The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 and Out - CFB Wild West; SEC Wants It More; Adapting to Short NFL Camps; Bullish on Top Rookie QB's; Mailbag

Episode Date: August 11, 2020

In this episode, John tries to make sense of the chaos and uncertainty facing the future of this college football season, why the SEC's unwavering support for a season shows they just want it more, why Matt Rhule will have an advantage running, how coaches will adapt to a short NFL training camp period, the lack of the usual hype leading into the season, and why rookie QB's can succeed despite stepping into unprecedented circumstances. He also answers listener questions in the Middlekauff Mailbag. Follow John on twitter @JohnMiddlekauff and go to theherdnow.com to find the latest content. Subscribe now! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at it podcast. For 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English.

Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it.

Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Get right to the romance and find the way to wow this Valentine's with 1800flowers.com. From classic roses and bouquets to decadent chocolate-covered berries, gourmet treats, and more. Surprise your Valentine with 1,800flowers.com. Right now, get the 18-stemmed Enchanted Flowers.com. rose medley for $3999 or upgrade to 24 red roses for $10 more.

Go to 1,800flowers.com slash tune in. That's 1,800flowers.com slash tune in. What is going on, everybody, John Middle Cop. Three and out podcast. Back at it again, August 10th. How's everyone doing? Hope you all had a good weekend. I didn't do much.

I ate and I watched golf. the majority of my weekend. It's weird. Usually during August, I'd be going to training camp praxis and just be kind of soaking it all in, but I'm sure many of you guys know trying to follow your team, nothing's really happening in the NFL. And it just shows you, there's something to be said, you can hate on the media all you want, but when practices are happening and we're all going to practices, I don't even like to consider myself a member of the media, but just someone that talks about football, there's just a huge buzz. a vibe going around for the season.

And listen, I hate the preseason games as much to the next guy. But it does start the momentum. And right now, the NFL is going to be fine. And there'd be a lot of people, a lot of interest whenever it starts. But it's, it feels weird right now. There's no way around it. I mean, they haven't even started practicing yet. They haven't put on pads.

It's August 10th. It's August 10th. No, no, they're nothing they can do. They had to do it this way. And I commend them for getting rid of the preseason. it was the right move, but you just, you do kind of feel it in the air, that there's not that much buzz in the air,

which is kind of weird. But then again, 2020 has been really weird. We'll dive into the college football situation, and as I'm recording this, you know, a little after lunch on Monday, nothing has really changed besides people just screaming at each other on Twitter. And I guess the Big Ten is kind of threatened to cancel,

but the coaches don't all seem to be on the same page. Something about, I was reading Albert Breers, MMQB, Matt Ruhl was talking about how this season is going to benefit him in the sense of he's used to running a training camp where one, you can't really change your roster that much and two, you don't play any games. And I'm going to dive into something that had me thinking that,

you know, NFL GMs and just the way the league works are pretty spoiled, especially relative to the other sports. And something I notice in golf, the PGA championship, Colin Marcawa, Calgrad, won the PGA championship, was unreal over the weekend. And why it actually might have some parallels, and he's killed it after, you know,

the restart after the corona shut down, actually might benefit, I think, the three rookie quarterbacks that probably fall into a camp similar to him. And then, of course, Middilkoff Mailbag, at John Middlecoff is my Instagram handle, DMs wide open, shoot a question, answer it here.

And, yeah, that's how we take you guys. the equivalent of phone calls for a podcast. But it's 2020, so we got to adapt or die, right? And for those of you that have greatly appreciate it, for those of you that haven't and like the podcast, subscribe on Apple, iTunes. I know some of you listen on Collins' feed, and leave a review, five stars, preferably.

But if you could, I would tip my hat. Massive respect to you guys. Start with the college football disaster. And I worked in college football in 2008 and 2009, and I guess the spring of 2000. for Fresno State. So I'm about a decade removed from college athletics. In Fresno State, we were a mid-major.

We were not Division I. And then with my job, I was lucky enough to go through major universities. Every Pact 12 school, I've been to Penn State numerous times, and I'm friends with people that work in the SEC or the Big Ten or the Big 12 in recruiting and talk to those guys, you know, just over time. and I think there are some misconceptions right now about college football. One, and I learn this at Fresno State. There are way too many cooks in the kitchen.

Do you notice in the NFL when they have an issue? And I would imagine some businesses that people are you listening, you can agree, and others would be like, yeah, we're the opposite. When you have too many cooks in the kitchen, you know, when you have boards and you have presidents and you have assistance and you have all these people that need to make it, decision and a lot of them have nothing to do with the product, you have an issue. In the NFL, think about this.

General managers and coaches who have a huge influence on the sport on Sunday really have no say when it comes to CBA negotiations. When they were trying to figure out everything with coronavirus, it was all the owners and the players association. Now they brought in Andy Reid, I think Ian Rapsheet or, Shefter reported, they brought him in to talk to the owners about we need to be a little more forward thinking here and almost be friendly to their side. Like we need to approach us the right way.

We all want to play. We all need to be in this together. But ultimately it wasn't Coach Ree's decision because when it comes to football, there are two decision makers. There are the owners and there is the players union and they're heavy hitters. That's all that matters when it comes to the money. Now, when football starts, the coaches and the GMs, cut players, decide who plays where. But that has nothing to do with the business deals they do with the way we consume it as a fan.

When you're sitting there on Sunday, the reason it's on network is because of the league office slash the owners and the players union. They negotiate the terms. In college football, you have administrators that wouldn't know the difference between a first down and a home run that are trying to pull the strings over the sport of football who literally pays their salaries. And then you have the influence in the sport, just in an athletic department. And I learned this in Fresno State.

I didn't know what Title IX was before I got to Fresno State. When I was at Fresno State, when we wanted to get something for the football team, it had to be okayed by, for Title IX. Because the women's softball team, the women's soccer team, they had to get the same thing. Now, clearly at Alabama, at LSU at Ohio State, they're able to somehow circumvent parts of that,

but it is not a normal business. You have assistant athletic directors that are making $350,000 in some of these universities that have nothing to do with the football program. And yet the football program is at most schools, the only program making any money. And some of these schools, obviously, men's basketball, makes them cash too.

