Green Light with Chris Long - Maxx Crosby! Raiders, Pass Rush Moves & Sobriety. DeAndre Hopkins, Saquon Barkley & the Minnesota Vikings with Kyle Long

Episode Date: June 15, 2023

(2:32) - Maxx Crosby on his Journey to the NFL, Sobriety, Being a Girl Dad, Pickup Basketball, Pass Rush Moves, Learning from Von Miller & Chandler Jones, Rap Career & Las Vegas' 2023 Outlook (54:18) - Denver Wins the NBA Title & Jimmy Butler's NFL Comp (1:14:45) - Vegas Knights Win the Stanley Cup (1:24:50) - Oakley Block: Chris, Kyle & Dr. Fax talk D-Hop, Saquon Barkley, Minnesota Vikings Overhaul & the NFLer that Allegedly Lost $8M Gambling presented by Oakley 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 paddleva.com to get your canoes, kayaks and paddleboards so you're set to hit the river this summer. 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/c/GreenLightTube1   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

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There was a lot going on in Studio J-2-day. We had Max Crosby swing by. He talked to Chris and Dr. Fax via the inner webs. what an awesome interview. Had a blast. We had some great questions for him. He answered them all and then some. Really cool to hear from such a good player about his process,

how he's improved his game, and then getting clean and remaining sober in the early part of his NFL career. We have a great time with that interview. You're going to hear that right off the bat. And today, after Max, you're going to hear Chris, Dr. Fax and Kyle, round up some NFL stories. We're going to talk Sequim. We're going to talk DeHop.

We're going to talk the $8 million dollar NFL gambler, who could it be. We're going to have a good bit of fun with Kyle. We did record a couple other things with Kyle. You're going to hear that on Friday. We're going to put out a special episode. Please stay tuned. Refresh your feed first thing on Friday. You're going to hear Kyle's Italy recap. You're going to hear a very special draft

that Chris, Kyle, and Nate are very excited about. Also, you're going to hear our favorite cookies. Which cookies are our favorite? You're going to find out if you tune back in on Friday. A very special three episode week here at Greenlight. You'll please enjoy and have a wonderful week. They call me to breathe blowing and go to the green light thing. All right, so we've got a fun show for you today. Kyle's back in town from Italy.

He's back to state side. Yeah, we're going to catch up with him. We're going to talk about the two champs we crown in the NBA and in the NHL. We got a bunch of stuff for you, but I don't want to bore you with that shit. It's a really good pot. But Max Crosby is one of my favorite players. We've been trying to get him on for a while. We've been missing each other.

And he came on. And me and Dr. Faxx just wrapped that interview. We're going to give it to you first because you shouldn't have to wait for it. It's a lot of fun talking to Max. We've got a whole bunch of stuff. Love the guy. Great. Love the guy.

Yeah. He's the homie, dude. He's awesome. So we got Max. Stick around for basketball, hockey, a little bit of football. We're going to talk about Saquan, D. All the stories that are keeping the, the wheels turning on NFL.com at this point in the year.

Here we go. Here's Max Crosby. All right, this man needs no introduction. It's one of my favorite players and somebody that we should have had on a long time ago, but it's finally working out, and we've got Max Crosby. Max, thanks for coming on. How you doing, bro? Amazing, man.

I appreciate you having me on. That means a lot. And I agree. We should have done this a while back, but timing is everything, bro. We're going to have a great talk, and you can come back whenever you want. but it's good to see you, and I'm psyched to watch you play this year. Okay, the first question I got for you, man, are you happier for Yokic and Serbia or for the Vegas nights?

Because you've got two championships you can gloat about. Yeah, you know, that's a good question. You know, obviously I rock with Yokic. She's a baller. He's, you know, he's got Serbian blood. So my mom and, you know, all my cousins and all that were all fired up about it. But, yeah, you know, obviously seeing the championship in Vegas is incredible as well. So, yeah, honestly, I can't pick one or the other.

But, you know, probably the Vegas fans, they want me to say the Knights. But, you know, I'm going to have to show my love both ways. You were a Serbian first. Did I don't even know that about you, dude? Until I saw you starting to talk in Serbian and all this stuff, man. That's pretty cool. I didn't know. Yokish has got to be the most famous Serbian ever right now,

or is it the tennis guy, you think? Yeah, I think right now it's Yokish for sure But there's a lot, man Honestly, like just from the basketball side Like there's a ton of legends Yeah, um, We're Serbian so yeah, they're holding it down right now for sure Serbians are holding it down and then and then dude

You gotta go to the you gotta go to the fucking parade man You get a little glimpse into the future one day You should go down to that parade Because it is the best thing in sports If you get a chance to win a title The game's great but the parade's best better. Is there any chance we might see you down there checking out the Vegas parade? Yeah, yeah, for sure. That's a real possibility. You know, at first I was like,

ah, but I agree with you. You know, we have the Super Bowl this year in Vegas. So, you know, maybe a little preview, you know, when we get down there and kind of feel the energy for that's good. That would be crazy. Yeah. At home in Vegas. That'd be crazy. Tampa did it, but it was during COVID. Oh, there was nobody there. Yeah, this would be crazy. Have you been to some nice games? Yeah, I went to game one of the finals. So, yeah, I've been to like probably four or five. I didn't, you know, I'm not going to sit here and lie and act like I was a huge hockey fan growing up or anything like that.

You know, I respect, you know, the sport is violent. You know, there's a lot of craziness going on. There's a lot to it. And, you know, I appreciate any sport now, especially at that level. Those dudes are flying around with ice skate, I'm beating a high lot of each other. So, you know, it's a crazy sport, and I definitely respect them. As much as I love your game on the field, dude, it was funny. Like, maybe it was this offseason or the last offseason.

My dad texted me, he's like, yo, look at Max. And it was you playing pickup basketball. And I think he was probably thinking, man, he can't be out here doing this shit, man. We need him. But my first thought was like, damn, dude, this guy's really good. Like, you're a real, real basketball player. Can you beat anybody on the Raiders? You know, humbly, I think, absolutely.

Absolutely. You know, I feel like people talk about Devonte Adams. You know, I've heard he can play pretty well, you know, as well. But, yeah, besides him, I really, you know, I don't think anybody can beat me. Humbly. So I watch YouTube a lot. And one of the channels I watch is Nick Briss. And randomly, a few months ago, I see this dude.

Nick Briss post NFL Star D-Tackle does a run with us or something like that and I watch it and it's Max Crosby. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he's getting, I'm not going to lie, he's getting buckets, defense is

a little questionable in those videos. I'm not going to lie. But one thing I had That could have been an effort thing. Yeah, one thing I had to ask you about it, how did you feel about dunking on a female in a pickup game.

Hey, honestly, I was not planning on her jumping at all. You know, she just happened to be in the wrong side at the wrong time. Pretty bad, too. It was one of those dunks where when the ball went through the rim, it hit her in the head. Yeah, it was pretty bad. You know, I just jumped and I've seen it down there. So, you know, sometimes it just happens. No, but I can't say you definitely have game.

You definitely have a lot of game. It's cool to be tall and have a great wingspan. For sure. Be athletic as hell, dude. And at the end of the day for the YouTube world, he put a good name out there for D. lineman, I think. Yeah, dude. Like for playing ball.

And then Miles. Yeah, for sure. You see Miles do some of the Dunkin he's doing after practice. They got a basketball goal out there after practice. Yeah, no, Miles is a freak. You know, he reached out to me when that video came out, he said, bro, We got it wrong when you come back to Texas. Hey, that's pay-per-view.

Seriously, I don't know why. You remember during the pandemic, it was the versus that kept us all, like, going. We would stay up late and watch the verses. I would love to do a pay-per-view of him and Miles one-on-one, and it would be the best thing since Angel Reese versus Caitlin Clark. Honestly, that's the other pay-per-view I want to do. I want to do that one I do. I want to do Miles and I want to do Max.

So we'll see if we can get that going But dude, I didn't know this about you Okay, you and I have something in common We have a couple little things in common But the road trips used to take Used to drive from Texas All the way up to Michigan To visit a lake in the summer

And me and my pops Used to load the truck up, the old red suburban And drive from L.A. to Montana To go up to a lake every summer Flathead Lake I'm going there next week What lake is it in Michigan and what was that time like for you and your family? Yeah, you know, when I was a kid, you know, I grew up on Lake Lapeer.

All my buddies, we all lived on the same, literally on the same street. We played football, basketball, all the time together. And then, you know, going into my sixth grade year, you know, unfortunately we had to move to Texas. And, you know, some things, you know, some things went down. It was a little bit tough, you know, the family and, you know, the economy and everything at the time. So we kind of had to just pick up and go and figure out where we're going to live next. So we ended up moving to Texas with my grandpa and stayed with him for a year. And me and my brother were devastated.

Like those are all of our best friends. We did everything together. So my mom, you know, big credit to her. Like every summer she made a promise to it. It's like it obviously wasn't easy at the time. Like, you know, we couldn't just hop on a plane whenever we want. You know, as kids, it wasn't that easy. But my mom was like, listen, I'll drive you all if you guys want to go.

and we'll go every summer and spend a couple weeks up there, and you guys could be with your friends and, you know, do what we do. So we look forward to it every single time. So it was legendary. The car rides were rough sometimes. I'm not going to lie. It was like 20-hour drives, but, you know, my mom is a trooper. And so, yeah, she would always take this.

It was a good time. That's what a great mom. That's awesome. And who had the ox cord on the ride? Because you're a music guy. You rap now. Who had the ox cord and when what was being listened to in the family vehicle? You know, it's funny. My mom, you know, I get, you know, I get everything, like, from my mom, like, from my swag to the music. Like, she's from the east side of Detroit. She's a, you know, immigrant. She came over on a boat from, you know, from the East Europe. Like, my mom is, she listens from everything from Tupac to Eminem to, to, like, when I was a kid. So I was listening to that when I was young. So she would be running to Oxford a lot of the time. And my mom, you know, she's a legend. You'll meet her. Like, every time me,

and my mom are together. Everyone's like, oh my God, you guys are the same. Like, that's just how we are. Like, me and my mom are literally like twins. So, yeah, she's a legend for sure. I forget where we were, but I think the first time I met you were you with your mom. Yes. It was one of those banquets at the Super Bowl or something. She was really cool. I had no idea. She had great taste in music. So you now, like, you're rapping. I've heard some stuff with you and Waller. I heard maybe you and Jacobs did something, but like, what do you listen to now? old, Max. I'm 38. So what, who's good in the rap game now? Who's good in the rap game? Honestly, like, I listen to everything, like, from rap to R&B,

like I just grew up, like, music is like, if you catch me in the locker room, like I have music playing through my phone. If I'm in a hot tub, we got music playing out loud. This is like, that's like the energy I get from music. It just always gets me in the right mood. So I'm listening to everything. Like, it can be from, you know, some old school rap. to like, you know, future or young thug, like, guys like that. So I listen to everything. But yeah, the music thing, like, I still do it to this day. Like, and I, like, my friends, like my friend group, all my boys,

we have, like, a bachelor party group chat, all my boys that, you know, that came out with me to, you know, San Diego for my bachelor party. And I'll just send, like, a freestyle, like, once a week. And I'll be in the car and I'll be, I'll just send it through it. And my boy, D.T. He's like, bro, you got to do this every week. So I'm like, I bet. So we just do it.

