Green Light with Chris Long - Bill Barnwell on NFL Season, Surprising Teams in 2020. Mailbag: Carson Wentz, Music, Fast Food.

Episode Date: August 5, 2020

0:38 - Open and NFL. 3:32 - Mailbag: Carson Wentz, Music, and Fast Food, and more. 22:22 - Bill Barnwell on the NFL Season, Surprising Teams in 2020 and Who Does Bill Barnwell Read. Beau Allen's NE Headshot - https://www.instagram.com/p/CDePjXvDnpB/ Bill Barnwell Twitter - https://twitter.com/billbarnwell 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. http://bit.ly/chalknetwork Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you want to be a hipster about it, I don't think the bills are a hipster pick because they're indie, but they're not new indie. Like, yeah, bro, but they've been out for a little bit now. Yeah, they're on a major label now. They're not just, you know. If you want to be a hipster with the bills, that was two years ago. Happy Wednesday, everybody. This is Chris Long. You are listening to the Greenlight Pod.

Hope everybody's doing well. We're going to talk some football today. And we haven't done that in a while, at least exclusively. I got a great guest to do that with. and that's Bill Barnwell of ESPN, tremendous writer, also somebody who really understands like the salary cap, contracts, the financials. When it comes to football, which outside of my own situation, and most football players would tell you this,

we strive to be financially literate, but some of these contract things in the NFL can be very complicated, not my strong point necessarily, but I am working post football to understand these issues better. and Bill's a guy who I read up on a lot. Every time there's, you know, contract dispute or assigning something with financial implications for a player or team, Bill Barnwell stuff is pretty good to read and very informative. And we had a great conversation.

We talked about a whole lot. We'll get to that in a minute. You know, and it does look like this football thing is picking up some steam. as the world turns around the football world. Ciotically, I have talked to a number of players who are back in camp and FaceTime some of my buddies and, you know, people wearing masks and meetings. And it's just odd. It's just different. You know, I'm seeing people on the field in masks and a ton of different precautions.

Locker rooms are set up differently. It's a weird time to play football. And I can tell just from FaceTime. Listen, I'm going to do a mailbag before we get to Bill, and then I'm going to roll because I'm headed back to Virginia tomorrow. My time in the Great Northwest, Montana specifically, has come to an end at least this summer. And I'm always really sad when I have to leave because it's beautiful here. It's very hot right now. It's in the 90s, but really dry.

And it's still damn near hoodie weather every night. So going back to that sauna that is the East Coast, that is Virginia, currently the reviews are in and they're not good, but we got to go back. Got stuff to do. Got to leave eventually or might never leave Montana, which doesn't sound like a bad idea. But anyways, I'm going to do the mailbag and get the hell out of here so I can spend my last afternoon in the midst of this beauty. I went camping this weekend at Hungry Horse Reservoir in northwest Montana and just had a ball. It's just gorgeous, man. It's just a, it's a different place.

It's completely different than anything you've ever seen. If you haven't been in the region, if you're ever driving through, you know, if Glacier looks too packed, check out Hungry Horse. Drive around a little bit. So here's the mailbag. Mike Hearn, how in the world did Carson Wentz not make? make the top 100 because it's a bullshit list because really it doesn't matter. I don't remember ever voting for the top 100. Somebody comes through your locker room every year, some random person from like NFL network

or whatever. And I was on the list once. And I thought it was actually low on the list. And there were other years, I thought I should have been on the list. But it's like somebody walks to your locker room, hands you a sheet when you've got 30 minutes to go to meetings, you're distracted. It's a lot like how they do the pro bowl voting. Pro bowl voting is very flawed, even on the player.

And the way they do the pro bowl voting, they sequester you at the end of a 12-hour workday one day in the middle of a playoff run if you're on a playoff team. You have a thousand things you're worried about. And they say, guys, stay in this room until you guys turn in your votes. And you're voting for people on the other side of the ball, which is cool in theory, but most of the tackles you haven't played against. And, you know, you've got defensive ends weighing in on centers and guards and all. lot of times I got to tell you in a meeting room, the guys sit there and they're like,

who do you want to put on there? Fuck it. You just fill it out. Like one of the older guys fills it out. It's a very flawed, haphazard kind of process. And I've heard guys like write people's names down that were good like two years ago in pro bowl voting. And they're like, yeah, yeah, he was pretty good.

I remember him like a year ago or two years ago. Have you seen him on film this year? Nah, but he's good. I like him. that's how the votes come in on the player side sometimes. And, you know, obviously the fan voting is flawed too. It's not good. And it's the same thing with the top 100.

You know, you got a ton of guys to make the Pro Bowl off of last year's work or a name and that sort of thing. And this top 100 thing, although it carries a lot less weight than a Pro Bowl, it's still bullshit. Like they hand you a sheet with a bunch of lines. And the most I ever felt out was like eight of them. And I was like, is this okay? and they were like, yeah, it's absolutely fine. And they take the sheep back and they're like, that'll do. And not every guy in the locker room,

very few guys in the locker room actually fill them out. So I don't know the numbers on that thing. I'm sure somebody from NFL network or wherever they source that is thinking this is like slanderous. This is like crazy talk. I think it's crazy talk first off that Carson Wentz isn't in the top 100, which I've kind of dismissed. So I apologize, Mike Hearn.

But it's generally just a crazy problem. process. Carson Wentz is absolutely in the top 100. I saw a lot of head scratchers in that top 100. Yeah, just not that important. Meg C. Pool asked what was your favorite part of the beginning of each season? I think my favorite part was, you know, camp was such an exercise, especially pre-CBA and just willpower and focus and dealing with pressure and the physical toll. I mean, it was like groundhog day every day for a month. And, you know, depending on the team in New England, we'd stay in that hotel. in Foxborough, which is in nowhere nowhere anyway. And they put you in like the middle of nowhere within Foxborough in a hotel as if I'm going to get in any trouble in Foxborough. And you're there

for the maximum amount of time you can stay in a hotel. You know, Jeff Fisher used to send the vets home a little bit earlier. I know some of you guys are scoffing and be like, well, that's why Bill Belichick's good. A team being good and where they camp or how they camp, there's really no correlation. There's really no correlation. The quality of work you get done is the most important thing. And I've camped in Mechuan, Wisconsin, my rookie year with the, with the Rams, it was terrible. My roommate was Adam Kerker. I think they put us together because we were too high draft pick white guys. And we could not be any more different, although I love Adam. And we slept on these little bunk beds, I felt like. And, you know, it was just like the middle of Wisconsin. And I hate the dorm thing because you don't

have any access to any. It's your, it's your most important. work time of the year to take teams away from their facilities that the organizations have spent millions upon millions of dollars presumably on improving and putting them in a setting like that, you're just fucking over your best asset, which is your players and their health and their routines. I couldn't stand that. The best part of the first game of the season or the beginning of the season was getting out of the hotel. You know, your own bed, air connection. conditioning never felt so good. But one weird part about getting out of the hotel is that they make cuts at the same time.

So the room, which was just teeming with energy, these meeting rooms and like almost when you got in a meeting room in camp, everybody's like can't help but get out all this excited nervous energy because you're not on the field sweating and hitting each other, you know, in a hundred degree weather. It's like the lunchroom. Everything's exciting. meetings even, the beginning of meetings, guys are like in a good mood. You know, you lose that relative relaxation when the practices get easier and the room gets smaller. It gets more kind of serious because you're preparing for a real opponent. And the energy totally changes.

So as much as camp sucks, there's always that fun camaraderie about it, but by the time it's over, you're ready to leave. And another thing about the beginning of the year that can suck really bad is going to play a hot weather team. Like when we went to play Tampa at the beginning of the year, you know, with the Eagles, you sweat there you suit going to the fucking game. And then the next thing you know, you run out of the tunnel and you're winded, you're chugging Gatorade, you're chugging.

You know, like when you play in 100 of your weather and humid weather and football, you have, you perpetually, your meal is stuck. And I'm pointing, you can't see it, but I'm pointing to like right below your throat. Like, you know, when your food gets just, it's just kind of hanging out there. like just staying too long and you got to carve up and all that stuff because it's hot you're going to play 50 snaps in the heat but you can't digest it and uh you're sweating through your suit you get off the bus you're like how the fuck are we going to do that the first play to go deep to deshawn jackson and pirate ships going off the cannon it just sucks hot weather games of being the year absolutely suck my favorite thing though is getting the hell out of camp Robert winked Thanks, ask Grateful Dead or the Beatles. I might lose some listeners because I noticed that Beatles fans for liking something so incredibly popular are extremely sensitive about what they like. I don't like the Beatles.

I don't like John Lennon. Sorry, I love George Harrison. I even love Paul McCartney. I think Ringo seems like an awesome guy. but I think their music was probably more important than enjoyable to listen to for me. So some people are going to fucking unsubscribe if you must. But if you do unsubscribe, go listen to All Things Must Pass and tell me if you actually think any Beatles project is better than George Harrison's solo work.

So yeah, Grateful Dead by default. But Grateful Dead, I mean, they're playing, you know, we know they're not a studio band. So it's a tough comp. I mean, somebody wants to ask me, Stones or Beatles, which I didn't know there was a big rivalry there. Stones all day, all day. The stones are 30 times better band than the Beatles.

I got that out of my system. So let the outrage ensue. Daphne Tomlinson asks, I'd like to know what you guys laugh at and talk about on the sidelines during a game. For me, it was always judging people on the Jumbotron. And it was mostly just cringing during that whole dabbing thing, which I guess people still dab. But when I'd see a little white kid, I would just see myself.

