The Dan Patrick ShowOn today's Dan Patrick Show, ESPN NBA Draft Analyst Jonathan Givony gives us a crash course in prospects prior to tonight's NBA draft. 2x Super Bowl Champion Vince Wilfork discusses life after football and his ability to maintain weight throughout his playing career.
You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox Sports Radio.
Day number three in the Big Share. I don't know. I called it a meathead Monday. I called it a Tucker Tuesday. I don't have a whole lot for a Wednesday, although we do have Vince will Fork on the show later to talk about his partnership with Jason Kelsey and Kingsford. So between me and will Fork, maybe it's a wide body Wednesday. I know what it definitely is. It's an NBA Wednesday after two days of primarily talking about hockey, which I don't know if that's ever happened on this show before I'll start with that, PAULI, has that ever happened where the primary topic two days in a row was hockey.
In this show's history? Yes, yeah, you'd have to go back to like remember years ago there was that incident with the Colorado the player at Colorado hit someone in the head. I can't remember the guy's name. For Tuesdy, that Bertusie topic I remember was like a week on the show. Wow, that's a long time ago. Todd Bertuzzi could call good pull. Yeah, but that but that's about it.
That's about it. But I thought hockey deservingly.
So the last two days, great couple of days. The storylines on the parade, by the way, is Sunday nice, Sunday preade. You should have gone Saturday. I think if you're of.
The Florida Panthers, Hey, I don't really understand.
That Sunday prey when you got to work the next day?
Yeah, what's up with that? Maybe that's by design.
Oh, to temper the parade.
But I don't think it's gone. I think people are shunna call in sick. People are just gonna say they can't come to work the next day. So anyway, after two days where the primary topic here on the Dan Patrick Show was the NHL, we're getting to the association. It's a big NBA day for a couple different reasons. Number One, the NBA Draft is tonight, and this has got to be the least talked about NBA draft of my lifetime. I'm forty five years old. I used to get together with my buddies we would watch the NBA Draft. I used to know every guy that went in the first round. I used to get fired up when Dwayne Shintsis got drafted twenty sixth out of Florida because he had an amazing mullet. I mean even second rounders were guys that were really good college basketball players that we knew about. Were like, Wow, can you believe he didn't go till the second round. We're gonna play this game next segment. I have a buddy who's like die hard college basketball fan, my buddy Paul, and he bets a lot on college basketball. We went through the projected lottery picks. I think he knew five of the fourteen projected lottery picks. Five. I'm gonna guess that the dan Nets combined will know less than five. Although I think you guys, you know yesterday and this morning you've kind of been researching a little bit. It's a little bit different thoughts, Paulie.
I know what you're saying, because like last year is when min Yama, everyone knew about him. He'd been talked about for years. Now you have two guys who were one was born in France, but he plays in Australia, but he was playing in Atlanta this year, so that's confusing. And he's a defensive stopper, which doesn't really excite people. You got to go to like some random college basketball players and someone were like twenty one years old, some were nineteen.
It's it's wild because I didn't feel like watching March Madness that the players weren't good like I love the NC State Big Guy. I mean, I love March Madness. This year I thought it was great. It's really interesting, isn't it. It's like, no matter how many guys go to like the G League, or are international, or go to overtime or whatever, it doesn't really affect my enjoyment of the Ncell Bay Tournament. Just give me pretty good basketball players wearing thems, give me the cheerleaders, the band, and then have the fans in the stands cheering for their alma mater. I don't really care if they're a good NBA prospector or not. Marv.
I think it also hurts that the National Player of the Year might be a late first round, if not second round pick. And Zach Edy from Purdue, so it was the guy that was the best player in college basketball, and he's nowhere to be found in the lottery or projected to be.
He's not projected to be a lottery pick. I have heard the name, seen the name, and talked about Zach edy dozens of times over the last three years. I've never heard of some of these guys that are gonna be the top three picks. Isn't that wild? I mean, it has just changed so much. Seton, were you gonna say something three or four.
Like the top ten players are from France?
Is that right of the now? We can't play the game because you guys are clearly doing research.
If you know that, usually we don't, to be fair, she don't do any research at the show.
