Green Light with Chris Long - Mike Vrabel! Stefon Diggs Signing, State of the Patriots, NFL Rules Review & Severance & White Lotus!

Episode Date: March 28, 2025

FREAK SHOW FRIDAY ON CHRIS' BIRTHDAY! Chris, Macon, Nolan, Cowboy, Tanner and Matt rip a great episode from Studio J. The fellas cover plenty of fun, Chris gets real, announce some bittersweet news and chat with Mike Vrabel. Chris and Coach Vrabel talk all things New England and the direction the Patriots are heading. Free agency has been kind to New England and Coach Vrabel talks about the additions the Patriots have made so far this offseason like Milton Williams, Mack Hollins and the most recent, Stefon Diggs, an exciting new piece for Drake Maye to utilize. Coach Vrabel also tells some stories about facing Tom Brady in practice, Luke Fickell's toughness and the culture he is instilling in New England. Chris and the fellas end the show with a mailbag questions, White Lotus and Severance convos and saying goodbye to a homie! (00:00) - Intro (2:48) - Chris at the Beach (9:35) - Chris' State of the Green Light Union (25:27) - Happy Birthday Chris (30:35) - Mike Vrabel on Signing Stefon Diggs, Patriots Culture and Veteran Leadership (46:42) - Chris' Analysis of the Patriots (1:00:55) - Discussion of NFL's Proposed Rule Changes (1:15:18) - Aaron Rodgers' Future (1:20:55) - Mailbag: Things We Were Told To Fear, White Lotus and Severance (SPOILERS) (1:34:25) - Thank You Kingston! Green Light Podcast March Madness Tournament! Click the link below to fill out the form granting you entry into the GLP bracket! Prizes include 1st place $500, 2nd place $250, 3rd place $100 in Bet MGM gift cards. Must be 21+ to be eligible for a prize. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScbnomKvB7t2zNKqvKNMstq_P2HClxciUC95moAHD-mDIKcyg/viewform 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]‬ In need of sweet threads to vibe like Chris and the fellas? Check out https://greenlightpodcast.org/ for everything merch wise and then some! Also, check out our paddling partners at Appomattox River Company to get your canoes, kayaks and paddleboards so you're set to hit the river this summer. https://paddleva.com/ Green Light's YouTube Channel, where you can catch all the latest GL action: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgxWFAA-wuB7osdiAJyLOcw Green Light with Chris Long: Subscribe and enjoy weekly content including podcasts, documentaries, live chats, celebrity interviews and more including hot news items, trending discussions from the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, NCAA are just a small part of what we will be sharing with you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thanks for the birthday wishes. Speaking of your birthday and having fun real fast, can we do a couple of things? For sure. We do a couple things. Thank you, bro. Thank you. I appreciate it. All right, so do I stand up?

Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Chris. Happy birthday, happy birthday. Welcome to the Greenlight podcast presented by BetMGM. If you haven't signed up for BetMGM yet, use bonus code Greenlight, and you will get up to a $1,500 first bet offer on your first wager with BetMGM. Here's how it works.

Download the BetMGM app and sign up using bonus code Greenlight. Deposit at least $10 and place your first wager on any game. If that bet loses, you will receive up to $1,500 in bonus bets. Just make sure you use bonus code greenlight when you sign up. Welcome to the Greenlight podcast. Thanks for tuning in today. It is going to be a ride. We have a great episode for you today.

We talk plenty. Little bitter sweet stuff. We'll tell you about that later. We talk about the beach. Chris gets real. We do a birthday celebration. If you're on audio, bear with us because it is a little noisy. We bust a pinata and have a blast doing it.

We talk severance, white lotus, spoilers, be aware. And we talk football. We've got Mike Vrable on to talk Patriots, all things patriots, Stefan Diggs, Milton Williams, Morgan Moses, the other guys that they signed a free agency, the outlook of the team and the culture that Coach Vrable is trying to instill in New England. And we dissect and vote on the rule changes in the NFL. If we like them, if we don't, you'll find out.

We have a great episode for you. Enjoy it. And stay tuned for some heat next week, little basketball, little football. a lot of fun enjoy fellas fella how we doing let me start by wishing your lovely life megan lovely wife me you're late she is your life damn it you're late i did a whole carousel like 11 pictures i saw that yeah so she texts me the other night i did like a march carousel yeah and i get a text from the side room she like went in the side room everybody's got a side room aka the bedroom i was putting the kids the bed and she was really tired because i was just i was on a guy's

trip for like four days and uh she texts me do you have a side piece and uh that warranted a walk into the side room to be like yeah what the fuck is going on here and she's like it's just like i don't exist like you just oh you know you're i didn't make the march carousel at all oh really i was like i got something for your ass And I'm not even going to clear. You know how like sometimes you've got to clear the pictures? Do you like this picture? Yeah.

She just says no. That's how we end up with a sausage fest carousel. Yeah. But the next day I just, yeah. So my point is not so fast. You're not in the pod department. You're right. I think I'm the first to wish her a happy birthday on the pod.

She'll appreciate that. Happy birthday, Megan. Happy birthday to my lovely wife. My lovely MLW. How was your trip? Because I can hear it a bit in your voice, this trip that commemorated in a way your 40th birthday, which is Friday.

Yeah, it was good. Went to St. John, went for like three, four days. There's a group of us that are all turning 40. The guys in the grade above me because I was held back in school and myself. True. You know, I was on the edge, though. I probably could.

could have gone on to the 11th grade you could have i felt bad for you senior year because all your friends were gone and it was just me and making left yeah but we may do yeah we had fun cobra burner yeah so so it was fun and i took the guy we went to st john and we celebrated our 40th birthday party and um did a lot of swimming um that's about it okay i don't believe you Well, it's just, you know, ask me specific questions. Did you take the boat over to Yose von Dyke? I did. We went to Soggy Dollar.

Nice. Went to Soggy Dollar. Had a great day. Pulled up at like 11. Left at like 4.30. So we just sat in the waves and pounded beers and mixed drinks and painkillers and not painkillers, the pills. Benzodiazepine. No, no, no, no, no.

Those painkillers, that's the best drink I've ever had. my life. Yeah, it's like, what is it? Coconut rum, you know, nutmeg. You guys are a bunch of six-year-olds. You're like Terrence and Philip. I got a whole fucking team full of Terrence and Phillips. Get a hold of yourself. Get a hold of yourself. Get sell fucking houses for a living. I'm swag. I know. It was great. Golly, dude. We had a we had a great time. A bat got stuck in the house at one point, like a bat flew in, and I hit under the table for 20 minutes and while one of my friends got it out of there. It was, I don't know, highlight of the trip, probably, probably soggy dollar, Yose Van Dyke,

for those of y'all who have been there. That's a bucket list item. You do need a passport, you know, because you cross international waters to go over there to Yose Van Dyke. It's a swim-up bar for people don't know it's basically like the world's perfect swim up bar because you're not swimming up in a pool you're swimming up in the ocean like most beach bars but this one's better i don't know why it's better but it's just better it's the it's the most pristine beach i mean i i would put like this is an elite body of water or like an elite like uh water destination the u.s virgin islands i think if you don't have a passport and you had to go somewhere you go there.

Absolutely. It's incredible. The water's perfect. And Virgin Gorda, where I usually go is not far away, but St. John is really cool too because it's so mountainous. And it's all national park.

You can just go anywhere. It's pretty much, a lot of it is national park. And most of the beaches are awesome. And the nice thing is, like, everybody's living up the hill. So, like, there's not a bunch of beaches that are dominated by, like, you know,

big houses. So everybody can just, just go to the beach and chill the the the the did it look like this at all i was like i was like kennies kenny chestneys i was gonna say that's kenny lennie lives there yeah if we look at those little feet Kenny has the biggest house on the island listen he's got the smallest feet on the island he shares he shares a birthday with your wife march 26 happy birthday kett yeah he turned 57 he said thanks for all the birthday wishes love you guys kc day before he was inducted into the country music hall of thing so was that him there yeah that's him like the other day

So he was there when I was there? Yes. We didn't hook up? Nah, that's a miss. You know, the last time we saw Kenny, we just hung out and hung out. We sure did. We sure did. After that Pittsburgh Steelers concert.

Kenny was like. Up in Pittsburgh. I think I'm going to go get some rest. At Accroshore. The after the after part. I know. I knew I liked you. I've had enough of you guys.

No, but Kenny Chesney's house was, his old house was not far from where we stayed. So it was a good trip. It was a good trip. And now I'm home and I'm turning 40 coming up. Any sort of existential malaise about 40? No. I don't think so.

I think that's over. I think the biggest existential malaise comes when you have your third kid. And you're like nail, coffin. No, I mean like, you know, it's not. But if you have plans for like later in life, you know you think about i'm going to be almost 60 when my kids get out of high school there goes my life by can he treas exactly

yeah game over by little flip for those of you who are less country musically inclined uh no i was gonna say to you guys that maybe this is a good time to do it to open the show but like you know this was the vacation we had football season uh we were all barely hanging on i've alluded to burnout a lot i feel like it's a conversation i owe you guys because like when I got into this thing and making like probably the same thing but like one of the things I value is that the listenership knows the hosts or the hosts like that the shows

I like I feel like the people listening know the people in the show and I feel like I've been shorting you guys I think what I haven't told you guys I was starting to feel guilty about it for a while I really like this fall I got really burnt out and I hated the job and um And at first I want to apologize to you guys because I feel like at times because of where my head was at, I wasn't the best me. You know, and when I got in this thing, I was like, oh, you want to enjoy it so that people can feel that. You know, the enjoyment comes through in what we do. But it just became a thing where, you know, I looked up at the end of the season. I was like, I haven't been myself long enough that I don't know, as far as the guy sitting in this chair is concerned.

I was like, I haven't been myself long enough that I don't know if he's coming back. You know, and it's not to be dramatic about it because it's just a fucking podcast. But for a lot of people listening, it's probably more than that. And so, like, I was nervous that, you know, there were times where I woke up and I was like, I think we're good here. Like, just got to get to the end of the season and figure out what's next. But spoiler alert, I want to get back in the swing of things. You know, I can't imagine, you know, Reed working somewhere else or making just being a real estate agent or Nate opening up Pokemon cards on his personal account.

