The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 and Out -  D-Hop Suspension, Gruden Draft Incompetence, Addison/USC $$, Mailbag

Episode Date: May 3, 2022

John discusses how the Cardinals should handle DeAndre Hopkins pending 6-game suspension for taking banned substances, the difference in organizational draft philosophies, why Jon Gruden is an all-time bad personnel guy, and if he has a problem with Jordan Addison reportedly getting PAID to go to USC. He also looks at today’s top headlines and answers listener questions in the Middlekauff Mailbag. Follow John and The Volume on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube for the latest content and updates and check out FanDuel for the best wagering and daily fantasy action! #herdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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To get started now, sign up with promo code Colin so they know we sent you. What is going on, everybody, John Middlecop, three and out podcast. That's me. That's the show. Welcome back, hopefully. And if you're new,

hopefully I can keep you around for a while and then you'll like to show and share it with your friends because that's what we do here. We share with our friends. We share with our enemies and we keep rocking and rolling here in early May and we got a lot to talk about. We got a suspension, we got draft talk,

we got some veteran players, Honey Badger signed the day. We got controversy in the NIL department is the player from Pitt being stolen away. I just actually watched a little bit of James Addison or Jordan Addison, excuse me. You know, he's a little small, but a good player, really good player. But he's not exactly Jamar Chase, but $3 million in a house.

That's what I heard Collins tweet out or someone tweeted out. He might have said that on the show today. But we'll dive into a little bit of that. Of course, Middilkoff mailbag, easiest way to get a hold of me. We do at the end of this show and we do it on the weekend at John Middilcoff is the Instagram. So fire into those direct messages and get your question answered here on the show. Also, if you listen on Collins feed, please subscribe separately to this feed,

three and out podcast. Greatly appreciate it. Leave a review if you so, if you can't. It helps with the selling of the show. And hopefully I can put up Draymond Green numbers because he got checked it from the game. He posted his podcast and within the blink of an eye in 224 hours, he had 700,000 people watch him. Power of these NBA stars, man, is no joke. But let's dive into some football talk.

Okay, dokey. Let's start with the Arizona Cardinals. And if you've listened to me, you know that, you know, I'm not the biggest fan of the way they always do things. Now, I don't blame them necessarily for the Kyler Murray current situation. Him going kind of diva and demanding a contract when, you know, it just hasn't really been earned. not relative to the money that he wants

and given to the company that he views himself in. I don't put that on the organization. I do put on the organization, like one thing I learned when I was in the NFL, and we've all seen it as a fan or as people that fall football, things can change very fast. When I was, I think my second year in the league,

Jason Peters, Torres Achilles, just in the off season. I mean, he just, I don't, I don't even can't even really remember what he was doing. I don't even know if it was training. Just tore his Achilles. And like right now,

or might have been after OTAs. I can't totally remember the timing of it. And we just lose our starting left tackle. I mean, anyone that's a fan of a team has lost a player during OTAs. And an area of strength can become an area of weakness immediately. All it takes is a broken bone, a torn Achilles, a messed up shoulders. and this is just training, let alone in training camp.

We see it all the time. So you can't control when guys get injured on the field, right? As long as they're doing the right things and you're telling them, you know, the training regimens and food and all the stuff that, and I would say in 2022, most people understand the right way to train, the right way to eat. It definitely gets presented to them and what they put in their body, right? At this point in time, all these guys in the league know what's okay. and what's not okay.

Any question you have, you go to the trainer. You go to your team, and they say yay or nay. So I do not put DeAndre Hopkins, who just got suspended on the organization. But what I do put on the organization is they got a lot of credit for acquiring DeAndre Hopkins.

Why? Because they unloaded an overpaid running back to Bill O'Brien, and they got him for his second round pick. It was like we all anointed the move as one of the great trades of all times. And on paper, it was highway robbery. But once you have him on your team, and when he's on the field, he's an awesome player.

You know, he's got some flaws, but he's a damn good player. He gets injured kind of a lot now, but you've got to have contingency plans. But I also think you can't overreact to stuff. Right? So to me, they've known about this before the draft. And I see a lot on social media. This gives us a lot of clarity on why they made the Hollywood Brown trade. Not really. I mean, to me, they traded pick 23. They traded more for Hollywood Brown,

a guy that couldn't hold DeAndre Hopkins jocke than they did to acquire DeAndre Hopkins. So this notion, like, you can't make, you can't have overreactions in high level industries. To me, it takes some patience. Sometimes you have to take a deep breath. And obviously, when they made the trade, all the receivers were off the board. But all these good teams, like, The chiefs had no problem finding a receiver in the second round. So I just, I've said over and over, I didn't like the feeling of being beholden. Like, you have to improve around your quarterback, whether you have Mahomes or Rogers or whether you have Kyler Murray.

There is nothing wrong with a philosophical belief internally to try to get good players around the guy. But when they use pick 23 for an underachieving small player who happened to be the guy's teammates and their friends. I thought that was a pretty big stretch. And now trying to justify it, well, DeAndre Hopkins going to be out for six games. I don't know.

I don't love it. You just got a guy last year. I think it was in the second round. The little guy from Purdue, Rondale Moore, liked that guy a lot. Now, I understand that they lost Christian Kirk to the Jags, who probably got a little overpaid, but they needed a speed-wide receiver.

I still can't justify trading pick 23. I believe that that and the Minnesota the Vikings tradeback from 12 to 32 are the biggest head-scratching moves of the weekend. About true value. Because we can argue all we want about Cole Strange and should he have gone at the end of the first, you've got to admit the second. Like, we can have legit arguments. Bill Belichick can tell you I know for a fact he was going to go in four picks and we

didn't have the ability to trade back. And I don't know if he's right or wrong. But I do know, I can't imagine many teams in the league would have traded pick 23. If you gave all those picks to all 32 teams for the right, not just to acquire Hollywood Brown, for the right to extend him. He's now going into his fourth year, so they're going to be forced,

and we'll talk about fifth year options coming up, to pick that up, and all because of DeAndre Hopkins. Listen, obviously great wide receivers. There are only so many DeAndre's, DeAndre Hopkins, Devante Adams, Tyree kills, like they are. But as we've seen the last couple years,

a lot more great wide receivers are consistently coming into the NFL. When you talk about supply and demand, I just can't get behind it. You can't justify this guy getting suspended as the reason to make that move. Honestly, I'd argue it's even more head scratching. It feels like you were too emotional. It feels like you were being too reactive. Instead of taking a deep breath, you still have a lot of talented guys on your team. Here's the other thing.

