3 & Out - Giants, Netflix's "Receiver", RIP Jacoby Jones

John dives into the first few episodes of "Hard Knocks" by talking about how they handled the Saquon Barkley situation and how if he has a big year in Philly it could mean that some people in NY could lose their job and how these episodes are showing you a "fun" side of Brian Daboll that we haven't seen in previous years. Later, John talks about Netflix's new show "Receiver" and after watching you can understand why certain coaches fall in love with specific receivers.

Lastly, John answers your questions during this episode's mailbag segment.

11:44 - The Giants on Hard Knocks

24:22 - Brian Daboll

29:40 - Netflix's "Receiver"

41:38 - Other NFL news

50:37 - Mailbag

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
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Speaker 1 (02:13):
What is going on?

Speaker 3 (02:14):
Everybody?

Speaker 1 (02:15):
John middlecop three and out podcasts That'd be me, That'd
be the show. Thanks for listening. We are going to
attempt to talk some football today. I actually almost recorded
this on Friday, and the day kind of got away
from me. But I'm gonna talk about what I was
gonna talk about. Regardless, Clearly a lot is going on
part of this vacation. We wanted to not we but

(02:38):
our parents wanted, our mothers wanted to throw us an
engagement party. So on Saturday, when we were getting ready
to go to the party where everyone people were already there,
my mom, my, brothers and everything, we were gonna be
one of the last people there, or at least to
show up of our immediate family. And I went to
the back of the house to put on my shoes.
When I walked back out, because I had on the

(02:59):
American Century Golf tournament, the news, the visuals, the live
updates of the dude trying to kill Donald and at
first you just this was it wasn't live, but it
was within a couple minutes and it was insane. It
was wild. The visuals of them screaming for his shoes,
which is a pretty legendary I want my shoes and

(03:21):
holding this fist up. Obviously, the picture that went pretty
viral is just an all timer. And before I started
recording this today I saw that he was playing golf,
so yeah, man, that's I don't even know. There wasn't
much talked about at the engagement party beside that because
it was so fresh and new and a lot of

(03:42):
hunters at this party. There were a lot of actually
like sheriffs and policemen that are dating and married to
some of Maria's friends, so it was it was a
hot topic. That's for sure. It's gonna be. But like
I said, today on this show, we'll talk some giants,
some receiver on Netflix, and it's just some NFL news
to try to give everyone a little break from the

(04:03):
craziness that is what's going on. And you know, I
think Donald talks at the convention on Tuesday, so it's
I mean, it's just one of the biggest stories in
the history of my life of thirty nine years on
this planet. So it's not going to go away. But
here just going to try to talk football today. Other
than that, subscribe to the podcast, make sure you check

(04:25):
out the YouTube channel. All of our stuff is up
there as well. Last week if you missed it, Mike
Commodore NHL Player. Even if you don't like hockey, I
had a bunch of people DM me. He's a gem.
It's it's a really good He's an entertainer, he's he's special.
He's special. And on Monday, I think we had Bobby Bones.
I don't think I know who country music, big radio host,

(04:48):
just tell us stories about his life. He's been on
Dancing with the Stars and a bunch of other stuff.
He's a stud. So if you miss those, go check
those out. And the game Plan will be podcast this week.
We'll have a golf podcast. The game plan I think
is for we'll come out on Tuesday. The British opens
this week. We'll have some betting picks. I don't know
if you know, but the last major that happened, your

(05:10):
boy won a pretty big parlay. I can't guarantee I'm
doing that again because not many humans ever turned in
one hundred fifty dollars into eighteen k, but we're definitely
gonna gamble on it and we'll be talking about it
on the podcast come tomorrow. Other than that, I think
that's probably it. So we'll have some more football talk
as the week goes on. But let's dive into show.

(05:33):
Before we dive in to football, you know, I gotta
tell you about my friends game Time. Here's the thing.
You want to go to a concert? Do you want
to go to a baseball game? Do you want to
go to a football game? This fall? I saw someone
said fifty two days or fifty days till the first
football game could be off. But college starts a little
earlier obviously than the NFL. And I'm not counting preseason

(05:56):
because those games suck, even though you get very excited
to watch them. And I've been to a bunch when
I worked in the NFL and then when I did radio,
and you're excited because football's finally here. Then the game
starts going. But obviously there's nothing like regular season games
college or pro. And that's when my friends game Time
come in concerts. I yes, I'm Morgan Walling, just canceled.
But if you want to go see a shows I have,

(06:17):
He's pretty good. But whoever you like. If you're swifty,
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(06:38):
twenty dollars off. Download the game Time app today, last
minute tickets, lowest prices guaranteed. Okay, before I get critical
of some stuff with the Giants, I gotta say I
think this is the coolest Hard Knocks that has happened.
Since I was like in college and I'm almost forty
years old, I've never quite seen something this in depth.

(07:01):
Is probably the wrong way to put it, but behind
the curtains. One issue I've had with Hard Knocks over
the last decade, which I understand because if I was
a team, I wouldn't want to show the deep conversations
inside the staff meetings. When you're crushing players. With social media,
everything goes viral. I get it now. I understand it's

(07:21):
still an entertaining product for some, but I've said for
a while it's not really for me because I kind
of like the nitty gritty, like people get cut in
the NFL. Right, Coaches bad mouth guys because they're not
good enough. It's like that's part of the business. But
teams have shied away from it and you don't get
any of it now. One thing we've gotten I would
say over the last three or four years. Is this

(07:43):
incredible self produced stuff from the teams. The Colts do
a good job. The jet did one this year, A
lot a lot of teams do it, and I'm missing teams,
but of draft meetings of them going to Indianapolis and
if you're a sucker for the scouting world, the free agency,
it's cool. The Colts have been doing a great job

(08:04):
for a long time with this. But this Hard Knocks
has given conversations from the GM and to agents of
players to the episode two was one of the best
Hard Knocks episodes I've ever seen because Brian day Ball
talking with the quarterbacks was incredible. It was freaking awesome.

