Green Light with Chris Long - Bud Dupree! Chargers, Jim Harbaugh & Khalil Mack + Joey Bosa! NBA Recap, NASCAR Fight & Tua Contract Talks + Private Equity in NFL

Episode Date: May 21, 2024

Talking Sports with GLP! Chris and Macon kick off the show with a Hello to Charles Barkley, we give a little love to the Fall Guy, Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling's latest masterpiece, and then jump into the NBA. We recap the Nuggets defeat at the hands of the Timberwolves and the Pacers knocking off the Knicks in game 7. We catch up on the sports news of the weekend - Scottie Scheffler's arrest at the PGA Championship and the viral NASCAR fight between Ricky Stenhouse Jr and Kyle Busch - and then talk NFL with Tua's contract extension rumors, Michael Brockers' retirement and the possibility of private equity groups joining the NFL ownership ranks. Then we welcome the newest addition to the LA Chargers, Bud Dupree, to talk about his favorite pass rush moves, playing for Jim Harbaugh, getting to rush with Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack, becoming a veteran in the locker room, making the move to LA and having Pittsburgh and Atlanta on the schedule this year. (00:00) - Hello to Minneapolis & Charles Barkley & Fall Guy Layup Line (7:16) - NBA Round Up: Game 7's, Knick's Future, Timberwolves are the Real Deal & which Finals matchup is the most competitive? (29:27) - Scottie Scheffler's Weekend in Kentucky (37:32) - NASCAR Fight: Stenhouse Jr vs Busch (44:32) - NFL Updates: Tua's Contract Extension, Happy Trails Michael Brockers & NFL Allowing Private Equity Groups a Chance at Ownership? (1:10:08) - Bud Dupree on the Chargers, Jim Harbaugh, career in the NFL & most underrated DLINE DAWGS in the NFL Want your Green Light Merch so you can look exactly like Chris and the fellas? Hit the website below and get kitted! https://stores.kotisdesign.com/yotehouse/products Have some interesting takes, some codebreaks or just want to talk to the Green Light Crew? We want to hear from you. Call into the Green Light Hotline and give us your hottest takes, your biggest gripes and general thoughts. Day and night, this hotline is open. Green Light Hotline: ‪[phone]‬ Send any Talent Search submissions to: [e-mail] Include any video of your talents, takes and bits as well as a little bit about yourself. Love hearing from the Green Light fans. Also, check out our paddling partners at Appomattox River Company to get your canoes, kayaks and paddleboards so you're set to hit the river this summer. https://paddleva.com/ Green Light Spotify Music: https://open.spotify.com/user/951jyryv2nu6l4iqz9p81him9?si=17c560d10ff04a9b Spotify Layup Line: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1olmCMKGMEyWwOKaT1Aah3?si=675d445ddb824c42 Green Light Tube YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgxWFAA-wuB7osdiAJyLOcw Green Light with Chris Long: Subscribe and enjoy weekly content including podcasts, documentaries, live chats, celebrity interviews and more including hot news items, trending discussions from the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, NCAA are just a small part of what we will be sharing with you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We think we may be over some of the schedule release stuff, but what was your reaction when you see at Pittsburgh and at Atlanta your first year in L.A.? Yeah, that's dope. That was amazing. And then going to tour, too, I don't know. I wasn't even thinking that the chores would play those teams. Yeah. But now that it is, man, it's always a great.

It's always a great homecoming to go back to Pittsburgh, no matter what team, you know, you're playing for. If you played in Pittsburgh to go back and playing Pittsburgh, it's always good. You know, it's always a great feeling. The fans will show you love, you know, you'll be. be able to feel that homecoming because the whole coaching staff who were there when I played still there. So, you know, they never changed.

Yeah. So there's always a good opportunity to see those people. Going back to Atlanta, I know it's a good opportunity for, not for me to buy tickets this time or everybody else to come back. Yeah, exactly. Welcome to the Green Light podcast. Thanks for tuning in today. We have brand new L.A. Charger Bud Dupree.

He joins Chris and Make, and he's going to talk about his excitement for the upcoming season with the Chargers. getting to rush with Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack playing for Jim Harbaugh, the move out to L.A. He also dives back in his career in Pittsburgh, Tennessee, and Atlanta, what it meant to him to have his family at his Atlanta Falcons games, and what it means to see a couple of those teams on the Chargers schedule this year. A great chat with Bud, to kick things off on today's show, we do a sports roundup. We talk about the game sevens and the NBA playoffs.

We talk about Scotty Sheffler's eventful week at the BGA Championship, the NASCAR fight that went viral Sunday night. And we also catch up on some NFL news. The rumored to a contract extension, what should he do? What should the dolphins do? We also talk about the potential for private equity firms to join the NFL ownership ranks. So a great show for you today covering a number of topics. We have a good time. Please enjoy and make sure you go see the fall. Minneapolis, Minnesota. Hello. Chuck's been there, man. He's been there. He's been there. He was there five years ago. Can you believe that that he thinks that little of us,

that he doesn't remember that magical night in Minneapolis? Bring yes! After the Wahoos won the damn whole thing, and we were back there at 30 people, Charles Holden Court, people crowded around, listen to him, talk, until his men in black took him away. It was crazy to me that Minneapolis shut down at like midnight on the night of the national championship.

Yeah, that sucked. Except for Charles Barkley holding the lobby of the Hyatt open for as long as he wanted. As long as he wanted. As long as he wanted. Until the handler said, hey, no more. I'll never forget. Hey, Chuck, let's do another shot. All right, hold on one second. I'll meet you over there. And then like the men in suits and earpieces were like, we got to go. The reason why he's the best is that he saw you roll in and he started saying, wahoo, wahoo, trying to say wahoo wah. And that's after we had won it, but we had just beaten his Auburn Tigers two nights prior. He was so nice to us.

So very nice. Yeah. And speaking of Chuck, like, I don't know how much you guys have been following the Bill Simmons speculation that the NBA, they're going to strike a deal with NBC, which would kind of throw a wrench into the Warner Brothers situation. And then ultimately is going to break up inside the NBA, which sucks. Like Chuck's a free agent this year. I think Kenny and Shaq, like, who knows, but Ernie's staying with Turner. So this could be it for inside the NBA. And it was weird last night watching without Shaq.

Right. Like Vince Carter does a good job. Where's Shaq, Ben? Yeah, where is Shaq? Because they had Dirk on a couple nights ago. He's been beefing with Shannon Sharp. They had Draymond on before then. And I think there are options like if you wanted to retool the cast, like it'd be great.

But it's never going to be the same thing. This is like, in my opinion, I put this up there with NFL live, like when it was Boomer. and Tom Jackson, I think about inside the NBA, I think about a couple sports shows that are just so iconic and so once in a lifetime that you can't replicate them. And like they're gonna remind you of a time and a place. And like in 20 years we're gonna look back and say,

man, do you remember when we used to go to bed at 1 a.m? because we'd stay up and watch. Last night for me. Yeah. I watched the entirety of that show. Yeah. Yeah, it was crazy. Yeah.

One of these streamers or somebody, will hire Chuck, and they'd be smart to keep Kenny with them. What would be smart would be these guys to have their own podcast. If they had an inside-the-N-A podcast, titled differently, and they just got on at night after games the way Shannon Sharp and Ocho do. Chuck and Ernie do inside the steam room together, but it's just those two. Yeah, if you can bring the other guy. Yeah.

And part of the appeal is he just said that on TV. Yeah. That's cable. Yeah. It's on cable TV. Yeah. So, I mean, I'm sad to see that show go if that's what's going to happen. But let's talk basketball off the top.

Hey, Reed, you got a layup line first off? I do. This stems from the great motion picture, Fugai. Which I was not going to see, but you say it's great. In fact, you've seen it twice. In theaters twice, because it's amazing. This particular song, you probably will hear 800 times throughout the movie. It's a cover of kisses I was made for loving you.

Okay. This is Jason DeRullo? This is Youngblood. Okay. This particularly, the best part of the movie is when, I'm not giving anything away. Ryan Gosling. Ryan Gosling climbs out of water and this song drops in the background. So you just made it.

And it's slow-mo and it's- Wait, are you gay for Ryan Gosling? Who is it? Huh. Huh. My favorite scene in the movie is when Ryan Gosling climbs out of the pool dripping wet. Hey, shirtless too. Emily Blunt's in the movie.

Is she in the pool? She's not in the pool. Does she get in the pool? No. This song sucks. No, the song's amazing. This song is great. Pairs with the movie, just splendid.

If you can see it in theaters, do so. Okay. When does the song get good? Right here? Oh, it picks up a little. Wow. Are those drums? Who knows what they are?

It gets the people going. Okay, all right. Who knows what it's about? This is better. This is better. this is better read can you see like ryan gosley getting hit by a card at this song i could see him spread eagle who's that in the deleted scenes that yeah it's added deleted scenes okay that's pretty good that does sound pretty good but what you tell me what happened in the NBA what happened in the NBA

Nick's fans get their hearts ripped out but not like not in one moment it was like you had a whole quarter and a half of oh yeah it's over like even if We win the series. It's over. This Jalen Brunson breaks his hand. And that happens all the time, guys swiping down at the ball. And it just so happened to the best feel good story in the playoffs. Right.

Like even if you hate the Knicks, you kind of, you got to respect this team, what they've been through, the injuries, coupled with the fact that the Pacer shoot like historically. 67%. The best shooting percentage in playoff history in a single game. it's the most points the the pacer's have ever scored i think and it's the second most in the game seven of all time and it happened to the nicks like you can't make this stuff up the basketball guys don't like the nicks but the rebuild is going great this is all part of the process you want to talk about a process this is a capital p process they've done it the right way since the pandemic they flipped this thing there's barely any guys left on team from a couple years ago they just need and

you know like for the longest time the nicks it was well who wants to go play for james dolins nicks and like they're just terrible who would want to go there like carmelo tried it amari stottamara tried it at the end of his career um jeremy lynn tried it but nobody's tried it now like jeline brunson is the guy who took that that step right like indiana jones in last in the last crusade where he's like got to step out over that like invisible bridge he's like i don't know like going to new york sounds scary and it sounded scary for nix fans to pay that guy so much but it's worked out yet here we are and we're saying we need a litany of things to take it to the next level one being like another star to support you know jalen brunson take the pressure off him and i got to say like if you're if

like this isn't my homerism take and i'm not some enormous nix fan like i'm pretty casual will Knicks fan at this point in my life. It is an attractive destination. You know, if Tibbs doesn't scare you off, is there a better number two than Jalen Brunson in a league? If Jalen Bruns is the number two? From an output standpoint, the guy scored 40 points like five times in the playoffs.