When you have a great wide receiver, or I mean, excuse me, a great quarterback or a very talented quarterback, he should be able to elevate the players around him. You should be able to take mid-round picks and make them look really good. And it's never been easier, according to the drafts, to find mid-round and early round, like second, third, fourth, wide receivers. And guys that can immediately transition into the league and be productive players for you. So obviously a blow to the Cardinals. And let's face it, they got a lot of weird stuff going on right now.

A lot of weird stuff. I wanted to get to some organizational philosophy. because I was watching the basketball games on Sunday, and it really stuck out to me. Now, obviously, I follow the Warriors very, very closely. And I think that the ethos of their team really starts with, obviously, their guy, I mean, Steph Curry and Clay Thompson are two of the greatest shooters of all time.

I mean, Steph's an outlier of a player. We've never seen, he literally changed the sport, right? I'm sure any parent that's listening to this that goes to, you know, their kids play basketball, eight to 12 years old, let alone junior high or high school, everyone's bombing threes. I'll never forget. My dad put a basketball hoop. I was probably around 10, 11 years old.

It's actually still there. And when I went home for Easter, kids were playing on it. So it's held the test of time. And I used to just bomb away. And I stopped playing basketball after like ninth grade. But I used to love shooting. My dad's like, work on your left-handed layups. I'm like, I want to shoot threes.

And we didn't even have a three-point line. but like any kid, you want to shoot bombs. And I don't think the Curry and Clay and even Draymond get enough credit for being outstanding teammates, for being selfless people, for being team first guys. And I think that's a huge reason why their organization has had such success, drafting other players around them. And I also was watching the Celtics game and thinking,

you know the craziest part about Janus is, one, the NBA doesn't promote them, Even though every time, and I see a lot of like his videos and press conferences go viral, you go, this guy is everything you would want in a pro athlete. He's always talking about his teammates. He's always talking about working hard. He's always talking about how meaningless awards are. It's like, why don't they promote them? It's like they're too busy promoting the first take boys in Brooklyn or LeBron James.

Like, I got news for you. We don't give a shit anymore. Like to start talking about Janus. And Janus is one of the great physical freaks we've ever seen. He's like the modern day version of Shaq. But he went from being this physical freak with some major flaws, couldn't shoot, free throws, to now being the best player in the world. And I think it's pretty clear he's the best player in the world.

And when you draft players, a lot of it's out of your control. You do detective work and you get to know the guys. And I think a lot of teams in a perfect world would love to draft really good players that are really good guys. But the reason top players, I would say, consistently sustained success, is the intangible stuff. And we've been talking a lot about this leading up to the draft. and the reason Janice is the best player in the world

clearly is for all the work he's doing when no one's watching for how fun he is for his teammates to play with like the intangibles he checks off all the boxes Clay Thompson and Steph Curry get as much joy as they do when they dominate as when now Jordan Poole has become the third splash bro so when you look at this draft class

think about the guys in recent memory that are having a lot of success especially the quarterbacks right Justin Herbert fantastic human being. Josh Allen, fantastic human being. By all accounts, super hard workers. Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes. Everyone in their building loves them. Like, they are literally beloved. Think of in recent memory the guys that we've had problems with, like the star players, like Antonio Brown. He just becomes a self-absorbed narcissist. Now, obviously, he had sustained a lot of success with

Pittsburgh, but then it just came off the rails. It's sad. He should have had a 10-year career of maintaining that. And I think that's the hardest part of the entire draft, right, is picking the right people. Because it's so easy. Sometimes the best people are not the best players. And it's a very, very hard balance. And sometimes the questionable people just need a little direction. You just have to get them around your Clay Thompson, you're Yannis.

Right? So if you are the chiefs, if you are the bills, if you are, you can take chances. But there's a fine line on taking one too many chances. So it's just, it's why it's so hard. It's why I hate these draft grades. We have no clue. A lot of these guys are 21, 22 years old, how they're going to. I just, I made a note today to text all the coaches and GMs that I know I waited until Monday to reach out and congratulations on the draft and mention a guy in their draft class that I liked.

And it's funny. Like all my, the GMs are front office people are all super excited, right? They're like, can't wait, can't wait. We nailed it. Value. you, and I'm hyping it up to because I'm excited. But all the coaches that respond, whether it's Coach Reed or Sean McDermott, they're like, yeah, well, excited to get them on the field, you know, because their mindset is a little bit

different than the front office mindset. And this whole thing, like Jim Washburn once said to me that it's so easy for you guys in the front office to tell us, you know, down in position rooms. And I think this speaks for any position coach in the league. You know, listen, this guy might be a little questionable, but he can really play. Well, once the draft happens, you don't have to deal with him anymore. He's in my meeting room and he's with my group of players. So it is truly a very, very difficult business to be in because you're picking players.

I have a buddy that's in the construction business. His company, and I've had other buddies that started companies and they got bought by venture capitalist firm because they buy like four or five of that specific company and that specific industry. And then they try to consolidate and try to make it. make a lot of money. And it's so easy in that because nothing changes. It's just dealing with whether it's alarms or whether it's refrigerations, it's Safeways and grocery stores, whatever business you're in, the VCs just look at revenue. And for the most part, if you just pick the right businesses and buy the ones in certain regions, you can print cash. Where with football,

you are dealing with human beings. So just because the guy was awesome in college, You might go as a scout and you might find out this is a very, very questionable individual. People do not like them. And then you have to discern, is that just because this program's in disarray? You know, like a USC or like a Texas, even though I'm pretty sure Texas didn't you have a player drafted? Or is it because the guy's a bad guy? And sometimes there's no right or wrong answers. You're just like I've been saying, you're just taking educated guesses.

And to me, it's the most fascinating part about the draft. The playoffs are here. you can make every game feel like Game 7 on FanDill Sportsbook, an official partner of the NBA, Fandul's hooking you up free bets through the playoffs. Free bets. Doesn't matter if you're a new customer or already have an account. Be sure to check out the app.

