The volume. What is going on? Everybody? How are we doing? Hopefully you are doing great and enjoying this fugazy Friday, because that is what we are about to attack. And luckily there's a couple of things going on football wise. I was like, I'm gonna break down every stephen a Lebron James angle right here right now. That will not be the case. But there is some pro day information that came out. We gotta Abdual Carter, who may consider the best player in the draft or one of them. With Travis got some injuries going on right now, has a shoulder was not able to participate in the in his pro day though? Is that covering up for the stress fact sure that they found in his right foot. So for great of a talent as he is, we do we will dive into that. Ashing Genty had his Pro day the star Boise State running back but he did not run. Is that a big deal? Something Lebron James did say. And this is like a theme in the NBA. They love just kind of taking shots at the older guys like the Sky's in the seventies, in the eighties, they couldn't cut it today. And if we played back then we'd score seven hundred points a game. Why does that happen in the NFL, because it doesn't, and I want to dive into why. I actually think that the NFL is the opposite and their players go out of their way, which I think benefits the sport of kind of tying in the different generations. And then a Fugazi that I saw a week ago. I've been thinking about this for a long time. It's always driven me nuts. Something in a movie Den of Thieves two kind of entertaining. Not gonna lie, but something that happened in that movie, which happens in a lot of action movies that I've just always I've always noticed and it always kind of bothered me. But it is what it is. We will dive into that food, Gayzy and Little Middlecoff mailbag at John Middlecoff at John Middlecoff is the Instagram. Fire in those dms, get your questions answered here on the show, very very easy to do. Fire in my Instagram dms and make sure you subscribe to the podcast. Make sure subscribe to the YouTube channel. A lot of content up right now. Type my name into YouTube you can find the channel. Subscribe. But before we dive in to some football. You know, I got to tell you about my friends, my partners, and the official ticketing app of this podcast, and you know they go by game Time and listen. I've been using ticketing apps for a long long time, and I swear by these guys. And like I said, I'm not just saying this, I've lived it. I've gone to more events because of Game Time over the last several years than I have probably in the previous five years. It's easy to use. I can find any event, obviously, sports, comedy shows, concerts, Get out, do something fun, enjoy yourself. Trust me, sometimes I can be pretty boring and I can just work and stay home and live in a little bubble of my house. Once you get out and just enjoy yourself for a night, it makes you feel better and you will not regret it. So, whether that's a college game, a pro game, a concert, a comedy show, I'm telling you take the guest work out of buying tickets with game Time. Download the game Time app, create an account and use the code John for twenty dollars off here first purchase terms of play. Again, create an account, redeem the code John Joeyhen for twenty dollars off down in the game time app today, last minute tickets, lowest prices guaranteed. I had this clip sent to me today from a buddy and it was number eleven at Penn State in a spring prectice doing some like stack in shed drills. And I immediately thought, why is Abdual Carter taking part in spring practice with Penn State? And then I had to click on it and I realized, no, that's not Abdual Carter wearing eleven. That is LeVar Arrington's son, who is a true freshman and looks exactly like Abduall Carter. And Micah Parsons say whatever you want about James Franklin. From a schematic standpoint, no one is going to confuse the guy with Bill Walsh or Bill Belichick. But and obviously LeVar went to school at Penn State. But that guy can recruit some pass rushers because this kid, I'm gonna go after I get done recording this podcast, watch some YouTube highlights. Looks like, I mean, just from a body type standpoint, looks like a future top ten pick. You put on eleven at that program. The future is bright because Abduall Carter, you know, sometimes you know drafts a different right, Well, you evaluate the draft based on that current year, Like if you go three, it's based on that current crop of guys. But in these draft meetings, you're constantly comparing them to previous drafts, in previous guys in those drafts who are now excelling or struggling in the NFL. It helps. It's like in real estate you do comps. I'm sure in a lot of different industries. People listening to me, you're constantly comparing deals to previous deals. How much did we pay for this? This is what we're willing to pay for that because it parallels these previous three things we've done. It's no different in football based on measurables, production, what style of play you have. If there are four other guys that play exactly like you that went in the second round, like you're probably more inclined to take that guy in the second round than draft him in the top ten. And Abdul Carter, regardless of he was in the twenty twenty five draft or in some of the best drafts of all time as a prospect, he's a legitimate top ten guy in certain drafts. You know, I would say a bad draft like this one, he can go pick one, two or three. In some great drafts, maybe he goes seven to ten. But he's a legitimate high end prospect. His skill really translates, and he does have a lot of parallels with Micah Parsons. Now, I think the thing with Micah that was a little confusing, the reason he didn't go in the top ten covid year didn't play for the season. Don't blame him, but it was just kind of a weird time. And usually when guys like that just play going into their draft year like they're gonna go really high. But we talk about this all the time. You can scout a guy as a player and there is no disputing if you watch Penn State play, especially down the stretch in the playoffs, you're like, this guy is a freak talent. I mean, he's battling with the shoulder injury, so there's no disputing his toughness, just his style of play. Like, he's really really good. And I haven't heard anything negative from an off the field character standpoint, So I'm just gonna assume like he's viewed as a real high end, total package prospect. But when things that are thrown in the mix, like he still has a shoulder injury that he's nursing from early January, he has a stress fracture in his right foot. Those are things, as the area scout, as the college director, hell as the general manager, that are very very difficult for you to give a concrete opinion on. You are very very dependent on your medical team. So when Rosenhaus tells Schefter he's not participating in his pro day and everyone goes why, and Rosenhaus goes, well, because of his shoulder still doesn't feel great from the Boise State game, and you go, well, is that then it's your job to find out is that the real reason or is the story that came out at the combine with the stress fracture in the right foot part of the reason that he doesn't want to risk not looking good moving around. And so as a scout and as a scouting staff, all you can do is everything humanly possible to accumulate as much information as you can about what's actually going on. But when it comes to a diagnosis like I don't know anything about shoulder injuries, I don't know anything about stress fractures in right feet. It's why Jim Harbaugh got in this back and forth with the local media this year in training camp because they were peppering him over injuries. And while he definitely doesn't want to divulge anything he's being told, like, it was pretty easy for him to come, Guys, I'm not a doctor. I don't know shit. I just reiterate what I'm told, and there's a lot of truth to that. And I think when you get in these situations, it just sends huge alarms through the front office because it's like, well, this guy's an awesome player, and if he's fully healthy, he's a no brainer guy in this draft to take really really high. And if we were the Titans, if we're the Browns, if we're the Giants, if for the Patriots, like all those teams are very very interested in this guy. But to get to the bottom of, like what is the state of his health and you're not listen. I have a lot of respect for Drew Rosenhaus, but his job is plain, simple, period, point blank end of story, to figure out a way to make this stuff go away and make you think that it's not a big issue and make this almost feel like an afterthought. Because whether his foot is healthy, whether it's going to be an issue this fall, that's not his problem. His one prerogative and objective as the guy's agent is to get this guy selected as high as humanly possible, to make him as much money as possible. And I think it puts these people in tough positions, and now you just have to get to the bottom of like what is going on. And we see a lot of times I think I've given this example before, but I remember when the Raiders would have been like twenty fifteen, maybe they were basically deciding between Amari Cooper and Leonard Williams, and they ultimately went with Amari Cooper because they weren't sure about Leonard Williams's shoulder and there were a lot of question marks whether he would need surgery. And obviously we're a decade later. I mean currently today you would rather have Leonard Williams on your team than a Mary Cooper. But that scares front offices because they don't have medical degrees. They know how to scout players, and they know how to talk about football players and people, but when it comes to the medical stuff, it's just out of their hands. And this goes back to Nick Saban and I'm not acting like this guy is gonna plummet or fall in the draft. But these are just issues that I mean, in a perfect world, if