June 17, 2022 • 44 mins
John discusses what NFL players would command if there was a LIV Golf-style raid on NFL talent, why the Chargers going cheap on head coach with their stacked roster is a mistake, why Middlekauff is taking the L on his Minkah Fitzpatrick to the Steelers trade take, why Amazon should have given Richard Sherman the bag to call games with Al Michaels, and why Mekhi Becton busting isn’t surprising.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. The three OW podcast with me John Middlecoff
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sent you. What is up Everybody? John Middlecoff Three and
(00:54):
Out podcast on this beautiful, gorgeous Thursday, June sixteen, I
got the US open in the back recording this before
the Warriors game, So if you listen, maybe they're champions.
Maybe we're going to a game seven on Father's Day?
Who knows um? And if I don't talk to you,
a happy Father's Day to all you people, I guess
(01:14):
I will because we have the Middlecoff mail bag that
comes out on the weekend at John Middlecoff is the
Instagram way to get into my direct messages. You fire
in those d m s and you get your question
answered here on the show. It's very very easy. I
actually spent yesterday a couple of hours going back and
answering a lot of manually a lot of you guys
(01:35):
d m s over the really the last month and
a half. It was. It was a fun little exercise.
I like communicating with you guys, So slide up in
those d m s and we communicate there. Uh, as
well as subscribe to the podcast. For those of you
that have that listen on collins Feed, subscribe to three
and outfeed greatly helps with everything. Share with your friends,
share with your enemies. Uh. We got a lot going
(01:56):
on still in the football world. We have several teams
that practices. We we had some stories flying fast and furious. UM,
a couple of things I saw that was like, oh,
that that that piques my fancy. That that that interests me.
Then we're we're going to hit on today and UM,
hopefully everyone is having a good start to the summer.
(02:20):
I guess let's start with this because I saw that Florio, Uh,
Mike Florio, that is who runs Pro Football Talk. You know,
it's one of the biggest blogs in history of the Internet.
I mean he created a massive business. Uh. We all
have opinions on the guy, but there is no disputing
that p f t um worked. It changed the game
(02:42):
for a lot of people. And you know, he's somewhat
of a troll on the interweb, which I can be too,
So no no issue with it. I don't agree with
a lot of things he says, but he did throw
something out just hypothetical. If the equivalent of what the
sadis are doing with live golf did it to the
foot to the NFL, who would be the first quarterback
(03:03):
to jump? And I thought, listen with the golf going
on right now, the Saudi talk, I mean, it's one
of the bigger stories in sports in America. You could
argue it's the biggest story in sports in America. That
or the NBA Finals and my first nc Oh it's
fun exercise. Who would be the first quarterback? And then
I thought, well, that is actually impossible. It would never happen.
(03:26):
It is not feasible. And here's a couple of reasons
why the reasons golf was there to be had is
because they don't pay the players. You have to earn
your money obviously, guys make money in endorsements. Tiger Woods,
Ton of Money and Nike. All these guys have different
businesses plastered all over them like a NASCAR, But so
(03:50):
do NFL players. You ever turn on your television and
see the ads and see Patrick Mahomes and Aaron Rodgers
and Matt Stafford, Naron Donald, all these guys all over
of the place, they also make money in endorsements. The
main difference is the guy who's made the most in
the history of golf on the course is Eldrick Tiger
Woods and his career earnings on the course or like
(04:14):
a d twenty million dollars. He's the only guy in
the history of golf to make over a hundred million
dollars playing on the course. Now, obviously I think he
just became a billionaire, but that's because of his off
the course ventures, which as we all know, with the
athletes nowadays, they're making a lot of money off the
off the field, off the court, off wherever they make
(04:37):
a toime money, but they also make a ton of
money on the playing field. The Warriors have four guys
who are under contract for well over a hundred billion dollars.
So when the USFL happened, and reading Steve Young's book
learned a lot about it because Steve Young, Reggie White,
and Jim Kelly back in the early mid eighties were
(04:58):
three of the biggest guys to go and they got
an astronomical amount of money relative to the time. In
like eight, two, eight, three, eighty four. Right, guys, the
NFL was not paying anywhere near what they pay now. Hell,
when I was a kid looking back at seeing some
of the contracts and like Emmett Smith and Troy Aikman
and Brett Farve signed in the nineties, You're like, goddamn,
(05:19):
that's like, uh, that's like special team money now. But listen,
times change. Money is all relative. The thing is now
in the sport of football, the top players are compensated.
They've never made more money. The average top quarterback makes
between thirty five and forty five million dollars. Look at
the money that these defensive players are making. We have
(05:42):
several pass rushers making twenty seven to thirty two million dollars.
We have a top of wide receivers making in the twenties.
Trent Williams, the star left tackle, makes like twenty million
dollars a year. So, and they also have the capability
to make money off the field. So the best thing
the NFL is going for it right now is that
(06:03):
they've never made more money. They've never paid the players more.
And listen it the Saudis or some other league. We've
seen it before post the USFL. And the reason the
USFL went under is because, unlike the Saudis, most of
these startup leagues do not have the cash. I'm sure
you've seen the headline. Vince McMahon not that he paid
(06:23):
an affair to be quiet a long time ago, but
him and Oliver Luck Andrew Luckstad are going at it.
Why because when the VID came and the a F
created and went bankrupt or the XFL, I can't I
get my all my leagues mixed up. They declared bankruptcy
and he's refusing to pay all over Luck he's like
twenty million dollars and the os and they're about to
(06:44):
go to court. And not that Vince McMahon doesn't have
the money to pay him, but it wasn't feasible. He's like,
I'm not gonna take a huge loss and keep this
league going. So he just created it and went it
went under and then ultimately I think they sold it
to the Rock for a cheap price. But that is
the majority of these leagues. They don't have the finances,
and even if someone now did have the finances, the
(07:06):
reason these golfers were there to be had. They could
give a hundred million dollars to Bryson D. Shambo, they
could give two hundred million dollars to Phil Nicholson. They
could give a hundred and fifty million dollars to Dustin Johnson.
Well Patrick Mahollans signed a four and fifty million dollar contract.
Josh Allen makes million dollars a year, Dak Prescott makes
forty help Macka. Fitzpatrick just now makes eighteen million dollars
(07:29):
a year. So the NFL, the price and the premiums
they're paying for their players is great. It has never
been a better time to be an NFL player, whether
you're a star player or whether you're just a solid starter.
Because a solid starter now makes four or five million dollars.
I've said it forever. The greatest business partnership in the
history of the world is the NBA. All the money
(07:51):
is guaranteed, and you don't even need to be that
good to get paid a premium because not just the
Steph Curries and Lebrons get paid premiums. A lot of
average guys that don't win and don't contribute to the
money making of the league get paid twenty five million dollars.
I think the average salary is seven million dollars in
the NBA, and every penny is always guaranteed. The greatest
partnership in the history of the world. That the amount
(08:12):
of money that's flowing to a small percentage of individuals
is incredible. Now, the Steph Curries and Lebron's, the honest is,
they're worth every penny. But you look at the dudes
on the Magic, on the Knicks, on some of the
shitty teams, they sure as hell are not. And I
just think that the NFL is in a great position
that they are. There were session proof one, which we
know that things right around the corner. Uh, they are
(08:34):
the competition that they are like the an empire with
a big wall in front of it, you're not getting through.
They're they're paying their talent way too much money. And
uh they're pretty lucky that way. And speaking of paying
talent a lot of money, I actually think that the
top NFL coaches are very, very underpaid. Like when I
(08:55):
was a kid, I love Donald Schwarzenegger. I grew up
in you know, born in the mid eighties, so I
grew up in the time of like Slice, Sloane Bruce Willis,
Arnold Schwarzenegger, and then the comedians really took off, the
Jim Carrey's of the world, and they were just box
office movie stars. Now not every one of their movies worked,
but when you paid Schwarzenegger twenty million, when you paid
(09:17):
Jim Carrey twenty million, when you paid these guys in premium,
and now it's turned that way to Leo and some
of the modern day actors. Obviously to me, Tom Hanks,
some of those type guys who was in their crew
as well, Denzel Washington. More often than not, you were
gonna have a cash cow movie because the box office
used to be a really big deal getting me to
(09:38):
come to the movie theater. I no longer go to
the movie theater. I've been to the movie theater probably
five times in a decade. And I grew up going
to movie It's now kind of irrelevant. I haven't seen
Top Gun yet. A lot of people on the internet
say it's incredible. It's like a movie theater movie. I
have to do it before it leaves theater. But who
knows that thing might sit in theaters for like six months,
the only thing that anyone's gonna see. But when you
(09:59):
have some want to value, you pay them a premium
because you're ultimately gonna make more than what you're gonna
pay them. It's why in the podcast world we have
to I have to drive people to me, and I'm
lucky to be associated with Coward, who the top podcasters
like forever. When I worked in radio, if there there
(10:20):
are two stations, for example, in the Bay Area, I
worked at the number two stations. We had the Raiders
in the a's the big properties here were the niners
and the giants. The other station had them. If you're
on the other station, you might be talented. Tom Tilbert
is one of the biggest radio stars here. He's very,
very talented and dominated for a long time. But there
are other people that aren't that talented that quote unquote
(10:41):
might rate. It was very hard at the little station,
the little engine that could to rate. We weren't as big.
We didn't have the resources, and we didn't have the properties.
