But I do believe more than a commissioner, because I'm not sure if you'll ever get that. I think we need a scheduling zar. Everybody plays minimum ten conference games, one out of conference game to help Like Ohio State can help out Youngstown State, Washington could help out Eastern Washington, Bama could help out Troy. If there's a regional team, you can help out. But but I think I think the sports changing and pivoting.
I'm here for it because I believe it will deliver more really big games. Yeah, I mean one hundred percent. That's the best part of that the NFL. Right week one, you get Steelers forty nine ers. That's like the equivalent of Georgia USC Let's rock and Roll, Baby Bill's Jets, Yeah, Giants, Cowboys, you know that's that's really that one o'clock window, that red zone window. There's always four to five games and the one o'clock window are down to the final possession.
Then you get the Fox window. Then you get Sunday night and Monday night. Now Thursday was you know, it was awful, But by and large the NFL's quality. Every window you get great games. We may go through Labor Day window. I think LSU plays Florida State. It's like I can live without seeing any other game. You have this huge three day weekend to just own the world, and it's a bunch of teams afraid to play each other.
You know, one theory I have going back to the twenty twenty college football season, that was all on a whack, you know, from a training regiment, from a scheduling regiment. Beside Trevor Lawrence, who had a long resume and was destined to be a good NFL player. The other four quarterbacks, we got two in limbo right now in fields and Mac Jones. We'll see. I mean, by the end of the season they could be not viable for their team anymore. And then you got Zach Wilson and Trey Lance not
even close to seeing the field. I think we look back and that's an outlier for quarterbacks because it was built. This is a great quarterback draft. But Zach Wilson played nobody and why you typically does right on a normal season. But remember the Pac twelve didn't play any out of conference games. I think the Big Ten did to they play all those teams they did in that season. Obviously, Trey Lance didn't even have a season, right so and
Mac Jones. One thing in the scouting circle I always heard is, you know, Alabama didn't exactly tap out and go home for the summer in twenty twenty. They were lifting, they were ready to roll. They obviously are already talented, and they had a huge advantage that season, and you clearly see it when you get to the pro. Some guys another theory is some of these quarterbacks like a Brock Purty or you know mahomes that don't play on the most talented teams in college are used to figuring
out ways to win. Or some of the Ohio State and Alabama guys have they're rolling in with like Kevin Durant Steph Curry on their right and left shoulders and it's just not even fair, right they have a stack team. So I think you see twenty twenty that college season all out of whack for the quarterbacks, and then I do think you see what the quarterbacks. You don't have
to go to the elite school. Sometimes you learn going to the second tier power five school kind of learn how to play, learn how to win.
No, this has been something I think I wrote about this in my first book, is that it's amazing that the greatest quarterback there's a quarterback from Miami of Ohio, better than any Ohio State quarterback ever, Big Ben. At one point, North Carolina State had Philip Rivers, Russell Wilson, and Mike Glennon in the league and USC had like nobody. If you really look, I believe this, you should go to the college and not just sports. You should go to the college that best prepares you for your first
job out of college. What prepares you for the NFL never getting touched as a Buckeye quarterback throwing drag routes that go for seventy yards to wide open five star receivers with perfect protection, or playing at Purdue or NC State or Boston College or Miami of Ohio or cal where Jared got that, you know what kicked out of him for three or four years. So if you look at where quarterbacks come from, you know Lamar Jackson, Louisville's a basketball school. You go out, go up and down.
If you go up and down the league like Josh Allen Wyoming, like Mahomes, Nonpower, it's almost universal if you go up and down. And even the guys that went to the big schools Jalen Hurts got kicked around, had to transfer, Joe Burrell, Joe Burrow had to transfer. So getting pushed around, roadblocks, duress, not getting your way is a huge component what job prepares you for the NFL At quarterback one, throwing into small windows, running for your life.
Often the second best coaching staff on the field, Drew Brees Purdue. You know Tom Brady goes to Michigan but was battling for snaps at Michigan. So I think that's Peyton Manning for a long time was the only quarterback for long time. Number one high school, number one college, number one pick. Great. I mean he was for it for a long time. That Lway was that Way high school college, you know, pro and he delivered. But it's usually I mean even Justin Herbert goes to Oregon good school,
totally doubted. You know, three star recruit grew up right next to Oregon.
They were not loaded with skilled guys on offense, which historically they usually are.
Yeah, he had good oldlignment, but not good receivers.
One thing I thought when Trey Lance was drafted by the forty nine ers, and I have one hundred percent changed my thinking, and I've seen it with James Wiseman and the Warriors, is you get this raw product on a great team and it's actually easier. Actually think it's the opposite. And you look this year with the rookie quarterbacks Anthony Richardson, C. J. Stroud and Bryce Young. Right,
I'm a little different than you on Caroline. I think it could be a little bit of a rough year the other two teams for sure, but it doesn't matter like if all three of them are drafting in the top five next year. It's a big picture play where Trey Lance came into a spot where it was like, we're competing to be playing late in January. Anything less is unacceptable, and the core guys on the team, like, they're not into losing, They're not into you figuring it out.