Like that to me is just a bridge too far. So like we've assembled this awesome team of guys. And like part of what was keeping me going honestly. And this isn't me being like, oh, I care about you guys what I do, I guess. I was like, I was like. I was like, man, I can't quit on these guys. But the truth is to be able to do this job, I have to enjoy it. So it can't be about you guys.

So like respectfully, I'm going to continue and get back to doing hopefully what we were doing for a long time. And maybe most of you all didn't notice anything. Like part of it is I'm pretty good at compartmentalizing. And I was in a bad place this fall. I was in a bad place this fall. Like we've talked openly as a group about burnout. out like you guys have always been like hey chris we shouldn't do that you're going to get burnt out like you know just yada yada yada yada and part of and excuse me for going on this rant at the

front of the show but it dovetails nicely into what i wanted to say about the future of this podcast is like one of the things that comes with being diagnosed with ADHD or something which they were like hey you have a lot of it you know after after i played football i was like you know i always knew there was something a little fucked up about me, but, you know, the thing about this is, like, burnout's real. And I think Reid will attest to this because he's also been in the cockpit with me for five, six years now, right? Six, yeah. And, like, we worked, like, damn, like, digital coal miners for the first three or four years, dude. And I feel like I just started to figure out how to work smarter.

But in football season, I hadn't figured that out yet. Like last year, we had six hours of live programming a week, bookending the week. I had inside the NFL, I was trying to do midweek pods. I'm terrible at saying no, so people hit me up and be like, well, you want to come on this show? You want to come on this show? And I know people are going to say, like, big whoop.

I work for a living. And listen, that's part of it. Like, as I'm near 40, you want to, you ask about an existential crisis my crisis at times was I'm a fucking podcaster you know what I'm saying yeah and to y'all that sounds cool because you're you're watching but you know like part of me was was my midlife crisis involved you know some people it's like a corvette or you know an ex-wife for me it's I want to disappear like I want to take my family and move into the woods and and not come out because if I'm lucky,

I got 40 years left. And what the fuck am I, what have I been doing with the last five or six sharing every detail of my life and putting myself out there every day? I am not somebody who, and you might think, hey, watching this like, hey, you love this shit. And I do, I love this, this shit,

having friends that you can shoot the shit with. But I started to feel like I had this trail of takes and opinions and like, I had this trail following me. Like, everything, I said it was following me around and I go places and I'd be like does this person know me like I'd meet somebody and be like does this person heard me talk and hate me you know like because that's human nature hate the sound of your voice tired of yourself I go to parent teacher conferences and be like hey I'm embarrassed you know what I mean like I talk about cross dogs and in duo and

jacking off for a living like that's what this show is it's like a sophomoreic football show. And there's a place for that, but I was like, do I have to do it? Do I have to be the guy? There's plenty of shows like this. And my kid's nine year. I got a nine-year-old, a six-year-old,

and a one-and-a-half-year-old. And Wayland's getting to the age where I'm like, oh, he's going to hear shit I'm saying. And so there's just a ton of stuff swirling through my head where I was like, do I want to do this anymore? I'm super burnout. I've been working like a damn.

I mean, you know me. I don't stop. and I can be a victim of that. Like I'm a workaholic. And so I'm trying to come out of that. I want to do the fall differently next fall. That doesn't mean that we're going to have like way less programming necessarily. But where it stopped being fun for me was, and this is very candid, last fall and over the last couple falls, I felt like all of a sudden we grew.

And somebody asked me a question recently. They were like, do you want this show? to be the most popular football show because I think it can be one of them, if not the most popular. I disagree with that. I disagree. I think Pat McAvieve's got that shit on lock. I think, you know, Wilcofton and them boys are lapping us. But my answer was, I don't think so.

Like, that's not why I'm in this. And honestly, the more popular we get, the worse I feel coming to work every day. Because there's more strangers digesting, you know, what we have to say every day. and in the fall especially because we do so much football programming bear with me here it felt like we had a bunch of guests every day i don't mean guests on the show it meant like all the people watching or listening come and go we pull in these fan bases is a bunch of people that don't get us they don't know him they don't know me they don't know our sense of humor they don't know doctor facts they don't know you guys they might not get the show and so I started to kind of

I started to kind of tailor the show to fit the needs of the masses rather than doing a show that I like fucking doing and I'm not going to do that anymore I don't know how that changes like I don't know how that manifests but when your work life is ruining your personal life

and I'm not saying like when I go home it's hell and my family hates me. What I'm saying is like, I was struggling here and I was struggling at home. I was struggling everywhere. And when I'm overworked and I'm burnt out,

I start withdrawing. And I could feel myself starting to withdraw from you guys, withdraw from the audience. And part of that was in preparation to quit. But part of it is just because, like, you want to be alone, you know? And I'm going to try to get away with that. So I feel like I'm,

Jeff Fisher used to tell me, when I played, I want you to run in the building in the morning. And I felt like for three, four years, we were running in the building, right? And life gets you. You know, like you have a few kids. I've got three now, and, you know,

I'm about to be 40 tomorrow, we're older, and you grow up a little bit. But that doesn't mean we still can't have fucking fun in here and enjoy it. So, you know, the thing that was jarring for me was when I played, I went through the same burnout. as a person like I am, I get really burnout at the end of the season.

I go to some beach destination and be like, fuck this. I'm never coming back. I just want to be alone. I want to work at that tiki bar. But I knew it was my life's work, so I never had an option. Like, you feel like you have a gun to your head playing football. Like, I can't be done. I'm not allowed.

You know, I can't quit football. When I quit football, I wanted to be present for my kids. I wanted to enjoy my life. I want to get away from the rat race feeling. And it started to feel like I was. was going back there and worse because the difference between football and this is I can walk away at any time and my family would be okay and I don't need it. So if I'm going to do it and I don't need it, I want to have fun. And so people listening, if it affected your listening experience,

I apologize. And for the people in here, I apologize as well. It doesn't mean some days I'm not going to be a dickhead or that I'm not going to be in a bad mood. But it just approached a point where I wasn't enjoying it anymore. And I'm going to make adjustments. Tanner, you can cut all that out. We can, we'll get, we'll get going here. That's good.

Here shortly. That's a joke. I like that? Yeah, just bore his soul to us. That's why I'm putting in a lucy, four milligrams. But you know what I'm saying? I do know what you're saying. I do know what you're saying.

well I'm I'm glad you've reached the conclusion that leads to more content well just fun fun content because you're damn good at it you know that right but that's another thing is like is this what you want to be good at talking a podcaster a festering sore on the distended ass of sports media yeah no and like you look around it you look at you look around at sports media look at the main fucking stories week to week. LeBron and Stephen A. are going to get in a fight. You know, it's this dramatic thing that has nothing to do with the game. It's that dramatic thing that has none do with the game. It's, it's this person's take against this person's take. And when you look

at that as the top of the mountain, which I never did, but subconsciously, when you consume sports media every day, you're like, oh, that's the top of the mountain. It gets ingrained in you. And you get disenchanted with it. You're like, what the fuck would I want to climb this mountain? Well, what I realized is I purposely did not want to go that route and work at fucking ESPN or work in TV where somebody told you what to talk about every day.

So we're not going to do that. And like, I'm going to wield the power that I have, which is we are independent. Like, nobody tells us what to do. And some days that's going to manifest in y'all being like, what the fuck is wrong? This opens so long. This opens about nothing.

just get to talking about Stefan Diggs. Well, I might not feel like it. You know what I mean? Like that a lot. And the people that leave, the people that leave, they can leave. And the people that stay, it's like a filtering system for people that actually like you. Is that a reference to Matt? Well, Matt's leaving.

Which is another thing. And I didn't want to, you know, I wanted to apologize to you guys at some point during this show and kind of like kind of talk about it. But I didn't want to do it like right after Matt, we said, bite of mat and then I'm like well um but you know the last thing I'll say is like anybody who's going through some you know I'm not bringing this up to get oh man how brave or at a boy like everybody's going through some shit but if you're listening like you know it might not be permanent because there were times where I was like man am I am I is this who I am now you know it felt like if you've ever felt this way like being waterboarded which I've never fortunately been waterboarded

but I would imagine you go under and then you come up. Right? That's how waterboarding works. Matt's uncomfortable with the waterboarding reference. What's the one where they just drip water on you? Is that waterboarding? That's Chinese water torture. Which is much better, in my opinion, than waterboarding, you know?

But it was like I'd have two, three good days where I'm like, I'm happy again. I like this. Like, I don't know if you've ever been there. And then they just didn't know if you've ever been there having two or three good days. Yeah. right and then they dunk you back under whoever's dunking me just kept dunking me and i was like bro like this this cycle's getting old so eventually i figured it out i'm just overworked and i'm doing too much putting too much pressure on myself and too much pressure on this show so

let's just have a fucking good time and enjoy the off season because this is supposed to be the most fun time right you know uh when you stop enjoying the things you used to enjoy that's that's that means you're uh getting waterboarded so to speak I like it. You know? I like it a lot. This isn't Guantanamo Bay. The rest of your life.

This is... Hello! But as far as the 40 thing is concerned, I've come to grips with like, you know, old age and all that shit. I'm good. Yeah. It's really not that. It's more just like your body falling apart.

Yeah. Which has kind of started to happen for me. I threw my back out flipping a tire last week. In front of my kid. Oh, this is terrible. Terrible. Tire was like a tractor tire. I used to flip them easy.

He used to do that all fucking summer, just flipping tires, dude. I get out in the yard because I can't go in the gym. We have a garage gym. Can't go in the gym because the baby monitor won't reach the gym. And so I got Luke staying home with me, and I got baby upstairs. And we go out in the front yard,

so I want to get a workout in. So I have to roll the tire out there, and I roll the tire, set it down. And Luke goes, who, like, looks out to me, truly. like think so I'm the coolest guy in the world. And I don't want to keep it that way. And he's like, are you going to flip that tire like Derek Henry?

And I say, yeah, I'm about to flip that tire like Derek Henry. I do this all the time. And three flips in, just back goes, dude. And I fucking hit the deck. It's one of those where you, you know, sometimes you hurt your back and you're like, when did that happen?

This was like a right now. And I'm on the ground and I'm laying there for, I can't get up for 20, 30 minutes. I was like, I was like, go play over there. But it was the most embarrassing thing. And that's the hardest part of being 40. It's just the getting old. You know, it's just having to walk on a treadmill instead of doing certain shit, you know.