But when you talk about men's baseball, and I like these sports, soccer, both men's and women's, volleyball, they don't make any money. they lose money. If this was a normal business and you see it often with the media when the corona hit and this is why I sleep well at night

knowing, listen, I don't want anyone to die but I also will never ever root for businesses to go under. And essentially when you just rooted for the shutdown, you rooted for people to lose their jobs and lose their businesses. And when that happens, the people most economically impacted

are always going to be the people at the lower end of the spectrum. The richer people, are always going to be able to handle it much easier. Why? They have more money. And it has socioeconomic impacts. But that's nuanced, and you can't have that conversation on social media. So I just stopped even arguing.

But here's what I do know about college athletics. That in normal business, all those other sports would be cut. Because not only they don't make any money, they're in the red. They cost you a lot of money. So the one thing I've always agreed with the football players is they are getting the short end of the stick. But here's why they're getting the short end in the stick. They're paying for all these other athletic directors and all these other coaches' salaries. Without them, those salaries wouldn't even exist.

Those sports, you know, technically just on a spreadsheet should not exist. Now, clearly, maybe one day I'll have a daughter, she'll be a swimmer. I want her to be able to get a scholarship. But I'm not naive enough to think that, like, her sport actually generates any money because it doesn't. And I know that her coach, especially if you're at like Stanford or Texas, ain't making 50 grand. he's making or she's making 150 in no other world where you were with a company that was not making any money

would I pay you that type money? It doesn't make any sense. It's just a very, very complicated situation and you have the presence of the university it's not a normal business. Here's what you also see, the SEC. Unlike the Big Ten and the Pac-12 that always seem to freak out about everything.

They never do because they prioritize. And what you prioritize in life, you usually make and do everything possible to make work. And clearly in the SEC country, in the South, football comes first. Because you know what they've learned with football coming first? It makes the most money. And what runs downhill?

The money. So what has happened to their basketball programs? Schools like Georgia are able to pay Tom Crean like $4 million. Arkansas has got musclemen. They have so much money for their other sports. They kill it at baseball. They're good at all the Olympic sports now because they have made so much money through football and prioritizing football that everyone has benefited.

And when the football coach wants something at those schools, they get it. That's not the case. I know for a fact out on the West Coast. Fact 12 does not work like that. You have to deal with other sports, especially the California schools. In the SEC, what Sabin, what Ogeron, what Jimbo, what Kirby, what Dan Mollett, what those guys want, they get. And that's how it should be. Because in any other business and many ones that you guys work for that you're listening to,

whatever is the number one cash cow in your given business, whatever that entity, is or that product is, it gets prioritized at the top of the list. And those people working on that project or that product or that individual acquisition, they get what they need because they should, because it has the best opportunity to make the most amount of money and then everyone else in the company benefits. Here's another just reality with the SEC. And listen, this is an uncomfortable topic sometimes,

but they pay their players. They give them cash. They have well before I was born, and they'll be doing it well after I'm gone unless rules change. It's a shady conference, and I'm pro-paying players. I'm pro-capitalism. I'm pro-free market. And if it costs $50,000 in cash and some cars and some jobs, I don't care. You know why?

Because I like watching their product. And let's be real. Most of their guys and most of their talent sure as hell seem to be worth it. I know for a fact that it's much harder to do that in the Pack 12. I know in the Big 12, like, you know, they're just on you on a different level. The Big 10, I think we can pick and choose the schools that are doing it. But the schools that are winning, they're cheating. You know, we know for a fact, this isn't even an opinion anymore.

This happens in basketball. It's why I'm always a little uncomfortable with the people on social media in the media that acted like, how these players not getting paid. Well, we've seen in college basketball, they're all getting paid. Hundreds of thousands of dollars. Like they all got federally indicted, which was stupid, a waste of our taxpayer. money, but through that we saw the information of how much top players at a high school were getting paid.

We know for a fact. We've seen these investigations going on with Zion. When a top player goes to a program in college basketball, he's getting paid a lot of money. Numbers I heard 10 years ago when I worked in the NFL with college basketball were like $500,000 for the top player. Now, football, because there's way more players, it's different, but because of the competition in recruiting and the amount of money that's on the line in the South, there's a reason

these guys' families move all across the country to that given town. It's just, it's pretty clear what's going on, and I'm for it. But that's why the SEC, you haven't seen many people complaining and why they all football's going to go on. Because they've prioritized it, they've paid a lot of money for it, and they understand its importance. And ultimately, I think this year, and I'm not sure how many games these guys are going to play,

what conferences are going to play. I saw Scott Frost today say that, like, if the Big 10 doesn't play, we'll go play in the Big 12 over the SEC. We're playing. Harbaugh, tweeted out a long statement, like we're ready to play. Ohio State, the day that it was announced

that the Big Ten might cancel practice on Monday. You think Ohio State's not going to play football? I mean, seriously. That'd be like, you think Bill Belichick's going to take the year off? Just say that out loud. Like, no chance. Zero chance. I see Ohio State not doing everything humanly possible to play football,

moving conferences, scheduling random, doing whatever it did. And this year, because one thing we know with no non-conference games, and depending on how many actual conference games they can get through, because it's going to be complicated, because unlike pro sports, where there actually is a ton of hard cash on the line, you get cut, you won't get your salary,

the standards and the protocols are very black and white. In college football, like, young people in general, I just know, I mean, I'm 35, and my friends and family, they're probably between their late 20s to their early 40s are just not scared of Corona. I mean, they're just not worried about getting it. I know countless people that have got it and didn't really, they got sick for like a couple days,

flew like and then bounced right back, didn't really phase them. They're just not living, you know, their life on a daily basis worried about this anymore in the middle of August. Not necessarily like the ramifications and the shutdowns are out of our control. What the rules are the rules.

You know, I've said all along, I just, if you tell me to wear a mask, I'll wear a mask. If you tell me I don't have to wear a mask, I'll just follow the rules. So you tell me what to do, I do it. It's not that complicated.

I don't know. I don't control any of this shit. Now, I can think what's right or wrong. I don't want you to tell a business that they can't open and this business can't open. I think a lot of it's arbitrary. But I think about that in non-corona. I think a lot of this world is very arbitrary.

