Green Light with Chris Long - Alim McNeill! Lions Playoff Run & Dan Campbell! NCAA Tournament, Shohei Ohtani, Gambling & NFL News!

Episode Date: March 22, 2024

IT'S TOURNEY TIME! We talk our favorite NCAA tournament memory, round up some NFL free agent news and discuss the Shohei Ohtani gambling news. Then, we welcome Alim McNeill, who joins Chris to talk about the Detroit Lions 2023 playoff run, Dan Campbell as a head coach, Jared Goff and Aidan Hutchinson and his burgeoning rap career. ENJOY! (00:00) - UVA Basketball (11:03) - Shohei Ohtani (23:25) - Jaguars Employee who Stole $22M from Team (30:55) - Kirk Cousins Tampering Issues (36:05) - Caleb Williams' Pro Day (42:10) - Justin Fields to Pittsburgh to Play with Russell Wilson (50:55) - NFL Free Agent Signings: Mike Williams in New York, Chiefs Moves & Cowboys Offseason Plan (1:14:20) - Our Favorite NCAA Tournament Memories Ever (1:19:55) - Alim McNeill on the Detroit Lions Playoff Run, Rivalry with the Packers, Jared Goff and Aidan Hutchinson as teammates, Dan Campbell hanging in the DLine room and Alim's rap career Want your Green Light Merch so you can look exactly like Chris and the fellas? Hit the website below and get kitted! https://stores.kotisdesign.com/yotehouse/products Have some interesting takes, some codebreaks or just want to talk to the Green Light Crew? We want to hear from you. Call into the Green Light Hotline and give us your hottest takes, your biggest gripes and general thoughts. Day and night, this hotline is open. Green Light Hotline: ‪[phone]‬ Send any Talent Search submissions to: [e-mail] Include any video of your talents, takes and bits as well as a little bit about yourself. Love hearing from the Green Light fans. Also, check out our paddling partners at Appomattox River Company to get your canoes, kayaks and paddleboards so you're set to hit the river this summer. https://paddleva.com/ Green Light Spotify Music: https://open.spotify.com/user/951jyryv2nu6l4iqz9p81him9?si=17c560d10ff04a9b Spotify Layup Line: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1olmCMKGMEyWwOKaT1Aah3?si=675d445ddb824c42 Green Light Tube YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgxWFAA-wuB7osdiAJyLOcw Green Light with Chris Long: Subscribe and enjoy weekly content including podcasts, documentaries, live chats, celebrity interviews and more including hot news items, trending discussions from the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, NCAA are just a small part of what we will be sharing with you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Honestly, it's Green Bay. Yeah. I really feel like it's Green Bay. But man. We always have the most, like, insane battles with them. And then now it was, like, how both our teams are, you know, kind of going. And then, you know, the competition level is about to raise you to the end between that game. It's about it to be a really good game.

Dude, the two games this year couldn't be any different. It was like, y'all punched them out there. Then they punch y'all in the mouth. And it was like, man, this division is going to be fun. that Jordan Love can spin it. Telling. It's pretty... Spend it.

The NFC knows, and take off. Welcome to the Greenlight podcast. A very large RAR to all you Detroit Lions fans. It's a Lee McNeil time here on the Greenlight podcast. He joins Chris,

goes in depth on the Lions season, hosting their first playoff game in what felt like infinity years. Rushing with Aiden Hutchinson, playing with Jerry. golf having Dan Campbell as his coach. How much time Dan Campbell hangs out in the D-Line room and his budding music career. He's got a rap album now.

Him and Chris talk favorite rappers and a whole lot more. Make sure to enjoy that on the end of today's episode. To kick things off, it's a lot of NFL news and a little bit of sports roundup. We talk Shohei Otani and the gambling questions that surround his name in the news right now. We tie a bow on some of these free agent moves that have kind of gone under the wire with with college basketball conference tournaments and the NCAA tournament heating up. And we break down gambling in professional sports

with the story of the Jacksonville Jaguars former employee who stole $22 million from them to feed his gambling addiction. A lot tackled today on Greenlight. Enjoy it all. We'll be back on Monday. May all your brackets be blessed. Make, you better be saying hi to Tara Hot Indiana.

TerraHote, Indiana. Hello. Was that your health? No, but why not? Indiana State. Yeah, Kreme. We should be saying hi to Seton Hall. We should be saying hi to St. John's.

We should be saying hi to everybody who we robbed of an opportunity to play in the playing game. We were 69th in Ken Palm. All I hear you just talk about Ken Palm. Ken Palm. When I ask you, what's the system for betting games? You're like, it's Ken Palm. It's not Kim Palm.

It's Bart Torvik, which is essentially Ken Palm. See? So here's the thing. I get why people hate us. And when people were comparing us to Iowa football the other night, of course we're talking about Virginia basketball who had 14 points in the first half, at which point me and Kyle turned on John Madden and played Madden in the second half, Kyle beat me. Oh, I will football.

So two programs that just win all the time. Okay. And the Kansas City Chiefs. But seriously, is that the comparison we're supposed to be mad about? I think people enjoy the Iowa joke. They're like, oh, it's fun to watch football where there's like not a lot of scoring. But it's not fun to watch college basketball, where there's not a lot of scoring. I have so much respect for Tony Bennett.

I'm not towing this Stephen A. Smith line at all, but what I am saying is I understand why people hate us. Virginia is replay review in the NFL. You say you hate it, but deep down you love it because it leads to conversation, it leads to people being big mad. Yeah, when have we ever gotten Stephen A. Smith talk about a playing game?

Exactly. Yeah, it was surreal. All the things the UVA basketball is done and we're looking at UVA basketball graphic up on, what was it? It led every show. It's just UVA in general. I remember going back to when I was in junior high,

and we went to Lane Stadium to watch you guys play the Hokies. And throughout the parking lot, you could hear Colin Cowherd's monologue, which was the anti-UBA. You guys are a bunch of yuppies monologue. And at the time, it really pissed me off, but you become desensitized to it. And as you guys were saying, while we were watching,

this is the ultimate Virginia fan experience. We lack the firepower. We're just not up for the big one. The big one always gets us. We're just not ready. The big one always gets. Too many practices, not enough practices. They had three practices since Sunday.

Somebody said that was not enough. Too many. Nobody wanted to watch it. Coach Bennett didn't want to watch it. He said the group was maxed out. There was one returning starter. They won 23 games. I think if Kyle was out there,

we could have scored 16 points in the first half. I had a harder time finishing on some of those second chance. Completely agree. I think if, there were six guys out there for Virginia instead of five, it wouldn't have made a difference. We're just that bad. Yeah. So we shouldn't have been in there.

So you admit, we shouldn't have been in there. Well, I think we earned the bid. I mean, this is a pretty simple argument to follow, fellow. No, it's really not. We earned the bid. And then we played very poorly. But yeah, we weren't good enough to be out there. Plenty of teams are going to lose today and tomorrow.

Not like that. Oh, sure. Not like that. Freaking Boise. Oh, it was disgusting. You know, the reason people hate UVA. is your attitude. All right.

Hey, this because you ain't us. We went almost 80% of the basketball game. I can admit it. We shouldn't have probably been in that tournament, and I'm sorry. And so what I did is I got online, I followed the prompts, and I donated to St. John's University athletic department and Seton Hall's athletic department. I'm not donating to Indiana State. I'd like to give another shout out.

Well, can I finish this? Yes. 42 points the other night, I went $42. Okay. For 12 months. That really adds up. So this is my olive branch to the people of, St. John, wherever the fuck that is, New York.

Yes. And Seton Hall, wherever the fuck that is. New Jersey. New Jersey. I'm sorry. You probably should have been in the tournament. Yeah. St. John's wasn't even the first four out should have been in the tournament. How'd that work out for you?

You're always like, I can't watch Virginia. Oh, I can't watch Virginia games with anyone else because it's bad luck. No, not because it's bad luck, because you guys are casuals and don't understand the game and piss me off. Wow. I literally do an NFL podcast with you. Huh? I literally pay you to do an NFL podcast with me. Do the definition of an NFL casual.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you can't watch the game with us for one night? No, I'm Joe fan. The audience relates to Joe Fan. You know? Yeah. You need Joe Fan alongside. I think there's good points on both sides of the fence here.

Well, he wouldn't come watch the game with us the other night because he's got this lifelong bit where he doesn't watch any UVA sports with them. I went and watch the game. You don't do it. You don't watch football games either. With other people. I'm not defending it. It's a weird thing, but it's how I like to watch my sports.

Maybe we should break the trend and watch Virginia sports. You know, who did watch the game. Some scripts need to be flipped here, man. Exactly. Oh, yeah, I hate all the national. The fine folks in Camp Collins in Fort Collins, Colorado, who enjoyed their Colorado State Rams dominating a perennial powerhouse. Let's call it what it is, the Virginia Capitol is.

Blue Blood. A Blue Blood team. Now we're talking. We should be appreciative of the fact that we are so bent out of shape by the way this team looked because when I left Charlottesville in 2009, UVA was kind of the laughing stock. And I remember the football team was the reason that they were competitive. They were the buddy lead teams. We were the city on the hill.

They were the buddy lead jeans of the program. And I left. And the next thing you know, UVA is at Rosenblatt every season. They're in the college world series. They won it one year, I think. a couple of years. Brian are coming. You should have left sooner.

Great coach. The basketball team. Get out now. I'm sitting in a Matt Nagy meeting. The coach of the year that year, by the way, and he's showing Kyle Guy and his perseverance and the national championship, the blue blood pedigree that it takes to win. So that's the silver lining there.

It takes NBA players to win. There were multiple NBA players on that team. Yeah. So unless we can get it. No. UVA is not a bottom of the barrel deal. This is a pure, you know what Kyle Guy had? Toughness.

Correct. A little swag, too. Correct. He's a big toughness guy. The problem... I've been saying it for a while here. The problem with the system here at Virginia is that you really need players to be here three, four, five years, and that's not going to happen anymore in this portal era.

So it may be... We do need to... I'm not saying Tony... Tony's the man, but maybe we need to do some a little different. I don't know what that is. Maybe make layups. I know Tony can't make layups or contested shots near the rim. Those guys just looked so tight the other night.

Not happy to be out there. Holding the ball like this. You just got in the tournament. Nobody thinks you're supposed to be there. You're supposed to play with house money, but instead the ghost of UMBC follows us everywhere we go. And it follows our psyche as Virginia fans. And this is the thing.

Kyle brought up a good point. I can remember being a kid. And when we got in the tournament, it was like, oh, we're in the tournament. Probably not going to win a single game. No, we're in the NIT. Okay? Which is now fraught with, with, uh, with game throwing. I'm pretty sure.

Because if you're in the NIT, like, you should probably do it. just go the game. I'm not saying that for real, but like in the minds of some of these young kids who aren't getting paid, they might, fifth year seniors up at Madison Square Garden, like, hey, fuck it, dude, we're playing Seton Hall. They're supposed to win the NIT. They're supposed to be in the NCAA tournament because Virginia sucks. Okay. So I'll just say this. I acknowledge the fact that we are bent out of shape when this stuff happens, and that's a good thing because that means we've been somewhere. And I thought that winning a title for a couple of years would, it would be like playing with house money for the rest of your life as a fan, but what it does is it robs you of

your joy and you're acutely aware of what like being on heroin is. You know, like nothing else, nothing else works. That's why the Patriots fans are so miserable. Yeah. Can I, can I love? They're just miserable in general. They're chasing the dragon. They don't get enough sunlight.

They don't get enough vitamin D up in New England. The synergy between a coach and a great, in a great roster. You need the side. Sometimes like UVA, they have the great coach and people want them fired, but people also want them retained for life, right? Nobody with a, with a, with a brain. But there is that argument. So I just, I just want to, I want to interject.

not everybody cares about Virginia as much, but I feel like if we didn't say anything about Virginia, people would have said, oh, you guys are hiding from this thing. I'm not hiding from this thing. This is who we are. This is exactly who we are. That is an athletic program. There's one valid excuse. It's an excuse, but I think it's valid. Okay. Whose were rolling in 2020, 23 and 7. They had won about 10 in a row, and COVID comes along. And yeah, every program had to deal with the COVID pause, but only one team coming off a championship had to deal with it. So you really had that momentum stopped in its tracks. Okay, that's fair.

