NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 64. POWER HOUR OF LISTENER MAILBAG QUESTIONS

Episode Date: July 7, 2022

Hosts Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers give you over an hour of questions from the addicts of the pod. We talk NFL teams that could go from worst to first, Top 10 teams that could miss the playoffs, fictional sporting events we wish we would attend, ranking breakfast foods and so much more. 

This episode is brought to you by our good friends at NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV. I'm sure by now you've all got back into your Sunday routines, but they could be even better. With NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV, you get the most live NFL games all in one place, every game, every Sunday. And you can even watch up to four different games at once with MultiView, one of my favorite inventions of this decade. It's exactly what you need to catch all the action. Make your Sundays more magical. And also, YouTube TV is great.

I got it this year. It's awesome. Sign up now at youtube.com slash BS, device and content restrictions apply. Local and national games on YouTube TV NFL Sunday ticket for out-of-market games excludes digital only games welcome to the NFL Stock Exchange podcast in this episode we're breaking out the mailbag again it's not a Monday mailbag episode but it is a mailbag episode nonetheless taking a full hour's worth of questions from you the

wonderful listeners the addicts of the podcast. We've got everything. We've got all kinds of questions from football to non-football. We heard you guys talk about more football questions, so we're answering more football questions. A lot of creative ways to talk about some of the best players, some of our favorite players, the best sporting moments, fictional sports movies that we wish we could have seen

in person. I mean, the possibilities were endless for this mailbag, and you guys absolutely brought it. Let's get into it. I'm Trevor. That's Connor. This is the NFL Stock Exchange. Let's ring the bell.

Welcome to the opening bell of the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast. I'm Trevor Sykema. That's Connor Rogers. This is a Thursday, true Thursday edition of a mailbag episode of the podcast. Hearing from the faithful listeners, the addicts of the pod. You guys sent in all your questions via iTunes, Twitter, Instagram message, everything. They were gathered from all across the internet. And we're going to bring it all together answering as many as we possibly can here in one jam-packed show connor i haven't had the chance to really sit down talk with you since the holiday weekend how was it my friend oh fourth of july great weekend i know you hate

the fourth of july we've gone over this before you despise the fourth of july all right it was great down the jersey shore i think and nobody will be surprised to hear that from me a little kayaking a little beach action uh yeah a couple beers here and there you know how it is how was yours one or two yeah one or two beers so actually this weekend it was great i mean first of all it was great because i don't hate the fourth of july just so everybody realizes this uh it was a previous i don't know if that was the mailbag episode or what last time we actually yeah most overrated holiday it was yeah i did uh see you know i had this coming but uh so i was with my fiance see i got it i got it that time everybody slow you said it though like you really braced yourself i said said, fiance, uh, my fiance's family.

And I met a lot of her for the, uh, a lot of them for the first time. Okay. The story that I have to tell on this podcast, I couldn't wait to tell is they have this family cornhole championship, which sounds awesome. Every single family member,

like young and old gets to participate in this single elimination cornhole tournament in which they have a full-ass trophy made that you get to take home that is in a like it's in like a home depot lowes case that like the stanley cup comes in like it's this is wild but the thing is it's not a regular game of cornhole. I guess their great granddad built this cornhole board where it's a little bit smaller than a normal cornhole board. But it's not two boards. It's just one of them. And there's a small hole at the top with 40 points. Two holes on the sides with 10 and 15 points.

So it's like skee-ball for cornhole. Right, correct. Right, right, right. points two holes on the sides with 10 and 15 points this is like ski ball for and right correct right right and then it hold the bottom with 25 points and you each shoot from the same side and you get uh four bags i think it's four bags each so that's still the same but you just play first to 100 and then the first person to reach 100 wins. That's it. So, like, games could be. You have to hit it even? No.

No, no, no, no, no. You don't even have to hit it even. It's just the first to get 100. And then if both of you go over 100, then it's, like, how in a single turn, then it's whoever has the most points of that. But, like, I lost in the first round. I butt hurt about it. Wait, the first round? Dude, yes. You didn't didn't play like a six-year-old cousin no i i played someone who i played the

person who actually made the championship so i wasn't too butthurt about it but he didn't win but i was mad man i was mad because i'm sitting here practicing regular cornhole all week and then we play this game where he happens to hit like 240 baggers right away and i'm like what am i gonna do to this it's sick this is your family debut i this was your this is your i i get it i feel your pain i felt bad i let i let the sick of my name down i came into the lang family and i just I just got bounced in the first round. Outdoor, you know, yard games at family outings when you're new are a low-key, like, bottom five thing. Or they're a top five thing if you star in them.

Correct, correct. There's really no in-between. You can't blend in because everybody knows you're the new guy, and everybody at the yard does this every other month over summer i remember when i uh went over to my girlfriend's family's house for like the same situation as you i was meeting the extended family for the first time like her older well not extended extent like older brothers and stuff and they play polish horseshoes i'd never played polish polish is different than like regular horseshoes yeah so for people that don't knowes before. Is it different than regular horseshoes?

Yeah, so for people that don't know, it's where you have two, let's say, ski poles, kind of like stakes, and a bottle on top, and you gotta whip a frisbee as hard as you can to try to knock the bottle off. And you can, I want to make sure I'm remembering this right, I think you have to, you try to catch the Frisbee, but if they knock the bottle off, you have to catch the bottle. And, dude, and I'm telling you, like, I'm telling you, like, somebody there, like, on the deck got, like, hit in the face with the Frisbee. This game gets, like, intense.

Like, you are whipping a Frisbee as hard as you can and catching things one-handed. What? And I don't know these people at the time. Right, so you don't want to go you don't want to go balls to the wall with it but you have to dude you everyone else that's true everyone else is right and you can't call yeah you can't be soft you know like you can't be like going in there just like barely throwing the frisbee no no you need to set the tone you're the new guy

man so i i feel your pain um i feel your pain especially the curveball of like what the hell is this game right yeah no it's tough uh it was you'll bounce back just start training for next year yeah i do i now that i know what's going on i think that uh alice and i are gonna build a bowl like i'm gonna build them i think you have to i don't think you could go buy one yeah i'm gonna train all year that trophy's coming home next year so we're avoiding a little bit of embarrassment by hopefully winning it all next year but uh yeah no fourth july was a good time uh glad that you had a great time too hopefully everybody out there stayed safe and had a great time as well let's get right into these questions you want to you want to hit it you got anything yeah let's

fire away we got a lot of good ones oh wait wait wait before we use the questions i do have to read i have to do i do have to keep the lights on i do have to keep the lights on here right by reading everybody's favorite ad rate i almost forgot about it i almost deprived you guys of it and i could never do that gentlemen out there listen and all men strive for gold in their life right gold medals gold watches gold everything heck i would have i was striving for that gold trophy but uh you know your boy got bounced in the first round like the tampa bay lighting in the columbusets. Hate to see it. However, there's a certain type of man who goes the extra mile. He walks in the confidence of an eagle and he giggles in the face of danger. He is a big, hairless, winning machine.

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first one pick one nfl team to go from worst to first this year and one consensus top 10 team that will miss the playoffs. So I broke this up. I went a little overachiever with it. I went NFC and AFC for both. So I've got two answers for both. I don't know if you had that, but I kind of wanted to extend it because there were a couple of teams that I was thinking.

I do, actually. All right, wonderful. Because there were a handful of teams that I was thinking about. So I was like, you know what? I'm just going to break it up into conferences. So let's start with who you think in each conference, NFC and AFC, can go from worst to first. So AFC, so here's my thought process with this exercise, Trevor.

And I think it's, you know, we have the blueprint when you look at the Bengals. Like, how can a team do that? And the most concrete theory I have is a breakout at the Bengals like how can a team do that and the most concrete theory I have is a breakout at the quarterback position that is just unparalleled so I went with that theory for the AFC went with Jacksonville nice nice um with Jacksonville they also are in the easiest division in the AFC right where's the's the first that where, you know, if you made this argument for the Jets with Zach Wilson, Bills might have the best roster in the NFL, right?

