The Bill Simmons Podcast - Ageless LeBron, Kawhi’s Crazy Career and NFL Draft Burning Questions With Zach Lowe and Peter Schrager

Episode Date: April 23, 2025

The Ringer’s Bill Simmons talks about going to Game 2 of the playoff series between the Lakers and the Timberwolves (2:29). Then, Bill is joined by Zach Lowe to discuss what-ifs regarding Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers' matchup with the Nuggets (17:56). Finally, Bill talks all things NFL draft with Peter Schrager (01:03:00). Host: Bill Simmons Guest: Zack Lowe and Peter Schrager Producers: Chia Hao Tat, Jessie Lopez, and Steve Ceruti Presented by the all-new 2025 Nissan Armada. Learn more at https://www.nissanusa.com/vehicles/crossovers-suvs/armada/html. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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and president select states. Gamma problem call 1-800-GAMBA or visit rg-help.com. Coming up, I'm talking NBA playoffs. I'm talking to Kawhi Leonard. I'm talking to the NFL draft. It's all next. We're also brought to you by the ringer podcast network. I put up a new rewatchables on Monday night. We did minority report. It was me and Ben Lathan and Chris Ryan. You can watch this video podcast on Spotify. You can watch it as a YouTube video on our ringer movies, YouTube channel. You can see all the clips from this podcast on the bill Simmons YouTube

channel, including us going live on Sundays with Priscilla. So subscribe to that channel. You'll get all of our live stuff when we're, when we're doing it. Uh, NFL drafts coming on Thursday. We have the Ringer NFL draft guide. We have Todd McShay's newsletter and his podcast with the Ringer NFL draft show. We have the, uh, the ringer NFL show. Uh, we're covering the draft and all these different ways.

I'm going to be talking about a little bit later with our old friend, Peter Schrager now at ESPN. Yeah, he's going to be on. Uh, but first at the very top of the podcast, I went to Lakers, Minnesota tonight, came back, raced back from the game and can give you my quick takes on what I saw in game two. And then old friends, Zach Lowe now at the ringer. Now it's Spotify.

We taped something earlier today about Kawhi Leonard because the moment had arrived. Let's have a Kawhi Leonard conversation and Peter Schrager talk a draft. This is an awesome podcast. Can't wait for you to listen to it first. Our friends from Pearl Jam! All right. I am taping just the top part of the pod here. It is 10 o'clock at night. Almost just got home from Lakers, Minnesota.

Game two played in Los Angeles, California at the crypto used to be called staples. I still call it staples. It's crypto, a must win game for the Lakers. They did win. It was a weird one. I really wanted to have like some sort of awesome take to play off of or some grand thing to say, and I could do the, uh, the first take thing and just, just list all the guys who need to step up.

Naz read, Naz read nine points. He's got to step up. Dante G Vincenzo four. He's got to step up. Dante, Vincenzo, four points. You got to step up. I'm not going to do that. I have two takeaways, one slightly negative, one slightly positive other than the Lakers were supposed to win tonight. Um, they took care of business.

Their defense was way, way, way better. Their energy was way, way, way better. Um, and if you look at the box way, way better. Their energy was way, way, way better. And if you look at the box score, big minutes. Donchich, 42 minutes. Reeves, 42 minutes. LeBron James, is he 40 yet? 39? Somewhere in that vicinity.

39 minutes. Rui Hachimora, who got hit in the face, he's wearing like a Batman mask. 34 minutes. Finney Smith, 38 minutes. Rui Hachimora, who got hit in the face, he's wearing like a Batman mask. 34 minutes. Phinney Smith, 38 minutes. So they basically did a Tibbs on this game. And the positive comment here is just the Lebron stuff is just incredible. He's 21-11 and seven. Big energy plays, big defense. And I'm watching it going, this team is in basically the same situation. The warriors are in where they're going to have to go small to be truly effective.

Right. The words have Draymond, who is this undersized center. You can kind of get away with it. And they're always at their best when Draymond is at the five and they can surround him with shooters and stuff and do that thing. This Lakers team by default is at their best when they're basically playing LeBron and Rui as the quote unquote centers,

even though they're not centers. And they're just scrambling, hustling on defense and they're just trying to protect the rim. They're trying to get away with the physicality that you can get away with when you have LeBron, James, and Luca Doncic on your team. And just be physical from the gate and just keep scrambling, keep trying, keep trying,

keep having energy. And LeBron was playing so freaking hard. I don't know if it came across the same way on TV, but he was playing like it was like a game seven, uh, when Minnesota was trying to come back there near the end. And I was thinking like, there's been so many iterations of him over the years. Right? Like he comes into Cleveland the first six, seven years and it's like, what is this? He's Magic Johnson. Crossed with Dr. J. It's what it seemed like. That's where we were headed. And then it's like, well, wait, he's more of a scorer than we thought. He had that 48 point came against Detroit.

It's like, so the 1.0 version was like, what is this? Well, wait, there's some, some Jordan stuff here too. He's putting up 27, seven and seven every game. What is this? Then he has the four MVPs in five years and basically moves into like queen of the chair. I remember writing a column about it, like queen of the chessboard where he just masters the ability. He's like the Swiss army knife crossed with the best all around offensive player in the league. He could score when he needs to. He's setting people up. He's the best athlete in the league and he's just mastered whatever version that is.

Then he goes to Cleveland, puts on more weight. Now he's got this weird post-up power game and that's where he kind of moves through the mid 2010s there where it's like, he's still the magic, not really dock anymore hybrid. It's more like a magic Carl Malone hybrid with a little Jordan thrown in, not that much, but really magic. And Carl Malone's body using the physicality and that peaked in the 2018 season where he's bully balling anybody. And that that's basically where he's been.

He added the three point shots. So like the 3.5, O version of this was that Caramelon magic combo with the three point shot. I don't know what this version is. And I don't know if he really knows either because they have this incredible offensive player on their team, Doncha, she was 31, 12 and nine tonight. And all they're doing the whole game is trying to get

Go Bear to get switched on to Luca. That's it. That's the offensive strategy for the most part. Where's Conley? Can we torture him? Oh, he's not in. Let's go after go bear. And Lebron's over in the corner watching, you know, for, for key possessions. And it's really weird to watch in person because he still looks like a Bron.

He's, he's still as athletic as, you know, as he was in his post-prime. Um, he can still create his own shot. He still was doing all the same, you know, looking for teammates, all that stuff. And then there's times he just seems marginalized. You kind of forget he's out there for a couple of possessions and he's figured out always how to be involved in the game, even if he's not involved in the play and he's always moving he's always hustling he's using his brain and it was really cool to watch I was really impressed so for them he's kind of a little dream Andy on

defense I guess better better rebounder he had how many rebounds he have tonight eleven trying to protect the rim every once in a while and then just keeping energy attacking, trying to get offensive rebounds and picking his spots. And when they need him, you know, he missed, missed a few wide open shots today, which was uncharacteristic for him. But, um, I thought it was really cool to watch and whatever balance they found tonight is just how they're going to have to play. And I don't know if it's sustainable, but when you think about it,

I said this before to win three rounds in the playoffs, you have to go 12 and nine. So can this team be slightly above 500 for three rounds? Like. Maybe I, I personally don't think either of these teams are going to win three rounds. I think the it's going to be okay. See Clippers, whoever wins that series will be in the finals. I still thought that before the playoffs. I think that now, but when you think of a, what they did tonight on Fandel, that's moved down to minus one 12, the Lakers Minnesota was, uh, I think they

were minus one 80 after they won game one. So this series is just swinging back and forth and I picked Lakers and seven before the series. I will say this, and this leads to my second point, because I want to talk about Edwards for a second. Um, Minnesota has to win this in six. I don't, I know, like I said, on Sunday's pod, this team doesn't care where they play. Um, they're not afraid of anybody.

And I certainly didn't think they seemed afraid tonight. The Lakers just had more energy than they did, but this is going to be a tough place to play a game seven because of how good of a, how smart of a player Luca is offensively combined with how smart LeBron is and just the way they can pick their spots, how the energy of the crowd can kind of keep sustaining them and how JJ now realizes I can't play Jackson Hayes anymore. I basically have six guys, six and a half backs. I just think it's going to be a hard place to win with when they can always just default to, all right, Luca, where's go bear. Let's do that again.

And I think Minnesota, you know, they have three and four at home. The longer the series goes, the Lakers are probably just thinking, can we just somehow get this to seven? Um, if we're just going to trade wins, whatever, if we have that seven at home, we're gonna have so many advantages. They're so hard to officiate to, you know, the way that everybody's bouncing off everybody. So I still feel like this is seven.

And if you're telling me these two teams are playing in a game seven from what I watched tonight, um, I would still slightly tilt toward the Lakers, but you know, would I be surprised if Minnesota wins now? So the first take is Lakers did their job today because there was another scenario in this game where they go down on two and it just feels like everything's going to self-combust, but that did not happen. Second piece. Edward's had a weird game and you know, he's young.

I he's 23, 24. I can't remember. And you know, he had nine assists in the first game and, uh, played with the energy and pizzazz. I think he was hurt. Like the shoulder was bugging him. Basically didn't do anything. Wouldn't shoot in the first quarter as the Lakers are taking a big lead and

ends the game. He has, I'm going to say zero assists. Yeah. 25 points, zero assists. Ends up taking 22 shots, but didn't really shoot in the first quarter. This is the last level for him and he's not close yet. He might be two years away from me yet. And we saw him do it for a stretch last year.

Um, in those first two rounds where he put together, I think it was seven, eight games where there was just a real mastery of the moment, the game, the other team, um, had to set up everybody just had to impact the game for four quarters. Um, he did not have that tonight. to impact the game for four quarters. He did not have that tonight. I'm not surprised, because I think, as I've said before, 26, 27 is when I really think a guy turns into

who they're gonna be, and right now he is 23 years old. He turns 24 on August 5th. This is what they need from him if they're gonna win three straight rounds, because the conference is just better this year. It's just this. So you win this series. Now you're playing Golden State, probably next round,

I would guess, maybe Houston, if Houston crawls back, but probably Golden State. And then after that, you're playing the winner of OKC, and I assume the Clippers. There's a sense of the moment slash mastery for him that went a little sideways in the Dallas series and the conference finals last year and same thing this time where the guy that he's going to be that he's not yet, you kind of feel it in games like tonight. He just seemed young to me tonight.

He seemed like a young, awesome player that just seemed good that they won game one and didn't, didn't seem desperate in the right way. Right. And that's fine. That's, that's where you won the game. You're going back to Minnesota, you win three and you're done and you get to the next round. But, um, I think what he'll learn in situations like this, like when you're talking like 27 year old aunt,

the thing that he's going to learn that I don't think he really fully realizes yet is like, this is a, you know, go for the jugular game. This is like, we, if we go up oh two, they're not going to come back. We're going to have three games in Minnesota. And he just didn't have that tonight. And again, I don't know how hurt he is, but it was a weird one from him. Minnesota also couldn't make a three. Part of that had to do with how, how, uh, how the Lakers are scrambled around, but

Minnesota finished five for 25 after they went like 30 for 40 in game one, I think. But it was a game that aunt just couldn't match the intensity of the other team. Randall was ironically really good. He had 27 physically. Um, I noticed, especially in person, watching the bodies bang, because you always get a better sense of it in person. He bangs with LeBron, he bangs with Luca.

He's as big and as strong as Rui. He's as big and as strong as anyone in the Wakers, and it actually seems like a really good matchup. The problem for Minnesota is the Connally piece. Connally, zero points today, 0 for 5, had some wide open shots and just looked old and they didn't really know what to do. Thief and Chien Tzu got in foul trouble right away,

but still not positive who the best five guys are as a unit on this Minnesota team. And I think not positive they know either. So I don't know what's going to happen in this series. It's really independent on two things. Can the Lakers get away with playing those four guys as many minutes as they played them tonight? Cause I think they're going to have to win four games.

That's one. And then the second is does the end have an in him to be the best part in the series? Because I don't see another scenario that, that they win three more games unless he can rise up a level. He had that incredible dunk in the third quarter. That was breathtaking. But, um, this feels like it's an ant first Lucas series.

That was my takeaway tonight. I think LeBron is going to do what he did tonight. And he's going to, you know, he, he's a fixed cost in this series. I know what I'm getting from him for the most part. The threes are going to come and go, but for the most part, we're going to get the energy and the creativity like we had tonight. Luca is the wild card because he might have, you know, he might have 45 points in game three and then Ian on the other end, what can he create? Um, and how much can they survive this weird go bear thing? He was really bad today. He was six and six, some butterfinger moments, and they just kept attacking him and attacking him and attacking him.

And ultimately who's their best five. So this is why we love seven game series. This is going to keep moving and keep changing. But, uh, when I think back to this game during the summer, I'm going to think of just how fucking hard LeBron played. I really respect it. Guys, it's like the Brady thing. And Brady was at the tail end of his career. The competitiveness almost went up because there's legacy stuff,

and you're comparing your career to like the best parts ever and there's some sort of drive that has to kick in to keep the process going and what we saw from LeBron tonight was really I know the box score was pretty pedestrian but man he really gives a shit I really respect it we're gonna take a break and we're gonna come back and Zach Lohenauer talk about Kawhi Leonard. The NBA playoffs in full swing. There's no better way to be part of the action with FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook. If you think you know how it's going to go down on a Wednesday, make those predictions pay off with FanDuel and their hump day, parlay, profit,

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Towing capacity varies by configuration. See Nissan Towing Guide and owner's manual for additional information. Always secure cargo. All right. Taping this part of the podcast with Zach Lowe, it is 1220 afternoon ET. Uh, so we don't know anything that happened in the Tuesday night games. We're going to look backward, but, afternoon ET. So we don't know anything that happened in the Tuesday night games. We're gonna look backward, but look big picture.