I would argue that helps the team coming off. That's fair. Can we get that breath? Let's talk about Shohei Otani. Do you remember in Godzilla minus one when the kamikaze came home and he didn't run his plane into Pearl Harbor? And they were like, why are you here? Like, I feel like it's going to be even worse when this guy comes home unemployed. Like people are like, you let Showhay down.

Because people are going to have to believe the lie that the MLB is going to tell. I mean, they're going to sweep this under the rug. He's going to be the wrong guy. Oh, they're going to kill it. Oh, the translator's doing the honorable thing. He's doing the honorable thing. He's thrusting his samurai sword into his chest cavity. But can they see through that in the home country?

I do you're going to bring up Godzilla. Are they going to say you must die? They don't have a, there's the problem. Okay, this is an interesting thing because as we talk about this, his legacy in America, even if they sweep this under the rug, I think a lot of people are going to be convinced, including myself, that Sho Hay Otani is a gambler. And I don't think he's a degenerate gambler. Because when you really put into context what he was gambling, he's got like 680 mill coming down the pipe in the future here.

Like, I don't think he's gambling irresponsibly for an hour and a thousand dollars. The way he hasn't structured would seem as if he might have some habits that he's protecting himself from. No question. Which is cool. No question. And like gambling on its head, if he's not gambling on baseball, is not the end of the world. I think he can overcome this. Part of being an overcompetitive person.

Like, it's in every locker room, people gamble. they love to gamble they want it on the action right all the time but the rules are getting a little bit more you know like especially if you've moved to america and you don't understand like the translator alleges that he didn't know this bookie who he bought it he met at a poker tournament he didn't know that that that you know betting offshore or betting with an illegal book is in fact illegal the translator got something lost in translation yep this guy makes 300 to 500k a year he's been working since 2008. His name's IP Mizuhara.

Okay. You're American when you go into the bathroom. You're American when you come out of the bathroom. What are you when you're in the bathroom? European. Okay. The only thing that's not being discussed is. So to give people a little

background here, the translator who's been working since 2018, making a boatload of money, is alleged to have engaged in massive theft of Otani. Only after Otani's spokesperson who's basically a backup translator because he lost his other translator

like this guy's like he tapped the right arm and the backup translator comes in and the backup translator puts the old translator in contact with ESPN. They do a 90 minute interview. This is like Tuesday and then Wednesday they say no we retract his entire statement that we sent him to give because

our lawyers called us and said no it's not going to work if you say that Otani was a part of the transaction where he allegedly was covering up for this guy's losses, like where he's helping his buddy out. And I do- So is that what the buddy said on the interview? He essentially was like, Shohay has a problem and I'm covering him? No.

What his buddy said on the interview was that I have a problem and Shohay was covering for me. Got it. They found these wires evidently in January. They kicked this guy's door down, this guy, Matthew Boyer. But evidently, it was back in October that they kicked this guy's door down. And then in January, they uncovered the wires from Otani, four and a half million in total. but two particular wires in the fall.

And I don't understand this part exactly. So Matt, help me out if I'm butchering it. But, you know, like those two wires in question, it is alleged by the translator that Otani was standing there and helped him put those wires through. And then they reversed course on Wednesday and said, no, that's not what happened at all. This is theft.

He stole from Otani. And here's my issue. You mean to tell me in the reality where the translator is stealing four and a half? million dollars from his good friend, that he's willing to steal from his good friend, but he is not betting baseball for fear that his employer will find out and fire him. If you get found out, you're not going to have a job because your best friend is going to fire you.

It's almost as if he was already found out. He already knew. No, it's almost as if the guy placing bets has something to lose betting baseball. Yeah. And I don't think that guy has enough to lose, relatively speaking, if we are to believe that he's stealing from his best friend to the tune of $4.5 million. That, to me, is the biggest red flag when it comes to Otani being the one placing these bets. Because if you're not betting baseball, you have to be afraid to bet baseball.

And I don't think this guy seems like a guy who's very afraid. Can we put it into context? Like, what was it, four and a half million? Four and a half million. So four and a half million for relative to what Showe's worth is say, like, you make $100,000 in a year. Six grand. For one year, Showeys making $70 million this year. So you make a hundred grand.

It's not much money for Otani. Okay. So I'll just tell you, I'll tell you this. Like the other part that I would poke a hole in the in the theft hypothesis is like, you know, this guy's with Shohei every hour of the day. You're going to tell me he's sweating international soccer. He's probably betting Turkish basketball like the Jags guy who stole from the Jags. Shohey's a degenerate.

No, what I'm saying is like if you're to believe that the translator is they're together every hour of the day. You don't think that Shohay would be like, maybe my friend has a gambling problem. Or maybe they're just watching together. Or maybe they're gambling together. Yeah, and he is the fall guy, because ultimately that's what I think is happening.

It's 100% the fall guy. And also this, Kev. And like, you know, I don't think a bookie, you tell me, is going to let a regular guy rack up $4.5 million dollars in debt. And I also don't think a bookie

is going to brag about having Shohey O'Time. on the books unless it's show Hey Otani. I could be wrong. So this book's got ties to minor league players that's documented. Yeah, they got popped. And he got popped in November. They saw all this. They had a few months to figure out, hey, how are we going to fix this?

He signs the big deal with the Dodgers. The wires were all the issue because the guy, the book didn't think he had eyes on him. And he did. And when that comes out, now we got to fix this. And, of course, what you just said is correct in the fact that you're not going to take a play that big from a random guy. No, you're not. No chance. You're not going to let a tab go that high without knowing that there's some kind of back there.

And I don't know what it's like having that much money or how easy it is to get cash out. That's like getting credit to the casino. There's not. It's hard to get cash out because if you go get 10 grand out. Just ask Kyle. I've been trying to get. I've been trying to get you $180. I haven't seen $100.

Thank you. Yeah. No, if you go out and you get $100K or if you go out and get $10K, there's going to, you know, the FDIC is going to be looking at you. And so like you got to go do that 50 times, like and then do that another, you know, nine times. Like that's not happening. So you, even if Otani's the guy, initially when I didn't think it through, I was like, well, why would he, why would he be doing wire transfers?

But there's no other way to do it when you owe that much. Let me interject. It's all wire transfers, and that's the way they have to do it. But the problem is that he has to authorize this. There's no way he doesn't know about this. And they should have framed it as a loan instead of talking about this theft thing and left it at that. Yes, that would have been.

And also what's shocking to me is that if we're to believe that Otani was gambling and he was the fall guy, that they didn't have like a real plan. Because this thing has been sloppy. Like the sending him to ESPN, retracting the state, You know, then calling him a thief. Like the timeline of this goes back to October. If this guy got his door kicked down in October, his clientele knows about it. No doubt.

And I would like to see how Otani was hitting in October. Because if my translator was about to go down and it was me placing all these bets, I'd be nervous as fuck. And I wonder how he was hitting. Are you looking at October? You know, there's a lot to be said. So let's say hypothetically, I rob somewhere and I have hostages and they can't kill and they're going to have to meet my demands in order to keep human life alive. So if I'm like, I need $10 million in cash, like in the movies, how are they going to get this?

Because, you know, if a hundred people got together and got $10,000, they couldn't meet my demands. So where do you get the cash? Well, I think the police can just get cash. The police are like, they grab it from all the people that they stole from when they arrest them or searched their houses. They sell all the weed that they plan off? Yeah, exactly. You want a dime bag of some Reggie Miller? I'll give you, I'll give you, I'll give you 9.95 in a dime bag.

So it's easier to be like, give me an airplane than it is cash. The offshore account. The offshore account. Yeah. But I want the big bag. Yeah, I don't think you can get the big bag anymore. It's not like the movies, huh? So anyways, I think, I think this is a, this is an interesting story.

I think what it's also interesting about it is, if you frame it in the context of where we are today, like, we're seeing a lot of this stuff. Whether it's Calvin Ridley a couple years ago, whether it's the James and Williams suspension, whether it's like hearing about the fact that Pui got popped in one of these in these offshore gambling probes. The alleged rigging of the SEC games. There's alleged rigging of a temple game a couple weeks ago. And then they're playing in the conference tournament like a week later.

There's also, when you read this article, they talk about another case where they're like, you know, a college basketball coach, you know, an unnamed player here, an unnamed player there, got caught up in this ring. And what I think, you know, what I think people are losing in this thing is, we're thinking at this juncture that this is going to change sports. I think it could change sports. I think it already has.

But I think what we're also, this is a perfect example of somebody who's from Japan, has never been able to gamble, cannot handle the dopamine rush, gets to America. Sounds like when I went to Tallahassee for the first time. Yeah, gets on draft kings. We've got to send him home.

Can't handle it. And he's just not ready. and I think some people are not ready for the responsibility of gambling with their money. Now, I don't think that we should, I don't think that we should be out, I love gambling. I think it's awesome and I think if you're responsible, it can be great and a lot of fun. But people have to handle, people have to handle their situations. And that's like, that's what it's going to come down to now. And that's the scary part because people are all fucked up and people all want money and people all want, you know, like,

people are willing to take risks like you just can't control people so there's always going to be these situations athletes are just the same where athletes bite off more than they can chew or you know you're you're going to hear about a fix every now and again it's just the new reality and the only way to keep college athletes from doing this is that they they're all paid and that and that's the that's the problem i think like you know we're talking about the MLB we're talking about some pro sports but i look at college as the biggest that's the biggest threat you got to give that money what in the van the vandy quarterback just came out and said he was approached. I don't believe that unless he winds up.

I don't either, buddy. Unless he winds up in a ditch, I don't believe him. It was said. I'm just saying that it was put out there. So I'm not necessarily believing that either. But, you know, Pueg also, there's other. I mean, this goes to the cartel, man. Those guys are owning these guys and letting them go play and saying,

hey, you got to pay us back. Yeah. So there's other things going on there. Gambling is so prevalent now, which is fine. Let the guys do what they want to do. Just don't gamble on your sport. Just don't gamble on your sport. You could do, like in Vegas with the Super Bowl,

you can't be in a casino, you can't be here. Just let them do what they want, but just don't gamble on your own sport. And I think you're all right. Which, again, goes to show you, you can track draft kings, you can track, you know, all these MGM, you can track whatever,

but you're not going to be able to track people who are betting with offshore books or with illegal bookies. And so, like, there's just, that's one thing you're going to have to take a leap, a faith on the feds are going to get more involved in this sort of thing because it's a threat to legalize gambling and the faith in the institution that legalized gambling depends on which is sports so it's going to be interesting over the next five seven years how this thing goes i mean like you guys

did you guys read the jaggs article yes so this article from katy strong and the athletic is about omit patel you probably heard about this as the guy who stole 22 million from the jaguars he was working for the jaggs the article's called feeding the demon And my favorite part of the article, of course, this guy's getting ready to be sentenced for massive theft, is when they say Patel's attorney asked for probation, citing his client's gambling addiction and subsequent recovery efforts as reasons for leniency. Like, he's in the middle of a recovery here. We can't send this guy to jail. Four years, $22 million of fraudulent charges on the club credit card when covering his tracks by sending falsified files to the team's accounting department.

would that work making yeah that part wasn't made it exactly clear but hey hey guys we're I'm curious how he'd scoreboard yeah it costs 12 million and it only cost six right did it's just so brazen like this is what what what you know addiction does to people whether it's gambling or alcohol or whatever and it said when he was at his the lowest of the low he would forget to brush his teeth and then he would sell his personal items donate his take out payday loans or I mean I've been work doing cell phone repairs I've been down bad on some Romanian tennis from time to time he was on the Turkish volume ever I've never forgotten to brush my teeth no no no I'm still wiping my ass I think this this guy this guy's trying to make

him seem him seem like you know somebody who didn't have agency but he had enough agency to buy vehicles condos designer watches he was flying private he bought a watch for a hundred thousand dollars and this is the exact kind of crypto bro whose eyes are too big for their stomach like you know it's like i everybody's got to get rich and i think that's a plague in america is like everybody wants to get rich quick and this guy sees gambling as an opportunity and the victim here is the jacksonville jaguars he's facing 84 months i think he was sentenced to 72 yeah 72 okay he supposedly experienced the rush of gambling for the first time on a cruise trip to the Bahamas this summer before he left college. I don't think kids can handle the dopamine rush of gambling.