I think he's got to be a one at this point. Well, he is a one. But if you are trying to reason that there has to be a superstar that's that compliments Jalen or that Jalen becomes the relative Robin for, like if you are framing that that possibility for any number of NBA stars like I would think in York with the market the way this team's ascending the depth they have and that's they have to make trades they have like seven first round pick that they can trade so I would see this is

an attractive and I think there's a misnomer that guys don't like playing for tips because some guys don't like playing for tips because if you're on the bench don't get in but if you're playing you're going to play 40 minutes a game which dude's love it does seem like guys like tibs like at the you know at the podium jalen's unhappy because they weren't close to a championship josh hart's talking about like i've been a homeless in the NBA like i've been to four or five different destinations and i found this place and like you could tell if if josh hart plays his role in new york they're going to love him and he's going to love new york hopefully he's found a home i you know the injury to annanobie was it like it was it and by the way

as like a side note, you know, and I said that there's no hard-ass coaches in the NBA and players don't work hard in the NBA. Everybody's like, what about Tibbs? Well, obviously, these guys couldn't handle an NFL schedule. But a lot of these injuries are just freak incidents. Like, I don't think it's Tibbs pushing these guys hard. Like Mitchell Robinson got hurt. He would have got hurt whether his load was managed or not, you know? The same thing with Jalen Brunson, swiping down at the ball, just happens to hit the guy's knee. Ananoby probably play. too much off of rest but mostly Bogdanovich yeah I mean that was a fucked up Julian Randall but too hard on him it just did become everyone it became he just became

everybody and I think like yeah like Tibbs has a reputation but it wasn't about these guys getting worn out it was just they had bad luck and I don't know what it is about the basketball gods maybe this is part of the the Knicks arc where they have to lose like the the Timberwolves yeah you know you're going to lose a couple times but I do want to give credit to the Pacers, man. And I don't follow basketball like some other people like Matt, you tell me. But I can't think of a team that's more evenly distributed. Like they don't, I mean, Halliburton's a star with a lowercase S,

but he's not one of these big letter stars. No, they have a great coach and Rick Carle. Carlisle knows how to win with like a single good player like he did with Dirk and just build a great team around him. Although the Pacers are getting a ton of credit for like the Seacom trade. I think it's interesting to look at a sliding door moment. moment two years ago they offered dionre eight and four years 133 million so they could have been wrong and phoenix matched it that's the way it goes right like it's like people taking credit for certain

draft picks in the NFL and that sort of thing well they might add another guy maybe tom brady fell to the Patriots you know the point is like sometimes you get protected from making the wrong decision and i'm a big fan of rick uva guy obviously a champion probably one of the most overlooked head coaches in the in the NBA one of the greatest coaches of all time in the NBA but overlooked even in today's in today's landscape and i think part of it's the market um well and they were running into a buzz saw on msg on a sunday with the boston celtics looming like it was a foregone conclusion that the nicks were going to win he said it and rick just said let's go run run run tempo tempo tempo shoot well you just knew they weren't going to be able to match it like i bet the

nix but that was my heart and i kind of had a feeling was the wrong and when we talked about this series like a week or two ago. I was like, oh, maybe we lose in seven. And that's kind of what ended up happening. And Matt was right because it's probably one of these series where the home teams win every game except game seven, which is wild. And last night I saw this thing about like since the bubble home teams in game sevens, they're not getting it done. Four and eight now, I believe. They're not getting it done. And they weren't getting it done yesterday. And out West or or at MSG. And so like if you can't win a game seven in MSG, this could be spun a lot. lot differently, but I think the way it should be spun is like, this build is going well,

this team is fun. We know what the ceiling is. Like we thought maybe you could get Boston trouble, but half of that is just is wishful thinking. You know that if you want to win a championship, you need to add players. Will the, will the next re-sign O.G. Ananoby? Oh, yeah, probably for $40 million a year, I would think. Okay. He could play quarterback for the giant. They still could re-sign him and then acquire somebody like Paul George in a trade. Yeah, so I think Paul Georgie, If you look at it, like, I think they get at an elite like wing defender, right? Like, when we talk about this and reading NBA heads, writing about this stuff, like I think that's one of the pieces they need.

And like Paul George is one of the guys that it actually would make sense because he's got the player option. You could sign and trade. And you add him, he's not the type of offensive threat that's going to take the ball away from Jalen Brunson. You're going to feel like there's pressure. A lot of these stars, you're like, oh, I got to spread the ball around. you got to get certain touches. And I feel like he would buy in with his defensive background, the length.

As for like a score, I don't know if you could add a score this offseason, but the possible trade for Donovan Mitchell, although I don't know how that would fit with Jalen Brunson, but that's a name that's been put out there. Right. The fit doesn't seem as it seems a little more redundant than like a KD. And defensively not as strong. No, but like are there superstars that are not on the radar, so to speak, right now that you think would fit really well?

well Kevin Durant Kevin Durant will be awesome yeah perfect he's been talked about a little bit yeah I think it'd be like I heard joel m beads name thrown around but I just don't know if that's the fit I just don't think the sixers will we'll move on them yeah I don't know but given I don't want to turn it into a next story that they're a fun team Indiana's a fun team this is going to be a fun series I'm going to be rooting like hell for the Pacers by the way since 2011 teams winning championships in the NBA with yellow colors. Did you know that the Pacers have not worn anything but those yellow jerseys this entire playoffs?

Yet they could be better. Oh, for sure. You know, we could go back. Go back. The Dale Davis days. Even go back through all of them. I think, I don't love any of the Pacers. I don't know.

I don't know the pinstripes. They're not great, but at least it reminds me in the 90s, which this series did a little bit, you know, seeing the Pacers and the next play. But some of these teams, like the Nuggets who wear that ridiculous 5-280 jersey. So stupid.

And the Unigods were looking out last night with the T-Wools. Some of these teams can wear seven different jerseys in a seven-game series, and it's crazy that Indiana's won their yellows. No, I know. And like, we are potentially really fucked with uniform matchups in...

Well, Celtics T-Wolves could be... Celtics' wolves would be great. Celtics will look really good, but Pacers Mavericks, Mavericks. Terrible. I mean, put the fucking cowboy hat on the basketball and call it that day, dude. Correct. You know, give me the Jason kids and fuck off.

But another thing I want to happen is, here's a wild card. Luca loses this series and Luca, the temperature turns up in Dallas and like maybe Luca's out and he goes to New York. I think Luca's going to be one of those, Steph Curry plays his whole career in one place. Yeah. Yeah. And I think when you look at it, like I asked you earlier, like you got to be prepared for a Pacers, Mavs final. You got to be prepared for a Minnesota Indiana final. I like the ratings Anthony Edwards thank God seems to be the second coming of Michael Jordan he's 22 he's young he seems like he's going to be a face of league but you know when you look at the ratings and viewership for the finals like it is different you you brought up LeBron I see a big difference from you know the the big market series that we've seen in the last couple years where where it was what Miami and in LA in the pandemic luckily because I think that would have 10. It ranked hugely if it weren't for those two big markets.

You had Phoenix and Milwaukee. Phoenix and Milwaukee. That was a weird time, right? Because it was post-pandemic. So the finals were like in July. And it felt really weird. It felt like people weren't interested in the games. And the ratings reflected that.

Golden State Boston wasn't highly rated either. Golden State Boston, there were a lot of viewers, though. Because you think about it, it's just natural. Like, it's Boston and San Francisco. And those are two big markets. And you got star players and that sort of thing. the NBA has just gone the way of like it's really hard to to repeat it's really hard to be back there and we haven't seen it done in some years in Denver you would think they were just getting

started last year they run into this buzz saw and I think a lot of it is match up but I also think it's like you got to be tired after making that run like when teams aren't used to making those runs like the the attrition like they got they got run up and down the court in a game seven that altitude yeah like minnesota what they just did to blow their lead to beat the defending champs at home game seven to be down 20 it's fucking insane biggest losers altitude biggest losers altitude biggest winner is bruce brown yeah you need to have those guys bruce brown who else was on that bench last year for Denver jeff green christian brown was too and jeff green they lost jeff green and bruce brown and they uh it it it showed not deep enough

The concern with Denver has been that they're a little soft outside of Yokic, and I think that proved itself. The combination of Nasree, Gobert, Town. Like, Towns was great. Towns has gotten so much shit for not playing a team brand of basketball. He sucked it up and just, like, did what he needed to do, that putback dunk that he had finished the game. Anthony Edwards, like, I don't know what Carl Anthony Towns and Gober need to buy for Anthony Edwards, but they need to buy them a lot of stuff because I think, like, most people, if you ask casual NBA fans, like two of the top ten hated players are cat and then like way up towards the top is gobert like every time i turn on the tv it feels like people just don't like gobert yeah including the guys on inside and you know at half they

were like get him out of the fucking game dude he's just getting bodied by yokic and that sort of thing and then in the second half like you asked anthony edwards and cat like when the game turned it was like when gober hit that step back jumper and you know like yeah was he outmatched by yokitch but yokch is a fucking MVP man like this guy and and all these big long guys give them a differentiating factor like they just feel like a football team out there don't underrate the impact of mike connolly's leadership like there was a miced up moment at half time where he was talking to aunt and he was like hey man i need you to move off the ball yeah and aunt's like i got you i'm gonna set screens look at the second half ants moving off the ball they get better movement like they're moving off the ball

they're the perfect rock for them they're moving the ball backside they're hitting their open shots like they made great adjustments and like another thing is there's some pretty good coaches left in this in this tournament like you know coaching still works you know you think about the best coaches in the NBA you know there was a while there and I still feel like it's going on it's going on in LA right now with LeBron where they're like hey are you picking the coaches like not my call it's like it's more drama than you even need like this shouldn't even be a conversation when Steve Nash coached the Nets and that sort of thing like people are always looking to handpick their coaches but you've got Tibbs Malone the guy in

Minnesota's done a great job like a norrie yeah he's done a branch is the head coach but he's You could be Mike Anori. Why? Because he's just standing there, listening to the head coach behind him. Right. Yeah. Because they're at ACL. Yeah.

But anyways, I just think these are well-coached teams. And even the Nuggets, like, that's a ball coach, dude. In fact, that's the biggest dent in Boston's resumes that I don't think their coach is so good. And they're a great team. And they're going to win in five. You think they win in five? Yeah. Okay.

I do. Altix wolves, baby. I think that'll be fun. I thought it was fun in. you pointed this out right before you were like have you seen this video but yeah the uh carl an anthony towns anthony edwards the line of questioning as an athlete it's familiar even if it's not basketball like i didn't think the question that malone was asked was as stupid as he made it sound like how do you how do you he was just pissed he was just pissed now the winners on the other end are

asked this ridiculous question and most people on the surface would probably agree like hey do you feel like you had to lose one of these to take that step. I feel like this, first off, who made that rule? Yeah. Like there are teams in NBA and NFL history that did not have to lose. My favorite line is they're, they're so young, they don't know any better. They don't know any better. Yeah. Right? Which can be a real thing, right? But most times teams are going to get there or they're not. They're going to lose sometimes. Most teams lose series before they win the big one, right? And so I think what struck me about this reporter's line of question, I don't know if he's a local guy or not if he's national media but like these guys have lost series they've lost the last

two years you know like and it was like how many times you want to lose shit like do we have to prove that we can lose before we win like we've already done that and I think what that goes to show is it's basically the question is yeah but like when we knew you were good in pro sports there are teams that are loading up for a couple years and there there's a lot of fission going on inside right There's there's, there's, there's, but you can't see it outside. And like, Anthony, yeah, we could see it last year a little bit in that they lost to Denver four to one, but it was competitive. Yep.

And you could see that they bothered Yokic, like the blueprint was there. The blueprint's there. And they know it inside. They're sitting there in the offseason like a football team and saying, hey, we're going to be pretty good next year. And Yokich himself said that that's the team designed to beat us. Yep. Yep.