But if you did when you were there, it proved,
you know what, you might be kind of good. Like
if I put you on ESPN and you host Sports
Center and it does a big rating after let's say
an NBA Finals game and your name is not Scott
(11:02):
Van Pelt, I don't know if you're talented enough or not.
I don't know if you're talented enough or not because
I'm just on the station. But if you have a
podcast and all of a sudden, it's like fifty thousand
people choose to listen to this guy, a hundred thousand
people choose to listen to this guy. You're talented, you
have something that people want. Call her Daddy, Joe Rogan,
Colin Coward, you know, just just go around. Look at
(11:25):
the biggest pot, Bill Simmons. They have an audience because
people seek them out. I don't have to listen. I
don't end up on their channel. The game YouTube is
a great example. Some of these guys with massive, massive
YouTube followings is because we seek them out and they
bring something to the table, period, point blank, end of
end of story. It's why they make the most money.
(11:47):
They drive the audience, not a network, not some backing them. Individually.
Colin does not need a network at this point anymore. Now,
maybe at one point in time, a lot of these
guys to become stars, him, Dan Patrick, whoever you know
that helped facilitate and grow their career. No different the
Barstool guys. Pardon might take Barstool and them have been
(12:09):
an incredible partnership and help them grow, but their talent
separates from the pack. And I think in football coaching
like we just think, well, this is the going rate.
I I hate that term, the going rate. No, what
is the value that you're gonna bring to me? The
Chargers forever It's like, well, they can just get this
coach because he's not as expensive. And Brandon Staley right now,
(12:32):
because he did not have a big resume, is probably
one of the lower paid coaches in the league. And listen,
you know where I stand on them. But who's to
say the next couple of years because of their roster
that the Chargers aren't one of the best teams in
the league and he's vastly underpaid. Why would you even
take that risk. Wouldn't you want to go out and
(12:53):
try to get a top flight coach, try to pay
a premium try to get a guy that's worth million dollars, because,
let's face it, besides your quarterback and maybe a pass rusher,
should there be an individual on your team, like an
actual player, that is worth more than your coach. We
say it all the time. It's a quarterback league and
(13:15):
it's a coaching league. So if that's the case, why
would you have a five, six, seven, eight million dollar coach.
If you want to have a big box office movie,
getting Tom Cruise to be in your movie cost million dollars.
Getting Leo DiCaprio to be in your movie cost a lot,
because you know what's gonna work. Albert Brier wrote that
the Miami Dolphins when they were thinking about getting Sean Payton,
(13:38):
and they were trying to hire him with Tom Brady,
and no one loves to, you know, throw that out
there quite like the Miami Dolphins. Miami Dolphins were interested
in this guy. They were interested in this guy. They
almost had Tom Brady, They almost at John Payton. It
never ends, and they didn't get him. But as Albert
Brier reported, they offered Sean Payton essentially four years, one
hundred million dollars five million dollars a year and Brier.
(14:02):
It's not really that crazy because he was on an
eighty million dollar contract for the Saints, and I go,
you know, the eighty million dollar contract. He's probably underpaid.
Andy Reid, Sean McVeigh, Kyle Shannon, and some of these guys.
They are underpaid, right, because how could you have ten
guys on your team making more money than your head coach.
How does that add up? I get it. In baseball,
(14:24):
the baseball manager, a ton of them now don't even
make a million dollars. Well, they don't set the lineup.
They're not in control of the changes during the game.
The front office does at all. It makes more sense
to pay the GM more than the manager in baseball.
In basketball, you could argue there's somewhat of a happy medium,
but essentially you're you still need a basketball coach to
(14:45):
be really good because ultimately he is in charge of
stuff and you need him to communicate to the players.
In football, they have to do multiple things. They have
to lead, they have to run practice, which the other
sports don't really do, and they have to scheme. So
you were paying the guy to not just be your leader,
but to be your schemer and to me the top However,
(15:06):
many percentage of coaches in the NFL, even if they
make ten to fourteen million dollars, are vastly underpaid. We
now know that several teams are worth three to four
billion dollars. And these guys with your quarterback are the
face of your franchise. So if you're gonna be willing
to pay a wide receiver, you know, arguably the most
replaceable position in the league. Now, given how many wide
(15:29):
receivers coming to the NFL every single year, why wouldn't
you be willing to pay a top flight coach million dollars?
And I don't want to hear anyone complain when their
coach is not is underachieving, or is not good enough.
And he makes seven eight million dollars, that's what you
get paid for. Now, like you get what you know?
That eight million dollars just eight enough? You know, Nick
(15:52):
Saban makes eleven twelve million dollars. You could argue he's
easily to Alabama worth twenty What is the revenue that
you're bringing to the table. We've never known because the
Patriots are very cloak and dagger how much Belichick makes.
Can you imagine the revenue that he generated for Robert
Kraft over two decades, the amount of money he made
(16:13):
that franchise, now him, I'm I'm including Tom as well,
but even Tom quote unquote underpaid. He made two fifty
million dollars over his time with the Patriots. So if
you're gonna go cheap on a coach or be like,
you know, maybe we get this guy for eight million dollars,
Like that's on you when when you suck. Because here's
what I know. You pay a premium for Sean Payton,
you go to the playoffs basically every year. You pay
(16:35):
a premium for Andy Reid. You win. You pay a
premium for Sean McVeigh, for Kyle Shanahan, you win. Now
if you take some of these flyers and some of
these unknown guys, who knows, good luck, But I just
think that these the top coaches in the NFL are
easily worth at this point in time, given the value
of the league, the value of the teams, the value
(16:57):
of winning. I think you could argue twenty five million dollars.
Just look at like what C. E O s in
the NFL, or I mean in fortune five companies make.
Isn't that essentially what these guys are you're paying the
labor a premium? Why why wouldn't you pay them? I
just think that Sean Payton, when he does come back,
is gonna make million dollars and he'll be probably worth
(17:19):
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dot one gambler dot net, West Virginia. I probably gotta
(19:04):
take the l on this because I underestimated the Pittsburgh
Steelers years ago, and I know We have a lot
of new listeners, a lot of people that didn't listen
um that are new since this podcast has joined. The
volume before, I was just me and Colin were just
pumping out pods. And when they traded the Pittsburgh Steelers
that is for Mica Fitzpatrick, I thought it was insane.
(19:27):
I thought it was a borderline reckless move because if
you remember, Roethlisberger had just uh torn his had just
basically torn whatever it's called when you need Tommy John surgery.
He was out for the season and that was the
year that they ended up going with Mason and Duck
Hodges combination. And at the time they made the trade,
(19:48):
maybe a week after Roethlisberger had torn his elbow. And
I thought, you're gonna trade a first round pick for
a really good player, but there's a decent chance that
you're gonna win three or four games. And the thing
that I underestimated is that the Steelers don't view three
or four wins as an option internally in their building,
(20:08):
the Rooney family, the culture, the mindset of the business
that they couldn't fathom doing that, and they ended up
going eight and Nate, they didn't sniff you know, being
in the top ten in the lottery, in the top
ten of the draft, because that's just not what they do.
They adapt and they overcome Even that year with pitiful,
(20:29):
an embarrassing quarterback play, they overcame it and got to
eight wins. It was an incredible accomplishment at the time.
I tip my hat to Mike Tomlin. I think it's
one of the better coaching jobs he's done, uh, probably
in his career. I know he's won a Super Bowl.
I know he's had some great teams. But it's one
thing to have great teams when your Hall of Fame
quarterback is balling. It's another thing to compete in games
(20:50):
with a guy named Duck Hodges. And I'm sure Duck
Hodges nice, nice guy, bad football player. But I think
the best businesses in America have a couple of things
in common. They are consistent with their actions, but they
also pick and choose when to put their balls on
the table, because you can't be successful, whether it's in
the NFL or whether it's in other industries in the
(21:11):
private sector without taking big swings. Because the easiest thing
in life is just to stay in the slow lane
and not take any risks, and the reality is when
you do that, you get lacked. You get lacked. We
reward people in this society for hanging out in this
fast lane. That's a fact now that sometimes you crash.
You're you're not always gonna get to your destination the fastest.
(21:33):
It's not always gonna work perfectly. But there's a reason
that the fruit is on the edges of the branches,
not not on the trunk of the tree. So you've
gotta be willing to go out on a limb every
once in a while. And the Pittsburgh Steelers, who I
would say or would tend to be on the conservative side,
took a huge swing. And you know what, they took
a huge swing for a guy that was in a
(21:54):
second year that I would be shocked. And if you're
a diehard Steelers fan, I'm sure this has been reported
on and talked about over the years. This guy was
probably one of the top three or four guys graded
in that given draft. And here's what we know about
the Pittsburgh Steelers. Quarterbacks. They got to prove some stuff.
We'll see about that position, but every other position they
can draft as well as anyone in the league. And
(22:16):
they saw a guy that I'm sure in their draft
meetings they thought was gonna be a future Hall of Famer.
