John discusses what it takes to be a head coach in the NFL and why certain coaches who may not seem like great head coaches continue to get jobs and why other coordinators who are great, don't work out as head coaches. Next, John talks about the NFL Draft and how similar the draft is to a reality show, the Jags picking up Travon Walker's 5th year option, how we all need to relax with the NIL, and his take on this season of White Lotus.
Lastly, John answers your questions during this episode's mailbag segment.
5:49 - What it takes to be a head coach
12:36 - The NFL Draft is a reality show
24:00 - Travon Walkers staying in Jax
30:01 - Relax with the NIL
32:38 - White Lotus take
38:24 - Mailbag
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The volume. What is going on? Everybody? How are we doing? This is John and three and Out podcast. I pushed back the Master's preview till Wednesday. Still working on my betting card. It's a little overwhelming, a lot going on. It got rained out today, the practice round on Monday, so I wait for some guys to talk on Tuesday. See if any news comes out injuries or withdraws or anything. Then we will have a big, big Master's kind of preview from a betting perspective that will come out Monday. But today we'll be about football. And we had some teams starting. They're voluntary Phase one, a lot of new coaches, Ben Johnson, Aaron Glenn. It's not Rabel's first rodeo, but it's his first day as the Patriot head coach with his whole team back. And wanted to dive into the reality show that is the Draft. We're gonna do something on the draft every single day moving forward, so buckle up. And some other stuff going on around the NFL. Couple rants here and there on just random stuff in the world. Vlad Guerrero got five hundred million dollars. Not the Dad, the Sun and the white Lotus watched the season finale last night. Uh, and we also do a mailbag at John Middlecoff is the Instagram fire in those dms. At John Middlecoff is the Instagram fire in those dms. We will answer a bunch today and keep firing in those and I'm gonna need you because we're in the off season now. It's the next week or two are pretty slow and then we obviously Draft week we amp back up, but not you know, the free agency has come to a screeching halt. Obviously the pro days now are basically over, so that the NFL, I don't want to say, goes into hibernation because the franchises are working the draft meetings and the players are back in down. But in terms of the stories coming out like they have been over the last month, it definitely it definitely slows down. So we will just find ways to talk about football because that's what we do here. So make sure you subscribe to the podcast. If you listen Sun Collins three and OW podcasts, Spotify, Apple, you name it, we got you covered YouTube channel as well. Go subscribe to that. But before we dive in to some football, you know, I gotta tell you about my friends, my partners, and the official ticketing app of this podcast. When it comes to ticketing apps, I've used them all. I've used every single one, and I can say, honestly never used a better one than the Game Time, and I've gone to more events. I'm going if you're watching this on Tuesday, I'm going to the Warriors game to night. Worriors have been hot, but they're in a battle right now just to try to make the playoffs and avoid the playing games. Curry's been hot until he wasn't against the Rockets. The Suns are terrible. So excited. Hopefully Curry goes for like forty. But if you want it, the NBA playoffs are right around the corner. The NHL playoffs. OV just broke the record. The Capitals. Can they win the Stanley Cup? Do you want to go to one of these NHL playoff games? Baseball in full swing? You got a concert are about to start all over the country. How often do you see something like on Instagram or the internet? You're like, God, so and so is playing right down the road. I didn't even know, no excuse. Keep an eye on that. Use game Time for updates to find the venue, to find the artist. It doesn't get any easier to use or take the guest work out of buying tickets with game Time. Download the game Time app, create an account and use the code John Jagen that's my name for twenty dollars off your first purchase terms apply again, create an account, redeem the code John Jawagen for twenty dollars off. Down the Game Time app to day last minute tickets low as price is guaranteed. One thing that probably fascinates me in sports, but specifically football, more than most is the plight of coaches. And I love going to a wiki page and seeing where they start and how they got to either become a coordinator and obviously how to become a head coach, and a lot of these guys it's a very nomadic profession. I mean, there are some individuals you see You're like, wait, this guy's forty three and he's already worked for seven teams. It's like geez, Louise. I mean, one time you get fired, another time, you move up a couple times, and then you get a promotion somewhere else. You just bounce around a lot, maybe started in college and then you got your chance in the NFL. But you had to take a step back and listen. Like when you hire Mike Vrabel or Pete Carroll, you kind of know what you're getting. When Starbucks hired the CEO from Chipotle, they were pretty confident he knows what he's doing, given that he had not just revamped and taking care of Chipotle and taking into another level. He had done the same with Tackle Bell. This wasn't some like, oh, we're getting the COO from company X. Now. It's like this guy's got a track record. But anytime a guy goes from becoming a coordinator to a head coach, it's a completely different job. Like they don't have that many parallels. Right. As a coordinator, all you care about are schematics and the guys that are available to play that given week and the game plan. As a head coach, you deal with things that you could never envisioned as an assistant coach. You're dealing with training staff, with equipment, staff, with the ownership, with the front office, with people's emotions good and bad, with injuries, when people get in trouble. Everything that happens when it comes to your team comes to your desk. That is not true as a coordinator, and honestly, even when it's on your side of the ball, as a coordinator, you have no decision making power when it comes to like do we cut them, do we trade them, do we suspend them? Do we benjam like, that's not your call. And Mike Vrabel and Pete Carroll's been making these calls now for three decades. Mike Vrabel, it felt like was born to be a head coach. I'm fascinated by these guys, especially a guy like Ben Johnson, who was like best offensive coordinator since like the McVeigh crew, right, since the Shanahan's Mcveigh's, Lafleur's, Kevin O'Connell, Like he's the next I know he's not from that tree, but the way we talk about him, he might as well be. This guy is a genius. It doesn't get any better than this. Well, now he's the head coach. And today in these early voluntary workouts don't really have anything to do with football in terms of on the field running plays, but it's I think the first phase is a lot of working out and getting in shape for the second phase, which then gets a little more in depth with the coaching. But like today was the first time in his career he's got in front of the entire team