And I'd be like, don't do it, man. I know you're on the jumbotron, but resist the urge to dab. Oh, he dabbed again. He dabbed again. And we would just sit there on the sidelines and laugh. And anytime a kid would be on the jumbotron, a little white kid. Sorry if there's any little white kids listening to the pod who loved to dab. or little white kids who love the dab and love the Beatles.

But I'm not a big fan of watching you dab offbeat on the jumbo-tron. It's kind of exploitative, if you ask me. They're putting you on there for a laugh. You don't know it. Skip the dab. Yeah, but we kind of look in the stands and talk about people, just the way you guys do to us. But a lot of times we're killed over reading a picture sheet.

You know, coaches bring you over. over those sheets, you see people on TV players and coaches kind of meetings of the minds on the bench. Before those Microsoft tablets that Bill Belichick famously hates, we had just pictures, which I feel like an old man saying, but we had like pictures of each part of the play. And a coach would come over and try to extrapolate what happened. I'm like, I don't know, man, like watch the fucking play because I literally can't tell you. It's one of the hardest things to do. As a player, you kind of know what's going on, but you're just reacting. So sometimes it's hard to recall.

You're talking to coaches about, you know, what happened during a play, etc. But a lot of times, if you're not talking about football, you're just doing what y'all do only to the fans. And that's looking up there, talking about them, watching the JumboTron, that sort of thing. And some guys love to find the camera. Some dudes love to find the camera. That's another thing.

Cole Cressette, best position in football. Is it a punter or a kicker? It's definitely a punter. Punters are damn near football players. And I say that with all due respect to Johnny Hecker, who's been on the pod before with Donnie Jones, some of my favorite punters. But there's a definite difference between a kicker and a punter. Now, young Jeezie, as we called him, Greg Zerline in St. Louis. Greg Zerline loved to

Like Greg Zerlind was a football player Trapped in a little dude's body He was he was not a kicker per se I'm not going to go into like more But like he was just he was just a dude He was a dude dude you know like drinking beer Hanging out playing cards Not to say other kickers don't

But he just did it kind of effortlessly Like dudes respected Young Jeezy Greg Zerline Not that you don't respect kickers. You need them to win games. That's another downside. Kickers are put in terrible positions.

You shank a punt. Nobody remembers unless it's a terribly key situation. It's just an asinine attempt at kicking a fucking ball in the air. Mostly, though, punters low pressure. Both of those guys, they sit around and play video games all day and shit like that. You come out to practice for 20 minutes. But one of them is way cooler when it comes to, like, you know, being a member of the team.

I'm not saying all kickers are not cool. And assumed less pressure. So I would say punter. Tori Smith asked, Tori Smith, the NFL, well, he's retired now. Wide receiver, Tori Smith, dear friend of mine. He didn't even pose a question. He just said Bo Allen's New England headshot. I love Bo Allen's new headshot.

I love Boe's new headshot because he looks fucking petrified. He looks like he wants to do some sophomore shit where he like makes a face or like draws attention to his handlebar mustache. But he's in New England. So he's trying to fly straight.

And he's doing the best he can to be a good soldier and take a nice picture. His locks look just like I don't know what he's putting in that hair, but I'll sass soon. I do want to, to shout out Bo. He's a plus-sized dude, so a lot of people don't put him in the category of

a Tom Brady, but I think he's going to be up there in that locker room as far as good looks, man. You know, Bo Allen, he's kind of a sex symbol. The flow, you know, those glassy, what color of his eyes? Blue? I don't know. This is getting weird talking about Bo. But I know Bo loves compliments, so we got to talk Bo up. But Bo is afraid to look ridiculous. in that picture because he does not want to go to the principal's office. And I know it. If he were in Tampa this year, he'd be looking funny in his program picture.

So I'm glad Tori Smith brought that up. All that means to me is Bo is going to have a great year. He's going to be studious. He's going to do the right things. And he's going to fly straight. So can't wait to watch Bo anchor that defense in New England. And actually, in all seriousness, he's going to fit in so well.

When he was hitting free agency, I don't want to do it. I told you so, but I was like, bro, you would love New England and they would love you there. And I think he's going to have a great year.

Ron Spurr asked to rate these fast food joints, which was a bad question to talk out with my producers because one of them just announced that he's in ketosis. I am sorry to hear that. I am not in ketosis. he names these five fast food chains here. Wendy's, Chick-fil-A, Popeyes, Bojangles, and McDonald's. Okay, listen, man, I love this question.

I'm hungry reading it. I'm hungry thinking about it. You probably made my producer break ketosis and just go bury his face in a bowl full of carbs in his kitchen. but you totally disrespected Burger King. I know a lot of people hate on Burger King, but they got solid food, man. And I haven't been there in a while, but I like their food.

You can shout me down. Burger King does not deserve that disrespect. Arby's also doesn't deserve this disrespect. Arby's should be on this list just off the curly fries alone. Maybe I'll have somebody on to rate and discuss fast food at some time. when there's a slow news day. But let me half-ass this five restaurant rating for you real quick. This is kind of a chalky answer here, but I'm going to go McDonald's first.

Okay. Great fries. You can get them unsalted. They're delicious. You can get them salted if you're drunk. It's great drunk food, period. 2 a.m. You know, just ripping through a box of chicken nuggets and a cola and a burger.

I could eat those burgers just the meal. meat and the bread and some ketchup. Put some pickles on there. They're perfect, but the fries are terrific. When I was in high school, I used to eat 40 chicken nuggets in a sitting. And I was like, this is healthy as chicken. Of course, you wash them down on the best days with Dr. Pepper. And I'm a big, like, drink soda, like mix my soda in with whatever snack I'm eating. I'll do it at the movies. Like popcorn's great. It's better with the Dr. Pepper. Chicken nuggets are great. it's better to just mix it with the Dr. Pepper. That might discuss some of you guys,

but if you're going to go, go all out. And the best sauce to me is honey sauce when it comes to chicken nuggets. Now, second, it's going to be a tight one between Popeye's and chick-fil-A for me. Okay. I love Popeyes. Here's the problem with Popeyes. The best Popeyes is better than the best Popeyes. Chick-fil-A, but there's a big variation in Popeye's quality restaurant to restaurant.

The way they're managed, the way they're run. There's a ton of variation. That sandwich was killer last year. It was amazing. It was everything it was chalked up to be. And when Popeye's is smoking, it's the best thing out there. It might be better than McDonald's on its best day. But I'm going to put Chick-fil-A second behind McDonald's.

Chick-fil-A is elite. It's elite in the variation of food you can get. You can get one of those lettuce wraps that kind of tastes like deliciously like cardboard. And you get some cheddar cheese there, some cheap cheddar cheese, some little chicken cubes, some lettuce. You know, it's like one of those things they put in the big circular black tray at like offices for lunch. And there's a bunch of those wraps. But they do it. They do it right.

And then you can go all out and just eat a bunch of fried chicken, a chicken sandwich, and the peanut oil thing. It makes you feel better. The sauces are really good. Chick-fil-A sauce is a really good. So I'll put Chick-fil-A second, followed by Popeye's. But the only reason I'm doing that is because Popeye's has a lot of variation store-to-store, restaurant to restaurant. Popeyes might be the best on its best day. After that's Bojangles.

Real sleeper there. if you live where I live, you do see some Bojangles. It's not an everyday thing, but when you have it, you're always impressed. I think when you bite into something from Bojangles, you kind of go, hmm, it's one of those things. I got to go back to Bojangles. Bojangles might be better than I'm giving you credit for. I remember the biscuits are terrific.

And they've got some other really good sides too. Coming in at number five out of five, and if there were 100 restaurants, I'd put him 100 as well as Wendy's. Now, Cowboy Reed, my producer enjoys Wendy's fries, so I do want to shout them out. But my order is McDonald's, Chick-fil-A, Popeyes, with an asterix, because at its best, it's so elite, followed by Bojangles, and I need to revisit that in Wendy's. We'll come back to this another day. I'm really hungry.

I want to finish this pod and get the hell out of here. I might hit up some fast food here today. Hardies used to be my jam too, but Hardy's fell off the map, guys. Some of you all eat Hardy still? Let me know. So anyways, Bill Barnwell time. I hope you enjoy it. And after that, I'll see you Friday.

All right, this is good. We've been talking a lot of other stuff besides football on the Greenlight Pod. But we have a guy whose brain is like literally just this expanse of football knowledge here. One of my favorite guys to read, and I joked offline that only when I can understand what he's writing, I enjoy reading is Bill Barnwell of ESPN. Bill, how you doing, ma'am? Chris, man, it's a pleasure. I'm happy to come on. Yeah, dude, it's great having you on. I mean, like, I really sometimes I'm like, man, I wish I had Bill's number so I could just pepper him with questions

and actually don't know. How much in this business is it a game of people pretending to know things and they actually don't? Do you see people a lot of times with the money and the X's and O's kind of faking the funk? Oh, boy. How much time do we have to talk about this topic, how much, how much do I value my job, I guess is the question. You know, I mean, like, like, you're someone who has, you know, an intricate, an intricate knowledge of what happens on a footwork. And I think when you see people talk about, you know, defensive line play or, you know, who's, offensive line is responsible for a sound or something. Like, you're going to see that

because you have experience, because you have expert knowledge, you're going to sit there and say, well, that's total nonsense. And that person is talking like an expert, doesn't have any idea what's actually going on. And I think, obviously as someone who did not play the game does not consider himself an expert on on-field topics, I try and be smart, I try and learn, try and be sort of recognizant of like, this is the limit of what I know, or this is maybe something I don't know all that much about. So let me try and be, you know, just honest about it. When it comes to the cap, I think the tough part is because agents play such a huge role

in sort of the news sort of ecosystem, like you end up getting these numbers that are absolutely crazy that just bear no resemblance to reality. And when people talk about the cap, you know, just the arguments that are being made about players or what matters, what doesn't matter. It makes absolutely no sense. It's one of those things where if you talk to a cap guy in the NFL, the disconnect between, you know, the sort of public conversations about money and the actual sort of, you know, what's happening in NFL, you know, buildings about money. It's just a dramatic, dramatic difference. The Dak Prescott situation was such a good example because, you know, all the conversations were, well, is he better than Carson? should get paid more than Carson, that's not what matters.

