Green Light with Chris Long - NFL News! Bucs vs Commies, Mike Evans & NFL Head Coach Openings With Beau Allen & Cam Brate

Episode Date: January 9, 2025

Beau Allen and Cam Brate preview to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Washington Commanders Wild Card matchup this weekend as well as Mike Evans securing his record tying 11th straight season with 1,000 yards receiving. Beau and Cam also talk about NFL Head Coaching vacancies and the best candidates to fill those positions. Cam gives some love to tight ends across the league while Beau shouts out some defensive lineman who should've received more recognition this season like Zach Allen and Leonard Williams. Beau ends by talking about what it is like this time of the year for NFLers, dealing with the transition to the offseason along with head coaching turnover. (00:00) - Intro (1:37) - Beau Going Back To Philly (4:35) - Bucs Legend Cam Brate on Mike Evans, Bucs vs Commanders and Brock Bowers' Rookie Season (33:10) - Under-The-Radar NFL Interior Defensive Lineman (42:35) - Dealing With HC Firings As A Player Want your Green Light Merch so you can look exactly like Chris and the fellas? Hit the website below and get kitted! https://stores.kotisdesign.com/yotehouse/products Have some interesting takes, some codebreaks or just want to talk to the Green Light Crew? We want to hear from you. Call into the Green Light Hotline and give us your hottest takes, your biggest gripes and general thoughts. Day and night, this hotline is open. Green Light Hotline: ‪[phone]‬ Send any Talent Search submissions to: [e-mail] Include any video of your talents, takes and bits as well as a little bit about yourself. Love hearing from the Green Light fans. Also, check out our paddling partners at Appomattox River Company to get your canoes, kayaks and paddleboards so you're set to hit the river this summer. https://paddleva.com/ Green Light Spotify Music: https://open.spotify.com/user/951jyryv2nu6l4iqz9p81him9?si=17c560d10ff04a9b Spotify Layup Line: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1olmCMKGMEyWwOKaT1Aah3?si=675d445ddb824c42 Green Light Tube YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgxWFAA-wuB7osdiAJyLOcw Green Light with Chris Long: Subscribe and enjoy weekly content including podcasts, documentaries, live chats, celebrity interviews and more including hot news items, trending discussions from the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, NCAA are just a small part of what we will be sharing with you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Baker was incredible this whole year. You go to the game on Sunday, like, they had a fourth down and eight at the 50-yard line down by five and just an absolute dime to Jalen McMillan and followed it up two plays later did the same thing. That's when Jane got the... Such a ridiculous penalty. Like, that was absurd.

Like, what are we calling? Like, that was such a critical moment in the game and to, like, back the bucks up from the nine to the 24. And then completely lose momentum with six minutes of discussion on the field. And we were dying. It was crazy. BetMGM has made betting easy and seamless all season long. Hopefully you have been able to pick up some plays from us to use on the betmgm app.

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Iowa, 1-8-8-1-0-0-2-3, Puerto Rico, first-bet offer for new customers only, subject to eligibility requirements. Rewards are non-witrable bonus bets that expire and side. seven days in partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. Welcome with the Greenlight podcast. Thanks for tuning in today. We've got Bo Allen and Cambrate running through some NFL news. They talk the Bucks Commander's playoff game. Bo also tells you that he's going to the Philadelphia Eagles game this week,

and he's going to be amongst you in the crowd. We also talk with Kim about Mike Evans tying the record by Jerry Rice with most consecutive thousand-yard seasons. And we talk with Bo and Cam about being an NFL player in transition. the offseason. What's that like? A fun little rip midweek for you. Enjoy it. We will be back Friday with a whole lot of fun. Fellas, we're back. Bo, it was Black Monday at the Greenland podcast. We are back. Yeah, Black Monday. I got fired from the pod. So we got a renegade pod here. Nolan, Cowboy, and I are just, we're just recording some premium content for everybody.

Welcome back. A lot of news after week 18 in the NFL that didn't involve playoff teams. So we've got to cover it. We've got to go through it. And, Torque. You're kind of, you know, the teams that you played on got a lot of love this playoff season because the Eagles and the Bucks are both playoff bound. I know. I'm stoked about it. So we're going to be joined later by my good buddy, former Bucks teammate Cambrate. So we'll talk the Bucks and their game last week and, you know, some Mike Evan stuff. And then some other shit. But then also, I'm actually going up to Philly to check out the birds in person when they play. the Packers, the first round of the playoffs on.

I'm pretty stoked about that, boys. I'll feel good to be back at the link. Will you be tailgating, Bo? You're going to be out in the scene? I picked a bad month, bad time to do dry January. I'll be tailgating. I've done a little California sober thing. So we'll see how that goes.

But I'll be tailgating. I'm going to eat some shitty tailgate food. No garage beer for me at the link. But, you know, it'll be a good time. Hang out with some teammates, former teammates. Hopefully catch up with the busiest man in the world. world. Kelsey, I'm getting sick of fucking seeing him on my, you know, on ads and shit. I want to try to hang out with him in person and then obviously watch the birds. So I'm pretty

excited, man. Kelsey's got a late night show now. Are you going to make an appearance? Yeah, I might go check that out as well. So he's got a lot, he's got a lot of irons in the fire, man. No wonder he can't call me back. How many, how many games have you gone to as a fan post playing career? Dude, I've only gone to a handful. I usually try to go out to a badger game. once a year. So we all went and watched the Badgers get whipped up on by Alabama earlier this season. Not the best showing for the Badgers. And then I've gone, I think I've gone to two or three Eagles games. I went to one with Chris. You're a captain, right? You're an honorary captain. Yeah,

actually last year when the Cardinals came in and beat the Eagles at the link, tough end of the year for the birds. But it was brutal. It was kind of the start of the slide. It might have been my fault honestly. It's like shitty honorary captain. I didn't get him ready to play. Alert the security, Bose back. Yeah,

tell him like, hey, we got to walk him out. Yeah, just fucking throw me up in the nosebleeds or something. I don't know. But it's a totally different vibe, man.

