Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - Caleb's Complaints, Schedule Drops, Pickens to Dallas

Episode Date: May 16, 2025

Geoff and Matt return to discuss the bombshell reporting about Caleb Williams and his attempts to get out of Chicago last year, the unofficial holiday that has become the NFL Schedule Release, a big trade for Big D, and, if time allows, the latest trends in hospitality upholstery.Listen to us on Cooler and subscribe to Pine sports using promo code "Geoff" for 50% off!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It's Friday, May 16th. I am Jeff Schwartz, Jeff Schwartz is smarter than you. That is Matt Ford. Welcome in to our show. We'll talk some football, we'll talk some basketball as well, we might sprinkle a little hockey take. Matt is high on the capitals right now. We're eliminated from postseason play.

Probably not, he's taking his head at me. Matthew, how are you buddy? How are you feeling better? I hope you're feeling better. I'm feeling better, yeah, I missed last week. Thank you guys, sorry. Feeling good. Friday in Santa guys, sorry. Feeling good? Friday in Santa Monica, 75.

Feeling good, how about you? Well, look, our 75 sponsors certainly noticed our absence last weekend. So it's disappointing you weren't there. It's like 90 in Charlotte today. It is hot, it is humid. If you see me look up at the screen and go on my phone, I might live bet the PGA Championship as we're talking.

Probably not, but we'll see. It's in Charlotte, Matt, PGA championship's in Charlotte. How about this? So I don't wanna go. I could have gone, people have asked, like, hey, do you wanna come? My neighbor, like right there, the house, right there, he's friends with, he's friends with three of the golfers.

One of them, like they grew up together, Kurt Kitiyama. Like he's like, dude, come with me. Like I'm like, no, hard pass. Like sitting in the sun, in 90 degree sun, to watch golf, Matt, might be one of my worst nightmares. Yeah, it sounds absolutely horrible. I wouldn't even watch golf if it was on TV. I watch it because I, but it's like a secondary thing, right?

Like I'm doing a podcast and looking up and seeing if they hit a shot that I like. Yes, official sport of 30 like. My son, the sport of third screens, my son, my son went today though, he wanted to go so badly. He left school early, like an hour early, and then called me an hour and was like, can I come home? I picked him up after an hour. He was so hot. I'm like, yeah, this is what it is, buddy.

You don't drink alcohol. You're 11, almost 11. So there's no reason for you to be there because you're not into golf either. So I'm glad you're into this show, everyone. Thanks for tuning in. We got a lot to talk about in the NFL. I know that it's post-draft

and we're sort of in the, it feels like the dead-pairing map. There was a huge story dropped by Seth Wickersham of ESPN. What was that story? So, apparently there's this book coming out. The book is coming out in, I think, September. September, correct, yeah. It's called American King's Biography of the Quarterback.

And so there's all this reporting, apparently Kirk Cousins is also in this. Why hasn't everyone been so interested in Kirk Cousins? But the nugget that came out at a very interesting time, which is the day after the schedule release, which is probably the happiest day of the calendar, right? It's like, here we go. We can start making our fall plans.

Yeah. Maybe even the whole year, to be honest, right? Like it's, you've nothing but hope. Like no one's hurt. Like everybody's feeling good. It's the beginning of the season. Fans are excited. The next day, the Bears fans have to read this excerpt from the book.

Caleb Williams was so concerned about being picked by the Bears that his family and him weighed circumventing the whole draft, even considering signing with the U.F.L. because Carl Williams, Caleb's father said, quote, Chicago is the place quarterbacks go to die. I think this is about the biggest bombshell I've seen in May that in a long time with apologies to Jordan Hudson and Bill Belichick. What did you think of this?

That story, geez, I'm glad there's another podcast for that maybe. So, Keir Williams' dad is right. Like that's the thing about this, he's right. Look what happened last season, complete dysfunction, complete lack of building around him in the right way. The coach was fired, 10 games in, nine games, eight games in the season, Matt.

His dad was absolutely correct. Now the question becomes, did the Bears do enough this off season to make it right? Cause the Ben Johnson hire feels like a hire that can make it right. Now, I think we've talked about this. I do do a lot, obviously. I think we talked about this like, you know,

the hot coordinator sometimes not always the best coach in the end, Matt. So, and there's some skepticism just a little bit that he's not gonna be the best coach of all time. But we have certainly seen John McVeigh and the Shanahan's and Kevin O'Connell, and these guys come in early in their careers and be really good.

So, Ben Johnson can do that as well. But my takeaway is that his dad was right. Now there is no way to circumvent the draft other than forcing a team to not sign you, which in 2025 is impossible. In 1983, when John Eloway could go to play for the Yankees, certainly possible, right? When Kyler Murray, I guess in essence,

could have played baseball. Eli Manning's dad being so powerful and forcing his son to not play for the Chargers. Yeah, I mean, but the doctor also got Philip Rivers too, right, so it looks like they got nothing out of this deal, right? So I just found that interesting that they were looking at this It makes sense. I think if you're number one pick to think about these things The bears have not had a 4000 yard passer in franchise history matt

Like they have not been a place where quarterbacks have had success. It's a franchise problem No, they've had teams that have won, but not Rex Grossman wasn't the reason why they made the Super Bowl, right? Jim McMahon wasn't the reason why they won the Super Bowl in 85, they've had okay quarterbacks, but to develop a quarterback to level that, obviously Caleb Williams hopes he developed. So I found that to be interesting

that they went through all this length to think about all the things that matter to winning. Okay, but why would they talk about it afterwards? Well, no, well, they talked about it during, right? Cause this was, I think they probably thought that Ibrafu's wasn't gonna get fired and this would get him fired. Before they even went, to me, look,

of course the Bears, we all know the Bears history. To me, this is incredibly alarming, despite the fact that Ibru Fulous is gone, that Ben Johnson's in, all that's true. This is the leader of a multi-billion dollar company. And for his father to be saying all this to a reporter is just really sloppy and undisciplined and to me it like if you were just sort of like thinking about the story of Caleb Williams career let's say it's you know