It's never mattered about talent. What matters is just how much leverage do you have and what is the alternative? Because if a team thinks they can replace you, it doesn't matter how good you are. They're going to replace you and get a cheap player. And if they can't replace you, even if you're not as good as another player, they're going to pay you because they don't have a better alternative. So I think it's just, you know, whether it's just because the league has evolved that way or because fans don't really care that much, there is definitely a huge disconnect between what is actually happening inside and if, fill, you know, buildings. And I think, you know, sort of the conversations we have about are as fans,

as media members in the public space. Well, you understanding the cap, it's one of those things that I think most people do, whether they admit it or not, you know, struggle to stay afloat sometimes in these conversations. And I know what I don't know, you know, and I'm not going to try to be the guy that, and I've done this before. We've all done it where we talk out of our ass. Oh, sure. Trying to, trying to, you know, go with the flow and talk about the day's topic. There's some. things that are not my strong points. So Cap is not one of them. And certainly I think it's a little bit more esoteric than probably D-Lyme play. But still, D-Line play is something that when I do see people to your point and people do talk about the circle them on TV. They're using the wrong terminology.

They're crediting people with making great plays that were actually sacks they fell into or this guy actually caused this play and nobody says anything about this guy. What's your pet peeve when it comes to the cap stuff when you hear somebody talking cap oh man hmm i i think it's the oh you know it's actually a really good one is the tom brady thing the idea that tom brady because he is such a generous human being because he has been so thoughtful i know he's is one of your former teammates i don't want to criticize him he's a sweetheart man he's super i'm just joking i'm just joking super super super a nice guy. Superhero.

But, you know, the idea that he hasn't taken what he could have from the Patriots Nearest Pass. Has Tom Brady taken every last penny from the Patriots? Absolutely not. I mean, he's definitely left some money on the table. But this is a guy who's been in the league for 20 years. And in the first 10 years of his career, he was getting, you know, pretty much exactly what he would have expected from a franchise quarterback as he improved.

Obviously, you know, the guy who was winning early in his career was not the guy who was putting up, you know, monster numbers in 2007. But Brady got paid really well. And he played long enough that in the second half of his career, because he had already made, you know, $100 million or $90 million. And because his wife happens to be pretty wealthy as well, he was very happy to, you know, take less money because he didn't need it. And then after all that, after 20 years, after a decade of Patriots fans going out and saying that Tom Brady was the guy who was so, you know, willing to take less money, Tom Brady gets a contract extension right before last season where he gets paid a bonus up front. he gets, it reduces the Patriots cap hold, but it also causes the Patriots to not only lose the ability to franchise Tom Brady after the season, but also to then pay, I think, what, $10, $13 million in dead money on their cap this year? So, you know, if Tom Brady just said, hey, I don't need the money, I'm good, he could have played out the year.

It would have worked out a lot better for the Patriots than what actually happened. But I think just that idea that Tom Brady has always been selfless, it just bears me a little bit because I know people aren't looking at his, actual history. I mean, 15 years ago in the NFL might as well be 100 years ago when it comes to understanding how things works. So I just feel this a little bit. You know, it's funny because yeah, to your point, I think sometimes we get overly lauded for being selfless. And a lot of times people are just moving money around or you don't take into consideration that maybe a Tom Brady's getting NBA money off the field, which is a rarity. When you have Cologne ad money, you don't need to squeeze the pads for every last.

But by the way, does it not seem like a lifetime ago that we were dealing with that Brady Capp situation in New England? Oh, my God. Dude, it's so crazy to think about anything. I mean, like the last time I really left my house,

you know, sort of left the, I live in Washington, D.C., like left the D.C. area for any extended period of time was the combine. And let me tell you, Chris, if I had known I was going to be stuck inside for the next six months, I would have gone somewhere else.

I would just get the- You wouldn't have been an indie. I would not have been hanging out in the J.W. Marriott bar trying to talk to, you know, assistant coaches. I would have been on an island somewhere. The news today, okay, there's a few news items today. One, we were just talking about offline. Jack Del Rio, at first I read it as he opted out, but Jack Del Rio on the opt-out said that there's

some views I have that won't go over well in my occupation, something that effect. I have views that wouldn't sit well with my occupation. What do we extrapolate that to me? I think there's a few ways you can interpret it. If he maybe based on some other opinions or feelings Jack DeRio has expressed in the past, it seems like maybe he doesn't think quite as highly of people who are opting out of the 2020 NFL season. I don't know. I mean, Chris, I'm going to ask you about this because I feel you're obviously a much more, you know,

into person who actually happens in terms of NFL lockrooms. Do you think that opinion is? if not held by a few coaches here and there. Yeah. More widely held by your typical NFL coach. You know, it's funny, the irony here is, and I ask you because, you know, you're more plugged in from a circle standpoint,

but I've been in the locker rooms, and I definitely know that there is, there's always a macho thing, there's always a toughness thing, and forget about all the injuries that guys are pressured to play through that they shouldn't, but now you're talking about something that's more serious.

Now, it's one thing if Jack Del Rio doesn't believe in the virus, that would just be next level. Alex Jones type shit. But like when you, if you're judging guys based on them opting out and protecting their families and themselves and many of them have,

you know, I've watched guys that, you know, a Goodwin in Philly or, you know, a Marcus Cannon in New England uneducated fans who don't know the entire stories.

These guys aren't just opting out, which would be their right if they were doing it just out of general concern. But they have Marcus Cannon's a cancer survivor. You know, there are people. who have just had children and we just don't know. I was wondering if there is going to be a stigma when it comes to certain coaches.

If a guy opts out and his coordinator thinks that he's a coward because of that as ill-advised as that opinion might be to have, like, does that affect them the next year? I don't know. Like, I don't think within locker rooms, teammates, because we, you know, as players, we always have an attitude of protecting each other, try not to tear each other down. Don't count each other's pockets, ideally. Although there's a lot of jealousy in the league. Of course.

You're not going to judge a guy on your team for protecting himself or his family because every player is in the same boat. The part that I don't get about a coach would be judgmental, they should understand. Coaches don't have an opt-out. And coaches are the population that's less healthy. These guys are not sleeping as much. They're not in as good shape as the football players. They're older.

They should be the ones that are taking this thing seriously. So anytime I hear a guy that's not taking it so seriously or implying that, I'm just really scratch in my head. Yeah, and I think absolutely it's not only going to matter for, you know, NFL players and coaches at the moment, but also the guys coming into the league next year. I mean, we don't know what the college football season is going to look like. And sure, I mean, like, you know, your top pure prospects, you're Chris Longs, for example. It's not going to matter. You're ready to prove yourself. You're going to see. But I was reading about, you know, George Kittles, Scattering Report coming into the league. And he had been, you know, sort of dinged by

his strength and conditioning coach for not being, you know, up to the standard. in Iowa. And of course, George Kittle is a fantastic football player, was underdrafted, cost, you know, it cost him millions of dollars versus what he would have deserved over his first four leagues, for four years in the league, because he did not have those sort of glowing, you know, the sort of blowing scattering report coming out of school. And I wonder, you know, as we see college players opt out, if there is some semesters of a college football season, you know, those sort of guys in the middle tier that maybe your third, fourth, fifth round picks who either fall a couple rounds or fall out of the draft altogether because you do have those

sort of road coaches or, you know, road guys who are there who are going to, you know, you know, knock a player for... And are a guy because, you know, the guys in the PAC 12 just basically did a little bit of many unionizing and said, hey, like, we need certain standards to be, you know, in place for us to consider doing this. And I think most logical people think that's really great,

especially for guys who aren't even getting fucking paid. So, I mean, but there is a whole other consideration. not only are a lot of guys missing tape this year, and they don't get a chance to put on their senior year or their junior year, and not to mention the factor that you just brought up, which is these coaches go way too much off of the interview process and asking people. It's a tough thing to pin down. How do you interrogate people on campus and know who's telling the truth

and who's not and who's got a vendetta and where it's personal? Because relationships in football can be highly personal. If you ask some of my coaches what they think of Chris Long over my career, some of them might fucking hate me. And it might have been personal. So like if you're not getting the full story or if a guy's, you know, like a Jack Del Rio, presumably is judgmental of a guy that opted out. And the next year he's trying to earn minutes like or snaps.