Like, it's just, that's just who I am. Like, I love doing, you know, doing that kind of stuff. And I just love music in general. And, yeah, it's a big part of my life for sure. So I have to ask this, since you do rap and he was your old teammate, what's the chances of you getting on the track with Antonio Brown? Zero percent chance. All right.

Okay. Okay. So, okay, that's pretty much settled. So if he sent the money for 16, you're not, you're not sending it back? No chance. No chance. All right. He said no chance.

All due respect. Okay. No chance. Okay. What artists right now, if they did, like, send you a DM and be like, hey, Max, I heard you rap. Who would you want that to be? I need eight bars.

Who would, who would you want it to be? Probably future. Yeah. Future guy. Yeah, I love future. I listen to them every day. You know who's my name? my dude and it's his birthday i want to shout him out as freddie gibbs is my favorite probably my favorite new

rapper uh you know and uh i'll probably do a layup line i'll go palm olive okay uh the one with him in uh push and yeah and killer mike and then um i like that song yeah but the funny thing about future future doesn't he have like atliz mad max he says like i feel like he says bad max if he says that in one of his songs he has to send max a fucking dm or something dude i think he definitely does and a few You saw him. Okay. So you said you got your style, your music from your mom. You know, he was asking me before.

He was like, I want to ask Max who he thinks has the best drip on his team. Who's the who's got the best clothing? The real, the real question is this. Who's the best dressed white guy in the NFL right now? The best dressed white guy. I think it's, you know, me and, I think it's me and Kelsey. I knew he would say Kelsey. Ha ha ha. Who do you think, who do you think Chris would pick? If you had to go through, not, he's not going to know who I think has the best drift.

Maybe he's a quarterback. He's a white quarterback. Okay, Joe Burroughs looks great. And I think, you know, like the kids, the kids all think Joe Burrow looks great. But Joe Burrow looks phenomenal. Travis looks phenomenal. Jason Kelsey, it's like he was raising a different fucking house. God can't even pack a, he's got a gym bag on the road. It's like this big. He's wearing khakis in a college shirt. shirt, but my favorite dressing guy in the NFL is Gardner Manchu. I like that. I can pull it off. I can't pull it. You know, I can't pull off some of the sauce that fucking Max has a guy going on. He has a different type of sway.

No, so that's a good answer, Kelsey, even though he's on the Chiefs. Yeah, you know, Kelsey, he's a, you know, ever since I got in the league, me and him, you know, we go against each other. twice a year. So at first, we didn't like each other at all. And then we had like one conversation and it felt like we're the same person. We're like, okay. It's weird. And so, yeah, no, we talk about all the time. It's like, that's my boy, you know, obviously, we're right. I love that. And you know what the thing about, the thing about Trave is he's a smart guy because what he realized was like, fuck, this kid's pretty good. I better get cool with him. So I can, so I can brother-in-law and talk to him when the TV time he's not busting me upside the head every play.

So, yeah, I mean, Detroit guy, you know, I was just curious what your take was on this. Like, have you paid attention to Aidan Hutchinson because he's kind of living that dream, man? You know, like growing up in Michigan and then playing for the Lions and being pretty damn good. Have you watched him? Have you thought about what that's got to be like for him?

Yeah, you know, I watched him a lot, you know, his last year of Michigan, too. You know, I have, I was teammates of Moherst, And, you know, some Michigan guys. And obviously my family of Michigan fans, unfortunately. But, yeah, they, you know, they were talking about Hutchinson. You got to watch this guy, whatever. And so I started watching him as last year.

He was going nuts. And, you know, him going to Detroit is like, you know, it feels like it's meant to be at the end of the day. And he just, he got better and better as the year went on, which is, you know, usually as a rookie is the opposite. Like, they might come out hot and then kind of slow down. but he got better as the year went on. And you could just tell he works his ass off. He plays again the right way. You could tell he's just going to continue to get better.

I think he's a perfect fit, you know, in that system. Well, it's funny because he did get better. And one of the things he mentioned on our pod before he came in a league was he loves standing up. And I like standing up late in my career. I had a D-line coach. You didn't let me stand up for a while. But all the fucking receivers are standing up. They're the fastest guys on the field.

You know, and I just think you can see more. And it was the same thing that he said, and halfway through the year, he started getting more freedom. And he could stand up a little bit more, and I saw him improve a great deal. He's got an inside-out spin like Max. We like that. He plays vertical.

I love the kid. One of the biggest things that we've been covering here, we're both going to be dads soon. Yep. And girl dads. Girl dads. And so I know you're a girl dad. I've seen the pictures.

You've got a beautiful family. I was wondering if you could impart any wisdom or give us any advice on what it's going to be like being a girl, dad. Honestly, there's nothing you can do to really prepare for it. You know, I was in the middle of the season getting ready to have, you know, a child. So I knew my work was cut out for me. I knew especially Rachel, like she was going to have to carry, you know, most of the way because I'm not going to be home. And just advice, honestly, I would just enjoy everything. every moment because it happens so fast.

Like it feels like I, you know, she just got here and now she's crawling around the house and grabbing stuff. And she won't stop moving. And now she's like trying to talk. And she's only eight months. So it goes by so fast. So just trying to be present as much as you can.

I think it's the best advice I can get. So here's my girl dad million dollar question. Imagine you're somebody else. You're a grown up with a daughter right now. And your daughter's like, I'm dating somebody on the Raiders. Dad, he's coming over for dinner, and you're going to answer the door. Who do you want that guy to be?

Out of all your teammates that you're like, I'd be okay with this guy dating my daughter in another scenario. The easier answer is probably like who you wouldn't want, but I'm not going to ask you that. I can name a lot that I wouldn't. Definitely name a lot that I wouldn't. Is there anybody on the Raiders? That's tough.

What about Little Hunter Renfro? Yeah, I feel like, yeah. I mean, on a run pro, like a Daniel Carlson, you know, kicker, just a great dude, family man. Those are the type of guys that were the exact two people that popped into my head. Yeah, I mean, those are slam-dance. You're a red pro. That's great. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Are you going to be like the guy at the door that's like you try to throw a little intimidation in there, like a little longer handshake or what's your strategy? honestly I've always thought I would be that guy but I really don't know like I feel like just as you know you have a daughter and obviously she's so young but yeah I feel like as you mature and get older like your my whole mindset has changed so much just in the last couple years so yeah like if she brings some so I don't know if a lot of the customer she brings some dickhead over I'm gonna be you know what I mean I'll be on his ass but besides that Besides that, I'll be respectful until, you know, I have to go there.

There we go. I'm not fucking, if, damn, Max Crosby's at the door, I don't know. Howie Long had no daughters. So, you know, everybody was lucky that way. But so, you know, man, one of the things I got a lot of respect about you for is, obviously, and you've been told this is, you know, you kind of putting it out there, your substance abuse struggles and kind of like the conversation, you had to have with yourself.

I had no idea. And that's, I guess, maybe the biggest lesson about people who are going through something like that, that you could do something like you did your rookie year in the NFL, as hard as I know the position is, the whole thing, and be probably struggling under the service a little bit. How hard was that? When did you know you were struggling? And how tough was it to put yourself first?

Because I know you checked into rehab in the summer. Yeah, honestly, it's crazy. Just like thinking back, like, of where I was mentally, I was in a whole different, like, space. And it wasn't easy at all. You know, I feel like I knew the second I took a drink, like when I was in high school, like, I wasn't like everybody else. Like, I love that shit. And, you know, it's stem just from my insecurities growing up. Like, I was a super insecure kid.

And, you know, I was never, I was always, I felt like in the shadow of my brother, like, my brother was the star when I was young. And like, he got all the attention. He got all the chicks. He, you know, he was the man. So, like, I felt like my way to fit in was like, once I had that first drink at a party, I was like, oh, my God, like I could go out. I feel confident for once. And, like, I love that. So, yeah, like, literally from day one, I knew I had a problem deep down.

Like, I didn't know at the time, but, like, looking back, I was like, yeah, 100%. Like, I was just, I loved it. it. So yeah, it's hard. You know, obviously going, you know, playing in the NFL is hard enough, but, you know, showing up hungover. Like, there was Mayock probably, you know, I haven't, you know, we haven't talked about this publicly, but like it is what it is at this point. But when I was a rookie, like, I missed a whole day. Like, I went back home to Eastern and I was like drunk for like two, three days. I was, you know, it was homecoming. I didn't even make it back on Monday for practice. And we had to play a game, you know what I mean? And like, I was,

was that I was so far gone and opposite of what I am now, like, just from a preparation and like just mental standpoint. But it's just a testament of, you know, committing and being, and being consistent on a daily basis and looking myself in the mirror and realizing, like, yeah, this shit is not okay. I knew I had a problem. And the hardest thing, it doesn't mean you have a problem, you know, especially in our position. Everyone in the world is telling me, Max, you're incredible. You're doing great things. You have an amazing rookie year. And I'm like, all right, cool. But I knew, like, deep down, I was. in a really bad place. So that's kind of the hard balance where it's like, do I just keep doing

what I'm doing and try to hide this shit as long as I can or is it just going to get worse and worse? And, you know, it was getting worse and worse. So that was the best decision I ever made. Like it literally changed my life and looking back now, it's been over three years and the things I've just, you know, accomplished in these three years or shit I never would have imagined. And I know I'm just getting started. So yeah, it gives me even more motivation. But, you know, that's literally what comes first every single day. Before I go to bed, I say prayer, you know, and let everybody, you know, in my head I talk about how grateful I am and how appreciative I am of just being sober and having another day under my belt. And when I wake up, I do the same thing. So, yeah,

like on the outside world, you know, I got football. I got all this stuff going on, but like, none of that happens unless I'm sober and doing what I'm doing. So, yeah, I'm just grateful to be here in this position because I know it can be taken away and one drink can lead, you know, that just leads down the rabbit hole. And I'm going to be. going to be, you know, off and running. So, yeah, I got to stay close and, and stay, you know, attention to detail, just like if it's a sport or a job or anything else. Like, that's a whole another battle that I deal with every day. But it gets easier and easier every day, you know, just being more consistent. And, yeah, I mean, it's literally a miracle. Like, the fact that I

was bawling out and was fucking doing, you know, drinking and doing all that shit, like, it's honestly crazy thinking back. But it all happens for a reason. And I'm, I'm grateful, you know, I got to really go through that because now I can help other people, and that's really what it's all about. And is the selling point of sobriety is it, is there obviously you've accomplished so much and things are probably more efficient for you and all that shit, but like, is there a piece? Like, you know, like you're feeling, like the way you feel every day where you used to be chasing that one feeling, like, is the peace of just being sober and feeling like yourself? Like, you know, is there something in there that you're like, oh, I hadn't been this guy in a while,

I forgot what that felt like, and it's kind of great. No, 100%, man. Honestly, it's like, it's like my superpower. We talk about this all the time. Like, it's crazy. Like, my whole childhood, I was old, like, I was, you know, the red-headed kid, chubby kid. I never, like, I was always insecure, and I just grew up that way,

and I was never comfortable in my own shoes. And I was always looking for something to fill that, you know, whether it was, you know, when I was a kid, I'd love to eat a lot because it made me feel better because I was. secure. And then I was like, I got all I started drinking, smoking and doing all this shit. And like, I was constantly chasing something that was, you know, just a negative, you know, part of my life. So, yeah, like now, like, I'm 25 years old and, like, I've been cleaned for over three years. And, like, I know who I am as a person now. I'm still, like, I'm learning on a daily basis, but, like,

I'm comfortable in my own shoes. I'm not worried about the past. I'm not worried about the future. I'm literally just worried about today and getting better. And, like, all those things, like all my goals and all the things I want to achieve. If I just keep doing what I'm doing and saying consistent on a daily basis, I know I'm going to get to those things. And it's honestly, it's crazy because I never thought like in my brain when I was a kid or like even in college, like, I never knew I was going to stop drinking. Like in my head, I was like, damn, I'm just keep rolling with this until the wheels fall

off. But now it's like I'm like accomplishing things I never would have imagined just like committing to myself. Like it's honestly out of self-respect. You got to be selfish in a way. Like when it comes to your sobriety, like that comes first before anything. And I'm taking care of myself now. And I see things so much more clear.