I wanna talk Clippers Nuggets with you, and I wanna talk about Kawhi Leonard with you. Clippers Nuggets is everything we want from a round one playoff series. Who do you think is gonna win this series, by the way, now that you've seen two games? So I picked Nuggets in seven, which is your tell for don't feel great about it. Went home court advantage and best player in the world. And, uh,

I listened to you and Ryan after game one, I felt exactly the same way you guys did that the nuggets kind of stole that game. And I would feel really good about the series if I were a Clippers fan and then they won game two, obviously we're doing this right after that. Uh, I would feel good if I were a Clippers fan and then they won game two. Obviously we're doing this right after that. Uh, I would feel good if I were a Clippers fan, I'm going to stand by my pick, obviously, cause you know, I don't repick, repick series halfway through. But, um, I think Clippers have outplayed them and if they're going to have, we're going to talk about quiet, if they're going to have one guy in each game and it was hardened in game one, quiet game two, who's essentially like on par with

Yokech, they're going to win the series. Right. They just need somebody to cancel him out numbers wise in some way. Um, they got out rebounded by 18 last night and one. They got, they survived a really great Michael Porter performance compared to his complete no show in game one and that didn't matter. But the Kawhi piece was the piece and it got me thinking like you and I have known each other for basically Kawhi's

entire career. I think we first met each other at least like on email or wherever in 2011 which is here he's drafted. I thought one of the best pieces you ever wrote for Grantland was the Kawhi George Hill trade piece, which was, I think, I just remember when you wrote it, I was like, I feel like this is where basketball writing is heading. Like it's not just like, who, you know, this is like some sort of, it was sourced,

why did they do this, where is this going? It was a sliding doors moment. I couldn't believe, I still can't believe they like multiple front office people talked to me on the record for that piece about like, what was going on during the draft, what were they thinking? I'm like, well, maybe that's why maybe it was like a newish piece. And they were like, oh, this will be fun. Let's do this interview and reveal like what was going on for this.

But I don't think that would happen anymore. Right? That's what I'm saying. I don't think anyone's doing that again. For some reason in the early 2010s, people were like, here's some information. Take it wherever. Worked out well for me.

So then Kawhi, he has a couple different arts. There's never been a career like this. And I said to you, just come on my podcast. We're not going to do an hour and a half. Let's talk about Kawhi Leonard because I can't remember really anything like this. I think it's the second biggest what if career of all time. I'm going to start there. I think Bill Walton is still number one.

I think Kawhi's second where it's been a great career. He's making the hall of fame anyway. He was NBA top 75, but there's this extra gear and it came down to bad luck and injuries, which happens so much in the NBA. But you see stuff like last night and you go back and you look through some of the history and you're like, could this guy have been like one of the 50 best players of all time?

Oh, there's, there's no, did he make top 75? I think he did, right? He did. So there's no question he would be one of the top, he might already be one of the top 50 players of all time. He's a two time finals MVP. He's kind of like the guy. I said 15.

Oh, I'm talking like, oh, I'm talking high levels. So now you're talking like he's in the Durant, Berkeley, Yanis, maybe heading toward where that Shaq Moses, a team level, like how high could it have gone? I don't know. I just don't know. Now health is a huge part of this. Durability is a huge part of this. And the best guys ever have always managed to stay on the court has been one of the things. And he wasn't able to do that, which is why it's a what if. But his best was up there with everybody from this century.

No question. Two time finals MVP, defensive player of the year. 50-40, 85 in the playoffs. And I did a little dig. I did some basketball reference sorting. I got some good stuff. All time two-way wing, most valuable position in the league, uh, has. Multiple iconic playoff series, playoff moments, and one of the most iconic playoff shots in the history of basketball, the four bouncer, um, in, in Toronto against the Sixers. Uh, and like, again, you never know know like with these guys, like all the time he's

missed, if he had played all that time, what if he, if he had played twice as many minutes or 1.5 times as many minutes, how does he look right now? Cause right now he looks incredible and fresh and all that stuff. But yeah, I mean, look, he hasn't finished the season healthy since 2020, since the bubble. He has not finished his team season available to play since the Clippers flamed out in the bubble and knock on wood, we're only two games into this and he's playing a ton of minutes

and he played a ton of minutes at the end of the season. If he plays like this, like I think we just get, did you just give up on this? Like I just kind of get, like when they lost Paul George in free agency I was just kind of like he's gonna miss half the season. It's gonna be all dependent I just didn't see the Clippers ever reaching this level again in this iteration of them in part because I just kind of gave up On this it just seemed like a pipe dream that we'd ever see this level Kawai in the playoffs every game

And I really you know how much I love Kawhi. I voted him MVP in the year Russ won the MVP when it was a super controversial vote, I think I was one of eight guys to vote for him. I thought he was the best player in the league that year. And I just hope we get to see this because what he did, what he's doing and just eviscerating every defender that they threw at him last night, 15 of 19 for 39 points is ridiculous. And the last basket of the game,

or yeah, it was to put them up by three. Hard, hard shots too. And a steal right after that. Contested shots, right. What we saw last night in game too, which is why I wanna do this segment, cause I don't feel like it's possible to overreact to it. What he did last night was as good as I think I've ever seen him play.

And this is a guy who's had some amazing, amazing moments. But yeah, I mean, if you go through it, there's so many what ifs with him. Where you start with like, what if, what if the 2017 playoffs when he gets hurt? Right. I don't think they would have beaten Golden State. I think that's one of the three or four best teams of our lifetime, but it would have been a good series. And so we saw enough in the two and a half quarters of that game to be like,

okay, like he's going to give them a puncher's chance in all of these games. Like they'll probably lose four, two or four one, but this is going to, this isn't going to be like a walkover, like everything else they had that year. Yeah. He's going to be throwing punches. What if he signs off on the 2018 Boston trade is a really good what if Boston was trying to come after him. Take me, take me. That's, that's your, that's your world. Well, that at least would have been Jalen Brown and some other stuff.

And you know, I think Boston was really hesitant to actually consider talking about it because he was making it so clear. This is a one year thing. And I'm going to LA and wink, wink. I'm, I'm going to a different city after with Toronto didn't care. There's the, what if Kauai just resigns with Toronto in 2019 because they had a pretty good nucleus, you know, and you think like the league was a little bit weird

there in 20 and 21, 22, could they have gotten back? They won 50 something games the next year. They were one of the best stories. Did Nick Nurse win coach of the year that year? I think after, yeah. There's the what if Kawhi signs with LeBron and the Lakers in 2019, which is what we thought was gonna happen.

And I don't even know, can they get Anthony Davis at that point, probably, I don't know if they could, maybe they could have fit all these. I can't remember the details of it, but maybe if you get Kawhi, you don't need Anthony Davis and you're using those picks for other things, you're building around those two guys, those two guys make sense together. What if, what if he starts getting hurt within a couple months after that trade and now LeBron has no running mate and that just goes- It's ridiculous to even suggest this, Bill.

Nothing like that ever falls into the Lakers laps. It doesn't happen. They don't just get stars. They go to their team like shockingly. It doesn't happen. What if COVID doesn't happen is a really good what if for really a bunch of different people in 2020, but especially when you think about where the league was at that moment, Milwaukee was kicking everybody's ass. The Lakers and Clippers were the two best teams in the West. And it felt like there were three teams and then everyone else.

And we were headed toward this LA versus LA. Then the COVID, the bubble, things get weird, whatever. And then, you know, the last one is what if he stays healthy in 2021 when he gets hurt. And then Paul George elevates. But I forgot this. He played 11 playoff games that year in 2011, and he averaged 30 a game in the playoff games. And he was-

Seven against Dallas and four against Utah. Four against Utah and then kind of left, I went to the game where he kind of left near the end of the game. It's like, uh-oh, that's not great. Well, can we just stop for a second? Like, we shouldn't slow down on it. We should slow down at a couple of things.

Yeah. Um, the first one is the bubble and COVID because I picked the Clippers to win the championship that year. And we learned pretty quickly even during the bubble and then after that, no team wanted to be there less than the Clippers and they just completely, I don't know that I've ever seen a team let go of the rope like that, like they did against Denver. Like they wanted to leave over trying to try to win the title. Seemed to be a feeling that was pretty pervasive.

And 2021 he gets hurt against Utah. The series is 2-2 when he gets hurt and they end up winning the series. The end, essentially the end of the jazz of the Mitchell-Golbert, you know, iterates. They had one more year after that, but everyone knew it was kind of over. Um, we just like, I, that 45 point game six to save the Clippers season. And remember that series against Dallas, they get rolled the first two games in

LA, they're down like a million points in game three in Dallas, and it just feels like it's over. They saved the season. They're still down three, two in game six. And he plays one of the best games I've ever seen anyone play. 18 of 25, 13 of 16 at the line, 45 points and the usual defense and single-handedly wins the game and saves their season.

Then he follows it up with like a whole hum, 28, 10 and nine in game seven. Just that's one of the best games That's up there with any game. I've ever seen anybody play. I just wanted to say that And say that game well, and then you think from a quipper standpoint The most tortured NBA franchise we have and 21 is just wide open you look back at that season. It's like Bucks team that I'm not even sure was the best bucks team the Sun sons make it right.

And I think there's a bunch of teams that were like, Oh, we could have beaten that if this had happened or this had happened or this had happened. And that ends up being our finals and the bucks wins, but bucks win. But I think the 22 bucks team, you could make a case of Middleton's healthy that year that probably they're probably a better team than the 21 team. So anyway, a whole bunch of what ifs. From the what if career standpoint, Walton's still number one for me because he just wins multiple titles in the late seventies and goes down as one of the best 15 guys ever.

He, Kawhi is second. And then my other two for my lifetime were Andrew Toney, who really only played five years. And then his feet went on him. But I just think would have been a hall of fame two guard and probably the second best my lifetime or Andrew Tony, who really only played five years and then his feet went on him. But I just think would have been a hall of fame to guard and probably the second best to guard in the league behind Jordan. And then Bernard King was the other one, the 28, he was 28 years old when he blew out his knee.

He was averaging 33 a game that year, which in 19 mid 80s standards is like 40. And came back but was never really the same, but was the, you know, he was the forward scoring Michael Jordan of that era. And then the only other one I have is Yao. I'm glad you brought up Yao because I want to bring him up later. Ah, man, we kind of forget that Yao only played like eight years. Ralph Sampson? Sampson's a good one.

I don't, I'm not sure he knew where, yeah, he got hurt, but I'm not, I've always felt like he spent four years in college and then it's like, am I a center? Why am I in the perimeter this much? I'm never sure he totally figured that out from like a ceiling standpoint. Yao could have been 23 and 10 for like 15 years, but I think the China national team murdered him. And then there's some other ones. There's like the TMAC and C-Web, but those are guys like they had good

careers and they got hurt a little bit later. Um, but I think those are my five. Anybody else you have? Well, there are some, it depends how, um, how, what if you want to, I mean, lend bias, never play the NBA before work. So I'm glad you brought up Yao because I just did, I just did to point to your point about how unique Kawhi's career is. I just did a search on Basel reference.

People in the hall of fame, um, with player efficiency ratings for their career. P E R everyone craps on it. I was thinking useful. Like if I just need to catch all like, was this guy good? How was he? Right? Yeah. P E R above 22 for their career.

Kawhi's regular season is 23.2, I think. Um, and cause I wanted to see how many guys hall of fame that elite level and how many played fewer than Kawhi minutes wise. I think Kawhi's are about 23,000 career regular season minutes. There's only, there's only three guys in the hall of fame that meet that PR standard and played fewer minutes than Kawhi. One is George Mike in, okay. Like original NBA, you know, dinosaur, but innovator, ABA commissioner, all that.

One is Neil Johnston fifties Philadelphia, where he probably made your book of basketball, Bill Russell kind of took them out. And the third is yameng. And so that was a name that I thought of right away. When I, even before I did that search, he only played 15,818 career minutes. But obviously unlike Yao, Kawhi is a multi-time champion, multi-time finals MVP. There's just, there's, and then you go right. And then there's a, a Neil Johnson played 18,300 minutes.

And then there's a 10,000 minute jump to the next guy on this list and it's Dr. J, who obviously played in the ABA too, so he's got other men. Like there's just, there's a 10,000 minute gap between those two guys and Kawhi's right in the middle of it. Well, and then you think, there's only three guys who ever won finals MVP for two teams

and the other two are LeBron and Kareem. I have my 42 club that I still stand by as one of the dumbest, but accurate. Is that the one that cuts off Karl Malone? Yeah, I got to 42 because it was the best way to cut off as many Karl Malone seasons as possible. Points, rebounds, and assists. Poor guy. Sorry, Karl.

