This week John continued to react to the Falcons drafting Michael Penix Jr. and what that pick means for the future of Kirk Cousins (4:21), he questioned why people are programmed to root for the underdog but when it comes to Scottie Scheffler people want to see him continue to win (22:42), and finally how drafting Caleb Willams has put the Bears in a win now mode (33:20). #Volume #Herd
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
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Speaker 1 (01:29):
What is going on? Everybody? Happy weekend? Hopefully everyone's doing good.
A little best of coming from the three and Out podcast.
Hopefully everyone's enjoying the weekend or having a good Saturday morning.
And uh, here's what we wanted to do. We talked
at length this week about the Falcons draft. Scottie Scheffler
(01:53):
is the next Majors in a couple of weeks. He's
forty to one to win the Grand Slam, which even
Woods never did. Is it possible? And then I listened
to Max Crosby and Davante Adams. They had a podcast together,
Well it's Max's podcast. Davante went on it and I
took away a couple of things from there about work,
(02:13):
ethic and Jordan Love and it was a really good listen.
I recommend it if you want something to listen to
beside this great podcast. Hopefully you think that, but yeah,
so we will do that. And my friends at Game Time,
you guys know them. Download the app. Promo code John,
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twenty dollars off. Download the game Time app today, last
minute ticket's lowest prices guaranteed. Let's talk some sports. The
(03:15):
Atlanta Falcons, they really are the talk of the league.
I texted with countless teams that were in the playoffs,
all of them. All of them brought up this situation
because it's baffling, and I think the one thing as
a general manager that's a lot different. Obviously, the two
most important non players in your organization. There's the owner
(03:38):
who signs the check. Clearly he's important, but ideally he
just kind of stays out of the way and gives
you whatever you need. Are the coach in the GM,
And like a lot of businesses, the incentives for the
two are not always the same. Obviously, winning is the
most important thing the GM and the coach. They want
(04:01):
to win week one week eight in the playoffs, right,
That's the clear goal of the organization to win. But
the coach is consumed with week one in the season.
He is not thinking big picture. For the most part.
You have some of these ten yured coaches like an
(04:21):
Andy Reid, like a John Harbaugh, who definitely thinks a
little big picture, but they are completely judged on the
immediacy of the season success or failure. The GM's job
is to balance the present and the future, no different
than like a CEO in the private sector. Right, Jamie
(04:45):
Diamond is trying to have successful quarters. He's also worried
about the health of JP Morgan over the next five years.
He's not just always living in the present. And I
think you go around Tim Cook, Elon Musk, you name it,
Tesla's having a good couple of days. And I think
as a GM planning, strategic planning is something that separates
(05:11):
the good from the bad at that position. And as
a GM, like the draft for coaches, for a lot
of coaches, including guys that missed the playoffs, really gets
going early February. The coaching staff gets involved typically at
the combine or rafter I mean they go to the
(05:32):
Senior Bowl. They haven't watched the soul the scouting staff,
starting with the GM, because he's the guy at the
highest you know, part of the hierarchy, starts watching these
players in like a week. They start watching the prospects
for next year's draft in a week. And the reality
is when they've scouted these guys that they've just drafted,
(05:53):
they were keeping an eye on a lot of the
top players for next year. You're always thinking big picture.
Why did Howie trade this year to get a third,
a fourth, and a fifth extra for next year? He
said it in his press conference, because next year's draft
is gonna be a lot deeper because a lot of
(06:13):
guys went back to school. I had a scout tell me,
whenever this gets to the draft grades, everyone freaking out,
like the Lions are getting crushed, and he's like, yeah,
this was the type draft where you take an offensive
lineman from British Columbia or wherever the hell he's from
in Canada in the fourth round. Not that weird. This
(06:34):
was that type draft. So if you are Terry Fontina,
the GM for the Atlanta Falcons, you have been scouting
this crop of players since last May. You have been
really dialed in on them since the season. You have
a very very good feel for especially the top of
(06:55):
the draft. Later in the draft gets weird, but the
top fifty players, the ebb and flow of those guys
from late August till the end of the college football
season when you miss the playoffs as the Falcons, did
you know where you're drafting? Like the first week in January.
They've had the eighth pick now for four months. This
(07:19):
wasn't something that changed in free agency. A lot of
things are fluid, right. You cut guys, guys take pay cuts,
your cap changes. Weird shit happens. You saw with the
Chargers went into the offseason like who are they gonna
keep between the big four, the two receivers and the
two pass rushers, no one really knows. It's like could
Bosa be traded, could Mack be cut? Could keenan restructure?
(07:40):
And then it played out kept the two d lineman,
the two wide receivers. It's very fluid process. The draft
in terms of your pick is not now when you're
at like Chris Ballard, for example, he said lat too
Lattu was the number one defensive player on his draft.
That's probably been set for a couple months. But he
(08:01):
has no clue at pick fifteen if that guy's gonna
be there or not. All the stories before the draft
Howie Roseman trying to trade up for the corner, probably
that he inevitably got why because he's like, I'm not
sure if that guy's gonna be there when we pick.
A lot is out of your control when you're at fifteen,
at eighteen, definitely in the twenties, but when you're in
(08:21):
the top ten and it is very clear who the
first five picks are gonna be. I don't have Jim
Harbaugh's number, but I know enough people in the league,
and a followed his career like he's taking an alignment
everyone and their mother. Even though Mandy Austin for it
was like we're open for a trade. Clearly he even
said like it's gonna take a lot for us to move,
(08:43):
but we are open. Knew that he was gonna take
the wide receiver and it was gonna be Marvin Harrison,
so you knew all the wide receiver or the quarterbacks
are gonna go. And shit, we've known that for a
long time. We've know Cayleb Williams was going number one
like two years ago, and then with Jaden's success and
either Drake may or J. J. McCarthy, you knew five
(09:05):
like you had a pretty good idea who the first
five picks were going to be. And it picks six,
you're like, the Giants, what are they gonna do? Well,
it's pretty clear the coach needs to win this year,
not gonna take a quarterback if he didn't trade up, well,
he couldn't trade up, and he ended up taking a
wide receiver. And at seven with the Titans, they weren't
taking a quarterback. Why because ran Carthin loves will Levis
(09:28):
so the GM Terry Foutin though, who says, you know,
things change. We had to think big picture. You've known
or had a damn good idea for a long period
of time. Then Michael Pennix was gonna be there at
number eight. Every team has the same amount of resources.
They all have the same amount of cap space, They
all the same amount of draft capital. You just get
to choose how you want to use it. If you
(09:50):
want to trade three first rounders for Deshaun Watson or
Trey Lancer, that's your choice. If you want to give
Christian Wilkins eighty five million, if if you want to
trade two first rounders and Jalen Ramsey like the Rams did,
or Matt Stafford, you can do whatever the fuck you want.