I remember when I was with the Eagles and we
needed a middle linebacker and we were hoping I think
we were drafting like eleven or twelve is the year
that we ended up getting Fletcher Cox and Luke Keickley
was in that draft, and for a while, we're like,
let's just I think we're gonna get Luke Keickley. And
then the combine happens and Keickle ran like a four
(22:38):
or four, and then Andy Reid was basically like, Yeah,
this guy's gonna go to the Hall of Fame. This
guy's never lasting until we draft, and he didn't. He
was gone, and we ended up trading for Damiko Ryan's
who I actually saw it practice a couple of weeks
ago and I went up to him. He didn't remember me,
but I said, you know, I just I followed his
career closely. I was like, you know, I was with
in Philly when we traded for you. It's awesome to
(22:59):
see you ball, And basically was hoping to get him
on a podcast in the future, laying the groundwork, but
the point of the moral of the story is, once
there's certain guys in a draft that teams go, we
might not get this guy, but this guy is gonna
be a superstar. And I would imagine the Pittsburgh Steelers
thought about that with Maka Fitzpatrick. So when they took
a huge swing, maybe it wasn't that crazy because they
(23:20):
don't view themselves as four wins as a possibility, and
they also view themselves when we're gonna trade a first
round pick for this guy, even if we did draft
fifth overall or eighth overall in the future, this guy
would have been worthy of that pick. And then it
turns out a couple of years later he's been one
of the best defensive players in the league now for
four straight years. They gave a ton of money to
(23:42):
and it's well worth it because whenever you watch the
Steelers make a Fitzpatrick is literally everywhere. He's a physical player,
he can play the ball, he can cover, There's like
nothing he can't do. And from all accounts, he's a
great guy. He's the type guy the Steelers love. He's
kind of like the modern day Rod Woodson for them,
like he has Hall of Fame him upside. So I
tipped my hat to Colbert and Tomlin and the organization
(24:05):
for pulling the trigger. When let's face it, I was
not alone. A lot of people thought it was nuts,
and looking back, not only was it not nuts, It's
the type moves in life. Anyone listening to this, you
gotta be willing to make because most times when you
go out on a limb, especially when when times are
a little up in the air, people will call you nuts.
(24:27):
People will say you're an idiot. It's why you gotta
be very careful asking for life advice from family and
friends that there are certain people you can but a
lot of people don't quite understand all the variables. Only
you truly know what's in your gut and what is
right in front of you and what the future may hold.
(24:48):
If you do a certain move, you are the best
indicator of the future because you control everything. And I
think the Steelers knew we get this guy in here,
sky's the limit. And they got him in there, and
Sky was immediately the limit. And he's a big time
ask kicker. I did this thing a couple of weeks
ago about potential people in the media, and because Drew
(25:12):
Brees basically got fired I said, of course he did.
I mean he was listen, great guy, great player, kind
of boring. I mean, Drew Brees put you to sleep.
You know, anyone at NBC. The the amount of people
listen haven't been in this business for a little while.
The amount of people in quote unquote executive roles making three,
(25:33):
four or five thousand dollars at some of these companies
that are in charge of hiring are pulling an all
time scam artist. I mean they are. They are legally
stealing from their companies. They got no fucking clue what
they're doing, and they keep throwing ship at the wall
hoping some of its sticks. No different Jason Witten and
Booker McFarland again, nice guys, good people. It was embarrassing.
(25:56):
You can't roll that out. I could have told you
that it doesn't take you don't need to be in
the business long. Then that's not gonna work. Well, I've
said for a while, like anyone that's followed Richard Sherman's career,
Richard Sherman is the total package. Stanford educated, tough guy,
great player, articulate about just life and football. There's literally
(26:18):
nothing he doesn't bring to the table and When Amazon
bought the NFL's Thursday Night package, I say, awesome. A
lot of people push back, like, how's my grandpa supposed
to watch? I don't know. Buy a fucking two dollar
sixt TV at Target Smart tv and sign up for
Amazon Prime. It ain't that hard. It's pretty easy. Honestly,
(26:40):
it would take an hour to go to Target, get
the TV, plug it in, sign up for Amazon Prime.
Not very difficult. If that's your excuse, I think you're
living in like at this point, I mean it's we
are now. We're almost closer to two thousand twenty three
than we are two thousand twenty two. Like of a sudden,
you're gonna wake up. It's gonna be two thousand thirty.
(27:02):
Time to adapt, Time to get on with our lives here,
Stop holding onto the past. It's on Amazon, easy to consume.
But when they did it, they were going for big swings.
They tried to get John Lynch to pair up with
al Michaels, which a guy Hall of Fame player who
had been a GM, well spoken, good looking Stanford guy.
Also no brainer. He turned down. He admitted fifteen million
(27:25):
dollars a year. Let me repeat, John Lynch turned down
fifteen million dollars a year. I've said over and over
having someone that does this for a living and worked
in the league, and I was never a GM. I
was just, you know, one of the minions helping him
out is the time constraint that you and he's not
making fifteen million dollars of the GM. That guy's a
(27:46):
football junkie. That guy loves being in the trenches of
football more than he cares about money. He's not doing
this for the money. He's doing this for the juice
of winning a playoff game. Because winning at at lambeau
Field as a seven point underdog, there is no amount
of money if you're a football guy that can give
you that juice. You know, you hear gamblers talk about it.
(28:07):
Phil Mickelson gambling problem, so Charles Barkley on the Golf
Channel talking like I love the gamble and you know what,
I raised my hand. I do too. There is a
juice to gambling. Then I don't get anywhere else in life.
I don't get when I do a massive business deal,
I don't get I mean, even personally in some other areas,
there's nothing like it, and there is nothing like to
(28:29):
a football guy. Whether you're a coach, whether you're a player,
whether you're executive, winning a big game. To me, ultimately,
it didn't mean that much. I get more out of
those other aspects of life. It's why I've never ever
thought about going back. But to John Lynch, I respect
the ship out of him and his love of football
because he if you turned down fifteen million dollars, hats
(28:49):
off to you. Um, you know, he's the opposite of
the live guys, but they what what they struck out
on him? To me, getting Herb Street who again, I
some people in my d M s like, you're being
me and her I love Kirk crop Street. I think
her Herb Street is fantastic doing college games. He's awesome.
He's been doing it now for multiple decades. The morning show,
(29:12):
um College Game Day, which is not as good anymore,
and part it's no fault of anyone's own, you know,
Lee Corso is just it's just he's just he's just
so old and obviously he's not quite there anymore. It's
it's honestly kind of sad, but it's Heyday. That's one
of the best sports shows. Honestly, I would put College
Game Day in it's Heyday right there with Barkley, Ernie
(29:33):
and Kenny. You know, it's it's one of the greatest
preyer post game shows in the history of sports, and
it'll it'll never be topped. Probably that there have been
a lot of shows to come on Fox has a
good one now it's not even close. And once they
put fraud Meyer back on that show, like, I'm sorry,
I can't look at fraud Meyer ever again in the face.
I I can't take the guy seriously. But when it
(29:55):
comes to signing Kirk crop Street and listen, I don't
know for sure if he would have done this, because
I saw that Sherman said that he's still holding out
hope and he's gonna stay in shape. But opportunities like
to come. You can't turn this down. Why didn't they
just make Richard Sherman the analyst to go with Al Michaels.
Why didn't they just put Richard Sherman in the booth
(30:15):
and pay him fifteen million dollars because they could have
paid Richard Sherman what they were willing to pay John
Lynch and then he's not gonna make that much money.
How when he was an All pro for the forty niners.
He made like twelve million dollars. Just pay him that
to do it. He's smart enough, he's a big enough personality.
He would have figured it out just fine. I don't
understand why they just didn't throw the bag of money
(30:36):
at Richard. So when I turned on Amazon this fall
with maybe your grandpa's missing it, but all of us
under seventy years old will not be Richard Sherman and
al Michael's. It would have been an easy, no brainer.
But I don't know who's making these decisions. Kirk herb
Street because he's called a couple of NFL games the
last several years for ESPN, Like he's a college guy. Now, again,
(30:57):
the NFL is easier than college, but why out just
higher an NFL guy who's been a league now for
a decade, who knows the entire league, who knows all
the coaches, and while he quote unquote doesn't have experience,
he would figure it out, and he would figure it
out really fast. I don't think it would be that difficult,
especially on a streaming service, it would have been fine.
(31:19):
So I think that ultimately Amazon made a mistake by
not just going all in. Now I know Richard is
gonna do the pre and postgame show, but let's face it,
that's not as important as the actual game. And I
think it would have been an easy one. The other
thing that I keep seeing and I saw this guy
interviewed yesterday, and oh my god, he might be the
(31:41):
biggest guy in the NFL. He is a massive, massive
human being. And listen, left tackles are huge. When I
was with the Eagles, we had Jason Peters. He was enormous.
Just at Niners practice seeing Trent Williams. Fucking massive human beings.
This guy is bigger and his day ms McKay Beckton.
(32:01):
And when Joe Douglas a couple of years ago drafted
this guy, he passed on several other guys, and Tristan
Worth's now a couple of years later, is clearly the
better player, more consistent human and if you could redo
the pick, you would have taken him, not Beckton. But
I have no problem. I say this all the time
when you're drafting really high, swinging for the fences, but
(32:24):
when you swing for the fences, and I was, I
was terrible at baseball, but I have friends that were
good to play in college and they will say, like
when you swing, try to hit home run, especially if
you have a little bit of an uppercut, you're not
trying to drive the ball if they throw the pitch
in a different area than you think, you will miss.