Sorry about that. Hey, here's what I know. I am really looking forward to not only talking about the NBA draft and some Brownie strategy, as well as the big trade that went down between the Knicks and the Nets for mckel bridges. I mean five first round picks for mckel bridges, the first trade between the Knicks and the Nets since nineteen eighty three. That's what I'm looking forward to. From tire rack dot com, the official tire expert and retailer of the Dan Patricks Show. Go to tire rack dot com slash Dan, try the tire Decision Guide and see the full line of handcook tires special offers, free road hazard protection and mobile tire installation. Tire rack dot com the way tire buying should be. Want to make sure to welcome everybody watching on all the hundreds of Fox Sports radio affiliates. Those of you watching us on Peacock. I know people that can't listen whole thing while we're live, so you check us out on podcasts later, which is awesome. You can check me out at some point, the Ross Tucker Football podcast and family of shows. It's been great the social media interaction from you guys over the last few days. At DP show on Twitter, I'm at Ross Tucker NFL. You can always check out our YouTube channel. Go to Danpatrick dot com eight seven seven to three. DP Show is the phone number. I guess my first question and this might be a poll question, but this is a question for the phone number. This is a question for people on social media and maybe even a poll question. Are you going to watch the NBA Draft tonight? Now? Listen, you guys have to do the show tomorrow. I'm out of here after today, but you guys have to do the show tomorrow. So let's be honest. If you were not one of the Dan Nets, if you were not a producer of the biggest sports talk radio show in the country. Would you watch tonight's NBA draft, Fritzi.
I would watch the first few picks, just to see the opening and how they hype it up. But that since I don't know these guys and have no emotional attachment to them, I don't have to worry about booking any guests or talking about it on national radio and TV.
Maybe the first five pick or show that I'm out Seaton.
You know.
Maybe I'd be curious to see where the Yukon players go. Yeah, but other I mean, but still, that's not something that you have to watch for. You could just find out, you know what I mean. Yeah, so I am curious to see where like Castle goes, where Klingon goes. But it's there's not a huge poll to see who's gonna get that one star.
Player, Marv I'm gonna see and I'm a Yukon guy, So I would just want to see where the Yukon plays go. But other than that, it'd be a lot.
Of who PAULI, I think I would watch out of historical obligation to the draft. You know, it's just such a tradition for me to watch it. I do wouldn't say i'd be paying attention to it. It might be on a TV while there's a baseball game on another TV, and I'm like, oh, there's a look Isaiah Collier got drafted, you know, like I remember him a little bit. Where did Donovan Klinging go? And maybe I can learn about some of the foreign born players and what their background is because it's there's a lot of unknown. So yeah, I'm more of an out of obligation than real.
So, but I feel like for me, it's almost the opposite. I would want to watch to see the highlight clips of these guys I've never heard of.
You know.
That used to be my favorite part of the NFL draft is back before like social media and back before you could go on Instagram or TikTok and watch highlights of all these guys. I remember distinctly my sophomore year of college. We got a couple of thirty packs of maybe like Natty Light or something nice nice, and we watched the nineteen ninety nine NFL Draft in my dorm room two eleven Gus Hall, biggest room on campus by the way, it slept eleven eleven, and I had all the guys come over watching it, and the Tampa Bay Bucks drafted this dtack allowed to LSU named Anthony Booger McFarland, and the year before, Matt Burke had gotten drafted out of Harvard by the Vikings. I thought, well, thatck I got drafted, maybe I can get a shot. I watched a highlight video of Booger McFarland at a three hundred pound nose tackle, chasing down running backs sideline to sideline, and we all looked at each other in absolute awe and I remember thinking, yeah, there's no way I would ever be able to play in the NFL. But my point is, it used to be one of the coolest things about the draft was the highlight packages they put together on these guys, both NFL and NBA draft. Is that still the same? I mean it is for me because these guys tonight, the France guys or whatever, I have never seen them play. I didn't hear I'm trying to remember the first time I heard about Wemby and the first time someone posted Wemby clips last year on on social media, and I was like, oh, my gosh, of course I'm talking about I think everybody knows Victor Weben Yama from the Spurs but they it was like last February, maybe last March. I never even heard of the guy. And then on social media, I'm scrolling and I see this seven to four guy like draining threes, looking like he can really handle the ball. That's the coolest part about tonight to me is watching the highlight clips of these guys. Paul.
Yeah, the European players as well, especially because you haven't seen much on them before they're playing Internashley. I'm looking back at a clip from the nineteen ninety eight draft and I can remember watching that one. Specifically, Mar helped me out here. Did Milwaukee take our Milwaukee Dallas with Robert Trector trailer Michigan? Yeah, dude, and they traded him straight up for Dirk Noavitsky right during or after the draft?
Correct. Remember was like, what, You're trading tractor trailer for this guy from Germany?
Yeah, but I could. I'm looking at the Navisky highlights. It's classic drk Nooviski. He's seven foot he's playing outside. I'm like, wow, look at this guy. This guy's something. But nobody knew. They didn't pronounce his name. They called him Nowitzki during the draft, not Novitzky. I don't know if that's right, but they were calling two different names on the pronunciation watching the old video.