But this is not baseball, where the As spend no money,
the Rays spend little money, The Yankees spent a ton,
the Dodgers spend even more. This is football. The Bengals
(10:15):
and the Vikings and the Rams and the Cowboys, they
all have the same amount of capital. How you choose
to allocate that capital makes or breaks you. The Atlanta
Falcons quarterback situation last year was an embarrassment. It was
they started a guy who's probably a fringe backup as
(10:35):
their full time starter, and it wrecked their season. They
needed a quarterback. They knew it. We knew it, My
mother knew it. It's not a complicated situation they were in,
but figuring out how you're gonna allocate your resources for
your quarterback is a game changer. The Vikings were in
the same scenario, so they figured out a way. Now
(10:57):
I'm kind of with Colin j is a pretty risky player,
but they didn't go out and resigned Kirk Cousins to
also sign JJ McCarthy. Why that would make no sense.
What did they do? They gave ten million dollars to
Sam Darnold that if JJ needs a red shirt and
Sam's having a good year, we'll play him and then
(11:18):
we'll transition after the year. The Raiders who got left
at the altar attempted to do the same thing. We'll
give Gardner Minshew whatever eight ten million dollars to hold
us over, and we'll figure out if we can draft
a quarterback. We have no clue. The Falcons went all
in on kirk Cousins. That move in a vacuum totally
(11:38):
makes sense. A little risky because he's coming off the Achilles,
but like, hey, you want to get kirk Cousins, okay,
Then to draft a guy at eight who is already
made player. This is not like when the Packers drafted
Jordan Love one. He was a project too. They had
(11:58):
a guy who had won several MVPs on their team,
and nobody, including Jordan Love his family, his girlfriend, and
everyone in his life, said you got a chance to
beat out Aaron Rodgers. It was honestly laughed at by
a lot of people. And Packer, like, what are we
doing here? Here's the thing with Kirk Cousins, and this
is what happens when you jump around teams. You have
(12:20):
no equity with this team. You do with the owner
because he gave you money. The fans don't give a shit.
The players definitely do not. And I've said this a
couple of times because I thought this was one of
the best tweets I saw this weekend. Is Kirk Cousins
is not going to be available at OT eight's, So
who's going to be getting the reps? It ain't gonna
be some random guy in the roster. It's gonna be
(12:40):
Michael Pennix. Well, what are the Falcons full of? On offense?
Young impressionable players b John Robinson, Drake London, Kyle Pitts.
These guys have no connection to Kirk Cousins. So all
of a sudden, Michael Pennix looks good in practice. They
don't care how much money you gave them. Michael Lombardi
(13:02):
said it on his podcast today. You can't lie to
the players. Now. You're obligated to initially start this guy
because of the money you're giving him, but you have
created a locker room dynamic that is really really awkward.
Going back to the Packers in Jordan Love a little
weird because it pisses off Aaron Rodgers. But there's no
weird locker room dynamic. DeVante Adams, all the offensive linemen,
(13:28):
Aaron Jones, you name it, every offensive skilled guy on
that team doesn't even need to see Jordan Love practice
to go. No way he's better than this other guy.
No way. Is it even a question mark? But this
the question marks immediately start. What if Kirk Cousins is
not near what he once was because of this injury.
What if he starts rusty? What if it's just a
(13:51):
weird transition. What if his emotions, as Colt McCoy said,
because Colt spent time around him in Washington, like Yace
kind of sent what if this rattles him? So I
totally understand the logic of investing in the quarterback position.
The Packers did it with a late first round pick.
(14:12):
The Eagles did it with Jalen Hurts in the second round.
Bill Belichick did it once upon a time with a
second round pick of Jimmy Garoppolo. You can go back
to Bill Walsh when he traded little to nothing for
Steve Young. When you invest the eighth overall pick into
a player in twenty twenty four, no one wants to
watch that guy sit on the bench, not a fucking soul,
(14:35):
especially when he started for half a decade in college football.
This isn't some project. No one knows if Michael Penox
is going to be any good, including Michael Pennix or
the Atlanta Falcons. I think he's a pretty damn good player.
I liked him a lot. I have no issue if
you want to draft him eighth overall. But if you
just guaranteed a quarterback one hundred million dollars, it just
(14:57):
doesn't make any sense. And co words big thing is like,
it's like buying insurance. I hear that. The difference is
you would never allocate that much money to cousins and
then buy insurance that costs as much as Pennix does.
Because this is the and what you gave up the
ability to draft a very impactful defensive player. It does
(15:20):
not add up. It simply does not. And it gets
back to the Falcons have no plan. They didn't have
a plan. They are flying by the seat of their
pants because this would have been one heading into free
agency going guys, we don't need to give Cousins all
this money. Why don't we just draft or sign one
of these guys for ten to twelve million dollars for
(15:42):
one season to give us a little breathing room. But
I'm like ninety percent confident, hell, ninety five percent confident
on March fifteenth, that Michael Pennox is going to be
there at eight in worst case scenario. Over the next month,
we start getting a little rattled. This something's gonna happen.
It's way easier for us at eight to trade up
(16:06):
to four with the Cardinals to get them than any
of those guys in the early teens, like the Raiders
or Seattle or whoever. We are much closer and it
allows Monty. Okay, maybe he can't get Marvin Harrison, but
he could draft Roma Dunza, who is the wide receiver
they would have drafted if they would have done a
trade back, because they were never going to trade four.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Out of there.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
So to me, this speaks to embarrassing planning. This is
a joke, it really is. And this feels like I'm
all for being influenced like over the last month, but
the GM should have been all over this in December.
That's his job. This is not Raheem Morris's job, or
not Zach Robinson's job to be locked in. So clearly
(16:49):
they fell in love with the guy. This is a
coach influence pick, right, They really like the guy. So
does the GM not like the guy? I just don't understand. Now.
I've only for one GM, Hobbie Roseman, and it's always
big picture planning. That's the way he operates. I can't
even relate. I mean, I honestly can't. And I'm not
acting like the draft is easy or this is some
(17:11):
exact science. But I think we all agree that if
you're gonna give Cousins that money to draft this player
at eight, when you would have known that before you
gave Cousins this money, is fucking moronic. It really is,
because you didn't have to allocate. And what's the most
powerful thing about a rookie quarterback? Bo Knicks, Drake May,
(17:31):
Caleb Williams, go around, JJ McCarthy, all these guys that
got drafted high.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
Their contract Why because they don't make that much money
and if they turn into a solid starter or a
high end player, it's the best deal in all of sports.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
It's been the number one thing. Obviously, you would say
the number one thing is perty's played well. But you
would say one b is he makes a million dollars
a year. We could argue, is he a fifty million
dollar players a thirty million dollar player? He's sure as
hell is worth more than one million dollars. But the
forty nine ers have had way more wiggle room because
of that deal, and the Falcons just wasted that because
(18:12):
the one hundred million dollars they just gave the Cousins
is the tight contract you would give to Christian Wilkins,
to a sweet defensive player, to a sweet offensive lineman. Whatever,
make a trade next year with your first round pick
and go get a Jalen Ramsey. But now they've used
that bullet at least these first couple of years on
(18:32):
the same position. In quarterback, like kickers, there's only one.
You don't get to mix them in. So if I'm
one of these teams that just took, if I'm the
Vikings and I just took Dallas Turner, let's say he's
not ready your one. He still gets to play. He
still gets to give me maybe ten designated pass rushes
(18:55):
or a corner. Some of these guys that were drafted early.