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See terms at sportsbook.fandul.com. Gambling problem, 1,800 next step, or text next step to 5334-2 Arizona, 1888-78-9-7-77-7 or visit ccpg.org slash chat. Connecticut, 1-800-G, or visit Fandul.com slash RG in Colorado, Indiana, Jersey and Virginia. 18777-7-1-1-1-1-7-1-1-1-7-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-RRigig. 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.

I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, 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 Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Let's dive into John Gruden because a lot of stuff happened like Wednesday, Thursday that was in regards to fifth year options that we didn't really get to talk about because the draft happened. And Dave Ziegler, the new general manager and Josh McDaniels, obviously the new head coach, declined every single fifth year option on three players that Gruden drafted in the 2018 NFL draft. It was Cleland Farrell. it was, I guess it might have been the 2019 draft. Josh Jacobs, the running back, and Jonathan Abrams.

And one thing's pretty clear. Marketing campaigns really work. How often I don't even eat that much fast food anymore, but no one is better than Burger King and McDonald's and Taco Bell for their campaigns over my lifetime. They put on incredible commercials that you'll be sitting on the couch and be like, damn, I really want to eat that burger right now. And they've been doing it for a long time.

and there's a reason everywhere you go, there are McDonald's, Burger Kings, Jack in the Box, Taco Bells, they know what they're doing. They know how to market to basically everyone. And one thing with guys, we like to eat.

So if you put that burger, make that burger look pretty good in a commercial, and the irony is it never looks that good when you order it. You know, it's like, I've been feeding for this double Western bacon, and then you get it,

and it's like, did you guys even put this thing in the microwave? What's going on? It happens a lot of Burger King with the Burger King breakfasts. I'm a sucker for the Burger King breakfast because I love a good croissant, which, but they never put it in the microwave long enough.

But if you're sitting at home, you know, like a Saturday afternoon and you see it, you know, the commercial on television, you're like, God, their breakfast looks amazing. And then you go the next day and it's terrible. But obviously, I'm wearing Travis Matthews right now. They've really up there marketing, right? They got Jimmy Garopp. They basically hired a bunch of NFL quarterbacks. Jimmy Garoppel, Alex Smith, Matt, I guess Alex Smith's with Lynxel, Matt Ryan.

And I've ended up buying a lot of stuff. And obviously, it's a golf brand, but I feel like I see it. everywhere. So I'm just drawn to it. Marketing works. Ask Michael Jordan. Ask Michael Jordan. Asked Tiger Woods. But John Gruden, you could argue, is one of the great marketers in the history of professional sports because he created this brand when he was out of football that basically made every single person a believer. Like, I'm as guilty as anyone. When the Raiders hired him, I'm like, my God, they hit a home run. They got John Gruden. Every single college, every pro team has wanted this guy for a decade. He is John Gruden.

All this guy did was win, and then you look at his record, you're like, well, he didn't win that much. But, you know, he's got this personality. You've seen him in these quarterback camps. You've seen him on the draft, even though he was pounding the table for Johnny Mansell. It's not like he's always right. It's like, well, he's developed a lot of quarterback. Well, he just Gritch Gannon's was the one quarterback he developed. But the marketing campaign was second to none.

Honestly, it'll probably never be duplicated, ever. Because let's say Sean Payton's out of football five years, regardless whether he has a good marketing campaign or not, his resume speaks for itself. Sean Payton was one of the best offensive coaches for 15 years. And before that, he was one of the best coordinators in the league. John Gruden was a head coach. The last five or six years were a debacle. Yet when the Raiders hired him, it was a really big deal.

And they got a ton of credit and rightfully so. And a huge reason was no one could get the guy to accept their job. So once he accepts the job, you're like, this is going to work. And then what turns out is whatever. everyone had been saying. He's a terrible, and I repeat, terrible personnel man. First thing he did when he got here was trade Khalil Mack. And then like two months later, he trades Zamori Cooper. And listen, you make tough decisions when you take over an organization. A lot of new coaches all over the NFL will get rid of players, we'll trade players. It's part of the business.

If you tell me, Sequan Barkley doesn't make it to week one, because I believe it. So there's nothing wrong with trading the players. But part of trading players for draft picks, especially really, really good ones, like when they traded Khalil Mack and then Amari Cooper, is though draft picks turn into players. And the draft picks, and part of the reason, once they traded them, they basically tanked that first season. So it led them to a top five pick. And they ended up with Cleland Farrell, who is God-awful.

And then the other two picks, Jonathan Abram, can't cover a soul, is a hard-hitting safety in a league that doesn't allow hard-hitting. So it's one of, I saw someone tweet this out. it's very rare to get three first round picks, right? It happens maybe once every other year for one team because they have a couple first rounders and then they trade into the first round. The Raiders actually had three first rounders

at the start of the draft and not one of them got their option picked up. You could argue, and I understand that I think Hunter Renfro was in that draft and Max Crosby was in that draft. You get credit for those picks. But when I factor in the first round, where let's face it, you have access to pick every single player you want relative to the rest of the draft.

It's an all-time whiff. And to me, that, the John Gruden experiment is an all-time failure. Because I don't give him any credit for them making the playoffs this year. They made the playoffs with an interim coach. And there is no guarantee because when he got fired, they started out 3 and 0 and then they lost the two games. I don't know that he would have maintained it because every single year, even as they improved a little bit,

they crumbled down the stretch. And for the first time, the Raiders actually played really well in December. That had not been happening under Gruden. But I think you have to be very, very careful of these enormous self-promoters. And I would say John Gruden is an all-time self-promoter. He's an okay, solid coach,

probably above-average football coach and offensive coordinator. But he is one of the worst, let me repeat, worst drafters we've ever seen. You'd be like, what about Mayock? John Gruden, had the final decision on literally everything in the building.

It's why, you know, now that Josh McDaniels and Ziegler are there, the Raiders is an awesome job. The owner doesn't tell you shit. You can do whatever you want. You can say whatever you want about Mark Davis and the haircut. You're a lot. You get, you know, full power on everything. From sandwiches the players eat to the offensive line, to the meeting.