you're Abdual, Carter and Rosenhaus don't exist, but when they do, they just set off alarms. The other thing that at least set off on an alarm for me was Ashton Genty's pro day was yesterday, so I immediately I see on social media that he's working out shirtless and he looks like a brick shit house. I mean, he looks fantastic. And I text a buddy that I knew was there and I said, well, what did he run? And he's like, well, he didn't run. And I'm like, well he didn't run at the combine either, and he's like, yeah, he's just not going to run. Like what do you mean he's not gonna run? And listen. I would say, Ashton Genty, unlike Abduall Carter, because he's healthy, is like universally like stamp of approval in scouting circles, extremely well liked. I think you would be hard pressed. And people think I'm being critical because they keep bringing up that he's five to eight. I've never disputed that he's an awesome player. Like, you're not going to find people around the NFL that don't think very very highly of this guy the person and definitely the player. And he's like, well, he's not gonna run, so he's just not gonna run. He's like, yeah, just not gonna run. And basically the way it was described to me was it's not worth him running a four or five to two and falling in the draft. And for him falling in the draft, would all of a sudden be going instead of seventh or ninth or twelfth or tenth or wherever, you know, pretty high to maybe like late teens. And that's what can happen. Because we talk about all the time, these measurables and these check marks before the draft don't determine if you're gonna go to the Hall of Fame once you get to the NFL, or become a four time pro bowler or be a bust, but they do help determine your draft stock. We have seen time and time again wide receivers who are excellent players run a slow forty guys that were like, this guy's a first round player and all of a sudden go pick forty eight all of a sudden fall to the third round. Two guys come to my mind. DeVante Adams did not run very fast, fell to the middle of the second round, Keenan Allen ran really slow, fell to the third round. So like, running times as a skill guy, regardless of how great your tape is, can really hurt you. So Ashton Genty is just not gonna run. Now. When I watched Ashton Genty play, I would say high end speed, Like I don't think he's Adrian Peterson. You know, Jamiir Gibbs was a guy a couple of years ago who ran a four to three six. I don't think he's doing that, but I do understand if Like, yeah, I might on a good day run a four four seven, but I also might run a four or five two. And given that my measureables aren't elite in terms of height, it could cost me millions of dollars. And the one thing that I heard about the workout is like, well, the workout was elite, so listen, I get it, you make business decisions. But I saw my guy. I don't say he's my guy. Fuck, he won't text me back. But an old friend and colleague of mine. Lewis Riddick called him a home run hitter, and I think home when I think home run hitters, I think guys that would never shy away from the forty. You know, I think one of Lamar Jackson's poor decisions before the draft. Now, it ultimately worked out because he went to a great team, but everyone knew Lamark was gonna fly. And if he would have ran the forty, like what would we guess? Lamar Jackson as a twenty one year old coming out of college would have ran the forty four three eight four four zero like it would have been really really fast, and he refused to do it. Now, I think the reason he did was because Bill Pollion said he was a wide receiver, and it was like a double middle finger of like, I'm not showing everyone out fast I am. They're gonna move me to wide receiver, even though that was never gonna happen. But fast guys usually run wide because they're fast, and I'm not saying this guy slow, but it would give me a little pause. Now, part of having a great running back in the NFL you don't need like aikuon. Barkley's pretty special. He has elite high end speed. Adrian Peterson outlier had elite high end speed. You can be a great running back, I mean, a high end Pro Bowl guy just stud on my team for multiple contracts and not be that fast. I don't think Frank Gore had ACLS. I don't think Frank Gore would have broke for seven in the forty. It didn't matter. He was an awesome player. I'm not depending on you to run fifty yards consistently in the NFL. If you're getting ten to fifteen twenty yard runs, that's great. So like I'm not saying it bothered me, but it definitely was something that kind of stood out, not running the forty and listen, John Spytech, I was told was there and that was always you know, Lombardi used to talk about this back in his podcast days before he got with Belichick at UNC. Is like Al Davis not in a million years would have taken a guy that didn't run a forty. I mean, the whole thing with the Raiders was speed. So it'll be interesting if it just people are just completely unfazed. And he definitely benefits from the draft class. But you gotta have dual Carter with shoulder and foot, and you have Ashton Genty not running the forties. So these are just things that like in these draft meetings. This is what you talk about when it comes to college basketball in March Mania. One thing is for sure. Nothing's for sure. Upsets, buzzer beaters, Cinderella's top seeds, going home early, It's all gonna happen. Bet the unexpected, every upset, every day with DraftKings Sportsbook with live betting, exclusive content, promos and parlays. Draftking is the ultimate college basketball destination from March. Ready to make your first bet, check out matchups and pick a team to win. It's that simple first time. Here's something special just for you New DraftKings customers. Bet five to get two hundred in bonus bets. Instantly Bet the unexpected with DraftKings Sportsbook. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app. Use the code Jahn that's Joagen, that's code Jawn for new customers to get two hundred and bonus bets when you bet just five bucks only on DraftKings. The Crown is yours.

The volume. What is going on? Everybody? How are we doing? Hopefully you are doing great and enjoying this fugazy Friday, because that is what we are about to attack. And luckily there's a couple of things going on football wise. I was like, I'm gonna break down every stephen a Lebron James angle right here right now. That will not be the case. But there is some pro day information that came out. We gotta Abdual Carter, who may consider the best player in the draft or one of them. With Travis got some injuries going on right now, has a shoulder was not able to participate in the in his pro day though? Is that covering up for the stress fact sure that they found in his right foot. So for great of a talent as he is, we do we will dive into that. Ashing Genty had his Pro day the star Boise State running back but he did not run. Is that a big deal? Something Lebron James did say. And this is like a theme in the NBA. They love just kind of taking shots at the older guys like the Sky's in the seventies, in the eighties, they couldn't cut it today. And if we played back then we'd score seven hundred points a game. Why does that happen in the NFL, because it doesn't, and I want to dive into why. I actually think that the NFL is the opposite and their players go out of their way, which I think benefits the sport of kind of tying in the different generations. And then a Fugazi that I saw a week ago. I've been thinking about this for a long time. It's always driven me nuts. Something in a movie Den of Thieves two kind of entertaining. Not gonna lie, but something that happened in that movie, which happens in a lot of action movies that I've just always I've always noticed and it always kind of bothered me. But it is what it is. We will dive into that food, Gayzy and Little Middlecoff mailbag at John Middlecoff at John Middlecoff is the Instagram. Fire in those dms, get your questions answered here on the show, very very easy to do. Fire in my Instagram dms and make sure you subscribe to the podcast. Make sure subscribe to the YouTube channel. A lot of content up right now. Type my name into YouTube you can find the channel. Subscribe. But before we dive in to some football. You know, I got to tell you about my friends, my partners, and the official ticketing app of this podcast, and you know they go by game Time and listen. I've been using ticketing apps for a long long time, and I swear by these guys. And like I said, I'm not just saying this, I've lived it. I've gone to more events because of Game Time over the last several years than I have probably in the previous five years. It's easy to use. I can find any event, obviously, sports, comedy shows, concerts, Get out, do something fun, enjoy yourself. Trust me, sometimes I can be pretty boring and I can just work and stay home and live in a little bubble of my house. Once you get out and just enjoy yourself for a night, it makes you feel better and you will not regret it. So, whether that's a college game, a pro game, a concert, a comedy show, I'm telling you take the guest work out of buying tickets with game Time. Download the game Time app, create an account and use the code John for twenty dollars off here first purchase terms of play. Again, create an account, redeem the code John Joeyhen for twenty dollars off down in the game time app today, last minute tickets, lowest prices guaranteed. I had this clip sent to me today from a buddy and it was number eleven at Penn State in a spring prectice doing some like stack in shed drills. And I immediately thought, why is Abdual Carter taking part in spring practice with Penn State? And then I had to click on it and I realized, no, that's not Abdual Carter wearing eleven. That is LeVar Arrington's son, who is a true freshman and looks exactly like Abduall Carter. And Micah Parsons say whatever you want about James Franklin. From a schematic