Well, well, well, on a National Championship Monday night, we brought the South out to the Bay. Big showing for Levi's field was actually in great shape. Clemson Tigers Dabbo Sweeney two National Championship three years takes down Nick Saban. What a game. We'll dive into that in one second Big NFL show coming up, Bears the Eagles, Deshaun Watson, John Harbaud, Dak Prescott, Bruce Arians. We'll talk about it all just I mean, a lot went on in the last forty eight hours in the NFL world. Probably toward the later in the week we'll get into these second round matchups and probably dive more into some of the head coaching thoughts. I know Matt Lafleur got hired as the Green Bay Packers. Hey coach today. I'm not really gonna talk about it that tonight. Probably talk about that later this week, Probably talk about it more if you follow me on Twitter. Have some thoughts, but no big takeaway there right now, at least for this show. But let's dive into the National champion and again we end with the Middlecoff mailbag. You can slide up in my DMS at John Middlecoff and I'll answer questions at the end of every show, but I think the big story tonight with I'm a big believer in college football. In college football, you meet a lot of people that have run businesses. They often tell you it's not about the building, but the people in the building. And I do think in the NFL, for the most part, it's more about the Jimmy's and the Joe's and the x's nose, probably a combination of the both. You need them both, Like you need Joe Montana, Jerry Rice and Bill Walsh. You need Tom Brady Gronk and Bill Belichick, right, you need I was gonna say Peyton Manning and Tony Dungey, but I think Tony Dunge's a little overrated. But you get my drift. You need a combination of great on both sides in college football. That's true too, But the head coaches make the program. Like I'm thirty four years old, the majority of my life, Alabama sucked. They got Nick Saban, They basically became John Wooden's UCLA dynasty. Florida once Steve Spurrier left, wasn't shambles again. Their sweetless Steve Spurrier. He left for a while, they had problems. Urban Meyer shows up. They kick ass again. Urban Meyer may help make that program like you put urban Meyer wherever, you're gonna win. With urban Meyer retiring, tapping out, taking a sabbatical, whatever he considers it, it's pretty clear Sabans and Trents is number one. I know Dabbles beat him twice, but sabans resume speaks for itself to me. Dabbo Sweeney now is the king of college football at right after Nick Saban. He's now the urban Meyer and he kind of became a legend. To night. He's won two championships in three years. He's beat Saban twice. This time tonight, I mean he kicked the living crap out of him, his team offensively, defense, the athletes he recruits. Clemson. Before he became the head coach, they had the nickname of Clemsoning, meaning they would win the big games and then always lose the easy ones. It's why they would never end up in the big games. Well, ever since Dabbo showed up, they're in the playoffs every year, and now they have two Natties in three years and their best players are all coming back I mean their quarterback looks like Peyton Manning at eighteen years old with long hair. Their running backs a true sophomore ETN is unreal. They got dudes on defense that are junior or sophomores and freshmen that are awesome. The wide receivers a badass. I mean, I tweeted this during the game, kind of sarcastically but kind of seriously that what would Alabama when Saban retires offer Nick Saban ten years one hundred million, twelve years, one hundred and twenty million. Excuse me, when Nick Saban retires offered Dabbo Sweeney? Like, what is Dabbo Sweeney gonna be worth through Alabama? Now? Does he leave Clemson to go to Alabama his alma mater, He's from Birmingham, Alabama. You know, probably not, but you never know, you know, money talks, shit walks. Jimbo Fisher got seventy five million dollars to go to Texas A and M what's Dabbles Sweeney worth? Now? He makes a boatload at Clemson, Like money's not an issue at Clemson. His defensive coordinator, who is a superstar, Bret Venables, makes over two million dollars their defense is I mean dominant Dabbles a receiver at heart. He recoust these wide receivers from Hopkins to I mean, you just go down the line to Sammy Watkins to. I mean, it's just incredible. The guys they produced. That guy number eight they have, that's a true freshman right now. They produced dudes with their eyes closed. But tonight was just a moment when you know, every once in a while, back in the nine early nineties, when that Grant Hill came together, like coach K kind of became coach K and then over the next twenty years just became a legend. Kind of feels like Dabo is gonna be do that to college football because it doesn't feel like he's an NFL coach, But it definitely doesn't feel like he's you know, it's either Clemson or Alabama. And he's got a ten fifteen year He's only fifty years old, So why couldn't he rattle off Why couldn't he be back to back champs next year? He's got the quarterback coming out or coming back. Excuse me, Like this is this thing's just getting started now. I don't think Alabama's going away. They're still stacked. I think I saw someone on Twitter say that's the biggest deficit or the biggest loss Nick Saban's had since he was the coach of the Miami Dolphins. Like this was an abnormal Nick Saban performance. He doesn't get beat like this. To me, it was so jaw dropping because we never see this. But I said the whole time, like, I don't think people quite realize how good Clemson is they have. I mean, there were probably eighty NFL players in this game, considering freshman sophomores and juniors and seniors. You know that there are probably thirty first round picks, hundreds of millions of dollars worth of NFL players in this game. But Clemson clearly came into this game with a chip on their shoulder, with an edge as the underdog came into Levi Stadium and kick Bama's ass. Now, I don't think it changes the legacy or anything to Nick Saban. He's one of the greatest football coaches we've ever seen, owned college football forever and and