I don't think college kids can handle it. Like I understand that when you're 18, you can go to war. You should be able to gamble all this stuff. Like you're an adult in the United States. But if you'd have given me a draft Kings app when I was in college, I would have lost my mind. Yeah. Now there's a lot more to lose. Like, you know, I could go broke. Like I'm smarter. I have less testosterone. I'm just less like, although my T levels were pretty high. I got my blood work done a couple weeks ago. Oh, congrats, man. man, I appreciate it. That's huge.

He said, the devil inside me is like, let me just deposit 25K from the card. I'll turn it into 50. I'll put the 25K back. He was betting on the Jaguars against the Chief. That was my favorite one, an $18,000 six-way parley. With five MMA bets that hit. That all hit. The Jags didn't hit.

And then to think, man, I was on the other side of this bet. He bet the Jags against the Titans late last year. It was like his last gasp. But they lost. By the way, Kyle, he might have been your classmate at FSU. Yeah, FSU 2010. So I missed him. You missed him.

But again, like this gambling stuff is just going to, you're going to hear more and more stories. And I don't know how you get a handle on it. I like, it's just like the NIL thing. It's just like the transfer portal thing. Like in sports, usually we know, you know, how the next five to seven years are going to lay out. And like, we're getting hit in the sporting world with multiple big changes like

the transfer portal, like NIL. This guy worked at Deloitte. Imagine the guy who didn't get caught, Chris. Imagine the people that are in charge of, so like Deloitte's one of the big three, I feel like in the finance world. If there are people at Deloitte, like Mr. Patel, that are doing this without being caught.

Isn't Deloitte a consulting firm? It is, yeah. Imagine what's happening with your dough. Yeah. Easily my favorite line in the article. This guy. It could be on the Jaguars. This guy bristled at the suggestion

that he was a neophyte and historically bad gambler as one report. He was like, I'm not bad at this. I'm just losing a lot. Which is a telltale sign that you're addicted to gambling. Yeah, it's $22 million, but a big win is right around the corner. You guys taught me when I was down. It's not a bad gambler. I think we should speak to the young gamblers coming up.

Yeah. Okay. I think there's a couple things you need to remember. One, there's a reason there's all those lights in Vegas. Yeah. All right. Don't think you're going to win when you go. And the flowers.

They replace the flowers every night at the win. And the books give you like extra money when you spend money. And yeah. I'm trying to teach life lessons here. They were giving him extra money. They were giving him extra money to bet. Number two, don't bet money you don't have. Yep.

Number one rule. Yep. That's it. Number three. If you are on the fence about something, give yourself advice you would give to your best friend. Okay. Don't gamble drunk.

Don't gamble high. If you're about to bet Stay away from the teasers unless you're me. No teasers. Bet the unders. Unders always Would I advise my friend to make this bet? Do you think the book has any responsibility?

Like this person is losing tens of millions of dollars. They're continuing to give him rewards and benefits to try to get him to keep playing. Like is that predatory? I don't know. Is there is there a corollary in America? Yeah. Philip Morris was like, hold on there, smokers.

Yeah. Yeah. Philip Morris never did that. That's an interesting. Well, I don't know where I don't know. I don't know how I feel about that. Because when I lose, I like it when they give me a free bet. Like, I'm going to take that.

I think maybe you should have to show proof of funds to gamble, you know, and then based on that, you know, there's a responsible gambling act where, you know, possibly like, hey, if you, if you show your assets and, you know, like the state of Louisiana passed a law that allows them to garnish a Fandulul earnings or Draft King earnings. Child support. I saw a guy just got... I'm fine with that. A guy just got mad that he got caught using his child support money on draft king. Yeah, and he won a parlay, and it got doc.

I think you're talking about two different things, though, Matt. Like, you're talking about, okay, you have to put the money up front to put a play in legally. Yes. Now, if you're talking about, you know, the corner book, that's a little different. You're providing a service. No one's putting a gun to your head to make this play. So another thing is a lot of times now you're chasing this guy because it's It's all, you know, it's based on credit.

Yeah. Yeah, there's a moral standard. Draft Kings can't break your knees. You know what I mean? That shit don't happen anymore. No, I know, but there's no deterrent there. And, you know, you think about a prototypical bookie, at least the responsibility you have what the bookie is,

unless you're Otani, you're probably delivering cash. So you physically have to have the money. And if you don't deliver it, you might end up, you know, sleeping with the fishes in traditional. It's more about. killing your reputation and you're not going to get action anywhere else. But at draft kings, you know, they're not, you know, like it's, it's funny money. It's electronic money.

It's, you know, you don't have to show your net worth. You don't have to show up with cash. Like, there's no, there's no fear of, of anything beyond, like, losing your money, which if you don't deliver to the book, like, there are probably still some bookies that. Yeah. Honor among thieves. Yeah. Okay.

Let's talk about the NFL and more rule breaking. Kirk Cousins. Okay. in the tampering period. You talk about the reason that the NFL does so well, not only the product on the field, but also they have the calendar strategically on lock. And part of it is they open the floodgates the exact same time for everybody. And they know that, hey, it's been a little bit of time since the Super Bowl. We had, you know, the combine legal tampering period starts right now. And they and they don't want, yeah, and that's the curious part of it is a lot of deals are done right away.

So you have to figure like some of these deals are getting done in earnest before the legal tampering period opens. And the NFL is probably okay with that. But this is an entertainment value decision for them, setting a date on the calendar and saying like, guys, if you got all your friends out to start a race and somebody kept jumping the gun, you'd be like, hey, motherfucker all at the same time. And I think that's what the NFL wants out of this thing. Like they know the cap even before the cap. They know where the direct, because I wondered, you know, is the legal tampering period about protecting players from negotiating before they know the cap and they know their value and that sort of thing?

I don't think it's necessarily that. I think what it is is if you're an agent and you go to the combine, or you don't go to the combine rather, and you don't have time to sit in a room and figure out the value, the market value of the player you're representing, you're kind of flying blind. I think the combine is by nature, It's kind of like a black market, right?

Where teams are in there and agents are in there, and they are tampering. They are talking. If you bug the combine, it would make you blush. Like, there's a lot going on that I don't think is being reported upon. And then when the floodgates open, all this happens. So what happened is Kirk Cousins up there at his first press conference down in Atlanta threw a pick six, his first shot.

You know, he's like, when I talked to the Falcons yesterday, and it's day one of the legal tampering period, everybody's like yeah now if i were kirk cousins and and this is what i would do because everybody knows it's a whirlwind right it's always a whirlwind how many times you heard that i would go with the whirlwind defense i'd be like man i don't know what day it was it was 1215 this morning and i thought it was yesterday you know and i think that probably work unless they bugged his phones and then he's he's texting with atlanta's trainers here's the one thing about kirk that i think's unique and injured players I almost think there should be a period that opens up earlier for injured players.

Like somebody coming off in Achilles, when you join a new team, that rehab process might be different than the team you just came from. And I know Minnesota has a great athletic training staff. I know some of the guys up there, they're probably doing a great job, but Atlanta's probably doing something a little different. So if you're going to be spending the next six months of the calendar rehabbing, like you should be able to get a head start with your new team. I like that.

So if you're hurt, I think the legal tampering period should open earlier. So I understand that in this situation, injured reserve hurt. Yeah, it's not as clandestine as like, you know, Tom Brady on a yacht. That's what docked Miami a pick. You know, it's not as bad as the Macklin tampering, which docked Kansas City multiple picks that were fines.

It's not as bad as John Gannon getting tampered with when he's under contract with the Eagles and getting ready for the Super Bowl. So I think we might see a slap on the wrist, but, you know, it does lend itself to an interesting conversation about the reason for the legal tampering period and then what the NFL is actually going to do about it. And they're kind of stepping into the MBA's field. Like, NBA has illegal tampering happen every single year.

Like, the Knicks just got fine for it for Jalen Brunson. And they know, and there's no real, like, solution. OxyMoron, legal tampering. Yeah. Yeah. No, legal tampering. They need to change the name of the period anyways. But an interesting part of this.

They should call it the percolation period because things are happening. It just things are percolate. And PFT pro football talk, the real pro football talk, Mike Floreo said that, you know, he talked to an executive who said this is like awful and they should be docked picks. And like the Vikings could be, you know, the Vikings could be owed picks in this situation. Like if you go by the letter of law, there is a scenario where, and it happened with the Cardinals and the Eagles where they swapped picks

and there were picks exchanged as a result of the tampering. The reason that could be really big is the Vikings have quietly, this trade fell under the radar. The Vikings traded with Houston and accrued some capital that they can 23rd pick this. They can throw into a deal to move up for a quarterback. Like if they were swapped rushers. If they were able to accrue another pick out of this thing, it only helps them more. And so like the Vikings, that tells you that they're probably going to try to move up and grab somebody in the wake of that trade, which is bad for my guy Sam Darnold. But good for the Vikings, because the Vikings, I think, are an extremely well-coached team,

and they're talented. And so, you know, they're in a division that... Howard calls him the Tall McVeigh. He is the Tall McVeigh. I think he's going to have that kind. I thought it's a funny way to put it. You know, I think the Vikings could be angling to make a big move. So let's talk quarterbacks.

Let's start with the Caleb Williams Pro Day. Love it. What did you guys see? You know, it's a lot of the stuff coming out this past week, the important stuff to me is the stuff that is not on the football field. I remember when his backup quarterback came in, played in the Holiday Bowl, he had, you know, six touchdowns, five touchdowns. That was incredible.

Broke the single game record, and people said, is it the Lincoln Riley offense or is it Caleb Williams? What's the deal there? I remember the team was saying, we're a team now, you know what I'm saying? And from the outside looking in, a lot of people, it left a bad taste in their mouths about this guy, Caleb Williams, you know. Oh, there was a crying, which is he not playing. is he a cry baby? Why does he pant his nails? And why is this backup quarterback breaking your records game one in the biggest game of the year? And what I read this week was that Caleb understood that when he was gone, it would leave a void in the free agency market,

the NIL, what is the transfer portal market? And every quarterback in America wants to play in Lincoln Riley's offense. So he said, I'm not playing you're playing. dominate and then it's your spot next year again. And that's what happened. Yeah. Allegedly. My friend stole from me. So in my opinion, Caleb Williams did him a solid. It speaks volumes about his character.

I love to see Keenan Allen in team issued gear at the Bears. Daping him up. At the USC Pro Day. Obviously, Keenan lives in the Southern California area still has for a long time. To go there and be standing there like a scout essentially and be like, What's up? And Caleb sees him. That daft, that's the first of many daffs between those two players.

Possibly. Potentially. Potentially. And it was exciting. And I saw him throw left-handed. I saw him throw absolute long-shot bombs. It's exciting. Caleb Williams is the guy, in my opinion.

You threw the ball, 65 yards. I can't wait to watch him play on my Madden team. That's going to be great. Because, you know, the passing game is the meta in the game. And if you've got a quarterback like Caleb Williams, you can make every throw on the road. On time. Going left, going right.

If you're controlling them, you can throw it on time. Yeah, and the pocket poise is something that I'm excited about from him with this Bears' offense. People think the Chicago is where quarterbacks go to die. I think this is the guy that disproves that theory. So what I thought was interesting about it, it's a campaign to show that he can throw on time, right? Like the pro day, as if throwing on time at a pro day tells me anything.

Now, I'm not saying he's not going to be great. I've been, like, two years ago, I thought he was the second coming of Jesus Christ, but in the last year I kind of came back down to earth a little bit. I'm a little bit more like, hey, pump your brakes. One of the reasons is the clock, you know, like in college, he was not asked to play within a timing structured offense. On rookie mode timing. Yeah, and so like people want to see, can he get the ball out of his hands quickly?

