2 Pros and a Cup of JoeThursday on 2 Pros and a Cup of Joe, the guys celebrate a tradition like none other, but they debate where golf stands in the legitimacy of sports. Have players lost leverage in the negotiations for an 18-game season and will it water down the NFL product? NFL Insider Albert Breer speculates on the timing of Aaron Rodgers decision, the future of Tyreek Hill and much more!
It is the best of two pros and a couple Joe with Lamar Aarings and Rating Wind and Jonas Knox on Radio.
Lee.
What are you eating? Is that like chips from Chipole? Is that just a random bag of chips that were sitting on the floor.
Sorry, I'm unwinding my uh headphones from around.
Cooper and clearly sucking your yeah, yeah or mouth. Yeah, they're very stale, stale chips. They didn't look stale while you were eating them. What are they? Corn chips?
Okay, tortilla chips? Yeah, okay, you.
Would have snorted them from Chipotle just like you said. Oh, I was right, yeah, god ding was for you.
Okay, how about it?
What are what are those things sitting in the kitchen there that you guys clearly just don't care about attracting rats or any thing like that. But there's some type of something like.
They look like ritch knockoffs, just stacked.
Up right, just there for the roaches and the rats to come get.
See them trying to clean up after everybody.
Is that what you're doing? Yeah, cleaning up, eating it all up.
So you're you're there?
You heard that? Like that?
There?
It is? He just admitted your rodent like garbage disposal. We got a rat.
Alright, Hey man, you know there's always a good type of chips apparently, I mean it is, although it's Chipotle chips.
It is draft season. That's a Chipotle was a big.
Part of part of Brady's that's right, thanks thanks to the wagon.
Right, wasn't the wagon and got the food?
Probably didn't pay for it, but he might have been the one that went to get it. You know, I'm just saying, usually it gets a little alligator arms every once in a while. When when that comes to.
Know, yeah, well, you know it happens to the best of us. Speaking of speaking of the best of us, wondering, I'm just trying to have his back, speaking of the best of us.
He's been on scholarship for his life pretty much.
I do like, hey, you remind him of that, though. What are you doing with your transition? Go ahead, let's see which direction are you are you using?
Coming on?
Or is there is it the other side of it? Let's see what this is. Are you accusing me of transition?
Yes, that's what you were doing. Damn. Can I also say this? I love how there's will be like a combination of topics in the first segment that have nothing.
To do with one another, and this is one of them. So that's what I'm saying. I want to see where he's going with his transition. Pick a card, any card. I'm assuming it's La, but let's see where we go. I want to see if the music comes on or you know, where are you going with it?
When you think about the best of us, you think about the Masters, and it is opening day at the Masters, La bar, why don't you just settle in and fuckle up?
Why'd you move the mic away?
That will wait till you get done?
I don't need this. It's a deterrerent. We've got a seven forty Eastern time tee off. What would be a deterrent to scale chips and old food and different radio?
This music, this is the music that would go with it. Right.
Oh see, I think you should have refreshments and orders to this music.
You know, Can we do this? Can we try to go next year? Oh? Good luck? What do you mean? Good luck?
I'll try to go. I would listen.
I would love to go, but from what I hear, it is a really really difficult entry to get in, Like Lee's the guy who actually handles credentials and all that stuff for Fox Sports.
Radio and what you don't think you can do a good job at that as soon as you said it was difficult, and then league in charge at the same time, I mean, not just say, you know, I would love to go.
Let me put it this way. I think before we judge the Masters, or I should say, before YouTube judge the Masters, we should make it one of the places we need to go on our list of places to go next year and broadcast live.
From I'm in like if if it's anything close to and from what everyone tells me, it's far superior to Tory Pines, then yeah, And we did a couple of we did a couple of shows of Tory Pines, which is beautiful.
The same category category.
To check it out. I'm gonna try. We might lose VAR if that's the plan. If that's the plan, we might lose VAR one of those nights.
That's the problem. No if okay, I just I'm telling you, man, there's a lot of partying going on.
I don't party. Okay, I'll stay at the bar with you. I'll stand at the bar with you know, But but how many times. I left the hotel when we were in New Orleans twice, like once twice? Was it twice?
I don't know. I just said that. I think it was once. I just trust me on this one when I say this, it would actually be really set up for your style of where you're at.
I'm telling you, I dig what you're saying. I mean, I know you. You've been around me long enough to understand me a little bit better. I'll take that.
I'll take Yeah, okay, oh man, just go down to the UH. I mean, if I got Brady Quinn with me, I'm cool.
Go to the clubhouse. Then we can sing.
And I don't think it's gonna work like that. We're gonna be sectioned off to an area of media. That's about it.
But dang, we couldn't get it in and one of the UH like hotel bar or down there at the course. They don't have like a bar for the media. They've got to have one a bar for the media. Yeah, like a bar restaurant for the media.
It's it's not really like that we would have access to what like the patrons have an access access to which, by the way, do you know they don't call them fans what they call They call them patrons because.
They're sophistication of.
Correct they fans is and just another term for like fanatical.
Yeah, yeah, which is they don't like that controlled right right. Meanwhile, I've seen how people look at waste management. They are definitely not patrons. No, they're not fanatics either. They're drunks. That's correct, drunks. Yeah, okay, that's correct.
I'm just saying that this there's enough. By the way, I know Lee's going to want to try to make this happen. Lee, is that true? By the way, expectation about high they can be.
They I know it's one of the hardest places to get credentials for.
Have you tried to get credentialed to Augusta before?