And right now, let's face it, Beckton has been a
(32:44):
disaster for the Jets. Now, Joe Douglas, Robert Sala, they've
benched him, They've just had some issues with them. And
clearly the number one thing is and I learned this
when I was in the NFL with defensive lineman and
offensive lineman. And I think this this holds true for
any athlete. The bigger you are, we're not talking about weight,
you're just inherently a little lazier. Why, it's just basic science,
(33:08):
right's physics. The more weight I have to carry around,
the harder it is to operate, the easy I remember
de Sean Jackson, he couldn't run all summer long, show up.
He wouldn't break a sweat. He's not under sixty pounds
Tyreek Hill. You think the guy ever gets tired? McKay.
Beckton's the big defensive tackles like they're huffing and puffing
for a reason. They carry around more weight just like
(33:31):
it takes more horsepower to to pull a boat than
it does to pull a pinto I mean, it's just
basic math. And when you get these guys, and the
number one question on Beckton specifically was how he would
handle his weight, because remember it could get up to
almost four hundred pounds and that's when he was in college.
(33:51):
So it was a lot of red flags all over
the league and it made people nervous to a much
smaller level. Jordan Davis, the Eagles just had some of
those questions like is he to Zion Zion Williamson battles
that because it's a legitimate question. We the the asset
is the player's body. Now, the thing Beckton had great
athlete great feet. In scouting terms, they're considered dancing bears.
(34:16):
I was in to a couple of weeks ago. When
a bear goes by, you kind of back up because
you know, deep down the massive bear can run way
faster than you. And beck then is a special, special talent.
But his weight issues are coming to fruition like they
are a massive problem. And if you don't keep that
weight down, a couple of things come into play. One
(34:37):
you're more likely to get injured because the bigger you are.
You saw at Shack's end of his career, he got
so big he got injured a lot, and it's just
hard to stay in shape. It is very, very difficult
to be like, yeah, I'm three seventy pounds and I'm
in great shape. I would say most great left tackles,
even the bigger ones. Trent Williams, Jason Peters would be examples.
(34:58):
Could could be and look really good at three pounds,
but if they were three hundred sixty pounds, you'd have
a problem. And I think the Jets right now have
a problem on their hands because this guy is heater tottering,
and I know he said I'm in for a big year.
I'm gonna make everyone eat their words. To me, the
number one thing with him, he's got to be very
(35:19):
careful about what he eats moving forward, and not just eats,
but his workout plans and staying focused, which can be
difficult when you're that big, because, like I said, you're
inherently a little lazier because it's it's harder for you
to work. It's easier for me to have energy and
work out when I'm a hundred and seventy five pounds
than when I'm two hundred pounds. Whatever, the body weight
(35:42):
is relative to your body that comes into play here,
and I think that has come into play here for
the Jets and Becton. But if he gets it together
and he focuses, he's still a really young player. They
could have one of the best tackles in the league.
And that position, if he is a Pro Bowl level player,
is then immediately one of the most valuable players in
the league because that's a two million dollar player and
(36:05):
he predicts the blind side of your quarterback. But if
you're constantly going back and forth bench and him worrying
about his weight, like you have a bigger and he's
not playing well, you have a bigger headache than you
do a talent. And that ultimately gets back to which
I commend because I am more likely than not gonna
support making these decisions on draft night. Swing for the fences.
(36:27):
But right now, it looks like Joe Douglas is more
likely to strike out on this pitch than to hit
a home run. Now, he still has time left. This
is a young player, he's not thirty years old, but
this is a massive, massive year, and I get a
lot of people the d M me about the Jets
specifically because to me, the two New York teams are
in completely different lanes. The Giants should bottom out unless
(36:49):
day Ball can resurrect Daniel Jones career, and then day
Ball would immediately be viewed as a top offensive coach
in the league. But in a perfect world, their cap
situation that their talent, uh, they're lacking of talent. The
Giant should basically just bottom out and restart next year.
They have a new GM, they have a new coach.
That's what I would do. Where the Jets now bottom
out a couple of years ago, have had an influx
(37:11):
of all these draft picks and they have a young quarterback.
Like I listen, I don't think they need to make
the playoffs, but I think anything less than seven and ten,
it's like, do they got the right GM and the
right head coach and a huge Robert solid guy. Don't
know Douglas, but I'm rooting for the guy. But like, ultimately,
this is a black and white league. Do you win
or do you lose? That This isn't moral victories and
(37:34):
all that stuff go out the window once the season comes.
You just get judged it's one of the greatest businesses
in America because there's no well they got great technology,
but they're not turning the profit. Well, you know, they
got this incredible product, but they're just not selling it yet. No,
it's like we won ten games and we made the playoffs,
or no, we won five games when we fired our coach.
(37:55):
Like at the end of the year, it's very cut
and dry whether you had success or whether you did
not have success. Now you could argue for most teams,
seven and ten is not a successful year. But given
where the Jets are, seven in ten, winning some big games,
maybe upsetting some teams, and just getting the momentum and
looking like your quarterback is successful, getting Beckton on the
(38:15):
field all season long and having some success. Have these
two young wide receivers in the young running back, some
of your young defensive players look good. Is a really,
really big deal in a franchise that that's just desperate
for something positive to happen. Other than that, I mean,
I I saw de Shaun Watson talked. I don't really
know what to say. I didn't really think he said anything. Again,
(38:38):
A girl after girl after girl keeps coming after uh
coming up and uh, obviously the New York Times story
about the n d a's and listen, famous people get
n d as before you enter something, not usually after.
I've never been a part of an n d A,
but reading about him over the years, that to me,
I think seems to be a lot of the pushback.
(38:58):
It's like, why didn't get him to sign the NBA
before you dealt with something instead of after? Um, there's
just no way around it. The Deshaun Watson situation has
gotten worse, dramatically worse since he's been a Cleveland Brown
It's not only not going away, the problems are continuing
to mount um. And you know, I don't know where
(39:20):
this goes. A lot of people of d m me,
why did the Browns not have Baker Mayfield or why
wouldn't Baker Mayfield show up? Because he's never playing another
snap for the Cleveland Browns, whether Deshaun Watson is suspended
for this year or whether he's not, Baker Mayfield under
no circumstances is ever entering that locker room again. To me,
the only question now with Baker Mayfield are they able
(39:42):
to trade him and eat some of the salary or
are they going to be forced to cut him and
eat the eighteen point eight million dollars. My guests, again,
educated guests, No inside information is that ultimately the Cleveland
Browns cut Baker Mayfield for eighteen point eight million dollar
and eat the money because the reason they went after
(40:03):
de Sean and just the reason they would have gone
after other quarterbacks, they were done with Baker Mayfield. Their
head coach and their GM were over it was no Moss,
and clearly their locker room was over him as well.
So I don't have no clue where he's gonna end up.
I think the whole situation is a little bizarre. Um
I've said over and over and over again. I think
(40:24):
I saw Breer right about it this week. The Seattle
Seahawks like Drew Lock. I know that sounds insane. They
legitimately like Drew Lock. Now is it gonna work? I
do not think it is. I think it's gonna be
a disaster. No different than I've said. I didn't like,
uh what Kenny Pickett the Steelers pick, But like I read,
(40:47):
I saw seen some headlines from people that have been
around the team, like Mitchell Robinsky is gonna be their starter.
That's gonna fail as well. Mitchell Trobinsky is not very good.
He can't complete basic passes. I like him as a
backup if he's got to fill a game or two,
but if he has to start seventeen games, like you
have a major problem. Like even if the Browns are
(41:08):
disaster this year because the Shawn's suspended, how are you
gonna beat Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson with Mason Rudolph.
That's not gonna happens. It's just not like that. That
is such a big gap. Now I'm not saying Kenny
Pickett could either, but ultimately, you draft a guy number
twenty overall, like hed better be able to beat these
guys sooner or later. But your quarterback situation is like
(41:30):
some of these teams, they like a guy internally more
than we like him on the outside. And if you
told me that the Steelers like Mr Bisky coming out,
I believe you. They've already admitted that they love Drew
Lock coming out. They had him high in the draft board.
I think it's fair to say that, uh, John Snyder
had him as a top fifteen player. What I never
understand is like when you love a guy coming out
(41:53):
and then you have a bunch of information. It's like
having a crush on a girl. It's like, God, this
girl is a total babe. And then you get to data.
And then he dated for a while and then like
a year later, you're like, it's not quite what I
thought it would be, and then what usually happens, you
break up. Now in football, it's a little different because
the quarterbacks not yours, so or a lot of players
aren't yours that you had good draft picks like or
(42:14):
draft grades on. They go to other places. But you
do get to evaluate their play. You know, in the
dating analogy, you when someone else dates or you don't
get to experience a lot of things right, the good
parts definitely and the bad parts. But in football you
get to evaluate them playing. And like we've seen Mitch,
we've seen Drew Lock. Drew Lock couldn't even sniff beating
(42:37):
out Teddy Bridgewater like that legitimately happened. Now, you could
argue that that's because Vic Fangio was kind of a
puss and he wanted went with it the guy that
he knew could complete basic passes because they thought they
have a good defense. Whatever. But I just won't believe
that a guy that can't beat out Drew Lock or
I mean Teddy Bridgewater in practice every day can't like
(42:57):
really go damn, what are we doing here? And he
couldn't do that. And I just think that some of
these teams and these gms, man, they get so caught
up on the past, like it's not two thousand nineteen,
we have information, it's two thousand two. What what? Why
are we holding on to a draft grade from four
years ago? And I get it if you're gonna give
(43:18):
him no money or a flyer, but to say the
guy's getting your starting quarterback is insanity. Have a good weekend.