You can do whatever you want. and John Gruden failed. Let that be a life lesson. Next time a guy doesn't have success and goes away and the hype machine grows, we're going to red flag that thing. Daniel Jones, speaking of the fifth year options, I developed a philosophy this morning. And it's basically when in doubt,

when there's any question, decline. To me, the fifth year option should consistently be no-brainer guys. Nick Bosa, Justin Herbert. You don't even have to think. Tristan Worf's. Just think of all the first rounders. Nope. Jamar Chase, Justin Jefferson,

Micah Parsons, like those level players. Anything else, any question you have, you should immediately decline. Now, some decisions are going to be harder than others because it's always difficult, especially if you've made the pick. It was easy for the Giants, right? The new GM and the new head coach

had nothing to do with drafting him. That was Dave Gettleman. But it is 100% the right decision. And let's say in a perfect world, Daniel Jones has a career year. And all of a sudden looks like he could be the starter. It happened once upon a time, different situation,

because the fifth year option, I don't even think existed. And this guy wouldn't have been on it. But Alex Smith, Jim Harbaugh came in, basically a one-year contract. He resurrects his career. If Daniel Jones has an Alex Smith resurrection, you deal with that next year.

But under no circumstances, could you have accepted the offer? And I think when you look around, I saw it with the 49ers. Mike McGlinchie, he's been okay. But to me, the moment you have to be like, should I? Don't. Decline. Because you get yourself in this position where you have these enormous numbers because they're like the average of the most recent five guys that, you know, the contracts.

So these quarterback contracts, and you're seeing it this year with, with Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold. Their number is big. They are not $19 million players, but that is the number on the fifth year option. And regardless of the position, it's a relatively high number. So when you're on the fence and then you accept the,

or you give the thumbs up to pick up the option, and then you're regretted a year later, that's where you have problems. Because like the franchise tag, there is no moving the money around on the salary cap. If it's a 15, if it's an 18, and the number's only going to grow as these contracts are growing, $20 million, fifth year option,

that number is on the cap. And if you're on the fence, that means you probably don't want to extend the player and you find yourself in no man's land. And you want to avoid being in no man's land at all times when it comes to player contracts, especially guaranteed money. Remember a couple years ago,

Kyle Fuller, you know, there's two Fuller. I think it's Kyle Fuller, who was the corner for the Bears. They declined the fifth year option, then he had a fantastic year, and then they paid him. If you got to do that, you got to do it. Worst case scenario, Daniel Jones has a Pro Bowl season, and you franchise tag him. More than likely, he won't, and you can just rid yourself of him. And you're not tied. Like, part of trading for, like, I don't necessarily blame the Panthers,

because when you trade a second round pick for Sam Darnold, but you don't think they regret picking that thing up? You don't think the Browns, and I said this at the time. And I know he had a really good year, but you watched him, you went, I don't know if this is sustainable. He's tiny. He can't move. Their team is absolutely stacked. And someone told me, who was I talking to?

I was talking to someone that said they were on the field a couple years ago with Kevin Stefanski. And Baker was having a really good year. And Kevin told one of their offensive coaches, like, yeah, just, I'm still not that comfortable. I don't know if we see this guy as the long-term guy. This was in 2020. And then clearly after that season, they picked up the fifth year option and now, let's face it, more likely than not, the Browns are going to have to cut Baker Mayfield

and eat that $18 million. Now, that's a Jimmy Haslam bank account problem. But still, let's face it, that's pretty embarrassing. That's bad business. I mean, they don't want to be in this situation at all. I also, I saw a good stat from Albert Breer today on the, on the quarterbacks, their impact on the draft.

I said for a while, and you know, I'm not to do my own horn, but don't be surprised if not as many quarterbacks go high as people are hyping it up to be. This had, this was the complete opposite, even in a draft that had some failures, right? Baker, Sam, Josh, two Josh's, Josh Allen, Josh Rosen, and Lamar Jackson,

that that draft was clear these guys were going to go really high. And honestly, you could argue the story of the draft was Lamar falling to 32. But in this draft, they had the lowest, a quarterback hadn't gone this low for the first quarterback

and only one guy in the first round in 25 years. And that was Jim Drunken Miller in 1997, I think went 26th. And this year, obviously, just the one quarterback went pick 20, which I don't necessarily see it, but I'm not a big

average arm guy. And my struggle with Kenny Pickett is, when your comp is a poor man's Mac Jones, like, I'll be honest, I didn't view Mac Jones as a first round pick last year. To me, historically, Mac Jones goes in the second round. I would say historically, Kenny Pickett

goes in like the third round. He was a one-year wonder. Now, I get it, really good guy and part of it, same with Mac Jones, but I don't see it. Where I thought the other picks in the draft, it was just proper value. Like everyone, and I told this to coward yesterday on his pod,

like everyone freaked out like, oh, listen, I'm a big John Robinson guy. To me, that's a good pick. That's good value, but that's proper value. You get this guy who's a raw product, who's got, you know, first round attributes, but no one was going to take that guy in the first or second round. As a scouting director told me probably last week, maybe it was two weeks ago, he's like, the guy can't throw within the pocket. He could kind of run around, and then he has a scouting director.

a strong arm, but even then he doesn't know where it's going, but he has no clue what he's doing in the pocket. None, which is fine if you believe in your coaching and you can get that guy going, but if you don't know what you're doing in the pocket, I can't take in the first two rounds. And Desmond Ritter, unlike Malik Willis, like part of Malik Willis, why you can take in the third round is he has an enormous arm, so you hope that you can mold him. But there's no guarantee you can. And on the flip side, Desmond Ritter probably is what he is. Okay arm, good after, good guy, but his physical attributes are average at best. If anything, he's going to have to hang his hat,

kind of like his best case scenario, best, best case is Dak Prescott. And to me, worst case is his cop Marcus Marriota. Well, if you could redo a draft, what round when Marcus Marriota would go in? Third or fourth? He would not go, he went number two, as history has shown, that was an all-time overdraft.

And you don't know that at the time. But I remember thinking like, The hype on this kid, and I love Marcus Marriota, one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. People that have been around Marietta, swear by the guy. But he doesn't have a great arm. He's not that accurate. He's fast, and he's tall.

I mean, but he struggles to be a consistent starter in the NFL. And when he did start, it got worse as time went on. So I think that we overhype, and rightfully so, because of the importance of quarterbacks. But I think now the media and the high. on these, like every, every draft needs to have four or five quarterbacks. No, they don't. Like, good quarterback should go high, but it makes no sense to take a quarterback, just to take a quarterback in the first round. You need to take starters in the first round because you're going

to pay them the most, and part of it, obviously the fifth year option, it is, there are benefits to getting it right, but you don't want to waste the pick. And I give a lot of credit to just the GMs for taking a deep breath and not overdrafting. Are you looking for the hottest gambling advice out there? Check out the Moneyline Monaco podcast powered by Fandul every weekday. Our guy Alex Monaco will give you his best bets, including game picks, props, same game parlays, and much more. Monaco is in another groove and has won nearly 60% of his bets all time.