It's going to be a challenge. And we don't know what that's going to be like in a year. And not to mention the thing that came out today, the opt out deadlines Thursday, there's 150. $50,000, it's not an advance. It's not a stipend. You got to pay it back next year if you don't make a roster. I'm not sure. I've sort of seen conflicting things about it. I feel like that has been at least a concern. I think we still have to sort of see how it comes out officially when the paper works actually signed. But my instinct is that whether it was because of, you know, sort of backlash from the public or whether it was because, you know,

NFL being negotiating, the $350 high-risk stipend doesn't have to be paid back. Yeah, that part, I mean, you would get in major trouble if you were a league and you told, you know, Marcus Cannon, he had to pay that 350 back next year. I mean, he literally can't play safely. And so the thing I wonder about the 150, if that's true and they have to pay it back out of next year's deal is that's another hurdle. If a guy's not on the roster next year, for those of you all listening, what I have heard, at least pro football talk, a tweet just popped up, that you're going to have

to pay that money back. You basically borrowed it for the fall and next year you make the team. You'll have to give the money back. How does the league intend on getting that money? And is it too small of an amount of money for them to fight it legally? Like a couple million dollars here is what it might come out to for the league. Right. I mean, you have, for those $150,000 players, it says that, at least as of right now,

you're going to be able to recover that through the base salary earned the following year. But it also only seems to be the case if you are on the same team. So if you were to get cut, for example, after the year they couldn't come after you. Yeah, it does seem like a very sort of just random thing to try and fight for if you're the league in terms of how much money that's going to be in the long run. Maybe it's just to discourage players who, you know, are on the margins maybe of opting out where, you know, we have guys who 150K is a significant portion of their salary,

you know, 25% of your salary if you're a minimum or close to the minimum player. So maybe it is just, you know, sort of just that thing as opposed to, you know, even that feeling of whether they're going to actually go for it or not, just the, you know, the right to go for it if they are so inclined. Can a guy opt back in? Have you heard anything about that? Because like I talked to a few players individually.

who are like, yeah, this is crazy, but what if things clear up and my team's doing well? Like, there's no opting back in, is there, that you've heard of? Not to my knowledge. Again, maybe you could change, but my impression is that once you opt out, you're done for the entirety of the year. Now, I mean, at the end of the day, like, everything is up for grabs. Everything is negotiable. Everything is changeable.

You know, I mean, even if this is going to be the case for now, I can't imagine that, you know, in a month, if it did happen. that, you know, everything was great suddenly, which I hope that happens. I think NFL teams would prefer to have players come back, even if it was not, you know, at a per rated salary. So I have to imagine that would be the case. But I think as of right now, the plan is once you opt out, you're done. What about a player that may be, and this is a hypothetical here, but you got a guy that maybe

gets COVID and has a bad run with it, as a lot of people have. And it might be week five, week six. And let's say their family, a family member. member gets COVID because of them. And they reconsider and they say, you know what, this is not okay. You know, I would assume they probably don't get any of their money. Would that be the case? I mean, what if you get COVID, lose 25 pounds and it's your contract year and you're supposed to come back and play the best you can? Your team might be wanting to get your ass out on the field because, you know, it might kill your market. You know, you're unhealthy. You're not your best.

Like you're underweight, like that sort of thing. What happens to those in-flight adjustments? My impression is that if you do have a case of COVID in your family or if you suffer it yourself, you can then opt out. Got it. So you would then get the, I think, I don't know whether you would get the 350. I think you would. Either way, you would get the opt out and you would still have, I think, your told year. But the thing is you have to have that provable case close to you, whether it be in your family, whether it be you yourself, which is, you know, let's say you're a player who, to be in, you know, four players on your team get COVID. And like some of the baseball players who've seen like Lorenzo Kane, I think, for example, you say, hey, this actually seems like a terrible idea.

I don't want to do this anymore. I'm going to go home. You would not have the ability to opt out of that. Yeah. And I get it's a tough situation. I get that we've never been here before. But also to that point, we've never been here before. And it's easy for a player to run through the scenarios in his head.

But come October, if shit hits the fan on the team or something happens where you're supposed to. I mean, it's a tough deal. Do any of these teams look at these opt-outs as maybe cash relief? Like any of these contracts, you're like, oh, well, I hate to see this guy go, but we owed him $13 million this year. Sure. I think, you know, like the Giants with Nate Soulder, for example, a guy who, you know, was a very good player in New England, obviously opting out for very understandable reasons. He is a cancer survivor. Yep.

He has a child who's been, you know, struggling with disease. So, you know, one of the first people who came to mind for me is just, classic case of someone who it would make sense for him to opt out. But a guy who has made a significant amount of money over the past couple years who has not been at the same level in New York. It's fair to stay. I think he would tell you himself. I don't want to disparage him for the sake of this.

No, no. And I like Nate. Me and Nate are cool and we used to compete in practice. I think it's almost like having a tremendous offensive line coach matters and being in a situation that's not a dumpster fire matters. You know? That's probably an accurate way to put it, but that's a situation where a guy who, you know, did have

a big base salary this year, a guy who, you know, the Giants might have considered moving on from. Of course, they drafted, I think Andrew Thomas with the fourth overall pick. So that's a situation where they're probably saying, hey, you know, we're bummed to lose Nate. You know, he is a starting caliber lineman. We have a young quarterback, but at the end of the day,

we are saving a lot of money by a guy who is opting out. So we're not, you know, I don't think they're as horrified about it, maybe as some other teams would be about some other players. What about the NFL, the prospect? of, you know, a start and stop, which I think is very, in my opinion, and I'm not some alarmist person. It's so funny to people that say you're rooting against football and that's everything. I know Kyle Brand said it. And Kyle's not even like the demo I'm looking at when I'm talking about this. I think Kyle, I think Kyle's wrong. And me and me and a time's talked about it last

week. But, you know, like, if there's no football season, I don't know if people realize I don't get paid as much money. Right. You know, like there's certain things I can't do. Like, also, I I like watching football, so I don't have any agenda here, but it looks like this could be a start and stop. So what is the league's motivation? Because as I understand it, they get their TV money this year anyway. Is that true or not? I think you'd have to be able to see the contracts to know 100% for sure.

There's not a force mature clause. I imagine if they did get paid and there wasn't a season, no matter what the contract said, there would be a lot of litigation in play. I mean, we saw that with, you know, I follow soccer in England pretty closely, and we saw that, you know, threats of that with the Premier League, where it was not only just, you know, if you guys don't come back, we're going to ask for money back, but also just because it's not the same product. You know, there's no fans in the crowd or something's atmosphere. We're putting our cameramen at risk.

You know, there were those issues of, oh, even though it says we're supposed to pay you, like we might hold something back, we might ask for money back. Like, it was still that sort of debate about what to do. So even if the NFL says in their contracts that they're supposed to get paid, and I think that would be likely, I think there would still be significant litigation if that were to be the case. The NFL did have to either shorten the season or abandon the season altogether. How far do you think they're willing to push this thing? I mean, if shit hits the fan, what's there kind of, in my opinion, it's already hit the fan. But if shit hits the fan on a NFL level where we can no longer run our business without completely obliterating public trust in this organization,

like how far could they push this thing back safely and not risk 2021? Because 2021 is still an unknown. That's the thing people don't understand. Yeah. I think people want to believe that it's going to be taking care of. And of course, I hope so. But and the thing I'm going to say is just in terms of, you know, everything has happened this off season, we kind of figured free agency would get pushed back.

It didn't get pushed back. We figured the draft would get push back. The draft didn't get pushed back. We figured preseason would be canceled. as an absolute obvious thing. And the NFL thought to have some preseason until it was clear that they could not do the preseason. So, you know, to me, I don't see a reason for the, I don't see any evidence that the NFL either expects there to be problems or the NFL intends on slowing things down or stopping things. I want to believe there's a plan B, there's a plan C.

But nothing about how the NFL has acted over the last six months leads me to believe there actually is a plan B or a plan C or that that, Planner B or B or Brown C is going to be very effective. I think, you know, this is a league that is hoping, they've been some small changes here and there, but a league that overall is hoping that things are going to be normal or as close to normal as possible. And, you know, I hope that's the case. I really do. I'm not arguing for the same reasons you did. No, yeah.

That, you know, I don't want football to happen, but I want it to happen as safely as possible for the players who are taking that risk. And I don't know that that is going to be the case until, you know, unless, like, we have, like, you know, two teams who play each other and are just totally stricken by COVID and, you know, 80% of the players are unable to practice or play the next week. And I think that's going to happen at some point. I think it's going to happen too. It took baseball, which is a distant sport, which, and now granted, baseball players the difference between baseball and football.

Somebody was talking about this earlier comparing the amount of travel. I mean, baseball you travel more. Also, baseball players are accustomed to when they travel going out and having fun. Chris, did you see why, according to Derek Jeter, why the Marlins went out? I saw exactly why. And that's why, you know, there's a few check marks in the favor of baseball, which is less contact, more distance between players, that sort of thing. And just less staff, that sort of thing.

But in football, one thing you have in your advantage is that players are, it's run like a daycare center. You know, like we are treated like kids. So when we go on the road and we go to a hotel, there ain't no going to dinner. I mean, like, definitely not this year. I bet you coaches say, like, you don't leave the hotel. Like, and by the way, there's a curfew. The fact that in the age of COVID, the Marlins, presumably went to Atlanta and we're just able to just run amok.

You got just Marlins in the streets. Like, that's absurd. And I think we're going to get there with the NFL, unfortunately, but it won't be from, you know, like a road trip. Guys who are young and think they're invincible because that's a football thing. We all think at different points in our life and junctures that we're fucking invincible. And we're, you know, we can't be touched. And some of these young guys coming out of college, if they don't have the leadership on their teams and the program in place,

I know we've got some suspensions and fines that are being dangled right now. We'll get to that. It's going to take one or two guys to hit a local nightclub and try to do it under the radar. And then the testings lag. You know, just like anything, you could test every day, but it takes time for the results to come back. 100%. So I do think we get there.

I really do. It's a bummer. I mean, you know, I would like to believe that, you know, the Marlins didn't need to go out for what Derek Dieter called milk, you know, to get there, to get out of the hotel for that. But, you know, I don't think it's even a football thing. I mean, if you see any, you know, I live in a big city, you know, I have family. I'm from New York City.

I have a lot of friends who still live in New York City, you know, whether you're a football player or not, if you're, you know, 20 to 23, you're still going out trying to hook up. Yeah, they are too. They are too. I think you feel invincible regardless of whether you're a football player or not. Maybe more so, I think, if you're a football player. But I still feel like there is that idea of, oh, well, I'm not going to get it or no one I know has it or no one I know has had it.