(08:27):
Caleb Jaden Drake may, I mean, all these guys are impressive.
And one thing we've been talking for a while. These
quarterbacks in twenty twenty four. You know, they've been playing
on these seven on seven league since they were like ten, eleven,
twelve years old. It was an impressive group, which we knew.
I mean, six guys went in the top twelve. But

(08:49):
it was really really cool and if you're a football nerd,
day Ball with these quarterbacks was kind of football porn.
It was awesome. I cannot wreck amended enough. If you
haven't seen it, Episode two Elite Joe Shane Listen seems
like a really nice guy. I've said for a while

(09:11):
in this true in coaching, and it's definitely true in
the front office. Not everyone is meant to be a
number one, and to me feels a little bit more
like a number two, asking a lot of questions of
his group, which is normal, but it kind of feels
like this guy's a GM. I worked for Howie Roseman.

(09:32):
I don't quite get those vibes from this guy. One
major issue that I think he's gonna have is it's
not about what happened this offseason. I understand their decision
to move on from Saquon Barkley because of the financial
situation that Daniel Jones presents, but they fucked this up

(09:52):
last year that it made no sense one thing with
running backs. For a long time, I would say six
to seven years ago, when some of the girly Zeke
Elliott contracts were happening, they backfired. But in too the
last year and then this year, running backs are actually
a discount. They're the one guy, I would say, on

(10:14):
the offense who you can get at a bargain because
wide receivers, we know good ones cost twenty five to
thirty five million dollars. Now guards are costing eighteen nineteen
million dollars. We know how much sweet offensive tackles cost.
But wait, I can sign a running back to eleven, twelve,

(10:34):
thirteen million dollars a year. I wouldn't do that with
everybody but the Christian mccaffreys, Alvin Kamara, Saquon Barkley. John
Merri said multiple times, I don't know if I'm that
comfortable with losing Saquon Barkley because our offense sucks without him.
And Joe Shane's whole point is we have to figure

(10:54):
out Daniel Jones. I was like, have to figure out.
You just gave the guy forty plus million dollars a
year last offseason. You have to figure him out. Think
how crazy that is. This is why we discussed these
quarterback contracts at nauseum, because when you pay a guy. Listen,

(11:15):
I was watching the golf tournament. Trevor Lawrence is there.
He's not very good at golf, but there's a lot
of unknown there and I would obviously rather have Trevor
Lawrence than Daniel Jones. But when I have to give
a guy two hundred million dollars guaranteed, I don't like
to have a lot of questions. Listen the Dak Prescott
contract over the last four or five years. You can

(11:37):
quibble with his performances in the playoffs, justifiably, so he
has not been very good, but he has been extremely
productive in the regular season, and every single year for
the last three years they've won twelve plus games. So
it's like, yeah, he's been worth it to them. Now
I think they're asking themselves, do we want to double
down on that with the prices that you have to
pay if this guy can't win as a Super Bowl

(11:59):
I said for a while with Dak, I do think
he's capable of getting hot in the playoffs and making
a run. Doesn't mean it's gonna happen, but I've seen
Eli Manning do it. I've seen Joe Flacco do it.
It's possible with Dak Prescott, I believe, and I think
most people would agree with me. It is impossible with
Daniel Jones, but because of their situation, they have to

(12:22):
let Saquon Barkley go. Here's the problem. I think Joe
Shane is gonna get fired at the end of the season.
If Saquon Barkley has a big year with the Eagles,
and how's he not gonna have a big year with
the Eagles? Their offensive line is freaking awesome and the
depth on their offensive line is awesome. How is he
not going to be sweet? Now? The new episode that's

(12:42):
coming out, they showed like the preview and even Marra said, like,
I don't know if I'm comfortable with him going to
the Eagles, And I think, if you're Joe Shane, listen,
if Saquan had gone to some random team that's gonna
win six to seven games, whatever, But he goes to
your division rival for not that much money. And here's

(13:03):
the thing with the division rival. They've been to the
playoffs the last three years. They beat you in the
playoffs two years ago, two years ago they were in
the super Bowl. We know they're really well run and
even if they underachieved, guess what, they're gonna be pretty good.
Last year was a disaster for them, and the Giants
would have given everything to have that season that they

(13:25):
just had, and Howie Roseman and Sirianni fired like half
the coaching staff, So I don't see letting him go
and not quite understanding his market and knowing that the
Eagles wanted him, that's gonna hurt and it's gonna backfire hard.
And if Daniel Jones coming off this acl and I understand,
like in my league neighbors, I said it before the draft,

(13:46):
he was the best prospect because he had the highest upside,
doesn't mean he's going to be the best player, right. Obviously,
Marvin Harrison's awesome Rome suite. A lot of wide receivers
in this draft are probably gonna turn out to be
pretty good. But the one thing Joe Shane kept saying
and I just don't understand, is he kept hammering on
the offensive line. We need to get better on the

(14:07):
offensive line. And then you take a receiver at number six.
Now they already have a couple tackles. So could they
have taken JC Latham? Could you play him at guard?
I think he played guard early in his Alabama career.
But here's the thing I don't understand, Like, do they
know what they're doing when it comes to building a team.
And that starts with Joe Shane Because let's use Harball