It's funny going back as a player. Chris and I actually went to an Eagles game and we were trying to get to our seats. We got lost for like 45 minutes because we'd never been in the link, like in the concourse. It's like there's just so much pageantry and planning. evolve with going to a game itself, you know, tailgating and, and everything else. So it's like, it's just such a unique experience. Was that overwhelming? Just walking the concourse, seeing

fans, like, walking around with six beers and popcorn and yelling at each other. You just don't realize, like, how, like, how stoked everybody is. Like, you know, you can hear the crowd and stuff, obviously, and everyone's going crazy, but you just don't see behind the scenes, you know, when you're on the field. So it's fun to just be a casual fan. I'm excited to just check out the game, man. Like, I'm excited to watch football. outside. It's going to be nice and cold at the link. Everyone's going to be stoked. Like, it's just good. It's good stuff, man. It's fun to be a fan. Yeah. It's cool. Yeah, it'll have some fun little social media shit going on. We're still figured it all out.

But you get a little bow POV. Yeah, exactly. From the birds game. Maybe I'll strap it up. We'll see. I got a couple snaps. All right. We were just talking about Eagles football. How I'm headed up to the game. Hang out some of my former teammates brought on one of my bucks teammates. One of your favorite teammates. Well, I didn't say that. But, you know, Buccaneers legend that is actually now doing some media stuff for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end. Cam Brate, Cam, thanks for joining us. Dude, I'm not a media guy. Well, don't put that on me. You do video content for the Bucks on a weekly basis. Begrudgingly. Some might call that, you know, a member of the media Cam. Well, thank you. And who better to talk about Bucks football than a member of the illustrious

Buck's media team. Thank you. Thank you for having me. All right. Yeah. So let's just get right into it. Buck. I want to talk about that game last week, Cam. How cool is it like to see Mike get that record? I mean, I play with him. You played with him for longer than me. But such an unbelievable player and such a good dude, I didn't think he was going to get it. And then I actually kind of got, I got a little chills. watching him celebrate at the end of that. And then, like, coming to the locker room, everyone was going crazy. He got the record. Like, what's that mean?

Were you surprised that they threw that at the end of the game also? I mean, yeah, dude. Like, Todd is so, Todd is pretty conservative. Like, I mean, crazier things have happened. Like, you're up. It's a one possession game. You're at your own 30. Yeah.

Just a crazy, like, series of events to have it happen. and to like have it happened that way made it like so much cooler than if he caught like a 10-yard curl in the third quarter. You know, just like the buildup and for it to not look like it was going to happen. I know. I was watching the game obviously as a member of the Bucks Media team as part of my job. And, dude, in my head I was like, I hope they give up a touchdown on a two-point conversion. I hope this goes OT. Like, obviously hoping the Bucs media. would win.

Right. But for Mike to get it, right? For Mike to get it, man. Mike is such an unbelievable guy, unbelievable player. And that was truly the happiest I've ever seen Mike. Like the most outward, like, display of expression like he's ever had. So you can obviously tell how much of that meant to him. It was awesome.

Like, it was so cool to watch. And I respect, like, Liam Cohen, they didn't even come out. Like, I thought maybe they'd do a fake. Neil and hit him on like a six-yard, you know, like a... That would have been amazing. So in 20, shoot, 2020, it was 2020, week 17, we were playing Atlanta. We were up by like four touchdowns. And AB needed like five catches to get $250,000.

With like three minutes left, we were running pop passes. Like, we're the quarterback, where Tom would catch the ball and just pop it forward to AB. The Falcons were so pissed. Like, dude, what are you guys doing? I'm sure AB has, you know, invested that money pretty well. It's gone to, uh, I mean, he's such a reasonable guy. I'm sure he's taking good care of that.

But, okay, but just back to that play real quick. I was shocked. You think there's a little bit of, you know, a little bit of friendliness from the saints on that. Like, he had to catch it and convert it. You know what I mean? But like, it's no doubt. I mean, Mike's not a huge, yeah, guy.

You know, like, no, Beau, we're not going to say that. Mike earned it. No, I know you earned it. 100% earned it. I'm not getting it. It wasn't like a Brett Farrer, Mike's straight-hand situation. That's kind of what I would say. Yeah.

No, we got to give it to Mike. Yeah, but it was really funny because, like, the whole fourth quarter, there was a, it wasn't just that play, but there was a few times where, like, you would not call a pass play. Right. And the bucks were calling pass plays to try to get. But it was hard because, like, it was a one-point game until three-point. minutes left. No, I know. Like, but they were pretty aggressive with the play calling to get Mike that record. Well, that's what's so interesting is like the buck started so slow in that game against the

Saints. I was kind of shocked with how long it took him to get going. And then they finally did. I think a big part of it was Mike. And then to end on such an emotional high, I feel like that's a really good way to kind of, you know, forget about how slow, you know, the bucks started and kind of end on a high note and roll into the playoffs like with positive vibe. Totally. Like, as opposed to like barely pitting the Saints who honestly were so bad down the stretch. And it was a muslin game for the Bucks. Like, dude, that's

hard though. Like, the Bucks had everything to lose. Like, you could tell they were pretty tight in the first half, but Yeah, like you said, like, dude, that's like such a, like totally forget about the first half after that. It's all about Mike. It's all about securing the win. So, yeah.

