Colin’s top takes of the week!
First, he’s joined by John Middlekauff, host of “3 and Out”
They break down why the Chicago Bears won the offseason (3:30) and give an outlook on the suddenly stacked NFC North (7:00) They are puzzled by the Cowboys lack of effort to provide Dak with weapons, but have a theory on why that is (9:00).
They rate the Chargers draft as “substance over style” (12:30) and make their picks for the first and last place finishers for every NFL divisions (21:00)
Then, Colin is joined by Nick Wright, host of “First Things First” on FS1!
They start by talking about why the NBA is still fantastic, just not in January (26:30)
Nick explains why the GIANTS won the draft because of a trade they weren’t able to make (32:30) and why Tom Brady and LeBron James are unique in being the only star athletes who have been able to CHOOSE to leave the game rather than be forced out (37:00). They also dive into Brady’s competitive nature will make him a great broadcaster (40:00).
Finally, they draw the distinction between athletes that are athletes, and athletes that are “artists” (45:00) and explain why Shedeur Sanders could tank his draft stock with his social media posts (55:00)
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. This week on Prime Cuts, John Middlecoff, host
of three and Out on the Bears winning the off season,
Nick Right on Lebron James, and my top takes of
the week. So it's twenty twenty four, and let's talk
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to two nine from your cell Morgan and Morgan has
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in your life. This is a paid advertisement. John Middlecoff,
(01:28):
former NFL scout. Three and Out is his podcast. Everybody
always wants to know who wins the draft. I've had
the same formula as long as I can remember, and
I usually do it on the Monday after the draft.
I'm not going to project how great your fourth, fifth, sixth,
and seventh round picks are, but I will judge your
off season based on your free agent signings and your
(01:50):
first two or three picks, where I get more certainty.
I think the Chicago Bears are a completely different football team.
With Keenan Allen, DeAndre Swift, Gerald Everett, Caleb Williams, and Romadnze.
That's a completely different offense. So if you're asking me
who won the offseason in terms of personnel, might take
(02:11):
his Chicago won't even look the same. I thought Green
Bay got better, but I don't think Chicago will even
look the same. What do you think?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Yeah, I mean, I listen, it's hard not to like Chicago.
I mean what they've done in the last twelve months.
I think that trade that Ryan Poles made It's got
to go down as one of the great trades of
all time. I mean it really does. Would like that, Yeah,
and to get rid of basically they traded all that
for Bryce Young that if you could do a redo,
they would laugh in your face and Carolina would would
(02:39):
throw in picks to swap it back. So yeah, I
think the hype on Caleb, which is the nature of
this beast, the same thing happened to Trevor Lawrence. He
does not need to be immediately a superstar. He just
needs to be solid, right, and they should be good
because last year they could have been a playoff team
if their quarterback could have just functioned from the pocket,
couldn't function from the Now you add Keenan Allen and
(03:02):
Romadon say, you know the best part about romadonsay, he
doesn't have to do that much like he was the
lead dogg at Washington which had about fifteen guys draft
that it felt like and he was a fantastic player,
but he gets to ease in. Yeah, a lot of
people like Marvin Harrison, we talked about this last on Thursday,
has no choice anything less than eighty ninety catches. They're
not getting enough out of them given what in his group.
(03:25):
So Rome, if he just has forty five to fifty catches,
maybe six touchdowns, you're awesome. Even though it's the ninth pick.
You'd like a little more. But given this team this year,
Keenan probably be only there one year. So next year
he takes a bigger jump. But they're not as dependent
on their young wide receiver as a lot of teams
are when they draft a guy high.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
They're also going to have a fourth place schedule, so yeah,
it helps.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Yeah, And the division's hard.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
The division's hard. It might be the best division in football.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
I think offensively, I've said this. I think last time
we were on you could make a Pro Bowl offense
out of that division that could competes with the NFL.
I mean, there's just stars everywhere. And I also thought,
I'll say this about the NFC and Earth. I thought
Green Bay, if you count Josh Jacobs Xavier McKinney in
free agency, upgrade it back really good safety along with Morgan,
(04:16):
Jordan Morgan the tackle from Arizona, Edrian Cooper the linebacker,
and m who I heard the Rams like Bullard the
safety from Georgia, like that's five really good players, So
I green Bay. You know, it's interesting. If you told
me two teams that draft well in the last decade,
(04:36):
I would actually say Green Bay in Tampa. But they're
so divergent in terms of success because one gets the
quarterback right and one hasn't. I always feel with Jason
lt if you go look at Tampa's first four picks,
I loved him. I think he's one of the best
drafters in the league. They can't get quarterback right. The
difference is and by the way, classic Michael Pratt who
fell to the seventh, Green Bay gets him. He won't
(04:58):
see the field for three years, and you look, he's
a big kid, six three, two twenty, not a huge jar.
But you look up in three years and be like,
what's a functional starter in the NFL. But that division,
you know, it's really interesting about Chicago, Green Bay, Detroit, Minnesota.
Minnesota maybe the most talented potential fourth place team that
(05:20):
I can remember. I was doing this over the course
of the weekend. I was writing down everybody's ten best
players in that division. There is not much that separates
Detroit Minnesota, like it's inches not if Darnald plays well,
you could see Minnesota to the last weekend competing.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Well, isn't it a good example? Used Jason Light they
had no quarterback, they insert Brady at forty two years
old and just start dominating. Right. So if they would
have had the same roster, you would have put Aaron Rodgers,
the same thing would have happened. Look at last year,
Baker had what seventy five percent of the season, was
pretty solid, and they were a playoff team and they
kicked the Eagles ass and they were right there in
the second playoff game with the Lions. So the quarterback position,
(05:58):
which I'm sure we'll talk about, is so important. But
I'm with you, like I think Green Bay is going
to be very, very dependent on this. Jeff Haffley, the
guy that they hired from Boston College who was very
well thought of. Kyle Shanahan really liked them the Ohio
State when Ryan Day first got the job, made him
a code defensive coordinator. But he's got to be good
(06:19):
because that's really been the downfall of their operation, right
just and really goes back to McCarthy with some of
their great teams with Aaron Rodgers and listen, Mickveigh, what
do they do defense right away. Kyle Shanahan, what's he
always doing defense? They're all the top teams, even Dan
Campbell their first two picks corners, and they've invested heavily
(06:40):
in the defensive line. So you're playing a lot of
teams in your conference, Howie Roseman over the last couple
of years, Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, Cooper, Dejen Mitchell, the
teali it's just defense. They just invest in that side
of the ball. We know Green Bay and now Lafloor
is well established. They're gonna score a lot of points
and they have explosive players. Jacobs, I think Josh take
a better player to take one Barkley. I mean, that
(07:01):
guy is when he's healthy, he's a top two or
three running back in the NFL. But it's gonna come
down to defense. And like you said, in that division, Listen,
I don't know how good Sam Darnold's gonna be, but
if you catch him on the right day with those
offensive weapons, they could score thirty five points. Yeah, So
it's just you better a lot of pressures on that higher.
You know, you got rid of Joe Berry, who was
(07:22):
his buddy. It wasn't going as well, not all his fault.
Sometimes it's the players too, But they've invested. They have
invested a lot of picks, right, The Packers have on
that side of the ball over the last half decade,
a ton of high round picks on defense.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
What Jerry doesn't want to do is get trapped with
Dak Prescott. And I thought it was strategic. I thought
that was Jerry Jones saying, listen, we're gonna rely on you, Dak.
This here. We're not giving you all this Sammo. We're
gonna rebuild the offensive line. You'll get protection, but in
a contract here, the last thing I'm gonna do is
(07:57):
load you up with weapons. Dak's productions absolutely gonna come down.
I mean, they just don't have a running back of
note on the roster. And people could say, well, you're
tanking the year. They're not tanking the year they'll be
a good football team. But it felt strategic to me
to not address running back and really frankly not address
(08:17):
receiver until in the sixth round. That didn't feel like
just a bad stroke of luck to me.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
I'm torn because it's hard for me to be critical
when the ever you go offensive and defensive line early
in the draft, which they have, and they're a good
drafting team, bad running back draft. But let's face the
colin until they give him a contract extension, which they
should not. To me, this is him and McCarthy are
playing for their jobs. Yeah, I mean this guy, Let's
face it, they paid him a lot of money a
(08:46):
couple of years ago off the broken ankle, and he's
been really good in the regular season. In the playoffs
two out of three years, he was atrocious. I mean,
he was really bad three years ago against the Niners
in this year in that first half in the game
was over. Wasn't all his fault, but he did not
play winning football. The price has gone up dramatically since
they gave him forty million dollars a year just because
the market right. So can you give Dak Prescott fifty
(09:08):
five million dollars a year?
Speaker 3 (09:09):
I can't.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
I underno, and I he's better than Tua, But I
say the same thing about Tua. If you're in that
business long term, you're signing up at best to be
a one and done playoff team. And the other thing is,
let's face it, the Eagles have a lot more talent
on their roster. Yeah, dramatically more top to bottom. We'll
take john look at a team.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Look at this, I mean aj Brown, DeVante Smith, Saquon
Barkley better at tight end and an athlete in their
primeate quarterback. I mean, I don't at Lane Johnson at
right tackle. I don't think it's necessarily close. I mean,
I think you're being kind saying they have more talent.
I think it's lobsided in favor of Philly.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Well and if Michael Parson is the best defensive player
of the group, it's not like the Eagles haven't invested
in that side the last couple of years in the
draft with Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis. They just draft. They
get the top corner in this draft with Cooper Degen
as their second round pick, who will loo a lot
of people had and how he even said we had
a first round great on him as well. Darius Slay
is an older player, but he's still a solid starter.
(10:07):
They'll get rid of Brad Berry the Eagles, and now
you add Fangio and Kellen Moore to the mix because
last year their coaches really let him down. Like to me,
this is anything less like one takeaway after the draft
for the NFC East. I don't think the Giants are
very good. Washington's in this rebuild mode. The Eagles have
no excuse not to win this get that's right. I
mean last year they imploded, Dallas kind of lucked into
(10:28):
it at the end. Remember, but this should not like
there should be a two or three game difference.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
Now.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
I think Dallas is gonna be good. I'm talking, you know,
nine ten wins, but the Eagle there should be a
gap between the two teams.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
I don't think there's any question. And listen, there's there's
a line with Dak Prescott. If he does not get
one hundred yards run support, Dax wins about thirty five
percent of his games. So it did feel like to
me they got the cap issues, so you had to
address running back in the draft. You're not gonna fine
running back where.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Well, they don't really exist. You just got to get
lucky with an undrafted free agent. Basically, you're keeping your
fingers crossed, you know.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
I thought hardball was going to have there were going
to be more fireworks with the Chargers. I did think
they got a couple of really interesting pieces, a couple
of small school guys. But I think By and large,
the Joe allpick was interesting because they have a left tackle,
though Slater had an injury and all, it's kind of
an He's an athlete, he was a high school basketball player.