I mean not for me, but yeah, I've tried to get somebody credentialed for Augusta and they I've had people who should be there and they won't let they It's it's very hard to get into into I will say that even people who are covering golf, they won't let cover the net the masters.
I think the plan would be you find somewhere to set up maybe outside of it, right, and then you figure out away from there. Just we just would go and take part. You know what I'm saying, that'd be the fail safe.
I don't want to walk around and follow a group.
You don't have to go one of the tenths.
Okay, good because I will.
I will not be seen following some golfer and then having somebody tell me to shut up because.
He's in the middle of his backswing. Like, I'm not going to be a part of that.
I won't be a part of that. I want you don't talk anyway, So I don't really know what that matters.
Hey, I'm not going to be told when to talk or when not to talk, and I'm not going to be it's a blow hard fast let.
Me let me put it this way. Remember Scotty Scheffler got arrested last year outside of Valhalla. Is that where it was?
I believe so?
Yeah. Uh if that had happened in Augusta, it would have kinden wiped away. Oh yeah, you never heard about any of that.
In fact, they would have arrested the cop.
Well, I'm just telling you this. It was I wouldn't be arresting the cop. You just never would have heard from the cop again. So I know this, Jonas. They will tell you what to say and when to say, and if you don't like it, see you God.
And this concludes our coverage of the Master. I'll go hang out with my people outside the gates.
That's about right. You keep saying that. Yeah, where can I at least give some betting advice before this gets kicked off today? Is that what you're getting at? Yeah?
Like what what sort of betting advice we talked about. I'm a winner.
Listen what I'm going to win?
It's Quinn's wings.
All right, here we go for the Masters edition. We've got some picks. And here's the thing about this course, all right, Augusta National Golf Club. It's what they would call a second shot course, and yes that is true, but there's some there's some parts where if you hit it on the green, it's not enough. You gotta be able to putt. So the combination of what's called greens in regulation, gir and putting is the combination of play that you've got to have in order to be a contender and to win. And so here are my picks for this year. So some of the best on the PGA Tour. Xander Schoffley, Scotty Scheffler, Colin Morikawa, and then keep an eye on Patrick Canley and Rory as well. They should be in the mix. But Scotty Scheffler to win it at plus four to seventy five. Look, folks, it's worth the value. I get it. It's a little choky. The reality is he is capable of winning this whole damn thing, and at four plus four seventy five, get a little bit of juice there. Xander Shoffley to finish in the top ten at plus I feel like that's a really safe bet. He's one of the best on the PGA tore at greens of Regulation and one of the better putters as well, so he should be competitive this week. Colin Morikawa, I think he's going to finish in the top twenty. That's at minus one seventy I like this bet. It's not juice, but it's probably one of the safer bets of the entire week. Patrick Canley of plus one twenty five to finish in the top twenty as well. A little bit more juice there, you could tell. As far as the plus odds, maybe there's a little question about where his game's at. But I do think he will contend in particular this week and then Rory. Rory's sitting there. I would bet him at a top ten finish at minus one forty, that would be my bet. But if you want to go for broke, he's never won it. Maybe this is the year lead a lap. You got him in the hat draw. He's at plus six twenty five. So look their tea and off at seven forty eastern, as Jonas alluded to. But those are my bets. Go lock them in, go get some winners, all right? How about them apples?
Yeah, there it is. That's what I'm talking about here.
Huh.
Once you put that in your pipe and smoke at bar, what does happened?
Quinn's win winners, winners?
I miss that? Quinn's when I'll play the opening again. No, you don't have to, No, we don't need it.
We gotta make it about far otherwise you gotta check out.
No, that's not.
Who you got.
Don't try to pull that and pull s on me like, oh we got to make it about var like who you got? Like, don't do that. I'm I'm unparticipating. I'm sitting here patiently waiting for you to get done talking about it? What do you mean give us any problems? Here? What I gotta who? You've got? Ludvig?
There you go.
That's who I picked out of the hat. That's what I'm going with.
There you go. No, I don't.
I don't really have any information for anybody on this one. Uh. You know, I could probably give you a pick, and they probably just because I'd have no idea. Okay. Can I make an argument for the Masters though? And I'll just say you've been making arguments for the Masters ever since we've been doing this show. Every time it's Master's time, you make.
An argument because I believe that it's in contention for one of the best presentations of a sporting event on television that there is.
What else would be even contend with it?
Okay, So, like, obviously the super Bowl feels big, you know, like the Kentucky Derby feels but like these big events feel big, this one as far as just isn't this.
More than one day?
Yeah? But it's it's what wohend't you say a spectacle like when you have to compare it to like a tournament more so than like like a singular name.
Like if you follow along during the day, like the camera shots, the looks like they'll show like either rising the golfers are warming up. Then they'll show the sunset in the background. When you get to the weekend, they'll show the azaleas, they'll show the like.
The course is beautiful. I just wonder, are you really an athlete if you're a golfer. Like it's like the whole conversation about drivers, Like I would be more willing to say, uh, a race car driver is more of an athlete than a golfer.
Oh no, I don't know. I mean, I'll put it this way. I would not sticks picks.
Yeah, sticks picks.