Cool. And so I want to continue to talk about Mike, continue to talk about the Bucks. You know, obviously a big matchup coming in with the commies. We'll get into that in a little bit, but you mentioned how Mike, like, he's not a huge, like he's an emotional guy, right, but not necessarily like happiness, outward emotion. A lot of the motion is Mike's made emotion is anger. Yeah.

Like, you see that and chill. Sometimes you see Mike's anger in, uh, on the field, especially when he's lined up with Marshawn Latimore. How many times are these two go at it? It's literally the entire game they play. Like when they, when they go against you. other. It's like obviously everyone knows like the few actual fights, but it's truly every single play the entire game. Like Mike is preparing when he plays Marshawn like 50% for a football game,

50% for a fight. Like I'm pretty sure he's in his locker watching boxing highlights before the game. Watching WWE. Yeah, just getting ready. But those two, it's like, I mean, they're both great players, obviously. I'm trying to think if, yeah, that we play the in the playoffs once before, but like it is crazy watching those two go at it. Like both of them are not thinking about the game. They are thinking about winning that rep and like embarrassing the other person. It's the game within the game. So that would be fun to watch.

Yeah, 100%. And Lattimore is traded obviously from the Saints to the Commies. He's kind of missed a lot of, missed a lot of time. Dan Quinn probably definitely wants them in that defensive backfield. The Bucks also dealing with injuries and they're, you know, they're, you know, their DB room has been fucking decimated, man. The defense has been a little disappointing, I think, down the stretch, largely due to all these injuries.

Yeah, their DB situation is not ideal. I think they are getting a couple guys back this week. I mean, the offense for the bucks this year has been, has performed, like, so wildly beyond expectations. And you look at, like, the best players on the bucks are pretty much all on the offensive side. Like, you have Vita on the defense, Antoine, who's missed a bunch of, of the year. So personnel

wise, I think, is like the main issue right now with the Bucks defense. Kind of starts up front. Like, don't get a ton of pressure generated without blitzing, without running a ton of games from the D-line. So. Well, the Bucks sack leader, all-time sack leader, Shack Barrett, who I played with, you played with, who was just re-signed by the Bucks.

You think he'll be able to bring some juice, uh, pass rushing? I mean, it's so hard. You got some fresh leg, man. Come on. I need, yes, fresh legs. also like, is he in football shape? Like, it's so hard. I'm trying to, like, envision myself going and playing now.

I know, but Shaq is not like a, like, love Shaq, great rush, but he's like kind of bad body. You know what I mean? Like, he's not a weight room guy. Not kind of. He looked, yeah, yeah, yeah, the five, six on Sunday, he got in for a few snacks. It looks like retirement was streaming pretty well there for a while. He just not had to knock the rust off a little bit against.

Totally. But the nice thing about that position is, like, you know, it's like. you put him in on key third downs like he's so smart he never was like winning off pure athleticism like he was very technically sound had a bunch of moves in the bag great kind yeah great feel so like anything that the bucks can do to get a little bit of pressure on jaden will help so it i love deciding like it can't hurt no i know exactly and obviously a lot of familiarity there okay i want i'm gonna we'll talk about the commies offensively in a second let's talk about the bucks offensively. You said it. I don't think people were really expecting Liam Cohen, Baker,

to pop off the way that they have. Like, what are the things that you've seen out of Liam Cohen that you really like? Obviously, you're a very cerebral player, Cam. Cam went to Harvard, guys. So my boy's wicked smart. So what do you see from Liam Cohen and Baker that you like? Yeah, Baker, I'll talk about him both. Baker was incredible this whole year. You go to the game on Sunday, like, they had a fourth down and eight at the 50-yard line down by five and just an absolute dime to Jalen McMillan and followed it up two plays later did the same thing. That's when Jayon got the... Such a ridiculous penalty.

Like, that was absurd. Like, what are we calling? Like, that was such a critical moment in the game and to, like, back the bucks up from the nine to the 24. And then completely lose momentum with six minutes of discussion on the field. And we were dying. It was crazy. We were talking about it too because, like, for those of you've never been to a Bucks game,

when you get inside, what is it, the 20-yard line or whatever, you get to the Reds on. The cannons, baby. Fire the cannons. Fire those cannons, but you can't do the first down, you know, start it. Oh, that's really funny. I think about that. Right? Keep trying out of Baker, though.

Yeah, Baker was incredible. Like, same game, both Mike and Chris got hurt. So they were both out. Chris was out, obviously, the rest of the year, but Mike missed four games. And Baker didn't skip a beat. Like, he was truly throwing to guys I had absolutely no idea who they were. And, like, I'm a Bucks fan. Like, I watch all their games.

You're a Bucks media member, my guy. You're more than a fan. No, I'm just a big fan. I'm a paid fan. But, yeah, no, Baker was incredible this year. And then Liam, I think the thing about Liam, he just did a great job utilizing what he had all year. Like they were, they had to be kind of like three different offenses throughout the year.

The first five or six weeks when they had Mike and Chris, like Mike and Chris got a ton of targets every game. They were very fast. Chris back in the power slot, Mike deep shot. It was awesome. Like the bucks were great. They were just kind of like putting up a bunch of points throwing the ball over the field. Then obviously when Mike and Chris went out, super run heavy team, a lot of 12, 13 personnel. And what he did a really good job at that time, like you had Kate out.

in that tight end. A whole bunch of receivers I'd never heard of, but you had two really good running backs. And so Liam putting both on the field at the same time. Three little good running backs. Really, yeah. I mean, Sean Tucker's a really good young player, but he obviously doesn't get a ton of burn behind.