(11:26):
He's he's moved around, he's been a he's a very
good athlete.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
You see his pictures after we got off of him
sitting with his family. How massive that human being is.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
So it's one of those things where I never bought
into them taking a wide receiver. I just didn't buy.
And everybody's mock draft have them at receiver, and I'm
thinking that's just not what they They're not going to
get some skinny kid from LSU, who's so I mean
to me, the pick made sense. But I didn't think
the Chargers had that many fireworks. I thought they did
(11:56):
this basic stuff, played in the gym.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
You know.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
I think they got a linebacker if I recall from
the Michigan But I didn't think there was a ton
of fireworks with the Chargers.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
You know what's funny is most people, up until the
last couple of weeks, when I think a lot of
people around the NFL like Jim's not taking a wide receiver. Guys,
So we can stop talking about that. But even the
second pick in Lad McConkie. You know a lot of
people have been like, go get Herbert, go trade up
and get a Xavier Worthy, or you know, get Keon Coleman,
the guy the Bills took, and he took Lad McConkie.
(12:30):
You know who's gonna end up to me being more
Edelman Wes Welker can play right in the slot receiver.
Jim's not into this sexy football. He's not trying to
be you know, Lane Kiffin or Lincoln Riley. That's not
the way he coaches. He coaches like he's prepared to
pay playing Mike Ditka and Joe Gibbs back in nineteen
(12:51):
eighty eight. And that's the way that's been successful up
into him three months ago when he won the national championship. Fundamentally,
that's and I think when he said we view offensive
lineman as weapons, he's not making a he's being serious
as a heart attack because he truly believes that. So
justin Herbert, like they are, I'm actually a little shocked
that they didn't get Blake Korum. I'm pissed the Rams
(13:12):
and I love that pick, but that it's just he's
going to the football is gonna look no different than
if you pull up Stanford year one in eight. It's
gonna look the exact same. And it looked the same
in the forty nine ers. Early on in Michigan he
changed for a minute. Remember when he hired Gaddis, the
spread guy from album and he hated it. Yeah, and
he hated it. And then who became his right hand man?
(13:34):
Sharon Moore? What's the an O line coach? And that
guy became the head. Those are the people he likes.
You see these videos coming out of him at the
at the trailer park. It was not the trailer park,
but you know he lived right with Greg Roman. What
do they talk about running game? Offensive linemen, they're all
that hybrid of the ravens of him. They're all interconnected.
(13:56):
And I'm just honestly, if you would have told me
he would have drafted all offensive and defensive linemen. Those
were the only picks, no wide receivers two weeks ago,
I would have believed you. I mean, that's not how
it played out. But he thinks he can win. If
he's winning at that group, he can figure the rest
out through I would say psychological and physical warfare because
(14:16):
he wants to shove you around. And let's face it,
most teams in the NFL, you know, when you look
at like once we get to the final four of
the final eight, it's a lot of physical teams and
the soft teams. Some teams that can score. They got
no shot, They got no shot. And you look at
the final four, who wasn't It was the Niners, it
was the Ravens, it was the Chiefs. What if the
Lions become under Dan Campbell. Dan Campbell's got a little
(14:38):
Jim harbaughd Yeah, right, And I would say they throw
it a little more than Jim, But that's part of
It's their weapons. Saint Brown's a fantastic player, but it
starts with the offensive and defensive lines with them, and
that's where they've invested the last couple well, even Saint Brown.
Jim would love Saint Brown. So woul Kyle Shanahan. He's
their type, breaks tackles. He's not some sexy outside wide
receiver despite his stats.
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Speaker 1 (16:31):
So I went and it was interesting. I went and
I went and looked at all my divisions. So we're
basically through it now. We have new coaches, we have
free agency, staffs are all for that. We have the draft,
and I'll just do the first and last place teams
and stop mena. I'm gonna go this.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
This is what you think coming up?
Speaker 1 (16:55):
This was yeah, this season, I have Buffalo first, New
England last, Baltimore first, Cleveland last. Cleveland had a weird draft.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Kansas since he could be a wild card there, Burrows healthy, Yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Put them second, Kansas City first, Raiders last, tough division,
Houston first, Tennessee's an easy last, Philly first, I have
Giants last. I'm with it, Detroit first, Minnesota last. Though
it's close Atlanta first, New Orleans last, or Carolina kind
(17:29):
of question mark. I have the Rams first and I
have Seattle last. I think the Rams are I thought
they really nailed their first four picks. I thought they
really Yeah, is anything so we can argue about the
second and third teams, but any of those first and
last you would push back on.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Yeah, let's talk about McVeigh because I thought he's a
good example what Kyle and Andy and these offensive coaches
have invested in physical players because they know that they
can scheme guys open yea and he invests his first
pick in verse who's been a few as a first rounder.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
This day, we loved him. Heard a month ago they
loved him.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
This second round pick one of the guy. When I
started at Fresno State, we had a student assistant who
has worked his way up and he's been with Oregon State.
He's been the GM for Florida State for like the
last three years, and he's Derek Ray. He's you know,
if we talked about college gms like we do NFL GMC,
I mean, look.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
At this draft.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
I mean how many guys at Florida State were has picked.
He's done a great job working hand in hand with Norvelle.
I said, what this Brandon Fisk guy, Brandon Fisk tell
me about him? He said, think Max Crosby. But inside,
So their first two picks, you know, we know that's
how Verse kind of plays power, that's what this guy plays.
So you're never going to replace Aaron Donald. But they
go back to back picks basically in what fifteen to
(18:46):
twenty pick because they traded up. They got Fisk in
the top forty, so they invest immediately and they get
Blake korm who if he's healthy. We've seen how this
guy was a heartbeat of one of the better college
football programs we've seen over the last twenty years. H
I mean, it's like Jim Harbu's favorite player since Frank Gore.
So I think the gap shrunk a little bit. And
I think Kyle Shanahan showed you something drafting that wide
(19:09):
receiver in the first round. Deebo Samo could not get
open to the Super Bowl. He can't run routes. And
I'm not trying to talk about d Ball.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
I love him.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
He's a lot of stuff he does in football. I
admire a lot the physicality, the ability to make plays,
but he is limited as a wide receiver. He can't
get open, and I think Kyle was tired of it,
and it's not at this point in time, it's not
going to change. He kind of is what it is.
So maybe Deebo, moving forward, you're gonna be on this
new kickoff return guy and you'll kind of come in
with McCaffrey in the backfield. But we need to run.
(19:37):
We need to have wide receivers like a Yuk who
can run routes. And because like look at the Rams,
they got a bunch of guys that can run routes.
I can't scheme up every single play. We got guys
on defense, we got guys on offense. But that they
drafted Piersoll like that clearly was something that rattle Shanahan,
just like McVeigh, like, we need to be even more physical.
(20:00):
We're going to get over that hump against all these
great offenses and they double down. So I think I
think those two teams right there with the Lions, right
there with the Packers, right there with the Eagles, Like
it's pretty clear with the NFC who's who the cream
of the crop is.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Right Yeah, And I think I also think you have
to take this into consideration is Debo McCaffrey's had injuries
in his career, Trent Kittle, you can't have your four
top guys all feel like they're older than their age.
Like if you have Ayyuk is a kid, right, he's
just moving into his prime. If you're gonna if you're
gonna move off and next year they have to address
(20:33):
left tackle because Trent is a wall. But I'm with you.
I look at the NFC and I think it's I mean,
the Rams were so much better than everybody thought. I
knew going into the weekend. They felt brock Bauers could
start for him. Two of the defensive ends they thought
were really good, the UCLA kid and Jared Verse. They
loved those two. And then I knew they loved a
(20:55):
couple different defensive linemen and the Florida State guy Fisk
is one of them. And then I felt Blake Cole.
I mean, I knew they loved Korum, but I mean
they when people got on them for giving up a
second round pick and a fifth to move up, they
really felt like they needed two starters in the defensive line,
a great backup running back for Kien Williams, and a
playmaking guy in the back. The Miami kid like they
(21:17):
didn't have a lot of needs a lot of their
stuff after those picks, interior lineman Kicker. The Texas receivers
were the a special teams guy. Otherwise they would have
taken Taj Washington from USC they who they liked a lot,
but they needed a special teams guy. So I mean,
I think a lot of these teams come into the weekend,
the NFC teams, and the Rams are one of them.
I think people forget this for the elite teams, and
(21:41):
I consider the Rams in a group of about seven
or eight, they come in kind of thinking we need
two starters and like two really crucial productive backups. But
I've never had a problem John with giving away picks
to go get up and get a guy. Nick right
stops five, We'll chop it up. The playoffs have been
absolutely riveting. Can't turn it off of must have been
(22:03):
electric electric And then, by the way, this is the
first round. This is the worst I can look past.
So my take on I never mind people who are
a pushback contrarian, but I do feel you and I
are pretty honest about Yeah, it was either wrong or
I can I can literally think two things. Load management
(22:26):
pisses me off, and the NBA is great. It's just
not great. In January, well.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
And things there are the everything has become. It feels
so tribal, Yes that it is. Everything is the way
the way a die hard fan of a specific sports team,
the way a die hard fan of Alabama football roots
(22:54):
for Alabama football is basically how a huge percentage of
people deal with every aspect of their life. I fucking
love it, so everything about it is correct, and anyone
criticizing it is wrong, as opposed to any type of
I love this, didn't like this, this is good, This
is bad. Anyone that acts as if the NBA folks
(23:19):
who've been like NBA is dying, you know that is baby.
You know it's obviously not true. Anybody though, acting as
if that there aren't aspects to the the overwhelming and
what is about to be under the new TV deal
one hundred million dollars a year contracts that complicate a
(23:43):
lot of the day to day factors of the league.
They're being intellectually dishonest in my opinion. I also, I
do think and I maybe have mentioned this to you.
I know I mentioned it on my pod. But I
do think the NBA made a strategic error this season.
(24:05):
So I'm gonna tell I'm gonna do a Colin Coward
in a bit, I'm gonna give an anecdote or a story.