I was. I was having this conversation with one of the guys last week on the Senior PGA Tour, and I'd said to them, I was like, man, I love golf, but it'd be tough to play like five days a week, week after week after week after week. Like and and also like people are like, oh, like would your body hold up? Like the golf swing is not conducive, like for your back for the rest of your body, Like anybody who plays a lot of golf. Everyone's waking up, taking a leave or taking tilan all you know, they're just trying to like maybe have a few drinks before the round to hopefully like numb up their body and loosen up for anyone who plays and like it goes on a bunch of golf trips. So I would say it's actually way more of a grind than people realize. From that standpoint, It's probably one of the reasons why some of the younger players who maybe felt like their best days were behind them or just one to break and one to pay day went to the live tour in the first place, is because it is a little bit more of a grind than I think people want to admit. But I would definitely not follow you on that one. I think they're athletes, and it takes obviously a certain type of athlete in order to be able to be super successful at playing the game of golf.
I think I'm withvar on this. I would actually go as far as to say horse.
Jockey more of an athlete than a golfer, to be honest with.
You, and we know how you feel about horse jockeys. I just I mean that puts them pretty low down there.
I mean, you got to handle that big ass horse and go at high speeds and try to get past other horses and little guys on horses. I'm just I just I don't know, man, I don't know the technology of the of the you know, the golf clubs, the the you know, the technology of the balls that they're hitting.
I just you know, I was one of the hardest things to do though, hitting a baseball and hitting and golf ball, it's one of the hardest things.
Well, I just don't. I just don't. I just don't look at golf as being a sport. I just think that it's like a hobby or that you can go obviously, you can go professional and being a hobby and make a lot of money at doing the.
Hardest sports to make professionally. It's not even close by the way.
Yeah, I just don't know that it's a sport. So I don't know it is. I just don't see how like how how can you be an old man and like you have the old man's tour like how like I don't get it.
I don't get it.
I mean, if that's a sport, bingo's a sport. I mean they're just as much as athletes of I mean, it's really hard to go pro playing beingo. That's a great point, Jonas, I'm with you. I'm just saying bingo golf, Like, do you know we need to have.
Lee and our social media team cut up these takes you guys make and put this out there. That's what we need to do. We need to perpetuate your guys's hot takes on stuff like this instead of just putting out our NFL clips where people kind of chime in on like an old rusty topic like the New York Jets organization or Aaron Rodgers or something else. That's what we need to do for a social media we do what we do hot takes.
We do know that athletes play for the New York Jets, though, that's what we do.
Sure, do you know there's actually a couple of guys who played basketball in college I play golf, like Gary Woodland for example.
We do know that maybe former athletes turn to golf, Like, yeah, I get it. I mean I turned to barbecuing, you know, and I cook and grill and that's what I do. And I do that as a senior, you know, and that's my sports. So let's just.
Put it this way. If you could break a hundred at Augusta. I would give you a million dollars cash.
I don't need to break a hundred, and I don't need if you could know if you could. But it's not about if I could, because I don't care like I care for you could care about sports, and I don't know and I don't know how we're crow barring this this topic into a sports talk radio show.
I'm just I'm confused on that.
You know, who breaks one hundred every single time? The race car drivers?
Give me some man, Come on, I mean, that's why they call it the five hundred. That's where you need to be an athlete, Like, try driving a car around five hundred times?
You know what I mean?
Your real spurinate on you yourself.
I was just gonna say it's it's not a real sport to appeal on yourself, right.
I mean you got to put it in that time, man like, like the win is what matters most. Just saying you know how that you're bringing up LeVar What is he typing in?
Though?
What what is he typing? Are we getting rocked? Did you do you hear how quick the fingers are? What? What is your rebuttal to what it is? That's going you have no rebuttal to this. It's not as golf is not a sport.
I was I was actually not typing. I was making an adjustment on the rundown, that's all. Oh it's the thing that you never open up and look at. Oh it's that. Yeah, Okay, clearly a two topics. We're going to be a two topics and a lot of sound. I'm trying to readjust for another segment.
Oh okay, because clearly talking about the masters is something that take time to open up the run down to and look at. I mean that's you cat that one right, that's out of there? Do you see that? Look in a sport we call baseball, it is a beautiful course, that one is. I mean, okay, you ever seen as aliens? I'm glad people mow lawns real well man and put a hole in there, hey with a flag. They used to have cotton on it, Like, come on, come on, talk to me. What do you mean? What do you mean? What is that where they came up with the white ball rolling on the ground like it's like in reenactment of cotton?
Is that?
What it is?
Is that? But they made it harder so you can hit it. I mean, is that what this is all about.
I mean, listen, they're promoting the Masters on the Weather Channel right now, Yeah they are.
Yeah, I'm talking about I think I'm gonna do one of those deals where I just go by myself to the Masters and broadcast.
And why can't Why would I?
Why would I bring you guys?
I don't want to go. I know I'm gonna try to go. Listen, I'm gonna try to go with y'all, but I don't want to go.
I'm talking one.
I'm tryna get one. I mean, there's no point. Hey, let me be your plus one. I'll be your caddy. I'll carry your lee. Actually, rather be there. I'll carry your comrades and your headset. I'll be your caddy. Come on, good by myself, let's go.
I'm going alone.
You guys want to be a holes, I'm gonna go by myself. Well, you know this is a bit. I hope you know this is a bit ba I do? Okay, all right, I know if you caught on to the fact that this was a bit, all right, Okay. I don't hate golf. I do think golf's a sport. It's just not my favorite man, I really do want to go. Do you really tell me why? Yes, you told Jonas tell me why. Okay, there's a there's a tire. You're not gonna be able to dress your dressing.
Nobody's ever worn a leather jacket from the nineties to Augusta National. Then there needs to be a first, So let me be that first. Well, yeah, you have to wear like a golf a golf top and trousers. What you gotta wear?