Why do I pay historic tax rates in California or if I just go across the street in fucking Nevada, it's zero. It doesn't make any sense. It's just pulling stuff out of their ass and seeing what sticks. And it's not like we actually help anyone in California with all this exorbitant amount of tax revenue that we make.

We lead the country in poverty. So we're like, it doesn't even add up. I got no problem helping a single mom or doing whatever I have to do to build some schools, but that's not even more my tax dollars just get wasted on stupid projects. So I've been a big believer that a lot of this stuff's arbitrary, just most things in life.

That's how I think. So I think with Corona, this is going to have huge financial, and it's going to happen this way in society too, ramifications on the sport of college athletics. Because like I said, all those sports and all those scholarships get financed by football. Well, football, whatever the pie is, it's not going to equal 100% this year because they're going to lose a ton of fans, because a lot of these schools won't even allow fans in. Who knows how many games we're going to get?

College athletics may never look the same. A lot of these sports will not exist. And the argument that you often see about the endowment, I think what people struggle with is the endowment is not there for college athletics. It's just not. Now, I don't pretend to be the president of Stanford University and understand how you can allocate it. But it's not just as black and white is. We got 10 billion of an endowment.

I can use, you know, I need 5 million right now to float for the women's soccer team and the wrestling program and the baseball program. Pretty sure that's not in the bylaws. It doesn't just work like that. I know it's easy to tweet out. That's not the way the real world works. You know? So I think this whole situation could get really, really ugly in 2000. 2021 and 2022, which will promote change, which I'm pretty sure that the name, image, and likeness,

which these players have been fighting for, which they should be allowed to do. You should be able to allow to sell your name. If you want to go to a car dealership and sign autographs, go do it. Who gives a shit? Here's another thing these old stiffs don't understand. They think that, like, the bank is going to cut Trevor Lawrence a check. You know who's going to pay Trevor Lawrence? Like YouTube, Twitter, Instagram. random companies targeting young people. Who do you think Trevor Lawrence's following is? 50-year-old men?

No, it's like 20-year-olds. These athletic departments are terrified to lose, like they're cash cows, car dealerships, banks, financial institutions. Those people are not going to go to the kids. You know who's going to give the kid money? Trevor Lawrence? Hey, man, we'll give you a 50-50 rev split on your YouTube channel. It does huge numbers because you're the starting quarterback for Ohio State,

if you're Justin Field, Trevor Lawrence for Clemson. a lot of these old people don't understand this is not 1997 I literally like make money and make a really good living from my home office talking into a mic and then I press a button I send it and it goes out on Collins' feed

and now on my podcast and gets over like 1.5 million listens a month that wouldn't even impossible 10 years ago you could argue five years ago that would have been tough the game has changed and I think the way we think like

who knows maybe these guys start a podcast start making a ton of money They can't do that right now. But it's very, very easy. These people have this jaded warp view of how these kids are going to make money. It's going to be technologically driven, which doesn't really impact the athletic department's budget or the NCAA. And listen, I think Mark Emerit's a clown.

I think most of these presidents of the university, I have nothing. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds.

I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. Yep, that's me. Clipper Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skisks.

hits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger.

So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with a little camp? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast.

I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we picket here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so you're not just so you're

I mean, at this point, this is the second episode where we've discussed correct. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah.

For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite. favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests.

I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it, and we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses.

Steve Burns. Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth, or are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth,

fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free, our heart radio app. Search, learn the hard way, and listen now. Common with any of them. It's like I'm pro the football coach and what he wants because he's the revenue generator. It's like I'm pro the player of a college football program. They are the breadwinner for the entire university in terms of the athletic department. They carry the whole freaking thing.

Without them, it doesn't exist. It's not financially feasible to finance it. It does not exist. And depending on how ugly this gets, it could wipe out a ton of sports. gaming, stunning streams, unbelievable bandwidth. It's another lifestyles of giggillionaires. Meet the AT&T fiber customers winning at life with hyper gig speeds. Meet gagillionaire Terry.

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at Discovertheforest.org. Brought to you by the United States Forest Service and the Ad Council. Look through your children's eyes to see the true magic of a forest. It's a story book. world for them. You look and see a tree. They see the wrinkled face of a wizard with arms outstretched to the sky. They see treasure and pebbles. They see a windy path that could lead to

adventure. And they see you. Their fearless guide is this fascinating world. Find a forest near you and start exploring at discovertheforest.org. Brought to you by the United States Forest Service and the ad council. Okay. I was reading MMQB, Albert Breers piece. used to be Peter Kings now Breer writes. And he was talking to Matt Ruhl, and Matt Ruhl was telling him how, for as terrible as this corona, first year in the NFL has been,

the training camp actually has a lot of parallels to what he's been used to in college. Because in college, in training camp, two things. One, you don't play any games. You don't play a game until your first game, which is usually that last week in August, you know, first couple days in September. Two, your roster doesn't change.

The guys you take to training camp, the 85 scholarships, and the 20 walk-ons, that's your team. And while in football, you know, a big part of my job when I was in the NFL was helping Howie Roseman, helping Lewis Riddick, helping the front office, and I was more in charge of like the logistics of it in terms of keeping the lists and just making sure they always had a list of practice. When guys sucked, we cut them. And my first year, I drove them to the airport. My second year, I helped evaluate guys that we should, you know, pick up instead of the

guys that we had on the team. And you're constantly turning over your roster in training camp in the NFL. Same thing in OTAs. It's a huge part of being in the pro scouting department. You're just always trying to just turn, turn, turn, turn. It doesn't change in the regular season. Guys start playing shitty. you cut them, you sign a guy from another practice squad.

Well, this year in 2020, the roster you take to camp, and I think instead of 90, it's 80 because of Corona, you're not going to be bringing in guys left and right. One, you're only having like 13 or 14 padded practices, so hopefully you can avoid some injuries. You're not playing in any preseason games, so you're not going to lose those guys that every year you lose countless three or four, you know, starters or backups in preseason games.

That won't happen during this camp. but you don't have the time to sign a guy off the street, bring them in, have him quarantine, test them four or five days later he's allowed to practice. You're going to practice with what you got. So your roster, you're 80 guys. I'm not saying a guy won't get cut during training camp, but usually once preseason game starts, four or five guys get cut a team after every preseason game.