It'll get there. So a guy who you know, I'm
sure Connor Shll Yeah. So you know he you know,
used to be run It was a big executive at ESPN,
helped start thirty for thirties. Now he runs a company
(24:26):
of his own. Oddly, his father and my mom worked
together when I was a little kid, so I knew
Connor is a little kid, and I never really knew
exactly what his dad did. And maybe I'm wrong, but
as a little kid, what it was described to me
as he was in charge of long term strategy, meaning
(24:47):
like when Sprint came out with a new phone, his
job would be like, Okay, when this phone is bordering
on obsolete, how are we gonna sell the last hundred
of them? You know what I mean? Like long, long,
short thinking. And I think the NBA needed someone in
that role eighteen months ago to say, guys, here is
(25:11):
all of NBA history and ages of guys on their
last playoff run. Are is it on the board that
we just had the final Lebron Deep Playoffs, STEPH Deep Playoffs,
Durant Deep playoffs, these guys. Is it possible, in fact
(25:32):
overwhelmingly likely, that one, two, or all of them aren't
going to be around when the calendar turns to May.
If so, is it worthwhile for us to take a
short term regular season ratings hit by featuring the Oklahoma
(25:52):
City Thunder, the Minnesota Timberwolves, these teams to prime the
audience that this is where our league's going. And they
didn't do that. Instead it was Warriors, Lakers, Suns these guys.
So I do wonder if this second round of the playoffs,
when you have Nuggets, Timberwolves, and when you have Thunder,
(26:13):
maybe MAVs, if people are gonna see a ratings dip.
It won't affect the new TV contract all of that,
But because the audience doesn't know this is their league now, Colin,
if the Bucks lose this series, they're down three to two.
And if the Clippers lose this series, the oldest star
player left in the playoffs, Luca is no, not Luke,
(26:35):
Kyrie is Kyrie who's thirty just turned thirty two. That everyone,
everyone will be gone like Joker, who's twenty eight or
twenty nine will be like the third oldest star left.
The Clippers are all old guys. They're on the I
think gonna lose. The Lakers are already out. The Warriors
didn't make it, the Suns are out, the Bucks are
(26:57):
on the brink. Like this is a massive storming of
the gates of the twenty somethings. But everyone should have
expected it. When Kobe Bryant's last playoff game ever, he
was thirty two. Michael Jordan was thirty five, Like, the
guys don't play if people saw what Lebron did, so
they thought Stephen Durant and Kawhi and Paul George are
gonna do it. Nobody else is gonna do it. Stephan
(27:19):
kd already exceeded age expectation. So I think the NBA
made a mistake there. I also think my favorite two
months of the year are the NBA playoffs. Ye, my
favorite twenty days of the year or my twenty NFL Sundays,
and my favorite two months of the year of the
NBA playoffs.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Yeah, I don't disagree. Last weekend, the draft of the
NBA Playoffs is the best non NFL Weekend of the
Year by far. I just I didn't leave my place
the whole damn weekend. I thought it was that was
just draft playoffs, Draft twelve good.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
I think you can make an argument the Giants won
the draft because New England didn't take their trade. It's
reported yesterday that the Giants offered six and next year's
number one for the third pick, and I'm like, oh,
so they hoped to draft Drake May at three, not
(28:16):
add any weapons in the first round, to trade the
pick and have Drake May, a twenty one year old
with high upside, but who was a radic at North
Carolina at put him behind that offensive line with those weapons.
Guess what I think that they done, That they'd be
drafting number one next year and they'd be sending it
(28:36):
to New England like Carolina just did. Like the fact
that the Giants now have next year's number one. This year,
you know, maybe Drew Lock plays, maybe Daniel Jones plays,
but at least he has a weapon, and then next
year you try to go find your quarterback. That I
think New England turning that trade down was a bit
(28:57):
of a mistake. They'll regret. I think that you could
have gone on to six, gotten Giants number one next year,
and at six, we know Minnesota is willing to give
you eleven and twenty three, so you could have had
eleven and twenty three to add players, your first rounder
and the Giants first rounder next year, start Jakobe for
a season, and then that's what I would have done
(29:19):
it for for in New England. But New England's GM
was auditioning for his job. He doesn't even have it yet,
and the owners that I want a quarterback, so I
guess he's gonna draft a quarterback.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
I had an executive in the league said, if you're
the Giants, you are rooting for Bryce Young and Will
Levis because then the only other team that's guaranteed to
take a quarterback is the Raiders. So somebody said he said,
he said to me, you are rooting for that. Let
hit point and Bryce Young to hit if you're the Giants,
because then it's like us and the Raiders need quarterbacks
(29:48):
and they'll be two good prospects. You know, Shador Sanders,
the kid cam Ward at Miami, who's pretty interesting.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
There's a kids at Day.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
You've got a transfer who's pretty interesting.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
No, and I the win yours people like him. And
then there's one more that we're forgetting. That's the guy
who's most likely to go number one. I talked about
on the show today, so I see if I can
remember it. But the I was just about to look, like,
hold on a second, who are the teams that could.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
Titans Giants?
Speaker 3 (30:18):
Well, Carson Beck is the other one, the kid from
Georgia that.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
I don't think he's a top five pick. I think
he's Georgia good.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
I think you're probably right. But the if you look
at I was gonna look through the NFL like teams
that you know, Buffalo, no, Miami, No. The Jets are
a maybe if Aaron gets hurt, if Aaron gets hurt,
you know what I mean? The Jets are a maybe.
New England No, Baltimore. Cleveland is a maybe. I don't
know what I mean. They're and I mean that's a
(30:47):
rough spot, man, uh but Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh's a maybe.
So there's a bunch of maybees. But there's not a
lot of definites to your point, like the because everybody
when six quarterback going round one, everybody thinks they have
a quarterback. You know what I mean, like there's just
the you mentioned.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
Go ahead, sorry, and they'll at least give those quarterbacks
till Thanksgiving of the second year. And so this executive said,
the bottom line, if you're the Giants, he said, I
don't think will Levis is gonna work. He said, I
think Bryce will. He liked Bryce. He said, Bryce is talented.
He's not as big as you'd like, but they got
him weapons, they got him a really good wide receiver.
(31:28):
He's like, Bryce will move the chains. They'll stick with him.
But he said, the Giants and the Raiders, that's it
that you're absolutely and neither one's going to be any good.
He said, so those are those are your top two
potential picks.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
Yeah, and for one of those teams, Tom Brady probably.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Played for him, so they don't won't need to Why not?
Speaker 3 (31:47):
I mean the he wants to play football so badly,
Like I get it. The I mean, I I don't
blame him. That. Did you see Lebron's quote? Lebron had
a quote after the game that I thought was so fascinating.
It was also almost a little sad, and it made
me think of Brady to a degree where Lebron said,
I think to Dave mcmannimon along the lines of I'm
(32:10):
never gonna be bad, so, but at some point I'm
gonna have to stop. And he basically said, like, you know,
I'm not chasing anything anymore. I've accomplished everything I wanted
to accomplish, but at some point I've got to stop playing.
And it was such a unique thing because I watched it.
I'm like, yeah, he's never gonna be I mean, I
(32:32):
never's a long time obviously, but I think five years
from now Lebron would be good. I do. I like,
I know, you know what I mean. Right now, what
is he at best the sixth best player in the
league and at worst the twelfth best player in the league.
He's somewhere in there. He you know what I mean,
he lives. He's better, in my opinion, clearly than Devin Booker.
(32:53):
And Devin Booker's an all NBA guy.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
He led the NBA in fourth quarter buckets and playoff
bucket right.
Speaker 3 (33:01):
So, and he played seventy one games. So it's such
a unique spot for Lebron, which is like most guys
get forced out. Most guys they you know what I mean,
they have their fair their averaging five points a game,
So he's not gonna be that. So at some point
he's just gonna have to be like, I guess I'm done.
(33:21):
I'm stopping. And that's kind of what happened with Tom.
Like I understand the Bucks were not good Tom's last year,
but the year before he almost won MVP. He still
grew for a million yards.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
He's better than half the quarterbacks today easily, no question,
no question.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
And he just stopped. And there's I understand that there
was families some of New Zealand. I get it, but
I think every time someone puts a microphone in front
of him, he clearly is like, goddamn it, I want
to play football. I missed playing football. And you know
he's gonna be with Fox and calling games and maybe
that'll scratch the itch, but it also might make him
(33:59):
watch these guys and be like, god, dog it, I'm
better than that guy, you know, And so like it's
a weird spot. We're seeing two guys Lebron nearing the
end and Brady who just ended, who played longer than
anybody ever in the history of their field and at
a higher level than anyone ever thought, who both you know,
(34:22):
Brady already had to and Lebron's gonna have to We're
gonna have to oddly make the decision of like I
guess I just should stop because I'm old, but I'm
not bad, and it's such a weird thing, like people
are like, Oh, John Elway went out on top. John
Elway went out winning super Bowls, but he was not
good anymore, like you know what I mean. I'm not
(34:42):
disrespecting John, but like the he was, he was a
shell of the player that he was. Peyton Manning went
out winning a Super Bowl, was nine touchdown, seventeen picks
that year. Was a shell. But even the guys who
go out on top are usually not good anymore. So
I don't know, you know what I mean. The Brady
seems to still miss it. I don't know what Lebron's
(35:04):
gonna do.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Brady is I can I I'll probably get in trouble
saying this, But Brady his preparation for broadcasting at Fox. Dude,
he he's in the building today. You're not gonna get
in trouble for he was in the building today, the
last the next three days, he's in the building practicing.
Like Brady is as obsessed about this. People don't understand
(35:28):
the people.
Speaker 3 (35:29):
I think he's gonna be great. I think he's gonna
be great because he's competitive. Yes, I think that is.
I think the key to so much of this is competitive. Yes.
And I think that there is the Tom had And
I don't know Tom at all, but he had recently
(35:51):
in the last year he did an interview and he
was talking about during the game and was basically about
how like he hated who he was playing against, like
he would build up an anger and like the real
like Frauth. Because he's a competitive And now I think
he's going to look around and be like, I need
(36:13):
to be better. And it helps that most of the
other people in his spot are quarterbacks too. I need
to be better than Troy. I need to be better
than Tony. I know Collins, it's not a quarterback, but
I need to. I think he's gonna want to be
considered the best. And there was always you remember God,
it feels like a lifetime ago. But during when the
(36:36):
Flategate happened and Tom unfairly at his text messages leaked
and the text message to his I think it was
his dad, maybe it was his friend about Peyton. Yeah,
and they were to draw about back and forth, and
Tom said, He's like, yeah, but I'm gonna play five
more years and Peyton's done, and then it's not even
going to be a debate. And by the way, he
was right about that. That's exactly what happened. But I
(36:59):
also think there's like competitiveness with Peyton, which is Peyton's
a broadcaster, you know what I mean, and everybody, unlike
some of the other broadcasters, none of the Blooms everybody.