I don't know not what Jonas wears, but I just know that much. I'm not sure I've ever seen Jonahs wear something that you could actually wear Thereang, what do you mean?
What about your golf tournament?
Yeah? Actually you could probably get away with your salmon pants.
Yeah, it probably would work some Sperry topsiders.
Yeah, you could blend into the crowd that way.
Here you go see figure it out. You doubt me way too much.
When it comes to fashion. You get to have some faith. I'll dust something off and I'll show up there and they'll be like, you belong big, thank you. Where are we broadcasting from? And then we'll be there in Augusta. All of us LaVar included.
Having a couple of having a couple of cocktails.
Look for the record, there is a ross Stress for less right off of Wrightsboro Road there in augusta sweet. Yeah, so you can just go buy something if you did.
Yeah, look at what I sent you guys in the group chat. Just so you guys know, I'm not that bad about golfing. I'm not that hardcore about golfing. Did it go through? Did it come through?
You?
Did?
You? Did? You just Google image yourself golfing?
That's just me that in Mexico and you look like you're actually like a legit golfer. Okay, I'm just letting y'all know.
I mean, I you know, like, let's be clear here. You know I'm cool with golf. You like that?
Yeah, with the cigar in the.
You look like a legit golfer.
There you go back porch too.
Come, do we have to credit me Guel Tovar for.
The using my wedding. He's her brother in law. Now, dang sereal? All right, Well that's so, you know, Q, I'm not as hard on golf as you think I do, like going to golf courses. I'm just not good at golfing, that's all. I'm just not good at it.
That's like the rest of the world. So yeah, so if Lee Lee's drinking at sixer on his front nine.
But the thing about it is is that, for one, I don't do the a hole swings, so I don't go step up to the tee and like swing all over the place and missing like, oh that was my miss Like I am. I am more appropriate to where what we got going on? And what's the deal there? You know, Like I said that that one in particular, you had to walk it. That was the first time I had to walk, of course, and I tapped out gracefully at at whole nine.
I did go back to the clubhouse at at nine. He also looked like you're wearing a thermal shirt underneath your polo. You got to go to straight polo show off those guns.
No, no, I thought that was real. Like the way I rocked my mouth it it was really good. It was really nice.
It looks good.
The glove in the back pocket is nice.
I mean I feel like I pulled it off. Yeah. But anyway, just so you guys know, I don't hate golf. I just like giving you a hard time. So there you go. And I would go to Augusta. I would, I would go spectate and be a part of it and partake in the posts.
You know, it is the nicest place I've ever been. I've never seen a place that as like big as it is. And there's not like one weed, There's not one thing like out of place. It is absurd how nice that place is. It doesn't feel like real life, to be honest with you.
So it's as nice in person as it is on TV.
Trust me, me, I spray the ball over the course when I was there, I'm like, just you can't. You can't find like a flaw in the place. It's incredible. There's nothing like that place.
Be sure to catch live editions of Two Pros and a Cup of Joe with Brady Quinn, LeVar Errington, and Jonas Knox weekdays at six am Eastern, three am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeart Radio app.
So the NFL's got this thing. Eighteen games are really trying to push hard for really trying to push hard for it. And apparently Georgia Tala, who's the former NFLPA Chief of External Affairs, he spoke with Mike Florio and he explained the rationale for the eighteen games coming sooner rather than later.
I think there is a massive push by the owners to get to a place where they can time it with the last of the you know, with the expiration of the TV deals, the upcoming broadcast deals, and this eighteen game thing look a little bit of history. They wanted it in two thousand and nine. They directly stated that they wanted to lock players out in twenty eleven, which was one of their goals was to get eighteen games. The twenty eleven deal prevented them from doing that, and the twenty twenty deal prevented them from going to eighteen without collective bargaining and bargaining a new CBA. So when you look at the landscape of media and broadcast rights moving forward, and this ties in, I think to the international opportunity. My gut tells me that they're going to want to time a new collective bargaining agreement with eighteen games around the broadcast deals or before that, so that they can get one last, potentially one last consolidated set of media deals before you know, who knows when the next fracturing of media and streaming is going to come. And that's why I think it's going to be before.
So that was Georgia Tala talking with Mike Florio about the potential of eighteen games coming here in the next few years. It's just a foregone conclusion at this point, right, Like, is there any confidence whatsoever that the players are going to put up enough of a fight that we don't get to eighteen games?
Well, they're not going to fight it. The question is like, what do you ask for back in return? I mean, guys like Miles Garrett already have in their contract how their compensation compensation would increase with an eighteenth game, so they're preparing for it. It's just you know, is this is this move one that the players have already conceded to the owners because of the language and the CBA, or I should say the nfl PA has already conceded to the owners and just said, well, yeah, we'll figure it out whenever they want to do it. I mean the strategy sound. I mean think if you think about it from the owner's perspective and you keep trying to raise that bottom line. And that's really what Roger Goodell's been tasked with since he's taken over as Commissioner of the NFL is, let's maximize how many games we can plan a season. I have a hard time believe and they'll get the twenty. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe in ten years they will be playing twenty games and we won't have any preseason. But eighteen feels like with the calendar the way it work, I mean, what we would bump back to President Stay weekend, that would essentially be you know, Super Bowl Sunday, then you have Monday off as a holiday, and that would be nice for probably everyone involved who watches it and participates and being part of the Super Bowl parties and festivities. That that, in a perfect world is probably what this, you know, the schedule looks like, But to me, it's this might be your one of your last and only shots if you're a player, to then get something that significant from the owners, because they're going to use this to be able to take a huge jump in what they're going to make and the TV media writes deals probably when they opt out in twenty twenty nine, and that's when you're going to see a huge shift as well in how we consume it. It might not be your linear television networks. It might be it might it might end up being your streaming networks and that you know, again, we'll see we're at twenty twenty five now. There's obviously obviously some issues we've talked about with betting and being able to you know, have people place bets because of the you know, buffering with streaming and the lag time and all of that. But that is a real possibility. As you look at Netflix wanting to get more involved, Amazon want to get more involved, and who knows, like what other streaming platform could get into the mix as well.