as the head coach. Now, him and Aaron Glenn have obviously talked to the team over the years when it came to the Lions as coordinators. I'm not even just talking about their unit. They have got in front of the team countless times training camp, during the season. It's just a natural thing that coaching staffs do. Sometimes they rotate depending on the coach. Some guys talk more than others. But there was no confusion who in that building was the boss. It was Dan Campbell. So when Aiden Hutchinson shattered his leg, like, that's Dan Campbell and the GM's job to figure out what we're gonna do, not Aaron Glents. Now that he's in charge, like those decisions fall on him, and it's easy to root for these two guys. It's incredible what these two guys have done. And we know they both know football schematically. Why because they came from a CEO head coach and they got to control it all on offense and defense. But they are both going to a place where you look at the history is not a place conducive to success when it comes to being a head coach. The Jets fire a lot of coaches, so do the Bears. And I think when you look at these two guys, they're easy to room for. They seem just like high level guys. Dan Campbell swears by them both. But it is going to be very challenging. Now, in theory, the Bear's job should be easier than the Jets job because at least they have something to work with at quarterback that people are very hopeful on. We'll see on justin fields. But the one thing I say about the Bear is that division is no joke. That is not an easy division to lead. But I think anytime that you take this step, we have no clue how it's gonna work out. It's a little like the draft. How many times have we seen, like God, it's one of the best college players we've ever seen. This guy dominated in the SEC and the Big ten, in the Pac twelve, and then they get to the NFL and they're kind of an afterthought because it's just a projection. We don't know how it's gonna work. It's an enormous step. Same thing with being a head coach, the pressure, the stress, now defense or offense, not your side of the ball is also on your plate. Getting to know those players. The way that you conduct yourself and act good or bad, positively or negatively impacts everyone because everyone's looking at you for direction. And I would say the one thing about the two Lions guys is they came to a guy pretty comfortable, clearly in his own skin. When it came to leadership, you would say, Dan Campbell has vaulted himself near the top of the list in the NFL of handling all that type stuff. These guys handled the schematics football wise, but in terms of leading the group, leading the troops, handling messaging, he was a lite at that And now this falls on them. And like he dealt with the GM, because that's what head coaches do. They work hand in hand with the GM, not the coordinators. Not saying the coordinators don't have interactions and don't talk to them, they don't run ideas by him. But the buck doesn't stop with them, and now it does. And you know, Mike Vrabel, when he gets like he's comfortable in that role, why he's done it for a long time. Same like we said with Pete Carroll. But for these guys to be fascinating to see and saying whenever the Cowboys start with Brian Schottenheimer, it is it's a massive, massive step and you really have no time to like that. There is no time for a learning curve because the season's five six months away and then you're playing games and all of a sudden, you're playing Dan quinn or Sean McVay or Jim or John Harbaugh or Mike Tomlins. Like, these guys just know what they're doing. So it good luck to all these teams. It's exciting and this is why you know, Ben Johnson, Aaron Glenn Now got huge raises because you're in charge. I was thinking about this when it comes to the draft. You know, ultimately what the draft is, it's just a gigantic reality show, right. It intermixes college football the pros and then all these guys getting sent to different teams and a lot of them on a given draft star studded. Right. I think the highest rated draft in recent years was now It's somewhat unique twenty twenty, which you know, not great times. We're all stuck at home. That was the draft when Belichick had the dog. You know, everyone's all the head coaches and gms are drafting from their homes. It was also a star studded draft when it came to quarterbacks. You know, Joe Burrow had just had one of the great seasons we've ever seen, LSU had won the national championship. Tua, I mean, there was tank for Tua going on, and Justin Herbert, who it's weird he was the third quarterback taken, but he had basically been a four year starter at Oregon and like sixteen million people watched last year, got enormous ratings. Why quarterback century and a draft? In terms of popularity, it's like, John when are you gonna break down Will Campbell? Yeah, probably not happening on the show. Besides just yeah, his arms are a question mark, but like no one's if I started breaking down his feet and technique, not that that interests me at all, it definitely would not interest you and you would turn off the podcast. So I think we love talking about quarterbacks. We know they're the most important position, and they also drive a draft, right the Johnny footballs, the Carson Wentz Mariota years, the RG three Andrew Luckiers like those are enormous times for the interest of this product. And I think this is we're kind of caught in no man's land, and I was thinking about this the best thing that could happen for this draft, especially on Draft night, and listen, I have no clue what's gonna happen to Shador. I like Schador as a player. I enjoyed watching him this season. I think he's a pretty good player. I gambled on him a lot, and he won me some money. He made some huge plays. I mean that throw he made against Baylor rolling to his left. I remember watching it live, like my jaw hit the floor. It was freaking awesome. I don't disagree with people saying, like, you know, historically it's not some all time great prospect, and that's one hundred percent true. Ten years ago, a guy like this probably goes in the second round. Well, a home used to cost four hundred grand. That same home now costs nine hundred grand. Things change, and that's what's happening with quarterbacks, right. They used to guys like Derek Carr and Andy Dalton and Jimmy Garoppolo used to fall to the second round. No one thought anything of it. Those guys now all go in the top twenty. We just saw it last year. Everyone's like Bo Dix not a first round quarterback. Not only is he a first round quarterback, he's gonna go twelve and then he's gonna be a starter immediately and lead a team to the playoffs. Now, lead a team would be strong, but be a starting quarterback on a playoff team. So could Shador go three? Because now Travis Hunter is the betting favorite to go number two? Sure, could he go six? Could he go fifteen? Could he go twenty? Yeah? I don't know, but I know the drama on the draft. He by far is their biggest character. I'm not proud to say this, and I've never been a Bravo watcher, but my wife she loves a couple of the shows, Southern Charm, She's addicted, and I'd be lying if I said, listen, I hate watch it, but I also like it a little. And you know, Summer House is another one of those shows. They are two of the most popular shows on