He's got Brock Purdy's coach, which I think is an interesting decision. Now, I'm not in that world of knowing who each quarterback guru is, but if there's one thing I think Brock does does well, most of the time and when he doesn't, he actually does a good job of extending plays is, you know, he understands the timing of an offense. And I think, you know, like if he's going with the Brock Purdy coach,

that says a lot about what they're admitting is a deficiency or something that they want people to think that he's going to be better at. They say lots of timing throws from the pocket during that pro day. Daniel Jeremiah called it a salad pro day, which is basically like it's just a like a little appetized.

so there wasn't much that you could really glean from it. Do you remember Zach Wilson's pro day? So all I'm saying is these pro days, these workouts at the combine where they throw the ball on air, I remember watching Justin Herbert at the combine, sailing passes, missing guys, left and right. And, you know, I just don't think there's a lot to glean from a pro day. You know, he looks pretty throwing a ball, no question. The deep ball, 65 yards, great. But we're not going to know until he gets into a uniform.

Do you think players stand to gain from not participating in the pro day? Depending on who you are. Marvin Harrison Jr., you know, he says I'm not working out at the pro day. When I did my pro day, I didn't let the teams work me out. I let Al Groh work me out because I knew there was more to lose if somebody, you know, some de-line coach is trying to prove something. It was like you get to be with that staff that could potentially draft you. I remember vividly I was working with Ryan Klan.

and a few of the guys at Oregon, and the Bears were there. And like you said, it's either you work out with your guy or you work out with them. And I remember I started with our guys, and then they kind of took over. I looked at it as an opportunity as a player. Like if Caleb, if, you know,

if the Bears coaches wanted to go out and run some drills, I would advise a young player to say yes. But if they're going to take them anyways, it doesn't matter. Like for you, you were slotted as bottom of the first round guy. Well, yeah, my position. And maybe that helped you. jump some spots. You're right. And so like it just depends on who you are. And how much leverage you have. Yeah. You know what I mean? And so I get why somebody might not want to work out, but I would say

like, hey, the pro day, it's hard to know when it comes to looking at a quarterback throwing on air. Even if it's not for the team that's going to draft you, you know that there's going to be cameras on you. And especially in today's age, you're going to be on ESPN, like show off a little bit. Yeah, no question. There's a story for Carson Palmer's Pro Day where I don't, don't think a couple of scouts ever heard this, but he said, hey, you want nose up or nose down? And they're like, what do you talk about? And he said, I could throw the ball flat or I'll throw the nose coming down and they were like, whoa. Okay. And he did it and it was pretty. And he could, and he could throw. Yeah. He was a hell of a quarterback. He goes, you want a catchable or you want

me throwing a missile? And it was like, wow. Yeah, this guy's giving it to us how, however you want it. And like, in a situation like that, you can come away impressed. But, you know, you've got the Caleb Williams Pro Day. You have the Justin Fields News, which we, haven't really talked about. And Kev made a great point. They really, you know, the Friday news dump, they slipped that in on like St. Patrick's Day weekend in Chicago. They're like, get everybody as drunk as possible.

They could have done it at any point, you know. People went for happy beers to sad beer. Yeah. Or happy beers, depends on who you are. You know, because I think that city's pretty divided, Kyle. We can all agree on the fact that Justin Fields gets an opportunity to have a rebirth in Pittsburgh. And if you're a Fields fan and a. Bears fan. You'll celebrate it when, if and when he does become the starter. That's if Caleb's good.

Yeah, I mean, we're assuming that the pick that they go with at one will be the answer in quarterback. We are assuming. But we're talking about Justin Field. So much. So it's like, you know, if Caleb does well and Justin takes over in place, well, we're going to have celebrations in both cities. Pittsburgh's going to hit the lottery and the Chicago fans will say we did right by our guy. Or you could have, or you could have it be a, you know, a zero, I don't know if there's a zero-sum game for both of them. Or, yeah, Russell's the starter forever and Caleb's okay. Or they're both, it doesn't work out. Yeah.

You know, and so I think there's a whole host of, I think everybody thinks they're going to be right or wrong in this thing. What does working out look like for Caleb Williams in his first year? What's the Mendoza? Well, it's not even about his first year, but you better be in the playoffs and making deep runs on his working contract because what you say by making this trade is that this guy is going to put us on a trajectory, not unlike, you know, a C.J. Stroud deal,

where C.J. Stroud, a year-endos contract, you're going to talk about Houston a second and everything they've done. He's an anomaly. But that's what you're saying Caleb should be. Well, that's what's successful. It's somewhere between where Fields had you, which was, man, we're pretty close to making the playoffs.

And the C.J. Stroud thing, which is we could give Patrick Mahomes a run for his money on the road or at the NRG Stadium. So, I mean, that's a big gap to put. But I will say, the way people who are pro making the trade and sending Fields away and drafting Williams, they are doing it because they think this guy is Patrick Holmes. So don't move the goalposts if he's not. I think that this guy gives you the best opportunity on third downs.

He gives you the best option. So you're excited. I'm excited because I think we have a quarterback now, we have the opportunity to get a quarterback on the roster, who can make those third and manageable into pretty routine downs. And you know as an O-Lyman, it's going to be a quick snap, throw your hands and the balls out, and it's to the right guy. And with Keenan Allen,

the short area quickness, his route running ability. Even later on in life and football life, he's able to get open. And if they run zone, he can find the soft spot. And they could draft another receiver. He's got that Kelsey to his game, which I love. DJ Moore is there. Those two are enough. If you want to get another guy, go with a dunzae at nine.

And here's what I feel for Justin Fields, though. And you've got so many weapons. I feel for Justin Fields, though, because that was not the experiment that he was put into. So the outcome of his experiment is going to be judged through a different lens. And, you know, the circumstances were very different. He built the best defense in football. Vic Fangio inherited it. And people celebrated Vic Fangio.

And he went on trajectory as a coach. But John Fox built that defense. Nobody gives him that credit. But it's not even about Fields building anything. It's about when Fields comes in. What's the house look like? The house was shot when Fields came in. The mockup of what I saw the other day.

No, it's the NFL. It's not fair. And I'm just saying when people want to like Monday morning quarterback this thing, just realized that if, if Justin Fields had a Roma Dunesay or, you know, Keenan Allen and DJ Moore from his rookie year, a stable of three backs, a top 10 defense, we're probably having a different conversation.

O line is a match. You know, I think that's one of the questions I have in Pittsburgh, because, like, everybody on the service is really excited about Justin Fields being up there, but their wide receiver room is not great right now. They got rid of Deontay Johnson, you got Pickens, and then, so, you know, I think it can block his ass off and Justin can run his ass off. So you add another blocker into the equation. But is that offense any more talented than the offense he just came from?

Well, is he going to be playing? And that's the question. And if you're Pittsburgh, do you want to play him early? You don't because there is a universe where you could not get Doc to a compensatory pick and still use him down the back half of the season. Like if you give this guy a reset and you go eight and a half games or whatever it is to hit that 49% mark and nothing about it. above it, like there's a universe where you stick the landing on the pick, although I don't think

the pick is impactful enough that if week six Russell's not playing well, you're going to wait to put Justin in. I think you put Justin in as soon as Russell's not playing well. And Russ has not dealt with a situation like this. I think there's, I think what's interesting about Russ, and I learned this late in my career as a veteran, like when I was young, I was a high draft pick. Then I was like, you know, top five free agent in my position. So at that point, I'm feeling like, you know, this is what the NFL's like. Like I have clout, I have, you know, people don't fuck me over.

Oh, gee. Now, Russ is getting to see what the other half lives like. And I got to see that late in my career as a position player where all of a sudden you're like, man, that's not fair. You know, you're used to fair. Russell got dicked down in Denver and then, yeah. And then ended up, you know, thinking, oh, I've escaped. And somebody wants me.

He cuts his hair. He puts on a black sport coat. He's, you know, we're, seeing the Zoolander memes of him in the coal mine. And you're thinking this is going to start the Russell Wilson and Pittsburgh chapter. And then he finds out like a couple days later that they've had, they've had something in their back pocket. And maybe it's Arthur Smith getting to Pittsburgh and convincing them that this guy

is going to be able to run his offense because last year, all we talked about was Arthur Smith and the Falcons making a move for Justin Fields. And maybe they would have made that move had Arthur still been there. So Russell Wilson seeing how the other half lives, he's not only feeling the unfairness of the NFL, but he's also feeling the pressure because he's never had a guy backing him up like this. The minute he doesn't play well,

that stadium, that city is going to turn on him. He posted the same workout video that he did two years ago when he got signed in Denver. He probably changed it up. Different video, same set up. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But he was down in Florida ripping the ball. Pretty stoked.

Quinn Miner's made fun of him on Twitter. Yeah, he should have. He posted the same thing when you came to do. Let me ask you this. When it just comes to the trade, Fields to the Steelers and what the Bears got in return, why not keep them? That's, and what is, that to me is a move when it, that's a, that's a psychological decision where you're like, all right, getting a six for Justin Fields is not a great hall. But we don't, is this is, is, is, is, is getting another mid round pick at the middle of the season next year. worth stunting possibly Caleb's development because he's worried about a guy behind him. People can say that's not fair, you know, but you're investing a ton in this guy.

I kind of, I kind of understand the thought process of, hey, I don't want him to feel pressed. And you want a veteran mentor as well. Like we talked about it last year with Zach Wilson not being an ideal backup. I've also heard and read that the bear's brass wants a reputation for doing right by guys. and that's giving Justin a fresh start, even if it's behind another guy. I don't know if I believe that report 100%. I think that that report also exists in context.

I don't think there were a lot of teams interested in the market and what they, but his agent comes out and say there were other teams that were interested, yada, yada, yada. There might have been a smaller pool of teams that were interested just because most of these teams that would be interested are looking to the draft. And they're saying, like, listen,

I'm going to move up in the top five or I'm sitting firmly in the top five and I'll roll the dice on a devil I don't know. Yep. And do you remember where this started was Mel Kiper saying the Bears may be able to get a first rounder for Justin Fields maybe number eight from Atlanta? Yep.

And so when you start with that framework and then you end up getting a six, it's sort of like the $100 bet that you cash out for $1.82 when the team's down seven and the final minute, it's just like, fuck. Yep. Let me get something. You don't want to get past a certain point.

point in the off season and you say, hey, we just want to rid ourselves of this conversation and also free Caleb up to be in here unencumbered and not feeling the pressure of another guy on top of the city pressure and the franchise pressure and the number one pick pressure. And most Super Bowls in the last decade have featured a quarterback on a rookie deal. So we're talking about the quarterbacks here. I mean, obviously that was a big story last week. We've kind of moved past it. There's been a lot of free agency movement even in the second week.

You know, like the first week is a big rush. go back to talking about like like the NFL and this the stories of free agency and the way that they you know it's like very beneficial to them to have them all come out at once i think the dallas thing for instance me and nolan were talking about this dac you don't think they've got dallas didn't doing dick they know they have to extend dac right or you know like the ship sailed on bringing him russlewilson for a million dollars and pissing him off and waving no trade clause that was my theory that could have worked but you don't think they already have a handshake deal done. You don't think they already have their deal done. There is a possibility that Jerry's like, yeah, Roger, I'll drop this news when you really need it.

You know, like, I think that's the way it works sometimes. And so, you know, I think as we frame all this free agency action, the Calvin Ridley deal. Like, you know, maybe that was done before free agency started. One deal that probably wasn't done before free agency started was the Mike Williams deal. That popped up this week. The House of Cards up there. Here's the... Tyron, got Tyrone. Here's the... You got Tyrone, you got Morgan Moses. Here's what I'll say.

For a team that, and I look this up, last year, offense had the second most adjusted games lost to injury. Okay? 27th as a team. They bring in Tyron Smith, who's often injured, but plays at a high level when he's not. Yep. Bring him Morgan Moses off a peck,

and you bring him Mike Williams, who's, like, the first thing you think of with Mike Williams, besides 50-50 ball and great talent is injury. And so you're bringing Mike Williams to the MetLife turf. You're filling in. And I think they're better. If all these guys are healthy, the offense got better. They're a much better team if they're healthy.