standpoint, no one is going to confuse the guy with Bill Walsh or Bill Belichick. But and obviously LeVar went to school at Penn State. But that guy can recruit some pass rushers because this kid, I'm gonna go after I get done recording this podcast, watch some YouTube highlights. Looks like, I mean, just from a body type standpoint, looks like a future top ten pick. You put on eleven at that program. The future is bright because Abduall Carter, you know, sometimes you know drafts a different right, Well, you evaluate the draft based on that current year, Like if you go three, it's based on that current crop of guys. But in these draft meetings, you're constantly comparing them to previous drafts, in previous guys in those drafts who are now excelling or struggling in the NFL. It helps. It's like in real estate you do comps. I'm sure in a lot of different industries. People listening to me, you're constantly comparing deals to previous deals. How much did we pay for this? This is what we're willing to pay for that because it parallels these previous three things we've done. It's no different in football based on measurables, production, what style of play you have. If there are four other guys that play exactly like you that went in the second round, like you're probably more inclined to take that guy in the second round than draft him in the top ten. And Abdul Carter, regardless of he was in the twenty twenty five draft or in some of the best drafts of all time as a prospect, he's a legitimate top ten guy in certain drafts. You know, I would say a bad draft like this one, he can go pick one, two or three. In some great drafts, maybe he goes seven to ten. But he's a legitimate high end prospect. His skill really translates, and he does have a lot of parallels with Micah Parsons. Now, I think the thing with Micah that was a little confusing, the reason he didn't go in the top ten covid year didn't play for the season. Don't blame him, but it was just kind of a weird time. And usually when guys like that just play going into their draft year like they're gonna go really high. But we talk about this all the time. You can scout a guy as a player and there is no disputing if you watch Penn State play, especially down the stretch in the playoffs, you're like, this guy is a freak talent. I mean, he's battling with the shoulder injury, so there's no disputing his toughness, just his style of play. Like, he's really really good. And I haven't heard anything negative from an off the field character standpoint, So I'm just gonna assume like he's viewed as a real high end, total package prospect. But when things that are thrown in the mix, like he still has a shoulder injury that he's nursing from early January, he has a stress fracture in his right foot. Those are things, as the area scout, as the college director, hell as the general manager, that are very very difficult for you to give a concrete opinion on. You are very very dependent on your medical team. So when Rosenhaus tells Schefter he's not participating in his pro day and everyone goes why, and Rosenhaus goes, well, because of his shoulder still doesn't feel great from the Boise State game, and you go, well, is that then it's your job to find out is that the real reason or is the story that came out at the combine with the stress fracture in the right foot part of the reason that he doesn't want to risk not looking good moving around. And so as a scout and as a scouting staff, all you can do is everything humanly possible to accumulate as much information as you can about what's actually going on. But when it comes to a diagnosis like I don't know anything about shoulder injuries, I don't know anything about stress fractures in right feet. It's why Jim Harbaugh got in this back and forth with the local media this year in training camp because they were peppering him over injuries. And while he definitely doesn't want to divulge anything he's being told, like, it was pretty easy for him to come, Guys, I'm not a doctor. I don't know shit. I just reiterate what I'm told, and there's a lot of truth to that. And I think when you get in these situations, it just sends huge alarms through the front office because it's like, well, this guy's an awesome player, and if he's fully healthy, he's a no brainer guy in this draft to take really really high. And if we were the Titans, if we're the Browns, if we're the Giants, if for the Patriots, like all those teams are very very interested in this guy. But to get to the bottom of, like what is the state of his health and you're not listen. I have a lot of respect for Drew Rosenhaus, but his job is plain, simple, period, point blank end of story, to figure out a way to make this stuff go away and make you think that it's not a big issue and make this almost feel like an afterthought. Because whether his foot is healthy, whether it's going to be an issue this fall, that's not his problem. His one prerogative and objective as the guy's agent is to get this guy selected as high as humanly possible, to make him as much money as possible. And I think it puts these people in tough positions, and now you just have to get to the bottom of like what is going on. And we see a lot of times I think I've given this example before, but I remember when the Raiders would have been like twenty fifteen, maybe they were basically deciding between Amari Cooper and Leonard Williams, and they ultimately went with Amari Cooper because they weren't sure about Leonard Williams's shoulder and there were a lot of question marks whether he would need surgery. And obviously we're a decade later. I mean currently today you would rather have Leonard Williams on your team than a Mary Cooper. But that scares front offices because they don't have medical degrees. They know how to scout players, and they know how to talk about football players and people, but when it comes to the medical stuff, it's just out of their hands. And this goes back to Nick Saban and I'm not acting like this guy is gonna plummet or fall in the draft. But these are just issues that I mean, in a perfect world, if you're Abdual, Carter and Rosenhaus don't exist, but when they do, they just set off alarms. The other thing that at least set off on an alarm for me was Ashton Genty's pro day was yesterday, so I immediately I see on social media that he's working out shirtless and he looks like a brick shit house. I mean, he looks fantastic. And I text a buddy that I knew was there and I said, well, what did he run? And he's like, well, he didn't run. And I'm like, well he didn't run at the combine either, and he's like, yeah, he's just not going to run. Like what do you mean he's not gonna run? And listen. I would say, Ashton Genty, unlike Abduall Carter, because he's healthy, is like universally like stamp of approval in scouting circles, extremely well liked. I think you would be hard pressed. And people think I'm being critical because they keep bringing up that he's five to eight. I've never disputed that he's an awesome player. Like, you're not going to find people around the NFL that don't think very very highly of this guy the person and definitely the player. And he's like, well, he's not gonna run, so he's just not gonna run. He's like, yeah, just not gonna run. And basically the way it was described to me was it's not worth him running a four or five to two and falling in the draft. And for him falling in the draft, would all of a sudden be going instead of seventh or ninth or twelfth or tenth or wherever, you know, pretty high to maybe like late teens. And that's what can happen. Because we talk about all the time, these measurables and these check marks before the draft don't determine if you're gonna go to the Hall of Fame once you get to the NFL, or become a four time pro bowler or be a bust, but they do help determine your draft stock. We have seen time and time again wide receivers who are excellent players run a slow forty guys that were like, this guy's a first round player and all of a sudden go pick forty eight all of a sudden fall to the third round. Two guys come to my mind. DeVante Adams did not run very fast, fell to the middle of the second round, Keenan Allen ran really slow, fell to the third round. So like, running times as a skill guy, regardless of how great your tape is, can really hurt you. So Ashton Genty is just not gonna run. Now. When I watched Ashton Genty play, I would say high end speed, Like I don't think he's Adrian Peterson. You know, Jamiir Gibbs was a guy a couple of years ago who ran a four to three six. I don't think he's doing that, but I do understand if Like, yeah, I might on a good day run a four four seven, but I also might run a four or five two. And given that my measureables aren't elite in terms of height, it could cost me millions of dollars. And the one thing that I heard about the workout is like, well, the workout was elite, so listen, I get it, you make business decisions. But I saw my guy. I don't say he's my guy. Fuck, he won't text me back. But an old friend and colleague of mine. Lewis Riddick called him a home run hitter, and I think home when I think home run hitters, I think guys that would never shy away from the forty. You know, I think one of Lamar Jackson's poor decisions before the draft. Now, it ultimately worked out because he went to a great team, but everyone knew Lamark was gonna fly. And if he would have ran the forty, like what would we guess? Lamar Jackson as a twenty one year old coming out of college would have ran the forty four three eight four four zero like it would have been really really fast, and he refused to do it. Now, I think the reason he did was because Bill Pollion said he was a wide receiver, and it was like a double middle finger of like, I'm not showing everyone out fast I am. They're gonna move me to wide receiver, even though that was never gonna happen. But fast guys usually run wide because they're fast, and I'm not saying this guy slow, but it