Bravo. They crush and on some of these shows, these people break up. They have these longer relationships. They break up and they are still on the show years later together even though they're dating other people, And you're like, how weird is that because most human beings, when they break up with somebody, typically, especially when you're younger, you probably don't spend as much time around that person anymore. But in these shows they do. And the reason is because they're paying these people so much money that like it's too lucrative for them just to quit. On Summer House, these two were engaged, they broke up the last episode of the season, their engagement a month before they were supposed to be married. And then this season they're just back on the show and it's like, how could you be around someone that you were engaged to, that you dated for a long time. This chick is now pregnant with some other dude and spend around it's simple money, and you know what, that creates a lot of drama that creates interests. Bravos got these people by the balls, paying them twenty five to thirty forty grand an episode. It's like they're paying them too much to quit, and that creates the interest. And that's all the draft is. It's a huge reality television show. And shador I would say, is the biggest reality television character in this upcoming draft we have seen in years past, it's been other people last year, by far, it was Kayleb Williams. It was not even close. But the other quarterbacks were pretty big. You know, Jaden Daniels Heisman Trophy, LSU became a pretty big deal. Bo Nicks had played at Oregon, Michael Panics had played at Washington. Those were big time programs and their stardom had grown and grown and grown. And it's a huge reason why football is so big is because college football and the NFL are just so closely connected, and they flow right into the draft, which is one of the biggest events. You could argue, the biggest event non game of the year. So I think the Chador thing is just fascinating. I would have no problem if I needed a quarterback taking them. I think the Giants thinking that you can keep a job with Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston wouldn't just be naive. It'd be crazy. Now if they say, hey, we like a quarterback we can get in the second or third round more than him, then I hear you take abdual Carter, take another player, but you better be right because you're gonna lose your job. And I'm telling you, Pete Carroll, I would not be shocked at all, especially with the power that Tom Brady now yields in that organization and his connection with Shador. But I think by far no one knows. It's the best part about draft season. No one actually knows because what a lot of the media is being told, as Morgan Wallen would say, are lies, lies, lies. I mean, you can't believe anything this time of year. Things are coming all over the place. These teams now for the next week or two are really hammering down their draft board. Coaches, let's face it, have big mouths, They talk a lot. Some of these coaches are not in the loop that they do not know what's going on. Some of them do, so this information getting out, it's impossible to know what's correct and what's not. Obviously, the betting markets now are hard not to take seriously because they clearly kind of know what's going on. And sitting here today, we know cam Ward is going number one. I feel really confident on that, and that's not because the betting markets. I mean, hell, a month ago I was told that by someone that would know. And when it comes to two and three, like it does feel in some order that the other the two top prospects in this draft, Carter and Hunter will go and then Shador's like, we'll see, But I would never rule out like Okay should or ended up with the Giants. Wouldn't shock you. It wouldn't be like Michael Pennox last year with Atlanta. So it's it's gonna be fascinating how this works out. But don't ever get this twist. This is a gigantic reality show and it's listen. It's someone that has a love hate relationship with reality shows. I do respect kind of the business model of it all, and it's whether it's scripted regardless what it is like. I do think there's some validity to some of these people's emotions, but it's hard for them to get out if the network wants them to stay because they're paying them so much money. And it's a little like that with like Shador is just in this gossip loop, which is part of the reason this event is so highly anticipated and then watched. 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Another thing that happened today is like Trent Balke is a polarizing figure. I've been talking about him for years because it does feel like a lot of people in the NFL don't like him, definitely do not trust him. And it felt kind of mob style this year that Liam Cohen in a weird way indirectly took out Trent. It's like, hey, shod you want to hire me, I'll never working for this guy. So if you want me, you better get rid of this guy. And then he was fired. A couple of years ago, he made a draft pick that was I would say pretty baalsy. Aiden Hutchinson was as close to a can't miss again. I say it all the time, there is no such thing, but there are players that it's going to be harder for them not to be a contributing member of a team. That's Abdull Carter and Travis Hunter. Are they going to be All Stars? Are they going to be Hall of Famers? I don't know. I have a hard time seeing Abdull Carter and Travis Hunter health permitting not be good players in the NFL. I said the same thing about Aidan Hudginson. It's like, yeah, I didn't know he was gonna be as good as he is, but if you watch him play at Michigan, you're like, this fucking guy can play. He took Trayvon Walker, who at the time was on this star studded Georgia defense that had first rounders all over the place, and he wasn't the best player. But it doesn't always play out that way when it comes to a draft, like what are your measurables? Physically? The guy was a freak, even though he wasn't the most productive. Like, I don't want to say Trent Balkey got it right because I would still rather have Aiden Hutchinson over Trayvon Walker, but he definitely didn't get it wrong. Walker's had ten sacks each of the last two years. He just got his fifth year option picked up by an administration that had nothing to do with him. Liam Cohen, I think Gladstone, maybe I'm screwing up his name. The new GM from La and Boselli. The Jags actually put out on YouTube behind the scenes video of Cohen, the New GM and Boselli. It was really I enjoyed it. I watched it on YouTube probably within the last week. Tony Boselli feels like just a high level, impressive guy ran into him once at Starbucks. He is fucking massive. He looked. He looks really skinny and good right now, maybe a little zempic going on, but it feels like the JAG's got some positive momentum. But anytime you get a new operation, like you saw Mike Rabel come in and Josh McDaniels and they're like, Joe Milton, you're out of here. It's like you just drafted me. You don't want no, You're gone, see you, buddy, And they just they just trade him for basically nothing. It's like, we just want him out of the building. Why we're setting the tone. We want our guys. And someone will say, well, they wanted to clear the decks for Drake May. It's like, yeah, Drake