But what you have to realize is like Joe Douglas and Robert Sala are in burn the ships mode. But what I think is cool about what they're doing is they're burning some of the ships. Burning the ships would entail trading away draft capital for a one-year run. Like it would mean like setting the franchise back. The reason these are okay, I think, is because if these guys get hurt, you're not going to be hurting as a result of these moves in four years. Long term, yeah. Joe Douglas and Robert won't be there. And, you know, they have to take these gambles.

If you have a healthy Mike Williams next to Garrett Wilson, Gary Wilson got doubled as much as anybody in the league. Without having a look, I would imagine, just judging by the people around him and the threats outside of him in the passing game, this is going to help him a lot. I also think the one thing that's interesting is, I'd like to go back and look at Chargers tape. I bet you Mike Williams is a pretty good back shoulder fade catcher. He's a good 50-50 ball guy. But when you think about Aaron Rogers, like who's that big guy that you can throw that back shoulder fade to? And I think Mike Williams would work really well in this offense if he is healthy,

but I have concerns about the injuries. It is curious for a team with injuries like that last year that they go out and risk it on guys with injury history. Yeah. Ken law? Yeah. Ken law too? New York Jets.

Yeah. Yeah. Nice little law season for them. It's a good off season if everything breaks right. Tyra Taylor. We talked about how important backups are. And why not take risks? Because if you look around the AFCs,

you're not going to be there in a year if things don't go well anyways, but Buffalo has hit the restart button. They lost six starters the first couple days. You know, Miami is still feeling the effects of that spending spree from a couple years ago. And, you know, they've got to consider Tua now. Can I tell you something I like?

And you can tell me if I know ball or not? DeNeil Hunter, DeNico, to Houston. DJ Reader to Detroit. Yes. Love that. Cam Curled L.A. Rams. Love that.

There were more expensive options, and he's been a very good player. And also bringing back the guy from Jacksonville, Williams. Yeah. Uche stays in New England. Cheap, $3 million. The best thing that happened in New England

last year was Judon getting hurt, and Uche having to do it all himself and not being able to drive up his value. Yep, yep, yep. Tyler Beatish, Washington, commander now. commanders did some good thing. I'll say this.

I was looking at the kid from Louvre, Frankie Louvue, and I was thinking, that would be a good signing for Philly. They end up signing Devin White. I think the Devin White signing is interesting because if he can still run like he has for most of his career,

like you think about the best teams in the NFL, they're sideline to sideline. You want to be at San Francisco, you got to string out stretch plays, you've got to be able to run with guys in the middle of field. Like that speed is an intentional decision by Philly. It's like watching Fred Warner play against you and Madden.

Yeah, exactly. But you've never beat me with the Niners. Cleveland keeps Big Z and brings in Jamis. That's a fun little offseason. The interesting thing about Cleveland, bringing in James, and this is another psychology move,

the fact that they let Joe Flackle walk it's an admission that Deshawn Watson can't handle Joe Flacko in the building, nor do they think that the team can handle Joe Flacco in the building. That's crazy. and he's taking peanuts. He's in Indy, right?

Yeah, he's taking Peanuts. So, I mean, like, good for Indy, good for Anthony Richardson. You saw the way... I think Anthony Richardson will love having a guy like Flacko. Man, you saw the way Flacko was working with Deshaun Watson. Like, he was like his big brother. He's going to be great for those guys, but the fact that the Browns let him walk. You mentioned the Texans.

Chris and I talked about it. That's the winner. They have crushed it. They've upgraded everywhere. They lose Singletary. They bring in a 27-year-old mix, and they lose Grinard, who I think was great this year. They bring in a bona fide blue chip guy. in Hunter. They lose Rankins. They bring in Autry, who's one of my favorite interior and edge guys

in the league because he can play both. So they kind of got faster in some spots. And Al Shaire, who they got from the Titans, I think is going to pay dividends for them because Ryan's had him in San Francisco. And when you think about a guy that can run his defense, a fast backer, you know, like, I don't know, he's not Fred Warner, but to have a guy with that kind of speed in the middle the field that can play the different kind of coverages that you're going to play. And all that's demanded of a linebacker in his scheme, that's big. They got faster in a lot of spots. Tommy Townsend, Houston Texan.

Tommy Townsend. We love Tommy Townsend. They're not going to punt much. Sense of urgency in Texas with, I mean, when you got a quarterback like that, you got to go. You go. And this is the quickest, this is perfect for them. This is the way we talk about what I expect from the Caleb Williams deal or the Caleb Williams pick.

If it works out to me, it's, hey, in the second year, we're able to say, hey, we were pretty good last year, and now we're going all in. And that's what they're doing. And I think, and Kyle and I said this, Kyle was like, everybody's going to want to play with Houston and Madden next year. They, you know. Well, shit, they want to play with them now, but they're making sanctions against us. Yeah, exactly. So good with them. But I think the real, the thing is this, if you're building your team in the off season, you're building it to beat the Kansas Chiefs. Yep. Whether you're in the ASC or the NSC, you've got to see these motherfuckers of the mountaintop eventually until Mahomes retire. So how are you going to best,

equip your tool belt to frustrate Patrick Mahomes. You go get the best rusher you can. That's DeNeil Hunter. You compliment it with the Autry signing. And you let that offense, who can already go tip for tat with anybody in the National Football League, continue to mature and develop. And they haven't really touched the offense outside of, you know, the mixing signing. Don't touch it.

You know, what they have done is good for Tank Dellen for Deco Collins. They haven't brought in an expensive wide receiver that they're going to have to pay in a couple years. But what they will do is they will draft a wide receiver because this is a deep class. And if they have one more weapon, who, they got Dalton Schultz, they got,

it's going to be. What if I told you they added a number three overall pick at the cornerback position? Oh. Now, third team in three years, but Jeff Okuda won your deal.

Okuda. Why not? Yeah, you know, why not? I mean, like, listen, I think all these signs, I trust Nick Casario, I trust that they know exactly where they are.

They've hit everything in stride so far. They're just going to keep, they're going to keep moving forward. And I think, They're America's team. When you look at the AFC next year, they are as favorite in my mind as anybody to challenge Kansas City. And an upgrade, slight, slight upgrade in Unis. Yes, what did you think?

Slight upgrade. Okay. For example, the Ravens, they got Derek Henry. Yep. And everybody wants to tweet how excited they are, and we all see the Derek Henry highlights. But how does that help you beat the Chiefs? But that quarterback in Houston? How does that help you beat the Chiefs, bro?

That quarterback in Houston, buddy, he's already there. and I love Lamar and Lamar is an MVP, but I would take C.J. Stroud over Lamar. 100%. And so that is why that is why when you look at Baltimore and adding a piece, like, do they change?

Yeah, they have more leads than anybody in the league last year. They needed a big power back. You also want Derek Henry healthy late in the year, so to me they're still going to add another back. Keaton Mitchell's going to be hurt for much of the year. Like, to me, the Houston moves are like, not checkmate moves,

but there moves that you know you're angry to get the king or the queen or however the fuck you play serious moves you know they're a move away you know where the where the ravens check not checkmate the ravens added somebody they also lost a lot of players yeah and they they looked like the same old playoff and the chiefs if it's if if it's not the texans in my opinion it's the chiefs that are flat out winners in free agency the hollywood brown thing's great you retain the biggest yeah he drops the ball so the biggest winning rusher in like playoff history like yes jones jones uh the most clutch dominant rusher the sneed trade talks are kind of like uh fizzling out a bit and there's still time but they've freed up contracts

space with patrick yeah and they've allowed bret vich to do what he does and and that's continue to add to a really good team he doesn't want to fuck with the engine he wants to just you know that fix a side mirror that's the unique thing of having patrick mahomes on a deal like that they've been able to convert um you know, what a base salary to bonuses the last couple of years. And doing that last year allowed them to pick up Mike Edwards, who played a lot of downs for them, and Drew Tranquil, who played a lot of downs for them. So oftentimes when you're really good, people want to see you add big splash players, a la Hollywood Brown, even though it's not a huge splash. But what you're doing is you're making those incremental gains and fortifying your team. You know,

with role players and that sort of thing. So, yeah, I think his sense of urgency goes through the roof because he understands that his targets are going to go up with Patrick Mahomes, his opportunity to really win this thing. I mean, look, Lamar, and I heard it when I went to Kansas City for the first time, and I was asking, what's Patrick like, yeah, yeah, yeah, they're like, let me put you this way. Like, we won the Super Bowl the year that Lamar won the MVP previously, and he did it again this year, and I remember that's all that Patrick was thinking about was like, he's the MVP, you know, like, we got to win the Super Bowl. When a guy like Hollywood Brown goes, goes to Kansas City, he will feel the entirety of the locker room, not just say we have Patrick Mahomes,

but like we are the chiefs and our quarterback is Patrick Mahomes. We are going to win this. What's empowering? You're going to get the guy's best shot. Do I'm telling you, Hollywood Brown's going to have his best year ever next year? Yeah, well, hopefully. I hope so for. I might put a future in on that. Okay. You all are disrespecting Clayton Tune. By the way, the Alshare move, like Sport Track, when you look up Sport Track and they try to, you know, guess at these free agent contracts, like, sports.

track doesn't have a market projection. Researching linebacker price tags, we anticipate three years, $21 million. $7 million annual price tag would be $2 million above what the Titans paid. He got paid, bro. So I think this speaks volumes about how important you think Al-Shayr can be in Houston, and nobody would know it better than D'Amico. He had him in San Francisco. So the other moves that I think we should talk about,

how about the law firm in Cincinnati, Brown and Brown? The two tackles now. You've got Orlando Brown and you've got Trent Brown. And I think the Trent Brown move is great. They've quietly done some really good things. I think Adengino Stone was a great addition. The Rankins thing, you know I like Rankins. They're going to miss Reader, but they're not going to have Reader for much of the year next year because of his injuries, even if he were back.

So I think conversely, that's going to be exciting for Detroit when he comes back. Detroit, by the way, added a piece in Carlton Davis that I think is flying under the radar. The thing that's keeping them from being great is sometimes the quarterback, and the back end. And Carlton Davis is a guy not only who can play, but he's also won a Super Bowl and that kind of veteran experience, like DJ Reeder coming in, he's been in a Super Bowl, like he's made deep runs. Like, that's what that team needs too. There's no group that would benefit more from veteran leadership than the DB room in the NFL. No question. You need like a babysitter in there. And so, you know, like Malcolm Jenkins was a perfect

example when, you know, in Philly. Like I just thought he was such a key piece because he was like such an adult in the room. And to have a guy back there, it's such an important room that has experience and has played on great defenses. The thing I was going to say about Trent Brown is this. Why did Joe Burrow get hurt last year? Running for his life? He got hurt because of the blind side bull rush. He's a right-handed quarterback, left tackle Orlando Brown, who's a good player, and you play with him and everything. He got beat on a bull rush. His anchors a little bit for his size, like, can be a little bit questionable. Joe Burrow, he can escape just about anything but that rush, right? He can feel a nine-yard-edge

rush, and he's going to step up in the pocket. He can see stuff front side. He can handle middle pressure. But what he can't handle is a 370-pound man falling into his lap and hitting his hand or whatever it was. Like, remember I found that clip last year? That's how it happened. Trent Brown's best year he was a left tackle. So I would consider if I were the best, swapping spots and putting Orlando at right. I don't know if he can play right. But Trent's best year, he was a locked down left tackle. Look, that's my fly on the wall candidate, is when Frank Pollock, who I believe is the offensive line coach in Cincinnati, sits both those two big motherfuckers down and says, okay, who's playing right tackle, who's playing left tackle? Because I know

it's going to be a conversation. It's probably going to be a conversation. Both guys are hard to move off their spot. Here's a signing that I was a little bit confused. Kevin Byard to the Bears for two years, 15 mil he didn't look that good in Philly. I'm confused by that. Okay so we're on the same page there. I'm a little bit I have trepidation about Green Bay's offense with Josh Jacobs and and AJ Dylan because Aaron Jones gave him so much you know out of the back field in the passing game yeah and so I just wonder how that that shakes out back to hating the Packers I I loved appreciating the Packers for the last few years not being an active roster bear but there have been some aggregate accounts that have really said some nasty things to me

in response to some of my Caleb Williams media stuff. So I'm back on the FTP. Hating the Packers. Fuck the Packers. Well, Robert Hunt was a guard that you called out last week. It's like, man, that guy got paid. I said he won free agency. Yeah, he won free agency.