I'm pleased with his performance this year. Please, please, please. But yeah, and then obviously when you get Mike back, you have your alpha. So, like, just the evolution throughout the season, like Liam utilizing what he had, I mean, that's why they were so successful. Yeah.

No, it was really fun to watch the Bucks run game progress, too, because some dark, some dark days for the Bucks rushing attack over the last couple of years. Their run game, though, this year was incredible. Like, so creative, the pony personnel packages. Yeah. They have a few plays they ran this year. I have absolutely no idea, like, how we had the balls to call him. Like, he was pulling the front side guard and tackle, the front side guard and tackle away from the play,

hoping the detackling D.N would pinch. Like, and they worked. Like he just really creative both in the run game and the screen game. I feel like his college experience kind of because you know how it is like dude with BA with Bruce Ariens for the Bucks. It was like duo dive solid. You know what I mean? You double team.

You get four yards. It was horrible. And now you get the creativity from Leanne. I feel like Liam, I feel like some of that might be due to his college experience. But no, shout out to the O line too, like Tristan. I really like Graham Barton, the rookie center. Those guys all had a really good year.

That's part of the reason like Bucky Irving and, you know, Sean Tucker and Rashad. Like, that's why they played so well, too. Yeah. All right. Let's talk commies a little bit. Obviously, was that week one when Jane Daniels came in? Yeah. Yeah.

It's like a whole different NFL, week one versus, you know, week one of the playoffs. What is it that you saw from Jane Daniels in that first game? And then obviously throughout the season, you played great as a rookie that makes you, you know, that kind of gives you notice and makes you kind of, I don't know, know that he's a guy you need to take care of defensively for the bucks in this game. Yeah, I mean, you honestly, like, can't look at week one to look at the commander's offense. He was good on his seat in week one, though. No, no question.

He was unbelievable. That's all he could be, like. I don't, I don't think they realized, like, what they had yet in Jane Daniels at that time. Like, they tried running the ball, not a ton of RPO even. all of his runs were scrambles. Didn't really push a ball downfield at all. That makes sense. Like Todd loves a blitz, a lot of man.

Quarterbacks sports out of the pocket. And I feel like we hadn't really seen how smooth Jane Daniels is as a runner. Dude, he is. He's a gazelle. Yeah. It's like, yeah. It's like that's a major concern.

Like the commanders aren't a good running team. They have good stats because Jane Daniels is an awesome scrambler. So they've definitely. are able to trust him a lot more now. Like, he's not only a good scrambler, but he's an accurate passer in the pocket. So, like, their whole offense is, like, all about obviously containing the quarterback.

So a huge thing for the Bucks, we don't have the most athletic D-Ns, but you have to keep him in the pocket. So just whether it's slot pressure or QB spy, like you have to keep them in the pocket. That's, like, the key to this game for the bucks. Yeah, curious to see if they make Levanté spy him or, you know, as a defensive lineman.

I was on the field for every third down when I was playing for the bucks, so you know you got to have a good rush plan. You got to rush with your teammates to keep the quarterback in the pocket. Man, this is going to be an exciting matchup. I want to give my boy, Zach Erd some love. He's been playing really well,

especially at the end of the year for the commies. I don't know if you saw it can, but he scored, what was it, like two touchdowns to hit a major incentive bonus. I think two weeks. Oh, good for him. Yeah, I sure he's hurting for cash. So I'm happy, you know, he was able to do that.

Talked a little about Liam Cohen, how good he's been as an offensive coordinator his first year with the Bucks. He's kind of been a name that's been mentioned for this coaching carousel. I think there's what, six vacancies right now, Cam. Do you think I want to talk a little bit about just real brief about some of these jobs, which ones are desirable? But I want to know if you personally think that he's a guy who's going to be an attractive candidate for a head job.

I think he has to be. Like, you have to look at offensive, offenses that have played well throughout the year. You want to hire a young coach with a, you know, creative offense. So you have to look at Liam. I love the coaching carousel. It's so interesting.

In Tampa, Tom Moore, NFL legend. Yeah. Towards the end of the season, he just started writing coach's names on the board for who he thought was going to get fired. He always overshot it. Like, dude, he would have, like, 15 names. Like teams that were playoff teams, you didn't have their coaches getting fired. He's just got Todd's getting up there.

But, yeah, Liam definitely is a guy. Todd Munkin in Baltimore, you know, he's done a really good job with the Ravens past couple years. It's hard. Like, teams want to go to the sexy, you know how there was a stretch of. Todd's pretty sexy. Well, I didn't say he isn't. They want to go to the young sexy. You know there's a stress of why.

Sean McVeigh, Matt LaFleur, you know, all those guys are pretty sexy. Yeah, I know, right? I don't know if I'd look into that same category of sex. He's up there with them. But if you're hiring a coach and you have a young quarterback, you have to hire an offensive coach. Agreed. Yeah.

So you're talking about like the bear or the Patriots. If you're the Bears, the Patriots, like. Or the Raiders who are presumably going to draft a young guy. Correct. Like, if you hire a defensive. coach and you have a young quarterback like all of a sudden your offense starts to have success your ocees gone you're starting over like it sucks uh you know everyone's linking brable to the job in new england obviously given his history there but like you're new england i think that's a huge gamble

right well i think i mean they're trying to there is i feel like there's a little bit of this essence of you know trying to recapture the the patriot way a little bit you know hire bell a check back yeah i know right well speaking up of. He was just linked to your boy, Tom and, you know, Tom's limited ownership in the Raiders. And today I'm seeing all this shit about Bill going to Vegas. You think that'd be a good marriage or what? Probably not.