So don't miss your chance to make some money by downloading the Moneyline Monaco wherever you get your podcast, only on the volumes podcast network. 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. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, 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 Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok

podcast network on TikTok. A big story that's kind of circulating right now is this wide receiver, last name Madison, Blitnikov winner last year, love the Blitnikov family, and he's transferring, or more than likely he's transferring. He's entered the transfer portal, and all rumors point to him going to USC. And I think Coward said today that reportedly like $3 million in a house. And I've found the media very disingenuous on college sports. for basically my entire adult life.

They always freaked out about no one getting paid when that was just factually incorrect. Guys have been getting paid hundreds of thousand dollars in college football and college basketball basically before I was born, let alone the last 20 years with the explosion of money. Like guys were handed large suitcases of money to go to schools. People like, well, the same schools, yeah, pay the most.

The schools that consistently win, let's face it, Some consider it cheating. To me, that's capitalism. Like, NCAA has always made arbitrary rules that you can choose to follow or not. Most of the top programs did not. And we have evidence because of the FBI investigation in college basketball that the going rate for top players was $300,000. And I never was bothered by that.

If you want to pay Zion, if you want to pay Anthony Davis, if you want to pay Carmelo Anthony, you'd be stupid not to. You should. If you want to pay these sweet recruits, football's a little more difficult because there is no guarantee that a top recruit is going to turn into an NFL player. In basketball, you have a pretty damn good idea when the guy's coming out of high school. Football is a little more difficult. There are the occasional clownies and Julio's, but for the most part, in the quarterbacks, it can be very, very hit or miss. So we'll find as time goes on how if I was a huge booster, well, let's just say hundreds of millions of dollars,

would have no problem telling my coach and telling my athletic director, I will fund transfers. I will not fund recruits because it's just too big, too much of an unknown. But I have no problem paying a premium for Addison, this wide receiver from Pittsburgh, who I told Coward this on Sunday night. I can't blame this guy at all. To me, if Kenny Pickett had a return, you'd be like, well, that's a little weird. That'd be a little shady. his star quarterback just got drafted 20th to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

He has no quarterback. And it's not like he plays at Ohio State or Alabama where they constantly have NFL quarterbacks. He plays at Pittsburgh. So USC comes Colin. Well, guess what they have? One of the best quarterbacks in the country. He has seen over the last, I don't know, two months,

the amount of money that wide receivers are being paid. So if I'm him and I just had a fantastic year, I'd be like, well, yeah, I just played with an NFL player. Well, there's a decent chance that pits the next guy up sucks or his average. Think about Jamar Chase. When Joe Burrow, you know, declared for the draft, or maybe he was, maybe his career was over because he was fifth year, I don't even remember. He might have been an underclassman, but regardless, Jamar Chase sitting out, I remember

everyone made a big deal. He lost his quarterback. And it was proven very, very quickly that the quarterbacks at LSU stink. So he made the right decision just from a fact that Who's gonna throw him the football? His numbers are gonna drop He's just not gonna be as good And then his draft status is gonna drop

So why would a guy when you can transfer with ease Which is I have no problem with it again I've never had a problem with people getting brown bags I've just never been disingenuous And acted like the players didn't get paid At the top programs the players have always been paid Rightfully so And now it's just above board

You got to pay taxes on it, and I think the numbers are a little higher if you're paying a guy. I don't think guys are making $3 million back in the day. But if you convince me that in college basketball, guys were going for seven figures pre-NIL, I'd believe it. I think it's very fair. I would imagine there have been seven-figure transactions, 16, 17-year-olds, probably a little less likely in football. And I think it's going to happen more often with these guys transferring that are known quantities.

Because I have no problem paying a million dollars or $2 million for the number one wide receiver in the country, right? Because we see how much these guys are going for in the NFL. They're making $70-80 million. A.J. Brown just got $100 million. Now you've got 57 guaranteed, but if he stays healthy, he'll see every penny. So I think the freak out on this, one, the media is just very disingenuous about it all. And two, who cares? I mean, it's called capitalism. Someone calls you and offers you a bunch of money in a better situation. You'd be stupid to at least not listen, let alone probably go, you know? Maybe Pitt doesn't have the money. And maybe just simply Simply from a football standpoint, he thinks their quarterback room isn't very good.

How could you blame him? A couple other nuggets around the league. One big story today is the Honeybatcher. I was kind of hoping the 49ers would sign him. And then I saw how much money he got like, damn. You know, he got three years, $33 million and $18 million guaranteed. That's not nothing. I mean, that's basically he's going to be on their team for multiple seasons.

You know, it averages $11 million. But to me, I look at it guaranteed money. It's like a two-year, you know, $9, $9.5 million a year contract. And I think the Saints, fans get very, very mad at me. They're like, I'm middle-copy, yourself, just a St. Haynor. I'm not. I think your roster is very good. But it's a coach quarterback league.

You just lost the best coach in the history of the franchise to Dennis Allen. You know, I saw Dennis Allen, up close and personal. I just don't see it. Now, that doesn't mean guys can't improve, but I can't just assume that he's going to be really good. And if I say it's a coach quarterback, your quarterback is James Winston, who I, you know, I said I was out on, he kind of drew me back in. He's coming off an ACL. I don't know.

I get you play Tampa really well, and you guys love telling everyone that. I understand. But I think it's one thing when Sean Payton's running the offense and Dennis just gets to focus on the defense to what it is now. So I still am, you have good players on your team, you have a lot of stud players, your defensive roster is good, but we'll see. I'll take a wait and see approach. I'm not saying your guys are going to suck,

but I just don't think you're some lock playoff team. Like I said, with the Baker situation, the money, that's an all-time regret for the Browns. But where's you going to go? What are they going to do with them? I think what ends up happening is he gets released and kind of go from there. But who knows?

There is not some lock team that just makes a lot of sense with Baker Mayfield. Same thing with Jimmy Garoppel. I think there's a decent chance unless they can somehow, Vince Jimmy to be the backup. But even then, that gets a little weird. What if Trey Lance struggles and fans want to make the playoffs,

start screaming just put Jimmy back in the game, it's kind of a tight rope to walk. I would probably recommend you just got to go. I mean, part of the reason with Patrick Mahomes obviously turned out to be an all-time great player. They just gave him the keys to the castle, basically. They got Alex out of there. And Alex still had a lot of good football left before he got injured.