would give me a little pause. Now, part of having a great running back in the NFL you don't need like aikuon. Barkley's pretty special. He has elite high end speed. Adrian Peterson outlier had elite high end speed. You can be a great running back, I mean, a high end Pro Bowl guy just stud on my team for multiple contracts and not be that fast. I don't think Frank Gore had ACLS. I don't think Frank Gore would have broke for seven in the forty. It didn't matter. He was an awesome player. I'm not depending on you to run fifty yards consistently in the NFL. If you're getting ten to fifteen twenty yard runs, that's great. So like I'm not saying it bothered me, but it definitely was something that kind of stood out, not running the forty and listen, John Spytech, I was told was there and that was always you know, Lombardi used to talk about this back in his podcast days before he got with Belichick at UNC. Is like Al Davis not in a million years would have taken a guy that didn't run a forty. I mean, the whole thing with the Raiders was speed. So it'll be interesting if it just people are just completely unfazed. And he definitely benefits from the draft class. But you gotta have dual Carter with shoulder and foot, and you have Ashton Genty not running the forties. So these are just things that like in these draft meetings. This is what you talk about when it comes to college basketball in March Mania. One thing is for sure. Nothing's for sure. Upsets, buzzer beaters, Cinderella's top seeds, going home early, It's all gonna happen. Bet the unexpected, every upset, every day with DraftKings Sportsbook with live betting, exclusive content, promos and parlays. Draftking is the ultimate college basketball destination from March. Ready to make your first bet, check out matchups and pick a team to win. It's that simple first time. Here's something special just for you New DraftKings customers. Bet five to get two hundred in bonus bets. Instantly Bet the unexpected with DraftKings Sportsbook. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app. Use the code Jahn that's Joagen, that's code Jawn for new customers to get two hundred and bonus bets when you bet just five bucks only on DraftKings. The Crown is yours.

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Speaking of people talking about others Lebron James on McAfee. I do think the reaction from steven A for fifteen minutes, some of the clips are just just make me laugh. I mean, it's just the ultimate NBA story of like nobody talking about any of the games. It's just Lebron James and steven A Smith going back and forth. It's just classic twenty twenty five National Basketball Association. But one thing that has really bothered me over the years because I just think it's so disrespectful for people like I don't care what industry you're in, but if things are going really well, you usually owe people of previous generations in whatever business you're in, for really starting to get the ball rolling, for building something up and getting the momentum on your side. And usually there's a time in period in most things that we do when people were doing things for not nearly as much money as you're making now. And nothing speaks to that more than for example, the NBA, which the average salary is twelve million dollars, and I don't even know the amount of people, but it's pretty large relative to their workforce that are making thirty plus million dollars. Obviously, there are a lot of elite players, and rightfully so, making forty to fifty there are also a lot of guys completely running a scam making forty to fifty million dollars right now that if they disappear tomorrow from the NBA, not a soul would notice. So whenever they're taking shots at guys from the sixties, the seventies, the eighties, I think, you know, one most of us were not alive in the seventies that are speaking about this. Definitely all the players to make these concrete opinions that those guys just suck. But I also just think it's a bad look. It just looks I just think it's kind of unbecoming, And then I think about the NFL, which is the complete opposite that. You would never. You couldn't imagine Cam Hayward's saying there's no way me and Joe Green could play next to me right now, or Josh Allen saying, yeah, I'm way better than Jim Kelly, or Fred Warner is like, yeah, Ronnie Lott wouldn't have been good enough to play behind me. We need better at that. If anything, they would say the opposite, It would be an honor to play with Ronnie Lott. Strap him up and be on the same field with Ronnie Lott playing behind me, cracking skulls. I would loved to line up next to me and Joe Green. I would give anything to have the career of Jim Kelly. You would never. You couldn't even imagine ro Kwan Smith saying yeah, I would. Walter Peyton he couldn't. He wouldn't last on the field with my defense for ten fucking snaps. You never hear those words. If anything, is the complete opposite the respect they show, you know why, because they know there's a toughness element to the seventies eighties. When people my age never watched any of it, but we just know it's like you had to be a bad you know what to play in that era, you had to be a tough SOB. And the amount of money they were making relative to what the guys make now, yet the amount of emphasis on safety and health was the ratio. You know, the care for safety and health was basically zero. No one cared about any of it, and relative to the money now, they were probably doing better than most of society. But you know a lot of those guys, like the seventies had second jobs. So I just think whenever you can give respect to people in previous generations for helping you out to where you are today, it's just like kind of common courtesy and it just shows that like you're kind of in touch with reality. Colin Moore Cowa made some comments a couple of weeks ago at the Arnold Palmer where he doesn't need to talk after he loses a golf tournament. It's like, Bro, you sound very out of touch right now. And I think the NBA has a huge, huge perception problem and they've lost people like me who idolize, not idolized, still idolized. Michael Jordan. Honestly, he stands for everything I like now, gambling, golfing, boozing, talking shit. Like I like Michael Jordan's sixty five as much as I liked him when I was ten and he was thirty. But I just think when you look at previous generations, it's like, what's the point in kicking these guys and acting like they were a bunch of scrubs. Without them, this business would not have existed, and what they had to go through, like especially like in the NBA when you see some pictures of the shoes they wore in like nineteen seventy four. The other thing is comparing apples to apples is completely impossible. Be like, well they didn't have the athletes or the gills. Well, yeah, guys, they were like Kenny the Snake Stable were smoking cigarettes at halftime. They were drinking Coca Cola's when they were going to the sideline. People didn't eat hell. It wasn't that long when I was a kid, we didn't discuss caloric intake and sugars like we have the last decade. It's not apples the apples the way we live. But to constantly just act like these guys are a bunch of losers. I'm glad the NFL does not do that because I do think it would turn off a lot of people. And honestly, it's the opposite. It feels like they give reverence respect and they just hold those guys into high regard because they look at them like, yeah, man, that's that's that's a tough sob And I think the NFL that that perception with the NBA, I think is a sneaky, huge turnoff. And for the NFL, I think it's a cool connection that watching those guys really feel like that they embraced those guys and listen, the other thing is we all know you couldn't even say that with a straight face. I mean, what do we criticize currently about the NFL? And that's kind of soft not allowed to hit anyone. And again that's not an opinion, like that's not subjective, it is a fact. I mean we literally call wide receivers going over the middle defenseless. It wasn't that long ago where they were called I'm decapitated and I'm going to the hospital. I say it all the time when some of these flags happen on defenders. It's like when I grew up that was considered a hospitaball. Now it's like fifteen yard penalty automatic first down. So yeah, man, I just I love the toughness in any sport. Of hearing guys talk from the seventies and eighties that they were such, it just felt a little more pure, less money on the line, less you know, hooplah. With social media, it was just like I am trying to beat the shit out of whoever I'm playing, and I think that will always resonate in any era with fans. Okay, let's end on this fugezy Friday. I'm a big action movie guy. I've been my whole life. Started watching rated R movies probably before I should have, but I've always gravitated just toward, you know, just a good shoot them up movie. And I would say of my adult life it's always driven me crazy that in these crazy shootouts. And listen, anyone who's ever shot a gun. If you just handed me a glock right now and gave me a stationary target relatively far away and with no practice, I probably wouldn't hit it. Most people with no training. I haven't been skeet shooting in a long time. I probably wouldn't have great aim, so I'm not acting like shooting a gun is easy. Yet in so many of these movies. When and I was just watching, what made me think about this was denif Too, with Gerard Butler, Ice Cubes kid Osha Jackson, who's actually really I think he's a really good actor. That's pretty cool for ice Cube. His kids just just solid make some solid movies. Denfes is good. It's right up my alley and there was this shootout scene no spoiler alerts, but here it comes where they're going up these hills and like I think in Italy and there, you know, it's like classic two Mercedes chasing one Mercedes, and they're going ninety miles an hour up these windy roads. For whatever reason, there