So that's one of my questions this morning is whether or not you're going to watch tonight's NBA Draft. I mean, what did it say about the NBA Draft that the Knicks just traded five first round picks for Michael Bridges. Now, listen, I love Michel Bridges. You know, he's an Eastern PA guy. I think he went to Great Valley High School. Maybe I had a good playoff run, went to Nova, and now he's with the next. Gimme Marv, because I know that you're probably in the NBA as much as anybody. Give me your breakdown of what of a difference this makes for the next Now, I mean, I know he's a really good player, but he's also not like this is not like a star player, right, No, no.
No, he's not. But he's he's a guy that on any given night he can give you twenty five to thirty a night if he gets hot.
But he's one of them.
Not every night yet, no, no, but he's a guy that doesn't need the ball to be effective during the game, like he was on the Phoenix Suns to the NBA Finals a couple years ago and get against the Bucks. And so he's like a three and D guy, Jalen Brunson's gonna penetrate in the lane and find him wide open. And he's another, like you said, another Villanova guy. So those guys know each other. They already have that camaraderie in chemistry. I think chemistry is kind of underrated in the NBA sometimes. And if you know somebody's game, you know where they're gonna be. And he knows his role. In the NBA, you have to have a role. He knows his role, and they know who the star is. They know Jalen Brunst is the guy with the ball in his hands, and you have him Hart de Vincenzo. Guys, they don't necessarily need the ball to kind of, you know, create their own shot. They can just kind of stand there three and D guys.
So it worked. And by the way, those three guys you just named, Marv, none of them were like top five, top ten picks. None of them were thought of as like this guy is gonna be a great NBA player, and now they are, Like Jalen Brunson was he even a first round but like he was not considered like a great prospect.
He was considered a great college player who may be a role player in the pros.
So maybe that says something about tonight. Mckail.
Bridges is interesting because when he was a Phoenix, he was really making a name for himself. He was second for Defensive Player of the Year. That was just two and a half years ago. He was averaging twenty six points a game at one point two seasons ago. But Jalen Brunston needs all to help him get You're getting Michale Bridges at twenty seven, not twenty two, and not thirty two, right in his prime as an NBA player. So he's gonna help you tomorrow if you're the Knicks, if you're a Knicks fan.
So there's a couple other this, and Marv kind of hinted at it. Any guy I've ever talked to you about the NBA, like a coach or front office person or player, the number one thing they say, it's really important that the players like playing with each other, really important. And these guys are all like very close friends from college who won a national championship together at Villanova.
By the way.
I don't think I've ever seen this. Can you guys think of another team that had this many players from one college at the same time. Can you argue that, like the four best players or four of the six best players for the Knicks are now all from Villanova Seaton.
You know it's so interesting too, because what you were talking about yesterday about the bond that people have when they win a championship, right, you were just talking about high school guys. You're not really buddies, but when you see each other your brothers, Yeah, you know, and now put that into an NBA team pretty pretty wild.
You know, they're just missing one thing now, right, Jay Wright special special consultant, I mean hilarious. Let's just put this way. If things don't go well with the Knicks this year with Tibbs, I mean, it's either Danny Hurley time or Jay Wright time, right, I mean, it's one of those two guys you played for the Patriots.
Remember that run where Belichick was drafting guys from.
Rutgers That was after me.
But yeah, they had a run of like seven Rutgers players.
I think I might have played for the only team that can rival the Knicks, the Nova Knicks. Look this up. Who's our who's our research guy? The two thousand and two Washington Redskins. That was the name of the team back then. Steve Sproyer was the head coach. He brought in Danny Whirfol, Shane Matthews. What's the guy's name? I kill your jah Ques Green, Robert Gillespie. I think we had another Florida receiver. He We had two Florida quarterbacks at Chris Doring. Chris Doring. We had two Florida quarterbacks at least floor four Florida receivers, of Florida running back. I had never seen anything like it in my life. We were like the Florida Redskins. It was unbelievable, PAULI.
I'm looking at the roster. Yeah, you nailed it. They have a bunch of Florida dudes. Even a couple of guys on defense. That's fantastic.
