Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - Who Has the Most at Stake in This Year's NFL Draft?

Episode Date: April 6, 2023

Geoff is back with Gabe to talk stakes as we get closer to the NFL Draft. Which teams have the most at stake? Who's stock could drop the most? Will Bijan Robinson wind up in the NFC East? Plus, Geoff has his eyes on a tight end who the Chiefs could mold into Travis Kelce's long term successor... tune in for all that and more on Geoff Schwartz is Smarter Than You.Be sure to rate, comment, and follow the pod for a new episode each week during the offseason.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

it's Thursday April 6th I'm Jeff Schwartz alongside Gabe going to show Jeff Schwartz smarter than you no Lamar talk no Aaron Rodgers talk everyone we're talking the NFL draft we're talking baseball we're talking basketball we're talking everything on this show Gabe how are you buddy first and foremost little league update how's the team doing the Mets uh took it to the Red Sox this past weekend it was just like 86 out there uh a lot although there were a lot of bill buckners on the field i was saying that's a lot more than one error to the legs but the five-year-old mets you know we're not allowed to keep score but i'm gonna give us another dub uh my son's team is really good. And it's his first year he's on a really good team.

Like they have only allowed one run in the previous game and then three runs in this last game last night. That like never happens in kid pitch. Like they're a good baseball team. They score a ton of, it's fun to see my son on playing a good baseball team. Like it's for the first time in his life. And it's been fun to watch as a dad.

Like he's on a good team. I cannot believe how much joy I actually get. I would not have expected this to be the case in his life. And it's been fun to watch as a dad. Like he's on a good team. I cannot believe how much joy I actually get. I would not have expected this to be the case in my life. When you shared a video of yourself being a goofy dad, rooting for your son when he beat out a single. I was so happy hearing you be happy. It was awesome. It was his first at bat in kid pitch, man.

Like he is eight years old. He's playing with 12. Now 12-year-olds can't pitch, but there are 12-year-olds on his team. It's a weird structure with this league with the ages, but I was pumped for him. And he's learning new things like yesterday, he's on second base, less than two outs,

balls hit the shortstop. He just ran to third base. He didn't know any better. And he's like learning. He's learning baseball things every time he's out there. And so it helps when you win 16 to three and you get thrown on third base and coach just teaches you a lesson and you learn and hopefully you know he got hit yesterday for the first time and he's so it's just like he was good he shook it off and ready to go and dude i could sit the field there are saturdays

i'm out there five hours right like you know i'm there with my son and then with my daughter i i love every second of it my wife's, what are you doing out there? I go, yeah, I love it. What else am I going to do? It's the best time ever. By far the best time ever. I did about four hours myself this past weekend. I'm bummed, actually.

We're missing practice and game because the holidays, Easter and Passover, so the league is off for a few days on our side. Same with us, yeah. We're off for a week. but this podcast is still going. Happy Passover for those who are celebrating, by the way. Happy Easter. Don't happen often the same time. They're happening the same time this week,

so if you celebrate those, no bread for eight days. For me, I don't know. I probably could use it. I could use less bread in my life, Gabe. I think they're just packing all the bad things into the little matzahs. I don't think that nutritionally it's any different than eating bread, Jeff. I think you're eating the same amount of bad shit in there. No, I don't eat matzah.

Matzah's gross. I can't do it. Disagree. That's for another podcast. Strong disagree. Strong disagree on matzah? Matzah's delicious and it should be a year-round thing. My dad eats matzah for breakfast year round like twice a week the great breakfast oh

so gross that's still gross i am making homemade matzah ball soup by the way if you want to follow along on social media that will be posted today or tomorrow you're listening to this so enough jewish talk enough baseball talk for now we're talking a little baseball later let's get to some football and we're doing all nfl draft today Well, so I mean the greatest thing ever, we don't have to talk about those quarterbacks and where they're going to end up. I just want to ask a very big question as we're just a few weeks away from the draft, the way you see it right now as free agency is basically showing us the picture who has the most to gain in this draft. And it would be easy to say the Panthers. So I'm going to say, you're not allowed to just answer them. Who has the most to gain in this draft? who can go from outside shot to real contender if they make the right

moves this this draft well look the Panthers obviously at one can can make a move and but they're not going to be a contender per se in year one right if they get CJ Stroud or which I think they're going to get you know Texas at two Bryce Young or someone else mock draft Lance Gerland we had on last year but what came on the show last year said, Trevon Walker's going number one. And he was right, obviously. And we wager on it. I wager on it.

I made a lot of money. He put out a mock yesterday having the Texans not even drafting. He had, because he had Bryce Young one, and then he had the Texans skipping two at a quarterback, taking a defensive end, because C.J. Stroud, they don't want C.J. Stroud and the agent, same agent, Sean Watson. Maybe there's not a connection there, they don't want CJ Stroud and the same agent that's on Watson. Maybe there's not a connection there. They don't want to deal with that right now.