And I could think and make real life decisions. And I could be a father. And I could, you know, I'm not second guessing when I wake up like, oh, shit, what I do last night? It's like, no, I'm in control of my life. And, you know, it's honestly the coolest thing of the planet, man. You know, congratulations a thousand times, dude. And I remember when you signed that that big deal, it was like two years almost to the day or maybe to the day that you, that you embarked on this journey of sobriety.

And a little levity here. I remember we shared a laugh about a year ago because I was congratulating you on Twitter for your deal. And I had seen Will Compton had congratulated you. And he decided to finish the congratulations with an emoji of a glass of liquor. Fucking idiot, dude. He's an idiot. He's an idiot.

That just, That just will. I had to take him for a walk. That's Will Compton. I had to take him to a walk. I had to take him to the fridge. I'm the only guy's ever taking Will Compton for a walk. Yes, I was crying, laughing, bro.

I forgot about that. But yeah, that's just Will. We were prepping for the show. And I was like, holy shit, Will. But, you know, your rookie year, I think, I had Mayock on a couple weeks ago. I love Mike. And, you know, we were talking about you and Cleland.

And, you know, I can. empathize with with feral and you know the pressure of being a high pick like you know for me for a year and a half i didn't know what the fuck i was doing and people were like what's up with this guy and then you get on a role and you but it never happened for him and i know for you you came on right away was there any element to that of being like hey a little bit of pressure is off me everybody's looking at this guy i just got to get out here and play hard and make some plays like was there any of that with your rookie year and and how did you support each other Yeah, you know, Cleese, to this day, is one of my best friends. You know, he came to my wedding.

That's my dog. And it's, it's tough, man. You know, obviously in the league, it's not easy. And everybody, you know, he was a Ted Hendricks score winner in college, top five pick. So when he got drafted and then I got drafted, I'm like, okay, I'm going to have to fight real hard because they drafted a dude for you know fourth overall um i'm really had to get it out of the bottom but like that's what i'm used to like so at the same time i'm i came out of you know high school and i have one offer and i started at the bottom and i had to work for that shit so like that was nothing new to me and like deep down i've always had true confidence in my ability to play football um so mentally like i was in that space for like i'm gonna find i'm gonna figure it out regardless but

you know having clee going through what he went through I know it was tough. And being with him every single day, like, he had all the pressure in the world. And especially with Raider fans, like they're like Philly fans. They do not play. Like, if you have one bad game, they are on your ass until you make another, you know, until the next game starts. I did an autograph signing with him.

And it was insane. Dude, the people, I'm like, bro, this is insane. It's like another version of Philly. Yeah. It's literally, it's very similar. Like they're ruthless. And I, you know, as, a rookie, especially a guy like Hammy's come from Clemson, a program where, you know, the coaches

are very, like, positive, and they bring the build their guys up. And, like, then you go to this. It's a whole different environment. And you got all this pressure and all the eyes on you. Like, I can't even imagine, you know, I wasn't in his shoes. I can't tell you his story. But I know he went through it just on a daily basis. And I was always there for him trying to give him, you know, just motivation and trying to, like, talk to him in a different place because I know it was hard for him seeing me have success and all the fans were gravitating and hyping me up and I can't even imagine you know I know that was hard for him so I was just always trying to be myself to him I was a friend first before any of that started like we went to the you know draft process we had the

combine together like that was my boy so I always just try to put things in perspective and and keep them you know positive even though it was hard sometimes and like you know going into my second year like it kind of flipped like I had all the expectations you know what I mean and so after my rookie year and then I was you know come I literally went to training camp out of rehab like I was overweight I was you know just trying to live life sober and like I felt like I had a sophomore slump you know it was a I took a step back how heavy did you get bro when I took him to rehab I was like 285 damn like I was big bro and yeah so like I was literally in rehab to like April and then I went to it's basically like a halfway house like it's sober living all the way up until July so like

I was just trying to just stay sober. It didn't matter what that looked like. And then you go into an NFL season and the COVID hit. And like all the fans were on my ass now. Like I was not playing at the level I wanted to. I knew I wasn't at my best. And like that's just like the NFL, man. You know, they build you up to break you down.

And that's just what it is. And you got to be able to withstand that storm. So Clee got to kind of see it my second year where I was, you know, struggling and going through it. And, you know, that just made us closer at the end of the day because we were both there for each other, you know, at a hardest times. You brought up that period, and just to go back to it for a second,

another guy who's gone on his way is Darren Waller. And, you know, that's got to be an incredible bond that y'all had, you know, in the commonalities and also, like, it's two dudes who are, like, the most popular football players in Las Vegas trying to stay sober and stay out of trouble. Like, you ever stop and think about that? Like, where you guys are? And then it's really cool that he's going to New York, and 12, there's symbolism there.

What was y'all's relationship like and how big of a deal was he to you? Yeah, it's crazy, man. Like you said, like that whole, it's like out of a movie, you know, type shit. And I remember my rookie year when I was going through it, like, I could just tell, looking at Waller, like, he knew I was going through something. And, you know, he might have. Like, I was just, I was going through what I was going through. And I've seen him, like, and in the back of my head, I knew.

I eventually was going to have to stop. Like, this is not going to last forever. It was just getting worse and worse. And then, you know, he went public about his story. And, like, I think training camp, and, like, he's talking about this. And I was doing, you know, pills and all this stuff. And I'm like, damn. And, like, look at him not.

Like, he's killing it. And, you know, I looked up to him like crazy. And so when I got, when I got clean, you know, we got in the meetings together. And to this day, Tuesday nights, we do meetings together. And it's like, it's crazy. like literally that dude has been through a ton. I've been through a ton and having two, you know, two people in the locker room, you know, being sober and having, you know,

a lot of attention and going through all that shit. Like me and him can relate on that level. So yeah, we talk about all that shit all the time. Like it's not easy, you know, from everything. You know, you got all the distractions. You got all the people trying to, you know, get one piece. You got all this stuff going on and being able to handle that. And a sober mindset is not easy.

You know, it's not easy in general. And being in Vegas is just like added shit on top of it. But, you know, just the fact that he was able to stay clean out here. I've been able to stay clean. Like, it's nothing but a blessing. And I love wallet of death, man. That's my boy. One of the things that when I watch you, I'm like, man, this is a really cool skill.

I was never a guy because of the defenses I played in. I didn't play vertical in the run game enough. Sometimes I would play the fuck out of blocks, you know? But Max, he's just like shot out of a cannon. he's flying three, four yards up the field. I know Rob Marinelli might have had something to do with that at some point. The O.D. Yeah, he's a beat.

But, but like you rack up a ton of TFL. So when the ball snapped and it's a 50-50 down, what's your mindset? Yeah, honestly, you know, it's simple. Like, Marinelli's way of coaching is you stop the run on the way to the past. Like, we're getting off the rock regardless. and it's all stimulus response. We're not thinking, okay, predicting, like, it's not run game. You know what I mean?

I'm not thinking, okay, this is most likely going to be run. It's like, no, I'm getting off the rock and I'm going to react. And that's just doing the same shit over and over in practice. So once you get into the game, it's not, I'm not thinking about, how are they doing this in this formation? Are they going to, it's like, no, like, I read my key and I'm going. A few steps down, I'm running a thousand. miles and hour down the line.

If it's, you know, there's obviously tendencies and stuff like that. I study the line, but most of the film I watch is me. And if it's a 50, 50 down, like you said, like it doesn't, there's no such thing. Like I'm literally, I'm getting off the ball. 49. Yeah, like, exactly. Like, obviously there's certain situations, you know, it's most likely past things like that, but I'm always, you know, I've just being disruptive.

Like, that's how I pride myself on that. So four-man rush is what made me, my money in this league and what's continued to make me, you know, better and better players, just the simple things. Read my keys, a get off, change the direction, like literally the most simple things. That's what I pride myself on that it's, you know, I take it. I take it so serious and I preach it to all the young guys and all the dudes that are coming in. And, you know, I want everyone to be playing on that with that mindset. I'm going to make the play.

I'm going to get off the rock. We're going to fly the ball. It's a screen. I'm going to be the first motherfucker there. I'm going to knock his helmet off. Like, that's how I played the game of football. And that's how I'm trying to get everybody, you know, on that same. same way.

I was just talking to Marinelli today, by the way. He just didn't, you know, we talk all the time. Tell him I say, what's up? I like Rod. Mike Waffle, my coach in St. Louis,

was he just repeated half the shit that Rod said. So when I hear stimulus response, I mean, there's probably more than one thing that he's heard that I heard. Maralee coach me in Chicago. Yeah, and then before Chicago,

Joe Cullen was my coach in, in, in, down in Jacksonville. Joe's another legend. Joe's off of the Merinelli tree. Like, thing. It was a smooth transition for me going from Jacksonville, Chicago. He's the guy that ended up in the drive through naked. Yeah. Yeah. So, Max, did you guys ever play with your tracks? Like, do you like to vary your tracks in the past rush? What I mean by that is, like, we call him

speed tracks, tilt tracks, you know, like depending on what kind of rush you're, you're looking to go with or the situation. Like, and by that, I mean, are you, are you tilting in and aiming it to tackles outside shoulder. Are you trying to beat him to a spot up the field? Do you vary that? Yeah, I vary it. You know, honestly, um, every tackle is different. And like what I've learned, especially now getting more attention and chips and slides and things like that, um, I got to pay more and more attention to how they're going to block them. And that's why watching film is, you know, I could watch the other team. I can watch a right tackle play 10 games. And I'll go into the game and you'll do something completely different because at the end of the

the day, like there's, you know, I know they're going to try to do different shit to me and try to slow me down. So, yeah, when it comes to like my approach, I like to have every move in my toolbox ready to go. Like, that's why I'd say the off season. Like I started January 30th. I've been going nonstop. And there's obviously there's, you know, ups and downs, delode weeks, things like that. But like, I do it all year round. So I'm able to have the flexibility, the cardio and all to do all these moves. So I can spin both ways. I can. I can. I have my speed of power, have all these moves in my toolbox.