I think that broadcast is great. People love it. I
think he's gonna be like, I'm gonna crush these guys. Yeah,
I'm gonna I really do so. I bet he's gonna
be awesome.
Speaker 1 (37:23):
I think about this a lot because I do criticize
athletes at times about how remarkable athletes are. So if
you look at the history of comedy, you get to
be the funniest guy in the world for about three
to five years. Ben Stiller, Jim Carrey, there was Drew
Carey twenty five years ago. Mike Myers.
Speaker 3 (37:44):
By the way, he's very charitable to include Ben Stiller
on the funniest Guy. He's worldless. He's pretty good, pretty good.
Go ahead. Maybe he's a friend I don't know who
you're having drinks with, but go ahead.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
So if you go look at you know, Chris rock A,
Jerry Seinfeld, David you know where you're sort of spell Chappelle. Yeah, so,
and then it's very hard to be as funny because
your life experience changes dramatically because there's so much money
in movies and production when you get.
Speaker 3 (38:16):
Big, that's right.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
Yeah, of course hip hop stars similarly, first couple albums
can be fantastic and then the material changes hard.
Speaker 3 (38:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:26):
Athletes, what's really amazing is athletes are almost the opposite.
Mahomes is better since he's been paid, Lebron was better
when he was paid. Is that athletes, unlike other entertainers,
often feel a guilt or a pressure to elevate their
(38:50):
greatness when they're paid. It's very rare when you look
at athletes. They get paid, and I'm sure it happens,
but I'm.
Speaker 3 (38:57):
Told it not to the great ones. That's between the
great ones and everyone else, because I think that when
you talk about getting paid, but I think that at
every step of your athletic journey, there has been a
getting paid, but the not actually money moment where you
could relax you know what I mean, The kid who,
(39:19):
when he makes varsity as a freshman takes his foot
off the gas doesn't get the college scholarship. And the
kid who, when he goes to college is a starter
early on and takes far off the gas doesn't make
the league. So it almost you know what I mean,
It slowly, but surely weeds. It weeds those people out
because it's such a finite number and there's always a
(39:41):
new crop of people coming for those jobs.
Speaker 1 (39:44):
Also, is that in hip hop, when you win, you're
worshiped by everybody. In comedy, when you're the king of laughs,
you are worshiped by everybody. In sports, when you win,
most of the league hates you. So in sports, greatness
(40:04):
does not equal worship outside of your town. It equals
kind of a villain, kind of a target. And and
that's why music critics tend to be too soft and
and and you know, movie critics are you know, they
they're they're too in bed with them music and movie
critics in Hollywood. When's the last really tough reporter that
(40:26):
Hollywood had? They don't. So it goes to your head
in music, and it doesn't work that way. But the
media in sports kicks the shit out of you. Once
you're great. It's like, well, you weren't good last week
against Cleveland. And there's there's a healthy there's a healthy
account ability that doesn't exist in comedy, movies, music. This
(40:50):
accountability standings criticism that I think actually, it's like being
tough on your kids. It builds character.
Speaker 3 (40:58):
So I think you might have just solved. Might not
be the right word, but you just said something that
really crystallized something for me. Okay, we might have just like,
I feel like this is a real thing that just
(41:19):
happened because you talk, you're talking about them between athletes
and artists. Yeah, And I'm not taking I'm really not
trying to be unfair or take a shot. But there
are two specific NBA players that I think, as great
as they are, have markedly underachieved their talent and ability,
(41:46):
even though they are. One of them's one of the
twenty greatest players ever and one of them is one
of the ten most skilled players ever. And I think
both of them view themselves more artists than athletes. And
those two guys are heaven Rant and Kyrie Era, and
I think a lot of what has worked against them
(42:06):
and a lot of what they have pushed against is
that they are covered like their athletes and not like
their artists. That it is a lot of criticism and
a lot of why did you do this, and a
lot of but you didn't do that, and comparative stuff
that athletes are used to. But they're like, we're fucking artists, man,
(42:32):
I am out here painting a picture and you're asking
me these questions, like, just appreciate the art. Meanwhile, other
folks who look at themselves as I don't want to say,
hired guns, but we are in competition and we are
(42:52):
here to win and toe, you know, to do what
we have to do, haven't been as bothered by the
media criticism. But it does Katie and Kyrie who and
again Kyrie, to his credit, has been unbelievable this year,
and Katie post Achilles is the best Achilles recovery in
(43:17):
sports history. So I'm not trying to be unfair. It
really is. I'm not trying to be unfair and I
aren't trying to take a shot, but they really seem
to both struggle with the way they are covered by
the media and what you just described about how artists,
musicians or actors or comedians are covered by the media
(43:40):
is different than how we do athletes. We don't do
when a movie six, when there is a huge movie
release weekend. When Barbie and Oppenheimer come out the same weekend,
there were no articles written like, well, fucking Oppenheimer, how
do you not win that? People are just like this
(44:00):
was awesome. This was even more awesome. These are both great.
It's and so that I do. I think there is
something there and maybe I can describe it exactly right,
but about the difference between how athletes and artists are discussed,
and whether or not you consider yourself an athlete or
an artist, and how you want to then be discussed
(44:20):
in how you feel you should be discussed.
Speaker 1 (44:22):
I also think basketball more than any sport, and soccer
has some of this as well. I've always compared basketball
to international soccer. Messi is an artist, Rinaldo is an artist.
Kevin Durant is an artist. Tom Brady's a football player,
right like Mike Trout's a baseball player. That's different.
Speaker 3 (44:41):
But I think Lebron's an artist.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
No, No, he's more compartmentalized and strategic artists, aren't they
kind of hear? I mean very much Lebron's a stacker.
Compartmentalize work on this part of the game, solve this part.
Kevin Durant's not looking to solve. Kyrie Irving's not looking
to solve parts their game. They're looking to paint their
most beautiful picture. Kyrie had it the other night with
(45:05):
that layup over three Clippers.
Speaker 3 (45:07):
Yes, yes, exactly right, like that kind even though they
that kind of was and there is something beautiful about
this and we're honorable about it, where it's like that
Kyrie has worked for He's thirty two, so call it
twenty five years on every little bit of his ability
(45:31):
in order to pull off that one moment. And I
know he's obviously on way more than that, but I'm
saying like that that was of physics and basketball impossibility.
Speaker 1 (45:43):
It was incredible. It was it was his mona, Lisa,
it was his.
Speaker 3 (45:46):
Yes, exactly right, it was, And it was like, oh,
you are probably literally the only human being who's ever
lived who could do that. Like I believe that. I
really believe that. Yeah, And I think there's for Kyrie.
He's like in God, damn it, you guys still credit.
Speaker 2 (46:05):
Like do you not see it?
Speaker 3 (46:07):
Like do you not understand, but because it's sports, we're like, yeah,
but you're lost and you haven't been in the finals
in eight years because it's sports, and so yeah, I
do think there is I want to think about this
more because you said it in real time, but I
do think there is something really to that, and I
(46:29):
think there is. I'm going to start like looking at
because you know, another guy who I think was as
much as you can be in football, closer to artists
than an athlete, is my Palodell. I think there was
a lot of like, look at this show I am
(46:49):
putting on. Look at what I can do that I
have worked on and honed, and the beauty of it
and then all. But he he's also a guy who
never felt he was given a fair shake by the media,
you know what I mean, who never felt it was
that it was that he was covered fairly.
Speaker 1 (47:09):
I called an NFL head coach on Will Levis's combine
when he was wearing a shirtless yes ripped. It was
very Brady Quinn and I said, I'm out on him,
and he goes call this NFL head coach successful coach,
he said, Colin. It was the talk of a road
(47:29):
trip me and the GM went on recently. It was
the talk of the he cares deeply about his girlfriend
was beautiful. He's a good looking guy, big man on
campus in Kentucky at basketball school. He's the football star
Will Levis's I'm going to show you my build literally
a successful GM and coach said they went on a
drive and that it was the topic of conversation like
(47:53):
he's got the wrong priorities.
Speaker 3 (47:55):
On that note, and we can, you know, leave it
at this. I am shocked. So I don't know if
you saw this reporting, but Spencer Rattler evidently was on
a Netflix dock six years ago when he was in
high school. Did you see any of this comment? Okay,
(48:16):
so there was a Lebron's company produced a Netflix documentary
called QB one, and it was basically they followed around
I didn't see it some top high school quarterback prospects
on their journey, you know what I mean? Like, what's
it like to be one of the top prospects in America?
Is a sixteen year old? Sixteen And evidently Spencer Rattler
(48:39):
was a real dick as a kid, was mean to
his backup quarterback, was a bit of a bully, was
kind of like your stereotypical, mean, popular jock, and Ian
Rappaport reported that multiple teams brought it up to him
before the draft, like yeah, we just we and it's like, dude,
(48:59):
this guy was literally sixteen years old, Like I don't know, man, Like,
please don't use against me in a job interview how
I treated, Like come on, And so here's why I
bring that up. I don't even care about Spencer Ratler
in that art. I am shocked no one has talked
about what Shador Sanders and to be fair, Dion have
(49:20):
been doing these last couple of days, just punching down
in guys that left the school. And if you're Dion,
and I have massive respect for Dion in general, but
if you're Dion, it's like, man, this guy was one
of your players, and you're like where your stats at?
Like you are one of the most famous athlete coaches
(49:43):
in America and this is a twenty year old Like
that doesn't seem right. But then Shador, like, buddy, people
are talking about use the number one pick of the
draft and you're on Twitter just shit talking guys like
I can't imagine that's not gonna be a problem in
a year. Oh, I just can't.
Speaker 1 (49:59):
It's already been discussed. It's absolutely being discussed in the league.
It's not a good look at all.
Speaker 3 (50:06):
That's what I think. I just I think, like, listen,
any position other than quarterback, I don't think people would care.
Same Travis Hunter, who's going to be a top ten
pick on Colorada.
Speaker 1 (50:15):
I almost like it from an edge rusher. I want
you to be obnoxious, you know.
Speaker 3 (50:19):
I mean that it's certainly a corner like there are
a certain spot, you know what I mean, Like Travis Hunter,
like corner wide receiver. It's like, Okay, the guy's a
little out of his mind, you know what I mean?
Maybe you know, talks in the third person. Great love it.
I've actually seen that archetype go to the Hall of Fame,
fair or not. And again I'm not even saying it's right.