(14:29):
and Joe Ortiz as an example. All the conversation leading
into the draft, which was laughable, was like, Chargers get
rid of Mike Williams, get rid of Keenan Allen. They're
going to take a wide receiver at number five, and
anyone who knows football went, well, shit, Jim Harbaugh is

(14:52):
going to take an offensive lineman. What do he end
up doing taking an offensive lineman? And what did he
say the night of the draft? I view offensive lineman
as weapons? Because you know why when you say Jim Harbaugh,
John Harbaugh, Kyle Shanahan, Andy Reid, there is a specific
identity with and led by you know, Brett Veitch, Lynch obviously,

(15:16):
Ozzy and DaCosta and now Orties coming from the Ravens
with Harball, of their identity as a football program, as
a football team. You know what you're getting? What are
the Giants doing? When I worked for the Eagles, listen,
I'm a West Coast guy. I had never even really
been back to the Northeast. I actually don't think I

(15:37):
ever had. I had the first time I was ever
in Philadelphia or New York or Washington was when I
got hired. And you know, whether I scouted, you know,
they were the Redskins at the time or a met
life against the Giants. I was an NFC West guy,
you know, growing up, and the Giants I'll never forget
at the time my second year they won their second

(15:58):
Super Bowl in twenty eleven, when you were on the
sideline and that team came out, they had a clear identity.
You knew exactly what Tom Coughlin and the Giants organization
stood for, what they looked for in players. And I
see a team right now that feels lost. And when
you're lost in a division with teams that kind of

(16:20):
know what they're doing a lot. Listen, the Cowboys biggest
brand in the league, that they're the Yankees of football.
You cannot diminish their identity as a football team and
what they have invested in over the last decade plus
offensive lineman. They've taken offensive lineman the last two years. Now,
are those guys going to be high end players? Time

(16:42):
will tell. I mean this year they took a project,
but I would probably bet on it. Like I know
what the Cowboys want to do when it comes to
building their team now. Their coach sometimes says he wants
to run the ball, that he passes the ball, and
obviously Dak they don't have a running back. But I
don't think the Giants have any identity. And that's why
Washington has been so shitty for twenty years. They've gone

(17:02):
through coaches, they've gone through gms. Dan Quinn and Adam
Peters are going to have an identity immediately. You know
why because Adam Peters has learned from Kyle and John,
from John Elway and Bill Belichick, like he has specific
type players that he looks for, and his draft just
showed this. And when you watch Joe Shane and they're

(17:23):
just kind of talking, you know, Michael Lombardi talks about
this a lot. You know, with play calling, just like
growing darts out at Dartborn. I'm just calling place. There's
no rhyme or reason, right, I'm not setting any It's
some play callers. That's why most play callers aren't that
good because and I've talked to my scouting buddies who think,
and I believe this too. You're kind of instinctive doing it.

(17:43):
You either kind of have it or you don't. That's
why some offensive coordinators get their shot. You're like this
doesn't work, and some guys just there's a feel for it.
It's Obviously, you get better, like in anything in life,
with experience, the more you do something. But when I
watch the Giants, I'm just like, what is going on here?
What are you guys doing? That's that's my big question mark,

(18:06):
What the hell are you guys? Do you guys have
any direction? And like I said, if Saquon Barkley and
if feels like not strong enough when has a really
successful season the Eagles, I think it would be pretty
shocking if they're just not in the playoffs. Most people,
including myself, don't think the Giants are going to be

(18:26):
any good. I think that could end. That could end.
Joe Shane think about and listen. I thought John Robinson.
I know he had a rough last couple of years,
but I've known John H. Back. I met him when
I was at Fresno State. He did a pretty good
job of building up that Titans team when Rabel first
got there. But what was his undoing? That AJ Brown thing?
It destroyed him. They traded AJ Brown, he goes to

(18:48):
the Eagles and then they ended up playing the Titans
right randomly a little bit because it just happened to
be that year you were playing you know that cross
division in the AFC and aj eviscerated them and that
was the end of his GM career with the Titans.
And the problem for the Giants with Saquon They're not
only gonna see him twice a year. They all play
the same teams and that division it's a little sec like, right,

(19:13):
everyone fallows those four teams really closely in all those cities.
I mean, New York's a pressure cooker. They've been so
shitty now for so long. I think it's gonna be
a major problem now. Brian Daball I thought he came
off pretty well, like just kind of a cool football guy,
and the knock on him has been definitely last year
was like, God, this guy's got a calm down. This

(19:35):
guy is just a loose cannon. And then you saw
him and listen, I don't know, I don't know him personally,
it felt like just a relaxed guy having a good time,
cracking jokes. But when you saw him talk football, it's like, yeah,
this is a guy that worked for Belichick and Saban.
He knows his shit, but he could joke about being
chubby and eating chicken wings and running the forty like honestly,
he kind of reminded me a little bit just in

(19:57):
the second episode at the combine of like jokes Andy
REI would make. But if this team's bad because of
the team that Joe has, you know, kind of constructed
over the last couple of years, you have to wonder
like would he get a second GM or would he
get fired to And based on the Giant's history over
the last I don't know, post Coughlin, they've run through

(20:17):
a lot of people. And if you're John Mara Saquon Barkley,
high character guy, you were in this position in Joe's
like we tried to offer him a bunch of money
last year. Well even if you would a quote unquote
overpaid a little bit, it's a running back. They don't
even cost that much money. But you were so dead
set on paying this quarterback that everybody and their mother