No, don't be sorry. If you go 42 club who made the finals since Michael Jordan, Shaq has three, LeBron has six, Kobe wants to know one. Iverson wants no one didn't win the title. Duncan and Oh three 45.4, Kauai 19 45.4, Yonis and 21 48.1, Yokoj and 23 53.5 Yannis in 21, 48.1, Jokic in 23, 53.5, and Luca last year, 47.0. Gives you a sense of, first of all, how great that 19th season was.

But then also, that's where we are. And the only outlier in all that is probably Iverson, who just, he took a ton of shots, but wasn't like a points, rebounds, points rebounds assist like some of these other ones, even Kobe only made it once. Um, and then the other thing with Kawhi, um, well, how many guys have gone from incredible glue guy to awesome A plus list score.

I was trying to think like SGA, Kawhi was a better glue guy than SGA, but where you thought their career was going to be one thing. And then it became something completely different. How many guys can you think of who were like, wow, I just didn't see this because we, we were working together and we were going to those finals games. I never thought Kawhi would be a guy who averaged 30 a game in the playoffs that was inconceivable.

Well, I remember after the first Spurs heat final that the Spurs lose the Ray Allen game and all that. He had moments in that series. I don't have his game log up in front of me now, but he had moments in that series. I don't have his game log up in front of me now, but he had moments in that series where it was like, Ooh, something, something's interesting is happening with this Kawhi. Like he's, he's guarding LeBron like that. Okay, fine. Like he's a great defensive player. Actually let me bring up his game log as I'm talking, but he's guarding LeBron.

He's guarding LeBron comfortably by the way. Yeah. And LeBron respects him already. And now he has games I'm looking at here the here's his last three games of the of those 2013 13 or 14 13 the one they lose to Miami 16 points on six of eight shooting 22 points and 11 rebounds on nine to 14 shooting game seven 19 I miss is a big free throw game six. Obviously people remember that 19 and 16 on eight of 17 in game seven, 45 minutes, 46 minutes a game before he has double digit rebounds in five of the seven games. And I remember before the next season, I wrote a piece about this cause this for Grantland, this guy is the

biggest X factor in the league this year. And I was like the only time I think I ever got a one-on-one interview with Kawhi, I called the Spurs. I was like, Hey, I'm writing all about this kid. They keep as a kid back then, whatever. And I remember their PR guy, Tom James was like, this will, this, this will be your one for the year. Like don't, don't call and ask for pop.

He was being polite about it, but like, you know, the Spurs are like, you're not getting popular. Like this will be the one, but like, I think it's a good idea. You should do it. And then he ends up winning finals MVP, making me look really, really smart. But you could see enough in that first finals or it was like, okay, something different is going on, something more is here, but again, to be an MVP candidate and a guy who have, you know, we'll go through his playoff numbers.

But even then, even in the 2014 finals I don't think you could see that coming. He was kind of like MVP by you had to pick a spur and He had nobody it was such a team win and he did You know LeBron's numbers are actually pretty good when you look back at that series But he did a good job of at least going toe-to-toe with LeBron, which is why I think he won and his stats are good He was an interesting spot there. The first couple of years we were working together, where he was the go-to guy. If you were talking about, you know, who I really love.

And he was the guy like, who's that now in 2025 or the, you know, who I really love. It's like, it's like a Jalen Johnson, like those guys, but on a better team, but those kind of like Evan Mobley or Kate Cunningham before this year. Right. Right. Maybe not even quite quite that, but he didn't have the pedigree of those guys. Right. But it was one of those things coming out of the gate where they were like, yeah, there's something here with this guy. But I always thought his, I thought he was going to be Pippen and Pippen was a better, like kind of

passer creator than him. He had the ball more than Kawhi did. But to me, the best, still to this day, the best three perimeter players I've ever seen in person. And maybe, maybe a man Thompson can get here. Wow. Maybe. I don't know. What is he? 22?

But the best I've ever seen in person, Pippen won Kawhi and Rodman. I'm just talking about I need a long athleticism. I need a long athletic perimeter to shut down this score. Who am I picking? Those are the three guys. And then after that we can argue, but those three guys have to be on the list. Is there anybody else you would add? For defense?

I'd have to sit and think about it for a second, but I mean, you know, Gary Payton wasn't big enough to be in this conversation. Right. Like, is it, um, you're talking about guys who could guard everybody from LeBron James to Tony Parker. Like you just, anybody basically from six one to six 10, they can handle. And also maybe even like, you could throw Kawhi at Yoke-Age at this point. And it's not like crazy.

I'll give you this one too. Um, I'm going to, I sound like an old man. It's not that long ago, but like, he's still a very good defender now. Like if he were healthy and played the whole year, he'd be in the all defense conversation. Yeah. That's he's still that good. Peak Kawhi, like 2016 to 18, 19 defensive player of the year, candidate

Kawhi was legitimately terrifying. And to the point that he would turn entire games, entire games by himself, like steel, dunk, block, dunk, steel, three pointer and be like, what just happened? Did that one guy just going to nine Oh, right. And I remember the most underrated playoff series. I think maybe anyone has ever played is that year. Um, Kawhi against Memphis in 2017 in the first round, like a, like a whole

home Memphis team dispersion to one that series was like incredible in that series and did everything for that team. And, and just like people can go back and look it up. But I like, remember the Ben McLemore thing? I think he ruined Ben McLemore's career because Ben McLemore tried to dribble within like a 10 foot radius of Kawhi and Kawhi just took the ball out of his hands, two possessions in a row and went and dunked on the other end. I wanted to write a story about that.

I approached Ben McLemore's people once and I was like, can I write this story? And then again, I don't think he wants to talk about that. But he ended up writing something different about him. He was a very sweet guy and had an interesting arc to his career. But like peak kawaii, if you were not like an A level dribbler, you could not dribble anywhere near him. You would just take the ball from him. Well, I remember one of my last pieces I wrote for Grantland. We did this art drawing cause I was talking, we were talking about how Kawhi was like an octopus. He, he hit this level the second half of that 2015 season coming off the finals

MVP and that second half of the season where there was a lot of storylines going right. Like Curry, the Warriors are winning 67 games. Curry is about to win an MVP. Blake has become one of the best five guys in the league. LeBron's in his first Cleveland season. Harden has started to really kick ass on Houston. And it felt like this sea change of like this new generation of guys taking over, kind of taking the steering wheel of the league.

And then Kawhi was in there just wrecking everybody. of like this new generation of guys taking over, kind of taking the steering wheel of the league. And then Kawhi was in there just wrecking everybody. And I remember we did this octopus drawing of him and it's, you can find it probably in one of the last grand, Kawhi's face on this octopus. Cause he would just kind of be on the quarterback. I'm just going to take the ball

and he would just go over and like grab the ball. But you can see the moment when he would decide, actually, I think I can just get the ball. Like you're going to make it like everything's normal. I'm just, how about I just take it. I'm just going to grab it. So that stretch he had on the spurs, basically from the second half of 15, 16, 17, leading to him stepping on Zaza's foot. Um, he was as good as any, and we have Durant Hummin on OKC at that point.

We have kind of the last stages at Carmelo. We have LeBron on Cleveland. Um, we have a lot of good forwards and it's just this amazing forward stretch. I have him, I was thinking most talented, small forwards of my lifetime. Just talented. I'm not going best career in that stuff and LeBron's one and Bird's two. And then Kawhi versus the rant. If you're just talking to apex, it's pretty good.

It's a pretty good argument. I don't know. That's almost a three a three B thing. And I don't, the rants had a better career because he was more durable. Um, I don't know the answer. It's, it's actually kind of amazing and speaks to how great he was during, you know, that five or six year stretch. Um, I don't know the answer. It's actually kind of amazing and speaks to how great he was during, you know, that five or six year stretch, um, that he's a six time all-star because it doesn't feel like he's been healthy enough to be in his prime to be a six time all-star.

It's just when he's minimally healthy, it's so obvious that he's one of the five to eight best players in the league that he just makes the all-star team every year. The Durant one is interesting. Durant's got the height and the quick twitch shooting from any, any range ability, the, the bulk and defense, uh, and just, you can't move him at all. That Kawhi brings both of them are their assist numbers. Durant's probably a little higher, but broadly similar in that they're not a primary creator, They're more secondary creator. It's, I mean,

right. They're in the four assist range. It's an interesting, it's an interesting one. Well, one other thing with both of them, there was a little bit of a Swiss army knife with each where I felt like you could play Kawhi at either forward spot and get away with it, right? You could play Durant. I mean, you weren't, it's not awesome to play him at small four, but you can do it.

But really you could, he has the ability to go, you go stretch five with him and just go smaller or you can play him with a center. Um, it was, it was just a more flexibility in a lineup that maybe LeBron had up until later in his career where LeBron was like, he needed certain things around him. Those guys, you could kind of mold if you, whatever your roster is, you could kind of mold them a little bit. But I really think those are the four best quote unquote small forwards I've seen in my lifetime.

Can I, these are, these are great names. Can I just do it, read you another list of things I got from best wall reference, searching around. I'm ready. Uh, I just did, um, Playoffs. These are playoff numbers. Again, PR is not a perfect stat. Good catch all. Kauai's career playoff PR is 24.3. It's higher than his regular season.

Wow. That, that alone is an accomplishment, by the way. The perimeter guy that's really high. If you can maintain your efficiency stat, if you're an elite player and you can just maintain your regular season efficiency into the better competition of the playoffs, that alone is an accomplishment to go up a million. your efficiency stat. If you're an elite player and you can just maintain your regular season efficiency into the better competition of the playoffs, that alone is an accomplishment to go up a mini level is a big, big deal. So I did above a 24 PR at least 4,000 minutes in the playoffs.

Kauai is at 5009, I think. So you got to have been there a decent amount of time and you maintain a 24 efficiency, 24 PR, eight guys total have ever done it and I'll go in order of their player efficiency ratings number one Michael Jordan 28.6 number two LeBron James 27.9 number three Shaq 26.1 number four I still think for my money may be the most criminally underrated player in

the history of the NBA, Akima Olajuwon, 25.7. Not by me, not in this house. Number five is a tie at 24.3. And it's just too good that it's a tie. Tim Duncan and Kawhi Latham. And then right below them at 24.2 is Barclay, who has the fewest playoff minutes of this group. And right below Barkley is Durant at 24 flat. And that's it. That's the whole list. The legend's not in there? I'll look up his playoff PR. I mean, I know I should have anticipated your level of concern. Nah, it's fine. He's the last couple of years a little rocky. Wearing the back brace.

Career PR in the playoffs. Probably like 23? He's fine. He, the last couple of years, we're a little rocky. He's wearing the back brace. Career PR in the playoffs. Probably like 23? 21.4. Ah, the legend. But he's got 20, he's got a 26, a 24. I mean, it's, it's different. It's, yeah. It's, it's, it's a...

Well, I have my own basketball reference list. You had to play at least 20 games in a playoff season. Okay. You had to score at least 30 points. Per game. Per game. You had to get at least six rebounds. Here's that list. So 30, hold on, let me, 30 and 6 in 20 playoff games.

So it's 20 plus games. You're making the finals. You're making the funds. Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Hakeem Olajuwon, Shaq, Kauai, LeBron again, Yannis, LeBron a third time, Jokic. That's our list. I mean, it lends crea- I mean, when you said top 15 earlier in the podcast, I, I mean, again, you're getting into sacred territory there in my initial-

You're at least near Durant. Yeah. You're in that dirt. You're above, you're right around Dirk. You know, like- Yeah, you're in the Dirk, maybe a little edge above Dirk and you're in the Diran area. It's pretty sacred territory. And now that we're going through these lists, I can't argue against it.

That the what if is that, is that severe and the what if ceiling is that high. You got Hakim, 95, 22 playoff games, 33 points a game, 10.3 rebounds, 4.5 assists. If you're criminally underrating Hakakeem, you can go to hell. Whoever's listening. You know who's not criminally underrating Hakeem from 1995? David Robinson. Or Shaquille O'Deal. Yeah, or Shaq.

That's right. Or either of those guys. Um, yeah, two, couple other quick things with him. Three first team OMBs, three second team OMBs. That's it for Kawhi because he kept getting hurt. You could say he's responsible. Still like a lot. That's a lot. Yeah, it's a lot. It's a nice one. You could say he's responsible for title teams in San Antonio,

Toronto, and maybe Oklahoma City this year because he wants the Quipper. I'm only coming to the Quippers if you give me Paul George and that leads to, you know, lots of stuff that's still going on. The last 10 years of the playoff games, including the two that we've just had 2016 through the 25 playoffs, he's 28 and eight, 51% shooting 39% from three, 88%. 66 games, it's a 10 year stretch, kept getting hurt. And then, oh, in the 2019 Raptors, 39, four assists, 49% field goal for the whole playoffs.

But here's the other thing with him. And this is crazy. 733 regular season games total. That's his career, which seems low considering he was in the 2011 draft. Seven 26 winning percentage all time. It's Tim Duncan 2.0. It's this, it's incredible. The symmetry of those.