So no matter what the situation is, I have an answer for it. If a guy wants a jump set, I got an answer for that with a spin. Whether it's off two steps or four steps, like that's, I really try to just maximize my, like my toolbox to the farthest extent.

So like, yeah, like we're playing, for example, we're playing Seattle this year and they got this rookie, you know, they're talking, you know, they're hyping them up. Like Rob, Rob Ryan came to me early in the week. He's like, this, this, Lucas kid, like he might be the best tackle you faced all year. And I'm like, but so I was, I took that as a challenge.

And we started the game. I started with speed to power, speed to power, speed to power. And then as the game went on, I started tightening my alignment because he's long. Like this is a big, like big athletic kid. I started tightening my alignment because he was just, he was athletic. He was bailing out of there and waiting on the speed. So I've just gotten to a five and I was one step and getting off and getting on an edge. And I was beating him every time.

And so once I start beating him with that, I'm like, okay, it's 50 seconds on the clock, third and 10, we got to get a stop. I wind back out, and I just sprinted off the ball. And I beat him a swipe like eight times. And he thought I was about to hit him with a swipe again. And he was sprinting out of there. And you remember, I got a speed of power. And I think you had a strip sack or maybe took the ball off Gino or something.

Yeah. And so it was just like it was a speed to power. setting it up during the game. And that's kind of like, that's what I, you know, that's just one example. You know, I always, especially during the game, I feel like the best guys, like, know how to adjust. Like, and having all those in my toolbox, I work it all week. Like, okay, sometimes I'll align a little bit wider.

Sometimes I'll be tighter just depend on what kind of guy they are. And every matchup is different. So I really just try to have all those tools ready when the game comes and, you know, just go from there. You know, I found it's funny you say that because, like, a lot of people are all you got to have a plan and you do have a loose plan but it has to be very pliable to where you can change your your approach in the second quarter because you know to me we used always watch cut-ups you know like you guys are watching guys around the league and I hate sack

tapes okay because first off the best rushers aren't sacks so yeah I'm watching these guys I'm like all right well this guy just turned at 10 yards and he got fucking lucky the quarterback drifted but also not everybody can do everybody shit and sometimes you'll be watching a guy and you'll be like, well, this guy's anchor, suspect. Then you get out there and you stick a long arm in his chest. And you're like, damn, this guy's like a brick wall. So you got to have like, you know, your off speed pitches. You've got to be able to go to him.

You've got to be able to go to him within a play. So I think it makes a lot of sense. I guess with all your tools, is there one that feels the best when you hit it clean? Honestly, like, I start the game. I'm thinking, okay, I'm speed to power. I'm going to hit him in his face three times in a row just and let him know. Yeah, I'm going to be here all day. And I have.

And that immediately a tackle is going to be like, all right, I got an anchor in this motherfucker. So for me, I'm my stab to swipe. When I learned it in college, we called it the voodoo rides. It's a fake ride and swipe. But it's just a stab swipe. And like that's when I hit that clean, like I feel like that move is like unstoppable. When I'm getting off the ball stab and swiping, yeah, I love that move because I'm coming clean. And I've gotten a ton of sacks off that.

The feeling of your right wrist just knocking down some big guy's arm is just like home free, dude. And then you've got the ability to turn that edge at the top, which is rare ability. What's it like going to Von Miller's camp? And like how much freedom of information is there? And are you worried at all about like you tell somebody in the AFC West what you like to do? And then they go back and tell, you know, Orlando Brown or something. Do you protect it at all? Or is it just like free-flowing ideas?

Yeah, honestly, it's, well, first of all, your first question, like the camp in general is incredible. I've been going on. It's my fourth year now. Yeah. And me and Vaughn have gotten super close over the year. So he's a great friend of mine, and that dude is just a, he's a football mind. Like, he sits there and can talk football all day, all day, all day. So it's incredible.

And, you know, when it comes to that, like, this is another Marinelli one. It's all about us. Like, that's just my approach. Like, shit, you think you can know what I'm doing. doing them, but like, it's all about me. If I do my rushes the right way, I don't give a damn much you, you're going to bring. Like, my mindset is I'm fine. I'm a beat you regardless.

So, yeah, like, I'm not sitting there hiding, you know, secrets from certain guys. Like, when we're at the camp, like everybody is just free game. Everyone's talking. We're walking on the field for an hour and a half, two hours and literally just walking through stuff and talking over, you know, what they see, what their approach is from a two point, from a three point, what guys like, what moves, you know, in critical moments they'd like to pull out and then we go in the film room and watch film for three hours and like I'll go up there that Michael Parsons went up there then Cam Joran goes up there like all the best rushers in the league

just literally talking football and it's it's incredible I got freaking I got pages and pages of notes from this weekend but I look forward to it every time it's it's a hell of a time but yeah Vaughn is like bond is one of those dudes who's so like he's just a football like junkie like he truly loves it and just looking at his career like that's a dude who I aspire to be like he's won multiple Super Bowls he's a hundred plus sat guy he's consistently in the Pro Bowl like that's the dude I look out to and uh you know I just I just want to pick all the best guys you know brains like at the end of the day I would Aaron Donald Micah you know all those guys like when I first got the league I hit up all those guys and like now they're all that's the only people I talk to

I talk to TJ, I talk to Nick Bosa, and me and Nick talk all the time. But, yeah, like another example, Von called me. It was our byweek, and we just played the Chiefs, and I got two sacks, first Wiley, and he called me, and he's like, yo, I just watch a game. We got the Chiefs this week. Like, what were you seeing? What were you doing? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

He goes out there, and this is my biweek, so I'll finally get to just sit there, watch Sunday, you know, watch Red Zone, and I'm watching the bills versus Chiefs. Von goes out there. And you could pull up the clips. Like we did the same exact spin move. The lineman fell the same exact way. Like I'm going nuts in my house. I'm like, well, that's, I'm screaming.

And then he gets another one. And he ended up getting two sacks. And he, literally, I'm sitting there on the Norman tax in my room. And he calls me on the plane. He's like, bro, I was fucking thinking about when I was going. And we were just hype. And so, like, that's what it's really all about. It was just giving back to the game.

And, you know, I just, I try to. associate myself with the best in the game and learn whatever I can. Dude, listen, how cool is that? A couple years ago, you're a guy to Eastern Michigan. Now you got Von Miller hitting you up. Like, I was inspired by Max Crosby's rush plan. All right, I got to let you go in a second, but I'm going to ask you about two teammates.

First one, Chandler Jones, one of my favorite rushers, one of the guys that you're like, don't try this at home. Like, I'm watching his shit. And I'm like, I'm not going to be able to do that thing. You know, like, I can't do that thing, bro. But I know you love Chan. And I'm wondering how excited you were when you first found out he was going to come play with you.

Oh, I was going crazy. You know, when we first signed him, I was sitting in the room with Rob Ryan, and we're watching film and talk about. And I was going to him last offseason. I'm like, yo, you make me a cut up of this guy and this guy. And like, I'm literally in the office. I go, I want Cam Jordan and Chandler Jones. So he's like, oh, I bet.

So we're just shooting the shit. 10 minutes later, Josh McDaniels walks in the room, he's like, we just, we just signed Chandler Jones. And I'm like, I swear to God, bro, it's crazy. I'm looking at Rob. I'm like, no fucking man. Rob's like, he just fucking ass. And he's going nuts.

And it was crazy. So I got him on the phone immediately. And me and Chan's another guy, like me and Chan for years, I've been in contact. And we talk like all the time. So when, you know, when he got signed, I was like, well, yes, I'm excited. And he's like, my. best friend like me and chan are like we can't every we do everything together during the day where meetings you sit next to other and like if you know chan like chan's like a big child like he's the

funniest funniest human i've ever met bro he's valetious and he's just such a good player man he's got so much and like he's one of those rushers i can't go do what chan does like i can't go do what bond does like chan will grab you a long arm you and grab your feet of your neck and throw dudes off the feet like he does shit that's not even human like yeah it doesn't even make sense i can't coach that it's crazy bro and and you got one more freak in nature joining you guys and tyree wilson and i gotta be honest he was maybe my favorite guy in the draft at all the rushers i just his length and you know some of the twitchiness that he showed his scheme he was in was a little bit more like reading and he'd be playing down in a four covered up and that sort of thing i think he's going to be really fun

And what have you seen so far from Tyree? Yeah, no, I totally agree. Like, just purely off of physical gifts, like the dude's a freak show. He's 6-6-275. He makes me look small. So he's just like a, he's a monster. And like you said, like in college, he was in that scheme where he was playing kind of all different positions. And he was square a lot of the times.

He wasn't getting off the ball like crazy. I feel like coming into our system, you know, we're mainly a four, you know, four-man front. now and I'm just excited to get on the field with him. Like he's been, you know, getting back. He's trying to get to 100%. He's almost there. But I want to get on the field with him and just work get off with him and just because he could be so dangerous and so disruptive.

If he just gets the little details, you know, if he takes it super serious and focus on get off and just the little details reading your key, get off, run into the ball, like that dude is going to be successful. So I'm just excited for him. we brought in six rookies you know we brought in a kid from bama byron yon we brought in nesta from arizona state we got like a ton of guys now in the room and um it's been super excited the ota has one great um i'm just fired up you know camp's right around the corner so we're we're fired up over here and we just can we get in gawkway signed he's a fucking dog dude i don't understand

what the deal is he's all he's done is produced since he's been the league yeah it's crazy bro yeah so It's crazy. Where do you want to see him? You got any like I'd love to see him in this uniform, that uniform? Honestly, you know, I think Jan is, you know, he wants to be on a winner. I know he's, I think it's year nine for him, eight or nine now. So, yeah, he's going to, I feel like he's going to sign with a contender in training camp. So I'm not sure where, but, you know, Yon is my boy.

You know, I love Yon. Yeah, he's beautiful. One of the most passionate, you know, crazy dudes. I've been around, but I love him. You know, it's my dog. This year in India, when we played, you know, I got to see him after the game. And, you know, me and him, that was, it was like me and Chandler. You know, I was a completely polar opposite person.

Yeah. But, you know, just another dude. You get to share the feel with, you know, you'll have that relationship forever. So, yeah, wherever he goes, he's going to do well. Being a D-Lyman fucking rocks. You get some, you get some roll dogs and stick with him, man. Yeah, Max, man. Thanks for the time, dude.

Wish you the best of luck this year. Try to get a little downtime, bro. And we'll be watching you. Come back soon. Good luck. Yes, sir. I appreciate you guys, man. Yeah, I appreciate you, dude.

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I had Matt calculate and I fucked on all of them. I put five baseball futures in before the season, thinking it'd be a lot of fun to track a baseball team because I love NFL win totals. And we put these baseball win totals in. I feel like betting baseball win totals is good because by the time I lose my money I'll blame it on the old me.