(50:40):
What I am saying is if Spencer Rattler can fall
a full round as Rap Report was talking about because
of how he acted as a junior in high school, yeah,
then what are these same teams going to be saying
about someone who knows that potential top ten pick? Yeah,
(51:03):
in twelve months, it just seems wild.
Speaker 1 (51:06):
Nick, It's a glaring lack of self awareness. It's really bad.
It's being discussed and I think it's the difference between
going one and fifteen the volume. Thanks so much for listening.
If you've enjoyed the podcast, take a moment, rate and
review
The volume. This week on Prime Cuts, John Middlecoff, host
of three and Out on the Bears winning the off season,
Nick Right on Lebron James, and my top takes of
the week. So it's twenty twenty four, and let's talk
about something really really important. If you're ever injured, check
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in your life. This is a paid advertisement. John Middlecoff,
(01:28):
former NFL scout. Three and Out is his podcast. Everybody
always wants to know who wins the draft. I've had
the same formula as long as I can remember, and
I usually do it on the Monday after the draft.
I'm not going to project how great your fourth, fifth, sixth,
and seventh round picks are, but I will judge your
off season based on your free agent signings and your
(01:50):
first two or three picks, where I get more certainty.
I think the Chicago Bears are a completely different football team.
With Keenan Allen, DeAndre Swift, Gerald Everett, Caleb Williams, and Romadnze.
That's a completely different offense. So if you're asking me
who won the offseason in terms of personnel, might take
(02:11):
his Chicago won't even look the same. I thought Green
Bay got better, but I don't think Chicago will even
look the same. What do you think?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Yeah, I mean, I listen, it's hard not to like Chicago.
I mean what they've done in the last twelve months.
I think that trade that Ryan Poles made It's got
to go down as one of the great trades of
all time. I mean it really does. Would like that, Yeah,
and to get rid of basically they traded all that
for Bryce Young that if you could do a redo,
they would laugh in your face and Carolina would would
(02:39):
throw in picks to swap it back. So yeah, I
think the hype on Caleb, which is the nature of
this beast, the same thing happened to Trevor Lawrence. He
does not need to be immediately a superstar. He just
needs to be solid, right, and they should be good
because last year they could have been a playoff team
if their quarterback could have just functioned from the pocket,
couldn't function from the Now you add Keenan Allen and
(03:02):
Romadon say, you know the best part about romadonsay, he
doesn't have to do that much like he was the
lead dogg at Washington which had about fifteen guys draft
that it felt like and he was a fantastic player,
but he gets to ease in. Yeah, a lot of
people like Marvin Harrison, we talked about this last on Thursday,
has no choice anything less than eighty ninety catches. They're
not getting enough out of them given what in his group.
(03:25):
So Rome, if he just has forty five to fifty catches,
maybe six touchdowns, you're awesome. Even though it's the ninth pick.
You'd like a little more. But given this team this year,
Keenan probably be only there one year. So next year
he takes a bigger jump. But they're not as dependent
on their young wide receiver as a lot of teams
are when they draft a guy high.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
They're also going to have a fourth place schedule, so yeah,
it helps.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Yeah, And the division's hard.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
The division's hard. It might be the best division in football.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
I think offensively, I've said this. I think last time
we were on you could make a Pro Bowl offense
out of that division that could competes with the NFL.
I mean, there's just stars everywhere. And I also thought,
I'll say this about the NFC and Earth. I thought
Green Bay, if you count Josh Jacobs Xavier McKinney in
free agency, upgrade it back really good safety along with Morgan,
(04:16):
Jordan Morgan the tackle from Arizona, Edrian Cooper the linebacker,
and m who I heard the Rams like Bullard the
safety from Georgia, like that's five really good players, So
I green Bay. You know, it's interesting. If you told
me two teams that draft well in the last decade,
(04:36):
I would actually say Green Bay in Tampa. But they're
so divergent in terms of success because one gets the
quarterback right and one hasn't. I always feel with Jason
lt if you go look at Tampa's first four picks,
I loved him. I think he's one of the best
drafters in the league. They can't get quarterback right. The
difference is and by the way, classic Michael Pratt who
fell to the seventh, Green Bay gets him. He won't
(04:58):
see the field for three years, and you look, he's
a big kid, six three, two twenty, not a huge jar.
But you look up in three years and be like,
what's a functional starter in the NFL. But that division,
you know, it's really interesting about Chicago, Green Bay, Detroit, Minnesota.
Minnesota maybe the most talented potential fourth place team that
(05:20):
I can remember. I was doing this over the course
of the weekend. I was writing down everybody's ten best
players in that division. There is not much that separates
Detroit Minnesota, like it's inches not if Darnald plays well,
you could see Minnesota to the last weekend competing.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Well, isn't it a good example? Used Jason Light they
had no quarterback, they insert Brady at forty two years
old and just start dominating. Right. So if they would
have had the same roster, you would have put Aaron Rodgers,
the same thing would have happened. Look at last year,
Baker had what seventy five percent of the season, was
pretty solid, and they were a playoff team and they
kicked the Eagles ass and they were right there in
the second playoff game with the Lions. So the quarterback position,
(05:58):
which I'm sure we'll talk about, is so important. But
I'm with you, like I think Green Bay is going
to be very, very dependent on this. Jeff Haffley, the
guy that they hired from Boston College who was very
well thought of. Kyle Shanahan really liked them the Ohio
State when Ryan Day first got the job, made him
a code defensive coordinator. But he's got to be good
(06:19):
because that's really been the downfall of their operation, right
just and really goes back to McCarthy with some of
their great teams with Aaron Rodgers and listen, Mickveigh, what
do they do defense right away. Kyle Shanahan, what's he
always doing defense? They're all the top teams, even Dan
Campbell their first two picks corners, and they've invested heavily
(06:40):
in the defensive line. So you're playing a lot of
teams in your conference, Howie Roseman over the last couple
of years, Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, Cooper, Dejen Mitchell, the
teali it's just defense. They just invest in that side
of the ball. We know Green Bay and now Lafloor
is well established. They're gonna score a lot of points
and they have explosive players. Jacobs, I think Josh take
a better player to take one Barkley. I mean, that
(07:01):
guy is when he's healthy, he's a top two or
three running back in the NFL. But it's gonna come
down to defense. And like you said, in that division, Listen,
I don't know how good Sam Darnold's gonna be, but
if you catch him on the right day with those
offensive weapons, they could score thirty five points. Yeah, So
it's just you better a lot of pressures on that higher.
You know, you got rid of Joe Berry, who was
(07:22):
his buddy. It wasn't going as well, not all his fault.
Sometimes it's the players too, But they've invested. They have
invested a lot of picks, right, The Packers have on
that side of the ball over the last half decade,
a ton of high round picks on defense.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
What Jerry doesn't want to do is get trapped with
Dak Prescott. And I thought it was strategic. I thought
that was Jerry Jones saying, listen, we're gonna rely on you, Dak.
This here. We're not giving you all this Sammo. We're
gonna rebuild the offensive line. You'll get protection, but in
a contract here, the last thing I'm gonna do is
(07:57):
load you up with weapons. Dak's productions absolutely gonna come down.
I mean, they just don't have a running back of
note on the roster. And people could say, well, you're
tanking the year. They're not tanking the year they'll be
a good football team. But it felt strategic to me
to not address running back and really frankly not address
(08:17):
receiver until in the sixth round. That didn't feel like
just a bad stroke of luck to me.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
I'm torn because it's hard for me to be critical
when the ever you go offensive and defensive line early
in the draft, which they have, and they're a good
drafting team, bad running back draft. But let's face the
colin until they give him a contract extension, which they
should not. To me, this is him and McCarthy are
playing for their jobs. Yeah, I mean this guy, Let's
face it, they paid him a lot of money a
(08:46):
couple of years ago off the broken ankle, and he's
been really good in the regular season. In the playoffs
two out of three years, he was atrocious. I mean,
he was really bad three years ago against the Niners
in this year in that first half in the game
was over. Wasn't all his fault, but he did not
play winning football. The price has gone up dramatically since
they gave him forty million dollars a year just because
the market right. So can you give Dak Prescott fifty
(09:08):
five million dollars a year?
Speaker 3 (09:09):
I can't.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
I underno, and I he's better than Tua, But I
say the same thing about Tua. If you're in that
business long term, you're signing up at best to be
a one and done playoff team. And the other thing is,
let's face it, the Eagles have a lot more talent
on their roster. Yeah, dramatically more top to bottom. We'll
take john look at a team.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Look at this, I mean aj Brown, DeVante Smith, Saquon
Barkley better at tight end and an athlete in their
primeate quarterback. I mean, I don't at Lane Johnson at
right tackle. I don't think it's necessarily close. I mean,
I think you're being kind saying they have more talent.
I think it's lobsided in favor of Philly.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Well and if Michael Parson is the best defensive player
of the group, it's not like the Eagles haven't invested
in that side the last couple of years in the
draft with Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis. They just draft. They
get the top corner in this draft with Cooper Degen
as their second round pick, who will loo a lot
of people had and how he even said we had
a first round great on him as well. Darius Slay
is an older player, but he's still a solid starter.
(10:07):
They'll get rid of Brad Berry the Eagles, and now
you add Fangio and Kellen Moore to the mix because
last year their coaches really let him down. Like to me,
this is anything less like one takeaway after the draft
for the NFC East. I don't think the Giants are
very good. Washington's in this rebuild mode. The Eagles have
no excuse not to win this get that's right. I
mean last year they imploded, Dallas kind of lucked into
(10:28):
it at the end. Remember, but this should not like
there should be a two or three game difference.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
Now.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
I think Dallas is gonna be good. I'm talking, you know,
nine ten wins, but the Eagle there should be a
gap between the two teams.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
I don't think there's any question. And listen, there's there's
a line with Dak Prescott. If he does not get
one hundred yards run support, Dax wins about thirty five
percent of his games. So it did feel like to
me they got the cap issues, so you had to
address running back in the draft. You're not gonna fine
running back where.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Well, they don't really exist. You just got to get
lucky with an undrafted free agent. Basically, you're keeping your
fingers crossed, you know.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
I thought hardball was going to have there were going
to be more fireworks with the Chargers. I did think
they got a couple of really interesting pieces, a couple
of small school guys. But I think By and large,
the Joe allpick was interesting because they have a left tackle,
though Slater had an injury and all, it's kind of
an He's an athlete, he was a high school basketball player.