So here's the list. Magic bird, Casey Jones, Cooper, Tommy Hineson, Kawhi Duncan, Sam Jones, Sam Jones, Russell is our top nine. So a bunch of, a bunch of when I play, my team wins almost 73% of the time. And yet I can't stay on the court. And by the way, their Cooper fans probably listen to this going you motherfuckers. He's going to get hurt in game three. Cause you guys did this segment, but there's never been a career like this

But there's never been a career like this where he might be, he might end up being like the best guy in the West for the next, you know, this round and the next two, which, you know, I didn't see you talked about giving up on this. I gave up on giving up on this. I was like three levels beyond giving up on this. Even when he came back during the season, I was like, all right, this is stupid. He's just going to get hurt. Even, even as you're watching the Clippers finish at whatever 16 and whatever, they've had an incredible last 35 games. Yeah. And he looks incredible. And you are saying out loud what, what is completely reasonable, which is that in your opinion,

this is the second best team in the Western conference. And I'm watching it and I'm like, yeah, that makes total sense. And my brain just can't even, it still puts them over here in like a separate category of the standings. Just because I just never believed we would see it again. I just, I wouldn't allow myself to, and again, he hasn't finished a season since 2020, but I'm glad he brought it back to this year, because I think this is the coolest thing happening in basketball right now.

I don't know how far this team can get if he stays healthy and plays like this, but it's minimal conference finals. I think they could be, I don't know, I don't wanna put a ceiling on it. Thunder are gonna be favored against anybody. Well, I don't know, I don't want to put a ceiling on it. Thunder are going to be favored against anybody. Well, I guess not minimal conference finals because they're in the Thunder's bracket.

So we'll see where they can go. But would you rather catch the Thunder sooner or later? Would you rather catch the Thunder after they've just completely demolished this crappy Memphis team and now all of a sudden they're moving up in weight class? I liked, by the way, I liked just- And they need that one game

to adjust almost? I liked Rosillo's way, I like that one game to adjust almost. I liked your silos idea that if you lose by 50 or more in game one, it counts as two, a two wins for the day for the check. Push that through. But I will say like, not only is this about Kawhi, I think, I think the Clippers are the team of the year, the franchise of the year, almost in the NBA. I mean, the thunder are the obvious choice because they won 68 games and they're just incredibly well set up for now and tomorrow to a level that

no team has ever been. But for the Clippers to win 50 games and be looking like this in the postseason after they lost Paul George and everyone, including me, just wrote this entire era off is now we're just killing time until we pivot into a rebuild and we get our picks back. It'll be cool. We were saying like, you're only doing this because you have a new arena. This is fool's gold.

You just want to bring people in and make them feel okay that they can recognize a couple of players. And the front office was like, actually, I think we signed some pretty good role players in free agency and we have a lot of faith in Zubots to make another level and if Kawhi ever can play and we're doing our best, we feel like we're still like a pretty, and they didn't, I don't even think they expected it. I think they thought we could be like a cool 46 win, tough as nails, defensive oriented team.

And for them to be this is incredible. It's an incredible job by the coaching staff, Tai Lu, Jeff Van Gundy, the whole stuff it's, I think they they're like the franchise of the year in the NBA, maybe second to the Thunder, I guess. You can't undersell what an incredible accomplishment it is for them to be a 50 win team and going toe to toe with the best player in the world in a playoff series in the, you know,

middle to upper half of the Western Conference bracket. It's ridiculous. Well, and they upper half of the Western conference bracket. It's, it's ridiculous. Well, and they know they could play with OKC. They have a real identity, which I think is so hard to find. And there's two teams in the East that have an identity. That's it. Yeah. I'm the next do not have an identity.

They just do not. Concerning first couple of games. They do not have an identity. Remember when I, when we did that pod and I said Tibbs was my wild card. Don't be surprised. I'm feeling better about that. Can I give you a third? Oh boy.

I'm just supposed to be identity teams. Pacers Pacers have an identity. No good call. Okay. I'll accept it. Um, Quippers have an identity and unfortunately it's built around this awesome player and they just kind of never know with him. You know, and they view, like I heard Marcus Morris today, I saw him on ESPN

talking, he played with Kawhi and he loves him. And he was like, Kawhi's the first guy there. Like the guy works his ass off. He gets this reputation that he doesn't, but the guy worked as hard as any team that I had. But if you talk to people around the Clippers and Kawhi is always this thing like, yeah, we don't know. He does his own thing. We, he's kind of over here and we just kind of keep our fingers crossed that he's going to be awesome. The difference this time versus some of the other times, he just looks good. Like when you watch him, like his side to side stuff and the athleticism, it feels like it's back. He's got lift on his jumper. He made a couple of jumpers last night

in traffic with a hand in his face and he's able to elevate now like he used to. And he just has that line drive shot. He can get over anybody and he's such a weird player. There's no player like him now who's like, I just want to get this 14 footer. I just want to get to my spot and get it and I'm going to get it. And, you know, so that's why he's always been an elite postseason player. Among many other things is that there is some truth to the idea that in the playoffs, you need a little bit more than in the regular season, at least

need some ties who can get those shots and he can get like the last shot he made last night to put the Clippers up at one Oh five one Oh two. Uh, I think it was, yeah, this is the last shot he made last night to put, uh, uh, the Clippers up at one oh five, one oh two. Uh, I think it was, yeah, this is the last shot of the game. Um, the last basket of the game. They ran a pick and roll to try and get Jamal Murray switched onto him. And for maybe the first time in the entire game, the nuggets decided we're not giving you this switch. We're going to hedge with Jamal Murray, risk leaving the screener who I think was Norm

Powell open and figure that part out. We're just not taking Aaron Gordon off you. And he was like, cool. Like Aaron Gordon is a tank. I'm, I'm totally cool with this. I'm still going to get to my spot. And he looked, he made that jumper from the right wing over Aaron Gordon. And it was vintage Kawhi, the height, the trajectory, the ease with what she got there against a defender who's one of the only guys in the league who can match his size, strength and athleticism.

And it was just like walk in the freaking park. Denver was basically an underdog heading into the series. Clippers were minus one 18 favorites. Denver wins game one. I talked about this Sunday night. It flips just a little. So Denver became a minus one 18 favorite. Whereas the Minnesota things flipped wildly.

Now on Fandl, the Clippers are minus one 80 to win the series. And honestly, if you, if you tell me you know, way to know this, but if you're like, why is playing the rest of the series and it'll be at the level you're saying, I don't see how Denver wins. I also think Denver has some real issues. It goes beyond the Westbrook stuff. It's just rocky. Like, you gotta be, for what this Clippers team is

with Kawhi, you have to be pretty sure of who you are and what you are. And the Nuggets, all they know is that Jokic is fucking awesome. And I don't think they know anything else about their team, right? And they don't be on six guys. They don't even know who the seventh guy is. And he's getting frustrated too. Um, he's getting frustrated with the officials. He's been pretty demonstrative, not in a bad way, but with teammates

trying to point them in the right direction. Seven turnovers, missed some big free throws in both games, including two late in game one, only six of 10 from the line yesterday. Well, don't, doesn't he look a little worn down to you too? I'd be worn down carrying it. I thought last night as a, as a giant Yoke-age watcher, as I know you are too, but last night the guy seemed like he was physically beaten up last night. You know, he said 20 minor injuries, nothing major, but, um, I felt like I'm making excuses for him.

He sucked last night down the stretch. He's bad. It's funny you say that because I was, I was in my notes. I was taking on the game. I can't remember when it was in the game, but I'm paying very close attention to every Murray Jokic pick and roll, how the nuggets decide to guard it different ways, different, their default strategy has been X, Y, and Z. And there were two in a row, I think in the third quarter, maybe where they

didn't, they didn't need to do anything dramatic. They didn't even need to do the, their sort of usual response to it so far in this series, because Jokic didn't pop to three, which is dangerous for them. And he didn't roll into floater area for like a pocket pass from Murray, which is a danger area for them. So Zubac just kind of saw, he just sort of stood at the point of the screen,

like 19 feet from the basket. And Zubac was like, oh cool, I can just sort of drop back and play this like a normal pick and roll. And the worst case scenario is he gets a 20 foot jump shot. This is a nice reprieve. And I just took note of those. Cause I was like, I, you don't see him do that very, very often.

And I said in my notes, like maybe he's tired. It's he shouldn't be, he's playing 40 gazillion minutes every night on a team that needs him to do literally everything on offense for them to survive. Yeah. It was four for eight from three last night. I just remember it triggered me in the memories of the Minnesota series last year when I just thought he lost his legs as that series went on because they,

they were just absolutely murdering him game after game. And they had so many big bodies that throw them. Then by the end of it, the three, the three pointer started to go. When he starts missing free throws, I always feel like that's a bad sign, but I just think the burden he's carrying on this team, especially not knowing if Porter's going to show up or not. Porter showed up last night and rebounded. I don't know if he's going to show up for game three. This seems like a team,

and we've watched a lot of playoffs and I'm even older than you. This seems like a team teetering on this could really go badly in these next two Kuiper games, or they'll just look, Yokocho will be great in game three and be like, Oh, what were we worried about? But I just feel like they're like, if I go through every other team, like the Knicks have real problems. We knew this. I don't, I didn't really change anything. I thought of the Knicks other than I was surprised how well the Pistons have played. Uh, the seven of the eight quarters,

they look good, right? They had one horrible quarter and it's a one-one series. The Knicks, we knew they didn't have a bench. We knew they were going to have to play too many minutes with those guys. Um, Denver, I could just see this going any direction now. And I think the Clippers are better than them. So we'll see with Kawhi, but I'm glad we captured this moment because can I just add one more thing that is too irresistible given that this is a podcast with you? I think about Kauai a hundred nights a year, 50 nights a year for this reason and this reason only.

I don't even know if you remember this. After the 2017 season when Russ wins the MVP and averages a triple double, you voted for Harden, I believe, right? It was the most we've ever texted about an MVP and you did a classic Zach Ropedope and you went, how though I could feel you going toward Kawhi. That was one where I just felt it in my gut. But anyway, so you voted for Harden and you're so proud of the vote that I believe you had them made. You or someone at Grantland had them, had these shirts made. I should have brought it, but it looks disgusting. Right side of history.

It's a white t-shirt and it says 2017 MVP, right side of history. And it has a photo of Russ and a photo of Hardin and a checkmark in a box next to Hardin and now that's been, that's in my pajama rotations, it's one of my pajama shirts, so I look at it and it makes me smile, but it also pisses me off because I have the wrong vote for me on the shirt. I need a Kawhi version of, I look at the shirt, Kawhi's not on it, it's the right side of history

is James Harden, and they're like, well that's not my side of history, but I wear it anyway as pajamas. So I think about the 2017 MVP, like a third of the year, because it's pajamas. Did you vote for Harden second? Probably. I think so. I'd have to go look it up. I probably did. Yeah. That was the year, like LeBron was fourth and you just felt like this is insane or that, you know, this is the way this is breaking. How? Why? But there's a...

But that's how it broke. There, the LeBron MVP conversation goes every once in a while. The only one he has a case for that, you know, this is the way this is breaking. How, why? But that's how it broke. The LeBron MVP conversation goes every once in a while. The only one he has a case for after 2013 is the 18-1 when Harden beat him. I voted for Harden, man. And the numbers were around the same. I voted for Harden too, but Houston won 65 games

and, you know, Cleveland. LeBron spent six straight weeks pouting and giving everyone. Which nobody remembers from basketball reference. He did his whole team. It was like, I need you to trade all these, all these people. Basketball reference doesn't capture that unfortunately, but that's, that's the one that I think people mentioned it hard and clearly should have won that year. All right, Zach, you have a podcast coming Thursday. Thursday we're going to recap everything that happens Wednesday and Tuesday, depending

on which series we have time to talk about and look ahead to games threes and games fours. I think that's coming right off a Warriors Rockets game too. And it's coming right off Lakers. Wolves will have a couple extra days of rest. So we'll see if the Lakers are down to two. It's going to be Defcon Defcon one across the airwaves, baby. Let's go Are you on Kamiga watch or if you just sold out your stock and given up? I'm gonna keep the stock because I'm going down with the ship

I still Tim Legler and I used to joke that we needed t-shirts made on We could wear on television and the t-shirts would have just said John I think cominga is good because we were both that like we both would just be like I don't understand like we think this guy's Good Warriors fans. It's incredibly polarizing. Some of them just think he stinks. I still think he's interesting and good, but I You know if they're not dusting them off now and they're winning games I I kind of think the ship has sailed but you never know in the play out, the longer you stay in the playoffs, if they get through this series, you know, the matchups change, someone gets hurt. You never know. But I, I don't even think about him anymore. Sadly.

I don't think Steve Kerr does either. Zach, fantastic to see you. I'm so glad you're with us. Thanks for coming on. Thanks for having me. All right. We're taping this part of the podcast early my time on Tuesday morning because Peter Schrager is about to fly to Green Bay for the NFL draft. Why are we having the NFL draft in Green Bay, the single hardest city to get to out of all the NFL cities? Why are we doing this? So hard.

Planes, trains and automobiles. Uh, I think the NFL has decided that sunny weather and new stadiums get the Superbowl and then cold weather, Cleveland, Philly, Detroit, Green Bay, you get the draft. But yes, this will be a different destination than just a direct flight on Delta to Detroit like last year. I forgot to introduce you as ESPN's Peter Schrader. The worldwide leader. You paved the way for me and now I'm here.