Obviously, when you look at the Broncos did finish in last, but they were seven and ten. Right. And the Broncos were way too. The Broncos and the Ravens were both. Yes. Oh, my God. Eight, nine. Right right and it's and

it's like i i didn't want to pick those no no i didn't i just did i didn't pick those either so now do i think jacksonville does win the afc south no but if i have to pick one here that's who i go with because i think we're gonna see regression from the titans the texans still don't scare me i do like the colts a lot this year with Matt Ryan. That's the one big holdup. It would take, unfortunately, a Matt Ryan type of injury for the Jaguars to be able to find first place. But Trevor Lawrence, man, he was a great quarterback prospect. He had a tough year in awful circumstances with Urban Meyer

and everything that went on there, a bad roster. I think Doug is the right guy to come in there and just balance things out. I think Trevor will have a really solid year for them uh and I think they're a team that they should at least double that three win mark to six but it wouldn't shock me if they can bounce into seven or eight wins so uh they're the one that I like the most for a big time turnaround in this conference yep uh no I think that I I completely agree with you with what you said about the broncos what you said about the ravens as well jacksonville is the team that if you were truly taking this question

of worst to first yep i think you have to go with jacksonville just because of the lack of solidification at the very top but the team that i'm gonna shout out because i didn't think that you'd shout them out but i wanted to make sure i shouted them out was the the New York Jets. I don't think the Buffalo Bills are going anywhere. I think they're absolutely still winning that division. But in the spirit of the question, maybe not verbatim part of the question, what is a team that could have a massive turnaround? I think the Jets are a team

that could potentially go from being last place in their division to a playoff spot, sneaking in with the wild card. Now that would require a massive leap in a lot of areas for the Jets. But there's reason to think that hey if they hit it all. Right. If the coaching staff is getting a lot of continuity. And chemistry with the players.

If a lot of those guys take their second, third year, fourth year in the league leaps. If they get lucky with guys not getting injured. There's a chance on paper, there are things to like about this Jets team. I think the playmakers are getting better. Zach Wilson's going to be better. The backfield is going to be even better. The defense,

I think he's getting better. You and I've talked about how we believe Quinton Williams is about to take that next step. And I think that especially with, with their new edge rushers, that's going to be the case as well. So I think that when you look at on paper outside of jacksonville which i do think is the obvious answer in the afc the jets are a team

that could make that jump from a nobody to a somebody which i think is kind of the spirit of the question as well so what about the nfc what do you think about the nfc so the nfc i thought it's obviously pretty difficult. The one that might surprise people, and it goes against my theory for the AFC about the quarterback. Yep. It's the Lions for me. Yeah, nice. I say that because Green Bay is still a unit, man.

Like, obviously, I don't think you're going anywhere despite some key losses. I don't really love the Vikings this year. I don't like the Bears at all this year with how little they improved that roster. It's kind of like they sat back and said, hey, we're going to understandably do the step one of a new regime and asset collect and then go all in down the road. I'm not criticizing that process, but that's the process they chose. And I think they're going to pay the price for that this season. You look at the Lions, they are in a different phase. They already did the asset collecting.

Now they got all the picks and the blueprint of their roster. I know Jared Goff's limited. I get it. But they quietly have one of the better offensive lines in football. They have a backfield with multiple running backs that can take the workload. They're going to be able to run the ball. I think Goff can function in the offense with what they have, especially when Jamison Williams comes back. I don't think Goff's going to be a top 10 quarterback, top 12,

but can he function in the offense when there's a good offensive line in front of him, which is important for his lack of mobility, middle of the field threats, whether it's Amon Ra, whether it's Hawkinson, Jamo getting the speed on the outside. They made some free agency additions as well on offense, and they're just going to compete under Dan Campbell. So if the Lions finish behind the Packers, I wouldn't be shocked at all. Yeah, no, I think that's a great call out.

And there's a reason why the Lions finished last in that division. Now, I do think that they got unlucky in certain ways, especially when it came to closer games. But there's also reason to believe that their best ball is ahead of them. And I'm not so sure a playoff spot is going to be there for the Lions this year, but I do agree with you that if we're shouting out a team,

they do make sense because the arrow is pointing up. I'm glad you mentioned that offensive line because when you can win the way that we believe they're going to win theoretically up front with a top five offensive line in this league that allows you to have a lot of flexibility they add jameson williams who might not be there right away but i think could come on strong in the second half of the nfl they add dj chart they already have saint brown they've got tj hawkinson they've got a plethora of running backs that they could go to the defense we're still figuring it out and when i look at the depth chart you've got guys plethora of running backs that they could go to. The defense, we're still figuring it out.

And when I look at the depth chart, you've got guys to like. But the two biggest question marks for me are, what are you getting from Aiden Hutchinson year one? Because I'm not really worried about Hutchinson long term. But what are you getting from him right out of the gate? And then what is Jeff Okuda? What is Jeff Okuda? Great question.

If both of those guys can, and when I say hit this year, I even mean just like look good. Yep. Then, dude, next year, fully healthy J-Mo, another year with that offensive line. You've got now defensive stars and hopefully Jeff Okuda and Aiden Hutchinson. You're going to be adding more pieces of the puzzle next offseason as well that's when i really see the lions definitely

competing but you're totally right it's a good shout out especially in dan campbell's group i think they are going to be a lot better this year than they were last year i'll bring up i'll bring up a topical team okay i'll go with the carolina panthers and again this isn't verbatim to the question because i don't think the carolina panthers are going to be better than the tampa I'll go with the Carolina Panthers. And again, this isn't verbatim to the question because I don't think the Carolina Panthers are going to be better than the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I just think their schedule is too easy. The Bucs have too much continuity.

They have too much familiarity on a roster that's already won a Super Bowl. They're not going to overtake Tampa at the top of that division. But this was a team that was 5-12 last year. Connor, I would say absolutely disappointed in a lot of different ways. You can look at certain situations for that team and think that, okay, there's, there's a reason to believe that maybe they could have even won seven, eight games last year.

You get a little bit better this year, hopefully with just the young guys on the roster getting better, you get a fully healthy, hopefully Christian McCaffrey back. The offensive line is improving. That young defense with Phil Snow, year three, you hope that they're about to take a leap in a lot of different ways. Brian Burns gets over that hump and gets a double-digit sack. Derek Brown gets a lot better.

J.C. Horn, a fully healthy year. Healthy J.C. Horn, man. He looked good when he was on the field. And then the topical part of this that we can get into is they now have baker mayfield on the team now i'll just talk a little bit about the baker mayfield situation because i'd love to hear from you as well yeah this was a great move for carolina i think getting baker mayfield especially for the price and the way that they went about it all of the timeline when it came to pressure of when to move Mayfield was on Cleveland it always was especially given the the with what's happening with Deshaun Watson and how they really sour the relationship

with Baker Mayfield this was always pressure on Cleveland because for as much as you could sit here and say oh you know his his fifth year of his rookie contract is fully guaranteed Cleveland doesn't have to do anything. They're not going to lose out on anything. Come on. You couldn't have this guy on the roster for training camp. No. It would have been an absolute zoo.

It would have been a circus. They had to move him at some point. Carolina was patient. This was always the best destination for both parties, if you ask me. So they figure out the salary. They get Baker Mayfield, which I believe Baker baker mayfield immediately best quarterback on that roster biggest question mark for me is of course the offensive line he's going from one of the best offensive lines in the nfl in cleveland to now a hopefully budding off getting better but right yeah you're right though you're

right there's a difference but that's the that's the big area of concern with me for baker mayfield but i i did i love the move i love the way that carolina went into this it didn't seem like seattle was that interested at all so carolina played the game very well knew that they were basically the only game in town they were the only realistic suitors for cleveland and they let uh they let time be their ally when it came to pressure mounting on cleveland to make a move and get rid of them so i really did i like this move for carolina and i think that it gives them a chance now to be better this year because it wasn't going to happen with sam donald before

i get into the the trade do you find it a little odd that seattle wasn't in on this yes i do but it just seemed like they never were so never were but i i agree with you i think that it was a little odd that uh that seattle was not it just feels like seattle to me is the team that all offseason we're hearing pete under confidently you know stick by drew lock geno smith and everybody's looking around like really and then the time goes by and nothing changes and then you play the games during the regular season and you're like, yeah, they won five or six games because they stuck by Drew Locke and Geno Smith. Like, and they think they think they can win. That's the scary thing to me.