Like who on the Colts is really gonna get super mad if he's struggling, right, I mean, they're going through a transitional period right now. So I think when you are a young quarterback who's raw and the expectations are super low for your team, it's actually way easier you get to figure it out. And that doesn't mean you're going to become a good player, but you know, it's
very rare, Like look at what Kansas City did. They gave him some breathing room and he's turns out Mahomes a multime out liar, Like, well, Mahomes is not someone to be used as an example. Even Josh Allen, they had blown the place up. They ended up making the playoffs that year, but it was a little lucky. Remember, I think there was like an Andy Dalton thing that
got him in beat the Ravens or something. They were a wild card, but the expectations were low and he got an easy transition into the pros that if a top team drafts you and the expectations were high, if you're not like ready, especially clearly Trey Lance wasn't, it can be overwhelming and probably derail your career.
So you know, I was thinking about this with Trey Lance. A four year Jet scout came out and just said, like, this doesn't work. He doesn't. He looks overwhelmed. And it just goes to show you how hard drafting a quarterback is. And I'll give you an example. So Mac Jones came in with several red flags, not athletic, had a temper, one year starter, surrounded by great players, then lands in New England with a defensive culture, yet he had an
excellent rookie season. Trey Lance comes in, winning culture, big kid mobile, Kyle Shanahan. It's bad. Like one of the reasons I bought into Trey Lance was Kyle Shanahan will figure it out. So I was like, oh, this will work. So does it show you that if Kyle can't make it work. It was just a whiff. I mean, part of me is like like, like I understand James Wiseman for the Warriors not winning, and it's not because Wiseman
can't play. He doesn't He's not synced up to Steph Curry's timeline, right, Like, like I get them just saying, hey, we got to get guys who can win. Now, NFL is different, Like if Trey could play, they would just figure it out. And I watched Sam Darnold with the same personnel play and Trey Lance, Sam looked like Sam looked excellent, And I'm like, we all talk about Lance pretty has not a great camp. Is it possible you live and you live and spend time in the area.
Is Sam Donald potentially the starter?
Well, I've heard that Kyle's had a long love affair would be strong. But he's always liked the player, and he saw what his strengths are in his offense, and let's face it, he views the quarterback position. If you remove Trey, I would say a little different than most like what the Andy Reids of the world and some of these you know coaches in the league want a little different than what Kyle Shanahan wants and some of his stuff you know he's never had in all of
his successful years. You know, they had success with Matt Job in Houston, obviously, Matt Ryan, Jimmy Garoppolo. Sam is the best arm of any of those guys. Yes, And I think Sam fair or not, was in shitty situations that if you put let's just say a tray or guy, it would have been worse. I mean, no one was winning in the situations he was in with Adam Gase
and even in Carolina. And I do think that brock Perty is not going to get treated like some top ten quarterback and if things are rocky and don't look like last season, he won't go to the bullpen. It was no different than last year. If Trey Lance hadn't broken his ankle and gone four or five six games, I don't know the exact number and then up and down, he would have gone to Jimmy Garoppolo. He was not given him seventeen games because that's not how this team
is built. So I think there is tangible pressure on Perty, who, as he stated over and over, is going to be as lock starter for Pittsburgh. But he doesn't get to just go like zero to three. If they lose Week one, which is a very losable game on the road, they're a favorite. So that means Tomlin's an underdog. It's just gonna be a tough environment against a really good defense.
I just he will go to the bullpen. Now, I don't know if that's Week two, week four, But Perty doesn't just get the leash of most of these blue chip, highly paid quarterbacks. And that's you know, part of this conversation. Have you ever seen anything like a conversation over these backup quarterbacks for an elite team. It's it's they're an outlier situation, right, a Super Bowl contender who does not
have a forty fifty million dollar quarterback. All the other teams, even in the NFC, Dak and Jalen, and then the top teams in the AFC Mahomes obviously Josh Allen and Burrow, Right, I mean, these are the premium players in the league, and then you got the forty nine ers. It's like Perty and Sam Darnold. So it just but we all kind of believe in him because we saw what they could.
They could have beat the Eagles of Party doesn't get hurt the way they were playing, but there is like this kind of elephant in the room weirdness with their quarterback. And that's just kind of the way it's been since Kyle's been there, because ultimately Trey Lance didn't work out because they were hoping that he would become that guy.