2050 and he just retired and it's like hey it started with him trying to circumvent going to the Bears because he was so appalled by their history. And then he had a really bad rookie year where they lost 10 games in a row. And then they brought in a coordinator. Oh, and by the way, the guy that was picked one spot

after him, he had the best rookie season in the history of the sport, but like put that aside. Then this bombshell report came out about how much he didn't want to be there with that group of people who's largely the same Aside from the coaching staff and then his career took off and he had an amazing 20 year run Where he turned into the next, you know? The next Peyton Manning. I just don't see it. This is not a great start for him This is not a great thing to have come out. And I'm really curious why, you know, this book isn't coming out for four months. What happened here? Like, how did this particular bit of information

get out now and why and who's who pushed for it? It's possible that, you know, it's just, you know, the writer and the publishers trying to get some buzz going. But I can't imagine that they're trying to do that four months ahead of publishing. So I'm stunned by this, everything, from the content to the timing, it's everything. Well, so let's think about, okay, so I guess the question is,

did it mention when these quotes were, like when did they talk to the Williams family? Was it during the draft process? Was this like quotes he gave last year? Okay, and that's important, right? I mean, books take years to write. Was he just embedded with the family and he picked this up in March before he was drafted?

It seems like it. Like that changes a little bit, I think, of the discussion, right? He didn't say this last year. Now, it's also maybe, maybe his dad didn't realize everything was being recorded and everything he said could be used in a book. That's also a possibility.

I'm not saying it is. I know you're just on your face there. The stuff that I think go to support his dad's assertion that the Bears were a bad place for him to be is that Kenneth Williams, I think told his dad, I think this is the way it was communicated, that they didn't help him watch film. They didn't give him any direction on how to study

and be a pro. And look, part of that is having a veteran there to help you learn that, but that's their job as a coach. Like teach the kid how to get ready to play each week. So I think they were right about all the issues they had with the Bears. I think you have a valid concern about why now, maybe they get in there and they're like,

maybe Ben Johnson's not ready for the job. And Caleb Williams told his dad, like, bro, this is bad right now. And I want out. It's like that, I'm not putting out, I don't just aggregate it, I don't know if that's true. But if we, if we're with the idea that why is this out now? What's the purpose of putting this out now?

Not in, not in late August before the book comes out. It's that things are not going well in Chicago. Right. Or, you know, maybe the Williams team doesn't exactly understand media strategy. I think that's on the board. For the thing about like, of course, I enjoyed your take a lot actually, which is like, Carl Williams is right.

Wait, wait, wait, hold on a second. What? Quickly. Yeah. But didn't Seth Wickersham put this out that he said this, not his parents, right? Well, the story is that this is coming from the book. So I don't know how it made it out,

which is a thing that's interesting. We'll never know that, but that's sort of, I always wondered that. I think ESPN put that out to preview the book or to make headlines right now. Yeah, which is an interesting choice to do that at this time of the year. I just wanna go back to your points.

Yeah. The bear stank, Eber Fluss wasn't a good coach. All that's true. You're like, yes, Carl Williams is right. But as any married person knows, sometimes being right in the argument doesn't matter. Sometimes it's better to know in your head, like, I'm right, but I'm just not going to say that.

Oh, yes. What is it going to do if I prove that I'm right? In fact, it will make things worse. Absolutely. Like, whether or not he's right, the error here, and it could just be like, they don't understand the media, but like, dude, he went to USC. Like, it's not like you

know he grew up in outside of DC I've been to his high school like he it's not he didn't grow up in the middle of nowhere and you know this is the first time that someone had asked him a question in front of a microphone or his father so I just don't I just think it's a super rocky start and Just don't I just think it's a super rocky start and yeah, you look at the other you look at the other quarterbacks in this class even like Daniels is the obvious one the rest of them like they are the face of the team all Nick's headaches even yeah McCarthy like there's a lot of trust in him even with the Rodgers-Dalliance, like they're leaders. And I think that with Williams, the concern the whole time was this, like you called him the first Gen Z quarterback. Like there's something that doesn't necessarily feel like you put him in a

situation like you did with Daniels and like everybody rises. This is a guy who sort of, it seems like needs a couple of things around him to go right, which maybe he will have this year. But I just find it really alarming that this would have come out in the first place. And by the way, this isn't just like, I'm a little nervous. This is, I am going to break, like change the whole NFL draft structure to not even play in the NFL potentially. That's how badly I don't want to be involved in this team, which this time last year everyone was saying like,

this team is going gonna be amazing. They could even make it to the Super Bowl. It just seems crazy. I think, so the point you're making, I think is interesting one. So you're basically saying, correct me if I'm wrong here, that if you had question marks about Caleb Williams, this furthers that discussion.

That like, why is this out there where it's not out there for Jayden Daniels or Bo Nicks or Michael Pennex or anyone else. And just more sort of noise around Caleb Williams when the other quarterbacks tend to be a little bit more quiet, I guess, is the right way to say it. There's not as much noise around those guys. Even going with Jayden Daniels,

I mean, the noise that Jayden Daniels has made this off season is that his mom, like's not as much noise around those guys. Even guys like Jay Daniel, I mean the noise that Jay Daniel has made this off season is that his mom like sat between him and Juju Watkins. Right, yeah. Which I think they're like cousins or something, I don't know, maybe not. But like, it's just like, that's like, his mom was protecting him.

Like that's a story from his off season. And you know, Bo Nicks will never make news for anything. McCartney and these guys, so that is interesting take that if you think negatively about him, this probably doesn't help. If you think like I do that he has some talent and can be good, this goes to show that maybe he was right about the whole thing with the Bears.