May is not worried about Joe Milton, but like Mike Rabel wants no questions asked. And a lot of times when you get new administrations, they just if you're not our guy, it's like a wait and see approach, and there was no wait and see approach to this. It's like, yeah, fifty year option, We'll pay you fifteen million dollars and wouldn't shock me if things go well, they give him a huge contract extension. So Trent Balke takes a lot of shit, currently unemployed, probably getting paid to do nothing. Give him some credit on that one because it was controversial and not even necessarily correct because as of the day it wasn't the correct decision, but it wasn't a wrong disaster either. A couple other things non football. Vlad Guerrero Junior, the son of Vlad Guerrero, I don't think he's seniors. Is Vlad Guerrero who I loved, I mean the guy he sway out of his shoes, hit bombs, Bvlad Guerrero the dad made I think almost one hundred and fifty million dollars playing baseball. His son, who is a big bopper like his father, but definitely built a little different, little more physical, you know, size wise, is just signed a contract for five hundred million dollars. And listen, I have seen the internet and seen people with takes all over the place, like you're just a year away. You've waited this long, you could have seen what the market. Can you imagine someone putting five hundred million dollars in front of your face in turning that down. We just had a question the other day on the mail bag about a guy's business and he could make two million dollars in his mid thirties. It's like, this is listen, I love I own this company. Things are going great. It's like should I do this? And it makes you think you probably have some sleepless nights. I'll never forget being in Philadelphia when I first moved there, Cole Hamil's was like this. I don't want to say the star pitcher, because they had Roy Halliday as well, who was better. But it's like they were gonna give Cole Hamill's an extension. Maybe he was gonna make it the free agency, and it was like he signed for one hundred and twenty million dollars. And I remember someone saying like, can you imagine being Cole Hammil's and trying to drive a hard bargain? And then they put in fifteen years ago one hundred twenty million dollars might as well have been like two fifty put that money in front of you and saying, yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna wait another six months. It's hard to pass up this money. Now signing a player on the flip side to these ten plus year deals fourteen years besides someone you marry. I don't know if I would do business with anybody and sign a fourteen year contract. That feels pretty crazy. Obviously, if you have a thirty year mortgage, that's a long contract that you have with the bank. But in terms of a business partner, and from the Blue Jay standpoint now, the way that you advertize it, if you are going to give a guy five hundred million dollars, you'd rather do fourteen years than five. But it does seem a little crazy, and it's weird. Like baseball. All you ever hear from people on the show is Baseball's dead because they just talk about the NBA when ninety percent of the NBA nobody watches, and you see these contracts being divvied out in Baseball's like seven hundred million here, seven hundred and fifty million here, or three hundred and fifty million, five hundred million, it's weird, like cool for these guys it's an exorbitant amount of money. It doesn't feel like a great deal for the team. Now, I get if you're Toronto you don't want to lose them, But if you're a great baseball player, right now, it is a lucrative proposition. One thing, I have one stance I'm gonna take moving forward and listen, we talk about it here in regards to a guy moving teams. You know, it's happening in basketball right now. You see this guy goes from San Diego State and he goes to Wisconsin. This guy transfers from Washington State to Kentucky. It's happening all the time. I'm done with the arguing back and forth about nil, Like, I just don't care. How are people still so worked up over this? Now I understand it's not an ideal situation and it's gonna play itself out. But after a year or two, I get being like having takes and takes. I don't understand how people are still arguing this. I just like, who cares, Let's just play itself out. It's like, this guy wants so and so wants this much money. Will either offer him that much money or say no? And if you say no, and he goes somewhere else and he gets that much money. That was his value if you say no, and he can't get that much money anywhere else, and he'll take what you offered him, like welcome to supply and demand. I just think some of these takes on nil. I'm just kind of getting exhausted with it, Like I don't give a shit whether this guy gets three hundred thousand or five hundred thousand, cool for him. I mean, I just don't see how everyone is still so worked up. And I'm talking more media people see him arguing constantly, like on my Twitter timeline, It's like, how do you guys care this much at this point in time? I mean, we are several years into this. Let people make mistakes, let them not make mistakes. Hey, who gives a shit, It's all gonna play itself out. And last, but not least, I enjoyed the first couple of seasons of White Lotus. It was really good. I found this last season awful, like really really boring. And my standards for television are pretty low, Like I'm pretty easily entertained given that I watch now Summerhouse in Southern Charm, so a show like White Lotus, I welcome into my life. And the first several seasons were pretty incredible, like they were just I don't want to say elite television, but they were pretty high level. This last season was awful. I thought it was a snoozefest. Now I keep watching, and it's weird. Sometimes with television shows, I get fomo like I don't want to miss out when I feel like a lot of people are watching, even if I don't like the show. The best example for me on this would have been Game of Thrones. I'm just not into like dragons, so if you tell me there are dragons in a show, like, it's not gonna be for me. But it felt culturally the show was so big I had to watch, and there was enough violence and enough nudity. I was like, oh, I'm entertained. But I did not think it was as like a transcendent as clearly a lot of people in this space of talking about things. I feel White Lotus kind of fell under that umbrella, like everyone held the show to such high regard because of the previous seasons, and rightfully so it was awesome, and then this season happened. You're like, come on, guys, this isn't really it, and we all know it. We're watching because we despite having a million streaming services and a million shows to watch, most of them kind of suck and we get into it. It's not that interesting. Occasionally you run into like an interesting documentary. Me and Maria just watched this chick called like Ruby Frank. She was like this YouTube mom in Utah. It's crazy. I mean, it makes you sick to your stomach. You'd root for her. I mean, jail is not enough. I'll just say that, like, I mean she should she should go bye bye forever, not in a jail, probably down, not up. But you watched it. It was really well done. It was really powerful. Sometimes you run into like I didn't even know about the