And I think that at the end of the day, like the thing about this disease is it doesn't have to be a whole team. It doesn't have to be 25 people. Nope. It can be one person making that decision who then screws it up for, you know, two. throws of the football team. So, I don't know a line room. How about one guy in an old line room gets it or any position room? There are certain positions.

You literally can't replace with these practice squad guys. You can replace them, which I mean, you can replace a guy here or there. And maybe if a wide receiving core is decimated, you could play like the Eagles in 2019. But like, you're kind of fucked if you lose all your alignment. And if you're Tom Brady and your line all comes down with COVID, I ain't taking the field. Sure. 43. Beyond that, beyond that, let's say you're, let's see your Andy Reid.

Let's say you're the Chiefs. And you've signed Patrick Mahomes to a $500 million deal. And 450, 450 is your offensive line, you know, gets COVID. And you're stuck with, you know, a bunch of replacement level guys, guys off the street, you know, guys off your practice squad. Are you going to put Patrick Mahomes out there behind the line? And, you know, when you have a guy, he is money guaranteed with a year, a year offset until 2030, that you'd be crazy to do that.

Yeah, that's an excellent point. And so why not? So why not bubble? How long was that on the table? Is it still on the table? And, you know, from what you hear, I mean, I would think, I would think at least they should be entertaining a playoff bubble. Because I guess the better way to ask it, what would have to happen for this to be the Super Bowl champion this year to be an asterisk situation? Oh, boy.

I mean, I think it would have to be, you know, where you have 16 quarterbacks who don't play. At the end of the day, I think the NFL's not going to be. going to make that that drastic change unless they do lose a quarterback for an extended period of time or a guy, you know, does miss the entire season just because that's the way the NFL cares about quarterbacks and, you know, a few players here and there, but at the end of the day Yeah, it's mostly quarterbacks. I got fine money for 11 years that tells me about quarterbacks. Right, exactly. You know, I mean, I think we've seen, we have the evidence. That's when people ask me about this over the summer, I did radio hit after radio hit where they would say,

how is the NFL preparing? What's the, you know, how is the NFL going to do this? And every time I said the same thing, which was they have an advantage because they can see what doesn't work for baseball, basketball, hockey, and soccer. They can see every, you know, overseas soccer league. They can see everything in America. They can pick and choose what went wrong, what went right, and apply that to their model. And we know, we've seen, you either have to have a country where the transmission rates are going way down, where the positive pest rates are way down, or you work out of a bubble. And the NFL's not doing either of those things. They're playing in America where rates are really high and they're not playing in a bubble.

So I think if they do have that sort of really, really bad, you know, testing rate in, you know, whether it's a bunch of teams go out or we do, you know, see a compromised week somewhat or something in the season, will they go into a bubble? I'd like to think they're at least preparing for that possibility. I think it makes the most sense to do that, whether it be a bubble where, you know, you have like the Saints, for example, where you have guys. staying in a hotel throughout the entire week, not interacting with their families or you have a bubble where it is just... Is that mandatory in New Orleans?

I just heard about that. No, it's not mandatory, which is, I think, the concern, but I think it's a good... Yeah, it's like, who's going to... Right, who would do that, you know, but at the end of the day, like, I think that's at least what you would have to do if you were going to consider a bubble

or, you know, the idea that, hey, we're going to take four weeks off, we're going to split into eight bubbles, you know, one for each division. We're going to play, you know, divisional schedule, and that'll be it. But again, get back to your point about, like, it, you know, about what happens if things change?

Like, are you going to be able to opt out if that's the case? Because that suddenly is totally different from what you signed up for during the season. So I think even if you're going to do that during the season, if you come to that sort of, you know, conclusion, it's still going to be really tough to pull it off. And there's still going to be plenty of players to say, well, I don't want to do that. I'm going to opt out now. And that's why I think the playoff model to, like, would be better than, listen, you can survive as a league from an integrity competitively standpoint.

like a Patrick Mahomes being out for two weeks. We did it last year. They won the Super Bowl. You know, Matt Moore's show. You have players that step up. But in the playoffs, I can't help but think if Patrick Mahomes got COVID and had to miss a week and the chiefs got knocked off in the playoffs, that Super Bowl winner has an asterisk. And on top of that, this is a league that for years has been very comfortable sharing injury information with. betters. I mean, that is the basis of the injury report of the end of the day.

You know, we're seeing other leagues, you know, not, you know, sort of dance around the issue, you know, not not giving guys information. Like, are they suddenly going to stop handing out that information? Is that going to impact things? Like, you know, are you going to have a I'm not betting. I'm not getting a bet off until, you know, 1247, you know, on Sundays. And I will, I will be gambling because the last, the last damn, well, I've started gambling on a little basketball. and that's wet my whistle a little bit. Somebody said today something interesting was Joey Bosa said that, you know,

the most responsible team is going to win the whole thing this year. Not to make it like a Hunger Games thing, but I feel like this is a year where you could have some teams that aren't as skilled, the rosters aren't as good on paper, but they're able to elevate to a competitive level, relatively speaking, because they're responsible. They have programs that are in place, a lot of New England.

Now, the irony there is, one year they're bad, there's a pandemic. Well, not bad. The one year they're just not them. There's a pandemic. And I feel like they'll thrive in that thing. Even losing a player like High Tower or losing some of their key players like Chong. And like they'll find a way to scratch and claw because they're competitively advantaged because of the continuity.

Who are some other teams that might kind of surprise people because of that responsibility factor? Maybe the bills, you know, where I think people are expecting the bills to be good. Maybe that's not fair. But I think even better than maybe they would because McDermott seems to run a good tight ship and you're in Buffalo. Like you're not like in New England, you're in Foxborough. I don't know unless they're having big spikes up there. Like number one, you're safe. You're an hour away from Boston.

You've got the team. You know, you still have a core group that's pretty decent, even though guys are opting out. And it just like Dallas worries me. You're in Texas. the big star thing, the show business thing. Are guys in Dallas really going to stay home? Can Mike McCarthy in his first year really command a locker room like that? Yeah, I think that's a totally fair question.

And I think about a team like the Colts where, you know, you have that constantly when he's same line. You know, they brought on a few new players. They traded for DeForest Buckner. Added some talent. But, you know, a veteran quarterback in Philip Rivers, like, Philip Rivers isn't going out and partying. Philip Rivers is staying at home with his nine kids.

and, you know, taking the limo or taking the custom truck he had built with, or a custom a limo with, you know. Brinner or something. Yeah, it's like a big super dad van. Right. Like the boss of all dad vans at the end of a video game. Like he's taking that to the facility and working and going home. Like, you know, I do think there is going to be that coming to play.

And I think, you know, we know from seasons that are disrupted, seasons that are shorting, especially, anything goes. I mean, go back to the nine games. season, which was 82, I think. I mean, a kicker, one league MVP. Anything is possible when you have sort of these weird circumstances. Speaking of that, you put out an article a little bit ago with 260 players that could win MVP.

Do you really, could really all of them win it? Yes, 100%. I mean, again, let's go back to 1999. Trent Green tears his ACL in the preseason. The Rams, who were, I think, 6 and 10 the year before. I mean, they were not a good football team the year before. traded for Marshall Falk, they'd sign Tori, the director of Tori Holt. They had some promise, but you lose Trent Green. Your starting quarterback is a 28-year-old guy who has seven career

pass attempts or 11 career pass attempts, some small number, who had played in NFL Europe named Kurt Warner. There was no way anybody is expecting a third-string quarterback or a second-string quarterback to come off the bench with no experience and not just, you know, do okay, not just keep his job, but win league MVP. And that happened with Kurt Warner. Mark Mosley, a guy who was a kicker for a decade. Just bounced around the league. Normal, you know, hitting 65% of his field goals

because kickers were not good in the 70s and 80s for some reason. He goes like 20-21. It's a nine-game season. You know, it's a different era, so you're not seeing as many games, but he gets hyped as that guy who was winning them games in the last second.

He wins league MVP. If those guys who win it, any other guys I list it can do it. I feel very confident. So who's your best sleeper MVP then? Okay. We're talking like, like, like somebody that you,

Somebody you're going to win big in Vegas on. This could be a person. Somebody. Well, I can tell you as someone who lived in Vegas, the chances of me winning big in Vegas are very slim. Very unlikely. I learned my lesson from a year of living there. I mean, you have like your sexy picks,

like your Tyler Murray. It's like the obvious one because, you know, second year guy. You had Carson wins, you know, almost winning a couple years ago. And then Lamar Jackson went it last year. You have your sort of like, you know, contrarian sexy picks like a Josh Allen who, you know,

if things break right, MVP. I had to go for like a real deep sleeper. Maybe Teddy. Maybe Teddy Bridgewater. That's wild. Nobody expects anything out of the Panthers, good weapons. You know, we don't know.

Joe Brady, the guy they're running from LSU, was awesome with Joe Burrow. He's just as good there. I mean, like, which is also, if Teddy lights the league on fire, that could be bad news for Cincinnati. because Joe Brady could be a little bit more than we thought of what was going on at LSU. Now, I think the two could possibly, they aren't mutually exclusive. Right, of course. But I still look at that and I'm wondering with Burrow how much. What's a position?

Is it just quarterback simply that that's going to be most affected by having no offseason? A young player, like a rookie. I think offensive line. You know, I think on the whole, not just in terms of, you know, you individually matching up one-on-one against the guy across me, but just your continuity, just working together, you know, on combo blocks, just getting that sort of familiarity. That's true, yeah. If you don't have that experience, if you don't have that, you know, just that level of communication and confidence in the guy next to you and just that, you know, that comfort level with working together, that's going to really hurt you. Because, again, it only takes one fuck up for you to, you know, to get your quarterback knock out for the year. And I think that's just a really deposition to play in general when you're a young player in this league.

