Colin Cowherd Podcast - Reaction to Rory McIlory winning The Masters, Shedeur Sanders to Saints?

Colin Cowherd is joined by John Middlekauff and they react to Rory McIlory winning The Masters. They give their takes on Rory's peformance, Bryson DeChambeau and PGA Tour vs LIV Golf. They move to football to discuss why Aaron Rodgers still hasn't signed with the Steelers and if he is waiting for more teams. Tennessee QB Nico Iamaleava tried to renegotiate his deal with the school and his future is in doubt. Derek Carr is injured, does New Orleans make sense for Shedeur Sanders?

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume, all right, welcome in. I'm off vaka and
uh I don't. I can't remember the last two days
of a golf tournament where I was more emotionally vested

(00:21):
in a golfer than Rory McElroy. And I wasn't rooting
against Justin Rose or Bryson Deshambeau, who I think has
done an incredible one eighty rehab of his brand where
he was unlikable and now is incredibly likable or at
least more likable. But I was thinking about this John
John Middlecoff, former NFL Scout three and out part of
the volume is that what makes Rory we know he's

(00:45):
a sensational talent, but he's got a phil Mickelson quality
where you can you can see him buckle, you can
see I mean when he takes that wedge from a
buck twenty five out and puts it in the water
in the creek, You're like, bro, I hit my irons
great Saturday at Skokie Country Club in Chicago suburb, Like

(01:07):
I what is going on? And I think what finds him,
what makes Rory so likable is that he is vulnerable
and he just has you know, four double bogies short
wed shot in the creek. I think that just makes
him incredibly watchable.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yeah, I think, uh, you know, I think every great golfer,
definitely in my life, which I've been watching for almost
thirty years now, So like the Tiger, Phil era is
kind of defined by their greatness or disasters in majors.

Speaker 1 (01:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
You know, when I was a kid, Greg Norman, it
was a big deal to like have a shark polo
when I was a kid, wear him to school.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
When you think Greg Norman, you think a guy that
unravels and fails. You know, Phil is weird because he's
one of the greatest players in the history of the sport.
He's won six majors, he's won the Masters three times,
he's won forty five tournaments. But you remember him a
lot of times for finishing second. Yes to Payne Stewart,
he blasted out of bounds at wing foot in the
mid two thousand.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
Taking big risks. He doesn't need to.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
And he's like that in life. Right when he made
the comments about the Saudis after he took their two
hundred million dollars. You know, Rory's this kind of enigma
because and I thought today, actually symbolized his entire career. Yeah,
I mean he had a couple shots that are like
the most incredible shots in the history of Masters. He
hooked a seven iron around a tree to five feet
on fifteen, and then he missed the putt, and then

(02:34):
he missed the putt. You know, and I can't you know,
Tiger's got this torn achilles. He's like, he's like a
nineteen seventies NFL player on his on his bed with
eighteen million injuries. Can you imagine Tiger watching this tournament
and thinking, You know, Tiger was actually pretty boring as
a champion because he didn't screw up. What was the
famous quote, like dumb loses more than smart wins. Yeah,
Tiger was very conservative. You know, Rory dunks into the water,

(02:58):
he Bogei's eighteen to end it to a playoff after
he's right in the middle of the fairway three hundred
and thirty yards. Yeah, I don't know where you stood.
I thought, the emotional roller coaster of that three and
a half hours, how could he win in well, in
extra hole, I thought he was gonna lose Colin I didn't.
I didn't have any faith he was going to win
in extra holes because emotionally put yourself in his shoes.

(03:19):
He had to be gutted to try to gather himself
and keep his heart rate down. He probably wanted to cry.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
Well, it's funny because Phil Mickelson got himself into trouble
because he was overly aggressive. But and he would buckle,
but it was a different kind. Rory loses confidence. You
can see it. And there are times on that wedge
you're like, oh, he just lost confidence. He said it
a little bit on the green jacket in ceremony in

(03:47):
the room, which I thought was really emotional. But yeah,
I just I think, you know, Tiger was such a
great leader, like he never lost leeds. If Tiger led
by five strokes going into Sunday, it was over. There
was one US Open against Rocco medi eight, which I
found that was stirring with Tiger. Also his last Master's

(04:09):
win where he was an older golfer, was stirring and
really emotional.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
Well, colin O eight was stirring with Roco because he
had a torn acl and a broken leg. He was healthy.
But yeah, I know what you mean.

Speaker 1 (04:22):
Yeah, And I mean I just thought the whole spectacle
it was perfect weather amend corner. Just the galleries or
the patrons, the intensity, you know, I kept thinking to myself,
So Bryson de Shambeau was to shambles his I mean,
he had a distance issue all weekend, but he was

(04:42):
putting great until Sunday. And it was interesting when they
interviewed him afterwards. He took a little shot, a little
projection when he said, you know, I don't remember the
Sunday greens being that fast because he was really off.

Speaker 2 (04:58):
Now.

Speaker 1 (04:59):
He all weekend had sort of a distance issue, like
he was long or short, but his putting kept him close,
whereas Rory's wedge and Rory's irons were either remarkable or mediocre.
Rory today, frankly, think about that, how good Rory is.
He had one of the worst shots ever the wedge

(05:20):
end of the creek. Yeah, he blew a four stroke lead.
He hit a couple of putts, but he was hit
and miss off the tee. You didn't know exactly what
you were getting from Rory off the tee, and yet
he won. I mean, how damn good do you have
to be if you just if I just told you

(05:42):
what his round was rough off the tee, one of
the worst shots ever. GAG's a lead, you wouldn't think
he'd win.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
Well, I thought, I mean Colin he blew a. He
had a two shot lead coming in today. He was
down one shot after two holes. I mean it felt like,
is this going to be Greg Norman John Vandervelt Immediately, honestly,
you felt bad for him, like how can this happen?
But he had a couple shots today that I would
say were phil like over trees. Yeah, I mean he

(06:10):
had one ender over a tree, ah, the bender around
the tree, another shot over a tree from the left side.
He had another shot on the right side. He did
get a little lucky. I mean, one thing with Augusta,
you can't really hit it out of bounds. You just
there's tree trouble, but it's not. There's no rough so
you can spray it a little bit and there's just
the golf gods are on your side. You're still gonna

(06:30):
be okay, So the golf gods are on your side.
Through the first three rounds, he was the best player
in the tournament by a mile. I mean Bryce and
yesterday hit that like one hundred foot putt to instead
of being down three, down two and eighteen but he
didn't even play that well yesterday where Rory shot sixty six,
sixty six Friday and Saturday and on front and on
Thursday Rory's four under heading into fifteen hits it on

(06:52):
two chips, it into the water, so he kind of
unravels at the end, but he had played brilliantly and
it just shows you that, Like, to me, one thing
that's fascinating about Rory, and I always admire the Michael Jordan's,
the Brady's, even the young version of Mahomes. When you win,
you win big, you make all the money and you
just keep grinding because you're addicted to the competition. That
Tiger was notorious for this right. Stevie Williams's caddy would

(07:15):
be like, you know, we'd win, and Tiger would call
me two days later and be like, I'll meet you
at the range of six in the morning. He'd be like,
take the week off and now that this gets the
Monkey office. And Roy had already won twice this year.
He won a Pebble and he won the Players. Now
he's won the Masters. He's playing by far the best
in the world. He's better in scott He's off you know, Bryson. Really,
he's outplayed Bryson twice. He screwed up last year in

(07:36):
the putts at Pinehurst. If Rory keeps the pedal of
the medal, he might not win every major, but he
could win like six seven times. He could have a
historic year. You do wonder watch the way he broke down.
Is he just gonna take like a month to just
like not do anything. He wouldn't blame him. But if
he keeps it down like Jordan or Tiger or though
you know, Brady would he He's the best player in
the world right now by a pretty wide margin.