And their GM came from Denver. Now, how do they match up against Dallas? Pretty well. I mean, they got to throw aunt on Luca. And said his matchup is Kyrie. Yeah, he did. He made no bonds about saying that. Yeah, said he was excited.

So, I mean, this is going to be a great series. I'm looking forward to both series, really. And is there one very lopsided final that you can conjure up? Is it Wolves Pacers? Wolf's Pacers. That's probably the most lopside. I think either of the other ones would be competitive. Who do you like to win the whole thing, Matt?

Minnesota. Me too. Minnesota, Boston, and six. Boston over Minnesota with a healthy zinger. I would be puking all over myself. By the way, the LeBron thing, we alluded to it earlier. I just think it's really funny that JJ Reddick is possibly going from like, he gets this podcast and he's like, oh fuck, I could be the Lakers next head coach.

Like that's insane in this business that podcasting with a star can get you an end. I'm not saying that JJ couldn't coach in the NBA. I'm sure he's brilliant. a basketball level and seems to get along really well with everybody i do think like being in the media being an interviewer is a is a if you're a good interviewer it's a signal of emotional intelligence and like jj probably knows how to work a locker room but for jj like this isn't as easy as it seems like this could fuck your career up taking this job like your life's pretty good man you know maybe just keep having the best podcast in basketball coach the lakers that have not

coached anymore. It's very tantalizing. Like I could be LeBron's best friend and go coach him, but like what happens day three when you have your first big fight? You know, what happens when, you know, the guys don't want to play as much? What happens when like when LeBron's jumping up and down and yelling at you for not challenging? Yeah. And so my thing with JJ is like, hey, it seems obvious. Like if the Lakers offer you to be the head coach, you'd take it. But I don't think so. If I were JJ, I'd stay there in podcast and I'd say, hey, LeBron, let's keep, you got to put the podcast first, not your career because like you and lebron having a podcast for the next 10 to 15 years like that's going to change your life stability going to la for two years before lebron retires is not like that's not

a power move that that's the move where he's like oh that guy did that like 10 years ago i forgot about that with the 56 pick in the NBA draft the lakers select brawny jane exactly dude you already are picked slotted USC so i think you look back at it one at one at one moment point be like oh that's like when oh yeah didn't dennis miller do monday night football like it'd be the same thing it'd be like i remember j j coach the lakers i'm not doubting his his aptitude but what i'm telling he's like you're walking into a shit show man yeah even if lebron's cool as fuck it's like that man's ambition is crazy and he likes things done the way he likes things done he has that cachet where you can do that you would have to be a beta you'd sign up for being a beta and if ever if anything goes

wrong your reputation is going to be ruined not lebrons yeah i'd want to be guaranteed that i could survive lebron yes if i took the job i don't think they're writing those up i well you can't play forever yeah you're right you're right you're right right but if mbc comes back and they you and then they fucking take away inside the NBA as long as you bring back round ball rock fox has it though really i don't know how long they have the rights but they're using it for college basketball which is a total mind fuck it just feels so different we see the peacock yeah and you know bring back the tesh at red rocks yes be roll a blimp over the delta center oh come on dude it was the this weekend i had the boys just me and so saturday i was like you guys want to watch the jazz bowls finals like let's watch it on youtube

like the whole game well they lasted five minutes the picture wasn't good enough for them they were like what the fuck is up with the picture where's michael jordan but it was a lot of fun like you had the round ball like you had um the jazz bear we talked about him last pod with sparklers like descending from the rafters like i'm pretty sure the pyrotechnics were not up to bar the whole thing like that was the 90s bro the electricity was palpable i just miss it so much i think everybody misses so much and i think for a second for five minutes before they ran upstairs to play 2k because the picture is much better i think they understood what the 90s is all about which is like electricity and i think there's a lot of yearning right now in sports and in the real world to get the 90s back.

And we didn't even really know about Carl Malone's personal views. Well, we didn't know about his personal actions. Yeah. Okay. But here's the thing. What it all boils down to ultimately is that the world is too connected in sports and otherwise. If we go back to a pre-internet era, everything will be fine.

But until we cord cut, so to speak, when we don't even have cords anymore, just fucking zapping around the room giving us all cancer yeah like i i just don't think we're going to get that feeling again it wasn't just the sports it was it was the it was the it was the it was the it was the it was the way we lived and i missed that i also miss round ball rock and i miss hand checking and i miss like 85 82 games and the mystery of the icons like michael jordan was shrouded in mystery we didn't know what he was doing every single day of his life he was he was shy gilded alexander like she whatever the fuck his name here's another guy like on the nix Talk about elite defenders.

Oh, he'd be fun. Okay. Big foul for him, though, on that three-pointer to lose the game. Yeah, for sure. But who cares? Hey. One last thing, the disappearing shoulder stripes are never going to look good.

They don't look good now. They're not going to look good in retrospect. Which team are we talking about? The sick T-Wolves unies, but on their shoulder stripes, they disappear. Yeah. Like they just go into, they're awful. I hate that. I'm just so glad they,

they got wise and they're wearing the KGs. For sure, but they wear them sparingly. And then I was like, oh, man, that guy is well-dressed. And then it turned out to be A-Rod. And I was like, oh, it's kind of a bummer. Warrior Cs had 12.4 million viewers. I mean, that was a pretty good series. Look at the last couple years.

The NBA has to have a big finals. And it would be great because it's all about like replacing LeBron. I'm not saying Anthony Edwards is going to replace LeBron, but you need to pass the torch to somebody that's got that electricity and the ability to go deep into the playoffs every year. And I think like if they can keep this core together, they're fun and they're physical and they're fun and they don't score 140 points every night. Like it's fun.

It's like defense. If you like physical play, like this team is fun. If you like post game interviews with comedy. Yes, dude. And by the way, put Cat on a list of guys whose voice sounds nothing like he looks. Yeah. Yep, yep. You know what I mean?

He's also an Eagles fan. So maybe we can get, we can talk to Ken. cat about getting an ant on in the off season. Maybe we can get cat and ant on in the off season. Talk to Anthony Edwards about football, because I think he could be very good. Okay, anyways, that is basketball. Let's knock out a couple of these.

Let's knock out the white sports. Okay. Because the white sports were acted up this weekend. White guys were going nuts this weekend. Yep. on X when Scotty Sheffler posted bail. I don't even know if he posted bail. I'm pretty sure they just picked him up.

The owner of the fucking Valhalla picked him up. He told the guys in jail he's going to Valhalla. They were like, you're not even in the white supremacist group. So like, I'll be there in the morning. If he wanted the full experience. Yeah. And he was like, what are you talking about? And they were like, do you want a sandwich?

Uh-huh. Ridiculous. Oh, I mean, there were so many funny skits about Scotty Schaeffler and like some frat boy from like Louisville who was in there with like a rip docks He's just like cornering Scottie in jail. If he was in a cell with the bros, like it was the worst thing that could ever happen. There's also a good chance most people in jail didn't know who Scotty Shephler was. Like the cops, yep.

Especially the cop. Okay, I'll start here. Probably a misunderstanding, right? Definitely. Like a lot of things that escalate with police, right? And that was my point with my little tweet. It was like, oh, now cops have to chill. People didn't like that.

Some people like that. Some people didn't like it. I liked it. Well, it's just fucking obvious to me that like, this is how a lot of things start in other scenarios that go badly. Not to mention the fact that, like, you know, Clay Travis is getting on. He always thinks he has a point that Clay Travis. If there's one thing he's good at, it's thinking he has a point.

I think on his head is really funny to picture Scotty Shuffler in jail for a night and then going out there and buy all accounts shooting pretty well the next day. Not even for like an hour. An hour. It was just an hour. Yeah. all right like you don't like the word privilege like to stop giving it to people

Clay Travis's tweet said something to the effect of like hey if a black athlete had gone you know had this had happen it'd be we'd be burning it down right now well I also think Clay if a black athlete did that the night before whatever the biggest sporting event of their life was not that this was for Scotty the black athlete wouldn't be playing the next day I think that's the different.

Correct. Scottie played an, he wouldn't have been just booked in process. And maybe it could have been a black golfer. I don't know. Like you could, you could argue some Tiger Woods parallel or something, but like, I just don't think so.

I think Scotty Schaeffler is a hero to the white man. And I get it. Like the guy's electric. He seems like a great guy. He loves golf. Like, he's very good at golf. Electric?

Why? Oh, he's just like electric in the way an electric car is electric. He's electric in a very Caucasian. Yeah. Okay. So like I get it. Scotty Sheffler seems like the fucking man. And did he do anything terrible? No. He just didn't. What are you talking about? He destroyed a cop's $80 pants beyond repair. I would also say that you could look at any number of athletes to get into trouble. And fans always say, well, why didn't they just comply? Or why didn't they just? I know you didn't do anything terrible, but just listen and none of the bad stuff will happen. Well, he didn't listen and nothing bad happened. And we went to jail for an hour. I'm pretty sure that cops in more trouble than Scottie Sheffler. And then the guy from Val Halla picked him up. So I know people don't like when sports get extrapolated into really political or like hard, hardline themes.

But this is a funny layup. It's like, I'm not saying it like, hey, Scotty Shepler should be ashamed of himself. By the way, on the Harrison Bucker thing, this is the last thing I'll say. We had that whole conversation. I'm pretty sure there's a lot of people saying, oh, Harrison Bunker's trying to be canceled. He's the leading jersey sold the very next day. at NFL shop.com. Yeah.

There are a bunch of alpha males A bunch of alpha males willing to wear a kicker's jersey to prove that they decide what's for dinner. So it's very funny. It's just like sports. And then Florio had this tweet

where he's like sports is now like politics. Sports has always been like politics and that is very tribal. Now we just have real politics involved with sports because of the 24 hour news cycle social media and the increase opportunity for athletes to speak out so i what came first to chicken or the egg i think sports has been tribal a long time it's just now we have even more stuff to argue about and a ton of mediums to do it so

right we get to hear what everybody thinks it's unfortunate yeah i'm just joking not great no but like the sheffler thing was funny yeah it's we're obligated to say somebody died and we don't like that part of it. Well, somebody died earlier. Correct. Right? A lot of bleary-eyed people waking up thought it was a much different story. No question. No question. And it was dark and raining and I'm pretty sure Sheffler probably thought he was a stalker. So I'm not blaming Sheffler. Like if somebody jumps on my car and I don't think they're like and I think they're like a Sheffler stalker, I'm going to keep driving too. But here's how that thing should go. Once the cop figures out that you know, it's Scotty Sheffler and there was a situation where maybe he was confused and that the

cops were supposed to have like recognize the credential of said vehicle right isn't that what happened cop made a mistake then the cops should be like oh fuck it's scotty sheffler my bad that should happen to anthony edwards too pulling into the fucking wolf stadium or wherever but you know it's not it's not gonna be the same for certain athletes right and that was the only point you got a wonder if it would have played out quite the same if jeff darlington hadn't been there filming everything Darlington was Scotty's best asset in this thing. Big Scotty Shepler fan here. I know little about him and that's why I like him.