Yeah, ask my boy Sam Bradford, how important it is to invest in offensive line and that sort of thing. So I, you know, like I totally agree. I think it's just, and you look at like an Andre Dillard who this is such an important second year for him in Philly. And you bring back Jason Peters and that sort of thing. It's no foregone conclusion that somebody develops like that the second year, but you absolutely need an offseason. You're talking about a left tackle. So it's a big deal. let's go back to the NFC South now that we're into football.

Tampa, they're one of those teams I mentioned like Dallas that I worry about, but for a different reason. Okay, it's the geography. You're in Florida. We can't forget the Bruce Ariens, I believe, is a cancer survivor. So he's got to be very careful. Like, what if you lose him for a couple weeks? You got a new quarterback.

We didn't get the offseason. The division is so stacked. Who wins that division? I'm going to say Tampa, because I feel like it's more interesting than the Saints, if I'm being honest. like the same are, I think, the easy pick. Yeah. The thing about Tampa, that is so fascinating,

and I feel like it's so tough to gauge without having some semblance of advanced metrics. By the, like, the raw numbers, their defense last year was 29th in points allowed per game. They were terrible. By different advanced metrics, whether it's something like football outsiders or, you know, ESPN has some numbers.

They're really good by pretty much airfare your defense metric. And the reason why is because, number one, James Winston through like six pick sixes. Number two, they face the most. possessions in all of football. And number three, they have the worst average starting field position in all. Short fields, man. Short fields.

And a lot of that is Jamest. And, you know, James has the strengths and weaknesses. I'm not here to disparage James. But when you replace James Winston with Tom Brady, forget about what they do in terms of pushing the ball down the field, in terms of their abilities. Though sheer reality is Tom Brady is not going to turn the ball over 30 times. And by doing that, you're now suddenly having your defense face to fewer possessions a game, which is going to help any defense.

they're going to face much better field position. The Patriots on defense, I think, had the best average starting field position in the league last year, or one of the best average starting field positions in the league last year. And then, you know, you're not going to throw six-pix six. This is not going to go against your defense. That defense is really good already, let alone, you know, that's a pretty young secondary, pretty young group of linebackers.

You're getting another year with them to kind of show what they can do. They have continuity on both sides of the ball. And then you're writing Grunk, who I think is, you know, even if he's not the guy he was, you know, three or four years ago is still an incredible blocker, is still incredible red zone threat, still a guy who even if he's only thrown the ball four or five times a game can make a difference on those four or five pass in times per game.

You know, I think that the Saints are super talented. I think they're still going to be a playoff team, but it's more interesting to pick the bucks, right? Yeah, it might even be more interesting to pick the Falcons who second half of last year were just like they look like a damn good team again. And I'm really interested to see what they do. Now, the thing that's a big concern for a few teams, including the Saints and I think the Seahawks, as we talk about this home field advantage stuff and no fans maybe, there's some teams that are good for two wins at home a year, you know, at least. And there's some teams like the Chargers that I've joked will be pleasantly surprised that they'd probably take no fans across the board because it's not that big of a deviation.

Yeah, that's totally fair. And I think, you know, we talk about home field advantage. that's typically what, two to two and a half, three points on the spring. Vegas does. And for some teams it's more. Like for the Seahawks, it's probably three and a half or four points for the Ravens. They're another team in that group. But the Seahawks aren't going to have fans, you know, so the opposing offense isn't going

to have to go to a silent count. You know, you're not going to have that sort of push from the fans for penalties to be called against the opposing team, which does happen. That's one of the biggest advantages for home field advantage. I mean, you see in other sports when there's not fans or there's, reduce fan base. But then you flip it to a team like the Broncos, where part of their home field advantages,

of course, they have bad fans. Part of it is just they're at altitude, and that's not going away. That's not going anywhere, yeah. So the Broncos who have, you know, pretty good home field advantage in general, because no one else has home field advantage might have a significant advantage this year

because they do still have that altitude. That's a, God, it's a great point. I didn't think about the Broncos, and yeah, it's a bitch to play out there. I mean, golly. Another thing is like assistant, head coaches. We're seeing it right now with Doug Peterson. The Eagles have Deuce, which is huge, because I haven't been in that locker room. He's essentially a head coach. Not every team has that.

And I think you're going to need to see at different points of season head coaches step down for a week or two. Also another thing is like with the Jason Peter signing, every position room should have a vet because position coaches are going to get sick. And, you know, who's going to coach on the field, in the classroom. You know, it's a big deal. So there's so many variables as far as depth are concerned. It's not just players as coaches too. Absolutely. And the other thing that comes into play is that I think

when you have guys get hurt or you have guys who's roster spot comes open, you know, in the past, you would see, you know, teams fly in three or four players to compete for a spot. That's not going to happen now because there's going to be a four-day waiting period before you can even play for a team. So really, you're going to be going off your practice spot this year. You talked about the scouting. Okay, we're not going to have college football.

Some people are going to get looks. The scouts are going to get looks on certain guys. What do you make of the fallout when it comes to next year's draft? Total chaos, which is great. Who doesn't love total chaos when it comes to the NFL? It's going to be wonderful. And I mean, I think you can spin it both ways, right? I was talking about the Jamal Adams tree.

And, you know, I think one of the things people wrote up in defense of the Seahawks, which I think is a fair argument in some ways, says, oh, well, you don't know if those draft picks are going to be any good because you're not going to be. get a whole college football season. You might just be picking blind based on last year's saying. You might not know anything. But at the same time, I think you could argue, you know, sure, it's probably not good to have, you know, it's probably not good to have a top five pick or a top 10 pick.

Maybe the first five picks are just, they're going to be good in any era. You know, Trevor Lawrence is going to be pick with one of the top two picks anyway, so it doesn't matter. But, you know, those, a pick at the end of the first round, you might have the opportunity to draft, you know, a top 10 guy. And you wouldn't have that in a typical year because you would have, you know, know, that entire process would sort of get past him, but that guy might fall. So you might want more picks this year as opposed to getting rid of your picks.

So I don't know what the right answer is. You mentioned Jamal Adams, and it's funny because it's, I would go with the proven commodity, and it's not like they've needed pass rush to win in the past. They haven't had it since, you know, a couple years back. I was wondering, you know, with Isaiah Simmons, who was picked, I think it's no accident, with George Kittle in division. Yeah. And you've got Jamal, who admittedly was part of the equation bringing him in was George Kittle.

Who's another player or two in the league that people are making roster considerations based on on opposing teams and division? I mean, Lamar has to be Lamar, right? He's the first guy who comes to mind is like, you know, if you can't stop Lamar Jackson or you don't have a plan to slow down Lamar Jackson, you're screwed. Like, there's just not a plan B in that game. And you can't spy him with one guy typically. You're not going to have, you know, maybe if you have a Jamal Adams, maybe he is sort of the exception. But I think, you know, I think we did see teams make moves to go out and get, you know,

big physical athletic safety is where that's going to be your only alternative. Otherwise, you're absolutely screwed. Thinking elsewhere around the league, maybe with the Eagles, you know, thinking about Mari Cooper, where he just has forged the Eagles over the past couple of years. Yeah. A couple of big games. Maybe they don't go out and trade. for Darius Lay, if it's not a case of we need to stop Mari Cooper because this is a team.

Remember that, of course, winning a Super Bowl with cornerbacks who, you know, are guys who, Patrick Robinson was, you know, pretty much for the minimum. Yeah, he was a nickel guy who really played well. But, you know, you just didn't expect it. They weren't investing in the defensive backfield away. In my opinion, they should. As somebody who loves coverage as a rusher. And also, looking at that year, it's like, we didn't beat.

the Cowboys that year. I think we split with the Cowboys my last year or didn't beat them. I don't think the Eagles have beaten Zeke Elliott since he's been in a league if he's on the field. I have to go back and check that. But the Cowboys have had the Eagles number in division. So you have to make moves based on, you know, if you can chalk it up to two losses a year lately to the Cowboys, you have to make those moves. Right. And ask someone who group as a Giants fan, You know, I've watched that division year after year after year come down to a week 17 game. Yes. You know, usually with the Cowboys either winning or losing, typically losing, fortunately.

But, you know, like I feel like that's just human nature at the end of the day. Like, I think they could, for the Eagles could winning a Super Bowl without getting a Darius Slay or getting a significant cornerback. It could happen. But if you get burned by that, I think it's going to be second nature for you to just go out, let's get a guy to stop this. And, you know, even if it's not, you know, even if he's not going to be, you know, the next stuff on Gilmer, even if he's just a good cornerback, at least we're taking that risk. At least we're addressing that issue. At least we feel good about that as opposed to going into another off, another season having to

dread that game and dreading that matchup all week and, you know, just being worried about how Amari Cooper is going to rip apart our team. I think it's just something that, you know, after a year or two, I think you see, you know, the organizations around the league or sort of general managers who have some stability and some security, making that. change to account for that. Yeah, and that can get you in trouble because you get like, you're so burnt by something that you just do something on impulse and you're like, we have to do this. I don't care. It's going to be interesting looking back. And I think Darius Slay is the player I would,

I would have picked out of Byron and Darius. But there's going to be a lot made of it in Philly if Darius doesn't pan out because you had to actually give up a little bit more, you know, to go get him than you would have with a Byron Jones. Yeah, for sure. And I think, you know, Darius is older. He's a guy who, you know, had some success in Detroit, but last year was not his best season. I think he would tell you. And, you know, some of that could be just that it seems like

Matt Patricia seems to get the least out of the players around him, which, you know, maybe that's just a short- It's a tough defense. It's a complicated defense. And, you know, like, it can be a big deviation. If you're somebody like Darius and you're like, man, I was tracking to be a top corner in the league, you know, to say the least. And then things change just holistically.