(20:37):
knew was average. What was going to be his market?
You know if he hit free agency. I can't imagine
anyone would have given that guy, I don't know, over
like forty million dollars guaranteed. And I think this is
going to be his undoing And I just it was
just a disastrous decision that they're paying for now. But

(20:57):
like I said, you have to have a clear philosophical
belief as an organization. I've only worked for one NFL
team in the league, right line line line line Howie Roseman,
because he learned from Andy Reid always drafting offensive linemen.
That was just a point of emphasis. And like I said,

(21:18):
when I was in Philadelphia watching those Giants teams, they
had good offensive lines. ELI couldn't move Eli's as fast
as me, but they were stout up front, and now
they just feel lost receiver. I watched the first episode

(21:43):
and one of my main takeaways was, this shit ain't
that complicated. It's really not. And this isn't you know
the seventies and the eighties football anymore? Right? The game
is much more wide open and you can run over
the middle. Jack Tatum or Jack Lambert or Ray Lewis
or Cam Chancellor can't shatter your collar bone. You still

(22:07):
get hit hard, but the crazy hits don't happen as much.
I've been probably three or four times, you know, three
twenty fifteen where I've seen guys get carted off the
field of some of the most malicious hits you'll ever see.
Just in my I remember Deshaun Jackson got taken out
I think in an Atlanta Falcons game when I was

(22:28):
with the Eagles, you thought he died. I mean you
really did. There was a game where we played the
Colts and Austin Caley. Remember he was really good player,
but he had some concussion issues. I forget who on
our team hit him, but you also thought he died.
Pretty sure he got carted off that game. Both those
guys got cart like you just don't see that as much.
I mean, guys still get carted off the field, but
it's usually for acls or an achilles. But when it

(22:50):
comes to hits, it doesn't happen as much. But physicality
in the sport not only still matters, it's essential to
being successful. You cannot be good in the NFL if
you do not have physical players. Let's look at the
final four in the NFL, and obviously two of the
teams were featured on the first episode. I recommend it.
I thought Receiver the first episode was just pretty cool.

(23:12):
It's a very easy watch. Deebo Samuel one of the
most physical players I've ever seen. Blaud not a great
route runner, but because he's such an elite player with
the ball in his hands and he can basically play
this hybrid running back position. You just get the ball
to him, screens, pitches, put him at running back and
he makes it happen. Breaks tackles, runskys over. George Kittle,

(23:37):
who is probably maybe at this point he's a little older,
but he hangs his hat on physicality. There were so
many clips of him running guys over in the run game.
And George said it like, listen, do I love to
get eight catches for one hundred yards and two touchdowns?
Of course? But if I have one catch for one

(23:58):
yard and we run the ball down the throat and
win by twenty points, sign me up for that every day.
And then you watch Amen Ross Saint Brown, who I
think was a fourth round pick. Why do guys that
aren't you know, think about the list of players in
this in receiver, George Kittle fifth round pick, Deebo Samuels

(24:19):
second round pick, am and Ross Ain't Brown fourth round pick,
Davante Adams' second round pick. Well, Justin Jefferson was a
first round pick. Think how many receivers were taken over
and Justin's you know, your prototypical elite outside wide receiver.
But those other guys amen ra the reason he ran
a four to six. But you watch him play like

(24:41):
who cares, Like his ability to get open, his toughness.
You watch the background on his family. I maybe I
knew this, but it definitely like when you're watching it.
His father talked about him being in the NFL at
eight years old. He was a former mister Olympia, the
thing that Arnold Schrzenegger used to win all the time.
And he's a serious cat. And like I said, physicality

(25:05):
and seriousness. The best players in the NFL are so
serious about their craft. Obviously they have fun. I'm watching
the Celebri tournament and Jason Kelsey and Travis kell that
tournament is made for those two guys shotgun and beers
getting wasted, high five and dudes. But when it comes
to football. I've said this story before, but you know
before he was dating Taylor Swift. I ran into Travis

(25:27):
at the golf course and I just kind of introduced myself.
I didn't want to, like, I wasn't even trying to
fan boy. I say, hey, man, I used to work
for Andy Reid and we started bsing a little bit
and he's like, yeah, ota starting a couple of weeks.
This was two years ago. He's like, I can't get wait.
I can't wait to get back. I can't wait to
get on the practice field. I can't wait to just
kind of lock back in for the offseason and the

(25:48):
seriousness it takes. I haven't seen the Davante episode yet,
and listen, I don't I understand Davante wanting to be
on the Raiders. It's his I think his grandma or grandpa.
You know, it was hard for them. They could never
travel to Green Bay. It's much closer to where he
grew up in northern California. He grew up a Raiders fan.

(26:10):
I get it. Like at one point in time, when
Daniel Jeremiah went to the NFL network, I begged to
come back West. And obviously I haven't left since. Man,
I don't plan on it, but I understand being home.
But when you're a professional athlete where you play kind
of matters, and you were at Green Bay, and I
get they low balled him and even if he wanted
to leave, But when you demand a trade to the

(26:32):
Raiders and then they suck for a couple of years
and your quarterback play is awful, Like I don't know
what to tell you. What do you expect Kenny Stable
right walking through that door. Rich Gannon's like fifty five
years old. Hell, he might even be older because he
was older when he won the MVP with Gruden in
like two thousand or two thousand and one, maybe it
was two. But here's what I know about Davante. That