Undrafted free agents, maybe just a late round pick that can't play dead in the Western, and you're just getting rid of them by the middle of August. I don't think that's going to be the case, just because time's not on your side. You're trying to get ready for a training camp, some guy that hasn't been with you during the virtual OTAs, not going to know what's going on. Typically in training camp, that doesn't necessarily matter

because you just throw them out of practice and just kind of let him go. So these coaches that, and listen, the NFL, and this is one of its greatest attributes, is the no guaranteed money for the players, because you can constantly get rid of bad contracts. It's one of the worst parts about the NBA and Major League. baseball. You get stuck with dead weight. And as a fan, for example, I got to watch Jeff Samarja give up meatballs for the last five years. It was clear after year one that they overpaid him by

about $70 million. He's terrible. And he's going to play out five years on the San Francisco Giants. And I'm sure anyone listening who is a fan of any different baseball team, you have an example, unless your team's a small market, any big market operation, signs players that don't For every Mike Trout, and he's not a free agent, but you get what I'm saying. Or Max Scherzer, there are a lot of misses in baseball. The Yankees, Red Sox, they have them all the time. The Phillies, you just get rid of them. You just either pay him to go away or just let him play it out.

You're just kind of screwed. In football, you literally just get rid of his contract the moment you have no dead money on the cap. Because regardless what rap sheet tweets out the moment some guy signs, we truly know the only number that always matters is a guaranteed money and how it affects your salary cap. Well, a huge part of that is in training camp, typically, you know, with the preseason games, the veteran players, if you're like a seventh year guy and you make $6 million, well, the moment, and we've talked about it here, but just to hammer it home, if you're on the roster week one,

your salary for that six or five or three or whatever you're making is guaranteed the rest of the season if you play week one. it's a big reason that on the big cutdowns a lot of veteran players get replaced by fifth, sixth, seventh, and undrafted free agent because they prove in the preseason in the game specifically that they might not even be better but they're just as good

and they're way cheaper. That's just not going to take place this year because the veteran guy is going to know what to do you're not going to have enough reps to beat them out so your team and I would imagine all the coaches worth their salt and this is why I think, listen, the Patriots roster, a shell of itself, right, of what they've been the last two decades. On paper, not very good. You know, especially if you factor in Cam Newton

is still a major question mark. If Cam Newton was 2015, Cam Newton, you'd be like, I think that'd be pretty good because he's played on worst teams in Carolina and had 10, 11 win seasons, and their division sucks. But it's fair to say, just based on what the New England Patriot standard is, their roster stinks. But here's reality. No coach, a dad quicker than Belichick. They don't have a scheme. He'll call a play. It's what good college coaches do.

Once they get a star player, if that guy's better at doing something else than not his scheme, they'll adapt it around him. Saban changes the scheme all the time. So when you look at Belichick, it's why I'm not counting them out. Because this training camp

is going to expose a lot of coaches. Because you just get spoiled. And GMs. You're used to getting rid of guys, cutting guys, making for trade. I guess it's going to be harder to do in 2020. It's not really feasible.

It's not possible. And then you look at, you know, a lot of these teams that have open-minded coaches, and I think the smart coaches have been in contact with their good buddies in college and figured out how they run training camp. Because if you're Sean Peyton or Andy Reid, since this new CBA, your training camp has probably been pretty consistent for the last since 2011. Once you've got the new rules, you've done it one way. and it's based around preseason games

and ramping your veterans up and then ramping them back, that all gets thrown out the window. So if I was one of those guys and, you know, I know like Coach Reed's good friends with Kyle Whittingham at Utah. Let's just say Sean Payton's good friends with Nick Savin or Dan Mullen.

You know, let's say so-and-so is good friends with Urban Meyer. So-and-so is friends with whoever. Lincoln Riley. You call that guy and you say, hey man, can I see your guy's training camp manual or have your director of football operations send my director of football operations, how you guys set up training camp for the month of August.

Because typically they don't have a game. But they'll mix in a couple scrimmages. They'll mix in a bunch of walkthroughs. Because ultimately right now, NFL training camps are just turning into college training camp. That's exactly what it is. And I think the coaches that are in contact with the college coaches, or I mean, they would have had to have been over the summer. And then those that are most open-minded and are not stuck to a certain schedule

are going to have the best chance to succeed. And the one, and I've talked about this on definitely my periscopes, it kind of feels it sucks right now that there's not that much buzz for training camp because there's no practices going on. I mean, we're almost to the middle of August. But it's no one's to blame.

I mean, it's just the cards we were dealt with coronavirus. I'm glad the season is just happening. But typically, like, I would have already been to countless training camp practices, took Twitter videos and hyped up videos, up videos and things I saw. And it would have been the case for every single training camp across the country. Constant videos are Joe Burrell making a pass.

How does Tua look? Tom Brady and Tampa. Is Mahomes even better? You know, is D.K. Metcalfe taking a big step? How Justin Jefferson looks with the Vikings? Is Nick Foles beating out Trubisky? What's up with Carson Wentz? How's Cam Newton?

None of that's going on. Is Dak Prescott pissed off about his contract? What's the scheme looked like with Mike McCarthy? How do all these new weapons look for Deshawn Watson? What's it like with Hopkins and Kyler Murray? We don't get any of that. It sucks. So, you know, the buzz and the hype of training camp

is just not going to really be there. And this is coming from someone that talks about it, but it just doesn't exist. We don't know, like I saw today, Mike McGlinchie for the 49ers talk, the media had to ask him, like, oh, so who's your guys starting lineup? Who's your starting guards?

and he's like, well, this guy and this guy are mixing in. Typically, we just be at practice and be reporting those two guys are mixed in. But you have to ask the players. And you know some of these operations aren't going to let their players talk about it. So it's just, and we've known this, but it's finally here you kind of start feeling it. It's like, this is the most uninformed as a fan. You know, and that's, I'm closer to being a fan now than I am like a team employee. We've been in a long, long thing, maybe ever.

in my lifetime, I got no clue what's going on. And I know people that work for these operations, but they don't have time to text me back right now. They're too busy trying to cram everything in for the season. It sucks. But again, I've got to look at the bright side. At least we're here. Football's not that far away.