What if that's they're slow to figure it out, You
still use them on special teams, Maybe bump them into
nickel throughout the season if they're more comfortable there early
on than outside. Can't do that with quarterback. Cousin's just playing.
Penix just sits there, and he was I would say
of all the players not named, Caleb was the last
(19:17):
player who just needs to quote unquote sit there. So
I'll never get behind this because I don't think they
had a plan and I think you're there just freewheeling that.
And whether you're running Apple Tesla or JP Morgan Chase
or running a football team, if you are in management
(19:38):
and don't have a plan, I'm gonna bet against you.
I don't think you have any chance. So the Falcons,
if just I can't get over it. I think it's
one of the dumbest set of you know, moves, Cousins
and Penix the combination I think we've seen in recent memory.
(20:06):
Colin used to have this thing back in the day
before he came to Fox, and I mean he still
talks about it, but it was like one of his
big takes was how he hated the underdog. He hated
the little guy, and I first started listening to him
when I was in college and throughout when I went
to Fresno State, and it used to tick me off
because I was working for the little guy and we
(20:27):
weren't ever good enough to make a run, but we
played Boise State. In Boise State, I often thought could
like compete with USC Texas whoever in the SEC they
were a national championship contender. Now they never got that opportunity,
but I truly believe that to my core. But I've
changed my thinking over time and listen, I'm very grateful
(20:50):
to have gone to school at cal Poly and Fresno State,
two programs that are not the University of Texas or
Michigan Ohio State when it comes to athletics, that's for sure.
And now like as a fan, I like watching the
big dogs. I haven't watched much of the NBA playoffs.
I've watched every dribble or I did. It's over now
of the Lakers Nuggets, and it was fantastic, one of
(21:13):
the best five game series I've ever seen, mainly because
I love seeing the Lakers lose and I knew they would,
but Jokic is clearly established himself is not only the
best player currently in the world, but one of the
best players we've ever seen. And right now he's about
to win his third MVP in like four years. Unless
(21:34):
someone on his team gets injured, including himself, they're gonna
win the NBA Championship. Like he's going into hallowed territory.
And I like watching guys separate from the pack. I
like watching the best teams and the best players. What
Patrick Mahomes just did is insanity. Win his third Super
Bowl in five years. He's established as not just the
(21:55):
best quarterback in the NFL, but one of the best
players we've ever seen. And he's like in the peak
of his powers, not even thirty yet, so like, how
far can he go? My favorite athlete by I mean,
there's two of them, but as a kid, like anyone
born in the mid eighties, Michael Jordan was spectacular. And
then coming into your own as a sports fan, getting
(22:15):
to live through Tiger Woods is something we'll probably never
see again and something I'm very very glad that I
got to watch and like really be able to defend
it because I've always often said, like, if you're in
a bar arguing with someone if you didn't grow up
or were of age to watch that player. It's a
hard argument. YouTube does not do justice to when you're
(22:39):
watching a guy live, especially as you get older. Like
I can speak pretty confidently about Peyton Manning and Tom Brady,
about Steph Curry, about Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson and
Rory whoever, I mean, the players that I've watched. It's
hard for me. Besides, like, yeah, I know Magic Johnson
and Larry Bird all time greats, but to like legitimately
get into an argument. We're getting to an argument about
(23:01):
Jack Nicholas and Arnold Palmer, even like Greg Norman and
Nick foul Though I don't feel as strong in my argument.
I can watch all the youtubes and thirty for thirties
and everything possible on the internet, it is not the same.
So watching Scottie Scheffler doing what he's currently doing is
freaking awesome. Now, the sad part is is the tours
in turmoil, the tourist split, and television ratings are down.
(23:24):
Despite golf in terms of the amateur world never being
more popular. More people are playing golf in twenty twenty
four than ever before. The access is much easier. There
are a ton of courses. The public courses are absolutely packed.
The waiting lists at country clubs all over the country
is a mile long. And golf's very, very popular. It's
(23:46):
a unique sport, right. I played high school football, have
not played it down since most people that play high
school football never playing college. Yet we become football fans
the rest of our life. But I'm never gonna throw
a pack at lambeau Field. I'm never gonna run for
a yard in Hinsfield, right where the Pittsburgh Steelers play.
(24:08):
It's like I'll never shoot baskets at MSG. But I
can play golf at the overwhelming majority of courses that
pro's play, and if you're lucky enough to run them
in the right circles, you might even get access to
some of the sweet courses they play that are country clubs.
It's not possible, like if you're a tennis player not
playing Wimbledon. That's what makes golf pretty special. And Tiger
(24:31):
really brought that to light.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
He made it cool.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
I don't know if Scotty Scheffler is that he's not
even close to the level of superstar that Tiger was,
but he is a special player in the peak of
his powers. And after he won the Masters pretty easily,
I thought the most impressive accomplishment he's had in his career,
and he's won the Masters twice, was winning The next
(24:55):
week he literally went home. His wife was pregnant. When
he gets home to Texas, she's asleep. He goes out
with the boys. Forty eight hours later he flies back
to you know, the RBC at like Tuesday night, start
slow on Thursday, and then you look up on Sunday.
He's kicking the shit out of everybody. And I've done
DraftKings today. Right now, they have a special for him
(25:16):
to win the Grand Slam. He's forty to one now.
I've said after the Masters, the only thing like I
think is over under right now on Majors is two
and a half. That's what I would put it at
because I think between Pinehurst and the Open Championship he's
a lock to win one of those two. The only
(25:37):
reason I'm hesitant on the PGA Championship in Valhalla is
because his wife any day could have a baby. And
then the moment when you first have a baby, you
don't sleep. You're sleeping in a terrible chair. Bed, never
had one, but seeing pictures bend to the room after
my friends and brothers have had kids. But it is
(25:58):
a it's a life chain moment, in a life changing
moment for you personally, especially in the short term just
with sleep and your routine is going to be thrown off.
So who knows how much practice he's gonna have before
the PGA. And then I started thinking like, well, had
no practice or probably slept that much or did anything
the couple days leading into the RBC, and he basically
(26:21):
won with his fucking eyes closed, So why couldn't he
win a major? Now? Obviously if his wife hasn't gone
into labor, and that's a story that to me would
have much more substance behind it because she could actually
have the baby. That's a whole different conversation. But if
the baby happens before, you know, I don't know if
I'm off him that much. And if he were to
(26:42):
win Valhalla, that forty to one to me probably goes
down to like twelve to one immediately, because one I
think he's winning Pinehurst. I mean, it sets up perfectly
for him, and by then he will have enough time
to kind of get his routine and just gets a
normal sleep in order for the major push. I looked
(27:02):
at last year, and remember he couldn't putt last year.
He was an awful putter. He finished T ten at
the Masters, which probably gonna be an outlier for his
career because he's gonna win that thing like five times.
And then the next two majors, the PGA. In the
US Open at La Country Club, he finished T two
and third. Again could not put the British Open, which
(27:25):
has given him some trouble though he's only played in
three He finished T twenty three and two years ago.
His best finished in twenty twenty one was T eight.
I guess my overall point is I don't think it's
crazy at all to throw a little money on him.