We will have the mail bag out this weekend and
um yeah at John Middlecoff Instagram firing those d m s.
Have a great day. Peace, see you, audios. M
The volume. The three OW podcast with me John Middlecoff
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sent you. What is up Everybody? John Middlecoff Three and
(00:54):
Out podcast on this beautiful, gorgeous Thursday, June sixteen, I
got the US open in the back recording this before
the Warriors game, So if you listen, maybe they're champions.
Maybe we're going to a game seven on Father's Day?
Who knows um? And if I don't talk to you,
a happy Father's Day to all you people, I guess
(01:14):
I will because we have the Middlecoff mail bag that
comes out on the weekend at John Middlecoff is the
Instagram way to get into my direct messages. You fire
in those d m s and you get your question
answered here on the show. It's very very easy. I
actually spent yesterday a couple of hours going back and
answering a lot of manually a lot of you guys
(01:35):
d m s over the really the last month and
a half. It was. It was a fun little exercise.
I like communicating with you guys, So slide up in
those d m s and we communicate there. Uh, as
well as subscribe to the podcast. For those of you
that have that listen on collins Feed, subscribe to three
and outfeed greatly helps with everything. Share with your friends,
share with your enemies. Uh. We got a lot going
(01:56):
on still in the football world. We have several teams
that practices. We we had some stories flying fast and furious. UM,
a couple of things I saw that was like, oh,
that that that piques my fancy. That that that interests me.
Then we're we're going to hit on today and UM,
hopefully everyone is having a good start to the summer.
(02:20):
I guess let's start with this because I saw that Florio, Uh,
Mike Florio, that is who runs Pro Football Talk. You know,
it's one of the biggest blogs in history of the Internet.
I mean he created a massive business. Uh. We all
have opinions on the guy, but there is no disputing
that p f t um worked. It changed the game
(02:42):
for a lot of people. And you know, he's somewhat
of a troll on the interweb, which I can be too,
So no no issue with it. I don't agree with
a lot of things he says, but he did throw
something out just hypothetical. If the equivalent of what the
sadis are doing with live golf did it to the
foot to the NFL, who would be the first quarterback
(03:03):
to jump? And I thought, listen with the golf going
on right now, the Saudi talk, I mean, it's one
of the bigger stories in sports in America. You could
argue it's the biggest story in sports in America. That
or the NBA Finals and my first nc Oh it's
fun exercise. Who would be the first quarterback? And then
I thought, well, that is actually impossible. It would never happen.
(03:26):
It is not feasible. And here's a couple of reasons
why the reasons golf was there to be had is
because they don't pay the players. You have to earn
your money obviously, guys make money in endorsements. Tiger Woods,
Ton of Money and Nike. All these guys have different
businesses plastered all over them like a NASCAR, But so
(03:50):
do NFL players. You ever turn on your television and
see the ads and see Patrick Mahomes and Aaron Rodgers
and Matt Stafford, Naron Donald, all these guys all over
of the place, they also make money in endorsements. The
main difference is the guy who's made the most in
the history of golf on the course is Eldrick Tiger
Woods and his career earnings on the course or like
(04:14):
a d twenty million dollars. He's the only guy in
the history of golf to make over a hundred million
dollars playing on the course. Now, obviously I think he
just became a billionaire, but that's because of his off
the course ventures, which as we all know, with the
athletes nowadays, they're making a lot of money off the
off the field, off the court, off wherever they make
(04:37):
a toime money, but they also make a ton of
money on the playing field. The Warriors have four guys
who are under contract for well over a hundred billion dollars.
So when the USFL happened, and reading Steve Young's book
learned a lot about it because Steve Young, Reggie White,
and Jim Kelly back in the early mid eighties were
(04:58):
three of the biggest guys to go and they got
an astronomical amount of money relative to the time. In
like eight, two, eight, three, eighty four. Right, guys, the
NFL was not paying anywhere near what they pay now. Hell,
when I was a kid looking back at seeing some
of the contracts and like Emmett Smith and Troy Aikman
and Brett Farve signed in the nineties, You're like, goddamn,
(05:19):
that's like, uh, that's like special team money now. But listen,
times change. Money is all relative. The thing is now
in the sport of football, the top players are compensated.
They've never made more money. The average top quarterback makes
between thirty five and forty five million dollars. Look at
the money that these defensive players are making. We have
(05:42):
several pass rushers making twenty seven to thirty two million dollars.
We have a top of wide receivers making in the twenties.
Trent Williams, the star left tackle, makes like twenty million
dollars a year. So, and they also have the capability
to make money off the field. So the best thing
the NFL is going for it right now is that
(06:03):
they've never made more money. They've never paid the players more.
And listen it the Saudis or some other league. We've
seen it before post the USFL. And the reason the
USFL went under is because, unlike the Saudis, most of
these startup leagues do not have the cash. I'm sure
you've seen the headline. Vince McMahon not that he paid
(06:23):
an affair to be quiet a long time ago, but
him and Oliver Luck Andrew Luckstad are going at it.
Why because when the VID came and the a F
created and went bankrupt or the XFL, I can't I
get my all my leagues mixed up. They declared bankruptcy
and he's refusing to pay all over Luck he's like
twenty million dollars and the os and they're about to
(06:44):
go to court. And not that Vince McMahon doesn't have
the money to pay him, but it wasn't feasible. He's like,
I'm not gonna take a huge loss and keep this
league going. So he just created it and went it
went under and then ultimately I think they sold it
to the Rock for a cheap price. But that is
the majority of these leagues. They don't have the finances,
and even if someone now did have the finances, the
(07:06):
reason these golfers were there to be had. They could
give a hundred million dollars to Bryson D. Shambo, they
could give two hundred million dollars to Phil Nicholson. They
could give a hundred and fifty million dollars to Dustin Johnson.
Well Patrick Mahollans signed a four and fifty million dollar contract.
Josh Allen makes million dollars a year, Dak Prescott makes
forty help Macka. Fitzpatrick just now makes eighteen million dollars
(07:29):
a year. So the NFL, the price and the premiums
they're paying for their players is great. It has never
been a better time to be an NFL player, whether
you're a star player or whether you're just a solid starter.
Because a solid starter now makes four or five million dollars.
I've said it forever. The greatest business partnership in the
history of the world is the NBA. All the money
(07:51):
is guaranteed, and you don't even need to be that
good to get paid a premium because not just the
Steph Curries and Lebrons get paid premiums. A lot of
average guys that don't win and don't contribute to the
money making of the league get paid twenty five million dollars.
I think the average salary is seven million dollars in
the NBA, and every penny is always guaranteed. The greatest
partnership in the history of the world. That the amount
(08:12):
of money that's flowing to a small percentage of individuals
is incredible. Now, the Steph Curries and Lebron's, the honest is,
they're worth every penny. But you look at the dudes
on the Magic, on the Knicks, on some of the
shitty teams, they sure as hell are not. And I
just think that the NFL is in a great position
that they are. There were session proof one, which we
know that things right around the corner. Uh, they are
(08:34):
the competition that they are like the an empire with
a big wall in front of it, you're not getting through.
They're they're paying their talent way too much money. And
uh they're pretty lucky that way. And speaking of paying
talent a lot of money, I actually think that the
top NFL coaches are very, very underpaid. Like when I
(08:55):
was a kid, I love Donald Schwarzenegger. I grew up
in you know, born in the mid eighties, so I
grew up in the time of like Slice, Sloane Bruce Willis,
Arnold Schwarzenegger, and then the comedians really took off, the
Jim Carrey's of the world, and they were just box
office movie stars. Now not every one of their movies worked,
but when you paid Schwarzenegger twenty million, when you paid
(09:17):
Jim Carrey twenty million, when you paid these guys in premium,
and now it's turned that way to Leo and some
of the modern day actors. Obviously to me, Tom Hanks,
some of those type guys who was in their crew
as well, Denzel Washington. More often than not, you were
gonna have a cash cow movie because the box office
used to be a really big deal getting me to
(09:38):
come to the movie theater. I no longer go to
the movie theater. I've been to the movie theater probably
five times in a decade. And I grew up going
to movie It's now kind of irrelevant. I haven't seen
Top Gun yet. A lot of people on the internet
say it's incredible. It's like a movie theater movie. I
have to do it before it leaves theater. But who
knows that thing might sit in theaters for like six months,
the only thing that anyone's gonna see. But when you
(09:59):
have some want to value, you pay them a premium
because you're ultimately gonna make more than what you're gonna
pay them. It's why in the podcast world we have
to I have to drive people to me, and I'm
lucky to be associated with Coward, who the top podcasters
like forever. When I worked in radio, if there there
(10:20):
are two stations, for example, in the Bay Area, I
worked at the number two stations. We had the Raiders
in the a's the big properties here were the niners
and the giants. The other station had them. If you're
on the other station, you might be talented. Tom Tilbert
is one of the biggest radio stars here. He's very,
very talented and dominated for a long time. But there
are other people that aren't that talented that quote unquote
(10:41):
might rate. It was very hard at the little station,
the little engine that could to rate. We weren't as big.
We didn't have the resources, and we didn't have the properties.
But if you did when you were there, it proved,
you know what, you might be kind of good. Like
if I put you on ESPN and you host Sports
Center and it does a big rating after let's say
an NBA Finals game and your name is not Scott
(11:02):
Van Pelt, I don't know if you're talented enough or not.