There's gonna be a lot of eyeballs to Chicago this season, but it does feel like, I don't know why, Matt, like there is not a ton of buzz, in my opinion, around the Bears this year. I don't know if it's just because we're in May right now. But like, is there a lot of buzz? When you think about the North and the East and the teams out West, I don't think there are people

are looking at the Bears even as like a strong contender for the division or I mean, maybe a low wild card seed. That's so interesting I mean I I was gonna push back on you but I actually think you're probably right I mean they're over unders like around eight and a half yeah those places which is pretty modest I just I mean you look at their team and you just say like man they have so much talent I know and like everything they did this off season from the coach to the O lines and the draft picks, like I, you know, they should be good. Um, I, I, but, you know, what's, what's so interesting to me, the last part of

this story, maybe for me that I found really interesting was the bears. So Caleb and Carl said that he might wanna play for the Vikings, who were looking for a quarterback and obviously ended up with McCarthy, but they ended up, Ryan Pol's the Bears GM, watching you film with your microphone. Well, I was thinking, I was thinking, I was thinking like it's in my face right now,

like it's like below my face. I've noticed there's a trend of people putting their microphone above their head. Yeah, so you're like, let's just try it's like below my face. I've noticed there's a trend of people putting their microphone above their head. Yeah, so you're like, let's just try it now mid-sentence. I was like, I don't know if you were watching me or not. I was just like, because I was like looking at it. I'm locked in brother, eye contact. Like this is-

It's kind of like distracting on my screen. Yeah, yeah. And I was just curious if it, I don't think the one above makes any difference. So, okay, well you figure that out. I'll finish this point. Brian Poles told Caleb Williams that despite the fact that he maybe didn't really wanna go there,

he said, it doesn't matter, we're drafting you anyway. Correct, correct. Which is interesting. But what's also interesting is the guy who went number two is better than Caleb, at least for now. And at the time, it was a little bit interesting to watch that Caleb was the only person they brought in for an interview with Chicago.

They did not interview Jaden Daniels. They didn't have him to the facility. They had their mind made up the whole time on Caleb Williams. And I think that sometimes this is like, I think that's just interesting. I think Caleb, I think at the end of the day, last year, everybody probably would have picked him that even, you know, the commander said Daniels was ahead of him on their board. I don't know. But I do think sometimes people come into that

process with confirmation bias, like everybody had been saying Caleb Williams was the number one pick in that draft for two years. But if he really didn't want to go there, and maybe you meet Jayden Daniels and you go like, hey, this guy is actually pretty awesome, or Drake May if you're into him. I just kind of found that process to be potentially damning if Daniels goes on to have a career like he had last year and Caleb has a career like he did last year. It's certainly fair to wonder the way you laid out

that if the Bears really put in their due diligence to study everyone, or whether they just eye in on Caleb Williams to your point for two years, he's been the guy. Look, I think off their grades though, Caleb Williams had a higher grade than Jayden Daniels. I mean, you would redraft obviously, probably put Daniels there,

but everyone would have drafted Caleb Williams ahead of Jayden Daniels. Look, every team says they drafted the highest player on their board, Matt. Like that to me is irrelevant. Everyone always says that. But I don't think anyone, again, we had this entire interview process beforehand,

the combine and whatnot, and they had, he ended up being the number one guy, which I think every team was in on. So obviously redrafting you, Dan, I don't think that's much of an issue for the Bears. But look, Ryan Poles told him and he's right. You have no choice, buddy. You're coming to the Bears.

Did you, speaking about like the draft quickly, Matt, before we get to the schedule, give me more on this topic? No, I thought that was a good back and forth. Oh, I'm not sure. So we have the NBA draft lottery, and we're gonna talk about NBA in a little bit, why that feels like it's rigged.

It may or may not be, I don't know. I don't wanna be called dumb. So if, then of course, because we just can't have nice things in life, Greeny, right? Golick and Greeny, you know, Greeny and Golick. Yeah, on GetUp, I think it's GetUp, right? The morning show on ESPN says, the NFL needs a draft lottery.

No, no it doesn't. Why do we have to do that, Matt? The reason why the NFL is so successful is because if you're bad, you can draft a quarterback and be good. And everyone has that opportunity. And this, is taking great? No, but no one does it well.

No one successfully tanks, ever. How many times have you had every season? Are you rooting for your team to lose and win that last game? You're like, what, what? Like, it never works. It never works. It worked. All right, I'll tell you back. That it never works. It never works. It worked.

All right, I'll take it back. That's not true. It can work. I was on a team that did it. I don't think we actually did it for Cam Noon, to be fair. We just did it because our owner was cheap and wanted to stink. But it very rarely works.

And the reason why the NFL is as good as it is, is that any city, big, small, Midwest, coastal elite city, big, small, Midwest, coastal elite city, South, North, has a chance to be the face of the NFL if you get the right quarterback. The Chiefs are playing eight prime time games. They're playing one in Brazil,

one on Christmas, one on Thanksgiving. They played like six separate days of the week last year in Kansas City, okay? And what makes the NFL so great is that the draft and the scheduling allows that process to happen. I'm in Charlotte, look, the Hornets are not a big brand, I get it. Charlotte has been the worst franchise in the NBA

for like 20 years in a row. They have not had the first-person draft in 34 seasons. 34 seasons, you're a wizard. I actually just saw a thing from your owner on social media saying like, we didn't really try to tank this year, we just are young and just not very good.

And they got the sixth pick in the draft. How is that fair? So the Mavericks were one play, not one play to me, one game away from the playoffs. That'd be like the Bengals, getting the number one pick in the draft. And you're like, what? Cause their defense sucked?

Because they're the draft and the draft lottery? Like the Titans never tried to take all season. They had Will Leves as their quarterback. The reward is drafting Cam Ward. And a lot of times too, coaches lose their jobs. It's not like a reward per se. Everyone is out of a job and new people have a job. So the NFL does not need draft law refix anything.

The NFL was a great product for that reason. Completely agree. And the reason that came up is it's a fun media exercise, but the NFL doesn't have this problem. And the reason they don't is because of a thing that is not valued in our world anymore, which is scarcity. Like there's not that many games in the NFL. You're gonna try to win all of them.