Like it takes so long. That's a good point. You know what I mean? Like I could be dead by the time these. Got an out. Like, you know, my bookie's got to talk to my wife. Like my baby gronk fade. No, I think your bets are in some trouble.

So you made five bets. Yeah, they are. You bet the Cardinals over 88. They're now projected for 74 wins. Over on the Cardinals win total, dude? Yeah, dude. The Cardinals are always good. I don't know what assholes.

told you to bet that. Yeah, producer Scott. No, it was actually me. Greg, you did? No, corporate Greg told me the other ones. Mariners, you bet over 87 and a half. They're projected right now for 82. Okay, that can change.

That's close. It's going to come out in Seattle eventually. That can change. Yeah, you have three that are not bad. The Mets right now, you bet. They lost like nine of their last 10. You bet over 91 and a half, and they're projected for 81. So that's...

That could change, though, because they're a good team. The Cardinals are a bad team. I feel like the... Cardinals is the only one that I... I would say is over. Like you can't win it. The Red Sox, you bet under 78. I think that's going to track.

And they're projected right now for 81 wins. Okay, they've been trending down. They always trend up at the end. And then last one, you bet Blue Jays over 91 and a half. And they're projected for 90. I feel good about that. I feel good about that. Yeah.

So I think if you're lucky, you go two for three. Okay. So I'll explain this to my wife and kids in the event that, you know, in the next five years I pass away before these bets finish. is that the baseball season's too long. You know, it's just too long. I don't know, bro. We were talking about the champs.

Huh? We were talking about the champs, right? What champs? The Nuggies. I want to, you know, let's talk about the Nuggets. Nicola Yochich. Luke's favorite team. Yokich.

Yokich. I just want to say this from the outset. I think basketball is in a great place. And I think when you look at this postseason, okay, the playoffs were nobody can argue with this. They were fucking awesome. The playing game was great. Yeah, that changed. He were in the playoff, the playing. I know. They lost their first one, didn't they? Yep. They lost their first one. So like, you can't say the playing game doesn't matter. You can't say there's no good

teams that'll come out of the playing game. The playing game is interesting. You know, I think when you look at the health of the game, the finals ratings are down a little bit. Okay, last year you had Steph Curry, Tatum, you had, you know, two pretty big markets. Right. But, but, you know, but, But this was a really good final. And the overall averages for the playoffs this season are up year on year. Like if you take every game that it was watched. NBA is in good shape. And I thought, you know, the series went five, but after two games, I don't think you

knew how long this series would go. And I think it's better when you have an eighth seed like David and Goliath, because then at least you're rooting for something, you know, unlikely. And if it goes five, it goes five. But I think the NBA is in a really good place. You've had the last couple of years. And this is a big one. Two foreign MVPs, two out of the last three years.

And when Mnayama's coming to league now, is Donchick next? You know, like, I don't know, but this is really good. The game is global. It's here. They have to change the All-Star game to USA versus everyone else. Like, probably. I feel like that's the next thing. I thought it was Detroit versus everybody else.

That will make, that honestly will make everyone be like, okay, this is entertaining. Like, these are the best players in the world. then you have the best guys in the world from America, and then everyone else. Here's a wrinkle. You lose the next year. You have to go on the road. You sound like a nationalist, bro.

What do you mean? The captain of the international team hosts the All-Star game. So it happens in Paris if one Minyama is that dude. Here's another thing about it. I think we have to talk about this because, you know, Yokic, he's the best player in the world right now. People are talking about him like he's the best player in the world right now. It was Joel Embed the length of the season.

You know, just a month or two ago, I felt like Joel Embed. MVP was the best player in the world, albeit it was a regular season award. Yannis was the best player in the world before that. So think about the way this is cycling through. We've got dudes. Well, we have dudes, but what we have is a power vacuum that's left by LeBron not being in his prime anymore. And I think, like, it just speaks to two things. Number one, how dominant LeBron was that every year you could just say without a shout of a doubt.

He's the best player in the NBA for a stretch of a decade plus. And now it just reinforces how rare it is to have that because you have this power vacuum and you have a different player every year that's going to be the greatest player on the planet. Exactly right. That's why we've had five champions in the last five years.

Yep. And I think him leaving his wake, it's obvious that the NBA is in a good place. It was in a great place with LeBron. And I think that's the big question that everybody wants to answer. It's like in the NFL right now with all those quarterbacks that are, you know, going to retire, like Brady, Breeze, Rivers, all those guys, Eli Manning, Ben Rothesberger, that whole class,

you know, they move on and you wonder who's going to take over and is the NFL going to be in a good place? And it is, and so is the NBA. And I think it just takes this opportunity. Turns out they're still making talented fucking kids. Yeah, but, you know, it's like in the NBA is going to lean on this international thing, grow the game and they're going to be just fine. And I wondered how it would be without LeBron being the top dog. Would it be as interesting?

I thought this was a really interesting playoff. And I think for Yokic, there's a lot of talk about, is he an all-time great? To me, we wouldn't be having such a hard time with this if he were an American player not playing in a market like Denver. This guy has won now, two MVPs. Three MVPs. He almost won three in a row, right? He's got two league MVP's one final.

Two league MVP. He almost won three in a row. He's got a finals MVP. He's an NBA champion. This puts him in rare company. Well, people don't notice, like, what people, like, fail to really put out there is that on top of his stats, he's a guy that he makes everybody better around him, which, like, in a lot of times for MVP's, like, it can be a solo act where a guy is, like, just really good

by himself. He can take over a game. He can score points. He can get rebounds and stuff. But this dude, he literally averages a triple double. And averaging a triple double and not being a dominant score alone means you're making everybody better. He's one of the best passers in the game.

It makes it easier for like Aaron Gordon. Exactly. Aaron Gordon's an incredibly talented player. And he's asked to essentially sit on the baseline and play the dunker role and guard the other team's best player. It's a lot easier to do that when you know the ball is going to find you. And that's another thing that makes this. Why people cut?

And that's another thing that makes Yokit show great, in my opinion. In the era of super teams, in the era of great teams that are stacked with two, three blue chip players, Denver is not a super team. Denver's, you know, are champion from before this whole thing kind of started trending that way. I mean, Murray's great. Okay, he's a great player. It's a great story.

He was hurt. He stuck with him. He came back. He was lights out. But you've got KCP meaningful minutes. Aaron Gordon, meaningful minutes. Bruce Brown. Bruce Brown.

Porter Jr. You know, the white boy from Kansas, Christian Brown. You've got guys like Ishmit. You've got guys like DeAndre Jordan. You've got guys like Jeff Green. It's a likable team. DeAndre Jordan had to play because I found trouble in game.

What I mean is not only they're not a super team. They're also really likable. And when you watch Yokic after the game, my mouth was wide open watching him. I had to look at my wife like, are you seeing this? Like, he's not even smiling. It looks like you just want a fucking pickup game. Did you see when they announce the parade?

Exactly. That's the best part. I'm like, no, Nicole, this is the best part. Yo, he's like, he's like, no, I can't leave. He's probably has his flight ready for as soon as that parade ends. Like, if not. He had it ready for like the next day. I don't think he realized they did a parade.

He's got a horse race in Sambor, Serbia that he needs to go to. He owns like a massive fleet of carriage horses. He's obsessed with horse racing. Oh, he just likes the ponies. that is lit. You should see a picture. Have you seen a picture of him riding it? No.

It's like a war horse. It's in a carriage? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, okay. But not like a big fucking carriage. Like a little... Oh, that's pretty interesting. Oh, they've raced those.

Like Lane Johnson of Serbia. Well, here's the thing. And also our guy, Strachinjik, got major airtime. The night that I drafted him one overall in the fan draft. famous fan draft. This guy was picking up his little brother like he was a day. Kyle, it kind of reminds me if I was actually bigger than you of our setup. This guy? You know? Yeah, his brother. I mean, he picked him up. The only guy that can soften Yokic

up is his big brother. And he just, these guys were having a blast out there. Now, Yokic was pretty deadpan. And I would say this, the guy just really wants to get back to Serbia. He's got to be one of the top three Serbians of all time. Tesla, Nikola Tesla, Jokevich. God, if I knew what were going to be Serbians today. Well, there's not really a lot after there. There's a Serbian ledge. Two is going to be Djokovic, the tennis player, and now Yokic.

But Yokic might be more famous than any of them. You got Yolkich one? Yeah, that's the most popular sport in that country. So he's probably the most popular Serbian of all time because the most global. Did you see the streets of Serbia at 5 a.m.? Did you see the big fucking building in Serbia that was like they're they they had the big screen with like this uh that was awesome it looked like NBA jam it looked like old graphics had Yokic uh you know um balancing uh the the globe on his finger

on his index finger i also seen Aaron Gordon walk through the streets of Denver just celebrating with the mobs of people smoking a cigar is awesome let me say this about Aaron Gordon and I love the guy I love like his career arc the whole thing um Serbian he has jockeys now because he didn't take off his game shorts for like five hours by my count I was seeing videos of Aaron Gordon in the streets to like 1 a.m. 2 a.m. after that game. That really throws a wrench in our culture debate. Well here's the thing about Aaron Gordon he's got a parade to go to you might get some some gold bond medicated powder my man one of those dry showers he was out there he didn't even change his shorts so big ups to Aaron Gordon big ups to the nuggets I think they're

really likable team uh I think this is maybe the most likable NBA championship team in a while. Totally agree. I like, you know, they just, they're not a super team, they play together. This is a better version of the when, that when Yannis won and he was like,

you know, some people, they buy their teams. He's like, you know, we build our shit. That's like the nuggets. This is the, but honestly, this is like what Milwaukee just couldn't be, in my opinion.

Like, it was harder for me to like Milwaukee than it was for me to like the Nishol and Star Milwaukee. For some reason. There's no unlikeable player on their team. Yeah. Everybody is cool. Small markets, international players, probably a good thing for the NBA. It's a good thing.

You get all the markets involved. You get the whole world involved. And everybody was a lot of fun. Saying he was a stat padder, like not the best player in the league. Just nobody had been watching Denver. Yeah, the funniest shit was Lisa Salters. Like when she first interviewed him, he went full force gump. He was like, I think I'll go home now.

He just had had enough of all this. And Jimmy Butler on the other end of things, you know, totally deject. I feel for Jimmy Butler, and I'm not trying to walk back all this Jimmy Butler hysteria that we've been willingly involved in, but like a few years ago, my take on Jimmy Butler was great player,

but not on the level of like the three, four best players in the league. And it was really easy to become the prisoner of the moment. You know, with the Nuggets winning, don't let, don't let, don't cheapen the present trying to not to be a prisoner of the moment. Like, Yokic is an all.

all time great. But with Jimmy, it felt like we got a little bit too into being a prisoner of the moment. And when the game was on the line, there was the bad pass. I mean, he, he, there was the, the ill-advised three-pointer. There were some games where he kind of didn't show up. The guy's a fucking warrior. Do you have a problem? One of the most likable players in, in all four major sports. What was your question? I was going to ask, do you like, do you have a problem with the way they ended that game, like not, like foul and not keep fouling or like.