How'd you get up? 30 minutes later, I rolled to my side and I put pressure on the other side and I just kind of like hand, knee up. You ever been in that position? Hand knee up. I don't think so. Yeah. So that's getting old, man. But thanks for the birthday wishes.

Speaking of your birthday and having fun real fast. Can we do a couple things? For sure. We do a couple things. Yeah. What you wouldn't do? Cowboy has stood up. He has walked to the back of the studio.

He has something in his hands. Oh, thank you, bro. Thank you. I appreciate it. All right. So do I stand up? Cowboy has handed Chris. Oh, that's what that fucking thing was.

I was like, what are you hanging up, dude? Is it interesting that I'd say, saw a tune was not going to ask. It's pretty interesting that you didn't have to hang it up. And the cowboy is now hung a, is this a donut pinata? A donut pinata. A donut pinata. There's no weed in there. I got some weed for you tomorrow. Okay. Cowboys now attempting to hang the pinata from the studio ceiling. It's attached to a very expensive set of lights. You don't know that. It could be just. Cheap. And we're going to sing happy birthday.

Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Chris. Happy birthday. Holy shit. Oh, there's booze in there. See a makers mark? There's a bunch of starburst. uh the hair cord and clip so you can tie your boat off thank you man this is awesome and a sword i can eat the sword please

yeah chocolate and shit and we have a sash and a tiara look at the camera christen say thanks everybody thanks everybody oh my camera sorry thanks everybody this is great wow wait till we get to matt's funeral it's kind of a microcosm for for life dude today yeah certainly you know that fuck david vbora who's got a really good podcast out right now called life after yeah so worst pinata experience ever i was super stoned my rookie year alone playing call of duty and vobor was a real live wire and he was out hanging out with a bunch of people he calls me in 11 at night and um he's like i want to come upstairs i'm outside the house bro and i'm like bro like meg's sleeping upstairs he's gonna kill me it's gonna be loud like i'm going to bed he's like

no just a minute bro just take a minute he comes up with like a party full of people like there's there's some girls and i'm like oh meg's can come down and like kill somebody and he hangs a pinata up and he's like just try to hit it just hit it man he like blindfolds me makes me look like an idiot i hit the pinata it's full of fucking crushed up doritos it's all over me it's all over the living room but i've never been so mad at david in my life that was a terrible experience this was much easier oh thank you i appreciate it um so if you're like i would be and you skipped through the first 15 minutes of the show to get to the football talk. We'll be doing that soon.

Have you read your little candle there? Same penis forever. What does that mean? You only got one. You only have one. Is that like a birthday thing or is that like a this birthday thing? A dude's getting married thing. No, it's a woman.

Yeah. Getting married. Oh, okay. Yeah. Well, or a dude. Or a dude. Yep. To be fair. That just totally threw me in a pretzel.

I didn't even know like same penis. You like your plate? Does the plate look pretty good? Oh, there's a bunch of dicks on the plate. Y'all got me. You guys need to grow the fuck out. You know what you could use, Reed? Turn in 40.

You child. Get me this pen, this little. It really skews me out. Golly. For listeners, there's a penis on that. play with and ball i shared a locker room with a couple guys just like this you and kyle never played together you yeah don't kyle come come up here and kill you he knows he knows where you work for one more day so we got a we got a pack show we're going to we're

going to bullshit on the back end um but first i guess we'll talk about football and now we're going to kick it to chris and mike rable they had a great conversation about the patriots stephan Diggs just signing in New England, the defensive editions that the Patriots have made in free agency. Everything that Coach Rable has done since he was announced as the head coach of the team that he used to play on. A great conversation covering a lot. As we come out of it, Chris is going to dive into a state of the Patriots conversation, what he likes about the team, what he doesn't like. Their win total is seven a half. Are they going to hit it? Chris will give you his opinion. Then we'll talk a little rules around the NFL and with White Lotus severance, a couple questions from

making in that bittersweet stuff mentioned earlier. All right, this is a real treat. This is somebody we talk about a lot on this show. Somebody I kind of grew up watching. Would have been cool to play with him, had to settle for Rob Nankovitch. 2.0 version. Yeah, 2.0. Coach Vrable, how are you doing, man?

We're great, man. Appreciate having me on and watch what you guys have done from afar. And I think you guys got the right idea. You're doing a hell of a job. Well, thanks so much. That means a lot coming from you that. The first question I wanted to ask, I mean, with your lengthy stent in Tennessee, I got to imagine being a head coach kind of feels like being the president, you know,

those pictures before and after where you're like, fuck, I age 10 years. Yeah, it's like how the beard is always like, how short, like when do you get to dye it? Like, look at yours. There's no gray in it. It's just like. Yeah. And they just start coaching and you're going to just see the gray just pop out. So it certainly is different.

and it's challenging, but there's a balance. You have to find a balance and try to make sure that you're taking care of yourself and find a ways to get away from this at times. Well, the last year, I don't know if it recharge your battery at all. And I don't know how intentional it was for you to take a job. I know you could have dove right back in, been a coordinator, been something like that. But to take a job where maybe you can step back a little bit, did that help recharge your battery?

I think that it did. I mean, people always ask me like, oh, what did you learn? Well, I learned that I missed it like hell. Like, there's nothing else that I want to do. That's what I learned, right? And once you realize what you really want to do in life, you'll figure out ways to make that happen. And obviously, I learned, you know, other things,

but I learned how badly I missed it and how badly I wanted to continue to do it. And, you know, I read some things about some of the things you were doing in Cleveland, not just with Schwartsey and all that stuff, but going over and helping the O-line. You know, how intentional was that for you? Was that something you wanted to add to your toolbox or something that you just always enjoyed doing as a D-Line? Kevin actually had, you know, when we talked about this,

he's like, I'd like you to be with the offense, right? We've got a new staff here, working through some things, and I want you to be with Tommy Reese and the tight ends, and Tommy is a hell of the football coach and was coaching tight ends. And it was his first, you know, time in the NFL as a position coach and not that he couldn't handle it but you know Kevin felt like that was the best place for me and I didn't I didn't ask I just got in with the tight ends and

started working there and you know it's just not a big group right there's four or five guys maybe in on the in that tight end room we had a couple coaches and it just felt like maybe with a group with 16 or 17 offensive linemen that maybe I could help out over there and we're what was going on. I was doing something for them. I was doing a defensive profile tape for them anyway. So I met with them a little bit on Wednesday morning, right? Like, okay, here's Chris Long.

This is what it's going to be. It's going to be speed of power, right? It's going to be a ghost. It's freeze. Here's his fastball. Kind of creating a player profile for these guys that I would present at the beginning of the week. But then I would go back to the tight ends.

And I'm like, what do you think about if I just kind of hang out here and keep working with these guys? and Kevin thought it was a good idea, and I really enjoyed it. I've always kind of my son played offensive line, and so I've always been partial to that position. I felt like in Tennessee, I loved a group that we had. And so I spent a lot of time there. I felt like I could add some value just based on a defensive perspective,

how some guys would play, you know, what their playstiles are. So I always embraced that position of helping out. I feel like I can coach multiple positions. every, have something at every position throughout the team and really try to help those guys just from a game, just a technique standpoint, right? Hey, this is who you're playing against. This may be, we may need this technique this week going against, you know, you know, Hayward as opposed to somebody else. This is, you know, T.J. Watts fastball versus what Highsmiths or Herbig's fastball or just just the different styles that you study and you know.

And I try to explain that to them. Well, I think it probably helps to hear from the different perspective. You know, like I used to run down Coach Boo or Stout and ask them questions, and you hear a different perspective than you hear from your D-Line coach, right? It's funny how differently the two positions or two sides of the ball look at it. Yeah, we think totally differently. And the one story I thought was really cool was DeWan Jones, and you made what seemed like a really close bond for a year in the building

to where he was like, I need this guy on the road with me. Well, I was only going to go Monday to Thursday, right? It was a four-day. It was a Sunday night to Thursday night, and I was going to go figure out what I was going to do for a couple days. And then again, I mean, that's why you coach, right? You get, you know, I mean, it's why you play. You make relationships, and that's what you loved about playing, obviously, outside

of winning and helping your team. But the relationships that you make, player to player, coach to coach or even, obviously, coach to player. And so I said, I'll figure out a way if that's what you guys want, then I'll figure out a way to be there and show up on the road and I'll make it work. That's great. And back to the D-line, I think, you know, you watched Miles Garrett play last year and the whole thing. You've coached some incredible players.

Who's going to be your Jeffrey Simmons? Because the one thing when I watched y'all play, he was like the, he was the asshole. Yeah. You know what I mean? I think that there's guys. up there that we have to have it from that position, right? That that, you know, when you say the asshole, right, that that's, that's somebody that's, that's disruptive, that's creating the tone, setting the tone, creating a standard of what it is to play with speed and violence and

physicality and effort and relentlessness. You know, we feel good about what we've done, right? We're excited about what Milton's going to bring to our football team. We're excited that see where Christian Barmore is coming back and where his availability is going to be, continue to work with some of these young guys, excited about where Keon White and his ability to continue to work on his technique. And he's such a talented athlete with size that if we can continue to refine some of this technique, right, that it really is going to help him, you know, how technical the position can be. And then conversely, you've got to have guys up front that are going to, who's going to combat

some of these players on defense? Who's going to block some of these premier players that get drafted high? And, you know, that's always the struggle that I find is who's going to be the guy that stands up to the asshole on the other side. Yeah, right. He's going to make your offensive line better, too. Yeah, you know, I look at your team, obviously spent a lot of money, being aggressive, you want to win.

Does it feel a little bit like an expansion team where it's like, man, we got to get all these guys on the same page. And back when you played, and for early in my career, we had a lot more time to gel and to install and that sort of thing. What's the importance of bringing in people like Landry who know your culture? Well, I think that it's important, right? I think that it's a fine line of we want really good players and we want great people, guys that are great teammates, guys, guys that play a certain way that, you know, understand how important a team is, understand how important, you know, effort and accountability and things are. You know, you just can't win with just good dude, right?