And they're drafting a quarterback later in the first round. So there could be a lot of chaos happening at the front of the first round. Gabe, the most interesting thing to me right now is the team that's going to take a chance on Anthony Richardson at three or four. And I think it's going to be at three. We're going to have a combination of Stroud or Young at one and two.

I'm going to against Lance a little bit on this. I think we're going to end up with Stroud and Young going one and two. And I think Stroud goes one and Young goes two. I just don't think the Panthers are trading up for a quarterback in Young who is an outlier, right? If he's successful, he's the outlier. It doesn't mean that the Young can't be good or isn't the most ready. He is the most ready, but he's the outlier, right? If he's successful, he's the outlier. It doesn't mean that the young can't be good or isn't the most ready.

He is the most ready, but he's the outlier, right? And Frank Reich in his career as a quarterback coach, as a OC, which he didn't have control of obviously who they got, but they had Carson Wentz in Philly, right? Then he goes to Indianapolis. What does he have? Big quarterbacks, right?

Jacoby Brissett. He has Carson Wentz again. Matt Ryan. Phillip Rivers. Bryce Young doesn't fit what he's had in the past. Trout does. 6'3", 220, big kid, big arm. But a three game to me is where it becomes fun, right?

Is there are so many options for teams to move up to get Anthony Richardson. And this is where it becomes fun. Because you have four teams with the majority of their picks kind of high. You have the Bears, the Lions, the Texans, and Seattle have five picks like in the top 100-ish. Now, some of those teams aren't going to do this, right? Like Seattle's probably going to just wait

until maybe after they pick at five to get another quarterback if they want, or at five, get a quarterback if they want, right? And the Lions probably aren't going to do it at six, but they could. They could. They say, you know, with Goff there, we take Richardson, we move up to three for him as well.

And the Bears obviously aren't going to do it with the amount of picks they have. But to me, it's who moves for Richardson? Could it be the Minnesota Vikings? One year left with Kirk Cousins. And they say, look, man, let's do what the Chiefs did. Let's go with the last year of a veteran quarterback. Let's be aggressive.

And we think Richardson's our guy for the future. Let's go up to three and get him. Or maybe, you know, he drops past Indianapolis at four and let's go to five and get him. Let's go to six and get him. There's rumors now that the Patriots and Len Zerline put in his mock draft, the Patriots drafting Richardson at 14. I don't think you can wait that long to draft them, but there's rumors they won't get rid of Mac Jones.

What happens if the Patriots decide, hey, let's be aggressive. There's going to be some team that we don't really think about that's going to be aggressive for Anthony Richardson, and that to me is what's going to make the draft. Now, as I mentioned, the Bears, Lions, Texans, and Seahawks have these five picks in the top kind of 80, 100 picks. They'll improve their teams, right? They're going to be better because they have the ability

to draft all these guys all at once in this draft. But you talk about kind of what I think will be the story of this draft is who is most aggressive with the quarterbacks. It could be, by the way, if Baltimore trades. I was just going to say, we weren't supposed to talk about it, but it's getting there. If they trade their quarterback then they're candidate for anthony richardson yes they are at three if they trade you know if they trade lamar to the colts at four they're going to three and they're getting anthony richard at three so i think three is where this draft really starts

gabe and then it gets wild and crazy i think one and two are pretty much set Texans I guess can move down and out of two if someone really wanted someone at number two and then Texans can say maybe we'll get Will Levis later or someone later but Gabe three is where this is going to be a lot of fun man it's where that's where the draft starts for me yeah to me the Ravens and no disrespect to Lamar Jackson who I think is clearly the best quarterback on that roster and one of the best quarterbacks in the league. He'd make a lot of teams better, but they showed us that with a, not one, really a couple backups got in there and played okay with that offense, which means it's, there's a bit of scheming going on. It's not just having an incredible player like Lamar that makes that offense move. If you go, so to be new offense this year though okay fair enough fair enough there are going to be some changes but head coach is still there and what worked

before could work again i don't know enough about anthony richardson's game i know one obvious similarity that too often at this time of year people you know compare guys because they're called athletic and they're just referring to the guy's skin color that's sort of silly but is anthony richardson's game in any way similar to lamar's in your view like can can he slide in no lamar is a is a better much better run i think he's a better runner anthony richardson has a potential to be a stronger passer but he's not there yet right i mean there's a lot of refinement has has to be done with him. And that's why I think a team who has a quarterback right now, if Baltimore does draft him, there's going to be a rush to play him early.

If you are a team like the Vikings, like I said, even the Titans maybe, we say, you know what, we're just like, we've got 10-0 one more year. Let's go get our quarterback in the future. If you thought it was Malik Willis, that didn't work out, obviously. Maybe it doesn't. Let's go get someone else else you need to let him grow into that role Gabe I mean it does feel like that can happen if you let him sit for a year that's why I use the Mahomes comparison which is not which is not Mahomes but the fact is the Chiefs traded up for him knowing they had Alex Smith for one more year and there are a couple teams in that situation the

Lions are one of them. They're at six. And they certainly can get him at six if they want. We'll love it at six if they want. But there's also a situation where the Lions are like, look, man, we really love Anthony Richardson. Goff is here one more year. We have the draft picks. Let's go get ourselves our quarterback of the future.