And I read a report where Scotty did not, like on purpose, didn't try to tell the cops who he was. Which is really cool. Which is really cool. Plus five points. And the next day he was real classy about it. Yep. And it's funny though because you wouldn't think that he would have had to,

driving into the PGA championship in a PGA tour marked car, you wouldn't think that he would have to. say, I'm Scotty Sheffler, I am going this way. Listen, and a lot of the, some of those cops fucking seem really cool the next day. They're like, oh, it's Scotty Shepler and the whole thing. But the point is, is like, not every cop is free of a power trip. There are some cops who are on a power trip.

And, you know, we've talked about this at length. Well, that one had to save face because he got dragged. What's going to do? All my pants are ripped. I'm going to let him go. Uh-huh. Nah, in the back. Yeah.

Nobody rips my, uh, my, my, They're probably car hearts, so tread lightly. That's your department. Well, my car hearts wouldn't rip. Maybe they need to get some more issue, new issue of gear down there. The basketball officials, by the way, are wearing all black hokas. I noticed last. That shows really good.

All right. So then this one is bouncing around the white sport. Talking sports. Talking white sport. Talking white sport. Okay, another white sport this weekend, NASCAR. I'm a big fan of NASCAR. You know, one of the reasons I like NASCAR is because this shit happens sometimes.

You know, you get two guys, and it's some good old-fashioned fist-to-cuffs. You got a bunch of guys in Kroger's, Kroger outfits fighting a bunch of guys. And I don't know, is that bad for? And it's totally, like, welcomed. It's totally cool. What do you think about, what do you think Kroger thinks this morning? Anyways. I don't know, but apparently that's the father of Stenhouse Jr.

Yeah. That sucker punch. that who comes in. No, there was one guy that put, okay, so we need to paint a picture for the audio listeners. Okay, there was a NASCAR fight. And Kyle broke it down for me over text because he's really actually into the stuff. He knows Kyle Busch. He likes Kyle Busch.

He says Kyle's a great guy. Kyle gets a lot of shit from a lot of people. I guess like from what I understand in the outside looking in, like Kyle is thought of negatively by a lot of NASCAR fans for the reasons that are escaping me. And some other drivers don't like him because they feel like he wrecks them. Okay. Well, in this situation, you on the other foot, Stenhouse supposedly wrecked Kyle Bush. Now Stenhouse claims he didn't

wreck Kyle Bush. He claims, hey, it's a short track early in the race. If you can't pass anybody then, you're not going to pass anybody. So I got to pass some people. And then Kyle Bush says, hey, we're on like lap one. We don't even have water temp in the car and we're wrecking each other on two. Now, I don't know what that means, but I think it means it's early to do some shit like Stenhouse did. Now Stenhouse says he just shot the gap and that he didn't knock Kyle Busch into the fence Kyle Bush knocked in the fence and then hit him now I haven't reviewed the actual crash because why would you want to watch cars racing around in a circle but I would and I did review this fight 15 times last night from 15 angles the thing I love about it is the way they were carrying the camera

over Kyle Busch's head on the walk over to Ricky Stenhouse Jr's locker so to speak it was very w w and for the life of me I do not know why you would want to walk up to a guy named Ricky who's standing in front of a Dale Earnhardt Senior number three trailer. I have that too. Right. Like that guy's standing there like his GTA. This Austin Dylan has just totally taken over the intimidator. It's not only number but font. They just kept it the same. Yeah, that part's stupid. But the fact that Stenhouse is leaning on the number three when you come around the corner. And the guy's name is Ricky Stenhouse. And he's a short jacked king. It's a short jacked king who looked like he had some power behind him. I never knew when he was going to throw. Well, the problem was and I look, I've

listen back over and over again. NASCAR, next time you do one of these, don't do it during the fireworks so we can hear everything who said. But I don't think Kyle Bush said anything warranting a sucker punch. So in actuality, I think Stenhouse is the bad guy here.

You don't just sucker punch somebody with, like, I thought the way he punched and that Kyle Bush should like, fuck your mother or something. Like, he didn't say anything like that. Huge mistake by Kyle Bush holding this water. Why are you holding a water? Have your hands ready.

Yeah, dude. In football with the fights to say, keep your helmet on. Keep your hands free guys. You know, like I it's just it's poor execution by Kyle Bush and it's a little bit of dirty from Ricky Stenhouse Jr. who Kyle according to people in the NASCAR world says he's a trust fund guy. Oh no. Well, because I guess his dad is somebody that's the way you know Ricky senior who Ricky senior jumped on Kyle Bush at the end of this video and put him in a straitjacket. Yeah he did. Kyle Kyle was trying to swing on Ricky senior and couldn't move. couldn't even move dude and now he moved back and he's like i ain't on him and then i heard five times

get get my dad get my dad i don't know if that was because his dad was trying to whip up on uh kyle bush and he was a family affair but ricky hit him with the right and then he pushes him with his left arm and table tops him over a bunch of tires that was awesome and my favorite part of the video was before we move on was um the big tire changing guys that came out and started clearing the crowder guy like at the end it was like when the lions come in and clear out the hyenas like the first one came out was like get off her truck and like pushed him down and the guy was like the croaker guy was about to come back up and he was like oh that dude's like two 65 like tire guys are out here we got to clear out so it's nice to have big jack tire guys in NASCAR yeah I told you when we

went down there and we've been down on the track and stuff and I drove the pace car it's one of the most fun things I've ever done and then also I got to say like NASCAR's hospitality second to none. I felt like I could have been standing there watching this fight the access they gave me when I was driving the pit car. Like I was in there. Truex Jr. came up. He's dressed like the little bobblehead in my kids' room. Like it's pre-race, 30 minutes before the race. They're just talking to sponsors like shooting the shit. I love the NASCAR experience. My only advice would be more fights, not during the fireworks. But I think another thing that's appealing about these NASCAR guys and watching them fight is like it sucks to watch NFL players fight if you're a regular person because

you're like there's no chance like these guys are are the most powerful violent specimens in pro sports you watch the NBA guys fight someone can really fight they grow up fighting they got long arms right they're tall they can punch you from over here the NASCAR guys you watch and fight you're like I think I can beat up Kyle Busch like I know I can't but for a regular guy I stay Stenhouse he's a he's a little powder keg but I got reach on Stenhouse like regular people watching unathletic guys fight who are professional athletes is a lot of fun I was most disappointed because I think people look at me like they look at Kyle Bush. Right.

Just like mouth breathing, tall, skinny dwee. Yeah. Little, uh, meh. Yeah, a little man to you. Which was a bummer. Because I feel like I have the heart of a Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Yeah, but you guys had the same mannerisms like when he was like, that's not what happened.

And they got punched them. I don't know. You just stood there with a water bottle. No, I know. It's not good. The guys that in NASCAR that I like to see, are the guys that came out that flipped the tires. Like when we were down in the pit, a bunch of them were college football guys.

There were like so many guys. There were a couple of pro football players. There were guys that I played before that walked up. It was like, yo, Chris, I was like, I was at ECU or I was at UNC or all these schools around Charlotte. Because that's the, but I think, you know, I think these fights are good for NASCAR. car i think they are you know it's road rage it's acceptable road rage how when do we you know

rickie standhouse is like come find me after the race and it's part of the culture too sort of like hockey like there's not going to your charges filed no no they're just going to clear it up in house which is fine okay now let's get to the real sports football uh the NFL a couple things uh on the agenda before we get to our guy, Bud Dupree. There aren't enough good quarterbacks, man. Just pay him. You got to pay him. Pay him the money.

Pay him his money. Let me give you the other side of that. Okay. Can I give you the other side? Because I really have thought about the news out this week is that like two or wants more than 50 mil. And if I were two, I might want more than 50 mil because like as an athlete, you're supposed to convince yourself that you're the best and you're worth every penny.

And like, you can sometimes ignore certain things and, and highlight. the things you want to highlight in like an interior monologue, you know, as you get prepared to negotiate and you stand up for yourself. Hey, Dolphins fans would say, if you want to pay the guy, this guy is like, if you look at his net season stats and all this stuff, like, it's been really good. And he's turned out to be a good player, man. I think I've been pretty consistent about, too. I think he's a good player. Okay, I think the hyperbole has gotten out of control, and I've been from the beginning on the other side of that. But here we're. we are where two has come down to earth and we can have a real conversation about his value.

I think the other side of that is, you know, a lot of people talk about the stats. Well, if you're going to take the stats for the season, are you going to ignore the context that the statistics give you when the rubber hits the road? And I'm talking about against good teams in the playoffs. Has not one of a playoff game yet. There have been injuries, no question. And I know you could say like, well, we just paid Kirk and you just paid all these people and all that stuff.

But I'll just say this. minus 110 point differential against good teams last year. Okay? I'm talking about teams with winning records. 16 points average. I've been singing this song for a couple years. Eight touchdown, seven interceptions early in the season. When they beat the charges in the shootout, you're like, okay, they've arrived.

Tua's taking that next step. They've beaten a good team. You look at them a year ago. Prior, they lost a rock fight, right? Where Tua didn't play that well at L.A. They go back to L.A. They blow them out. It was a high-scoring game.

Then you go the entire year, and I don't think they've, beat a single good team. So the point to me is like if you're going to pay a guy, are you trying to sell tickets and and tout that, you know, you rack up all these yards, your offense is, is high octane, or are you trying to win championships? I mean, ultimately, when you can tend with a quarterback and giving them a big deal, I'm not saying you shouldn't pay him, but if you're talking about 50 plus, I say no way. I say no way. The other guy's in the 50 club. I'm watching Rich Eisen yesterday. It was my guy. I get in this particular argument with Rich all the time. when I come on a show.

You know, they're going down a list of 50 plus mill guys. And they're saying, you know, Burrow, different class. He's five and two in the postseason. You know, Lamar Jackson, different class, has been an MVP. He's got to get better in the postseason. But you'd be hard pressed to find a guy who would take two over Lamar in the NFL. Okay. Jared Gough, you could say, is kind of a corollary, right?

Because he's a guy who's got great talent around him. People think he's a little bit more on the game manager end of this spectrum, but I've seen him against good teams make big throws. I've seen him score 50 plus against the Chiefs. I've seen him in a Super Bowl. Get into the Super Bowl. Now, he laid an egg in the Super Bowl, but he got in the Super Bowl. I've seen him in Detroit win two playoff games this year. Impressive playoff victories. So you can't make golf the parallel. The only one that you can say, well, Herbert hasn't won anything. Guys, we are being disingenuous. if this is a parallel, because you pay people in this league

talking about these two guys in a vacuum on potential. Because neither guy, really, when it comes to nut cut in time, has proved it. So if you wanna use Herbert, who just got north of 50 as a parallel, be my guess, but you're ignoring ceiling. I do believe we are close to a ceiling. I think we've seen the ceiling, and it can be very impressive, but I don't see something that tells me over the next couple years,

if you bring him more well, or if you improve the protection or, you know, if the run game improves, most of those things have happened. Now, the protection has been spotty, but he's not a play extender. He has not played in well in big situations. And to just walk in a hand him 50 mill, I think would be short-sighted. Now, they have other options making. Can I interest you in playing out the option on the fifth year? Oh, for sure. Okay. Hey, my quarterback's Daniel Jones. Right, exactly. This is what got you, Daniel Jones, was overpaying a guy. Now, I'm not making a comp, right?