is not a soul on the road, so you're swerving all over the road. But there are long stretches of kind of straightaways where the bad guys, I guess they're all kind of bad guys. Well, one guy is technically a cop, but they're all shooting at each other and they all got like assault rifles. And the thing is in a lot of these movies, they're all actors obviously, but the people they're pretending to be, whether you are security guards or whether you're the bad guys. It's like you're you're like former marines, right, Like you are a trained guy with a weapon in your hands, so you know what you're doing. And they shoot up, especially in car scenes when they're shooting at each other, and cars aren't that big, so like unless you're in I don't even know what some old school hummer, the actual circumference or size of the car is relatively small, right, I don't know how far it would be, seven feet across, ten feet across, it's not that huge. And these bullets are just peppering the car, of taking out ice cubes, Kid and Butler and just wearing out the glass, taking through the seats, and somehow no one ever gets hit. I used to think about this in John Wick. I love John Wick, but some of those shootouts where he is going up against not just randos. It's not like I just walk in to a place like a hundred guys, hand them all nine mili meters and just say start shooting. Of course, some of those guys are not going to be very accurate. But the guys that were always trying to take out john Wick look like trained killers. Yet ETN rarely ever got hit. And in this shooting scene, it was like, this is very unrealistic. If you just give these guys assault rifles and they are trailing the car by I don't know, give or take sometimes you know, twenty yards and they are just wearing out the car, the likelihood that a bullet wouldn't go through these people as they are just going through the seats, going through the windows, would not hit these guys feel like a statistical anomaly. It feels like it would be impossible. And I get it's a movie. I get it's completely made up. I get these people are just acting, pretending to be these people, but in these scenes, in the shootout scenes, I just think it's completely unrealistic. Always all these people. Now, I get it. You can't just have everyone get shot, everyone died, the movie would end. I'm not advocating for that. But as these scenes over the course of my life have they they've just upped and uped them, right. I mean, at first there was a couple shots here and there, and you'd like be hiding to now where it's at. It it's just I mean, unloading clip after clip after clip, and it's if anything, it's like some sometimes a guy takes like a takes a bullet to the shoulder, but it's never like, yeah, right between his eyes, you know, six to the neck, three to the pelvis, one to the nose, and one to the throat. He's done. That just never happens. And I just think I'm not looking for them to fix this problem, because again, most movies would just end if the main character got taken out. I just think it's probably one of the most unrealistic things in the history of Hollywood are the shootout scenes and how rare it is for anyone of consequence being shot at to be taken out. I think if we acted all those in real life. I mean, hell, we see some of these in real life. People usually get hit and somehow no one that really ever gets faced in most of these. Okay, let's do a little middle cough mail bag at John Middlecoff is the Instagram fire in those dms. I'm not gonna make a habit of this. And this might be the first and last email I ever read. But right before I was gonna record, I looked at my emails and I saw this, and it was just so passionate. It's essentially, you know, a middle cooff mail bag question. Some of you guys that don't have a social I respect it. So Pete Peterson. At first I thought it was pat Patrick Peterson. I was like, damn, he's about to crush the Cardinals. But it's it's not. It's Pete. John Love the Pod rarely miss an episode. I too, live here in Scottsdale. Let me be direct. Why is the media and public so accepting of the dumpster fire called the Arizona Cardinals. Here are the facts. They are the all time worst winning percentage in the National Football League. Even more glaring is the fact, even though they are a founding member of the league, they have won a grand total of seven playoff games in the entire history of the franchise, second only to the Texans that have six, who came into the league in two thousand and two. Seven frickin' wins in a century. Not great. That's less than one playoff win a decade, and all controlled by three generations of the Bidwells. They just were ranked by NFLPA as the worst franchise in the league. Bidwell has lawsuits against them from numerous former employees for hostile work environments and litigation against him for multiple states. Is he really any better than Dan Snyder, who the media rightfully went after. This is arguably the worst professional sports franchise in history, but rarely does the media dive into this tragic situation. Well, I think this is interesting and this is where I do think we all can be a little biased. If this was happening to it happened to Washington, right, and it was a really big deal. Why They're a massive market with a lot of history where I grew up. If this was taking place with the forty nine ers, people would be fucking livid. It just it would be a problem. I mean, look at the Giants who have had probably one of the worst definitely their worst ten year run of my life, and it's really really ugly, and they get crucified. I've only lived here now for what three plus years, but because of my location, like you know, growing up in life, I follow I would say the Arizona teams relatively closely as a Pac ten fan, the colleges. Obviously, the Diamondbacks play in the Giants division with the Dodgers. You know, the Suns have been you know, West Coast NBA team, So I've just I've followed them. I think a lot of people here, let's just use this just market in general. One, not a lot of people that do what I do talk about sports for living live in this area. Two, the fan base is much smaller than a lot of the places that would get crucified like this wouldn't be tolerated with the Packers, or the Steelers, or the Niners, or the Giants, or the Eagles, the I mean even the Cowboys, right they get crushed. They make the playoffs a lot. Hell they sometimes they win a playoff game, they just never make it to the third round. So I think it has to do with the location of so many people that live in this area are transplants. And I think the fan base relative to a lot of NFL teams is much smaller, and I just don't think they're that important to the landscape of the league. You know, like the Bears, who last year had a awful season and it was a problem and it was a huge story. I think the Cardinals, in a weird way, are kind of viewed like like pre Balmber Clippers. It's like whatever, And like you said, one thing, bid Well I think he benefits a lot from being in this market. Out of side, out of mind. I have some people in my life that own a very very lucrative business, family business, and over the course of the last twenty years, a lot of people in those industries have been forced to sell that business. Have been kind of strong arm. Now it's not like they got screw they got paid a lot of money, but they were forced to sell. And these were major markets in America. Right where this lucrative businesses is in an area where if I pulled every single human listening to this podcast right now and said would you move there, all of your answers would be immediate No. You'd be like, you wouldn't even care how much I was offering you. You would just say no. And they've always said that they've really benefited from the location of where their business is. People don't want to mess with it, so they just kind of get left alone. And in areas like Los Angeles, in areas like San Francisco or you know, Dallas, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, you don't really get to hide, and here you kind of get to hide. I mean, one of the things that I liked about moving here is there's still an element of the wild wild West. It's like there aren't as many rules, aren't as many regulations, just fucking whatever. And I missed that. I mean, that's the California my dad grew up on or In, which is long on now that there's an element of that here. But I think, you know, this area, while it's fast growing, I do think it's really out of side, out of mind. It really is. And I would say the same thing a little bit. You know, the Raiders benefit from that, you know, in Oakland and now Vegas, but they still get much more crucified because historically they have been a much more successful franchise and they have way more fans. So it's it's somewhat is a numbers game. And I think part of the reason is, like I'd go out of business if I talked about the Cardinals every day. Not enough people care. Honestly, I don't care that much, so I think, like, why don't I talk about it? Because I don't even find it that interesting. I really don't, you know, because part of it is bid well, unlike Snyder, it feels like flies a little more into the radar. But like you said, he's getting sued constantly. He's always has issues that they're you know, Mike Brown gets shit on constantly for being really cheap. I think no one would argue the cheapest guy in league history is this family and might not even be close, might not even be close. So yeah, I mean, I here's the thing. When you say the Arizona Cardinals, It's funny. When I moved here. You know, some people don't quite understand what I do. They're like, are you gonna cover the Arizona teams? I'm like, no, I don't. I couldn't even pretend to care. They just they do nothing for me emotionally, which kind of sucks. I mean, hell, Like, I'm not a big baseball fan like I used to be, but I still like background television, like when I lived in the Bay