If we could win with good dude, being you'd still be playing, right? We can be great teammates. But, you know, that's not going to happen. So we're excited about what we've done. We want to continue to build a program here. That's the thing I've wanted to do since the day I got here is build a program. when these guys come back April 7th that they believe in. Somebody asked me what success looks like,

and I said, yeah, you can judge it by wins and losses during the season, but success for me in the off season is going to be that the players believe in what we're doing. And they believe in the message. They believe in the teaching. They believe in the connections that we're making. It feels like it's really hard to find good veteran help in the NFL these days. Teams got a lot younger, you know, with all the CBA changes. It's hard to keep the guys on teams.

and I looked at your roster, you've got, what, seven guys over 30? I think that's really great. And, you know, one of the guys, my dude, Morgan Moses is probably maybe your oldest guy, 34. Special person, as I've gotten to know him. He is. I don't want to cut you off. No. Special person raising three boys like these kids, man.

He signed and I FaceTime him and the boys were there and he took him out of school and he had candy and stuff and they were all smiles. He says, don't worry, I'll be taking them out at 4 o'clock. They're going to be training. They're going to be working this candy off. I'm like, and you can give them one day off, okay? You can give them a day off. You can let them eat candy and not have to go work them out. Well, I mean, it probably helps having, you know, some good vets on your team to help install the whole, the culture and to hold people accountable.

And it does. And again, they have to still be able to play. Like, most important, like, that's something that you have to do. But in free agency, you have to know these players. You have to know the person that you're getting and that's going to be in your building and you have to believe in that, you know, because it can be a slippery slope sometimes when you, when you go down free agency. And one thing that, you know, Morgan said that I'm going to remind everybody is you don't need miracles to win games in the NFL. You just have to get the right people in the building. And that's what we're trying to do.

We're trying to get the right player in the building at the right time. and that's through free agency, that's through the draft, that's through post draft. That could be going to camp that guys are still out there or at the end of camp. Maybe somebody gets released. There's a lot of ways that we can continue to add to the competition of this roster. And that'll be the thing that I always, you know, when we were really good here. And again, that's not going to help us. It's just going to tell us what the blueprint is in history.

But there was competition in every position. There was competition at a linebacker spots, the edge spots, up front. And I think that really obviously makes everybody better. Yeah, I mean, I heard stories from Bill this fall about the competition between you and Tom and practice. You know, the relentless shit talking. I'm glad somebody talks shit to Tom. Oh, yeah. I loved it.

It was the only part of the reason I came to work every day was to be able to do that. And it was fun and those battles. The players all pushed each other. players all held each other accountable. You know, that's what you're trying to create. And ultimately, my job is to protect the team. And if the players do it, then I have an easy job. And if they don't, then I have to pick up where they don't.

And so I got to, I have to evaluate that and see where that is and where I can, where I have to step in to make sure that I protect the football team. How about Stefan Diggs, man? I think a lot of people have this idea of him like, you know, he's an older player. He's not who he was. But, you know, he's on the, he's on page. He's on pace for 1,000 yards last year. You know, he can still get off press.

He's a great guy in quick game out in the perimeter. Like, he can run with the ball. I think the thing that stood out to me in making that move is a real vote of confidence for Drake. Yeah, just trying to make sure that we're supporting Drake and supporting the football team. And again, this is a highly competitive, confident receiver that's produced throughout his career. in multiple ways, play style, right? He's got a play strength to him, right, that you see that he can play physical,

you know, route craft, good at the catch point. It's been good in the red zone, right? That there's a play style to him that I've always appreciated and that we want to, you know, continue to enhance and make sure that, you know, he's doing things to help us. But it's just his conversation, his demeanor, his attitude and his presence have been, you know,

great through our conversations and you know hopefully we can we can you know continue to add good players and in my opinion the real headliner in the wide receiver class for the Patriots and 25 is mac hollins one of my favorite players in league got to play with him in philly did the same things jump out to you when you watch him play the emotion the energy you know the tone setting and the special teams the willing to do anything you know those are the things i've never heard i've heard one person say anything negative other than maybe wear some shoes at once in a while. But other than that, it's going to be tested up there. I mean, just his intelligence, right, it's just talking to a very mature person that's,

like I love the conversations that I have with, you know, and it's like successful family. Brothers are successful as family. And so we were excited to be able to add him. and have always looked at him from afar and said, man, this guy is somebody that could always play for us and we weren't able to add him. But he's had success against us, and now we're able to add him through this process. Hey, a couple quick ones before we let you go, Coach. This is a mailbag question from a guy named James Laronidas.

He asked, who's tougher, fickle or Vrable? I mean, toughness is relative. I watched Luke Terris Peck. in pre-game practice or pre-practice of the Rose Bowl or senior year and played in the game. Damn. And not too many players can do that. I guess you have to have short arms and play noseguard to be able to do that. But he actually did.

And so I will always give him credit for that. Saw James yesterday at Pro Day and he's going to have a great career coaching at Ohio State or wherever else he decides to go. So it was good seeing him. And the other guy and the variable. coaching tree. I don't know if you can call it this, but he played for you. He's Darren Bates. Does Darren Bates need to give, does he need to give the camera arrest? He always finds the camera on the sideline. It's like he has his own camera that followed him. It's like we're the content creators, like the raw room. Yeah, raw room. We need, we need the parental advisory if we want to have a

conversation about Batesie, me and you. No question. Well, I look forward to having that conversation some town down the line. Coach, wishing you luck up there. Like I said, always enjoyed watching your play and watching your coach, you know, it has been a lot of fun too. So I'm wishing your luck. And thanks for coming on. Absolutely, man. Anytime anything you need, keep crushing it. And I can't wait to see you. Yes, sir. I was psyched to get Mike Vrable. And also like Vrable is a top five guy that I really like but I'm like would he like me because he's such like a you know he's like he has a

reputation of of of being like an asshole and it makes you earn it right like but he was so cool man like he was so gracious with his time answered questions about you know offense defense the whole thing up there his time in Cleveland this last year and uh you know like a little bit of his personality came out I can't wait to get him again for longer um but he was super cool man super cool brable's the man and uh i'm i'm pulling for the past you know like it dovetails nicely into the um the digs conversation um that was probably like the minute march madness had a little little downtime like the nfl just swooped in drop the digs news it looks like it's a essentially a one year deal right because no and i were talking about this

three years um what uh 69 69 um No coincidence. They were allegedly one of the horniest guys in the NFL. But I'll just add, and a little teaser for the listeners, Bo recorded an interview with Gronk and Cambrate the other day. Gronk, he knew exactly how much. You know exactly how much Diggs signed for. Oh, I got this one.

So 69-mil, three years, 26 guaranteed. Like, you know, you see the delta between those two numbers. Front-loaded, probably a one-year deal. essentially. So it's, to me, is it a risk? That's the question. Most people probably think, well, he's accumulated a reputation of being a guy that might be hard to deal with for a QB, let alone a young quarterback. And that's all true. But I think it's a very big vote of confidence for Drake May. You know, like if you've got a young quarterback year two, and hey, Diggs is doing it again this year. He's coming in to help a second year quarterback, talented guy. People are excited about him.

Just did it with Stroud. You know, I think. think there was some when he signed with with houston it's it's equal parts exciting and equal parts like i hope he doesn't fucking ruin this kid or something because he just came off a stint with buffalo whether it was josh's fault whether it was digs's fault or whether the marriage just ended it was obvious that you know at the end like it just wasn't working the same now when we talk to josh like and maybe this is qb speak at the podium so to speak but he was very complimentary of digs you know they dapped up after the game and all that. Like people are going to read into that what they will.

I'd just say this. They wouldn't be doing this if Vrable wasn't confident in the maturity of that young quarterback who we sat with in New Orleans and loved. And also, he probably was able to call his folks in Houston, including Nick Casario, and ask what kind of guy he was. How was he? I know what he was on the field. Guy was on pace for a thousand yards, right?

New England hasn't had a thousand-yard receiver since 2019. it was Julian Edelman. And now he's doing games with names. So, you know, like this is a big deal. The guy had 500 yards, basically, less than halfway through the season. I think he can still play. But don't forget about the fact that Rable can call Houston was there years ago. Probably what, hey, listen, if I want to know how a guy is, I'm going to ask the equipment

manager. I'm going to ask the trainers. I'm going to ask, like, the people that, like, in a player's mind, especially a player like digs, you know, he doesn't owe those people anything. You know, on the surface, as a player, you do owe those guys something. You owe them your respect. And I want to find out if those guys were given respect. And also, they're the people that are in the building longest. So I'm sure there are people in Houston that he was able to talk to that maybe weren't coaches that were from a couple staffs ago and said, hey, like, he was great. Like he really, all this

digs hoopla, it just didn't show up. Now, maybe the season didn't go long enough. and maybe it's not a one-year thing and maybe that's why it's kind of a one-year deal. But I trust Brable as a gambler and the second part of the risk is he might be washed, right? I mean, he's coming off an ACL. The wrong side of 30, right? Which is a big, this ugly number.

Wait till you get 40. It's even worse. But this is his second year doing this, right? We talked about his production. And I think Josh McDaniels, the quick game is a big part of what he does. getting the ball on the perimeter, the screen game, that sort of thing. This is a guy who you can get the ball to outside the numbers a couple different ways.

And I think it's exciting to think about a Drake May who showed real promise throwing balls outside the numbers last year with touch and with distance that this is a guy who can win. He can beat press. You talk about like beating a sauce gardener who's one of the pressiest guys in the league. He's aggressive. You know, so was DJ Reed in New York. I would imagine those guys are going to stay aggressive with Aaron Glou. being the signal caller in New York. I would imagine that they have plans

to make a run at this thing in the next couple years. You know who plays really aggressive? Kansas City. So you think about corners like that. You know, this guy can get off the line. When I talked to a former guy in secondary, when he was healthy, he was damn near impossible to get hands on. And so here's a guy who's going to play his ass off.

If you can bottle it up, that kind of passion is going to help the group. And you have to maximize the rookie deal window, right? we know that but i also think it's about maximizing drake's development right like it's not as simple as well if if if we don't have if we're not ready to win right now don't pay anybody don't don't bring this guy in there's too much risk like you've already said hey number one we we can win right now like it feels like they're starting an expansion team they have so many damn starter quality free agents this this leaves this part of the build which is the most important part the development of the quarterback in a good place where at least we're throwing something at him and he's going to

have somebody to throw two because it's not good for your development if you're throwing to nobody for two years so it's worth the risk and I think I think it's an exciting time in New England man didn't have to wait long to get some excitement so if you're a draft nick and Pat stick at four Do you think it's still weapon a la Travis Hunter or T-MAC or is it now offensive line, no doubt? Nolan had an interesting take on Travis. Yeah, so I think, so number one, coming back to Coach Ravel, you go back to the combine, it's press conference there, talked about adding a perimeter threat, somebody who can make those contested catches.