So, no, I don't think that would be a very good hire at this point. The Patriot is a lot of key free agent acquisitions, you know? I mean, that's a problem. Like, they just targeted the wrong guys in free agency, I think, you know. Okay. If you guys aren't clear, Cam's trying to take a personal. shot at your boy who signed in New England on a nice little deal and then never played a single snap. Patriots legend, but you did a couple practice snaps.

Yeah, a couple good ones. Talking about the Raiders, obviously, they're looking for a head coach, but they need a lot of pieces on offense, chief league quarterback. They do have a really nice piece in rookie tight end Brock Bowers who had like 120 catches this year or something like that. What do you love about his game, Cam? Yeah, I really didn't know how he was going to do early in his NFL. career just because he's pretty unique.

He's totally a tweener. Like, definitely more slot receiver-ish, but, like, he is an elite slot receiver. He's built like Puka, you know? He is. He's a big slot receiver. Like, obviously, he's going to put his hand in the dirt because you can scheme up a ton of plays for that position if he does have some blocking reps. But, like, truly, like, an elite athlete.

running after the catch, like super impressive. Like his feel for the game as a rookie, like he slid in week one and was unbelievable. They didn't really have a ton of guys to throw the ball to, so he kind of got like peppered with targets the entire year. Like 12 a game. It was like the perfect storm. Like they were losing every game and they didn't have a ton of guys to throw to,

but it's not to take away from him as a player at all. Like he is a stud. He's going to be a really good player for a long time. No, I agree. A couple more things on a hit on really. quick. We haven't gotten to it yet, but I'm going to talk about some of my favorite De Lyman that maybe haven't gotten, you know how it goes. At the end of the year, Pro Bowl, all pro, things like that. A lot of great players in the NFL that don't get the love that they

deserve, that play really well. So I'm going to talk about some of those DeLyman, who I love. I want to just hear about a couple tight ends that you think are really good players, maybe not all pro guys, maybe not household names, but guys that you really respect their game. you think they're huge for their teams. You can't say Kate out in Cam. I know you got a boner for K. Well, dude, I mean, Kate is, bro. I mean, one, he's the nicest guy in the world.

Yes. Two, he's a great player. Like, he's good to everything. But I think you've got to look at Johnny Smith down in Miami. Yeah. Was awesome this year. And, like, totally kind of unexpected, like, based on how he played in New England, how he was used to up there.

Yeah. Where was he at before that? Like Tennessee or? He was Tennessee, Atlanta, New England. But honestly, pretty, like, unplayable up in New England. Then he goes back to Atlanta for a year. But by far, his best year this year. Like, always has been dynamic with the ball in his hands.

I want to give a shout out to his tight end coach, John Embry. He was my tight end coach in Tampa when I was good. But he's like the goat tight end coach. Like, you look at all, like, every year his tight ends have performed. their best years of their career dating back to Tony Gonzalez in Kansas City. But he was down in Miami now and did a great job with Jonu, and he was huge for them. Like, Tyreek and Jam Water were banged up, and he pretty much became their primary target back half the year. I actually do have something to say about the Pro Bowl.

Yeah, hit me. Okay. Okay. This is coming from such. This isn't a person. Two former players that never made the Pro Bowl, by the way, just so we know. Two-time alternate. So, no big deal.

All right. This is not a personal attack on my good friend, Kyle. Okay, there's like 10 fullbacks in the NFL. Yeah. And like three of them actually play. Yep. Yeah. Do we need a pro bowl spot?

Like, also like... Yeah. No. Not football without the fullback, you know? It's just not, okay? I agree. Like, he is deserving of being a pro bowl player. This year has been the resurgence of the rest of the rest of the

running back, all right? We need to give the fullbacks and love, too. Come on. No, but Kyle is a great player. Great player. It's just like, on the other, the AFC side, there's like three fullbacks. And, like, Patrick Ricard got it. He's like a great block away.

It's like, like, old men. Like, you have like unreal players, like unreal receivers running back side ends and don't get provable spots. Yeah. Also, like the long snapper deal. Like, really? Like, yeah. I'm with you on there.

Who gives the fuck? And, like, I'm also friends with Depot. You know, I played with him in Tampa for a great guy. But, like, the three-time Pro Bowl longsnapper. Like, I'd love to know, like, what he did this year better than the other longsnappers. Just three assisted tackles. He was just firing them. He was really firing it back to the horror.

He was really, hey, he had a great fucking year, man. That's a pro-bler. All right? You can't say shit. I guess it's mostly because I'm salty because I was never a pro-bowler. Yeah. Well, I mean, alternate, though, twice. Alternate.

Yeah, it's on my resume. I was academic all big 10. So it's kind of the same thing. You're so smart. Did you graduate? Yeah, like two years ago. All right, one more thing that we want to kind of talk about is just, you know, you play for the Bucks.

Obviously, you won a Super Bowl in Tampa, which is really cool. Only team to ever have won the Super Bowl in its, you know, until it happened the year after. The first team, excuse me. Thank you for correcting me, Cam. The first team to win the Super Bowl in its home stadium. But before that. there was a long, long drought of no playoff football for the bucks.