(26:55):
dude takes shit very, very seriously. I'm close buddies with
his personal coach, Keith Williams, who's now the wide receiver
coach for the Saints. He was our wide receiver coach
at Fresno State, and they trained for years in the offseason.
Like these guys don't mess around when it comes to
working on their craft. And all these guys, George wasn't
that productive in college. Davante smaller school ran slow. I

(27:19):
remember stories when I left the Eagles, Chip Kelly and
his staff thought the guy was a slug, thought he
sucked pretty good evaluation their boys and the knock on
de boat. He was an excellent player in the SEC,
but he had a lot of injury issues. But Kyle
and those guys, because they sucked at the time, coached
the Senior Bowl and were around him and like, I
think we can use this guy. And when you see

(27:39):
these shiny toys like Andy Draftsavior Worthy, he kind of
knows how to use those guys. And this is my
thing with Malik Neighbors elite talent, like I'd want them
on my team. But you look at the Giants, You're like,
you got a quarterback who's a dink and dunk guy
who's just not even that good. Like it's kind of
gonna waste there, you know, ain't really gonna work when
you ve if to Odell Beckham early on why it

(28:01):
kind of work? Well, what did Eli do pretty well
for a good DP ball had a big arm, like
could push the field, could get him the rock way down,
you know, on go routes, on posts like they really
threaten the deep part of the field that ain't them.
And guys that go over the middle and you get
the ball to and can break tackles are very valuable.
I don't care if you've got Patrick Mahomes or you

(28:23):
got Brock Purdy or you got Daniel Jones, because though
it's why running backs, like, let's face it, they're kind
of valuable. What very easy to get them the football
now value in terms of money and the cap. Obviously
we can discuss that all day long. But if I
got Kamara, if I got Saquon Barkley, if I got
Christian McCaffrey, Nick Chubb before he got hurt, Like, it's
not that difficult even in the passing game to make

(28:44):
sure the ball's in his hands. And Deebo Samuel most
of his catches around the line of scrimmage. I'm in
Ross Saint Brown works the middle of the field at
an elite level. George Kittle like pretty big target within
ten yards of the field. Now he's fast, he can
stretch the field and once the balls in their hand,
Like most guys are not Cam Chancellor in the NFL anymore,

(29:04):
and they have to like they can't leave their feet
to tackle you anymore. And these guys break tackles, And
I like tough guys on my team, always have. I
don't think that's a novel concept. And some people, every
time a new coach or a new GM gets a job,
we want tough, physical guys. And then I watched this,
like I know exactly what a Dan Campbell player looks, like,
I know exactly what a Kyle Shanahan player looks like

(29:27):
and guess what those are the winning players? It really are.
I was thinking about this because last week, if you
haven't checked it out, we did on the podcast. The
Mike Commodore interview was fantastic. It was only on the
podcast because our video kind of got messed up and
Bobby Bones. But I on Friday, I just did a little,
you know, little offseason top ten coaches that for me

(29:48):
not named Andy Reid, and I had Dan Campbell on there,
and I was thinking about this over the last couple
of days in Tahoe, swimming around, having some beers. He
went to the Alliance. He went to the Allons and
didn't just win like has turned them in to a
team that you would have to be on drugs not
to pick them to make the playoffs this year. Their

(30:09):
team is deep, high end players everywhere. If you get
hired at Ohio State, if you get hired at Oklahoma,
if you get hired at LSU and you don't win,
you just suck. But it's why I'm pretty high on
Lane Kiffin right now. Ole Miss has never had back
to back double digit win seasons and he just did it.
And most people are going to pick them to make

(30:29):
the playoffs this year. You don't do that at Old Miss.
That's not what they do. And the NFL is a
little different because of the way the draft works. Every
team has money, every team has the same resources, but
for whatever reason, certain teams suck way more than others.
And if Dan Quinn and Adam Peters go to Washington
and win, like that's more impressive than winning at the

(30:51):
Eagles or the Cowboys. I'm not talking to the Super Bowl.
I'm just talking about consistently winning every single year being
in the playoff hunt. And you do that by drafting
and picking the right players, because when you get the
right guys, tough guys, physical guys, guys that love football.
One of my big pet peeves around draft time, like

(31:12):
I is when the media freaks out when these stories
are like the GM asks them, do you have a
We don't want ballast, We want you to be all
in on football. Well, no shit, I'm paying you ten
twenty thirty million dollars a year. You've ever done a
job for that much money? I haven't, But if someone
paid me twenty five million dollars a year to do

(31:32):
a job, I would probably expect them to think I'm
gonna spend ninety nine percent of my effort thinking about this.
I'm not saying you just avoid your family, have no
other life, but like it takes a little more effort.
Money kind of factors in. If you're working nine to
five and make fifty thousand dollars a year and check
in check out, Like, yeah, my expectation is a little

(31:53):
different for you. So the expectations during the draft, Like
these guys that are football junkies, it usually works. Most
of the best players, I mean, think about the best
players last like twenty years. Seems like football is pretty important,
right quarterback or non quarterback. Think about some of the
best non quarterbacks over the last twenty years, Edried ray

(32:13):
Lewis just go around at different positions, Like yeah, they're
kind of all in on the sport. It kind of
means everything to them. And when I watch George Kittle
or I watch I'm in Ross Saint Brown, like, I know,
football on their pie chart of life means a lot
and that's important and that just stands out watching the show.