So I think an interesting situation. I had a buddy, Steve Kime used to run Arizona. Yeah, he was at the Eagles camp last several days and he texted me the other day He's like, they are really good, and you know, Shane Steiken is one of these guys. This was Brian Dabele. So Brian Dabele was being talked about. I was getting comments about him, like three years when he got the Buffalo job. I'd get guys or like
watch this guy. And then then everybody figured out, like when Josh Allen exploded, it's like, oh, so I thought the Chargers were going to hire Brian Dable because he had a relationship day Ball did with Tom to let go the GM. I think they roomed in college or they knew each other somehow, and they didn't. The spanosist actually said, hey, we want Brandon Staley because he was with a Rams, you know, you take somebody that's valuable away from the Rams, maybe he'd already been on the
West Coast whatever, so and you get the situations like this. Well, the Chargers also told me several years ago Shane Steiken is really good and Justin Herbert behind the thirty second ranked offensive line with Anthony Lynn literally through thirty one touchdown passes. Then he goes and he kind of resurrects, and that's the wrong word. He takes Jalen Hurts his talent and essentially makes him co MVP of the league. So he leaves much like Dabell left Josh Allen. Josh
Allen's still good, but the mistakes go up. There's drama this year and you could sense they missed day ball a little. No knock on Ken Dorsey. I'm really interested. I think Jalen Hurts like Josh Allen. He's a franchise guy, moves, throws, great leadership qualities, but you know you work with them and you still have contacts. I look at last year's Eagles team. They played a bunch of injured quarterbacks, backup quarterbacks and week quarterbacks schedule is much different this year,
and I am interested. I'm really Pro Indie because of Steichen, and I remember when Sirianni called the plays, it was a bit of an s show. He handed it over to Steichen and instantly next week they were good. What do you expect from the Philadelphia Eagles this year? The offense?
Well, a lot of players in the history of league have had great seasons, right, But to be a great player, it's doing it year in year out, especially a quarterback.
Right.
That's what separated Brady Manning, Breeze, whoever, all the top guys every year. So there is pressure now on Jalen. They didn't have a choice. They had to pay him. One thing I've learned from in the scouting world talking about players and seeing guys that you've kind of bet against that failed, you bet on the person. And these guys, I think they didn't think three years ago he was going to be this good. But they hammered home how impressive this dude was. Yeah, how coachable he is, Like
Sirianni can yell at him. He's a coaches kid, doesn't mind it. Saban Lincoln Riley, he can handle it. This is a tough, mentally driven football is his life. Teammates love him. That's why they wally pipped Carson wentzel Fast. Everyone gravitated to this guy and this is when he wasn't even that good. Yeah, and so to me, you don't bet against now. Is he going to maintain like the Super Bowl game every single game? Of course not, but I have I'm betting on him because I think
he proved last year. He's a much better thrower and like com Sexty, their team around him, elite offensive line. Him and AJ Brown are perfectly This guy is kind of like the younger version of Russell Wilson. Jason Kelsey says he throws like one of the best deep balls he's ever seen. So he's a great go ball thrower. Devonte Smith's the stud. They have a tight end. They always got a million running backs. You're right though, anytime you move the coordinator in a psyching to get to him.
I mean, he could be the next McVeigh Shanahan. You take a day ball, you take a quarterback as a coordinator, and then you take Anthony Richardson. I mean, this guy would be a legend around the league pretty quickly, right, But you know, I think the coordinator Ben Johnson, I think that's his name. The longtime Utah guy and bounce around the league.
By the way, this is a good point. Stafford was at his best with Jim Bob Cooter the coordinator. Okay, so they got a lot of guys in Sirianni. There's a lot of cohesion there offensively. So I the schedule.
Is going to be harder, right. I think the NFC East is the Cowboys. Those games are going to be more difficult the Giants. The mismatch last year was pretty evident. When the Eagles play the Giants kick their ass. I think that will get a little more competitive. Washington beat him one game last year. They played the Niners in the regular season. They played Seattle in the regular season. So it's just going to be a little bit more difficult.
But I think when you get a guy that's proven that he can play in his lineage shows Alabama, Oklahoma right from college, blue chip guy, and he's such an elite character football intangible stuff, that's who you bet on. So is he going to be an MVP every single league or year, I don't know, But is he going to be a damn good player?
I would say, yeah, you know what, you made, just a great point. You said in scouting, you bet on the guy, and I think with quarterback, especially because you asked so much of that position and that guy. But I didn't like Will Levis. I didn't like his attitude. I didn't like Baker. I didn't like Jay Cutler. Once I learned about nothing against Baker Mayfield. But I didn't like the hoodspu and the cockiness. Cam rubbed me the wrong way. Jamis Winston I thought was silly. I liked
Bryce Young, I liked Andrew Luck. I like Trevor Lawrence. I remember meeting Russell Wilson as a rookie. It's such a great point. I never thought about it that way. The guys I have been hyper critical of. I mean, I had somebody tell me about Will Levis between the girlfriend on Draft night, the gun show at the combine, They're like, this guy loves Will Levis, Bryce Young loves football.
And just because you're a great guy and love football doesn't mean I mean, this is pro football. It's hard, right. The forty nine ers bet a lot on Trey Lance.
Part of it.
He just doesn't see it when he's playing right. It's a fine line. This is one of the most competitive industries, probably in all of America to be a high level quarterback. But I do think Jalen proved last year of just seeing the field being much better as a passing quarterback and clearly benefits. You talk to the guys with the Colts, what was a big part of betting on Anthony Richardson. They like the person. My scouting buddies were like, he's
really impressing these guys. Seems like a good guy. So you kind of bet on that with the talent. No guarantee because you know you're taking a big flyer on the talent, but you kind of bet on the guy. You feel better about it.
The volume