People are always kind of curious what life is like as an NFL football player. So we kind of want to talk a little bit about like what the end of the season is like for teams and guys that aren't in the playoffs, aren't in the Pro Bowl, and kind of just what's that like? I know Cowboy, you had a couple of questions about that. Just kind of kind of want to inform everyone about the realities of the NFL. Just like what happens, the whistle blows your week 18 game. What happens from that point to when you first step on the plane to Mekanos?

Yeah. As an alternate for the Pro Bowl, you kind of just always got to stay ready. That's your number's call. But no, it's a, I mean, you pretty much know, most of the time you know before the game, like Zip Boys. Yeah, but you start drinking. it pretty quick for that fire whistle make up for for some lost time in the social scene. One thing that we did. It is amazing though, like the finality of it.

Like you play your last game. You go out that night. The next morning, you're hungover. You go to the facility and by 12 o'clock, like you are free. You meet with your position coach, like turn into your playbook and you're done. And by 12 o'clock, there are lockers cleared out. Like guys who know that they're not going to be back or guys are already getting released. And then you check your phone or whatever and you see.

I mean, it is very interesting because your entire life is consumed by football for, you know, months and months at a time. And then you, you know, you're kind of, you just wake up and you're like, oh, shit. Like, it's the off season. You know what I mean? Like, yeah. It is amazing. Like literally every single day for like six or seven months, like it's football. Yeah.

And then the next day, it's zero football. I love, there's literally nothing better to me than watching playoffs football. I think it is the best television. So that was like the only downside about making the playoffs. You were in the game, not watching them? Yeah, dude. Like, I'm trying to watch the games. I'm not trying to be stressed out about tomorrow's game.

Like, I'm trying to watch the games and show. But yeah, man, like playoff football is the best. like wild card weekend to divisional weekend is like the best viewing so super excited for this year yeah and it's such a different uh the playoffs just feel like in a whole new season you know bill always said that you know football didn't start until after thanksgiving and it really doesn't start until the playoffs and it's like holy shit it's totally different depends if you're in new england with tom and bill or if you're in Tampa bay with james like we're football's pretty much over after Thanksgiving.

We only got a couple weeks left. What's a game you're most excited to watch this weekend? Outside of the Bucks. That's a great question. Minnesota versus L.A. Yeah. I think it's a super interesting game. Like L.A., yeah.

Like Sean McVeigh knew what he was doing when he was wrestling his guys. Like, yeah. Yeah, they're going to have to face Minnesota in the first round. But like they'll eventually have to face all those teams that they want to make it to the Super Bowl. Like, they're a very dangerous team. Like, if Safford is slinging around and, like, Puka and Cooper, you know, are moving well,

especially with the week off, like, they're super dangerous. Yeah. No, and Cooper and Puka have been banged up. So they'll be fresh, man. And the Rams beat the Vikings in L.A., previously the season. And, like, dude, there's this, you know, I'm from Minnesota. All my friends are Vikings fans. There's this just Minnesota sports.

kind of like negativity, like nihilistic attitude where after that game, that huge game, the Vikings lost against the Lions, they're like almost already writing this game off. They're like, ah, we're not, it's, it's wild. Dude, don't even play it. It's fucking ridiculous. The Vikings are a great team. I think they have the best offensive player in, in the NFL, right? It's unbelievable.

Amazing, dude. And it's just wild to me that it almost feels like the Vikings are an underdog this week, going in there like 14 15 wins or whatever they got it's fucking crazy should be a good game should be a great game uh cam thank you so much man you're such you're so good on the mic yeah it's uh yeah full-time media guy yeah well that makes two of us brother how much you guys pay for for this uh i'll send you a vamo okay perfect thank you yeah yeah love talking with cam a good buddy of mine hang out with him a lot down here in Tampa. I think my favorite thing about Cam,

great football player, but he's also a huge football fan. Real student of the game, but he loves watching as a fan too, which is something that I think's really cool. One thing that we talked about, Cam is, you know, tight ends that he thinks are really good that maybe don't get the love that they deserve. As a noseguard,

I feel like I never got the love that I deserved. I was not a two-time alternate pro bowler like my buddy Cam. But there's a lot of guys that played really well all season that I want to try to give them some love. We're going to call them the buttery boys, the buttery boys team. And these are all interior defensive linemen that played really well. And I kind of just want to talk us through. The first one, this is probably the most recognizable name in here. An absolute Pro Bowl snub, in my opinion.

Leonard Williams had an unbelievable year for the Seahawks. I mean, no one, we talked about it a couple weeks ago. He had that pick six. I feel like he was really, really disruptive. I remember, I mean, he's been in the league for like 10 years now. But for him to not make the Pro Bowl, I thought was a little perplexing for how dominant he was at times. 11 sacks, 16 TFLs. So you see the production in both phases.

And what's crazy with that production, too, he had more sacks and TFLs this season than he did in the only pro bowl season of his career in 2016. I was really surprised to see that. He's only made one Pro Bowl in his career. He's been doing it at a high level for a long time. Yeah, no, and he signed some great contracts, obviously playing really well at the Seahawks and their new defensive head coach. So he had a great year. Another guy out west who I don't think gets the love he deserves. He also has some history in Seattle.

He's in L.A. now with the Chargers. Puna Ford. It's playing really well. The Chargers defense is good. I love their front seven. You know, they've got Bosa, Kalil Mack, two more recognizable names. But Puna Ford had a great fucking year. man and he's he's he's a different kind of player like he's he's got a shorter body but he's really

explosive he really penetrates the backfield and like he's a good player he had a really good year too so i want to give him some love what do you like about his game no one yeah yeah you mentioned um the great stuff he didn't see out before and that was kind of interesting last season in 23 with buffalo he was kind of a big signing for them and just kind of a down year you know for whatever the reasons were. So to see him bounce back in L.A. Like you said, super super disruptive. Like you see, especially the negatives, you know, ATFLs. He uses that kind of natural leverage advantage. He has, he's listed at 511, but kind of uses that to his advantage. So really cool to see him bounce back this year. And he's kind of become like a key cog and what was a great defense.