off night, they got beat by a team with elite players and an elite coach like Knicks lost to Urban Meyer before. Sometimes other elite coaches just beat You's that happens. You know, Belichick lost twice to Tom Coughlin, But when you're Tom Coughlin, you beat Belichick twice, that kind of makes your career. Like now, Dabbo, I've told a couple of people, I think he's gonna go. Roy Williams remember the way he did when he was at Kansas North Carolina wanted to hire him. He let Dean Smith retire. Then there was like a three or four year gap when the program got in shambles. Don You never want to be the guy that hired to follow a legend. You don't want to necessarily follow Nick Saban. You want to be the guy after the guy that followed him. Now, if you're Dabbo Sweeney, they'd pay you so much money you'd have to think about it. But as Phil Savage once told me about Jimbo at Florida State, and now this is definitely a ring true for Dabbo at Clemson, why would you ever leave one of these programs in the ACC, especially when they're paying you that much money. You recruit SEC players, but you play an ACC schedule like regardless how much they'll pay at Alabama, it's much harder to get to the title game. That's part of Saban's greatness. He's beating the crap out of LSU every year. Like that's not easy, or Auburn or now Texas and m they're in the Conference Mississippi State, it's not bad. Then you gotta play George in the SEC championship game. Like, who does Clemson have to beat? Pitt manny Diez in Miami. I was gonna say Larry Fedora, but he got fired. I don't even know Mac Brown at unc accs where it's at. I mean, I was Dabble, I'd ride this bad boy out. You might be able to win three straight Natties with Trevor Lawrence and what a stud that kid is. I hesitate to do this because in football so much can change. Hell. I mean, Nick Saban could retire tomorrow and dab would go to Alabama, right, So you never know with quarterbacks, thing change. I thought Josh Rosen was a looted to be the number one overall pick, but man, this kid is pretty special and he's gonna be big time for a long time. He looks like a future superstar at the NFL level. I mean, I would imagine a lot of GM's are sitting on their couch tonight salivating at this kid, you know, one day playing quarterback for their team. That guy's gonna make a head coach and a GM a lot of and an owner a lot of money one day. That Trevor Lawrence is a baller. You saw in the difference between him and two A on a different level. Okay, now now that we got college basically wrapped up the season, let's we gotta react and slash look forward to what happened over the weekend. And you know, the craziest game to me of them all was Bears Eagles. I mean, just absolutely riveting TV. And I want to start with the Bears, and I want to start with the reaction on social media. And it's very typical when a guy. Whenever we go one way, there's an overreaction the other way. It's just a tried and true formula on social media, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, you name it. So, after Cody Parkey missed the kick and then he quote unquote acts like a professional, he is a professional after the game and takes the heat. Everyone's like he didn't deserve getting booed coming off the field. Everyone just stop being so mean to Cody Parkey. Listen, he's a kicker. He's got one job and it's to make that football that pigskin through those two uprights. He did not get the job done. Here's the other thing with Cody Parkey. Cody Parkey is not some undrafted free agent that's getting paid five hundred thousand dollars. There are two kickers, I repeat, two kickers in the NFL that signed a contract with more guaranteed cash at signing than this individual. That would be Justin Tucker at Baltimore, who ironically missed a kick on Sunday too. But you know, I think we all agree he's one of the best kickers hell ever and Goodkowski with the Patriots who's had kind of gotten off off the beat battle a little bit this last year, but he's had an elite career super Bowl champion. So Cody Parkey is paid top three in his position in guaranteed money, which in the NFL, especially at a position like kicker, is all that matters. So when you miss a kick in the first round of the playoffs, after you've had a season where you've missed several kicks, I think going into that game he's hit the post five times or the excuse me, that was the fifth post he's hit so coming in he had four hit and everyone's like, oh, be nice to Cody acting like a pro. Are you out of your gourd? To quote Colin, are you insane? Like am I taking crazy pills? He's a kicker. He's paid a premium. And in this world, in this life, when you are paid a premium at any job, especially a public job, you're paid to produce and you get crushed. It's why Lebron, Steph, Brady, Carson, Wentz, you, you name it. Any elite player in any sport, Mike Trout, when you fail on the biggest stage, you get destroyed. It's because of money. They're paid the most well relative to this guy's position. He made his cap hit this year was nine million dollars, made five point five million dollars in cash this season to kick and you know what, he wasn't a very good kicker. Now, if you want to give shit to Ryan Pace in the Bears management, you can, But at the end of the day, this guy like so oh, he stood in front of his locker and took it like a man. Yeah, that's the job. That is the requirement. He's a kicker. He signed an enormous contract. If he can't sit in front of his locker after ruin it, losing the game and ruining their season, I mean, I call him a clown. So yeah, I don't tip my hat to what's expected of you like that. That's part of the gig. And at the end of the day, he did not get the job done. And I know it's come out. It came out before I recorded this podcast earlier today that the ball was tipped, and I text someone in the league. The guy that tipped it is not six seven. The guy that tipped it was six two. Like he's got a kick the ball higher. He just does. So just overall, wasn't good enough. Just that's simple. And I get that Twitter's over the top on compassion. We always got to feel like, I don't feel sorry for him. He's paid a premium