It'll be like opening a present on Christmas. I have no clue what's coming come week one. Okay. You know, I've always considered myself a sports guy. Like, even when I worked in the NFL, I loved baseball. I loved basketball. and I love golf. The older you get, you know, and I know many people that are married, that have kids,

you know, I'm dating someone right now, you just, your life changes a little bit, and you're not able to consume. I'm not watching a baseball game every night. Now, one, you couldn't pay me to watch the Gabe Kapler-led Giants. But even if the Giants were the equivalent of the New York Yankees, I would watch a lot more of them, but I'm not watching nine innings, even 60 games. That's just not humanly possible. And the NBA, which, you know, if the Warriors are good, I'll pay attention.

When they're not, like, I just, I don't really care. And luckily, the number's showing right now. I've struggled to get into the bubble. And again, I love basketball. I always thought it was like my favorite sport because I always played probably until my late 20s. Like, I played a lot of pickup hoops, how I stayed in shape. Now I'm just afraid to pop in Achilles. I can't afford to go on crutches.

But I've struggled to get into this NBA. Now, I love golf. I play golf. It's the one sport that I consistently still play. You can argue it's not really a sport, but it's the one activity that I really like. And luckily, at the viewership, the numbers are skyrocketing, it's a fun sport to gamble, play a lot of fantasy.

Fantasy golf, it's sweet. Obviously, football's special. There's nothing quite like it. It's the ultimate team game for fans. It's the best sport. You don't have to worry about losing your star players. You know, a free agency. It's a great sport to bet.

Every game matters. guys try hard. The people are just pretty relatable, you know, despite them making a lot of money, like they can get, they can lose their jobs. There aren't many scholarships in the NFL. It's a great sport.

But the one thing I appreciate about golf is like, you want to make money, you got to play. You got to make cuts. Like if you show up and you don't make the cut, you don't get paid. And like every other sport was hit with Corona. And all I heard,

all obviously, like, how are these guys going to work out? Well, LeBron didn't stop working out. Dame Loder didn't stop working out. All the good players didn't stop working out. I follow Bryce Harper. He kept hitting. You prioritize what you want to prioritize.

Even during this crazy pandemic. And typically, the more disciplined humans can handle chaos better. Just because they're more used to just taking care of business on their own. Discipline is something as I've gotten older, I've really battled. And I've always been a relatively disciplined individual. But there are certain things in my life I wasn't disciplined with. One of them was food. because for definitely all my 20s and even my early 30s,

I don't love working out. I just always did it like six or seven days a week because it just helps with my stress and I love to sweat and I just feel better. And it helps me just, it helps me feel better. I don't work out to be shredded. I've never had abs. But I go to the gym like basically seven days a week

before gym shut down because it just gets my mind right. But I've learned as I've gotten older, like I used to be able to eat whatever I want and go to the gym. have and just if I just work out. Now I got fat and I was working out. I was like, God, I just can't eat whatever I want anymore. I had to change.

And it just, I had to be more disciplined. Well, the one thing you see out of the coronavirus, this guy Colin Marcawa, who went to Cal, who was a Haas business school, Cal's the number one public university in the world. I mean, I couldn't sniff going there. My grandpa taught there. They wouldn't even, you know,

they wouldn't even let me apply. You got to be really, really smart. And unless you're like, a football player in the Jed Tedford era, then you could get in. But for the most, I mean, Aaron Rogers is smart. But you get my drift. Like, it's really hard school to go to. And even for athletes, like, you do have to go to class.

This isn't the SEC. And again, I'm pro the SEC. I went to Cal Poly. I didn't really go to class either. So I'm pro not going to class. So I don't think I'm some like intellectual elitist. I don't give a shit about school. But I do respect that school.

It's very, very difficult. Colin Morcawa just won the PGA championship. He also won a couple weeks ago. This dude, who is 23-year. years old came out of the coronavirus ready to go now he's an elite he was an elite player in college he won several times all-american like this guy was a blue chipper this guy would be the equivalent of tua this guy's pretty focused like he didn't just when coronavirus hit and the pga tour stopped didn't just screw around it's pretty clear if you just pay attention to like baseball and basketball like

you know what aaron judge wasn't doing all day over corona when they weren't playing watching netflix all day and just chilling i guarantee you he was working out because every time i look up now he He's killing people. Every time I look up, there's Mike Trout hitting a bomb. You know what Mike Trout was doing over coronavirus? Probably not Netflix and chilling all day. You know what Colin Marquo was doing? Hitting balls.

You know what I would imagine? And I was thinking about this today. Three guys that I actually, it's going to be very difficult for young quarterbacks. This year, no OTAs and the training camp being very weird. But I think the three young quarterbacks that were drafted in the top six are actually really, really equipped for this season. Because like Colin Marquahua,

of golf. They're pretty high-level guys, right? Let's start with Herbert, the last guy drafted. He, when Marriota got drafted, he took over, and he was a four-year starter, and he's obviously had, you know, a very, very successful career as a starter for Oregon. And he's just a really high-level guy. Everyone that I know that was around him with the program, media people that were around him, I mean, he's just really, really an impressive individual.

Now he has some flaws mechanically, and he can be a little robotic and some football things that need to be worked on. But I guarantee you this. When he showed up to the L.A. Chargers Training camp for the first time, he was as ready as humanly possible he could be as a rookie. And there are going to be several rookies

all around the country that are just going to be out of shape, because they're going to be a lack of discipline that those guys are going to have in three or four years. Most humans are not super mature. It's stupid, actually, what Colin Marikawa is doing golf-wise, especially given that they had a, they halted the season for like three months. And he's come back, and he missed a put

like two months ago where he ended up losing in extra holes. He could have won three times so far the restart. The guy's 23-year-old, he's basically a rookie. So when I see that Tua, now there's a question mark with his health, but here's what I know about Tua. Nick Sabin swears by him. The staff at Alabama swears by him as a person, as a leader,

As a worker, like, same thing with Joe Burrow. Think about that. He couldn't win the job at Ohio State. His dad was a football coach. Remember, he got injured, and Dwayne Haskins just beat him out, transferred to LSU, then graduated, didn't have a great junior season, came back for a senior season, clearly put in the work and was dedicated and changed his life. Was the number one overall pick?