I just wonder what is the benefit for the play I mean, I know the players can make more money, they throw more money into it. I get that, But like eighteen twenty games, like, at what point do you get to one the oversaturation point? And two we have all these conversations surrounding the safety of the game, and you start to wonder, like all the rules and legislation going towards you know, the conversations about what takes place, what's allowed to take place within the game, how physical the game is, how physicality has been legislated pretty much out of the game. Just at what point do you say the altering of the product or or some would say the evolution of the product. At what point do you say, for the sake of having more of of it, you sacrifice what the essence of what the game has represented. Like that's for me, that's what I start. The more I listen to adding more games, I mean, I mean, you're barely able to physically make it out when when it was sixteen, you were barely physically able to make it out of that, especially if you have playoff runs. So now you're getting to a point of where you're taking the regular season to that many games. And it's not an it's not like a whole lot more that you're adding, but in football terms, I think it is. I think it is a lot more. And so again I asked the question, are you sacrificing what football represents. I'd rather have a more physical game and have less of them than have a less physical game and have more of them. And it's justified to have more because the practices aren't as hard, the physicality isn't as much, and you know, the injuries, like you could talk about how the injuries are going now. I wonder how much this touch push has to do with like you know, Oh, it's not about just necessarily you know, it's a nonst it's an unstoppable play. Maybe it has everything to do with continuing the narrative of how much this game is being cleaned up into being a more consumable game by moms, by younger people because the physicality of it isn't there. We haven't heard the narratives that we're out there when when the CTE and the concussions hit the media, we haven't really heard those conversations in the ferocity that we did back then. I mean, if you think about it, the NFL has done a pretty damn good job of getting through the concussion era of what the media was really focused in on, what the consumer was really focused then on. So now you're not talking about concussions like you did before. You're just talking about other things, and other things being adding more games. It's kind of crazy, man, It's kind of to me. It's kind of crazy to think that you go from there to now you're adding more games, which means there's more opportunities for those concussions, more opportunities for those injuries to take place that are taking place in the game that people had problems with, Like what seven eight years ago, maybe i'd forgotten, but I didn't. I didn't realize that they've.
Been pushing for eighteen games since, as you mentioned, all the way back to two thousand and nine. This has been that long they've been trying to get to this point. You know, they got to seventeen a few years ago, but I didn't. I didn't realize that this had been a push by the NFL, by the owners for as long as it was. And it just feels like we're at the point now where it's going to happen. It'll happen in the next couple of years, and they'll just reduce more practice time, reduce more offseason commitments needed, or I don't know how that works. But when you mentioned the physicality back when it was sixteen and it was difficult to get through, that was if you would have had the practicing and all the other things outside of the games the way it is now back then, how much easier getting through this?
I mean, clearly it's probably made it easier to get through. But are you better? Is it better? Is it a better product? Are these guys better? I would I would say I look at some of the things that that take place on football fields, and it's clearly not. It's not as good. It's not better. You know, I feel like tackling is poor. It's not it's not it's not better. You don't see guys doing better at tackling. You know, there's certain things. I feel like some of the injuries that take places because they don't have enough physicality in practice or there isn't enough physical play in terms of, you know, acclimating yourself to plan playing the game of football. But again, the game of football is rapidly changing as well, so it's hard to say, Jonas, I think it's hard to say that that you know, one way or the other that okay, it's you know, are you better off doing it approaching it the way that you are now with with less practice, more time, more downtime, you know, less, less practices, like there were three we at one point in time, you had three practices and two of them were in paths. Like at one point in time in football, you practice three times during the day. One was more defensive oriented, one was more offensive oriented, and then the last one usually at night, was more special teams oriented. And you probably do like a little scrimmage or something like that, and you'd be done. But You're talking about a process that took all day long and all night long, and they don't do those things anymore. But has that made the game better? I don't know that it's made the product better. I mean it's being consumed, like you said, it's going into two streaming platforms, so it's expanding. I just don't know, you know, adding games at some point like eighteen, like shut it down.