to produce and he couldn't get it done. So if you're a Bears fan, he had money on the game, like me, had him in a big parlay. Like it's that's a problem. And there's a bigger problem because they're guaranteed almost two and a half million dollars to him next year, They're not gonna eat that cash and a kicker. He's going to be the kicker next year. He is going to be the Bears kicker next year, just the way the cookie crumbles. With the financial setup of this team, you're not gonna eat that much money. You're just not. So he's got to be better. He has to be better. And this year he simply wasn't good enough. And that kick it has to get over Hester a guy that's six two, and I know he jumped high, but you got to make that kick. There is zero excuse. Now, Matt, Naggie's my guy, and people are you gonna ript Naggie? Listen, Mitch Rubisky just isn't that good. So and he made some big time throws in that game, and part of the reason was because Naggie scheming him up. Now, the one thing I would say is Matt, I wouldn't ask him right now because he's probably had the worst loss of his career. Is that why'd you call a time out when you completed the ball to Allan Robinson down the sideline, get up to the line of scrimmage, you know, throw the ball into the ground. And then you still have a timeout and you can work the middle of the field. Now, the difference between a forty three yard kick is maybe thirty yards. Now again, at the end of the day, is Cody Parkey some locke to hit it from thirty yards by no means. And I'd say anything under forty five for an NFL kicker, especially one that you're paying a premium, you gotta make the kick. So zero compassion for me for Cody Parkey. He's paid a lot of money to make that kick and he didn't get it done. Now on the other side, Philadelphia, two things really stand out to me about this team. One and I set it going into this game, and I like the Bears, and I related to the San Frasco Giants. And something Hunter Pence always said, and it's so true, and you feel it in a team when you watch him in big games. The Baseball Analytical crew would tell you pressure means nothing. Pressure doesn't exist. Every head bet is the same. That ain't true. You could feel how tense it was and Soldier Field, how big every play was, how tight some of those guys butts were. I mean not literally, but you know what I'm saying. And there was something in the Eagles that we've been here, done that. And for the Bears defense acted like that too, even though they hadn't. The championship blood was real with that team. They were unfazed in the hostile environment, did not even flinch. It was not pretty, it was not ugly, and they found a way game winning touchdown on the road against the best defense in the league with your backup quarterback. Like, to me, that's championship blood to a t. I've been thinking a lot about this last twenty four hours. I think now, obviously it's not that win is not as good as a Super Bowl, but that win was better than either one of their playoff wins Beside the Super That win yesterday, to me, was more impressive than the NFC championship game against Minnesota. That game was more impressive than the road win, or excuse me, the home win against Atlanta in the second round. That's the second best win of Full's playoff career, which is kind of teetering on becoming historic. And then the other thing is just Doug Doug Peterson, who some people in the media were just crushing last year. Remember that, as as I want to call him Travis. But as Jason Kelsey once said that clown Michael Lombardi. Now I enjoy Michael Lombardi. I think he has some unique insight A listen to some of the stuff. So I'm not some Michael Lombardi hater. But he went all in, and I've done an all in before, and when I go all in, I am one hundred percent or at least you know well over ninety that I'm in right, because when you're gonna crush someone in this business, you can look kind of stupid if you don't quite have all the facts. And I'd been around Doug. I'd seen his work ethic, I knew a lot of people on his coaching staff. I knew how good how he was like he is clearly Carson Wentz was good. He wasn't gonna fail. Now did I think he was gonna be this good? No, But I knew. Like when Michael Lombardi was saying, basically calling him Jim tom Seula, I thought it was insane. I'd seen Jim tom Seula. Hell Lombardi's kid was on Jim tom Seula's staff. I mean it was, like I tweeted one time in the middle of the jimtom Sula run that the top high schools in the Bay Area wouldn't hire Jim toom Seula to be their head coach, and I stand by that one thousand percent day. LASAU would not hire Jim tom Seula. Doug Peterson hasn't just proven to be a good head coach. He's proven to be an elite head coach. To go on the road, to call those plays, to have your backup quarterback ready, to have that team ready. There's a physical, old school nature to him also to handle the bow and arrows and just the bullets that come at you from the Philadelphia media. Listen, I'd work in the Bay Area media. It's easier out here. It just is. We got one guy, Tim Cawacami that really comes hard. Everyone else lot as off Bass. In Philadelphia, every reporter is throwing grenades trying to take down. There was a war zone press conference after Carson Wentz quote unquote broke his back. Doug handled it. Doug's been in this league for a long time. And you know the other thing. Doug's best skill, his best skill, which clearly matters the most in the NFL. It's never mattered more. It's always mattered, but it's never mattered more given the rules. He's an elite play caller. An elite play caller, and how would you ever known. I mean, he had never really called plays in his life in the league, but it's something that clearly comes natural to him. I knew, having seen firsthand when I worked with him in Philadelphia, just how early he'd get to the office. That's not the same thing with Naggy, Like to meet time was never gonna be his problem. You just never know on game day, EBB and flow of a game exceptional, man. I mean, it's just it's just top notch. He You know, for everyone, all of our on our knees annointing mcvay's and the Shanahans and you know those