And this digs deal, I think it makes sense in the anticipation of that. they kind of would compliment each other in that way if they are able to add that piece. So then you look ahead of the draft. Yeah, maybe it is Travis Hunter. I mean, before you added Diggs, Mina said it on the show a couple weeks ago. If you bring Travis Hunter in,

he's the best receiver on the roster from day one. So if he goes to New England, it might make sense for him to be an offensive player kind of as his home position. Maybe you play him from defense in the red zone. But to make it's point, there's other options there too with Team Max. with Matthew Golden from Texas, ran four-two at the combine that adds more speed in the outside lane for them.

Could you, and here's why I would say, like, I would imagine they're going to go tackle. Like, if I had to, like, make a, it's not a foregone conclusion. You were talking to me, the kid out of Oregon, there's Will Campbell, there's the big freak show out of Oregon, too. Yeah, yeah, so they have, I mean, the tackles of interest, yeah, or Will Campbell being one of, Um, Armand Membu. Yeah, another guy whose name comes up a lot. Where's he go to school?

He's a Missouri. Missouri. I had him mixed up. Yeah, the kid out of Missouri. But like the interesting thing for me was Rabel last year was in Cleveland. And this was probably my favorite part of the conversation with him. You know,

interesting that instead of saying, I'm going to go be a coordinator somewhere, which he easily could have or probably a head coach in college or something. I mean, shit, who knows? but he decided to kind of bite his time and be a consultant kind of guy in Cleveland and a guy that was supposed to be in the building four days a week. And I would just imagine being an NFL head coach is kind of like being a president. And I said that to him.

I was like, if you're there for a term of five or six years or four or if you were the president, but you probably never feel like you get any time to really grow. Like you're learning, but when you get a break, you can really kind of self-scout a little better. And I don't know if that was part of it was like, I'm going to take a year off, gather my thoughts. Maybe part of it was timing up the New England thing. You know, like maybe part of it was knowing that in a year

there's a 50% or higher chance that that job is vacant. And one thing he did in Cleveland that I thought was really interesting was he was working with tight ends and with the offensive line. And supposedly DeWan Jones and him had such a good rapport that Jones requested that Vrable make the trips on the weekends so he could be with Vrable.

Like they had worked so much one-on-one and that sort of thing. So I don't know. Like maybe in that year he was like looking at DeWan and saying, hey, I need a big freak show tackle. You know, like we bring in Morgan Moses who's going to help who's 34 years old.

Another thing I like about this roster is they have seven guys over 30 years old. Like that's a lot for a team that you think of as just turning it over. and being young and having all this caps face like... Not unlike Washington. Yeah, I mean, that stuff matters. And I could see him drafting an offensive lineman and saying,

hey, we've got two very good corners because you're bringing Carlton Davis, you have Gonzalez. That's the one thing I would say when it comes to Travis Hunter coming in, because then if he's not a wide receiver, what do you have to trade one of those corners? And you probably could get something for one of them, right? Either one. you'd probably part ways with Carlton, right, being the older guy.

Or you'd probably rather go from four to seven and let somebody else take Travis Hunter. Yeah, let somebody, if somebody wants Travis Hunter bad enough, you know, let somebody come get them. Or if you're in love with a big tackle, because I think that's the part of the roster when I look at it. Obviously, you have to go get a possession-wide receiver, right? And maybe in the draft. But you got to build up front, right?

and Vrable, I heard Vrable talk about this, the middle of the pocket being so important. Who did he come up with? Tom Brady. Tom Brady, one thing Tom Brady needed was the middle of the pocket to be set, you know, and he was able to climb the pocket and that sort of thing. Just because Drake May can run doesn't mean that goes away. I think Vrable is going to be focused on that group up front. Now, it could be Hunter and maybe he makes him a wide receiver,

but I just worry about what if he's not, dynamic at that position at the next level, then all of a sudden you have to shuffle, which you probably could. Maybe it would be worth it. But I think that I just want to say this to Patriots fans, I'm going to be, like, you know, every year I pick a team that I'm like kind of into. Like, I'm going to be into this team this year. I'm excited to see, you know, bringing in a Landry, bringing in Milton Williams. We talked about Carlton Davis, Spillane. You know, you're adding those guys to a defense with Gonzalez. We talked about Doug. Pepper's, and I'm going to forget guys here, but Keon White, that defensive line's got

Keon White, Barmore, Milton Williams, and Landry. Like, that's a damn good D line. And I bet you that his Milton Williams, or his Jeffrey Simmons, he hopes is Milton Williams, right? Like, you need a guy like that, and hopefully that's him. But it could be Barmore, too. That guy's such a beast. That defensive line is going to be pretty damn stout.

And so will the defense. You know, I didn't even mention Bentley and these guys. So I could see, who would you be more surprised seeing making a wild card run? The Jets or the Patriots? Open-ended question. I mean, right now, probably. More surprised Jets. Yeah.

So, I mean, you know, in a division where Miami's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde every year, depending on the injury status of the quarterback and how they play in big games, like, you look at that second game they played Buffalo, where Buffalo, had things to play for. I mean, they made it sticky for Buffalo, and I'm sure they're thinking, like, we can muddy it up. We can muddy it up in division.

Who knows? I think this team is going to be fun to watch. And Josh knows how to call offense. Vrable knows how to install a culture. I mean, I think this is going to be fun. This is what we did last year, predicting the FECs. We're going to do it again. It's going to be

Buffalo at 13 and 4, and everybody else at eight and nine or nine and eight yeah yeah i think they could be creeping up around that 10 win mark though honestly their their win total is seven and a half so if you're bullish on this team i'm gonna bet it like i'm gonna bet it i feel i feel pretty good about this team and and i trust variable so um pat's fans you're back i don't know about all the way back but you're back you're back you're back you're back relevant that's for sure i think he's gonna look sweet in the patrick's uniform too. Diggs? Yeah. When they go all red?

Any of it. Yeah. I just think it's a solid, well, it is. The newer stuff's not my favorite. Yeah, it is. Stuff's not my favorite. When it's a silver lid and the silver pant. I miss the silver pants. I miss the silver pants. No, I'm talking about the old school ones. That's your L. Grow fanfic. Let's get into the rule changes because it is, what is it? league meeting week. We're going to go about this and propose a couple rule changes.

We have one, two, three, four, five, six people here. Yeah? Yeah. It's not a tie. So we're going to need four people to vote yes on these rule changes for us to change the rules because that's what it demands at the league meeting, 75% of 24 of the 32 teams. Well, now four or six would be roughly 66.7%. I know, but I'm lowering it because it's a bridge too far to go five of six.

No, you're right. All right. Are we going in order here? Sure. We start with one, cowboy. Start with one. Okay, now one reading it, I think it's hard to understand. If I can be honest, maybe you can synthesize.

That is, number one is the dynamic kick. It's permanent, and the ball is placed at the 35-yard line on touchbacks, on-side kick. I thought I was getting to read these. Oh, sorry, sorry. The whole plan was I was going to read the rules. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Take it away, Slugger. Yeah, yeah.

Take it away, Slugger. All right, the free kick play implemented in 2024. Designed to, one, resemble a typical scrimmage play by aligning players on both teams closer together and restricting movement to reduce space and speed. And two, promote more return subject to the following changes. A, modifies the alignment requirements for receiving team players in the setup zone. B, changes the dead ball spot after a touchback to the 35-yard line

if the ball lands in the end zone and is downed in the end zone by the receiving team or goes out of bounds behind the receiving team's goal line. C changes the alignment requirements for the kicking team on an onside kick, and D permits the kicking team to declare an onside kick at any time during the game if trailing its opponent. Man, they got to fix all this. I'm a no. It's a no for me, dog.

I am with you. No. The ball to 35? That's 25 yards from field goal range. What are we doing? What are we doing? For fucking Brandon Aubrey, they just might kick it. Yeah.

I vote yes. They're not going to kick it back into the end zone. It'll be more fun. They'll like pop it up, try to let it land at the 10. You'll see more kickoff return touchdowns. I vote yes. You know what I was on? Go ahead.

Go ahead, Tanner. What's your vote? I'd vote no. Okay, Nolan, what's your vote? I say no. I understand the reasoning to be promote more kickoffs, but like I don't care about kickoff returns. Honestly.

I want more offensive and defensive of football. So it just feels like a, okay, we knew it would be like this that we're going to try to amend it because they were, they got this kickoff thing from one of our sister leagues, respectfully. And,

um, no gender assignment attached to that. Just that's what they call like, you know, pairings. But I, you're good. How am I doing?

But, but like there wasn't, you can, you can look at that data and say, well, what did that do to scoring lead? league wide or what did it do to returns or how many explosive plays but those aren't NFL athletes you know like it's a different level and so they were going to have to go through a year to

to get a baseline now having said that fuck I'm I'm having a hard time here because I really want to see more crafty kicks I want to see more teams trying to put the ball on the ground create turnovers and that sort of thing I like the idea of incentivizing but the 35 yard lines a bridge too far right? Yeah. Like it just, it just becomes, it's like training wheels for offenses.

Yes. You know, and, um, but that's assuming they'll get it. Like, I don't, I don't think,

why can't we incentivize, there wouldn't be touchbacks. Like, like outside the game. You know, like fucking ruin their life. You know, like,

you know what I'm saying? Sure. It's like, hey, if your team doesn't, doesn't put the ball in play X amount of times of the game, you got a,

I don't know, how about we go back? we go back to the old kickoffs and people wear more guardian caps if they're worried about the head trauma. Dude, no, we can't go back there. We can't go back there. We just can't go back because I barely noticed. You noticed last year?

I didn't really notice like that. Yeah. I only notice in the video game. Oh, the actual guardian caps. No, I'm talking, the guardian caps. I notice those. They look ridiculous. Yeah.

It's a steep price to pay to remember your name at 50. But I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I just, you know, I wear one of those things. I don't want to remember my name. I don't want to know who I am. When we were kids, there were kickoff returns. Yeah. And it was sweet.