That might have been the only team I remember that tried that tactic. Didn't work out too well, No, it didn't work out, not even close. Several of those guys got cut, I think, and they were not very productive. All right, So we're gonna play this game when we come back I'm gonna, first of all, go ahead and check out social media at Ross Tucker NFL as well as at DP show to see whether or not you guys are gonna watch tonight's NBA Draft. Here's what we got. Next hour, we got Jonathan Givennie, the ESPN NBA draft analyst. He'll actually tell us maybe it's Givoni. Let's trying givoni. There you go, Okay, Givoni. By the way, Fritzy even gave me the pronunciation. It's give dash oh dash Nie. I went what I said, I said, give Annie, it's Givoni. Givony. Sorry, Jonathan, anyway, we're having him on the show. I'm not that sorry. We're having him on the show. We're gonna talk to him. At ten twenty am Eastern, we got former teammate of mine and former adversary, Vince will Fork. That was a hard guy to block. That was a hard guy to block. Eleven twenty am Eastern time, we got to get into the Jags and the Panthers are both getting new stadiums. The text A and M baseball coach is I'll just say it. He's left now to go to Texas, and he's kind of a piece of crap. We'll play that audio. We'll explain why a little bit later. It's my wife's birthday. Happy birthday to my wife. Happy birthdays. Absolutely probably not watching or listening, but we'll get into the fact that she let me do the show today, let me go to the Kelsey guest bartending later today without having to be with her for her birthday, which is part of the reason why she's awesome. The rockets and nets trade, We're just kidding started give me a fun morning here nineteen minutes past the hour on the Dan Patrick Show.
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We're about halfway through here on a wide body Wednesday edition of The Dan Patrick Show. Last day for me, unfortunately filling in in the big chair for Dan. You guys have been awesome, whether it's calling or the social media and interaction, it's been phenomenal, greatly appreciated. Let's get into the NBA Draft. We got some stuff to say in about twenty minutes about this baseball coach who called out a reporter after Techa and m Lost asking him about Texas job. And he went to Texas the next day. So I'll have a lot to say about this Schlosnagel character in about twenty minutes, But for now, we're gonna talk NBA Draft with Jonathan. Jonathan Gavoni, who's awesome, awesome draft analyst for ESPN, he started and his co owner of draftexpress dot com. He's gonna be part of ESPN's cover to the NBA Draft tonight, starting at seven thirty Eastern, as well as the ABC broadcast, which kicks off at eight. He'll also contribute to the Round two coverage to the draft on Thursday that tips off at four pm on ESPN. Jonathan is Ross Tucker filming it for Dan. I really appreciate the time. I guess I gotta start with this man. Who are these guys? Like the first couple guys that are supposed to get drafted, who are these guys? I don't know anything about them.
Hey, Ross, first of all, thanks for having me. It's going to be an awesome day today. So I hope everybody's as excited as me about this draft. It's so nice. We're going to do it twice today and tomorrow, which is fantastic. But I mean, this is the landscape of the basketball world. It's not just about the United States anymore. It's an international game. Most of the best players in the world are international, so it shouldn't come as any surprise to anyone that the top two picks in the draft are in all likelihood going to be international players. Zachary resa Chet, a six foot ten small forward who plays for j l Borg, drawing some comparisons to guys like Brandon Miller, Trey Murphy, you know, outstanding shooter, made thirty nine percent of his threes this year, has an elite field for the game. Outstanding defender on top of that, guards everyone from one through four. He's the favorite to go number one. He's been the favorite all year. He's been ranked number one on our big Board all season long. Number two another French player or seven foot one Alex Sar. He has maybe the most unique backstory of any prospect in this draft. He moved when he was fourteen years old to Spain to play per Real Madrid, and then he went to Overtime Elite in Atlanta, and he spent this past season in Perth, Australia with the NBL Nextstar Program. So I mean two incredibly gifted nineteen year olds, probably known more for their defense right now than their offense, but I have are very productive on both ends of the floor. So it's an exciting night for France. We saw number one pick Victor win Benyama last year and this is just going to be something that we're going to see over and over again. At the talent level coming out of France is off the charts right now.
So why is that what's going on in France. Is this like the Tony Parker effect. What's going on in France that there's this many good players that are better than any Americans.
Well, France is the most ethnically diverse country in year huge you know, populations of people with Senegalese conglese, guadaloop Ivory coast to send It's the same thing that we're seeing on the French soccer team, their ranked number two in the world. I've spent a lot of time in France over the last twenty years, and every time I step into a gym, you know, for you know, a youth level game. I mean, just the talent and physical talent is incredible. There's so much size and length and athleticism, and the infrastructure has really caught up, the coaching has caught up, and we're really seeing French teams make more of an investment in playing these guys at a younger age.
Now.