This is why the product doesn't quite matter, because I'm with you. I feel like, even like if you look at a quarterback play, you know a lot of quarterbacks who are coming into the league, it's a big adjustment or the team has to adjust their offense to fit the quarterback because you know, they can't you know, they can't do the things that they once were asked to do, or they don't have the time in the off season to teach them the way they need to, so they just say, all right, shoot, let's just put in an offense that is similar what they had in college. I mean, that's it's a reality for some teams. But the reason why I feel like the product doesn't matter quite as much is because we live in a world now where everything's broken up into like some quick highlights you see on social media, Like, no one watches the entire game, no one reads the entire book. They have the cliff notes they go see, you know, they don't listen to the entire podcast. They hear like a two minute clip, three minute clip. They form their opinion off that they read one hundred and fifty word tweet on X Like that's the reality of the world we live in. So like when you talk about streaming platforms and how like they're getting involved. But yeah, of course, because they just cut up the content. They throw it out there. They make a few you know, splash highlight plays and people are like, oh, yeah, it's great. It's like, well, it's not as good as it once was, you know, technically speak, but sure, yeah, that's it's good. I mean that's the part of the issue is the NFL owners have never been concerned with development, Like they've never been concerned about saying, oh, this is you know, bad for the league if we don't have more development. And by the way, the NFLPA has never been concerned with development. And people can take issue with me saying that, but if they really cared about it, they wouldn't have short off seasons. They wouldn't keep reducing off seasons. They wouldn't even keep reducing hitting during the off season, because the reality is you got to hit if you're gonna play football. So you can't practice some of the things you need to practice. And you need to find out about these guys until you actually get into training camp where you can put pads on. I mean, that's the tough part about this, and I'm not I'm not so sure it's even good for their bodies to not prepare their body throughout the course of the year for that that punishment for what that game actually entails. And so if you kind of look at all of this, the entirety of the NFL and NFLP, it's like no one's really cared about the development piece of the product. They're just like, now, let's just keep driving up the total revenue. How much we're generating. That's where we're at.
I don't know that's a good thing, but it is what it is. I mean, it seems like they're able to continue to maneuver and get more deals done than the relevance of it is what it is. I mean, I would say, if we look at it, they're the ones that facilitate it, probably the flag football deal being a part of the Olympics when it gets here, different things like that. They're trying to do more and more things to expand the brand. And I get it, it's a business. I get it. I just but as a former participant, as a former player, and you know, I'm not on a high horse like, oh, it should be done the way that it was. There's a lot of things that I didn't like when we were playing that they could have probably did better. But I just say this. I mean I played against guys like Jerome Bettis and Eddie George and Fred Taylor. I had to get around guys like Larry Allen and Tony Basselli and you know, flows l Adams and guys like that. Like if I'm not getting prepared to be able to tackle those guys, I don't know what that feels like. When I get into the game, I really like and I'm just being honest, Like there's one thing to thud up in which they call thudding. You make contact with the guy, you show that you're there to make the play, but you don't take the guy. You don't wrap them up, you don't take them down. They don't want you to injure anybody in the situation. I don't know what that looks like in a real game where the hole opens up and Eddie George is coming through that hole, I don't know what that looks like. If if Lorenzo O'Neil is coming through that hole or Sam Gash is coming through that hole to blow, I don't know what that looks like. Now, you know what I mean, Like, what does that feel like? You don't find out about yourself really until you get into a game.
But you know what's that uugh about it? The NFL doesn't care as long as somebody can gamble on it. Well, there you go, like you deal with it, like we're trying to make money so people can gamble on these games.
And the second that got brought in, the whole game change. Believe you me, If you haven't done enough work in practice to prepare for a guy like and listen, they don't have this anymore.
But you haven't.
You haven't actually figured out how to bring a guy like Mike Alstock to the ground, then good luck. And that's like the equivalent probably of like a Derek Henry right now, you know, good luck. You get into the game, y'all haven't done no real hitting, no real thumping. And and you got some of these these offensive linemen out here that are you know, clearly able to you know, the kid and the Troy. Who's that kid? He'd be freaking mowing people down. They no, the the lineman that they drafted. Yeah, Like, you get guys like that out there, like, how are you handling that once you get into the game.
By the way, I gotta give you credit man, your comp for Mike Alstats, Derrick Henry.
No I said guys like that though, I'm saying that is that that guys like that, like, think about it. I gave you Jerome Bettis they called him the bus.
But like you, you fit the criteria of how we do comps on this show where it can't be the same race, it's got to be opposite.
Yeah, No, I don't do that. I wasn't even working for comp that way. I was like thinking of bigger backs that you have to deal with, Like that's what That's what I'm saying. So during my time playing there were bigger backs, so and and the crazy thing is is that you could think, oh, well, I have a bigger back. I don't have to try to run them down. They're just as fast as the little dudes. They just ain't trying to be as elusive. They're just but they're just as fast. So I got to deal with how fast or how quick this dude is, But I also got to deal with how strong and how how physical they are? How do you learn that in today's game? How do you figure that out? Did you go against Brandon Jacobs?
I did?
How was that? That's That's probably a better comp for Dereck Henry's It hurts. It hurts to hit them type dudes, That's what I'm saying. So you got to understand like what you're getting yourself into. You know, like it's like, all right, you're going to be a bull rider, but we want to add more more rodeos to your your schedule. We're just not going to put you on bulls too much anymore because we don't want you to get hurt, you know, in practice, so that you could go ride the bull in in the real rodeos. Like okay, you you get on that bull, not knowing what it feels like to get on that bull, and you're going to have a poor product. That's that's all I'm saying. He's Brandon Jacobs was six four to two sixty five. Oh, he's bigger than me, bigger than me when we were playing, when I was yoked up, he was bigger than me. That was my teammate my last year in school. Uh, in the league. That's weird watching the dude be so big, man, I'm telling you, But that's all of them. I mean, Eddie George was that big. Jerome Bettis wasn't as tall, but he's that big. Fred Taylor not as tall, but but big and strong. Like you had some real like Sean Alexander wasn't little like these guys were not little backs, Like how many little backs were there? Like wark Donne was a little back like you had you had some of those guys like uh, Brian Westbrook was a little back, but you had like Deuce McAllister, big back, big backs. You don't have little backs in today's NFL. But you're just not hitting. Is just not They don't place a premium on this on the physicality of what the game rep anymore. And it's just kind of sad, to be honest, because you built the reputation off of highlights of guys getting maimed, bruised, hammered, destroyed. You built the brand off of it. Most of these guys in the Hall of Fame, especially defenders, they would not be in the Hall of Fame in today's NFL just purely based off of the rules and the way they've legislated the physicality of the game out. You know, it's taking it out. It's just you built the brand on that. But now it's not good enough because what because the product doesn't matter anymore. It's crazy, man, It's crazy to me.