(11:26):
He's he's moved around, he's been a he's a very
good athlete.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
You see his pictures after we got off of him
sitting with his family. How massive that human being is.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
So it's one of those things where I never bought
into them taking a wide receiver. I just didn't buy.
And everybody's mock draft have them at receiver, and I'm
thinking that's just not what they They're not going to
get some skinny kid from LSU, who's so I mean
to me, the pick made sense. But I didn't think
the Chargers had that many fireworks. I thought they did
(11:56):
this basic stuff, played in the gym.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
You know.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
I think they got a linebacker if I recall from
the Michigan But I didn't think there was a ton
of fireworks with the Chargers.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
You know what's funny is most people, up until the
last couple of weeks, when I think a lot of
people around the NFL like Jim's not taking a wide receiver. Guys,
So we can stop talking about that. But even the
second pick in Lad McConkie. You know a lot of
people have been like, go get Herbert, go trade up
and get a Xavier Worthy, or you know, get Keon Coleman,
the guy the Bills took, and he took Lad McConkie.
(12:30):
You know who's gonna end up to me being more
Edelman Wes Welker can play right in the slot receiver.
Jim's not into this sexy football. He's not trying to
be you know, Lane Kiffin or Lincoln Riley. That's not
the way he coaches. He coaches like he's prepared to
pay playing Mike Ditka and Joe Gibbs back in nineteen
(12:51):
eighty eight. And that's the way that's been successful up
into him three months ago when he won the national championship. Fundamentally,
that's and I think when he said we view offensive
lineman as weapons, he's not making a he's being serious
as a heart attack because he truly believes that. So
justin Herbert, like they are, I'm actually a little shocked
that they didn't get Blake Korum. I'm pissed the Rams
(13:12):
and I love that pick, but that it's just he's
going to the football is gonna look no different than
if you pull up Stanford year one in eight. It's
gonna look the exact same. And it looked the same
in the forty nine ers. Early on in Michigan he
changed for a minute. Remember when he hired Gaddis, the
spread guy from album and he hated it. Yeah, and
he hated it. And then who became his right hand man?
(13:34):
Sharon Moore? What's the an O line coach? And that
guy became the head. Those are the people he likes.
You see these videos coming out of him at the
at the trailer park. It was not the trailer park,
but you know he lived right with Greg Roman. What
do they talk about running game? Offensive linemen, they're all
that hybrid of the ravens of him. They're all interconnected.
(13:56):
And I'm just honestly, if you would have told me
he would have drafted all offensive and defensive linemen. Those
were the only picks, no wide receivers two weeks ago,
I would have believed you. I mean, that's not how
it played out. But he thinks he can win. If
he's winning at that group, he can figure the rest
out through I would say psychological and physical warfare because
(14:16):
he wants to shove you around. And let's face it,
most teams in the NFL, you know, when you look
at like once we get to the final four of
the final eight, it's a lot of physical teams and
the soft teams. Some teams that can score. They got
no shot, They got no shot. And you look at
the final four, who wasn't It was the Niners, it
was the Ravens, it was the Chiefs. What if the
Lions become under Dan Campbell. Dan Campbell's got a little
(14:38):
Jim harbaughd Yeah, right, And I would say they throw
it a little more than Jim, But that's part of
It's their weapons. Saint Brown's a fantastic player, but it
starts with the offensive and defensive lines with them, and
that's where they've invested the last couple well, even Saint Brown.
Jim would love Saint Brown. So woul Kyle Shanahan. He's
their type, breaks tackles. He's not some sexy outside wide
receiver despite his stats.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
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Speaker 1 (16:31):
So I went and it was interesting. I went and
I went and looked at all my divisions. So we're
basically through it now. We have new coaches, we have
free agency, staffs are all for that. We have the draft,
and I'll just do the first and last place teams
and stop mena. I'm gonna go this.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
This is what you think coming up?
Speaker 1 (16:55):
This was yeah, this season, I have Buffalo first, New
England last, Baltimore first, Cleveland last. Cleveland had a weird draft.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Kansas since he could be a wild card there, Burrows healthy, Yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Put them second, Kansas City first, Raiders last, tough division,
Houston first, Tennessee's an easy last, Philly first, I have
Giants last. I'm with it, Detroit first, Minnesota last. Though
it's close Atlanta first, New Orleans last, or Carolina kind
(17:29):
of question mark. I have the Rams first and I
have Seattle last. I think the Rams are I thought
they really nailed their first four picks. I thought they
really Yeah, is anything so we can argue about the
second and third teams, but any of those first and
last you would push back on.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Yeah, let's talk about McVeigh because I thought he's a
good example what Kyle and Andy and these offensive coaches
have invested in physical players because they know that they
can scheme guys open yea and he invests his first
pick in verse who's been a few as a first rounder.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
This day, we loved him. Heard a month ago they
loved him.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
This second round pick one of the guy. When I
started at Fresno State, we had a student assistant who
has worked his way up and he's been with Oregon State.
He's been the GM for Florida State for like the
last three years, and he's Derek Ray. He's you know,
if we talked about college gms like we do NFL GMC,
I mean, look.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
At this draft.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
I mean how many guys at Florida State were has picked.
He's done a great job working hand in hand with Norvelle.
I said, what this Brandon Fisk guy, Brandon Fisk tell
me about him? He said, think Max Crosby. But inside,
So their first two picks, you know, we know that's
how Verse kind of plays power, that's what this guy plays.
So you're never going to replace Aaron Donald. But they
go back to back picks basically in what fifteen to
(18:46):
twenty pick because they traded up. They got Fisk in
the top forty, so they invest immediately and they get
Blake korm who if he's healthy. We've seen how this
guy was a heartbeat of one of the better college
football programs we've seen over the last twenty years. H
I mean, it's like Jim Harbu's favorite player since Frank Gore.
So I think the gap shrunk a little bit. And
I think Kyle Shanahan showed you something drafting that wide
(19:09):
receiver in the first round. Deebo Samo could not get
open to the Super Bowl. He can't run routes. And
I'm not trying to talk about d Ball.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
I love him.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
He's a lot of stuff he does in football. I
admire a lot the physicality, the ability to make plays,
but he is limited as a wide receiver. He can't
get open, and I think Kyle was tired of it,
and it's not at this point in time, it's not
going to change. He kind of is what it is.
So maybe Deebo, moving forward, you're gonna be on this
new kickoff return guy and you'll kind of come in
with McCaffrey in the backfield. But we need to run.
(19:37):
We need to have wide receivers like a Yuk who
can run routes. And because like look at the Rams,
they got a bunch of guys that can run routes.
I can't scheme up every single play. We got guys
on defense, we got guys on offense. But that they
drafted Piersoll like that clearly was something that rattle Shanahan,
just like McVeigh, like, we need to be even more physical.
(20:00):
We're going to get over that hump against all these
great offenses and they double down. So I think I
think those two teams right there with the Lions, right
there with the Packers, right there with the Eagles, Like
it's pretty clear with the NFC who's who the cream
of the crop is.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Right Yeah, And I think I also think you have
to take this into consideration is Debo McCaffrey's had injuries
in his career, Trent Kittle, you can't have your four
top guys all feel like they're older than their age.
Like if you have Ayyuk is a kid, right, he's
just moving into his prime. If you're gonna if you're
gonna move off and next year they have to address
(20:33):
left tackle because Trent is a wall. But I'm with you.
I look at the NFC and I think it's I mean,
the Rams were so much better than everybody thought. I
knew going into the weekend. They felt brock Bauers could
start for him. Two of the defensive ends they thought
were really good, the UCLA kid and Jared Verse. They
loved those two. And then I knew they loved a
(20:55):
couple different defensive linemen and the Florida State guy Fisk
is one of them. And then I felt Blake Cole.
I mean, I knew they loved Korum, but I mean
they when people got on them for giving up a
second round pick and a fifth to move up, they
really felt like they needed two starters in the defensive line,
a great backup running back for Kien Williams, and a
playmaking guy in the back. The Miami kid like they
(21:17):
didn't have a lot of needs a lot of their
stuff after those picks, interior lineman Kicker. The Texas receivers
were the a special teams guy. Otherwise they would have
taken Taj Washington from USC they who they liked a lot,
but they needed a special teams guy. So I mean,
I think a lot of these teams come into the weekend,
the NFC teams, and the Rams are one of them.
I think people forget this for the elite teams, and
(21:41):
I consider the Rams in a group of about seven
or eight, they come in kind of thinking we need
two starters and like two really crucial productive backups. But
I've never had a problem John with giving away picks
to go get up and get a guy. Nick right
stops five, We'll chop it up. The playoffs have been
absolutely riveting. Can't turn it off of must have been
(22:03):
electric electric And then, by the way, this is the
first round. This is the worst I can look past.
So my take on I never mind people who are
a pushback contrarian, but I do feel you and I
are pretty honest about Yeah, it was either wrong or
I can I can literally think two things. Load management
(22:26):
pisses me off, and the NBA is great. It's just
not great. In January, well.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
And things there are the everything has become. It feels
so tribal, Yes that it is. Everything is the way
the way a die hard fan of a specific sports team,
the way a die hard fan of Alabama football roots
(22:54):
for Alabama football is basically how a huge percentage of
people deal with every aspect of their life. I fucking
love it, so everything about it is correct, and anyone
criticizing it is wrong, as opposed to any type of
I love this, didn't like this, this is good, This
is bad. Anyone that acts as if the NBA folks
(23:19):
who've been like NBA is dying, you know that is baby.
You know it's obviously not true. Anybody though, acting as
if that there aren't aspects to the the overwhelming and
what is about to be under the new TV deal
one hundred million dollars a year contracts that complicate a
(23:43):
lot of the day to day factors of the league.
They're being intellectually dishonest in my opinion. I also, I
do think and I maybe have mentioned this to you.
I know I mentioned it on my pod. But I
do think the NBA made a strategic error this season.
(24:05):
So I'm gonna tell I'm gonna do a Colin Coward
in a bit, I'm gonna give an anecdote or a story.
It'll get there. So a guy who you know, I'm
sure Connor Shll Yeah. So you know he you know,
used to be run It was a big executive at ESPN,
helped start thirty for thirties. Now he runs a company
(24:26):
of his own. Oddly, his father and my mom worked
together when I was a little kid, so I knew
Connor is a little kid, and I never really knew
exactly what his dad did. And maybe I'm wrong, but
as a little kid, what it was described to me
as he was in charge of long term strategy, meaning
(24:47):
like when Sprint came out with a new phone, his
job would be like, Okay, when this phone is bordering
on obsolete, how are we gonna sell the last hundred
of them? You know what I mean? Like long, long,
short thinking. And I think the NBA needed someone in
that role eighteen months ago to say, guys, here is
(25:11):
all of NBA history and ages of guys on their
last playoff run. Are is it on the board that
we just had the final Lebron Deep Playoffs, STEPH Deep Playoffs,
Durant Deep playoffs, these guys. Is it possible, in fact
(25:32):
overwhelmingly likely, that one, two, or all of them aren't
going to be around when the calendar turns to May.