guys. I don't think Doug Peterson quite gets the love. Maybe it's because he's a little older, Maybe it's because of the gray hair. That dude is a big time football coach. Okay, let's get into my guy, Deshaun Watson. I'll say this, everything I've heard of him from scouts, from people that have been through Clemson, people that have worked with the Houston Texans, speak very very highly of him. I think he's a high level guy. I think when Dabbo called him the Michael Jordan a football I don't While it's a little bit hyperbole, I do think too his core he meant it like he thinks this guy is the total package. And again, everything I've always personally heard is that. But I thought his actions on when do they play? I guess Saturday Day was an embarrassment. Steve Smith, former you know wide receiver the Ravens and the Carolina Panthers, eviscerated him on NFL Network, and I thought it was all completely fair. When you are getting worked, when you're getting your ass kicked in any thing in life, any business, any situation, it's probably a decent time just to keep your mouth shut now when you're on top. I'm a bigger believer of not really rubbing it in people's faces now. Granted, I work in a public job now where you have to kind of self promote, so it's a it's a tough medium. So I'm not against self promotion just in general. I got no problem when Cam's doing first downs when they're winning. I just like I got no problem with the celebrations when you get a turnover. The defense takes a picture together. When you get a score, a touchdown, as long as you're not down big, you celebrate. It's fun, it's football. But when you're getting your ass kicked and you're down twenty one nothing and you're playing like complete garbage. One of the knocks on Deshaun Watson, and the reason that he didn't go number one after a borderline historic collegiate career, was because a lot of people in the league didn't think he threw the ball very well. Now I think he's dispelled that notion a lot early in his career. Throws the ball, I've thought obviously last year he made a bunch of big plays and played fantastic this season. But the version I saw on Saturday, and some people said he had a cut hand, whatever the ball was coming out of his hand, funny. He was not throwing the ball very well. He threw the ball like a scrub in that game. And one of his best attributes running around his elusive ability. But again, when you are getting throttled by the other team and you are at home and you're down fourteen twenty one nothing, and honestly the game felt like fifty to nothing, and you get a kind of a hollow first down and every time you do with your legs you go to do the first down sign, you kind of look like a clown. And I know, love social media loves to say let the guy have a personality, let him be himself, which again, I'm all for being yourself. But there's a time and a place for everything, and that was one thousand percent a bad look for Deshaun Watson. The time to puff your chest out and try to rub it in the other team's face is not in a one and done situation the NFL playoffs, when you're getting when you're getting just destroyed. Because that's what that was yesterday or three days ago now or whatever day that game was. It was a butt whooping and listen that not everyone has to act like dorky Andrew Luck. I don't even expect that. I'm okay with first down signs. I like them. Brent Sellick when I was in Philadelphia was king of it, and a lot of guys all around the league do it. Now I'm not even against quarterbacks doing it. Philip Rivers kind of sarcastically did it in the Ravens game. But when you're getting crushed it's just not the time. It's why when you score a touchdown in a game and you're down three four scores in the second half, you just don't really get to celebrate. You just don't you know that there are still some unwritten rules that you can make yourself look like an idiot. You really can. And I thought Deshaun Watson, for the first time ever since I've been watching him, I've watched them closely since college ever, kind of embarrassed himself and it was a bad look. And it's one of those you don't have to publicize or anything. But I think if you're billball Brian, you sit down to him and you just I don't know if that's the time, man, Because even quarterbacks, even young successful quarterbacks, need some coaching and need to be told sometimes yeah that's not right. We all, you know, even the most mature humans can do immature things. And Deshaun Watson still twenty four, twenty five, twenty three, however old he is, he's still young, So to think that he is just absolved from doing immature stuff. He's a guy, and we're as guys, as competitive men, we do stupid shit. I mean, that's just just a reality that was stupid and I thought it was beyond a terrible look. I'm glad Steve Smith saw it. I think a lot of players saw it, and I know Jalen Ramsey tweeted like, be you bro have a personality, Like hey, Jalen, no one's telling him not to have a personality. But when you're getting blasted in the mouth by a team in your division, which is just kicking your butt in a home playoff game that you've earned, that ain't the time. That ain't it? Okay, let's get into an interesting situation, right The information I have as of right now on around lunchtime record some of this before the National Championship game on Monday, is that John Harbaugh the latest is that Ian Rapsheet said they're gonna work on extension and that John Harbaugh is going to be extended. I think it's kind of clear that the Dolphins, the Broncos, they are very interested in John Harbaugh. John Harbaugh, now that he proved that he could win with this other guy, has a bunch of leverage like the Ravens. The going rate for John Harbaugh and Steve Bushotti John Gruden got ten million bucks. Pete Carroll sign an extension at eleven million dollars. John Harbaugh at minimum is getting eleven million bucks. So you're talking about four or five years at probably twelve million per so, I mean you might be talking like four million or four years forty eight million dollar extension. You know what the year left on his deal here, So you're talking a lot of