story, but you know, you get shows like White Lotus to build up everyone's talking about it, and then you watch this season you're like, eh, what, it's just kind of stupid, but yeah, it's finally over. And then the anticipation for season five. Let's just hope it's better than season four. Let's start with Allen again, just firing those dms, thinking about the events of the Super Bowl and what could happen in the next few years. From Mahomes and the Chiefs. Could we see a Steph Curry career for Patrick wins early and shows to be the best player in the league, and then as the team gets older, key players aren't there anymore and you're just not the same, but you somehow make a championship game a few years later after that last trip. We could see Travis retire, Jones get injured, Oline never become strong, Read retires. What are your thoughts on the similarities and can you see something similar to Steph's career for Mahomes. Well, I don't think they'll parallel each other because Curr's when he won his championship in twenty two, it was still with Raymond Green and Klay Thompson who had been there since fifteen sixteen the Durant era, and then obviously those guys had gotten injured in Clay mainly Achilles and acl tears. I do think that the best thing that could happen to like his the team big picture, if they had a bad year where everyone got hurt and it was just a disaster. And remember the Warriors had a year where they had the second overall pick, they had a year where they had two really high picks the following year. So if you can bottom out and get a high pick, and for the Chiefs that could be like pick seven or nine or ten if they just over the next couple of years a disastrous season. Obviously, I don't want this to happen, but if he were to get hurt, remember the Chiefs or excuse me, the Patriots. I forget what year it was, but maybe they never really bought himed out. I guess they just finished the second the one time with Matt Castle. But you kind of got to either get lucky with some later round draft picks. But if they were to ever have a bad year and Veitch were to get a top ten pick in every round, it would be a problem. It really would. And it also builds on the hype of you know, this is the year remember when let's just say they went nine to eight and they missed the playoffs, and it's like, ah, he lost his fastball. And then the next year, because you have the fifteenth pick in the draft, you're able to kind of retool your roster. I doubt that happens. I mean, I'm gonna bet the over this year, but I hear what you're saying. I think there are similarities. The difference is Patrick has never needed you know, Steph took a lot of shit even though what he had already, Kevin Durant needed him. He didn't need Kevin Durant, like he'd already won a championship. Kevin came, they won a couple more, and then he leaves. Kevin has never won anything since Steph's won another championship. It's like Mahomes one with Tyreek, one without Tyreek, one with a good offensive line, one with an average one. So I actually think he's already kind of done all the checklists. How does Anthony Richardson go top five but Milroe will be a third round or later pick. Was he almost hurt by how much film we had on him? I've mentioned this before. If Jalen Milroe had just played twelve games in college, if Jalen Milroe would have just his season last year would have been it. Yes, he would have gone higher. The more film we have on a guy, the more you get nitpicked, especially when it kind of is an up and down experience, especially if you're not the most accurate player. But listen, Jaen miro I saw today is going to the draft I don't think he's going to go in the first round. I think that would be insane. I even think it's a second round pick. That's pretty crazy. Third round, like Malik Willison has gone to the third round. I can live with that if I'm a team, like a project, if my OC and my quarterback coach are into it. Though history would say most guys that struggle with accuracy never turned that around. But we you know Milroe, it's hard to get that Georgia first half, which might have been the greatest first half he'll ever play in his life, was pretty awesome. Everyone loves the guy. I think that's Anthony Richinson had that going for him too. Now clearly that's maturity has been a knock on him. I've never heard that with Milroe. You were talking about Gino and Cousins today, and I thought about other quarterbacks that are close to that age other than Russ. I couldn't think of any that had decent careers. Is this a product of college offenses being so focused on bubbles and short passes during that era or was it just a weird coincidence that guys are left from the early to mid tenths. Yeah, I think it's a weird coincidence because if that was a trend, we never would have got Lamar Josh mahomes Herbert. I mean, we've gotten a lot of good quarterbacks hurts golf over the last seven eight years, So I think it's just a weird coincidence. We did go through a rough stretch there. You know, Cam got old fast and he was really good for a minute. Obviously won an MVP, but then his career just fell off a cliff once the shoulder got hurt. But if you think about rg Thie got hurt, you know Foles could never quite find a role beside being a backup. Yeah, I don't know. It's just you know, Russ Dak to some mid rounders. Do you consider Dak as part of that sixteen? Probably a little later than you're talking about. There was a lot of eight lockers and Christian Ponders and EJ. Manuals. I think it was just a bad two or three year stretch. Clearly, it feels like we're on a better one right now. It's crazy how that happens sometimes. Patriot fan excited to see how this upcoming season goes. I know you and Colin feel how you guys feel about the over on our wind total. Something to note too is that the farthest the team travels this year to an away game is New Orleans, pending any international games being finalized. My question is how important is travel distance to overall team health in morale? Seems like a good thing that we don't need to do any West Coast games this season. Listen, I never played in the NFL, so I can't speak to you know what travel is like on the body now, travel has never been easier for these guys unless you're on the craft's plane, which obviously you guys are up. They're like, there are cigarette what it was it? There are not cigarette lighters, but ash trays. That was one. Not there are ashtrays on the planes? Like, oh, sorry, guys, no one's smoking on the plane. Who fucking cares? But I hear you. It's like we'd like a newer plane. That's yeah. But I would say, obviously, if you're traveling, I think it's harder to go west to east, or excuse me, it's it's harder to go east to west. In terms of if you have a Monday night or a Sunday night game and you're the Patriots, the Jets. You know the Jets this year played Monday night football in San Francisco. Well, the game ends at eight thirty Pacific Standard time, what's eleven thirty their time, So by the time did they get on the plane and start taking off, it's what two two and a half hours later, probably once you do media, shower, eat, and I mean it takes a couple hours. Not only takes an hour minimum just to get all your stuff off, change, get everything to the bus, probably twenty thirty minutes by the time you board