They saw what, you know, Victor Winn Banyama leading his team to the finals a year ago, Billao Koll Body playing starting starting at point guard in the finals after barely playing the first half of the season. So I think, you know, basketball is very popular in France, in no small part due to Tony Parker, but also Nick but whom, Rudy Gobert, Ivon Fournier, you know, Boris Diao. So it's you know, it's been a great legacy of French players and it's only going to get stronger and stronger now that they have the number one prospect in the world who's playing in the NBA right now, Victor winn Vanyama, a future MVP.
We're talking with Jonathan Givoni, who does a terrific job as you can tell, studying these guys for the NBA draft. Those first two guys you mentioned, Jonathan, are they like immediate impact guys? Are they developmental guys for three to five years from now? What do you envision their NBA path being.
I think they're both ready to play right away. They're high level role players who can step on an NBA court and impact the game defensively first and foremost. Zachary reisa Che played at an exceptionally high level of basketball this year. His team made the final of the euro Cup. They made the semi finals of the French playoffs. He was the leading player for them. They were the best defensive team in both of the leagues that he competed in, and he was their best defender. When you know, the six foot ten guy, when they needed to get a stop, they would put him on a point guard. So that's going to translate to the NBA right away, and his instincts are going to translate too. He's an outstanding passer, he's a great cutter. He's just the game comes very easily for him, and he can shoot the ball at a very high level. So every team in the NBA is looking for that. Alex aar the same thing. He led the Australian NBL, which is a very strong league in block percentage this season, so he's going to come in ready to impact the game on that end right away. He also made quite a few threes. He's very good pushing the ball off the defensive glass. He's good out a short rows. He's an excellent pick and roll finisher. So you know a guy with those kind of physical attributes who can who already has you know, the ability to impact the game on the defensive end. Any team that drafts him, most likely Washington, is going to slot him in right away and give him the runway to develop his into his full potential.
All right, what about some of the guys I have heard of Jonathan, Guys like Donovan Klingon, Zach Ed, Stephen Castle, Reed Shepherd one of those guys likely to hear their names called what do they project to be in the NBA?
Well, it feels like the draft really starts at three because Houston within win now mode. They acquired this pick in a trade from Brooklyn and they're on a pathway to making the playoffs here. So the big question that teams have is are they going to keep this pick? Are they going to trade it for a more of a ready made contributor. It's if they do trade it, we're expecting that somebody would be moving up to get Donovan Klingen a number three. Donovan Klingen is the best rim protector in this draft. He had a huge impact on Yukon win the National championship on both ends of the floor. He was an offensive hub for Yukon. He's very good operating out a handoff. He's a very good screener. He's a very good paster out of short rolls. He's an offensive rebounder. He's draws fouls, he plays incredibly hard. Donovan Cleanan can play in an NBA game tonight. So there's a lot of interest in him, especially among teams like Memphis who have the ninth pick. For example, Portland at seven, which is considered to be his floor. If he slides Oklahoma City at twelve, kind of a sleeper, they really need another big bodied guy, and you know is clinging that guy. Could it be Zach Edie with the twelfth pick, So a lot of permutations that will really change the complexion of how this night goes. So I would pay very close attention to what happens with the number three pick if Houston keeps it. Most NBA teams are expecting them to draft Reed Shepherd from Kentucky. He's the best shooter in this draft. He made fifty two percent of his threes this year. No player has done that in college basketball. No first round pick has done that since nineteen eighty nine Glenn Rice at Michigan. So it shows you the type of shooter that he is. He also has a great feel for the game. He makes the game easy for teammates. He can play on the ball, he can play off the ball, so it's you know, it's an exciting group. Not the same type of star power that you normally expect to see at the top of the draft, but high level role players who are ready to make an impact in the NBA from day one.
What did the trade the Bridges trade last night from the Nets to the Knicks and five first round picks? What did that do to the draft in your mind? If anything? And what does it mean for the Knicks in the Eastern Conference.
Well, the Knicks have the twenty fourth, twenty fifth, and thirty eighth picks in this draft, and I think they went from possibly being in the market to trade one or two of those picks to probably keeping all three of them and rostering those players and maybe asking those players to play a real role for them. Because you bring Nick cal Bridges on at his salary, you re sign og Andrew Nobi. All of a sudden, you are firmly in the luxury tax and you need to find cheap contributors on a cost controlled rookie scale contract who are ready to play rotation minutes from day one. Now we know Tom Thibodeau not a huge fan of rookies. He's going to play Josh Hart forty eight minutes if it's up to him. But I think that the Nick saw the way that the playoffs went for them to spring. These guys were out of gas by the time they reached Game seven of the playoffs against the Indiana Pacers. They need to widen their rotation and find ways to get to the finish line in better shape physically. And so I think that a big man is a strong possibility, either at twenty four or twenty five. Whoever, the best available center is maybe a guy like khalil Ware, for example, from Indiana. So and then I think that they're going to look at older players, you know, twenty five and thirty eight. Maybe someone like Terren Shannon, who was one of the best players in college basketball this year and is a very good defender, and he's made thirty six percent of his threes and you know, standing in transition. Guys like that, I think are going to be in vogue, not just for the Knicks, but for all of these playoff teams. Everybody needs to find guys who can play right now. Because of the way that they've changed the luxury tax rules with the second Apron, it's never been more important to draft well and to have guys playing for cheap.