cash. Now that's the going rate. I personally think and people that have listened to this, the coaches are underpaid. But when you look at John Harbaugh, when I worked in the league, I didn't have a great feel for this. I was so young. I didn't have any leverage. You know, I had to sign contracts that I can't even amain. I don't even know how I lived ye making no money. I had no leverage. I only knew the people in the league that I worked with. It was you know, if they offered you fifty thousand dollars to scout, you just took the job. You know, My entry level into the job was nothing. These coaches, and exact some of them, gain a lot of leverage. The longer in any business, you can create more leverage. And now John Harbaugh has a ton of leverage. But he also should know this, and I've learned this since getting in the media, and now I, you know, have a I have a separate podcast from this. I do with a good buddy of mine, Guy Haberman. That's you know, gonna be the Marv Albert one day of play by play. He's just fantastic in his early thirties, went to high school together. We own the podcast together. So I sell a lot of partnerships. I do a periscope show through Twitter that I've sold partnerships through through I've just done other business deals through advertising, and I've won something that I've lost some and I've realized through that experience. Nothing like the John Harbot twelve million dollars a year, but I have known on a smaller scale, and it's all relative to what you make that you're only as strong as the partners you align with, whether you do a podcast with someone, whether you go into business with someone, with any contract you signed with someone, where in football Ozzie Knewsom just retired, he would basically be signing his contract to do a partnership. Now I get you make He's gonna make money regardless. That's at the point, like my business personally, is at the point where I'm still kind of I have to hustle to keep getting advertisers in different things that I do. Like it's not just a self sustaining ship, which again it's kind of fun, you know, it's it's a challenge in this profession that I've chosen. Just like John Harbot fifteen years ago was an up and coming assistant, it takes time. Well, now he's got to the point where he's got a ton of options. He could tell people know. That's a powerful thing whenever you have in a contract negotiation the ability to tell people know. But I also think you have the ability to look at who you want to align yourself with and with the Ravens if he signs on, and again, as of right now he hasn't signed on, and even if he signs on, it won't really change this. My take on this, why would you sign up long term? Would you have options and you're gonna get paid no matter what? To do a deal with Lamar Jackson. What Lamar Jackson is doing is not sustainable, Like I've been saying it all along. If you consistently watch him, he can't can't make basic passes like a basic third and eight a nine yard out route. He can't complete it on a you know, a third and long. They don't trust him. Now one day can he developed into that. I'm not writing against him, And just because I didn't like him coming out doesn't mean if he becomes a good player, I won't tip my hat to him. I'm never, you know, married to an opinion on a player, Like if I like a guy, or if I don't like a guy and then that guy becomes good, I go God, good for him, especially when they're good people like Lamar Jackson. Clearly, everyone that I knew that evaluated him and met him coming out, he's a good guy. So I root for guys. I didn't like Teddy Bridgewater. I loved him as a person, I just didn't like him as a player. I root for his comeback story. I'm rooting for him now. Did I ever like him as a first round pick? No? But I remember being in a Raider game and watching Teddy Bridgewater this young fan walk by and no one was paying attention. It was way pre game, and him handing him as gloves and saw the excitement in the like Teddy Bridgewaters and again that's you'll be like, well, that's no shit. Yeah, I mean it was just cool like Teddy. I like Teddy Bridge, I like Lamar Jackson. I just don't think he's very good. And I know this as a coach. If I was in Jim John Harbosh, I would not tie myself to that guy. He's too niche. Jim Harbaugh, his brother, did something similar with Kaepernick, and Kaepernick was way better than Lamar Jackson. He had a much stronger arm, he was a more explosive straight line runner. He was just bigger, stronger, more powerful. He was just better. And that ultimately the next year Jim Harbaugh or I guess it might have been his third year, because Kaepernick came in for Alex Smith. In the first year, they went to the Super Bowl. The second year full time starter goes to the NFC Championship. By the third year of starting, Jim and Greg Roman and the offensive staff they tried to run a more normal offense that wasn't just pistol oriented, because you had to be diversified four or five wide and just a modern spread attacking passing game. And he couldn't do it because he wasn't accurate enough. So if I'm John Harbaugh, and I'm gonna get in bed with someone. Whether it's the Dolphins, I'm not even saying the Dolphins or the Denver. He could probably pick multiple other spots. Hell, he could just not sign a contract Stenson and just kind of go Joe Flacco next year. Let it play out. It's why I always say when people you know, John Elway this weekend, I think blocked coach some assistant coaches from interviewing at other jobs, and social media freaked out like, how could he do that to those guys. Well, here's how. When you're an assistant coach and scouts are the same way, and you sign a multi year deal, and anyone in business can relate because most of you guys, as I kind of am, now, you're just at will employees or you're just at will of a business. Deal can be broken at any moment. When you sign a two or three year contract, that's for financial security. Well, one of the things you give up with financial security is power to go wherever you want in your industry. So if you're an assistant coach and you sign a two year deal and on the second year, you know, after the first