If so, is it worthwhile for us to take a
short term regular season ratings hit by featuring the Oklahoma
(25:52):
City Thunder, the Minnesota Timberwolves, these teams to prime the
audience that this is where our league's going. And they
didn't do that. Instead it was Warriors, Lakers, Suns these guys.
So I do wonder if this second round of the playoffs,
when you have Nuggets, Timberwolves, and when you have Thunder,
(26:13):
maybe MAVs, if people are gonna see a ratings dip.
It won't affect the new TV contract all of that,
But because the audience doesn't know this is their league now, Colin,
if the Bucks lose this series, they're down three to two.
And if the Clippers lose this series, the oldest star
player left in the playoffs, Luca is no, not Luke,
(26:35):
Kyrie is Kyrie who's thirty just turned thirty two. That everyone,
everyone will be gone like Joker, who's twenty eight or
twenty nine will be like the third oldest star left.
The Clippers are all old guys. They're on the I
think gonna lose. The Lakers are already out. The Warriors
didn't make it, the Suns are out, the Bucks are
(26:57):
on the brink. Like this is a massive storming of
the gates of the twenty somethings. But everyone should have
expected it. When Kobe Bryant's last playoff game ever, he
was thirty two. Michael Jordan was thirty five, Like, the
guys don't play if people saw what Lebron did, so
they thought Stephen Durant and Kawhi and Paul George are
gonna do it. Nobody else is gonna do it. Stephan
(27:19):
kd already exceeded age expectation. So I think the NBA
made a mistake there. I also think my favorite two
months of the year are the NBA playoffs. Ye, my
favorite twenty days of the year or my twenty NFL Sundays,
and my favorite two months of the year of the
NBA playoffs.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Yeah, I don't disagree. Last weekend, the draft of the
NBA Playoffs is the best non NFL Weekend of the
Year by far. I just I didn't leave my place
the whole damn weekend. I thought it was that was
just draft playoffs, Draft twelve good.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
I think you can make an argument the Giants won
the draft because New England didn't take their trade. It's
reported yesterday that the Giants offered six and next year's
number one for the third pick, and I'm like, oh,
so they hoped to draft Drake May at three, not
(28:16):
add any weapons in the first round, to trade the
pick and have Drake May, a twenty one year old
with high upside, but who was a radic at North
Carolina at put him behind that offensive line with those weapons.
Guess what I think that they done, That they'd be
drafting number one next year and they'd be sending it
(28:36):
to New England like Carolina just did. Like the fact
that the Giants now have next year's number one. This year,
you know, maybe Drew Lock plays, maybe Daniel Jones plays,
but at least he has a weapon, and then next
year you try to go find your quarterback. That I
think New England turning that trade down was a bit
(28:57):
of a mistake. They'll regret. I think that you could
have gone on to six, gotten Giants number one next year,
and at six, we know Minnesota is willing to give
you eleven and twenty three, so you could have had
eleven and twenty three to add players, your first rounder
and the Giants first rounder next year, start Jakobe for
a season, and then that's what I would have done
(29:19):
it for for in New England. But New England's GM
was auditioning for his job. He doesn't even have it yet,
and the owners that I want a quarterback, so I
guess he's gonna draft a quarterback.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
I had an executive in the league said, if you're
the Giants, you are rooting for Bryce Young and Will
Levis because then the only other team that's guaranteed to
take a quarterback is the Raiders. So somebody said he said,
he said to me, you are rooting for that. Let
hit point and Bryce Young to hit if you're the Giants,
because then it's like us and the Raiders need quarterbacks
(29:48):
and they'll be two good prospects. You know, Shador Sanders,
the kid cam Ward at Miami, who's pretty interesting.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
There's a kids at Day.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
You've got a transfer who's pretty interesting.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
No, and I the win yours people like him. And
then there's one more that we're forgetting. That's the guy
who's most likely to go number one. I talked about
on the show today, so I see if I can
remember it. But the I was just about to look, like,
hold on a second, who are the teams that could.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
Titans Giants?
Speaker 3 (30:18):
Well, Carson Beck is the other one, the kid from
Georgia that.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
I don't think he's a top five pick. I think
he's Georgia good.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
I think you're probably right. But the if you look
at I was gonna look through the NFL like teams
that you know, Buffalo, no, Miami, No. The Jets are
a maybe if Aaron gets hurt, if Aaron gets hurt,
you know what I mean? The Jets are a maybe.
New England No, Baltimore. Cleveland is a maybe. I don't
know what I mean. They're and I mean that's a
(30:47):
rough spot, man, uh but Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh's a maybe.
So there's a bunch of maybees. But there's not a
lot of definites to your point, like the because everybody
when six quarterback going round one, everybody thinks they have
a quarterback. You know what I mean, like there's just
the you mentioned.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
Go ahead, sorry, and they'll at least give those quarterbacks
till Thanksgiving of the second year. And so this executive said,
the bottom line, if you're the Giants, he said, I
don't think will Levis is gonna work. He said, I
think Bryce will. He liked Bryce. He said, Bryce is talented.
He's not as big as you'd like, but they got
him weapons, they got him a really good wide receiver.
(31:28):
He's like, Bryce will move the chains. They'll stick with him.
But he said, the Giants and the Raiders, that's it
that you're absolutely and neither one's going to be any good.
He said, so those are those are your top two
potential picks.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
Yeah, and for one of those teams, Tom Brady probably.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Played for him, so they don't won't need to Why not?
Speaker 3 (31:47):
I mean the he wants to play football so badly,
Like I get it. The I mean, I I don't
blame him. That. Did you see Lebron's quote? Lebron had
a quote after the game that I thought was so fascinating.
It was also almost a little sad, and it made
me think of Brady to a degree where Lebron said,
I think to Dave mcmannimon along the lines of I'm
(32:10):
never gonna be bad, so, but at some point I'm
gonna have to stop. And he basically said, like, you know,
I'm not chasing anything anymore. I've accomplished everything I wanted
to accomplish, but at some point I've got to stop playing.
And it was such a unique thing because I watched it.
I'm like, yeah, he's never gonna be I mean, I
(32:32):
never's a long time obviously, but I think five years
from now Lebron would be good. I do. I like,
I know, you know what I mean. Right now, what
is he at best the sixth best player in the
league and at worst the twelfth best player in the league.
He's somewhere in there. He you know what I mean,
he lives. He's better, in my opinion, clearly than Devin Booker.
(32:53):
And Devin Booker's an all NBA guy.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
He led the NBA in fourth quarter buckets and playoff
bucket right.
Speaker 3 (33:01):
So, and he played seventy one games. So it's such
a unique spot for Lebron, which is like most guys
get forced out. Most guys they you know what I mean,
they have their fair their averaging five points a game,
So he's not gonna be that. So at some point
he's just gonna have to be like, I guess I'm done.
(33:21):
I'm stopping. And that's kind of what happened with Tom.
Like I understand the Bucks were not good Tom's last year,
but the year before he almost won MVP. He still
grew for a million yards.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
He's better than half the quarterbacks today easily, no question,
no question.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
And he just stopped. And there's I understand that there
was families some of New Zealand. I get it, but
I think every time someone puts a microphone in front
of him, he clearly is like, goddamn it, I want
to play football. I missed playing football. And you know
he's gonna be with Fox and calling games and maybe
that'll scratch the itch, but it also might make him
(33:59):
watch these guys and be like, god, dog it, I'm
better than that guy, you know, And so like it's
a weird spot. We're seeing two guys Lebron nearing the
end and Brady who just ended, who played longer than
anybody ever in the history of their field and at
a higher level than anyone ever thought, who both you know,
(34:22):
Brady already had to and Lebron's gonna have to We're
gonna have to oddly make the decision of like I
guess I just should stop because I'm old, but I'm
not bad, and it's such a weird thing, like people
are like, Oh, John Elway went out on top. John
Elway went out winning super Bowls, but he was not
good anymore, like you know what I mean. I'm not
(34:42):
disrespecting John, but like the he was, he was a
shell of the player that he was. Peyton Manning went
out winning a Super Bowl, was nine touchdown, seventeen picks
that year. Was a shell. But even the guys who
go out on top are usually not good anymore. So
I don't know, you know what I mean. The Brady
seems to still miss it. I don't know what Lebron's
(35:04):
gonna do.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Brady is I can I I'll probably get in trouble
saying this, But Brady his preparation for broadcasting at Fox. Dude,
he he's in the building today. You're not gonna get
in trouble for he was in the building today, the
last the next three days, he's in the building practicing.
Like Brady is as obsessed about this. People don't understand
(35:28):
the people.
Speaker 3 (35:29):
I think he's gonna be great. I think he's gonna
be great because he's competitive. Yes, I think that is.
I think the key to so much of this is competitive. Yes.
And I think that there is the Tom had And
I don't know Tom at all, but he had recently
(35:51):
in the last year he did an interview and he
was talking about during the game and was basically about
how like he hated who he was playing against, like
he would build up an anger and like the real
like Frauth. Because he's a competitive And now I think
he's going to look around and be like, I need
(36:13):
to be better. And it helps that most of the
other people in his spot are quarterbacks too. I need
to be better than Troy. I need to be better
than Tony. I know Collins, it's not a quarterback, but
I need to. I think he's gonna want to be
considered the best. And there was always you remember God,
it feels like a lifetime ago. But during when the
(36:36):
Flategate happened and Tom unfairly at his text messages leaked
and the text message to his I think it was
his dad, maybe it was his friend about Peyton. Yeah,
and they were to draw about back and forth, and
Tom said, He's like, yeah, but I'm gonna play five
more years and Peyton's done, and then it's not even
going to be a debate. And by the way, he
was right about that. That's exactly what happened. But I
(36:59):
also think there's like competitiveness with Peyton, which is Peyton's
a broadcaster, you know what I mean, and everybody, unlike
some of the other broadcasters, none of the Blooms everybody.
I think that broadcast is great. People love it. I
think he's gonna be like, I'm gonna crush these guys. Yeah,
I'm gonna I really do so. I bet he's gonna
be awesome.