I don't know if you're talented enough or not because
I'm just on the station. But if you have a
podcast and all of a sudden, it's like fifty thousand
people choose to listen to this guy, a hundred thousand
people choose to listen to this guy. You're talented, you
have something that people want. Call her Daddy, Joe Rogan,
Colin Coward, you know, just just go around. Look at
(11:25):
the biggest pot, Bill Simmons. They have an audience because
people seek them out. I don't have to listen. I
don't end up on their channel. The game YouTube is
a great example. Some of these guys with massive, massive
YouTube followings is because we seek them out and they
bring something to the table, period, point blank, end of
end of story. It's why they make the most money.
(11:47):
They drive the audience, not a network, not some backing them. Individually.
Colin does not need a network at this point anymore. Now,
maybe at one point in time, a lot of these
guys to become stars, him, Dan Patrick, whoever you know
that helped facilitate and grow their career. No different the
Barstool guys. Pardon might take Barstool and them have been
(12:09):
an incredible partnership and help them grow, but their talent
separates from the pack. And I think in football coaching
like we just think, well, this is the going rate.
I I hate that term, the going rate. No, what
is the value that you're gonna bring to me? The
Chargers forever It's like, well, they can just get this
coach because he's not as expensive. And Brandon Staley right now,
(12:32):
because he did not have a big resume, is probably
one of the lower paid coaches in the league. And listen,
you know where I stand on them. But who's to
say the next couple of years because of their roster
that the Chargers aren't one of the best teams in
the league and he's vastly underpaid. Why would you even
take that risk. Wouldn't you want to go out and
(12:53):
try to get a top flight coach, try to pay
a premium try to get a guy that's worth million dollars, because,
let's face it, besides your quarterback and maybe a pass rusher,
should there be an individual on your team, like an
actual player, that is worth more than your coach. We
say it all the time. It's a quarterback league and
(13:15):
it's a coaching league. So if that's the case, why
would you have a five, six, seven, eight million dollar coach.
If you want to have a big box office movie,
getting Tom Cruise to be in your movie cost million dollars.
Getting Leo DiCaprio to be in your movie cost a lot,
because you know what's gonna work. Albert Brier wrote that
the Miami Dolphins when they were thinking about getting Sean Payton,
(13:38):
and they were trying to hire him with Tom Brady,
and no one loves to, you know, throw that out
there quite like the Miami Dolphins. Miami Dolphins were interested
in this guy. They were interested in this guy. They
almost had Tom Brady, They almost at John Payton. It
never ends, and they didn't get him. But as Albert
Brier reported, they offered Sean Payton essentially four years, one
hundred million dollars five million dollars a year and Brier.
(14:02):
It's not really that crazy because he was on an
eighty million dollar contract for the Saints, and I go,
you know, the eighty million dollar contract. He's probably underpaid.
Andy Reid, Sean McVeigh, Kyle Shannon, and some of these guys.
They are underpaid, right, because how could you have ten
guys on your team making more money than your head coach.
How does that add up? I get it. In baseball,
(14:24):
the baseball manager, a ton of them now don't even
make a million dollars. Well, they don't set the lineup.
They're not in control of the changes during the game.
The front office does at all. It makes more sense
to pay the GM more than the manager in baseball.
In basketball, you could argue there's somewhat of a happy medium,
but essentially you're you still need a basketball coach to
(14:45):
be really good because ultimately he is in charge of
stuff and you need him to communicate to the players.
In football, they have to do multiple things. They have
to lead, they have to run practice, which the other
sports don't really do, and they have to scheme. So
you were paying the guy to not just be your leader,
but to be your schemer and to me the top However,
(15:06):
many percentage of coaches in the NFL, even if they
make ten to fourteen million dollars, are vastly underpaid. We
now know that several teams are worth three to four
billion dollars. And these guys with your quarterback are the
face of your franchise. So if you're gonna be willing
to pay a wide receiver, you know, arguably the most
replaceable position in the league. Now, given how many wide
(15:29):
receivers coming to the NFL every single year, why wouldn't
you be willing to pay a top flight coach million dollars?
And I don't want to hear anyone complain when their
coach is not is underachieving, or is not good enough.
And he makes seven eight million dollars, that's what you
get paid for. Now, like you get what you know?
That eight million dollars just eight enough? You know, Nick
(15:52):
Saban makes eleven twelve million dollars. You could argue he's
easily to Alabama worth twenty What is the revenue that
you're bringing to the table. We've never known because the
Patriots are very cloak and dagger how much Belichick makes.
Can you imagine the revenue that he generated for Robert
Kraft over two decades, the amount of money he made
(16:13):
that franchise, now him, I'm I'm including Tom as well,
but even Tom quote unquote underpaid. He made two fifty
million dollars over his time with the Patriots. So if
you're gonna go cheap on a coach or be like,
you know, maybe we get this guy for eight million dollars,
Like that's on you when when you suck. Because here's
what I know. You pay a premium for Sean Payton,
you go to the playoffs basically every year. You pay
(16:35):
a premium for Andy Reid. You win. You pay a
premium for Sean McVeigh, for Kyle Shanahan, you win. Now
if you take some of these flyers and some of
these unknown guys, who knows, good luck, But I just
think that these the top coaches in the NFL are
easily worth at this point in time, given the value
of the league, the value of the teams, the value
(16:57):
of winning. I think you could argue twenty five million dollars.
Just look at like what C. E O s in
the NFL, or I mean in fortune five companies make.
Isn't that essentially what these guys are you're paying the
labor a premium? Why why wouldn't you pay them? I
just think that Sean Payton, when he does come back,
is gonna make million dollars and he'll be probably worth
(17:19):
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(19:04):
take the l on this because I underestimated the Pittsburgh
Steelers years ago, and I know We have a lot
of new listeners, a lot of people that didn't listen
um that are new since this podcast has joined. The
volume before, I was just me and Colin were just
pumping out pods. And when they traded the Pittsburgh Steelers
that is for Mica Fitzpatrick, I thought it was insane.
(19:27):
I thought it was a borderline reckless move because if
you remember, Roethlisberger had just uh torn his had just
basically torn whatever it's called when you need Tommy John surgery.
He was out for the season and that was the
year that they ended up going with Mason and Duck
Hodges combination. And at the time they made the trade,
(19:48):
maybe a week after Roethlisberger had torn his elbow. And
I thought, you're gonna trade a first round pick for
a really good player, but there's a decent chance that
you're gonna win three or four games. And the thing
that I underestimated is that the Steelers don't view three
or four wins as an option internally in their building,
(20:08):
the Rooney family, the culture, the mindset of the business
that they couldn't fathom doing that, and they ended up
going eight and Nate, they didn't sniff you know, being
in the top ten in the lottery, in the top
ten of the draft, because that's just not what they do.
They adapt and they overcome Even that year with pitiful,
(20:29):
an embarrassing quarterback play, they overcame it and got to
eight wins. It was an incredible accomplishment at the time.
I tip my hat to Mike Tomlin. I think it's
one of the better coaching jobs he's done, uh, probably
in his career. I know he's won a Super Bowl.
I know he's had some great teams. But it's one
thing to have great teams when your Hall of Fame
quarterback is balling. It's another thing to compete in games
(20:50):
with a guy named Duck Hodges. And I'm sure Duck
Hodges nice, nice guy, bad football player. But I think
the best businesses in America have a couple of things
in common. They are consistent with their actions, but they
also pick and choose when to put their balls on
the table, because you can't be successful, whether it's in
the NFL or whether it's in other industries in the
(21:11):
private sector without taking big swings. Because the easiest thing
in life is just to stay in the slow lane
and not take any risks, and the reality is when
you do that, you get lacked. You get lacked. We
reward people in this society for hanging out in this
fast lane. That's a fact now that sometimes you crash.
You're you're not always gonna get to your destination the fastest.
(21:33):
It's not always gonna work perfectly. But there's a reason
that the fruit is on the edges of the branches,
not not on the trunk of the tree. So you've
gotta be willing to go out on a limb every
once in a while. And the Pittsburgh Steelers, who I
would say or would tend to be on the conservative side,
took a huge swing. And you know what, they took
a huge swing for a guy that was in a
(21:54):
second year that I would be shocked. And if you're
a diehard Steelers fan, I'm sure this has been reported
on and talked about over the years. This guy was
probably one of the top three or four guys graded
in that given draft. And here's what we know about
the Pittsburgh Steelers. Quarterbacks. They got to prove some stuff.
We'll see about that position, but every other position they
can draft as well as anyone in the league. And
(22:16):
they saw a guy that I'm sure in their draft
meetings they thought was gonna be a future Hall of Famer.