Or they can wait till next year and do that. Because Kevin Williams will be there and Drake May will be there and maybe someone else will show up. Because Kevin Williams will be there and Drake May will be there and maybe someone else will show up. So there's a lot of fun with what can happen at three and four and five around Richardson. Will Levis to me doesn't have that same sort of like gravitational pull that it seems like Richardson has right now. And then, of course, if Lance Erlein's right and CJ Stroud doesn't go one or two, then three becomes like a mad rush to get CJ Stroud at three. So there's just so much fun that can happen in this draft.

It's not a draft where there are players outside of a couple of guys that are like, man, this is a generational talent we cannot pass up on. And so you're going to see a wide variance of where guys are graded by teams. And that's why you're going to have guys going in places you do not expect guys to go. And they'll be trading and moving up and down. Plus, we see now with younger general managers, man, they have no problem going up and down, down, up, down, up, down, up. And we're going to see something funky happen.

And I just have a feeling that happens at three with the Cardinals who need draft picks. They need as many players as possible to build that roster up and they're open for business and someone might do you know might again want richardson bad enough to make that happen at three yep noted okay i want to ask you about something that i for all the excess coverage we give the draft every year second the super bowl ends you know, Mel Kiper emerges and it's all we talk about is everything we just discussed. What I don't often hear discussed a term that frankly, I had to Google to make sure I understood exactly how to set this up were these top 30 workouts, right? And this is obviously top 30, top 30 visits. Excuse me. See, exactly. I think this is a thing that probably gets undercovered, but this show is trying to make

people the smartest football fan they can be. So a few people are probably rolling their eyes and saying, you dumb, dumb. Everyone knows how that works. I actually would argue no. So can you walk people through what teams are able to do with their top 30 visits, what they hope to get out of it, and how some of these teams might make the decisions you got at in the previous topic based off what they get out of it. You're allowed to fight 30 prospects into your building during draft season.

And what you do during those visits is a meet and greet, essentially. It's a job interview, but it's a personal job interview. It's not at the combine. It's not at a workout. It's not a senior bowl. And these interviews are not workouts. You're not working the kids out. But you're just, it's a mental interview, right?

You're getting them on the whiteboard. You're meeting the coaches. Matt Nagy, I think, told a story that he kind of like prepped Pat Mahomes, extra special for the interview, processed with Andy Reid to make sure that he aced it. So Andy Reid was more impressed with Pat Mahomes. Like there's some of that happening behind the scenes as well. But the thing that I will say about these visits

is I think a lot of times they're not for this specific draft. I think a lot of these visits are done to throw teams off ascent and they're done for the future. So if you are a team that doesn't need a certain position but you might need it next year like if you're the panthers let's do the panther for example you're drafting a quarterback why would you bring anyone else in for a visit you do it so you get to know the player know their background know what they're like and then four years from now when they're a free agent you have met this player you have a familiarity with this player you kind of you spoke to this player before like you know something about this player if there's some sort of scouting thing that

you learn from them like there's there's something there's a benefit to having met the player and spent time with them for the future you hang brought it up in our chat the texans have only brought in cj shot aden Hooker so far. Like that could throw teams off the scent. Oh, they're not interested in Bryce Young. Let's trade up for Bryce Young at two. You know what I mean? Like it doesn't, to me, like Hayden Hooker is a good example.

Hayden Hooker this year, the quarterback from Tennessee, is 25 years old and he got hurt at the end of the season. He's a prime example of someone I think you bring into your building for a top 30 visit. You want to learn more about him, right? He played an offense this year that's not gimmicky, but very up-tempo, very fast, not a pro offense, right? You want to see how his knee is doing. You want to see his processing. It's a short visit, but his processing of getting on the board with a pro offense. Like, what can you teach him?

What can you regurgitate quickly enough? And you just want to know more about him. Because if you're the Texans, like, you might think to yourself, okay, well, maybe at two we don't want a quarterback, but at 13, I think they're at 13. Maybe Hayden Hooker's our guy at 13. Like, there's many different reasons that you bring these guys in. And teams will just bring in, like, random, I mean,

you look at the list, Hengst in a list of, like, there's no rhyme or reason for these guys in and and teams will just bring in like random i mean you look at the list hanks in a list of like there's no rhyme or reason for for these guys being brought in but it's just kind of you get a little extra look at these guys now teams will also do private workouts with players at their schools like they'll go and see them again which i think the panthers have done a little bit right panthers have done i think a little bit they've done private workouts for some top quarterbacks as well, like separate of their pro day. So there's little things like that that happen and at those workouts,

you might have a meeting with the team as well. So it kind of takes the, maybe the place of a top 30 visit. Those are special though. Those don't happen very often. So yeah, that's, I mean, it's an extra layer to the whole process.