Speaker 1 (07:59):
I think yeah, And I thought Bryce, and to shamble
his game is just you know, listen, I like golf.
I played it this weekend.

Speaker 2 (08:09):
I'm how'd you play?

Speaker 1 (08:10):
But I am hitting my irons the last year as
well as I can hit him, just as well as
I can hit him.

Speaker 2 (08:17):
You need to give Bryson a lesson.

Speaker 1 (08:19):
His game feels loose, Bryce, I mean he didn't. He
was struggling getting the ball in the fair way, his
wedges were hitting miss. He got it in the drink
twice today. Now, his putting saved him over the weekend,
but today when his putting went. It really unveiled. The
truth about his game is the putting kept him around.

(08:42):
His gay mentioned it after the round. His game is
just not right.

Speaker 2 (08:46):
Well, I think the old adage is you can talk
to a fade, a drawer hook doesn't listen, and when
you play that drawer hook one, it goes farther and
it goes harder. And I know he's like all the
greens were harder, Bryce, and the greens at the Masters
been the same since you know, Arnold Palmer was playing
in the fifties. They're hard, they're firm. Your irons weren't
even close. And he plays this power draw which today

(09:10):
turned into last couple of days turned into a hook.
He is you know the thing with Bryson, he's clearly
mellowed out and the YouTube thing has changed his world.
If he was a football player, I mean, this guy
is a blue chip out of high school, out of college,
like he has an elite talent, but he is he
messes with all sorts of weird shit. I mean, he's
got special made club He's a different cat.

Speaker 1 (09:33):
Wikipedia Bryson Deshambo's clubs and I was reading it over
the weekend. It called three D I mean he doesn't.
He uses stuff nobody else has used. He has been
very contrariant. I mean, I thought it was funny when
they came out today. The build up was like a
Tyson fight. So Deshambo comes out, he's all gladiator and

(09:53):
you know they're both power players. But Rory plays fast
and Deshambo has more pace, and you know they Jim
Man's talked about this. He said, you know, putting these
two together is an advantage maybe for Bryson because he'll
try to slow. You know, the slower player can irk
the faster player, and Rory likes to get up, hit
and go. I find Rory very easy to watch. He's

(10:15):
the antithesis of like Sergio Garcia in his prime, where
you just it was irritating to watch him. So Bryson's
not that slow, but Rory just gets up, hits it,
and again. The thing with Rory is just how remarkable
he is as a talent to win today. I mean
he is. I think he had four double bogies.

Speaker 2 (10:35):
I don't know, it's never happened before in the history
of the Masters. Okay, Tony Craig Stadler had three once
and one at in eighty two. That was the only
time anyone had three. The double bogee for normal human
beings happens a lot. For pro golfers, it does not
happen very often, especially in a major. One can sink you.

Speaker 1 (10:51):
The I thought it was interesting on eighteen, which is
the narrowest t shot. So here was Rory. He put
himself in a position That's where I was on So
I flew in. So I watched every shot the last
two days and I was watching, you know, my plane
landed basically as that it at lax as the tournament ended.

(11:13):
So Master's app is amazing. I watched every shot, just fantastic,
but that I found myself on the eighteenth because there
was a lot of tension during the last two days.
But on Saturday, it's kind of like, Okay, you can
miss shots, it's fine. When he stepped up on eighteen
and he delivered a beauty, I mean he just crashed it,

(11:35):
and I felt like, okay, it's his. And then, in
typical Rory fashion, he ends up going, you know, to
a playoff. Going into the playoff, I kind of felt
like Justin Rose was going to win it.

Speaker 2 (11:49):
Do you get nervous anymore? Anything you do? In life,
like as often you get nervous, I don't what would
it take for you to get nervous. You think like
calling you're calling the super Bowl or I mean something
that you but it'd have to be something that you
can actually, you know, feel comfortable doing.

Speaker 1 (12:06):
Right Like not I get nervous for my kids. I
get nervous. It's the only sport that I get nervous
is golf. And I felt that because like I loved
Phil Mickelson and and there's something about the vulnerability of
Rory that just connects with me. I've been rooting for
him and this is not anti anybody else. I was

(12:26):
rooting for him all weekend.

Speaker 2 (12:28):
Well once once Rose basically split the fairway in extra holes,
You're looking at Rory and you're thinking, how can you
control your heart rate right now? Because you know he's
Rose has no pressure on him. If I crumble, I'm
going to be viewed as Honestly, it would have felt
bigger than Greg Norman because you had unraveled, taken the lead, unraveled,
taking the lead, unraveled, taking the lead. It's I would

(12:48):
say it was kind of an unlike a situation. I've
been watching golf for a long time. I don't ever
remember around where a guy unravels, takes the lead, unravels
takes the lead and then has a chance to win
it and then bui, he's eighteen, Like he did. I thought,
if Rory snaps it into the trees or overcuts it
into the trees, it's very understandable. And then the moment
he split the fairway, I thought, okay, this he does have.

(13:09):
Obviously Phil as well. I mean Phil on a major
a couple of years ago as a fifty one year old.
These guys have I think we underrate, especially Phil and Rory,
because Tiger suck so much of the energy out, like
I think Brady did this with Peyton, like Peyton's got
a lot of resolved to him as well, you know,
Rory and Phil. And then when he won it, he
almost felt like usually guys raised their hands up or whatever.

(13:31):
Roy's hit the ground and cried almost like clearly a
weight had been lifted off his entire career. That's where
I get a little nervous that, like, does he maintain this,
because how could the same drive because of the pressure,
and this has been a decade running and think of
the situations that have happened. I mean, just last year,
losing to Bryson like he did. Now you just wonder

(13:52):
like can he sustain this? And like you talked about
the Bryson Rory thing, I think what's pretty special about
football is if you're in the same conference as your foe.
You know Peyton and Brady were both in the AFC. Well,
if you both win the division, you're gonna automatically play
each other every year, and if the teams are good,
you're gonna playach other in the playoffs every lot. We
get that with Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes in golf,

(14:13):
how often we never really got Tiger Phil. It just
never happened right in the biggest tournaments. Yet we've got
Rory Bryson twice in six months. It's now. It didn't
quite play out as good as the last time, but
it does feel like I would expect this wouldn't shock
me if we got this a couple more times. I mean,
this is it was just really cool, even if it
didn't live up to the billing. Like you said, it

(14:36):
felt like like Dana White should have been walking right
behind him right the hype and then and then Bryson
fell off, but Rory, you just felt like the fight
was still going. He's just fighting some other guy. Yeah,
that was I mean, I think we've seen some crazy masters.
Colin That's that's gotta be one of the more riveting
multiple stretches of a couple hours we've ever seen.