I remember when I was with the Eagles and we
needed a middle linebacker and we were hoping I think
we were drafting like eleven or twelve is the year
that we ended up getting Fletcher Cox and Luke Keickley
was in that draft, and for a while, we're like,
let's just I think we're gonna get Luke Keickley. And
then the combine happens and Keickle ran like a four
(22:38):
or four, and then Andy Reid was basically like, Yeah,
this guy's gonna go to the Hall of Fame. This
guy's never lasting until we draft, and he didn't. He
was gone, and we ended up trading for Damiko Ryan's
who I actually saw it practice a couple of weeks
ago and I went up to him. He didn't remember me,
but I said, you know, I just I followed his
career closely. I was like, you know, I was with
in Philly when we traded for you. It's awesome to
(22:59):
see you ball, And basically was hoping to get him
on a podcast in the future, laying the groundwork, but
the point of the moral of the story is, once
there's certain guys in a draft that teams go, we
might not get this guy, but this guy is gonna
be a superstar. And I would imagine the Pittsburgh Steelers
thought about that with Maka Fitzpatrick. So when they took
a huge swing, maybe it wasn't that crazy because they
(23:20):
don't view themselves as four wins as a possibility, and
they also view themselves when we're gonna trade a first
round pick for this guy, even if we did draft
fifth overall or eighth overall in the future, this guy
would have been worthy of that pick. And then it
turns out a couple of years later he's been one
of the best defensive players in the league now for
four straight years. They gave a ton of money to
(23:42):
and it's well worth it because whenever you watch the
Steelers make a Fitzpatrick is literally everywhere. He's a physical player,
he can play the ball, he can cover, There's like
nothing he can't do. And from all accounts, he's a
great guy. He's the type guy the Steelers love. He's
kind of like the modern day Rod Woodson for them,
like he has Hall of Fame him upside. So I
tipped my hat to Colbert and Tomlin and the organization
(24:05):
for pulling the trigger. When let's face it, I was
not alone. A lot of people thought it was nuts,
and looking back, not only was it not nuts, It's
the type moves in life. Anyone listening to this, you
gotta be willing to make because most times when you
go out on a limb, especially when when times are
a little up in the air, people will call you nuts.
(24:27):
People will say you're an idiot. It's why you gotta
be very careful asking for life advice from family and
friends that there are certain people you can but a
lot of people don't quite understand all the variables. Only
you truly know what's in your gut and what is
right in front of you and what the future may hold.
(24:48):
If you do a certain move, you are the best
indicator of the future because you control everything. And I
think the Steelers knew we get this guy in here,
sky's the limit. And they got him in there, and
Sky was immediately the limit. And he's a big time
ask kicker. I did this thing a couple of weeks
ago about potential people in the media, and because Drew
(25:12):
Brees basically got fired I said, of course he did.
I mean he was listen, great guy, great player, kind
of boring. I mean, Drew Brees put you to sleep.
You know, anyone at NBC. The the amount of people
listen haven't been in this business for a little while.
The amount of people in quote unquote executive roles making three,
(25:33):
four or five thousand dollars at some of these companies
that are in charge of hiring are pulling an all
time scam artist. I mean they are. They are legally
stealing from their companies. They got no fucking clue what
they're doing, and they keep throwing ship at the wall
hoping some of its sticks. No different Jason Witten and
Booker McFarland again, nice guys, good people. It was embarrassing.
(25:56):
You can't roll that out. I could have told you
that it doesn't take you don't need to be in
the business long. Then that's not gonna work. Well, I've
said for a while, like anyone that's followed Richard Sherman's career,
Richard Sherman is the total package. Stanford educated, tough guy,
great player, articulate about just life and football. There's literally
(26:18):
nothing he doesn't bring to the table and When Amazon
bought the NFL's Thursday Night package, I say, awesome. A
lot of people push back, like, how's my grandpa supposed
to watch? I don't know. Buy a fucking two dollar
sixt TV at Target Smart tv and sign up for
Amazon Prime. It ain't that hard. It's pretty easy. Honestly,
(26:40):
it would take an hour to go to Target, get
the TV, plug it in, sign up for Amazon Prime.
Not very difficult. If that's your excuse, I think you're
living in like at this point, I mean it's we
are now. We're almost closer to two thousand twenty three
than we are two thousand twenty two. Like of a sudden,
you're gonna wake up. It's gonna be two thousand thirty.
(27:02):
Time to adapt, Time to get on with our lives here,
Stop holding onto the past. It's on Amazon, easy to consume.
But when they did it, they were going for big swings.
They tried to get John Lynch to pair up with
al Michaels, which a guy Hall of Fame player who
had been a GM, well spoken, good looking Stanford guy.
Also no brainer. He turned down. He admitted fifteen million
(27:25):
dollars a year. Let me repeat, John Lynch turned down
fifteen million dollars a year. I've said over and over
having someone that does this for a living and worked
in the league, and I was never a GM. I
was just, you know, one of the minions helping him
out is the time constraint that you and he's not
making fifteen million dollars of the GM. That guy's a
(27:46):
football junkie. That guy loves being in the trenches of
football more than he cares about money. He's not doing
this for the money. He's doing this for the juice
of winning a playoff game. Because winning at at lambeau
Field as a seven point underdog, there is no amount
of money if you're a football guy that can give
you that juice. You know, you hear gamblers talk about it.
(28:07):
Phil Mickelson gambling problem, so Charles Barkley on the Golf
Channel talking like I love the gamble and you know what,
I raised my hand. I do too. There is a
juice to gambling. Then I don't get anywhere else in life.
I don't get when I do a massive business deal,
I don't get I mean, even personally in some other areas,
there's nothing like it, and there is nothing like to
(28:29):
a football guy. Whether you're a coach, whether you're a player,
whether you're executive, winning a big game. To me, ultimately,
it didn't mean that much. I get more out of
those other aspects of life. It's why I've never ever
thought about going back. But to John Lynch, I respect
the ship out of him and his love of football
because he if you turned down fifteen million dollars, hats
(28:49):
off to you. Um, you know, he's the opposite of
the live guys, but they what what they struck out
on him? To me, getting Herb Street who again, I
some people in my d M s like, you're being
me and her I love Kirk crop Street. I think
her Herb Street is fantastic doing college games. He's awesome.
He's been doing it now for multiple decades. The morning show,
(29:12):
um College Game Day, which is not as good anymore,
and part it's no fault of anyone's own, you know,
Lee Corso is just it's just he's just he's just
so old and obviously he's not quite there anymore. It's
it's honestly kind of sad, but it's Heyday. That's one
of the best sports shows. Honestly, I would put College
Game Day in it's Heyday right there with Barkley, Ernie
(29:33):
and Kenny. You know, it's it's one of the greatest
preyer post game shows in the history of sports, and
it'll it'll never be topped. Probably that there have been
a lot of shows to come on Fox has a
good one now it's not even close. And once they
put fraud Meyer back on that show, like, I'm sorry,
I can't look at fraud Meyer ever again in the face.
I I can't take the guy seriously. But when it
(29:55):
comes to signing Kirk crop Street and listen, I don't
know for sure if he would have done this, because
I saw that Sherman said that he's still holding out
hope and he's gonna stay in shape. But opportunities like
to come. You can't turn this down. Why didn't they
just make Richard Sherman the analyst to go with Al Michaels.
Why didn't they just put Richard Sherman in the booth
(30:15):
and pay him fifteen million dollars because they could have
paid Richard Sherman what they were willing to pay John
Lynch and then he's not gonna make that much money.
How when he was an All pro for the forty niners.
He made like twelve million dollars. Just pay him that
to do it. He's smart enough, he's a big enough personality.
He would have figured it out just fine. I don't
understand why they just didn't throw the bag of money
(30:36):
at Richard. So when I turned on Amazon this fall
with maybe your grandpa's missing it, but all of us
under seventy years old will not be Richard Sherman and
al Michael's. It would have been an easy, no brainer.
But I don't know who's making these decisions. Kirk herb
Street because he's called a couple of NFL games the
last several years for ESPN, Like he's a college guy. Now, again,
(30:57):
the NFL is easier than college, but why out just
higher an NFL guy who's been a league now for
a decade, who knows the entire league, who knows all
the coaches, and while he quote unquote doesn't have experience,
he would figure it out, and he would figure it
out really fast. I don't think it would be that difficult,
especially on a streaming service, it would have been fine.
(31:19):
So I think that ultimately Amazon made a mistake by
not just going all in. Now I know Richard is
gonna do the pre and postgame show, but let's face it,
that's not as important as the actual game. And I
think it would have been an easy one. The other
thing that I keep seeing and I saw this guy
interviewed yesterday, and oh my god, he might be the
(31:41):
biggest guy in the NFL. He is a massive, massive
human being. And listen, left tackles are huge. When I
was with the Eagles, we had Jason Peters. He was enormous.
Just at Niners practice seeing Trent Williams. Fucking massive human beings.
This guy is bigger and his day ms McKay Beckton.
(32:01):
And when Joe Douglas a couple of years ago drafted
this guy, he passed on several other guys, and Tristan
Worth's now a couple of years later, is clearly the
better player, more consistent human and if you could redo
the pick, you would have taken him, not Beckton. But
I have no problem. I say this all the time
when you're drafting really high, swinging for the fences, but
(32:24):
when you swing for the fences, and I was, I
was terrible at baseball, but I have friends that were
good to play in college and they will say, like
when you swing, try to hit home run, especially if
you have a little bit of an uppercut, you're not
trying to drive the ball if they throw the pitch
in a different area than you think, you will miss.
And right now, let's face it, Beckton has been a
(32:44):
disaster for the Jets. Now, Joe Douglas, Robert Sala, they've
benched him, They've just had some issues with them. And
clearly the number one thing is and I learned this
when I was in the NFL with defensive lineman and
offensive lineman. And I think this this holds true for
any athlete. The bigger you are, we're not talking about weight,
you're just inherently a little lazier. Why, it's just basic science,
(33:08):
right's physics. The more weight I have to carry around,
the harder it is to operate, the easy I remember
de Sean Jackson, he couldn't run all summer long, show up.