It's tough. I mean, I think he's going to thrive in Philly. I really do. But if not, they'll be looking at the Byron Jones thing. And the flip side of it is, you know, think about two things I would say. Number one, this is the same place where they went and signed Namdi Asimwa, who was incredible when the sign name was an absolute, you know, would shut down his side of the field to a ridiculous, freakish extent. And then he was a mess in Philadelphia. He never got not ever got off the ground floor.

never seemed to be happy there was a total disaster relative to what they had in terms of expectations and he can't remember right of course you and the other thing is this is a team and also got rid of Malcolm Jenkins who was a leader in that locker room who was

an excellent football player even obviously you know towards the end of his career but still was a great player last season still so if they let's say Darius Slate play as well but you know Amari Cooper gets lined up on the opposite side of the field and you know

whoever's talking about playing safety or the jail and Mills or somebody else blows an assignment and Amari Cooper walks in for a long touchdown. You added Darius sleigh, you made that change and it didn't matter because Amari Cooper just lined up on the other side of the field. They have three great receivers possibly with CD Lamb for the Cowboys. Yeah, you make a great point there. That Malcolm departure could be big. And they've opted at different turns to go the way of youth and flashy over maybe some more functionally proven guys. And so we'll see.

Who's this year's Tennessee Titans? In what sense? Like in terms of just unexpected championship? America's like, Tennessee was like, if you had any taste in football, it was America's team last year. It was like you got Ryan Tannihill playing at a high level. Of course, when Gase is your guy for a while,

you just never know down there. I heard about the route concepts in Miami and some of the things that might have been holding him back, not to mention the talent. But the Derek Henry emergence, the Ryan Tannihill, to everybody loving the head coach because he's a ball player, he's got charisma. They took the nation by storm last year.

They were like my side team. Obviously, I'm an Eagles fan, but they came out of nowhere, is what I mean to say. And like, who's the team this year that's going to surprise some people and win the hearts and loyalties of American football fans? Again, do you do the bills count in the scenario? It's like the bills, yeah, the bills, they're almost like, if you want to be a hipster about it, I don't think the bills are a hipster pick because they're. they're indie, but they're not new indie.

Like, yeah, bro, but they've been out for a little bit now. Yeah, they're on a major label now. They're not just, you know. If you want to be a hipster with the bills, that was two years ago. Like, 100%. I mean, and, you know, like, I think Tennessee was kind of bouncing around for a couple of years. It was sort of like, you know, what can we do to get to this next level? We're, we're eight and eight or nine and seven every year.

We're either, you know, we're either getting eliminated week 16 or week 17, or we are losing in the wildcard round. And they made a change. You get to Tannahill. That sort of got. to the next level. Maybe Stefan Diggs is that guy for the bills if it's not Josh Allen taking a step forward. But I think just a team that is going to be physical, a team that has some players who are really fun to watch, even beyond Diggs, you know, like a Doss and Knox

as someone who, you know, was really promising last year. Nobody expected to be a starter who Gus Taylorcroft got hurt, played pretty well, had some drop issues, but the guy who was really physical, really impressive. Kevin Singletary could be that guy for them in terms of getting more carries and a great defense, just like a defense that like works. so smartly, works so intelligently together. And Genevius White is, I think, maybe one of the most underrated players, only just a phenomenal, phenomenal cornerback.

And a guy who has no fear, will line up anywhere against anybody and who does an incredible job. So, I think you could, I think you could throw maybe the, yeah, it's such an unknown, but, and the part of the thing is, somebody asked me if the charges have a shot,

if they, if they put things together a little bit offensively, could they be in the wild card race? The problem is in the AFC. Everybody's in the wildcar race. There's only a couple bad teams. That's a deep, deep conference. 100%. And I think if they had kept Phillip,

I think they'd be in a little better shape. But I think that could be a fun team. The defense, I think is going to be very good. I mean, they got, you know, Durham James didn't really play much last year.

That was a team where, so they had their big linemen last year were Mike Pouncy and in Russell Akum. Those guys didn't play a single stop together last year. Yeah. That's how beat up that offensive line was. So he hope the line is better. They signed Brian Balaga, which I think was one of the best, you know, sort of under the radar signings of the off season.

Definitely. A ton of weapons. A really exciting player in Austin Echler. Yeah. And just like just a sick defense at all levels. Oh, my God. They're so talented. Monstrous defense.

And people like Anthony Lynn. He's, he's a good dude. He's likable. And, you know, you have the unknown. People want to like Tyrod, you know, and they want him to, you know, I think about Tyrod winning that meaningless playoff game. Well, not meaningless because Kyle Williams finally got to win against Jacksonville a few years ago, like six to five, if that's possible, with the score. I think it was nine to seven. I think you could be looking at a team with the same kind of makeup.

And of course, that was in the McDermott first year, I want to say. You've got a team that could win some really gritty ball games. I don't know if they get to the dance. But where does Cam end up next year? He's not going to be in New England because if he plays well, they're not going to pay him. what do you think happens there? Where do you think he might end up? Mike Golick was on the show and said Dallas.

Mike Golick said Dallas? See, that's why my Golic is on TV all the time and I'm not because my Golic knows. Mike Golic knows that's a really fascinating thing to say. That's going to inspire a 10-minute conversation. I'm going to give a much more boring answer. And I'm going to keep talking about this team. What about the Buffalo Bill? A team that has a quarterback who is talented, but maybe not.

at that level. If they do struggle this year, could kind of see a Mitch Trubisky sort of thing where they do take a step backwards and say, hey, you know, maybe this isn't our guy. You've given him three years, giving him all the weapons we could hope for. He just is not growing at the rate we want. That's a organization that is, you know, full of former Panthers executives, former Panthers coaches.

I don't know how they feel about Ken. Maybe they hate Cam. I don't want to put words in their mouth. But, you know, would that make sense as a team that has a talented defense, wants to run the ball, you know, has some familiarity with Cam? You know, of course, taking a free agent from the Patriots would not hurt things. I would not. I don't think they'd be heartbroken about taking a player away from the Patriots.

So that seems like a possible landing point to me. Bill. Not as exciting as the Cowboys, which is again. No, you know what? I think that actually is functionally more exciting than the Cowboys. Because I think him in Buffalo would be petrifying for people playing that team. Comprehensibly, they'd be the most physical team in the league because he just had such a physical element if you're able to run that style of offense,

where you got to account for another guy with the ball that could run right through you. And they have that makeup where I think that the, you know, people concerned about, you know, Cam's personality or whatever. Like I don't really buy all that stuff necessarily, but McDermott's got a good program going. They have leadership. They have, you know, it's the same thing as in New England,

just not as long going. So I think that that's a great call. What about the XFL news that came out yesterday, okay? off the NFL before we let you go, the rock part of a group that bought the XFL for 15 mil? I mean, you and me should have got together. So what's the deal with the XFL, man? I mean, I think it is just enticing enough of an opportunity

that you're going to see people putting together investment groups saying, hey, if we can just make this work, if we can just get this small portion of fans who care about football, they care about football in April, we're going to make a lot of money. And maybe that is possible in the right world. But we've seen now league after league year after year, whether it's the XFL, whether it is the AAF, whether it's the leagues in years past, there doesn't seem to be that consistent week-to-week fan base.

Now, will the rock change that? I mean, you know, I think the rock will do a good job of marketing it. But, you know, I don't, I've yet to see a model where that's worked for any extended period of time. And until we hear anything different about how they plan on doing things, or if they have, you know, let's say a built-in TV contract where they get paid for games up front, which FinC McMahon didn't have, which the AIF didn't have, you know, if they have that model, great, they can make it work. But that's going to be tough in a pandemic. I mean, we're going to see, I think, you know, the NFL is going to get paid plenty of money. I think they're fine. But in terms of those startup leagues, you know, I don't know whether it's like the zone, for example, the company that, that, you know, sells boxing and MMA paper.

few or their service. You know, maybe if the economy was great, maybe if there was no COVID, they would be willing to risk, you know, $40, $50 million a year for a new football league. I can't imagine that happening under the current circumstances, though. So, you know, I hope it does happen. I think having that space for players to prove themselves was great. I think we saw guys like, you know, PJ Walker, for example, gotten an opportunity that he wouldn't have otherwise.

And that's awesome. And I want to do those guys get reps, especially if the preseason does change relative to what we expected, or it was in the past. That could roll over in the next year. I mean, if we figure this thing out by the spring, you have this whole resource of guys that, you know, you might be able to pull from next season, you know, in lieu of no college football. Yeah. And I think ideally it would be something that the NFL would endorse and be a part of and want to be a part of, but that just has not been the case since the NFL Europe days. Yeah, I think they got to go more to like you have to, you can't beat the NFL at football.

You have to, you have to change the game and you have to change. And they tried to do it this year. It got crushed. But, you know, I think the rock might infuse a little. But to your point, it's not like it's a huge investment, relatively speaking. It could be looked at as a success, at least individual for the group investing in it. But I don't know if it's got the sticking power. So the burning question here, who does Bill Bernwell read?

Oh, no. Who do I read about football? Yeah, like, because when I think about information, I think information, I think information, you know, especially nowadays, it's around the world in an hour. And when a content maker wakes up and, you know, they have to check the temperature of the internet. Somebody sets the temperature on the internet or in the, you know, in the news cycle, you're the guy that sets the temperature a lot.