Area. Now again, I like the Giants, but even when they suck, you just throw them on in the background if you're doing other stuff, especially like day games during the season. If I have the Diamondbacks game on for like five minutes, I just see it on my TV and like, I gotta change it. It's just, yeah, something something about it. The Suns do nothing to me, So yeah, I mean, I don't know what to tell you. Beside, I just think it's the team, simply put, no one gives a shit, where a lot more people cared about Washington. So I feel for you as a Cardinal fan being under the Bidwells watch sucks. This for the back. I was thinking for the Patriots they would draft Travis Hunter, but now that the Giants have signed Russell Wilson and Jamis, they probably won't draft Sanders anymore and could throw and could now take Hunter off the board. What do you think the Patriots will do in the draft. Is the Arizona wide receiver McMillan worth the fourth overall pick? I would say this, it sucks for the Patriots if Carter, assuming he's healthy, is off the board and Travis Hunters off the board. If the Giants pass on your door, Sanders, that sucks because it's clear there are two guys that are just way better, and then there's the next McMillan. I could not take it four overall. I wouldn't take him in the top ten, but that's just me. I mean, there are some people that like him more than others. I mean, you watched the right game against New Mexico. He had seven hundred yards. But I just that there's one guy that's been drafted in the top ten with his speed low four to fives that has gone on to be a high end player, and that's Mike Evans. And I don't quite see Mike Evans a good player. But to me, like, if I'm drafting a wide receiver at four overall, he's got to be Jamar Chase, Malik Nabors, Julio Jones, and I don't know if this guy's that might be, but I to me, he's more like a guy you take in the teams. I don't know what they do. I think they would be in a tough spot. I think then you just take, Like who do you feel is the best player? Is that Mason Graham? Is that you know, one of the offensive linemen? I just think you take end up taking one of those guys. I don't know the answer to that, but I could not take McMillan over the lineman. I would still take either a defensive or offensive lineman right there. Obviously, the discuss with Will Campbell and the arms, like, I'm sorry, it is a big issue. Now let's just say hypothetically, Will Campbell because the pushback is what he's played years at the SEC and that's true, but you know, if it does become an issue, I do think he could slide to guard immediately be an awesome player. But how often you know, let's just say he became a Pro Bowl guard, you know, do you want to take that at four overall? And who knows? Maybe he just is a tackle for a long time and is a solid player. But you know, the Missouri guy worked out really good. People are really high on him. This is the trouble with the draft. This is why people have been saying two months ago, that's like, you know, like the Niners and the Cowboys at eleven or twelve, they're gonna get like the same pick of a player as the team's like the assuming Hunter and Abdul Carter are gone as like the Patriots and the Jags at four and five, which is not normal. Usually, like the top six or seven guys in a good draft are pretty you feel pretty confident, like these guys gonna be badasses, and then you just it's more of a coin flip once you get past like ten. Not saying there aren't sweet players, but you just you never know. And that's I think in this draft, it's not quite viewed like that, like a team draft in seventeenth to make get a way better player than the team draft in seventh. I saw Ryan Clark saying on ESPN the Niner should trade McCaffrey before the draft. I don't agree. What are your thoughts? No? I mean, what's one his value like they're trying to trade Ayuk. It's like, guys, no one's offering you anything of value for a guy making a bunch of money with a torn knee, so his value to trade him? He's more valuable to you McCaffrey right now. I think you just keep your fingers crossed that he bounces back and he's still got some good football in him and he can stay healthy for a couple more years. But who in their right mind today would trade anything of value for Christian McCaffrey making nineteen million dollars in a draft loaded with starting running backs. The answer is nobody. So it's like he is, he is more valuable to the Niners today than he is to another team. Plus, like the Niners do have to play games next year, they can't just like, well, why not just trade Kittle and Fred Warner two. Hey, Trent, Well, the Chiefs are calling. You want to go play for the Chiefs? It's like, fuck, why do you even dress out a football team? I saw that I didn't spend much time. He wasn't alone, and saw other people say like, why don't they just get rid of McCaffrey. Like, guys, what are you talking about? Yeah, if someone offers you you get the twelfth pick, can you trade him the cowboy to the twelve pick? Okay, I'll do that. Could you get like two? Two's? Yeah? I think long and hard about it. No one's offering you any of this. It's like, yeah, hey, so and so team offered you a conditional fifth. It's like, yeah, I'll just keep McCaffrey. You gotta pay somebody question for the pod, although not strictly a football one. Reflecting on your comments about mental toughness, I asked myself, what are the three mentally toughest sports events at the highest level? In other words, events where everyone is super skilled and the differentiator is the ability to hold it together mentally. My answers, The Ryder Cup speaks for itself. I like that one. The World Snooker Championship absolutely compelling, every may strongly recommend. I have no clue what that is. Test match cricket where you have to stay on top six hours a day for five days and one hundred degree heat, that'd be hard. Yeah, I would say anything like some sort of iron man I did a rod stuff like that where you get to a point where, I mean, all those guys training at a really high level, but the high end guy is mentally like his body's breaking down. It's not a sport. But you know, I would say accomplishing like hell week in the Navy seals, things like that. I mean those type things relative to you know, like I don't even know pro sports, basketball, baseball, and football, Like you have to have a lot of mental toughness, but like at any moment, you can tap out like that. That's what this gets back to football, And like you hear stories from guys in the sixties, the seventies, the eighties, the nineties, hell even in the two thousands. Yeah, we have three and a half weeks of double days in the pros. It's like, do you know how hard that is? Full pads, tackling to the ground for weeks on end. There is no and there's no tapping out so I would say that, you know, the Ryder Cup mentally for sure, physically not that taxing, taxing, especially the time of year they play, it's usually not that hot wherever they are. I would definitely choose some sort of triathlon, the idea to Rod, some sort of climbing event, the some sailing championship, probably not easy, anything like that. We're like, you could legitimately die, anything where it's not like, yeah, I get hurt right or no, I could die. Like if this goes wrong, tell my family. I love him, and I should probably call my accountant to get my affairs in order. That's a real conversation you have before an event. Then yeah, I take it pretty seriously. Huge Charger fan, I'm an even bigger Herbert fan, but lately I can't skate the feeling that he might never be able to get over the hump. He reminds me a lot of Rivers, always talented, always putting up big numbers, but never quite able to finish the job. I know Herbert's ceiling is higher than Rivers, and harbaugh arrival gives me hope, but considering the hype after his rookie year and now underwhelming the season, since we have been underwhelming this seasons, since we have been sometimes sorry, it's like I'm like, am I reading this wrong? Or grammar's not per always like listen, I'm by no means some Rhodes scholar here. I'm starting to seriously wonder will he ever take the next step? I think people forget and I'm not comparing Justin Herbert to Peyton Manning, but most people are not Tom Brady, and most people are not Patrick Mahomes where they win immediately, like comparing Philip Rivers to Justin Herbert. Philip Rivers, I don't even think he take him a couple of years to start right, because he got drafted in Breeze was there. Justin Herbert is just turn twenty seven years old. So even if we are conservative, he has like, I don't know, thirty five. I mean, Matt Stafford still plays at a high level at thirty six, thirty seven, let's just be conservative, thirty five he has eight more years of playing really well. And what's Jim sixty one years old? I think guys are gonna be okay, I really do, and I get it. You know, the playoff game was bad. I mean it's one of the worst games he's probably ever played. But I don't know. I think we're overreacting sometime. And I would say the same thing about Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen's like they could never do it. Yeah, there'll be a year. I mean, Tom Brady wants towards ACL in a season and it was just not around. So guess what the AFC was open that year. I mean, Patrick Mahomes could just even just get hurt. Even if he doesn't get hurt, Like, there's a year He's not gonna win the AFC every single year. One of these years he's gonna lose it. One year he did, Joe Burrow was in the Super Bowl. I promise you it's gonna happen again. Why don't the Browns signed to Sean to a massive contract extension and spread out the contract. This happens in baseball, but we rarely see the NFL giving to Sean another twenty million dollars guaranteed and stretching the track over eight to ten years would basically be make his number irrelevant? Am I missing something? I think they're in a business