Speaker 1 (14:56):
Well a year ago, I mean, we saw John Rahm
really struggle. He you know, he took that live money,
and which is fine. I defended live guys forever. I
mean again, our government is in bed with the Saudi's.
Everybody is. It's there's a difference between blaming and judging.
I didn't blame any of the guys. If you want
to be judge on them, go for it. But you'd

(15:18):
have taken the money too. It's like Chris Rock's joke manner,
as loyal as their options. If somebody offers one hundred
and thirty million and you can play half the tournaments,
you're gonna do it. I didn't think it was interesting.
On like Thursday and Friday, you couldn't find Bryson to Shambo.
It was like, are you guys gonna put them on television?
And it was like, come on, guys, there is still

(15:38):
let's let's talk about this sort of division between you know,
the Masters and CBS. It's the longest running broadcast partnership
in sports. It's like NBC in the Olympics, CBS and
the Masters. How intense do you think the division is? Obviously,
like on Thursday and Friday it was like, can we
can we show Bryson to Shambo here? Folks? This is

(15:59):
getting ridiculous. How intense do you think and ugly do
you think the division is between the PGA and Live Still?

Speaker 2 (16:05):
I think it's pretty bad. And I think you know,
CBS and NBC, they're loyalty to the PGA Tour. I
mean they've been in business with them forever, right, I
mean specifically the PGA Tour. Obviously CBS has the Masters,
but CBS calls. I don't know how many PGA Tour
events during the year. I'd guess fifteen, you know. And
I think the problem is you're dealing with a group
that I mean, Yostra has a access to a piggy

(16:28):
bank that's bigger than any piggy bank in the history
of the world. I mean, they got trillions of dollars
and so yeah, it's like they can lose a billion dollars.
They don't even notice it. It'd be like someone losing
ten bucks. And I think the PGA Tour, you know,
Tiger's very involved, Well, where's his ego and his pride
is based on the history of the PGA Tour. That's

(16:49):
what made him a billionaire and famous. And I think
they're just a lot of egos, a lot of money
on the line, and I think the tour could get
very lucky that some of these guys like no One,
you know, Fock just did business with Live and they're
on Fox Sports one, and I think they put the
Duru Tournament. But people just aren't watching because anytime you
start something new, it's hard to get people to gravitate.

(17:10):
I don't care who you bring over. I mean, Bryson
gets more people watching on YouTube. And I just think
there's a lot of bitterness. There's a lot of money
on the line. Some of the guys on the tour
that didn't leave are bitter because those guys, you know,
Bryson got two hundred million dollars and I didn't get any.
So I don't think they're any closer. I mean, I've
heard them talk about this for two years now and
there's no light at the end of the tunnel because

(17:31):
they're both balking and balking and balking, and I think
Live goes well, we have some demands if you're going
to take our money, and I don't blame them. I
think LIV wants to do a deal with the PGA Tour,
but they also don't want their idea that was live
in this team golf, which golf is an individual sport,
just like tennis. It doesn't mean occasionally there's a tennis tournament.
I forget the Davis Cup where you play doubles, just

(17:52):
like there's a Ryder Cup. We like watching golf to
watch Pete Sampers play Andre Agassi, to watch Tiger Woods play,
Ernie Els and Phil Micholson on one, that's what golf is.
And I think Live and their money loves their idea,
which again I understand sticking to an idea. The PGA
Tour wants no part of it, and their players aren't
going to agree to a deal that like, well, we
got to play in seven team tournaments. What they got

(18:15):
going for them is I do think you know, at
least there have been articles and rumors that guys like
Bryson and Brooks miss being in the bright light, sure,
and there's something that Live can't bring to the table.
So when their contracts end and they've made hundreds of men,
they could just come back right And let's face it,
if you could do a draft right of the pg Tour,

(18:36):
could pick one person, and one person only, they wouldn't
even hesitate. It'd be Bryson. And if none of the
other guys ever came back rom multiple time major champion
Dustin Johnson, Brooks kept them, I don't think it would
be that big a deal. But Bryson is. I think
they would take him. And you can't convince me that Bryson.
You gotta let him keep doing his YouTube stuff. Just
acquiesce the world's changed. Let him do his YouTube stuff,

(18:59):
let him play on the PGA Tour, and I think
everything would be fine. I think he's the key pretty clearly,
because he's not going away. He loves golf.

Speaker 1 (19:06):
Well, there's only at any one point in my life.
You know, I've said this about all sports, baseball especially,
don't listen to purists. You got them, don't listen to purists.
Speed the game up, you know, make the bases larger,
take away the defensive shift. Don't become analytic, you know,

(19:27):
dependent like like yeah, so, and I feel like golf
and any one time in my life there have been
three golfers I was really interested in. And right now
the four guys, if they're on that I'm really interested
in are Rory Kopka, bryceon Neshambau and Dustin Johnson. There's
a bunch of Scotti. Scheffler doesn't do it for me.
I know, he's great, doesn't do anything. You know, Bubba

(19:48):
Watson had a role. He doesn't do anything for me.
So it's just there. Very It's always been about three guys,
four guys. Even in the Arnie and Jack days, there
was you know, there were a couple of players, uh
maybe Lee Trevino mixed in there, Johnny Miller for a
few years, but Tom wise Coough, you know, Tom Kite
weren't moving the needle. So I kind of look at

(20:10):
it like I thought, this weekend was the very best
of golf. You got the Masters and the undulating course,
which is just and it's a picture. It's literally, it's
literally a picture, it's a postcard. And then you had,
as Jim Nance said, this is a journey in an
odyssey in one day for Rory mcelright. I just thought

(20:31):
it gave you everything. I thought it gave you bad shots,
blown leads, buckling, picturesque tradition. And I will say this,
bryceon de Shambeau, his mood changed by about the fifth hole.
You I mean, honestly, you could see him and he
started hurrying up and he tends to have a slower pace,

(20:53):
like he started to It was at one point one
of the announcers said, like, he's just he sort of
lost his personality. He's lost it. You could just he
was getting really frustrated. And I don't know, I just
thought it was the best final round I can remember.
I kept thinking about rock O Media eight, Tiger Woods
US Open. That's what kept flashing in my head.

Speaker 2 (21:12):
I actually think the Masters has really really benefited the
last couple of years from Live because these guys only
get back together four times a year, and because of
the calendar, it's the first time they get back together,
and this is by far the biggest tournament of the year. Yeah,
so it's the perfect combination. And like you said, I mean,
the weather the last couple of days just look picturesque.
Having the superstars the leader board was incredible. I just

(21:35):
think that this tournament in a weird way, I hate
live because it's just it's made my life as just
someone that wants to watch all these guys play together.
Like you said, I don't care that who makes what.
I just want to see all these guys play together.
And it's separated them. But it's made this weekend, specifically
the last couple of years. I would say it's it's
put it on steroids. And it's hard even for the

(21:57):
other majors to quite feel like this one, because one
is just The Masters has always been big. It's you know,
every human being, whether you don't even like golf, knows
the green jacket. Tiger took it to another level. I
do think though the last couple of years, with them
all getting back together, it feels like there's now Bryson
is kind of I mean last year he had the
lead after a couple of rounds. He's been a major

(22:18):
factor of these last couple of years at the Masters.
Has added an element to this tournament that, you know,
without Tiger, it's just hard. I mean the golf, this
isn't football. I mean football wouldn't be big enough. I
remember being a kid, USFL tried to take away Steve
Young and Bruce Smith and Jim Kelly, like you need
you only have ten to fifteen to twenty guys that
really matter in golf. You probably only got five or six. Yes,

(22:40):
I can't lose two of them, right, And tennis was
very dependent on Federer, Joker and nat All for basically
fifteen twenty years. Yeah, when I was a kid, it
was Samperston agacy and that was kind of it. Yeah,
And it's like golf is not big enough to handle
this divide, but the majors don't really care because they're
masters in business with the Masters's it works for them.