Forty to one to win the Grand Slam seems crazy, right,
just because of how difficult it is, how much pressure
(27:46):
is on these majors. But for the first time since Tiger,
you're like, yeah, this is real, This is very, very possible. Now.
The crazy thing is when Tiger was in his heyday,
you know, people love to make fun like it was
just Plumber and Fireman is the type guys he was playing.
Now he played against some pretty good players last time
I checked, like Ernie Els could play, VJ. Sink could play.
(28:09):
I mean, David Duvall in the late nineties was pretty
damn good. Now the depth of talent was nowhere near
what it is now, not even close. But Scotti showed
like he's not even that affected by it. I don't
give a shit how good all these guys are. I'm
dramatically better. I'm dramatically better now. The irony is the
one guy that could take him down is a guy
(28:29):
that would be playing potentially in a second major. Ludwig,
who is clearly a special, got a chance to be
a transcendent talent. So I just think this forty to
one number. If you would have told me before the year,
we're just moving forward, anyone could ever win the Grand
Slam again, I'd be like, it'd be shocking if a
guy won two Majors in a year. Given the current
(28:51):
crop of guys playing in these major championship and the
depth of just elite players, I mean, it goes, it
goes fifteen deep with just high high end players. I
don't know, he might just be that much better than everyone.
Despite the baby situation. I've been saying this for a
(29:15):
while because the hype, and rightfully so, is pretty outrageous.
Right that they finished the season strong, their defense was
playing well, The Sweat trade aged pretty well. He was
an immediate impact player. Jalen Johnson became, I don't want
to say like a superstar, but a super high end
corner Fresno kid always a reform and Ryan Poles, I
(29:37):
think universally is considered like a really good GM now
just had an elite twelve months stretch. I've said this
to Colin, I've said this on this podcast. Say it
to any when I talked to The trade he made
for the Panthers, whether Caleb works out or not, has
to be one of the great fleece jobs in league history.
(29:57):
Just the value alone in that trade. Let alone, if
this trade works out, if Dj Moore continues to be
a high end player for them and Caleb Williams just
becomes a top twelve quarterback. It was it was highway robbery.
It was a little Tonza heist. I mean that's what
it was. It turned the other franchise into shambles. I mean,
(30:18):
no one gets made fun of more than the Panthers,
and no one gets more credit and that's what happens
when you have a crazy lopsided deal. So you look
at the franchise, you go, well, Bears trajectory high, Caleb
gonna be the starting quarterback. I mean, at minimum, even
if things go shitty for three and a half, he's
gonna get a long runway Ryan Poles. He's getting a
(30:41):
second coach. Here's the problem, we have absolutely no clue none.
If he reflues is good in all the pressure, because
it's how today the odds, for the first time in
a long time, the Chicago Bears over under is eight
and a half and the under is like minus one forty,
(31:03):
So they are favored to have an above five hundred record.
And that's just from a gambling standpoint. I just think
if you talk to random people, I'm not even talking
Bears fans, you oh yeah, I think the Bears would
be pretty good. They have not had that type hype
in a long long time, probably since the Khalil Mack
trade and when Mitch was kind of an unknown. Well, now,
let's face it, we think this team is better because clearly,
(31:25):
even if you were high on miss Trubisky, your views
on Caleb Williams are gonna be much higher. Well, they
have a coach who is not some established, big name
guy who's coaching for his job. Now you can say
it's the NFL. Most coaches beside like the top six
or seven are coaching for their job. But this guy,
you could see a scenario if they miss the playoffs
(31:47):
and win eight games and even if in some some
tight losses they look really good, he is not the
coach moving forward. And the big theme right now I
heard Slareth with Coward and he's like. One thing Steve
Young used to hammer home all the time is it
can be difficult for a young quarterback playing with a
defensive coach, especially a highly touted guy. And Colin's big
(32:10):
thing always just like hire the offensive head coach. Now,
obviously there are good head coaches that aren't the offensive
play caller. But if we did a coaching draft, we
all know the majority of guys going in the top
five are head coaches that call the place. I mean
three of the top five guys for sure would be
Andy Kyle and Sean McVay in some order. Andy would
clearly go one, and then there'd be the hard boss
(32:32):
and you know guys like that, fighting and even Jim,
despite being viewed as like an offensive lineman defensive guy,
is a former quarterback. So you look at the situation
and everyone is really high on it, and everyone's anointing
these guys, and listen, I'm no different. I like this team,
but I've been around football long enough now. I've been
going to training camps and been around operations from watching
(32:56):
Andy Reid and Harbaugh coach two guys like Jim tom
Sula and Chip Kelly when he was with the forty
nine ers, and Dennis Allen. So who your head coach
is is very important. We all know that this is
not like breaking news here, but the pressure that's gonna
be felt on this team, Like Caleb as pressure, sure,
but he's kind of on scholarship. Ryan Poles has pressure, Sure,
(33:19):
he ain't getting fired. There's only one guy who truly
has winner you're fucked pressure, and that's Matt Eberfluss. And
you know he's redone. His image seems like a good guy,
obviously a solid defensive coach, but it's about winning this year.
And I think if I went to everyone that's listening
right now in Chicago Bears fan, you'd say probably anything
(33:40):
under ten wins would be a disappointment. Well, who's to
say this guy has that capability, not because your roster
talent isn't there. But we all know roster talent doesn't
equal wins always in the NFL. Over the course of us.
It might win you an individual game, but it doesn't
lock you into a ten and seven record, just like
(34:00):
good coaching can overcome. I thought Brian dave Ball a
couple of years ago had one of the great coaching
years in recent memory, because I didn't think their team
was any good and they made the playoffs and won
a playoff game. The other thing the Bears have to
deal with is the division is really really good. I mean,
the Lions roster is loaded. They didn't lose any coaches,
and they didn't lose any players that matter. The Packers,
(34:24):
everyone's kind of anointing them, and I'm probably guilty of
this too. Now Jordan Love's gonna have to prove it again,
but I think we can all agree probably gonna be
pretty good because as all of us learned that short
at the Packers last year is like they kind of
know what they're doing when it comes to quarterbacks, and
we know their roster and the way they draft is
always solid. So if Jordan Love, he doesn't even have
to have some of the outrageous games, if he's just
(34:46):
a top fifteen quarterback, They're gonna win. Why because their
coach is proven to win constantly, whether it's Jordan Love
or Aaron Rodgers. And even Kevin O'Connell. I mean, he
had Kirk Cousins by four have the best year of
his career. I mean there were moments last year, especially
that final month before he heard his achilles, he was
(35:06):
like a top five quarterback in the NFL. And we
know how much talent they have on their roster, so
I think that the divisional difficulties. I also looked at
their schedule. They play the forty nine ers, they play
the Rams, they play the Houston Texans, they play the
Indianapolis Colts, even the Jags, who you know, I think
(35:26):
should be at least a little more feisty than last year.
Like that's a tough game. That AFC South Division is
not as easy as it's been. We know how much
talent Seattle has on their roster. The Cardinals definitely have
more talent this year than last year. And we saw
last year when Kyler came back like they're a mother
to deal with. Even if the Cardinals are a six
win team, you get Kyler on the right day, he
(35:48):
can be a major problem for anybody. So this this
bears height, and I get it has one guy circled
because if it doesn't go well, you know who's gonna
get thrown over. Report the volume
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Speaker 1 (01:29):
What is going on? Everybody? Happy weekend? Hopefully everyone's doing good.