So either way, let's get into Baker and Carolina. Like you said, I agree with you. It's a fine line, right, Trevor? Because you don't want to overpraise Carolina because all they've done in the Matt Rule era is fumbled the quarterback situation. So you don't get credit. Like, you don't throw up on the floor and then everybody cheers for you because you cleaned up after yourself. That's a great analogy. Like, that's not how it goes, man.

Like, you're the one that got yourself into the mess because you drank too much. So I don't want to go, like, overboard and it goes, man. You're the one that got yourself into the mess because you drank too much. So I don't want to go overboard and be like, wow. But this makes Carolina a better football team, and that matters. That stands for something. For those sitting at home that do the juggle of Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield, and they go, I don't know. Let me tell you, as somebody that has watched a lot of Sam Darnold and a lot of Baker Mayfield, it's not even close when Baker Mayfield's healthy. He's

a significantly better quarterback. He's an upgrade for this offense. They got him in there before training camp even starts. Now that he can go take his physical as we record this show, he can get his hands on the concepts he's going to be running. He's going to get caught up to speed. He's going to be motivated. He's going to be motivated to kick the Browns' ass week one. Like, that alone is enough for him to be like, let's get ready to go. This helps a lot of guys in fantasy football on that Carolina offense right now. That much we know. Man, I think it makes them a better team, and I like your pick a lot.

Obviously, staring up at the Bucs is no easy task. Staring up at the Saints, who are in a little bit of a transition period but are still really good, that's no easy task. Atlanta's in a full-on rebuild, so yeah, they're going to probably surpass them pretty easily. But if Baker is healthy, which is a huge caveat, but if he's healthy, he's the guy for them. And it's not even close.

He's a significant upgrade over Sam Darnold and Matt Corral right now. And you gave up nothing. You're barely paying him any of his salary. The Browns could not have handled this situation worse in terms of killing any kind of value that Baker Mayfield had. I mean, just absolutely destroyed that. And the Panthers reaped the reward, and their patience paid off. So, yeah, it's a good move.

There's no denying it. Real quick, what is a, the question, the second part of the question is a top 10 consensus team that might miss the playoffs. What did I have in my notes here? Tricky. You gotta think of who's the consensus in the top 10. Yeah, I have teams in both the NFC and the AFC.

I think an easy one for the nfc is the cardinals to maybe miss oh yeah yeah um in the afc the steelers made the playoffs last year i think that they're a candidate to potentially miss the playoffs this year i know a lot of people would point to the bangles as well so the bangles might take a step back and that might cause them to miss the playoffs i don't think they're going to be a terrible team but maybe not as dominant down oh tennessee here before t stretch as they were the year before. Tennessee. They were the number one seed in the AFC last year.

Tennessee, I think, is probably the right answer. Tennessee. So Tennessee's your pick? Tennessee would be your pick? Yeah, I would go with Tennessee because they were 12-5 last year. I wouldn't be... I mean, let's do the exercise right there, right?

When you look at how they don't make the uh make the playoffs i mean i think the colts can win that division off the bat and then okay you got to go through the wild cards but let's assume that the bills are in afc's tough to colts win the division the bangles they were in the super bowl let's put some respect on their name. They make it back. That's already three, right? You feel like at least two are coming out of the AFC West. At least two. I'll go with the Chiefs and the Chargers. Then let's say the Ravens make it back in.

Things get tight for Tennessee real quick. I'm not saying they don't make the playoffs, but I'm saying if I had to pick one, they're the regression team for me, like your pick of the Cardinals in the NFC. I would also throw the Cowboys in there. I think the Cowboys, I think the Cowboys are in there for regression.

The offensive line is getting older. The youthful addition that they have on the offensive line is Tyler Smith, who I think is going to take some time for him to be a legitimate starter in the league, which I think he has the potential to do. He's just, there are, there are consistency things and technique things and just competition

level things coming from tulsa that he's really gonna need to work out obviously they lose amari cooper um they lose uh cedric wilson as well they still have michael gallup they still have cd lamb so they're okay there but yep um is he thank you division though zeke zeke elliott is getting older and they continue to want to give him the football i know they have tony pauler but they continue to want to give the ball to zeke and he's just not nearly as explosive and effective trayvon diggs is not going to have 11 interceptions again right and so for as much as even if you love the fact that he is a ball hawk shoot man you cut that in half you give him six interceptions and that's a good year for a corner. That is, that could be like a win or two that they don't get if that's a possession. So I think that all of that is natural regression as well.

Michael Parsons is still going to be an absolute animal in the middle, but no Randy Gregory either. All of that. Plus the fact that I don't really love Mike McCarthy as a head coach. If they would, if they would have lost Dan Quinn, this would have been dan quinn this would have been my easy answer because i love dan quinn but they were able to retain him which i think was

huge because now they have two of the best coordinators in the game and dan quinn and kellen moore that could help make up for mike mccarthy who i don't have a ton of trust in but i want to shout out the cowboys too because if you believe the cowboys are still a top 10 team in the nfl as i believe they won 12 games last year. They did 12 and five. 12 and five. Then I would say that they are a team that could potentially miss the playoffs this year and have some regression.

All right, let's get on to the next question here. Which NFL coaches would you hate to get chewed out from the most? Mike Vrabel. He is on my list. Mike Vrabel. It's Mike Vrabel. I think I've told this on the pod and if

i haven't before when the teams are only allowed to do the facetime interviews because of the pandemic the stories i heard of rabel just destroying guys over facetime over facetime was just it was enough where i was like if that's how he is on face time i don't even know i think will compton made a joke on twitter although i don't know if it was a joke that like he broke his leg or something once and vrabel was like move the drill like like keep it going like just move the drill away from him breaking his leg like it like vrabel is so so scary i what are the good runner-ups? I'm so caught up on Vrabel being terrifying.

Mike Vrabel is there. And then, so I obviously, I have Dan Campbell, but I don't think, I think Vrabel is scarier than Campbell if we're going like scary factor. I think Dan can put his hand on your shoulder though sometimes and balance when it's time to scream. Right, right. And when it's time to have a heart-to-heart. I don't know if Vrabel has that switch.

And it's worse. He's won a lot-heart, I don't know if Rabel has that switch. And it's worked. He's won a lot of games. He's a straight disciplinarian. I mean, you know, maybe it's a parenting tip for people out there. I don't know. The other coaches that I have on here, Sean McDermott is one of them. And I have Sean McDermott because I feel like Sean McDermott would be if your dad just went, son, not mad at you I'm like I'm

just I'm just disappointed and I'd be and I'd be like Sean come on man like don't cut me deep like like call me a like call me a bad word like do something like like do great me or something don't tell me that you're disappointed in me like that would be I would be like the fatherly figure because I feel as though man I listen to those bills players talk about that locker room and that team chemistry and how tight it is and just every team it feels like Sean McDermott has been the head coach of that family feeling has been at the core of all of them uh and so I feel like if if he were to if he were to chew me out it would be in like a fatherly I'm disappointed way and that would just that would cut to my core so i thought about that one and then the other one i thought of is um

lovey smith because he's so soft-spoken i i don't know if he's yelling at me and i'd i'd hear him fully i don't know he's just very he's very he's very soft-spoken as a head coach so i'd be like all right well i don't i didn't hear how you want me to get better but um you know so that was those are my those are my three outside of Mike Grable this exercise kind of made me realize we're past the era of there being so many scary NFL coaches like I went down the list of all the teams while doing this and I was like wow

a lot of coaches in the NFL are not the at least publicly, I'm not going to pretend that I'm in the meeting room watching tape, you know, watching my bad tape and they're screaming at me. But it's, I mean, think about it. When you go down the list, it's like, wow, there's a lot of guys are the teach method over the yell method in the league right now. And I think if you did this exercise in 1995 or whatever it is. Probably different.