But again, we're at April 6th now. We're going to April 5th. The draft is four weeks away from when you're listening to this game teams pretty much know like their draft board is set so they're basically just making sure that you don't screw it up in draft day the movie draft day kevin costner the security guy calls i mean he's like i learned something more about bull callahan right some team gives everyone a playbook when they come visit them. And there's a dollar to end at every playbook.

And Bo Callahan was the only one who never mentioned the dollar. That's what it is, right? It's just like a test to just like, do you pass the test or not? And if you don't pass the test, you fall off the draft board. That's what it is. And I think that's like what this top 30 visit is about. It's just passing one more test. You don't go up.

You really don't go up, but you can go down. And draft day. Oh, what a movie. Wheeling and dealing there. Making trades left and right. So I just wouldn't. It's fun to talk about as far as like, oh my God, my favorite team has brought in so-and-so.

Okay, the Panthers, for example. Bryce Young, CJ Stroud, Will Levis, Anthony Richardson. All four quarterbacks. Awesome, right? Bumper Poole, the linebacker from Arkansas. Zach Evans, a running back. Jackson, Smith, and Jigba, the wide receiver from Ohio State. And Jonathan Mingo, the wide receiver from Ole Miss.

The last four guys, nothing in common. There's no rhyme or reason. They're just doing background on those guys. So that's what it is. And not every team uses all their picks. I mean, you look at this list right now. Jacksonville's only had three players in. The Cowboys have had nearly 20 players in.

Yeah. Okay, a few follow-ups there because I think this is interesting. First of all, when we do our mock draft, if you think I'm not reaching for bumper pool, you're crazy. That guy's definitely on my draft board now. I would want to meet him just to know how the hell he got his name. That's crazy. Here's my question. We meet a lot of guys, you know, in this business who end up saying something like, yeah, it's weird. When they called my name, I was really surprised. I never even had a meeting with them. Our buddy, Ryan Shazier is one of those guys. The Steelers drafted him after position coach had told him like,

you're a great player. You're going to have a great career, but I don't, I don't think you're going to be here. And he was like, okay, whatever. And then they drafted him. A little bit of this is gamesmanship, right? Like you said, you know, having, you're trying to throw people off the scent. You're trying not to show too much interest in someone. But is it also, and I'm sorry for being a cynic, is it also just the maintenance of relationships with high powered agents? That the same way in the entertainment industry, sometimes you just take a meeting with someone because the agent calls and says, hey, this guy might be up for a new contract. You want to talk to him about what he's thinking about doing in the future?

And you go, yeah, yeah, of course. You're really just trying to maintain a relationship with the agent. You don't have anything for the guy it could be the same here right come hey talk to my guy i hadn't thought about that but it's certainly possible yeah like if you're the if you're the panthers and you can give out 30 yeses to agents who you need to have be decent to you and they're like hey meet smigba. Like, probably not going to take him, but he's a good player. And the agent is a solid agent. We might as well just say yes.

I think it actually would be more for the bumper pools. Is you say, hey, take my client who's not a first round pick. That's right. And get his name out there on a visit. Yeah, give him some shine. I have more teams go, why do they see in him? Maybe we should talk to that guy. Follow up question. I mentioned Smith and Jigbaba so i would want to talk if i were running

a team i would want to talk to guys exactly like him not because i have any doubts that he's a good player but because every single guy who played his position at ohio state has looked incredible at ohio state so much so that i start to wonder if maybe that system has no choice but to put out pro looking receivers. And some of them are going to be misses. I just statistically. So I want to find out, is this the miss? That's a good point. Plus he didn't play much this year. Do you want to talk to him about all that? No, he's a, he's a great guy. You would bring in. You're absolutely right. I think he's a perfect player of why perfect player of why you would have the visit. He's the perfect example for that.

Whereas the guy I'm about to mention probably doesn't need... People have seen the tape. We know he can play. Jordan Addison, my Trojans, apparently having a local visit with my Chargers. I'm all for this idea. The Keenan Allen era is going to end and Jordan Addison seems like a pretty nice replacement is there a difference and maybe you don't know in these

regular visits versus local visits like is that just one of these formalities that doesn't really matter I don't really know about that what do you think about Jordan Addison so I think the Chargers should draft Dalton Kincaid from Utah that would make me very happy

but it's funny Addison's interesting so most So I think the Chargers should draft Dalton Kincaid from Utah, first of all. That would make me very happy. But it's funny. Allison's interesting. So most draft people will say, hey, you know what? Don't watch his USC film. Watch his Pittsburgh film. Because at USC, he was too open. Like he wasn't used as the way he might be used in the NFL.