Speaker 1 (22:59):
Have you ever seen what you win when you win
the Masters? So the purse this year was four point
two million. You get the jacket, lifetime membership, invitation forever,
You get all these exclusive places you know that you
can you know, only a handful of You got to
use the locker room of Champions, which is just all
time great, but it's one of the it's it's I

(23:21):
think the only thing to me that compares to the
Masters is when the US Open is at Pebble Beach,
where I'm literally watching for the course and Pinehurst is great,
but I'm not watching for Pinehurst. Pebble Beach. US Opens
feel different, British Open feels different. St Andrews, and I
think the Masters, those three tournament PGA Championship to me

(23:42):
just doesn't you know again if I'm around, But it
was interesting. So I'm watching Thursday and Friday on vacation
and I went and golf Saturday. I was just like, oh,
I'm into this beautiful day by the way, fifty degrees. Oh,
it was just beautiful day in the suburbs of Chicago.
But it was just one of those things where I

(24:03):
think golf, even though you would argue it's not in
a good place, it's got a lot of alphas. There's
a little tension between all of them. They, I mean, Kepka, Bryson,
de Shamble aren't tight that you can sense. It's pretty palpable.
You can sense the tension between some of these guys

(24:24):
because they're all really guys, guys. They're all very male, right,
And I think, I don't know, I just watched this
weekend and I thought to myself, golf's in a really
good place at these Masters, at these majors.

Speaker 2 (24:37):
Well, I know, you know, living in Arizona, a lot
of pros live here, and you know, I play golf
at TBC where a lot of these guys practice. The
live financial boom for the PGA Tour and these guys
has been pretty incredible for the business. I mean, the
top guys have always been rich, from Arnold Palmer to
Jack to Tiger. But you know, my wife was showing
an open house a couple of weeks ago with one

(25:00):
of her colleagues. There was like four or five million
dollars and the people looking at the open house and
the guy was showing it is in the golf world
and knows these people, introduces himself and realizes it's the
wife of one of the caddies and she was looking
for another caddies wife. These are four or five million
dollar house the caddies. And this is not you know,
Rory's caddy. This is a guy probably somewhere forty to

(25:20):
sixty in the world. These guys I mean Bryson or
Rory NetJets. You see. Yeah, the sixtieth guy ain't going
to the commercial airport. So the wealth on the golf
tour right now has never been top down, and it's
an incredible time to be involved as a high end
top one hundred golfer. You are an immediate millionaire and
your Caddi's doing well, coll your caddy.

Speaker 1 (25:42):
And also with Bryson being a YouTube sensation, Oh, everybody
now understands there's influencer potential putting your stuff on YouTube,
So showing a little personality is okay. So I think
it's it's you know, they call him influencers. I think
Bryson's an influencer, like he has the ability like a

(26:03):
Connor McGregor in his prime, that if Connor was on
the card, I would just go to I took my
wife to two UFC cards, so I thought it was
a great weekend. Stephanie's Places is a new series on
ESPN Plus gives you all the access to some of
the biggest WWE superstars. Stephanie McMahon does a great job,
and I know Stephanie great job of bringing out the

(26:26):
best stories from Cmpunk, Cody Rhodes, Triple H who's a
great guy, and many more so. In this week's episode,
comes out Wednesday, Stephanie sits down with Steve Austin and
his ranch in Nevada and talk about his post WWE life.
So if you haven't checked out this episode of Stephanie's
Places yet, you can find this series on ESPN Plus

(26:47):
streaming right now. The episodes are fast, they're fun, you
really get inside stuff you've never seen before. It's some
of the biggest stars from the WWE. Three episodes are
out right now. Seven more episodes are coming up. John Middlecoff,
former NFL scout, All right, let's let's let's do a

(27:08):
little NFL. The draft is coming up in a couple
of weeks. So I was I was sitting with a
Packer fan the other night having dinner. My wife and
I were with some acquaintances in Chicago, and they were
talking about Aaron Rodgers and two people at the table said, well,
why hasn't he signed, And I said, well, I think

(27:28):
Aaron deep down knows Pittsburgh's fools, gold dk Metcalf, George Pickens,
a lot of drama. They can't get their O line right,
they lost Nausea Harris and their left tackle. I don't
know if the offensive coordinator is Aaron's type of guy.
So I think Aaron, if he thought Pittsburgh was the deal,
he would sign with Pittsburgh and My take on Aaron

(27:50):
is he really wants to sign with Minnesota, and Minnesota
right now has kind of bounced around and it made
me a little ambiguous with with JJ McCarthy injury wise.
But I'll just ask you, is I think if Aaron
wanted to sign, he would, And I think he knows
Pittsburgh's fraught with isshoes, you know, defensive culture, defensive spending,

(28:11):
two high maintenance receivers, left tackle gone, They've had a
battle line for seven years. Why do you think he
hasn't signed?

Speaker 2 (28:20):
You know, I remember you had Danny Parkins on probably
a month ago, and he thought that Aaron was gonna
sign it at Pat McAfee's deal in Pittsburgh, And at
first I thought he was crazy, and then the closer
we got him like, yeah, maybe it's gonna happen. So
I kind of expected him just to announce at that thing,
and then it doesn't happen, and you're like, well, maybe
this is not inevitable. And like you said, Kevin O'Connell,

(28:41):
I think he said at the owners meetings that two
things can be true. We believe in JJ McCarthy, and
we'd also not be doing our job if we weren't
showing an interest in Aaron Rodgers. Well, they get a
tryout period at least physically how it's gonna look with
JJ McCarthy in Ota. So if you're Rogers, it's like, well,
what is Pittsburgh gonna do? And if they shoudre Sanders

(29:01):
falls of them, they still wouldn't be interested in bringing
me in that they want to win next year. Schador
doesn't guarantee that, right, So he actually has a weird
amount of leverage over Mike Tomlin and Pittsburgh. I mean,
that can't feel great if you're a Steelers like Aaron Rodgers,
but he has no leverage in Minnesota, which is clearly
his best spot unless OTA's you know, the coach goes.

(29:22):
I don't know, he still looks skinny, maybe the offense
doesn't look as smooth. Maybe physically he just doesn't look
right right right, So I think he can gauge if
there are reports after you know, a couple of those
Ota practices, which again I'm not acting like those are
the end all be all, but from a physical standpoint,
we saw him walk the sideline against the Lions. He
looked like he weighed one hundred and seventy five pounds. Yeah,

(29:44):
and he had needed multiple knee surgeries. I understand and listen,
I like the player as well, but you can't go
off just one good experience in a preseason game for
a team that if you just removed the quarterback for
every team in the NFL, Minnesota und out of believe
would be a top five pick of roster team, right.
You would take them probably above like the Chiefs or

(30:05):
the Bills.

Speaker 1 (30:06):
Well, they just revamped the I mean the Bears and
the Vikings both real upgrades on our O line, so
we know we like Minnesota's coach and running back and
wide receivers and tight end. They went and shored up
their offensive line. So I think it's one of the
more attractive places in the league for a quarterback for sure.