the plane. I mean you're talking several hours. So you don't even get up in the air till eleven thirty at night Pacific standard time, and then it's two thirty, you know, East Coast time, so by the time you land sometimes the sun's coming out. That to me throws you off. Vice versa. When you play on the East fly back west, you gain time, so it makes it a little bit easier. I do think there is some value, Like if you play if you're the Patriots or just any team and you've got like a stretch where you play like the Chargers and then the Seahawks or the Rams and then the forty nine ers and it's like you just stay you know, in southern California or whatever kind of some solid team bonding. Obviously it works when you win. I think at the end of the day, a lot comes down to like is your team good? Because if your team's good, these guys are used to think about now in football. In college football, you know, if you're a Minnesota you come out to play UCLA and then you play Oregon. Like, these guys over the next couple of years are gonna get kind of numb to the travel and the distances that some of these conferences have to go. Right, if you are UCF, you're in the Big Twelve, you come out to play Arizona State, I mean some of the then you go to Kansas. I mean some of the the travel distance is now in college Stamford and Caller in the ACC, that means they play Boston College, they play Duke in North Carolina, Miami and Clemson and Florida State. I mean, these guys they're used to some long road trips. Plus in the pros, these guys are good with their bodies. The teams take it so seriously how to rehab and recover. So I it's not not a big deal, but it's probably a little overhyped. I think it's fair unless you just have an ungodly amount of travel, which you know the coastal teams can get depending on their schedule, right Seattle, the LA teams obviously, the Jets, the Giants, the Patriots, Panthers. If you draw the opposite end of the NFC West or the afcast like, you're gonna have some long flights Hi from down Under. As a fellow podcaster, how do you prepare for your podcast? It is one thing to prepare for a guest, but being a solo podcaster is at a different level. What is your key to success? Also, what coffee do you drink? I would love to send you some coffee. It's like this guy's got a coffee company. I just drink. We got a coffee maker for the wedding. It's actually pretty nice one with the beans. So I usually get either Starbucks or Pete's or Duncan. Just the beans a Safeway and dump them in and a couple of shots of espresso in the morning, and then maybe a coffee at lunch. I would say I've been doing it the same since I've been in radio. To podcasting. I just find things that I want to talk about. Obviously, the just changed a little bit. I make notes on my phone whenever thing's pop into my head, and like today it's two o'clock recording the mail bag. I mean, the mail bag is pretty self explanatory. You guys are just asking me questions. But for anything that's not the mail bag, I write it out things that I'm excited about, angles I want to take, Yeah, things I think are interesting. Kind of write it out before the show and then press play and just talk about it. It helps me kind of get my thoughts together. It doesn't always work. Sometimes it does. Some shows are better than others. I don't know. I don't really have like a master plan, but I would say most shows are kind of I don't want to say, written out like word for word, but kind of write the main topics. I just it just helps me to handwrite some thoughts down and then anything like I usually get up. It depends. Like this morning, I got up really early because I had to take the dog to the haircut, So I was at the gym by like six forty five, and by you know, the time you get home, it's picked up. The dog's have some coffee, shower. It's like I have the whole day to attack. Sometimes if I I get up at like six thirty seven, I'll just go make coffee and come right to the office and kind of just figure out what some ideas I want to talk about, and then go to the gym at like nine ten o'clock and that kind of gets my mind rolling. So it's just every day is a little different. The off season is where you make your money. I mean in seasons, I don't want to say easy, but like right now, especially these couple weeks before the draft, there's not gonna be much going on, so it's probably a little more creatively inspiring slash difficult. I guess I'm looking for twenty twenty six NFL Draft prospects, and I don't see any stars at quarterback. Aler is basically Hackenberg two point zero, Arch Manning is gonna stay at Texas for a couple more years. Collective nil oil money Club, Nika Small Nico at Tennessee is two skinny. I don't see any quarterbacks that will become starters right away, as they all feel like backups. Do you think teams looking for a future quarterback are in trouble. Does this make veterans like Cousins more valuable? Well, if you think everyone sucks in college, I'm not saying you, which you kind of do, but like if you're an NFL team, and you always have to also look ahead, so you have to have a pretty good idea. And clearly things changed during a season. But hey, we like three or four of these quarterback prospects. It was like two years ago there was a lot of buzz on Drake may On obviously, Caleb On, JJ McCarthy, and then guys like bow Knicks, Bo Nicks not as much, well a little bit. I mean, he had a good season's first year to Oregon. Michael Pennix. We're just intriguing prospects, so you kind of look. I think Club Knicks, Club Knicks kind of intriguing. I don't know as measurables. I think Arch is a major wild card. He could be a star, who knows, I mean, but he also might not be. Niko's got a long way to go before we can talk about him getting drafted high. But things change. I mean, we've talked about this a lot. Is at this time going into their senior years, no one would have talked about Baker Mayfield or Joe Burrow as the number one overall pick not a soul, and Baker wasn't a no brainer, but Joe Burrow sure was. So I think the powerful part about a season is like you control your own destiny. You ball out, you dominate like Nico. What if Nico wins the Heisman next year. I'm not saying you will, but if he kind of finally lives up to that ability, he could be a top five pick. Cam Ward is a good exam. He's gonna go number one overall. He went back to school because they're like, yeah, you'd probably be like a third or fourth round pick. So things changed so much. You're on the right names. But it's hard to say for certain. I'm with you on o archeck. I think it would be shocking unless he Texas goes like fifteen to Oh, they don't lose a game, he wins the Heisman. Maybe he just comes out he's the number one overall pick. But the other guys, yeah, major question marks. Who knows. But it can go good too, like it can go bad, it can go good. Thing with Kirk Cuzins he's thirty seven, he makes a lot of money, and he doesn't look like he's planning that well, so I guess it gives him some leverage. But ultimately, if Kirk Cousins your quarterback, do you feel great about it right now? In twenty twenty five, you felt good about it three or four years ago. I don't know if you feel great about it now. I just think things change so dramatically that it's hard to know what a future draft will look like. I think