Even if you're owner, you were talking, I think about the Panthers and Jerry Richardson, right, the former owner. Like you guys still tried. Like you just didn't have the talent of everybody else. But you guys, you know, you guys had some good players and then the next year you got some really good players. So I think, you know, the NBA's problem is I think the Bengals example is

incredible. Like imagine if, you know, the Bengals were picking first, like we would all be just so pissed, they'd be able to trade the quarterback to the Giants, you know, like the whole thing would have just been a total disaster. And, you know, you're right, like, the biggest stars in the NFL right now are in buffalo and in kansas city and in baltimore like yeah Those are the three faces of the league You know if they're not you don't have to to play in la or new york to to to right international icon

All right, we'll get back to our why are we taking a second, but let's do schedule buddy All right, we'll get back to our, why don't we take in a second, but let's do schedule, buddy. Yeah, so the schedule came out and I look man, I remember and certainly you remember like, this was not a big holiday that turned into this whole event and extravaganza and like social media Superbowl, even just a few years ago,

but now it's become honestly one of my favorite days of the year in the NFL calendar because you get so much good content, you get so many, the Colts get in trouble for a bunch of dumb stuff. There's all this goofy stuff going on. I guess you usually give a take about what players look at on schedule day, and then I'm curious

what you think about the extravaganza as a whole. So I'm gonna start with the latter first. I love how creative social media teams have become when it comes to announcing the schedule. I still watch that Titans one from years ago when they went on Broadway and had people guess. Like even this year, like I watched the Buffalo, oh, the Buffalo Bills one.

Did you see the Buffalo Bills one? With Allen Iverson? Yeah. Yes. So, so good. I was like, AI. Oh, exactly. And they didn't even, they just put a, they put the piece of paper, if you missed it, like Allen Iverson was sitting like, and he just like, oh look, look, oh my God, I turned to our, I just picked up a notebook on my thing. This is our 2024 mock draft. It's opened the random page.

Nice. Yeah. But he just put up a piece of paper at the end with the bill schedule. That was it. Like that was the release. Had Allen Iverson, it was about a joke about AI, you know, to do the job and they got a, and he wouldn't even say go bills. I don't know who he roots for. Yeah, I found that to be kind of strange. It's like, is he like an Eagles fan? Is he, I thought he was my guess.

I'm a Dante's fan. Like, what is he? But like Eagles though, and bills are not rivals. Like you can, you getting paid, I would imagine. What's he getting paid for that spot? I don't know. It's a good question. Not six figures, right?

I have no idea. He might just, I don't know. I don't think Allen Iverson needs that much money. Well, I was curious if he just did it for free, like also, like he was, someone owed it like, hey buddy, can you do me this favor for two hours? Nonetheless, they're all so good. So I very much enjoyed it.

And then the lines came out, like immediately. Yes. Have you hit one yet, by the way? You're thinking about one? I'm thinking about a few, but I have not hit one yet, have you? No. Oh my gosh, wait, the lines are out.

I just, I'm on draft games. The Sharp I work with on radio sent like 10 week one wagers He already made but I don't have enough bankroll to like at the moment to deal with that Literally bet like you can bet things beyond. Oh, yeah, no, buddy. He he sent over he sent over Um, um, this is insane. Like I'm like, I'm, I'm just going to pick a random week. Like you could bet on week 10 right now. So I'm going to tell you what he looked, he sent over. Here we go. You ready? He, his list of wagers. Oh, look, he sent over, um,

these are all week one wagers. He sent over a UFL wager too. That's funny. But yeah, he sends over stuff all the time. Week one. So, but yeah, he'll send us a list of wagers he makes of like a week nine game. But again, oh no, not this year, like last year. He sends, I'll let you know when he sends them over like what they are. So interesting.

Look, players look for buys first when you're buy, having a buy, we know the season is most ideal, right? You have a training camp, a regular season. The buy is less about physical, in my opinion, and more about mental. Now they're tied together, obviously, right? The less you get beat up, the better you feel, the better you sleep, the better your quality of life can be.

But that week off, and it's mostly a week now, my feeling was always you came back winning, losing, however good or bad your team is, you came back much more refreshed mentally, Matt, and ready to work. And I think just having that middle of the year buy is really good. And on the same lines,

Thursday allows you to have a mini buy afterwards. So you look at Thursday games next, right? Because again, I think you want those earlier in the season because it's easier to recover from Sunday to Thursday. And then you get a little mini buy week five, whatever it is. My brother though, he was opposite. He won the end of the season

because you don't really practice that week. And he felt that it was just better like at the end of the year to not have less practice, some different vibes. Then I think you look at some individual things that matter to you, right? Prime time games, games where your friends and family can watch you, right?

Also let you know, for the most part, if the NFL thinks you're gonna be good, there's like three teams with no prime time games. Like the Browns are one of them, right? Like it's just about quarterbacks and markets, right? The Giants have three or four, which is ridiculous. Cowboys always have five. Chiefs, it used to be limited at six,

but I think they got away with it with Kansas City this year by counting, by not counting. Cause Thanksgiving technically is not a prime time game because it's not at night on Sunday or Monday or Thursday. It is Thursday, but it's a date, so it's a daytime game, but that doesn't count, like I think towards the prime time and the Christmas game doesn't.

So you look at prime time games, then you look at cold weather games. Are you playing a game in December in a cold city? Now for me, who grew up in Los Angeles, went to school in Oregon, I liked the idea of playing in snow. I actually liked those games. A lot of people look at those games and think to themselves,

I don't wanna play in those cold weather games, but certainly that's worth looking at. And then just like Ram stuff, like is there a rivalry game in your head, right? Like do you get caught by someone you play them again? You know, for me at one point it was, you know, it was, am I playing my brother or not? When is that?