Speaker 2 (30:24):
So to me, if if you have any reservations, I
also think if I'm Kevin O'Connell, I go aarin. We
want you, and I'd even do it before OTAs. But
we're offering you a veteran minimum, no guaranteed, like you've
already made five hundred and four hundred million dollars on
and off the field. Who knows how much you've made,
but We're not guaranteeing you anything, So if things ever
get weird or it doesn't fit, we can both move on,

(30:46):
you know, cause if you really want this, because you're
no dummy, you know this is by far your best opportunity.
But like, I don't know what Pittsburgh has even offered
them one year twenty million dollars or something like the
Minnesota wouldn't even entertain something like that one year a
couple million. And if things don't work after training camp,
we can both go our separate ways. But we're not
being stuck. But I wouldn't fault them for being interested,

(31:09):
just because we have seen enough now with you know,
most of these rookie quarterbacks go to really shitty teams, right,
so it's like even if you have a bad year whatever,
Trevor Lawrence's first year with Irvin Meyer, he got like
a pass. It's happened twice now, a guy's been drafted
really high and gone to a team with like legit
playoff expectations. Trey Lance was higher than Caleb, but Caleb
had pretty big expectation and then it was just it's

(31:30):
a lot of pressure, a lot of stuff going on
that is JJ McCarthy. I know he's a second year player,
but he's technically like you know, like Blake Griffin. Right,
he didn't play his rookie year because he tore his
eight knee. You're a rookie, you know, on the field
like that. You can't have much more pressure as a
first time starting quarterback that's twenty two years old that's
never played. Kevin O'Connell is not Kyle shanahan. You watch

(31:52):
him in those the game against Detroit and the playoff game.
He's calling pass place. Yeah, he wants to He's McVeigh.
He wants to and Andy he wants to pass. JJ
played in a running office trying to beat Penn State
and they didn't hand the they didn't pass the ball
in the second half like the Michigan handoff, handoff, handoff
play d that's what he's used to doing.

Speaker 1 (32:09):
Yeah, I think there's real concerns there, and I think
Aaron's smart to just I would wait till the drafts over.
I want to see where the chips fall. I don't
want to get burner like Kirk Cousins. And I'm going
to sit around if I'm Aaron and if I don't
get the right offer, I got a two hundred million
bucks in the bank. I'm done.

Speaker 2 (32:26):
I think Minnesota definitely is still on the table.

Speaker 1 (32:29):
Okay, I want to talk about this because this got
a lot of pushback this weekend. So Tennessee is a
very young quarterback and he was making about two million dollars.
They were paying him two million dollars when he was
red shirting as a freshman to not play. And his
name is and I'll just call him Nico. He's got

(32:51):
a long last name and I don't want to butcher it.
So I watched him play three or four No, I
probably watched him play four or five times last year
against the better teams. He was young quarterback, not overwhelmed,
but not a missus open receivers. He's not should do
or accurate. But he's also not draft eligible right now.

(33:11):
He's going to grow. But he's a really nice talent.
He's slender, he moves well, he's got a decent arm.
And my take is, so he comes out this weekend
and basically doesn't show up to practice and says I
want four million, and Tennessee, to their credit, is like, listen,
we're not going to play that game. We're gonna let
him go, and I thought it would have been very
difficult to hold out, not show up to practice, and

(33:33):
come back. So I think the volunteers made the right
decision as a program to say, listen, this isn't gonna work,
this is a bad vibe, this is bad locker room smell. Here,
we're moving on. I totally agree with that, But I
wasn't necessarily bothered by the move because it is April
and coaches now are fetching twelve to thirteen million dollars

(33:53):
in college football. So if a top quarterback wants four,
I'm like, I'm not going to hate the player. You
can hate the system, you can hate nil, but I
think this is I think this is what we're gonna
see this, this is the way the game works now.
I don't think it'll hurt him in the NFL. I
think eventually, if he has a great year, people draft him.

(34:15):
Everybody needs quarterbacks. Nobody care. I mean, Cayleb Williams had
some emotional stuff, people didn't like, Johnny Manziel had all
sorts of it. There'll be a team that'll draft him
that needs a quarterback. What do you make What do
you make of the kid doing it. What do you
make in Tennessee's reaction, I.

Speaker 2 (34:33):
Forget the kid's name, but there's a pass rusher on
South Carolina the Game Cocks who's like looks like a
clowney or just like a you know, Miles Garrett that
in the middle of the season, they're like they had
to up what they were going to pay him. And again,
true freshman. He looks like he's got a chance to
be like a number one overall pick. I have no
problem when you're an elite player. Renegotiating happens in pro

(34:54):
sports all the time. What happened? Who holds out in
the NFL? Micah Parsons, Nick Bosa? Right, Justin Jefferson, Jordan,
Jamar Chase. This guy did not have a good year.
I'm with you. I watched a lot of them last
year because Tennessee was good and they were in the mix.
Have you heard of him in high school? Like he
was one of the highly talented guys in la oh.

Speaker 1 (35:14):
I think he was the number one quarterback I believe
out of Los Angeles. So I watch all those guys
tape on YouTube. Again, moves well lively, arm I thought
as a college quarterback, his accuracy was against and again
I only watched the Tennessee games against the better teams.
Very hit and miss down the field, very hit and miss.

(35:34):
But again my takeaway is, okay, it's like a red
shirt freshman. I'm okay with it.

Speaker 2 (35:38):
Well, here's my issue with the whole thing is all
reports have it it's his dad. You know, they say
pigs get fed, hawks gets slaughtered. Like you said, he
got four years, eight million dollars without ever playing a snap,
where a lot of coaches, Kirby Smart does not give
those type contracts to high school kids, right, a lot
of the top coach because it's not good business. Tennessee
did because I think he was like second or third

(36:00):
overall recruit in the class. Arch was one. So I
mean the hot, the hypes, the hype was was big,
and that he got paid for it. I think he
threw twenty touchdowns last year and only nine of them
came in the SEC. He was not good in the
SECN against good teams. Yeah, So to try to renegotiate
off a bad year, to me, he's bad business.

Speaker 1 (36:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (36:18):
And Dan Lanning turned him in essentially like, hey, you're
getting played. And I think some of these coaches because again,
he's not that good if he was viewed as a
camp if he was draft eligible. Right now, he's not
getting drafted in the top one hundred picks. It's all
projection and potential but not off actual play. And his
dad again two and I think it was like two

(36:39):
point two he was scheduled to make this upcoming year. Yeah,
what if this is one of those I forget the
NBA player, but he like opted out and he thought
he could get like eighty million dollars and ended up
getting like a one year eight million dollars. What if
he can't even get a million dollars in the transfer
portal Because some of these coaches are gonna go, well,
he's a little overhyped one, and we're going to try
to make a statement for our big business. That's why

(37:00):
Dan Lanny called them right this is because they're like,
this is insane. It'd be one thing if he was
making one hundred thousand dollars in like, hey, the going
rates of million dollars, A couple of million dollars would
totally get it. His dad, by all accounts, leading the charge.
If someone needs to give that guy some business advice,
get Dre Rosenhouse because I think it's bad business. No
issue if you're an elite player, if it's Drake May

(37:21):
a couple of years ago or ashing genty guys that
could transfer and totally get it. This guy was completely
underwhelming Colin, this guy was It's why I think Tennessee
and most people universe, they are like, this is nuts.
This is just dumb business. Two and a half million
dollars to play average football in the SEC. They were
a defensive team last year, which is ironic because Joshipel's

(37:42):
their coach, right.