it's really really difficult. You know, if I would have told you last year at this time that this five eight running back from Boise State is gonna be most people think a top ten pick, you thought it was nuts. Well, he's about to run for like twenty five hundred yards. You would have thought Travis Hunter would be a top pick for sure, But think about some of the other guys. You just never know. I don't understand why teams in the draft would take the same position or near the same position as their star players, Like the Browns that already have Miles Garrett, why would they draft Carter? Or the Giants that just drafted neighbors but they're thinking about taking a Hunter. Can you make this make sense? With such important picks. Why wouldn't you pick a serious need because the old adage is draft the best player. When you take need, it just brings in more potential risk because sometimes the need right doesn't equal the board. So why would you take Travis Hunter. If you're the Giants and you just took the league neighbors, Well, he's by far the best player on your board, for example, and you go, well, he could also play corner. We need a corner. And if you are the Cleveland Browns, like, we don't love any of these quarterbacks that pick two. And if we take out Dual Carter, we think he's a star pass rusher. And in a couple of years we'll move on for Miles Garrett and he will be our Miles Garrett, and for a couple of years we will have them both together, so we'll have arguably the best defensive player in the league to go with one of the young up and coming stars. A position of strength can turn into a position of need with one broken ankle, so things can change really fast. Most teams aren't like three four deep, so having an extra player at a position beside quarterback makes a lot of sense. So I don't think teams look at it quite like that. Now when the need like I need a left tackle, there's a star left tackle there. It's an easy pick. But this isn't a good draft, So like, what should the Giant? Who should the Giants take? Assuming they don't take a quarterback, just take the best player on the board. Figure it out later. If every team needs to spend at least ninety percent of the salary cap over a four year your average per the salary cap floor rule, where do the media slash former players get off by saying teams like the Bengals don't spend money. I absolutely have no issue with it, as I'm a Bears fan and we just paid our way to possibly having a winning team next year. But just curious because it seems like everybody is within ten percent each of each other in terms of spending. At the end of the day, Well, I think there's a big difference. And listen, I mean the players, especially former players, are always going to complain the teams aren't spending enough. I mean, that's the money that they're trying to get. Which I've said this before, but it's really kind of crystallized this offseason. Is like they're in a partnership, a fifty to fifty agreement. You know some of you listening and I am as well. You're in partnerships, right. Most of our partnerships lay out pretty If you're in a fifty to fifty or thirty seventy or whatever, a dollar comes in, you split it like that. The players who are in this partnership are you know, obligated to their percentage, yet they have to fight for their cut and the teams dictate. I mean, it's a pretty incredible business. Like we have to pay these players, but we get to pick and choose who we want to pay, and we're gonna make you a bag for it. It's kind of crazy when you think about it. But you know, the Bengals are a good example, and we hit on this a couple of weeks ago. They just paid their two wide receivers, but they didn't manipulate the salary cap. Both those two guys, if you combine, their salary cap number in twenty twenty five is dramatically higher combined than guys last year. Justin Jefferson, Ceedee, Lamb, Brandon Ayuk. Their cap numbers that first year was really low. Because you can pro rate it over the life of a deal. Hell, the Eagles in the forty nine ers just make up void years just to spread out the signing bonus. The Bengals didn't do that because it actually manipulates their cap, so they don't actually have that much room. And you can give huge cash bonuses as quote unquote signing bonuses and manipulate a contract. That's not necessarily what the Bengals are doing. So they're cheap relative to Jeffrey Lurry, right, or some of these owners that are spending a lot of their actual cash last year, Jed York, the haslums, they spend a lot of cash, but people would say the Bengals don't. Now do they have it or not relative to those guys. No, Mike Brown does not have. Jimmy has some money, or even at this point in time, Jeffrey Lury money not even close. But he also avoids those situations as much as possible. So these are first class super rich guy problems. But they're just cheaper than other teams. You know, the Crafts get knocked on this. Yeah, the salary cap. Again, the salary cap is just money that's given through the partnership of the league, so that much he's getting handed to you. Whether you have a good bad team, make money or don't make money, and all the teams do. But in terms of that's the media money that pays for your salary cap, because the media's check is if the salary CAP's two hundred and fifty million dollars, the media money's like four hundred and twenty five million. So it's impossible to lose money on your players. And again you are obligated to give them the money. They just have to beg and fight for it with their agents. But I think there's some validity to it. But I'm with you. I think stuff goes overboard. But that's just kind of the world we live in. Huge fan of the show. The Titans take cam Ward it won, The Cowboys trade Dak Prescott to the Browns for the number two pick and takes you to or Sanders. The Giants select Travis hundred and three boost our underrated defense, and the Eagles trade aj Brown a first round pick and maybe more to the Patriots for number four and draft Abduall Carter. Vrabel would love to get Brown back, which would be huge for Drake May's development in New England. The Browns likely had to promise Miles Garrett they were going to make a move, and getting a proven quarterback like Dak makes sense with their win now mindset. The Giants secure in elite corner, making the defense even stronger. The Eagles, already dominated in the trenches at a game changing outside pass rusher to pair with Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis, making them even scarier. The big question or whether the Browns take on Dak's contract, if the Cowboys truly trust Shador Sanders, and if the Eagles value Abdull Carter. This is the well thought out a lot of moves there. There was a rumor within the last I don't know, a couple weeks from somebody I'd never heard of them, but it made its round out there on the interweb about Dak Prescott to the Browns for number two. I don't know the exact details that he said. I would imagine if it was number to Dak Prescott. I don't even know who knows. It's pretty complicated because they just paid Dak Prescott a ton of money. I don't know why you would trade the number two pick for Dak Prescott given that there are a lot of question marks with actually how good he is. He doesn't have a great arm. He plays in a dome, you play in a