It would be flipped upside down. Well, Saban was in the NFL at that point. So, you know, that would count. I was screaming all the time. Was he in the NFL in 95? No, I don't think so. I think Saban was a little bit later than that. Was he in Michigan State at that point?

So Saban was with the Dolphins from 2005 to 2006. 95 was his first year at Michigan State at that point? So Saban was with the Dolphins from 2005 to 2006. 95 was his first year at Michigan State. So he was with the Browns the four years before that, though. Yeah, okay, okay. I was wondering when he was with the Browns. I forgot about that whole thing. Yeah, yeah, him and Belichick. Yep, of course.

Him and Bill. All right, next question. Yeah, keep it rolling. Oh, this one's from Lil Hoops 2007 on the iTunes reviews. They said, piggybacking off your NFL Street episode, make a team for NFL Street players from the other four major sports. You can pick an NFL player to be your QB, but it can't actually be a QB. I wanted to read this question, but we're not going to do it here.

I think I want this to be some sort of a full Mock Draft Monday format, like building a full team, not even in an NFL street team. Maybe it might be full 22-man rosters of athletes who are not in football because I think that's extremely fun. So I wanted to read the question, but we're going to do, we're probably going to do a full show on that one. D. Villainer asked, what would be your go-to weapon in a game of thrones style

battle sword shield a bow a battle axe a war hammer a great sword uh love the show and then they also said 11 on 11 street is a must which i gotta tell you man we got a lot of feedback and comments saying people wanted to do the 11 on 11, uh, NFL street episodes. So that is also going to be coming. But what is your go-to weapon game of Thrones style? Well, you got to think like, and I think a lot of people don't think of this,

but you and I are not like as much as a lot of people probably assume this. We are not six, six, 280 pounds. Like we're not carrying a shield and an ax. Don't give it away. They don't. Yeah,

I know. They only see us. They only see us on YouTube. give that appearance not 66280 we're 63250 right right right i'm not the battle axe is too much weapon for me uh as much as much yeah i'm probably gonna have to go i mean i i do like the idea of the bow but your primary weapon can't just be the bow like you need to you need to pick a a handheld weapon so i'm gonna go classic sword here because the practicality of it like i just the battle axe is just too much man it's too much i gotta go with the sword it's the boring answer you know what i would go with actually let me take that back not sword and shield i'd go double daggers oh nice because you can use them to block they're really light on your feet yeah i'd go i'd go double daggers you could throw one and still

have a weapon it's true it's true double daggers for me that's good no that's a good that's a good that's a good strat i also went with uh i went with with just having a good suit of body armor and a sword and the reason why is because i go back if we're doing this game of thrones i go back to a quote that the hound had one of my favorite characters in the show such a legend the quote was i believe he was talking to aria at this point and he said your friend is dead and meryn Trant is not because Trant had armor and a big effing sword. And that's all it just comes down to.

Such a good line. Every time I think about what weapons I would choose from the show, I always think about that quote and I'll go, you know what? Hound knew what he was talking about. Hound made it. So I've got to go with his advice there and say that I would just take good body armor and a Valyrian sword. In spirit of the question, let me kick one back to you.

Are you in or out on the Jon Snow spinoff series that's being aired? Wow, you have to think about it. I'm 100% in. I'm all in. No, I mean, like, here's the thing. I'm obviously in on it because Game of Thrones is my favorite show of all time. You're a little skeptical, though, understandably. thing i'm obviously in on it because game of thrones is my favorite show of all time uh you're a little skeptical though understandably it's just i i i'm like everybody else the second game of

thrones ended i wanted to continue watching game of thrones like i wanted to continue watching the story for everybody out there who hasn't seen the show i'm sorry but if you haven't seen it at this point i was like that's on you i was like three years late so i'm sorry but like john going off into the north with the wildlings and what happens uh in winterfell like what happens with bramby and king like does anything happen to the other side of the world that we spent so much time on you know like all of those things you think about and you want to say okay well those stories didn't fully wrap up aria gets on a boat and she's just sailing and you go like okay where's she going what's she doing she's gonna conquer what's going on and you want to know the answers to that so right off the bat that part of me is super excited to hopefully pick up the

story where it left off or close to where it was left off with john snow i'm just worried i'm just always worried that it's just it didn't suck and i that's not the the cynic in me the skeptic in me but uh it's it's i'm torn i'm torn a little bit on it but obviously i'm gonna watch it i'm gonna watch the hell of that out of it just like i'm gonna watch house of dragon or i think that's what it's called but yeah it's a fair response because there's a lot of variables that need to happen for it to be right like you can't just bring back him and none of the rest of the cast right right in the world of game of thrones so i just had to ask you that i was it was in the spirit of a question it's always good to see a game of thrones question in the mailbag when uh

yeah game of thrones questions absolutely always welcome if you have any like conspiracy theories or like what if this character did this or what if like this happened instead of this always throw those out to us yeah when house when House of Dragons starts, this will be a House of Dragons podcast. It will indeed. It'll have a subplot as a draft podcast. We're just kidding. It'll be renamed to the NFL Dragon Exchange. All right, last one from the iTunes.

This one's a funny one. Full contact football. And this is for fans of both Locked On NFL Draft, Stick to Football, and NFL Stock Exchange. Full contact football, Solak and Sycamore versus Matt Miller and Mello. Connor, you are all time quarterback. So I am the middle man who wins two on two.

You are the middle man. That's very true. That is great. As all time quarterback, I in backyard football, I value speed. So you guys win pretty easily. We'd easily there. I value speed. I know win uh pretty easily pretty easily there i value speed i know

you and ben i'll definitely you i've not ever seen ben run but i'm assuming he is uh he's he's aerodynamic is how i'll put it so i'm cross country so okay so he can go all day he can't he's got the stamina i don't know i don't i don't know when the last time he ran cross-cutting was. Yeah, I see a lot of tweets about just eating cheese. It's not just cheese. It's not just cheese. It's post-midnight cheese. That's Ben's brand right now. Is it like 1, 1.30 in the morning, he just goes,

I'm going to have some cheese. Time for cheese. Yeah, I'll still take you guys. I'll still take you guys i'll still take you guys you got a speed advantage i would be mad uh shout out matt and mellow obviously but uh i would be mad if my current podcast partner didn't pick no that would be a horrible move on my part yeah that's just that would that would just be bad business on your part uh andrew asked this next one. These are two separate questions for me and you because he had to change the question a little bit. He said, Connor, rank how badly you want your sports teams

to win a championship. So Jets, Mets, Knicks, Rangers. Rank them. I get that one a lot. A real lot. You want me to go and then we'll do part two here? Yeah, you go and then I'll do part two here yeah you go and then i'll do i'll do part two yeah i will say this question changes a lot um changes a real lot the the most honest fan answer is it's mets to win the world series rangers to win the cup jets to win the super bowl nicks to win an nba championship the other responses though. Because I would like. Obviously we work in football.

And I would like to see how people's brains unravel. If the Jets ever won a Super Bowl. Like I don't really think. General public. Of football fandom. Can like understand that. Like they can unpack that. Like no you can't make fun of the Jets anymore.

They just won the Super Bowl. Like you have to find new shitty jokes so there's a big part of me that's jets number one but like as my real like what i'm a fan of right now especially working in football mets to win the world series which is another one a lot of people like crap on the mets even though they're they're finally good um rangers winning the cup of course that would be pretty special to me as everybody could probably tell. Yeah, if you listen to the show during the playoffs. So, yeah, I get that one a lot.