situation where they don't want to do anything to elongate the relationship. So they're already in for the money. They're in for. They want out. That is the goal right now, to get out. So their only goal is to end this conversation, right So even giving him an extra twenty million dollars just continues one in what world would you pay him another penny? I mean, he's one of the worst signing slash trades in the history of sports. It's been that bad. So you wouldn't give him any more money. And you don't want to stretch this out eight ten years. You want to eat it the next couple of years and move on. I hear what you're saying. I don't think you're it's crazy, but I just think if you were in their shoes, you want this divorce to happen as soon as humanly possible. And at this point in time, there is a little light at the end of the tunnel, though it's a couple of years away. Yeah, I would just play this bad boy out. A question for the pod. Getting married next year, So got a bachelor party that'll be late this year early next year. Thoughts on Scottsdale, Vegas or Nashville as the best place for a bachelor party. Love golf gambling and boozing. I would probably rank them either Scottsdale, Vegas or Vegas. Scottsdale have Nashville last. The one thing you would have with Vegas in Scottsdale is the golf and gambling aspects pretty solid. Obviously, Vegas is the best they got all the casinos. Scottsdale has added the Draft Kids casinos. No free shot outs though DraftKings is a sponsor. And I love that place right next to TPC, So you can play golf and then just go right there, or you can play other places and go and if you're going in the fall, there's gonna be football games on on the weekend, so I would put one of those two. Now, I'm not a club guy. I'm a bar guy. I've I've been to. You can count on how many clubs I've been, not counting strip on two hands in my forty years of existence. In my you know, forty twenty two years, I had a fake id for a couple of years of going pretty hard, though I don't go hard anymore. But I'm just saying like, I don't do clubs. So if you want clubs, you could throw any of them in the thing with Nashville. If you're going for a bachelor party, you're basically just staying on the strip. It's a little like Vegas. Now there's in terms of party the strip on Vegas, I mean you can entertain yourself for days. In Nashville, the Broadway Strip is really just you're just drinking at bars, which is nothing wrong with that. Where I would say Scottsdale has your widest variety of unlimited golf courses. I would say unlimited bars. Like if you want clubs, they got clubs. If you want just fun bars, they got bars, and they got the they got the sports gambling. Now they don't have a Actually they do have casino. What's it called talking stick which has cards and stuff. Hell, you could stay there, but unlimited Airbnbs I would I would probably go, given the golf and boozing, Scottsdale, Vegas Nashville or Vegas, Scottsdale, National Nashville, I would have Nashville probably last, just depending in between Scottsdale and Vegas. You know, depending on where you're coming from. I'm a sucker, like I like living here. Wait, like there, I would choose here ten out of ten times over Vegas. But there's something about the sound like I like casinos. Some people don't like. I don't know, I just I just like the sounds of them. And there's enough golf there to have a good time. But the weather's great, I think in both places in the winter, so hard to beat. I've been to Vegas and what's that time I've been been in a minute? Something about just walking into the Aria or the MGM, just hearing those sounds. I did it at the Super Bowl because they have a h It was a hard rock or something like. Right there on the strip was a canal street or whatever. The main Strip is not Bourbon, but like the main street going through New Orleans, and you just go and you just hear those sounds, like I just guess my juices. Fore Top five running backs in the NFL. I'm a Colts fan, so obviously I'm biased, but I never hear Jonathan Taylor mentioned as a top five back in the league. He's consistently great every year, but nobody seems to talk about him. Do you think Taylor is a top five back in the NFL? Right now? My list, in no order is something like Saquon McCaffrey, Henry Taylor, Jacobs. I mean after a season where Christian doesn't play, it'd be hard to have McCaffrey in the top five right now. Obviously, when he's healthy, he's an elite player, like in a Hall of Fame player. He could not play last season and then he came back and immediately towards knee. So it's like I couldn't with a straight face put him in the top five right now. And that's the thing with like these lists for running backs, and this is the pushback on paying them, is things can change so much. Like think how differently we talk about Saquon now then we did two years ago, Like it can change really fast. Though he's always been an elite talent. I would say Derek Henry is a staple. You know, Saquon's the king of the castle right now. Jacobs is just an excellent all around player. I'd have no issue with Jonathan Taylor there. Who would be another guy that would be in the mix of the good teams, you know, Jamiir Gibbs. I think you would have to swap cmc out for Jamiir Gibbs. I mean, how many touchdowns Jamior Gibbs have last year? It'd be hard for me to leave him off the list. He's twenty three years old, might have a bright future. So last year he started four games, obviously, plays a lot, ran for fifteen hundred yards, sixteen touchdowns, averaged five and a half yards of carry, caught fifty two balls and four touchdowns, so he had twenty touchdowns. Obviously, they only played the one playoff game and he had two touchdowns. I'd have to swap out McCaffrey for Gibbs. Obviously, if McCaffrey's healthy, he goes right back in. But last year is pretty scary. The achilles don't work, both of them, and then the knee bizarre times. If Russell Wills has another bad year, mediocre stats and no playoffs, does this hurt his Hall of Fame chances? At least the first go round his first Super Bowl in was thanks to the lob, and the second one he lost the game. You know, when you hear the Patriot guys talk about that play, I don't want to say he lost the game. I know it was his throw. I think it was a better like when you hear Patricia or any of the Patriot guys, like in some of the documentary style stuff go over that situation. It really is less crazy than when it happened live. They just I mean, the Patriots outscouted the Seattle. If they didn't scout that look, it's probably an easy touchdown. But they knew the play was coming. So Russell's a bizarre guy. I would have said, you know, in like twenty eighteen nineteen he was, you would have said, like, is he a future Hall of Famer? We would have laughed in your face. Of course he is. And now it feels like it's getting pretty ugly. And sometimes you know when you're so great, like no one talked about Willie Mays on the Mets, right, No one talked about some people's careers at the end. They just talked about the great spot, like how good it was in the peak of his powers. Like if Steph Curry plays his last season for Charlotte when he's forty two years old, no one will ever utter that. But when you have like the last six seven years of your career where you look nothing like you did in the peak of your powers, that's a lot of information. Like that's a huge sample size, that's a huge thing to ingrain in your memory. I think about this a lot, like as a kid, I don't go to therapy. Maybe one day I will, But it's like there are just some memories you really hold on. Not that you don't remember some negative stuff, but a lot of times, like when you lose a parent into a grandparent, or even a friend that maybe you had a roller coaster relationship with, you think and remember a lot of the good times. And when you're when you're sitting there sometimes maybe by yourself, you know, maybe a cocktail and just kind of just lost in thought, it's the good stuff that comes to mind and you almost forget about the negativity. I think a lot of times with an athlete or even a coach, like one blip on the radar, like even Belichick the last couple of years, and that's no one's gonna remember that. Even if North he flames out in North Carolina. You know, people remember twenty years, six super Bowls, nine appearances. And I do wonder Russell Wilson. Now it's like, would he be better off if this year doesn't go well just to quit? I don't know. I mean, obviously, from a financial standpoint, if you can keep making ten million dollars, I wouldn't blame him. He wants to keep making ten million dollars all the way from Ireland, so excited getting a game. I saw that we knew they were playing in Brazil. We know they play in London. I didn't they're playing a game in Spain. Playing a game in Spain. Rogers really likes this international market. Basically rock Purdy. He can't throw the ball in Rain. He has a weak arm and can't elevate talent. So make him play out his contract if he needs a tag, make it's still way less than the contract that he's wanting. Is this naive? With all the talent leaving, we need to commit to a full rebuild using the draft and build depth across both lines. It would also solve a UK issue as it would free up capspased thoughts. Yeah, I just think that they are We can argue what the right tactic is. It does feel inevitable that they're going to sign him to a contract, So my days of pounding the table like this is crazy. It's like I was saying that last year. It's like, hey, just let it play out. Well, if they're not going to do that, which clearly that is not their intention, it's a waste of a breath, right, So you're just we're gonna have to get the contract and then evaluate them on it. Like at the end of the day, we can nitpick all we want, Like, you know, the Giants should never have given Daniel Jones. They shouldn't have kept franchising Saquon. They should have extended Saquon and