You think that's fine? You think that's fine? It was over. Was it though? Game was over. High school thing. Now there was a game like game three where the lead balloon to like 15 and then they took everybody out in Duncan Robinson at like three threes and they were within two

three possessions before the end of that game but here's my thing about Jimmy Butler. I was I was last night I was like who's his NFL comp? You know like it's a really tough question and the first name that came to mind with me was like maybe Cam Newton. Like wildly popular, universally revered, didn't show up on the big stage. Maybe got close a lot.

Kim Newton did let that ball slide around on the field. He didn't jump on the Super Bowl. Jimmy would have picked up that ball. But I'm trying to think of somebody who's like great, like so great, you know, like so loved, but just couldn't quite get over the hump.

Philip Rivers. Philip Rivers, maybe. I'm trying to think. I don't know. That's hard. It's a tough one. That is a tough one. Here's another one that was in my head last night. For a while, it was Andy Reid.

It's Andy Reid and Jimmy Butler. Well, you're talking about guys who were so successful. Jay Cutler. So let me finish this thought. Jay Cutler. Let me finish this thought for a second. He's not Jay Cutler. So Andy Reid was so wildly successful, so loved by everybody.

Never got over the hump. And then he finally did. And then he finally did. But if Jimmy Butler got over the hump, I don't think he'd be considered one of the best players. of all time. Andy Reid's one of the greatest coaches of all- but he's one of the most loved. Yes, and that's why I went like

Cam Newton or somebody. You know, when people say, like, when people are like who could play in the NFL from the NBA, the first guy I always think of is a guy like somebody like-minded, like-minded because like he's got that dog in him. I'm thinking about... I know that meme is out the window like six months ago, but he's got that dog.

Thinking about PJ Tucker. You know, all these guys are... Just an absolute. Jack Randolph. Zibo, I don't know if Zeebo has the athleticism to play in the NFL. I'm thinking Kyle Lowry. No. As an inside linebacker.

No chance. No chance. Russell Westbrook's put him in safety. He takes charges. But Russell Westbrook at safety. Okay, here's another one I was thinking about. This is a really good time in the NBA to flash up. Five years ago, Tony, you know, six years ago,

Kyrie Irving had that game six. You know, 10 years ago, Tony Parker was the MVP of the finals or whatever. Who is Kyrie Irving in the NFL? Kyrie? AB? I was going to say maybe Ricky Williams. That's good. You know?

But like I don't think, I don't equate smoking pot to mind conf. But I do think like... I think AB. I'm going to stick with the AB. But he's not as unhinged as AB. But they're just both insane. But the AB thing did cross my mind. They were both so good.

So good. Like, who is, who's Kyrie? Or it's Taylor? No. No, because L.T. is like maybe the greatest player of all time. And he realized his potential. I do think, like, Kyrie, there's this sense that, like, it could have even been better. He's 30 years old now or whatever he is.

Like, he's still going to be a great player. It's one of the best players I ever seen in person. Go back to Mind Comf. He was, like, talking about Mind Comf? Well, no, that was Deshawn Jackson. But it was... Oh, I do remember that. No, he just has an affinity for Nazi Germany.

Hot topic. He posted a link to a documentary that had some anti-Semitic trope. Oh, he's a film reviewer. Yes, he's a film reviewer. But just misunderstood. So who is he in the NFL? I don't know. Mike Irvin?

No, dude. I don't know that there is a comic. It's a hard one to find. They could be Aaron Rogers. Jay Cutler? Jay Cutler. It could be Aaron Rogers. he's won a ring

Rogers won a ring so is Kyrie Kyrie was the reason Kyrie was the reason in a lot of people's mind that they were able to get over the hump and win that ring Yeah dark they both need a dark retreat It could be Aaron Rogers

You know independent thinkers Don't tell me I'm wrong Maybe you've you've waited into some Alex Jones socials Alex John unironically I think he is fucking entertaining I don't care what he says. Yeah.

It's like as white noise in the background, no pun intended. He is fucking funny. If it were satire, it'd be funny, but it's not. But to me, it is satire. Yeah, well. Not everybody can tell what's satire these days. No, seriously. I did the baby gronk thing yesterday.

I said baby gronk is like a child actor. Look at McCulley Culkin. Guy from Indiana Jones. It compresses them. It compresses them, the pressure. And people were like, dude, that's not how genetics work. I had to really think about guys. And be honest, am I too deadpan?

No, that guy's a fucking idiot. Can you tell I'm joking when I say some of these things? Yes. Okay. People are fucking stupid. Shout out to McCulley Culkin's brother. Oh, love it. Succession?

Roman. Yeah. Who I was like, this guy looks familiar. I googled him. McCulley's brother. Yeah, that's right. He's not tall either. He's a sick old.

And Scottish name. The pressure of McCallie. Kieran and McCauley. Kieran was feeling the, Kieran and McCauley. Kieran was, Kieran was. Have you met my little boys?

Kieran was the, Feeling the pressure from McCauley, and he got shrunk, too. Yeah. So, anyways. The twins who did Big Daddy. Okay. Remember the boys? That one boy was two boys.

Zach and Cody. I wipe my own ass. I want to talk about the Vegas night. Do you know that all baby actors have to be twins because of child labor laws? I'm being curious. Where's Justin Timberlake's twin? No. Was he a baby actor?

They don't have to be twins. It's just that because of the amount of hours. that you have with them most productions find out i.e. full house. Like convenient to have twins. Wow. Ashley. That's wild. Yeah.

Yeah. Baby's getting tired. Take the baby to his trailer. Yeah. Here's the other one. Send the other baby into makeup. Yeah. Sounds like a nightmare.

Yeah. Baby was sexually harassing somebody on set. He was just sucking tities. There was a woman. There was a woman at our villa. Chris. So go back to the Italy trip for a second. It's like,

you think Bill Murray's bad on set. Speaking of Bill Murray You know? We already talked about it. That's fabulous. We did a whole Eskimo by the year When you were gone. I played against his son in high school.

Bill Murray sat in the corner of the end zone during the game He was just risen up young with the bongo drum And every time someone would kick off, he would do the Do do do do do do do do do do do do do do that's awesome And no one knew who it was until the end of the game They were like, yeah, that was Bill Murray. You know something about being like famous as shit and just marching to the beat your own drummer like Bill Murray and And Andre 3000.

Anytime you see Andre 3000, he has some cool instrument. Bro, if I ran into him playing the number one person that I want to run into. I'll be like, yo, this is so dope. Okay, Vegas nights. I want to talk hockey. Now, admittedly, I chose the NBA playoffs over the Stanley Cup. I wish there was some way around this. Every year I'm like, man, I'd love to be.

It takes everything to follow one of those playoffs. If the blues aren't in it, I'm not watching so much. Rocky's an intimidating fan fandom too. It is. And like you said, they gatekeep it. Yeah, big. You know? But Greg Wishnicki, who works for ESPN,

posted an article at 1108. It was like a 30-minute read, which means, Greg, you knew the way this series was going. You probably had this written up after game, too. You know, like you wrote the whole thing, and then he wrote the first paragraph right after they won. But they won like 9-3. It was like an AFC North score last night.

but I learned a lot about the Vegas nights. I mean, like, obviously they're a younger franchise, Kyle. They're in their six year. And to credit their owner, and I'm forgetting the guy's name, he said when they started this whole thing, playoffs and three, Stanley Cup and six. And obviously, when it started, the first year, they made it to the Stanley Cup final.

Yes, okay, and they were 250 to one dogs to win the title. They had a bunch of old heads on the team. They were like the Indians from Major League. Yes. Well, you know, the way it works with the expansion draft, and this is why like Columbus or Nashville, who were recently expansion teams could probably look at, they're probably hating, like big hating on Vegas,

because they had to really go uphill after the expansion draft. With the Vegas Knights to incentivize Vegas to get into the dance, they made it easier on them to pick up good players. You could protect less players during the expansion draft. So like they had an easier road to toe. But still, it's amazing to me that in six years, they've realized their dream. And if you look at the teams that have also done this this quickly,

five of them were during prohibition. There was only one other team that ever won this quickly upon entering the league. And that's the Edmondson Oilers. It's your Wayne Gretzky. It's your Wayne Gretzky team. And also the Oilers were part of like an older hockey federation or something. But like. At the H.L.

Yeah. So, you know, it's just. It's hard to believe what they've done, and when you read about the steps that they've taken, they've been really cut through it. They cut or traded some of their charter guys that were like fan favorites in Vegas. They got rid of a gold tender.

A flurry, that was controversial. They got rid of their coach a couple years ago. So this owner deserves a lot of credit. Foley? Yeah, that's right. Bill Foley? And the GM deserves a lot of credit. The expansion draft was so weird.

These other teams were all paranoid that the Knights would take somebody off of their team. So they ended up making trades with them. Like we'll trade you a draft pick or we'll trade you this guy and we won't take it. And then all the trades ended up working out beautifully for the nights. They gained all this capital. And the previous expansion draft, it was two teams alternating picks. Yes. This one was just the Knights.

Yeah. So they had their pick of the litter. It has the, uh, the cap, Cap had an effect too because they had 75 million. They're starting from zero. They could sign pretty much anybody from these other teams rather than the teams that they're pulling from. They had to make,

they had to save some guys because of their contracts. You know, we can't protect him even though he's the best player on our team because he has such a big contract. It's a fucked up situation, man, but they've made the most of it. And, you know, now I think the interesting part is we got all this gambling talk in the NFL. there's guys getting busted gambling.

You get the Super Bowl coming up in Vegas. Nate's talked about how he thinks that's going to be a disaster. The draft has been in Vegas. And the first secret in the league is that the NBA is going to expand to Vegas. They're going to expand to Vegas. You've got two champions now in the city of Vegas, the aces and the Knights. And it's just like Vegas is here, gambling's here. And for Florida, once Cichuk was out, and his dad,

Keith Kachuck was a legendary St. Louis Blue. We share a lot of the same watering holes. I've never actually gotten drunk with him. I got drunk with Brett Hall a good bit when I was in. Obie Clarks. Yeah, OB Clarks. Yeah, we both had the hat. You know, like I've got this, when you see a hat that says OB on it,

and that's one of my favorite places in St. Louis to go get drunk, and there are a lot of great places in St. Louis to get drunk. I spotted Keith Kichuk at Matthew's game wearing the OB hat, and I felt like, hey, dude, we're, you know, we're part of the same tribe. But when Chuck went out with a sternum and he had a sternum, which is really painful, I'll actually give it to hockey players on this one. They were pretty much dead. And the Bob Rovsky got peppered back there, giving up nine goals.

I want to shout out Patrangelo, Alex Petrangelo, who was a blue, and landed in Vegas who got a cup. So putting this into context, and I think this is interesting, Vegas, you know, they didn't have to play Boston. They didn't play them at all this year. Boston won 65 games this year was the record in the NHL. It's the most wins ever in the regular season. Like the Warriors.

Like the Warriors who won 73 games and did not win the finals. Like the Patriots who won 16 games. Eli. And did not win the Super Bowl. So I think like if you're looking to set it. Yes. If you're looking to set a regular season record, just know that you're probably not.