And I will be honest, it does change about every five years. But that's where we are right now. You have the Knicks as your four. But you and I have talked about this before. Yeah. What is the New York championship that would be the most impactful to just New York? The city, the fans, both fans. And you said without a doubt it's the Knicks.

It's the Knicks. Now, why it's four for me, I'm not like a – I'm really – I love the Knicks. Like, I've watched the Knicks since I was four years old, religiously. The problem is for the Knicks, Trevor Trevor why that championship would mean less to me is not a Knicks thing it definitely means the most of the city in New York which means a lot to me but it's the fact that the only way you really win an NBA championship these days is by getting stars that you signed externally and I know the Bucks didn't do that there's a bit of an anomaly but like that doesn't mean as much to me. Maybe I'm an old school

boring sports fan. But if the Knicks go out and do what the Nets just tried and did and it failed. Like you signed KD and Kyrie. Yeah, you're happy your team won a championship, but is it really that cool? Yeah, it's cool. It's not the same to me as

the Rangers scouting Igor Shosturkin in Russia for how many years developing him in the KHL him coming over and being the successor to Henrik Lundqvist and winning a championship is the best goal in the NHL like they're it's just different to me I do think that that exists more in NHL and MLB no doubt because like you know look at the Lightning, Stephen Stamkos, Victor Hedman, Nikita Kucherov, Andre Vasilevsky. Those are their four best players. Andre Palat, Braden Point, right?

All of these guys were drafted by the team. All of them were drafted. Cooper had been there for years before they got good. Right. And so it is interesting. It is a different feel, no doubt about it. Because in the NBA, you could almost be good overnight when you are a big market team, have a lot of money.

The NFL, I will just tell you from experience, getting Tom Brady and then winning a title, the title still felt great. Watching two lifelong New England Patriots, Tom Brady and Gronkowski, hoist Lombardi trophy in Tampa Bay. And the Rams just did it with Stafford. Right.

And so obviously you do still enjoy it. But to your point, it is a different feeling. It's a different feeling when I remember watching the Lightning in, oh, what was that? What was that strike shortened year? It was 2015, 2016. Let me see. Yeah. I can't, I can't remember which one was the strike short year, but like the lightning still had all the same players.

Like it was still Stamkos. It was still Hedman. It was, it was, it was Vasilevsky at the beginning. It was, it was, you know, Tyler Johnson, Andre Palat, like all of those guys. And they missed the playoffs. And so I remember watching that core of players and just the fact that that team that you watched for so long got to win a championship, it is a different feeling. A championship's a championship.

Everybody loves it. It's great for the city. You would enjoy it. I don't think that's what you're not saying, that you wouldn't enjoy it. But it is definitely different when it's a homegrown if you will it just has a little bit more of a long lasting feeling to it the summary of it is in baseball and hockey you are given more of a runway to allow cores to grow like players come up in baseball and hockey especially hockey at like 21 and they might

not be that good right away yeah but everybody there's a different patience level where they're like when this guy's 24 25 26 and the guys around him that we all drafted together all hit at the same time like i feel like in basketball it's like man that core didn't work let's like let's pay a different core and try again. And it's just not for me. I get why some people love it, and I still like the NBA. I still love the Knicks. But as a league, it's not as good of a product to me,

especially when you look at how small market teams like the Rays in baseball, like Cleveland in baseball, they do find a way to pretty consistently compete without spending any money, which is not a great thing, but it's still impressive in terms of how the sport functions that way. The second part of the question for me from Andrew was, Gators win the title this year. I'm assuming he means it football because that would mean the most.

But the Bucs, Rays, and Lightning all miss the playoffs for the next four years. Do you make the trade? I don't know if i'm crazy for this but i don't i i don't make the trade and i think the reason is because i don't know if it's just because i have not considered florida to be contenders for so long that i'm numb to it now but the lightning are in a winning window right they've made three cups in a row the bucks have tom brady the rays are in a massive winning window right now so it's like it would kind of it would mean it would actually mean more to me if either of those three teams

which actually have a chance to win a championship win it over florida which is if you would have asked me that question even even two years ago three years ago for sure i would have sprinted to say i want a florida gators football championship but i don't know i don't know if i'm just numb to it now they've had so many different coaching changes and i've never really considered them actual contenders or what but uh maybe maybe billy napier will have them five and oh this year and and you can ask me this question in four months and my answer will completely change but that was that's uh i've got to go against the grain my auto yes for you was because i thought since the bucks and lightning have won so much recently that you'd be like cool

now it's like i'll take the florida championship and substitute for the others but i didn't think of your correct theory that very realistically in the next four years you can win more than one championship total which is like extremely greedy and wild but dude enjoy it while you can i 30 years on this this earth, I was, what, two years old when the Rangers won the cup? I don't count it. I've never seen any team I root for win a championship. So if the day ever comes where one of the four I love are a, not dynasty, but like have a chance to be a dynasty. Right, right. Soak that up.

Soak it up. It's coming. It's coming. I hope it comes while this podcast is still a thing because it's going to be beautiful. You and I are going to be, if one of your teams or if either of our teams, I feel like win a championship, the next episode that we do,

we're going to have the snowboard or ski goggles on and we're just going to have like, each have a bottle of champagne in our hand. That's going to be an episode that you can't miss. All right. Andy asked this next one. Past or present, what's one real sporting event you wish you could have attended and one fictional sporting event you wish you could have attended this is a fun question it's a really fun one miracle on ice is the number one for me um because i'm pretty sure

it did not air live on TV at the time. Who did it not? I don't think so. I don't think it aired live on TV. So being there would be unlike anything else, in my opinion. Yeah. One from like a movie or something is really tough. And it shouldn't be. I'm kind of drawing a blank here.

I got a handful. Do you have one? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got a handful one yeah yeah so the the real one i definitely have miracle on ice here another one i wanted to give a shout out to was the 2006 rose ball reggie bush vince young like that would have been truly unbelievable to watch and then honestly the other one that i that i wrote down was outside of any of my teams winning a title, which is sentimental. Tiger winning the Masters in 2019.

Can you imagine if you were there on Sunday and just you solely followed Tiger around the entire day, shot for shot, with him then winning the Masters? That would have been absolutely unbelievable. So the Miracle on Ice is definitely one of them. The 06 Rose Bowl and then Tiger in the masters in 2019 or two that i thought of the fictional ones i've got some funny ones and then i've got uh some serious ones the funny ones the final round of the tour championship in happy gilmore between happy gilmore and shooter mcgavin okay like it could not have ended any more dramatically uh it was wonderful and i thought

for this exit there are so many great sporting events that have happened throughout the course of history and even you know for talking fiction but the best ones to watch are the ones where like you've got to have those crazy moments that can i think fill the entire time that you're there. Cause I thought about this too. I was like, would LeBron beating golden state for the Cleveland championship? Like, would that be one of them? And to me, it's not because no basketball is so back and forth for three hours that

like you have that insane last five minutes of the game. But I guess the Kyrie shot is, is like the shot that you would go the most crazy for, but you know, miracle on ice, you're screaming your head off the whole time. And you've got the goals that you're celebrating for and tiger hitting putts and shots.

You're going crazy. Every time he does that Vince young and, and Reggie Bush and that USC team versus Texas, you're going back and forth the whole time. And you have that moment at the very end with Vince young running it in. Right. You've got all of those things throughout one game. And when I think fictional stuff,

the other funny one was glo went to think fictional stuff. The other funny one was Globo Gym versus Average Yoast. That's a really good one. Hodgepaw matchup. On the similar vein of hockey, the D2 Mighty Ducks, Team USA versus Team Iceland goes into shootouts, okay? You've got multiple back and forth there but i think the number one for me would be rocky versus ivan drago oh that's that's that's the one that's the one that's the one it's gotta be the one right because you're watching the fight and you're going crazy the whole time

every punch every rally up until the very end you get the knockout and it's uh i think that would be i think that would be my number that's absolutely the one or one we didn't get to see which was rocky against apollo the sparring the third one rocky three and then the movie goes out that's one as well i'll add one in the spirit of boxing. Any Foreman Ali fight. Any of them. I'm sure they were nuts. Obviously, the rumble in the jungle is probably the one that a lot of people would think that's the one you go to. I just.