Had one of the greatest, you could argue, the greatest individual season we've ever seen. And I don't know as much about Joe Burrow. anyone at LSU, just following him. He can be a little cocky or whatever, but he's clearly a pretty locked and loaded guy. That all three of these guys, in a time where they haven't been around a team for basically the last six months,

they've done some virtual meetings, yet they're all three tasked to be the leader of the team. Now, we'll see what Tua and his health. Though it sure feels like some of the things I'm reading out of Miami, he'll probably just be the starting quarterback. And I don't know if it's necessarily going to translate to looking, like Colin Marcault was winning, and it's different with individual sports.

As a quarterback, you're more dependent on others. but I think all three of these guys have a chance why did Baker Mayfield suck last year he's immature he was out of shape you know things that were in his control he screwed up on now Freddie Kitchens being terrible isn't his fault though he pushed for Freddy Kitchens

you should never listen to your rookie quarterback who he wants to be a coach but like the things that he could have controlled he didn't you know like part of Trubisky sucking if you talk to people in Chicago he works hard he tries hard he's just not accurate.

He's just not very good. You know, Baker actually was kind of good, his rookie year, and then just kind of started feeling himself and then sucked. Like, I don't think you have to worry about it with these three guys, like coming and feeling themselves. They'll come in locked and loaded. Now, the Bengals, you know, and the dolphins, those teams might just be really bad.

And their team and their stats might look really bad. But the more I thought about, I wonder if these guys, at least two of the three of them might shock you would just, God, they, you know, they were ready to roll. They are going to be mature rookies. I promise you that. Okay, let's dive into the Middlecoff mailbag. At John Middilcoff is the Instagram handle.

The direct messages are open. Leave a question. That's how we do it here on the podcast. Also, remind you again, subscribe to the podcast. If you listen to Collins feed, three and out, iTunes, and leave a review. Would greatly appreciate it. Check out these direct messages.

With all the concerns in, COVID, what are the odds that some dude pulls of Vince Papali this NFL season? For those of the younger people listening, Vince Papali was the dude that Marky Mark plays in the movie. Remember, Dick Vermeal, coach the Eagles, held like open tryouts, makes the team. Movies good. Is it invincible? Or is that a different movie? Just Google it. It's Marky Mark. It's a good watch. I would say kind of slim to none just that a random guy would make the team

just because there were going to be so many undrafted free agents in guys that have been drafted the last couple years just kind of floating around. Dudes that played in the XFL. Maybe an XFL guy makes some noise. I could see the XFL equivalent to Vince Papali. Like some XFL guy leads a team with catches or as a starting defensive lineman for a good team

or you find your left tackle, maybe not left tackle, but left guard, you know, from the XFL. I could see the XFL equivalent of Vince Papali. Do I think that just a random guy is going to make the team? Probably not. Don't know why it's taken so long as it has, but you've gained a new listener. I appreciate it from Liam. Really enjoy that. Now answer me this.

I've been crying in front of the TV since I was six years old with the exception of 10 games in 2012 with RG3. Didn't think it could get much worse until arguably the most embarrassing NFL offseason of all time. I've always known it's been a culture issue, and I love Rivera del Rio for being the guys there to fix it. But I'm not sure about them as coaches, to be honest. Is this the staff that could finally turn my dead skins around? And if not, as someone who's been behind closed doors in the NFL, what is the issue there? I think it's pretty clear that the owner's nuts. I know this

What Ron did with Carolina They were a joke when he took over They had the number one pick They made the playoffs four of the last nine years I saw what Jack did when he came to Oakland And he made the playoffs in the year two He won seven games with the Raiders Who had been a joke for 15 years

And when he was the defensive coordinator He was pretty damn good in Denver For John Fox They won a lot of games And I think those two guys When Jackson is a big culture guy, and clearly Ron is too, I think those guys bring a tough guy element that when you need to change the culture, it's imperative. You can't do it without just kind of being an old school badass. And I know being old school isn't cool on social media anymore, but to me it still resonates.

Like it still works in real life, especially in the sport of football. Now, you have to be progressive with your schemes. but I think, like, I saw what Jack did with Cleo Mack. It worked. Like, I saw what Ron did with Luke Keekly and those guys. It worked, you know? Now, the key is neither one of those guys are offensive guys. It will be very, very, to have success for Ron,

it's on his quarterback and his offensive coordinator, but specifically his quarterback. If he can get a top 10 quarterback, they'll win. Like, I'm very, very confident on that. They'll win. All you got to do is watch Carolina, the year did Amazon Prime did the equivalent of hard knocks for them and you can't watch that and go yeah this guy's a badass

Ron Rivera is a badass you know he just and he's a nice guy high character guy I just it's not easy to overcome Dan Snyder that's much is clear we have enough evidence but I think those guys and just kind of that the mindset they have going in they're equipped to do it now at the end of the day. Football is about the Jimmy's and the Joe's and the exes and O's. Like in the NBA, it's about the Jimmy's and the Joe's. The X's and O's do not matter. You got LeBron? You got Steph? Do you got Kevin Durant? You ain't winning if you got Kawhi? Because if you don't, you're not winning. I don't give a shit what inbound plays you run. You better have multiple

stars. Or don't even talk to me about your team having a chance. Right? In baseball, it's pretty clear too. You got to be able to pitch and you've got to have studs in the playoffs. Like in football, you got to have stars and you got to have the scheme. But you got to have the quarterback. And whether Dwayne Haskins is the guy, I don't know. You know, I watched him that year at Ohio State. And he was good, but their team was so loaded. I mean, last year was a joke, but their whole team was a joke.

If you ask me, like, what do you think of Dwayne Haskins? At August 10th, I'd just be like, you know, I don't really have an opinion. I don't, I don't know. I'll give him a blank slate. I just, I'll watch them this year and form one. Because right now I don't have one. You could be good. I mean, it's not like you don't, you don't beat Joe Burrow out and become the starter in Ohio State without having legit talent.