Speaker 1 (37:43):
Yeah, And if josh Hipel's the coach, you would think
it's one of those things where like when Shanahan couldn't
make Trey Lance work and the Cowboys gave up before,
it's like that's bad gmming. Josh Hipel you would think
would be able to get the most out of this kid.
I think one of the things the NBA. I never

(38:06):
understood this about the G League. So let's not pretend
this is the fifties, sixties or seventies where basketball players
are all starving coming into college basketball. They're not. It's
a suburb sport aau kids. The good players are all
getting taken care of. Even before nil kids were getting
swag chefs. They're getting treated great.

Speaker 2 (38:27):
I am yeah.

Speaker 1 (38:28):
So I never understood kids that went to the G
League instead of going and playing for a top six
program where you're on television twenty five times. I know
Zion because he went to Duke. Would you rather take
four hundred thousand dollars for the G League or three

(38:49):
hundred thousand dollars or take thirty five million dollars of
free marketing and advertising for Duke? And people say, well,
they didn't grow up with a lot of money. Again,
it's a year. You're not asking him to take a
seven eight year hiatus away from money. This is not like,
this is not I mean again, great AU basketball players

(39:12):
are getting taken care of. So I kind of feel
the same way about the dad here. I don't blame
the kid, but it's like, if you have one good year,
if you come back to Tennessee and have thirty touchdowns,
eight picks, and you move well, you will be a
first or an early second round pick next year. Because

(39:33):
there's arch Manning will go number one. After that, there's
about five guys and they're all in the same class.
It depends how the season goes. I just think the
dad lacks a certain self awareness.

Speaker 2 (39:47):
Which is understandable. A lot of these dads, a lot
of human beings, would not have any clue or knowledge
what to do in this situation. If I was one
of these people that had the opportunity to make a
million dollars and now in this world where I can
get real representation, I would have Tennessee, Hey, could we
get in contact with either CAAA Rosenhaus. I'd want someone

(40:09):
real negotiating my thing, and I would imagine they're like, well,
Carson Beck just got four million dollars. Well, two years ago,
when Carson Beck had Lad McConkey and brock Bauers, a
lot of us thought like, this guy could be a
first round pick. He had a really, really good year.
Now I think most of us also thought Miami's kind
of crazy. But some of these numbers that get thrown around,
no one truly knows what's real or not. It's pretty

(40:31):
clear like it was concrete. This guy signed an eight
million dollar four year deal and if he came back
in three years, he will have banked over six million
dollars in a no state income to state at I
don't know where Tennessee like, I don't have a great
feel for their roster right now. In April, I would
guess it's a top ten roster in college football and
he got a pretty good chance to compete. So we'll
have to see where this guy ends up. But it

(40:52):
doesn't feel like Oregon, Ohio State are just lined up
for the kid. So if he ends up losing money,
not only would it be a bad business saho a
football decision, the Tennessee's got to be on the short
list of great places to be a young quarterback playing
football in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 1 (41:07):
Listen, I've learned over the course of my life, is
the young media oh as sides with the player. Oh,
because it's a good story and all the narrative. They
don't come from anything. We don't know that. Again, if
you're the number one or two or three high school
football quarterback in the country, you're getting taken care of
by a lot of people. So I just think it's

(41:29):
one of those situations. I don't blame the kid, And
I think when I watched him, I thought, oh, yeah,
I can see it. I mean, he's got talent, but
and I.

Speaker 2 (41:38):
Will feel he's got no fuel for the pocket. He doesn't.

Speaker 1 (41:41):
That's the when you watch, like, you can say what
you want about Shadoor Sanders. He has a feel. He's
an accurate thrower of the football under duress, Like you
can tell he's quarterbacked a lot. And also Shor is
not a great enough athlete to make extra yards running around.
He's had to make hey in the pocket. And by
the way, his dad Dion Smart. He's told that kid, kid,

(42:02):
you want to get rich, don't be a run around guy,
sit in the pocket and throw darts. I mean, Dion
knows what the hell's going on. So when you watch
Shadoor Sanders, you can clearly tell that he can see
the field. He's super accurate. This kid's just talented. Yeah,
but I you know, I I do think they're the
family needs to take a deep breath because I mean,

(42:22):
if he's great, he'll get drafted. I don't think he's great.
I just think he's talented. Okay, NFL story here, so
the people are talking about, you know, standards. It's not
a very sexy draft. But there was a Derek Carr
story this weekend and I'm thinking, Okay, that's where Chador

(42:47):
is gonna go. So Derek Carr apparently may not play
this season? Did I miss the injury? Did I did?

Speaker 2 (42:57):
Was this?

Speaker 1 (42:58):
I read the story and.

Speaker 2 (42:58):
I thought did I watched their.

Speaker 1 (43:01):
Games last year? I know he was banged up. Were
you surprised at all by that story?

Speaker 2 (43:06):
I saw some of the Saints guys saying that that
they didn't think it was as serious as being played
out and he just had injured his shoulder. And I
think either last year or two years ago. Did I
wonder if this is a classic week or two before
the draft, you're trying to get some information out there
so someone jumps you, right, so players fall to you.
I would be a little shocked again if, like I'm

(43:28):
with you, if something that happened that we don't know
because immediately like, that's a pretty big deal if you
The other thing is they kept him on the roster
when they could have cut him for forty million dollars,
You would think that they would add a pretty good
idea the health status. I just think a lot of
times the two weeks before the draft, you just got
to be very very careful with the uh, with the

(43:50):
shenanigans going on on, stories being leaked about It's why
I never have an issue, and I know, you know,
former players get really worked up. Like when an anonymous
GM says thing about a player, It's like, guys, there's
no love and war here. This is an absolute war
zone to try to do whatever you have to do
to get the player you want. No one remembers this

(44:11):
stuff in a couple months.

Speaker 1 (44:12):
You know.

Speaker 2 (44:13):
Most of this stuff is all just kind of bs anyway.
It's part of the game that's played in this business
that everyone's getting richer than they ever thought, players included,
So it's like nothing's that bad shador Like. Everyone knows
he's not a bad guy or anything. So when it's
like he acted a little weird in the combine things
like that get said every single year, and the overreaction rinse, wash, repeat,

(44:35):
it's like everyone just calmed down. The Derek Carr thing
felt a little like a draft story being thrown out
there to try to get people to manipulate spots that
maybe the Saints leak it out to try to get
someone to throw them. I don't believe much that's happening
right now over this last week now. I also think
I think that the NFL is very turned off by
this crop, you know, because typically you feel really good

(44:57):
about ten to fifteen guys in a draft, and listen,
I like Ashton gent. People think I'm being critical when
a five to eight running back from Boise State is
considered the third best talent in your draft. You got problems, Yeah,
you got And listen, I really like the player. I
think taking a five eight running back when it's one
of the deeper drafts at that position would be insane

(45:19):
for any team in like the top twenty, that includes
the Raiders the Cowboys taking He also played at Boise
State where we saw him against Penn State. Not all
his fault It's hard to like his greatness, you know,
is he Barry Sanders? Well, if you're gonna take him
in the top ten, he better be Barry Sanders. Or's
disaster because the last couple guys get drafted high, Christian McCaffrey,
Saquon Barkley, b John Robinson are not five eight kids

(45:42):
from Boise State. And again, really good player. His year
was awesome. I do think the hype on this guy
to draft him really high speaks to two things. One,
it's just I think teams are like, well, all these
players we don't think any of them are good, so
we might as well take this little guy who is
least good. But historically a five eight running back honestly
going in the first round is pretty it'd be borderline

(46:02):
on precedent, and it does not happen very often.