But you just, Mack Jones last year, you cut Cam Newton. You have to just give him. the guy the locker room. So to me, even if it is an option, because you'd rather have multiple quarterbacks than one quarterback, I do think it's a very, very slippery slope. And for the best chance for success for Trey Lance, I think you would just have to cut him. Worst case, I don't know where you're going to be able to trade him.

$27 million. Who the hell even needs a quarterback? The wide receiver drama, it's going to be interesting, right? The 49ers, I mean, are they able to sign Debo Samuel, Terry McLoren? what does his contract look like, D.K. McCaff, who's been, you know, participating with Seattle. We kind of know the parameters of a given contract, right? is A.J. Brown.

57 guaranteed, $100 million, $25 million a year. I think all these guys are in the ballpark. And we'll see the next one that gets paid, but it does feel like they're all going to get big money. Okay, let's dive into this little thing we call the middle cough, mailbag. At John Middilkoff is the Instagram. You slide up into those direct messages

and you get your question answered here on the show. I assume there are different levels of scouts. How did you compare to say Daniel Jeremiah? He seems to use a lot more verbiage scout speak. Fast twitch, tight hips, ETC. Did you help find players or just do more background information on them? Did Eagles put you through a training course to learn from what they were looking for? Well, let's start with the DJ thing.

I think he is the top draft analyst for NFL Network. So, I mean, he is like Mike Mayock was and Scott and Todd McShay and Mel Kiper. Like, that is their gig to dive deep into the draft prospects. And ultimately, this, I consider this an entertainment product, probably much more surface level. I'm playing, I'm just not going to dive as deep. Now, when I worked in the NFL and wrote reports on players, I spoke that language. I had the same verbiage's, tight-hipped, loosen the hips, change the direction, top-end speed, whatever, all the scouting terminology. I got a very, very good training ground with Coach Hill at Fresno State for two years and learned a large percentage of a base of the terminology, how to evaluate, and then when I got to the NFL, you just learn more.

And yeah, you just kind of learn on the fly. Now, by the time I got there, I had a relative base of knowledge. I learned. It's like, you know, I got my undergraduate degree in football at Fresno State, and I got my Ph.D. in football in Philadelphia. And I actually replaced DJ my third year when he went to work at NFL Network, and I took over the West Coast. So I would just say that, you know, I'm really more, I'm trying to play to everybody.

You know, I'm not diving in beside the big topics. I don't get that nerdy on like second, third, fourth round players, right? It's just not really my thing. So we just kind of play different roles, I would say. Hey, John, question for you. I was listening to a podcast today that had an economic, an economist as a guest, and they were talking about how hard it is to pick successful quarterbacks in the draft.

The link is below. But the research seems to indicate is that no one, attribute for a quarterback is directly correlated with their success, other than completion percentage in college. It's interesting, but I don't know if I can completely buy it. It seems like arm strength and cognitive ability, Wonderlich, ETC, would also be important and correlated to success. Anyway, just curious, what are your top three attributes you find important when evaluating a quarterback?

Well, first and foremost, just to be in the NFL mix, you have to have, obviously, your Division I start. I guess you could be a Division 1 AA starter like a Jimmy Garoppel. But for the most part, or Joe Flacco or whatever, but you're a Division 1 starter. And, you know, for the most part, these guys are going to be between 6, 1 and 1 half. I mean, there are a couple outliers in 6.5. And you're going to be, you know, the athletic spectrum is completely changed.

You know, before you didn't need to be athletic at all. I think now you look for a little more athleticism. And arm strength, to me, I always like a stronger arm. You can get away with Philip Rivers, Peyton Manning, if you're really accurate. But I like strong arms. So just the attributes of the player and obviously accurate. The intangible stuff to me really makes players, right? How he is as a teammate, how hard he works, how addicted he is to football, how much he cares,

how much it means to them. Because the little things add up to big things. And something that's like when something is important, usually a lot of things are important. And I think a lot of these quarterbacks, just have really, really high standards in their life. And I think that carries over to the pressure that comes with being a starting quarterback in the NFL, the pressure that your coach puts on you, that your teammates put on you, that the city puts on you, that the media puts on you.

It's very, very difficult. It's very, very challenging. So I'm a big believer in intangible stuff with quarterbacks. When you think of the great quarterbacks over the last however many decades, right, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Bree, Now Mahomes, Josh Allen, you see Herbert on the come, Lamar Jackson. You know, Aaron's a little different, but he's probably one of the great talents of all time. Non-football golf question for the pod.

I love your take on the crypto markets. I heard you mention you're all in on ADA. Me too. Just wondering if you're averaging down on the dips or just riding it out. I actually looked, and it was $75 a day, and I plan on making another purchase. here in the next 48 hours. So I'm not trading for to flip this money

to double it in the next six months. It's a big picture play. It's ugly out there. I mean, I'm down heavily in every market just like a lot of people are. If you believed in it when it was going up, to me, I don't see why you wouldn't believe in it now when it's going down.

Because again, I believed in it as the future, as something that's going to work. And it might not work until 2025 or 2024. But I do believe I understand what it is better than I'm able to explain it to other people, but I do feel a pretty strong understanding of what it's going to be, or at least in the realm of what it's going to be, and I believe that's the future.

So could I be wrong? For sure. Sometimes industries are ahead of themselves, and they failed because they were almost too early. Obviously, there's so much money in crypto now that's not necessarily the case, but yes, I plan on I plan on buying more at these prices for sure. And honestly, I think that way

in all of my holdings that I believe in big picture. When something dips and I have several, you know, holdings that are down 50% that if you believe in the industry or you believe in the company and sometimes I believe in the industry

more than the specific company and I'm just kind of betting, hopefully, you know, I get it right and I have before. I mean, that's what venture capitalists do. you know, pays off. Like everyone else in the DMs, love the show. I know you've been shitting on Netflix,

but if you haven't seen it, check out the alpinist. The guy on there, the guy was on a god tier, and it's an inspirational film. I've heard several people mention this. I need to check that out. I'm not shitting on Netflix. I actually think it's a revolutionary company.