No, I mean, like, so where does the fire start? I mean, if it starts with you and people are reading you to create content and to formulate takes like how do you do it what's your process man this reminds me of that quote about twitter where it's um what was the quote like every day on twitter there's a main character and your goal every day should make sure it's not you not you i just heard that recently and that's why i got to fuck off that website seriously so i'm just wondering because like you you're you have such a wealth of information i'm sure that you do research things independently and put them you know you're sure the paper but but you got to read some people you know you got to read somebody

I mean, it's got to... All right. I give you one name, who I think is phenomenal, who I think is going to be, who I think is, if not the best already, is going to be the best. And that's Sheila Capadia,

who writes for the athletic. We used to cover the Eagles. I used to cover the Seahawks. Now is their national writer who's phenomenal. Just like, in terms of breadth of knowledge, in terms of, you know,

I'm not a trained journalist. I'm not, I didn't go to journalism school. I have no background on that. You know, I'm pretty much just writing in my apartment, in my pajamas. You just winged it?

You just winged it to become, like, so you just, you just read a lot and practiced and you developed the writing style over the years. It was pretty much entirely just, man, I don't want to do a nine to five job for my whole life. I'm willing to work super hard on something else. What can that be to prevent your phone? You know, like, I graduated from college and I was like, I worked in a call center and I was doing PR and like, that stuff's fine.

And I'm not going to want to Chris. Does anyone trust that? No, no, no, no. But it just was not for me. And I thought, okay, I'm willing to work, you know, 60, 70, 80 hours a week as long as I don't have to go do that. If I can work from home, man, that would be awesome. I'll make $28,000 a year. I don't care.

That's good. But yeah, so there was no, like, training or skill. But Shil has actual training and actual skill and, like, actually talks to people and, you know, has insight that I don't have. So he's the person where I read him and I'm like, you know, how can I put it? Like, if I read him and he disagrees with me, I think. think I'm wrong as opposed to like when I read someone else I'm like, ah, that's bullshit, I'm right.

They don't know if they're talking about. Like, Sheal and Greg Rosenthal who works for NFL network are the two people I read where I'm just like, okay, if this person disagrees with me, I got to reconsider my opinion because they're probably right. How do you handle it when somebody does hit you up from a league circle that's like,

hey, what you wrote was bullshit? It depends. It really does because it depends on like, if I say something that's factually wrong, I'm a little embarrassed and it happens, of course. I screw up things all the time. Especially if it's like, you know, like a cap thing where I'm just like, oh, well, this is how I interpret this and it turns out to be wrong.

You know, I appreciate it because I'm like, you know, I want to get better. I want to be smarter. I want to get things right. I'm not ever going to be a newsbreaker. I'm not ever hitting up, you know, players or coaches to try and get like, you know, scoops on who's going to sign somewhere. It's just not my job. Just not what I'm good at.

But I do have players and coaches I reach out to be like, hey, like, am I interpreting this right? You know, I looking at this coverage, right? if it's a guy who plays for a certain team or if it's, you know, a coach, like, you know, just, hey, you know, like, what was this guy's responsibility on this play or if it's a cap guy? Just, hey, am I understanding how this contract works properly just to kind of get a sense of like what's accurate? So hearing back when I screw that stuff up is fine. Like, that's not a big deal. But it's something like, you know, if I'm critical of someone or critical of something or like, you know, whether it's a trade or a signing or a move, then, you know, if an agent or a coach or GM, you know, will reach out to me and be like, yeah, I don't think you're right about.

about that, talk about it. And usually it's not like it's like something inaccurate. It's just difference of opinion. At the end of the day, like, I get stuff wrong all the time. Like, I'm never going to be perfect. I'm never going to interpret things 100% right. But like everything I've written for the past decade is out there. Like, right or wrong, correct or incorrect. Like, you can look me up and, and you can look up what I've written about every team or every player. And that track record is all out there for everyone to see. So like, I think especially in like the early days when I was writing, you know, if I heard from a coach or, you know, an executive or something, I was like, oh, man, I got to get this right.

And I want to get things right, but like, I wasn't always wrong. Like, sometimes they were wrong too. So I think it's, you know, if it's an actual factual thing, I do really get like, I want to correct it. It's the first thing I make sure I do it right afterwards, it's just getting that corrected. But, you know, if it's a difference of opinion, like, what I've learned is that the guys in their side aren't always right either. I mean, coaches just make mistakes all the time.

Yeah, they kind of do it every year. Yeah, it does. You know, it's not like the draft is like a perfect. model where, you know, everyone, like the best player is always the first guy taken. So when stuff that happens, you know, I think it's just, okay, I try to explain this is where I'm coming from. This is where, you know, I think that I disagree with you. And usually it's just a matter of like, you know, a coach either pass information to something I don't have, like about, you know, how a guy fits in a locker room or something like that or, or just, you know, they're not

weighing something as heavily as I am, you know, whether it's like, you know, a contract where they don't care about what happens two years from now or a trade where they don't think draft picks worth as much as I do, like stuff like that happens. the time, but at the end of the day, sometimes I'm right, sometimes I'm not. If you could have a prominent voice narrate your articles like an audio book, who would it be? You can't say Morgan Freeman. Oh, yeah, Morgan Freeman's like the cop out pick. Yeah, it's the cop out.

That's a good question, though. Who would it be for you? For me? Well, if I, you know, I do write a little bit, Bill. I'm a minor league writer compared to you, but I do write a little bit. So like, and I don't even have a, well, I don't want to say that out loud yet, but college degree, but I guess the, oh, David Adelboro. Okay, that's a great. That's a great one.

You know, and I think it's smart. I'm thinking accent as well. I think I'd go like Jason Statham maybe. Like, you know, like, you know, like, I watched, um, you ever seen Snatch? Yeah. Okay, so I just watched Snatch recently. Jason Statham was like doing like voiceovers for the movie. And I'm like, that's a pretty good voice.

I think I would do Statham like Snatch era. him not like you know like he's put on 50 pounds of muscle but just like you know sort of like disapproving accent like really british just like a little disgusted by what he's seeing but also you know still very British so it still sounds pretty intelligent if you were the commissioner of football for a day you get one rule change what is it oh easy I'm I'm getting rid of the the rule everyone hates the fumble out of the end zone rule I'm changing that to um not you know what, I'm going to pick a different one because that's an easy one. I pitched something a few years ago and involves ex-player, so I want to know what you think, Chris.

I hate the catch rule. I hate catch debates. My plan for how to solve this is brilliant. Nobody's with me on it. You can join me. And you know it's brilliant. I, this is one of those things. Nobody agrees you do.

It's probably brilliant. So here's what you do. Anytime there is a catch debate, we cut to the committee. the committee is 50 wide receivers and 50 former defensive backs sitting in a room. They get to watch 60 seconds of replays and then they vote. And so whatever they vote, whether it's right or wrong, whether it's catch or no catch, that's the determining factor. So you have ex-players involved.

The votes are also names. So like if Wes Welker, you know, like is always voting for a catch, even when it's obviously not a catch, you can call him out on it. You know, like it's different players every year. And they can't vote on former division games because I would worry that if you had, man, I don't know. I'm thinking of a retired wide receiver with a strong allegiance to a team. They probably can't be on that committee overseeing that game or said team's rival.

Oh, I don't know. I feel out the opposite. Just throw them in there. You've got 100 guys. If they're going to, you know, you get a block up like six cowboys who are only going to vote positively for the cowboys, that's part of the fun of the. this whole thing. Yeah. Yeah. That's really good. Who would you want to hear as the most prominent voice for entertainment purposes in that group? Would it be like a T.O. or who's heading that committee?

Who is heading that committee? I think we want to appoint one wide receiver and one defensive back, right? I'm thinking of guys with just tremendous hands, guys that were known for catching the ball. I mean, I don't know who it would be, but I figure if you're going to head that thing up, you got headed up with a guy who just had, you know, Velcro. Megatron? Maybe Megatron. And I trust him. Any guy that takes his ball and goes home in Detroit in the midst of a Hall of Fame career,

I trust him. I just trust him. I don't know. I like him. I like Megatron. That's a good one. I think I do with him. So an expansion team, you get to pick a city and a mascot.

Is there any city that is. prime for an expansion team. You get to be the owner. Like Sim City, but for football. So Godzilla comes and wrecks the stadium at some point during the year. I played a lot of Sim City growing up in elementary school, man. I played it too. I played it too.

I would go with London still. And I know it's weird. I know I wrote a whole thing about it a few years ago. Like I think you'd have to have like basically do like a training camp or do like a practice facility like somewhere on the East Coast. but then you'd only play your games in London, but just going there and being there for games and talking to fans,

you can get a really dedicated hardcore fan base. I think you'd have to win your team differently, but I think it'd be a really cool opportunity. They'd love it. They would love it. There's no doubt about it. I mean, they care a lot. And I feel like their knowledge is improving.

The irony of the whole thing is that the poor guy's got to be, the poor blokes have to root for Jacksonville. I mean, that's kind of like the Jacksonville. Jacksonville is like Jacksonville in the UK is like the the cowboys in the United States. Oh yeah. I mean, you know,

it is like, and it's funny because like you have Jaguars fans and you have like people from, you know, who are super hardcore Niners fans who will come and, you know, like super hardcore fans of different teams. And so, um,

I think it has to be its own team. Like I don't think it can be just like the Jaguars for a couple games a year. I think it has to be like a brand new team, brand new franchise and some players would not want to go for it. But I feel like you have a real, a real sort of competitive advantage. if you play your cards right.

Oh, you sure would. You sure would. Bill, it's been great, man. I really appreciate the time. And I hope you come back soon. It's been really interesting and great talking to you. I've read so much of your stuff before. We hadn't talked since 2008.

So this is great. I really appreciate it. Man, anytime, Chris. I appreciate it.