He was, you know, his USC tape kind of screams slot wide receiver. But his Pittsburgh tape screams number one wide receiver because that's what he was at Pittsburgh. He was like 120 target guy at Pittsburgh. He had like 90 catches his Blinkoff winning season. Then he goes to USC and that prolific offense and wide open all the time. How many contested catches did he have at USC last season? Not a lot. Not many many there were five options that they were they all played like it

seemed like the x the y like they were all in different spots all over the place so he's going to be interesting because he also he didn't run fast for his size which not it's not terribly important, but it's not nothing. He had 100 receptions at Pittsburgh in 2021. I mean, so imagine how many targets he had at Pittsburgh that year. He was in an offense that liked to throw with a quarterback who was ready to be in the NFL. He was the top guy. And last year, 60 receptions.

I mean, look, I watched all those games he was the best receiver on the team he wasn't the fastest but he ran flawless routes i i'm sure people make the comparison to marvin harrison that's what i see he's a little smaller though right marvin harrison was pretty small the same size i think the question teams are going to have is if we draft are we drafting a slot guy in the first round or do we want to draft a kind of a an ex-receiver in the first round that's the question yeah but well different offenses have different needs i'll keep an eye on that one the the last name that i think probably you know people like the negativity and the controversy so i think this guy's been talked about plenty i don't know if there's anything new to add

but what do you make of Jalen Carter, who has plenty of things to be thinking about right now? What do you make of him or his team essentially saying he didn't want to meet with teams that weren't in the top 10, as if he had the right to demand that he be a top 10 pick right now with all the question marks? It's true Rosenhaus is his agent, so Drew's obviously done this a long time,

and I feel like he knows how to play these certain situations out here's the thing about this game if you are a quarterback we judge your off the field concerns differently than you're for a defensive tackle you just do right different responsibilities on the field different responsibilities as a leader on your team different responsibilities as a leader of your community of your franchise and i just don't know how much it hurts them. The teams at the top of the draft need quarterbacks, right? So like one, two need quarterbacks, okay? Three needs a defensive player.

Most have Willie Anderson. Could that have been Jalen Carter before this? Maybe. Four needs a quarterback. Five, everyone has Jalen Carter to Seattle. How much is he really falling? You know Pete Carroll. I know Pete Carroll. He doesn't care. He'll take Jalen Carter to Seattle how much is he really falling you know Pete Carroll I know Pete Carroll he doesn't care yeah he'll take Jalen Carter doesn't care how much is he really

falling I don't think he falls unless Seattle is held back on a quarterback and at five and someone's still there but then the Lions at six are they gonna say no to Carter as well he's gonna be the highest graded guy and most everyone's draft board so I don't think he falls much past the top 10 man i just don't see that happening and rosenhouse is taking that gamble like hey we're sticking to this we're gonna be the top 10 draft pick hopefully there's no incidents with him in the nfl but i don't think teams if it's a quarterback man red flags right but if it's a tackle i don't know how much teams really you know it impacts their evaluation of him all right next question be a fan boy here don't

don't be smarter be passionate i'm just going to call them your chiefs do you want your chiefs to go get a defensive playmaker if they can or do you want them to prepare for the time not far far away from now when travis kelsey's gone and Pat Mahomes needs another blanket. And can they move up and go get a Quentin Johnston, somebody they've talked to? No. So, no, here's the answer to that question. You draft Luke Musgrave at 31,

the tight end from Oregon State. Really? Yeah, yeah. That's what you do. If you want your next tight end, that's what you do. Now, they have Noah Gray who they drafted in the fifth round a couple years ago. But if you're looking for that guy, it's – and so what's interesting is the Chiefs –

But you can't put him on the field enough if you draft him behind Travis and Noah. Well, you just know he wouldn't play as much. Luke Musgrave, no one will ever be Travis Kelsey, but he blocks and runs routes really well. Like, he's a blocking tight end. He can do both, which is what Travis used to do. The older that he got, the less he blocks and runs routes really well. Like he's a blocking tight end. He can do both, which is what Travis used to do. The older that he got, the less he blocks. And that's why I know he's there right now.

They have other guys that block as well at tight end. The Chiefs, after winning the Super Bowl in 2019, they luxury picked Clyde Edwards-Hilaire. They did not need him at all. They drafted him there. And they could go that direction with tight end as well. But there's also needs a pass rusher and wide receiver quinn johnson would be great but his he drops a fair amount of passes

there i saw cedric tillman i believe from tennessee was a mock there as well big tall kid from tennessee i think they go past rusher but i would luke musgrave would be my like if you wanted to prepare for life after tra Kelsey, you take him. Well, I think they should probably add some defense. I don't think they're going to have trouble scoring with anyone. They go with seventh round picket running back and he looks like a world beater. I wouldn't worry about anything until Travis can't play. You don't need to add anything special on offense in my opinion. I agree.

Let's talk about the Eagles. You agree. The Eagles. I'm bringing this up because, you know, Hank's kept it quiet in the chat, so I'm going to reward him not being a pain in the ass for once and say, is Bijan Robinson, his guy from Texas, going to the best team in the NFC, the Eagles, and could he be a starting running back year one? I just don't think the Eagles are going to do it.