You probably use too many wins because you're not going to win the whole. thing. Slow down. You know, like slow the fuck down. I just, it's pretty interesting to me that the, the,

the Bruins had such a historic season, didn't even make it out of the second round or the first round. First round. First round. You know, I've seen, basketball that one year. You've seen the lightning lose to an eight seed,

but you never seen a, you know, a team that won 65 games, uh, leave that early in those things. That was surprising, but it does happen more often in hockey that the lower-seated team wins. And I forgot Vegas is probably going to have the athletics there as well.

Last time I watched. That's true. I just passed a bill for public funding of the stadium. What do we think about the reverse boycott that you brought up earlier in Oakland? I love it. All these fans, like nobody's been at the A's games all year. And that way,

the A's are trying to pull the major league being like, oh, there's no fan support. So they all show up to be like, fuck you, there is fan support. You're just ripping our team out from my rest. I kind of feel like without knowing anything about the situation.

So if you live in Oakland and you're an A's fan, I'm sorry. Sounds like they're getting credit after a grading period. Well, it sounds like, you know, sometimes I'd play with a game. guy that wouldn't bring it every play and then like all of a sudden it was beautiful it was like

you know it's whatever 30 000 people at that stadium look like which is probably some sort of a hazard uh but like the coliseum the coach always says after that that the coach always says after that moment like now you've shown me i need that every time uh-huh and so like i i don't know i was in st louis supporting the rams when they left and saw what that did to a great sports town and that has happened to Oakland now three times. When's the last time they sold out, though? It's a good point, but like they had the best fans in the league for the Warriors and like everybody's just left them.

I just feel back for them. All I'm saying is like, that's business, baby. You know, I get that the, the, uh, the franchise is going to up and leave and they know it. And it's impending to do. They should leave them. You got a shitty stadium. You got fans that don't pack the seats every night. Yeah, but they did the other night, though.

They did. So anyways, anyways, uh, what do we want? watch now? Baseball? Yeah. I'm going to watch Survivor, season one through season, whatever. You're going to binge Survivor? I've never seen it. I've never seen it either. We should watch it together. I would love to do that. Okay, I'll start watching Survivor. Let me know. So I'll watch it in my house. You watch at your house and we were like, write a book report. That sounds about right. What else is there on TV? College World Series. College World Series. Game one, UVA versus Florida, 7 PM on Friday. Omaha, Nebraska.

So there's this like, hello. There's this like jello shot competition. every year in Omaha, I guess? Or is it like the, you know. It's at one bar, all late. Teams are up on the board. When fans come in, they do jealous out, it's up on the board. So does oral Roberts definitely lose that?

Probably. Yeah. You know? You could bet on that for sure. Everybody's team oral, though. Uh-huh. Everybody's team oral. LSU is definitely the favorite in that.

LSU probably. Especially Zion. LSU. I think that, like, that's their whole food pyramid. like the bottom is jello shots so they'll be fine but virginia'll be in the mix they'll be right in the middle i think virginia is usually in their florida is going to uh have some tough one trip south carolina is probably good again are they in it not this year scurliana was that we have to contend with i'm one opponent a bunch of tanners and parkers

down there you know what i mean we've got uh florida oral roberts um on our side and tc u or the And then on the other side of the bracket, it's Wake Forest, Stanford, LSU, and Tennessee. By the way, just made contact with one Max Duggan. We get them on the show sometime. Ooh, nice. That'd be great. Maybe after TCU loses to UVA in the semifinal. I didn't even talk any noise to the kid.

We should put a friendly bet on it. You should. Okay. That's a place that I've never been. I'd love to go watch a game or just taking the festivities. Omaha? When I was younger, I wanted to go to William's sports. the Little League World Series and take that in.

But now I want to go to the college world. You know, I was going to do Denver by Willie Nelson for layup line, but I think I'll do Omaha by the Counting Crows. Omaha. Somewhere in the middle of America, you know? Maybe one year we'll go. All right. So we got a little NFL to talk about.

What do we got, Reed? Well, DeAndre Hopkins, he's been a hot news topic. Like, today it was reported that they are close to signing him in New England. That would be so great. We talked about this for, I feel like, two months. Well, it's, it's been a while ever since Bill and him were on the field joking. Remember, we were like, oh, Bill wants DeAndre. I pray this happens.

It's really ironic that he would choose to go there because he was dealing with a place that was in flux from a, like a fractured leadership. Well, here's the word. Hear me out. He was at a place with fractured leadership. Believe it or not. It's a good segue. He wants fractured leadership. But he goes to a place, in my opinion, as an alignment,

I can see that there's fractured communication and leadership in New England. Obviously, the best coach of all times there, but they've rectified that situation. But the irony is. They haven't shown it to me. Okay. If I'm going to have my pick of the litter. Okay. Well, the devil he knows is there, Kyle.

It's Bill O'Brien. And here's the thing about Bill O'Brien. It hasn't stopped him from taking a visit. You know, I thought maybe this would be a huge impediment for him. Bill O'Brien and him from 2014 and 2009. I think he was all pro three times. There didn't seem to be any issues. But the reports came out of there

that there were some really tough conversations that they had where Bill was kind of acting like an asshole. Bill's pulling him in the office and he's like, you remind me at Aaron Hernandez. I'm like, bro, like you say something like that. Like, I don't want to play for you. Was that pre or post trial? I don't know when that was.

It was pre or probably post. Probably post, which makes it even worse. It's like, 2016, you tell me, hey, you remind me Aaron Hernandez and be like, I got a shot to be the best tie down of all the time. Yeah. But 2020, you're like, what? Gotcha. The helicopter view of him at Patriot Place, like, at his vehicle and, like, going into the

Yeah. So it's not a good thing to say, like. That ain't good. And it's also not a good thing to say, like, I'm not a fan of you having a bunch of kids. But it's definitely a question mark. That's what Bill O'Brien said. It's a question mark up there. I know, but supposedly, that's water.

under the bridge. Supposed they had no relationship before. They have one now. I do think that D'Andre Hopkins, although he doesn't have as much gas left in the tank as he did a couple years ago, can be the difference between not being a playoff team and sliding into the

playoffs. I also think he looks so sweet when they wear their red throwbacks. I mean, that guy is going to look so fucking cool up there in those red throwbacks. I love this marriage. Don't go to Tennessee. Don't go to Tennessee. Can we for the touchdown picture with the little colonial men in the end zone.

Yeah, with the muskets. Yeah. It's going to be. Martellus Bennett loved finding those guys. But here's the thing. I believe in Mac Jones. I'm not saying he's like a world beater, but he's not getting as much credit as he probably deserves.

And I think what he went through last year, the thing you alluded to, it's going to be a hundred times better this year. And if you had a piece like DeAndre Hopkins, you never know. So it all comes down to when the bullets start flying. Honestly, that's when you know what the leadership looks like.

The musket fire. That's when you know what the line of communication is. It was responsible for who and what. And I mean, albeit the points you made about OB, if the water's under the bridge, that's great. But if you show up there and then all of a sudden week one, it doesn't look like what you thought, then we find out who DeAndre is.

Well, the ice is thin. I mean, like, listen, if him and Bill get into it week three, like all that's a while. If it goes sour from the beginning, then it's like, fuck. And he hasn't signed there yet, so maybe we're putting him someplace that he's not going to end up, but I would love to see that. I would love to see that.

There is some precedence, right? I'm not comparing Mack Jones and DeAndre Hopkins to Randy Moss and Tom Brady, but Randy Moss kind of the end of his career found New England and was part of one of the best offenses. No question. Randy's best year. If you look at the wide receivers in the AFC East, it is a lot of fun. Like a cheat code. It's a lot of fun in that division is a lot of fun.

Football's fun now. Just like we were talking about the NBA, like these motherfuckers are so good. Let's get it on. So many good players. I actually can't wait until football season now the basketball's over. Yep. I cannot wait. Omaha first.

So Saquan, New York. It looks like a $14 million deal is on the table now, which was offered to him, I think right after the season, he declined before he was signed. And that would make him the third highest paid dude. That's right. At the position.

Yep. Now, it's hard to say, like, the running back position, people are devaluing it. I mean, every once in a while we get like, and I get it, you can win with a running back by committee, but having a really special running back is still,

it's still a thing in my book. And, you know, I was trying to compare, we were talking about this the other day, comparing a running back to some other trend and some other sport, it's not quite back to the basket center because those guys are kind of going by the wayside. We see guys who legitimately would be like top five picks

in college these days. If they played in the 90s, would have gone way higher. Don't even get drafted now. So, like, that position has changed completely. If you can't run the floor, if you can't shoot, if you can't, you know, like that guy, running back, still running back. It's just the way we value it has changed.

And I would liken it more to, like, a shooter that you finish your, you know, your setup with. Like, when you have all the pieces, then you add that luxury that can get you over the hump and win you a championship. And that's why I think, like, certain teams add a running back after they're really good. and try to make that push, but like... Give like the Nuggets adding KCP. Exactly.

Nuggets know they have a championship core. They just need that extra piece that can do that role. And let me tell you something. KCP hits props like nobody else. I was hitting all the KCP props. I know, I love that guy. I want to get KCP on the show just because you seem to chill as fuck,

plays all the games. It's all the props. I know Lakers fan. Like that, that bugs them seeing seeing him. Hell yeah. Because KCP for the Lakers, he was a wobbler there.

Yeah, a lot of open shots and a lot of plays where I know the Lakers wanted him to score for him. I think Danny Green got most of that heat. But yeah, no, like I think adding a running back like Sequan, and in this situation, like you're trying to build that team where Seekwans a luxury. I mean, like you're at the same time, you just paid Daniel Jones. Like you need him to have that safety valve. You can't let fucking Seekwon walk. I don't know what it's going to cost. I don't know if 14 is not going to be enough.

But if you can work it out, you've got to bring this guy back. Also, something interesting is there's a ton of running backs. We're going to be up here. We got Barclay, obviously, Jacobs, Taylor, Echler, Pollard, who's on the tag right now. There's a ton of them. Derek Henry. So, like, the market is going to be interesting to see what happens. Another thing we were talking about was, you know, at other positions,

people are encouraged to take three-year deals to reset the market quicker. But, like, you can't even get these guys on long-term. deals right now as it is. So like a three year deal would be great, you know, but it's a tough deal and I think it all stems back to Zeke Elliott. I mean, it's all like Zeke Elliott and the Cowboys, I don't want to blame Zeke. The Cowboys ruin this thing for all these running backs because that's when I feel like it really heated up and everybody was like, yeah, you don't pay running backs. Speaking of derailing a train, did you see the India accident where there was a really bad, horrifying accident in India? Did you know that it was caused by people that just shit

on the tracks no way poop no way yeah like like slippery poop like no like it turns into concrete in the sun and then like a train like is derailed by shit because a poop you should research this is 100% how many fatalities there was a lot okay well that's a downer well keep that in perspective sayquan it's not like you're on a train that derailed because there's a pile of shit on the tracks like you're just a running back you're gonna make 14 million this year you're gonna make 14 million It's responsible for the derailment of change. Sure, you feel like it's not fair, but at least you're not, at least you're not upside down in an Indian Amtrak.