(32:35):
I mean, I'm in Ross Saint Brown catches two hundred
and two balls from the jugs machine every single day
after practice, every single day. It's incredible. So yeah, I
enjoyed it. I look forward to watching more episodes and
Peyton Manning and his crew. It is powerful and obviously
the media has dramatically changed, and that's why a lot

(32:56):
of media members are are very angry because they're just
being pushed into relevancy and a lot of these former
players have gotten involved. It's the pushback on McAfee. It's like,
this just jealousy. He's printing money. He gets all the
big guests that they would never get, and Peyton Manning
does the same. It's different because he's not like hosting
a radio show or a YouTube show, but his access

(33:17):
because of that, he's Peyton Manning. Being able to get
that quarterback last year, being able to get the receivers
is just cool. And it's not like, listen, they're not
going to give you some crazy players talking shit. DeVante
did a little bit, but it's just it's very entertaining
and I enjoyed it. Okay, NFL News a couple of

(33:40):
little things. I do think Rogers messes with people a
little bit. And I've always thought if I was a
super famous player as I got older, I would do
the same I would just say things to create just
mystery is probably the wrong word, but just fuck with people.
And he mentioned at the the Tahoe Tournament that he

(34:01):
looks forward to playing with DeVante Adams again, and a
lot of people like, what does that mean? Will it
just trade for him? I think he just said that
knowing what that word means, and he's screwing with people.
I do not believe DeVante Adams is going to be
on the Jets now. I wouldn't bet my life savings
on it, but I truly believe at this point Rogers

(34:23):
just gonna screw with people. And it's I kind of
find it entertaining just because when he does that, the
avalanche of people trying to guess what he means. What's
going on? What would the trade package be? Would they
trade a couple ones? I haven't even looked at the
financial ability. Do they even have any room to do that?
And trust me, I don't think Mark Davis would trade him.

(34:46):
Like not happening unless DeVonta Adams demanded a trade from
the Raiders, which their quarterback situation would never be out
of the realm of possibility. But that seems like a
like it's not going to happen. One thing that's about
the NFL that I think is way different than the
other sports is it's obviously in terms of American team sports,
is there are so many characters, like all, this is

(35:08):
reality TV. That's what sports is. It's reality television entertainment.
Their game is our entertainment. But the characters in the
game are the reality TV stars, right, And that's what
players are. And basketball, for example, their players are really famous,
but the assistant coaches in the NBA are pretty irrelevant

(35:30):
to the casual fan unless it's a former head coach, right,
But just a random guy. Unless you're like a nut
for the team, You're not really gonna know the guys. Yet.
In football, their characters, they have so many different angles
of their characters. Obviously, the players on the field, the quarterbacks,
the star defensive players, the wide receivers are big stars.

(35:52):
Head coaches, I would say, are equally as big. I mean,
the top ten coaches in the NFL, if you just
start rattling off, their games are pretty famous, right, starting
with Big Red in Kansas City, to the Harbab Brothers
to McVeigh and Kyle. What Laflora is doing, you know,
Belichick and Pete Carroll are not coaching, but I mean,
these guys are every bit as famous as the players

(36:16):
in my opinion. I know maybe some would disagree, but
I don't think it's much more famous, like Bill Belichick,
but it's always been that way, Bill Parcells, you know,
back to John Madden and Tom Landry. But assistant coaches,
meaning the coordinators, are pretty big deals too. And when
I was a kid, there were a couple of coordinators
that clearly stood above the rest, and Monte Kiffin was

(36:39):
one of those guys. And he passed away over the
weekend in Mississippi around his lane and the family. But
he felt like, I don't know, one of the biggest
assistant coaches in my lifetime. Pampa two just the defense

(37:00):
that every coach tried to. I mean, think how many
people not only copied that and used that, how many
coaches from his staff went on to get jobs, from
Hern Edwards to Mike Tomlin. I'm trum leaving guys out.
I think Rahiem Morse was there as well in the
early mid two thousands, but he was a central figure

(37:21):
on for about a five to six year stretch, easily
one of the best defenses of my life, and he
was just an elite coach and it just felt like,
maybe I'm wrong. He was one of those guys. It
was just cool with being a coordinator and whoever got
the job wanted to keep him. And then obviously in
his latter years, as Lane became a head coach, he

(37:42):
went on to work for him. And that's cool. I mean,
I can't even imagine being a football guy and having
a football son who's also a football guy in the
coaching profession and getting to work with each other. It's
just something that you know, has to be pretty special.
And the time with Lane was a little up and down.
I mean, obviously at us seed didn't go that well,

(38:02):
but just a legendary football figure he really is. And
I you know, he's one of those guys that I
don't know if there's a guy in this generation, maybe Fangio,
but Fango hasn't won a Super Bowl, and I don't
know if he's known. I mean, he has a specific
defense he runs. But you know, Dick lebo I would say,

(38:24):
Monti Kiffin and Dick Lebou when I was growing up
and coming into my own as a young football guy,
were just you know, two stalwarts of the profession and
two guys that were really really famous. And part of
it is they were probably the two best coordinators on
two of the best teams, which is sweet players, and
when you played them, they were going to rock your world.

(38:45):
I mean rock your world. That Tampa defense. I remember
being like in high school watching them and being like,
how do you even gain like ten yards on these guys?
I mean, if they had any sort of offense, who knows,
maybe they win like two or three Super Bowls. I mean,
they were incredible some of those games. I think there
was an NFC championship game where they played the Eagles
with Jim Johnson, who was also a really famous defensive
coordinator also rip. He died a long time ago, though,

(39:09):
and the physicality in those games was a little different
than today's. Stay in age and just I mean, the
rules were different and it was it was a war
zone with football pads and a helmet. The other news
I saw today is Jacoby Jones, who was just an
excellent return man, just a playmaker, passed away. I think

(39:32):
at forty years old, I haven't seen why. But that's
just terrible news. It really is. So we're losing some
football guys here, which just sucks. So rest in peace
to Jacobe Jones.