year, your head coach gets fired that team still owns your rights, but they also still owe you if they fire you. That's part of the leverage in the contract. If I'm John Harbaugh, I go, I don't know if I want to be the Raven long term coach because I wouldn't want to get in bed with Lamar Jackson. I have somewhat of an example with my own brother that it's really hard to coach these type guys on the field, not as people like That was before Kaepernick started kneeling. That's when he was like the highest character guy on the team and everyone liked him. That was before we started you know, whearing his earphones the lunch or whatever. Like everyone loves Lamar Jackson, and I don't blame them. But as a player, which really matters, Like you want to get in bed with Andrew Luck not literally, you know what, I'm so figuratively. You want to go all in on Mahomes. You want to go all in. It's risky, like the golf, the Mitch Trubisky, the Dack. Some of these guys are risky. It just this nature of the sport. You know, Jimmy Garoppolo, the forty Niners went all in with him. He towards Aco. I mean, there's a lot of variables to all of this, but on the most basic level, can you consistently win playoff games with this quarterback? And if you're going to sign a long term extension when you have a ton of options, I don't know if I wouldn't do that if I was in And again, he has kind of insider knowledge of this because he has family ties to a similar situation. Now, the Ravens a little more consistent of an organization, but they're also losing Ozzie newsom I would recommend, Like, if I'm gonna do a partnership and this, people are gonna be like, oh, I think John Elway is pretty good. Now they have ownership issues with the Bowling family and suing, and I get there probably question marks there. But if I'm John Harball and I don't mind moving, and listen, you're talking to someone that doesn't like moving. Done it a couple of times, have zero aspiration to ever do it again. So but that's coaches are a little different. But John has had a pretty stable NFL career coach for the Eagles for ten years, and he's coached for the Ravens for ten years. So in twenty years, hardball has had to move. Like I've made the drive from Philly to Baltimore. It's like, I don't know our twenty minutes out and a half. Hell, it might not even be that long. I think that drive to DC no traffic is a couple hours. So it's he hasn't had to move far in twenty years. It's unheard of, you know, coaching career, Him and like Andy Reid have moved the least in the last twenty years in the NFL and Belichick, most people are moving around, like Kyle Shanahan. You know, he's been on like six different teams in the last ten years. That's usually the way that professional works. They're also highly paid for it. But my number one recommendation always is whenever you get into a partnership, and partnerships are really important, probably more than ever in modern day business because you need other people more than ever given you know how much things cost in our world business. But it's no different football, Like who taught? Who are you signing to deal with as your general manager and your quarterback is really really important. It will dictate your future success. Okay, let's dive into the Dallas Cowboys and their quarterback back Prescott, which I think mainly because it's the Cowboys, but I do think it's fair to say he's one of the more polarizing quarterbacks in the NFL. Is he good or is he not good? And I'm leaning on the side the more I've watched him this year that he's pretty good and he's definitely someone that I would build a round and attempt to make my franchise quarterback. Now, I think we have to be careful at this. Most people in life, you know, no different football or not, don't just hit the ground running and dominate from day one at anything we do. And speaking from a guy's perspective, certain people mature physically mentally at all different rates, even people at the heights of their profession. Dak Prescott started at quarterback for several years in Mississippi State, took that program that's a po dunk middle of nowhere, just does nothing. At one point in time they were a top five program, remember a senior year, and he became and has become a very solid NFL quarterback drafted in the middle rounds. Not every quarterback is Andrew Luck or hell even Carson Wentz that just dominates by year one or two. Some guys take time, And I think the guy Dak Prescott played is a great example. Russell Wilson was not good to like year three or four. He wasn't even like the top ten best player on his team the first couple of years. The first time he won Bowl, he was probably worse than Dak. Like not everyone is just ready to, you know, start a business at twenty two years old. Some people may not be ready until they're fifty. But that guy at fifty maybe one of the best business leaders we've ever seen. Like I remember going to high school with a guy named Casey Newman, and every morning he was going on a swimming scholarship to Stanford. Just an unreal swimmer. But I remember having class with him. He'd have to work out a like five thirty in the morning, and then he would work out extra at night and he'd do his homework. He was a genius. Obviously he's going to Stanford. I was not in the back of my head. I never admitted this at the time, like, how can I compete against this guy in life? He's just on a different level. Now fifteen years later, you know, now at eighteen, I was nowhere close to that. Hell, in my early twenties, I was a pretty immature guy. I would say I grew just massively from a maturation standpoint, from just in my business and in life, like after twenty five, twenty six. It's like my greatest growth as a human has been like twenty eight through right now, and I hopefully continue to grow some people though, you know, crush it day one leaving college. Hell, start businesses in college. Just like some players and quarterbacks and NBA stars are greatest rookies. You know, some guys like Steph Curry takes them a little time. You know, not everyone operates at the same speed, but the goal is to get to the same finish line. And ultimately I