Speaker 1 (46:04):
No. I think I've theorized John that about ten years ago,
when there was the CTE stories and the concussion stories
that the media had just pounced on and they were
certainly worthy stories, is that the NFL had a real
concern on their hands that they started targeting moms. Remember
that about ten years ago when the NFL started targeting women,

(46:26):
and it's really helped. They've increased their female audience significantly,
and that's great. That means, you know, I mean, it's
like more people that love football, the better for you
and me. But during the CTE, when they wrote that
almost billion dollar check, the NFL had a mom problem.
And that was about ten years ago. I know I'm imprecise,

(46:47):
but it was it was around there, yeah, right, yeah.

Speaker 2 (46:52):
And.

Speaker 1 (46:53):
I've talked to youth coaches and turnout has been down now,
not in Texas, maybe Georgia, Florida, Ohio, but turnout is
down and I'll throw this out there. This is the
first draft because kids would have been Remember they would

(47:14):
have been eight, moms, kids would have been eight. Now
they're eighteen or no. Kids would have been twelve when
you start playing football. Now now they're twenty two outside
of college. Right, So if you go ten years ago,
the twenty two year old is getting drafted twenty months
would have been eleven and twelve when you start playing
tackle football for most kids, and moms are like, nope, nope.

(47:34):
Now some may have been convinced. Over the last decade,
there's been a lot of rule changes. There's fewer concussions,
the game is safer, there's less hitting. But if you
look at when that story started ten years ago, the
kids in this class were eleven and twelve years old.
And this is a casualty of that CTE two year story.

(47:57):
Is that a lot of moms just said, we're not
doing it. My son's not playing football. And now there
may have been fathers as well. But I have friends
in Los Angeles. I have a friend that lives west
of the four or five, which is kind of the
nicer area of La the Ritzier area, and he's like,
he goes, I'm rare. I want my kids to play football.
They transfer out of here, they go to school out

(48:20):
of our zip code to go play football. He goes.
But I can almost find no parents where I live
in Brentwood. My friend where the kids play football, they
all play something else, golf, tennis, basketball, baseball, something else.
So I'm going to theorize that this is not going
to be normal. We're not going to have bad drafts constantly,

(48:40):
but will it become a little bit more like the
NBA or about every third or fourth draft you look
up and go, yeah, there's about seven eight great. I
mean the NBA last year's draft was weak, I mean bad.
If I asked you, and you're a sports guy, name
five guys.

Speaker 2 (48:59):
In the truck.

Speaker 1 (49:00):
No, No, I mean the WNBA draft was more memorable
than the NBA draft. So I just think I don't
remember in my lifetime a draft with this level of
star power that it has, like three. If it not
for Shoe or Sanders, I wouldn't be it wouldn't make
my show very often.

Speaker 2 (49:20):
I'm gonna need a little more data before I agree
that that. I'm not saying that you're wrong. I do think, like,
look at this draft, it's gonna be There are a
lot of offensive and defensive linemen. They're gonna go in
the first round. Yeah. Those human beings can only do
so much athletically, right, They're not gonna play baseball. They're
gonna gravitate towards football. Physically you can dominate, right, So
it's not shocking. One thing that has I would say changed,

(49:43):
and we're never going back. I know they say sports
ebbs and flows, but forever, I remember we did something
probably like seven eight years ago in Newport like a
Fox iHeart get together. I remember coming down there and
Carson Palmer was there, and you look up and you
realize that. And I remember going to a out of
radio games when I got in the radio and that
the quarterbacks of his generation, Philip Rivers, Eli Roethlisberger was

(50:07):
on the higher end of athleticism, but most of them
were NBA looking human beings six five to sixty six
but couldn't move. And Tom Brady said this, I could
only play one position in a high school football game.
I couldn't play any other position in the prime of
my career. And Carson Palmer, like those guys can't beat
any human in a foot race. On the field, including

(50:27):
the linement, not even close. Those guys don't exist in
the draft anymore. All the players at quarterback. So as
that guy is he now playing golf and pitching in baseball,
where for a while maybe he gravitated toward football, and
now he realizes the coach only wants to Nico Emioala
because he can move around, even though he can't play right.

(50:48):
But he's a good athlete. And you look at all
these college quarterbacks. I remember going through Arch's class. Jack Arnold,
I think he transferred from Oklahoma. He's at Auburn now.
But the whole group were athletes. None of them were
like Jared Goff. Is really the last of a dying breeze.
When you look at the top quarterbacks in the NFL,
obviously the top dudes are all athletes. Lamar and Josh

(51:09):
are better, but Mahomes Herbert can all move Then the
Jalen hurts that even Party can move around. There is
not a golf even Baker, now that he's slimmed down
and got older, he's much more of a movie.

Speaker 1 (51:20):
Stafford and Goff for the last two pocket quarterbacks.

Speaker 2 (51:23):
But staffordhen Stafford was younger, he had much more mobility.
He would have been on a better athlete than like
a Palmer or an Eli. Right, that's human. That was
always a number one pick or a Philip Rivers a
top five pick. He just doesn't exist in football. But
that athlete still exists. They're still going to be the
six five seventeen year old kid. Is he just throwing
ninety eight and going to Florida to pitch or is

(51:44):
he going to Arizona State to play golf? Maybe he is,
but he's not playing quarterback anymore. And for you just
look at the history for my entire life, eighties, nineties,
two thousand's, that guy littered the top ten in drafts,
the six' five quarterback from school acts that couldn't really
run but had a big, arm and not just the
first round like he got drafted throughout the. Draft he

(52:05):
just doesn't exist playing. Football you AND i watch a
lot of college. Football who on a good team in
college football are a good, prospect can't move Even Drew,
aller who's questionable prospect but can, move, yeah right a little,
Bit and he's on the lower end of athleticism for college.

Speaker 1 (52:19):
CANS i, mean A usc has a young quarterback that
got FROM unlv AND i mean his greatest asset is
that he. Moves he's not a guy that to this
point in his, career he's very hit and. Message i'm
kind of surprised how Loyal lincoln And riley's been to.
Him but he does move the, pocket AND i think
that does give these smart offensive coaches about twenty five

(52:42):
percent more playbook AND i think it's an absolute. Advait
that's Why stafford is so good because he doesn't get
those he doesn't get movement, Right, like you have to
win from the pocket And matt can do. It Jared
goff has to win from the. Pocket that's. WHY i,
mean if you asked every coach in the league right,
NOW i know it's only one, Year, john if you
asked every coach in the league next ten, years pick a,

(53:03):
QUARTERBACK i THINK i think that'll Take jade And. DANIELS
i think that's the kid they look at and, go,
well five of the, YEARS i don't have to pay.
Him he moves exceptionally. Well he's, scary bizarrely poised and
accuracy LIKE i watched this year and my take is
this is not recency. Bias this kid in fourth down
high leverage over, time last drive of the. Game this

(53:27):
shit is. In he's just, intuitive like he just understands
it's innate that you can't teach some of that stuff
that kid does.