Like, they are an organization that feels like they're too smart to get running back in the first round. The Cowboys don't. The Cowboys feel like they're going to get running back in the first round the cowboys don't cowboys feel like they're gonna run back in the first round yeah too smart and the cowboys don't go together the eagles right do seem too smart but all right maybe we'll see i i can't see it man okay i just can't see the eagles do all right well there we spoke about bijan robinson we paid the bills hank let's move the line our little over under game i'll go through a few more topics we haven't gotten to and uh get away from football for a sec too over under 40 chance mac jones is no longer a patriot by the end of this next season you started sort of flirted with this idea earlier

so the end of the end of like we come to this point next year and he's gonna make it i'm gonna i'm gonna say he gets to start this season, but he's a very short leash. I think he does stay on the roster at this point next year. I think he plays well this year with Bill O'Brien and everything gets smoothed over and he's their quarterback. God, I hope that's true because then that means that the Patriots will just continue to be middling for the next few years.

I root for nothing but failure at that position in that town. Well, I know you do. They don't deserve anything better than mac jones let's just be clear fan bases don't get to go from 20 years with whatever seven rings or what six rings and then get the next guy to also be great that's bullshit the if you you get to be spoiled like the packers were and win one or two rings with each guy you don't get to have you know two handfuls of rings in three decades i mean fair enough thank you for letting me get that out of my system i get it over on god knows why we're talking about

this over under 25 chance the titans trade up to that third pick in the draft who gives a shit about the titans yeah yeah we just, Hank. Do better, buddy. Over under 40% chance you watch the NBA midseason tournament. This is a dumb idea. Do we agree on that? I don't know if I agree with that, actually.

What is the purpose of the midseason tournament? Make people care. Why would you care about this? The players are the ones who need to care for me to care. Who's your basketball team? I don't have one. I don't know this one. Because the players on the court don't even care what team they're on.

Okay. If you were to have a team, who would it be? The Lakers. Oh. Well, since when? I don't know. Since I moved here and LeBron came to the team. Okay.

So I'm a Lakers fan too. I'm not sure if I'm a real fan. It's the one Lakers, it's the one LA team I root for. Yeah, I know. Okay. So like, I'm a Lakers fan too. I'm not sure you're a real fan. It's the one Lakers, it's the one L.A. team I root for. Yeah, I know. Okay, so like, I'm a Lakers fan. I care about them winning championships. I don't give a shit about a mid-season tournament they play in. Like, who cares about that?

What does that have to do with anything that has to do with the playoffs? Like, to me, that is just an excuse to claim they care about urgency when they don't at all. What fan is like, man, we won the mid-season tournament. Well, did you actually win a playoff game? No, no. The mid-season tournament, if you're a Clippers fan who hasn't won shit in the playoffs, are you raising a mid-season tournament banner in your new arena in Inglewood?

Are you really doing that? No, of course not. But Jeff, I think you're misdiagnosing the reason for this. It's not so that people can raise mid-season banners. It's because there's no sense of urgency in the NBA and people are not watching. Okay. That's why. It's because the players don't give a shit. Right. But why do they give a shit about this? Because they get $500,000 more if they win. Most of these guys are making $40 million a year. Isn't the theory that it would affect

the seeding and that the seeding theoretically kind of matters? It's like a four game playoff. The seeding doesn't, this year we're seeing it. The seeding doesn't matter this year. The Lakers are going to be the sixth seed or seventh seed and might be the favorite to win the Western Conference. What does it matter? Look, dude, you're going to be hard pressed

to get me to tell you that nba players will care but the best idea i've heard about the nba is nick wright your buddy nick wright is the letting the playoff teams decide who they're gonna play that's the best idea i've ever heard i don't know if further sports they should do that but certainly nba because there's so much shenanigans to kind of seed and i think it's a bunch of bs how you can basically be the seventh seed and be the best team in the western conference um and the nuggets you get to choose yeah i want to play this team the kings i want to play this team next up i'm gonna play this team i'll be this team the situation that arrives we're like the

kings end up with the lakers a healthy lakers team in the first round so the lakers is bullshit their way to 42 and 41 and 41 to then get their ass kicked good luck lighting the beam when fucking lebron shows up and ad and everyone's healthy like so i i again the midseason tournament and get into our our next our next one by the way it's about uh you know over under 10 years before women's college basketball was more popular than men's college basketball. Jeff, you're stealing my job. What are you doing, man? I know, but I'm going to tie this in here.

What's made women's college basketball and the tournament this year, I know the ratings were down for the championship game. They're actually up for FAU and San Diego State, is urgency, right? The one and done, the urgency of the game. And in the women's game, especially, it's really good basketball. Like it's both, you get the good basketball and the urgency, the one and done.

And like that leads to us wanting to watch the game more, right? In the NBA, like to me, the mid-season tournament doesn't, it's not urgent. Like what is urgent about it? Who's benefiting from this? Only people that benefit are the players who win and make more money.