You could say Daniel Jones is one of a playoff game. You could say that Daniel Jones has not had the heights the Tua has. I'm not saying I'd take Daniel Jones over Tua. But what I am telling you is, New York's coverage has been a little bit more bare than Miami. So we can't make that comparison, those two quarterbacks. I'd probably take Tua over Daniel Jones, as much I think Tua's flawed. But you're looking at a $40 million contract. And, of course, in talking about these contracts,

there's a lot of people that when they hear me giving pause to this concept they say well you're just missing the big point the big point is if you pay a guy now he's not going to be top 10 in apy at some point like you know there's a reason josh allen's making 43 million is because it's been a couple years now it's a reason that patrick mahomes is making a certain amount of money is just all different deals and and the timing if you pay him 50 now or you don't pay him 50 now in a couple years it might be 65 okay But I would say this, do you really want to just pay a guy just because and lock yourself into a big contract? Tyreek Hill is going to be up in 2026, right? I think their window is Tyree Kill.

Yeah. Okay? Like, I don't think if Tua makes a jump, they'll be happy to pay him. I don't think they've seen enough to extend them now. And paying Tariq makes it tougher from a cap standpoint. The front office would have, if you got to pay both these guys. over the next couple years the front office would have to be gangbusters in the draft right then you'd have to accrue young talent that sort of thing uh lions have a 50 million dollar quarterback and a 30

plus million dollar wide receiver on the books but they make it they make it work because they draft well because all their guys are good that they draft and so the dolphins if they make this move have got to hit their draft picks and they got to find a way to pay tyree because this offense is not going to look the same without tyreek when tyreek left kansas city you know people are like is my home is going to be able to win a couple years later later, he's proved that he can win without Tyreek. I don't even know that Tua can win with Tyreek. So my point is, I would play him on the option, which Rich Eisen thought, that's not fair to Tua. He's proven it. Proving it where? You know, he's proven it against teams that

cannot handle their speed, the run game, the scheme, the quickness with which he gets the ball out. But when the windows tighten, the linebackers get better, people can challenge receivers because they're better. There's more pressure. There's more pressure up front. He does not look the same. And so I just look at this and I say, hey, play the option out.

Play the option out. If his feelings are hurt, so be it. And then in a year, if you're still not sure, franchise, you know, 40. Yep. And then Tyreeks going to be up and then make a decision, right?

But I got to tell you, I understand what the dolphins would pay somebody. I understand that like, you know, there are quarterbacks in the past. I've been like, yeah, fuck it, pay them.

But I just think the dolphins can be so good. And so I look. at this and I say like yeah it's been my crusade to properly rate the guy in Miami but I also look at it like for the dolphins they are so close to being somebody that nobody in football can hang with offensively and for a lot of weeks they are but when when the rubber hits the road they are not that team and I think it starts with the quarterback I would go as far to say like if you're mike McDaniel and you're Chris Greer be a running team like you kind of were last year on the low right because

Everything comes off that run game, that stretch action, sideline to sideline, play action, eye candy for linebackers. Well, they added another. They added Jalen Wright, the kid out of Tennessee to join Mosterd and A. And you're like, I didn't know we didn't have enough backs. Yeah. So, and they add Jono Smith. Yeah.

So, like, they are leaning more into the power side of the, I think in the second half of last season, McDaniel hit a point where he was like, okay, I know who the guy is. we've got to run the ball and this is going to be the meat and potatoes of what we do, I still think you could have a better quarterback back there to run that offense, but you could commit to Tua on an option

and possibly a franchise, bolster your team as a running football team and figure it out, figure out his replacement on the cheat as time goes on. I think Sam Darnold was the answer. I think I would have thought Sam's

making like 10 in Minnesota. you know, put two on the, on the, on the, on the option and give Sam Darnal a chance to wait in the wings. And if things aren't going well, give him a look. Tua could get hurt, you know, he's been hurt before. And over the next two years, whether it's trading for somebody or scooping up a kid, you know, at the end of training camp this year that you think has potential, he's on a rookie deal or something or he hasn't gotten paid, I think, I think kind of like trying to kill two birds of one stone.

Like be a good football team, lean in the run game. You obviously don't have a lot of options. You miss the boat. on trying to do something in the off season. I don't know that anybody would have traded for Tua, but figure it out right now. I'm not saying the guy's a bad player. I just don't like giving guys 50 million for no reason.

If you were Tua, would you take a Daniel Jones type contract or play out the option? Like if they offer you say four years 165 million. Yes, but I don't know that Tua thinks that. I don't know that Tua thinks the way I do, which is like I'm watching the film. When you're an athlete, your job is to believe you're the best. And I think I gotta give Tua credit for this.

Like he has been determined to be the best. And like he obviously takes it very personally and works very hard. And he's made some big leaps. Like I was rooting for the guy when when he was with Big B-Flow. Like I thought, hey, this is a kid who just keeps his mouth shut and competes. I've only ever heard good things about him. And then the McDaniels era came on. And I think the biggest issue has been the inappropriate amount of projection of the ceiling of that team with Tua as quarterback.

and he's felt that. That's been the elephant in the room. So Tua, the last thing Tua wants to do is be like, yeah, I'll take 40 a year. I'm going to make the same as Daniel Jones. Like, he's a competitor. He wants to be the best. He thinks that he's shown why he's one of the top five quarterbacks in the league. I don't think so.

That's the difference. And what does Chris Greer think? I think judging by their offseason, I think they're getting ready to pay Tua. But the number is going to be important if they do. And if they don't, I still think you make it work by playing out the option. Tua's big boy. You know, I think if you showed two of us sitting here, I'd be like, hey, dude, I got to see you win the big game before I give you 50

mill a year. What's your defense of that? You know, you can only tout the Broncos game last year and a couple of these blowouts so much. Like, we're trying to win championships, right? You're going to have to beat good teams to get there. Yeah, and beating the bad teams leads to road playoff games. And that's my, and that's my point is like, and this is not a team that's, they've

showed it. Yeah, they went to, they went to Buffalo. I thought that offense did a good job, right? That was the best offensive performance they've had in a big game, in my opinion. It happened to be in the snow in, in, in, in Buffalo. But that's what you got to deal with a lot. Like, you're going to go out and playing Kansas City in the ice bowl and you're going to have to go up to Buffalo or you're going to have to go to Cincinnati. You want to have home field advantage if you're the dolphins. And it can't just be on the backs of beating some 500 teams. Baltimore, all these places you're talking about. Burrow, Allen, Mahomes, Lamar. They're physical teams.

You're going to have to match their physicality. You can do that with a young quarterback that manages the game. That's the irony of this thing. I'm talking about game managers manage in every situation. Well, Mike McDaniels coming from a place where they're competing for Super Bowls with Brock Purdy, a seventh round draft pick. No question. So anyways, no shade.

I think Tua's done a good job. I just I just wouldn't hand him $50 million. It's so funny because most people, if you sat there during the Daniel Jones contract negotiation, and I think we did say this before. And hey, my, as I've retired and done this job, like over a couple years, like my thinking has evolved too. Where when Daniel Jones got paid,

I was like, you guys won a playoff game. Just pay them. We can't just pay people, right? You know, because most people sitting, in Dolphins Reddit campaigning for Tua to get paid are the same people that would scoff at just paid Daniel Jones. Now, I'm not

saying they're the same thing, but that guy does have a playoff win, and you can tell all the statistics you want, but it's about winning. That's why you pay guys. My tongue-in-cheek argument that they're not enough good quarterbacks, just pay them. Given somebody the contract can also lead to purgatory, like the New York Giants

find themselves in right now. No question. And I think the biggest thing you have to consider is when Tyreek Hill walks out the door, this team changes a lot. Now, I know you got Waddle and you got some other fast guys, but that cheetah is one-on-one. And in 2006, you're going to want to be able to hold on to him. And I think his game will translate into his 30s. So you don't want to do anything that's going to make it too hard. If you pay to a now and you plan on Pan-Tiree, you've got to be perfect everywhere else. Also, Michael Brockers retired. Oh, I'm going to shout out my guy. Your guy. I think, you know,

it's like when you get drafted in the first round, there's a ton of pressure on you. And, you know, got drafted right in the middle of the first round right around fletcher cox and like you know he he was added to a defense full of first rounders and uh i enjoyed playing with michael brockers he was just like every day in the locker room he would make people laugh what were you guys the mob mob squad and he was a big part of it dude like that's the thing i wanted to say about brock he turned out to be exactly what you wanted her to be which was a fixture for almost a decade in uh in st louis in l a he made the move with the team he was a guy next to aaron donald that made things possible for aran donald right he made things possible for guys like you know uh robert quinn myself um he fit in

seamlessly in that group um and was a lot of fun dude like he he was just a fucking he was a class clown to the point where when jare golf got traded i want to take the opportunity to tell this story but jared golf got traded we all have a group text the old d line group text um and uh golf got traded from L.A. to Detroit. And Mike was in the group text like, ah, this motherfucker's got to go to Detroit. Ha ha! Damn.

And this was after he made a comment to the effect of, we have a real quarterback. And I don't think he meant any shade towards, but like he was excited about Matt Stafford. Well, the very next day, the Rams traded him to Detroit. Yeah, right, right. And in Detroit, he was a really good vet to those guys.

like everybody I talked to was a great vet. So I just think he's all class. He was a really good football player under the radar, but lived up to the expectation being picked in the middle of the first round and did a lot of the dirty work. And we're going to talk about dirty work here in a second with Bud Dupree, but did a lot of the dirty work that made him a guy you want to have on your team. And so appreciate Mike Brockers.

Happy trails, buddy. Okay. One last thing on the end of the other. NFL before getting to Bud Dupree and that'll be the show for the day. I read a really interesting article about how ownership might change in the NFL. And I'm sure some of you guys probably read the same thing, but it's about the NFL attracting some private equity ownership groups, which is currently not something that they're allowed to do now. League meetings are coming up in Nashville. In March, they talked about it, the special council talked about it. It's like a special

council of owners. The reason you would want private equity people is most of these If the owner is just lowly family ownership groups, right? The teams are too damn expensive. They don't have a lot of money, right? And so when you think about things like building a new stadium and that sort of thing, it'd be nice to have a little cash injection. Another thing is, as valuations get high, you know, Broncos just sold for four and a half mill, or bill, not mill.

Maybe it should have sold for one and a half mil. God's team. and then the commanders sold for six and a half billion dollars like with all the bullshit that they've got going on shout out shut out Kenny chestney yeah FedEx field Saturday night he's going to you're going to go I don't know okay so anyways the whole thing is the valuation is getting high and there's way more billionaires believe it or not elsewhere around the world than in the United States like there's 813 billionaires in the United States there's 2700 worldwide. And so like there's just a lot of money out there. Um, and by not inviting some of these

these groups to the party, like you are losing out on a little bit more cash flow. And in other leagues, like they do this. Mostly all of them. Mostly all of them. Quietly too. Like in 2010, there were 26 deals broker by PE companies like in pro sports. Since 2015 has been 150 deals per year. And so like you look at the NBA, the MLB, the NHL, like this stuff pops up. Now, what the NFL is talking about doing is they're talking about bringing these groups to be minority owners. For sure. Maximum stake. No brainer.