Speaker 2 (53:35):
WELL i think what's Made lamar such an awesome player
is he was a mobile guy that is morphed into this.
Hybrid he can play in the pocket and kill. You
but he wasn't like that early and he's become.

Speaker 1 (53:45):
That.

Speaker 2 (53:46):
JADEN i think a lot of people, thought, like this
athlete immediately is like awesome pocket passer who also can
just take off and move. Around not quite Like, lamar but.
Kinda and, YEAH i just you're always gonna have to
win from with in the. Pocket BUT i think now
college you only get to pick you, Know parcels used to,
say like the grocery store is college, football that that's

(54:07):
where we pick the. Ingredients, well college is only giving
you look at The National championship, historically when you Think
Ohio state And Notre, dame you think like pocket. Quarterbacks
both those guys were sprinting. Around Will howard had one
of the biggest runs in the. Game, Yeah Will howard
can play a little bit from the pocket, too but
he's an athletic. Guy that's why when they got him
From Kansas, State you're, like this is this gonna. Work chip wants

(54:29):
a mobile, guy and then by the playoff, run he's
like really throwing well from the. Pocket but that's that's
all college football is the, mobility which is. Good Like
i'm not no one's being LIKE i wouldn't Want Patrick,
mahomes but like it still works With Jared Goff and
like if you Put Peyton manning Or Tom brady at
thirty years old in this, league they would be just
fine because they get rid of the football really. Quick

(54:51):
but you watch college, football no one plays like that.
Anymore SO i do wonder if that is morphing into
the kids that play football in high, school because if
you're a high school. COACH i don't watch much high school,
football but it does feel like all the top recruits
are all like moving.

Speaker 1 (55:07):
Around, yep they are. Indisputable have you gone on your honeymoon?

Speaker 2 (55:12):
YET i have. Not we kind Of we were In
nashville for like a, week SO i just took a deep.

Speaker 1 (55:18):
Breath. YEAH i went to The bahamas for six days
and it was. Nice it was not too, hot not too.
Crowded it was. Nice BUT i told my wife, this
we like walking in our neighborhood In. Chicago, YEAH i,
said this sounds crazy to, say BUT i grew up
in The Pacific northwest AND i currently reside in Southern
california most of the. Time AND i, SAID i know

(55:42):
everybody's dream is to live In hawaii and The. BAHAMAS
i couldn't do. It the foods too, inconsistent the transportation
is hit and. Miss it was really an eye. OPENER
i really had a good, time And anzo was. Fun
BUT i told, HER i, said, like, look if you
had that your condo redone or your house, redone where

(56:03):
are you getting high end tile? Work? Like because SO
i asked a lady that was in the, business and she, goes,
well when we built this, hotel we you, know we
shipped in we shipped in. Workers that that's and it
was just funny being and again it's. Gorgeous The bahamians
are wonderful. People it's. SAFE i, mean go. There BUT
i told my, WIFE i, SAID i get tired of aqua,

(56:27):
water like after about four to five, Days i'm, LIKE
i need cloudy skies and fifty seven degrees AND i
know that sounds crazy for a guy that lives In,
arizona BUT i SAID i could never live down, here
AND i have great, respect But i'm, like it's just
it's not quite organized enough for. ME i need my big,
CITY i need MY a plus. Transportation AND i learned

(56:50):
that about. Myself that's.

Speaker 2 (56:51):
Vacation, yeah you, Know maria Thinks i'm kind of, Crazy
LIKE i love to work because my, Work i'm not
digging ditches, here LIKE i could do it seven days a,
WEEK i don't, know three sixty. Five, yeah But i'm,
LIKE i view myself Like i'm forty years, old like what.
ELSE i watched, football talk about sports LIKE i could
do this.

Speaker 1 (57:07):
NonStop i Told anne after four, Days i'm ready to talk. Again.

Speaker 2 (57:13):
YEAH i really really enjoy WHAT i And i've always
kind of been like that WHATEVER i was, doing BECAUSE
i just kind of followed WHAT i like to. Do
we Love, nashville and there is a pace though with
The south that is a little. Different like, Listen i'm
not there are things with the wiring of people that

(57:33):
are from The northeast that are a little different than.
Me BUT i did like the way they, pace which
is one hundred miles an. Hour everywhere, same and there's
there's always elements of, that like of there's A california
cool to the west, coast but there is like you
better be, quick like WHEN i want the, CHECK i
want the, check LIKE i need. This we like things.
Quick and there are parts of the country like the word.

(57:55):
RETIREMENT i love. GOLF i MEAN i enjoy playing. IT
i LIKE i love watching like talking about. IT i
can play two days in a. Row it's LIKE i.
Can't i'm, Done Like i'm. Good, yeah you know some
of these people like they can just play golf over and.

Speaker 1 (58:07):
Over i'm, Not LIKE i can't those, people AND i
LOVE i had so much Fun. SATURDAY i played with
uh in. LAWS i had a ball AND i could
have played the next, day but THEN i would want
to get you, know it sounds. Wed i'm. NOT i
don't consider myself a. Workaholic but it was really interesting
being The bahamas and we went to two different. Hotels
the people were, wonderful but that there Is AND i

(58:30):
went To turks And keikos about four or five years
ago with my kids and it was more fun then
because the kids were all there and watching them enjoy.
It but it is. INTERESTING i do think there's people
down it listening to us, think, oh you didn't.

Speaker 2 (58:41):
Have a good.

Speaker 1 (58:41):
TIME i had a great. Time but it was really
an eye opener to me AS i. Now i'm, sixty, Right,
so LIKE i think about stuff like, this And i'm, like,
No i'm going to retire in a cold weather climate
and then cherry pick occasionally gorgeous beaches and. Resorts But
i'm like. YOU i like the pace Of. CHICAGO i
like the pace Of. BOSTON i like cold weather. Cities

(59:05):
there is A i don't, know like getting up walking
in forty eight degree, weather putting a cap on is
SOMETHING i really enjoy doing and with a coffee in my.
Hand AND i JUST i really discovered it about myself this.

Speaker 2 (59:17):
Week i'm probably. Opposite the cold is something THAT i
like the pace of The. Northeast hate the, cold BUT
i don't mind the.

Speaker 1 (59:24):
Heat.

Speaker 2 (59:25):
YEAH i can go on a walk in one hundred
and ten degrees no problem here In. Arizona and like you,
SAID i live in a desert now for several. Years the,
water even WHEN i lived in The Bay, AREA i
wouldn't really call that the. Ocean you. Know it's like
you go to the. Beach, honestly for, me like one
thing golf's been really good for me in this area
is like meeting people and social. Life And i've met

(59:46):
a lot of like just high level people THAT i
would not have met without. It that value to me
in a place where WHEN i moved, HERE i don't
know anyone here besides like Through maria has been really.
Valuable so many people that have listened to the podcast
reach out and bte me to their club or just
just meet normal. People and it's it's a very comfortable, situation, Like,
hey you want to come play. Golf never met a
human you show, Up you typically have a pretty normal

(01:00:07):
interaction to someone that spends a lot of time by
himself in an office watching and talking about. Sports it's
good to, socialize But i'm with. YOU i don't you.
KNOW i Like hawaii as much as the next. Guy
but IF i don't go for five, YEARS i don't
spend that much time thinking about.

Speaker 1 (01:00:21):
It John, middlecoff FORMER nfl, Scout good to talk, again,
buddy you two calling see it