think Dak I personally kind of compare him do some version of Russell Wilson and Cam Newton. He has a lot of similarities to Russell in the sense that calm, cool, collected, very mature. He also has some physical gifts that I would relate to Cam Newton. When he runs, he can run people over and he's a smart runner. He doesn't always look to run neither, just Cam, Now, you can design runs. I'm just talking about dropbacks. When he ends up scrambling, he will run through tackles, which eventually could be a concern. But he's also like Cam very hit or misspasser. Like sometimes he'll make a pass like he did in that playoff game where you're like, that is a dime and other players will be like, how do you miss that? Guy? He's wide open. And again, because he's young, he was not a polished player when he came into the NFL. He hasn't played around that many skilled guys. Beside, he's running back, which doesn't factor in as much as a thrower. So when I look at Dak Prescott, I go, God, this guy has a lot of room for growth. If we could just exponentially improve, like slowly. You don't have to overnight improve from point A to point F. You just gotta get from point A to point B, you know, complete an extra two balls a game, and then one day, maybe in five years, that number went two to five. And that's kind of where Russell Wilson has grown. Now. Russell's still somewhat flawed. Now, he's a much better player than Dak, but he's not quote unquote the perfect quarterback. But anyone with a brain. Knew by like his second year there is a lot to work with there. Now. It took like it wasn't until year five or six that Russell became the best player on his team. It's okay that new year three, Dak is nowhere near the best player on his own team. That's okay. I don't even think you need to pay him after this offseason. You can just pay him after next offseason. You can let him slowly work into it. Kaepernick is a good example, Like it took him some time. He got to red shirt, and then he came in the middle of the second year. He wouldn't have been ready right off the bat. Some guys are, though, you know. I mean, Derek Carr was lucky he got to start right away. He wasn't that good as a rookie, but it was clear he saw a rookie like there's something to work with. Jimmy Garoppolo, like he was a second round pick, but he got to sit for a while and then he came to San Francisco kind of ready made. Like we expect all these quarterbacks just like we do in life, Like every human is the same mentally and with maturity and people listening to this. No, when you hire someone, certain people are just more ready. Now that doesn't mean that the upside of another individual isn't higher. Sometimes two years into a job, he might go, God, I'm glad I hired that guy. He was terrible at first, but he had a lot of room for growth. That's kind of the way I look at myself as an employee. I'm not to hit the ground running guy. I gotta feel things out, I gotta learn on the job, and then I get stronger as we go. You know, I'm not I'm never going to be the smartest guy in the room, for example, And I'm not comparing myself to a quarterback, but I can relate like Dak is never going to be the most physically gifted, but he clearly has a lot of attributes that really parallel, you know, success in the NFL. Now, one thing he has to improve is hitting basic throws. But I saw Russell Wilson dramatically improve over a three or four year period. That's really the knock. Why and again this is a political statement. Why Kaepernick kind of washed out of the league Beside being blackballed. Don't get me wrong, I believe he was blackballed, but he wasn't accurate, and he never got any more accurate, like Russell Wilson has just slowly gotten more accurate, and he's a deep ball thrower like Dak does need to improve on something beside his legs. But I do think that you don't need to be Bill Walsh to realize there is a lot to work with there. And he's lucky that he's on a team with a lot of talented players, just like at one point in time, Russell Wilson was lucky that he was on a team with a lot of talented players. Hell, I've said it all along. Cam Newton's never even been the best player on his own team. That's okay. Like if Zeke's always there and DeMarcus Lawrence and Namari, that's fine. You know. Now it gets a little more complicated when you pay him a lot of money. But I think it's so clear that Dak's ceiling is really high. It just takes a little longer. He wasn't a ready made project when you got him. There's a reason you drafted him in the fourth round. Not every twenty two year old you hire a fresh out of college is going to be a great first year employee, but some might be better than others. But certain guys are gonna have way more upside, you know. And it's to me, it's pretty clear that the upside on Dak is really high. I believe in the player, and I'm not I actually like him to win in LA this weekend. Not necessarily because of him, more Zeke and their defense, but I like the guy. I think he's bringing a lot to a table, and it's pretty clear he's good. Is he great? No? Is he worth an enormous contract at this point in time? Probably not. I'd like to wait a year, but I do think at one point in time in the near future it might be two more years or three more years, he will be worth it. I would bet on Dak Prescott continuing to get better. Okay, let's let's get to the Middlecoff mailbag. You can slide up in those dms at John Middlecoff and I answer questions questions ARI Kingsbury and USC. That'd be Cliff Kingsbury. Sorry I clicked on the wrong button. How do you see it playing out for Kingsbury? I can't imagine he'd want to stay with USC for long. I hear he's contemplating paying the buyout to leave. Yeah, I think we're all here in that root on the internet, and Swan refused to let AL teams interview. I think we all kind of know the story. Basically, this question is where do you stand on this issue? I'm torn, Like, listen, you took the job, and I think Kingsbury took the job. He had some idea that NFL teams wanted to talk to him, But what does the wise man tell you? A bird in the hands better than two in the bush. So I get why you take the job, But the