So that's basically, well, I think what we look at. What do you, as a fan, what do you look at? That's so, that's so interesting. A lot of the same stuff. I mean, for, I think speaking for most fans, like you've definitely looked, the first thing is like prime time. And you know, for me this year,

the commandant is for the first time in my life that I can remember, it's I think six, you know, marquee Christmas game with Dallas, like on Netflix. It's that feeling of like, oh my God, like how many days a year am I going to get a thousand texts either making fun of my team or telling me great job for nothing that I did. And then yeah, I think the bye week is huge. Like you know, for the last, I think the last three seasons, Washington had a buy in like

week 14 or something and always found that to be a disadvantage. You look for that and then, you know, is there the road trip? But you know, I think the one thing? But, you know, I think I, the one thing that I did and our friend Nick Wright did this on the podcast we make with him, like I was really intrigued by the distribution of the marquee games because the joke forever has been how bad the Thursday night schedule has been. And it seemed like better now. Yeah. seemed like uh you know maybe that was the nfl just sort of saying like yeah these games like they're not always going to be high quality it's

the short week it's whatever they went the other way man and the sunday night schedule i would say it might even be worse than the thursday night schedule which is something that a few years ago would have been insane to say well here, here's why. It's because those streaming services are gonna pay a lot of money for the NFL package. And they're just giving them the better games. I think it's a precursor to like, which I work for Fox Sports. I think we have the NFL till like 2030.

After that, buddy. I mean, if the NFL, if Fox, CBS, NBC don't have the NFL, they don't have a network. But there's no network. And Netflix is gonna come in and just, or Amazon or Apple TV and just take that package away. I think they'll still have something on network television. They'll probably license back to Fox

and CBS and NBC is my guess. Like I think that they won't be without the NFL on those channels, because they're basic cable, right? Obviously, you just need rabbit ears for them, Matt, but they won't own it. They'll have to license it. Netflix will own it, Amazon will own it,

and they'll license it to those networks. So they'll still make some money off the advertisements, but it's not gonna be what they are now. And this is, I think, the NFL just doing, there's no football solid. It's like, hey, Amazon, here's a, I mean, there's a black, not Black Friday, Christmas has two Netflix games, right? The Chiefs game in Brazil, week one,

I think that's a streaming only game. So they're just, I think they're doing these guys a solid. Yeah, and a lot of talk lately in our one-to-one text message exchange about the stock market, I would tell you to start buying your Netflixes, your Amazons, because this is where it's headed. And I think for people who care about this kind of thing, like this Thursday night schedule,

if you look at it like the games the games that we're talking about across the board are unbelievable and you know like going later into the season like the Chiefs play a bunch of times there's you know a ton of Ravens games there's Eagles games like every every matchup is really good and it used to be the Sunday night spot on NBC was the marquee. ESPN, Monday Night Football, they were kind of getting shafted for a few years. Now they're getting some good ones, but they're going to go digital and they've got Disney and all that behind them. But I think in a few years, I think Fox is the most well-positioned.

I think they have the most, I think, to gain. And the Tom Brady investment, they're going for it. I definitely think we're gonna see more and more of these streamers start to take it over. And it's the only thing people really regularly watch. So it's the best investment you can make. Do you think, Matt, that any of these companies will ever hire someone who is new to the job

because they just hire the same people all the time? It's one frustrating part about it. You would think that they would give new voices and opportunity on some of these programs. They just hire the same people as everyone else does. Yeah, and I think, I thought what Netflix did last year was really interesting, which was they basically said like,

hey, look what this can look like. Like we can hire everybody, like we're Netflix. And they had, you know, a fan duel person with an ESPN person, with the Fox person, like that. And that was pretty cool. But I do think, yes, I do actually. And I think that there's going to be, you know, a shift from what we're used to into something that I think you and I,

and if anyone's watching this, like this kind of, this kind of show is gonna be what shows are in a few years. So hopefully. Yeah. I hope we're at the forefront of that. That'd be awesome. I think we are. If you wanna talk football, gambling, hotel furniture,

this is the place to be. That's right. Yeah. I think we are. If you wanna talk football, gambling, hotel furniture, this is the place to be. That's right. Yeah. Anything else on schedule? No, but I did wanna hit the George Pickens thing, which we missed last week. So he was traded to Dallas.

Their quest for a number two across from CD Lamb continues. What did you think of that deal? I thought it was interesting for both teams. Yeah, so certainly interesting. This is something I said on first things first and I thought what happened. It just made a lot of sense because the Cowboys didn't draft a wide receiver,

they went guard in the first round and then they ended up, you know, just need a number two wide receiver. And look, just from, okay, do we get better offensively? The answer is yes, Matt. Obviously it's George Pickens. But, but the caveat is, mentally, what are you getting from him?

Because the thing about the Pittsburgh is when receivers leave Pittsburgh, they're not as good. Look across the board, they're not as good. And secondly, are you paying them a long-term contract? I think that's where you get into trouble. So, you can't look at a crystal ball and tell me those answers now, I get it. But I feel like this trade will be judged by those things

rather than production. I think we'll see some production and maybe a lot of production. But they're paying them like a number one at some point and we still sort of get, you know, maybe the lack of maturity at times, that's trouble. Yeah, I agree. And a couple of things, I think we,

the two of us have been two of the biggest George Pickens fans, I think, in the sport. Like his rookie year, I think we took his over-under in receiving guards. Like we, from a talent perspective, this guy is like one of the best I've ever seen. I agree. I think, you know, Dallas is sort of like,

it's one of those markets where you put someone there and they either it's perfect for them or it's a nightmare for them. It is concerning. You go through the list of names that Mike Tomlin and the Steelers have gotten off of at wide receiver over the years, even ones that you thought would be fine, like Chase Claypool and...