Touchback went to the 20. We had proper drive. But then dudes were getting clapped. Eh. Wedges. You want to get the wedge back in the? All right. Outlaw a wedge.

Your wedge? Outlaw a wedge. Oh, I thought you said, I'll wedge. How much would it cost you? to be in a wedge. Can I wear a guardian cap? Yeah, you wear a guardian cap, but it's an NFL coverage team.

Now, they're a little rusty. It's been a year. But we run you up in the wedge. How much money? I don't know that I need any money. I'm a fearless cat just searching for experiences. I don't know.

I vote. I vote no. Come back to the table next year with a better proposal. Yeah, amen. Be careful about this thing. Because once you do it, then you're going to be changing the rule

every year and then people are going to get fatigue on this thing. Correct. So I do vote no. So that does not pass. Going number five. All right. Recommended by Green Bay. Prohibits an offensive player from pushing a teammate who was lined up directly behind the snapper and receives the snap immediately at the snap. Otherwise known as the push, the brotherly shove.

I vote no on this. That place stays legal. only one team has mastered it, figure it out. Figure it the fuck out. I'm punting for another year on this one. It stays. I vote no, it should stay. Easy no.

Lane Johnson and them will eventually retire in the next decade. You just be aggressive on third medium. It's so interesting to watch. It's not boring, oh, we can turn away. It's like, will this be the time it stopped? No. I like the play.

It's honestly like, Like when I watch it, I'm like, there's a lot of pressure on the Eagles because if they fuck this up, it's going to be the dumbest thing in the world. And then when it gets like seven yards, it's like, my God. Yeah, look at them go. All right, Tanner, what's your vote? I'd vote no. Nolan. Easy no.

Unanimous. Green life football consultants gave you a solution a couple of weeks ago. You hire a sumo and you drop them. Yep. Yep. There's got it drop. No, you didn't hear this because you were getting ready to quit. No, I did a pod and I was saying the league needs to, they need to hire like, you know, a specialist.

A contract. Some guy named pork chop, yep, probably. And he basically, he travels with whatever team is playing the Eagles. So he's like a star in every city he plays on. You give him like some ugly ass number. And when he trots out there, he's like a gladiator. People are so psyched. They know the lion's going to get him, but boy, they're going to cheer for him.

And maybe he's good enough that he actually stops the tush push a little bit. You need a specialist. A regular football player's not going to be able to do this. Get a sumo guy, something like that. Say word. Say word, no. All right. Number four.

Detroit came up with this one. Eliminate an automatic first down as a penalty imposed for defensive holding an illegal contact. You know what's hilarious about this? I was looking at these rules knowing that people have to like, you know, submit them. Specific teams. And I close my eyes and I go, which team do you think it is? The one with the most Detroit. Devenson folding calls?

Yeah. Like when they announced this at the league meetings, they were like, and who was this? Yeah. Dang. Like right here. Fucking my, I got the handsiest sons of bitches in the NFL. But I agree. Absolutely.

Yeah, this is good. Yes. You shouldn't be bailed out on third and 30 because a guy like, you know grabs a little bit. Biggest bummer there isn't officiating. Five-yard penalty automatic first down. Yep. Tanner.

Yes. Nolan. Yes. Look that. Group thing. Oh, they need a miss. All righty. Submitted by Philadelphia.

Align the post season. Do you imagine if we ran the government how good we do? We just put it on C-SPAN and this is how we do things. And people would be like, well, it's transparent. line the post season and regular season overtime rules by granting both teams an opportunity to possess the ball

regardless of the outcome of the first possession subject to a 15 minute overtime period in the regular season. I agree Philadelphia. Why not? Yes. Why not? Make it the same. What are we afraid of an extra couple minutes of football? Still get ties. Maybe we have extra guardian caps

on the sideline if you're worried about the excess trauma. Now let me ask you something. In this scenario, maybe I didn't read the bylaw close enough. But like, does it, is it now like you got to put, because in the postseason there's no ties. So are there ties anymore? Does anybody know the answer to that?

That's a, it's a very important distinction. But I say yes. I, you know what I used to love when I was a kid? Going to bed with a hockey game still going on and waking up in the morning and be like, how long did it go? How long did the senators play the penguins last night? And then my dad would be like, bro, they played until like one in the morning. It was awesome.

Well, how about all those college football games? It was at LSU, Texas, A&M? Yes. It was 85, 85, eight overtimes? Yes. You know, a couple of years ago? I remember Syracuse, the basketball team, played a six-overtime game in the tournament. Yeah.

The East tournament. Tournament. Was that the game that everyone fouled out and they had like, like some dudes were playing like 80 minutes? It's a human. It's a human, it's a, like, it's a human spirit situation. you get into with some of these never-ending games and I want to see who's got the spirit, you know, and who will quit.

Next week you're a little tired. No big deal. You're going 18 games. I also want the regular season to look like the postseason. No question. Much as can be. But I do like ties. I don't disagree with that.

I tied a game once. It was not good. But for a viewer, it's kind of funny. If two teams you don't care about tie, it's like hilarious. Right. And it just, like, adds to the, like, if that team that ties is in the postseason race, they've got that half game bump over another, and it looks cool in the record column.

Well, and then if we never had ties, we'd never get a situation like the Brandon Staley thing. Yep. Which was hilarious, objectively. I still don't understand what happened. Yep. Kind of. Rules submitted by Detroit. Amend the current playoff seating format to allow wild card teams to be seated higher than division champions.

if the wild card team has a better regular season record. It's the most interesting one to me because I think it's one that won't pass. Hear me out, but it should. It absolutely should pass. And I think Detroit's doing it because last year it was very nearly them that had to do what Minnesota had to do.

And when you're in a division like that, my first thought was too, like, you know, last year they're probably looking at it like, why the fuck does Minnesota have to go to L.A.? the team that we think can actually beat us. And, you know, instead of hosting L.A., and we can just beat them a third time. But I think the main motivation is when you're sitting there with 13 wins,

and you're the Detroit Lions and people are like, you've never done this before. You might have to go on the road for the first playoff game. That's insane. And it was the same thing for the Vikings, not saying it would have gone any differently. I think, and people will say, hey, what good is the division?

The division's supposed to mean something. It does mean something. it means it guarantees you that you're in the fucking dance. In the NCAA tournament, not that it's apples to apples, what happens? You get an automatic bid. That doesn't mean you're going to have a higher seed than the team that didn't win the thing.

How does it go in basketball in the NBA? It's one through eight wins and losses, yeah? Divisions used to matter than they got rid of it because they thought it was irrelevant. And like I don't think you're going to lose the division rivalries. I don't think you're going to lose the division allure. winning the division still means something, but I just don't want to see a 12-win team

I have to visit a 8-win team from the NFC South. Yeah. Easy yet. Really good teams going to Tampa every year. Yes. So I'm a yes. I'm a yes as well. Yes.

Tanner. Yes. I'm a yes as well. Damn, dude, I don't think people, and we didn't even ask Matt. He said yes. You said yes? Yeah, yeah. Everybody.

Unanimous. I don't think people are like that out there. I think a lot of people are against this. You kind of won me over with the, like, I like divisions meaning something, but the March Madness thing, it's like, yeah, it does mean something. How big are conference tournaments in basketball? They're huge. Like, people love that. Well, the problem with this is that every team will vote based on their own self-interest.

So, like, if you're an NFC South team, you would vote no for sure. Right. If you're an NFC North team, to your point, you would definitely vote yes because it could benefit you. It becomes interesting when you get in the mixed bag kind of divisions. Yeah, I was just thinking about the NFC. east like i think the commanders and eagles should want it but you just if i was a coach i would just i would i would propose the most ridiculous rules every year it's like almost like a prank you know what i mean like no uncrustibles shit like that you have must say hot hut hike get the balls yes

hot hot hot hot hot um so yeah those are the rule changes That's what's going to happen in our NFL. Do we have an opinion on where Rogers is going? That's a good question. Steelers. Hmm. I just heard a report today. I read a report today.

I don't know if it's true. It's Schefter, right? Did Schefter say this today that Rogers is now mulling retirement? What? You think I'm... No, it's just, it's funny language to use like, oh, nobody wants me, so I'm mulling retirement. That's exactly what's going on. I mean, like, listen,

Rogers is not going to be the guy that wants to chase teams. Like, that's not. I don't, nobody wants to be that guy, but a lot of guys finish their career that way. He don't want to finish his career that way. That's a weird look, right? And it's also pretty sobering

when you can really still throw the ball, like, and people don't want you. I think Minnesota is probably number one. for him. Although I disagree with his thinking, I think Pittsburgh is number two. And then I think the Giants, that door shut because they have the most interesting quarterback room in the NFL. Right. No. And it's worded the report from Schefter that Aaron Rogers may take the 2025 season

off, not retirement, just off. Oh, come on. I'm going to sit this one out, boys. No. We don't need that. What about like the Titans, obviously a little, like, seems like they're short enough for Kim Ward, but is that like some spot where, hey, let's take a gamble on him and maybe we could pick. I don't think he wants that. Send him to Cleveland. If Cleveland's not in love with Shador Sanders, couldn't get any worse. Like, people are going to be like, yo, this is the coolest quarterback that you signed in years.

Yeah. I think I was a sexual predator. This guy just, he just sits in a dark room. Pittsburgh is Pittsburgh is the fourth gloomiest city in the United States if you like darkness Oh wow

Yeah Yeah Do you know the others Gloomiest You say gloomy Yeah at least sunshine There are a lot of cloudy days A lot of Rust Belt cities

You know Seattle one I don't know I told you I don't Don't look What part of I don't know Do you not understand Fairbanks

Fairbanks Close three is Buffalo, New York, two is Portland, Oregon. You're reading, you told us not to look, but you're just reading them. Well, yeah, I was telling you. Anchorage, Alaska.

He wants you to be surprised when he reads it. That's how podcasting, you know, like, wow, you're surprised. That doesn't make any sense. There's like multiple cities in Alaska. Yeah. Yeah, but it's about where the mountains are, I suppose. Might have been a puppy.