Speaker 1 (37:23):
I think about this a lot because I do criticize
athletes at times about how remarkable athletes are. So if
you look at the history of comedy, you get to
be the funniest guy in the world for about three
to five years. Ben Stiller, Jim Carrey, there was Drew
Carey twenty five years ago. Mike Myers.
Speaker 3 (37:44):
By the way, he's very charitable to include Ben Stiller
on the funniest Guy. He's worldless. He's pretty good, pretty good.
Go ahead. Maybe he's a friend I don't know who
you're having drinks with, but go ahead.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
So if you go look at you know, Chris rock A,
Jerry Seinfeld, David you know where you're sort of spell Chappelle. Yeah, so,
and then it's very hard to be as funny because
your life experience changes dramatically because there's so much money
in movies and production when you get.
Speaker 3 (38:16):
Big, that's right.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
Yeah, of course hip hop stars similarly, first couple albums
can be fantastic and then the material changes hard.
Speaker 3 (38:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:26):
Athletes, what's really amazing is athletes are almost the opposite.
Mahomes is better since he's been paid, Lebron was better
when he was paid. Is that athletes, unlike other entertainers,
often feel a guilt or a pressure to elevate their
(38:50):
greatness when they're paid. It's very rare when you look
at athletes. They get paid, and I'm sure it happens,
but I'm.
Speaker 3 (38:57):
Told it not to the great ones. That's between the
great ones and everyone else, because I think that when
you talk about getting paid, but I think that at
every step of your athletic journey, there has been a
getting paid, but the not actually money moment where you
could relax you know what I mean, The kid who,
(39:19):
when he makes varsity as a freshman takes his foot
off the gas doesn't get the college scholarship. And the
kid who, when he goes to college is a starter
early on and takes far off the gas doesn't make
the league. So it almost you know what I mean,
It slowly, but surely weeds. It weeds those people out
because it's such a finite number and there's always a
(39:41):
new crop of people coming for those jobs.
Speaker 1 (39:44):
Also, is that in hip hop, when you win, you're
worshiped by everybody. In comedy, when you're the king of laughs,
you are worshiped by everybody. In sports, when you win,
most of the league hates you. So in sports, greatness
(40:04):
does not equal worship outside of your town. It equals
kind of a villain, kind of a target. And and
that's why music critics tend to be too soft and
and and you know, movie critics are you know, they
they're they're too in bed with them music and movie
critics in Hollywood. When's the last really tough reporter that
(40:26):
Hollywood had? They don't. So it goes to your head
in music, and it doesn't work that way. But the
media in sports kicks the shit out of you. Once
you're great. It's like, well, you weren't good last week
against Cleveland. And there's there's a healthy there's a healthy
account ability that doesn't exist in comedy, movies, music. This
(40:50):
accountability standings criticism that I think actually, it's like being
tough on your kids. It builds character.
Speaker 3 (40:58):
So I think you might have just solved. Might not
be the right word, but you just said something that
really crystallized something for me. Okay, we might have just like,
I feel like this is a real thing that just
(41:19):
happened because you talk, you're talking about them between athletes
and artists. Yeah, And I'm not taking I'm really not
trying to be unfair or take a shot. But there
are two specific NBA players that I think, as great
as they are, have markedly underachieved their talent and ability,
(41:46):
even though they are. One of them's one of the
twenty greatest players ever and one of them is one
of the ten most skilled players ever. And I think
both of them view themselves more artists than athletes. And
those two guys are heaven Rant and Kyrie Era, and
I think a lot of what has worked against them
(42:06):
and a lot of what they have pushed against is
that they are covered like their athletes and not like
their artists. That it is a lot of criticism and
a lot of why did you do this, and a
lot of but you didn't do that, and comparative stuff
that athletes are used to. But they're like, we're fucking artists, man,
(42:32):
I am out here painting a picture and you're asking
me these questions, like, just appreciate the art. Meanwhile, other
folks who look at themselves as I don't want to say,
hired guns, but we are in competition and we are
(42:52):
here to win and toe, you know, to do what
we have to do, haven't been as bothered by the
media criticism. But it does Katie and Kyrie who and
again Kyrie, to his credit, has been unbelievable this year,
and Katie post Achilles is the best Achilles recovery in
(43:17):
sports history. So I'm not trying to be unfair. It
really is. I'm not trying to be unfair and I
aren't trying to take a shot, but they really seem
to both struggle with the way they are covered by
the media and what you just described about how artists,
musicians or actors or comedians are covered by the media
(43:40):
is different than how we do athletes. We don't do
when a movie six, when there is a huge movie
release weekend. When Barbie and Oppenheimer come out the same weekend,
there were no articles written like, well, fucking Oppenheimer, how
do you not win that? People are just like this
(44:00):
was awesome. This was even more awesome. These are both great.
It's and so that I do. I think there is
something there and maybe I can describe it exactly right,
but about the difference between how athletes and artists are discussed,
and whether or not you consider yourself an athlete or
an artist, and how you want to then be discussed
(44:20):
in how you feel you should be discussed.
Speaker 1 (44:22):
I also think basketball more than any sport, and soccer
has some of this as well. I've always compared basketball
to international soccer. Messi is an artist, Rinaldo is an artist.
Kevin Durant is an artist. Tom Brady's a football player,
right like Mike Trout's a baseball player. That's different.
Speaker 3 (44:41):
But I think Lebron's an artist.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
No, No, he's more compartmentalized and strategic artists, aren't they
kind of hear? I mean very much Lebron's a stacker.
Compartmentalize work on this part of the game, solve this part.
Kevin Durant's not looking to solve. Kyrie Irving's not looking
to solve parts their game. They're looking to paint their
most beautiful picture. Kyrie had it the other night with
(45:05):
that layup over three Clippers.
Speaker 3 (45:07):
Yes, yes, exactly right, like that kind even though they
that kind of was and there is something beautiful about
this and we're honorable about it, where it's like that
Kyrie has worked for He's thirty two, so call it
twenty five years on every little bit of his ability
(45:31):
in order to pull off that one moment. And I
know he's obviously on way more than that, but I'm
saying like that that was of physics and basketball impossibility.
Speaker 1 (45:43):
It was incredible. It was it was his mona, Lisa,
it was his.
Speaker 3 (45:46):
Yes, exactly right, it was, And it was like, oh,
you are probably literally the only human being who's ever
lived who could do that. Like I believe that. I
really believe that. Yeah, And I think there's for Kyrie.
He's like in God, damn it, you guys still credit.
Speaker 2 (46:05):
Like do you not see it?
Speaker 3 (46:07):
Like do you not understand, but because it's sports, we're like, yeah,
but you're lost and you haven't been in the finals
in eight years because it's sports, and so yeah, I
do think there is I want to think about this
more because you said it in real time, but I
do think there is something really to that, and I
(46:29):
think there is. I'm going to start like looking at
because you know, another guy who I think was as
much as you can be in football, closer to artists
than an athlete, is my Palodell. I think there was
a lot of like, look at this show I am
(46:49):
putting on. Look at what I can do that I
have worked on and honed, and the beauty of it
and then all. But he he's also a guy who
never felt he was given a fair shake by the media,
you know what I mean, who never felt it was
that it was that he was covered fairly.
Speaker 1 (47:09):
I called an NFL head coach on Will Levis's combine
when he was wearing a shirtless yes ripped. It was
very Brady Quinn and I said, I'm out on him,
and he goes call this NFL head coach successful coach,
he said, Colin. It was the talk of a road
(47:29):
trip me and the GM went on recently. It was
the talk of the he cares deeply about his girlfriend
was beautiful. He's a good looking guy, big man on
campus in Kentucky at basketball school. He's the football star
Will Levis's I'm going to show you my build literally
a successful GM and coach said they went on a
drive and that it was the topic of conversation like
(47:53):
he's got the wrong priorities.
Speaker 3 (47:55):
On that note, and we can, you know, leave it
at this. I am shocked. So I don't know if
you saw this reporting, but Spencer Rattler evidently was on
a Netflix dock six years ago when he was in
high school. Did you see any of this comment? Okay,
(48:16):
so there was a Lebron's company produced a Netflix documentary
called QB one, and it was basically they followed around
I didn't see it some top high school quarterback prospects
on their journey, you know what I mean? Like, what's
it like to be one of the top prospects in America?
Is a sixteen year old? Sixteen And evidently Spencer Rattler
(48:39):
was a real dick as a kid, was mean to
his backup quarterback, was a bit of a bully, was
kind of like your stereotypical, mean, popular jock, and Ian
Rappaport reported that multiple teams brought it up to him
before the draft, like yeah, we just we and it's like, dude,
(48:59):
this guy was literally sixteen years old, Like I don't know, man, Like,
please don't use against me in a job interview how
I treated, Like come on, And so here's why I
bring that up. I don't even care about Spencer Ratler
in that art. I am shocked no one has talked
about what Shador Sanders and to be fair, Dion have
(49:20):
been doing these last couple of days, just punching down
in guys that left the school. And if you're Dion,
and I have massive respect for Dion in general, but
if you're Dion, it's like, man, this guy was one
of your players, and you're like where your stats at?
Like you are one of the most famous athlete coaches
(49:43):
in America and this is a twenty year old Like
that doesn't seem right. But then Shador, like, buddy, people
are talking about use the number one pick of the
draft and you're on Twitter just shit talking guys like
I can't imagine that's not gonna be a problem in
a year. Oh, I just can't.
Speaker 1 (49:59):
It's already been discussed. It's absolutely being discussed in the league.
It's not a good look at all.
Speaker 3 (50:06):
That's what I think. I just I think, like, listen,
any position other than quarterback, I don't think people would care.
Same Travis Hunter, who's going to be a top ten
pick on Colorada.
Speaker 1 (50:15):
I almost like it from an edge rusher. I want
you to be obnoxious, you know.
Speaker 3 (50:19):
I mean that it's certainly a corner like there are
a certain spot, you know what I mean, Like Travis Hunter,
like corner wide receiver. It's like, Okay, the guy's a
little out of his mind, you know what I mean?
Maybe you know, talks in the third person. Great love it.
I've actually seen that archetype go to the Hall of Fame,
fair or not. And again I'm not even saying it's right.
(50:40):
What I am saying is if Spencer Rattler can fall
a full round as Rap Report was talking about because
of how he acted as a junior in high school, yeah,
then what are these same teams going to be saying
about someone who knows that potential top ten pick? Yeah,
(51:03):
in twelve months, it just seems wild.
Speaker 1 (51:06):
Nick, It's a glaring lack of self awareness. It's really bad.
It's being discussed and I think it's the difference between
going one and fifteen the volume. Thanks so much for listening.
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