He is going to make a career out of protecting little people. I mean, he did it with Tua. Now he's going to protect another little guy who gets the ball out quick or should get the ball out quick if he knows what's good for him. I think that's the interesting thing. Like when you're a guard that gets paid, that much money and you were on an offense that they didn't ask the guy to drop back for four seconds like the ball was out quick right like they they that's a little bit curious to me but he can only

do what he can do and you know if that's the offense he's in I'm not going to dock him for that but he's going to go up to Carolina and deal with another guy gets paid all the other guards get paid after no question so I mean you reset the market you're doing everybody's solid the Calvin ridley signing I think is taking too much heat I really do I like Calvin Ridley and if you if you If you remember... Body's 25. Well, exactly. When you were coming out, he's 29,

and when he was coming off of that gambling suspension, fresh legs, everybody was like, man, this is a big deal. Like Jacksonville was cleaning up with this guy. A year later, he gets misused in Jacksonville, in my opinion, because he's a slot guy, and all they have was slot guys down there. And people are saying, and Trevor didn't play well this year.

Doug didn't have his best year. People are saying that this is like a perfect example of just a good player getting paid like a great player. Well, if you are Amy Adams, he's drunk, the owner of the Titans, and you put out a statement when the changing of the guard happens, and you reference directly great young players and an exciting young quarterback,

you believe in what love us. So I see these moves as we are trying to win, and sometimes you've got to overpay for people a little bit, especially if you're trying to, you know, fortify that quarterback position, You know, like him having D-Hop and now Calvin Ridley in the slot and Birx, and we'll see how that works out, but there's a lot of wide receivers in this draft. That's exciting. And so I think people have a short memory with Calvin Ridley.

I think Calvin Ridley can help these guys. And I think they believe in Will Levis. It reminds me of when Jacksonville, quote unquote, overpaid for Christian Kirk, ironically. What do you think about Tony Pollard, maybe the best number two back in the league, followed by a disappointing year as the lead back? Yeah, I'm not as high on Tony Pollard, but in their minds there's a reason that they signed him. And so, you know, this activity is not just activity for no reason. Like they think that they are loading the cupboard up for a run.

Taking on the feel of a fantasy football team a little bit, which probably does not work out more than not. But you got us around Levis Puy with people. Yes. And to your point, yeah, could have done a lot worse than those two guys. So listen, I, you know, there's a lot going on. Chase Young signed with the Saints. do you think he is? Chase Young?

Yeah. 25. He's 24. Yeah, he's still young. Very. As the name is, but, but, you know, like injuries, right? He's kind of getting into this clowny schedule where it's just going to be year-to-year deals and trades for people that need, you know, a defensive end.

Paying for potential. Paying for potential, but also they've seen the potential at work his rookie year. And I always said this, like his rookie year, I thought, like, pump your brakes a little bit. I thought he was overrated and then he was underrated. I still think he's a good player if he's healthy. He did not make a big splash in San Francisco. San Francisco saved three, four million dollars bringing in Floyd and letting him walk because he ends up making 13 down in New Orleans.

Boyd's a high energy player. And he's also a guy who can win on the edge with his length and that sort of thing. He's the spinner in the A gap. He can also pick the B gap. But like you said, he's a formidable guy on the edge. He's played in multiple defenses with real heady coordinators. He can do any number of things. He's smart.

And so Chase Young heads down in New Orleans. He signs this deal. He passes the physical. and then two days later he's getting his neck operated on. So I don't know what New Orleans is doing there. And I don't know how that stuff works exactly. But the last thing I'll bring up is Jerry Judy to Cleveland. Now, the reason I'm bringing this up, obviously you remember when Jerry Judy,

he had the star of David necklace and famously said, yeah, my name is Jew, Judy. And people call me Judy. So, you know, I figured I'm like a Jew. My last name, Judy. People sometimes call me short for a Jew, like one Jew. So I just got a Jewish star. I'm not Jewish though. He goes to Cleveland where the Jewish population is 100,000.

Okay? Now that doesn't seem like a lot, especially when you look at like New York City whose Jewish population is like 1.1 million. But there are 10 million people in the New York metropolitan area. There are only 300,000 people in Cleveland. Huh. Okay, I can't find a city that has more Jews per capita than Cleveland.

And I'm kind of wondering if my conspiracy theory is that he has read the Torah. And he's like actually... They went down in numbers when Mitch Schwartz got out of it. Yeah. But you see what I'm saying? Maybe there's something to this Jerry Judy thing. He's Jewish for sure.

I don't know. I didn't think Cleveland was a... Cleveland, not... Not Jewish... What do you think is the most Jewish city per capita in the United States? Skokie, Illinois. No, it's not. I'm telling you right now, Cleveland's...

Not to Jew, Jew's plain to you. Lakewood, New Jersey. Check it out. Lakewood, New Jersey. It's not a city, dude. I'm just looking at Jerry Judy going to Cleveland. I'm like, what's up with this? Cleveland's big time, especially the East suburbs.

Yeah. As is Lower Marion, Pennsylvania. Really? Yeah. See, I'm telling you, there's something to this. Check out Lakewood, New Jersey. There's something to Jimmy G. signing with the Rams, too.

Okay, Jimmy G. I played golf with three Orthodox Jews in Lakewood, New Jersey. Really? I showed up, and they were like, this is the group you're playing with. And I was like, it's up, boy. How were they? They were cool? The coolest motherfucker ever.

Yeah. All right. Good short game. Good short game. The Jews. Okay. Why aren't there more Jewish guys on the tour? They're on the Torah.

What is that? That's got, yeah, Kyle. All right. Unlike, Jimmy G. What are you going to say? Unlike Jews, Jerry Judy is disappointing, though. Okay.

To me. I mean, the Alabama pedigree. Skokie, Illinois, where I live in my first apartment, which is next door to the Holocaust Museum. And I would walk through the parking lot to my apartment and there would be people showing up at the Holocaust Museum. And they'd be like, oh, this guy's... Fuck you, man.

This guy's here for the skinhead reenacted. I'm like, hey, buddy, it just grows like this. Like, Jesus, it's very believable. No, but the Jimmy G. thing going to L.A., you think about this guy where he's been, San Francisco, L.A., Vegas. That's where they shoot all the prong. Okay, and he has a history of being out to get a bite to eat with a, with a prawn star.

I don't know about a star. A couple, page 28. She wasn't even a top 100 for eight. Page 28. Whoever he was out with that night. But I do think there's something too, Jimmy G. Like, what's the over under on porn star? She's going to smash in L.A.?

Like 15? I think he goes movie star, traditional. Okay. Movie star. Maybe somebody from Euphoria. He should be in movies, dude. He should be in the next top gun. He's so damn good.

good looking. He's a euphoria type. He's way better looking than Miles Teller. Really? Can Miles Teller fly a plane? Can Miles Teller fly a plane? Can Miles Teller fly a plane? Yeah. And he plays drums. Like 700 times better looking than Miles Teller. 700, bro.

You see Miles Teller's. And that's my boy. I've interviewed Miles Teller. I've seen both these guys up close. I've seen both these guys up close. Chris wants to bang Jimmy G. I don't want to bang Jimmy G. Leave that up to the porn stars. Okay. Another free agency move that I thought was interesting a little bit off the radar is Greg Olson taking a $7 million pay cut. Because that's what's happening by Tom Brady joining the Fox team.

So when you go from the number one to number two, in Greg Olson's case, you take a $700 or $7 million pay cut. That's for real? Are you under the impression that I was canceled? And then to add insult to injury. On top of that, like Brady's going to make 37 million a year. or something. What was Olson making? He was making 10.

We don't call games. We don't do alternate broadcast calls. Let's do it. I mean, there's no salary cap, though. There's no salary. They gave us $3.10. To keep them. Yeah, I don't know.

But I think Greg's great at his job. He's awesome. Guys, these mailbags just came in. I just want to get your rapid-fire reactions of these questions. Favorite NCAA tournament memory ever? Well, I mean, it's not in Virginia category. No, I'll give you Virginia. and it's not going to be the Natty. Nadi was amazing.

Natty was incredible. Natty gave me a chance to be on Sports Illustrated. The first time that I realized Julius Peppers played in, he was my teammate, and then I realized that he also played basketball, and I went on. Kind of a delayed. And I was like, holy fuck, Julius Peppers played in the final four. It was pretty good. That's a great moment.

I was like, how am I going to block him? The one shining moment, come on. They put you in one shining moment in practice. But it was, it wasn't the national. championship, which was awesome, sat next to Heath Miller, John Phillips, Tom Sandy, all the tight ends. And we watched Virginia beat Texas Tech. It was incredible. I beat Des Bryant. We bet, I don't think, Des didn't even go to Texas Tech, but he wanted action on the game. So I found him, and we bet a lot of money, won that bet. I pulled some streams, got you on the court after the

game. We got to pick up some confetti. We were wondering, but it was the Purdue game. The Purdue game for me. Purdue game was like when we beat Auburn, I kind of felt, like we got a little lucky, you know, with that foul call. And I knew that we were going to deal with a lot of people saying, like, you guys don't deserve it, yada, yada, yada, even though we won the Natty. But the Purdue game, Elite 8 was one of the best basketball games I've ever seen. And it was so up and down. And there was so much scoring. There were so many big shots hit. Like, if you get a chance to go back and watch that game, you might like Virginia basketball again. Like when we were that team, who couldn't like us? We didn't just play great defense. We

knocked down shots off of pick and rolls we we hit big threes we we played physical we didn't play tight and i was tight i was in the sports book in Vegas hammered and could not take it anymore five minutes ago in the game i had to go back to my room and i watched the final seconds of that game drinking airplane bottles in my wind suite i'll never forget amir patel i'm screaming i'm like screaming at the top of my lungs running around that i'm all alone but like that for me was my favorite NCAA memory along with the upsets like i can think of like you know the the george mason type you know upsets and i'm always a big fan of the upsets but when my team your team making went on that run like you could pick almost any of those games yeah call guy hit those three

free throws against auburn to get to the national championship game but one of the best think about this situation one of the best games i ever see i ever saw in person was perdu tennessee Purdue ends up, well, let me not blow it here. Same situation. Carson Edwards, they're down two to Tennessee, gets fouled shooting a three. He goes up to the line and misses the first. One second remaining. He's got three free throws, misses the first.

He's not going to, he can't win it now. Can you imagine that pressure? He knocks down the next two. Purdue goes on, score 17 in overtime to beat Tennessee. Purdue advances to the overall. elite eight against Virginia. Virginia then has the miracle shot from Mamadie Di Aquite descended.

The pass was incredible. Cisco. Cisco, yeah, he had the dyed hair. Okay, guys, we've got a Lee McNeil. We're going to talk a little football. He, of course, is one of the stoutest members of that Detroit defense. Glad I don't have to block him. He's a dog. An NC State guy,

so I'm sure he's going to be watching NC State in the 6-11 matchup here coming up soon. Listen, I like the I like the dude, the player, but in getting to know him a little bit through just DMing, I love the guy. Like, he's just a ball of energy. He was excited to be on the show.

When I DMed him, he's like, you're not really DMing me, are you? I was like, wait, you're really a fan of me, dude? I was like, I'm a huge fan of you. What that tells me is he really knows D-Line, because I'm not one of those guys that everybody knows. Like, he's been watching tape. He's an old ACC football guy. He's a subterranean warlock. Yeah, I like this guy.