A little best of coming from the three and Out podcast.
Hopefully everyone's enjoying the weekend or having a good Saturday morning.
And uh, here's what we wanted to do. We talked
at length this week about the Falcons draft. Scottie Scheffler
(01:53):
is the next Majors in a couple of weeks. He's
forty to one to win the Grand Slam, which even
Woods never did. Is it possible? And then I listened
to Max Crosby and Davante Adams. They had a podcast together,
Well it's Max's podcast. Davante went on it and I
took away a couple of things from there about work,
(02:13):
ethic and Jordan Love and it was a really good listen.
I recommend it if you want something to listen to
beside this great podcast. Hopefully you think that, but yeah,
so we will do that. And my friends at Game Time,
you guys know them. Download the app. Promo code John,
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twenty dollars off. Download the game Time app today, last
minute ticket's lowest prices guaranteed. Let's talk some sports. The
(03:15):
Atlanta Falcons, they really are the talk of the league.
I texted with countless teams that were in the playoffs,
all of them. All of them brought up this situation
because it's baffling, and I think the one thing as
a general manager that's a lot different. Obviously, the two
most important non players in your organization. There's the owner
(03:38):
who signs the check. Clearly he's important, but ideally he
just kind of stays out of the way and gives
you whatever you need. Are the coach in the GM,
And like a lot of businesses, the incentives for the
two are not always the same. Obviously, winning is the
most important thing the GM and the coach. They want
(04:01):
to win week one week eight in the playoffs, right,
That's the clear goal of the organization to win. But
the coach is consumed with week one in the season.
He is not thinking big picture. For the most part.
You have some of these ten yured coaches like an
(04:21):
Andy Reid, like a John Harbaugh, who definitely thinks a
little big picture, but they are completely judged on the
immediacy of the season success or failure. The GM's job
is to balance the present and the future, no different
than like a CEO in the private sector. Right, Jamie
(04:45):
Diamond is trying to have successful quarters. He's also worried
about the health of JP Morgan over the next five years.
He's not just always living in the present. And I
think you go around Tim Cook, Elon Musk, you name it,
Tesla's having a good couple of days. And I think
as a GM planning, strategic planning is something that separates
(05:11):
the good from the bad at that position. And as
a GM, like the draft for coaches, for a lot
of coaches, including guys that missed the playoffs, really gets
going early February. The coaching staff gets involved typically at
the combine or rafter I mean they go to the
(05:32):
Senior Bowl. They haven't watched the soul the scouting staff,
starting with the GM, because he's the guy at the
highest you know, part of the hierarchy, starts watching these
players in like a week. They start watching the prospects
for next year's draft in a week. And the reality
is when they've scouted these guys that they've just drafted,
(05:53):
they were keeping an eye on a lot of the
top players for next year. You're always thinking big picture.
Why did Howie trade this year to get a third,
a fourth, and a fifth extra for next year? He
said it in his press conference, because next year's draft
is gonna be a lot deeper because a lot of
(06:13):
guys went back to school. I had a scout tell me,
whenever this gets to the draft grades, everyone freaking out,
like the Lions are getting crushed, and he's like, yeah,
this was the type draft where you take an offensive
lineman from British Columbia or wherever the hell he's from
in Canada in the fourth round. Not that weird. This
(06:34):
was that type draft. So if you are Terry Fontina,
the GM for the Atlanta Falcons, you have been scouting
this crop of players since last May. You have been
really dialed in on them since the season. You have
a very very good feel for especially the top of
(06:55):
the draft. Later in the draft gets weird, but the
top fifty players, the ebb and flow of those guys
from late August till the end of the college football
season when you miss the playoffs as the Falcons, did
you know where you're drafting? Like the first week in January.
They've had the eighth pick now for four months. This
(07:19):
wasn't something that changed in free agency. A lot of
things are fluid, right. You cut guys, guys take pay cuts,
your cap changes. Weird shit happens. You saw with the
Chargers went into the offseason like who are they gonna
keep between the big four, the two receivers and the
two pass rushers, no one really knows. It's like could
Bosa be traded, could Mack be cut? Could keenan restructure?
(07:40):
And then it played out kept the two d lineman,
the two wide receivers. It's very fluid process. The draft
in terms of your pick is not now when you're
at like Chris Ballard, for example, he said lat too
Lattu was the number one defensive player on his draft.
That's probably been set for a couple months. But he
(08:01):
has no clue at pick fifteen if that guy's gonna
be there or not. All the stories before the draft
Howie Roseman trying to trade up for the corner, probably
that he inevitably got why because he's like, I'm not
sure if that guy's gonna be there when we pick.
A lot is out of your control when you're at fifteen,
at eighteen, definitely in the twenties, but when you're in
(08:21):
the top ten and it is very clear who the
first five picks are gonna be. I don't have Jim
Harbaugh's number, but I know enough people in the league,
and a followed his career like he's taking an alignment
everyone and their mother. Even though Mandy Austin for it
was like we're open for a trade. Clearly he even
said like it's gonna take a lot for us to move,
(08:43):
but we are open. Knew that he was gonna take
the wide receiver and it was gonna be Marvin Harrison,
so you knew all the wide receiver or the quarterbacks
are gonna go. And shit, we've known that for a
long time. We've know Cayleb Williams was going number one
like two years ago, and then with Jaden's success and
either Drake may or J. J. McCarthy, you knew five
(09:05):
like you had a pretty good idea who the first
five picks were going to be. And it picks six,
you're like, the Giants, what are they gonna do? Well,
it's pretty clear the coach needs to win this year,
not gonna take a quarterback if he didn't trade up, well,
he couldn't trade up, and he ended up taking a
wide receiver. And at seven with the Titans, they weren't
taking a quarterback. Why because ran Carthin loves will Levis
(09:28):
so the GM Terry Foutin though, who says, you know,
things change. We had to think big picture. You've known
or had a damn good idea for a long period
of time. Then Michael Pennix was gonna be there at
number eight. Every team has the same amount of resources.
They all have the same amount of cap space, They
all the same amount of draft capital. You just get
to choose how you want to use it. If you
(09:50):
want to trade three first rounders for Deshaun Watson or
Trey Lancer, that's your choice. If you want to give
Christian Wilkins eighty five million, if if you want to
trade two first rounders and Jalen Ramsey like the Rams did,
or Matt Stafford, you can do whatever the fuck you want.
But this is not baseball, where the As spend no money,
the Rays spend little money, The Yankees spent a ton,
the Dodgers spend even more. This is football. The Bengals
(10:15):
and the Vikings and the Rams and the Cowboys, they
all have the same amount of capital. How you choose
to allocate that capital makes or breaks you. The Atlanta
Falcons quarterback situation last year was an embarrassment. It was
they started a guy who's probably a fringe backup as
(10:35):
their full time starter, and it wrecked their season. They
needed a quarterback. They knew it. We knew it, My
mother knew it. It's not a complicated situation they were in,
but figuring out how you're gonna allocate your resources for
your quarterback is a game changer. The Vikings were in
the same scenario, so they figured out a way. Now
(10:57):
I'm kind of with Colin j is a pretty risky player,
but they didn't go out and resigned Kirk Cousins to
also sign JJ McCarthy. Why that would make no sense.