They have a really good defense. Yeah. And I was thinking about what you said about his role in Buffalo. I think part of that might be, you know, they have Ed Oliver, they've got Dequan Jones, who I think is a very underrated player as well. Right. And then also Jordan Phillips. So it's good to see him get a lot more clock and play well for the Chargers. Moving on, a couple other guys. I want to give some love to Zach Seeler for the Dolphins, really productive player.

I feel like he's a guy that should be a household name. People in Miami are definitely familiar with him. He had double-digit sacks, I think, right? So, like, he had a great year. Really, I think he had multiple games with multiple sacks. Really good player. He's a buttery, buttery player. Yeah.

Like, with him to, Bo, like, two years in a row with double-digit sacks, can you kind of speak to, like, these guys in the interior? I think fans generally maybe don't appreciate it enough how much harder it is to rush from the interior as opposed to from an edge alignment. Yeah, I mean, when you're on the edge, there's a lot of, lot of things that they can do, they can chip you with tight ends. They can chip you with running backs out of the backfield. But other than that, like, you kind of have a one-on-one matchup, right? So, like, you know that you're rushing the edge. You're rushing the right tackle.

You're rushing the left tackle. When you're a three technique, you can get a clean inside win. And then you have the center sliding to you. You know, you can just, when you're on the inside, you don't have as much time to have a really well-crafted rush plan. And then also, like, you know, guys who study the game, if you're game planning for a certain of you can get a really good idea of where they like to slide. And if you're a premier guy on the inside, they're going to slide to you. I remember talking with Kelsey about how when the Eagles played Aaron Donald and the Rams, they slayed to him literally every fucking rep.

Like they double team him every fucking rep. So it's just a lack of space and often not a pure one-on-one rep on the inside. And then if you're a noseguard on the inside, like if you're a shade, which means you're offset, tilted on the center, like, A lot of the times you are dealing with the center and the guard. So you're getting, whether it's guard, half-hand help as they drag set out to kind of protect their B-gap against the blitz or an inside move for the end. Like you still are rushing, you know, one-plus guys.

And it's not a lot of space in there to hit moves. So a lot of your moves on the inside start with power. That's kind of what I did. But, you know, the big sack guys obviously have more moves in their arsenal. So, I mean, it's, it's hard to get sacks inside. talked about Aaron Donald and how good he was. Obviously, he's retired. He, you know, he's a kind of player who's once, you know, a generational talent not to be replicated ever.

However, I want to give some love to a rookie Braden Fisk out of Florida State. He's playing really well. He had eight and a half sacks right now. The Rams are in the playoffs. Aaron Donald had nine his rookie year. So, you know, keep that in mind. So I want to give some love, like I said, gave some love to these guys, Puna Ford, Leonard Williams, Seeler. I want to give rookies some love to.

Braden Fiske, I think, was the best interior defensive lineman as a rookie. And also, also, Devandre Sweat from the Titans, the big boy. I remember we did a breakdown on him back in the day coming out. And he's like 365 pounds compared a lot to, I mean, I think he reminds me a lot of Vita, actually. She had a really productive year for the Titans, too. And then I also want to give some vet, vats, some love. Linval Joseph is a noseguard who's been doing it for like 15 years. Okay, he's playing with Zimmer, Zimmer's defense for the Cowboys.

He was a guy who like when I was young in Philly, two gaping, playing noseguard. I would watch his tape. Like he played for the Vikings so well. He's such a good zero head-up noseguard, like an old school style noseguard. I have so much respect for him. I love his game. To see him still doing it, like, after I've been retired for five years, it's fucking crazy. Because I remember watching him all of his reps as a rookie.

And then another guy who wanted to give some love to is Callais Campbell. This has got to be like, I think he's 38 years old, year 15 or 16 for him. Still very productive. He's bounced around the league. He's been everywhere. But I feel like he always, you know, it feels like he hasn't fallen off at all. He's a 30-year-old. draft mate that's fucking crazy and he's six foot nine like he talks he's got the deepest fucking voice ever

um but just like a good good dude and like a true vet vet so it's interesting because you have these guys like braden fist coming in fresh young talented eight and a half sacks but you still got the old dogs doing it boys you still got guys like linball joseph and clias campbell um so i love to see and i want to give some love to some of my badgers, I'm a proud badger, had a lot of badgers playing. There's been a lot of really good badger linebacker play. This segment is kind of centered around interior guys, but Andrew Van Ginkle for the Vikings has been so productive. It reminds me of Zach Bonn, another badger.

But Van Gink met him, talked to him this summer when we were up in Minnesota, interviewing Vikings guys, and I don't think anyone in Minnesota is expecting him to be as productive as he has. he's been a great versatile piece for brian flores blitz him drop him you know rush him off the edge sometimes put him in man coverage on uh on a running back um but he's a really good player he's what's that they did him wrong on that they did him wrong on that dude he's a zero blitz on jimier gibbs and he runs like an arrow route he's got a man it's like you're in the you're in like the high red zone like what the fuck you're gonna do um van ginkle i think has not got enough love. I think if he has that, if he's able to catch that pick,

that pick six against the Lions, I think he's in the conversation for defensive MVP. So I want to give him some love. And then another badger in his second year for the Steelers, Keanu Benton has had a really good year. It's fun to watch kind of the jump that young players make from their rookie year to their second year. And I think Keanu Bent is a prime example of that it's played really well. He had a pick at one point for the Steelers. I think a couple weeks ago this season, but he's playing really well. And there's a couple badgers on that Steelers

front defensive front seven. So those are fun guys to watch. I want to give those D-Lyman some love. And it's always fun to talk about interior defensive line because frankly, I don't think people do it enough. Keanu's made a couple good appearances on Hard Knocks this season.