Here we go. What way did I pave? I started reading you back in 2002 at my college dorm on ESPN page two and I said, someday I want to write for that website. I didn't realize that 23 years later I'd be on air doing it on ESPN, but I'm here, Bill. Let's go. Have they, what's the longest stretch, what's the longest day you've had?

Like how many shows have you done in one day? Did you do a three show day yet? I did, I'm about to experience what they call the car wash at the draft. I got my schedule, it's like, so Thursday morning you're gonna do Get Up, then you're gonna do Sports Center, and then you're gonna do NFL Live, and then you're gonna do, and I'm like, okay going to do NFL Live and then you're going to do it.

And I'm like, okay, all right, so we'll see how this goes. But I'm an egomaniac. I'm a narcissist. I like seeing myself on TV and I'm cool with that. You love this stuff though. You're ready to do multiple hours at a time. I mean, you were just on Get Up an hour ago and now you're on this podcast. You're ready to go.

No doubt. I'm excited. And it's funny, like we're sitting in the Get Up production meeting, and it's Marcus Morris, and it's Damian Woody, and it's Carlos Boozer, and we're talking about the Knicks. And you know, I'm a diehard Knicks fan. And I'm just, like, trying to stay quiet, because I'm here for NFL Draft stuff, and I just spill my heart.

I'm like, I just can't watch Devin Chenzo hitting threes, and Randall Boyle LeBBron and Hartnestein looking like he's an all-world center. And I'm looking at Carl Anthony Townes unable to score and Dennis Schroeder all up in everyone's face or Schroeder. So they let me talk about the Knicks, which was fun. And I'll tell you, man, all these ESPN shows, I was biting my tongue last week. It's like, if they don't get past the Celtics and the Cavs, is it a disappointment

for the Knicks? I'm like, the Celtics and the Cavs, like I'm petrified of the Pistons and here we are and you're going to go to the game tonight or whatever, and you're going to see Di Vincenzo and Randall light it up again. And the Knicks had zero from Kat and zero from Mikhail Bridges when it mattered. Yeah. It does feel like the Knicks fans didn't have enough time to enjoy whatever the team that kind of blossomed last year was.

And then all of a sudden it just blew up. I don't think, I personally don't think Tibbs is the right coach for the team that they currently assembled. And maybe we'll find that out after the year, whether they agree with me. But you know, they played the two games against the Pistons at home and they lost seven of the eight quarters basically. No doubt. And they lost seven of the eight quarters, basically. No doubt. And they look like the better team or the better coach team. And a campaign in the first game scores 14 and is like this huge spark plug off

the bench. He gets three fouls early. We don't see him the rest of the night. And they had eight bench points, eight. And they're all from Deuce McBride. None of them of great significance. So as a Knicks fan, I'm sitting here, the series is tied at one, but I'm not exactly full of optimism, but that's what I bring to ESPN.

That's what I bring. Your multi-sport capability, passion, optimism. We're gonna talk NFL draft, which we haven't talked about in the last like five, six weeks as I've thrown myself into it. I don't even know where to start. Cause on the one hand, it feels like a draft that can go chalk. You were on get up today reporting that, uh, teams are trying to trade up for two or three and we don't even really know for who, whether it's like a Travis hunter

play as an Abdul Carter play is it. I just refuse to believe Sanders is a top three pick at this point. Even if the Giants want to take him at three, why wouldn't they just flip picks with the Patriots and try to get like a third round pick or anything? Why would they take him at three? Why don't move back? When I move back one spot,

I can't imagine in a million years he goes three. I'm not even sure he goes in the first round. I don't think Sidor Sanders was ever a top three pick. This was my big treatise on the NFL draft world and the NFL. I really value what Mel Kuiper has to say. Daniel Jeremiah is the best in the business. All of these different pundits on TV, for a good month there after the combine, it was like, well, you've got Cam Ward, you was like, well, you've got, you know, Kim Ward,

you got Abdul Carter, you've got Travis Hunter, you got Shador Sanders. Like at no point in this process was anyone telling me that Shador Sanders was a top five pick or a top 10 pick. And then even when the Saints, like Nebula's Derek Carr injury, which I roll my eyes about, I don't know what's the story there, but Derek Carr- Do you think that was an ooh my arm? I roll my eyes about. I don't know what's the story there, but Derek Carr is now-

You think that was an ooh my arm? I think it's broken. No, no. I can't say anything publicly because then it comes out. But that one came out of nowhere. I don't think the Saints saw that one coming. Derek Carr's shoulder and everyone just like, ooh, Saints aren't going to take him. Guys, I think everyone's mistaking what we want Shador Sanders to be into what the NFL evaluators see him as. So here's my take on Shador. If he goes three to the Giants, this is one of those cases where they did all the work,

they feel comfortable with him. And it's like, if we like him at 15 or we like him at 20 in this year's draft, who cares? If it's not one of the blue chip guys. Take them at three. We've got our quarterback. We took them at three. We're good. This is the bone next Denver last year, right? No doubt. You know what? We like them. Would you take him 12? Yeah. Blake Bortles to Jacksonville. I remember that pick also. He went third overall and it was like they took Blake Bortles third. It was a big surprise. If we like them as a quarterback in the first round and we have the third pick, we're not going to get cued here.

So that's it with Shadour and we're recording this on Wednesday. I could tell you there is a... Sorry, what is today? Today's Tuesday. There is a meeting that's going to happen on Wednesday between John Marrow and all of the brain trusts from the Giants and they're going to go through their draft board. And they've talked, of course, it's been fluid throughout, but this is one of those where

does the owner step in and say, guys, I am not going through another draft year where we don't get a quarterback. If we like Shador, I'm okay with you taking a man at three. I don't see it happening right now. I see a far more likely scenario being the Giants take Abdul Carter minute three. I don't see it happening right now. I see a far more likely scenario being the Giants take Abdul Carter at three and then they trade back into the first round and get either Jackson Dart or Shador Sanders. But just to empty the bag a little bit on this whole thing, the Giants have been to multiple Shador Sanders games. I know Joshain

himself was at a practice earlier this year. They went, they sent 13 people to the pro day. He came to New Jersey. They not only did a visit with him, they then took him out to dinner in Jersey. And then last week they went back out there for a private workout, which I'm told went well. That and Pat Shermer is his offensive coordinator at, you know, in and he's got

great relationships with Dable and Shane. So you've got like, if you don't want to look at the Dion side of it, there's also another voice in there. That said, Joe Shane's daughter goes to Ole Miss. He's been around that program a whole bunch. Joe Judge, former head coach of the Giants also, works for Ole Miss football right now. So there are people in the organization who are still employed by the Giants who can get the full story on Jackson Dart from Joe Judge, who still talks to those guys.

Charlie Weiss's kid calls the plays. Brian Dable and Charlie Weiss, the Casteeves, have a long relationship. So as much as we want to say, well, they put all this time into Shador, they know Jackson Dart also. So I am not convinced that Shador is this quarterback. The Giants are certainly being linked to. I think Jackson Dart could easily be that guy as well. Shepter had a tidbit about how, which I agree with, that some organizations slash coaching staffs would be afraid of taking Sanders because Dion is just looming over you as your replacement as head coach

the moment you take his son. Which I think ties into what I see with the Giants. And I have some intel on the Pats. The Pats don't know what the Giants are gonna do. And the Pats are heading into this draft prepared to not know up until the giants are on the clock and then building out all their scenarios from there. But I think the Intel, a lot of people are having are you have the people who they

might not be there in a year and the giants, right? The GM, the coach, well, they just can, can we just take the best possible player and whatever you have the longterm planning people who were like, maybe we could turn this pick into a bigger asset. And then you have the owner who knows what the family thinks. So you basically have three different sides, all who have these vested interests. Like what if Deball's like,

I'm gonna get fired unless we take Sanders at three and he's good. If Sanders is at three and he's good, I might keep my job for a little bit. He might also think the opposite way and be like, if we take Sanders, I'm definitely getting fired. No doubt. So I just said, it's so interesting how many different agendas are going on and what a mess they've been for the last decade, which is just the fact.

The word, the word is a giant Delta on what, on what Sanders is draft stock could be and three is where a fact. The word is a giant delta on what Sanders' draft stock could be. Three is where it begins. I will not close the door on the Giants at three because of exactly what you're saying. There's different agendas going on. There also might be different evaluations and there's different philosophies on, hey, if we draft Abdul Carter and he gets seven sacks and we're five and 12, that doesn't help any of us. It it doesn't necessarily do anything to strengthen the team far greater than what they have, which is Brian Burns and Dexter

Lawrence and Kayvon Tibbito. They have defensive line. So it's not like this is some pressing need that would just be, hey, he could be Micah Parsons or hey, he could be Lawrence Taylor. That's why you take him up at three. But Miles Garrett might be the best pass rusher in the sport. There's been a lot of turnover in Cleveland since they took Miles Garrett. You get a quarterback and suddenly you say, okay, well, Dable's a quarterback guy. We've got to pay some time here to see this quarterback develop a little bit. That's why we have Russ. And then you kind of give yourself a little breathing room and say, well, there's obviously signs of development

I would also add with the the Shador thing He could go three there. He could still be on the board at 34 hmm, so to me this is one of those where and I I've said it and I get like people get caught up in the comparison, but Not since Johnny Menzel have we had a prospect where I walked into draft night and said, this guy can go first overall or this guy doesn't even belong in the first round because of so many differing

opinions. And my last point on- Well, Lamar had like what? Like a 20-pick swing for where he could go. Yeah. It would have been shocking if he was in the high teens, it would have been shocking if he fell to the second round. Yeah, and what's amazing about the Lamar one is that

people forget the Ravens took Hayden Hurst at 22. So it's not like he was, they took a tight end and then they traded back and Lamar says, I'm going to get you guys a Super Bowl ring. And it's like, all right, we'll see. Well, sure enough, he's, he's everything you'd want more. But people forget that 30 teams passed on him, including the Baltimore Ravens. Well, that's the Patriots and Brady.

They passed on him in the fourth round and the fifth round. No doubt. And then they took him in the sixth round. So it's like smart, but you also passed on him. The Dion thing is interesting. So Shador Sanders has never played for a coach other than his dad. Yeah. In high school and in college.

Red flag? What's up? Is that a red flag or is that just weird? I asked the question and then it's, well, he didn't do that. He just played for his father and that's fine. The other side of it is like Dion's shadow might be large, but like if you're a coach and you're that insecure, then you probably

have your own issues. Mike Tomlin is the reason I would think Pittsburgh makes sense because Mike Tomlin is not going to be nervous of Deion Sanders talking in the media locally about his son. That said, you go to a weaker coaching staff in a weaker market and they're one in seven and Shador's still not on the field. Dion might have something to say. A couple other things just because... Wait, can I ask you a question before you do the couple other things? Yeah. What's the craziest team in round one that could take Shador that you think there's actually like

a 1% chance it could happen. So it's completely insane, but also you can see it. Is there a team? There's two teams. Okay. Not at 11, but you're telling me Chador is still on the board at 30, 31, 32. And we've got Brock Purdy talking about where he wants and what he wants the San Francisco, you know, pull the plug and just say, screw it.

We'll take two young quarterbacks. We'll see. We'll still sign for maybe, you know, But not at 11, but maybe a trade back. Yeah. Okay. And then Seattle who gave Sam Darnold a three year deal, but there's a lot of ways out of that three year deal after the first year or second year.

If Seattle was to look at things and say, we like Shador, and let's just give ourselves some security here behind him, that would be two teams that I think that no one's talking about. That could be a possibility. San Francisco one would be a giant leverage play just to press it to Purdy and put him in a corner because he's there. Those contract talks are going on right now. And I don't think they'd ever waste a first round pick to just make a point.

I think Purdy is the guy they want, but you talk about him slipping. Who knows? All right. We'll hold on the Niners cause I want to come back to them. What was your couple other things that you had off this? You know, Dion has a lot of people that he's done work with and works with in the media. I think there's been a little bit of the sensitivity of being negative on Shador. I don't know if it's helped Shador in the long run because now, if Shador doesn't go

in the first 20 picks, it's this great slide. Deon worked for CBS. Deon worked for NFL Network for many years. Dion has obviously great relationships with Fox and he's got a show on Qubi. He's got a documentary on Amazon. We all love Dion who worked in the media at any spot with him. I worked with Dion at NFL Network. He's amazing and he's like a great, great dude.

So I think this whole lead up to the draft, the people who have been talking about the draft are careful. I don't know if that's done him any favors if there is a slide in the draft. That would also add- And meanwhile, people are saying like, eh, he might be Andy Dalton, Teddy Bridgewater, like that level, that's probably the ceiling.

I think your guy McShea had some things to say out of the combine, and it was as if he had like, you know, said something about- McShea's been consistent this whole time. He just doesn't have him as a top 25 guy period. 100%. And, you know, for Todd to do that, that's him going out on a limb. I think some other people have been out there saying, I don't see him as this guy.

But it's a lot safer just to say, ah, yeah, we like Shador. But when the rubber hits the road, who's going to be there answering the questions as to why is he slipping out? Listen, after, after Knicks last year, I just think that's the league now. If you like your guy, who cares? Who's going to remember 10 years ago, what number in the draft he was? Like, if you want your guy, you want your guy. And if you talk yourself into a QB, which is the make or break position every year, you're going to do it.