My God, it's crazy. I think Foreman came into that fight 40, you know. Yeah, there's so much there with 37 knockouts i mean i don't it doesn't get better than that it's kind of and boxing is quietly on the rise again but just nothing will be what that rivalry was yep i agree i agree andrew had another one here if you had to pick one food to eat competitively what would it be and then there's a gif of joey chestnut just going absolutely ham on uh on hot dogs like we know he always does so what's the food i could eat a lot of steak a lot of steak i could eat a lot of have you ever done like have you ever done like one of those challenges where it's like 50 ounces of steak

no i have not i've not competitively ate leisurely i just think i can do it competitively eaten leisurely that's a funny way to say it man oh i don't know it's it's a good one like steak's a good one steak's a really good one because like you got to think like the things that are really good like ice cream and stuff like i'm not lactose intolerant but i think i'm pretty close where it's like lactose i can't competitively eat something like that sure sure sure it's pretty tough what would you go with i have two that i wrote down steak is a good one i don't know if i i don't know if i could competitively eat steak we'll see um i eat chicken wings. I eat really fast. So I could hammer chicken wings. And then the other one is sushi. Now I know that it's like filling with like carbs and everything. But for example, we just had sushi last night and unfortunately sushi is expensive. So, you know, like you order

three rolls, it was like $30, but I will crush like three rolls of sushi and then an hour later i'm hungry again like it's just yeah it's just clean to my body it's just it's just easy to digest i think uh sushi and wings would be my two most competitive foods that's a that's a good question it's you got to think of like the aspect of how fast can i eat it right obviously but how much chicken wings i'm going to absolute town absolute town on it nicole asked this next one getting back to football of the four teams that have never made it to the super bowl so the detroit lions the houston texans the jacksonville jaguars and the cleveland browns which team would you most like to make an appearance see make an appearance in the super bowl uh and then do you want them to win make an appearance in the Super Bowl?

And then do you want them to win or lose? So this was really easy for me. It's the Lions, and I want to see them win. I don't even think it's close compared to the other three. No offense to the fan base of those other three. God, I'm trying to think. I've been to all four of these places, and I think I've been to all four during football season.

Not all for football, but just in general. I don't think any of them would be embraced the same way Detroit would embrace the Lions being in the Super Bowl. I think it would be so big for that city. But Cleveland, so obviously you have to, unfortunately, we now have to factor in. Yeah, I'm not rooting for, no, sorry. You're out automatically. The city itself, I think, is a little crazy. Browns fans are diehard. But I think because the Lions have been bad for a really long time,

people have forgotten how diehard the Lions fans are, too. Sure, sure. So the one I vote for, like, personally, I would like to see the Lions. And it's not just a Dan Campbell thing. It's the Lions for Detroit as a city. I think it would be really good for football. It would be really good for Detroit. And I think that it's obviously a huge market as well.

I would say Jacksonville. Of those teams, I would want to see Jacksonville make it to the Super Bowl and win a Super Bowl because I have a lot of friends who are Jacksonville Jaguars fans who honestly, I've met a lot of them just through social media because the fan base is absolutely nuts. You guys are crazy. You guys are awesome. That year that they went to the AFC championship game, that they almost went to the Superbowl, which they should have went to the Superbowl. Miles Jack was not down. They had a wild card game in Jacksonville

hosting against the Buffalo Bills. And I was living in Tampa at the time. And a bunch of my friends who live in Jacksonville, big Jags fans, they tailgate like just absolute crazy fans. Like that is, that tailgate that i went to in jacksonville for that playoff game because i ended up going up there with them and experiencing that that tailgate rivaled any college football tailgate i've ever damn they made one person made the area code is 904 one person made 904 jello shots okay for the entire tailgate group they had i think it was bold city brigade is the is the tailgate group they have there all 904 were consumed before they

went into the stadium before they went in the stadium and it was just it was a wild time it was a great time they're passionate they're crazy they love football they love each other it's it's great i would love to for that fan base to get to see another playoff run and hopefully out Jacksonville, big shout out Jacksonville, big. I love it. I love it. Patrick asked this next one. You're stranded in the woods somewhere inaccessible to vehicles and filled with dangerous animals. Roger Goodell concerned for your wellbeing. Graciously says he will send three current nfl players of your choosing to

rescue you who makes up your nfl wildlife survival rescue crew i mean i think it's i don't know i want to say it's easy but three come to my mind pretty quickly aaron donald okay trent williams okay derrick henry okay so you're just going like full bodyguard beef strength style. If you guys need to move a boulder to get to where you want to go, you're going to do it. If Derrick Henry needs to wrestle a grizzly bear, he's going to do it. Yeah, well, Trent Williams is doing that. I pick Derrick Henry instead of a third lineman because if we, like, say I, like like break my leg or something somebody needs to carry me and run really fast derrick henry can do that yep yep that's no that's pretty easy for me you went you

went you went straight beef i went i went a little bit different in the strategy a little more skill i did if you let me pick ryan fitzpatrick i'm picking ryan fitzpatrick okay well simply because the beard right tells you he's enough of a man of nature a wild man to know that he understands how to survive uh if you weren't gonna let me pick ryan fitzpatrick i was gonna say aaron rogers because he has a compass now on his arm so you'd be able to know which way you're going oh man that was good all jokes aside i mean like i know the internet's having a lot of fun with that but like roger's tattoo like design wise and quality wise is pretty sick okay so here's my question for you it's pretty i agree is it a great tattoo or is it just a really good picture of a tattoo like is it something that you want to see every

day for the rest of your life tattoos have to be very personal that's the that's the thing is that anybody out there can get a tattoo and someone else is going to think that it's stupid but it's yeah that's fair as long as you don't and obviously like i'm i i'm having fun poking poking fun at it. But honestly, the design work was sick. The tattoo artist was obviously an incredibly talented tattoo artist. As long as Aaron loves to tattoo. I agree.

Great. And I said that as someone that has tattoos. That is truly all that matters i don't have a tattoo because i've never wanted uh i've never wanted just like one or two one-off tattoos i've always really wanted like a full sleeve tattoo on my left arm but i'm also not sure i have enough things that i would want to fill a full sleeve with on my left arm so it's a problem it's a it's a big internal debate for me so if you guys see any inspirational you guys say anything cool on the internet just send it trevor right if you guys see anything cool just send it my way i'll just i'll just put

it somewhere on my arm as we as we continue to do that so okay so uh either ryan from fitzpatrick or aaron rogers vita vea because i did need i Vitavia, because I did need the beef. I did need the beef somewhere. And then how about this one? Carson Wentz. Because the man knows how to hunt and fish. We are surviving, baby. You're right. Yeah, but he's going to leave you guys in the woods at some point.

Oh, no. Yeah. Oh, no. Yeah. He went there. Got to think of reliability point. Oh, no. Yeah. Oh, no. Yeah. So, I don't know. He went there. Got to think of reliability here. That's true.

That did go into it. Maybe that'll come back to bite me. Who knows? Garrett asked this one. We'll go rapid fire for the next 10 minutes here to close this one out. You are going. So, he said Oklahoma drill. This is an Oklahoma drill.

You are going one time against Jordan Davis, once against Vita Vea, or twice against Aaron Donald. Which one are you choosing? I Vita Vea, or twice against Aaron Donald. Which one are you choosing? I don't know why, but twice against Aaron Donald. I wouldn't even go once against Aaron Donald. I wouldn't go once against. If he said once against Aaron Donald, I wouldn't be choosing Aaron Donald. So my answer is Jordan Davis.