Even like Juju, like he had that one year with the Chiefs, sort of, but like since then. Right, Antonio Brown, like you go through the list, I, you know, there's like 10 guys. So that's a little bit concerning. I also find it interesting, like the receiver market in general now, like they traded a fourth last year for Jonathan Mingo,

and then they trade a third this year for George Pickens. They also, you know, this interesting thing of, you know, we'll give you a third and you give us back a fifth. And like that, I think that like sort of currency exchange has been really interesting to watch evolve there's you know not really I don't really have a take on it I just think it's a little bit interesting and how the trades are structured now and I also think teams are happy to trade for guys with a year or two left on their deal which was something

that seemed would have seemed crazy a few years ago like my team the commander just did that with a bunch of their big names. This is another one where I think Pickens' deal is up I think at the end of this year. If he were to leave, they would potentially get a pick back. I guess they're assuming while someone would still give him a good contract and we would get the comp pick or whatever. I just found it to be an interesting play for them given how risky it is, but he's also so talented that if he's

just in the right spot and is on good behavior in a contract here, this trade could look really awesome. But then you have the next contract to worry about. Correct. I think in the, um, the interim before that contract is sort of due, I think it's going to be a home run for them. He makes them so much better. He's really talented. Yeah, so it'll be interesting. It's good. The NFC East, they're facing the toughest schedule

in history I saw this year. I think the Cowboys play six teams in a row with 11 plus wins from the year before. Gonna be a loaded division. You guys are gonna be stuck watching a lot of them on national television. The reason why is they play the AFC West this year. So, and I think the AFC East,

that's just the draw, like that's just, bad luck with the draw. Yeah, they play, yeah. And they play, you know, Dallas has to play Philly and Washington twice. So yeah, I think it's gonna be fun. Do you have a, before we switch topics here and get to silliness, I'm not a big fan of the I don't have softball numbers, I can't find them. Softball is starting right now. Oh geez, oh no.

I think I know what it is. Oh, okay. I think I know which one it is. What is it? Is it Jets plus three hosting the Steelers? Yeah, oh, that's a great call. That's definitely what it is. Oh my God, that's completely what it is.

Oh wow, we're definitely doing that. Oh God, we should do that. Well, actually it's probably good to wait on that because when Rogers comes in, if he comes in, it'll be even more. This number has to be because Rogers, they think Rogers will be there. Yeah, I guess they're assuming that everyone betting it

is betting Pittsburgh. And that man Pittsburgh, that could be Rogers going back to face the Jets. Oh, I think I found the other one. But you like, there's one you really like? I mean, it's May. I don't know if I really like any of these, but there's one that stands out.

I mean, the Browns getting five and a half at home against the Bengals feels like a lot of points. Which one do you stand out? I think the Giants stand out. Plus seven and a half at my Washington Commanders. Too much? Too much. They played close last year both times.

Pass rush is one of those things that starts the season pretty well. Divisional dogs getting that many in week one tend to cover like I think 80% and 70% of the time. So I like that. I think I would also potentially consider Dallas plus seven against Philly. It's like these are huge numbers for divisional games.

Week one is always a little bit wonky. I feel like those are two numbers that are probably gonna go down over the next couple months. And then the wager to make two is Chargers plus three, hosting the Chiefs in Brazil. Why? Interesting. Why would you not?

Those games are always close against the Chargers. Yeah, but it's not six, it's three. And it's the Chiefs. I think people are questioning the Chiefs this off season with the offensive line and whatnot and the inability to throw ball down the field. It's fair, it's fair to question them. Interesting, we're both being modest

with our own teams here. I think I would probably go the other way on the Chiefs. I think people are too down on them. And I think we're going to see a much better Chiefs offense this year. I don't think people really understand what they've done at wide receiver with potentially getting Rice back worthy in year two.

They drafted two receivers. Hollywood's back. They have a ton going on in their passing game this year. So I'm bullish on their offense Alright Jeff, what else you want to hit? All right. I have Do you watch the rehearsal by the way? No, you told me to it's on my list to watch Yeah, well, there's there's a quote in the in the rehearsal two weeks ago and our producer Sam. This was this one's for you There's a moment where Nathan Fielder says

that what he's doing in that episode, it wasn't a performance for you, the viewer, it's an experience for me. And that's what we're gonna do now is this is for us. So what do you wanna talk about? Is the NBA draft lottery rigged? Okay, go on. Do you have a take on this?

Well, my take is probably not, but it's hard to fight the accusations. Like how else do you explain the continued, what feels like coincidence of teams losing their best player and all of a sudden getting their more pick in the next draft? How do you explain the percentage of like 0.003% of this exact four getting it?

Like I just, I know there's a system in place. I was listening to someone's podcast and they were explaining like they were in the room and they saw the balls being drawn and stuff. Maybe the conspiracy is the percentages aren't high enough for teams that finish with the worst record, because they have a percent obviously

to a number of balls put in the thing. But the coincidence, look, do I think that the NBA told Dallas to trade Luca and they would get the first pick? No, I don't think that happened. But it just always seems to happen, Matt, where, oh, LeBron leaves and you get the number one pick Cleveland.

How convenient is that? Oh, the NBA-owned Pelicans are getting the number one pick after trading Chris Paul. How convenient is that one, Matt? Like, it's just a lot of convenience with these draft picks and they don't tend to go to smaller markets. All the big markets seem to get the convenience of the draft.

So do I think it's actually like, do I think Adam Silver sitting in a room with his lieutenants being like, let's rig it for Dallas? I don't know, Matt. It's just if you thought the NBA was rigged, there's a lot of evidence in the draft lottery that you make the case that that specific thing,

it doesn't seem like it's always on the up and up. No, and look, one of the points a lot of people have made was like, they weren't, the Dallas obviously wasn't tanking for flag. Like they didn't even want to get flag. Like they were trying to make the playoffs with their team. Like, yeah, that's true. But I don't think that,

you know, it's not good for the NBA to have what the sixth or seventh biggest markets team completely, like obliterated forever, which is where they were, which is what the Dallas Mavericks fans were thinking about a few weeks ago is like, they were never going to come back to this team because they were so mad about Luca. Now, does that mean it's rigged? No. But, you know, and the obvious counter to this is like why San Antonio?