And it doesn't really matter where you take them. Three is too high. I would also add this with the Shador thing. So, obviously, all eyes have been on him. Huge spotlight. They had reality shows at Amazon. Dion has the famous video of him with the amazing, you know, draft day look at Andrew Kramer in his living room.

I don't know what the plans are to cover Shador during draft day, but like, if there's 10 cameras in his living room and we've got, you know, wall to wall coverage of him, that tells me they know something. And if there isn't that, that tells me that this thing is still very undetermined. So I would almost approach the day of the draft and see, okay, well, let's see how much access we have to the Sanders family. Now all that could be moot and they're doing their own documentary and maybe they're filming something that we don't even know about. They've already sold the rights to Fubo or to Netflix or whoever. But like these guys have never shied away from the spotlight.

And I'd be curious to see how much spotlight and attention that they're getting or they're asking for on the day of the draft. Did Fubo come after you when you were a free agent or was there a Fubo? I'm waiting for the Fubo officer. No Fubo talks? No Fubo. Can we just all agree, and maybe I'm saying this selfishly as a Pats fan with the fourth pick in a three-part draft, the most fun outcome to all of this is the Pats and Giants flip picks.

The Pats take Carter. Sanders goes to the Giants at four. And we just get to talk about that for the rest of the off season, heading into the thing. And maybe he's a little better than we thought. And the Giants fans will talk themselves into him almost immediately. Um, them taking Carter is just a weird pick. That's another piece of this like,

that team needed, that team has holes everywhere. I would say the only thing they don't really need to address in the 2025 draft is the defensive line. They've got one, they've got one of the better young defensive lines in football. You could argue Dexter Lawrence is the best defensive tackle in the sport. And then Tibbetto is entering his fifth year. So obviously he's got a contract situation that's looming. And then on the other end for burns, like burns, they spent a lot of money on. You're almost like, do you take Carter?

Like you, maybe you shop Tibbetto at that point and you just decide not to pay him. Like for a team that has holes everywhere, it just seems like such a weird pick to me. But that's how top of this draft is until we get to Gentie who's the wild card of everything. Um, I want to talk about that. Let's take a break quick. All right. Gentie the running back, uh, just a beast.

He's doing the thing where he's just calling out teams. If you take me, I'm going to be awesome. Here's my, here's my letter. Here's my promise. It's a position that, you know, you think back to when Zeke Elliott was in the draft and he was awesome. That was 2016 and he seems like he's a hundred years old now and he's like 31. Um, it's a seven, eight year shelf life. You might get the guy in the rookie contract plus one more contract.

If you get eight, nine, 10 years out of a running back, it's amazing. And yet he has a chance to be immediately one of the top five guys at his position. Now it's a position that when you're paying for it, when you see like free agency and you see the numbers, different positions get, what did Barclay get? What was his last contract? Like 16, 17 a year. Yeah. You got a new extension from the Eagles.

We finally got made whole, but it was a free agent range. It was 12. Yeah. Or 12. So McCaffrey is like somewhere in the 12th to 14 with some bonus. Yeah. McCaffrey and Saquon both are like 16, 17 right now. Right.

So the high end is 16, 17. If I have one of the top five left tackles, that high end is, you know, in the high 20s. If I have one of the best nose tackles, that high end is what the Patriots played Williams. That's, you know, that's in the mid 20s. If I have a cornerback or a receive, cornerback might be high 20s. Receiver, the market now is like low 30s. If I have a cornerback or receive cornerback might be high twenties receiver. The market now is like low thirties quarterback is 50 edge rusher. That's in the thirties now.

So I look at like where the pats are picking at four and it's like, you can take Gentoo, you have a top five guy at your position going forward, but it's a position that is valued at 13 to 16 million a year at the highest possible end of it. But if you take the edge rusher from Georgia and he's good, that's now like a $28 million a year guy. So I don't understand why teams don't just think this way. Like what is, what are the best players worth in our salary cap and why don't they just

shift their drafts that way? But they don't think that way. Well, they're not thinking about the second, they're not thinking about the second contract, they're thinking about the first one. And if you get a guy who can get you 10 sacks to 15 sacks in the first round and you're paying him rookie numbers for the first four years, well, then you're getting the biggest bang for your buck. And eventually you have to, you're getting an $8 million guy for that's worth 28, who's getting you 15 sacks.

That's why, like, I would just be talking about this constantly. If I ran an NFL team, like that's why the Will Campbell thing, if Will Campbell goes for, and he's the 15th best left tackle in the league, it's like, that sucks. We don't even have one of the best 14 left tackles, but he's still worth like 29 million a year as a left tackle. And here's, here's the, and like everyone I've spoken to is obsessed with gente. Right. It is a home run. This is, there is no holes in his game. The pushback I got last night. Like a rich man, Jameer Gibbs, basically. Yeah. And, and he, he's so small to the ground. Like a rich man, Jameer Gibbs, basically? Yeah. And he's so small to the ground.

His way he runs, he does the upright and then he goes low. You cannot bring him down. And what he did in the college level, there's a lot of stuff about him that you'll want to run through a wall for. The fact that he was offered crazy money in NIL going into his last year and he's like, no, I've got a job to do at Boise. I'm staying at Boise. But that's the, it goes a long way in today's day and age of NIL when these coaches and

GMs are talking to players who've been to four colleges each to take the more dollar sign each time. Right. It's like my guy Drake May in North Carolina. No doubt. My home is here. You had to finish it out. My lower case are here.

That's it. It's planted roots. Here's where the pushback is. Last year, there are all these running backs in the draft. Do you know who the leading rusher of all the rookie running backs was? It was Bucky Irving, who was a fourth-rank pick. Wow. That's the problem.

The second leading rusher of all the rookies was Tyrone Tracy for the Giants, who quietly put together a thousand yard season while everyone was crying about Saquon leaving. He did basically what Saquon did the year before in that Giants offense. Yeah. So, the opportunity cost of missing out and the gap of, okay, well, we get Gentie, he could be amazing. And Jameer Gibbs was behind the best offensive line in football.

And in a lot of ways, Saquon last year took this giant leap. Not because, yes, Saquon's amazing, but he also was behind that Jeff Stathlin offensive line and it was a perfect fit. If your team has a ton of holes and your offensive line isn't great, taking a running back when, oh, I don't know, a left tackle or a pass rusher. However, Bill, this draft, there's three great players in this draft. And I will say that there are three great players. It's Carter, it's Hunter, and it's Gentie.

So if there ever was a year where you take a guy in the top five at running back, if you're Jacksonville, close your eyes, you take Gentie, you put him in there, you have your running back, and then you deal with everything and you know you have that guy because at five Mason Graham or Ted McMillan, like those are questions. Gentie is a sure thing. This guy is awesome. So this is the year for a top five running back because of the rest of that class up top.

Here's the problem. I just was looking up as you're talking the 2023 draft. Let's go. B John goes a Tatlanta. Solid pick. as you were talking the 2023 draft. Let's go. Bijan goes eight to Atlanta. Solid pick. Everybody was like, one of the best running back prospects of the last decade. This guy's awesome.

I like it. Jalen Carter goes ninth. Yeah. What's a more important position? Who's gonna make more money on their second contract? Like you think it's like, now you look back and like, wow, that was stupid. Now there are reasons Jaylen Carter fell to nine. Look, who'd the Raiders take it seven that year?

Look at that. Tyree Wilson. Yeah. So you pass on Jaylen Carter for Tyree Wilson. However, Bill, if you put Jaylen Carter in Vegas, is it the same situation? I don't know. It's a great question. Jameer Gibbs goes 12.

You were all excited about, we were doing podcasts that year and you were like, this is an amazing pick. This is like a toy for the lions that this weapon they just get to use and move around. I think the difference with Gentie that would really fuck with me if I was in a draft room is that he's just three downs. You have a guy who doesn't basically have to come off the field would really fuck with me if I was in a draft room is that he's just three downs. You have a guy who doesn't basically have to come off the field who can play however many downs touches, whatever. Yeah.

I look at the Patriots, they don't have enough left tackle, but they had him and Drake May is it, does this become Peyton Manning, Edger and James for seven years. And you can keep them on, you know, third down. Now, now he's like probably our best receiver field. Anyway, I don't think they should take them at four, but I'm sure they've had the conversation, but it seems like if he goes to the Bears at 10, I wonder if that's like a Gibbs kind of toy situation. Like, Whoa, I don't see him going past 10. I don't either. Um, I look at New Orleans at nine, Kamara is the last year of his deal and, you know,

Kellen Moore, new coach. That's a tough beat for New Orleans though, who has 40 holes. Yeah, no, I know. But what's your identity going to be your first pick of the new coach? Like what are you going to be if Genties there? I like that. I, I mean, I like it. I like it at six, obviously.

I think there's a little too much about the Raiders that that tells me if they're talking about Genties so much usually a little smoky, but to me, five Jacksonville, James Gladstone, interesting guy, 34 year old new GM from the Rams and Liam Cohen, like Schefter had it in his column on Sunday and I've heard the same thing. They're going offense. What's our identity going to be? Now, if you're James Gladstone coming from the Rams where character was everything when they did their board and they had a whole philosophy and I've been in the room with

Les and with McVeigh and it's like, what do we stand for? What is, Ted McMillan, great player, great kid. The questions are, does he love football? Is his heart in this? He took plays off. Is that going to be your first pick as a GM of a team? This is what we stand for. This is my rep, Ted McMillan. This is my guy.

I don't know. Ashton Gentry, you can look at everyone in that room and say, this is what we're about. This kid right here, this is what we stand for. And this is what Jaguars football is going to be. So I think he could go as high as five. I don't know why. The locker room every morning. Last guy to leave. Let's go to leave. Warrior. I don't know why we haven't heard more about the Patriots taking them.

You know, to me, their team has been lacking offensive firepower. And if Campbell's not Orlando Pace or Jonathan Ogden, then why is he such a slam dunk? So to me, it's not my pick. Elliot Wolf and Mike Vrabel will make it. And I hear that there's a lot of love for Campbell in that building and great. Abdul Carter would be a wonderful selection at four as well.

But like for whatever reason, Genti has been like crossed off the list from Patriots, but then the Jaguars it's like, yep, that works for us. Couple of things in Campbell's favor, just in general, Van Lathan, giant OSU fan, absolutely loves him. Thinks he's a warrior. He was in the ESCC just battling. I'll give Van credit. He was big on Brian Thomas last year.

Van and Jaden Daniels was another one. He absolutely loved Jaden Daniels. Van's been good. Cause I didn't see Nas Reed being this at LSU and Nas Reid doesn't miss a shot. I don't remember his Nas Reid takes. Campbell. So he shows up, what is he 18 as a freshman and he's just immediately thrown into the fire. Like a man's man leader, played every play, tough as nails.

I heard this tidbit about Vraybug. I don't know if you've heard it. Okay. And it seems insane. And I loved it. And I'm going to share it here. Apparently when he's working out people, he has this thing about body mass and feeling like banging bodies.

And if it's the right kind of player that they're looking at, who actually put on the pads and bounce against them to feel what their body's like. Like he's a big, how sturdy are you? How physical? Dude, he's done it at pro days. Okay. So you know about this. He'll do it publicly.

Yeah. Cause I was like, there's no way he's retired for 15 years. He'll do wrestling moves with the player and get him in all these weird positions to see how he reacts. No, it's real. Okay. So I would say like, Will Campbell who poor Will Campbell that his arms aren't an inch longer, right? It's an inch is like this big, by the way. And it's like,

Oh, couldn't get to 34 inches. I don't know. Meanwhile, there's a bunch of like Sean Slater has been pretty good. Yeah. That was a knock on him. Joe Thomas has been okay. Yep. But it just feels like Will Campbell, I could see Brayville putting the pads on him and hitting him and be like, yeah, this is my kind of body mask guy. I just think they're going to take him. Yeah.

And it's like, look, if he, maybe he won't ever be one of the eight best left tackles in the league, but this is a guy who would be, he's going to be a leader. He's durable. Um, and he will be in the top half of left tackles, which is all you need because you can't find them. They're not falling out of trees period. Is it a great, is it a great failure and a great disappointment if a year and you're like, he's a good left tackle, but gosh, he's an amazing left guard. And do we move him inside and do we put someone else on tackle? Could you be a four time all pro at left guard? Like, is that a loss?

Quinton Nelson went six overall. Is Quinton Nelson a loss for the Colts? Like, no. No, no, he's great. He was the best at his position for a decade. Like, I think he'd sign up for that. But that's what, when you're picking fourth or you're picking fifth or you're picking third,

if you're in the top five, I have to get a blue chipper. And the only way I'm not doing that is if, if there's some quarterback that I'm doing my 50-50 coin toss on. And Bill, last year, Malik neighbors was a blue chipper. Joe Alt was a blue chipper. This year, I hate to be so dismissive and I think it actually adds to the intrigue of the draft. They're just not there. You can't make Will Campbell into a blue chipper this year. I hate to be so dismissive and I think it actually adds to the

intrigue of the draft. They're just not there. You can't make Will Campbell into a blue chipper. You just can't. So he's looked at it. Would that guy from Pittsburgh who nobody had ever heard of who signed as a free agent, the left tackle more. Yeah.