Be sure to catch live editions of Two Pros and a Cup of Joe with Brady Quinn, LeVar Errington and Jonas Knox weekdays at six am Eastern three am Pacific.
We cannot do so without a Thursday tradition. He's the great. Albert Brier, Senior NFL reporter, lead content strategist.
At the MMQB.
You can also see his work on Amazon's NFL on Prime coverage during the season and Our Good Buddy. You can get on x at Albert Breer Abe. What's happening? Happy Master's Thursday, to.
You, Sabby Master's Thursday.
How you guys doing we're good, So we were kind of kicking this around. You know, doesn't make sense on the topic of Aaron Rodgers, who was not at the Pat McAfee event last night, to make a decision in Pittsburgh, and maybe it does end up being the Steelers, But is the feeling that it makes more sense for him to wait until after the draft or do you expect him to make a decision beforehand.
I mean, I don't know if you followed the timeline from a couple of years ago, that one I believe went down the Monday of draft weeks. So you know, I personally think like that's important to checkpoint the calendar for teams. Is that like once you get passed the draft, really what you're doing to your officer is on metting, not building a more you know, and doesn't mean you can't take a big swing up a big swing becomes available, but you want to be like in a position where we could go and play with this team right now if he's certainly ideally you want to be like that going into the draft, but coming out of the draft you definitely want to look like that. So you know, it's it's it's like I think Aaron is, and he's actually like been it's publicly said these things about wanting to make a decision at a time I fashion obviously that hadn't happened here, But I think he is cognizant of what it can mean to the team building process. But if you were to join the Steelers, what it could mean for how they approached the draft if he does commit and is on board. So I think it's an important checkpoint. But you know, I I also know that it's foolish to make predictions on what he's going to do. I've all the timeline from a couple of years ago. It happened during draft weight, you know. But you know, I can't say that I don't know certainly when he's gonna make up his mind.
But do you think he's basing it off of who they could potentially draft again? I mean, I brought the point up earlier. We didn't get a really chance to expand on it, but I brought the point up that, I mean, the worst thing that could possibly happen to him now is getting a situation where whoever it is that got drafted is in position to to get the start as soon as they're ready to start and he loses his job, you know, based upon maybe a poor play in a game or two, you know.
What I mean, Like, yeah, well, but I don't think it's that Like I think, if you're gonna go, if you're gonna get the ball, if you're gonna get Aaron Rodgers, they're gonna give him the starting jobs the year. You know, that's just I mean, if it's just like signing Daniel Jones, you know, all due respect, So this is this is like if you're gonna sign me and you're gonna take on everything that comes with them, he's gonna be your starter this year, and you're gonna think of swim with him. So I don't think it's sad so much as like I think, like if if you if, if you, if you go and get Aaron Rodgers, maybe that colors how you use that asset. I would say, like one of the things that pissed Aaron off about, like the Jordan Moves thing, it wasn't so much like if you drafted my replacements and then that was part of it, but it wasn't all that. Another piece of it was you have this valuable asset and you're using it on a guy who the only way he's gonna play is if I'm not, you know, like where you're goulna use it our receiver or a defensive player or whatever else to help win, to help win, you know, with the team that at that point was coming off having played in the NFC title game. You know, so I think for for for Aaron, it would be well, if I'm on the rosster then and I can help influence the Steelers to go and make a move with that draft pick, whatever that move is, that's going to help us win in twenty twenty five, because really, that's all I care about is where we're at twenty twenty five.
Albert, In light of recent events with Tyreek Hill, do you think the Dolphins are getting tired of him and would look to maybe move him or move on?
Yeah, you know, I I've over the last couple of months that questions come up a lot, like and I you know, got my attention when Toronto Armstead announced his retirement last week. Like if you look at where they were from a roster standpoint, with Armsteads going their roster, so four of the six highest taped players on that Dolphins roster and two is one of them, and he isn't out of this category. But but you know, four of the top six highest tate players in that roster we're twenty nine or older. And I just think right now they're in this position where it's like, is this the time for them to retool a little bit, reset and and build like you know, the two two point zero version of Dolphins. And I think there's a lot of merit to doing that regardless of what happened. And if you look at the three older players that I'm referencing here, it's Bradley Chubb, Jalen Ramsey, and Tyreek Hill. Now, you know, depending on how the latest case plays out, I think Tyreek Hill still has the best trade value of any of those guys. So like before any of this, I would have I would have looked for trading Tyreek Hill and if you get a first round pick for him, I would do it. Now, is there a team that's wanted to part with the first round pick to go and get them? I'm not sure, but you know, like I think that's sort of you know, like some of the Dolphins at least have to think about and you know, now it's just plays case. Is that due to his trade value again, Like I'm I don't want to trivialize like was you know, what's being a led share? You know, So I'm is that's most important. But like if you're the Dolphins looking at it, you know, like how does that affect like your ability to move him?
Now?
I think that, you know, sort of plays into the bigger picture here. But to me, the bigger picture is if you're the Dolphins, I think you have to look at it and say, this might be the time where do you want to start to retool and get younger and some keeth s bos.