Last minute here Jonathan. If Bronnie james last name was different, if he was Bronnie Papps and Paulie Papps was his dad, would he get drafted and where would he get drafted.
It's a tough question to answer because a lot of what makes Bronnie James interesting is the fact that he's got incredible genetics. We've seen second general players far exceed expectations in the NBA in a way that most people could not imagine. Jalen Brunson is a great example. Steph Curry there, I mean, the list goes on and on, and so the reason why Bronni James could be good is because he's been around this game his entire life. He knows how to play the game, he knows how to play with other good players. He brings high level intensity on every possession. Defensively, he's unselfish, he's a good three point shooter, he's explosive, and so somebody's going to possibly draft him tomorrow for what he could become in three to five years from now.
Now.
The Lakers are very intrigued with him, and it doesn't hurt that his last name is indeed James and drafting game gives you a better chance of keeping Lebron in Los Angeles. That's not a given. They're willing to give him a guaranteed contract, a real roster spot, which you don't normally expect to see at that point in the draft. So that's if he If if it wasn't an associated with the Lakers, his whole pathway would have been different. He would have done twenty workouts. He only did two, and a lot of that is because they want him to play for the Lakers. It's a great situation for him.
Thank you, Jonathan, really appreciate it.
Thanks for having me there.
He is Jonathan Givoni. He's gonna be part of ESPN's coverage the NBA Draft tonight starting at seven thirty pm Eastern. It'll be on ABC as well, and then Round two, the Brownie Knight, is four pm tomorrow on ESPN. We're gonna transition a little bit away from the NBA because there's a guy I've never met him before, but i would really like to punch him in the face, and I'll tell you about it when we returned forty minutes past the hour here on the Dan Patrick Show.
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan Patrick Show weekdays at nine am Eastern six am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio WAPP.
You know, well, I really like talking about foot I really like talking about food, I really like talking about beer, and I do like to talk to former teammates every once in a while. Let's combine all those things by talking with my guy, Vince will Fork. What a career he had, by the way, just unbelievable, two time Super Bowl champ, nose tackle with the Patriots. He was on that ridiculous team for Miami, the U national champ in two thousand and one, and now I'm very jealous of him because he's got this unbelievable deal with Kingsford. I watched the video this morning. It is hilarious. He's teaching Jason Kelcey how to slow down, how to create memories around the grill. I don't know if Kelsey was really trying to dance or it was like fake dancing, but boy, there's a lot of stereotypes you could put out there right now with Vince's dancing pared to Kelsey's dancing in the video. You gotta check it out on their social media handles. They both posted this morning. Vince's Ross Tucker Man, good to see it. How are you?
What's going on?
Brother?
Good to see you man.
So where are you right now? What are you doing? How are you occupying most of your time?
Man? Look at what I'm doing right now.
You know, I'm so excited to partner up with Kingsbury and Jason Kelsey and we basically, you know, as a retired football player, it's no better way to introduce him to retire mid life being with kings for charcoal and teaching him how to grill low and slow. Baby, that smoke, that wood burning when you smell it, it's just bringing one to see your ears. So that's what I've been up to, hanging out with my buddy Keensford and Jason Kelsey, just teaching them the ropes.
Brother.
I love it. I love it. Vince. You know, I don't remember ever asking you this. I wasn't in New England very long in the end of five and then six un till I got traded to Cleveland during training camp with you guys. But what what did you really weigh? Vents for most of your career, I'll.
Really in game time, I'll being awhere from three forty five to three fifty. Okay, that's why thame time, I was like a fire, you know, to get where they make weight and then they put it back on. And that's how it was through the week.
You know, I'll make my weight at three twenty five, but when it's time to get going, you know, I'm about three forty five fifty and I'm rolling.
Wait, hold on a second. You were still making your weight though. Are you telling me you would fluctuate twenty pounds a week?
Yeah?
Easy, easy? How how did you? How did you get down to twenty five for the weigh in?
It worked, you know.