What did they do? They gave ten million dollars to
Sam Darnold that if JJ needs a red shirt and
Sam's having a good year, we'll play him and then
(11:18):
we'll transition after the year. The Raiders who got left
at the altar attempted to do the same thing. We'll
give Gardner Minshew whatever eight ten million dollars to hold
us over, and we'll figure out if we can draft
a quarterback. We have no clue. The Falcons went all
in on kirk Cousins. That move in a vacuum totally
(11:38):
makes sense. A little risky because he's coming off the Achilles,
but like, hey, you want to get kirk Cousins, okay,
Then to draft a guy at eight who is already
made player. This is not like when the Packers drafted
Jordan Love one. He was a project too. They had
(11:58):
a guy who had won several MVPs on their team,
and nobody, including Jordan Love his family, his girlfriend, and
everyone in his life, said you got a chance to
beat out Aaron Rodgers. It was honestly laughed at by
a lot of people. And Packer, like, what are we
doing here? Here's the thing with Kirk Cousins, and this
is what happens when you jump around teams. You have
(12:20):
no equity with this team. You do with the owner
because he gave you money. The fans don't give a shit.
The players definitely do not. And I've said this a
couple of times because I thought this was one of
the best tweets I saw this weekend. Is Kirk Cousins
is not going to be available at OT eight's, So
who's going to be getting the reps? It ain't gonna
be some random guy in the roster. It's gonna be
(12:40):
Michael Pennix. Well, what are the Falcons full of? On offense?
Young impressionable players b John Robinson, Drake London, Kyle Pitts.
These guys have no connection to Kirk Cousins. So all
of a sudden, Michael Pennix looks good in practice. They
don't care how much money you gave them. Michael Lombardi
(13:02):
said it on his podcast today. You can't lie to
the players. Now. You're obligated to initially start this guy
because of the money you're giving him, but you have
created a locker room dynamic that is really really awkward.
Going back to the Packers in Jordan Love a little
weird because it pisses off Aaron Rodgers. But there's no
weird locker room dynamic. DeVante Adams, all the offensive linemen,
(13:28):
Aaron Jones, you name it, every offensive skilled guy on
that team doesn't even need to see Jordan Love practice
to go. No way he's better than this other guy.
No way. Is it even a question mark? But this
the question marks immediately start. What if Kirk Cousins is
not near what he once was because of this injury.
What if he starts rusty? What if it's just a
(13:51):
weird transition. What if his emotions, as Colt McCoy said,
because Colt spent time around him in Washington, like Yace
kind of sent what if this rattles him? So I
totally understand the logic of investing in the quarterback position.
The Packers did it with a late first round pick.
(14:12):
The Eagles did it with Jalen Hurts in the second round.
Bill Belichick did it once upon a time with a
second round pick of Jimmy Garoppolo. You can go back
to Bill Walsh when he traded little to nothing for
Steve Young. When you invest the eighth overall pick into
a player in twenty twenty four, no one wants to
watch that guy sit on the bench, not a fucking soul,
(14:35):
especially when he started for half a decade in college football.
This isn't some project. No one knows if Michael Penox
is going to be any good, including Michael Pennix or
the Atlanta Falcons. I think he's a pretty damn good player.
I liked him a lot. I have no issue if
you want to draft him eighth overall. But if you
just guaranteed a quarterback one hundred million dollars, it just
(14:57):
doesn't make any sense. And co words big thing is like,
it's like buying insurance. I hear that. The difference is
you would never allocate that much money to cousins and
then buy insurance that costs as much as Pennix does.
Because this is the and what you gave up the
ability to draft a very impactful defensive player. It does
(15:20):
not add up. It simply does not. And it gets
back to the Falcons have no plan. They didn't have
a plan. They are flying by the seat of their
pants because this would have been one heading into free
agency going guys, we don't need to give Cousins all
this money. Why don't we just draft or sign one
of these guys for ten to twelve million dollars for
(15:42):
one season to give us a little breathing room. But
I'm like ninety percent confident, hell, ninety five percent confident
on March fifteenth, that Michael Pennox is going to be
there at eight in worst case scenario. Over the next month,
we start getting a little rattled. This something's gonna happen.
It's way easier for us at eight to trade up
(16:06):
to four with the Cardinals to get them than any
of those guys in the early teens, like the Raiders
or Seattle or whoever. We are much closer and it
allows Monty. Okay, maybe he can't get Marvin Harrison, but
he could draft Roma Dunza, who is the wide receiver
they would have drafted if they would have done a
trade back, because they were never going to trade four.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Out of there.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
So to me, this speaks to embarrassing planning. This is
a joke, it really is. And this feels like I'm
all for being influenced like over the last month, but
the GM should have been all over this in December.
That's his job. This is not Raheem Morris's job, or
not Zach Robinson's job to be locked in. So clearly
(16:49):
they fell in love with the guy. This is a
coach influence pick, right, They really like the guy. So
does the GM not like the guy? I just don't understand. Now.
I've only for one GM, Hobbie Roseman, and it's always
big picture planning. That's the way he operates. I can't
even relate. I mean, I honestly can't. And I'm not
acting like the draft is easy or this is some
(17:11):
exact science. But I think we all agree that if
you're gonna give Cousins that money to draft this player
at eight, when you would have known that before you
gave Cousins this money, is fucking moronic. It really is,
because you didn't have to allocate. And what's the most
powerful thing about a rookie quarterback? Bo Knicks, Drake May,
(17:31):
Caleb Williams, go around, JJ McCarthy, all these guys that
got drafted high.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
Their contract Why because they don't make that much money
and if they turn into a solid starter or a
high end player, it's the best deal in all of sports.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
It's been the number one thing. Obviously, you would say
the number one thing is perty's played well. But you
would say one b is he makes a million dollars
a year. We could argue, is he a fifty million
dollar players a thirty million dollar player? He's sure as
hell is worth more than one million dollars. But the
forty nine ers have had way more wiggle room because
of that deal, and the Falcons just wasted that because
(18:12):
the one hundred million dollars they just gave the Cousins
is the tight contract you would give to Christian Wilkins,
to a sweet defensive player, to a sweet offensive lineman. Whatever,
make a trade next year with your first round pick
and go get a Jalen Ramsey. But now they've used
that bullet at least these first couple of years on
(18:32):
the same position. In quarterback, like kickers, there's only one.
You don't get to mix them in. So if I'm
one of these teams that just took, if I'm the
Vikings and I just took Dallas Turner, let's say he's
not ready your one. He still gets to play. He
still gets to give me maybe ten designated pass rushes
(18:55):
or a corner. Some of these guys that were drafted early.
What if that's they're slow to figure it out, You
still use them on special teams, Maybe bump them into
nickel throughout the season if they're more comfortable there early
on than outside. Can't do that with quarterback. Cousin's just playing.