Okay. Because he's 6'6". Yep. So there's a chance that I can get under him. There's a very small chance. But there's at least a chance that I can... There's a very small chance. But there's at least a chance that I can kind of dip under him or slip under him,

not take the full-on contact. Or at least I just bounce off his belly, not his chest and shoulders. Vito Vea would literally kill me. Aaron Donald would make me unrecognizable because he's low to the ground. He's like six feet tall, six foot one. So we'd just go, he would just destroy me.

Like my chest would split in half if I went against Aaron Donald once. So the answer for me is Jordan Davis. Aaron Donald would have your body looking like a cursed Stranger Things character. So yeah, I'd be going up against him. I think I'd be going up against Vita Vea simply because I've met him

and talked to him many times when i was covering the buccaneers he was a rookie and he is a nice guy so maybe he'd recognize me and he'd go like i won't kill this all right i won't i won't kill this guy i'll let him live i'll let your life is your own is what he would say uh after he absolutely buried me into the dirt patrick asked his next one rank this is always a controversial one and this is a this is kind of a shout out to question of the days, which you've kind of went away from a little bit, but we'll bring back in some capacity. I promise rank these breakfast foods,

waffles, pancakes, French toast. Waffles are the champ, like the champ. Okay. Pancakes are really good, man.

Like if done right, I became for a while, it became like a little bit of a pancake caterer and then i started eating like actually good pancakes pancakes like chocolate chip pancakes stuff like that and my god pancakes are actually really really good french toast is fine it's significantly below the other two like significantly below the other two do you agree have you ever had lemon ricotta pancakes no where it's like i'm trying to i'm trying to look up a recipe ricotta i've dude i've ordered them many times and it is just the

most elite fluffy i will give it a shot pancakes i have ever i'm gonna google these bad boys it's insane uh waffles are number one we have the exact same power ranking waffles are the goat are the goat no question about it you get the you get the texture you get the girth uh practicality the syrup flavor sits in them correct it's all right it was just a perfect invention the waffle was a perfect invention yeah yeah dr steven f waffle which just did an unbelievable job uh inventing the waffle there so yeah that's uh that's number one pancakes number two especially lemon ricotta pancakes good lemon ricotta pancakes could honestly contend for number one i'm not gonna i'm not gonna lie to you and then french

toast good french toast is fine but i think you're right there are too many times where french toast is bad there are too many times where it's like soggy right the floor the floor for french toast is so low that they've that they've got to be number three uh did you look up lemon ricotta pink yeah it looks amazing yeah there i will find it johnny asked this next one if you could uh take one professional athlete from a different sport and add him to your favorite team who would it be and what position would they play? Tricky, tricky, tricky. I have, I've got, I've got from soccer, I've got six foot five Zlatan Ibrahimovic,

the Sweden striker, because he'd be absolutely hilarious because he would just talk the most shit to everyone the entire time, even though he is not a football player at all. I think it'd be hilarious. Joel Embiid being a tight end, I think would also be absolutely hilarious. Oh my God.

Giant seven footer. And then the other one, this is a rugby player. And I thought about this question. I was like, you know what? There's gotta be a rugby player. That would be really good.

Mauro Itoje is a rugby player who's considered one of the best rugby players in the world. He's six foot five, two 55 rocked up. And I went, I watched this dude's highlights before this question. And I went, holy cow,

put him back in the, in the running back spot for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And it would be Derek Henry, like in that offense. And so, yeah, those would be my three there. Yeah, dude's a tank. We've seen a couple of rugby guys obviously try out for the NFL and not look out of place in the preseason, so that's a good one.

My cheat answer here, and I think Johnny will specifically appreciate this, is I would take Kyler Murray and put him on the Mets because Kyler is actually a good baseball player. Nice. The Mets are trying to win a World Series. Love it. Every team now going into the postseason has that guy, or at least in the stretch run because of the ghost runner extra innings rule,

that's like a designated pinch runner. So even if Kyler took a while to get the bat going, he's still going to be a great defensive replacement. He's your pinch runner. So even if Kyler took a while to get the bat going, he's still going to be a great defensive replacement. He's your pinch runner. Yep. He can steal bases. Yep. That's kind of my chi answer.

That's good. That's not a chi answer. That's a great answer. That's a good answer. Thank you. Michael asked this. In honor of the 4th of July and the hot dog eating contest, what are you guys' favorite types of hot dogs?

Oh, okay okay so brand so so it could be like a brand or you could just say like a chicago style or uh what what do they what do they call them in new york dirty water dogs is that what they call them dirty water dogs yeah yeah like so like anything like that so i for me it's brand here because i'm a very simple hot dog guy in terms of i'm a child and just put ketchup on my hot dog okay uh black bear in my opinion makes the best hot dogs you can get them i believe at shop right that's what my parents had when we were down this weekend i was like this is a good anywhere what are these called uh black bear is the brand if you have a shop right near you i think it's a i think it's carried by all shop rights hot dogs good hot dog good hot dog you are you like a are you like a relish guy or what so i'm i'm kind of a fiend like i my parents at one point just called me just like a human garbage disposal because i'll basically eat anything like i've had i've had chicago style dogs and i'm like all right this

is okay like it's not practical in any way, shape or form, but like, this is good. Or like, I'll have, I'll have a chili dog at a baseball game that I basically have to eat with a fork and knife. Cause you can't pick it up unless you have gloves on. But if I just think my go-to is always on the grill, hot dog with mustard. It's my go-to. Yeah. It's my go-to mustard it's my go-to yeah it's my classic that's my go-to i'm not a i am not a mustard guy but it's a classic i'm also a big like i would rather have a brat than a hot oh i'm not even close okay okay like you go to the beer garden and you get brought

and a big pitcher big mug you sauerkraut guy i'm not okay i didn't i'm not i didn't um so wait i had i had to ask you something yes because the mets just played the reds so this is my yearly reminder that this abomination exists and you for some of the year do live in cincinnati this is true are you gonna ask me a skyline chili question yeah what's your take i've never had it it looks horrific no skyline chili yeah i've never don't oh you've never had it. It looks horrific. No, Skyline Chili? Yeah, I've never had it. Don't def... Oh, you've never had it? No, no, no.

And you, like, if you guys don't know Trevor off-air, he is, like, when he goes somewhere, he tries everything. I do. He's lived in Cincinnati. For a year. He has safely tried. He has safely tried. I thought everything in Cincinnati.

I don't blame you. I wouldn't try it either. Looks like an abomination. I know people will bite back against that i'm sorry i'm sorry no there are people there are there are people they'll defend it that really will defend it uh i've never had it i have no desire to have it in fact like the closest skyline chile to where i live downtown was also next to my favorite um like hole in thewall bar with the best wings in the city. So if I'm even in the area, I'm not even considering going to Skyline Chili over going to that place.

So I've never had it. I've never had it. Funny enough, the final college football preview show that we did at PFF on the desk on a Friday, Eric Eager had preview show that we did at pff on the desk on a friday eric eager had to eat skyline chili that he he had never had eric has lived in cincinnati i think for like five years like four or five years

and he had never had skyline chili before and he made a bet earlier in the year with anthony trash and trash won the bet it was some game of some team covering a spread whatever eric loses he had to eat skyline chili live on television and uh when i tell you it it was one of the least appealing thing oh okay food i've ever seen it was uh it was it was it was not great it was not great dude it just looks like microwave noodles yeah that's a bad chili on it and then not even melted cheese the cheese is what gets me like considering how bad everything else looks the cheese was the deal breaker for i'm like i won't have this like you don't just throw the cheese on you don't just throw it on and put it

in perspective and once again i'm sure this is making a lot of people angry that defend it i apologize do not take it personal when i went when i was in se yeah, this is a personal roast. When I was in Seattle, I like sought out eating grasshoppers at the Mariners game. Ooh. But like, I think that was more appealing than Skyline Chili. Yeah. Okay. All right. Last question.