Like why did they get the second pick? Why did they, you know, what's the benefit of them getting the best, you know, generational big man every 10 years? Like it's all a fair point, but I do think that, you know, our job isn't to necessarily say like, this is how they're ringing it, but it is pretty clear that the outcome went hand in hand with what the league kind of needed,

which was to not just like lose this fan base. And everybody's like, well, you know, they're going to move to Vegas, whatever. Like it's, Vegas is going to get an expansion team, like with LeBron, they need Dallas to still have a basketball team, right? They still need it. So I found it to be very strange. And, you know, there's like, you know, a big point is like, so that Ernst and Young is going to like rig this thing. Like, that's like,

that's how this is going to work. Like. Yeah, they're paid by the NBA. Like they could do whatever they want. Like this isn't, I don't find it to be that implausible. Well, a lot of the owners don't care about winning or losing. They just wanna make money. Yeah, and this is really good for business for the whole league. And you know what else is good for business for the league?

Is an NFL podcast talking about is the NBA rigged. And I know that it pisses fans off. And I was like devastated for the wizards fans who I, you know, I'm still affiliated, but like it's, it's not great that it is good for the NBA actually, that this is a topic of conversation. Um, and it, you know, while the playoffs are going on. So yeah, I think it was definitely fishy. Like the whole thing was definitely fishy. This is a topic of conversation and while the playoffs are going on. So yeah, I think it was definitely fishy.

The whole thing was definitely fishy. I don't think you have to say like, well, as part of the NECO, the Luka trade, this was all part of it. I don't think so. I think that they sort of looked at it. And if it's like, well, if it's a tie, it should be Dallas. Yeah.

When you say affiliate, I just think about like, Oh, Matt's in a gang. Yes. Satisfying of all time watching blog, cool, Bolly, the wizards. I just think of like a shot color. Not such a good movie. It's all. Yeah. I'm not a movie person. I like shot color.

NBA playoffs. We're're gonna record this today. Nick Celtics game six tonight. And then Sunday is Nuggets and Warriors game seven. I don't know Matt, if the Celtics win game six. I'm inclined to believe this is like a 15 point Nick's win to be honest with you, game six. I haven't wagered on it yet, but look, Boston can certainly shoot

and make 23 three-pointers again and this be a blowout. But I don't know, I feel like game five was sort of there, like, okay, this is our one Jason Tatum's not here game, where Jaylen Brown was out of his mind, Derek White was seven of 13 from three, Peyton Pritchard played well, like all these guys played incredibly. And then today is the game of like,

oh, we're missing a guy who averages 27, eight and eight and we're on the road. Any thoughts about this game before we move to, I wanna talk about game seven on Sunday in OKC. Wouldn't it be so hilarious if the Knicks lost this series? Oh, it'd be incredible. It'd be so insane for every reason. So I'm not a big Jason Tatum guy.

I've compared him to Drake a lot, where it's like, yeah, the guy has a lot of hits. But we could totally write this story of hip hop music and leave Drake out. Like Drake sucks, but like I get he's successful, but like, come on, he sucks. Kendrick Lamar proved me right. So I felt bad obviously,

but now if the Celtics would be able to win and they could still win the title without Tatum. Like it's absolutely in play. I don't think people have really factored this in. It would be incredible if the Celtics won the title without Tatum. Like it would be the best possible outcome comedically. And the Knicks fans, God love you Knicks fans,

but you got a little bit cocky when you're up three one and now they're gonna go to the garden and like that building, if it's close, it is going to be tight in there. Everybody is going to be on the edge of their seat dreading a potential game seven in Boston. They have to win tonight. I'm tempted to nibble on at the Celtics plus one 25. I kind of feel like, you know, the Tatum loss while big, like sometimes it doesn't, you know, Jalen Jalen could, could have a great game like Brown. That is like, he, he could end up being the best player on the floor of this entire

series. He just hasn't really performed like it yet. So I think that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the thing that's really, really important. could have a great game like Brown that is. Like he could end up being the best player on the floor of this entire series. He just hasn't really performed like it yet. So I kind of feel like this is going to seven. It's crazy to say that, but the Knicks, you're right. It's either gonna be a Knicks blowout

or Boston wins a close one, I think. I'm concerned with, look, Boston saws Italian enough to win without Tatum, but poor Zingas is gonna give you nothing. That feels higher. Like, Luke Cornett's gonna have to get 10 a game for you. This is what Boston does though, like over the years, like Grant Williams and Kelly Alinik, like those guys just step up.

And their offense looks much better without Tatum. Less ISO, less just dribble for 23 seconds, take a bad shot. Like it looked legit, you're right. The Butts will pucker in MSG tonight. And two, the Knicks have been down 14 points in all five games. Like that's not where you wanna be.

I might zag tonight, by the way, and take Knicks first quarter, which I like taking in this spot, home team off a loss. They've yet to cover a single first quarter, I think. But I think tonight, like they have to. Like I think that the key tonight will be, we have to start fast. Interesting.

And I think the Celtics just won't shoot as well as start the game. Now could I be wrong? I mean, certainly I've never been wrong before, but this will be a first. That's a good angle though, I like that. Yeah. Game seven on Sunday. Nuggets and Thunder.

This is gonna be an incredible game. And I think if we didn't appreciate Yoko Chiretti, which would be silly, I think Sunday, it's gonna be like, I don't know what is, it's 0.3 once this will be like 50 and a half, 50, 152 and a half. They get an 50 and a half, 51, 52 and a half. They get an extra day of rest, which is incredibly favorable for Denver.

They don't play Saturday, they play Sunday. They've been in this spot before. I think, I mean, look, they got like four and a half guys they trust and Westbrook is a half of one guy, because who knows what game you get from Westbrook. I mean, he was just atrocious last night. But buddy, I don't know how you bet against Denver

in this spot. You're not gonna see a single cent from me on any of the OKC in this game. No, and I felt like I was on a complete island this whole series. So before the series started, the Nuggets were plus 500 to win the series and then before the game last night did you see what the series price was the series price for Denver last

night to win the series before the game what would you guess so they're they're down three two they have a home game and they have a game seven potentially they have to win um the pre-series odds was plus 500. Probably if you're, what you're putting it as like, they'd be like plus 800. They were plus 870. What? Yeah.