It's an all-timer. Whether they peaked or whether they get back, to the mountaintop, what they did, what they stand for, and the word Netflix, how it will resonate with people for the rest of our lives is incredible. What they accomplished, hat tip to them. Now, I don't necessarily think they're done, but I don't think it's debatable that their content has dipped. It's not as good. I think HBO Max runs circles around them. Honestly, I found more success on Hulu. I'm not anti-Neplex. I just don't think they're content. has been that good. I think their

platform is truly pretty awesome. I think the last rock star draft was 06. Liner, Bush, Vince, Mario, Vernon Davis. That was a pretty good one. I think the one two years ago with Trey Lance, Mac Jones,

Justin Fields, that was that bad boy was pretty explosive. I mean, those television ratings were pretty high. Big fan of the pod, I appreciate you breakdown at the NFL. Just wanted comment on the Monday podcast when you reference the refs and politicians are two jobs you can be wrong at and not get fired. I would like to add in weatherman as the other job that you can

be wrong most of the time and still keep your job. I live in Michigan so the weather is bipolar here. Have a great week. You know what's funny? One benefit of living out west. Our weather isn't really that crazy. So like if someone says it's 80, if they miss, it's going to be 78 or 83. It's never like it's supposed to be 80 and it turns out torrential down poor 35. Now when I lived in Philly, I lived in Kansas City during college for a couple months, those are crazy weather places. So I can imagine getting very mad at the weatherman for often being way off. Our weathermen out here, now granted, I never watched the weatherman. I just check my iPhone. But for the most part, it's pretty on. I'll give the credit to actually the iPhone weather app.

Pretty good, which I think is just connected to weather.com. I'm confused as to why you don't think the Saints can compete in the NFC. You yourself said the NFC is wide open. True. As stated, the Saints were 5 and 2 before Winston Tours A.C.L. Winston was having a great year, 14 touchdowns, three picks. We had to start Tassam Hill and Simeon the rest of the season still somehow won nine games. If the Rams take would have taken care of San Francisco the last game, we would have been in the wildcard spot.

yes, Sean Payton is gone, which I'm going to stop right there. That's a pretty big deal. Like if you just remove Andy Reid, or you just remove, you know, just go around like Kyle Shanahan or Sean McVey, even if you pump in their replacement, like let's say Kyle Shanahan left tomorrow,

and Domeko Ryan took over, or even Robert Saul took over. That is not the same thing. If Sean McVeigh would have gone to television and Rahim Morris took over, I would not view the Rams the same way. The head coach is very important, especially when your head coach is the play caller.

So your roster is really good, and your defense has been excellent the last couple years. And James, I'll give him credit. He looked pretty good. You're 5 and 2, you're right. The stats were pretty good. But I mean, Sean Payton. So I can't look at you the same with Dennis Allen.

I am not saying your team doesn't have a good roster. I'm not saying that if Dennis Allen, is just solid, you won't be okay. But I don't know. I just... Who's helping out James Winston? That's my question. That was Sean Payton's job.

Dennis Allen's a defensive coach. I got a question for the mailbag. Is it not an unwritten rule that you don't trade back during the draft with division rivals? I was at my local watering hole screaming at the TV when Minnesota traded back not once but twice with division rivals

and feel they got some pretty damn good players. Well, when I trade, like, let's say, let's say this, I got Tyree Kill and you are the Raiders and you want Tyree Kill. I would not trade you Tyree Kill even for your draft picks, right? If I'm going to trade Khalil Mack, I'm not going to trade Khalil Mack when he was on the Raiders to the Chargers or the Chiefs or the Broncos. But when I trade draft picks,

one, you don't have to tell me who you're picking. And two, it's just about value. Like I said, it's just an economic exercise. So when I trade, which I thought Minnesota's trade was terrible, how did last year, the Bears traded from 20 to 11 and had to give the Giants a future first round pick. Yet the Vikings traded from 12 to 32 and didn't get a future one. How's that possible?

I don't care if you tell me the draft picks they got added up to the equal value. That doesn't make any sense. 12 to 32? That is an insane fallback. Now, yeah, to me, it's out the window. The Eagles and Cowboys made a trade last year. I don't think it matters. You don't trade players, though.

Like, you wouldn't trade... The Packers wouldn't have traded Devante Adams to the Lions or the Bears. Right? You wouldn't trade Tyree Kill to the Raiders. You wouldn't trade DeForest Buckner to the Rams or Seattle. But you do do draft day trades with whoever. Because it's all just numbers. It's what I said.

It's just about value. Listen to the pod on the mail route. I listen every day. What are your thoughts on the Eagles two first round picks next year and an unsure quarterback? Do you think Howie would trade the two first and hurts on a package for Aaron Rogers? Well, you know, one of the picks is obviously the Saints, and the Saints fans think they're going to be pretty good.

And obviously the Eagles fans think they're going to be pretty good. It's very possible that both those two teams compete to make the playoffs and are picking in the early 20s. I do not think Aaron Rogers would play for the Eagles. I don't have any inside information on that. It feels like he's either playing for the Packers or going to retire. I think the Eagles did that in case something gets weird. They have ammo to trade up and get one of the top quarterbacks next year.

I think that would be the plan. Let's say the Saints, again, James gets hurt, Dennis Allen sucks, and they win six or seven games. And all of a sudden that picks 10 or 12. and the Eagles pick is 18. Could you do 10 and 18 and a future one to get C.J. Stroud?

To me, that's where the move came into play. I don't think necessarily Aaron Rogers. Because I don't think you would do that. Aaron Roger would be 38. That'd be pretty risky. Though obviously the Eagles would take Aaron Rogers right now. But I just, I have a hard time.

To me, he's either going to retire or play for the Packers. Love the Pod. My name is Nate Harris. I just recently retired from minor league baseball this past year. I've started a podcast of my own, baseball related.

I'm curious if you had any tips on how to grow the following, get the pod in front of more people. Again, love what you do, huge cowboy fan, NFL fan in general. I appreciate that. Congrats on a minor league baseball career. I'm dead serious.

That's pretty cool accomplishment. You got to play pro baseball. Not many people get to play sports past high school. And you got to do it probably in college. definitely, well, I guess in baseball, you could go right from high school, but you got to do at the professional level. That's hat tip. I would say your best avenues right now are to use social media.