This is the last question. This one actually was asked by Paul, who is a big fan of the podcast. Big shout out to Paul. Massive Jets fan as well. Does a really great work on his podcast covering that team. He asked this question, and I don't think we got to it last time, and I figured it'd be a good way to end this one. What's the origin story?

How did this podcast come together? How'd you get Connor as your podcast partner or the other way around? What was the interview process like? Give me all the juicy details. He wants the behind-the-scenes details. We didn't i we didn't answer this question last time did we i don't think so i don't think i do not think we did we did sorry everyone here's the repeat okay do you want to tell uh your parts of it or do you

want me to tell me yeah because mine's quick they kidnapped me and i'm still doing this freaking podcast that's why i'm always in the same room it's not even real you can't touch all of this that really is brick um no I mean obviously I so yeah I have a very honest answer for this obviously uh when stick to football ended at bleacher report I did not want to be out of the draft podcast game for as long as I was but I also went into that knowing that I, you know, wanted to find the right fit. I wasn't just going to start one by myself, which I would never, I've done a podcast by myself very briefly, uh, in between all my jets ventures. And it's just, you have to book a guest every week. It's not, I just don't think it's a good format. Personally.

I think it's very hard. Now this is not a good format. That's not fair to the people that you got it. You got to like listening to yourself talk. Yeah. And it's, yeah, it's, it is not a good format. That's not fair to the people that do it. You've got to like listening to yourself talk. You really do. Yeah, it is. You and I can sit down and just go. For anybody that listens to this, we text and we have a rundown, but we can sit down and do probably five shows in a row and just talk. Which just goes back to the answer of me finding the right podcast. So I took my time. I back to the answer of me finding the right podcast uh so i

took my time i talked to a lot of different people and this was the one i knew right away when trevor was obviously a free a podcasting free agent i was a podcasting free agent uh the great people at pff and i genuinely mean that like i i say it all the time the brief time that i get to work at pff each week i i adore it um data, not just the data we have, but the people are so awesome. So I knew this was the right fit. Cause I've, I've known Trevor a long time and I always wanted to work with him. And I knew that we had, we would have good chemistry. There wouldn't be this like ramp up period. So after I went through a couple of different, you know, we could do this, we could do that. This was the one that, that felt far

in a way, like the no brainer to me. and I was dying to get back in the giraffe podcast game as much as I do the stuff with the Mets and the Jets uh which is more local I wanted to do a national giraffe podcast to match all the draft work I do all year at BR and I mean this was just a just a no-brainer and you know I'll let you tell more of the background because I know you you actually are full-time at PFF and you were you were really like the getting the roots started of developing this show I kind of just jumped on board in that sense yeah I remember when Ben announced that he was going to be leaving lockdown NFL draft leaving TDN to go over to the ringer um I remember I think I think it was the day that you that Ben sent out that text I or the the message on Twitter kind of letting everybody know I think you was the day that you, that Ben sent out that text, or the message on Twitter kind of letting everybody know.

I think you texted me that day and you were like, hey, if I'm, if you are looking to do a podcast or if you were looking for somebody to take Ben's seat, then. I am, I have been around in the market for a while. Right, right. Because I knew that stick to Football had ended a while back. October 2020? No way.

Was it that long? It was definitely during the pandemic. Dang. Yeah. Yeah. Shoot. October 2020. You'd kind of been on the shelf, if you will,

or just in the wings waiting for a while. And when you texted me that, I was like, okay, now I've got a legitimate option. Because you're right. I mean, you really don't want to start a podcast over if you don't have to. And, um, you know, I was fortunate enough that, that, that it was just really great timing. We kind of went through the interview process. Uh, Connor was one of the first guys that we interviewed that was on the list. We had a couple of other people that we, uh, were thinking about to potentially be podcast partners. And I'm going

to be honest, man, our, uh, our head producer uh our head producer stone who is awesome uh in in what he does behind the scenes for this podcast man uh him and ryan and max to do such a great job producing this pod so massive shout out to them massive shout out to them for every episode making it as great as it is i was going through the interview process with stone and stone after connor's interview he just kept going back he's like yeah i don't like connor because we had a lot of great people and friends that I have in the industry that we considered. And I was like, dude, I mean, if you like Connor the best, I know that we would work out.

And we ended up coming to a conclusion that Connor was going to be the best podcast co-host. And I think that that's definitely been the case. And it's been a lot of fun getting to do this podcast for the first whatever it's been, six, seven seven months i know we're just getting started with it but lucky lucky timing in a lot of ways to be really was like you said turn on the mic turn on the camera and just be able to talk football with one of my friends and that's it hopefully that is what this podcast always seems like i've always been a massive believer in the fact that, yes, the topics, the elements, the hot takes,

those are the things that make a show. But at the end of the day, the biggest compliments that I get, whether it's this show or whether it was Locked on NFL Draft, is people saying, I felt like I was in the room talking about football with two of my friends. And that's what I'm doing here. That's what I'm doing with you guys. When you guys get involved in the conversation, I certainly hope that that's the case for you, Connor. And I hope that that's always the way that it comes off.

So that's really kind of just how it started. A lot of lucky timing. And very thankful for it. Very thankful that it worked out and we're both here in these seats. Me too. That's the secret sauce, right? Is that like there is no ego on this show. It's just pure chemistry. It is you and I are not afraid to disagree with each other, but it's always a healthy disagreement. It's not like Skip Bayless tweeting at Russell calling him Westbrook and like, dude, did you see Skip say that LeBron's the seventh best player in the NBA. No, but I just...

No. He's so... I was a TikTok clip, of course, and they were posting it. Look at that. He's good, man. He's good at this. Oh, he's incredible. He's unbelievable.

And he goes... He starts off and he's like... He's like, I've still got Kevin Durant as the number one player. And Shannon's just like, Skip! No! Skip! That's so good. Shannon's first one. Shannon's just like skip. No skip. That's so good. Shannon's first one.

And like, it was an instant star. I mean, he's the, just the energy that guy has. And the same, the same thing, man. Like he, how bold he is, how confident he is. And it feels like how well researched he is, man. It makes for such a great back and forth show. So obviously guys, that's exactly where this show is going. We're going to have it. We're going're gonna we're gonna totally uh just spiral downhill until

we're the next uh on undisputed pff no i mean we have an exciting season coming up too like i don't want to obviously give away too much yet but for everybody listening we've been talking about for those that miss us three times a week instead of two i mean you don't have to worry about that that that'll be back before i'll come back link and uh we have a lot planned for you know how to really merge the nfl college and draft worlds uh on this podcast and i think that's something that you and i are distinctly you know honestly good at in this space that you know a lot of people i get it they're they're too busy covering just the NFL or just college or just the draft. And I think that you and I have a distinct goal to do all three this year in a really productive manner.

And I think it's going to be freaking awesome. Yeah. And I mean, good at it. I mean, certainly the way that I would put it as well is that you and I love it. I mean, that's why. Love college football. Love the draft. Love NFL.

And so we are fully planning on continuing to give you guys hopefully good, great, and even the best content out there. We love that you guys are rocking with us. We love that you guys have cared so much, especially in these last two mailbag episodes that we've done, just seeing the responses, seeing the passion. It, it, it makes us love doing this a lot more. So hopefully you guys are enjoying it.

Hopefully it's just the beginning of something special. We certainly believe that it is. But there we go. That's the mailbag episode for this week on Monday. We have another Mock Draft Monday format. We're debating between a couple of different topics. And I don't know which one to do yet because I'm excited to do all of them, especially since you guys love the NFL Street ones so much.

We're going to continue to get creative, continue to find fun ways to give shout-outs to players, teams, positions, everything heading into this 2022 season. That's what it's all about. It's all about having fun being creative during the offseason. So not sure which Mock Draft Monday four-minute is going to be, but it's going to having fun being creative during the uh during the offseason so not sure which mock draft monday four minutes gonna be but it's gonna be one of them you'll hear from us on monday have a great weekend everybody we love you we'll see you then i'm trevor that's connor this is the nfl stock exchange Bye.