So I cannot wait to interview with Lee McNeil. I hope you have a great weekend. I hope you win a lot of money. We will be back Monday. Makin, we got a guest. Yeah, I'll be preparing my Virginia defense for Dan Katz. Yeah, fucking Dan Kat. Oh, he's coming on.

We're Wisconsin with a title. Exactly. Got him. And better weather. And better weather. Hey, y'all, Green Light has official merch. Like this hat right here, like the one on my head, this dad hat. Love this hat. I'm not even a dad hat guy, but this thing fits great. This this hat right here fits great. We've got

Hoodies. We've got Teet by the way this hoodie's like super comfy. I mean it's like soft plush. It's not the type of hoodie that's going to get stiff with one wash and the shirts too because like I'm a big comfort guy. Okay, you got like this white shirt here you got the shirt with the logo the Abbey Road looking logo with Dr. Smoking, presumably a blunt, Kyle carrying Cowboy Reed, making driveling a basketball, which I've never seen him actually do, and me carrying a football. And then you've got the black shirt here too with the logo. So stickers, hit the link in the description in the video, below the video, actually,

and make sure to tag us on social media showing off your green light merch. It's quality, quality threads here, okay? Wouldn't do it any other way. All right, welcoming to the show. One of my favorite players to watch this year, Alene McNeil, Detroit Lion. They made a deep run. Came up just short, but great year from Aline McNeil,

and they just got better with DJ Reader, so I can't wait to watch that pair. Dude, how are you? Where are you right now? Tell the people where you are and what you're up to in the offseason. Yeah, I'm doing good. I'm back at home, so I'm down in the North Carolina.

So just out of training, get back to it. I was training out of school a little bit early. earlier. So I just been chilling and getting to it, trying to look back in it. Well, as soon as you popped on, I was like, you were like, what are you doing, man? I'm like, I'm watching some basketball. I'm like, you're not watching. He's like, I'm getting ready to watch NC State after we ran through you in the ACC tournament, dude. But that's not even that's not the worst of it for me. Did you see the playing game what we did

in the playing game? No. Oh, dude, we scored 14 points in the first half. So versus Colorado State. So like people are making fun of us. I wouldn't even be walking around talking about playing us close i would keep that 14 in the first half in the first half isn't it 15 minutes it's 20 bro it's even 20 minutes yeah it's even worse it's even worse it's a bad day all right so you're taking you're taking the wolf pack in the first round uh they're playing we just talked about this who are they playing a texas tech and and and they played five games in like five days you're taking them though in the first round yeah yeah i'm telling them for sure They're hot right now.

They got a hot hand. That's what I've heard. Okay. All right. Well, the other part two question about college basketball is we were just wrapping offline here about it. And you were like, dude, I got to be honest. Like, I pull for NC State, but I got presumably another college basketball team that I like.

Now, let me take a guess. I get two guesses, okay? I'll start with Duke. No, sir. No, no. Not in North Carolina. All right. Guess no.

Not in North Carolina. No. Oh, really throwing me for a loop. here. Very prestigious in basketball school. They're very well-known basketball. Kansas. Yeah.

Woo, Kansas fan. Kansas fan. It's kind of weird why I'm a Kansas fan, but I am a Kansas fan. Okay, well, tell me why. Well, I had a baseball coach. I think this was, this might have been eight or nine. It was with the federal area stars, but his nephew played for Kansas. Devonte Graham was his nephew.

And I used to watch Kansas all the time after he talked. told me that who dvante grun was and he was hooping at kansas that's when they were real nice and then i was just in kansas back so okay pretty good time to keep up with him andrew wiggins yeah yeah i was watching injure wiggins through there was a lot of guys came out of kansas no question they're pretty banged up this year but i mean yeah we're looking for that nc state run okay so the coolest thing i think that some people have caught on to with you but like they see you out there playing on sunday and you're a big dude and you're you're a beast in the middle but back in the day you had the ball in your hands. You were running back growing up. So what were the, what was the

measurables back when you were toting the rock? And whose game would you compare high school a Lee McNeil's game to? The measurables. I was still about the same height. I was like six one, six two or six two, but I was like two eighty five, two ninety two ninety two. Actually, that's what I weighed my senior year. I was two ninety two. But I mean, in high school it was just, I don't know, I was just super, I felt super athletic at the time. So it was just easy. It felt like I was playing Pop Warner again in high school.

I don't know who I would compare my tape to. I really wouldn't. I really wouldn't. I wouldn't. It just, I don't know. High school, it could have been just like where I was playing and where I was playing against or whatever. I felt like I was playing against some good competition.

But I was just going to be stupid. I wouldn't compare my high school tape. How many A's? How many A's? Do they do it by A's down to North Carolina? Is it like six? Yeah, classes? Yeah, so how big?

We were four AA. Okay, that's pretty big. It was a four double A. No slashes. Yeah, it wasn't the smallest school. Yeah. It wasn't a small school for sure. We played against a good competition.

Wake Forest was, Wake Forest is always the top team, toughest team we ever played. Yeah. That Dexter Lawrence came out of there. Bryce Love came out of there. Oh. Yeah, it was guys that came out of Wake Forge. And they can't keep anybody home.

I don't know how they, But they had opportunities to get in front of her. Yeah, no question. I did see you run with the ball at Scott Stadium on a pick six, if I'm not mistaken. Didn't you score against us? I did. Dude, we're not getting along already on this call.

Already on this call. First thing he does is talk shit about Virginia. He had a pick six against the who's. But hey, I want to start with that. We're talking about weight. I thought, you know, I didn't even know this. But this year, you like kind of did a body transformation, it seemed like. going into this year and you had a great year.

You did look great, but what was it that prompted that and what part of your game you think improved as a result? Well, what prompted that was, I just, me knowing how I can play football, you know, knowing how I know I can play, I was like, it says it happens to change. So I started, I just really started paying sense to my way because I was like, I've never really been this big and was able to, you know, do what I needed to do.

So I needed to cut all that off, and I did. I felt like I was high schooling in. So that's how I felt when I was moving out there and playing. Strength-wise, I was a lot better. I had a lot more stamina. You know, I was just healthy. It was better. And then just knowing how guys around the league look,

and how they're playing and the way that they're being able to move out there, I need to be able to do that. I knew I could do that. So that's why I wouldn't do that. And it paid off. And I think the part of the game that it really helped was being able to be on the field longer and they'd be able to focus. And I can get in my stance 60, 70 times in a row now. And I can strike and get my hands out and be extended and have full strength throughout the games now.

So I think it helped a lot of different things at once. But it was definitely the right decision. Yeah, you know, when I got in the league, I mean, I can remember being a guy playing 83 snaps in the game. and then things changed. It became more of a rotation deal where more and more of these D-lines they're platooning guys. Like when I was in Philly,

we were just rotating in. Everybody was fresh. So, you know, I guess that's the name of the game, but there is, you got to pride yourself on being a three-down player and being able to be out there for a while

because I also think you can set things up more the more you're out there. Exactly. Exactly. That was the whole thing. And just like, I mean, that might be something,

somebody might not think about it, but like, that's true. Like, being able to be on the field longer helps me set up different rushes and gives me different opportunities throughout the game.

If I'm tired after the second play, I'm not setting nothing up on that third down just trying to get off the ball. But now that I can be able to do that, stay on the field and stay guys out. Now I've got some, now I'm creating different opportunities for the team and for myself.

And then learning how to rush with the other guys that are on the field a bunch too, like the more reps you get together, like you and Aden and that sort of thing. What was the first thing you noticed about Aiden, your first impression when he walked in there, you know, two years ago. And kind of he just, he just rolled it, seemed like. But you couldn't have told me Eddie came out of college straight. You just thought he came from another NFL team.

It was crazy. It was crazy. I came out of you. The first time I ever was on the field with him, practiced with him like a real practice. It was just that. Like, he just got straight to it. And he hasn't stopped ever since. I've never seen nothing like it in my life back in Mar.

He got, he came to practice that first practice and got straight to it. Yeah. That's all that he works. That's how he do is work. Yeah. Work. And it rubs off on everybody else, too. You know, everybody else feels that energy.

Everybody else is, you know, hey, we just get some work and let's do extra stuff out of the practice. Like, it's good. It's good. So he's kind of that standard setter. Yeah. I was, like, we was, you know, we were trying to get that way. Add an Aiden in,

allowed us to be able to, you know, complete and reach that standard for sure. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, he's pushing people. Now he's got, we got Pascoe pushing people. Kaminsky pushing people. Everybody's, you know. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

He can plan it. He can play. He can play. He really, man. He's the guy in that room, you know. He's that guy for us. Yeah. I really, really like John.

So. But, yeah. Adon Aiden, he didn't. Definitely. allowed us to be able to push that stage. I also notice, you know, two things this year. I thought Alex Anzolone had a great year. He's popping up all over the field.

And then Brian Branch, just a tremendous rookie year where, you know, it seems like y'all asked him to do a lot. Is that accurate that he's very versatile is what he comes across as to me? Yeah. Branche can do it all. He can just, that's him. He can do it all. He's playing the box.

He's outside of the box. And Matt Kerrige, he's picking a ball over with hand. That's what he do. He's just a baller. That's what he do. No question, man. I, you know, like that 2021 year, I think was your rookie year, right? Because you just came off of year three.

Is that accurate? Yeah, I just came up a year through. Okay. So, 2021, if I'm not mistaken, you all played the Rams. And you guys played them close. Like, that, you could tell that year that y'all were going to turn the corner. And I was really pulling for Jared because, you know, like I want to see the guy win. He seems like good guy, good teammate.

And some people down quarterbacks if they're not, you know, like bona fide MVP candidates every year. You know, it's hard to find guys like Jared golf. And I love hearing, you know, Dan say you're good enough for Detroit this year because that's a loaded situation playing his old team. But in 2021, was there a buzz in the building about, hey, this means a lot to this kid? I don't know if he's our quarterback of the future, but he's going to go play his old team today. And you guys came up just short,

but do you remember what were your impressions of kind of seeing Jared go through that that year? Yeah, I mean, honestly, it wasn't even like that, to be honest, and that's what I like about Jared, because Jerry don't care. He don't care at all. He just, he moved on about it. He's the Detroit Lion at heart.

That's what he'll tell you. Like, even this year, like, when we put him in that playoff game, the whole thing behind it. He did not care. It was another game. He prepared the same way he did it every other game. But that year, my rookie year, I thought there would be something like that. Because I don't know.

That's what I've seen before. Yeah, like in the media before I got to the NFL. But it was not like that at all. He did not care. We went into L.A. We was going to go win that game. Just like, he probably would have might have said something after it or whatever. He does.

But I never got that from him. Yeah. Well, it seemed like guys pull for him, even if he's not in that situation, thinking about it. Like, you could feel that buzz around the game. And I said, you know, it's really dangerous, you know, going to Detroit and playing the Lions right now if you're the Rams, because he may not care, but the whole team seems to rally around the guy and want to win it for him. And, like, I thought that playoff game, that was one of my favorite playoff games to watch. I thought that was an incredible football game. And I thought it was a really fucking physical game, too.

Yeah. Do you remember the kind of the atmosphere there that day? Yeah, I do. It was crazy. I felt like the WWE match every side. It was crazy. That was to the day probably the craziest night I've ever built in. That's probably the loudest of the least that I've ever built in.

Yeah, what was the buzz in the city like leading up? Because for you, you're there three years, but people have been waiting 25 years or something like that in this building. That's, yes. Like, Detroit completely changed. Like, it was lying. billboards and stuff everywhere signs up everywhere it just stuff

he didn't used to see down there you know because it just hadn't been there yet yeah there's everything there's people's in discounts in the city places so they can eat there and wants the game and it's just changing it was so many more people down there in Detroit they're doing a lot more events

and stuff now down there and stuff so the city's just it's like it's like coming back alive it's cool to see yeah and it's cool because you're actually like lifting up a city like you're you're having a really economic impact on a city like for real that place sounds like it's buzzing and it's good for business that the the lines are good man it's that's fun man

that's so awesome and and you know i don't want to leave the big guys out the offensive lineman i think y'all's a line they play so well together like if you had to explain to somebody what makes that o'line different or or better what is the one thing or the couple things that separate them from other units you play on Sunday. They're disciplining. Yeah. They're like, they're very disciplined.