Yeah, right? You can only own a piece of a certain amount of teams. And another thing is they want them to hold on to these teams for more than just a year. Because like private equity, it's more of a cold calculation. Like they might say in three years we want to flip this thing in the NFL. who's having a hard time finding owners right now would be like well fuck dude we got to we got to flip this thing again and again

now my minority owners don't make decisions right like the majority owner who has to have 30% of an NFL team makes those decisions so like most of those teams are set up that way anyways where there are a bunch of minority owners I learned this week that Lewis Hamilton was a minority owner is a minority owner of the fucking Broncos now I know why he was on there eating food exactly he'll try anything he's a little he's meddling too much in my opinion

that schedule release video sucked um but the whole point is like if this happens i pray and i think it should happen because this is what everybody else is doing what we're doing is kind of antiquated like if there's money out there to to improve uh facilities to to to to kind of cover the admin costs so to speak of a fucking NFL franchise like we you should go get them and i also think they're probably going to be smarter than a lot of these owners that the listen if there was a way to price david tepper out who you can't who's worth $20 billion. Like if this eventually becomes a thing

where we're getting rid of David Tapper, then great. I kind of wonder what they're chaffing up behind closed doors right now, try to think about getting him the fuck out of the league at some point. He's a guy's bad for business, like literally.

If this happens, you had better take the stadium proposals off of the public docket, dude. I don't want to see another stadium proposal. If one of these fucking big groups comes in, one of these EPL kind of sponsors comes in and just infuses a bunch of cash into a team the one of the reasons that they're talking about doing this is to make owners more liquid well I hope that liquidity doesn't go somewhere else I hope that liquidity goes into the organization and we no longer

see hey the fucking city of Buffalo has spent 700 million dollars on a stadium like cynically though I think the private equity equity firms would want public investment and might even spend money to curry public favor towards public investment. And I know I'm going to end up getting disappointed. I know fans are going to end up getting disappointed. But I do think net, whether you get that thing done or not, it's going to be good for the NFL.

And by the way, like in other leagues, they have minimums. Like I think in the MLB, you've got to go five years. So if you're a PE firm and you buy a minority stake in a team, you have to owner for five years. So they avoid the turnover that way. and also there are limits like NBA, NHL, MLS, NWSL, which is the women's soccer league, allow 20% private equity, and then the MLB is 15%. So, like, you can't own any more than that.

So this isn't going to shake up the sport. It could improve the sport, though. And if I were one of these bigwig groups, like, I'd be looking at the NFL. Like, you're talking about value in 2011, that TV deal went for 42-2, Bill, 2021, 2021, everybody knows. 110 billion i mean like give it another 10 years see what happens i mean we just saw two mba teams get flipped by private equity both the sixers and the sons and they made in the sixers case hundreds of millions and in the sons case billions of dollars so this is the way the world's going to go dude this is just the way it's going to go and i think it's good for for i would like it eventually

if private equity firms could own more than than 15 20 percent i would like it if certain private equity firms were majority owners because I think I don't know if I just feel this way but I feel like when it's a group of people there's more checks and balances when it's one person it can be um it can you can be it can be tyrannical it can be tyrannical it can be just like a fucking it could be david tapper so I think if we can get to the point where ownership improves the game will improve in untold ways like there'll be franchises that pull themselves out of poverty because they're not doing stupid things. Like, I think it'd be great to have, to have some of these groups in our game.

By the way, the poorest owners, think about, like, groups that could use a cash infusion from one of these P.E.'s. McCaskey, she's only got, like, she's, like, the 28th richest owner. The McCaskies, they've got a new stadium coming up, okay? Adams in Tennessee, 25th, and she's only got two Bill. Wow. And they're trying to build a new stadium, you know, like you need some walking around money for that. Pagula, they're the 16th richest ownership group.

They're worth 6.8 bill. And then Josh Harris, that's another stadium franchise that's going to be in line to try to build a new one any fucking day now. FedEx Field is just a dump. Is anyone in the room smarter enough to provide the counter argument for why it? shouldn't be allowed in the league? Because they're not going to be as involved. It's going to be more of a cold calculating endeavor for them. Styrofoam ladder on Reddit says private equity is going to end up being the downfall of society.

They've ruined everything else. Now they're going to ruin sports. Okay. Private equity might have ruined everything else, but it doesn't mean they're going to ruin the NFL. I think the fear is overblown, but the fear would probably be that they're like corporate raiders trying to extract value from the company and then get out. So actually, fuck the company. up and leave.

Yeah, like Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney, huh? I wish I had a good Mitt Romney joke to get us to Bud Dupree. See the myths on Bud Dupree. Bud Dupree's first name is Alvin. You know, Harbaugh seems like he could be

Mormon if I didn't know him. He's got that Mormon intensity. You know? Yeah, here's Bud Dupree. Hey y'all green light has official merch Like this hat right here like the one on my head is dad hat love this hat I'm not even a dad hat guy but this thing fits great this this hat right here fits great We've got hoodies we've got teeth by the way this hoodie is like

Super comfy I mean it's like soft plush It's not the type of hoodie that's gonna get stiff with one wash and the shirts too because like I'm a big comfort guy. Okay you got like this white shirt here you got the shirt with the logo the abbey road looking logo with dr fax smoking uh presumably a blunt kyle carrying cowboy reed make and driveling a basketball which i've never seen him actually do and me carrying a football uh and then you've got the the black shirt here too with the logo so uh stickers hit the link in the description in the video uh below the video actually uh and make sure to tag us on social media showing off your green light merch.

It's quality, quality threads here, okay? Wouldn't do it any other way. All right, as promised, one of my favorite players in the league, he's a dirty work guy, you know? He makes the plays other people don't want to make, and he makes him a lot, and now he's a charger. We're welcome into the show. Bud Dupree.

What's up, bud? How you doing, man? Man, I'm good. I'm good. Thank you for having, man. Appreciate it. Dude, we love your game. I know you and I have talked a lot,

but it's good to get you on the show because I really do think you're a defensive lineman's defensive lineman. I said the thing about dirty work. I mean it. It's been a lot of fun to watch you and it's going to be fun to watch you in LA. And I want to introduce you to my co-host here. Makin, why don't you do the honors? Bud, my name's Makin. And I want to get your take on my name being making because I don't know whether or not you come across Maken's being from Maken. No, for sure. No, that's a crazy name, man.

He was so fucking psyched to tell you his name was vacant. He was like, bro, we're going to hit it off because, you know, he's from Macon. I mean, Charlottesville, like we got a lot of Charlotte's thing around. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But no, he's actually in his hometown, and this is the first thing I want to ask you, there's Bud Dupree Day. What's that like? So, man, you know, Bud Dupree Day is, it's like, it's fun, man.

You know, it's basically a community event. You know, we give out there, we give out free food. We have, no, free stuff all the way down the road. It's actually the street I grew up on, and they changed the name to Bud Dupree Drive. So, you know, it's a great time for the community, great event, man. Kids having fun. All the parents are going to have fun. You know, they kind of let their kids just run around, you know, violent free.

And environment, man. You know, people don't got to worry about their kids. They know they're going to have a good time. They'll be safe. And they just go out of them and have fun. That their hair done, the parents can go over there and have fun with their little group of friends they haven't seen all year. And, you know, just a great opportunity, man, for the community,

just get together and bridge the gap. We need to come to Bud Dupre Day. Yeah. Well, I think that's the last that was coming. Yeah. Like, that's what I realized. Should be dope, man. Yeah, dude.

It sounds good down there, man. So how was playing in your home state and everything with Atlanta? Was it a lot of fun? Like, were the tickets crazy? How did you handle the tickets? Yeah, so that's the crazy thing about being in Atlanta. You know, the tickets was, you know, insane. Every game, somebody wanted to come.

But I understood it because, you know, a lot of, Being in Pittsburgh, people didn't travel to Pittsburgh. When I got to Tennessee, it was closer, but it's still weren't too close where they really can just come up the road and, you know, kind of travel. It's still farther away where I can be kind of like left alone. But, you know, in Atlanta, you know, it was no excuse. Every game, even if I didn't get in the tickets, they were going to find a way to get in that game. So out of the game, I have about 40 people each game, you know, waiting in the family section. And, you know, we only get like a certain amount of bands, but the team just started letting out my phone.

It was smooth, though, man. It was once in a lifetime opportunity. You know, obviously they're not going to come to L.A. Everybody not going to be able to come to L.A. But it was still a great opportunity for everybody to be able to see me play, especially to bringing the kids from the neighborhood and the community up there, man, getting them the chance to see me play too. That was the most special to me.

Yeah, the kids, no question. You got as many tickets as you need. But I wonder what your protocol is when, like, growing adults hit you up, like on a Wednesday in there, like, you, I need eight tickets for the game this week. Do you send them the list that's got the price of the tickets on there? Because I used to do that. Be like, okay, just so you know I got to buy them too,

or did you just pick it up or did it depend on the situation? So it depends on, if somebody told me like a week ahead, like it's my close family, I'd get the tickets. But it was like a round of them. Like, it was a lot of random people. I sent him my cousin number. And then she'll be the bearer of bad news and be like, oh, well, you know, this game we sold out, this game, we don't got them.

Here's the link, though. Here's the link. You can buy the ticket. They only like $50. Oh, I can't find tickets anywhere. I don't know. Hey, bud, I need tickets. I can't find them anywhere.

Do you know where I could find some tickets? That's how people do it. You know exactly how they do it. You know exactly how they do. I can't find them. Now, here you go to link. That's beautiful, man. One of the most, the best stories from last year,

watching Atlanta, and I really liked all the veterans you had, and I thought you guys played really well. And quietly, like, people didn't give it land a lot of credit defensively. But I think Ryan Nielsen's a great coach, man. And I was actually hoping he'd end up in, like, Philly. But they ended up with Fangio, so that's all well and good. But Nielsen down in Jacksonville, what can you tell me about Ryan Nielsen? And what kind of edge does he give people schematically?

What does he hang his hat on? No, he hangs in hat. Personally, I feel like he hangs in on technique. He's a very strong technique guy. He wants to align in an assignment. He's very critical on that. So, you know, he feels like if you're in the right place at the right time, he'll be able to make the play.

Yeah. That's what he really wants you to do. You know, Philly would be a good spot for him to beat because he loves that real four-down, that four-down hard look. And, you know, he's going to have them guys in Jacksonville trying to run through people face each and every time. You know, he likes to bigger guys, so he got up with Trayvon Walker down there. Josh Allen's a big-edge guy, too, and those interior guys they have,

you know, that definitely fit his schemes schematically. But, you know, he's going to, he's, what he's very specialized in, he's specializing the three techniques in the nose guards, though. Like, he spends most of the time with those guys than he does with the edge guys. And, yeah, and to the point where it's like they're doing the same drills, repetitive, repetitive over and over because he says he takes pride in those guys, being able to control the front and stop the defense stuff from people running the ball on us. You know, they played out good, too.

That begs the question as an edge guy. I always ask edge guys this. Would you rather play with the dominant three or? a bookend that's great i mean you've had tj on the other side you play with the radian side you play with geoffrey simmons inside what do you think actually helps more i full disclosure i always said interior rusher uh because they affect the the drop target and that sort of thing and you can run games with them yeah definitely i feel like um to take away the chips a lot you know to help for the edge guy personally yeah but uh you know you want to have that three technique that can

that can very very pass rush like a real like a real rusher Being able to get off field, you know, being at the run games with them coming inside of them. Like you said, making sure that the quarterback doesn't step up right into that gap. Yeah. And, you know, I was excited to play with Grady, but he entered the season early this year. Yeah. But Dave Alamato did a pretty good job of stepping up as well. Yeah, he was really good.