moment NFL teams want to interview him for their head coach, I don't think Lynn Swan first should block him and that Cliff Kingsbury shouldn't be interested in interviewing. And I saw Colin tweeted about it earlier today. It's Monday, and he was just saying how like Coward was saying, he was old school and he believes once you signed a contract, you know you should be president in that job and listen out for I agree with that sediment and really that logic in theory, but I am a believer of the really truly the person that cares the most about you as you, so you always have to be willing to do the best, do things the best in your interest, and sometimes it's not always kind to others, maybe your employer at the time, maybe to some of your fellow co workers. But I also think this one's kind of black and white. He took the USC offensive coordinator job, which in theory is a great job. Obviously it's a little overrated right now. But the NFL teams wanted to interview him to be their head coach, to be their head coach. Like, name me another offensive coordinator in college at school X Texas, Oklahoma. I'm not saying the head coach. I'm saying the head coach is offensive coordinator. So let's say in theory, Lincoln Riley had an offensive coordinator, Herman had an offensive coordinator, Urban Meyer's offensive coordinator. Like a team wanted to interview Ryan Day, team wanted to interview Tom Herman junior, whoever you know the offensive coordinator on those programs. Obviously, Ryan Days the offensive coordinator now, program would stop that guy from interviewing. So I think it's a pretty natural kind of process. Now, the timeline is a little funky because he signed with them what in earlier mid December, but then these teams, like it was kind of clear that every NFL owner wanted a guy, a white guy, thirty five to forty six to six foot two and relatively skinny, not an overly chubby belly. You know, that's what they were looking for. Cliff Kingsbury fits that to a t. Skinny former quarterback, coaches quarterback, really good with the offense, and has head coaching experience like Matt Laflour. I recorded a lot of this segments, so I'll get into it probably later this week. Lafleur accepted the head coaching job today to be the Green Bay Packers, or I guess they've offered in the job. Like I'd argue Kingsbury's resumes better than that guy. It really is. He's had more on his plate. I've seen him prove more now he's never done at the end NFL level. But I've only seen Lafloor coach offense for one year. It didn't go that well. So I don't have a big problem with Kingsbury, especially if he's being offered NFL jobs. I think that's a pretty natural progression in the industry works in now again, the timeline's funky. Lynn Swan's old school. So I get you started to contract, you gotta honor it. You know, I'm not a huge believer in that when the second contract is way better. You know, if you break a contract to enter another contract that is the similar, then I think you're kind of an idiot. But if you break an offensive coordinator contract to become a head coach an offensive coordinator college to become a head coach in the NFL, Like, if he becomes the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals, what is that ten times better than being the offensive coordinator at USC. You know, in one of the big selling points for Kingsbury, he's like, he's young, single and really good looking. And trust me, La, it was the place babe's everywhere. Well, if you're listening to this and you've ever been do the Tempee Scottsdale area, I got news for you. It's you know, it could be argued they can go toe to toe with LA, Like, it's pretty sweet. And if you're gonna be the head football coach and you're gonna make four or five six million dollars, I mean that's a pretty good gig, you know, that's a pretty good gig for a single guy that looks like Cliff Kingsbury. So I think I actually fall on the opposite side the more I think about it. I got no problem with Kingsbury leaving SC if he becomes a head coach as of right now, which looks like the Arizona Cardinals with always still wanting to rely on his defense and mostly interviewing defensive coaches. How do you see Denver's building for the future as it's becoming a more offensive league. I think it's hard to answer this question until I see who he hires. Clearly, it looks like he wants to hire someone with experience. He just hired Vance Joseph. It did not go well. He was clearly over his head. I think when he went down the well three years ago, even with John Fox and then with Garret Hupy, both those guys had a lot of experiences and they had a lot of success. So when I think Elway, when he looks at Chuck Pagano Vic Fangio, I think that's the type guy he's looking for. I actually think Chuck Pagano would not be terrible. The problem is when you hire Chuck Pogano. You know you're eventually gonna if your offense is good, you're gonna lose the offensive coordinator. So I don't know. I like Elway, I can't really have a strong opinion on this until I see who he hires, because we've seen time and time again, just because you interview someone it doesn't necessarily mean you're gonna hire him. Like it kind of feels like they're gonna hire Chuck Pagano right now or Hew vic Fangio. It kind of feels like they'll end up with, you know, as we see time. Like I didn't see Bruce Harrians ended up in Tampa. I definitely didn't see Matt Lafleur ending up in Green Bay. So you just never know what these situations. You never know who they're interviewing behind the scenes. I'll have thoughts once they find hire someone again. You can always slide up in my DMS Middlecoff mail back at John Middlecoff. Appreciate you listening a lot going on. Second round of the playoffs. College football is over Clemsones the champs two and three years for Dabbo. What a stud and appreciate everyone listening. Keep subscribing to this bad Boy three and out podcast, wherever you listen to your podcasts, and again, I really really appreciate the support the interaction. Y'all can always slide up in my DMS, Twitter, Instagram. All my handles are the same at John middlecoff and have a great week. Talk to you soon.