Penix just sits there, and he was I would say
of all the players not named, Caleb was the last
(19:17):
player who just needs to quote unquote sit there. So
I'll never get behind this because I don't think they
had a plan and I think you're there just freewheeling that.
And whether you're running Apple Tesla or JP Morgan Chase
or running a football team, if you are in management
(19:38):
and don't have a plan, I'm gonna bet against you.
I don't think you have any chance. So the Falcons,
if just I can't get over it. I think it's
one of the dumbest set of you know, moves, Cousins
and Penix the combination I think we've seen in recent memory.
(20:06):
Colin used to have this thing back in the day
before he came to Fox, and I mean he still
talks about it, but it was like one of his
big takes was how he hated the underdog. He hated
the little guy, and I first started listening to him
when I was in college and throughout when I went
to Fresno State, and it used to tick me off
because I was working for the little guy and we
(20:27):
weren't ever good enough to make a run, but we
played Boise State. In Boise State, I often thought could
like compete with USC Texas whoever in the SEC they
were a national championship contender. Now they never got that opportunity,
but I truly believe that to my core. But I've
changed my thinking over time and listen, I'm very grateful
(20:50):
to have gone to school at cal Poly and Fresno State,
two programs that are not the University of Texas or
Michigan Ohio State when it comes to athletics, that's for sure.
And now like as a fan, I like watching the
big dogs. I haven't watched much of the NBA playoffs.
I've watched every dribble or I did. It's over now
of the Lakers Nuggets, and it was fantastic, one of
(21:13):
the best five game series I've ever seen, mainly because
I love seeing the Lakers lose and I knew they would,
but Jokic is clearly established himself is not only the
best player currently in the world, but one of the
best players we've ever seen. And right now he's about
to win his third MVP in like four years. Unless
(21:34):
someone on his team gets injured, including himself, they're gonna
win the NBA Championship. Like he's going into hallowed territory.
And I like watching guys separate from the pack. I
like watching the best teams and the best players. What
Patrick Mahomes just did is insanity. Win his third Super
Bowl in five years. He's established as not just the
(21:55):
best quarterback in the NFL, but one of the best
players we've ever seen. And he's like in the peak
of his powers, not even thirty yet, so like, how
far can he go? My favorite athlete by I mean,
there's two of them, but as a kid, like anyone
born in the mid eighties, Michael Jordan was spectacular. And
then coming into your own as a sports fan, getting
(22:15):
to live through Tiger Woods is something we'll probably never
see again and something I'm very very glad that I
got to watch and like really be able to defend
it because I've always often said, like, if you're in
a bar arguing with someone if you didn't grow up
or were of age to watch that player. It's a
hard argument. YouTube does not do justice to when you're
(22:39):
watching a guy live, especially as you get older. Like
I can speak pretty confidently about Peyton Manning and Tom Brady,
about Steph Curry, about Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson and
Rory whoever, I mean, the players that I've watched. It's
hard for me. Besides, like, yeah, I know Magic Johnson
and Larry Bird all time greats, but to like legitimately
get into an argument. We're getting to an argument about
(23:01):
Jack Nicholas and Arnold Palmer, even like Greg Norman and
Nick foul Though I don't feel as strong in my argument.
I can watch all the youtubes and thirty for thirties
and everything possible on the internet, it is not the same.
So watching Scottie Scheffler doing what he's currently doing is
freaking awesome. Now, the sad part is is the tours
in turmoil, the tourist split, and television ratings are down.
(23:24):
Despite golf in terms of the amateur world never being
more popular. More people are playing golf in twenty twenty
four than ever before. The access is much easier. There
are a ton of courses. The public courses are absolutely packed.
The waiting lists at country clubs all over the country
is a mile long. And golf's very, very popular. It's
(23:46):
a unique sport, right. I played high school football, have
not played it down since most people that play high
school football never playing college. Yet we become football fans
the rest of our life. But I'm never gonna throw
a pack at lambeau Field. I'm never gonna run for
a yard in Hinsfield, right where the Pittsburgh Steelers play.
(24:08):
It's like I'll never shoot baskets at MSG. But I
can play golf at the overwhelming majority of courses that
pro's play, and if you're lucky enough to run them
in the right circles, you might even get access to
some of the sweet courses they play that are country clubs.
It's not possible, like if you're a tennis player not
playing Wimbledon. That's what makes golf pretty special. And Tiger
(24:31):
really brought that to light.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
He made it cool.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
I don't know if Scotty Scheffler is that he's not
even close to the level of superstar that Tiger was,
but he is a special player in the peak of
his powers. And after he won the Masters pretty easily,
I thought the most impressive accomplishment he's had in his career,
and he's won the Masters twice, was winning The next
(24:55):
week he literally went home. His wife was pregnant. When
he gets home to Texas, she's asleep. He goes out
with the boys. Forty eight hours later he flies back
to you know, the RBC at like Tuesday night, start
slow on Thursday, and then you look up on Sunday.
He's kicking the shit out of everybody. And I've done
DraftKings today. Right now, they have a special for him
(25:16):
to win the Grand Slam. He's forty to one now.
I've said after the Masters, the only thing like I
think is over under right now on Majors is two
and a half. That's what I would put it at
because I think between Pinehurst and the Open Championship he's
a lock to win one of those two. The only
(25:37):
reason I'm hesitant on the PGA Championship in Valhalla is
because his wife any day could have a baby. And
then the moment when you first have a baby, you
don't sleep. You're sleeping in a terrible chair. Bed, never
had one, but seeing pictures bend to the room after
my friends and brothers have had kids. But it is
(25:58):
a it's a life chain moment, in a life changing
moment for you personally, especially in the short term just
with sleep and your routine is going to be thrown off.
So who knows how much practice he's gonna have before
the PGA. And then I started thinking like, well, had
no practice or probably slept that much or did anything
the couple days leading into the RBC, and he basically
(26:21):
won with his fucking eyes closed, So why couldn't he
win a major? Now? Obviously if his wife hasn't gone
into labor, and that's a story that to me would
have much more substance behind it because she could actually
have the baby. That's a whole different conversation. But if
the baby happens before, you know, I don't know if
I'm off him that much. And if he were to
(26:42):
win Valhalla, that forty to one to me probably goes
down to like twelve to one immediately, because one I
think he's winning Pinehurst. I mean, it sets up perfectly
for him, and by then he will have enough time
to kind of get his routine and just gets a
normal sleep in order for the major push. I looked
(27:02):
at last year, and remember he couldn't putt last year.
He was an awful putter. He finished T ten at
the Masters, which probably gonna be an outlier for his
career because he's gonna win that thing like five times.
And then the next two majors, the PGA. In the
US Open at La Country Club, he finished T two
and third. Again could not put the British Open, which
(27:25):
has given him some trouble though he's only played in
three He finished T twenty three and two years ago.
His best finished in twenty twenty one was T eight.
I guess my overall point is I don't think it's
crazy at all to throw a little money on him.
Forty to one to win the Grand Slam seems crazy, right,
just because of how difficult it is, how much pressure
(27:46):
is on these majors. But for the first time since Tiger,
you're like, yeah, this is real, This is very, very possible. Now.