Speaker 4 (39:51):
So you have an upcoming fantasy football draft, well, then
you need to check out the Fantasy Pros Draft Wizard.
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(40:11):
single time. And then you can take those patterns directly
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to draft them. You can see all of this and
more at fantasypros dot com slash volume Today.

Speaker 1 (40:37):
Okay, let's do a couple of quick mailbag questions because
we haven't done the mail bag in a little bit,
and a lot of you guys sent me questions, So
I thought let's hit a couple.

Speaker 3 (40:47):
Question for the bag.

Speaker 1 (40:48):
This is from a Goose Charger as a diehard Panthers fan.
I love and miss Luke so much. If he were
to go in a draft today, where do you think
he would go against the likes of other talented defensive ends. Also,
I still think about the one Patriots fan that wanted

(41:09):
to jump jump ship after one bad season. They've had
a couple, but I hear you, I mean you don't.
You don't get to have twenty years a kicking ass
and then go through some rocky times and be like,
I think I'm just gonna pick a new team.

Speaker 4 (41:21):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (41:23):
I think if he was in the draft last season,
or you know, a couple months ago, because the quarterbacks
all went, I would say Harball would have taken Alt
over him.

Speaker 3 (41:35):
Quarterbacks went one, two, three.

Speaker 1 (41:38):
I think the Cardinals would still take Marvin Harrison over him.
I think the Harbaugh would take the offensive lineman. I
think he'd be in the mix with Malik Neighbors at
at six. I mean what he went eight in his draft.
I don't have his draft in front of me, but

(42:01):
I think you could make a very very good case
for him going over the league neighbors at six, Luke
Keigley was a special player, and if he didn't have
the concussion issues, I mean, he's just he's an all
time great linebacker. Like he's just certain guys because of injuries,
they get derailed, but in their peak it's clear, like
Navarro Bowman was this Now his career was even derailed faster.

Speaker 3 (42:25):
It's like, yeah, this is one of the better players
I've ever seen.

Speaker 1 (42:28):
Now part of you know, being a Hall of Fame
or whatever. And Luke did it longer. But Patrick Willis,
It's like, that's as good as it gets right there.
Luke Keigley, Patrick Willis erlacker forever. Ray lewis elite, elite player.
Do you think there's a chance this show leads him
to losing his job? Speaking on Joe Shane, how many

(42:49):
cringe videos can he let be aired? Players will surely
get a bad taste in their mouth when thinking about
signing as a free agent while he's still there, knowing
how he's compensated talent and having conversations like this with
a player that means as much as does to the
organization via a phone call. I don't have a problem

(43:10):
with him calling Saquon Barkley to let him know their decision,
even though it just felt my take earlier in the
podcast was pretty simple. He just kind of feels like
a number two. He does not feel like a number one,
and ultimately letting Saquon Barkley go, Like I understand, it's
a tough decision given their current salary cap structure with

(43:30):
Daniel Jones, but they never should have got to that situation.
They should have locked Saquon Barkley up two years ago
and not done what they did with Daniel Jones. I
think why he's gonna lose his job If Saquon balls
with the Eagles. It's one thing to play well if
he had gone to the Cardinals or Seattle or Minnesota
or just some team that has no connection to the Giants.

(43:52):
To the Philadelphia Eagles, who, let's face it, are just
gonna be good. How good, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (43:59):
But what's their floor? What's the Eagles floor?

Speaker 1 (44:04):
I have a hard time seeing them go nine to eight,
So it feels like ten and seven is probably their floor.
And he is gonna be a major part of it.
And the Giants ain't winning ten games, so you're gonna
watch Saquon in Philly balling out how you get fired? Man,
I think that's the reasons that they get fired, not
the videos. I do give him credit, I guess I

(44:27):
don't because the Giants were forced into this. It wasn't
their choice, right, you don't. The league is very aggressive
about it's hard to get out of these things, and
when you've been bad for a while, like obviously you
can't like the Niners or the Rams or the Eagles,

(44:47):
like they don't have access to those teams because you
make the playoffs and they're not part of the umbrella
of teams they get access to. I wonder if John
Marrow was like, Aah, I wouldn't mind cameras on these guys.

Speaker 3 (44:55):
See what it looks like.

Speaker 1 (44:57):
I want to see for myself obviously see it in
real life, but I don't see everything they do.

Speaker 3 (45:01):
I want to see it.

Speaker 1 (45:03):
Is there a chance that happened that John marr gave
the go ahead, because like, I kind of want to
evaluate these guys under a different light. Why is everyone
so down on Trevor Lawrence. The Jags were eight and
three before he got a high ankle spring and the
injury to his throwing shoulder. After that he played bad,
but people act like he was horrible the whole season.

(45:24):
I agree. I think sometimes we go too far, and
I think Trevor Lawrence is one of those where he's
just talked about like a scrub.

Speaker 3 (45:33):
To Trevor Lawrence sucks, No, he doesn't suck.

Speaker 1 (45:36):
You would take him over without even thinking, I don't know,
sixteen seventeen guys with ease. I think the thing where
people are really critical is to pay him two hundred
million dollars guaranteed. After that, it's like, that's pretty risky.

(45:57):
I understand he was banged up, but my whole thing
was just couldn't we do this next year? If he
has a good year, what's he getting next year to ten?
So I like the number would go from two hundred
to two fifty. So what was the rush to do it? Now?