Albert Brier joining us here on Fox Sports Radio Get him on x at Albert Breer Aby. I wanted to ask you you had a chance to talk with Gino Smith and kind of get his thoughts on you know, the past couple of years in Seattle, his relationship with Pete Carroll ending up in Las Vegas. What was your biggest takeaway or what surprised you the most from the sit down with Gino.
I mean, I think, like, uh, the loyalty to Pete, you know, and I'm sort of one of this about Gail over the last couple of years that he's almost like an evangelist for Pete's program. You know, like he I like the way he talks about the way that the rejo in his career and how he'd never seen anything a football quite like but Pete Carroll Bill in Seattle kind of I think at least like illustrates why getting Gino is such a huge thing for Pete, because now Pete can take it and say like, okay, like now my quarterback is a torch bearer and what we're trying to build here, and he can be the messenger for me in the locker room. So like that's just sort of a big takeaway for me on like the way the whole thing played out. And then I think the second thing is like just kind of how with Seattle, I think there was like almost like this mutual understanding that the time to turn the page was now and as painful as it was for everybody to go through that, because they did have some good years together. And Gino said he really liked Mike McDonald is playing for Mike McDonald. But like you know, Joe Mangino said it didn't make it. The story was how you know, like they he really sense that they wanted to hand leadership over to some of the younger players of the team and empower some of the younger players of the team, and he sort of wondered how he fit into that. I thought that was sort of some interesting context in detail into like what going through twenty twenty four was like for him and how he was trying to play at the highest level he possibly could while knowing, you know what, this might be it for me in Seattle and you know, sure enough, you know, like I think what he was looking for was a multi year commitment from the Seahawks, and like he couldn't get that in the form of like a guarantee that went into the second year, and so he moves on, and I think Seattle gets like a really good alternative here in Sam Darnold coming in, who maybe matches up with their program, and you know, the age of the guys that were a little bit better.
Than Tino did.
Any word on Russell Wilson and how that's all you know, how that's all going? I mean, is it is it just quiet? Or you know? How are they looking to use Russ in the in the Big Apple?
Well ruffles undefeated with the Giants, so that's good news. Uh yeah, you know, I think, like, I think it'll be interesting to see, uh, you know Lvar, like do we get do we get a humble version of Russell Wilson? And I think that some degree you saw that in Pittsburgh last year, But then there were still hints of like okay, like here's the old guy coming out again and he's trying. But I think like the Russell's credit, like he made netforts are really humble himself last year, you know, So, like I think the big thing is going to be how does he get into Brian dave Ols offense, How does Dave All adjust the offense for him? How does he compete with Jamis Winston? Because I think Jamis Winston does have a shot that totally different deal for him, you know. So, Like I think, you know, Brian Dave Old's approach is going to be to give a clean slate, to say we're starting to zeril your buddy, like let's let's just let's see what you got. H It'll be fascinating to see where it goes because of that, you know, because this is a scenario where you're going to have, you know, a guy coming in trying to restart his career at that advanced stage in having the compete for it, coming in in a completely different context than he than he arrived in Denver a few years ago or even in Pittsford last year. We'll see how it goes.
M Albert. Were gonna ask you before we let you go. Have you have you been to Augusta? Are you a golf fan? Is this like a big four days for you?
Well?
I'm actually going to be in Columbus this week after the Spring Games, so I might not be all that locked into the first couple of days into the tournament, but I uh, I'm excited, man, Like I I like, it always feels like to start a spring for me. I'm a terrible golfer. I only get out a couple of times a year. But yeah, like on Sunday, I depending on who's leader board, you know, and that can affect how excited I am. But uh, but yeah, I'm excited to see what happens on Sunday. How about you? Are you? You big Masters guy? Brady?
I like watching it? Yeah? I like watching it. I don't. I mean, I'm like, there's like a party Saturday that a guy's throwing side. I may go to that for a little bit, but I'd like more playing golf than than watching golf.
Yeah, me too, I'm with you on that too. So you go to the Bogie in for for the Masters, Well.
The problem with that is is if you drive by the Bogue in it's actually knocked down. They're uh, they're they're rebuilding it. So that is in in production. But you will see if you go to the lost term of this year, it's not there. It's gone. They knocked it.
Down, so totally new, but it's still gonna be the bog. It's the new Bogey.
Yeah, it's it's actually like an outdoor kind of Putt Putt concept with it. And the renderings look great. You know, how long it will take to get approved and done and built is another thing. But it does look like it will be a huge upgrade compared to what it used to be.
I don't know. That depends on what you That depends on what you call it upgrade. I argue with that.
Yeah, well, it's like the Linebacker Lounge, which I think you went to. Like, there's some people who would never want that to change. There's other people who are like, maybe it should change.
You know, Hey, to me, the character of a bars define by whether or not your beat piure.
That's a good point.
So you're so, what are you going a varsity club this weekend? Where are you going this weekend before the spring game?
Uh? So, I'm going to go to the practice tomorrow, and I think we're going to some place in Grand few On for dinner tomorrow. You're welcome to y if you want to.
Who's we Who are you going with? Albert's just like you and a bunch of college buddies.
No, I bet my kid, My kids will. My two boys are coming with me. It's their first time to go on this, so I thought this would be a nice stop launch. We're thinking about going to the Texas game in September. Those are a nice stop launch to see how they like all of it.
Yeah, nice?
All right, Well good luck with that.
Yeah, have fun out there, AB. We appreciate it.
Now.
We'll do it again next week.
All right, all right?
The great album Breer with us here on Fox Sports Radio.