And to me, Twitter is a good avenue just to get people to see. It doesn't necessarily turn into more listeners, but it does get eyeballs. TikTok, I'm not on, I guess I have a TikTok. I don't use it, but it's pretty big time. Like, it gets in front of people and maybe do some baseball TikToks. and to me YouTube and Instagram as well. That to me is your best. Everything you post, put it on those.

Put it on YouTube, put it on Instagram, start a TikTok. That's a free way. It doesn't cost you any money. And it's relatively easy to load. Been listening to you for a couple years from England and I'm a big fan. I have heard you talk many times

about the sport is king and obviously is the NFL. As a big English Premier League fan, Do you think it could be as big in America as baseball, basketball, and football? I've heard you talk a couple times about football, aka soccer. If you ever want any more info, let me know. I think it's hard. When I went to Europe for a couple months when I was in my junior year in college over the summer, I stayed in Spain.

And I just remember kids, five years old, eight years old, 12 years old, soccer balls were everywhere. when you just walk down the street, it's a huge part of your culture. If you just walk around in America, what do you see? Baseball diamonds, basketball hoops,

people playing football in the park, football practice. Right? Every high school you go by, you see those three things. Obviously, you see soccer goals there too, but I just think it's entrenched in our culture. Right?

We are just, we grow up on those major sports. Just like over in Europe, you know, you grew up in the UK and Spain in Italy. Soccer, Germany, soccer's life. It's part of the ethos of ever human being, which is cool. I don't think we'll ever get that here.

And I don't even think it's possible, to be honest with you. Do you know who Alex Ovechkin is? Yeah, I know Alex Oveshkinness. One of the greatest hockey players of all time. Thank you for real takes and not sugar coding through the topics. I'm a Wyoming boy and a diehard Dallas fan.

This week, Stephen Jones, said there are no must going into the draft. As a fanatic that bothers me, makes me feel like there is no urgency to win now. While we still have some nice weapons, nice young weapons, and two nice running backs, is the Jones family being the front office

our biggest blessing and our biggest downfall? Well, let me defend any team who talks before the draft. I don't think you're giving away anything. Right? So if Stephen Jones would have said, Our number one goal is to get a corner. Every team in the league would be like, well, they're taking a corner in the first two rounds.

So if they take, if you want to get a corner and they're about to draft, you have to jump them. So I, to me, it's part of the poker of this thing. Like, what's he supposed to say? You know, I don't think he actually believes that. But I think it's a tough spot. Big fan of three and out, been listening. If you ever start a merch line, please make sure you have the shirt with the phrase. let's call a spade a spade.

My question for you, how do you see your three and out podcast developing as you continue to grow? Do you have specific goals, plans in mind, or are you just riding the wave and not fixing something that isn't broke? This is my mom. You know, people ask me that every once in a while.

I'm not anti-goals or not being goal-oriented, but I just, I'm pretty tunnel vision just kind of going month a month and just working as hard as I can putting out as many shows as I can. I'm not like in three years because part of it is there's not necessarily a goal to be had.

I want to get as many people to listen. I want to make as much money as possible. I want to entertain as many people as possible. I want to do stuff that people like. Like it's cool when people tell me they enjoy listening. Like that's a good feeling, right? I want to be a place where people enjoy to go.

And if more and more people enjoy to go, then things go well for me. So besides that, I can't really expand on, this show keeps going well. We all do well. So that's pretty much my only goal is to stay pretty focused on this. Just keep doing the show. Lifelong Lions fan, I don't understand the hate Aidan Hutchison is getting. Why are members of the media saying he's not a high-sealing pro-ball talent? When I watch him, I see someone with a high motor who, by all accounts, is addicted to football.

Why has the media written him off from being great? That's a good question. I mean, I think sometimes when you're a white pass rusher, not named Bosa, I mean, that's probably a little something to that. Short arms. Yeah, I mean, you've got to pick on somebody. I just think part of being a highly touted prospect in any drafts, they kind of pick you apart, you know?

I mean, it happens to the quarterbacks every year. We were crushing. Justin Fields was getting picked apart last year. Mack Jones was getting picked apart last year. Trey Lance was getting picked apart last year. Trevor Lawrence was getting crushed this year. You know, it's just we don't pick apart fifth round players, right? This is the difference when the guy asks me the difference between you and DJ. Like, I spend most of my time talking about the top guys.

DJ is much more into the weeds, second, third, fourth. He's approaching it like he still works in the NFL. I approach it like I'm just here to entertain the most people possible. so we're going to end up talking Aiden Hutchison, Kavon, Thiboddow, the entire time. And it's just, when you're a highly touted prospect, whether you're Jamar Chase, whether you're Micah Parsons,

whether you're Aiden Hutchinson, you're not going to be a perfect prospect. So when you're not a perfect prospect, we're going to end up talking about your flaws more than your positives, which can be unfair, in which I think a lot of times why teams miss on players. And it's probably not totally fair, but it's just part of the business.

and it's the way they talk in the draft rooms. It's the way we obviously talk here on this show. It's the way most fans talk when a guy has struggles at something. Now, I'm with you. When I watched Michigan last year, he was typically the best player on the field. He was a complete ass kicker. He went two overall.

Here's the other thing. Let's not act like he went two. He went two. When you meet Aiden Hutchinson for the rest of his life, whether he has success or he fails, Yeah, I played in the NFL. Oh, you did? How did you make it there?

Yeah, I played in Michigan, and then it was selected second overall. I get it was a down draft, but second overall. That's a pretty, I'd say he's pretty highly valued. Second overall. And if he wouldn't have been picked, I would imagine the Texans would have picked him at three. So I think sometimes, you know, they got nitpicked, but even Kavon. He went five. Stingley.

Oh, Stingley, hasn't had a good year in two seats. Went three. Like, these guys all went pretty damn high. I think we'll end there. My dinner, I ordered DoorDash. Should be arriving here pretty, pretty soon. I was like, I'm going to make a healthy meal. And then I'm like, I'm pretty, I'm just going to order some food.

Have a good week. We'll have the golf podcast coming out Wednesday. PGA Championship in two weeks. No big deal. A little golf major. A little warrior game Thursday, Tuesday. When the Warriors play next? day. Love a good warrior game.

Adios. Talk to everyone soon. Peace. See ya. Of all you. Another podcast from some SNL, late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel 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 I-Heart 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 you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver 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 Cliver Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices.

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