Yeah. I wish we would have put Kaleas inside more. Yeah. And, you know, there would have been a lot. That would have been definitely, no, helpful. Does Kaleas still have juice? Like, do you think he plays a couple more years? because I can't believe it.

We're the same draft class and I'll run into them all the time or talk to him and be like, I just cannot believe you're still going to Wednesday practices. You know, doing all this bullshit, man. Like, how do he do as a vet

and, like, how much gas do you think's left in the tank for Bigfellar? Bro, I think he can get the 20 if he really want to. Like, I think he can touch it. He's still playing, you know, he still playing in the high level. He still, he takes care of his body like, you know, crazy, though.

He's not going to go out there and practice full speed the whole, you know, the whole time. he's going to be real smart by how you go out there and practice. But when it comes to the game, man, I feel like he can, with a good rotation, he still can go out there and play you about two more years. What is? Because it's 17 right now, right? Oh, man, it's got to be, dude.

That's crazy. Yeah. I mean, so few linemen get to play 20 years. Like Jackie Slater, like guys you haven't heard of, like Jeff Skunina, but there's very few interior guys on the defense side of the ball that play 20 years. Yeah. I mean, that'd be incredible. But you turned 31 this year.

feeling like an old head or are you 25 mentally 35 physically how are you feeling yeah what calvin really has said on paper on paper on paper i'm 31 but in real life i'm 25 yeah exactly okay so you you're going with that answer yeah no but i still feel good man uh i went through a lot of bums and bruising man when i started getting hurt a lot you know that kind of like trickled down a little bit but you know as far as right now mentally and physically i still feel the same explosive fast. Do I want to play the collage's amount of time? No, I don't know how my body would feel then.

But, you know, it's still a blessing to be able to still go out there and run with the best of them right now, man. But, you know, it plays a part, man. You know, waking up, keep waking up and waking up, man. He plays a part. Everybody call me an aunt now. So I remember I would call now the older guys, OG. So now I'm the aunt in the room, so it's crazy.

And you play a really physical style. You always have, like whether it was closing on the backside or you, with the bull rush and everything comes off of it, you know, playing the run. I just feel like you're a complete player. And those guys, like, it can wear on them as their career goes on. And I wonder, like, has your game changed it all to accommodate the age? Like, you know, because as I got older, I changed the way I rushed a little bit because I didn't have that same explosion off the edge. But if you have the power, you can make the turn. transition. Have you changed at all, you know, your play style or the way you treat your body or go through the week as you've gotten older?

Yeah, definitely, man. I'm trying to, well, the coaches start holding me back a little bit more too, you know, giving me a couple days to, you know, to not go out there and go full speed. Because, you know, soon as we're on the field, man, we want to go balls a while each and every time. So we got to save ourselves from ourselves sometimes. That's a great job being in communication with the coaches last year in Atlanta. And then obviously now with the Charters is also great to be able to have, you know, Bosa and Khalil. Yeah. To be able to build those guys and not having to take the full load. And, you know, my body changes, man, definitely. I make sure I do a little bit more, you know, recovery aspect now, you know, even pre-practice.

Yeah. I used to them to do a lot of pre-practice stuff. You can just go out there and just warm up with the team and go get it done. But now I got to make sure I go in the building earlier to warm one myself, then one more with the team. to make you on real fluid and, you know, don't have any, just preventing of injuries type, you know, trying to make sure I'm going out there and get tight and the hips get tight in the hamstring and stuff like that as well.

Do you like, like I remember there was a point in my career where I had to be sold on not playing 70 plays? Like, say, you know, when Jeff Fisher came to St. Louis and all those dudes came to RD line, it was like, you know, Chris, like William Hayes is a great player. Like, you know, you're going to play 50. He's going to play 30. Like, we need to get him on the field and you need the rest.

that is that sounds good on the surface but then you try to try to try to rush with the same rhythm and you're in and out of the game that sort of thing like do you worry about not being able to set things up or build a rhythm and how do you get around that when you take less snaps to look out for your body in the second the second half of your career yeah that's the crazy thing about you know when no one never rid of it we it sounds good like you said it's sound good when you say you mean you're going to get a lot of place you're going to be fresh that it's sign good but we still want to be out there if it's 65 plays in the game, we still want to play all 65 plays. Yeah. That's just the, that's just the mentality that we have, you know, as edge rushers, too. Then, you know, when I was watching you in the end of your career, too, like, you still was being able to, you know, do moves and coming around

the corner, speed of power, long ago, I was still cross-shopping, and the thing about that is, I know I saw more sacks if we played more. Yes. So, you know, you always leave that audio, you always had it in your brain, like, he got that sack on that third down. He was

unblocked. I could have been me. Exactly. It's all about probability. If I was in the game when this happened, I get that layup. Yep. And so that's the hardest thing to swallow. Like, dang, you're going to have to, you're going to give some plays away.

Yeah. That's the hardest thing to swallow, I feel like. Yeah, no question, man. You know, I read with your power rush, because I think everything comes for you off of the threat of running somebody the fuck over, which you've done so much. But like, talk me through your mentality and what comes off of power. Do you prefer two hands? Do you prefer a long arm?

Why in certain situations? Would you prefer a long arm? And talk me through what comes off of power for people that don't understand. Yeah, you know, it kind of gets the edge short as well. You know, me too. I want to go long going stab off of the power. Kind of like showing the same angle. So now when I stick, after I went part and I'm sticking the long arm,

I also still going to the power move and I'll be able to let you see me. So I'm shooting the hand. And I'm coming with the outside hand now to get the outside hand off. And I can be able to turn the corner. Yeah. No, just try to make everything look the same and keep the same intensity, you know, going through it. But, you know, everything kind of feeds off itself. You run somebody over like two times.

The edge is going to get so much faster for you. Yes. You'll be able to speed, speed, dip, grip, side scissors, turn the corner, man. It'll be, it's a fun situation, you know, when you, when you're threatening with it. Do you like, do you like playing a puncher? Do you like playing somebody who holds his hands low? Like I remember at a certain point in my career, things started changing where a lot of tackles were going low hand. and then they were pulling a hand back

or they were going one low hand. What do you prefer and were there sets that you had trouble with early in your career that you started to figure out ways to combat? Yeah, so the set I had trouble with it was the, that's that new set they do when they go out and then back. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, they cut you off, make you think you got the inside,

and then they go horizontal and deep. Yeah, yeah, so that was the one that kind of like came by the, I feel like the Olamans start getting together, and they started teaching that. Yeah. Like, yeah, because it was one thing. It was one throwout that kind of like had everybody in the funk for a little while, and I really couldn't get over it.

And they talk. We don't talk enough. They talk. All those little motherfuckers have little camps and they spread the well. Yeah, they'd be talking before the game, acting like their friends after the game, asking about the edge versus them. I'm like, we're on the same team. Yeah.

By my moves. It's crazy, though. But, now, that's the hardest thing about it. But I like, I like personally, I like the ones who, you know, who hold their hands back. Because sometimes they put their sales in a situation where they be right up on the quarterback. And how you got to do is going to go through them. Punch. And the quarterback is right there at the line of scrimp, at the attack point.

Yeah. And despite of, you know, when they punch, when they really punch it, you really got to make that, you got to make that contact work. Yes. And you got a double move it right away if you miss it. And it's not all power. I think it's all timing. I think like you're really powerful,

but it's all timing when you put that hand in his chest. You know, is he turned? Is he floating? Is he deep? Is he, or does he have one foot in there? And I think with that,

personally, I think with the cutoff set and then the deep set, you can tighten down, right? Like, you can tighten down to make sure that he doesn't try to jump set you in the first part of that set.

So, like, there's different ways you can play with your alignment too. Yeah. That's definitely one you can do, go inside, make sure you win. Yep. And they're going to definitely so they add down.

They never want to get beat inside. They never want to get beat inside. That's the key, man. All right. So with Mahomes, you've rushed Mahomes before. You talk about drop target and that sort of thing. You know, I always say it would be really tough to block for Mahomes because you don't know where he's going to be.

And sometimes he's going to drift to 11. Sometimes he's going to step up and climb and hit the perimeter. Like, what's the key to rushing Mahomes? If you were coaching a D-line and this D-line hadn't played. him before and you were like this is going to be the key how do guys how do guys balance to create a pocket that that's mahomes proof my home i think it goes back to the great interior risk game with my homes uh you know you got to have someone who's going to be flashy inside and the win a win a and win a block fast yeah uh also got to have a guy on the edge who can go speed

apart but also a guy on the edge who can go scrape speed to be able to beat around and kind of run that hoop he's going to be that's the hardest person to kind of dictate throughout the league exactly what he'll be in every play. You know, you play Kirk Cousin and Aaron Rodgers, them, you know, they're going to be, they'll be right there where you want them to be every time. You just got to win a matchup. Lamar, too, like, he's one of those guys who's not going to be in that target area. Whenever you're collar, man, those guys are just great as kind of like changing it up.

They're making you think that they're like going to be there, but also they're not as well. So now that's something you really got a film stuff, but I think it goes to the number one thing is in Great Interior Rush. coordination with the edges together. Yeah, and like Lamarle, he'll tease that B gap, and then you'll pop off in the B and then he's around the corner. He's almost like running back the way. Yeah.

Yeah. The fuck out of the football, but like when you're back there trying to close gaps, it's like you got to play it like the run game, you know, like you got to show color in the B and then be ready to pop back out. And guess what? He's faster. So it's like the quarterbacks have changed so much in this league that it's really hard, especially when you play man.

You know, like you got to know when you're in man behind you. then you got to go pressure rush and we hate that yeah everybody hate that everybody hate to go speed the power the whole game because the quarterback going to scramble yes dude and delight you get so scary about these guys now yeah you know i'm like bro we would have rushed like the first quarter yeah we wait to the fourth quarter to rush and i'm like we would do this to the first quarter probably came up with three four more sacks you know made the effect on a ball carry but i understand they'd be so nervous and i want to play the schemes schematically which is understand more because we do being man with those guys back turn he gets the gun he gets the lane

it's oh way we though so we got to make sure we own the same time all right so first impressions at la like o tas start this week like what's what's your involvement in this phase and then like how much of the rookies are you seeing how much of coach harbo have you talked to well i talked to him one time when i went out there i'm actually going back today so i'm about to go back i'm headed back today uh i'll be at there i'm gonna try to do the o t i want to make sure i did i haven't did oTA you this early since like my fifth year. Yeah. Fourth year.

Yeah. But I want to make sure I get used to the new teams. Also a new side of the world. Make sure I get used to the time. Also, you know, go out there and new staff as well. So build with those guys and, you know, kind of communicate with Derwin. Derwin's out there still, you know, every day. So make sure we want to leave the guys there and make sure I'm, you know, getting in tune with him and Denzel.