But that's real. That's not even, like that's not. No, I know it's real, Kyle. I don't think you made that up. The picture on the article was just a dude with his pants around his ankle, squatted on the tracks and the sun. Jeez, Louise. That's what Zeke did to the running back market.

That's what I was trying to say. Speaking of derailment. Okay. Okay, well, that's not good, Kyle. A lot of people perished. All right. So anyways. That's poop.

Okay. So anyways, yeah, Seekwon, I'm all for paying Seekwon. I'm all for keeping Seekwon around. Like, I think he's special, man. I always say this. Like, when we played the Giants on Thursday night, I think it was, we beat him up in New York in 2018. And I was, I had like a front seat view of one of the greatest screen passes I ever saw caught. I was the guy who was chasing him trying to decide between like, do I chase him directly or do I try to take an angle?

and I'm watching all these guys, like it was mad and missing him. Like all my teammates were in the Madden commercial. Like the Michael Vic National Championship. It was ugly, dude. It was ugly. I was just thankful that I was bringing up the rear trying to catch this motherfucker because if we were face up, he definitely would have made me fall. Do you remember that interview that Vic did when they were talking about the national championship?

He was like, you know, we played on turf. It wasn't my decision to play on turf. He was like, I felt bad for these guys because they were out there trying hard. But, you know, I could just hear their ACLs when I was. You can hear their ACLs. You gotta hear him talk about this. He was like, I could just, I heard like.

Speaking of ACLs, DeAndre Hopkins took, what was it? Who's your killers? We just talked about that. It was. I worked with him. The corner. For Gianela Hall.

Angelou Hall. Good guy. Great guy. But, you know, that day. You know, I feel God. So anyways, the point is, I think the guy's special. You look at plays like that play at Tennessee

at the end of the game last year. where he's just willing his way into the end zone. You look at those screen passes, the way you can get involved in the passing game. I don't think he's a great pass protector. He's kind of, but everything else, he's awesome.

And he's a great kid, he's a leader. Look at the way he's addressed this thing. Guys like him. You know, he's done a great job of just, I'm going to continue to do the work, but I'd like to be paid, sir.

And eventually I hope he gets paid here. And how much better does he make Daniel Jones? Like how important, was Sequan and Daniel Jones. There's so many things you can do pre-snap and post-snap if you have a great running back who has a skill set that he does. There's nothing the defense can prepare for

because you have so many options with a guy like that. In the passing game, what does Daniel Jones do? It's short passes. And he can extend the pocket with his legs and that's really... You know, hitting Seekwan on an angle route is a fucking great tool to have in the toolbox, especially for a guy who wants to get the ball out with timing.

And, you know... If they do get the coverage right, if there's four guys, who are blanketed, Sequin can bluff release on a block and then be available for a screenplay. The, the read game, you know, you've got a, you've got an athletic quarterback. I know it doesn't look like he looks like a guy in a Docker's ad, but he runs like, you know, he's great. Somebody else. Yeah.

And, uh, and Seekwan having a dynamic running back and that read option is great too. So like, there's just so many reasons why you pay Sequan bar. Also as alignment, I'm sure you guys are thinking about like, man, I got not only do I have to be in the right gap, I have to be present in mind to make a tackle. great cutback runner you can't you can't i don't want to overcommit and i don't want to it's a head game he's a one-cut guy where where he can bounce a ball from the a gap to you know he can challenge that corner he's got on wrapping up yeah that's how that's it like that's what i would say to my cat you know what i'm saying like i wouldn't be worried about trying to knock the ball free or

anything like that just tackle him and make sure he's on the ground yeah it's like a fucking hippo hunt. The last NFL topic we want to hit, we're going to go north, Minnesota Vikings. Changing their roster a lot this offseason. It's official. I'm betting the under this morning. I've been flirting with this. I was talking about it a couple weeks ago. Everybody's like, Vikings won 13 games last year. They won 13 games by a combined total of 1.7 points. One Justin Jefferson. Okay? Like, yeah, just by one Justin Jefferson. Bro, when I tell you, when they covered against the bills, an all-time cover for me. I got a tip that Josh Allen wasn't going to play. I put like a Hyundai on the fucking on the Vikings. We go to Vegas. The whole thing, I've given this bet out to like

three of my closest friends. I've made too much money on it. You better be right. I'm like, yeah, I got good sources. Josh Allen trots out of the fucking with his UCL looking great. Like immediately he's making plays. Bill's jump out. We're in Vegas. I'm at the win. The ending in that game was one of the best endings of an NFL game, depending on how you were looking at it, of all the time. There was fourth and 17. There was the fumble at the goal line. The whole thing, dude, I have chills thinking about that game.

You had Sam Bradford just walking around and saying, this is why I don't do this. This is why I bet on horses. This is why I bet the ponies. But I want to be strapped in for the whole ride, and that was a great ride. The thing about the Vikings is I've been betting their win total one way or another since I got out of the league,

and I have never fucked one up. And I am really close to betting under eight and a half wins. I was really close. I'm over the line. Eight days ago, Bill Barnwell laid it out. He had a big article about why you should be, you know, wary of the Vikings in year two, historically, all this stuff. You know, you also look at what they've done this offseason. You talk about Kendrick's gone, Big Z, gone, a ton of players, Dauvin Cook. This morning I wake up and they're talking about getting rid of DeNeal Hunter. And the guy's got 71 sacks in six and a half years. He's a freaking I remember when he got in the league,

and people were like, he doesn't know what he's doing right now, but he's going to be so good. He's historically skilled. Yeah. I mean, like, it's just he plays in Minnesota and he's not like some big, big personality,

so people don't really know much about him, but he could be coming to a stadium near you, and the Vikings look like they are. I'm not saying tanking. I'm not saying packing it in. I don't want to say that because, I don't want to say resetting, because Rams fans are still emotional as fuck,

the ones that listen to the show about me saying that I think the Rams should be, rebuilding a little bit. I'm sorry, that's how I feel. Yeah. You know, and I feel the same way about the Vikings, like... It was no surprise when we were saying

that they sold their soul to get a Super Bowl. Now it's like, no shit. You got to rebuild. If you ask a Vikings fan, are you rebuilding this year, or are you taking a step back? They'd say, no. But then if you ask...

You know how much fresh water we have? But then if you ask them, how long is Kirk Cousins going to be your quarterback to be? Well, not long. Well, how's that going to work? He's going to set every record in your fucking... And then he's going to be gone?

Like, no, here's the thing that's going to happen this year. You guys are going to win eight games, maybe less, and then you're going to try to draft the fucking kid from USC, but eight games is not going to do it. So I hope you do it much better. All I'm worried about how many away games are going to win, because that's when we get to see the chained up Kirk Cousins. I don't think we're going to see his made chains this year. So that's all I'm saying. It's like I've been flirting with this underwin total, and I think I might roll with it. I might roll with it. Kyle, by the way, Chris Jones is not at mini camp today.

Doesn't matter. Okay. Chris Jones, he kind of just does what he wants. Well, he wants more money, and so maybe I'm wondering, is he the guy that was betting $8 million last year? Matt brought this up earlier. He said that there's a report that one NFL player lost $8 million last year. And you know what I love?

I didn't do that. And I can tell my wife, like, it's not that bad. You see what one NFL player lost? What's amazing to me, though, like, if you go and look at the gambling, like let's say you lost maybe $400 or won $400 in the year. Yeah. You might have bet like $4,000, $5,000. There was a time where I had that moment and I was like, wow.

Let me ask you guys this. For this player's wife and or girlfriend, what's worse, to find this out or to find out that he cheated or like, like you had a situation like that. I think it depends on the wife or girlfriend, you know. What position do you think that this person played? I think this. So here's my short. A short list of candidates.

It has to be. Has to be somebody paid. Yeah, it has to be a corner, has to be a quarterback, has to be an offensive tackle, or has to be a defensive end. A defensive end. It could be a receiver. Okay, here's my little list. So here's my thing.

Or somebody throws a lot of interceptions. It's risk adverse. Like Davis, Mills or DAC, they were at the top of my list. They threw like 15 interceptions apiece last year. So wait, wait. So this is, someone lost $8 million betting on the NFL. No, no, just in general. High stakes, poker, whatever it is.

Or basketball. Where these people are from, like, you know. I don't want to make it a race thing, but it might be a black guy. Why? Because I see black guys in the casino. I mean, gambling. White guys don't go on tilt. You think white guys don't go on tilt?

Have you ever seen me at the end of a night when I've, guys, have you ever seen me on a Sunday night where, like, I'm down? But for some reason, I feel like white guys, they can, maybe they can have self-control for the, I'm walking off. For the half a year. It's not called self-control. We just don't get paid as much, so we don't have $8 million to blow at the fucking poker table. You know what I'm saying?

That's true. Okay, so I'm looking at the highest paid players here, and there was none of what you just said was involved in it, but like, Hatchamahombe seems like a guy who might like to, you know, that's some baseball. He's a competitor. I don't know if he's betting baseball. But that's what I mean.

So competitive, like competitive people gamble. And I'm not saying it's a bad thing. You're looking at one of the biggest D-Gens in Charlottes. Andy has a fall guy. He could say it was his brother. No, I don't know if it's him.

I mean, it could be like what I think gambling, and I'm not a big gambler. I imagine going to like the, whatever the best casino is, like high stakes. No need. James Bond Room in Vegas.

No, no, no, here's what I'm looking at. Think about those games. It's like you lose eight hands and now you're a million. Here's what I'm thinking about. It's not even real money. I don't have chips. I don't have cash.

I don't have to go give my credit card to the person in the cage. It's right here on my phone, and I can bet the Lakers every night. That's what I think about. That's how I think this money was lost. See, I think it's, and I've... And maybe in some casinos, too, playing cards. In casinos. I haven't heard it in that way.

I think there's some sports betting involved here. Okay. Definitely. And one thing to keep in mind is that since this is public information, it had to come from a public book, so that player would need to live in a state where gambling is legal. Oh, that's quite interesting. Which is why I think it's Kyler Murray.

They recently legalized gambling in Arizona. He had a lot of time off. He's known to love, like, gaming stuff, and gambling's kind of adjacent to that. Yeah, it's like opening crazy. You can't break the pocket and just run around for 30 seconds when you owe somebody $100,000. That's a good theory.

So I have my homes on the list. I have Lamar on the list. You know, Lamar was hurt last. year a little bit maybe he's at home and he's like I like the nuggets you go gambling there you know uh Wilson Zach Wilson I don't know man I don't think is a Mormon you're supposed to do that maybe he was on him they can't even drink they they can't even do like uh they call that in a Amish culture how they can't do what they can't do water sports how they can't do water sports on Sunday yeah but he was on wrong

you can gamble that's that's the Amish and we have Mormon job okay okay Kyle Tyreek Tyree kill No he's like he's in So do you think this is going to come out like Like someone saying they didn't know Like obviously like if you're betting this much Or you're just like you just don't give a fuck

It's a DB bro It's gotta be a DB It might be a DB But is it like but like still Whoever it is is this just like a lack of knowledge Or just like I don't give a fuck I think I like to bet Or I'm just that addicted

I think it's botha all right all right