And for me as a fan, Oh, Oh, it's, Oh, the Lakers are, Oh my God, they're,

they're Missies and tournament champions. Oh, Oh, wow. Like, Oh, well, they're still the 60th.

Okay, great. Like it doesn't do anything for the fans. And so I just don't understand. If you want more urgency, make the season shorter and make the playoff series shorter, make the first round five games again. I'll tie the two together in a different way.

If you want men's basketball, specifically the NBA, but maybe college basketball as well, to be more popular, then learn from the women's game in a different way. Get two superstars to talk shit in each other's faces and make everyone believe that you really don't like each other and you really freaking care about beating each other. I know. That's what the NBA has been missing. I'm not being an old school guy here pretending everything needs to be Pistons, Bulls in the 90s. But we need them to care. You do need hatred in sports.

This is why I like the Chiefs-Bengals is great because they legitimately do not like each other. They don't like each other. And Angel Reese and Kalen Clark, I think are indifferent to each other, like honestly, but on the court, they hate each other,

which is good. You need that in sports. You need hatred. And I think in the Western Conference this year, we're going to get some of that because a lot of guys chirp a lot on all those teams. But again,

we have to back up the talent with some of that as well. But like the back and forth between Iowa and LSU, even on the South Carolina side, when like Katie Clark waved off the girl in South Carolina, I was like, oh my God, that's so disrespectful. It's great. It's awesome. Of course, the usual takes were going to be there after that game. I just wish, I wish an athlete would just one time be like,

yeah, I talk shit to her, whatever. Like, grow a pair, everyone, suck it up. Because the reasons that Angel Reese gave were silly. I mean, I say all the time, like, athletes create motivation better than any other thing that they ever do. It's like their superpower, right? It's creating motivation.

No one believed in us. No, everyone picked you in the championship, Travis Kelsey. Like we all did. So we believed in you. And Angel Ruiz was like, well, she talked shit to South Carolina. Well, that's not really you though. So like, why does that matter to you?

Just be like, yeah, it was playing a game. I talked shit to her. Whatever. Who cares? Because I don't care. You don't care. I mean, we don't care. Like whatever.

I just wish sometimes the athlete would just be like, yeah, I did it. Grow up, everyone we we all talk shit to each other but athletes man and like again kaylin clark didn't care but women's basketball man i've been covering it for a couple years now on the pac-12 side for my my radio job it's been good basketball for a couple years now the girls stay kaylin clark has two more years before the wmba she can't go anywhere angel i believe at least has one more year into the WNBA. They're staying in school. They don't leave.

They stay in school and they're there for a long time and you have these dynasty teams. You have these teams that you know next year. Like, there's going to be a preseason tournament

I would imagine that has Iowa, LSU, South Carolina and I would imagine maybe one other team and they all play at the Phil and I

Invitational in Portland, Oregon to start the season. That'd be great and I think everyone would look forward to it in men's basketball everyone's transferring even the best players on all these teams we've seen now michigan's best player out of there kentucky's best player out of there like everyone's just leaving all their schools and you're like all right well what am i looking forward to on the women's side everyone's back like i'm looking forward to? On the women's side, everyone's back. I'm looking forward to watching next year.

It's going to be a lot of fun. Yeah, to tag on the original point too, you're right. All of the continuity of women's basketball will lead to real rivalries. And being able to say, star player, team I recognize, playing against another familiar commodity, that's fun. That's easy for me to root for. And I will demonstrate that is how our fans think by saying, remember the run when it was LeBron and the Cavs versus Steph and the Warriors?

Two guys who the knock on them would be they're a little too chummy most of the time. Yeah. When it mattered, I remember LeBron pinning Steph and calling him a bitch. They weren't friendly for a couple weeks. no and it felt great it's one of the best the best like moments the nba has had in a long time with was in the peak of that rivalry and it it needs to come back and women's basketball is getting there fast you need it in sports but you need it like in baseball everyone hates the astros hey yankeeskees, good. Yeah. Good. Hate them.

Hate the Chiefs. Bengals and Chiefs hate each other. Good. Good. Hate the Cowboys. Great. And women's college basketball, we have that. And also, too, again, I'll kid.

Great. The top of the women's college basketball is good basketball. I know you attend some USC games. They had a good year. And some of the Pac-12 schools they play are good. But, like, did you watch? The Lakers scored 102 freaking points. They had a good year and some of the Pac-12 schools they play are good. But like, did you want, you know, let's just go to 102 freaking points. They can score, man. It's not, honestly, I covered some women's basketball

when I went to GW. I'd call some of their games. I don't mean any disrespect to those women. I played against a few of them. They were very, very good basketball players. This isn't like some macho take here. The level of ball was nothing like what I saw this tournament this turn oh it's got

much better correct that's 20 years that's a long time but the better players are significantly better and the the offense moves a lot faster and those those games are not 155 you know 49 yeah like you said they're about 100 points scored the reaction to that was so very typical it was like a social media thing. Like, we got to understand, man, it's not real life. You can't be that angry about what people say on social media sometimes. It's just so silly to me. All right, next.