Yeah. Did he get like 20 million a year? Yes. And everybody was like, we're not sure he's a starter. 20 million a year for somebody. Yes. And, and everybody was like, we're not sure he's a starter. So when you think of it that way, if Campbell could just be the 14th best left tackle in the league, if that's his ceiling, it's like, well, that's

probably a $29 million player. Armand Membou, Armand Membou, known and ever heard of, and that's dismissive. I shouldn't say it that way, but he wasn't. No, he was a fast riser though. There's no question. He was definitely coming on starting in the combine was an way, but he wasn't. No, no, he was a fast riser though. There's no question. He was definitely coming on strong and then the combine was an absolute revelation. So if you're talking about arm length and that stuff and Campbell, maybe. Memboo's a tackle.

He's a pure tackle and he has huge upside. I would always take the pedigree of the blue chipper who's done it, but I'm the same guy who would have taken Mac Jones over Trey Lance. I like knowing what I'm getting. You look at some of these teams, like the Chargers last year, their first four picks were out of Notre Dame, Michigan, Alabama, USC. That's what they do. Memboo comes out of Missouri, doesn't have the same pedigree, doesn't have the same sort

of resume But is this physical freak? Where do you stand on Memboo versus Campbell who you know what you're getting with? Well Campbell, it's solid. It's a guy as solid as a rock But he might not ever end up being like I said in Orlando pace or Trent Williams or a Jonathan Ogden type Obviously, I've done a lot of Memboo work Yeah, I have two questions. One, did Vrebal put the pads on with him yet? Bang and feel him out and put him in some wrestling moves. Does Vrebal like his body mass?

That would be one. Two- I do know this. The Patriots have been doing work on Memboo and this is this week. They've made some calls and they've been asking around. So that door is not shut yet. So this is what I know and what I've heard with the Pats where there's

two types of players you're picking, right? And Belichick, I think his, his mistake, especially over the last 10 years was he would default toward these winning programs, you know, and you're getting guys from LSU, Alabama, who have already been maximized because those teams have the greatest possible college coaching staff. So you're getting somebody out of there and they've already been really well schooled. They've been, whatever's in there, a lot of it's been pulled out and that's why it's safer bets to take some of these guys. The question for the Pats is they have an awesome coaching staff now that they feel really good

about. And can you look at some of these guys from schools that maybe, maybe weren't the greatest, maybe didn't have like a defensive coordinator making $2 million a year or whatever. And maybe there's, there's some raw gem stuff for there. And it's like, well, what, what happens if we take this raw, awesome piece of something who's already has blue chip talent and we pull him into our universe and we coach them up? I think that's what Washington thought last year with some of their guys, right? They thought like they went and got these B list veterans, put a bunch of like smart, just tough vets, and then kind of took some chances on, that guy was never in the right situation.

Let's, let's give him a test drive. Cause we love our nucleus. I think that's how the paths are feeling, which is why I think Membo can't be ruled out at four. That's really interesting. And the, the, the Washington approach, which was Adam Peters, who has a history with new England was exactly what you said, let's get a veteran for every position group and that was Zach Ertz and Austin Eckler and Marcus Mariota and Frankie Louvue and Zach Ertz. You go through

all these guys that were not hot. But let's also get assistant coaches who are overqualified at all these different spots, which is kind of what the Pats are doing. And then they took a guy like Mike Santastril in the draft, who everyone was like, well, he's a nickel. He's not really worthy of having. And then he was an all world rookie for the commanders out of the gate. Um, I pushed back on the Patriots thing at the end of Belichick's stay. It was like Kyle Dugger from Lenore Rine. And then he took Cole Strange.

Like, right. Well, they went older. That was a new strategy near the end. Older guys who they could come in right away and be plug and play, which also didn't really work that way. I'm curious about the Patriots. I do think, my report today is real. Cleveland is getting calls.

Does Cleveland just say, you know what, we're not a Travis Hunter away from being relevant? They should 100% trade back. What are they doing? Trade back. And the Giants are a little more complicated. They have no chance to win a Super Bowl for three years. No doubt, no doubt. So don't be shocked if Cleveland on Thursday

were on the clock. Well, Cleveland's traded and then some aggressive team that is a couple steps away made the move and because it's such a kind of depleted draft and because it's not a quarterback, it won't be the same bounty of picks that you usually get to move up to number two. Yeah.

But who, what team is that? Because if you go through it, it's not anybody else in the top five. It's not, I don't think it's the Raiders. I don't think it's the Raiders. The Jets, the Panthers are too far away. Like the Panthers move up for Abdul Carter. Maybe if I were them, I wouldn't. I, the bears were the one I was looking at as a move up team.

I think the bears are a trade back to them. Because they have some talent. I look at the Niners, the Niners window, right? Like now they've done this before. They went up and got Trey Lance. I don't see it. I don't see any of those teams in the top 15 being a, whoa, if we get this guy. Do you? Miami Dolphins? I don't know. Come on. in the top 15 being a, whoa, if we get this guy, do you Miami dolphins?

I don't know. I'm just throwing out teams that are a playoff team that didn't have what they thought they should be that are still in the team. That doesn't seem crazy to me as the Raiders just because new coach, new coach, new GM mid seventies, Tom Brady making a splash. They fall in love with Hunter. They think he can play both ways. And, um, wait, are you, do you, from what you, you talk to everybody and you do the on the record then off the record and you love hearing like little tidbits about character

and all the, all the stuff that sometimes you can't even use injury stuff. Is anyone worried about Carter and, and- Like, there's stuff coming out. The stress thing in his foot. It's not a stress fracture, but it's not great either. injuries stuff. Is anyone worried about Carter and like this stress coming out foot it's not a stress fracture but it's not great either like what is that? I'll say this. His dad like there's like it's it's Travis Hunter it's a buka out of out of Ohio State it's Gentie and you hear about Jalen Walker these are amazing kids then Carter comes up and it's Gentie, and you hear about Jalen Walker, these are amazing kids, then Carter comes up and it's,

guy can play, and he was tough, so I think there's some stuff about, you know, is this the all-world guy? But I'll tell you what, Charles Haley wasn't the all-world guy, and he won five championships. Yeah, some of that. Well listen, if you're a great edge rusher,

you gotta be a little selfish. Like, stuff like that. And at that position, like, it is what it is. You're not going to be a team guide. You're just trying to get the quarterback. That's it. The Giants passed on Micah Parsons a few years ago. They traded back and they ended up getting Kaderius Tony and they got an additional pick

the following year. It's an all-timer. It's an all-timer and it's really the original sin of this generation of the Giants. That and the Daniel Jones contract extension, if they were to pass on a guy who legitimately, not because they were the same number and not because they went to the same college, is compared to Micah Parsons, the way they used to met Penn State, the way he went into his coach's office that final year and he looked at James Franklin and said, I don't want to just be this.

Make me a guy who plays off the ball. Let me do all these things. And then did it at a higher level than Parsons in college. It would be an incredible, incredible mistake made twice, at least in my eyes. I don't think you pass on them, even if you have all these different pass rushers already. That said, there is the injury stuff. Didn't compete in the combine, didn't do it in the pro day. So if you want to make that a red flag, fine.

And then off the field, it's not like this you know, this guy is necessarily marrying your daughter. That's what they say. Now, none of that is criminal. None of that is this, but that's just the word around the street is that he's not the same type of, wow, you want to wrap your arms around him and give him a big old hug like Travis Hunter. It makes me like him more. I know. That's my past rusher. I don't need him to be trading jerseys after the game. I'm good. All right. So you be the Giants and I'll be, I'll be variable. Who's, who's taking the phone call for the Giants for a trade? Joe Shane.

Okay. You be Joe Shane. I'll be variable. Okay. Joe, how are you? Hey, what's up, Mike? You know what you're doing at three yet? You know, we still don't know. Um, the truth is I'll let you know when we do, but we're, we're leaning towards Carter, but the door is still open.

What do you got? I have an idea. We can flip picks three to four. I'll give you my second next year and I'll give you my fourth next year and you just move back one spot. That's my offer. And also I'm willing to talk about it a little bit. Who am I taking it for?

If that's the case, am I, what is your, what are you? Well, it's, I just, if you like Sanders, why don't take them at three, take them at four and get some stuff back. Interesting. So this is, this is what the Niners and Bears did a few years ago. I'm still playing Joe Shane, just giving a history lesson, uh, for Trevisky. They said, okay, we'll move up one spot. We'll move back.

We'll take Solomon Thomas, get a little extra. You know- What was the little extra for that? I can't remember for Trebesky. Wasn't that much, right? It was like a second? Wasn't that much. I believe it was the second round pick

and the Niners were doing flips. Well, what happens if you, Joe Shane, comes back and says, I'll flip spots with you, but I want your first next year. And I'll give you my third. Mike, Mike, what happens if we do this? I will flip spots with you, but I need next year's first.

What would you say? Give me a third back and it's, it's a done deal. Okay. We've got to think the hundred fourth pick is that, so you're saying the, I give you the third and the hundred fourth and I get next year's first Next year second and a fourth this year You want my fourth this year to yes, I need another pick Jesus I Gotta hang up I gotta I gotta talk to craft I guess that's a crafted at him for not taking week 18. And we just could have the first pass.

I gotta hang up and go scream at Drew Locke for throwing for 200 yards against the Colts in week 16. Yeah. See, the Pats need so many things. They're probably better off just staying at four and taking Will Campbell. But if they think Carter is Michael Parsons and the price would be flipping picks with the Giants, I think the Pats be flipping picks with the Giants. I think the Pats are going to be good next year.

I don't think they're going to be winning the Superbowl, but I think they could go nine and eight, 10 and seven if they hit a couple of picks. Roster's better, coach is better. If they think they can get a left tackle who can start next year at the top of the second round, I think you have to think about trying to trade up a spot. And I can't believe they're in this position because Buffalo out tanked them, which I'll never get over. No, Buffalo didn't play. That was crazy. That Buffalo game.

That was nuts. And then the Patriots. Buffalo was making the playoffs. Somehow out tanked us. Joe Milton just looking like Dan Marino out there. Yeah. Mike, wait, just hand the ball off and the guy's going to fall down. I have some lingering questions.

Last year, the shocker was Penex. Yeah. If you had to handicap this, what is the Penex bomb of this year? What is the shocker? The guy's name- You just had to have one guess. Guy's name is Gray Zable.

Has that name come across your board at all? Not that. I haven't done a lot of Gray Zable work. What is that? Offensive guard at a North Dakota state in the last 72 hours. I've gotten multiple calls from teams looking at my mock draft. Here's how I do it. I've talked to people.

I put together a mock draft and I send it to all the teams. I'm like, what am I missing? Who am I missing? What are you hearing? And a lot of teams will tell me, we actually like this guy more than this guy. So just put him there. If you want, I'll throw you a favor, throw you a bone on that. Or where's this player?

And unanimously I'm getting, where is Gray Zable in your top 20? The first in the top 20. Watch for Gray Zable out of North Dakota state to suddenly be one of these guys who goes like 15, 17, 18, 19, even if it's early 20s, a player who had the senior ball played well and then you didn't hear from him again. And he's an offensive guard, but he's looked at as like one of these wallers and in a draft full of just meh. He is one of these guys that they think the sky could be the limit.

So that is my wild card. You think Drabel put the pads on when they're meant? Drabel might want to wrestle with him a little bit. Put him in a headlock, see what he's like. So you have your mock draft coming on Wednesday. Yep. And this has been a mock draft that has been very successful by mock draft standards. So you send, you'll send like little...

Oh yeah. You'll send spots to teams and do who's missing. Oh, yeah. What's crazy. What jumps out of you? I'm looking at my phone already. I sent to Howie Roseman this morning, Adam Peters this morning with Washington, John Spytek at the Raiders, and some of them won't respond. Or some of them will say, we actually like Memboo more than this guy. Or they'll say, hey, why do you have Will Johnson from Michigan

going in the mid twenties as opposed to like top 15? What are you hearing? And then in exchange, it's, hey, you're missing Gray Zabel or what about the Oregon tackle? Gray Zabel almost seems like a fake name. Gray Zabel, I'm going to get the jersey for you. It's like, yeah, there's this new HBO show with starring Gray Zabel. Have you seen it? Um, I have one, one draft take about a top 10 guy.

Let me hear. Now, granted I parachute in and I barely watched college season, but I do pretty good about whatever. I've had some good moments over the years. Ted, Ted scares me. You're Not alone. Here's why. Because the Pats who have done the worst job ever of drafting receivers since forever.

And here's where I've landed with receivers. And it sounds stupid, but it's really not. I just want guys who are open. When I'm watching the clips, the guys are wide open. I want speed and I want the ability to get open. These guys is he's a big guy. He's unbelievable catches in traffic. Nobody uses his body.

I would just rather not take a chance on those guys. We've had those guys like we had the Nikhil Harry. I don't, I think when you get to the pros and everybody's more covered than they were in college and guys are just have people draped around them all the time. I just think it's harder to succeed. I just want speed. Like the chiefs don't do this. The chiefs are like, let's get Xavier worthy.

He's fast. This guy, guess what? We'll run plays for him and he'll just be open. And then our quarterback will throw him the ball. Lad McConkey was another one. It's like, ah, what is he? It's like, I don't know. He's always open.