They're not going to get too far out of their framework. They're not going to say you short. They're going to give you exactly what the play is called to do. And they're going to do that. And they're going to execute it. Yeah. I've never seen them not execute it. So somebody might have to make it like a crazy play.

Because everything that, even going against them in practice is like that. Yeah. It's like that. They're very disciplined. They're going to get that block. They're going to get that block. They're going to get new extension on if you don't strike them. We're going to get you up out of the way, too.

You know the coach, you know Big Hank Fraley. Yeah. I played with Big Hank back in the day. Yeah, dude, who didn't, St. Louis. At the tail end of his career, I was young, he was older. So it's fun to see the players on that staff, too, because, you know, a couple of them. Like when Deuce was there, Deuce was in Philly, so I know Deuce. and like, you know, you obviously, your D-Corinator is a former player.

You know, you've got a ton of guys. Aaron Glenn, I feel like I'm missing a couple. But the bottom line is Dan has seemed like he's prioritized having those guys in the building. And I wondered how much that helped not only like day to day, but when you were a rookie, like walking into a facility where you can, you can kind of go and ask another position, coach, hey, how am I supposed to feel about this or how do I play this or whatever? Does that help a lot?

In my opinion, it does. Obviously, I haven't seen it anywhere else. so I don't really know like a difference. Yeah. But I think it really does having coaches that play in this league and played for a long time. I think it really, really helps because they see the game from our perspective too. Like other than just like teaching it straight from the book

and like just giving it to you and go. Like they can really sit down and bring it down to you. Because they've been in it, they've done it. They've been in the same situation. So being able to give their perspective on how they used to do it and how they would tweak it and all the different types of angles you can tell someone,

I think that's a lot better. I think that's very. Yeah, it helps when somebody's actually felt how difficult it is to, you know, stay front side on this look or like,

how do you want me to play the trap? Like, that's unrealistic. You know, or like, we'd be setting the edge and they'd have different standards for how you set the edge. You could set it really vertical

up the field. You could set it stout, but you have to stay outside. And like, I think sometimes coaching points naturally, and I'm not dogging, coaches that didn't play, when

coaches that didn't play try to ask certain things of a player, they just don't understand what a gray area that might sound like do that. Well, how do I do that, get the edge and fall back in and make that play? You're asking a lot of me. And I think those former players help because they felt how

compromised that position they're asking you to operate in. Yeah, I definitely agree with that. You know, it's just, yeah, like you said, I mean, that nothing against coaches. No, there's some great coaches does them play. It's like, you just got to feel that. Yeah, I don't know what I'm talking about. Yeah. But, but Dan, the ultimate player, I mean,

he's not a players coach from the outside looking in in a way that he, you know, people say players coach, I think easy. I know Dan works y'all. But if you have the respect of the team and they feel connected to you, you can ask him to go to the end of the earth. And I feel like that's what you and Dan have where if Dan asked y'all to do something, you trust him. Is that accurate? Yeah, 100%. Yeah. I have no reason not to.

100%. He's never gave me a reason not to church him ever. Yeah. He's not going to lead him. He's not going to lead us in the wrong bad. Yeah. And that's what I said, you know, people kind of doubted some of those decisions at the end of the season.

I'm like, well, they were kind of the right decisions. Like, guys just got to make plays. And your all's attitude seemed to be, hey, we'll get the next one, which also comes with territory of being aggressive. Mm-hmm. You know? Coach Hamill's, he's a baller. Yeah.

He just wanted to go get it. Yeah. I promise you, I'll have a choice, everything. He's telling me. Does he come to spend time with D. Lyman? I feel like he wishes he was a D-Lyman.

He comes and spend time with the defense all the time. Yeah. All the time. And he would have been probably been a killer B. Laman. He would have been good, that's what I'm saying. He can play right now.

Hey, those tight ends back in the day were motherfuckers. They were all like Dan Campbell. I mean, he was one of the main alphas but they were all like 275 and could block that's why i like that's why i like your guy leporta because he can block oh 100% 100% leporta's gonna do god 100% i'm trying to see what he comes by like nation because i don't know he i don't know how much better he can get but like if he comes back next year with more speed and he's bulked up it's over with yeah i think he's the best it's over with no disrespect to anybody else but

I think the next five years in the NFL, if you want to talk about the tight end position, it starts with him. No. Yeah. I'm telling you. In Jersey, you're going to start fitting tighter. They're going to look different. Tell you, you look like, kill him.

Hey, how does Hendon Hooker look like? I feel like nobody gets to talk about him because there's obviously a franchise quarterback in the building. And, you know, there was a time when people were like, oh, maybe we'd see him. We're not going to see him. But, like, how's a guy like that doing? Like, you guys watch him in practice every day. Do you like the way the operating?

operates. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's doing well. He's doing very good. I get along my hand, though, obviously, because he's from here. He's from North Carolina. Is he? Grinsborough. Yeah, yeah, he's from Grinsborough. About an hour, if that, from here.

Yeah. From Raleigh. So, yeah, we got that connection there, but he's doing good. He was at practice. He was our scouting quarterback. Yeah. His arm was smooth as butter. He's got a smooth delivery, huh?

Oh, my gosh. It's so beautiful. Army, strong too. He got a strong arm. And we don't get to see it because we don't get to see practice tape. You can see it until the preseason. I mean, like... Oh, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, you're going to see it. Yeah. And I know he's working right now. I know he's working. Yeah. But he looks good. How was Michael Brockers as a vet? Brack?

O'G Brock was. He was crazy. He was a great man. He was a great vet, man. He was a great vet, though. But he's not. Him and Nick Williams were like our two main basketball. our two oldest vets at the time.

They were just both knuckleheads. You can tell that they played in the complete different era of football. Like, completely different era. Could they have been there? I think, what was that? Brock was year 11 last year. Yeah. And Nick was on year 10, Nick Williams.

So, yeah, that completely, imagine the whole different era. And Brock thought when Brock came in, because he was our rookie, like, Brock thought we were like old era people. Imagine how I felt we walked into, I walked into, I walked in a D-line room, there's three, four guys over 30 years old. Like back in the day, it just was different, you know? Yeah. And we had a really unruly group, and Brock was our little rookie, dude, and we used to fuck with him.

What year were you on when Brock came in? This was like, I don't know, what his rookie year was like 12. So I was like in year five or something like that. And he was talking. He was funny, dude. He just, you know, I was having a hard time of picturing him as a vet. but I did see Brock I wish you could have seen him as a bit

I wish I could see her I saw him at the Super Bowl wearing his Cardier frames and I was like bro where every day I'm like 10s old change Brock hat

some long sacks some shirts and a black tee that's what Brock wearing I promise you that's not what he was like in 2012 bro I got to send him some pictures of Brock back of the day

I'm telling him so did you ever figure out a nickname for this i heard in an interview said you'd like the detroit defense to be good enough that they could get a nickname is that accurate yeah have you thought of a nickname i have not it's got to just come natural yeah it's got to come natural okay all right all right it's just got i don't know i'll check back in um like baltimore's in the sea harks like those were those were natural they just came natural to it just got a some fan one day is going to come up a crazy i'm see it. I thought a one that I thought was good, but I think it low-key sucks. So I don't want to

share it on the podcast. I'm going to message you it afterwards and don't judge me, bro. Okay, because you're a real writer, man. You're a creative guy because I didn't even know this. You just dropped an album. This is what we really got to talk about here. Okay. Dream is your is your is your is your is your is your is your rap name? Is that true? It is. Okay. I had no idea, bro. I had no idea that how long have you been, have you been writing? How long have you been recording music? What's the progression there. Well, it's really still for fun. I just started it.

I started a sophomore year of college. I think freshman year of college, actually, when I first got my laptop, I had downloaded FL studios, my boy Dante. He's a producer now still. He gave me his account key, and I had just logged out through my laptop. And I started making beats first.

I was making beats first. I had no clue how to record. And then I figured I had to record by like sophomore year after I was just making. beats and then I started rapping on and then fast forward until now

I um the Lions actually plugged me with a studio out in Detroit called Royal House I go there and I do my all my recording in that studio so that's where this is a full studio album I'm gonna do it all

at Royer House so yeah I really do it just for fun honestly I get in a spin it sounds good dude that's what I was going to say some people tell me they like you so I'm just like that's a good attitude to have it's a good yeah it's a fucking attitude to have because I was like pleasantly surprised and I was expecting it to be good and solid but I was like man it sounds really good yeah I appreciate that I just it's for fun though who else

who else records at that studio anybody I'd know uh Lilliatty has been out of uh three a Alicia Keys okay do you try to do you try to go in there the same day Alicia Keys goes in there? I would never know that. They would never tell me that. I just know those people who are in there through pictures, though. Who do you listen to now?

Who do you like this out now? I really like all types of music, but really my favorite artist right now, crazy enough, his name is Don Tolliver. I listen to a lot of Don Tolliver, but I kind of mix it up between this era, eras in the 80s music,

the 90s music. So my playlist is kind of crazy. these all jump together. So my new favorite rapper, I know I'm late on this, but somebody sent me this guy last week, Big X the plug. From Texas.

I fucking. Yeah, yeah, I know you're talking about that. We were supposed to get Maxo cream two weeks ago for an interview. You listen to Maxo at all? You like TechSov?

I've heard a couple of Maxwell songs. Maxo's cool. That would have been a crazy interview. It would have been awesome. We were supposed to sit down when we were down at South by Southwest. We were supposed to sit down with them. We'll get them another time.

But it was cool as shit. It was like, remember when I reached out, to you to interview you're like you this isn't you fuck out of here that's how i was because maxo reached out to us like yo i want to come on the pod and i was like no fucking way no dude that's so cool so yeah that's crazy yeah i was because you're an acc guy growing up you were watching a cc football yeah yeah that's funny as hell man i definitely was yeah i was watching nzsie state florida state plus in

yeah that's how I love my dad my dad used to my dad used to love SEC football okay he used to love

they still do but we used to watch a lot of Alabama games too okay so just Cam new

specifically oh fuck cam was awesome all right so so and Cam still looks like he's pretty strong

judging by those videos I saw from that that camp yeah they better start playing with this dude

man how many campers and coaches does it take probably 10 to 15 I think last question for you NC State

who do you hate and then as a Detroit Lion who do you hate I'm talking about division like because I can't figure out which what team is the real division rival for the Detroit Lions I got a feeling on NC State

for NC State well for NC State obviously UNC I hate I can't say you too bro I never could did you hate us

or just didn't care much about us because we were just having UVA I always have fun against UVA I bet you you're gonna fucking stop with this I love UVA

I like NC State I used to do work again at NC State bro I'll say some clips later they're pretty grainy but I'll send them to you probably did and for Detroit though

honestly it's green bed yeah I really feel like it's green bat but man we always have the most like insane battles with them and then now was like how both our teams are you know kind of going and then you know the competition

level was about to raise you to that between that game it's what to be a really good game dude the two games this year couldn't be any different it was like y'all punched them out there then they punch y'all in the mouth and it was like man this division is going to be fun because that jordan love can spin it i'm telling you he's pretty spend it the nmcc no it's going to take off i'm telling you we're funding me the top division hey leon we got to get a beer sometime too, man. I really enjoy watching you play, buddy. I'm glad to get you on the pod and hopefully after one of these big wins

we can get you back this year. How about it? Yeah, absolutely. The beer might make me throw up, but we'll drink a beer. I'll drink a beer. What do you sip? Do you sip anything? Sometimes. Not really. That was part of the way it loves. Oh, yeah, yeah. Good, good call. Good call. Well, the way you were

playing, man. I'm not beer, not bring anyone anywhere near you. Wine. Wine is cool. A little vino. Okay, we'll do some dinner. All right. Well, I didn't say I'm fucking paying for dinner now, Alene. I might have to put you on the rushing. I just had to throw it out there. All right, my guy.

Hey, stay healthy, man. Can't wait to watch. Thank you. I appreciate you having me on.