franchise Daniel Jones or maybe let Daniel Jones. But they did what they did, Like they let Saquon walk and they pay Daniel Jones. So you just have to evaluate then off that situation. So we will whenever they give him the contract, because if you tell me right now it's like, hey, they signed him to a contract and they give him a hundred million dollars guaranteed, I'd be like, oh my gosh, one of the great steals of all time. If you tell me they give him too hundred million dollars guaranteed, the conversation is different. So I think at this point I am just at peace. Is the wrong. I don't care, Like you give Brock the one hundred million dollars a year, like it doesn't know, it's not my money. But in terms of building a team, like we have to see the numbers in how they will impact everything, and then we'll react because some of these contracts are real, some of them are fake. And uh, I don't know. I don't know where this is going because all the niners are telling everybody is like, we're gonna fucking play hardball. Well, okay, I'm cool with that. I'd play some hardball. I'd offer him a contract right now. Here's three years, one hundred and twenty million dollars. Will guarantee every penny. He's made a total of four million dollars in his life, which is a lot of money. But if I give you one hundred and twenty million dollars, what are you gonna do? Say? No, what are you gonna play out? You're gonna play another season for one and a half million dollars? Well that's the going rate. Okay, then we'll franchise you next year. She will make a total of forty five million dollars over the next two years. Is that what you want to do? We'll give you one twenty right now, the signing bonus of fifty million dollars. It will be in your account before Easter. You interested? The answer is no? Okay, that's the way I would play it, but they're not playing it that way. So if they're not gonna play it that way, it's like it's a waste of our breath. I remember, it's like, why are we paying Tua? Why are we paying Trevor Lawrence? Well, and then they're under contract, so we can talk all day long about that's crazy. Well they did it. So it's like it's a waste of our breath to what they shouldn't have done because it's already done. And shit, now a year later, we're a year into the contract, which both did not age very well. Okay, last question is from Juan. That's my name in Spanish, though they used to call me one Itto, which stands for a little John. Hey John. From your perspective, what do you think is the problem with the Colts. Pat McAfee probably is the best punter in Colts history. All of last season literally critiqued the entire Colts organization and the team for how they're being run, and especially dog Anthony Richardson for the tap out incident, but nobody wants to critique Shane for his play calling and lack of ability to help out Richardson. Grow would you try to give Richardson one more shot and just tear it all down and then a complete rebuild. I think the culture at the point where it's either shit or get off the pot for old Chris. And Chris is well liked in the in the industry. He's friends with Colin, a lot of people know him, and people think highly of the guy. But there's no disputing like, they haven't won the division in forever. It feels like they haven't made the playoffs in a while now. And the Anthony Richardson situation is pretty embarrassing, like there's just no way around that. It's just like it's bad. And then I saw a headline today is like, yeah, they're gonna let the two guys compete. It's like, oh, he's competing with Peyton Manning, Philip Rivers, no Daniel Jones. If Anthony Richardson were to be beat out by Daniel Owns, I don't think you could ever recover. And if he got beat out by Daniel Jones and then your team were to miss the playoffs, which I would probably expect them to do, you'd have to fire everybody. The problem is their owner doesn't feel doesn't feel like he's in a great spot. It feels like he's like, you know, like a kind of like a rocker Drugye version meets Joe Biden just to it just it's just not going well. I don't know if you're all upstairs anymore. But this is not Fortune five hundred companies. The board of director can't force the CEO out like he owns it, he runs it. He's in charge him and his family, so he can do whatever he wants. And he clearly likes these guys. He likes Chris a lot. I do wonder how many places like for as for as well liked as Chris Ballard is, he would have been fired in Philadelphia three years ago, would have been long gone. So I I don't know. I mean, I I'm at the point where Anthony Richardson kind of seen this movie before. You know, a guy with all these physical skills, and sometimes those are the worst guys with all these physical skills who aren't actually that good and do weird stuff that drive you nuts. Did you hold on for much longer than you would for a guy with less talent? Because what would you do with the guy with less talent? He would just cut him. He would just move on, even if you draft or bench him, even if you drafted them high. But Anthony Richardson is like guy, he's he's so fast, he's physical presence guy. He can throw the ball three football fields on a rope. It's like, yeah, can he play quarterback? Can he hit the wheel route? Can he run a two minute drill? And the answer is usually no. So I think my guess would be right now is that Anthony Richson ends up getting everyone fired. And Shane Stiken, like you said, I thought it was pretty eye opening, Like McAfee's not pulling the shit out of his butt, he's hearing things from people that know and like Mike McDaniel in Miami, when it comes out like he's like, he called you guys for being like your team's not punctual, guys are showing up late. And then Shane Steiken agreed, He's like, yeah, we gotta work on that. I forget. I forget exactly the way he kind of described it, but he acknowledged like it was a problem. He's like, listen, everyone has a moment where a tire blows, car, batteries dead, you get into an accident, help, maybe even you oversleep every human being. Even you know, the highest end Sealed Team six member has probably been late one moment in their life. Some people maybe not Tom Coughlin, but most people. But if it's like, yeah, it's like consistent issue with the team, that's a reflection of the head coach. I can't imagine people constantly showing up late to Belichick, to Andy Reid, to Pete Carroll, to Sean McVay, to Kyle Shanahan, to Sean Payton, to Nick Saban to Kirby Smart, like it wouldn't be tolerated because it's not tolerated because that's what bad teams do. Like, do you think a bunch of guys in the Ravens and Bills are just showing up late every week? No chance? Do you think a bunch of dudes on like the Lions are just lollygagging their way in? Sorry, Coach Campbell late for the fourth time this month? My bad, you're fucking kidding me. And even McDaniel's like, yeah, our fines don't work. That's that's an embarrassing thing to admit because it's not about the money. And clearly, when you say fines don't work, that's the practice squad guy ain't given away ten thousand dollars easily when he's making two hundred grand or your minimum six round pick and giving up that cash the rich, It's like, well, who the rich guys on the team? So you're telling me your best players don't give a shit about showing respect to the rest of the team and the head coach, because that's all it is. When you show up late. You know, listen, we've all been discombobulated and show up late to a zoom or you know, forget like a phone call that we had ten minutes ago, like it's happened to us all, but like walking into a tangible meeting with you know, if you factor in an NFL meeting room, you got fifty three guys in the active roster, you got another ten practice squad guys. You got I'll just pick a number. Let's say between quality control guys and just analysts. You probably got twenty plus coaches, head coach, probably got a couple of GM assistant GM guys in there, some trainers. Like you got a lot of people in the room. So it's not you're just walking into like one guy like my fault, Bill, I'm late. No it's like one hundred guys in the meeting room. I mean, we've all seen hard knocks and stuff Like I'm not even talking training camp. I'm talking to him the season. The Mems are big walking in ten minutes late. That's that's pretty bad. That to me is the biggest red flag of the operation. And I think some guys they're great like play callers, and clearly Shane is excellent, like understands offense. I also think sometimes when you have a player who is not good, happens a lot of quarterback we all kind of take a dump on the coordinator. It's like, now I've seen Shane Syking's pretty good. I think he's a good play caller. Is he good disciplinarian? Is he strict enough? Is he too is he too much of a players coach? Yeah, I mean that that might be the case. But just in terms of like calling a play on third and seven in the third quarter of a tie game, I think he's proven, like he kind of knows what he's doing. When your quarterback can't hit basic routes, like, it's gonna make the coordinator look bad. So I will defend Shane the coach from a play or a play caller standpoint, it's hard to defend him from the CEO because you're kind of both. Can you imagine people walking in late to the Harball Brothers meetings all the time. Are you kidding me? Like that? Jim might fight you, John just it just wouldn't be allowed. The team wouldn't allow it. So yeah, crazy times, Nindy. Feel for you guys. I was. I was a huge paid manning guy in high school. Loved the Colts, always rooted for him. And then he won it and I kind of didn't be not that I'm not a paid manning guy, but once he won it, I felt like, Okay, we're good. I just for a while, I just didn't think he was gonna get over the hump that I was gonna be like Charles Barkley of the NFL. But he was. He was just too good. He figures it out, gott Heol's have a great weekend. Peace. The volume