I mean I used to start preparing for way Ins on Mondays, you know, after the game, because it was easier for me to take it low and slow, just like barbecue lew and slow baiting. Because I knew Thursday was weigh in days, so I always wanted to make sure that I was ready for way In days. And then, like I said, once, way In days hit now gearing up for my fight, you know on Sundays, So I got to put it back on and make sure I feel good and all that, and it worked.
Thirteen year career worked, wonderful for me. You know, injuries.
I had one major injury that was my achilles and that was it. But healthwise, I was always healthy. I was always in shape. But it's different from everybody. You know, a twenty pounds swam might be different than anybody else.
But for me, it wasn't me. It wasn't an issue for me.
So Vince, you weren't a fine guy like you never you were never over the weight that had to pay it because I played with a lot of guys that paid hundreds of thousands of dollars.
I cooked, I made my weight every week. I made my weight when it was not the way in I made my weight on Thursdays. I made my weight so I never got fined.
That is incredible, A twenty pound, twenty and twenty five pound fluctuation each week. You know what's funny about you, Vins And I tell people this all the time about Seymour as well. I don't think people really appreciate just how talented and how good you guys were, or because of the scheme that you were asked to play in. I tell people all the time, I honestly think Vince and you can speak to this. I think Seymour is the best D lineman I ever won against. He was unbelievable. But because the way you guys had the two gap, you weren't really able to rack up those stats. People didn't realize it. I think Vince, you could have been like if you played down in Tampa and switched with sap or you even if you were playing nose like Booger, you could put up some crazy numbers if you were allowed to just hit the A gap or B gap.
Well that's the thing. You know, in college I was I was a one gap. You know, I had the stats, and I had all the stuff that you possibly wanted. You know, I was drafted my high school college. I was one gap. We was hitting and getting covered two down in Miami and man we hitting and get it four man rush.
So it ain't like I didn't have it. But you know, like I was a team player.
So when Bill drafted me to New England said hey, you're gonna be a nose stack to learn what that was because I wasn't used to slowing my game down and doing this, so I had to learn. People don't understand I had to learn nose tackle when I became a rookie, I wasn't a nose tackle. And speaking of you know Seymour, and let me tell you Seymour, Taiwan.
Myself, Jarvis Green.
You know, we didn't realize how real good we were when we played because we would just train just warriors. We would go and we would play, and we didn't think twice about it because we love the game. But when we retire and we kind of sit back and watch what we did, it's not a lot of people can say they had three with a fourth guy coming off the bench that can run a defense up front like we did. And you have to realize Tiwan, Seymour, first rounder, Jarvis Green, second rounder, Taiwan first rounder, me first rounder. So Bill built this defense off of his front seven, which was US US four and we was all first round er saying we all brung HI championship. Seymour wrong on ones top, bringing one and not bringing on my rookie season. So if you want a recipe to sus says follow that.
Not only that, speaking of recipes, by the way, but not only that, the outside linebackers were William McGuinness and Vrabel just annihilating tight ends, just absolutely abusing those guys, I'm talking with my guy, Vince Wilfork, who we know at summer grilling season. You gotta check out the video on social media of him teaming up with Jason. He's handing him the tongs. Jason gets very excited. It's funny. Vince. I'm actually as soon as the show's over, driving down to Kelsey's charity event for Eagles Autism Foundation down in Seattle City at the Jersey Shore. So the timing of this could not possibly be any better for the people that don't know. Vince explained the difference between being a gap penetrator like you were in college versus being able to having to two gap like you did in New England. I mean, I can explain it, but you could probably do it better than me.
Oh you know, one gap. You just you got one gap, you know.
And when I was in college, we had our one gap and that's what we was responsible of and we were just planning to run on the way to the quarterback. So I didn't have no responsibilities in college but to get to the quarterback and just stay in my gap. Now, when I got to the NFL and when the Patriots drafted me and they turned me into a nose tacker. So now that one gap turns into two gaps, I have responsibilities for it. With me being you know, head up on the center. I had both from the left side of the center on the right side. Those were my gaps and I couldn't go anywhere fast, so I had to read and react.
So everything I had.
To do, I had to mimic on a blocking scheme in front of me. So everything I was called in college, it was opposite. So in college, read and react, I'm gone and pros I hit and I had to react after what I get. But I have to steal those blocks because I had to keep the guys behind me nice and clean. So my stats, you know, if you go back and look at my stats in college from the tackles for losses in the sacks, I had the statistics in college, but when you go to the NFL, you will see how my stats break down. But I would tell people, look at the production of the people around me.
I have Pro Bowl.
I had Pro Bowl, Pro Bowl next to me, I had Pro Bol outside of them.