I didn't make this fucking. Joe Roberts made this up from move.org. um so anyways i i don't know no'll do you have an opinion on where rogers ends up we got to do this it's an obligatory segment every week now until he retires uh my opinion is that he goes on to the rest of his life retirement i kind and i like that too because Aaron you've done you've done it all bro like what more you got to do like hey cut the all the other hoopla out like but like it just would suck to see another quarterback going to going down this road at the end of their career where, like, I don't think it taints your legacy,

but like that's how people are going to do it. They're going to be like, yeah, but do you remember the stretch in New York or the stretch in Pittsburgh? And I'm telling you, when he was in Green Bay, most people know this, but if you were born yesterday or, like, didn't watch a lot of Packers, I mean, he was probably the best throw of the football I've ever seen, the best, the best, and then there's the greatest. That's the Tom Brady, category. The best to me was Aaron Rogers, and I'd hate to see him, you know, waste another year doing some bullshit. I mean, that image of him on the beach wrapped up in the towel, backwards hat, that just kind of, it just really. Yeah, who does that? Who goes to the beach?

Yeah, yeah, true. With a towel. With a tip with a towel around the shoulders. But it just felt like, like, okay, he's kind of accepted. It had the look of that, like retirement. He looked defeated to you? ready for the next change. And let me tell you, it is something else, as I alluded to in the open, Aaron. Hold on to your butt. All right, then.

You're your butts. Quickly. Who's his co-host if he starts a podcast? Randall Cobb. It's got to be. Jordy? Who's the quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers then? I think the quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers

is whoever the best quarterback is next year. Jackson Dart Jackson Dart I don't know Right now it's Mason Rudolph Yeah it's a It's a funky wrinkle when you're like

You're sitting there at this time of the year And you're not picking In a spot where you can get a good one You think Drew Locke is available Man the Steelers Who knew that when Ben Rathosberger retired It was going to be

We're going on seven years Revolving Dora It's crazy. So anyways, this is enough about Rogers. Guys, the B block is here. That's enough football for today. Makin, you got the B block. Listen up, I have the last two weeks,

because we had a little bit of a rescheduling situation, been going through a two-step root canal process. Yeah. Now, when we were kids, I have a memory of being led to believe a root canal was the worst thing. that could possibly happen to a human being. Yeah.

And I'm here to tell you it was awesome. Yeah. Shout out Dr. Katie Lee. It was awesome, bro. You're trying to get a free route. No, dude. No, it costs a lot. All out of pocket because this fucking country with its health insurance,

this backwards-ass dental insurance. Oh, we're out of network, are you? Okay. I got dental insurance. Oh, well, we'll submit it to you. Okay. Cool. We'll submit it.

to them, okay, what the hell does that mean? Well, then maybe they reimburse you, maybe we reimburse you, maybe we don't. Like, what, I, it's, it's wild. At any rate, I'm gonna tell you real quick because I just pulled this to Steve. I was in the hospital having a kid. Yeah.

And then they took a picture of me with the kids. And then I zoomed in and under the hospital lights, I'm like, why is one tooth like slightly purple? Like I was having like a Tiger Woods dead tooth situation brewing. Yeah. So then, you know, I wait 18 months because the health care system and all. And then I go to this Dr. Katie Lee.

She's like, yeah, hot, cold tests. What you have here is a non-viable tooth. This is a, aka dead tooth, okay? So we do a root canal. She cleans it up. She said it was due to blunt trauma, which made me feel a little tough, you know? She said this could happen when you were 10, could have when you were 35, but you can see all the blood vessels.

They're off to the side. You got hit. Somebody rocked you. Yeah, something like that. So she goes and cleans it all up, by God, the next day, all my teeth are the same color. Back to pearly whites. Yeah. It's, it's, it's, I was, I was pleased to hand over a $1,738 check.

1738. That's right. Hey. I'm not even 17. Biddy, well. Not even 1731. I asked if I could pay him more. It was delightful.

But it got me thinking, the, I almost fell asleep at the end of the procedure, Chris. Yeah. These are so easy. It was so easy. It's not what you think it was. Doesn't hurt? When you were a kid, you were probably afraid of it, but you're not anymore. That's right.

Got me thinking. Got you thinking. What are some things they made us believe were no good as kids? They were bullshit. That were bullshit. Sure. Looking up with my babysitter. Ends up being great, right?

I'm just a joke. I did the joke. I didn't. I did that. You really did? Adrian's babysitter. You did? is your last day so you're just like

you're like I fucked Earned the ship Seven Yeah Anything else? No But they did tell us not to take too many threes Yeah and that changed

Oh interesting That's a really good way the world They also warned about female Breadwinners Like being emasculating I'm good with it You good with it You better be

I'm boy I still haven't come across quicksand that was a yeah they told you not to crack your knuckles yeah they told you not to eat and then get in the pool now i eat in the pool why 2k yeah that was bullshit so was um so was chewing gum swallowing your gums get the fuck out of here you know what it really is what seven days at most really it just takes a little longer yeah yeah the dark is awesome my kids are all afraid of the dark like you guys don't know yeah okay roger Yeah.

I guess another one was... Basement furnaces, like in Home Alone? Oh, yeah. They're actually quite handy. Socks for Christmas. Oh, yeah. Sox for Christmas is the best. Bro, like now I want all the shit that I used to look at, like, on Christmas.

And I was like, man, one day people are going to get me socks. Yeah. Like, I'm not getting a train set. And now it's like, oh, I can't wait to Christmas. I can't damn you socks. I'm telling everybody we're going to get darn tough socks, mountain Smith socks, which one? Yeah, smart wool. Smart wool?

Yeah. You guys want to talk about White Lotus a little bit? Sure. Love to. Did you see that Duke University formally came out and said? Yeah, cool. Can you not do that? Can you not put our shirt in scenes where somebody's fake killing himself?

Bro, they're such pussies down there. It's unbelievable. Yeah. We had like a whole clan rally here. And. And seriously. And they get one bad character in a D.C. shirt on a fucking TV show.

We weren't even responsible for the rally members. We rolled with it. Yeah, well. You said that the wrong way. We roll with the punches. Yeah. We didn't roll with it. That sounded a little different.

Okay. The folks were bust in from like, you know. Ohio Florida of the typical. We got them statues up out of here. Yeah. Yeah. Melting them down to smelt. Power to the people.

Is that what it is smelt? Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Good word. Yeah, pulled that one on my eyes. Lotus, man. I feel like the first four episodes could have been one.

You like the last two could have been one and a half. Dude, I saw this. I saw one of these, like, I saw on Instagram, like on Reels, one of these smart guys with a podcast, and they were like, all, you know, film critics and they were like, this is the worst season. And then I heard you say it a couple times ago when we were on the mic.

And I was like, you know, I don't fully agree with you. I've actually enjoyed the season. I have. I love it. I think Mike White's formula is good enough that any imperfections, you can gloss over them. Show a cock once a year and you're good.

I don't want to see anybody's cock. By the way, that was supposedly a prosthetic. It was. What is it with them doing prosthetic dicks? some people don't want to show their privates there only been three seasons the third best of the three I'm not I'm not hate watching

if we see Greg Oden on next year's White Lotus we're like no no prosthesis needed was the gentleman Theo James he showed his right also a proffered that was also okay also Steve's on

prosthetic Have you guys been reading any of the theories about what might happen this year? I have read a couple. I have a theory, though. Go ahead. Try me. All right. So this is a few I read on the internet today.

So you know Greg and Belinda, it's kind of looking like maybe Greg might want to kill Belinda. Some have a theory that Greg is going to buy her off and pay for the spa that Tanya never delivered. Because he loved Tanya? On pins and needles. Because he loved Tanya or just to get her off the scent. get her off, get her off the scent. Like if he were to kill another person, that could be suspicious.

It was a little suspicious. I agree he's not killing Belinda. Napoleon Dynamite, Uncle Rico, Greg. Right. It blows my mind. Yeah. I forget that. Like, yeah. All the time. Once a year. Yeah. And, you know, my dad made a point last night. He actually didn't kill

Stifler's mom. She fell. Right. Right? So, like, he's technically not a murderer. Yeah. well if you hire someone to murder somebody you get put in jail for murder i suppose but in by by like technically speaking not a murderer yeah um i wonder if he thinks that the the gaze killed her or that if he knows it was an accident yeah that's a good question i don't know but i i don't know what that would hinge on what you know but they probably just told him they killed her successfully

Here's a theory. Well, they were all dead. Yeah, true. Here's the theory. Ty Sam Bradford goes postal. And that's what the gunshots are at the end of the thing. I think Guy Talk is number one of my power rankings for most enjoyable characters, most likable characters. Love Guy Talk.

Yeah. Total coward. He's not doing great. At his job? Yeah. No, not at all. Not at all. But MOOC seems to like him.

them a little bit yeah but i think mook is going to end up there's a theory that mook is going to be bad mm-hmm might be in with the three uh russians which you said this a couple episodes again the russians they did the first one probably yeah she might be in on it with the other ones well make and mention the number three like think about the groups of people that we have we have the trio of russian guys the trio of rich white ladies the trio of rat lift siblings it's season three and at the beginning of the season, Rick's girlfriend says that bad luck comes in threes. Is there only one group of four? I don't know, but I'm just thinking that, like, one of the theories on the internet right

now is that that Russian trio might be responsible for the shooting, or that it might be a group of three that goes down, like all three white, rich white ladies or all three rat-liff siblings, for example. Hey, you can kill those white ladies. Hey, how about the brother jacking off the other brother? It took us a little while to get to that. And you know what? I was bracing for much worse.

Yeah. I really was. Yeah. I thought there was going to be a Mike Hancho situation. I was fully prepared for it. Seriously, I did. And when it happened, I was uncomfortable, but. Oh, I was perfectly comfortable.

It was a little uncomfortable. You know, now, I think the best scene with, with, these people have. what's the name of the family the ratlifts the ratlifts the ratlifts the maybe the best scene of the last episode was when they came back in from the buddhist you know uh i don't know what you call that like a temple um and also i thought the scene in the temple was really good that was good i thought the scene in temple was powerful jason isaics finally didn't ruin a scene i don't think he's been ruining scenes i think like somebody read that awful no dude he's not awful he's terrible i think the whole family's been very good.

If you're stuck on his accent, I don't know what to tell you. It's only part of it. It's just the accent. No, that's only part of it. What else is it? I don't think he, I don't think he's doing anything.