So, like, he's got a chance, you know, like, I don't, I'm not writing the guy off. I would probably lean being a little negative, but I'll just, I'll go into this year, open slate. I was watching. I wasn't impressed last year when Adrian Peterson, remember when he became the starter, and Adrian Peterson was like, on Wednesday it was like, you had to tell him after the game, like, bro, you've got to learn the place. Like, that was mid-season. That's not ideal. Now, he's young.

Not everyone is, matured at the same rate. Not everyone's Peyton Manning, you know, maturity-wise. So, listen, I matured slow. I wasn't locked and loaded at 22 years old either. Which Super Bowl team is more likely

to have a slump and why? I know you're a 49ers fan, but I know you're also objective. Which Super Bowl teams are you counting the Chiefs? You know, I think the Chiefs are going to be a, I mean, the Chiefs are going to be really good. They return 20 of 22 starters. and they got Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reed.

They're a lot to win the division. I don't see how they don't. Now, I guess Corona, if Mahomes were to get on the COVID list or something like that, obviously there are curveballs this year, unlike normal years. But the Chiefs are the heavy favorite to win the West. For the Niners, like, their division is good. Seattle as Jamal Adams, they have the best quarterback in the division. They have a coach and a coordinator that have now consistency, right?

Ken Norton's been there a couple years. You have what's Schottenheimer and Russell Wilson. Say what you want. Like it worked last year. And Russell's just a Houdini. Then they add Jamal Adams. The Cardinals, who I'm not buying into necessarily, but they're tough. If they're the worst team in your division, they're tough.

And the Rams still have a lot of good players. But I also just, like the Niners had at Trent Williams. Now, to me, if like Jimmy Garoplo were to take a big step back and their defense wasn't going to be as good, like they could have, I guess, quote unquote, a slump. I think the Chiefs are, I think they won 11 games last year. If this was a non-corone year, I'd be like, they're going to win 15. Remember the year after the Packers won the Super Bowl? They ended up losing the playoffs the next year of the Giants, but they went 15 and 1.

Like, I know Colin picked the Ravens to go 16-0. I would pick the Chiefs to go 16-0. I think the 49ers are going to be really good, just because I think Kyle's elite. I think they still have a ton of good players. But, you know, they probably win like 10 games. So, you know, probably, you might not win. the division, though, I mean, I would probably bet on them to win the division, but if one

of the two teams was to take a step back, like, it would be the Niners. Just they got more questions to answer. At the end of the day, the Chiefs have moms. Hey John, big fan of the pod, promo code ham, long questions or possible features. Predictions for the year, division standing, standout performers of each team, rookies to look out for,

last chance to saloon, for example, Raiders, Josh Jacob, Rugs, Derek Carr, keep up the good work piece. Last year I did a big preview of all the divisions. I guess maybe just because it's corona, I haven't really attacked it yet. Maybe I'll do that the next couple weeks.

We'll do some division previews. Maybe we'll do conference previews. It just, I'll be honest, it just feels a little different right now, you know? And I love football as much as everyone, right? But it doesn't, like, it's hard for me to get in the swing of it, even though it's here. Praxes aren't happening.

But we'll dive into some, definitely some divisions, some conferences, you know, do some predictions. I did the breakdown last year We'll do something like that over the next couple weeks Some rookies We'll definitely talk about that You know it's a big year for the Raiders I mean Derek has to play better

You know I saw Derek say that he's tired of being disrespectful Like Derek he's got to play better bro You just you got to play better You got Jacobs, you got rugs You drafted some other wide receivers You got a good offensive line now You got Darren Waller who was a pro bowler Like the time is now

As we all know where a player gets drafted has a lot to do with the length and success of their NFL career. As fans, see, I don't know if it necessarily has to do with the success of their career, but it does impact their career. As fans, I feel like we have a decently good sense of good versus average versus bad players, but we are highly influenced by the media to think this way and oftentimes. As a former NFL scout, can you give two examples of current players that are general media views as average to below average that would pop if they were in the right situation?

Okay, well, I think Cousins is an example of that I think Cousins got pretty and fairly kind of criticized and shit on in Washington He's been pretty damn good in Minnesota Now he's not my cup of tea But he's a playoff quarterback on a good team I think Carson Wentz kind of gets put through the ringer I think if you ask majority of people in the NFL

They would take Carson Wentz without blinking an eye He's an elite talent I also think DAC is one of those polarizing people by the media. I think he's highly respected in the NFL. But, I mean, I think there's a lot of times like Mitch Trubisky, gets shit on. I think people in the NFL think he stinks. You know, I think it's, I think for a long time like Russell Wilson was that way,

I think most people, I think we're all on the same page. We agree he's really good. I think where you see it, and I saw Albert Breer tweeting about it this weekend, is a lot of times with players coming out, on social media becomes very polarizing when you call the guy like, yeah, this guy's not a good guy.

This guy's a bad guy. And I'm privy to information just because I know people that go into these schools and I'll be talking about a player and I'll get a text from a friend. Like if, you know, during the draft period and he's like, bro, you're way too low on that guy

or you're way too, you're way too bullish on that guy. He's a bad guy. After, I don't, I'm not going to just throw this guy under the bus, but this guy got drafted. and I tweeted like, this guy's a steal.

And I immediately get a text from a college director going, he's a turd. He's a bad guy. And he's already been in trouble this offseason. So you just, and you see it with Darius Geis. And I read a headline today, like he admitted to the cops that he strangled her until she went unconscious. Like, he was a legit character concern coming out.

Like, he was a bad guy at Ellis. Like, had legit red flags. But I also think, like, you can't, sometimes like Honey Badger, was off most of the boards. Look at Honey Badger. He's been a team captain on three different, three playoff teams. He was a major reason that the Chiefs won the Super Bowl,

and he was viewed as a bad guy coming out. So people do change, but sometimes like Jalen Ramsey, for example. Jailen Ramsey's like never been in trouble with the law, but is he a big pain in the ass? And like, depending on who you ask in the NFL, would they want him to be the best player on their team? team, I think you would get varying answers.