The NFC North Hard Knocks. He's shown up. Yeah, he's been a little. Yeah, been a little player favorite. Yeah, he had that pick in week 14 against the Browns. Yep. Yeah, I remember watching that. I was going crazy. But we talked a little bit about it with Cam. But what's the, like you guys said, that week 18 whistle happens.

You guys go out, party, you clean your rock room out. And then it's, you know, football's off the mind for a little while. When do you hear, and maybe you never went through this as a player, but like coaching firings, you know, as a player you hear or GM firings. You're coming back to the team next year. you're still contracted, but you know it's going to be a coaching search. How does that, how do you kind of tackle that as a player who, you know, is entering the offseason?

Yeah, I mean, I'm trying to think. So the only situation where that would have come up with me is in 2018, when I signed in free agency with the Bucks, our staff got fired like halfway through the year. So we, our defensive coordinator got fired. I think after like four games, Dirk, Dirk Cudder, our head coach at the time, got fired after, I think, halfway through the year. and it's like at that point it's it's a very interesting situation because you know they're going to clean house

if you're a guy who's uh not if you're a guy who's in a contract that's you know the team can get rid of or you know like you just never really know what's going to happen in that situation like you can get traded you can get cut they're going to bring in a whole new staff and maybe it's a scheme that you're not a good fit for and you need to kind of prove yourself all over again. So I never went through that in the immediate off season. I went through that kind of during the course of the season, which was very interesting. But usually the way it's kind of developed, the way the NFL has developed, like you kind of learn shit through the grapevine, which is crazy. Like they're not holding, you know, there's not like a mass group chat where they send out like, hey, we're going to hire, you know, Mike Brable.

Like you just you learn from your buddies who are like, hey, this guy told me that they're interviewing Ben Johnson or whatever or you see some shit on Twitter or, you know, your mom texts you about something she's on ESPN. It's a really interesting thing where you feel like you should be in the know, but you're not at all as a player. And so it's, you know, as a football player, it's always you hear people tell you all the time, like control you can control. It's not something you can control as a player. So you just kind of got to ride the wave and figure out. what's going to happen along with everybody else. That happened your second year, too, with Chip Kelly, right? In 2015?

Actually, yeah, good point. I think he got fired right before the final game of the season. Right before the final game. I remember going up talking with my D-line coach, a guy who drafted me, Jerry as an era, who I loved, had a good relationship with. And, you know, it hadn't been officially announced yet that the staff was gone, but I could just kind of tell based on the, you know, the meeting, the conversation that we had.

And yeah, and that's exactly what it goes. And then obviously Doug came in. We won a Super Bowl, so it worked out. But there's just so much uncertainty. You're kind of just in the dark. You don't know what the fuck's going on. You're asking your buddies. You're asking the vets who kind of have ties to people in the front office or in the

ownership or whatever. But you don't really know. And you're, like I said, like you don't know who's going to get brought in, what the scheme is, how you're going to, how you're going to fit in. And then you, when that happens, you just know, like hey i'm going to have to prove myself all over again like i made this 53 man roster like for me in that situation i was a seventh round pick i think i was going into my third year or that was at the end of my second year but in that off season when the eagles were in the midst of hiring Doug peterson it's like

shit i'm a seventh round pick this new staff isn't going to know me i'm going to have to grind show them i don't have to come back in great shape show them that you know i deserve to be part of this team and it's it's a humbling thing and for players who like the coaches are entrenched they're coming back how do those exit meetings go you meet with your the head coach and your position coach or just your position coach yeah it's all situational each team does it differently you know you typically you'll meet with uh doctors you know do the training staff kind of go through like an end of season checklist sign off if you have any lingering injuries, they need to know about it.

If you don't, then you're good. And then you'll kind of, it's like, you know, it's like exit interviews. You meet with the doctors, you'll meet with the strength staff and they'll give you, you know, a workout if you're a guy that's going to be back. If you're a guy who's a free agent, they don't give you shit, you know. Like if you have a close relationship with the strength coach, you can talk to them, they can give you something. And then you'll typically meet with, you know, I've had teams where I met with my position coach,

which is my defensive line coach and the defensive coordinator. There have been time. And then the head coach, there's also been times where I've just met with my position coach. You know, other times you meet, you know, just with the head coach. So it's really, it really depends on the scheme or sorry, it really depends on the organization, how they do things. But typically, like, you'll kind of meet with the training staff, weight room staff.

And then, you know, your position coach and then sometimes a head coach. but it's really I mean it's interesting like I've had times where I was a free agent I met with the head coach I'm like yeah we'd love to have you back like we'll be in touch with you and your agent and then you don't hear shit from them you sign somewhere else so it's all uh it's just it's such a rapidly moving industry you know you're just as a player sometimes you're just trying to keep up absolutely but this week we got playoff football and we all get to keep up hell yeah and this week I'm a fan cowboy yeah fans go bruncos go birds go birds go brunks fuck yeah yeah go bucks can all three yeah go birds go bucks go bruns let's do a little parlay how about that three wins this weekend money line all of them let's go yeah