I had a Pro Bowl in back of me. So all of that stuff was credited.
If you in the third or four defense at that triangle, which is a nose tackling your two inside backs.
If they're not.
Good, your defense won't be any good. And we were pretty solid.
So and that's and for a bunch of those years, Vince. One of those two inside linebackers was Gerard Mayo. He's the head coach now of the Patriots. What's that like for you to see your guy Mayo, who's younger than you and then you play with, is now taken over for Bill.
Yeah.
I mean I'm pretty excited for him because I think he has what it takes. He's gonna be young coach, and I mean he's following Bill full step. So I mean Bill said the standard for a lot for the NFL, for coaching in general. So he's stepping in the role that it's gonna be tough field. But I think he'll over time he'll be successful because I think he had what it takes to be a great head coach and he can relate to the players. I think he can get through to the players better than Bill Ken at this point in his career.
Highly encourage everyone to go to Kingsford dot com, especially if you're not on social media. You can check out the video with Vince passing the tongs to Jason Kelsey. I watched it a couple times this morning. It was awesome. Vince, good to see you man, Thanks for coming on the show man.
Thank you for having meybody, you have a good one now, all right there?
He is Vince Wilfork, two times Super Bowl champ nos tackle with the Patriots. Yes, Paul, I.
Got two questions about Vince Wilfork. Can you face him in practice?
Yes?
Was he he take it easy in practice generally compared to the average guy.
He was not interested in practicing at a very hard level.
Is that fantastic for you or is that bad for you? Development developmental wise.
I was. I had already started a bunch of games. I was kind of pass the developmental stage. But it's funny because I remember one distinct interaction with Vince. Okay, so he's six one, three fifty at the time, so I'm almost six y five at the time. I'm probably three fifteen three ten. Maybe it it is impossible to get leverage on a six foot, three hundred and fifty pounds person, especially when they're stronger, quicker, and faster than you. But it's impossible Okay, so this will not be as good for the radio callers, but this is why what you should do is you should watch the show on peacock or YouTube at some point. So I remember, in practice, I could not do anything with him right, So I started trying to what you call snatch him right, which is like when they're leaning forward, you kinda on the side of their shoulder pads, so Vince would get really low and have his arms sticking out and like that, and then you just couldn't move them. So the only way I felt like I could maybe win the gap was to go ahead and snatch him, which is if a guy's like got a lot of weight forward, you kind of tug at their jersey year and you pull them down, right. You pull them down because they're trying to resist you pushing them back, so they have all their weight forward, so you try to take their forward weight and throw them down. And I did it a couple of times, and he was not happy, and he said to me, did Bill tell you to snatch me? Because every once a while, Belichick, like if you're going against a center that would do that a lot, Belichick would tell the guy, hey, work on snatching him. Because that's what he's going to see in the game. So he's preparing for the game and I said to Vince, now build in, tell me to do that. I'm I'm just doing that, and he goes, stop doing that.
One more thing. You know, Vince Wollfork, he had to weigh in every week. And you know you were in the pros, you did weight checks. Yes, you've heard all the stories. Even you were shocked when he said I would weigh in at three twenty five on a Monday or whatever it was, or whatever day it was, and then by the end of the week he'd be three forty five. That's shocking, right.
Well, twenty to twenty five pounds every week. That that's more than I've heard before. And actually a lot of guys that I know. I was on a Buffalo Bills team, and this is back like an three or four hundreds of thousands of dollars from three guys, because you can look it up. I don't know what the amount is now, but they give you a weight. Okay, so let's say it's three to twenty. Well, you get fined, like let's say it's one hundred and forty three pounds per pound per day, So do the math if you're ten pounds overweight on Monday and you never get it down, so you're I mean that's a lot. I mean you're talking fourteen hundred bucks per day every day for a week, and then the next week, and then the next week and the next week. It adds up and the amount's probably more than that. You can probably look up the NFLPA fine schedule. But in Buffalo. In Buffalo, you could also instead of doing the weigh in, you could go into the bod pod they call it, and you could do your percentage body fat. I know a guy who did not want to get fined, so he put a loubed up stack of quarters where the sun don't shine, because the bodpod registers that as being solid instead of fat, and it put him over the top for the body fat percentage. So he would put what do they call it, like a roll of quarters that the term for a roller quorters. Yeah, you do not want to put those where he put them, but saved a lot of money, I guess. How about that visual image to almost close out the show, You're welcome everybody. Ross Tucker will only be here for about fifteen more minutes. Forty minutes past the hour here what did we learn today and are we going to watch the NBA Draft tonight