The crazy thing is when Tiger was in his heyday,
you know, people love to make fun like it was
just Plumber and Fireman is the type guys he was playing.
Now he played against some pretty good players last time
I checked, like Ernie Els could play, VJ. Sink could play.
(28:09):
I mean, David Duvall in the late nineties was pretty
damn good. Now the depth of talent was nowhere near
what it is now, not even close. But Scotti showed
like he's not even that affected by it. I don't
give a shit how good all these guys are. I'm
dramatically better. I'm dramatically better now. The irony is the
one guy that could take him down is a guy
(28:29):
that would be playing potentially in a second major. Ludwig,
who is clearly a special, got a chance to be
a transcendent talent. So I just think this forty to
one number. If you would have told me before the year,
we're just moving forward, anyone could ever win the Grand
Slam again, I'd be like, it'd be shocking if a
guy won two Majors in a year. Given the current
(28:51):
crop of guys playing in these major championship and the
depth of just elite players, I mean, it goes, it
goes fifteen deep with just high high end players. I
don't know, he might just be that much better than everyone.
Despite the baby situation. I've been saying this for a
(29:15):
while because the hype, and rightfully so, is pretty outrageous.
Right that they finished the season strong, their defense was
playing well, The Sweat trade aged pretty well. He was
an immediate impact player. Jalen Johnson became, I don't want
to say like a superstar, but a super high end
corner Fresno kid always a reform and Ryan Poles, I
(29:37):
think universally is considered like a really good GM now
just had an elite twelve months stretch. I've said this
to Colin, I've said this on this podcast. Say it
to any when I talked to The trade he made
for the Panthers, whether Caleb works out or not, has
to be one of the great fleece jobs in league history.
(29:57):
Just the value alone in that trade. Let alone, if
this trade works out, if Dj Moore continues to be
a high end player for them and Caleb Williams just
becomes a top twelve quarterback. It was it was highway robbery.
It was a little Tonza heist. I mean that's what
it was. It turned the other franchise into shambles. I mean,
(30:18):
no one gets made fun of more than the Panthers,
and no one gets more credit and that's what happens
when you have a crazy lopsided deal. So you look
at the franchise, you go, well, Bears trajectory high, Caleb
gonna be the starting quarterback. I mean, at minimum, even
if things go shitty for three and a half, he's
gonna get a long runway Ryan Poles. He's getting a
(30:41):
second coach. Here's the problem, we have absolutely no clue none.
If he reflues is good in all the pressure, because
it's how today the odds, for the first time in
a long time, the Chicago Bears over under is eight
and a half and the under is like minus one forty,
(31:03):
So they are favored to have an above five hundred record.
And that's just from a gambling standpoint. I just think
if you talk to random people, I'm not even talking
Bears fans, you oh yeah, I think the Bears would
be pretty good. They have not had that type hype
in a long long time, probably since the Khalil Mack
trade and when Mitch was kind of an unknown. Well, now,
let's face it, we think this team is better because clearly,
(31:25):
even if you were high on miss Trubisky, your views
on Caleb Williams are gonna be much higher. Well, they
have a coach who is not some established, big name
guy who's coaching for his job. Now you can say
it's the NFL. Most coaches beside like the top six
or seven are coaching for their job. But this guy,
you could see a scenario if they miss the playoffs
(31:47):
and win eight games and even if in some some
tight losses they look really good, he is not the
coach moving forward. And the big theme right now I
heard Slareth with Coward and he's like. One thing Steve
Young used to hammer home all the time is it
can be difficult for a young quarterback playing with a
defensive coach, especially a highly touted guy. And Colin's big
(32:10):
thing always just like hire the offensive head coach. Now,
obviously there are good head coaches that aren't the offensive
play caller. But if we did a coaching draft, we
all know the majority of guys going in the top
five are head coaches that call the place. I mean
three of the top five guys for sure would be
Andy Kyle and Sean McVay in some order. Andy would
clearly go one, and then there'd be the hard boss
(32:32):
and you know guys like that, fighting and even Jim,
despite being viewed as like an offensive lineman defensive guy,
is a former quarterback. So you look at the situation
and everyone is really high on it, and everyone's anointing
these guys, and listen, I'm no different. I like this team,
but I've been around football long enough now. I've been
going to training camps and been around operations from watching
(32:56):
Andy Reid and Harbaugh coach two guys like Jim tom
Sula and Chip Kelly when he was with the forty
nine ers, and Dennis Allen. So who your head coach
is is very important. We all know that this is
not like breaking news here, but the pressure that's gonna
be felt on this team, Like Caleb as pressure, sure,
but he's kind of on scholarship. Ryan Poles has pressure, Sure,
(33:19):
he ain't getting fired. There's only one guy who truly
has winner you're fucked pressure, and that's Matt Eberfluss. And
you know he's redone. His image seems like a good guy,
obviously a solid defensive coach, but it's about winning this year.
And I think if I went to everyone that's listening
right now in Chicago Bears fan, you'd say probably anything
(33:40):
under ten wins would be a disappointment. Well, who's to
say this guy has that capability, not because your roster
talent isn't there. But we all know roster talent doesn't
equal wins always in the NFL. Over the course of us.
It might win you an individual game, but it doesn't
lock you into a ten and seven record, just like
(34:00):
good coaching can overcome. I thought Brian dave Ball a
couple of years ago had one of the great coaching
years in recent memory, because I didn't think their team
was any good and they made the playoffs and won
a playoff game. The other thing the Bears have to
deal with is the division is really really good. I mean,
the Lions roster is loaded. They didn't lose any coaches,
and they didn't lose any players that matter. The Packers,
(34:24):
everyone's kind of anointing them, and I'm probably guilty of
this too. Now Jordan Love's gonna have to prove it again,
but I think we can all agree probably gonna be
pretty good because as all of us learned that short
at the Packers last year is like they kind of
know what they're doing when it comes to quarterbacks, and
we know their roster and the way they draft is
always solid. So if Jordan Love, he doesn't even have
to have some of the outrageous games, if he's just
(34:46):
a top fifteen quarterback, They're gonna win. Why because their
coach is proven to win constantly, whether it's Jordan Love
or Aaron Rodgers. And even Kevin O'Connell. I mean, he
had Kirk Cousins by four have the best year of
his career. I mean there were moments last year, especially
that final month before he heard his achilles, he was
(35:06):
like a top five quarterback in the NFL. And we
know how much talent they have on their roster, so
I think that the divisional difficulties. I also looked at
their schedule. They play the forty nine ers, they play
the Rams, they play the Houston Texans, they play the
Indianapolis Colts, even the Jags, who you know, I think
(35:26):
should be at least a little more feisty than last year.
Like that's a tough game. That AFC South Division is
not as easy as it's been. We know how much
talent Seattle has on their roster. The Cardinals definitely have
more talent this year than last year. And we saw
last year when Kyler came back like they're a mother
to deal with. Even if the Cardinals are a six
win team, you get Kyler on the right day, he
(35:48):
can be a major problem for anybody. So this this
bears height, and I get it has one guy circled
because if it doesn't go well, you know who's gonna
get thrown over. Report the volume
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