Well, here, social media is having fun with this one so far. And then I think we'll wrap here. The pitch clock, it's official. We've been through, you know, a weekend full of Major League Baseball. It's already improved things. Question, though, over under 100 strikeouts by pitch clock this MLB season. Are we going to start seeing that? Oh, yeah.

I think someone got ejected. Tim Anderson on the White Sox got ejected today. He stepped out of the box. Umpire didn't call time. Strike three, he got thrown out of the game. Manny Machado got thrown out the other day for the same thing. Um, so that's two so far.

Good. Like, don't like, you can't step out of the box anymore. Like let's play baseball. Like what, like what do you have to do to step out of the box? Like,

come on, like what are you doing? Like get in there and, and get ready to hit. So good. Like move the games along. I watch, I watch a lot of baseball.

It's I'm home during the day. It's good to have on when I work. Yeah. So good. Like move the games along. I watch a lot of baseball. I'm home during the day. It's good to have on when I work. I like watching baseball. We talked about how me and you spend five hours on a Saturday watching our kids. We like baseball. The games go so much faster. And without the shift too. You get more hits.

There was a hit today that was up the middle in the Giants game that for years, the pitcher never had to worry about fielding because there was someone literally standing behind second base because of the shift. It got through. And for years, that was never a hit. Little things like that. You get a little more hits, more stolen bases, some

faster game play. Good. Good for baseball. It's good to adapt your game. Baseball was very slow to do this. I'll make this final point here. This is not going to happen in a playoff game, okay, guys? It's not going to be game seven of the World Series, and they're going to be like, out! Altuve's out!

They're not doing that, okay? Like, calm down. Now, if they did it to the Dodgers, it would be very funny, and I would laugh. But they're not going to do it in a World Series game, okay? Jeff, I want to agree with you, except I do have to remind you what happened in the Super Bowl we just watched. There's a lot of people in Philly who will tell you,

oh, really? The refs won't get involved in a critical moment? No, no, no. No, that's a penalty. This is something that they can absolutely just be like, we're not honoring this rule in the postseason. Oh, okay. So you think they're just going to treat it like we're not honoring this rule in the postseason. Ah, okay. So you think they're just going to treat it like COVID

when COVID just went away in the postseason? The NFL, yes. Yeah, there were no COVID positives in the entire NFL postseason. The NFL all the time has new rule changes. And the first month of the season, we're always like, this rule's changed. And then by like week 11, it's like no longer a thing.

This will start this way. They're not going to end a World Series game. Unless, of course, it's like no longer a thing. This will start this way. They're not going to end a World Series game. Unless, of course, it's the Dodgers. And please, have them lose on this. It'll be the all-time funniest thing ever. But I've liked baseball so far this year. Are the Angels, are they winning this year? I mean, they have the two best players in baseball.

They're not picked to win. Nope. That doesn't seem like what's going to happen. But I'm going to get down to the park. Are you going to get there? Yeah, of course. I'd rather go there than Dodger Stadium. So that's what I'm going to do.

Is it easier? Yeah. It's much easier. And it's just the whole experience is nicer. And I like rooting for the little guy, even though the little guy has the two best players in the world. They're three and two so far this year. How about that?

There you go, Angels. Yep, yep, yep. And Shohei's playing well. Hey, by the way, we can end on this. yep yep yep and shohei's playing alone hey by the way uh we can end on this over under um that's how well i phrase it over under uh 50 pissed off or laughing at you i don't know exactly how i'm phrasing this um when you try to freelance with the costco list and come home uh and get things that your wife did not authorize? Which side of pissed or laugh it off is she? And I ask because this is a picture I decided to go rogue here. I thought,

you know, we could use a few more of those Lysol sprays. You bought 18 of them. No, I bought three, but apparently I do that every time I go. And so this is my wife saying, stop buying Lysol. I didn't put it on the list. Don't get it. So during COVID, by the way, that was me buying Lysol wipes. Yeah, I bought the wipes too. I don't go to Costco anymore. Just order it. I can order now.

It's 421 PM Eastern. It'll be here by 630. Yeah, that's good. I just don't even go anymore. I don't have to. I like going to Costco, man. I used to. And by the way, easy way to entertain kids.

It used to be. My kids are old enough now where they, my kids used to love running in the big fridges, like the milk fridge and the egg fridge. That's an adventure. They loved it. So much fun to do it. But I just order everything online now

because it's just easier with the schedule to go to the drive to costco well you know different stages of life jeff and we began the recording today with you telling your beautiful daughter go in the other room for about 45 minutes don't get in trouble that's how you parented so we're we're not exactly operating the same way but it has been about 45 minutes which means i think we should stop and say goodbye for a little while. I haven't heard them yell. I think you've done fine. She's six and a half.

She can handle herself, I think. Hopefully. We'll see. Hopefully. We'll see. We'll find out. All right, guys. We'll be back next week.

Have a great one. Take care, everyone. you