It's kind of a lot of drugs and alcohol. Maybe he's not giving anything to work with. I think they're going to kill his wife. I think his wife's going to die because she's a bad person. she's hilarious objectively hilarious but she's a bad person and i think she's going to die um and i think he's going to stay there and become a buddhist monk yeah yeah well the wife saw that huge wave in the dream right and so there's also a theory that there might be like a death by drowning so i don't know if you

guys are familiar with the german folk tale about the pied piper oh of course one of my favorite but in that in that story the pied piper led the rats away from their home into their deaths by drowning so the name of the daughter is piper the name of the family is ratliff and tsunamis yeah do you think tsunamis a tsunami's coming i don't know i have no idea i have that's a weird that's a weird that's a weird that's a weird that's a weird coincidence i got chills shows what a season dude what a season last one you know rick is confronting that guy that he says killed his dad. There's a theory that it is his dad.

Obviously it's his fucking dad. You say obviously. You morons? Yes, it's his dad. He did sound like a white guy. Yeah, his name is Jim Hollinger. It's his dad? Yeah.

Like the character's Jim Hollager? Yeah. Oh, it's his dad maybe. Yes, it's his dad. If it's not his dad, I eat my hat. Which one? Really? The birthday hat.

You'll eat your hat? I'll eat the birthday hat. Okay, save that hat. save that hat and i got a bomb shell to drop on you oh you are not moving to Taiwan well no the best good the best bomb shell is that i haven't seen the severance finale i'm 40 minutes into the last episode i fell asleep last night during oh that happens in all the i'm a little anti the whole like here's what you got to do there's this floor there's that floor you guys got to like it's the matrix a little bit like they're trying a little too hard to make it

smart i very much like the second half of the finale okay i'm looking forward to it i think you'll appreciate it i just don't for the life of me i can't understand what's his name uh mark his outy yeah he's a terrible salesman yeah he like he came across so shallow and just fucking like of course the any wants to live yeah you know what i'm saying yeah it's all he's got yeah so i'll get back to you tomorrow on that one yeah i'm gonna refrain from saying more this is bullshit you guys said you wanted to talk about severance i thought i was getting a package Oh, that's funny. Quitting jokes.

What, do you want to speak on your next chapter? Sure, can I do it in a way that's related to your favorite television shows? Sure, which one? All right, so let's start with Seinfeld, which I know you know. Inside and out, bro. So I thought about coming in today and just trying to do the George Costanza. What are you doing here? What? I work yet.

I thought you quit. What, quit? Who quit? I love that scene. One of your favorite clip. That's one of my favorite scene. But I figure since you guys all remember me quitting, it probably wouldn't work. So then I was a little nervous to quit, you know.

It's kind of like a family, kind of like a team, kind of like one of your favorite shows, the Sopranos, made me think about Eugene Ponte Corvo asking Tony if you could get out the family. Of course. We go back a long way, Tom. Yeah, we do. Fucking CYO basketball. Believe that? It mean a lot to me and Deand.

Well, let me think about it. So, unfortunately, Tony then tells Sil to tell Eugene that he cannot leave the family, and he has to stay, and then Eugene kills himself. So I didn't want to go that route. But I know how much you love Mad Men. Mad Men's like your favorite fucking show. Two episodes in. And I feel like our relationship is just like Peggy and Don.

And, you know, it just kind of came to its end. Peggy and Don don't. They don't. No, they don't fuck. I'm sorry, but you know this is what you would do. You don't need to wait until the third. I've got a room full of freelancers out there. I'll get by.

I understand. This is not us. Also, now I know what happened. No, I'm just fucking around. Uh-huh. Honestly, like, it's been awesome three and a half years. Like, May can hit me up three and a half years ago. It was like, hey, you want to move to Charlottesville?

And I was at a time in my life where I really wanted to get the fuck out of St. Louis. We've had a shit ton of fun. The show has grown. I got to the point where I kind of want to go do something else, when I get back into teaching, which I feel passionate about. I felt some of that burnout that you were talking about. And I don't know. Just ready for the next step.

but like I'm definitely going to miss the people here like first of all to the listeners listeners have been awesome especially those ones that are married to you yeah married to me I met my wife Marybeth of course through the show she was a fan moved down here so like of course grateful to have been on the show because otherwise that never would have happened welcome for the sex yeah making you're welcome for the real estate fee oh oh yeah commission commission's the word I'm looking for thank you so just real quick read you're a beast I had a massive panic attack Can you talk to me out of it? Just endlessly kind.

Love you. I will miss Nate. I came back today and Nate was like ripping Pokemon cards upstairs doing some video. And I was like, oh, I'll vaguely miss this. MAKEN. We started the prep or we started the content manufacturer when we were 15 with our M&M boys website about UVA basketball. That's right. Love you.

One of the things I respect the most about you is every Friday you have lunch with your dad. I think that's fucking awesome. Thank you. Chris, you're the real deal. That's a secret. like you have so much on your plate and you handle it like you don't have to do this job you don't have to do the charity you don't have to like take interest in any of our lives or feel like connected to us and you do and I think of you as a friend and a good boss and it's been really really fun

and everybody else all the people like Tanner Aiden Taylor Brian Kyle Ralph Boe John foshae, newsletter readers. Appreciate all your help. And Nolan, and Nolan, and Nolan. And Nolan, I love you, Nolan, you know that. And then if you all haven't checked it out yet, please check out David Baboris show. Did a lot of work on that.

Reed's done a lot of work on that. It's really good. Please enjoy. I'll still be around. I'll come by some time, especially when we're talking hoops, talking sopranos, stuff like that. So I won't be a stranger.

Like I said when we talked on the phone, you've been here long enough and honestly like thank you for fucking making the trip i remember when making was like hey i think matt could help like let's let's see what he's doing and for you to like pick up and come here yeah it meant a lot to us and you know us growing up together and you guys being my only friends in the fucking yeah in my new grade uh back in the day um you know we are all friends first man and you know like that that's why it's tough to see somebody go but i also understand and I just appreciate the work you've done here, man. Like, we had so much fun.

Like, we've had some great trips. Can't wait for you to come back and hang out, dude. Like, that's what we're doing anyways, so you don't have to get fucking pay. You're not going to get paid when you come back to hang out. You don't have to get paid to come back and hang out, bro. We love you. We appreciate you.

Come back anytime. We're right down the road. What grade are you going to teach? Hoping for middle school. I mean, still August is a ways away, so I'm not sure exactly. Middle school. Middle school is what I enjoy. What happens when they start pulling up the clips?

I did have that thought It's just Just like making I'm just playing a character This is not the real version of myself Fuck what am I doing I'm just playing myself This sucks

You guys are playing characters Yeah I am Yeah Yeah Well fuck man we appreciate you man And yeah it's hard to say bye But you're not going to You're not moving or anything

So just don't be a stranger dude I'll be around Are you still gonna come on like some Sundays and gamble and yeah now I would want to because I'm not working not work yeah yeah well everybody um give it up for Kingston one good time you out there listening I love you Matt and I do love you no one I didn't even to forget you yeah no love you too um we've got a couple things for Matt oh we do yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah we're going to have a severance style funeral for Matt. For those of y'all that watch severance, I'll be

Milchick and move this thing along. We're here today to remember Matt, not for awards or achievements, but for something far greater the way he made us feel. Matt wasn't one for the spotlight, but he was always there when you needed him. He had a way of turning an ordinary moment into something special, whether through a quick joke, a shared silence, or showing up what it mattered. Matt may not have changed the world, but he changed our world. And that's enough. We'll miss you, Matt. We'll carry your warmth and humor with us always. Rest easy, my friend. I can't believe we did the curb living funeral. That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah, no, we're saving some of the best compliments from when you actually die. I forgot to comment about the studio when we were talking about

television shows. There's a new show called the studio on Netflix. Everybody should watch it. I think it's the funniest show I've seen since Curb. There's only two episodes in, but okay. The second episode is hardest I've laughed at here. No pressure. It's only the last thing you're saying on the show. So would you hate most about working here? Yeah, let's get

he already told me. Oh, this is so nice. Yeah, man. Orgis. Coccoa. That's sick. And I do still know the code of the Doris. I'm going to come steal Coke whenever I want. We should change that every once in a while. We should change that.

It's been several years. But yeah, thank you, Matt. And thank you all for listening. We will be back next week. Well, not Matt. That won't be back. But who do we have next week? Well, on that, I just wanted to say something real fast.

I wouldn't announce my podcasting retirement. in 2072. Yeah. I was like, bro, it's not April 1st. Chill out with my heart stopping. You're working until you're 80? Yeah, dude. It's 78.

This guy's 78, 47, 47 years. Yeah, I just wanted everyone to know, you know, Jim Nance style. Just, you know, get out ahead of it. I'm going to be like, Reed, you can retire now. You have a pension and you can go home and he's going to be here every day, voluntarily. Yeah. All right.

cool I was joking about the pension none of y'all motherfuckers get a pension no why I'm going back to the public schools somebody carry him down the stairs like he doesn't fall or anything

way out you know is there now a job opening or we have like a no I actually have not done any work for like over a year that's fucking good stuff right on line

but it looks like I'm working Yeah. Stepped all over my casting couch joke, but... Well, I can't find my, my cone. So that's the end of the show. I'm going to get to that. Thanks again, Matt. And we'll see y'all next week.

We've got a big-time basketball guest. That's right. You know who it is? I do. I'm excited. Bro, I'm going to... Here's what I'm going to say to him. I'm having a hard time not fucking hating you.

Amen. You're cool, but I'm having a hard time not hating you. That's right. There's a basketball player coming on early next week. We'll talk about March Madness. We'll do our all vibes team. That's a good time to do it. Gotta be honest, didn't catch a lot of basketball down in St. John.

Hey, no time like the present. Sweet 16, Elite 8. Oh, but how about the guy with the boom box? Yeah. Come on, bro. Every year when we do all vibes, there's one. I'm not putting him on the thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

That was way too much. Yep. Way too much. Like he's Debo Samuel walking out of Trent, Trent fucking Williams. He's going to walk over to the kicker and pull a chain. Yeah, exactly. they beat up the kicker. Yeah.

And Nate's going to be like, I could see what he was. Let's get a good other couple of those guys on the teams. Anyways, y'all see y'all next week. Take good care. Peace. Peace.