That seems positive. I just, I wouldn't... What now? If you were in the teens, it's different. But if you're talking about like, Jacksonville at five, and it's a guy whose biggest skill is how good he is in traffic and how physical he is, it just makes me nervous. Let me give you the Ted McMillan stuff, because I was early in on Ted saying he's going to be top five, and then I've walked it back a little bit.

Because Nate Tice loves him, by the way. And Nate shared I really respect him. The good is so good. This guy's film, you picked 10 plays from Tet McMillan. He looks like Calvin Johnson. Danny Kelly has him fourth. Dude, he's amazing. He takes plays off.

His motor isn't always going. And in this past season, it was a significant difference in his consistency than the year before. Now, the year before Arizona was coached by Jed Fish. They had an offense that was humming. They were a top 10 team at one point and this guy was engaged. Last year they took a dip. They had a new coaching staff. It wasn't as good. That said, six foot four. Yeah, I get it. Fast, dominant hands and like teams that met with him. Physical. He's a different cat. Now he's from Hawaii and he comes in and something that brought people wrong was like, I'm a volleyball player first, football player second, something of that. Like I love volleyball. Now football guys see that and they like bang their head through glass.

A coach who's more evolved says, all right, he's got volleyball skills and we will coach him up and we will get the most out of him. Now the ceiling is Mike Evans. The basement or the floor could be- But the ceiling is Mike Evans who's had one of the best wide receiver careers start to finish in the last 30 years. Good feeling. He's got the same body type and a better college career than Mike Evans had.

So you're looking at that. And in a wide receiver draft, that is putrid. Putrid. I mean, last year we had neighbors, Adunze, Harrison. You had all the Washington. But that's why I'm scared about him because this is what happens with the draft. When you're in this cluster and you're way better than everyone else in the cluster, but it's a bad cluster.

This is the same thing with the quarterbacks. No doubt. Jackson Dart wouldn't have gotten drafted in the first 45 picks last year. Might not have. But McMillan, what I like though, is that the evolved coaches who I've spoken to, they didn't just shut it down. It's not that he doesn't love football. It's that this kid is different and he's got other interests, but gosh, when he's on the

football field, he turns it on. So I don't know if it could be your first pick as a GM or your first pick as a head coach. But if you're secure in your spot and you're looking at this draft and it's a bunch of mid, this guy is the sky's the limit prospect as far as skill position goes. It feels very Dallas Cowboys-y at number 12 to me. Got the same type of body type as CD Lamb though. No, I'm just saying like, ah, now look at me, Dak and these two, this is the Eagles blueprint.

And I'm like, ah, now look at me, Dak and these two, this is the Eagles blueprint. Yeah. I have them going currently 19 to Tampa, which is crazy because a week ago I had them going either four or five. I think he goes in the teens. So I want to talk about the Niners at 11. Yeah.

Sal and I did guest aligns over-unders for the first time ever this year. And I heard four and a half, I was four wins off on the Niners. I thought it was going to be six and a half. It was 10 and a half. It's still 10 and a half on Fandl, even though there's a bunch of action. There's minus one 30 under and there's reasons for it.

The schedule, the divisions they play, uh, they have fourth place schedule, all that stuff. And yet I'm looking at the Niners at 11. Do they think they're good? If they do think they're good, are they going to get aggressive? Are they going to try to move up? Will they try to move back? They feel like a pivot team to me.

The Bears are staying at 10 and they're going to take a weapon, I think. I think the Bears are interesting because they lead to the Niners. The Bears at 10, like if Colston Loveland is sitting there, the tight end. A riser. That's really interesting for the Bears. You add another weapon to them. I could see the Bears take an offensive line, going with the big kid out of Alabama, the Booker or Calvin.

I'm losing his name. Texas, the offensiveer or Kelvin. I'm losing his name, Texas, the offensive tell. Yeah. The Niners, their defense was atrocious last year. And that's been the long- And they just lost a bunch of dudes. They did. And that's long been their pride of their team up front.

So, you know, you look at the big kid, McHale Williams out of Georgia, that's a possibility there. Or you look at defensive back and there's Hunter, but then this kid Baron out of Texas who won all the awards is a superb talent too. And is it like, to your point, the economics of it, if we get a number one corner and he's sitting there at 11, we could put that pick in and we're good and we're building. Or are you trying to swing the bat and try to do something major and move up and get one of these star players and try to stay in the conversation for the MSU? You're trying to get all the way up to three for Carter.

See, I think Mason Graham is the guy who could potentially fall five, six spots. The awesome middle of the line guy. There was a moment where I would have been psyched if the Pats took him, but then they signed Williams, so it makes sense. Look, he's of the line guy. There was a moment where I would have been psyched if the Pats took him, but then they signed Williams. So it makes sense. He's a three technique player. He's got an incredible motor. Everyone likes him, but his body type is not, you're not going to sit in a room with Mason

Graham and think he's Aaron Donald. So there's questions like what's the, what's the sky's the limit with this guy? Or have we seen the best of them? Also it's a pretty deep position. Can I give you a good, I can do a good Sala note? Yeah. Oh good Sala note? Yeah. Oh, Sala. Sala is the new defensive coordinator of the Niners.

I have to share this with you. I don't think anyone's reported this and I don't think you and Sala discussed it. Sala and his wife had another kid this offseason. So, what's that? Eight? Eight. This is like, how does he not have a reality show? I love it!

And his wife is the best! Eight kids! This is it. Eight kids quietly in the offseason. Salah, another kid. I'm like, God bless him. I love that, man. His new child, Aaron Rodgers Salah.

Yeah, the Niners to me, major wild card. Miami, a team that kind of needs everything and is being held hostage by whatever the hell is going on with Tyra Kill. Another question for you. Yeah. Do the Rams just draft the QB or is that weird? Yeah, because they think they can win the Super Bowl. They're drafting somebody that can help them, right? Or trade back.

Classic, let's need trade back. Like, let's just collect a lot. Because we hear about the teams in the second round is like, we'll trade up and get our quarterback. Yeah. Perfect spot. If there's a player that can help them out. I mean, last year I came on your podcast and like,

there's no way McVeigh, this first first round pick isn't taking offense. And then he took Jared verse and I looked like an idiot. But the truth of the matter is they wanted Brock. They wanted Brock Bowers and they were looking to get trade up. If a Loveland was to drop to them, if a Bucca was to drop to them, I think they would consider it. But like, I don't think the Rams are looking to stay put at 26 unless there's a player that falls precipitously to them.

All right. Here's my big prediction. It's not even a crazy prediction because I think it's in the ether. By the way, Bill, I would say Seattle is a more likely in the NFC West quarterback team to trade back into the first round or early second than the Rams. Okay. the first round or early second, then the Rams. Okay. I think cousins ends up on the Steelers. Go on. It's been, it's been floated out there. There's been scenarios.

There's a couple of things that don't add up. And you read some of the Intel from people like Schefter where the Falcons are like, yeah, we trade them, but you got to pay some of his salary. And teams are like, well, we'll pay 10. It's like, no, it's got to be 20. The Falcons have no leverage at all. What are they going to do? They're going to pay Kirk Cousins a gazillion dollars to be their backup. They have to trade him.

They have to trade him this week. And they have to trade him to a team that is going to start to freak out that they're on the quarterback yet, which is basically the Pittsburgh Steelers. So if the Steelers can be like, fine, we'll pay 11 million or 12 million, whatever, like the Falcons, this is a sunk cost. Any money they can get back to dump his contract, they've got to do it. You can't keep him. Like they probably feel like they're going to be pretty good.

They're in a crappy division. Like who knows? So I just think he ends up on the Steelers and I don't think the Sanders thing is as important for them. Where everybody has them taking Sanders. If they, if I feel like they could pass on him at 21, maybe get him in the second round and still get Cousins. I, by the way, I think Cous cousins is washed and I think it's a mistake.

That's the thing. I mean he played hard at the end there but if you watched that Monday night game Raiders versus Falcons when Kirk Cousins could not throw a football, his shoulder was messed up. We learned about it afterwards but like he probably was on the field for two extra weeks that Atlanta should have had him on. They lost those games and it cost them in the end. I thought Cleveland, and then they signed Joe Flacco.

So cross Cleveland off. I thought the Giants were a fuss. Which makes more sense, right? You'd rather pay Joe Flacco four million than Kirk Cousins ten. Joe Flacco. Or pay ten for Kirk Cousins. Who's been there. And I know the connection there was to Fansky and Cousins have a great relationship, but

that's such a big price tag. And then you're kind of setting yourself back as a franchise. With Flacco, you get the one year and you see, and then you go from there. I haven't done the work on Pittsburgh. I'll be honest with you. I'm trying to think of the different connections. Have Arthur Smith worked with cousins? No, they didn't overlap in Atlanta.

To me, it's such a shocker to me that they put themselves in this corner with Rogers, of all the franchises, with the place that they're at. They look more done than cousins. But also just with the veterans in the locker room, like Kim Heyward and TJ Watt and Minka Fitzpatrick and guys that are like known made men and were sitting around waiting for Aaron Rogers. It's a shock and I got to think that if they were to do this all over again, they didn't put up much of a fight to bring back Justin Fields. The Jets got him for two years, 20 million a piece, whatever. And then they did not put up any

fight to get Russell Wilson back. Cousins would be one of those deals where like, gosh, this all went awry. And when, and like, I guess we'll get cousins with like a shrug, but. Well, you're getting like a better locker room fit than Rogers. He was actually getting a guy that everybody loves being a teammate of. No doubt, but can he still play? And the price tag's gonna be big.

I mean, I think Atlanta is gonna pick up most of it, but. Well, can we agree it's kind of dumbfounding that they've had no solution and it's past mid April now? They have no quarterback. I'll tell you this from the Giants side. To Rogers' credit, and you can say, screw that, he looked at these teams and said, guys, I'm on my own timeline. If you need to pivot and make a move, there is no hard feelings. I am telling you straight up. I do not know when and if I'm coming back and

that is on you to do it. And Giants heard that Giants waited a couple of weeks and they're like, all right, we got to act and they did it. And they got Russell Wilson and Jamis Steelers were like, all right, and they still haven't made a move. It's ridiculous. Um, okay. I think we hit everything except Kyle Brandt some hurtful comments on the last rewatchable. I didn't listen. I'm sorry. There was no interest in re jokes.

I had no interest in reliving the saint. You guys. I'm giving you a yeah, I'm giving you a platform. How are you guys doing? Kyle and I are good. You guys are like a married couple. It's sad. It's sad.

How many years was it? It was a divorce that he had nothing to do with. It has to be. It wasn't even a divorce. It was like, I don't know what it was. I fell out of love. It was it. It was it.

How many years were you together? I couldn't be on Good Morning Football. I couldn't be on Good Morning Football another day. I'd given it my all. So I'm on to another lover. Well, you know what's going to have to happen? The three of us are going to have to do rewatchables. That's how it's going to have to play out. That's going to have to be the reunion ending.

I could have done every word of blue chips. You did blue chips already. I could have done that one. We're going to have to figure out a rewatchables for the three of us. I would love that. And if it's Steven Seagal, John Claude Van Damme, count me out. But we can find a different niche for me. I know Kyle has his real house. What's your movie niche? I'm an art house theater guy. You know, if you want to do spider house rules.

Art house theater guy? Black box theater, if you go to a theater guy. Black Box Theater. We want to talk about it. Yeah. Was there hazing stuff at ESPN when you came in as the new guy? Did anybody just like not talk to you for a week and shit like that? It's crazy.

They put me in a room and just made me watch Lakers, Cowboys, Yankee highlights. It was nuts. That was it? This is all you're allowed to talk about. This is it. It's like Minority Report? No, we're all happy for you. I love you for it. I appreciate you. You are, as you know, a huge sounding board.

And I'll tell you this. As long as the years I was on Fox, and as long as I was on Good Morning Football, all anyone is asking me is, are you still allowed to come on Simmons' podcast and hopefully, hopefully I can. I love working with you and I love being a part of your world. All right. Well, it's great to see you. Safe travels to Green Bay. Good luck with the Knicks. I'll be interested to see if we hit any of this stuff.

And if Rable is at the draft and wants to put the pads on and, and try to like get you into some wrestling moves, just be ready for it. You might want to fill up your body baths. I know. If you're in New York for any of these Knicks games, we have to get together and go to... 100%. Alright, Schrags, great to see you. Thank you. Alright, you're the man. Thanks, dude.

Alright, that's it for the podcast. Thanks to Zach and Schrags. Thanks to Gahau and Sarudy as well. And don't forget, I have a new podcast coming on Thursday. Don't forget to catch up on Celtic city on max episode eight, the KG era. It's an awesome one. So if you missed it, try to, I know there's a lot of basketball games on right now, but try to squeeze that in. And then a new rewatchable is minority report. You can go check that that out as a video podcast on Spotify or on our ringer movies YouTube channel. Don't forget to subscribe to my channel, the bill Simmons YouTube channel, and I will see you

on Thursday. Uh, NBA playoffs and the draft. It's going to be hectic, but I will see you then. see them. Must be 21 plus and president select states for Kansas and affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and president DC. Gambling problem call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com call 1-887-897777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut or visit md gambling help.org in Maryland. Hope is here visit gambling helpline ma.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24-7 support Massachusetts, or call 1-877-8-HOPE-NY or text HOPENY in New York.