cold not a great environment for weak arm quarterbacks. It's really windy there in Cleveland. You play in an outdoor division in Pittsburgh, in Baltimore, it's really cold. I don't think I would do that now, if you were Jerry again complicated, I think it would destroy their cap. I think you would think about it. From a marketing standpoint, the chances that should Dore Sanders is better than Dak based on just history, how often quarterbacks that are drafted are better than a guy that's been a really good player for a long time. Now, we can nitpick him obviously as flaws. Obviously he's not top five quarterback, but he's a really good starter, im proven, like over and over, you can win double digit games with him as your starting quarterback. There is no guarantee Shot or Sanders can do that. So from a marketing buzz, it'd be incredible, But then you actually got to play the games, So I don't know. I don't think I would do that if I was the Browns lifelong Chiefs fan, help the miles fall off Trucking America appreciate you. My question is as Kelsey clearly ages and Noah Gray seems to not be not be a solution. Should the Chiefs trade for Kyle Pitts. I'm sure a six round pick would pass. I do think the Chiefs are gonna be interested in doing, Like, how are they going to acquire talent? Right? They are drafting at the end of these rounds every single year, so it's harder to get flyers. It's why they have taken trying to think in recent memory. Have they done that recently? Obviously they made the big raid with Tyreek Hill, but they trade for someone else. I don't know why my mind's not working. I feel like he had a pretty good year last year, not really had forty seven catches. I think he's is he going into his fifth year option? I don't know. I would probably do it for a fifth or sixth for you hear them, but I'm pretty sure it's a contract. Isn't small? Uh, Kyle Pitts contract? Say this about Google? Yeah, I think is pretty Legit comes right up. So Kyle Pitts is scheduled to make ten point eight million dollars, that'd be an expensive tight end room because Kelsey makes a lot and then you're paying Pits ten point eight. I don't think financially it works. If he was making like you did last year. I mean, he was drafted, so he's made a lot of money. Kyle Pitts after the Kyle Pitts for a guy that it is not gone great is doing pretty well financially. I mean he originally signed a thirty two million dollar contract and then next year's fifth year option is another ten so he's gonna make He's gonna make like forty plus million dollars in five years. Listen, it sucks getting drafted high to bad teams if you're a good player and that team stays bad. But financially there's a big difference to go in top five and like pick twenty, big difference. Okay, last question, bucks fan, here, long question for you. Why does everyone feel the need to dump on the NFC South For the past ten years? The Falcons went to the Super Bowl with the MVP, the Panthers went to the Super Bowl with the MVP. The Bucks won the Super Bowl. The Saints were successful during an era with multiple Playoff appearances, and if it wasn't for that PI call against and the Minnesota miracle, they would have went to a Super Bowl and the NFC Championship Game. Why doesn't anyone dump on the AFC South, which has done way less. How does a DI with three teams that made the Super Bowl always get bashed in the media more than the AFC South. Well, you guys are much more relevant. Like you said, I mean, the Panthers Cam Newton was just a major story for a decade. The Matt Ryan Falcons is still talked about. The twenty eight three game. The Saints were, I mean a stalwart conversation in the NFL once Peyton got there with Breeze and then killed the head the body will die, the Suspensions, that second version of them with Dennis Allen as the defensive coordinator, and the Bucks who were just good. I just think you guys are way more relevant, Like the AFC South is by far, by far the least relevant division in the NFL. You know, the Colts post Peyton, Manning and Andrew Luckelet's like, what are we talking about? The Titans have just not bringing much to the table. The Jags are really not bringing much the I mean, the Jags are terrible. I think people underestimate how bad their records have been. If you just go to the Jags over the last let's just start in seven. I'm just gonna read you win totals since seven, So starting in eight, five, seven, eight, five, two, four, three, five, three, seventeen out of nowhere ten. Then they go on a great stretch here five six, one. Forgot that they went one in fifteen. Holy shit, they were bad in twenty three, nine and eight, nine and eight, and then last year back to who they are four and thirteen. They're a bad franchise. You could argue right now they're one of the worst, if not the worst franchise in the NFL. They're really bad. So I think it's that. So you get the Colts, the Titans, the Jags. Why do I always forget the other team? Oh, the Texans? I think the Texans. It's like whenever I see should so and so move to Austin, Texas? Like Texas doesn't need another team. The Cowboys is enough, they don't even need Houston. But Houston's such a big market in Houston solid. But I do think Houston, even when they're solid the last couple of years, they get overshadowed in that state by the Cowboys. So it just shows you. I mean, I talk about football for a living and I'm trying to like name off the South teams and you just forget that there is not that there's not another division. The AFC East has had two good teams for twenty years, the Patriots and now the Bills. Yet when you think the AFC East, the Dolphins and the Jets consistently are suck. It's like you just the Dolphins and the Jets. The AFC West, same thing. It's like Chiefs have dominated that thing for a while. The Raiders haven't been good the majority of my adult life, and just the Raiders, you know, there's always kind of doing something. Get I'm with you. The AFC South, you guys take more shit. It's like, you know, what, did did Reggie Jackson say? They don't boo nobody's You guys are just a little more relevant, way more relevant than that division. There's a reason Mike Tomlin gets talked about a lot. He's a coach of the Steelers. If Mike Tomlin was a seventeen year vet as the coach of the Jags, it wouldn't be the same so it's just like brands do kind of matter. They matter. I'm more in Travis Matthews right now, more in Rainbow Sandals, got a Stanley next to me. You know. It's like the Steelers, the Yankees, the Lakers, the Packers. Then there's the Jags, the Colts. I love Nashville, just got married there. The Titans are like, feel like an afterthought in that part of the country. You know what matters down there, the SEC. So I hear you. You guys are also in SEC country. But clearly your football teams have just been We're just well run. I mean, think about the difference of like Chris Ballard, I don't think they've made the playoffs in seven eight years and the Jags we just right off their wind total. They probably average over the last fifty sixteen seventeen years five six wins a year. I mean, you guys, the Falcons had Thomas Demetrov for a long time, Julio Jones, Matt Ryan, cam Newton, Tom Brady, the Bucks did suck before that, Drew Brees, Sean Payton. So I you're one correct, good uh good DM audios everybody the volume