Yeah. So, you know, being to see that. All the rick is there. Yeah. I talked to him when I went there the last time. So I know pretty a lot of fruit of the guys, but just to kind of build that football relationship with them is what I got to do now. I know I kind of like know I'm away from football,

but I want to build that on the field relationship with him. What do you think about the scheme, you know, from what you know and why did you choose the Chargers? Choosing the Chargers, man, just gave me an opportunity to be, you know, with a whole group of guys who just focused on rushing. They kind of sold me on that when I went there. You know, everyone's going to be able to, you know, create one-on-one match us with this group that we have. Being able to, you know, be on the field with those guys at the same time.

First, first second and third down. So, you know, being able to create packages and match us, man, that we can win out of. And I was excited to see how it's going to unfold. So, you know, that's why I really want to go over there and kind of get to work early. You know, make sure I capitalize on that. Let's go start bench cut with three uniform combinations here. All right. The Steelers.

you know, the black and, I guess they call it gold. They don't want to say yellow, even though Wiz Khalifa says yellow. And they choose. Yeah. It's fucking weird. Okay. And then Atlanta's throwbacks to Jeff George's, or take your pick of the best chargers combination, start bench cut.

Start the throwback Atlanta. I agree. Yeah, I'm going to cut the charges. I'm going to just cut the charge. I'm a bench. No. He hasn't warned it yet. No, he hasn't worn it yet.

You can't speak on it. Yeah. They look. They dope. So like one of, like the culmination they got is dope, though, because it's coming, but it's just something about the tradition, the traditional, the block letters. Hell yes. I agree. But you wore two at Kentucky, you said, I'm trying to be number one, but I'm working like I'm number two.

Oh, I like that. You've been 48 in the league. Are you sticking with 48? If so, why? Yeah, I'm just going to keep it out the whole time. I like that. Just stick with it. No, everybody got the brand already.

I ain't want to go to change the numbers. unless I was probably going to get number two again, but that would have been smooth. I know they gave you shit when you walked out with 48 in the beginning. Yeah, yeah, yeah, everybody did. Yeah, what the hell? That was the first year we can get 40s. Yeah.

So they were like, man, what the hell you got that ugly ass number? I can't even think of another great 48. Easton Stick is currently wearing two. It would probably take about 500 bucks to get two off. Yeah, you want to take that on Houston Stick, bro. Dude, I'm like, to be going to slide him right quick. Yeah.

So what's your impressions of Coach Harbaugh when you talk to him and then, like, what excites you about? I think physicality, man. Like, you just fit kind of what I think he wants, but what is it for you? For me, man, it was just the way that he, you know, he was in tune with the guys and the players in a short amount of time that he's already been there,

seeing how he kind of like, how he really cares about them and how he talks about just the players. You know, you can feel it. Some coaches, you can, they just, they talk like that, but you can feel it when they really not into it. It's just kind of like going through the motion and talking. Everybody's going to say, yeah, I'm a coach.

I'm a player's coach. That's the number one thing everyone going to say. But for you to actually see it and hear it through the people, as soon as I'm coming in, feeling the energy for the other players, they're already loving coach Harbaugh. He's not even been there that long, but y'all already feel like y'all know actually a part of his family. That says a lot, you know, early on for a new coach.

And I'm excited to see, you know, how he comes in and, you know, and extinguages himself, you know, right away in this AOC division. Have you seen who the linebackers coach is, Chris? No, I don't even know. 2010 draft class, Navarro Bowman. No fucking way. Oh. Did you know that?

Yeah, Boa up there too. Yeah, I seen it when I went. Uh-huh. That's awesome, dude. Best players to ever wear the number 48. Okay. Stephen Davis. Okay.

It's the nod. Honorable mention. Lionel Washington, Ken Ellis, and Bud Dupree. I think Bud Dupree is right there. We're already on the Mount Rushmore of 40-A. You get a Super Bowl? He might be number one. All right.

All right. We think we may be over some of the schedule release stuff, but what was your reaction when you see at Pittsburgh and at Atlanta, your first year in L.A.? Yeah, that's dope. That was amazing. And then going to tour two, I don't know. I wasn't even thinking that the charge would play those teams.

Yeah. But now that it is, man, it's always a great. It's always a great homecoming to go back to Pittsburgh, no matter what team you're playing for. If you played in Pittsburgh to go back and play in Pittsburgh, it's always good. You know, it's always a great feeling. The fans will show you love, you know, you'll be able to feel that homecoming because the whole coaching staff who were there when I played still there. So, you know, they never change.

Yeah. So there's always a good opportunity to see those people. Going back to Atlanta, I know, it's a good, great opportunity for not for me to buy tickets this time or anybody else to come back. Yeah, exactly. So, you know, luckily we only get two. I'm gonna, you know, we only get two away game tickets, man. Tell the truth this thought.

What's the first thing as a rusher that you look at when you look at the schedule? I know what I used to look at, but what do you look at? The tagos in every team? Definitely. I want to see who the taggles. First of all, who the best one I got to go against. When are they, which week is that? So here's the charger schedule.

We get the, we get the Raiders week one. Now, the Raiders, I feel like, because of the way they beat the charges last year, that's going to be a pretty contentious game. And I want to see Antonio Pierce and Harbaugh, like, those are two alphas, like, so I want to see that. Tackles, I'm not worried about it so much. I'm not speaking for Bud. Panthers, not worried about tackles.

Steelers, you got some, you got a, you got two first runners, two rich. Young guys, right? When you're facing a young guy, what's your mentality? You got to go all day with them. You got to let them know that, you know, because, you know, young guys, they come out high. They come out hype early on, early on. You got to let them know that early on that you, that I'm a grown man, you still the kids.

So you got to make sure that you're telling them that. But, you know, at the end of the day, man, they're two first rounders, so they're going to be talented. You just got to make sure that when they drop their ball, that you make sure you make them pay every time. And so if we go down a list, we've got the Chiefs, and listen, I'm not going to call any tackles out there. The Broncos, I'm not going to call any tackles out there.

You might do 50 years here. 15 and a half. Oh, my God. Okay, the Saints. Now, Ram Check's a good player. But if you get Ram check up the field, can get him turned, you can bowl him. Yeah.

You know what you're talking about. Yeah. Yeah. I ain't a lot. So I'm looking, I'm looking too. And it's a great schedule. Yeah. Bud.

Yeah. Okay. So then the other thing I look at is athletic quarterbacks. The best, the best tackle you're going to face, by the way, is Tristan Worf's late in the season. Other than that, I don't see any blue chip tackles. I don't want to take anything away from anybody. The Falcons have solid tackles.

They have a solid offensive line, good offensive line. But I look at quarterback in the mobility because, like, you and I both know you can win 10 rushes of the game. But if you play the Ravens, it's going to be tough. Same thing with the Chiefs. And then obviously, you don't have to worry about the guy on the other sideline. That Justin Herbert has got to be tough to sack. Deshawn, obviously, too. And then there's, like, you look at a game like Cleveland, you're like, I'm going to have to strap it up.

No, for sure. You know, you're going to bug your tent grab all day. all day. Bogey Tinskstra. Get ready for downhill, spill, spill, front arm, everything. Wrong-go-arm, get ready for everything. That's how it was back in the day.

All right. So then the other thing I look at is surfaces and primetime games. So I don't know how many primetime games you guys have, but I've asked a lot of rushes this, and if I had to guess, I know the answer. But do you like grass or turf? I like turf. Wow.

I like grass. You're not old enough yet to like grass the most. Because in a year or two, you're like grass. Oh, for sure, for sure. But I like to train on, like, all season, I like to train on the grass. Yeah. I like train on the grass for sure. But, like, you know, you feel way better after a grass game.

Damn right. But the reason I like turf is because, you know, if it rained a little bit before the game, you still be good. Yep, yeah. I just think grass slows the fast guys down and now they're on my level. You know what I mean? You're right. You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm right?

You know what I'm saying? Right. It does. It does. All right. I want to have you do this thing before we get out of here. And I haven't given you any warning. And in fact, I didn't think about it very long either. So we'll work to do this together. But the all dirty work team. I want to put an all dirty work together two ends and two tackles. And these are guys that fit the mold of you. And the way I would define you is super underrated. The guy that does everything. The guy that's willing to do dirty work, come down and blow up a polar fucking, you know, play the screen. set the edge. So who are those guys in the league that you respect their game and you think of yourself in that same category as like I'm going to, I'm going to two ends and two tackles. I got Big Zee on my watch list. Zedarius. Me too. Zee, Jeff, De Nico Atre. Autry's on my team. Yeah. DeNico can play N or three, end or three. Yep. He can do anything. Yep. And he's so underrated. He's been up

around double digits multiple times his whole career. I think Brandon Graham, he's getting up there a little bit in age, but I think BG, I put him in that same category of like dudes who do everything, play with power. You know, I also, you took three of my guys here, so I guess we need one more. So we need, we got, we got two ends that we've talked about and we've got one tackle that we've talked about. I would have put DJ Reader. DJ Reader, of course.

DJ Rita, of course. And I still go Jeff Simmons, too. Jeff Simmons. Yeah, he's, to me, it's like everybody knows what he does. Like, but I agree. He is, like, of all the superstars, he does the most dirty work. What is it about Jeffrey Simmons? Like, he, to me, he seems like the most violent guy on the field.

Like, between the one of the ones. Yeah, he just, yeah, he just wanted to take pride in being the bully. He takes pride in being the bully. Then you go play with a guy like, see, him and Cam Hayward, man, I just, yeah. Cam is dirty too like that. Like, he's kind of like the little brother of Cam. Yep, no question.

You know what I'm saying? And then you got somebody like Grady, who was a pass first specimen. Yeah. Like, you know, Grady going to come cross chopping and jabbing inside out. So that was cool. That's what, that's his game. He's a real rusher. But it also paul for two.

But I just feel like the Nico, the Nico is one of those guys who very underrated as well. No one really, really talks about. But every time he's going to go out and give you at least eight seconds. Yeah. Playing three technique, playing defense in, loves taking on the run. Doesn't shy away from it as well. Yep. No.

And Sadarius is a Darius is a big wide body man and your dog, you know, three technique. You want to play three, he'll play three, and he'll play in. Yep. Yeah. No, he's a good dude. All right, well, so the last one for you, I don't know where you're sitting right now, statistically, but is there a number for sacks for you for your career that you kind of, you eyeball because there was one for me and then it moved a little bit based on how old

I got in injuries but like what is it for you? You know what I mean? Yeah, man. When I first started, my old shit was like 95. When I first started, but I started missing games. Yeah. It's just starting happening in there how I didn't want to happen. And now, I'm just, whatever, I don't got a number right now, but I just want to, I just want

to just go past 60. All right. He's at 53. I think we're going to get 60 this year. and uh oh after see long yeah just beat me bro get to like 75 and call it a day and then and don't beat me too bad just beat you know like just by a couple and then just so uh all right what bg what bg got bg he's like right there with me and i've been giving him shit because i'm like you're just hanging around to try to beat me huh it's like year 15 he's got 73 beat me last year

this motherfucker uh okay but but yeah bg he's up there in years so if he could just get a couple more maybe he can get to like 85 but anyways bud whatever you do man just keep doing what you're doing bro it's a lot of fun to watch you play man much respect and um i can't wait to i think you guys are going to make some noise this year uh in la and you're going to be a big part of it man so thanks for coming on the show man man please you're having man uh no let me know anytime you need me again i'm all right here yes sir