So I bet them again last night. Cause if you parlayed their number the next two nights, you probably don't even get to 870, do you? No. I mean, they wouldn't think so. I mean, we didn't know what the odds were for game seven, but they're like plus 300 to win game seven. So that I think it's because like all the pros

have been on OKC all year and there's not like a great edge out for them. So I think they're dying for some Denver money and they're getting it for me. But I think that, you know, last night, it just felt like one of those spots where Denver, it's just like the championship experience matters. And I think that it's something that we see every NFL playoffs when the Chiefs win these

games and pull it out of their asses. It's because like when you've been there, you're just poised. You know what to do. You know what the big shots are. You know what, you know like who needs to get the ball when? Like the way that, well, I forget which series it was. I guess it was the first game of this series when Aaron Gordon, when they got that ball

and they went down the court and it's like, they all knew what to do. And you know, I just look, I have a lot of money, I guess riding on the Nuggets winning, that'd be awesome. But like, wouldn't you love to see Russell Westbrook like hit a huge shot in OKC? Like, I feel like even though OKC fans would be kind of happy, you know, like it's it's that's their guy He deserves to have like a good moment, you know, yes, this could be his one title like Yeah, I mean his negative 14 and seven minutes last night was really

Yeah, most and then but he booked game seven though. He might have 22 points. He just, you never know. The thing about the experience is so important. I forget who said this. It probably was listening to Bill Simmons. I don't know, probably. But like most superstars don't win their first championship till 27 because it takes that many years to play in these situations.

And OKC is still a young team. Like they're not in this point where they play enough basketball to be in this moment. And to be fair, like you've seen that with Jalen Williams, it's been not been good. They don't have a second score, right? SGA, he can do it obviously, 32 last night, but sometimes it feels like a struggle at times.

And then it's like what? Like Lou Dort has to get hot for you and Caruso's got to get hot for you and maybe Jalen Williams plays well in this game. Look, we know Yokocho play well. We know Murray will give you what he gives you. Aaron Gordon's good for 15 to 20 on a good night. Porter Jr has been, I think this is the case against Denver, right?

Porter Jr is non-existent, Westbrook might stink and Christian Braun in a game seven. I bet the under last night, it was 217.5, it went over. I bet a live number two that went under because it was a lot of scoring the first half. I just didn't expect it to, and it slowed way down the second half. The number, the total for this game is like minuscule.

210, 210, no, that's tonight. Oh, went back up to 13 and a half. Buddy, if this game, if both teams get in the hundreds, I'd be surprised. Yeah, they're both great. They both can play really good defense. It's gonna be like a butt pucker game, man. That crowd OKC is gonna be tight as can be.

And I've just, I've enjoyed NBA playoffs, dude. I've enjoyed watching a ton of hockey. You know what the best, can I tell you one of the best bets to make in hockey? I've been doing this really every game that I think a team's gonna win a win, is you can bet a specific team to have an empty net goal. And it's insane numbers.

Like I hit, what I hit last night. I think I took Carolina over two and a half in in in in games. I thought they would have empty net goal, which they ended up having. So that's not the same number though. Like here, I'm gonna tell you what I've what I've hit empty net goals. Oh, yeah. So jets last night, jets in empty net goal plus 310. Oh, Jets last night. Jets had an empty net goal plus 310. Oh, that's a nice hit. So like tonight, I think this is a bad number. I think at BetMGM where you wager on these,

you can find them at, they put up a bad number. So the Panthers are favored tonight against the Leafs. They've won three in a row, I believe the Panthers have. They're minus 225 to win the game. And on the puck line, they're plus 115. And they won six to one last game. They put the number down. This morning, they were plus 600 for an empty net goal.

That's a misprice. There's no way it should be plus 600. If you think the game, they're 225 to win, that means they're gonna be leading in the third period, at least gonna pull their goalie. It's, they have to win, at least have to win when the series is over. So these, I've been playing a lot of these games like that,

like quarter unit, you know, even less than that on these empty net goals. I like it. You'll have to let me know the next one you're hitting. I'm hitting Panthers tonight. Okay, I'll have to let me know the next one you're hitting. I'm hitting Panthers tonight. Okay, I'll consider that if I have anything left from all my Nuggets futures. Anything else, any baseball topics?

Your Nationals were supposed to stink. They were playing like we can. Baseball started? I didn't even know that. Are you a Nats or Orioles fan? I always forget. I'm a little both. I don't really, I'll pay attention in the postseason.

I don't know, man. I guess, you know, there, I guess we could hit hospitality upholstery, but maybe we can save that for next week. I've got to get you on. Last thing, if you're, if you are into such things, you better make the play now. Kaelin Carr to an MVP is plus 220.

WMA starts tonight. They play the sky tomorrow. I took the sky under 19 and a half wins. That feels like too many wins. A seven win improvement over last season. I don't buy that. So I looked this morning when I wrote my article for Fox Sports and Kaila Clark MVP.

After the All-Star break last year, when they went to the month break they had, she averaged 24 points, I think nine assists and seven rebounds over the last 14 games of the season. You're winning MVP if you averaged 24, and seven and nine this season, or 10. I think she'll make it 10 assists a game.

So I think it's worth making the wager. Okay, I'm gonna look into that. Buddy, this was great. It's great to see you. We'll be back next week. I'll be in LA, by the way, next week. Oh, cool. I forgot to tell you that.

Yeah. I'll be in LA Thursday. So, all right guys, have a great weekend. We'll talk to you maybe next week in person. We'll figure it out. Take care, everyone. See you, buddy. See you, buddy. Thanks for watching!