Not everyone would be on the same page there. Some people would want them. Some people would go, I'm not touching them, given what you have to pay them, right, and given what they gave up. When you trade, for example, a Khalil Mack, like, Khalil Mac's no issues, no problems. So you get them. Now, I don't even think Khalil played that well last year relative to his standards. I know he's a little banged up. But, like, character stuff factors in big time.

and it's why certain coaches like really value it. You know, I see with Kyle Shanhan, he's really valuing it. You know, Belichick over the years has really valued it. You know, I think Andy and Sean Payton, you know, I think they're open-minded to stuff.

Now, if you screw up on their watch, they'll get rid of you quick, but I think they're just maybe more open-minded of stuff and maybe their personalities, and when someone asked me last week, they're just, they're feel more comfortable with it. I think Kyle, in his situation was like, saw it in Washington,

got burned a couple times by high talent bad guys remember hainesworth remember when chanahan showed up and hainsworth like refused to run the the wind sprints and he like laid there i mean and he was the highest paid guy in the team you know stuff's complicated because you're paying individuals a lot of money especially good players and you just the media you know a lot of people in the media, especially nowadays with just so many different outlets, so many different podcasts, if you don't know people that work for the team or talk to players about other guys on their team, you don't really know what's going on. It's all based on perception. It's like most things that I talk about are educated conversations based on things that I've heard. You know, if some players

follow me, I'll shoot them a DM. I can shoot friends that work in the league questions. Now, I have my own opinions on stuff, but I'm not just going to shit on a player, beside his ability on the field, that I can easily figure out on my own. But I'm not going to call the guy a bad guy or a character issue unless I hear it from someone around them. Like, I have no problem, like when I went in on Baker Mayfield over last year, immaturity stuff, the way you act. Now, we saw that kind of from the outside, the way he acted with the media. But you just heard stories behind the scenes.

It was embarrassing. And, you know, we hold these guys to a high standard because there's a lot, especially when you're a quarterback. A lot. You get paid a lot of money. You get all the praise, but you get all the blame for a reason. You know, you control a lot of it. Same with the head coach. And I, you know, sometimes it's easy to tell the media members that know what they're talking about.

It's like the dude on the Giants that got, when he got arrested. And you've seen the way the situation played out. Baker from the Giants is being charged. Like, it seems like he did something. And Dunbar from Seattle is pulled off the exemption list and is not being charged with anything. So it's kind of clear that one guy was probably much more responsible than the other guy. Well, when that situation happened, I tweeted something. And immediately, a guy that covers the Giants hits me up and is like, bad guy,

all the guys on the team do not like him. They just, he's just not a good guy. And he had huge red flags coming out, major whiff by David Gettleman. Disaster pick. I mean, they traded up in the first round to get him. It's like the 49ers. When they traded up in the first round to get Ruben Foster, I loved Ruben Foster on the field.

But my friends that went into Alabama were like, listen, he's not like a malicious person, but you cannot trust this individual. And what turned out to be true? He got arrested several times for the Niners. He got arrested at a team hotel and they had to cut him that day. Proved out to be true.

So I think the character thing that often turns people off, remember what Skip Bayliss once called Johnny Mansell, an alcoholic. The media freaked. Turned out to be right. And I'm not saying Skip Bayliss is all. always right, but sometimes those conversations are tough to have. And you can't have these conversations.

I say it all the time about conversations with money. When people are like, why are you talking about someone else's money? Because we're talking about salary cap league. So how much people make is part of the, this is a big boy conversation. If you want to sit at the little kids table, go sit over there. But we have to talk about salaries when we're talking about building a team. I don't need to talk about costs necessarily with Apple. because if it doesn't work, they can get rid of it.

They don't have a salary cap. But when you're signing players to contracts, how much you pay them matters. And it influences everything. So it's part of the conversation. And when you draft guys in the first round, you're tied to them for four years because you guarantee their contract.

So talking about the character stuff is always what I've seen the biggest misconception about bad guys. Now, sometimes we have. overvalue good guys. You know, you put one thing I learned when I scouted, I try to do this in life now too, and hopefully my business grows and I can hire people,

you know, once we ever get out of Corona and we just grow and things change. You can't, unlike in a normal business, if you're hiring an intern, you're not paying them much, whatever. But when you're hiring an NFL player or you're scouting an NFL player, you can, before you go in, especially if you're going into a U.S. of Texas and Alabama, there's going to be a perception on that player. You might follow him on Twitter.

You might have read articles, good or bad about him, and you already have a jaded mindset while you evaluate. So if you've read an article about what a great guy this is, and let's say he's fed the homeless, and he's got his high school girlfriend, and all the coaches rave about him, say he's the highest character guy on the team, you're just going to be like, I'm going to want to like this guy.

And you might be watching him and go, God, this guy's not that good. But you might bump him up in your mind because you like the person. and vice versa. You might think, God, this guy's kind of a shithead. I've heard all these bad stories.

And then you're watching him play, and you might ding him as a player because you don't think he's a good guy. And you've got to kind of separate it both. And it's hard because the player and the person ultimately become the same thing. Right? The downfall of Antonio Brown,

it's not like he forgot how to play. He's going to be out of the league for a couple years because of the person. And I think you see that with a lot of guys is you get the, the total package, right? We all would like just Patrick Mahomes, you know, or

Stefan Gilmore, Tom Brady, or you know, Fletcher Cox. But those guys, some guys usually have flaws in their game or as a person. It's just the reality of life. And that's the thing that the media, I think, unless you're really locked in to whatever team you're covering, you're just

not going to know all the information, especially if you don't know anyone with the team, you just, you don't have enough information to, like, say stuff. unless you're just pulling stuff out of your butt, you know, it's just making it up on the fly, which I think we all can agree. We read a lot of that stuff.

And that just, that happens a lot. That's a long-winded way of answering your question. Appreciate everyone reaching out. Keep firing in the Middilcoff mailbag at John Middlecoff. Enjoy the week. Enjoy, I guess, summer kind of. I mean, it's 2020. Can we even enjoy anything?

Talk to you later this week. See you. Oh, from Progressive. Being a baseball fanatic like me can be stressful. It's not all sports points in time. touchdowns. So Progressive is going to help you take your mind off your team for a moment. Instead of thinking about how they miss that goal point score, think about the name your price tool from Progressive letting you choose coverage options based on your budget, unlike your team

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Or wherever you get your podcasts A win is a win A win I don't care what you're saying Yep, that's me, Cliford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show.

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