Speaker 3 (46:12):
You're just keeping your fingers crossed.

Speaker 1 (46:13):
But there is a chance, like what if he just
plateaus and he's just above average guy? Above average guys.
You don't want making fifty million dollars to pay that
type freight. I gotta know he's already making a lot
of money. He was the number one overall pick, so
he you're right, he is not some scrub the way
people are acting like.

Speaker 3 (46:36):
I don't even know who compare him to.

Speaker 1 (46:37):
But part of it is when you're draft the number
one overall, the hype that comes with it, and the
hype on that specific player. He was the most type
prospect in since ainsraw Luck, and this year he's a
Caleb Williams level prospect. You see with Caleb, like, the
expectations are just super high. So anything less than thirty

(46:58):
touchdowns and going to the playoffs feels like a dramatic letdown.

Speaker 3 (47:04):
They like him clearly. I think there's a lot of
pressure on him this year. I guess, actually, how is
there any pressure on him? What if he sucks?

Speaker 1 (47:12):
What does it matter? They're not gonna bench him. They
can't cut him now or anything. Not that you're gonna
trade him. He's your quarterback. So good question. Someone asked
me a question that do NFL teams pay insurance on
their star players big contracts? For example, if McCaffrey has
a season ending injury, do the forty nine ers get

(47:34):
compensation back from an insurance company.

Speaker 3 (47:37):
That's a good question that.

Speaker 1 (47:39):
I don't you know, you'd have to the GMS and
specifically the contract negotiators slash owners. I'm pretty sure there
are clauses in contracts that when you're on IR, I
don't have to pay you as much than when you're playing.
I mean, ultimately, I'm paying you for the games. But
that's where the guaranteed money kicks in, right, kind of
protects me against that. But it's also why the injury

(48:01):
guarantee and non injury guarantee.

Speaker 3 (48:03):
Are a really big deal.

Speaker 1 (48:05):
It's why, you know, in these contracts where they hold
guys out because they don't want to get him injured,
because it does immediately click in the money. Yeah, I'm
not exactly sure how the insurance works. It obviously works
in other sports, you know, basketball and baseball with these
enormous guarantees when guys get injured. But I just know

(48:25):
there are clauses in contracts about missing time and the
amount that I actually have to pay you relative to
when you're actually playing, because if you just play in
your bad whatever. This from Josh curious as to who
you think might be the biggest underachiever at quarterback going
back to the two thousands. Some names that come to mind.
Matt Ryan, MVP, solid team around him, obvious.

Speaker 3 (48:49):
Super Bowl choke.

Speaker 1 (48:51):
Philip Rivers, great player, but five and seven in the playoffs,
and Peyton Manning regarded as one of the goats but
barely above five hundred in the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (49:02):
I could not put Peyton Manning in the underachiever. He
had some games.

Speaker 1 (49:07):
He would like to have back in the playoffs, but
at the end of the day, he went to four
Super Bowls, he won I think four or five MVPs,
and he's easily one of the greatest players of all time.
So I cannot put Peyton Manning with Matt Ryan and
Philip Rivers. I think Philip Rivers and Matt Ryan would
be up there, but I would like Matt Ryan, like

(49:29):
you said, went to a Super Bowl, dominated in that
Super Bowl till the end, and won an MVP that year.
That is better than anything Philip Rivers did. In a
weird way, you could argue Philip rivers career underachieved. I
will defend Philip Rivers. After Marty Schottenheimer was fired, what
did the Chargers do constantly cheap coaches? Can you imagine

(49:54):
if Philip Rivers in his heyday would have had Jim
Harbaugh running the operation. I don't think we looked Philip
rivers career as an underachievement. I have a hard time
with really talented guys that play for shitty coaches. I mean,
let's call what it is. Let's just let's just be real.
Anthony Lynn and Mike McCoy pay a lot of years

(50:17):
under those guys. What should the expectations be when that's
the case. And I think was it North Turner after
Marty left? My memory is that correct? So I would
say Philip rivers career definitely underachieved. But some of it,
like and listen, I went to I saw Philip Rivers

(50:37):
play live probably four or five times. He could get
very interception happy, forcing things. But I think his coaching
staff was just consistently pretty crappy.

Speaker 3 (50:49):
If he had had the same career.

Speaker 1 (50:51):
And Harbaugh or John Harbaugh or McVeigh or Shanahan or
one of those guys, or Pete Carroll, you'd be like,
God should have been better. I just look who coached
him the majority of his games. Like, those guys aren't
head coaches. They shouldn't be head coaches, and they'll never
be head coaches again. It's why like people are critical

(51:13):
of Justin Herbert. I promise you this, he's gonna be good.
For Jim Harbaugh, he will be You don't even need
to guess it's going to work, and it's going to
work well, I don't care who you are. Peyton Manning
obviously is a much better player in Philip Rivers. Maybe
he could overcome average coaches because he essentially can just

(51:37):
become the offensive coordinator and if you just draft decent
on defense. I mean, look, when he got to Denver,
it was on like Donkey Gong and they dominated for
you know, they would have dominated for four straight years.
But his arm fell off his fourth year. But that
team was a juggernaut. Why because they had Peyton Manning
running the show on offense and their defense was elite.
They weren't insoptable, but they had a well run operation.

(51:59):
That was when John Elway picking a ton of good players.
They were just well run. And I don't think you
could ever say with the Chargers when Rivers was there, yeah,
they were well run, Like I just I don't think
you can say that. So it sounds like I'm defending him,
because I also think I do think he underachieved, but
I think there were variables that definitely did not help him.
Out the volume,