He wouldn't break a sweat. He's not under sixty pounds
Tyreek Hill. You think the guy ever gets tired? McKay.
Beckton's the big defensive tackles like they're huffing and puffing
for a reason. They carry around more weight just like
(33:31):
it takes more horsepower to to pull a boat than
it does to pull a pinto I mean, it's just
basic math. And when you get these guys, and the
number one question on Beckton specifically was how he would
handle his weight, because remember it could get up to
almost four hundred pounds and that's when he was in college.
(33:51):
So it was a lot of red flags all over
the league and it made people nervous to a much
smaller level. Jordan Davis, the Eagles just had some of
those questions like is he to Zion Zion Williamson battles
that because it's a legitimate question. We the the asset
is the player's body. Now, the thing Beckton had great
athlete great feet. In scouting terms, they're considered dancing bears.
(34:16):
I was in to a couple of weeks ago. When
a bear goes by, you kind of back up because
you know, deep down the massive bear can run way
faster than you. And beck then is a special, special talent.
But his weight issues are coming to fruition like they
are a massive problem. And if you don't keep that
weight down, a couple of things come into play. One
(34:37):
you're more likely to get injured because the bigger you are.
You saw at Shack's end of his career, he got
so big he got injured a lot, and it's just
hard to stay in shape. It is very, very difficult
to be like, yeah, I'm three seventy pounds and I'm
in great shape. I would say most great left tackles,
even the bigger ones. Trent Williams, Jason Peters would be examples.
(34:58):
Could could be and look really good at three pounds,
but if they were three hundred sixty pounds, you'd have
a problem. And I think the Jets right now have
a problem on their hands because this guy is heater tottering,
and I know he said I'm in for a big year.
I'm gonna make everyone eat their words. To me, the
number one thing with him, he's got to be very
(35:19):
careful about what he eats moving forward, and not just eats,
but his workout plans and staying focused, which can be
difficult when you're that big, because, like I said, you're
inherently a little lazier because it's it's harder for you
to work. It's easier for me to have energy and
work out when I'm a hundred and seventy five pounds
than when I'm two hundred pounds. Whatever, the body weight
(35:42):
is relative to your body that comes into play here,
and I think that has come into play here for
the Jets and Becton. But if he gets it together
and he focuses, he's still a really young player. They
could have one of the best tackles in the league.
And that position, if he is a Pro Bowl level player,
is then immediately one of the most valuable players in
the league because that's a two million dollar player and
(36:05):
he predicts the blind side of your quarterback. But if
you're constantly going back and forth bench and him worrying
about his weight, like you have a bigger and he's
not playing well, you have a bigger headache than you
do a talent. And that ultimately gets back to which
I commend because I am more likely than not gonna
support making these decisions on draft night. Swing for the fences.
(36:27):
But right now, it looks like Joe Douglas is more
likely to strike out on this pitch than to hit
a home run. Now, he still has time left. This
is a young player, he's not thirty years old, but
this is a massive, massive year, and I get a
lot of people the d M me about the Jets
specifically because to me, the two New York teams are
in completely different lanes. The Giants should bottom out unless
(36:49):
day Ball can resurrect Daniel Jones career, and then day
Ball would immediately be viewed as a top offensive coach
in the league. But in a perfect world, their cap
situation that their talent, uh, they're lacking of talent. The
Giant should basically just bottom out and restart next year.
They have a new GM, they have a new coach.
That's what I would do. Where the Jets now bottom
out a couple of years ago, have had an influx
(37:11):
of all these draft picks and they have a young quarterback.
Like I listen, I don't think they need to make
the playoffs, but I think anything less than seven and ten,
it's like, do they got the right GM and the
right head coach and a huge Robert solid guy. Don't
know Douglas, but I'm rooting for the guy. But like, ultimately,
this is a black and white league. Do you win
or do you lose? That This isn't moral victories and
(37:34):
all that stuff go out the window once the season comes.
You just get judged it's one of the greatest businesses
in America because there's no well they got great technology,
but they're not turning the profit. Well, you know, they
got this incredible product, but they're just not selling it yet. No,
it's like we won ten games and we made the playoffs,
or no, we won five games when we fired our coach.
(37:55):
Like at the end of the year, it's very cut
and dry whether you had success or whether you did
not have success. Now you could argue for most teams,
seven and ten is not a successful year. But given
where the Jets are, seven in ten, winning some big games,
maybe upsetting some teams, and just getting the momentum and
looking like your quarterback is successful, getting Beckton on the
(38:15):
field all season long and having some success. Have these
two young wide receivers in the young running back, some
of your young defensive players look good. Is a really,
really big deal in a franchise that that's just desperate
for something positive to happen. Other than that, I mean,
I I saw de Shaun Watson talked. I don't really
know what to say. I didn't really think he said anything. Again,
(38:38):
A girl after girl after girl keeps coming after uh
coming up and uh, obviously the New York Times story
about the n d a's and listen, famous people get
n d as before you enter something, not usually after.
I've never been a part of an n d A,
but reading about him over the years, that to me,
I think seems to be a lot of the pushback.
(38:58):
It's like, why didn't get him to sign the NBA
before you dealt with something instead of after? Um, there's
just no way around it. The Deshaun Watson situation has
gotten worse, dramatically worse since he's been a Cleveland Brown
It's not only not going away, the problems are continuing
to mount um. And you know, I don't know where
(39:20):
this goes. A lot of people of d m me,
why did the Browns not have Baker Mayfield or why
wouldn't Baker Mayfield show up? Because he's never playing another
snap for the Cleveland Browns, whether Deshaun Watson is suspended
for this year or whether he's not, Baker Mayfield under
no circumstances is ever entering that locker room again. To me,
the only question now with Baker Mayfield are they able
(39:42):
to trade him and eat some of the salary or
are they going to be forced to cut him and
eat the eighteen point eight million dollars. My guests, again,
educated guests, No inside information is that ultimately the Cleveland
Browns cut Baker Mayfield for eighteen point eight million dollar
and eat the money because the reason they went after
(40:03):
de Sean and just the reason they would have gone
after other quarterbacks, they were done with Baker Mayfield. Their
head coach and their GM were over it was no Moss,
and clearly their locker room was over him as well.
So I don't have no clue where he's gonna end up.
I think the whole situation is a little bizarre. Um
I've said over and over and over again. I think
(40:24):
I saw Breer right about it this week. The Seattle
Seahawks like Drew Lock. I know that sounds insane. They
legitimately like Drew Lock. Now is it gonna work? I
do not think it is. I think it's gonna be
a disaster. No different than I've said. I didn't like,
uh what Kenny Pickett the Steelers pick, But like I read,
(40:47):
I saw seen some headlines from people that have been
around the team, like Mitchell Robinsky is gonna be their starter.
That's gonna fail as well. Mitchell Trobinsky is not very good.
He can't complete basic passes. I like him as a
backup if he's got to fill a game or two,
but if he has to start seventeen games, like you
have a major problem. Like even if the Browns are
(41:08):
disaster this year because the Shawn's suspended, how are you
gonna beat Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson with Mason Rudolph.
That's not gonna happens. It's just not like that. That
is such a big gap. Now I'm not saying Kenny
Pickett could either, but ultimately, you draft a guy number
twenty overall, like hed better be able to beat these
guys sooner or later. But your quarterback situation is like
(41:30):
some of these teams, they like a guy internally more
than we like him on the outside. And if you
told me that the Steelers like Mr Bisky coming out,
I believe you. They've already admitted that they love Drew
Lock coming out. They had him high in the draft board.
I think it's fair to say that, uh, John Snyder
had him as a top fifteen player. What I never
understand is like when you love a guy coming out
(41:53):
and then you have a bunch of information. It's like
having a crush on a girl. It's like, God, this
girl is a total babe. And then you get to data.
And then he dated for a while and then like
a year later, you're like, it's not quite what I
thought it would be, and then what usually happens, you
break up. Now in football, it's a little different because
the quarterbacks not yours, so or a lot of players
aren't yours that you had good draft picks like or
(42:14):
draft grades on. They go to other places. But you
do get to evaluate their play. You know, in the
dating analogy, you when someone else dates or you don't
get to experience a lot of things right, the good
parts definitely and the bad parts. But in football you
get to evaluate them playing. And like we've seen Mitch,
we've seen Drew Lock. Drew Lock couldn't even sniff beating
(42:37):
out Teddy Bridgewater like that legitimately happened. Now, you could
argue that that's because Vic Fangio was kind of a
puss and he wanted went with it the guy that
he knew could complete basic passes because they thought they
have a good defense. Whatever. But I just won't believe
that a guy that can't beat out Drew Lock or
I mean Teddy Bridgewater in practice every day can't like
(42:57):
really go damn, what are we doing here? And he
couldn't do that. And I just think that some of
these teams and these gms, man, they get so caught
up on the past, like it's not two thousand nineteen,
we have information, it's two thousand two. What what? Why
are we holding on to a draft grade from four
years ago? And I get it if you're gonna give
(43:18):
him no money or a flyer, but to say the
guy's getting your starting quarterback is insanity. Have a good weekend.
We will have the mail bag out this weekend and
um yeah at John Middlecoff Instagram firing those d m s.
Have a great day. Peace, see you, audios. M
Host
John Middlekauff
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